Merry Christmas, guys! Also, Happy Last Day of the Year! Hope you had an awesome 2013!


XV ANNABETH

ANNABETH HAD MET GODS BEFORE. Some of them were extremely wise and helpful; some were serious but grouchy; but most of the time they were all idiots. (If she said that out loud she'd be turned into a goat on the spot, and she was already sick of goats.)

But if she knew one thing all gods had in common, it was that they all wanted some kind of recognition as to being an all-powerful immortal.

Annabeth began to get down on a knee, but Vesta abruptly asked, "What on mother Gaea are you doing?"

Annabeth got back to her feet. Okay... almost all gods wanted recognition.

"Hello," said Percy. "I'm Percy Jackson, and this is my friend Piper and girlfriend Annabeth. It's nice to meet you, Vesta. I know your Greek counterpart."

"Greek counterpart?" the goddess asked, poking at her fire again. She didn't look very godly. She even spoke like a normal twenty-first century teenager. "You mean Hestia? We're not that different, you know. It's why I'm not in a blasted multiple personalities mess." She stopped and grinned at a thought. "I laugh at the other gods.

"But, yeah, I suppose we're different in a few ways," she continued, returning to her task. "All gods are different somehow in their counterparts. I am, right now, slightly harsher than Hestia." She slid off her stone and knelt beside the small flame, blowing on it. "My aspects change with the form of the hearth. The Romans were slightly more war-like, and thus their sense of security was higher than the Greeks'. But the home and family is the same for either. Same goes for Egyptian, English, American, Canadian... and Australian." She looked up at them and grinned. "I love kangaroos."

"I'm sure you do," Piper said respectfully. "But you told our friend Hazel that you would help us on our quest if we could find you."

"Oh, yes," she said, her expression becoming unpleasant. Vesta rose to her feet, smoothing out her T-shirt. Annabeth noticed it was a One Direction touring shirt. "Well, the fates are never kind, and you must understand that. Some…" She took a moment to think about her choice of wording. "…terrible things will happen to you and your friends. I am one of the only four that can help you."

"Protector of life," Annabeth remembered.

Vesta nodded. "Yeah. I'm her. There is also the maintainer, giver, and slayer." There was stillness; the only sound heard was the whistling wind. "The slayer will be your next journey place. Annabeth, do you get how this connects?"

Annabeth didn't like how Vesta had singled her out like that, but assumed it was because she was supposed to be the smart one. "I'll, uh, work on it," she muttered quietly, averting her gaze.

Vesta looked back to their group. "The others are like me," she told them. "The Roman/Greek turmoil changed their personality as well, but not enough for it to trouble them. But it does cause some horrible headaches at times, so watch out, because they could be incredibly unpleasant. Their tasks for you would not be as kind as mine."

Percy was so shocked he took a step backwards. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. What do you mean tasks?"

"Tasks to prove worth," Vesta explained, walking her fingers across the stones casually. "You have already performed yours to me by finding me, although Aphrodite gave you a couple hints." She looked up and shrugged. "I'm lenient."

Then she crouched beside her fire and motioned the demigods to do so as well. Once they were at the same height she continued. "This is what will help you," she said. "It is the fire from the original eternal flame from the Temple of Vesta in Rome. I just moved it over here for your convenience. It's what will help you."

"Fire… will help us," Annabeth repeated slowly, hoping she heard that wrong. To storm or fire the world must fall, a small part of her reminded. She drew out a mental baseball bat and began to repeatedly beat her brain.

Vesta nodded. "There are two kinds of fire—healing and destroying. This is the fire that heals all pains."

Piper scratched her head. "Like battle wounds?" she asked.

Vesta grinned slightly. "All pains," she repeated, and sat back. "Now take it."

Percy blinked. "Take it?" he asked, glancing down at it suspiciously. "But it's fire. It'll burn us."

"Weren't you paying attention?" Piper reminded him. "Healing fire, not destroying."

"It's still fire," Annabeth countered.

Vesta just watched, smiling to herself.

"So take it, if you're so certain," Annabeth told Piper. Piper was about to, but she hesitated.

"It's still fire," she repeated.

"I wish Leo were here," Percy noted.

"You cannot leave this temple without the fire," Vesta told them. "It will protect you from Gaea's earthquakes until you reach your ship. If you go now, leaving it behind, you will die."

The thought hung in the air.

"Like, how many?" Percy asked. "One... or two... or all...?"

Vesta shrugged. "I didn't wanna frighten you guys too much," she explained. "But this is Gaea's center, you know."

"Or bellybutton," Piper grumbled. "Bellybutton is supposed to be funnier."

Annabeth ran a hand through her hair nervously. "I'll take it," she decided.

Percy's eyes widened. "Annabeth, you don't have to," he said.

"Yeah, I do," she said. "If I don't we'll be killed upon leaving." She bum-scooted up to the fire and cupped her hands on either side of it. Its heat was bright and hot. She hesitated, then before she could reconsider she snatched it off the ground.

It didn't go out, which basically broke every rule of physics and science right there. It also didn't burn her. The fire just gave out a warm tickling sensation. Piper gasped. Annabeth opened her hands to reveal the flame.

Vesta grinned. "Hurt?" she asked, and Annabeth shook her head.

"It's warm," she explained, "but there's no pain. It's very… relaxing. And soothing."

"Excellent," she replied. "You are safe to go back to your friends now." The four of them got to their feet, and the goddess turned to Annabeth again. "As you have obviously not figured out your next course of action, I will help you." The goddess ran a hand over the stones. "Remember Cassandra's prophecy," she told her. "Remember the House of Hades."

It took a moment to process, but Annabeth understood. "Yes," she said, nodding as vigorously as she dared while holding the flame. "I know now. Thank you, Vesta."

She sat down on the stones, arms crossed. "Well, hurry! You are still on a deadline."

-o-O-o-

"Gods, Annabeth," said Leo once they arrived. "Now you have fire powers too? I thought I was special."

"More like this fire is special," she told him, having it still cupped in her hands. In a way she wanted to keep it, but knew that if she accidentally dropped it that would be it. "Do you have somewhere to put it? We'll need it for Athens."

He pulled a small glass vial from his tool belt. "This good?" he asked, holding it out to her. She took it and carefully slipped the fire inside. It kept burning easily.

"Wow," said Hazel. "That's weird."

Annabeth nodded. "Leo, we need to go back to the House of Hades," she said. "It says so in Cassandra's prophecy; 'one backwards the way you came'."

Leo's shoulders slouched but he nodded. "As much as I hate this, you're right," he said. He punched a few controls into his TV remote ship controller and the Argo II changed its direction by a hundred twenty degrees.

"We're going to be meeting the slayer of life there," Annabeth said. She looked at everyone one at a time. "Everyone knows who this will be?"

They all nodded silently.

"Okay," she said, and suddenly the moment became awkward. The others one by one began to head off in their own directions. Annabeth went down to her room, claiming she needed to rest. She had just set her head on the pillow and closed her eyes when she remembered something. She sat back up and walked over to her desk.

Yes. Her Yankees hat. It was where she had left it. She grabbed it and fingered the cap delicately. Would it work now that the Athena Parthenos was found? She placed it on the crown of her head.

She closed her eyes, afraid to see what was happening. So instead she took it off and placed it back on the desk. Annabeth would try it again, just not yet. Another day. She sat down on her bed, rubbing her tired eyes.

There was a knock on the door. "Yes?" she asked.

The door opened a fraction. Percy poked his head in. "May I come in?" he asked. Annabeth moved over on the bed.

"Be my guest," she invited him, and he sat down beside her. There was a silence of a few seconds as they waited for the other to say something.

"You okay?" Percy asked her quietly.

"Fine," she replied, looking down at her hands. "The fire didn't even hurt, I told you already."

"I meant about Tartarus."

"Oh." Annabeth felt herself darken and barriers being put up around her. "Well, then, I don't know if I'm okay or not."

Percy brought her into a hug. "I'm sorry," he told her softly. "I'm sorry you had to go through that."

Annabeth squeezed her eyes shut, silent tears rolling down her cheeks. "You wouldn't believe how terrified I was," she murmured, almost to herself. "If it weren't for you I would have died for sure. I wouldn't have had the strength to continue. Thank you."

They stayed like that for several more minutes, just enjoying the other's embrace. Annabeth was aware of Percy slipping away and shuffling awkwardly out of the room. Then she fell sideways on her bed and lay there until she fell asleep.


I'm listening to 'Burn' by Ellie Gouldings while I write this.

How appropriate.

(I knew Rick was going to have this Percabeth scene sometime in BoO, so I thought: Well, I might as well get rid of it.)

Who do you think the POV is going over to now? We've already done Percy, Piper, Leo, Annabeth and Hazel... only Jason and Frank left.