The Trouble That Came with the Tide
Annabeth -
It had officially been two weeks since the war ended. Two weeks since Percy became a god. Two weeks since I had slept properly. Two weeks since everything changed. For the better or the worse, who knows? I sure do miss getting a good night sleep thought. I suspect PTSD, but I can't be sure. Flashbacks, dreams, those things were all normal for demigods. Now, however, it just was so much worse. Now I watched my friends die. I watched Olympus crashing down and rubble piling on top of me. I watched my mother's disappointed gray eyes. I watched Grover reincarnate into a bush. I watched Percy dying over and over. I watched him stabbing Luke in the heart. I watched those horrible golden eyes and blood stained lips. I saw everything, except in my dreams it wasn't the same as real life. Olympus hadn't fallen, my mother was proud of me, Grover was still a satyr, Percy was alive, he didn't stab Luke. Things were supposed to be okay now. Dreams were only fiction and my worst memories stitched together. A weaving worthy of Athena, made of my tears. Dreams were just weeping thoughts, after all. I would only wake up only from the sound of my sobs or my siblings shaking me awake. Their worried eyes crowding the side of my bed. I felt weak being caught crying like that. I didn't want their pity. I didn't want them to see me so vulnerable. I needed to be strong.
"Bad dream?" My head spun to find the owner of the voice. A figure emerged from the waves. The ocean was where I went during the latest hours of the night when sleep failed me. The harpies didn't bother with me any longer.
"Lord Poseidon," I said in surprise. His eyes crinkled in the moonlight.
"It truly is quite peaceful here. I must apologize for intruding on your peace, however, you simply invoked my presence," Poseidon said. He stood on the beach now, completely dry.
"I invoked you, sir?"
"By accident, of course. I could sense your despair as you neared my domain. I told you that you made a friend of the sea," the ocean deity told her. He skipped a rock over the gently crashing waves. I didn't know how to respond to that, so I stayed silent.
"You don't have to carry everyone on your back all the time." My eyes shot up to meet his.
"I don't."
"You do. It takes much trust for you to open up to a person and even when you do you take all their hardships in stride with your own. Remember what I said about the tragedies. You cannot do it alone," Poseidon told her. I felt oddly vulnerable then. Like he had examined my very soul. Taken a peak within the depths of my brain.
"I'm scared to let them fall," I said meekly. He was right in that it took a lot for me to open up with someone, and Poseidon wasn't someone I trusted. Yet standing there on that beach in the dark, it felt okay. The darkness was my mask and the stars urged me on.
"They won't, child, they will stumble. They will falter, but they won't fall. Neither will you if you let them in too." My eyes turned to the sea. I watched the next wave crashed to the shore, spraying us both with mist and Poseidon disappeared with it. Looking up to the stars I wondered if the stars would still be there when I looked away.
AN: Short chapter, but I'll put another one up soon. Currently have a few weeks off of school with the whole quarantine stuff going on. Stay safe and please review!