Chapter 47 - My Story Gets Hijacked

Hey guys! Percy here. Look, I totally appreciate that Annabeth's writing her side to the story. That's great! Especially since I was, you know, in a magical coma for most of it. But I'm going to take over real quick. She already got the chance to tell you about our reunion, so hey, it's my turn now. And she's taking a nap after studying all day so she totally won't know that I'm writing in her journal until it's too late! Mwahahaha!

Ok, so where was I? Oh, right. I was in the Senate meeting and we had just decided to go meet the others on the Argo II instead of, you know, killing them. Which I was happy about since Annabeth was on board. I led Frank and Hazel out of the Senate building and looked up at the ship. It was… huge. I'd seen it in my dream, but that was totally different from seeing a giant Greek warship flying towards you. It's about 200 feet long, and heavily armed with crossbows and ballistae and shields all around the rim of the ship. It does not look like a peaceful "Hi! Nice to meet you!" kind of vehicle.

At the prow of the ship was a small figure wearing a toga and purple cloak with blonde hair. At first I hoped it was Annabeth but the hair was too short. I mean, she could've cut her hair, and that would've been fine, but… anyway, it was Jason Grace. I'd never met the guy, but I'd seen him in dreams and had a pretty good idea that it was him. He was trying to show the Romans that this was his ship, he came in peace back to his home, etc.

I watched Jason disappear from the prow, clearly trying to handle something on board. Despite all the things that could go wrong, I was practically floating at the idea of seeing Annabeth again. All the weeks I'd been awake without my memories, she'd been what I'd held onto. Her face, her voice. Reminding me that I had something to fight for, even when everything went wrong.

Frank looked at me, worried. "Do you know who's on the ship?"

I shook my head. "But I…. well, I'm hoping Annabeth will be."

Reyna shot me a nervous look. I could remember, now, what had happened on Circe's island. How Annabeth and I had been the ones to destroy her home. Of course Reyna would be nervous about her coming here, maybe destroying Reyna's new home. I continued walking towards the ship, one arm around Frank, one around Hazel, when I saw her. Her face peered over the side of the boat, looking for - me, I realized. She's looking for me. I watched her find me and her emotions play across her face - love, fear, uncertainty. Then her "Commander Annabeth" face came back. The one she wore during the Titan War, even when her shoulder was hurt and she was near death. It said, "Hey, the world may be ending, but I've got this. I totally have a plan." She turned back from the ship.

"Is that her?" Reyna asked quietly. I couldn't help it - I was grinning like an idiot. I nodded. Suddenly, the ship froze in midair, stopping its descent. There were several long, quiet moments until a rope ladder was thrown overboard. Slowly, I saw Jason Grace, then Annabeth, then two others climb down the rope ladder. The crowds parted until Reyna, Frank, Hazel and I could advance to greet the newcomers. I watched, nervously, as Reyna and Annabeth sized each other up. They were clearly reading a lot about each other just from this first encounter. Annabeth had always been good at that sort of thing, finding weaknesses and stuff just by looking at an enemy. It made me nervous to see her looking that way at Reyna. And even more nervous to see Reyna looking back with that same expression.

Jason and the other two demigods stepped to Annabeth's sides. I heard many Romans murmuring about Jason returning after all this time away. I wondered if I'd get a similar reaction when I returned to Camp Half-Blood.

I stepped out of the crowd so Annabeth could see me. I grinned at her, since that seemed like the most appropriate reaction. What I wanted to do was run and grab her, hold her in my arms, assure myself that she was real and that all this madness was really over. That I'd found my memories, my old life, my old friends.

I watched her face for any sign. She was still wearing her Commander Annabeth face, but I saw something under it. A bit of fear, doubt, worry - then, as she realized that I remembered exactly who she was, it changed. Disbelief, wonder, excitement.

"Jason Grace." Reyna said, calmly and cooly. "My former colleague. I welcome you home. And these, your friends -"

I didn't mean to, but I ran straight for Annabeth. I couldn't help it, I'd waited months for this. I'd awoken in the Wolf House in April knowing nothing but my name and a few small memories of Annabeth. She'd been my lifeline, my hope, my…. Well, you get the idea. Thankfully, Annabeth ran for me at the same time. I felt the crowd tense, doubtless wondering if this was an attack after the crazy battle with the Giant. I threw my arms around her, pulling her tight to me. I kissed her, and thankfully, she kissed back. She still loved me, even after all the worry I'd put her through these last few months. A bomb could very well have destroyed the earth at that moment and I don't think I would've cared. She smelled like I remembered - like books, her lemon shampoo, and a little bit of weapons polish. I felt her nearly vibrate against me, sharing my feelings of excitement mixed with absolute peace. I pulled away, suddenly wanting to make sure this wasn't another dream. That this was real. I looked at her face. Had she had that scar across her forehead last time we met? But her eyes were the same - stormy grey, but lighting up in happiness.

"Gods," I whispered. "I never thought -"

Annabeth gripped my wrist and, before I could react, was thrown over her shoulder, slamming against the pavement. Classic Annabeth judo-flip.

Now, before we continue, I'd like to clear something up. So, if you're a mortal or, heck, even a normal demigod, you should never judo-flip a friend without their permission. But Annabeth and I aren't mortals or even normal demigods. After the Titan War, Annabeth and I created a fun game - "What can Percy Survive with the Curse of Achilles?" Turns out - I could survive a lot. Once when I went to pick her up from her work on Olympus, we decided to enjoy the skyline on the top of the Empire State Building (the mortal top, not Olympus). Annabeth threw me off. I landed on my feet and was totally fine. My sneakers were not. Neither was the sidewalk. But hey, they hadn't finished fixing the pavement after the Titan War so I don't think anyone even noticed.

Another time we went to a skate park. Annabeth isn't so good on a skateboard and ended the day totally scratched up. We ended up having to leave early, though, after I landed directly on my head without a helmet and several people gasped. I had just shrugged it off and got up to continue but Annabeth warned me the mortals would find that odd, so I pretended to lean on her for support until we were around the corner. Then we lost it laughing. We've had Thalia try to shoot me (No luck), Nico try his Stygian blade (Nothing), even Grover and Tyson try to bash me with wooden sticks. Annabeth had a field day with trying every weapon at the Camp armory on me. I've been totally fine. Sometimes it stings a little, but no real damage has ever come to me.

Why am I mentioning all of this? Because Annabeth didn't know that I'd lost the Curse of Achilles when I arrived at Camp Jupiter. She had absolutely no idea that she could actually hurt me. We've talked about it since then and she's apologized. So, yeah, while I definitely don't advise greeting someone with a judo-flip, well, at the time, Annabeth thought this was the equivalent of like a five-high. So we're fine.

Oh, also, I'd kinda left my girlfriend without any note or anything about where I'd gone. For months. And even though it wasn't my fault I'd disappeared and I'd tried to Iris message her during the quest and all, well, Annabeth had months of worry and fear built up. I knew her pretty well and I remembered how sad and worried and angry she'd been when she thought I'd died but I'd ended up on Calypso's island. That had been two WEEKS. We'd been away from each other for seven MONTHS now, with no way for me to contact her and let her know I was alive. So, yeah, this reaction? Totally normal. And honestly? I liked it, because it's kinda hard to imagine something's a dream when your whole body hurts from hitting the pavement. All right - back to the story.

I heard my friends cry out in alarm and try to run to my aid. Reyna stopped them with a simple command - "Hold! Stand down!"

Annabeth's knee planted firmly in my ribs. Her forearm pressed against my neck. I'd been put into this hold many times by her, generally I'd surrender and we'd watch the history channel instead of an actual movie and that was that. It felt so familiar, and after all these months…. Her face was so close to mine I wanted to kiss her, but I saw tears fill her eyes.

"If you ever leave me again," She said, and I wasn't sure whether she was about to scream or sob. But I saw in her eyes a depth of love that I could only hope she knew I returned. "I swear to all the gods -"

I laughed. Not because Annabeth isn't scary - trust me, she's plenty scary - but because it felt so good, so right, to be back with her.

"Consider me warned." I told her. "I missed you too." She helped me up. I wanted to kiss her, and I could tell she felt the same, but we were, well, in front of everyone. And they were all staring at us. I could see confusion, anger, bewilderment and a lot of other things on the faces of the Romans. Jason Grace looked amused at the whole thing. So did Frank. Hazel kept looking back and forth between Annabeth and I, like she wanted to make sure this was really ok. I gave her a quick smile to reassure her.

"So, yeah." Jason said, grinning at us. "It's good to be back. Reyna, uh, Romans, this is Piper McLean, daughter of Aphrodite." Piper looked a little upset, I wasn't sure why, but turned a smile to Reyna. "And this is Leo Valdez." Jason explained. "He's the main builder of the ship, the Argo II. We're going to take it to Greece to go beat Gaea and all. And this is Annabeth. Uh, normally she doesn't judo-flip people."

Reyna gave a small smile, the most she'd ever give in front of this many, as she looked at Annabeth. "You sure you're not a Roman, Annabeth? Or an Amazon?"

Annabeth smiled and held out her hand to Reyna. "I only attack my boyfriend like that." She assured the Romans. Which, well, isn't quite true. Annabeth attacks people all the time during training. Oh, and she totally kills monsters and other baddies. "Pleased to meet you." She finished.

"It seems we have a lot to discuss." Reyna said, clasping Annabeth's hand tightly. I was grateful to see that Reyna did not look like she wanted to kill Annabeth for her part in destroying Circe's island. "Centurions!"

The centurions came forward, and Frank and Hazel stuck to my side. I felt Annabeth shift beside me, getting a reading on my new friends. Reyna gave out orders easily. I wasn't really listening, I was enjoying feeling Annabeth's hand in mine and how right it felt. It was like the last piece that I'd been missing was here, and everything was going to be ok. Then I heard Octavian.

"You're letting these guys into the camp? Reyna, the security risks -"

"We're not taking them into the camp, Octavian." Reyna said calmly. "We'll eat here, in the forum."

"Oh, much better!" Have I mentioned how much I dislike Octavian? "You want us to relax in the shadow of their warship."

"These are our guests." Reyna replied in that clipped way that meant that she wasn't about to let you argue. "We welcome them. We will talk to them. As Augur, you should burn an offering to thank the gods for bringing Jason back to us safely."

"Good idea. Go burn your bears, Octavian." I commented. I liked being able to order that guy around. I saw Jason shoot me a grin. He must've felt the same way about the annoying priest.

"You have my orders. Go." Reyna commanded. Everyone split up and Octavian shot me a murderous glare, then a suspicious one at Annabeth. But I wasn't worried. I had Annabeth back and despite her threats, well, there was no chance she'd let Octavian kill me. In fact, I was pretty sure that in a fight, well, I'd bet on Annabeth against just about anybody. And if Annabeth and I were together? It felt like we could take on the whole earth and win.

"Don't worry about Octavian." I whispered to Annabeth. "Most of the Romans are good people, like Frank and Hazel here. And Reyna. We'll be fine."

I saw Annabeth's jaw tighten and she looked worried, but I wasn't sure why. She didn't know Frank and Hazel yet. She looked into my eyes, then up at the ship, like she was debating if she could just grab me and run. I totally understood the feeling - we'd been away from each other for so long….. But, I really wanted Annabeth to see the city, see why I loved this place so much. For the first time in my life, I saw a future past high school, past just finishing the next grade. And I saw that future here, with Annabeth. Going to college, living our life, starting a family - woah, Percy. Slow down. We don't even know if the world is ending this summer. But, I wanted that future so badly. If the gods were to offer me immortality again, well, I'd gladly trade it for the chance to live a normal life with Annabeth. I hoped that she'd see the possibilities here, the life we could live. Demigods die young. I'd always been told that. I'd expected to die last year, before I turned sixteen. Now? Now I could see a totally different future for me, for us, and I would have done anything to make it real.

"We'll be fine." She murmured, but I could tell she didn't believe it. Her grip tightened on my hand, like she could make me never disappear again by sheer willpower. And that hurt me. Not her grip, though that wasn't a gentle touch, but I realized I'd hurt her without meaning to. Annabeth's had a lot of people abandon her. Her dad and stepmom chased her away, Thalia died, then came back to life, then left to be a Hunter. Luke left her to go to the Titan's side, then died. She lost siblings before I got to Camp, and, well, Annabeth's always been scared of people leaving her. "I want to build something permanent." She'd told me. And she'd hinted that it could be us. But then…. Then I'd left her too. I blinked away tears. I'd never meant to hurt her, but I'd been taken from her all the same. Never again, I promised myself. I will never, no matter what, leave her again. I didn't promise on the River Styx, though I wanted to, because, well, I wasn't sure what the boundary was there. Like, if I had to go to the bathroom, would the River Styx know that wasn't included in the promise?

"Excellent." Reyna said, turning to Jason. "Let's talk. And we can have a proper reunion."