DISCLAIMER: All the characters belong to Rick Riordan
Battle of Labyrinth is a roller coaster for Annabeth and total pain and confusion for Percy.
It started on a bubbly note, got to the point where both are nervous, everything's awkward, finally leaving both of them hurt with heart break and a hope for the next year.
Annabeth is fifteen when she experiences jealousy for the first time.
She got out of the camp, washed her hair for Percy and come to his school only to find it blown up, him to jump out of an alley, followed by a pretty girl with red hair, freckles and green eyes who acts like she's known him all her life, writes her number on his arm promising to cover up for him. A white-hot wave of anger courses through her because that's her job, covering up for every stupid thing Percy does is.
She spends the rest of the car ride in stoic silence and she knows it's unfair. She's being unreasonable without all the facts but her pride is wounded. She'd though he'd wasted every waking moment thinking of her, of Annabeth, instead of cozying up with another girl.
At the mention of Luke, her blood boils with fear and anger. Only, the anger has too much competetion to ever win out over hope. He'd come to visit her after winter break, he'd told her he wanted to run away with her—her leaving everything behind would be beyond betrayal on her part just for one person who she'd believed was her hero. And she refused, she'd told him she can't trust him anymore and there's nothing she'd wanted to do with him, no matter how much she'd wanted to help him.
Something's different now, and it has a greater effect on her; her heart races whenever Percy looks at her and one little touch sends a massive electric current down her spine, searing every inch of her flesh, her eyes memorize every little detail about him and her mind stores it safely somewhere it'll never be lost. It's all changed now and so forcibly that when she and Percy argue in front of everyone, it seems foreign. She finds herself sliding next to him, liking it some reason, knowing and enjoying that it's against the rules and she knows he likes it too. It's harder to keep her distance now because he's all she's thinks about and stares at.
Something's definitely different, all right, but she can't put a finger on what it is. At least, until Percy grins at her maddeningly from across the arena and her world spins around him now, and suddenly all she wants to do is sink down on her knees and groan. It's the end of the world, this can't be happening. He's gotten attractive. He's lost all the baby fat from hours of training and he's lot leaner, tougher and ruggish looking. He's oblivious to it all, maybe she'll be the only girl he's actually ever be comfortable with. She liked him for his good heart first then now his good looks too.
The Oracle's prophecy leaves her teeth chattering, blood pounding against her ears, turning her world gray and flicker. To lose a love to a fate worse than death. What could be worse than death? Her first thought is of Percy, because there's no point in arguing against it. No matter how much she convinces herself, her heart went along with its own tune and has already left for the stupid son of Poseidon. She has to snap out of it because, it could be anybody too, because she's can't lose Percy of all people now.
Her view of him is obscured by tears trying to fall, at the same time she's trying her best to avoid his gaze. There's so much going on in her brain, it's getting too loud, and in a state of weakness she would only ever show him, she opened her arms and found herself wrapped in his, hating how he has this calming effect on her, how easily she gives in to his touch. She couldn't see him but she could smell the way the ocean followed him everywhere, a smell that had gone from being aggravating to annoying to comforting. She could feel the way he was no longer the scrawny little boy she had seen for the first time two years ago. He's a tiny bit taller than her, the muscles on his arms were starting to grow and it was weird, the way her body was reacting to his touch. Her skin was warm but most importantly, for the first time in so long she felt safe. She closes her eyes and vows to herself to never forget this feeling. She was going to lead them into an impossible quest but with Percy's arms around her it didn't feel as impossible.
Just a few days after that, Annabeth realized that she had been wrong, the mission is not only impossible but what she thought of pain before was nothing compared to what she was going through right now. Percy was gone, gone for good and she had known, gods, she had known since that first summer that he was destined to die young. But she thought she had more time, they had more time, not just a adrenline fuelled kiss as a goodbye. He wasn't even fifteen yet, he couldn't die, he was supposed to reach sixteen.
Once the shock of the explosion and the adrenaline and anxiety of following the spider back to Hephaestus was gone, all she could feel was pain, raw pain that consumed her every second of the day. Percy was gone, her best friend was gone and she could still hear his last scream echoing in her ears at night when she tried to sleep. She wasn't sure how she made it back to camp or who's the first one to spot her, all she know is that the arms that are holding her aren't Percy's and she would never feel safe again. It's a grey world, a cold world, and it's then that she realizes how much she'd never told him, how much she'd held back. She appreciates him so much more now that he's gone, a fresh round of tears breaks out.
The next two weeks that followed had been the hardest she had to go through. Nightmares plagued her dreams, all of them filled with Percy's scream. Morbid thoughts crossed her brain during the day: Had the telkhines caught him before he burned himself to death? How long had he lasted before passing out in the lava? Her siblings looked at her with worry. She knew some of them are close to start spoon feed her so she's started to make appearances in the Dining Pavilion. Still, she never stops praying, never stops hoping, that somehow, somewhere, Percy is alive and breathing and trying to come back to her.
She hadn't been insulted by Clarisse once, instead she has offered to take care of her chores. Silena has tried to distract her by offering to go to the beach, but the moment the ocean smell filled her lungs Annabeth broke down crying. The Athena cabin has offered to make Percy's shroud and Annabeth had almost thrown up when she saw the green silk on one the desks in her cabin. Thalia, Luke, Percy ...all the people she allowed herself to open up to and love always ended up leaving her. Part of her knew it wasn't fair to put Percy in the same category as Luke; unlike Luke, Percy hadn't chosen to leave her. But the reality was that he was gone and she was alone and she was expected to give a speech in front of all the campers while they burned his shroud.
She spent the hours prior to the ceremony crying her heart out, mourning the boy that had been her guiding star, her best friend and the boy that had stolen her heart. How could she stand in front of the camp and tell them about the person Percy had been? Hadn't they all witnessed his charisma, his intuition, his strength, his sense of humor? They all knew him, Percy who would put everyone's safety before his, that loved unconditionally and could kick anyone's ass with a sword.
He's so pessimistic but has a constant drive to survive, he's completely loyal, and he underestimates himself. He may not be the smartest person on the planet but he's okay with that, he doesn't consider himself a hero but he's done enough to make him one. He's wonderfully oblivious and obtuse but it's endearing, he has a crooked little smile that make his eyes shine. He helps keep her strong when all she wants to do is cry, he tries to keep his chin up even in the most desperate situations. He's been such a good friend and a good person to her, even when she didn't deserve it. He's saved her and she's saved him and he's not supposed to be gone, he's supposed to be next to her, because it was supposed to be the two of them, only the two of them, against the world.
Standing there at the podium in front of everybody, she couldn't find her voice. Words aren't on her side but she tried her best to find them, Percy's memory deserved to be honored. "He was probably the bravest friend I've ever had. He-" she tried to hold back sobs and remember how to breathe. Looking at the campers was too hard, instead she decided to look at the back of the amphitheater, only to end up locking eyes with Percy himself, she felt like someone had dropped a bucket of cold ice on her head. "He is right there!"
She could hear the gasps from the campers, and from the corner of her eyes she could see some movement, but she was frozen on the spot, eyes locked on him. He was wearing white clothes and he looked fine, no burns or scars she could see from a distance. Relief washed over her, seeing him there made her feel lighter, the knot in her chest was starting to loosen. Then she's reminded of her nightmares, seeing different versions of his corpse in her sleep. Her mingled joy and relief at seeing him so alive and healthy turns very quickly into white-hot rage. She found herself running towards him, frantically pushing campers out of her way.
"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?" she howls, and then he's so close and so real until she crashed against him and her arms wrapped around his torso. He was here, his arms were around her and they both were safe.
Then she suddenly wishes he'd never come back. She'd kissed him, and then he'd promptly decided to spend two weeks with a seductress, now he's suggesting they call on a mortal for help, on her quest. Her quest.
She spends most of the time sitting stiffly away from him, pushing him towards the redheaded nightmare to bond over under her nose. It hurts her more than she'll ever give away.
Then there's Luke,with golden eyes that burns into her mind, even though her eyes are shut painfully tight.
"He gave himself over to Kronos. I'm sorry, Annabeth," Percy says harshly. "But Luke is gone."
"But you saw," she persists. "When it hit him, just for a second, he was dazed. He came back to his senses."
"So maybe Kronos wasn't completely settled in the body, or whatever," Percy replies brutally, like he's completely and utterly ignoring the pain she's in. "It doesn't mean Luke was in control."
"You want him to be evil, is that it?" Annabeth snaps desperately. "You didn't know him before, Percy. I did!" she did, but not anymore now.
"What is it with you?" Percy snarls back. "Why do you keep defending him?"
Annabeth looks into his eyes to see rage, frustration, disbelief and sorrow, swirling like clouds on a rainy day. He growls unnaturally, an expression that doesn't suit him, and his fists are curled and shaking slightly. She knew she'd brought this on. For years she's snapped, snapped and snapped at him, now they've reached a point where he's finally snapped back. They used to smile and laugh together, and lately all she and Percy have been scowling at each other.
Even after the battle is done, he doesn't do much to mend their friendship. They avoid each other like plagues, not even sharing a smile, only terse nods. It makes her angry because he's the loyal one and she's the impossible one, because Percy's done so much for her and she'd only looked at Luke, now he wants nothing to do with her and she's simply losing him. There's a new burst of pain and for the first time in her life, with nothing to do on her part.
He confronts before he leaves, though, and gets it out of her. A light dawn in his eyes as he figure out the meaning, and with hurt and anguish he says "So Luke—" his voice cracked.
She risks a glance at him, expecting anger and hatred, but got none. The expression he wore, just like her standing on the funeral pyre believing he's the one she'd lost. Horror flitted across her as she guessed what he'd thought. He didn't notice at all, any moment from the summer or the last one. He didn't notice anything. Could it be that Percy didn't even think she loves him?
"Percy..." she begins "I didn't know who the prophecy was talking about. I—I didn't know if.." she stumbles over her words and trips over them again. She didn't know what she'd felt in the heart of the volcano, when she'd shared an adrenaline fuelled kiss with him and lost him so soon after. She has to clear the misunderstanding atleast.
"Luke and I—for years, he was the only who really cared about me. I thought..." she struggled for words. She thought Luke was family. She thought he'd always look after her as her brother. She's keenly aware that Luke had already gone for a while and the person who'd been there for her was flinching like each new word is renewing his pain, doubling and tripling it over and over again.
The air parted in golden shimmer with Hera appearing and accepting all she'd done to her quest. She'd been played like a pawn. She tried to recollect her thoughts to explain it to him, but Hera threw her completely. Her prophecy is related to something completely different.
"I'm sorry. I should get back. I—I'll keep in touch." her words sounded hollow as her heart feels as she walks away.
Percy caught her arm. "Listen, Annabeth—" her heart leapt. She wanted Percy to promise her that she still had someone left for her, but the moment vanishes. She tells him to take care and leaves.
She turned back before tears threatened to fall. All the way back to the cabins, she didn't dare to look but can feel his eyes boring at her, but hoped with all her heart that he'd call after her. The pain hits her in the chest and the region burns as Annabeth collapses on the steps on the Big House, where she'd seen Percy for the first time. And she stays there, a lifeless heap, and conjures Percy's tortured face in her mind's eye and it sucks, because she can't live with him, but she can't live without him, either. All her life, people abandoned her and now she's one abandoned the one who always had her back. it looks like she's lost him, that too to a mortal, no less.
Later that day, she analyze her conjectures about her prophecy with clear thoughts. The least possibilty being Percy, since Hera clearly had convinced her that her prophecy referred to Percy and let her believe he was dead. She played her emotions only to keep the titans off the Olympians. And she even agreed to sending Percy to Calypso's Island to test his loyalties for the war. She suddenly felt sick of everything. Here she was blaming Percy for her heartbreak when he not only came back to her with his supposed death next year but also aided her in her quest, and all she did was push him to the mortal to spend a year together. There's something else telling her that Percy tried to mend their relation but she's the stubborn fool who avoided him completely. Now she's starting to feel pathetic about her.
The next possibility is Luke, but she strongly believes that Luke is still in there, still fighting for a chance to redeem himself for all his faults, because she saw it with her own eyes. And thers's his visit to runaway which she'd rejected. So Luke was forced to host Kronos. The least possible conjecture was something she'd been blind to see and accept. She could see it everytime she'd met Luke but blind enough to believe it. She'd closed her eyes to his distress and her fatal flaw made her turn a blind eye to it. Her quest made her see the truth about everything. Brairies, Pan, Daedalus— every ideal hero from their visions tend to be a far from the truth.
She's failed to see the truth to gain wisdom. The truth that the hero of her childhood had never really existed. All the times she'd looked upto him, she hadn't understood who he really was. She'd been blinded by her ideal version of the hero she'd made him to be ecause of a promise.
And lose a love...to worse than death. The prophecy she'd dreaded the whole summer didn't hurt as much as she'd feared it would, because she can accept reality when present before her in golden eyes.
Percy is fifteen when experiences an emotional turmoil.
He's eager to finish his orientation to meet Annabeth for a movie. It's the first time they talked about something other than monsters and dying, and he's looking forward to his time with her. Nothing ever goes according to his wish, the band room exploding, Rachel saving his life once again, everything happened like a dream.
Then there's Annabeth, as angry as you can get over Rachel talking to him and giving her number. He really wanted to watch a movie with her, but one look at her scowling face, he knows they're done with it.
The ride back to camp is tense atleast. He tried to explain everything, but she's going to have none of it. She only perks up at the mention of Luke in his dreams which annoys and brings nasty taste in his mouth. He finds himself staring at her during the meet, breakfast where she slides behind him. He warns her about rules, but glad about her breaking them for him of all people. He's starting to get self conscious about her proximity.
He could see her look more grown up, with her hair longer and features more definite. He can ease up a little now he's taller than her, albeit only an inch at that. Everyone at camp notices her too, but are afraid to approach or compliment her. She's not not one to fish for compliments, and it's different altogether with him. He get some looks too, every now and then, which makes him conscious about his looks. He's not the most good looking out there, but he believes he's not too bad at that. He finds Annabeth clenching her hands tightly at something out of the corner of his eyes, but to approach and ask only to snap at him isn't worth it.
Slipping into the Labyrinth wth Annabeth, holding her hand, even though he's surrounded by darkness, he didn't feel lost. Now going into it with a purpose but not a plan is foolish enought that even he could see, but not the daughter of wisdom. He tried to get through his point, but her pride wouldn't allow it. All he can do is accompany her to the end.
There's something strange about her prophecy, he's sure of it. Because he's the one at camp who's thrusted into more prophecies than anyone. He's to get the last line out of her, for it mean something he's dreading. He doesn't want to lose her now, just after an emotional rollercoaster last winter. He pushes her enough for her to breakdown and hold her arms for him.
Just like everytime, holding her in arms felt like holding the world to him. He may be clueless about girls, but Annabeth isn't simply another girl for him. He knows her, she knows him. They know each other well enough to overcome anything together. But there's a strange space between them now after their scene before plunging into the darkness.
It's suddenly awkward being alone with her, so awkward, so different from the times they'd sat together by the lake, under Thalia's pine, so many places, and talked about anything. They'd been like that, completely free with each other, and they're not like that anymore. There's all this tension, all these barriers that prevent the old, uncomplicated friendship from resuming. It's so many things: Luke, Rachel, Kronos, and the prophecy, and their parents. It's just so weird now, now that the completely different kind of feeling revisits her whenever they catch each other's eye.
And when they're looking Death straight in the eye, all he can think about it is to get her out of there before anything. He tries to convince her with a plan he didn't really have, with distraction is all he conjure at that moment. She glares for all she's worth, but Percy does not even flinch. He meets her head on to get his conviction across, clearly hiding his terror. He'd imagined so many things she'd do, but suddenly she tilts her head up and her lips crash onto his.
Her warm lips glides across his for two seconds, two whole seconds to feel her hope, terror, longing that she'd for him before vanishing from his sight. That kiss jarred him from his stupor to sacrifice himself for her. His will to live burns brighter than the lava he stares at. That kiss brought out the world within him to erupt a volcano and him fire him straight out into the sky.
When he comes around, he's faced with a beauty Aprodite couldn't compare to, but there's grief and longing to her beauty that makes him wonder who she's and where he was. Only when he's sure that Annabeth made it out, he finally relaxes and focuses on recuperating. His thoughts always wander to her and her quest that he's starting to feel restless. Calypso reminded him a lot of Annabeth. They're so similar yet so different too. She made him remember Zoe Nightshade too, another daughter of Atlas.
Ofcourse he's going back. What does Hephaestus even mean? Only then, he wraps his head around the idea of staying on a marooned island, in company of a celestial nymph, served by invisible servents. But at the cost of leaving everyone he loved behind. He's torn between leaving a girl who'd saved him and another girl who's waiting and had been there for him all the time. He promised to free her and leaves for his world.
Only, he got a bone crushing hug and an earfull of scolding in return. He takes her hand and explains his reasoning and his condition for his late arrival, but she's going to have none of it. Her pride was wounded. He can think of where this is going, about their kiss and him being stranded on an island with another girl, but they're on the edge of an impending war. They can talk about it on a later date. Only the date never came.
Percy never wanted the two girls to meet. For the love of life, he couldn't figure out the hositility between them. They're the ones needing her help and Annabeth being such haughty, he's stuck to placate the mortal now. This brought even more aversion from his best friend.
And he's sees Luke turning into Kronos before his eyes and all Annabeth does was stare in utter shock about the reality. When she comes around, she defends him even after Luke hosted Kronos. He wants to yell at her to shut up for a second and open her eyes to look around her. They're at war and all Annabeth does is defend the enemy. What does that make him, then?
"You want him to be evil, is that it?" she snaps desperately. "You didn't know him before, Percy. I did!"
He wanted her to explain it him. He truly did. But never did she explain anything about Luke to him. All she ever does is shout at him and close off only for him beg and reconcile with her. He's fed up with her attitude that's asking him to like the guy who tried to kill them all the time.
"What is it with you?" he snarls back. "Why do you keep defending him?"
That's what he wants to know, badly at that. What is he to her? He half wanted the answer and half doesn't. As he looks at her, eyes filled with desperation, despair, grief and pain, he simply couldn't stay angry at her. He consoles her and they leave the Labyrinth with bad news. Even after the battle ended, she avoided him all the time. He too isn't in the mood to talk to her only for her to get moony-eyed over a traitor. They skirt around each other for the months to come, until they're at the end of the summer.
He corners her at last to talk things out . She's going to spend the year away from him. She couldn't even say his name without opening a huge box of hurt, worry and anger. He pesters her about the prophecy and get it out of her.
"And lose a love to worse than death." she had tears in her eyes.
So that's what this is about. Luke again. He suddenly felt like the time on Olympus when he thought she's going to be a hunter. That would've been far better than this. The air seemed to be colder than it had a moment ago.
"Oh" his voice barely above a whisper. "So Luke—" his voice cracked and hated it because that's not the only thing that cracked. Somewhere deep inside, there's this pain that started to grow, that he couldn't name it right away.
There's a apologetic and saddened look flitting across her eyes as she began. "Percy..." she moistened her lips. "I didn't know who the prophecy was talking about. I—I didn't know if.." she faltered heplessly. As he watched her expression, he was reminded of the time in the heart of the volcano, where he was ready to die for her, and she'd kissed him, to let him know her feelings. He fliched at that. Annabeth thought her prophecy was about him. Him. What does that mean?
"Luke and I—for years, he was the only one who really cared about me. I thought.." she struggled for words, but somehow I understood her implications.
family. She thought he was her family. Then what about her prophecy. She neither denied it outright about Luke nor accepted it about him. What does this all mean?
"I'm sorry—" she began only for Hera to appear and spoil everything. She played with all of us, only to keep her family safe, for now. The Queen of Olympus is the one who doesn't belong anywhere with her skewed visions. Whatever Annabeth wanted to speak had out of the wind.
"I'm sorry. I should get back. I—I'll keep in touch." her words sounded hollow to him, like we both know she couldn't keep the promise at all.
He caught her arm. He thought about Mount , Calypo's Island, Luke, Rachel Elizabeth Dare and Nico, and suddenly how everything got so complicated. He wanted to tell her that he really didn't want to be distant from her. That they both still have each other, that he's not going to leave her and he even left Calypso for her. He wanted to tell her. He wanted to hold her like at the beginning of the summer.
"Listen, Annabeth—" he began, only to interrupted by Argus honking his horn, and he lost his chance.
"You better get going," she said. "Take care, Seaweed brain." She jogged down the hill. He wanted to call her back, but no voice came out of it. She reached all the way to the cabins. Had she looked back once, he would've dropped everything to go after her, but she didn't.
xXx
A/N: Part four of Destined to be. How's it? Good? Bad? Can do better? You see, they have the same thought process and want the same thing from one another but some indecisions, several interruptions, their flaws, war causes them to avoid being together till the end.
Annabeth hiding her feelings for him is because to avoid hurting her pride if he didn't feel the same way, to avoid a catastrophe by becoming a liability for Percy's fatal flaw in the war, and as a daughter of Athena, feelings are something she couldn't comprehend that easily.
Only Percy brought heart ache and heart break for her when leaving for school year to be with Rachel. But she knows his strong feelings for her are present, but the oblivious idiot doesn't open up yet. She closes up and wait until he open up in the TLO.
Percy felt heartbreak after learning the last line from her prophecy. He broke another girl's heart to return only to get a heart break for all his effort. He's low confidence and self doubt to begin with, but to be bluntly spoken like that, he wouldn't open upto her only to get a possible rejection. He only get enough confidence in himself and them to open up in TLO.
