Hi everyone!
I'm so glad that so many people are enjoying how the story is going so far and I've really been enjoying all of your insights and comments on my question last chapter. Please don't be offended by anything in this story as I, personally, have nothing against anyone and don't actually wish for World War III because that is horrible. The universe this is set in is not meant to represent our time now. I set this in a world where everything has gone wrong. Thank you for understanding.
To answer xlnc2608, there will be no lemons but some mature themes may be suggested in the later chapters. This is a story about repopulating the world, after all.
Anyways, hope you like this new one!
Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or HoO.
Evelyn Rose's calculations were wrong. The beginning of the end did not happen at dawn but at noon.
Annabeth had been isolating herself in her bedroom, much to Percy's displeasure. He had spent the majority of his morning trying to convince her to go on adventures with him discovering the facility. She had politely refused, choosing to spend the time to herself as she was completely exhausted from their night of pure conversation. He had left her to her own devices without much fuss afterward.
If it had not been for the live television broadcast of the first nuclear missile, she would have remained none the wiser. The weapon had come from Russia, as expected, and first made contact in Long Island Sound. In a millisecond, the entire city of New York was leveled, millions of lives taken from them by casual warfare.
Percy found her huddled in the corner moments afterward, her hands over her ears as sobs wracked through her body. He was distressed, just as she was, his hands shaking as he tried his best to comfort her, but to no avail. What of her family? Were they evacuated on time? What about Percy's?
He held her as another missile hit San Francisco, leaving behind dust and debris and destruction in its wake. From then, she refused to lift her eyes from his chest. She was on his lap then, deaf to his comforting words. Everything was chaos. She never actually thought that what Eden was saying held any truth behind it. She believed them to be psychopaths, sadists trying to topple social classes by taking their heirs. This was the price of her ignorance.
She did not know how long they sat there, a tangle of limbs. His warmth and soothing touch had been the one thing that grounded her, kept her from falling into despair. He had tears trailing down his cheeks, his frantic heartbeat doing nothing to hide the fear and panic he had felt over the circumstances. He had a little sister in New York City at that very moment, probably on her way back from day care when New York was wiped out. Annabeth cried at the thought. She had little brothers too, no older than thirteen years old. Their lives had been taken away from them so heartlessly.
She knew this was not the end, far from it. The United States will retaliate. Then, every other country in the world will take sides. World War III will begin and fifty teenagers were held prisoner in a remote island in the Pacific.
When the first broadcast ended, Annabeth felt, for the first time since her kidnapping, like her life had been ripped away from her. Her perfectly normal life. She would not have complained about her choice in career or the way her father treated her if she had only known the world would end so soon. Humanity will be the cause of their extinction.
She had run out of tears long ago. Her face remained buried on his chest, choosing to stay blind to the world beyond their suffocating suite. He wanted to remain strong for her, thus he never once faltered in comforting her. Why was he here, with a woman he barely knew, instead of his family on the other side of the door? Why did he choose to be with her? What was she to him?
She was vaguely aware that she had not eaten anything the whole day. Her stomach protested the moment she remembered her own hunger but she ignored it. What were her needs compared to the rest of the world's? Percy placed her softly on the carpet under them. The sudden loss of warmth and comfort made her feel empty but she did not say anything against it. She was not selfish enough to demand his full attention.
His once graceful stride was heavy with exhaustion. His back was towards her, thus she felt grateful that he did not see her in such a pathetic state. He must not have looked any better. His destination had been the kitchenette on the other side of the room. His silence was deafening. She was not comfortable with hearing only her erratic heartbeat.
As expected, after the initial shock had worn off, chaos ensued. Outside their door, they heard the screams of their comrades, demands for explanations, cries of loss. She covered her ears at the animalistic sounds, using whatever was left of her strength to stumble over to the door and lock it. Her back was pressed against the sole barrier, trying and failing to tune out the despair of others.
Percy was by her side in an instant. He picked her up with ease, allowing her to settle in his arms just before thuds were heard beyond the metal door. Annabeth whimpered, burying her nose in his chest. How pathetic, truly, she was at that moment but she did not care in the slightest. She wanted Percy to protect her because she sure as hell couldn't protect herself, not when everything she ever knew fell apart at the seams.
The smell of microwaved soup invaded her senses, drowning out the continuous thudding and nonsensical screams. He had placed her carefully on the sofa his face set in determination. "As long as we're together." He stated with finality, his gaze set on hers. She managed a weak nod.
It was difficult for her to gain an appetite. Her concerns were not on her own survival. She was much too focused on resolving her inner turmoil than sating her hunger. "You have to eat." He urged, an edge of desperation in his tone.
"I'm not hungry." Her stomach growled in protest and she cursed herself under her breath. The music he began to play to drown out the riot did nothing to calm her.
"Yes, you are." He stubbornly argued. He nudged the soup closer to her.
She gave in. The aromatic scent of mushroom was much too tempting and she had no strength left to control herself. He sighed in relief at her slight progress. He didn't push her further.
It wasn't much. Soup was definitely not enough to make up for the two full meals she should have taken but she felt an odd sense of comfort as she slowly drank. Percy was there, sitting on the other end of the small breakfast table. He was silent, deep in thought. The constant tapping of his fingers on the wooden surface proved that he was still quite agitated.
By dinner, all they heard was silence on the other side of the door. Percy had left to check on the state of the outside and to see if his cousins were harmed. It was not right, after all, for the heirs of Upper East Side to be separated. Annabeth remained in the confines of her room, her mind reeling over the events of the day. All of America's major cities were destroyed in the span of an hour. Everything she has ever seen, ever known, ever loved was gone forever.
What had her parents been doing before they were killed? Her dad would have been at work, just like he always was. He drowned himself in his career when he was most distressed. She felt that her disappearance was enough cause for such a thing. Her mother, well, she would still have been in her jail cell. The last time she saw her children being her final memory before she was crushed by rubble. Her brothers, Bobby and Matthew, as annoying as they were, would have been in school, causing trouble for their teachers. Were they even given a warning? She hoped not. She hoped her brothers died without fear in their hearts, their carefree, mischievous grins on their faces.
She was not allowed to have time to herself. It was dinner, the only meal of the day where they were all required to rendezvous in the dining hall. Eden must feel quite smug for having predicted the date of the world's demise correctly.
Not wanting to see officials in white, she dragged herself out of her suite. Her journey to the dining hall was filled with deafening silence. The remnants of their riot littered the hallways: torn down panels, broken furniture, dried droplets of blood from a fight. There were dents on some metal doors, probably when something was thrown against it. Shards of glass crunched underneath her feet as she stepped over them.
There were significantly fewer people in the hall when she entered. Some had their eyes set on the table, their faces grim. Others seemed angry, just as she expected them to be. They had every right to be angry. They refused to partake with the food offered to them. She bit her lip when an angry glare was sent to her direction, averting her gaze.
Thalia had spotted her first. She did not seem particularly distraught, not as much as everyone else. Percy mentioned that the blue-eyed vocalist was not quite as close to her family as everyone else was. Jason seemed to be the most important person to her. Jason managed a smile in her direction, his arm wrapped tightly around Piper McLean as if his life depended on it. It was a familiar sight. She was in that exact same position not too long ago.
She was not quite used to affection but she found that, when Percy opened his arms to greet her, she had closed the distance between them. The hug was comforting, a taste of the home she had just lost. She shook the thought away, burying herself further in his arms. She knew that if she were to think about her family now, she would break down all over again.
"They didn't let me come back for you." He explained as they sat. She felt safe in between him and Thalia, for some odd reason. "I tried to but a guard forced me to head here. They wouldn't take their eyes off me."
Annabeth nodded once in understanding. She figured as much, thus she was not particularly mad at Percy for his sudden disappearance. She was just relieved that nothing bad had happened to him. "Probably because of the riot." Was Jason's reply, peering over them from his side of the table. Piper lifted her face slightly from the crook of her neck, finally acknowledging the presence of other people. The young woman blushed in the shade of tomatoes.
"Agreed." Nico chimed to Annabeth's left, his eyes covered by his hair. "They won't take us out of their sight after what happened. I heard they dragged those responsible away. Wonder what they did to them."
It was no surprise that their conversation was strained but Annabeth was glad for it, nevertheless. If they continued wallowing in self-pity and bearing grim faces, she knew that they would eventually give in to the superpower that was Eden and Evelyn Rose. At this point in her life, she wanted to fight against them even more so than she did before.
Evelyn Rose did not make an appearance during dinner. She must have been much too busy dealing with the instigators for her to gloat in their victimized faces. At some point, they made plans to meet in Thalia and Nico's suite for drinks, to grieve over what they've lost properly. She was glad that all of them agreed that it must be done at another date. That night was sacred. It was meant for silent contemplation.
She had taken a long shower to clear her thoughts, not quite properly recovering from the incident yet. She knew it will take longer than a few hours for her to truly absorb what had happened. A part of her wanted to believe the small possibility that the broadcast was a fake, that Eden had planned everything to make it seem that their intentions were morally right. Her reason screamed otherwise. She had refused to look outside because she knew what she was going to see.
Though she had only met Percy, she did not feel uncomfortable walking around in a flimsy bathrobe covering her decency. He had not lifted his gaze from the small locket in the palm of his hand. It was a simple trinket, with his family crest engraved on the bronze lid. Inside was a photo of his family. He had never gotten the opportunity to properly mourn for his losses, not when he was much too busy keeping her together.
Once she was finally dressed, she had approached him. He was silent in his seat, his long jet black hair covering his eyes. She could not, for the life of her, determine his expression. Her small hand covered his much larger one, reminding him that he was not alone. The sorrow present in his irises broke Annabeth's heart in two. He loved his family, dearly. It was the most obvious thing in the world.
He had broken down shortly after, his body wracked with sobs as he cried on her shoulder. She allowed her own tears to escape. She was not mad at the world anymore. Her anger was directed to the company that had taken her away from her family at their last moments. She had stroked his back to comfort him, though she knew her touch was weak. His grip on his locket was tight enough to draw blood but neither of them cared. He held her as if she had been the only thing that anchored him to the world. She hugged him just as tightly.
When they had finally run out of tears, Annabeth had stood. She scavenged through their belongings, as scarce as they were, for a piece of paper and a pen. After a few minutes of searching, she was pleased to find the desired objects inside their bedside drawer. She walked back to him, her heart in her hands. He looked at her curiously, beautiful sea green eyes clouded with the remains of his tears.
Her handwriting was shaky but legible. She wrote her father's name at the top of the right side: Frederick Chase, 1975 - 2018. Underneath it, she wrote her mother's name: Athena Chase, 1977 - 2018; followed by the names of her brothers: Bobby Chase and Matthew Chase, 2004 - 2018. She handed him the sheet as well as the pen, her hands shaking. She was nervous, afraid that he might reject her idea completely. She had to admit that Annabeth did not think it through enough. Her breath caught in her throat when he took the objects from her grip.
He wrote slowly, pausing every once in a while to calm himself. She placed a hand on his shoulder to urge him to continue. He was doing so well. He began with the name of his father: Poseidon Jackson, 1972 - 2018. Her mother's name followed in much neater, more beautiful script: Sally Jackson, 1978 - 2018. Percy paused once he had finished the last letter. She understood the hesitation. Writing their names down the way they had gave them a sense of finality, a closure of sorts, for them to come to terms with what had happened. She squeezed his arm gently. Finally, his sister's name accompanied the rest of his family's: Stella Jackson, 2015 – 2018.
Percy handed her the paper almost sacredly, watching as she folded it in two and placed it on the table at the far side of the room, just beside their sitting area. There, she had placed a candle she had taken from a cupboard, allowing the flame of the matchstick to consume the wick before she took a step back to finally look at her handiwork. Their loved ones deserved more than what they prepared for them, definitely, but it had to do considering their limited resources. Once they were allowed to leave the facility, they would conduct a proper funeral worthy of the lives their families had lived.
She was surprised to see him place his locket on the corner of the folded paper, leaving it open for her to see the smiling faces of the Jackson family. She had also taken this as an opportunity to take her family photo from her wallet, a small reminder of the people she had left behind once she had gone to University. It was the only time they were complete, all of them, including her mother.
The pair spent their time in silence, the soft tunes of Debussy being the sole exception. She had her eyes fixed on the flickering of the candle flame at the slightest disturbance, the white wax dripping down the sides as it was melted by the heat. The small plate underneath it had been the only thing that kept the wooden table free from unwanted drips. A warm comforting fragrance enveloped her senses. Of course, Eden would not actually give candles to burn unless they were scented.
That night, Annabeth had fallen asleep in Percy's arms, surrounded by the scent of home and piano pieces to mend her broken heart.