Fall Into The Sky

(a hundred moments, a single love)

3: ends

She knew that you probably shouldn't sit under a tree in a thunderstorm, but she did it anyway, because somehow she doubted that lightning would strike this particular tree. Thalia would get a little...angry...if it did.

Of course, it wasn't supposed to rain in Camp Half-Blood anyway, and yet here she sat, her jeans soaked in rain, the mud drenching the now-dark-blue cloth. Her bright orange shirt was darker too, her hair a dark, dull yellow because of the rain. She blinked away the water from her eyes, but it was hot. Tears.

Damn, weren't they done crying yet? She had told her eyes over half and hour ago to get over it. It was done, it was over, the event had ended and everyone had gone home. So why was she still her crying when no one else was here?

Because no one else is here, said that voice in her head. It sounded like her mother, and it kind of disturbed her - but it was right. The only reason - the only reason - that she was allowing herself to cry over this was because no one could see her. No one, especially not in this thunderstorm.

And the real reason she was crying was because of that stupid Silena from Aphrodite cabin, and that annoying, idiot, pompous, big-headed, useless, stupid little -

"Annabeth?"

...Percy.

She stayed very still and very silent, hoping that the rain would shroud her presence, that Thalia's old tree would hide her as she pressed up against the trunk. She couldn't deal with him right now, she just couldn't do it without falling to pieces, and she was already enough of a puzzle, thank you very much. She didn't need little bits of Annabeth scattered all around camp - in the arena, where she loved to vent; by the beach, where she always watched the sunrise; in her cabin, with her brothers and sister; here, under the tree...everywhere she felt most herself.

She hugged herself closer, curling into herself, and then - then she felt a warm hand touch her cold, wet arm tentatively. It was dry. "Percy."

"Annabeth." She couldn't look up. His voice was so soft, so sad. Tired. Had he really been looking this whole time? "I looked everywhere." Yes, then. "I went to the arena, the track, the beach, your cabin...no one knew where you were." And that was her plan, wasn't it? Why hadn't she just used the invisibility cap?

She just couldn't even think anymore.

"Are you okay?"

She didn't answer, feeling her pieces begin to fall apart around her ears. She felt him settle down in the dirt next to her, shifting until he was comfortable. "I guess I'll just wait with you, then," he said.

"Silenca," she said, her voice hoarse.

"What about her?"

"You and her. Are you officially an item now?"

"...what?"

"Y'know." She sniffled; rainwater was getting in her nose. "A couple. Together."

"No," he said, his voice surprised. "Actually, I think she has a thing for Beckendorf at the moment. Why would you think that we were...like...dating?"

"You guys were standing so close, I thought..."

"No." She could just imagine him blinking, the surprise gradually fading away in those green eyes, replaced by understanding. "We were walking - well, I was going to the dining pavilion, and she was going back to her cabin. She swerved to avoid the Stoll brothers, and her charm bracelet got caught on my shirt." He sighed and shifted. "That's all." He squirmed again. "I think I'm sitting on a root," he said at last.

She smiled to herself, her knees drawn up to her chest. Her arms wrapped around them, and her face was buried, hidden, so she could smile. "I'm sure Thalia likes that," she chuckled.

"I'm sure Thalia's wondering if she can smite me from wherever she is," he grumbled. "I just grew my eyebrows back from the last time she tried."

This time she actually laughed out loud, and she looked up to see him watching her, his green eyes pensive, his mouth drawn into a thoughtful frown. When he caught sight of her eyes, he smiled and pushed himself off the ground, futilely trying to wipe the mud from the seat of his shorts. "Ah, whatever," he said at last, wiping his hand on his shirt before offering it to her. She took it and pulled herself up.

The next few moments happened in slow motion.

She took a step forward as Percy stepped back, his hand slipping away. A root appeared from out of nowhere, a loop just big enough to catch her foot. It snagged and she fell, feeling her tentatively restructure pieces scattering as the mud loomed nearer and nearer -

And then she was safe.

Relatively speaking.

Percy was holding her up, his arms around her waist, her torso flush against his, keeping her from falling into the mud. She pulled herself up with shaky arms, her hands tightening on his upper arms. She looked down, feeling the pieces trembling inside of her. I will not break, I will not break, I will not break.

And then the saving arms became embracing arms. She leaned into it, and she felt a net around her, holding the pieces together far better than she could ever do on her own. And so she looked up just in time - catching sea green eyes with her own, she slowly and deliberately put her lips on his.

This feeling, this was like not being a puzzle at all. It wasn't like fitting together two different pieces to come up with another picture. It was natural, like lightning and thunder, sea and beach, life and death. Percy and Annabeth.

And everything was alright, because the puzzle was over. This was a new end.