A/N - I'm still alive! I've decided I'm bad at scheduling chapter posts, so you'll get two chapters for DE today. I'm working on the next chapter for PO right now, and I started the next for TMAT but I left my copy of TTC at home so I need to get it before I can finish. Should have both updated within a week! Aiming for two new chapters each by December, so we'll see.
Character rights belong to Rick Riordan.
12 - Annabeth
Annabeth took a deep breath. She looked at her dad as she linked her arm in his and gave him a watery smile. He gave a shaky smile in return. "Ready?" he asked quietly.
Annabeth turned her gaze down the aisle to where Percy was waiting for her. The love in his eyes was enough to quiet even the fears of abandonment she had carried for so many years. His smile could be seen from Olympus, she was sure. She turned back to her dad. "Yeah, I am."
Annabeth thoughts whirled surreally as her dad walked her down to the altar they had set up on the shores of Long Island, just outside of Camp Half-Blood. Even after all of the long weeks spent planning, the fact that she was actually getting married still seemed like a dream. Most demigods didn't even live long enough to get married. She never thought she'd find anyone that she could trust, that she could love, enough to marry. Hades, even the fact that she had repaired her relationship with her mortal family enough to let her dad walk her down the aisle was due to Percy.
As many times as Percy had told her he loved her, she didn't think she'd quite understand why, but she'd do anything she could to make his life as good as he'd made hers.
All too soon and yet not soon enough, they were up front, her dad leaving a kiss on her temple and giving Percy a hug before leaving to his designated seat. Annabeth smiled brightly at Percy, feeling flushed. Her soon-to-be husband's eyes sparkled. She raised an eyebrow just enough for him to see and he squinted minimally in return. Yep, definitely almost crying, Annabeth thought fondly.
Chiron cleared his throat, his usually dapper style spruced up a bit for the day. Hera had thrown a fit when Percy and she had informed the goddess that their mentor would be officiating instead of her, but after the crap Hera had put them through over the years, they didn't have much sympathy.
"We are gathered here today to celebrate the union between Perseus Jackson and Annabeth Chase." Annabeth grinned at the face Percy pulled at hearing his full name. "Over the years, they have protected each other's back, and their hearts. Together, they have accomplished much that others would deem impossible." Chiron smiled at them. "They are, to date, two of my pride and joys as students, and I am thankful I had but even a small part in their training and in their lives."
Annabeth felt her eyes water, and Percy's gentle squeeze through their held hands informed her that he was just as composed as her. She smiled warmly at the centaur. He gazed at her and Percy warmly for a moment before continuing.
"Though I can't imagine anyone would, before we begin this ceremony, does anyone object to this union? Speak now, or eternally hold your peace."
At that moment, Annabeth felt her heart drop. A chill ran up her spine. Percy's fingers gripped her tightly for a moment, enough for her to know he also felt something about to go very wrong. It seemed slow motion that Annabeth watched Athena stand up with a glare and denounce her daughter's impending marriage. Her ears felt full of cotton as she watched Athena argue with Chiron, Sally, even Fredric. She had almost expected a monster attack at some point. Her mother actually being arrogant enough to try to ruin her wedding? She hadn't.
She had turned to the audience when the yelling started, so she turned her head to lock eyes with Percy. His green orbs had darkened considerably, swirling with emotion. Most of it was not particularly pleasant. In that moment, Annabeth felt something deep in herself harden. Her heart turned to lead, cold and unyielding, and her expression twisted with rage.
"Shut up!" she screamed. Athena blinked, surprised, as did the rest of their audience. Annabeth glared at the wisdom goddess. Those around flinched at the intensity of the stare. "How dare you! You stuck up, arrogant, self-absorbed, good for nothing vlacas!"
Athena sneered. "You dare insult-"
"No!" Annabeth interrupted. "My turn to talk." Athena looked taken aback at her vehemence.
"Do you know," Annabeth bit out, "what it's like, being a demigod? To be chased by the stuff of nightmares every day because of who your parent happens to be? To be brushed off as unimportant by half your family and pushed away as a freak by the rest?
"You don't; you can't. We struggle to live past our teens, we strive to capture the attention of our godly parent even for a single fleeting moment, we hide from the mortal world, for what?" The question hung in the air like the acrid smoke of a battlefield. "The most attention we ever get from you is when you come down from your lofty thrones to ruin stuff for us. News flash: we don't really care about your feuds, and we've grown past the point of needing your help."
Athena stood rigid as a statue, hands clenched to her sides. "No daughter of mine will ever marry a son of Poseidon."
Annabeth met the goddess' gaze in silence. She felt more than saw Percy next to her glance around before his shoulders slumped, weary with resignation at something or other he noticed in the crowd. Annabeth knew what she was going to do would not end well.
"So be it." Everyone stared at her shocked, except for Percy, whose hand crept towards his jacket pocket.
"That's it?" Aphrodite asked. "You're just going to leave the love of your life at the altar?" Annabeth turned to her and smiled coldly. Aphrodite visibly flinched, the coy smile melting off her face.
"Oh, no," she drawled, "you misunderstand me. Athena said that no daughter of hers would end up with a child of the sea. If she feels that strongly, then she can consider herself disowned."
"I- what?" Athena sounded so lost in that moment, but Annabeth couldn't find it in herself to give her any sympathy.
"You have done nothing but demand the impossible from me and degrade me and my family at every opportunity, and you don't respect my wishes. You've not been a mother to me, and I refuse to address you as one any longer." Annabeth stood confidently as Athena processed her words. She spread her feet apart slightly. Her arms hung loose at her sides, all of her muscles ready to spring into action at a moment's notice. Athena looked back and forth between Annabeth and Percy, mouth slightly open and eyes wide. In the moment before she blew up, Annabeth saw her eyes narrow and her jaw clench shut.
Athena lunged at Percy, a spear materializing in her outstretched arm as she sped towards him. She came on to them faster than the audience could react, but not too fast for the two of them. Annabeth slapped the spear to the side before Percy could be impaled. As she did, Percy reared his arm back, electricity crawling from his shoulder to his fist as he swung. Athena was blasted to the far end of the aisle, smoke and sparks trailing from her chiton. The audience swung around in astonishment, their movements too fast for them to follow.
"You okay?" Percy asked. Annabeth nodded and he gave her a grim smile. As he stepped down from the altar towards the goddess he had just launched, she grabbed his shoulder. He turned back and gave her a questioning look.
"Rough her up, but don't send her under. Just enough to send the message that we're done taking their crap." Percy nodded at her, and she squeezed his shoulder briefly before releasing him to continue.
Athena gathered herself and stood up, hand briefly holding her abdomen with a painful grimace. She glared at the son of Poseidon and drew herself up. With a flash of light, her chiton was replaced by bronze armor. She held a new spear in one hand and hefted her own Aegis in the other. The rest of the wedding guests flinched away from the imprinted head of Medusa, but Percy barely glanced at it as he stopped about halfway towards the goddess.
"I thought immortals had to wait to be challenged before attacking a lowly half-blood?" Percy asked. Athena snarled at him.
"You challenged me by not backing away from my daughter," she retorted, and moved to engage him again. Percy side-stepped her initial strike, dodged under the spear as Athena swept it over him, and sprung up, slamming into her shield with his shoulder and knocking her back a few paces. Athena grit her teeth and swung her spear again, but Percy stepped back out of range, the point of the weapon screaming by inches from his chest. Percy continued dodging Athena's strikes, both opponents' movements looking like blurs. Annabeth's brain worked overtime while she watched. A dozen possible strategies flew through her mind in an instant.
"Wow, some battle goddess," Percy drawled nonchalantly. "Can't even hit little old me?" Annabeth sighed, resigned. She should have assumed that Percy would go with the tried and true method of "piss off your opponent until they make a fatal mistake".
Athena yelled and swung her spear with all her might, the wood screaming through the air towards Percy's head. Percy dropped into a crouch, barely ducking under the beam. Athena had miscalculated, though, because she couldn't maintain her grip on the haft of her weapon. As the spear flew over the guests' heads, Percy struck, straightening up with a shout and ripping his hand up, palm skyward with his fingers curled into a claw. The ground in front of Athena shot upwards, the spire of stone striking her under the chin and sending her tumbling. Quick as a flash, Percy slammed his foot down on Athena's shield to prevent her from pulling it over herself and slashed his hand through the air above her. Water burst from the ground and wound around the goddess' limbs, trapping her.
Percy turned back to Annabeth and nodded sharply. As she started down the aisle towards the pair, she felt the stares of everyone present. She noticed Percy press more of his weight into Athena's shield, the ground crawling over the rim to help restrain the goddess.
"The problem with being a god," Annabeth declared as she stopped before Athena, "is that you ignore everyone you consider beneath you."
"How could you-" Athena started, but Percy flicked his wrist and sent electricity crawling from his fingers. As the goddess writhed, Zeus shot to his feet.
"You dare coerce my children into helping you?" he thundered. Percy shot him a sharp grin, all teeth and no warmth. The king of the gods flinched and gripped his master bolt tightly at his side.
"Nope, this is all me," Percy replied.
"How?" Poseidon asked shakily. Annabeth met the sea god's gaze evenly.
"Percy's always been this strong. After all, why else would you all tread so carefully around him all of these years?" Percy snorted.
"Less treading lightly and more wouldn't leave me alone." He kept his gaze on Zeus. "I'm assuming you thought by paying me more attention, I'd feel important to Olympus and wouldn't betray you when the time came. Problem is, I'm not stupid, and just because you all were up in my business didn't mean you paid your actual kids any attention."
"We've had difficult lives. Percy, however, adapts far quicker and far stronger than anyone else I know," Annabeth continued. "We figured out that his powers extend far past mere hydrokinesis. After all, what point is there in being the son of someone called the Stormbringer and the Earthshaker without being able to do just that himself?"
The sky had darkened noticeably by this point. Dark clouds formed over the area, and a chill wind blew across the beach from the sea. The sand started to shift erratically. The waves hit the shoreline just a bit harder. Zeus' eyes hardened, muted fear evident for those who dare meet his gaze.
"I knew inviting the immortal side of the family to this would get messy," Percy commented.
"Shut up, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth retorted.
"Anything for you, Wise Girl."
"You've overstayed your welcome here, I believe," Annabeth said. She felt a strange surge of power well up within her. "Begone, immortals. Do not return here."
Athena's eyes widened drastically before she flashed away. The rest of the Olympians followed right behind. Wind gusted out from around Annabeth, washing over the setup for the wedding and dissipating once it passed the outer seats. Percy closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths, and the ominous skies cleared. As the temperature rose again with the return of the sun, Annabeth grasped Percy's hand and returned to the altar. Chiron looked at them warily as they retook their spots. Grover gave Percy's shoulder a pat, and Thalia gave Annabeth a brief hug. The bride was grimly amused at the fact that their bridal parties hadn't moved from their spots during the confrontation.
As Annabeth turned back to Percy and took his hands, he leaned in towards her. "Are you aware that you were speaking what I think was Egyptian?" he asked in a whisper. Annabeth blinked, surprised, and shook her head. "Carter and Sadie looked like they were going to have to scrape their jaws off the ground," he continued with a grin.
"We'll ask them about my stuff later," she replied, "but let's get married first." Percy beamed at her and she felt her remaining irritation melt away at the expression. They straightened up, Percy adjusted his tie, and they turned expectantly to Chiron.
The centaur cleared his throat. "Well… that is to say…" he cleared his throat again. "Let us try again. Today is a day of celebration…"
