Hey guys and gals KeeponReadin has returned! So very very sorry for taking so long to post this!
1) I don't own PJatO... you'll find this statement in pretty much every chapter
2) Like I said I'm really really sorry about taking so long to post!
3) Tried to break it up into easier to read paragraphs but there was just a lot of stuff in this chapter!
4) To recap: sorry. Now, read!
Chapter 13:
I lifted my head ever so slightly only to receive a jolt of pain that sent me back to the soft grass. Wait grass?I observed my surroundings a little more closely to find a blue sky and several trees. I breathed in the fresh air and breathed out the musty cave air (well, technically it would be musty cave carbon dioxide). But, my observations were cut short by the ferocious growling of my stomach. I moaned; trying to remember the last time I had eaten. Gods, I'm starving! I slowly rotated my head to look at Percy. His chest silently rose and fell in a rhythmic pattern, his face wore a peaceful half-smile, and a lock of his unruly black hair hung down in front of his eyes. I closed my eyes and sighed, silently wishing that all the stuff we had seen inside the cave was just a dream. I wished that I could just wake up from this nightmare and live a normal life. You know, not being attacked by monsters every five seconds wouldn't be half bad. Right now, I don't have time for wishes. Right now, I need a plan.
I quickly realized that a plan would do me no good because I couldn't move. Every bone, muscle, and nerve in my body screamed in pain. I felt like I had just ridden a donkey up a staircase for four hours straight. Upon that I had a tremendous headache that will, according to my mother, "Fade as you learn to control the new abilities I have blessed you with." That's another thing: my mom is Athena. Yeah you heard me right Athena. The Greek goddess of wisdom is my mom.
One second I'm running through an underground cave and the next I'm in some kind of big white room with a tall, slender, painfully familiar dark haired woman. Besides telling me who she was and that she was my mom, Athena- err, I mean mom- told me that the fate of the world rested on my shoulders. She said that Percy was the son of (she cringed a little before she said it) Poseidon, and that together we had the power to either destroy the world or save it. After she told me that I proceeded to tell her that she was a raving lunatic to entrust "the fate of the world" to two amnesiac teenagers. She blew me off and continued to tell me more. She said her time with me was limited and Zeus would definitely not approve. I'm trying to logically explain this… or somehow put it out of my mind, but I can't. It's like it's hardwired in; like I was born to do this kind of stuff. It's like even though I know every single bit of it is complete nonsense and goes against all logical explanations; I still believe every last word of it. Who knows? Maybe I've gone off the deep end. Or maybe the fate of the world really is on my shoulders.
I dug myself out of my thoughts and returned to the present. As much as I hated to wake him up out of his peaceful and admittedly cute slumber I was going to have to. With some effort I reached my arm out to poke him but he quickly sat bolt upright with wide eyes. "Oh gods, oh gods, oh gods… Annabeth, Grover, home…" He looked around and mumbled incoherent things to himself. I put my hand on his shoulder and gave him a reassuring glance. That's when I saw it. I saw what he saw.
Fire ripped through a once peaceful clearing, Giants tore through small, highly decorated, cabin-like buildings, and heavily armed teenagers attacked the Giants and tried in vain to douse the inextinguishable flames. Battle cries and screams both of fear and pain rung out across the battle field like an eerie song. Feelings of anger and sorrow bubbled up in the pit of my stomach. I watched as a band of teenage girls in matching silver uniforms charged into battle firing volley after volley of arrows at the Giants. The arrows didn't even faze the Giants, nothing did. They were unbeatable; they were practically made of steel. A small girl that looked about twelve years old with curly blonde hair like mine charged at a Giant. The Giant flung her to the side like a toy and cackled maliciously.
That was it. I was ready to fling myself head first into this war! I was fairly certain that these people were my family and I was ready to defend them to my last breath! That's when I saw them. Two teenagers standing at the top of the hill looking down on the scene chuckling. They wore Greek styled armor. The boy wore a flowing sea-green cape and bluish grey armor that seemed to roll and swell like the stormy tides of the ocean. He looked exactly like Percy… no… he was Percy. His messy black looked even darker and his eyes were an unnatural shade of green so dark they were almost black. The evil grin on his face and the soulless look in his eyes made me shudder. I heard myself muttering, "No." over and over again to myself until I was shouting it. The scene shifted to the right of Evil Percy to the thing I feared most: me.
My blood red cape billowed out behind me as I laughed carelessly at the scene. My armor was a cold, heartless shade of silver that matched my stony eyes. The malicious smile on my face grew to a ridiculously evil size as an older looking boy charged at me. He looked exactly like me: wise, powerful grey eyes and gold, curly locks of hair. Evil Percy folded his arms and smiled wickedly. "Ah, brother, it's been quite a while since we last spoke," my voice was so wicked I barely recognized it as my own.
His face contorted in rage, "Annabeth, you're a cruel heartless monster! I'd much sooner spit on you than claim you as my sister!"
"Malcolm, Malcolm, Malcolm, whatever are we going to do with you?"
"Probably murder me like you did with Chiron and the rest of my family. You're a killer. That's all you know now, you destroyed my home, my family, and you might as well kill me now too. Got nothing left anyways."
The Evil Me lifted Malcolm off his feet with her mind and began to pace around him, examining him as if she were planning the messiest and most painful way to dissect him. She lowered her voice and whispered next to him, "Malcolm, I'm going to let you in on a little secret."
He struggled under her grip and choked out sarcastically, "Enlighten me."
"We were all doomed from the start, The End."
"Annabeth, you and I both know that's not true. You're too smart for this crap. Well, at least, you were." Her evil smile faded and her hand slowly closed into a fist, ending my brother's life and the vision.
I stared into Percy's sea green eyes as tears dripped down my face. His eyes sparkled with tears that would never come as he pulled me into a hug. I gripped the back of his shirt and buried my face into his shoulder. I muttered, "No, no, no, no."
"Don't worry, we're not monsters Annabeth. We're not monsters. We're not monsters." He repeated it over and over trying to reassure himself as he patted my back.
I pulled away and looked him dead in the eye, "Percy, we're going home." Though neither of us knew exactly where home was, we stood up and begun our journey hand-in-hand.
Did you like it? I hope so. I got really excited while writing this chapter! I have tons and tons of ideas for this story! I really hope I can fit them all in here! Thanks to everyone who reviewed and all that other good stuff that I can't remember the names of because after writing this I'm pretty much brain dead! Anyways, review and tell me what you think... please? For the children?