Summary: After many long months of separation, Percy and Annabeth are reunited. Post Son of Neptune.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything! Obviously. Also, don't read this if you haven't finished Son of Neptune! There be minor spoilers ahead~
A/N: Son of Neptune was awesome, but I will forever be wishing for more Percabeth, so I wrote a crappy headcanon to tide myself over until fall 2012. I might write it from Percy's point of view later on, but right now this is enough for me. I thought it would be an okay way for me to break my fanfiction silence.
It was done. After far too many long months of work, the finished Argo II loomed in front of her, its bronze plated hull gleaming in the summer sun, massive sails flapping in the slight breeze that blew through the camp. Even after seeing it, at various stages of completion, almost every single day since last fall, it took her breath away. Annabeth Chase had seen many ships before – in real life and in books – but none of them could hold a candle to this one. Looking at Argo, she almost believed everything would turn out all right. How could they fail this mission when they had already accomplished so much? How could they lose with such a magnificent, powerful machine on their side? Surely, they couldn't, she thought. Then she remembered that was she was almost an adult and such hopeful questions were below her – had been below her pretty much since she hit double digits.
She remembered what they were up against. What she was up against. It was selfish, but she couldn't help but feel like this was some personal thing. Of course, with Hera involved, everything bad that happened to her was personal. And it was quite possible that Annabeth herself had been a deciding factor in this plan. At the very least, she was positive that the goddess took some kind of grim pleasure in snatching Percy away from her. She certainly wouldn't mind seeing the daughter of Athena depressed and lonely every. single. day. Speaking of her mother, the wisdom goddess was probably up there cheering her queen on. "Oh yes, this is a great plan – save the world and get that fish away from my daughter!"
But that was over now. The months and months of waiting, of hoping against hope that maybe Percy would wander back here on his own, were all done with. It was selfish, she knew, that somewhere deep down she had wished Hera's plan would backfire and send Percy home somehow, both because she wanted her boyfriend back and because she wanted something to blow up in that awful goddess's face for once. Surely there were better plans than this, and now that they had figured out what was going on, they could come up with one themselves that didn't involve wiping people's memories, stealing lives, and causing unbearable heartache to countless people. They could send some scouts to California, Jason among them, to enlist the help of the Roman camp. They could bring Percy back, because surely he would be able to help with the ship, even if it was an airship. They could... they could...
Hubris, a voice in her head would whisper every time her thoughts turned in this direction, cutting off whatever alternative plot she was coming up with.
It was true that she thought she could have come up with something better than Hera's stupid plot, and it wasn't just because she hated the queen of Olympus above any other deity. However, it was also true that it was too late now to change things. In just a few hours, things would be set in motion. The quest, the building of the warship... all that was merely a precursor of what was to come in the weeks and months ahead. The real action started now. Right now – because there was someone behind her poking her with the corner of a small crate.
"You joining us, Blondie?" asked Leo, grinning impishly at her, his arms full with a crate of ammunition. Giving ammo to a fire user didn't seem like the greatest idea ever, but he was the one who had started all this, so she supposed he could carry whatever the Hades he wanted.
Hubris, said the voice.
"Yeah, of course," she replied, shaking herself out of her reverie. The final preparations had been made, and all that was left now was to board. After eight months of anticipation, it was surprisingly difficult to make herself get on that ship. At first, it had seemed like some sort of a dream, like this still couldn't really be happening to her. As the ship faded out of its skeleton phase and began to look like an actual machine, she had finally accepted that they were really going to do this. But truth be told, now she was just plain terrified.
It wasn't as if she had never asked herself these questions before. What if he still doesn't remember me? What if they've turned him against us? What if – gods forbid – he met some beautiful warrior girl in his time at the Roman camp? The answers to those questions didn't really matter on a larger scale, considering the fate of the world depended on this plan and everything. One would think she'd be used to the Fates spitting in her face by now anyway. But those answers mattered to her, and while she was no longer so surprised when things didn't go her way, she still hoped they would. She just tried to prepare herself for the worst.
That was what she was doing as she walked up the ramp and stepped onto the deck of the ship – preparing herself for disappointment and devastation. But at the same time, she couldn't stop the giddy fluttering feeling in her stomach. In just a few hours, she told herself, you'll see Percy. And at least then you'll be able to see how this whole mess is going to play out.
After eight months of waiting, the trip to California felt like a lifetime. She tried to keep herself occupied – going over charts and maps and blueprints, jotting down notes, thinking about tactics. Despite her efforts, her thoughts always turned back to exactly where she didn't want them: Percy, the prophecy (which seemed more complicated and frustrating than most), and how much she despised Hera.
"Hey, we sent a message to camp," Jason told her at one point when she must have been looking particularly worried, "I'm sure they'll hear us out."
"That's not all I'm worried about," Annabeth replied, giving him a sad smile. Jason's cheeks flushed slightly, and he didn't say anything more after that. She did feel bad for implying her romantic problems when he had his own to worry about. In the time it had taken them to build the Argo II, he had inevitably gotten many of his memories back. Naturally, they didn't do anything to simplify this whole situation. Besides, as a camp leader and one of the "trades," he was doubtless under more strain than the rest of them.
Which brought her full circle again – back to Percy. Could he remember her as Jason had started to remember Reyna? She didn't know, and she didn't want to allow herself to believe that he would. And despite the lingering childish hope that everything would turn out all right, her heart felt heavy. There were so many potential outcomes to this situation, so many things to go wrong. And as a daughter of Athena, it was pretty much in her blood to find all of those things and come up with ways to prevent them. But how did you singlehandedly prevent a full blown war?
You don't, she chided herself, you know that.
Hubris, the voice chuckled again.
"Land, ho!" Leo called out enthusiastically when Camp Jupiter was in sight, "Man the sails! Secure the masts! Um... look friendly!"
He was running around deck looking as happy as a kid in a candy store, despite the dire circumstances, and generally trying to land the ship safely while also making sure they weren't about to be blown out of the sky. Meanwhile, Annabeth was trying to do her own job without throwing up over the side of the ship. What a fantastic impression that would make on their Roman counterparts.
They managed to land without incident, but, to no one's surprise, the crowd that was gathering around the ship did not look like a friendly welcome committee. In fact, every single person in sight looked as if they were ready to attack at the slightest sign of a threat. Since she assumed the Romans knew as well as anybody that looks were deceiving, she was more worried about something accidentally going wrong than looking nonthreatening.
"Greetings from New York!" Leo shouted over the side, taking a pause from rolling up the masts to wave at their new – hopefully – allies. Piper promptly elbowed him in the ribs. Annabeth was too focused on trying to look casual to worry about Leo's antics. She hardly thought the best way to gain the Roman's trust was running off of the ship and shaking the first camper she ran into while demanding to know what they'd done with her boyfriend. Not that she would have done that anyway – probably. It was just too embarrassing. So she kept her eyes peeled, trying not to look too conspicuous as she scanned the crowds.
And then, out of the blue, there he was. It would have taken her less time to spot him if he hadn't been wedged between two other people, but not much. To her immense relief, those three looked friendly. The fact that Percy wasn't pointing a weapon at them made her feel much better about this whole situation. Tyson had said he was all right, but Annabeth had just not allowed herself to believe the cyclops fully until now.
She must have overestimated her self control, because as soon as this hit her, she rushed to the side of the ship. Jason was trying to speak, and paused briefly in surprise as the streak of blonde and orange shot past him. The Roman campers surrounding the ship raised their weapons uneasily at the sudden movement, but a tiny head shake from a dark haired girl in the front of the crowd kept them from firing. The crowd seemed to part for Percy, too, which she thought was a bit odd. And what on Earth was he wearing?
Gods, why did she care?
Percy looked up at the sudden movement too, and suddenly his face broke into an even wider smile. Annabeth felt as if she had been punched in the stomach. All she could do was stare – at him, at the ridiculous toga-cape getup, at the people on either side of him. She raised a hand in greeting, almost shyly. It seemed an inadequate way of greeting someone after such a long absence, but it wasn't as if she could launch herself over the side of the ship and run into his arms like the lead character of a sappy romance novel. Even if a reaction like that had been desirable and acceptable, she didn't know if she would have been able to make herself move; she felt almost frozen in time.
It seemed to take Jason hours to finish explaining things, even though he did quite a good job summing everything up in just a few minutes. The dark haired girl – Reyna – kept nodding seriously, but she also looked like she was trying not to look too happy about the return of their old praetor. Annabeth wondered how all of that was going to work out with Piper thrown into the mix, but maybe her mind was just more on relationships than it should have been.
Finally, she said, "I think we're going to have to take this discussion somewhere more convenient. If you and your crew would like to disembark..."
She and Jason shared the tiniest of smiles as he descended the ramp, beckoning the rest of the Greeks to follow him. Annabeth stood aside to let Piper and Leo pass before following them, forcing herself to go slowly.
There was a very tense moment in which the small group of Greeks stood before the much larger group of Romans, both parties completely unsure of what to do. Then Reyna stepped forward and put a hand on Jason's shoulder. He gave her a slight nod, and they shook hands.
That was when Annabeth's willpower broke. She and Percy had simply been silently looking at each other until then, but now she closed the gap between them in a few strides and threw her arms around him unabashedly. After all this time, she just didn't care what the consequences of it were.
He didn't seem to care, either. There was a split second where he was too surprised to react, and then he wrapped his arms around her with such enthusiasm that she was briefly lifted off the ground. Then they simultaneously remembered that they had a very large audience and stepped away from each other. To her horror, her eyes had started to tear up.
"Nice outfit, Seaweed Brain," she said thickly, punching him on the arm playfully to cover up the wateriness in her voice. It really was ridiculous, and the sheer Roman nature of it unnerved her, but the most important thing was that he was here and himself, and he knew who she was, too – it was better than she had been hoping for.
"Thanks, Wise Girl," he replied, rubbing the back of his neck absently with one hand. She didn't blame him – people were starting to stare, though admittedly they weren't the most interesting thing to be looking at, "You don't look bad, yourself." He poked her in the arm.
"Are you kidding me?" she quipped, "I haven't slept in eight months."
He laughed at that, and they hugged again, but this time it was more reserved.
"Oh," Percy said suddenly, as if he had just remembered something, "These are my friends, Hazel and Frank. We fought giants together. And won."
"No surprise there," Annabeth replied, offering a tentative smile to the two demigods who had walked with Percy to the ship. They looked a bit uncomfortable, which immediately made Annabeth feel better. Right now she was willing to accept anyone who didn't look like they wanted to kill her, "I'm Annabeth. Thanks for, you know, not killing my boyfriend, and all."
"It was hard," contributed the boy, whom she presumed was Frank, "He's pretty annoying." He nudged Hazel, but she didn't seem to be paying much attention to them. Actually, she was staring across the circle at Leo Valdez. Frank shifted uncomfortably and took a step away from her.
Oh gods, she thought, observing the way Frank looked at Hazel, the way Hazel looked at Leo. It didn't take an expert strategist to know where this one was going. Love triangles were apparently more common for demigods than regular mortals. Aphrodite must have been watching too many soap operas lately, or something.
Percy saw the way she was looking at Frank looking at Hazel looking at Leo, and gave her hand a slight squeeze as if to say, No love triangles here.
She held on to it, trying to ignore the feeling of apprehension that was creeping back to her. There was no doubt that any challenge would be easier to face with Percy by her side, but she still didn't want to think about what challenges might lie ahead for them so soon after they'd been reunited.
One step at a time, she reminded herself. Before they tackled armies and giants – or armies of giants – they'd have to get close enough to the Romans to unite their forces. They could fight giants – and win – but only if they could keep from killing each other long enough to become allies. And that, she thought, would take an expert strategist.
Hubris, her conscience whispered. She pushed it back. One day, she would have to face her fatal flaw. One day it might actually be fatal. One day that voice would get to say I told you so. But today was not that day, because surely the Fates were not that cruel. Surely she could have just twenty-four hours of, if not happiness, security and a warm hand to hold? Was that really too much ask?
You tell me, sweetheart, said the voice, you're the expert on everything.