Hey guys! I'm baaaack! So this became a combo of a whole bunch of ideas I had and I'm pretty happy with it. Whether it's because I'm female or whatnot, I find it easier to write in Annabeth's PoV, but this is in Percy's so let's see how I do!
This obviously takes place after CH1 and a little before CH2.
I take suggestions! After this week I'm done with swim so should have more writing time! Yay!
Shout out to Panda-Angel-Wings, a long time reviewer and is now becoming somewhat of a penpal via PM. She Pm'ed me a few days ago and it was so nice guys I just about started crying, you have no idea. Again, I'd like to express my gratitude to her and everyone else who reviews and gives life to my dream of being an author.
ANNOUNCEMENT! So I decided to do a twitter account, so you can all follow me AFAuthor
REVIEW! Let me know what your think! I take chapter suggestions!
:)
READ ON!
Percy realized his mistake as soon as he fell asleep. For the third night in a row, he fell asleep and his mind was plagued with nightmares. Luckily, he didn't scream as much. Annabeth was more prone to screaming and convulsing, Percy just kind of froze, shaking and mumbling. For the third night in a row, Percy had to watch Annabeth die in tartarus in his mind. He couldn't do anything. In his mind, he would scream until his throat was raw. And he would get angry. So angry. And that scared him more than anything really, that he would lose himself as well if he ever lost Annabeth.
He was in the middle of a bad nightmare, clutching a mutilated Annabeth in his arms, screaming vengeance and rage, when he heard her voice.
"Percy...Seaweed Brain...C'mon wake up...it's a nightmare, Seaweed Brain...Wake up! Wake up! Gods, Seaweed Brain, snap out of it!"
Percy gasped, his eyes flying open. His eyes were blurry, and he quickly, self consciously, wiped his eyes using the palm of his hands. Still shaking, he gripped Annabeth tightly. Living, breathing Annabeth.
"We're okay," Annabeth muttered. Percy waited until he was still before pulling away, muttering an apology. "Don't apologize," she said sternly.
"Did you have a nightmare, too? Is that why you're here?"
Annabeth laughed, but there was little to no humor in it. "I've learned not to fall asleep. I just kind of wait around in my room for a couple hours and then come in here. Sleeping alone doesn't work out well. Especially, after the first night and the...uh...screaming..." Annabeth said, uncomfortably tucking her hair behind her ear. "I don't wanna scream and I don't, uh, scream when I, uh, sleep with you." She swallowed. Annabeth hated weakness, and with her growing age her hatred of showing weakness, other than to Percy, seemed to increase. "Was the nightmare the usual?"
Percy just nodded. "Yeah." As his mind revisited the horrid corpse of Annabeth, he felt his fists clench, and the anger start to build. He swallowed, avoiding Annabeth's eyes.
Ever so watchful, she noticed. She grabbed his chin, forcing him to look her in the eyes. For a moment she stared into his eyes, reading him. It made him feel uncomfortable, which was unusual. He never really minded when Annabeth read him, but now he had a darker side in him that he would give anything for Annabeth not to see.
"Percy, do we need to talk about this?" Annabeth asked, sounding worried.
Percy tried for a lopsided smile. "Probably, but not now, okay? When this is all over, we can talk, okay? Right now everything is...raw," Percy decided. "And we gotta focus on this quest and not dying and stopping Gaia and-"
Annabeth stopped him by pressing her lips to his. "You worry too much," she said, a small smile creeping on her face.
"Yes, because what would we possibly have to worry about in a situation such as ours?"
"You just focusing on staying alive, and staying you, okay? Because every time you fight for your own life, you fight for mine, too, Percy. I hate being codependent but I..." Annabeth swallowed, self consciously. "I don't know how I'd survive without you. How I'd move on. It's...unimaginable." Her voice cracked and now it was her turn not to meet his eyes.
Percy leaned in and kissed her softly. He couldn't get himself to speak, because Annabeth held inside her so much more than just his life. He was so terrified of becoming bitter and resentful and hateful, but he could feel it building inside of him and Annabeth was the only one keeping the anger away. If she wasn't there to fight it off unknowingly, he was scared it would consume him, making him no better-no, worse-than Luke. When they pulled away, he simply just held her close.
All of a sudden, Annabeth started shaking. Percy was startled, thinking that she was crying, but when he pulled away, Annabeth was laughing. It sounded sort of manic, and maybe a little forced, like she was trying so hard to laugh just to keep her from crying. Percy couldn't help but smile at her attempt to be so strong. Why couldn't he be strong like her?
"What?" he asked.
Annabeth tried to stifle her laughs, but it was hard, and speaking became challenging. "How...how are we...how did this...other teenagers are..." her laughs began dying down and her eyes began glittering with tears, desperation leaking out of her voice, "...they're getting ready for parties...sleepovers...and we're...Gaia...fighting the giants...defending our lives...T-tartarus..." It was the first time either of them, any of the seven, had said the word since Percy and Annabeth returned, and when she said that word, the hellish word that would always be a twisted, scarring reminder of what they suffered, Annabeth lost it, breaking down. She leaned into Percy, sobbing uncontrollably.
Annabeth was the strongest person Percy knew, far stronger than him. For the past three days, Percy had tried so hard to act natural, but that's impossible, or it felt so to him. Annabeth, on the other hand, would laugh with Piper, and criticize Leo, and be a friend to Frank. It all looked so normal and so...Annabeth, but now Percy could see how much it was costing her.
After a few minutes, Annabeth forced herself to stop. Percy knew she still had some agony left inside of her, but she was pushing it away, to deal with later. He knew how much that hurt, but he also knew that they couldn't afford to break down now. Annabeth sloppily wiped her eyes, laughing at the tear marks on Percy's shirt. "Gods, I look like such a mess."
Percy pretended to study her. "Hm...nope. I don't see it."
Annabeth laughed and rolled her eyes, playfully shoving him away. "Shut up, Seaweed Brain."
Percy laughed and it felt genuine, it felt relieving. "And please, you hate normal girls." He said, doing what he could to make Annabeth smile by making light of her breakdown. "They're cliche and annoying and have fried brains from TV and sleep around with whatever and if you haven't caught on, Wise Girl, I'm quoting you."
Annabeth snorted. "Well, I'm a demigod, of course they all seem lame. They're lives are lame but they're...safe, you know?"
"I guess," Percy responded.
"C'mon, you've never wondered how you would've turned out if you were mortal?"
Percy paused. "Not...not recently." He frowned. "Right before the sixteenth birthday, I guess, maybe, but lately...afterwards things were fine and then after that things were just too chaotic..."
Annabeth chuckled. "So you'll spend your time thinking of a future of us together, but not of a life where you'll safe."
"Safeness...happiness...personally I'd take the latter over the former." He began twirling her hair around one of his fingers.
Annabeth grinned. "That is so stupid and so sweet and so you of you to say."
Percy settled himself into a sitting position, leaning forward towards Annabeth, staring her in the eyes. "You probably wouldn't have been dyslexic or ADHD, especially since I sometimes have to remind myself that you have dyslexia and ADHD. You would be quiet in class, I guess, like I imagine you are now. And you're know-it-all tendencies are staying with you know matter what." She slapped him, but was laughing. Percy continued on, encouraged by her glee. "You're home life would be better. You'd get along with your step mom and step brothers better. You'd have a lot more friends because you weren't constantly thinking about how they didn't get you, didn't understand you. You probably would get early acceptance to some really fancy college. Have a boyfriend or two..." Percy's voice became somber and Annabeth frowned, placing a hand gingerly on his face. Percy didn't stop speaking. "You'd find happiness," he continues, drawing circles in Annabeth's palm. "Saftey. Live a long, happy life. Away from the danger being a demigod dating a son of Poseidon brings."
"Stop," Annabeth demanded. "Just stop,okay?" She moved herself closer, wrapping her arms his neck, until she had a leg on either side of him. Annabeth's face flushed, but she didn't move. "Like you said. Happiness is better than safety." She kissed him. "And I thought you said you never thought about our lives as a mortal."
"Actually, what I believe I said is that I didn't spend much time thinking about myself as a mortal."
"But you created a whole backstory for my imaginary mortal life?"
Percy didn't respond for several minutes. "I want you to be safe, okay? And a daughter of Athena attracts some monsters, yeah, enough to make life harder but not...A son of Poseidon on the other hand..."
"Stop it," Annabeth repeated. "Why are we so caught up in this? We can be demigods and happy, Percy. We've done it before. Before this whole...Prophecy of the Seven began. Before you were taken away. We've done it before and gods dammit we'll do it again and again and again, however many times it takes for the fates, and the gods, and the titans, and the giants, and any other should-be-mythological whatsits get the idea that we will be happy even if it kills us and then we will go to elysium and be happy again. Nothing, nothing, will stop us. Dammit," Annabeth repeated. She really wasn't one to swear, but Annabeth was frustrated and determined, that was evident. "Dammit," she said once more. "Screw the fates, and screw the prophecies, and screw heroic tragedies, we are going to make it, Percy. We will be the exception. We will make our own destinies. No more of this predestination crap."
Percy was grinning from ear to ear. "Where is this coming from?"
"Hell," she said frankly. "This came from hell. We survived hell. If we can do that, we can be happy. We just have to survive. We just have to make it."
Percy closed the distance between him and Annabeth rather forcefully. He kissed her with a passion that was foreign. When he pulled away, his smile grew wider. "Together. We'll never be separated again."
"Never." This time it was she who kissed him. When she pulled away she stared at him, not like she was reading him this time. More just wanting to stare at him. "I love you, Percy." She .
He gave her his trademark lopsided smile. "And to think, four years ago you couldn't stand me."
Annabeth yawned, exhaustion taking control of her body as she lied down, pulling Percy down next to her. Annabeth's eyes already began sinking. She yawned again as she spoke. "And now I can't stand to be without you." She moved in close. Her voice drunk with exhaustion, she continued sounding, half-delirious. "I think I liked it before. It hurt less." After those words, she was fast asleep.
Percy frowned at those words, thinking them over before he decided he agreed.
When he and Annabeth were just a bunch of bickering twelve year olds, things were simpler. They were simpler. Everything was black and white and sometimes it was a welcome reprieve to be separated. Now everytime she was gone, it hurt and he got scared. Scared he would begin to slip away. Scared she wouldn't be safe without him. There was a pounding in his chest, so hard, which was weird because it felt like his heart was ripped away when Annabeth was gone.
She was right. It hurt more now, being in love with her.
But he wouldn't give it up for anything. Not even safety.
