Life in New Rome for Percy Jackson and Co. was going perfectly. As a 19 year old sophomore in college, he thought that life couldn't get much better. His grades were up, thanks to the help of his caring girlfriend, Annabeth Chase, who was dual-enrolling and still passing every class with flying colors. Sitting outside of the café, Percy thought about everything that he'd gone through.
The Second Titan War was just the beginning of his troubles. It almost seemed to Percy like prophecy followed him wherever he went, and the Great Prophecy didn't help that conclusion. Yeah, life was easy now, but that didn't stop Fate from showing its ugly face and tearing everything away. The dark thoughts hadn't been getting better for him either, with nightmares about the ruining of his life getting more frequent.
He recalled some of the more entertaining parts of the past couple of years: teaching Magnus Chase, the undead einherji of Odin and cousin of Annabeth, various things related to the sea, celebrating with his family when he got accepted into college, and many more glorious days that Percy had grown to truly appreciate throughout the life of a hero. Maybe one day, much later, he would be allowed a reprieve from this cruel world of demigods, allowed to 'retire'. Ha. Like that would ever happen. But Percy decided he'd enjoy what he has while it lasts.
"Percy!" His head lifted from his brooding thoughts, then a smile came to his face.
"Good to see you, Wise Girl." he said as she sat down next to him. His voice didn't have some of that cheeky feeling that Annabeth had become accustomed to, but Percy didn't really care if she noticed.
"Hey, are you alright?" Annabeth wrapped her arm around his and grabbed his hand tightly, her grey eyes full of concern.
"I wish. I can't help but wonder if another stupid prophecy is going to appear from nowhere and ruin everything we've built." Percy looked at her, his green eyes robbed of their usual brightness.
"Yeah, I feel the same sometimes. But you've just got to appreciate what you've got. After all… there's so much more to this world of ours than we know." She offered a smile.
Percy returned it halfheartedly. "The so-called Great Prophecy took what we had, Annabeth. That was so painful, for both of us. You lost me for so long… and I hardly remembered anything." His face was dark, and he almost looked depressed.
"Don't remind me. That was bad enough once." She shuddered at the thought of Percy disappearing again.
"See what I mean? I'm terrified of something like that happening again." Percy sighed. "But, if the Fates pronounce it to be, so it must be."
"Nothing's happened yet, Percy. Plus, we're in New Rome, surrounded by the camp. We've got all of these demigods, we'll be fine!" Percy loved Annabeth for trying to comfort him, but he didn't know if it was working or not.
"If only there was a way to get rid of all of this. Being a demigod has its perks, I guess, but it has more of the rest than I'd like. I'm just happy I've got you, Wise Girl." Annabeth squeezed his hand.
"It still feels good to have me around? Good to know, Seaweed Brain." A slight flush came to Percy's cheeks, and he looked at her, staring into her eyes for a moment. They were mesmerizing still, the stormy look never disappearing. She stood up, reaching her hand out to him. "Come on. Let's walk."
Percy's eyes brightened, and he took her hand, giving her a hug and a kiss, which she gladly reciprocated. "I love you, Annabeth," Percy whispered into her hair.
"I love you too, Percy." She pulled away, but kept a firm grip on his hand. "Let's go, shall we?" Percy smiled, and walked around beside his girlfriend.
As they strolled through the gardens of New Rome, they just enjoyed the company of the other. Annabeth would occasionally mention something about the various statues and buildings, marveling at their architectural features. Percy would half-listen, nodding at the appropriate times, focusing on himself primarily. What caused him to be like this? Maybe it was Jason's death and the subsequent deaths of New Rome as well as Camp Half Blood. Maybe it was something else entirely. Percy couldn't quite grasp the exact reason, but he made quite the list. Annabeth shaking him broke him out of his state.
"Percy? We're here." He looked up and saw that they had already left the gardens and were now standing outside of Percy's dorm building at the New Rome university.
He looked over at Annabeth. "You wanna grab dinner later?" Percy offered. "I'd pay."
She smiled. "Of course! You know the place." Percy nodded, and gave her a kiss before walking up. He turned one last time before entering the building, but Annabeth was already gone.
As Percy reached the hallway for his dorm, he felt that something was off. He began walking faster, and once he got a few feet from his dorm, he realized that the door was open, just a crack. He pulled out his pen, ready to uncap it. But when he looked around inside, he found that nothing was out of place, or even missing.
"Did I just forget to close the door?" Percy wondered out loud. He was sure he didn't, he wasn't that kind of person to forget something as simple as that.
He shrugged, and went to his desk to continue working on his homework. The literature study was the hardest because of his dyslexia, and he nearly screamed out in frustration. Which, to be frank, wasn't like him.
But, true to himself, he kept working. Soon enough, hours had past, and when he looked at the clock, he remembered. "Shit!" Percy exclaimed, cursing himself. It was already 7 o'clock, and he had to get to dinner with Annabeth. He quickly got dressed with some business casual (blue jeans and a polo)and basically sprinted to the restaurant.
She was waiting for him impatiently, having missed their time by around 5 minutes. Percy was not quite out of breath, but he was definitely hard-pressed for air. "Fancy seeing you here, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth said with a smirk.
Percy groaned, looked up, and his eyes widened. Annabeth was breathtaking to look at, although that might have been his brain distorting things due to a lack of oxygen. Her hair seemed to sparkle in the sunset, her eyes complimented the look perfectly. Just slight touches of makeup were present, accenting her beauty. Percy smiled. "You look amazing, Annabeth. Let's go in, shall we?" She smiled back and took his arm, and they walked in.
Speaking of which, the place was called the "Blue Shore", so of course Percy would be bound to love it. It served many varieties of food, and one of his favorites happened to be a Mexican plate that had blue corn tortilla chips. Annabeth, on the other hand, took something a little more American for once.
She didn't really eat much, although it seemed to Percy like she was worried about something.
"You alright, Wise Girl?" Percy asked as his eyes stared intently at her face.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just worried about you." She looked back at him, and Percy frowned.
"Me?" Then, he remembered the conversation they had earlier and how depressed he sounded. At that, he let out a laugh. "That was just a thought, Annabeth. Nothing to worry about."
But, deep inside, Percy knew it was something to worry about. It was a serious problem for him, and these thoughts had been recurring for a few months now. Being a demigod, he knew, wasn't easy, and the full brunt of it was being thrust onto his mind.
Annabeth didn't look convinced. "Why don't you come by my apartment later? We could talk about what's been happening with you, and it looks like you could use it."
Percy's sea green eyes lit up at the suggestion. "Of course! I'd love to." Annabeth smiled and took his hand.
"I'd do anything for you, Percy. You're always welcome." He smiled back and kissed her forehead. They finished eating quickly after that.
Annabeth leaned backward, patting her stomach, content. Percy chuckled at her actions, which got a laugh out of her, and got up. He grabbed her hand and led her down to the beach. It was nearly deserted, so Percy sat down on the shore and patted the sand next to him to signal to Annabeth to sit.
She wrapped her arm around him, and he wrapped his around her protectively. "I love the smell of the sea. It always calms my mind, allows me to think clearly."
Annabeth sighed. "If only it did the same for me, since I spend so much time here with you." He laughed softly.
"You don't need the sea to think clearly, you already do. All the time." She looked up at him.
"Ha, I wish. But thank you anyway, Seaweed Brain." Percy kissed her again, each of them leaning into it. Once they pulled away, he looked back out towards the waves getting closer to them, now nearly lapping at their feet.
"Only performing my duty as a boyfriend, Wise Girl." They sat for a while, enjoying the cool air and the water reaching up to them slowly. Percy kept them dry as it kept rising. As it got over their ankles, he looked over at Annabeth for one last time before standing up.
"I'll never let anything happen to you, Annabeth. That's my promise." Annabeth looked up at him. His eyes, those sea green irises that she adored so much, were completely sincere. She smiled and leaned into his chest, wrapping him in a tight hug. She removed herself from his arms, and gave him one last kiss.
"I'll see you later?" Percy nodded his response. "Alright, Seaweed Brain. I love you," she added before turning.
"Hey!" Percy said quickly before she got too far. Annabeth turned to face him. "I love you too, Wise Girl." She gave him a grin before leaving the beach, leaving Percy in his own thoughts. He smiled and exhaled contentedly before walking off himself.
Once he got back to his dorm, changed, and sat down at his desk to work again for an hour or do, he saw that his computer was on. 'What? How could this be, I never turned it on in the first place,' he thought to himself.
Yet, there is was. Online and logged in. Percy looked through everything on it to see if he could find something, but everything was as he had left it. For sure, it was strange, but he couldn't find anything that would be marked as suspicious. Which was even more strange.
He looked through everything before he began his work, but everything seemed to be in order. His emails and everything were perfectly set as he had left them. Nevertheless, he couldn't quite shake off the feeling that something horribly wrong was about to occur.
After an hour or so of work, he breathed hard. Percy looked over at the clock, and saw the time printed on it in neon green numbers. 9:43 PM. He needed to get to Annabeth's soon, so he rummaged through his closet.
Percy, while searching for a decent outfit, thought about the situation. Hmmm… this entire thing doesn't seem right. I had gotten a message from Annabeth about when we were going to meet… But I never clicked on it, it should be marked unread, which it is… His breath stopped with realization. The messages could be marked unread even after they were opened! Percy knew he needed to hurry, so he threw on a dark navy blue jacket over his shirt to blend into the dark better, then left for Annabeth's apartment.
Once Percy got into the city, he saw the first of many rental bicycle stands that they had, and decided that it would be useful. He fumbled around in his pockets for a quarter, found one, and stuffed it into the slot quickly. Pulling out the bike and getting on, Percy began the ride to her place.
The street was devoid of people and cars, which seemed unlike San Francisco. As Percy rode, he looked up at the night sky that was still darkening. He could see no moon, much less the stars. Curse the light pollution. He had grown something of an affinity with nature during his time in New Rome, being able to explore the countryside without much threat. But even for the current time, it was unnaturally dark. The sky, supposed to be littered with light from the city, had none of it.
Percy pedaled faster, and made it to Annabeth's building. Everything was still empty, no people were to be found. As he went up the steps and into the hallway, he still saw no one. Not even a person at the checking desk. But, he knew exactly what he would be doing.
He reached her room, and once more, just like his, the door was open. Percy pushed it slowly, Riptide at the ready. And as he continued to walk in slowly, he saw a… creature. The balcony sliding door was open, and there was a demon of a kind he'd never seen before. It was hardly describable from the back, but he uncapped the pen anyway, and rushed forward. The thing turned around, and Riptide went straight through its chest.
It was… horrendously ugly, beyond any description that he could come up with. Percy almost threw up when he looked at its face. The thing's fangs almost seemed like they were a part of the jaw, some sort of saliva-like substance was connecting them when it opened its mouth and screamed. But that was hardly the worst part about it.
It didn't dissolve. Percy was confused. Shouldn't the monster have dissolved by now? Nothing can survive a strike like this from Celestial Bronze… Yet, there it was. Percy pulled out Riptide, stationed in disbelief. The demon screamed again, and jumped off the balcony. He ran over and looked down, and saw one other demon.
Percy tried to find a quick way down, but couldn't. The stairs were too far, the elevator was too slow, and he couldn't exactly jump off. just as the demon had. But, he remembered the naiad back at Geryon's farm. Is there not water everywhere, in everything?
He began calling to it, a little bit at a time. His hand held outward, little droplets of water began appearing from seemingly nowhere, and a triumphant smirk grew on his face. Using the newfound water, he jumped over the balcony and used it to slow his fall. The demons took off, going somewhere deeper into the alleyway. Percy followed them, sprinting.
They were unusually fast, at least for their size and shape. Using Riptide as a light source, he moved through the darkness, although not without tripping on unseen objects multiple times, and came to the end. And there were 3 demons now. Two of them carried swords, the other seemed like it was holding a dagger in its hand. It almost looked familiar.
But Percy put that out of his mind, and began his advance towards the creatures. They snarled and hissed as he came closer, almost as if to warn him to back off, but he had faced worse. Much, much worse.
The sheer power behind his strikes with Riptide pushed them around like toys. His whole strength was being thrown behind every stroke, but they were methodical. Every single time, Riptide ended in a weak spot. He targeted the one that had the hole in the chest, and it fell back beneath the onslaught of attacks that Percy was launching. Its strength was sapped, and after the last stroke, its sword arm fell to the ground, weakened completely. Percy swung Riptide, and its head came off, rolling backwards.
Percy turned around, only to see one of the two remaining, which was the other one carrying a sword. The creature expected something like what he did to the currently decapitated one, but Percy switched things up. He became more careful, and looked for openings. Every time the demon attacked, he quickly struck, cutting it and sapping its strength. Blood of some sort was dripping out, but it looked remarkably like a human's. Over time, it too lost the strength to continue, and Percy swung to make the kill.
But as Riptide fell upon its neck, he felt a harsh pain erupt from his calf. After going through the creature's head, Percy redirected the sword around, and met his mark. The last demon had snuck up behind him during the fight, and stabbed him with the dagger, which as far as he knew, was still in his leg.
The creature twitched on the ground, its ribcage, or what it had, was crushed by the pure force of Percy's strike. It coughed twice, let out a blood-curdling scream that lasted for a minute, and died.
Percy was breathing hard, trying to fight the pain that was emanating constantly from the dagger. He tried to stand, but it spiked. He let out a small cry and he sank back down. Looking around for the way he had come, he spotted a body in the very back of the alley. He had missed it upon coming in, but now wanted to know what it was. Surely the demons had something to do with it.
But he feared what it could be. And as he crawled and dragged himself closer and closer, his fear was realized. There, laying on her back, was Annabeth. Blood was everywhere. It completely covered her face and most of her clothes. Her chest rose and fell in erotic gasps for air, and coughing only brought more blood to the air. Percy wiped the blood off her face. She was as pale as a corpse, having lost so much of it.
But at his touch, she turned her head. Her eyes were nearly glazed over. And in between gasps and coughs, she said something that was nearly inaudible. "Percy… you promised." And her head slumped to the side, eyes now devoid of any life, and lay still. Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena, was dead.
When Percy heard her words, tears immediately began pouring out. His cries were those of immense loss, and his head fell to hers. The grief he felt was immeasurable. And after some time, the sun began to rise. With it, came a different being. Percy's eyes were still that beautiful sea green, but no longer did they hold the qualities that Annabeth loved. Sadness, grief, and anger dominated the once pure irises.
And Percy stood, the pain in his leg irrelevant. Walking out of the alley, basically dragging his leg along, he began the long trek, carrying Annabeth. He weaved his way through the city, and made it to the beach. There, the next chapter to his life began.