"So Annabeth is a very long story, as is Percy, but let's start where they meet." Travis began, shooting a look to Connor, who nodded. Taylor was glad somebody was finally giving her an explanation.
"Percy Jackson was 12 years old when he first came to camp, beating the Minotaur on his way in. He made enemies with Clarisse, if any of you've met her; she's not a hard person to piss off. But anyway, he was claimed by Poseidon and was given a quest."
Taylor's eyes were already wide, but he said it as if it were nothing, like beating the monster of legend was just an entrance exam.
He was cut off by Clarisse, who sat down on the ground next to him. "He had to get the Master Bolt, which is Zeus's big lightning bolt. He took Annabeth Chase and Grover Underwood with him, and naturally he got it back, busted his mother out of the underworld, and became a big damn hero."
"Are you telling the story of Percabeth?" Mitchell asked as he sat down. His eyes lit up with a devious smile. Taylor recognized him as the boy who was always smiling, he seemed to never be sad, like he saw the entire world like a child done, full of hope.
"No, we're telling the story of them, not a love story." Clarisse growled at him, with just a hint of lingering affection because of Selina.
"Please, their entire story is one of love; they just took a while to figure it out." Mitchell argued, never letting his eyes leave Clarisse's.
"Whatever, I'll continue the story. His second summer, I got the quest, but he had a massive head and snuck out of camp, with his brother Tyson and Annabeth, to find Grover. He had been kidnapped by a Cyclops. But anyways, after a trip to the spa, a pirate ship, lots of ghost sailors and a particularly irritable doughnut shot, we saved Grover, camp, and they got to irritate Luke, who chose the wrong side." Her voice broke, and quiet fell for a moment.
"Their next adventure wasn't over a summer; it was actually the next winter, right before the solstice, when Percy, Annabeth and Thalia went to collect the Di Angelos from school. But, as things always do, things went south fast and Annabeth was kidnapped, but everyone thought she was actually dead, except for Percy, that is. The Huntresses, servants of Lady Artemis, came to stay at camps. A quest was sent, but Percy wasn't included, so he snuck out again. Long story short, Bianca Di Angelo and Zoe Nightshade fell in battle, but Annabeth was saved. That was when we realized Luke was really gone." She stopped there, looking to Travis and Connor to continue the story.
"The next summer, the one before Percy turned 16, when he was going to bring the apocalypse, or so it was prophesized."
Taylor spoke up for the first time, "What do you mean prophesized?" Travis shook his head and continued.
"You won't find out if you interrupt me. But I digress; Annabeth got her quest, finally. We'd been hearing about this quest that she was going to get since she came here when she was seven. It's really a long history, and not really mine to tell, but you can ask her if you want. Anyhow, she took Percy, Grover, and Tyson with her into the dreaded Labyrinth in search of Daedalus. After a ton of stumbling around in the dark, some horse poop," The older campers laughed, "And the Mt. St Helens incident, Percy wound up on an island for a while, causing lots of panic," Mitchell but Travis off with a flourish.
"You're telling it all wrong! You're leaving out the drama! Annabeth waited in total agony for two weeks, thinking he was dead. Did you hear that she gave him a kiss for good luck right before he went to blow the volcano?" He made a very feminine squeal. "Regardless, after he came back, he made the terrible decision to bring Rachel Dare, now the oracle, one the quest, because she is a clear sighted mortal, meaning she can see through the mist that hides our world. Overall, a very bad tactic, putting the two of them on a quest, but anyways, they found Daedalus, fought back Luke's Army, excuse me, Kronos's Army, and generally pissed off Annabeth." His smile melted away a bit when a shadow was cast over his small thin form.
"Who pissed off Annabeth?" She asked. Taylor recognized her as Annabeth Chase, and while she didn't know Annabeth well, she figured telling new campers her story would be a bad plan. And getting caught would be even worse.
"Oh, hey darling! How are you?" Mitchell asked, his smile returning. Annabeth smiled back, as she was clearly faking her annoyance. She sat down; stretching one leg out infront of her, and the other was tucked close to her body, an elbow rested on her knee cap. She sat close to Mitchell, amusement in her eyes.
"I'm awesome! You guys explaining the deal to the newer kids? Hey Taylor!" Annabeth added the last bit as she looked at the group of kids that she didn't even recognize.
"Yup, we're right before the big Titan War, and the official start of Percabeth!" Mitchell added, his hands shaking with excitement. Annabeth smiled indulgently, like Mitchell was a small child and she was amused.
"Well do you mind if I tell this bit? I was actually there. And what is Percybeth?" She looked confused, and a bit apprehensive.
"Girl! You of all people should know what Percabeth is! It's your couple name! You and Percy! The entire camp ships you!" Mitchell exclaimed, his flustered hands all around his face.
She smiled. "A couple name huh? And Shipping? That's short for Relationship right?" She received a nod from a peeved Mitchell. "And people actually care that we're together? Like are personally invested in it?" She looked dubious.
"We are in love with your love!" Mitchell put a hand on hers and smiled supportively.
"So I guess you haven't heard that we're in a fight?" She smiled, waiting for the exclamations.
"What'd Prissy do this time?" Clarisse asked.
"Well, it was actually nothing, and we talked it out, so it's all good now. I just thought I'd mess your day up be insinuating that you OTP was ending." Mitchell looked hurt and began breathing again, but Clarisse just smiled, enjoying his distress.
"Wait, why do you know what an OTP is, Annabeth?" Mitchell asked once he'd re-oxygenated his brain, his dark eyebrows low over his crystal blue eyes.
She looked uncomfortable. "It was the summer Percy was due to turn 16, and fulfill the prophecy to either end the world, or save it. So after blowing up the Princess Andromeda, and losing Bekendorf, he heard his prophecy. It was terrifying, and he took it to say that he was going to die so; he stupidly took a dip in the River Styx, thus making himself invulnerable. I remember being really upset about that," She smiled at the memory, like much worse things were to come. "But we had an army of maybe 40 people to defend the island of Manhattan from an invading army, with no support from the Gods at all."
A few younger kids gasped, looks of pure horror on their faces, and Annabeth decided to tone down the depression. She looked to Taylor, who had a look of shock on her face, like there was no way she could believe that they'd done this.
"But anyways, after Percy made a deal to block the rivers so their Army couldn't use them, I activated all the statues in the city, which are actually automatons. That was pretty fun." Her beautiful face darkened and her eyes grew stormy, "We lost too many people in the days that followed." Her hand unconsciously went to her necklace, where she touched the bead with too many names.
"There are so many people, who are heroes, and every single person is one, they just need to figure it out for themselves. But we were losing, and it was only a matter of time before we ran out of physical bodies to protect Olympus with. We had dropped back into a ring around the doors to the Empire State Building, which is the gate to Olympus; we'll be going later this summer. We were tired, mostly injured, and fighting for our lives. The Ares cabin had declined to fight alongside us, due to a spat with the Apollo cabin." She looked to Clarisse, whose head was bowed. She put a hand on her shoulder, as if to say that it was alright. Clarisse stiffened.
"She would still be alive if my pride hadn't gotten in the way." Her head snapped up and she looked deep into the eyes of all the people watching. "Never let your pride get in the way of your friends and family. I promise you will regret it." She put her head on her hands, her elbows pressed on her knees, the very picture of regret.
"But anyways, the Party Ponies helped up out, letting us live to fight another day. That was pretty fun. The next day the Ares cabin arrived just in time to kill the drakon, which was only able to be killed by a child of Ares. We lost a good friend that day." Annabeth put her hand up to stop Clarisse, but there was no chance. She had already walked away, her face a mask of grotesque anger and torture. She was stiff as she walked to her cabin and shut the door. Annabeth sighed and let her hand fall.
"It wasn't her fault; Selina Buregaurd sacrificed herself to get the Ares cabin to New York. She stole Clarisse's armor and led the cabin into battle, but she was no fighter, a daughter of Aphrodite, no child of the war god. She was killed, But Clarisse slayed the drakon, fulfilling the prophecy. To be honest, Selina had no intention of living until the end of the war. Her boyfriend was the first casualty of the war, Charles Bekendorf. He died to end the Princess Andromeda. They were both Heroes, and I hear they have a place in Eslium." She smiled a bit at the end, and Taylor thought that it was odd to find such peace in the death of people who were loved.
"But even with the Ares cabin, the Party Ponies, and eventually Hades and Nico Di Angelo himself, we had no chance in holding off Kronos. He was just too powerful. So Percy made a deal, because even as we were fighting for our lives, the gods were fighting their greatest foe, Typhoon. He made his way across the US, remember the freak storms? Those were him trashing the entire country. At the same time as Lord Poseidon, Percy's father, helped the Gods bring down Typhoon, we were in the throne room of Olympus, trying to hold off Kronos, who was in the body of my old friend, Luke Castellan." She stopped for a moment, her voice thick.
"Do I hear storytelling?" Percy called jovially across the green, but he stopped when he saw Annabeth's face. "What's wrong? What happened?" He ran the rest of the way across the green and put an arm around Annabeth's shoulder, pulling her into him.
"It's nothing. We're filling the newer campers in on the events of the Titan war." Annabeth explained as Percy's face darkened.
"Well, where are you? I can finish for you. My favorite part is the end," He said, a sarcastic smile on his face.
"EEEPP!" A grinning Mitchell put his hands up to cover his face, making small animal noises.
"You guys get to hear the first hand story of the official start to Percabeth! You are so lucky!" He exclaimed to the campers.
"I was in the throne room, after your dad killed typhoon." Percy nodded, keeping an arm tight around Annabeth's shoulder.
"Well, let's see, It was me, Annabeth, and Grover, the original trio," He smiled at Annabeth.
"Almost dying, good old times," They smiled, reciting Grover's comment from the elevator.
"But we owe our lives to the sacrifice of Ethan Nakamura, who turned of Kronos, giving us time to regroup. He died, but his legacy lives on. The reason all of you will be claimed by your 13th birthday is because of his last request. The whole reason this war was started was because some other demi-gods felt ignored. My wish from the gods addressed this issue."
He smiled, and Taylor realized he had the kid of smile that made her feel good about herself, like he really cared about her, and would fight so she could be safe. He looked like a brother, like everyone's big brother, who would beat up the mean boys who used to make fun of her, or make her father not be afraid of her. He looked like a hero, his quiet confidence and easy smile. He was tall, strong, tan, basically just like a Greek hero should be. But she knew it was his heart that made him a true hero, he was willing to sacrifice so that others wouldn't have to. And she smiled.
"But Annabeth was the real hero. She talked to Luke, not Kronos, and he was the hero as well. He sacrificed himself to save the world. And that is a true hero. We always forget that heroes are more than tall strong people; they're the people with the biggest hearts, the ones who will take a bullet for others. They are loyal to their friends, and they make the world a better place. And all of you are heroes, or villains based on your choices."
His intense green eyes swept over the captivated crowd, his tan face very serious. His face broke into a smile.
"Enough serious stuff, let's get to the fun bit, our prizes." Annabeth smiled widely. She sat up next to him, not touching him at any point, much to Mitchell's chagrin.
"Annabeth was named official architect of Olympus, Thalia was named attendant to Artemis, my brother became a General of the Cyclops army, and Grover was named Lord of the Wild. So yall better recycle!" Percy pointed around the group with a mock serious smile on his features.
"But what did I get, you ask? I may look like a god," He got an elbow in the ribs from Annabeth, "But I tuned them down. I could never leave my friends. But Annabeth, eh, I could do without." He smiled sarcastically at her, but only got an eye roll from her. Mitchell smiled indulgently like he was watching his favorite TV show.
"But really, it was an easy choice. I could be a god for a while, but it would be dull, I could do more good with my wish than make myself a God. So I chose you guys. I hope you're grateful." He smiled again and got poked in the ribs by Annabeth.
"Rachel the Oracle was officially named the oracle by Apollo later in the day, but before that, I was yelled at by Annabeth's mother, Luke's dad, and got the correct amount of appreciation from my parents. You'll meet my mom soon, she comes all the time. She's like the mom for all the demi-gods. And her cookies are to die for." He commented matter-of-factly.
"But the best gift of all I got later that day." He glanced over to Annabeth out of the corner of his eye, but her face was giving him nothing.
"Do you guys even care? I mean I know Mitchell does, but do any of you?" He looked uncomfortable for the first time Taylor had ever seen, and now she was curios.
The crowd nodded, now larger than ever. "Fine, Annabeth and I got together later that night, the evening of my 16th birthday."
Mitchell yelled in outrage. "You're telling it all wrong! Let me tell it!" Percy and Annabeth smiled good-naturedly. They didn't like that everyone knew their business, but that night had been pretty public.
"They were being totally adorable, sharing a cupcake that Annabeth had made for his birthday, when she finally kissed him. Like really, it was almost 4 years in the making. But they finally got there. Then we crashed, with torches and everything. We dumped them in the canoe lake, but Percy, the rotter, made a bubble at the bottom of the lake and basically had the most adorable second kiss ever. They were just too adorable." His face was flushed with excitement, and both Annabeth and Percy were blushing, but they were grinning.
"Gods know that hasn't changed much" Clarisse said. She shot an irritated look to Percy who smiled provocatively.
"Does it really bother you that much?" He asked, an arm going stealthily around Annabeth. Clarisse nodded. Percy smiled, shooting a look to Annabeth, probably a question. She nodded barely a fraction of an inch. He grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet and walked with her towards the woods.
"Where are the love-birds off to now?" Clarisse growled a small smile on her face. While she pretended to be all anger and toughness, she was happy for them, because she didn't believe in happy endings, but she did believe in love. Thank you Selina, she silently prayed.
"To make out in the forest," Annabeth called back, going on her tip toes to press a kiss to Percy's lips. He turned to face her with a face that was truly that of a sass master.
"They are such jerks." Clarisse said, shaking her head, and Mitchell smiled.
The entire camp would never admit it, but they were more than deserving of the immunity they had, and Taylor prayed to every god that she could be loved like Percy loved Annabeth.
A/N: Here's a new chapter before a hellish week for me! Hope you all are doing well! Leave me a review please, or follow, or favorite. Especially if you like to eat burritos. you people have the best comments. Muchas Gracias my Lovelies~M