(fairly) IMPORTANT A/N: So sorry for the two weeks that I didn't update. Semester's final exams and projects had me swamped, and I decided I'd rather not update at all than deliver an incomplete chapter for the sole purpose of meeting a schedule. But, year's over, I'm moved back home, and we maintained our 4.0 so love to see it. Back on my regular schedule, and I have what I hope is a nice surprise: over the course of this past week, I've revised the entirety of Divergent Path to meet a higher level of writing quality after receiving so many reviews and PMs about people telling me they enjoyed the story to the point that they'd often reread it. Every chapter will be updated and replaced by Monday night. I wanted to give you guys new things to look forward on your rereads, and you'll hopefully find that the writing itself is stylistically more smooth. (plot has not changed) Anyways, that's all. Sorry again, and I hope you enjoy the chapter :)
Chapter 10: Californian Duels and Dreams
Blood roared in Percy's ears as his black blade met a white one. He gritted his teeth behind his helm, and every muscle on his body tensed. The winged warrior before him had thwarted a moment that Percy had suffered for seemingly endless months pursuing. He shoved her back and gave no quarter, instantly charging forward.
No, she hasn't stopped anything, he affirmed, even his own thoughts deafening inside his mind.
Percy swung on the feminine figure again, and her blade dipped when she blocked. Her wings beat, kicking her away from the monster before her. There was no doubt in Percy's mind that she was struggling under the weight of his blows. He bounded as she drew back, and pistoned his foot into her chest. The white warrior coughed, her voice still warbled, as she careened into the dirt of the Fields of Mars. Not even taking a moment to sheath his sword, Percy tore back towards the Roman camp at blinding speeds; he had a far more pressing victim to end than an unknown samaritan.
After a single step into the drenched campgrounds that were still filled with the moans of hopeless demigods, Percy ducked as a white blur ripped past him. He froze for a moment, stunned at the speed that the snowy wings could carry their owner. The white warrior touched down, and they exchanged a flurry of strikes, slicing twin daggers against a stabbing glaive. Percy gritted his teeth as his opponent's weapons seamlessly shifted between dual-wielded blades and a single sword.
As the white edge raised, he shoved forward, dipping through his enemy's guard and shouldering her to the ground. The demigod stomped down only to crater dirt as the owl-helmed warrior whipped away at nearly invisible speeds. Percy's vision blurred further red when gut-wrenching sobs wailed from behind him. He spun towards a caped demigod on her knees, and recognition flickered across his masked eyes.
Reyna didn't turn to face the careening blade wielded by the monster bounding towards her, but she did wince at the raucous screech of metal on metal. Percy watched a pair of white knives shudder against Riptide before the Roman Praetor was scooped up and rocketed to safer ground. The earth under his boots cracked as he vengefully spun away from the blur. His opponent was almost too quick to catch, but she'd unwillingly shown Percy there was a way to make her come to him.
The demigod tore towards the nearest sounds of whimpering, a pair of legionnaires just meters away. A violent gust of wind slammed against his back, nearly knocking him off-balance, and he again caught white wings ripping past him before the sobbing demigods were delivered away. Percy knew she couldn't keep up her heroism forever; the winged warrior's recent clash against him had revealed her fatigue. He barreled towards the next nearest demigods.
Torrential winds, blurs of white, twin daggers shaking against his violent strikes, again and again as Percy hunted down sniveling demigods at unbelievable speeds. But she was quicker. No, not quicker. Undoubtedly, she was fast, but it felt as if she knew where he was going before even he did. Percy continued to tear ahead on pure instinct, coming up on a hunched demigod, when yet another violent wind from her flapped wings ripped at him. He ducked where he felt the slice of air would be thickest, dodging and staying on his feet. But he was never the intended target; next to him, the knife-sharp gust sheared through the damp support beams of the Principia, collapsing the entire structure on the demigod.
The sheer tonnage of the massive building trampled Percy and shook the surrounding camp. He shoved through the rubble, tearing apart stone and wood and sheet metal, only to climb to his feet and find all but one Roman evacuated from his proximity. Descending from the sky, a returned Jason brandished his golden gladius as he shouted.
"Olympus will defeat you!"
Percy couldn't hear the unsure voice over his own bloodlust, an amplifying roar in his ears as he tensed to kill the person he'd been forced to wait months to find. Before he could tear across the wreckage and into the young god who'd touched down ahead, the white warrior appeared between them. Percy's heartbeat reached a crescendo, and he found his voice.
(Line Break)
Annabeth's eyes widened behind her mask as she lost her footing. The crevice ripping into the earth should have been what had shaken her balance, but it was more so the scream. The armored creature, she couldn't discern for sure if he were man or monster, unleashed a horrifying sound that turned her blood to ice. His fists slammed into the ground, further quaking the world at her feet, and Annabeth heard Jason fall behind her.
She flapped her wings and shot skyward at the sound of the burgeoning roar coming from within the forming canyon. Jason followed suit, shivering in fear, and a tidal wave erupted beneath them. The water was as dark as the last wave, but it wasn't empty. Annabeth saw broken toys and ripped diplomas and funeral flowers swirling in the thick, dark torrent. She watched as the River Styx exploded into the land of the living.
Glancing down, she found Jason straining to fly faster while the rising river quickly gained on him. Annabeth grimaced and whipped her wings in front of her, jerking her body into a nosedive. She collided with Jason in an instant and, with a crippling kick to his sternum, rocketed him a football field away. She'd elected to save him from being evaporated in the hellish current, but her means didn't have to be gentle. Annabeth didn't have time to wrestle with her decision because the Styx had reached her.
The river of humanity's broken dreams closed on her like a vice. She screamed as its acidic water sizzled against her wings, delivering blinding pain while it tried to corrode her armor. But Annabeth bit her tongue, silencing her own warbling voice, as the armor steamed but held its integrity. The demigod opened her eyes through the nearly unbearable agony and found the man in black armor torpedoing at her through the torrent.
She flailed her wings, nearly losing consciousness in the process, and ripped from the thick channel of black water. Her demonic opponent tore out immediately afterwards, leaving the pair suspended high in the air, and they both swung their blades. Then the skies parted.
Light exploded from above them as clouds erased themselves, granting entry to the descent of rocketing chariots. Bolts of lightning erupted from nothing, spidering across the sky, alongside the bellowing war cries of Olympians. The King of the Gods led the charge, his Master Bolt raised overhead, and Ares followed closely behind wielding dual blades.
Annabeth's focus split between the gods that had condemned her life and the demon about to complete the task. She shifted to block his careening blade when she felt the pull of what was almost a tether at her back. Before she could react, it ripped her away from both her opponent and a ricocheting lightning bolt. A flash of blinding white light swallowed her, effacing the demigod from the world, and the last thing she saw was the same fate befalling the black warrior. He was torn in the opposite direction before vanishing in a red haze.
(Line Break)
The flash dimmed from her eyes, and Annabeth whirled around with her blades at the ready. Her wavering arms fell when she found herself back in Hemera's garden. The Primordial of Day was still sitting on the same bench she'd been on when Annabeth had left, and Aether sat alongside her. As her breathing slowly evened, Annabeth trudged to them and melted her armor from her body.
"Was that the 'vengeant spirit' from the prophecy."
Annabeth hadn't spoken it as a question, and Hemera only nodded her head. The primordial pulled the demigod down between her and Aether before she pressed a glowing palm against her back. Annabeth visibly relaxed as day's warmth flooded through her, slowly counteracting her horrible fatigue.
"Why did you pull me back here?"
"As of now, the Olympians are an uninformed, uncontrollable variable," Aether answered, "Zeus does not, or does not want to, understand that you are not also an enemy of the gods."
"Who decided I wasn't?" Annabeth asked.
Her voice had come out uncharacteristically hard as she remembered the foreign, burning hate that seemed to more often accompany her cursed dreams. Aether placed his palm against the demigod's nape, and he somberly considered her question.
"You did, Annabeth," Hemera answered assuredly, "Even through your pain, you saved the son of Jupiter from Tartarus' champion."
The demigod's tired eyes softened as the primordials' hands unburdened her heavy shoulders. Shrugging off her angst, Annabeth considered the monster she'd stood against.
"He could manipulate water," she started, not noticing Aether's grip loosen by a fraction, "and the rage coming off of him felt almost unbearable. What is he?"
"He is to Tartarus who you are to us," Hemera answered, mincing her words, "and he has presumably been blessed like you have, allowing him control of aspects of the Pit, such as its rivers."
Aether continued, speaking just as slowly.
"Tartarus has been waiting for the opportunity to destroy Olympus since its inception; he could have been preparing a champion since then. He may have decided to begin his war after encountering you and Perseus in the heart of his domain, intent on killing two demigods that could have posed a threat to his forces. We are so sorry we could not save you both, but it is only because of you that Tartarus' champion did not massacre that camp."
Annabeth's mind began to race before she lurched forward and her hand flew to her temples. Even between the primordials' efforts to calm her, their discussion as well as the weight of her exhaustion had caught up to the demigod in the form of a brutal migraine. Hemera picked up on it quickly.
"Annabeth. Between our sparring and this terrible ordeal against that warrior, it is a miracle that you're still upright. Your arms are still shaking, dear; please get some rest."
The primordial wiped a soft hand over Annabeth's brow, and the demigod felt the throbbing in her mind dull. With a wave of Hemera's hand, Annabeth appeared in her quarters, the lights already dimmed, and she crawled into her bed for desperately-needed sleep. She didn't even consider how she'd dream.
(Line Break)
Annabeth sat on a small bench beneath a shady oak, eyes closed as she felt the cool, spring breeze brush across her face. She listened to the lively chatter of people in front of her, and the demigod opened her eyes to find a wide path filled with students and their backpacks excitedly making their way between stretches of beautiful buildings. Already bewildered by what she figured was a college campus, Annabeth's heart stopped as she looked down and found herself wearing a cardinal hoodie with the letters USC threaded on. Her dream school that she'd hoped to tour following the war with Gaea.
"Annabeth?" a voice whispered.
She snapped up to see Percy standing before her holding a confused expression that must have mirrored her own. His face shifted to a smile as he sat down next to her, and Annabeth couldn't help noticing a new sunkenness to his eyes, even if it was in a dream.
"Hi, Percy," she said softly, her own eyes tracing his wearied face.
He turned toward the thinning crowd of students that were still filing towards their classes.
"Remember when we said we'd come here?" he asked her, "after the war?"
"Y-yes," she answered, following his gaze.
Annabeth remembered she and Percy had planned a trip to Southern California aboard the Argo II, a promise to each other that they would be alright following their quest. But with everything that had happened, she couldn't understand how she'd been brought to a place she'd never been; her dreams with him were always supposed to be set in old memories. Percy pulled her out of her thoughts with the same observation.
"No real script to follow this time, huh?" he laughed.
Annabeth couldn't help but laugh as well. Her figment of him had no lines to repeat, and she had no memory to call on to play along. The pair sat in silence as the area cleared of people, leaving them with only the gentle breeze and each other. They really had no strict sequence to play out; it wasn't any rehashed memory. But Annabeth didn't dare to let her hopes rise any further than that. Even in a new setting, Percy could just as horribly be ripped from her as he had been in every last one of her dreams for months.
Her heart clenched before her blood rushed in her ears. That awful, deafening feeling had returned to the forefront of her mind. It filled her with terrible anger and darkened her vision, dimming the sunny day in favor of the unknown blind rage. Annabeth felt her chest heave as the sickening feeling clawed its way up her throat, silent in its source but deafening in its weight. Then Percy's back relaxed, and he stood from his seat on the bench.
He grabbed Annabeth's hand as he did, and her vengeful burden vanished. She looked up to find the soft sparkle returned to his eyes, the same hopeful, sea green irises she'd tripped and fallen for a seeming eternity ago. Annabeth climbed to her feet, her grip tight around his hand, and she followed him to a stretch of grass on the opposite side of the walking path.
Stepping out of the oak tree's shade and into the afternoon sun erased the tension in the demigod's tired shoulders. She felt light, almost weightless, as the breeze continued to spill forth. When her feet suddenly left the ground, Annabeth thought for a moment that a gale had swept her away. But the real reason was the laughing demigod before her.
"We get to write this one ourselves!" he said as he lifted her up and playfully tackled her into the lush greenery.
Annabeth laughed as her shoulders softly found earth and Percy landed against her. He leaned into her and she into him before they both paused. Annabeth knew full well what happened every time they kissed in her memories. Somehow, her Percy in her dream seemed to share that knowledge. She watched raw anguish flash in his eyes, which she figured was a reflection of her own feelings, before the pair made a mutual and silent decision to lay beside each other instead. Their new time together couldn't be cut so short.
The sides of their heads leaned against each other for a passing while. Annabeth didn't let him see the tears she choked back as she remembered her past dreams. But she eventually turned towards him, her cheek uncomfortably leaning into soft dirt, and he did the same. Percy reached out his arm, giving her a better place to rest her head, as he met her eyes.
"You look tired," he said as he used his free hand to caress her cheek.
"Yeah?" she asked, putting her own hand atop his, "You don't look so chipper yourself."
"'Chipper," he snickered, "Had a long day of being awake and got into some trouble. But, as long as it leads back to you during sleep, I'll get my 'chip' back."
Annabeth laughed again. The idea of her figment of Percy also waiting to sleep so they could see each other was so ridiculous that she found it sweet. She realized she may have a screw loose, but she shrugged off the notion when he smiled at her.
"Same for me," Annabeth settled on, rubbing circles with her thumb on the back of Percy's hand.
"How do we feel about this new setting? I guess we did get to go to USC after all. The conditions could've been better, like actually being there, but we're here aren't we?"
"Yeah, we are," Annabeth said quietly, "I already love it here."
Her gaze never left him as she spoke. She realized, in comparison, she didn't care at all about her ideal college; her dream was right before her. Her dream was tanned skin, a crooked smile, and those eyes full of witchlight. For all of her brilliance, Annabeth couldn't begin to understand how there was so much in those eyes when they fell on her. Love didn't begin to explain the way they watched her as if she were the one who'd hung the moon and dotted the stars. She could only hope he saw the same feeling in her eyes.
Annabeth was only able to hold herself back for a few moments longer. She felt no guilt, though, because Percy had seemed to reach his limit as well. He lifted the arm she lay on her towards himself, curling her into him while his other hand continued to cup her face. Annabeth let her hand leave his, instead lacing her fingers behind his neck. She rolled off of the grass and onto Percy as he let his head sink into the dirt.
As she leaned in and kissed him, Annabeth prepared herself for the sadistic timer that would tick down and take him away from her. But until it came, she had another perfect moment that she'd beg to stretch to infinity. Percy's arms tightened around her waist, pressing her against him and keeping her grounded in their ephemeral Elysium. Annabeth let herself run out of air, unwilling to move her lips from his, until he whispered what he always did.
"I love you."
Annabeth bit back a sob and shut her eyes so tightly before she kissed him again, knowing his words marked the beginning of her nightmare. She savored all of him she could still get, but she was waiting for the horrible metallic twinge of blood in her mouth. And then it came. Salt. Salt?
Her eyes shot open, terrified to find whatever new horror her mind must have concocted alongside a new setting. But she found Percy's eyes already open, both alive and sparkling, as they poured streams of tears. Annabeth tore her lips from his, disbelievingly feeling up and down his chest and back as she searched for the fatal wound that would take her dream from her. When she found nothing, she fumbled towards his legs before he caught both her wrists.
Annabeth's eyes welled as she met his again, and she let her sliver of hope grow. She spoke her pleading question.
"Where is it? Are you okay? What's going on–"
She realized she had far more than one, her eyes quietly pouring, but Percy silenced the rest of her questions with a shake of his head. Annabeth began to sob into his neck as his tender hands traced her body, seemingly mirroring her own search, before his arms again wrapped her to him. Annabeth's encircled his neck just as tightly as she burrowed further into his shoulder. For the first time in their seemingly eternal months, none of their tears were sorrowful. Hugging Annabeth even closer, Percy whispered her own thoughts to her through his quivering voice.
"You're here with me, and nothing is going to happen to us."
A/N: A more Annabeth-centric chapter, now that I'm trying to focus on individual perspectives between Line Breaks. Love her so much, she deserves everything good that comes to her. Anyways, man, these dreams are getting kinda crazy. What's their deal? But most importantly, thank you for the reviews and PMs asking about my updates and just checking in on me. Appreciate you guys very much, and I definitely will not be abandoning the story.
levisorus: forgive me brother (if i'm wrong in this assumptions i apologize and please correct me.) for my absence, it has been a rough couple weeks and i haven't been all that up to reading but i must admit, i am loving what you're doing with the story. not only is it just absolutely beautifully written, you're giving us so much and at the same time nothing. the way you play on the flaws of the god's anxiety is truly such a beautiful thing. cause let's be honest, the gods caused this. on top of that, im not sure if you've given us an explanation (apologies my memory is slightly hazy of the events) on if percy and annabeth are connected but the dreams seem to be a connection between the two demigods. honestly, i know you mentioned wanting to give them a happy ending but a bitter sweet ending would be just as good. both parties are starting to seem suspicious of the dreams being to "realistic" but also annabeth having that rage, hatred seems awfully percy like. it would be a very cool plot if they were intertwined so deeply that they feel each other's emotions and convictions. another thing you're doing so well is the way the outside world directly interacts with grief. while annabeth is being not coddled per say, she's being treated carefully and with love while percy is having his grief abused. he is being forced to face the worst and it just shows how grief can directly affect your actions. annabeth choosing to still help her old friends while percy damn near punched leo's chest out. as always you never cease to amaze with every chapter you publish. i look forward to this next update. (by the way, i hope midterms and all of that has been kind to you. hope life is kind to you as well. again, forgive my absence but fear not for i will be here for every update.)
Hope you've been doing better, man. I'm glad you're back, and I'd be happy to talk in PMs if you'd like to :) As for your review, especially about the dreams and Annabeth's strange rage, I'm only going to point you towards an earlier chapter where Reyna and Hylla were discussing their dreams in San Juan and the curious dynamic within it. Don't want to say anything explicitly, because I love when concepts are left up to individual readers' interpretations to at least a certain extent, but it's all there. I've been considering a happy ending and a more somber one for our favorite couple, but I won't reveal which one I'm leaning towards. Maybe even a secret third option. But thank you for your always-kind reviews and I'm so happy to have you back and reading.