Hello. I'm back again. This is mostly a filler and the next chapter will include Nico with a grand entry, like the badass he is. *_*
It will have Percico, and fighting. And please do not mind how I describe Greece. I've never been there so everything is based on stuff I've read. If somebody disagrees or finds any faults, I would love to know.
I don't hate Annabeth, just to clear things out. And I do feel uncomfortable when somebody goes outright and hates on her. She does have her faults and I myself might not think she belongs with Percy, but just like all the characters of the series Rick Riordan wrote, she's an interesting character and a great demigod.
Or so I think.
Thank you for all your support. You guys are great xx
Annabeth felt nervous.
She felt sick. Like she used to when she was a kid and the teacher in school would scold her for something she didn't do. And she knew she couldn't say anything because she couldn't do anything to change what would happen subsequently.
They had waited in Pyrgos. And Percy, Jason and Nico hadn't turned up. They couldn't even be contacted. Iris-messaging refused to work. It was like they had vanished from the face of the earth.
Piper was restless. She wouldn't eat, she wouldn't sleep. For the first time, it looked like her beauty was being drained. Though she didn't look bad. Not a bit.
Annabeth herself looked horrible. Her hair hung limply around her shoulders, her grey eyes had sunken way deeper into her skull. Her mouth was always a hard line and the crew was scared of her. Even Piper.
Hazel was visibly sick. She would throw up ever once in a while. Even though she hardly ever ate. Annabeth guessed it was little do with motion sickness and more with losing her brother twice.
Leo was hyper. Always. He had been trying to search for the three boys with the help of his Archimedes sphere. Though it hadn't worked out yet.
Frank did most of the defending work for the ship; not because half the crew had suddenly become useless, but because it probably helped him cope in his own way.
The only thing that kept them all sane was Katoptris. It had shown images of Jason and Percy fighting in the battle against Gaea so they had to eventually show up.
It didn't show Nico and that worried Annabeth, surprisingly. But they carefully kept the fact from Hazel. There was no need to worry the girl anymore than necessary.
She remembered that time when she had saved Percy, Bianca and Nico.
People thought she had done it because she had loved Percy.
It was true that she had had a crush on Percy but she cared more about saving the two new demigods because she had expected Percy to take care of himself.
A selfish voice inside her head asked, had it been worth saving them?
She was horrified at herself. How could she possibly even think that?
Your strength isn't doing things for the people you love but doing things for the better good, no matter the consequences, said her mothers voice inside her skull.
You're losing everything, said Luke's voice.
She gritted her teeth, trying to push the memory, of what he showed her, away.
But of course it had come back to her.
What was the point of being smart, she thought, if she could control her mind?
She saw Nico, dying in Percy's arms. He grabbed the front of Percy's shirt and kissed him.
It was followed by a future where Percy and Nico would get together, lead a normal life, adopt a baby girl and a hellhound pup. She would come to visit them, more often than not, with Rachel or Thalia. Even Grover and Tyson.
She had been too stunned to reply and Luke had put his arm around her.
But to express his point, he'd shown her an alternate future.
In this future, she was married to Percy. They had a beautiful blonde, green eyed boy. And Percy seemed really content. It was her sadness that made him unhappy. She and her mother were estranged. She hardly had any contact with the demigod world. The other gods did respect her, but Athena's disapproval had shattered her. Even though she had no idea what Athena disapproved of. She couldn't remember and nobody else knew either. It was almost like some spell had taken her away...
There was another one that Luke showed her, but this one seemed painful, even for him.
It had the same things as the second one but in this one, she wasn't depressed because her mother had severed contact with her but because Thalia had died in the war between Gaea and the gods. And she was responsible, she knew it, but she knew not how.
Luke had explained it to her.
"You shouldn't have struck that deal with Philotes", he had told her sadly, "It leaves you with less control over your future. She will take something away from you. And you will have to deal with the consequences all your life"
She had not replied, because she hated being told that she had dome something wrong or risky. She had only done something that was necessary.
She had instead asked Luke where Jason, Percy and Nico were. That had made him uneasy and he had muttered something about things not being in his control and none of his business or hers.
She had smacked him in the face.
He had the decency to look ashamed.
Before leaving, he had begged her to make the right decision, his sparkling eyes, pleading with her consciousness.
She had asked him, indecently, if he wanted Thalia to die so he could be with her.
To her relief, he had looked horrified. "I would never. She deserves a great life, doing what she loves. I'll wait for her, even if it takes forever"
She had to leave right then, because his frankness and love for Thalia had brought tears to her eyes. But she wouldn't cry.
She had woken up on the floor, clutching her pillow and breathing hard, choking on a sob.
Piper had popped in to tell her that they had reached Pyrgos.
She had been excited to see Percy, also dreading the moment he showed up. She didn't want to know if the kiss had really happened between him and Nico. Percy had been all she had, for a long while. Currently, she didn't know what she would do without him. Grasp at survival desperately and fail miserably, probably. He was like her supply of oxygen.
She wondered if it was unhealthy.
Of course, you fool, said her brain. When did you become such a damsel?
Since Tartarus, the other part of her brain replied. Or ever since she and Percy got together.
She hated when her mind had conversations with itself, excluding her.
Had she reached such a point with Percy, that it was above all kinds of relationship? Had he honestly been with her that long?
Of course he had. They weren't just friends, he wasn't just her boyfriend, he wasn't just life. They had been through too much. It was irreplaceable.
He was more. He was a part of her. For better or for worse. She didn't know if she was smothering both of them by keeping him too close.
Gaea rising just as they got together seemed to lightly point towards the fact that things had to change.
I'm getting paranoid, she thought.
She had hardly said anything that day or the next, or the day after. Her vocal cords had become rusty. After waiting for three days, they had sailed away, straight to Athens.
It was now that Annabeth looked down upon the Athenian skyline and wonder filled her. She was sick, yes, but a strange excitement was bubbling inside her.
The architecture knocked the breath out of her.
The architecture was in no way uniform, varying from Greco-Roman, Neoclassical to Modern. A patchwork from different eras that had influenced it.
But the patchwork was like a quilt from childhood that was so close to your heart that you couldn't bear to part from it. It was home.
Annabeth shuddered.
"I've sent out four of my metallic bird spies", Leo told her, appearing out of nowhere with his eyes sparkling madly, like they so often did now. "They should return soon with information about the encampments of Gaea's army"
Annabeth nodded curtly. She hoped the birds would Percy and the others.
If they ever visited Greece at a better time, she would've loved to visit the Platonic Academy and Aristotle's Lyceum. Or the Omonoia Square and the Syntagma Square.
It seemed unreal that saving all this was upto them.
Annabeth tried to imagine what Gaea would look like if you rose. She also wondered if she would be alive to see all that.
She didn't think she had been standing on the deck long but she did notice the sun rising over the horizon. The first sun rays of the great day were sharp and uncomfortable. Annabeth was already starting to feel hot.
Leo was back and he looked pale. One did not have to be a daughter of Athena to know that there was bad news.
"No sign of the Three", he said dejectedly. "But the birds have spotted Porphyrion and Polybotes. And their army. They have the most hideous creatures, a lot of them, unknown or uncommon"
A chill went down her spine.
She had been expecting it. She surveyed the city again and looked towards Mt. Olympus where the pale peak was clearly visible. She could be imagining it but she thought she saw colourful lights play across the mountain.
"What about Mt. Olympus?", she asked, "How does it look?"
"Surrounded", Leo said in a low voice, "They've covered the area"
She glanced at her drakon-bone sword and remembered the fight in New York, against Kronos. The odds had looked bad but they had won. At a great cost.
The odds were worse this time and they didn't have Percy or Jason right now. What would be the cost this time, she wondered?
A bird flew onto the deck and sat on the railing. Leo was about to shoo it off when it turned into Frank.
"Guys", he started, breathing heavily, "You'd want to see this"
He lead them down to the ground. They had parked at the edge of the Acropolis. It was located on a high rocky outcrop above the city. Annabeth liked that area because the architecture was beautiful here.
Two figures were visible, approaching the ship.
Annabeth's first thought was monsters. Gaea had sent somebody to kill them or bring them, whichever suited her.
But Leo's gasp was more of joy and relief than of dread.
She looked closer and had trouble recognising them.
They both look rejuvenated. Their eyes were bright and they looked strong and clean. Pretty even. There was something serene about their appearances.
Somehow it angered Annabeth. Here she was trying to figure out the best way to not get everyone killed and they show up after a vacation.
Leo rushed to hug Jason and Percy grinned at Annabeth.
Somehow he looked different to her. He felt different. His eyes seemed different. So did his smile. It didn't reach his eyes. He looked relaxed, but sad.
He hugged her, but he smelled the same.
"Let's go get them", he whispered
Annabeth kissed him and for a moment she felt content, safe and at peace.
Then the feeling was gone. She pulled away before the halfheartedness spread.
When they went above deck, Piper threw herself at Jason. Their passionate embrace made Annabeth uncomfortable and sad. She looked away, towards Percy.
He was staring into the sky longingly. She wandered what he was thinking.
Hazel rushed on to the deck from her cabin and looked around wildly, "Where's Nico?!"
Her eyes were filled with tears.
"He-", Percy started but seemed unable to continue. He ruffled his hair.
"Went back to Camp to get reinforcements", finished Jason, shooting Percy and odd look.
Percy, though, seemed to avoid Jason altogether.
"So, anybody got a plan?", Leo said, a sly grin creeping on his face. "We've got a war to win, remember?"