DISCLAIMER: All the characters and plot belongs to Rick Riordan.
A/N: Yes. Annabeth meets Percy in a dream after six months of separation, folks. I'm getting a little nervous to write about this, along with a little exhilaration of what I can write about it.
Tell me about it in the reviews.
Chapter Nineteen
In my dream, I saw Nico di Angelo alone in the gardens of Hades. He'd just dug a hole in one of Persephone's flower beds, which I didn't figure would make the queen very happy.
Small chuckles rang.
He poured a goblet of wine into the hole and began to chant. "Let the dead taste again. Let them rise and take this offering. Maria di Angelo, show yourself!"
White smoke gathered. A human figure formed, but it wasn't Nico's mother. It was a girl with dark hair, olive skin, and the silvery clothes of a Hunter.
"Bianca," Nico said. "But—"
"Didn't she tell him that she's going for rebirth." Grover asked Annabeth, who shook her head. She mouthed later.
Don't summon our mother, Nico, she warned. She is the one spirit you are forbidden to see.
"Why?" he demanded. "What's our father hiding?"
Pain, Bianca said. Hatred. A curse that stretches back to the Great Prophecy.
"Oh" Rachel and Annabeth said softly. They are about to read exactly what happened.
Everyone listened intently.
"What do you mean?" Nico said. "I have to know!"
The knowledge will only hurt you. Remember what I said: holding grudges is a fatal flaw for children of Hades.
"I know that," Nico said. "But I'm not the same as I used to be, Bianca. Stop trying to protect me!"
Brother, you don't understand—
"She's trying to tell him not to hold a grudge against the one who caused their mother's death." Annabeth explained to the confused faces.
Nico swiped his hand through the mist, and Bianca's image dissipated.
"Maria di Angelo," he said again. "Speak to me!"
A different image formed. It was a scene rather than a single ghost. In the mist, I saw Nico and Bianca as little children, playing in the lobby of an elegant hotel, chasing each other around marble columns.
A woman sat on a nearby sofa. She wore a black dress, gloves, and a black veiled hat like a star from an old 1940s movie. She had Bianca's smile and Nico's eyes. On a chair next to her sat a large oily man in a black pinstripe suit. With a shock, I realized it was Hades. He was leaning toward the woman, using his hands as he talked, like he was agitated.
Everyone gasped. Not expecting a scene rather than a ghost speaking the truth. This is way better to know the truth.
"Please, my dear," he said. "You must come to the Underworld. I don't care what Persephone thinks! I can keep you safe there."
"Wow, Hades must really love this woman, not even to care for Persephone's opinion" Thalia whistled.
Jason wondered whether their father ever felt like that towards their mother. Maybe not. He'd learned that mother became deranged after their father left her. The siblings exchanged glances to confirm each others doubts- No, he totally forgot about her.
"No, my love." She spoke with an Italian accent. "Raise our children in the land of the dead? I will not do this."
"Doesn't she know that her children will tend to be like him - dark and ire" Travis mumbled to himself.
"Maria, listen to me. The war in Europe has turned the other gods against me. A prophecy has been made. My children are no longer safe. Poseidon and Zeus have forced me into an agreement. None of us are to have demigod children ever again."
"But you already have Nico and Bianca. Surely—"
"No! The prophecy warns of a child who turns sixteen. Zeus has decreed that the children I currently have must be turned over to Camp Half-Blood for proper training, but I know what he means. At best they'll be watched, imprisoned, turned against their father. Even more likely, he will not take a chance. He won't allow my demigod children to reach sixteen. He'll find a way to destroy them, and I won't risk that!"
"The prophecies only come when the destined one asks them, right? If so, Was Percy not the only Prophecy child." Jason asked remembering his prophecy hearing.
Annabeth glanced at Rachel and nodded for her to speak. Rachel turned to the group.
"Well, that's true, partly ofcourse. The prophecies reveal only when a seeker approaches the Oracle. But the Great Prophecies are not about a single seeker. They tend to inform a upcoming catastrophe. They warn with possible outcomes and solutions." Rachel spoke.
"Sometimes the Oracle finds the seeker if nearby to deliver a prophecy that conflicts a Great Prophecy, like the one Zoe got. That prophecy is like a crossroad for the Great Prophecy. To let either Thalia or Percy be the prophecy child."
"I said Percy fulfills the prophecy child role better than other two. I never said that Percy's The Prophecy Child. If kronos rose during WW-II, Biance would've been the Prophecy child, or some other big three children. Percy's better option because Luke hosted Kronos. If Luke returned to us before, Nico might become the Prophecy child, if time permits." Annabeth took it from there.
"Certamente," Maria said. "We will stay together. Zeus is un imbecile."
"Wow, she's gutsy. I'll give her that." Thalia said.
I couldn't help admiring her courage, but Hades glanced nervously at the ceiling. "Maria, please. I told you, Zeus gave me a deadline of last week to turn over the children. His wrath will be horrible, and I cannot hide you forever. As long as you are with the children, you are in danger too."
Maria smiled, and again it was creepy how much she looked like her daughter.
"Seaweed brain. It's her daughter who looks like her." Annabeth spoke fondly.
"You are a god, my love. You will protect us. But I will not take Nico and Bianca to the Underworld."
"All mortals tend to behave like that at one point. Even a big three is not enough against the rest of the council" Annabeth muttered.
She only knew of Sally to cut-off her connection to gods without any bitterness. Her past made her cherish every relation, however short that tend to be. Sally's great that way.
She loved Poseidon, cherished Percy, loves Paul and accepted her into the family to fill a vacant mother position in her heart.
Hades wrung his hands. "Then, there is another option. I know a place in the desert where time stands still. I could send the children there, just for a while, for their own safety, and we could be together. I will build you a golden palace by the Styx."
"Wow, Hades is not like the one I thought he'd be. He's probably one of the very few to take things that far for their children." Katie said.
"Like I said, Hades is not too bad. He looked bad because of his actions to us, at one point or the other." Annabeth reminded. She herself held negative opinions for the Lord of Underworld till her first quest.
"Well, hunting me to avenge his wife seems plausible on his side, but shouldn't he take it out on Zeus, if he's that vengeful. Whatever happened to the holding grude until it settled?" Thalia muttered darkly. Annabeth took hold of her hand.
Maria di Angelo laughed gently. "You are a kind man, my love. A generous man. The other gods should see you as I do, and they would not fear you so. But Nico and Bianca need their mother. Besides, they are only children. The gods wouldn't really hurt them."
"Then she doesn't know about gods other than Hades" Thalia muttered darkly, remebering her time on Olympus when council decided to kill her.
Jason hung his head, already knowing the answer for which god would mostly hurt even children. Their Father.
"You don't know my family," Hades said darkly. "Please, Maria, I can't lose you."
She touched his lips with her fingers. "You will not lose me. Wait for me while I get my purse. Watch the children."
"She's pretty stubborn for a mortal." guess who said that. Yes, another mortal.
She kissed the lord of the dead and rose from the sofa. Hades watched her walk upstairs as if her every step away caused him pain.
A moment later, he tensed. The children stopped playing as if they sensed something too.
everyone in the clearing tensed too. Something bad is about to happen.
"No!" Hades said. But even his godly powers were too slow. He only had time to erect a wall of black energy around the children before the hotel exploded.
Everyone gasped at that. Whatever had happened, it was big.
The force was so violent, the entire mist image dissolved.
When it came into focus again, I saw Hades kneeling in the ruins, holding the broken form of Maria di Angelo. Fires still burned all around him. Lightning flashed across the sky, and thunder rumbled.
Thalia and Jason hung their heads, still couldn't comprehend the fact that their father would do such a thing out of paranoia. That's against everything he fought in the Roman camp. His thoughts are incoherant.
Piper took his hand and squeezed lightly to bring him back to the present. Everyone was lost in thought.
Grover cleared his throat to get the attention on the book.
Little Nico and Bianca stared at their mother uncomprehendingly. The Fury Alecto appeared behind them, hissing and flapping her leathery wings. The children didn't seem to notice her.
"Zeus!" Hades shook his fist at the sky. "I will crush you for this! I will bring her back!"
"My lord, you cannot," Alecto warned. "You of all immortals must respect the laws of death."
Hades glowed with rage. I thought he would show his true form and vaporize his own children, but at the last moment he seemed to regain control.
Everyone let out a breath.
"Take them," he told Alecto, choking back a sob. "Wash their memories clean in the Lethe and bring them to the Lotus Hotel. Zeus will not harm them there."
"As you wish, my lord," Alecto said. "And the woman's body?
"Take her as well," he said bitterly. "Give her the ancient rites."
Alecto, the children, and Maria's body dissolved into shadows, leaving Hades alone in the ruins.
"I warned you," a new voice said.
Hades turned. A girl in a multicolored dress stood by the smoldering remains of the sofa. She had short black hair and sad eyes. She was no more than twelve. I didn't know her, but she looked strangely familiar.
"You dare come here?" Hades growled. "I should blast you to dust!"
"You cannot," the girl said. "The power of Delphi protects me."
Everyone shivered at realizing the girl was the mummy in the attic until last year.
With a chill, I realized I was looking at the Oracle of Delphi, back when she was alive and young.
Somehow, seeing her like this was even spookier than seeing her as a mummy.
Once again goosebumps appeared on everyone.
"You've killed the woman I loved!" Hades roared. "Your prophecy brought us to this.'"
"It's not like she created the prophecy or orchestrated the murder." Thalia said indignantly. Everyone nodded.
He loomed over the girl, but she didn't flinch.
"Zeus ordained the explosion to destroy the children," she said, "because you defied his will. I had nothing to do with it. And I did warn you to hide them sooner."
"I couldn't! Maria would not let me! Besides, they were innocent."
"So, he takes his anger on another innocent" Annabeth said stiffly.
"Nevertheless, they are your children, which makes them dangerous. Even if you put them away in the Lotus Hotel, you only delay the problem. Nico and Bianca will never be able to rejoin the world lest they turn sixteen."
"It's not a good thing to tell him that, when he's agitated" Rachel muttered, finally figuring out the fate of her predecessor.
"Because of your so-called Great Prophecy. And you have forced me into an oath to have no other children. You have left me with nothing!"
"I foresee the future," the girl said. "I cannot change it."
Black fire lit the god's eyes, and I knew something bad was coming. I wanted to yell at the girl to hide or run.
Everyone in the clearing too.
"Then, Oracle, hear the words of Hades," he growled. "Perhaps I cannot bring back Maria. Nor can I bring yon an early death. But your soul is still mortal, and I can curse you."
"Gods, no" everyone groaned in defeat.
The girl's eyes widened. "You would not—"
"I swear," Hades said, "as long as my children remain outcasts, as long as I labor under the curse of your Great Prophecy, the Oracle of Delphi will never have another mortal host. You will never rest in peace. No other will take your place. Your body will wither and die, and still the Oracle's spirit will be locked inside you. You will speak your bitter prophecies until you crumble to nothing. The Oracle will die with you!"
"Since you're the new Oracle, his curse is cleared then? You said you're an Oracle recently and the last Oracle was around before the battle. After the war then?" Jason enquired the readhead. she nodded.
The girl screamed, and the misty image was blasted to shreds. Nico fell to his knees in Persephone's garden, his face white with shock. Standing in front of him was the real Hades, towering in his black robes and scowling down at his son.
"Not good"
"And just what," he asked Nico, "do you think you're doing?"
A black explosion filled my dreams. Then the scene changed.
Everyone let out another breath. That drained them.
Rachel Elizabeth Dare was walking along a white sand beach. She wore a swimsuit with a T-shirt wrapped around her waist. Her shoulders and face were sunburned.
Everyone glanced at her wondering what it is this time.
She knelt and began writing in the surf with her finger. I tried to make out the letters. I thought my dyslexia was acting up until I realized she was writing in Ancient Greek.
That was impossible. The dream had to be false.
Rachel finished writing a few words and muttered, "What in the world?"
I can read Greek, but I only recognized one word before the sea washed it away: Περσεύς. My name: Perseus.
Rachel stood abruptly and backed away from the surf.
"Oh, gods," she said. "That's what it means."
"what's what" Leo muttered.
She turned and ran, kicking up sand as she raced back to her family's villa.
She pounded up the porch steps, breathing hard. Her father looked up from his Wall Street Journal
"Dad." Rachel marched up to him. "We have to go back."
Everyone looked quizzically
Her dad's mouth twitched, like he was trying to remember how to smile. "Back? We just got here."
"There's trouble in New York. Percy's in danger."
"Ah.."
"When is Percy's not in danger"
"Did he call you?"
"No . . . not exactly. But I know. It's a feeling."
Mr. Dare folded his newspaper. "Your mother and I have been looking forward to this vacation for a long time."
"No you haven't! You both hate the beach! You're just too stubborn to admit it."
"Now, Rachel—"
"I'm telling you something is wrong in New York! The whole city . . . I don't know what exactly, but it's under attack."
Her father sighed. "I think we would've heard some thing like that on the news."
"No," Rachel insisted. "Not this kind of attack. Have you had any calls since we got here?"
Her father frowned. "No . . . but it is the weekend, in the middle of the summer."
"You always get calls," Rachel said. "You've got to admit that's strange."
"When you put it that way, it's both." Travis shrugged.
Her father hesitated. "We can't just leave. We've spent a lot of money."
"Money is the least of his worries." Rachel muttered.
"Look," Rachel said. "Daddy . . . Percy needs me. I have to deliver a message. It's life or death."
"What message? What are you talking about?"
"I can't tell you.
"Then you can't go."
Rachel closed her eyes like she was getting up her courage. "Dad . . . let me go, and I'll make a deal with you."
Annabeth once again hugged the readhead, mumbled a silent thank you.
Mr. Dare sat forward. Deals were something he understood. "I'm listening."
"Clarion Ladies Academy. I'll—I'll go there in the fall. I won't even complain. But you have to get me back to New York right now."
"Wow, Rachel, that took guts." Piper said.
"You're awesome. You just earned my respect for you" Leo said dramatically.
Everyone nodded.
"Once again Rachel, Camp half-blood thanks you for everything you've done." Annabeth announced.
He was silent for a long time. Then he opened his phone and made a call.
"Douglas? Prep the plane. We're leaving for New York. Yes . . . immediately."
Rachel flung her arms around him, and her father seemed surprised, like she'd never hugged him before.
"I'll make it up to you, Dad!"
He smiled, but his expression was chilly. He studied her like he wasn't seeing his daughter—just the young lady he wanted her to be, once Clarion Academy got through with her.
"Yes, Rachel," he agreed. "You most certainly will."
The scene faded. I mumbled in my sleep: "Rachel, no!"
"That would've been awkward with Annabeth standing there" Connor snickered.
I was still tossing and turning when Thalia shook me awake.
"Percy," she said. "Come on. It's late afternoon. We've got visitors."
"Visitors in between a war, I don't think so" Jason asked
"You're right, because they're not exactly visitors per se." Thalia nodded.
I sat up, disoriented. The bed was too comfortable, and I hated sleeping in the middle of the day.
"Visitors?" I said.
Thalia nodded grimly. "A Titan wants to see you, under a flag of truce. He has a message from Kronos."
"This is going to be fun" Leo let a low whistle.
"who wants to read next" Grover asked.
"It's getting late, and everyone seems mentally drained. We'll continue tomorrow." Annabeth said, standing up.
Since everyone was thinking the same, no one complained.
After a quick goodbyes, everyone dispersed to their respective cabins to sleep for the night.
Only Annabeth, Thalia, Rachel and Grover remained behind.
Annabeth explained the situation to the two and took their inputs. They prepared a list of things to warn Percy at the Roman camp.
"Let me go see Chiron to update him and I'll meet you at the Poseidon cabin." Grover said.
"No Grover. For the empathy link to work, why don't we use the Hypnos cabin to keep the dreams active. Clovis could help us" Annabeth decided.
"Ok then, tell me about it in the morning, whatever it is!" Thalia said sternly until she nodded.
"I'll try on my end too. The Oracle seemed to be obstructed from me. Something is keeping me accessing the prophetic visions more. The harder I try, the harder it gets to anything coherant."
"Do you have any idea about the source for prophectic obstruction, Annabeth. Like previous cases or possible myths about the Oracle."
"Rachel, there are more than one Oracle under Apollo. After the Oracle of Delphi was captured and closed off by the Python, he decided to divide his domain of prophecies into Oracles, Augeries and Seers. I don't know the exact number of each—" Annabeth suddenly froze.
She had a look of horror on her face.
"Annabeth, what happened? You froze suddenly." Rachel asked, her voice laced with concern and fear for the answer she was going to get now.
"In the myths, Orion is the bane of Apollo and Artemis. But Orion only intended to end Artemis. Apollo had another enemy. The Python, who captured the Oracle of Delphi and took possession of her power and control over the prophecies. What if Gaea managed to free Python from the Tartarus to do the same. It would cut off our future directions." Annabeth said.
Color drained from the other three, listening to the hypothesis.
"Let's hope it's not that guys. We can deal with one problem at a time. Rachel, remind Apollo about Python if you can. That's all we can do for now" Annabeth assured them.
"Meet me at the Hypnos cabin in 30 minutes" Grover announced, then trotted towards the big house.
The girls said their good bye's and went to their own cabins. Rachel ran off to her cave.
Annabeth found Grover at the Hypnos cabin entrance, shaking his head to avoid falling asleep on the porch. He nodded at her and waited for her to knock the door.
The cabin is made of mud walls and a rush roof. A wreath of red poppies hangs on the door. Inside, there's a hearth with a crackling fire. Soft violin music is always playing, and the air always smells like fresh laundry. There are always plenty of empty beds, all with feather pillows, fresh sheets and fluffy quilts.
A minute or so later, a sleepy teenage boy in pony pyjamas appeared at door groggily, still in sleep. His eyes gained focus on the blonde for a second before he started dozing off standing.
Annabeth stifled a yawn "Hey, Clovis, wake up."
"Um, Annabeth.. what are you doin'ere" he mumbled sleepily leaning on the door.
"We need to contact someone using the dreamscape you talked about. Can we use your cabin for a while." Annabeth fought against her heavy eyelids.
"Oh, feel free to.. I'll just sleep here. Wake me up, if you need anyt—" the more he talked to the both of them, the more they felt like their bodies are commanding them to take a nap right now.
Sheer willpower made Annabeth drag a sleepy Grover into the cabin and sat him on an empty chair before going for the tin bowl water that Clovis suggested Jason to take during his memory search. She held it for extra measure.
"Grover, what do you want me to do? Do you remember everything you need to warn him about. Remind him that Tyson was in the area and was searching for him. Remind him to follow the rules of the camp. Most importantly, tell him we're on the way and stay alive until then." she said the last line with determination.
"Yeah.. I will. Now stay put Annabeth, I'll try to link you in too, if we're lucky—" Grover started before he dozed off.
"Grover, what do you mean link me in, link me to where—" Annabeth abruptly froze understanding Grover's intention. He's trying to get her into the empathy link between him and Percy.
What does she need to do then? Look out for a sign? Read Grover's expressions?
"Ugh! tell me something completely to make some sense, goatboy" Annabeth threw her hands in frustration, unable the keep the tired and groggy feeling out of it.
"Then sleep for a while Annabeth, it makes things easier.." Clovis trailed off in his sleep from his bed. Is he sleep talking or giving her a direction to work on.
Yes, the empathy link works through dreams, Percy told her about them. What if she took a nap and Grover could find her in dream?
She drank the bowl and gave in to the grogginess overtaking her, and just like that, dozed off in the chair opposite Grover's.
Mist surrounded her unlike darkness in her nightmares. She seemed to be on a narrow walkway made of bluestone or shale, maybe. The walkway was only visible for about three feet around her.
Weird. This seemed to be a dream with...abnormal surrounding, but everything seemed so...real. The crumbline stone beneath her bare feet, the cool touch of the mist surrounding her and smell of woods around her.
Just like the last dream. A tiny spark of hope rose in her chest. Could this another significant vision of Percy? Her heart raced. A melancholic sense of disbelief and relief washed over her since the previous vision when he said her name atlast.
She believed, atleast for her sanity's sake, that Percy remembered her name. Her only clues about him was Hera's dream to order her to go get Jason and the vision of him speaking to a panda while travelling in search of Camp Jupiter. Could this be something significant?
She squinted into the mist around to find a direction but couldn't find anything. It was as if she was alone on the walkway.
Just like always, she took a deep breath and marched forward. The mist twisted around her eerily, like it was making way without any stirrings around her.
A dark shape appeared in the midst of the mist, coming towards her - like from another walkway beside her. It looked humanoid- little larger than her with small tap sounds for every step nearing her. She squinted into the mist trying to make out the shape running towards her. She wondering moving aside into the other walkway would make the humanoid shape visible.
Her instincts screamed her to avoid veering off the path. The shape slowed down of his own will, as it passed beside her. The gait and the size looked awfully familiar to her.
"Grover!" she shouted to get his attention.
He jerked around, searching for the source, wide eyed. Relief, confusion and grief mixed on his face- not that she can look clearly.
"Annabeth?!" he exclaimed in shock and confusion.
"Grover, where are we? what—" he was slowly inching away from her.
"Move forward" he shouted around. "Keep going until you see him. Tell him to stay put! He didn't seem to remember me! He's close, but the trail goes off if he leaves!"
"What?" she froze. Grover was speeding up again. "What are you—"
"Annabeth!" Grover cried. "Catch upto him! Remind him to stay put! Hurry"
He was almost invisible now, and she could hardly hear him. "What? Who? Grover!"
She stood still in mist, reached out a curling finger for her ear. She heard Grover's voice, as though shouted from a long way off. Just one single word, but a word that made her heart skip a beat: "Percy."
She spun around and ran in the direction Grover had pointed to. Heedless of the crumbling rock scrapping against her feet, she dashed forward as fast as she could.
The mist on her left started to thin, and another walkway of red rock appeared. A single figure stood facing away from her. A little farther away to make out his features, but Annabeth would recognize him anywhere.
Her breath caught, and she choked back sob. He slowly towards the sound, confused and alert. He was still faraway to speak directly.
She dashed forward to reach him. His appereance looked the same, with some scratches on his forearms and neck. He wore a purple tshirt that highlighted his toned arms and lean figure. He grew another couple of inches than the last time she saw him.
Tears threatened her eyes. His confused sea-green eyes that she had missed so much in months are still searching for the sound, looking around for her.
Grover knew where he was! He and Tyson had been searching, and… Oh, gods! "He's close, but the trail goes off if he leaves!" Tyson was close to finding him! That had been what Grover meant.
She dashed forward until she faced him and reached out to him on the other walkway. ""Thank the gods!" she cried. There was joy, relief, peace, and then anger in her features. She took him all in.
He looked straight at her, found her before him. Recognition crossed his face, hope and disbelief.
All the warnings she'd listed out went out of the window. She took a moment to drink him all in. For the first time in months, she genuinely relaxed.
"For months and months we couldn't see you!" she cried. "Are you all right?"
Percy too, stared at her, drinking her in. "Are you real?" he whispered. Joy and disbelief battled in his eyes.
She froze at his question. Tears flooded her with relief, serenity and love. She'd asked the same question to Percy in her nightmares a thousand times in the last six months. The torturous answer had always been who are you? with a hostile look on his face.
There was none of that. The Percy facing her now knew who she was. There was no doubt or confusion in his tone either—he was just afraid she was going to disappear again.
The mist hissed suddenly, and whipped out to wrap around her ankles. She looked down in disbelief. It felt like any regular fog, but her contours faded where it touched her. No!
Percy kept looking at her, his face desperate. He was waiting for some assurance from her, a promise to find him or a lead to find her. Her features were coated in mist now, her vision turning foggy.
There were so many things she'd yet to tell him, all the words and feelings balled together in the back of her throat in desperation to get out at once. She doesn't have time to sort out and relay it to him. So, she seized Grover's instructions.
"Stay put!" she screamed. "It'll be easier for Tyson to find you! Stay where you are!"
There's one more thing she had to say, but before she could, Percy's walkway started to sped out of her sight. "I love you!" she cried out in a small voice.
Before completely fading away, Percy's eyes took on unmaskable joy, relief flooding them as he mouthed the same words to her before the mist reached her face, whiteness took over everything.
Annabeth woke up groggily and squinted at the light on the nightstand. She looked around to find herself seated in a chair in the Hypnos cabin. Grover, somewhere along the night, moved himself onto the floor and was snoring, soundly asleep. All the cabin members are still asleep— they were always asleep.
She stood up, a little disoriented about her bearings due to the position she slept, stretched her limbs to clear the grogginess.
Grover looked fast asleep and she decided against to wake him up. She left the Hypnos cabin to walk to Poseidon cabin where she crawled into Percy's bed to take a whiff. Last night memories flooded her as a goofy grin spread across her features.
Percy remembered her. Her of all people. He remembered her.
Wait just a moment. The talk with the panda reminded her of Percy's memory status— he doesn't remember anything other than her.
She doesn't know why, but him remembering only her left some accomplishment inside a part of her mind. The part that stubbornly refused Percy forgetting everything about her. The part now screaming in victory like— I told you so. The part which dominates her when it only came to Percy. The part that she'd clamped down for the last five years.
She's left with serenity and relief that the part of her which belonged to Percy was right, all along. That the remaning part, which screamed Athenian in her was wrong all along.
She woke up after a moment to start her day early. The alarm clock displays 5.12 AM. She's three hours before breakfast. She went to the bathroom to brush her teeth. While she was at it, she took her time to brush her curls and tie them up in a high ponytail.
Her legs took her to the beach, sat on a dune, feet brushing lightly in the water. After Percy's disappearance, whenever she came to beach, a sense of melancholy lingers with her along with a touch of solitude and familiarity. Now, she felt at ease and peace with herself along with the ocean.
Water always reminds her of Percy— captivating, full of life and mirth. Gods forbid, if they ever breakup, she can't bring herself to look at the beach like that again. Nonetheless, they're bound together for life, it seems. They most certainly can't live without each other. They would scoure the earth to find the other.
Piper, as usual, was taking her morning walk around the woods, saw the blonde on the beach and started towards her. She made some noise in the sand to alert the demigod of her presence. She sat next to the blonde and watched the ocean water calmly.
Glancing at the older girl, Piper was reminded of all the times she interacted with the blonde. She used to have a pained look on her face every time she visited the beach or the times her boyfriend was mentioned. Now, she looked right at home. A daughter of Athena, at home near the ocean—her mother's bitter rival. Ridiculous.
Piper was reminded of the conversation she'd with the blonde on Valentine's day.
flashback
Piper is annoyed that Jason either just couldn't take a hint or doesn't like her at all to leave her hanging on a Valentine's day.
At the start of the year, most of his memories were back, along with a certain beautiful co-praetor. Jason was keeping his distance from her since then with an excuse of sorting through his memories. The daughter of Aprodite most certainly knew that he kept his distance to clear his feelings for her and a certain collegue of his.
She roamed aroung the camp and decided to drop by the big house only to find the blonde girl leaning over a table by the fireplace. There are maps haphazardly sprawled over the table, Annabeth sat on a chair and leaning over with her nose close to a map of America.
"Annabeth?"
The daughter of Athena startled slightly, turning to look at Piper with a frown. When she caught up with who called her, she spared Piper a small smile, leaning back and relaxing a bit.
"Hey Piper, what's up?"
Piper shrugged and settled into the chair opposite to her. "Nothin' much. What's all this?"
Piper knew Annabeth had been despairingly trying to figure out the location of the Roman camp. When she asked Jason about its location or any details, all he got from it was a headache.
Annabeth sighed in frustration "I don't know. These maps lead from nowhere to nowhere. There are a couple of places I think it might be... but then I find others. It's driving me crazy."
Piper decided to voice out her early contemplatations. "You miss him, don't you? You're working so hard for him."
The blonde stared at the brunette for a long time as if trying to figure out what Piper wanted out of the conversation.
"Ofcourse I miss him, Piper. He took half of me when he went missing. I don't want to notice he's not here and I need to know I did everything I could, exhausted every possibility to get him back."
"You don't want to think about the fact that he may not remember you." Piper proposed softly, observing the blonde need to keep herself busy.
Annabeth looked at Piper sharply, a retort at the tip of her mouth. She looked slightly stricken when she noticed Piper wasn't being spiteful, but trying to make her accept the painful truth. Piper watched Annabeth slump against the chair, her face a mix of emotions.
"To be honest Piper, as long as he's safe and alive, then I can deal with anything else. I just hope he knows that even if he can't remember anyone and feels completely alone, that someone is searching for him, that someone cares."
"A part of me still doesn't believe that he doesn't remember me, Piper." she gave her a tight smile.
"Why? Hera switched them only after erasing their memories. What makes you think that Percy remembers you?" Piper asked weakly.
"I don't think it's literally possible for Percy to not remember me, Piper. I don't think you know this. But I don't only remain in his memories. I am literally half his soul. Godess or no, Hera cannot take me from him. His memories may be gone. He maynot remember my name or my relation to him. But I can say this much. That Percy knows there's a girl out there for him and he needs to get back to her." Annabeth said it with a straight face.
"What I'm asking is how can you say this?" Piper lightly smiled, thinking that Annabeth may have a little too much faith in Percy.
"Some part of me believes that, Piper. I call it the Percy part of me. The irrational and unconventional part of me." Annabeth reminisced.
"You don't think some other girl at Camp Jupiter will get him before we reach there." Piper enquired.
Annabeth snorted. "Piper, do you know how we got together. A lot of denial on my part, a lot obliviousness on Percy's part and a lot of goddesses and girls trying to get between us."
"The head honcho of the damned Titans couldn't keep us apart, the Wisdom goddess of my mother couldn't keep us apart, the king of the gods couldn't keep us apart. A million monsters couldn't keep us apart. The end of the world couldn't keep us apart. One evil earth mother and some girls think they could keep us apart? Piece of cake" Annabeth retorted with a grin
Piper smiled back and considered that this maybe the Annabeth Chase before her boyfriend went MIA. She was brought out of her contemplations however when she spied Annabeth looking at the sympathetically.
"What? What happened?"
Annabeth shifted uncomfortably in her chair.
"Piper, I just, I want you to be prepared if—"
Piper leaned forward, worried. The daughter of Athena took a deep breath, she appeared to steel herself and looked Piper in the eye firmly, but not unkindly.
"I'm not being spiteful Piper. I hope there's no one like me waiting for Jason in the other camp."
Piper felt the colour drain from her face a little, "What do you mean?" she asked weakly, her fear regarding Jason's behaviour rearing its ugly head. It felt more painful, more affirming coming from Annabeth.
"I... after knowing what it's like being with and without Percy, I know I'll never let anyone touch him, never let anyone take him away from me again, never let someone get between us. I just..."
"I just hope there's no one in the Roman camp as in love with Jason as I am with Percy."
Annabeth moved to walk past her, briefly squeezing her shoulder as she passed. Piper clenched her fists, heart aching, eyes watering but hard. Oh, how she knew that love was a tricky business as she thought of Annabeth's face as she looked over the maps, drawn and determined, willing to go to the ends of the Earth for the boy she loved. Then she thought of Jason, how her feelings for him have grown beyond her control in these short few weeks.
Piper narrowed her eyes, determined to go to the fight that she refuse to lose.
flashback
Piper was jolted out of her reverie when the blonde wave her hand over her face to get her attention.
"Yes, Annabeth?"
"It's time for breakfast, let's go to the pavilion" Annabeth already stood up.
They both arrived at the dining pavilion to get a quick breakfast.
Before they enter the pavilion, Thalia, Rachel, Grover rounded them both and dragged them to a corner to avoid eavesdroppers.
"Spill" They chorused.
Annabeth took an amused glace at the three and break out into a goofy grin.
Thalia, Rachel tackled her into a tight hug with tears spilling out of the three. Piper looked out of context and Grover looked grief-stricken.
"What are you all doing? Percy doesn't remember anything. He looked confused and said he doesn't have change to give me. I don't understand why are you all celebrating before the news." Grover asked sadly.
"Grover, Jason mentioned saytrs at Camp Jupiter doesn't do much. They...they beg for a living." Grover looked shell shocked at the roman counterparts. Saytrs have responsible job and respect here.
"What are you talking about, goatboy. He remembers Annabeth. Just look at her." Thalia exclaimed. Rachel nodded beside her.
"What! I don't understand. He definitely didn't recognize me" Grover asked hurt.
"Percy atleast remembered her. Jason doesn't even know his name. What do you have to say about it." Thalia consoled him. Grover nodded.
"What? Percy remembered you? I don't believe this." Piper exclaimed.
"Even I didn't believe it at first. But it's true. He recognized me. I couldn't point out all the things we discussed, but I did warn him to stay put at camp for Tyson to reach him." Annabeth explained with a bright smile.
"Knowing Kelp head, he'd run off to a quest before Tyson arrives." Thalia declared. Annabeth nodded too, not at all depressed by the fact.
"How come Percy remember you and not others?" Piper asked again.
"Remember I told you I don't believe Percy ever forgetting me, this is the reason. Percy simply couldn't forget me." Annabeth lightly said.
"Let's have breakfast first" Thalia suggested.
xXx
A/N: Man, that took a lot out of me. Annabeth's emotions are all time jumbled to figure them out and weaving a story around is a lot harder than I thought it would. Finally done.
A/N: A lot of fanfictions made Annabeth believed that Percy's doesn't remember her, and goes out of her mind if he found another girl. I find this rather conflicting. Percy needs a motivation to take up a task, what better way than a get back to his girl. With Annabeth's wit and wisdom, she can connect the dots that if Percy remember nothing, he won't strive to get back his memories without even knowing they were precious or not. He'd probably start a new life.
And, only Annabeth know the full extent of his curse and the bond between the wielder and his anchor- his sole reason to exist is her. Goddess or no, Hera cannot take her away from him. She was distraught over him, sure. She missed him, sure. But she wasn't anxious about him getting with another girl in the canon. So I made up a backstory for it.
So I made Annabeth having conflicting thoughts about his memory loss. The less rational and more emotional part of her mind screams at her to believe Percy remembered her.
In this, I portrayed Annabeth as a teen, in love with Percy to forget all about the curse and the strength of their bond. Like I mentioned, she tends to be irrational regarding Percy. She's emotionally distraught. I'd like to post another story - after the giant war with Annabeth being the ever intelligent Daughter of Athena to voice out her suspicions and reasons for Percy only remembeing her and the cause behind the couple's addition to the next prophecy.
Would you like that? Tell me about it.