Sorry about not updating in so long. Motivation has been hard to come by.
Please review.
In the cool mist of the morning, Annabeth wakes, alone and tired. Her mind moves sluggishly as it struggles to wake, and she reaches for Percy. Her hands search the bed, clumsily patting for the familiar warmth of his body, but finds nothing but his discarded sheets.
Panic surges through her, and she shoots up, eyes wild, looking for any sign of him. There are none. Only his scent remains, the slightly salty and comforting smell that clings to the room and their pillow; it only succeeds in making her even more anxious.
Where are you? Please don't leave. Please Hera, tell me you didn't take him. But as a demigod, Annabeth knows that the pleads and prayers will never be heard.
She begins to hyperventilate, gasping frantically as her chest rises and falls in erratic sequences. Her vision begins to darken, but she doesn't notice in her frenzied search for Percy.
Soon, the thoughts come. The worries, the nightmares, her worst fears. Her normally infallible sense of logic is slowly overwhelmed as her emotions completely take over. Reality begins to merge with memory, becoming indistinguishable from the nightmares she usually manages to quell with Percy's love and embrace - the arai, Akhylys, Tartarus himself.
"Percy? PERCY! Why did you leave me?" Annabeth fearfully cried. "Where are you?"
The panic builds, the worry, the anxiety.
And then everything disappears, replaced by darkness, and the flutters of them, and their raspy voices that haunted her every night.
"Anywhere but here, anywhere but this moment!" she screams, nearly hysterical in worry and fear.
At the moment when you need him most, he will betray you.
You are nothing, everything you build will fall into ruins.
"STOP!"
I will tear him apart limb by limb, and then destroy his soul. He will forget everything, his friends, his parents, YOU.
He will be your greatest enemy, my greatest champion. He will torture you and hurt you in ways you cannot imagine, all because of one mistake YOU will make.
I will tak-
"Annabeth!" Strong arms wrap around her, restraining and choking her, but at least the visions are gone.
She balls her hands into tight fists, throwing one blow after another. Her attacker cries out, and she hears a crunch. Pain rushes from her knuckles and up into her elbow as she finds his nose and jaw, but the satisfaction in hearing his cry makes up for it.
The pressure decreases, and the darkness becomes a little less dark. Immediately, Annabeth takes advantage and grabs the boy's wrist with her left hand and his bicep with her right, easily flipping him over her shoulder and onto the ground.
"Annabeth, stop! It's me."
She hears the words, but her mind doesn't seem to be able to comprehend them, and she pins the boy's chest down with her knee, releasing one punch after another. Each blow hits his face directly and the boy groans, but he doesn't fight back. A sliver of doubt rises, saying that maybe this boy isn't who she thinks he is.
Still, no matter how strong, everyone has a physical limit for pain, and the boy reached his when Annabeth slammed the palm of her hand into his forehead, and his body went limp for just a second.
And suddenly, her arms are pinned and she finds her back pressed against the wooden floorboards.
"Get off me!"
"Stop struggling, please Annabeth! It's me, Percy!"
When Annabeth hears that name, she immediately stills as an overwhelming load of emotions shoot through her body - happiness, care, worry, anger, love; memories and images of a boy with long, unruly, black hair and entrancing, sea green eyes, and arms that always calm her. Slowly, her heart rate slows and her vision clears. She finds herself lying on the floorboard, sweating with dried tears on her cheeks. Strong arms restrict her movements as she moves to sit up.
"Percy, I'm okay now, I'm okay."
Cautiously, Percy lets go and helps her up, worry and pain and regret in every movement and muscle of his body, and watches as her eyes find his, and then shift to his face, an absolute mess of bruises and blood.
"Gods, Percy, did I?" Annabeth choked, struggling to finish her sentence.
The expression on his face is as good of an answer as any. Only then, does she notice the tears that have traced their way down from his eyes. She lifts a tentative hand to brush away one.
"I'm sorry Annabeth," he whispers.
"No, no, I'm sorry, I - I did this to you," tears begin to fall from her eyes as well. "Why would you be sorry?"
This time, he is the one that refuses to meet her eyes, "I left you."
Another tear tumbles from his eyes and down his face, "Even after what happened down there, I left you, and that's much worse than this." He waves a hand over his face, which had somehow already nearly healed. "I deserve this, and so much more."
"How? How can you think that you deserve all this after all you've done for the world? For the gods?" her voice drops to a whisper. "For me?"
She waits for him to say something, anything, but he remains quiet, still refusing to meet her gaze.
"Percy, listen to me, you are the greatest person I know, don't do this to yourself, don't treat yourself this way. You deserve so much more."
Her hands find his cheek, and he leans into her touch, finally lifting his eyes. For once, they surprise her. No joy, happiness, or pride lights them up. They are a turmoil of emotions, filled with sadness, regret, anger - so different from the boy he had once been.
"From now on, together always, okay? Promise me."
They are only an inch apart, but that inch feels like a mile.
"I promise."
And then there is no more space between them, and she closes her eyes as his lips find hers.
Sorry about the short and rushed chapter
As always, save an author, leave a review
(please)