Hiya guys. Sorry about that cliff hanger and sorry about this chapter because it's going to keep that cliff-hanger going because I love to torture you all :)
I just want to thank you all for reading/reviewing/favouriting/following this story, it means a hell of a lot to me.
Anyway this is an extremely IMPORTANT NOTE: This story doesn't exactly coincide with Blood of Olympus, because the first few chapters were written before the book came out so as you can guess most of what happens in this chapter doesn't happen in canon. The only reason I am continuing with most of this is because it is written in the first chapter and I'm going to keep going with what I have written, obviously, otherwise this story will make no sense.
Main Pairings: Percy/Olympians, Eventual Percy/Artemis
Side Pairings: Percy/Annabeth
Any way I in no way own PJatO or HoO
"No." Malcolm says with a frown that speaks more volumes than it probably should.
Annabeth stares down at the plans with a concentrated look.
She doesn't understand what he is saying, how could he even say 'No.' the plans are absolutely perfect and had taken Annabeth a lot of time to draw up and even making it look somewhat presentable for her brother. Time that could have been spent doing better things; like searching for her missing boyfriend and starting a revolution against the gods.
'Careful.' Her mind warns her as she ponders over her newest masterpiece. 'You could end up back in Tartarus for thinking things like that.'
"Why?" she asks leaning in closer towards the large piece of drafting paper.
Her bleary and tired eyes glare down at a coffee stain; it's in a perfect ring shape and almost looks like it was stamped onto the paper to make it look more 'hipster' or 'Indy', something she has long since decided she was not. Part of her hopes that the only reason Malcolm has said 'No' was because of that one singular stain and not because the designs are terrible or that the thought behind the designs are absolutely shocking and should be thrown into the hearth as sacrilege.
'Maybe they would run you out of camp for being a Roman sympathiser.'
Malcolm is silent for a while; his head tilts constantly to the side over and over again as he tries to picture the building that sits in front of him.
'This is it. He hates it.' She can just imagine it as a cold shame fills her. She is the best architect at camp; there is no denying it by anyone and yet your brother hates your newest design.
Architecture is something that she tries her hardest to do and truly puts her all into, something that she had always been praised for, by her friends, her father, mother, the gods and even her step mother had complimented all the sketches she had left lying around whenever she visited home.
He squints at it for a moment before looking back up at his half-sister with a smile.
"This is good." He says completely missing out the mental breakdown his sister is having because of his earlier comment. He smiles at her with a cheeriness that means he really hasn't read the mood.
Annabeth frowns and straightens her posture. She regards him coolly annoyed at his sudden cheery expression. Sometimes she wished her siblings where a bit better at emotions, she really needed someone to talk to, someone who was at least partly related to her. No one really understands children of Athena a part from children of Athena.
'And Percy.' She dispels that thought quickly.
She would have gone to talk to Piper about this but Piper had enough problems with her long distance relationship with Jason. She couldn't imagine Piper having to shoulder Annabeth's emotions as well as her own. The daughter of Aphrodite had enough problems already with Drew Tanaka trying to lead a revolt against Piper for the position of Cabin Counsellor.
Something Annabeth didn't fully understand because unlike children of Athena, Aphrodite's children tended to be emotional. That wasn't to say that they were always in a mood, rather sometimes they were quite good at burying strong feelings of jealousy and anger and hatred, which was all good when said, however it made the odd day of when a camper at Cabin 10 released those emotions absolutely and completely terrifying. Some of them had a meltdown that could put even Clarisse to absolute shame.
Drew was a little different however; she almost seemed like the most level headed camper. She was the most manipulative, which really isn't all that surprising, and had such a strong hold on her emotions that when she was upset she didn't blow, she seeped that anger out. She was almost like a noxious gas that spread through camp like wild fire.
It made Annabeth truly appreciate just who her mother was and what she had attributed to her children, sure she wasn't exactly the most maternal or loving goddess like Aphrodite who adored all her children, Athena treated her children like comrades. It was a respect that made Annabeth and her siblings feel wise beyond their age and actually made their cabin the least dysfunctional. They all knew their place and while fights did occur they would be solved within the hour.
"Then why did you say no?" she questions him.
Malcolm doesn't even flinch; Annabeth respects that about him, no matter how terrifying Annabeth could be Malcolm would always look at her with a friendly smile.
"Well," he starts, his voice quivers slightly and a look of uncertainty crosses his features. "The design, don't get me wrong, it's amazing. I honestly love it. Especially the Ionic columns at the entrance-"
"Then it's the whole plan." She interrupts glaring down at the drawing; she knew that she would be treated like a social pariah for even thinking this.
It wasn't a lie that ever since Percy had disappeared and Mr D had come back to camp ordering almost a complete shut down for any and all demigods allowing no one to enter the camp borders or even leave, she had thrown herself fully into the belief that maybe they didn't have to leave camp when they were older or even wait for the current 'Political' tension surrounding both Camp Jupiter and Camp Half-Blood to ease.
Instead she had realised after a night of crying and no sleep that they could create their very own New Rome right here in Camp Half-Blood.
'Then Percy and I can be together forever.'
"New Athens." Annabeth had said in a brief moment of clarity.
Malcolm winces and shakes his head, standing to his full height, he may be a year and a bit younger than her but he is probably one of the tallest campers. She wouldn't be surprised if he was slightly taller than Tyson with his lanky build.
"No." he frowns shaking his head. "The idea is amazing, imagine how many generations of demigods could be saved from just this." He points to the image in front of him; it's a block of apartments that she thought would look good standing in front of the forest.
"Then what?" she growls back at him, her head starts to ache from all the caffeine she has had over the past few days and the amount of sleep that she hasn't had since the night before Percy had run away, and that night they barely got any sleep either with all the 'activities' they had been doing instead.
Malcolm for his part looks absolutely lost. "It's just," he rubs the back of his neck, something she notes Percy used to do a lot when he had to explain something difficult to her, something he didn't want to explain.
She wonders if Malcolm got that habit off Percy, maybe Percy had taken that habit from Malcolm or she was just one of those people that made people want to touch the back of their necks.
'That made no sense?' her mind hisses at her, she shakes her head and frowns.
'Oh shut it you.'
Finally Malcolm gathers his wits and sighs. "How long has it been since you last slept?" he questions a brotherly concern slips through his words and wraps around her like a cocoon.
Annabeth goes to open her mouth with a furious rebuttal, however it's useless as her mind is a traitorous wench and completely stops working. Her stomach grumbles loudly as if to say 'Brilliant it's my time to shine.'
"Like ten hours ago."
'And two days.' Her mind supplies finally working again, although she knows it isn't working at full capacity and probably won't until she gets some sleep.
Malcolm sighs, his somewhat rigid posture jolts as if he just found out something was shocking or he was just throwing an old fashioned tantrum. His arms raise up a little as if he was going to hug her, except the face he pulls tells her that no, he isn't going to hug her, he is trying not to hit her. Sighing again he rubs his forehead.
"I know you are lying to me." He mutters looking back up at her with concern.
Annabeth decides to put on a show, the kind of show she had once used on Percy so that he would go to his archery class instead of ditching it to swim in the ocean.
"I'm not lying." She argues however a yawn escapes her lips and lasts for an unusually long time. She throws a hand over her mouth and glares at Malcolm who is himself throwing her an accusing glare.
"Annabeth." He whines leaning against the table.
She notes how dirty that one desk is. It's her desk, one that she had claimed almost immediately on her first day. Mostly because it was the only desk that no one had really 'claimed' but also because of the smooth texture of the wood that was marked in only one space with tiny carefully carved letters;
'Herbert was here.'
She had asked everyone she could about who Herbert was, what happened to him and what he had done. She soon found out that Herbert had done nothing spectacular, no quests or anything, and that one day he left camp and just never returned. No one had known if he had died in an attack or if he had just given up on camp life. She liked to think Herbert was a mystery of Cabin 6, like Cabin 9 had Bunker 9, except Bunker 9 was a lot more interesting than 'The Mystery of Herbert.'
It was strange to think that the only reason she had chosen that desk was because of a half-brother who may or may not be dead had carved his name into the oaken slab. But it comforted her to no end; it was when she saw those words she realised that she wasn't really as alone as she had once thought.
Sure she had her siblings, Luke and a whole camp filled with the misfits of America. But Herbert was the possibility of what could happen to her, every night before bed she would dream about her mysterious half-brother what he looked like, what he was like and anything and everything that made a human a person.
She had always dreamed that he had made it, found a way to block out the delicious scent that demigods emitted and started a family.
"You can't keep doing this." He takes a step towards her as she eyes her desk off. "I'm worried about you." He says Annabeth turns around to face him and gives him a little smile. Tears begin to form, pooling at the bottom of her eyelids.
Annabeth has never been known to say sorry often so when she bites her tongue to stop her from saying anything she quickly releases it and goes in for a hug. "I'm sorry." She says muffled into his shirt.
Malcolm releases her and awkwardly pats her on the head. "No need to be sorry." he turns back around towards where he once stood grabbing his drink bottle off of the corner of the picture.
The corner rolls up as Malcom takes a quick swig of water. "Are you still coming to practice?"
Annabeth looks up at her brother with a guilty frown, she shakes her head slowly.
Malcolm chews his lip thoughtfully and smiles back at her, she can tell he is trying to be supportive but the smile comes off as condescending as if he was trying to comfort a child.
She had promised her youngest sister that she would attend this lesson after missing almost every lesson this week. Really what did they expect though? She had just been told by a goddess that Percy, her boyfriend and quite honestly the one that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with, had to leave without her to escape the gods that they had literally only just saved.
Really they were lucky she wasn't in some catatonic sleep and plotting revenge on the very gods she believed in.
They were meant to be the god guys right?
Then why the Hades do they feel like the bad guys all of a sudden?
'Maybe it's because they are all bad guys?' her mind helpfully supplies. She frowns a little.
It was true though, the gods aren't the good guys. But they also aren't exactly the bad guys either. More than anything they are like the better of the three evils.
She prays that there are only two other evils. She doesn't think she could end up in a mad attempt to save the world again.
Two times were enough, thankyou very much.
"It's okay." He shrugs, but he sounds so unsure like he knows it isn't okay and part of her agrees with that sentiment. She is pretty useless with a sword as is, really she could use the training but being in that arena without her boyfriend almost feels like too much, that arena was just as much his zone as the beach and his cabin.
It's where he went to relax, to release his anger and even just to muck around.
"Maybe next time." She mutters turning back to her sketch, plans start to form once again in her mind and suddenly she feels like she is losing herself again as the conscious part of her brain zeroes in on what has to be done.
She doesn't have to see the face Malcolm pulls behind her before he shuts the door, he knows just as well as she does that she is lying.
She sits down at her desk pushing the draft paper aside almost tearing it in the process as she pulls out another piece of paper her hand automatically looms over her pencil as she tries to clear her mind for a moment.
She needs to focus on the one new building design and not the thousands of others that suddenly start to fly and whizz around her brain fighting for room at the forefront of her brain.
Her pencil hits the page and suddenly she is completely focused on the task at hand, line after line and she suddenly starts to feel more alive and aware than she has ever been. She wonders if Percy feels like this around salt water.
Her pencil falters slightly.
'Don't think about him.'
"I wasn't." she grunts back to her mind.
But then she finds herself once again picturing sea green eyes and a mess of jet black hair that just feels so right entwined in her fist.
Percy had always hated it when she pulled his hair, once he had yanked her hand away and had held them both with one hand while the other played with the skin on her neck, she never complained about that though, rather she loved it, especially when his finger would tickle just above her collar bone she would shiver and he would always smile and plant another kiss on her lips.
"Wow!" a voice from behind her exclaims.
Annabeth reacts quickly, well after almost falling off her chair in shock. She spins on her heel and faces the intruder, her blade raised in a defensive position that can easily change to an offensive with the flick of her hand.
"Holy Hera." Rachel cries her hands raised upright as she stares at the point of the dagger in confusion, her eyes flick towards Annabeth's.
"Rachel?" Annabeth mutters, her mind clearing up of all the building designs and the number of columns an Atrium would need without having too many.
"Uh." Rachel says quickly. "Yeah, didn't you hear me knock?"
Annabeth looks back towards her current project guiltily. "No." she turns back towards Rachel who is staring around her cabin in complete wonder.
While it was true that Rachel and Annabeth had quite quickly turned to be good friends since her ascending into Oracle-hood, there were times when Annabeth had questioned Rachel's trust worthiness.
And by times she doesn't mean over the months the two have grown close, it was more like the days since Percy left her without so much of a good bye, not that she blames him of course.
Still, it would have been nice.
After all Rachel was the oracle, she was close to the gods, closer than all of the demigods that were sired by said gods. If anything Rachel was like the dividing line between mortal and immortals, she was given orders and spoke to the gods and passed down whatever information she was given when she was given it.
The gods respected her and needed her more than they really needed all their children, Annabeth often wondered what it would be like if the gods respected her like that.
Sometimes she couldn't stop her mind from wondering if Rachel was closer to the gods then she let on, once she had even let slip that Apollo would often slip into her dreams and talk to her as if they were the best of friends.
She wonders if Apollo is also slipping into Rachel's dreams and questioning her about where exactly the evasive son of Poseidon was.
If he was she doesn't think Rachel would give away that information, but the gods could be persuasive and could always find a way to get the information that they needed out of people.
That being said Annabeth was extremely glad that the mortal was helping her boyfriend. Sure he was the saviours of Olympus and one of the seven heroes he could also sometimes be really clueless and reckless, a trait that was obviously one of Poseidon's many quirks (?).
Honestly he could quite possibly take on an entire squadron of Marines and come out on top, that didn't mean that she still didn't worry about his safety though.
He was her boyfriend, sometimes she even worried about him getting lost in New York. Despite the fact that he knew the entire city like the back of his hand.
Yes it was irrational to worry about the little things, but this was love and wasn't love irrational?
At least that was the mantra of her cabin whenever they had a run in with an angry Aphrodite camper.
'Like Mother like children.' She thinks bitterly.
"I can see what Percy meant about the beds." She chuckles as she looks towards the far wall. Annabeth takes a good long look at Rachel then, she can see the tension building on her shoulders and the tightness of her smile as she tries, and fails miserably, to put on a relaxed and easy going expression.
Her eyebrows raise and she suddenly can see a hundred thousand scenarios that involve Percy being eaten by a drakon or being taken by the gods.
She opens her mouth to question her mortal friend but either by coincidence or because Rachel doesn't want to answer one of her questions, the mortal beats her to the punch.
"Do you guys even sleep?" she questions walking around the cabin. Her hand lingers on one the rungs of a bunk; it's her sister Maria's she hadn't made it this morning. Something Annabeth had once been on top of in the running of the cabin.
Everything was to be kept clean and tidy, including the desks.
As morbid as it sounded it just made things easier if anyone died.
Then they wouldn't have to clean up their stuff because it would already be done. It was a rule the previous cabin counsellor had made after the death of a boy the year after she first arrived at camp.
He was at least three years older than Annabeth had been and was one of the nicest half-bloods she had ever met, that didn't mean he had no flaws however, he had grown to prideful and cocky and had travelled into the forest to fight monsters alone.
They didn't find his body until the next day.
She of course had continued with that rule, she never wanted to pack a siblings things up again let alone send them off to their father and the rest of their family. That was the reason why so many demigods had very little belonging with them when they came to camp. No one wants to put their families through the pain of going through mountains of stuff.
She frowns at the bunk as if it has done a great wrong and it has done a great wrong. It has reminded her that she is not the same cabin leader that she had once been.
"Yeah." Annabeth mutters in reply shaking all the dark thoughts out of her head. "Sometimes our greatest inspiration comes from dreams."
Rachel nods her head solemnly taking another quick look around the cabin, all of the beds bar one look dishevelled and slept in, mostly because Malcolm has this weird quirk of trying to sleep in a new bed every night.
"Let me guess." She says walking towards one of the bunks, quickly she kneels down low and almost crawls into the bunk and pulls a picture off the wall. Annabeth winces as Rachel emerges with a soft smirk on her face. "This one is yours."
Annabeth knows what picture in in her hand; it's the last and probably one of the only pictures of the seven. It was taken before their departure back to their respective camps.
Annabeth stays silent as she stares as the picture from the distance.
Rachel sighs loudly. "You need to sleep." Annabeth's eyes dart towards her friend. She stares at Rachel with an inert focus that has Rachel shiver.
"I am sleeping."
"That's not what Malcolm says."
Annabeth turns her glare towards Malcolm's desk. "Malcolm needs to mind his own business."
"This moping around isn't going to do anyone any good." Rachel says turning back around placing the picture on her friend's pillow.
"Who says I'm moping." Annabeth starts her arms folded as she looks back at her friend, this time Rachel stays composed or as composed as she can when her friend is giving her a glare that could turn Medusa to stone.
"Uh everyone." Rachel deadpans; Annabeth notices how her hand twitches slightly to her jean pocket every few minutes as if she is awaiting a reply.
Annabeth removes her cautious stare from Rachel's leg and frowns. "I'm not mopping." She tries again. Rachel gives her a no nonsense look. "I'm working on something."
"When did you last shower?" Rachel deadpans.
Annabeth goes to open her mouth but nothing comes out.
'When did I last shower?'
"Last night." She lies.
"Pfft." Rachel exclaims, rolling her eyes as she does. "More like three to five days ago."
Annabeth bites her lip in hesitation. She doesn't know why Percy's sudden disappearance this time is worse than the first time. It could be because she doesn't want to lose him again, that she can't bear to be apart from him for this long, it could be Tartarus and how they spent so long in the worst place imaginable or maybe it was because she had thought they were finally past all this.
Whatever the reason is she suddenly feels as if she is once again bearing the weight of the world on her shoulders, except this time the weight of the world was more emotional than physical.
"Why are you here?" Annabeth questions with a cool look, one that she had seen her mother use on multiple occasions, she had spent days trying to copy it when she was younger. It was just another way for her to cope with the fact that her mother was an immortal goddess that probably couldn't tell her apart from the rest of her siblings. "You can't just be here to lecture me on the importance of hygiene and sleep."
Rachel shifts on her feet uneasily, Annabeth herself begins to feel the unwelcome feeling of anxiety.
"Rachel?" she asks her voice doesn't break, she makes sure of that. "What happened to Percy? Is he okay?" surely her friend would tell her if something bad happened? She knows that the oracle has been helping her boyfriend in his mad attempt at escaping, Rachel has even past on messages for them both.
She figures that this would be a simple message from Percy but those conversations never started out like this, they usually started out with Rachel passing a hand written note to Annabeth at the campfire which would then be thrown into the fire pit where she would pray to Hestia to cover up all the information that had passed. So far Hestia had been doing her job and no word had gotten past the two that Percy was on the run and that Rachel was letting him stay at an undisclosed location.
The mortal is silent for a moment and shifts again uneasily; Rachel was not the battle hardened warrior that both Annabeth and Percy were.
"Rachel-"
"He left." Rachel interrupts, Annabeth watches her friend carefully, trying to detect a lie or what that could mean.
"What do you mean he left?" she asks taking a seat. Her lungs feel heavy and her head feels light, panic floods through her.
'Don't worry, Percy is a big boy. He can take care of himself.'
Rachel bites her lip and takes another long look around the cabin before looking back at Annabeth with a slight frown. "Maybe we should talk outside?"
Annabeth shakes her head. "No. I want to stay here."
'Outside reminds me too much of him.'
She is starting to realise she sounds like a pinning girlfriend. It scares the Hades out of her how one person could mean so much to her that she could feel this broken when they left.
"I don't think it's a good idea-"
'SLAM!' Annabeth's fist hits the table knocking over a cup filled with graphite pencils, perfect for sketching and remodelling.
"What do you mean," she starts with a growl her feet hit the ground and suddenly she is standing and stalking towards Rachel. "He left?"
Rachel stays calm; they both know Annabeth won't hurt her. "I don't know." She sighs. "He won't text me back, he won't answer my calls. Annabeth he won't let me help him anymore."
'Of course he won't' she thinks to herself with a grumble. 'He is trying to be noble; he doesn't want to see anyone get hurt.'
"I'm sorry." Rachel says with a dejected look.
Annabeth smiles tightly. "It's fine." She says with a flip of her hand she turns around, hiding the anxious look on her face. But he should be fine, shouldn't he?
The room starts to feel funny then, like it's swallowed a thousand suns and is trying to get rid of all the built up energy that is forming within.
Rachel must sense it the same time Annabeth does because she is suddenly standing next to Annabeth and trying to pull her towards the door.
"We need to lea-"
"Annabeth."
Rachel freezes and looks back at Annabeth with a look of complete shock and surprise, Annabeth doesn't blame her because she is pretty sure her facial expression mirrors the oracles.
"Mum?" she asks turning around to face the goddess, who is looking honestly quite fashionable in a slim pair of jeans and a button up shirt that is rolled up to her elbows.
The goddess smiles at her daughter before throwing a questioning eye towards Rachel who stands mouth agape with her hand on the door knob of their cabin.
"Lady Athena." Rachel says with a slight courtesy one that Annabeth is glad that she doesn't really have to do. Athena would never smite her daughter for something as frivolous as a courtesy, for a revolt on the gods on behalf of her son of Poseidon boyfriend? Perhaps.
"Oracle." She greets in reply except this time there is no warmth in her words instead there is a hidden warning that both girls seem to catch onto quite quickly.
Annabeth looks back at Rachel who is looking between the door, Annabeth and the goddess of wisdom who has suddenly appeared in Annabeth's cabin, well technically it is also Athena's cabin but Annabeth doubts the lady Athena has spent any time in this cabin apart from right now.
"Um" Annabeth starts clearly in a state of confusion and awkwardness.
'Probably should have showered this morning.' She thinks as she runs a hand through her greasy and slightly knotted hair.
"We were just leaving." Rachel interrupts finding what little courage she has. Annabeth is honestly impressed by the courage; then again this was the girl who threw a blue plastic hair brush at the Titan Lord of Time who was trying take over the western world.
Athena stares at Rachel almost perplexed.
"Just because you possess the Oracle of Delphi." She starts with an edge in her voice that reminds Annabeth of a sharp blade. "And are protected by Apollo, doesn't mean I won't make you leave if I have to."
Annabeth almost sweat drops, beside her she feels Rachel do the same.
All three of them stand locked in a standoff that feels mostly awkward then terrifying.
"It's fine Rachel." Annabeth says breaking the silence, she shoots her mother a look before turning back to Rachel with a slight smile that may or may not portray Annabeth's true feelings of worry.
Rachel chews her lip and shakes her head a little, her hand moving towards her pocket as if hoping that she had a plastic hairbrush to hurl at her mother. Annabeth doesn't know if she would laugh, cry or scream if she did throw something at the goddess.
She knows for a fact that her mother would be perplexed and confused at first, before she would smite the girl for something like insubordination.
"Annabeth." Rachel whispers leaning in close, she shoots a wary eye towards the goddess who is looking around the cabin pretending not to listen in to the conversation. "Please."
"I will be fine." She says back to her friend.
Rachel looks torn for a minute, like she knows what could happen would be bad before she sighs loudly and releases her hold on her friend and turning back to the door, there is a moment where light shines into the cabin and Annabeth realises just how long it has been since she has left her nest of books and plans.
Annabeth turns back to her mother who now faces her with all her attention and grace. Annabeth has never felt so unworthy in her life.
"What's up?"
Athena raises a brow and Annabeth mentally curses, she has started to adopt some of Percy's mannerisms, mannerisms that probably shouldn't be used in front of this particular goddess.
"We have word" Athena starts cutting any and all bullshit and going straight to business, something Annabeth respects about her mother, she doesn't beat around the bush or leave any form of climactic feeling. She just gets to the point and doesn't take emotions into account. "That Percy has been receiving inside help."
Annabeth freezes, her face turns into an impressively blank face. "I don't know what you mean."
Athena doesn't buy it, Annabeth knows this but still the goddess plays along with her daughter's ploy, whether it's because of sentimental reasons or because she is using some form psychological mind game.
"Percy was found earlier this morning" Annabeth freezes, her body goes rigid and her palms begin to sweat, something Athena notices right away. "However," she continues turning around to inspect the cabin, the goddess smiles at her children's belongings all over the place and picks up a soft teddy bear from Maria's bunk. She turns back to Annabeth with a frown. "He managed to escape."
"Oh." Is all Annabeth can say her eyes focused on the teddy bear that Athena seems to be clutching to her chest fondly?
"Yes." Athena states. "The council is not pleased in the slightest." She gives Annabeth a meaningful look.
"Wait." She says shaking her head. "You think that I have something to do with Percy's disappearance?"
Athena raises a brow at her daughter.
'Puh-lease,' she thinks with a concerned look. 'I wish I was helping him. Maybe then I would be able to relax.'
"You can't be serious." Annabeth grumbles.
"I'm very serious." Athena replies. Annabeth stares at the teddy bear that is still in the goddesses grasp. It's the only thing Maria has left of her family. She would be absolutely distraught if something happened to it.
"Mum I have nothing to do with it." She says pleadingly, she doesn't know if her mother will destroy the bear or if she is just holding it because maybe she has a fondness for stuffed animals. But she needs to be sure that the goddess won't destroy the bear. Part of her knows that Athena wouldn't do anything to the stuffed creature but after all the thoughts that have been waging a war in her brain ever since Percy's disappearance and Hestia's visit she can't exactly be sure anymore.
Athena sighs forlornly. "I want to trust you Annabeth, I do." She places the teddy bear back on the bed and Annabeth relaxes. "But this is bigger than you can even contemplate." She walks towards her daughter and places a hand on her chin. "Just please." She says with wide eyes filled with sympathy. "Don't get too involved in this; I don't want anything to happen to you."
Annabeth stiffens and stares at her mother. A mixture of emotions pool in her gut.
'Did she just-'
"Did you just threaten me?" she questions as fear and anger start to bloom in the centre of her gut.
Athena shakes her head slowly as if she was trying to impart her famous wisdom and Annabeth didn't fully understand it, except Annabeth kind of does understand it.
"No." she says releasing her daughters chin and taking a step back. "I'm warning you." She mutters. "I may favour you but others don't." Annabeth stares at her mother in confusion and shock, she isn't entirely sure she understands anything at the moment.
"Mum?" She questions taking a hesitant step forward. Athena looks towards her daughter. "Why do you want Percy to be a god?"
"Why do you want to marry him." she answers back elusively. Annabeth frowns at the hypothetical question.
"What?" she asks taking a step backwards. "That doesn't make any sense."
Athena frowns and shakes her head as if she has been put under a spell. She looks back up at her daughter with what could be an anxious expression.
"Just remember what I told you." She says before the feeling of power rises in the air of the cabin.
Annabeth turns around just in time to shield her eyes from her mother as she disappears, a feather being left in her place. Annabeth frowns and scoops up the feather, she catches sight of Maria's bear and smiles, glad that her mother didn't take it wither her.
Maria may be twelve years old and mature beyond her years but Annabeth as well as the rest of the camp know just how sentimental that bear is to the girl. Not even Clarisse would touch it without the girl's permission.
'What did she mean by that? Why did she even say that?' Annabeth frowns as she stands from her squatted position.
The door suddenly opens from behind her, excited shouts as the rest of her cabin steps through the threshold.
Maria runs towards her bunk in an excited rush of limbs dropping her drink bottle onto the mattress she dives onto the bed, Malcolm follows attempting to tickle his younger sister.
Everyone ignores Annabeth who continues to stand in the centre of the cabin with a singular grey feather in her hand. They are all known to have moments like this, times where each of them will often come to a complete halt as their brains focused in one something, it was common etiquette for them to never break a siblings zoning out. Because who knows maybe they were coming up with a brilliant new plan for something.
"What's wrong?" Malcolm asks Maria, the girl is holding the teddy bear in her hand her eyes focused on nothing, her eyebrows scrunched together.
Annabeth comes crashing out of her thought process then as pieces of the puzzle suddenly click and fall into place.
"Did someone touch my bear?" she says with a knowing smile.
Annabeth drops the feather. "Oh my Gods."
Still with me? Yes uber confusing and annoying but I wanted to so I did.
Anyway please tell me what you thought of this chapter. :)
a1993: hahaha why thankyou. Hope you enjoyed this chapter :)
Utoris Son of Gaia: Challenge accepted for longest review hahaha. Yeah I'm planning on having the gods being really selfish and greedy, I mean they are gods also I am planning on Percy running into some very helpful minor gods and goddesses in the future of this fic.
I have been actually thinking something along those lines for Percy and Annabeth's breakup in this story, not sure about the torture though I keep iffing and aring between ideas like you suggested by I absolutely love what you wrote about Nemesis and I'm going to write something like that into this story because Percy obviously isn't going to be all like 'Awesome being a god isn't so terrible should have agreed to this sooner' as soon as he is captured.
Thankyou so much for giving me all these ideas that I can't wait to incorporate into the story, I really appreciate it as well as all the compliments. Thank you so, so much for reading and reviewing, I really appreciate it. :)
AgitatedDog9288: hahaha love the enthusiasm, although I don't think this was the update you were looking for :p
Fantomfaire: Thankyou for reading. Unfortunately you are going to have to wait a little while to find out how exactly Percy is going to get out of that one.
Fallen Angel of Olympus: First off; thankyou so much for reading and reviewing this story it really means a lot to me.
Secondly I can't really say too much on what's going to happen in the future of this fic with the whole 'Dating' thing but what I can say is that there won't be a whole lot of dating going on.
Also on the point of Percy being a guardian of the hunt, oh hell to the no. At first all those fics were great and I honestly loved them especially Starblade176's fic, but I completely agree with you, the whole device of being a guardian of the hunt is completely overused and predictable to a fault, that isn't to say all stories that are Guardian stories are terrible because some of them are really good and they can be original just that most aren't.
As to his titles, that is something I myself am not overly sure about. I still want to make this somewhat realistic, well as realistic as I can with Percy ending up with an eternal maiden and having half of Olympus crushing on him, but I'm only thinking one title or maybe three at the most. All the titles you have suggested have come to mind I'm just having trouble picking which ones I want him to hold. All I know is that his symbol of power will be Riptide and his sacred animal may be a Pegasus. Thanks for reviewing :)
Banesith777: Cheers mate, hope you enjoyed this chapter :)
AustinWritesThePJBooks: Well we all knew he couldn't run forever… or could he? Thanks for reviewing :)
Guest: Hey man thank you for reviewing and reading this :)
Also thankyou for giving me ideas like whoa I love the whole thing about Percy staying at the hunt for a bit, seriously its great but I can't say too much on what's going to happen to Percy because that will give everything away. :/
Please don't worry about this turning into a Harem story, because I can tell you that will not happen and the whole 'loving him so much they want to spend eternity with him' is pretty much their main goal as what Athena kind of gave away in this chapter.
Apollo probably would take Percy to Olympus so that she could be with Percy forever, if Apollo wasn't so interested in having him all to himself ;)
MassDragonbornEffect: Hahaaha why thankyou, while this may not have been the chapter you were hoping for I still hope you enjoyed it :)
Monkeybaby: Yeah he sure knows how to get into trouble doesn't he. Hope you enjoyed :)
AmeliaJane14: Oh I will update soon, thanks for reviewing. :)
Bambino01: Thank you for reviewing, hope you enjoyed this chapter :)
Flying Pigs: No prob Bob. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and hopefully you won't have to wait too long to figure out what happens to Percy. :)
Becool258: Yeah it won't be for a while till he becomes a god without giving too much away, thanks for reviewing :)
Ronnie R15: She won't be too angry with Percy but she still will be mostly because of her own Pride in not finding him sooner. Yeah she won't really I'm going to make her only refer to Percy as Perseus when he is doing something wrong or when she is angry at him, kind of like when a parent or a friend uses your full name.
Yeah if anything this story is more of a parody of the series if anything, but some of them will be having a gracing period and their own reasoning for liking him, not the generic reasoning I used in the original of this story. But I promise you this that I will not have Hestia liking Percy because he was the first one that noticed her, it makes no sense really because Nico was the first one to really notice who she was and talk to her, I totally agree with you on that whole aspect.
Thank you for reading and reviewing and I hope you enjoyed this chapter. :)
StarOfFeanor: haha same she is my favourite female Olympian with Hermes and Apollo tied for my favourite male. Hope you enjoyed this chapter :)