Once at the beach, I sat down with my feet just barely in the water. Chris and Piper copied me. I don't know how long we sat there, just looking at the water, before I noticed a movement. Chris' head had fallen onto his chest, indicating that a switch was happening. "It looks nice here" A different voice said a few minutes later. "Annabeth?" "Correct. So, did you get your answer?" "What answer?" "The thing we just talked about. Cutting through the scales" "Right, that. Yeah, it's been like over an hour for me since then" "For me it felt like just a few seconds. So, back to what I was saying, the lake looks beautiful today. It would probably be a great date location" "Was that a suggestion?" Piper asked. "Not really, just a random thought" "I don't care" Before we could ask what that meant, she was already gone. A quick glance from Annabeth told me that this hadn't really triggered her abandonment issues and that she didn't need emotional support from me right now. She reached for my hand. Okay, maybe she needed a bit of support, so I squeezed her hand a few times.
"Percy, you know how I once mentioned wanting to write a story about my trauma?" "Yeah, why?" "I wanted to ask, would you mind if I stole on of your most iconic lines?" "I wouldn't know that had any iconic lines apart from 'oh schist' or something like that, but sure, go ahead" Annabeth got out her laptop and typed something in. "Would you like to see what I recently discovered in my inner world?" She asked. "Sure thing" Fine, I'll admit it, I didn't care that much, but I wanted to listen to her talking about things she liked. "Maybe we should go somewhere more comfortable. Also, I can almost hear my laptops circuits screaming in agony at so much sand"
Where do you think said comfortable place was? That's right, it was my cabin. Mr. D had long learned that trying to prevent visits from Annabeth in my cabin was futile. Also there was no reason not to allow it since there were certain rules that ace people weren't very likely to break. Annabeth sat down on one of beds such that she couldn't see the box fort, then showed me the forest she had discovered recently as well as some other stuff. When she was done, she had another idea. "Hey, I wonder what's going on at camp Jupiter. Why don't we call them?" "Good idea"
I picked up a gold drachma and tossed it into the mist, then gave Annabeth an encouraging look. "Reyna Avila Ramirez Arrellano, Camp Jupiter. Probably. The rainbow flickered and Reyna showed up in her room at Camp. When she went to greet us, she somehow managed to knock over a table. It fell down and landed on her cloak. Something else also landed on her cloak. It was an open bottle of something I couldn't make out. She quickly took her coat of and picked up the bottle. "Percy. Annabeth. How's it going?" "Good, what just happened to you?" "I poured bleach over my cloak, isn't that obvious?" "I'd clean that up if I were you" "The color is already ruined, might as well let the bleach finish its job. I'll just buy a new one. Or I'll find a way to make use of this one" "I've heard you have some experience with making clothes look acceptable" Annabeth said. "Are you talking about the makeover she gave you on Circe's Island?" I asked. "Because that wasn't acceptable. That was stunningly beautiful" "Aw thanks, you made for a cute guinea pig" "I feel like this exchange of compliments has a clear winner" Reyna said. I agree with both of you by the way. So, why are you calling?" "Just to ask what's going on at camp" "It's alright. We actually finished repairing the damage Leo did just this morning" "Right, things got a bit heated when he arrived. Well, he is the hottest member of the seven in a way" "Undoubtedly" "Reyna, you also find him hot?" I asked. "Of course. He's literally a fire user. I haven't spent much time with him, actually only like ten seconds in my entire life, but he's definitely a few degrees hotter than most people" "Uh, Reyna" Annabeth began to explain. "You're making great points here, I'm even agreeing to some extent, but when people say hot, they don't usually mean body temperature. It's a measure for how much you like someone in a very specific way" "Oh, okay, in that case Leo is not hot" "I also changed my opinion after finding out what it actually meant. So, speaking of Leo, any news from him?" "No, all we know is that 'he died and went to Hades without complications' is not what happened and neither is 'he didn't die'. We only know that based on Nico saying something along the lines of 'I felt him die but it was different" "So, he's either alive, or dead, or something in between. I have rarely been in a situation where someone's state was this vague. That's like… zero information" "Sorry, that's all we have" "I mean, it's better than assuming he's dead, holding a funeral for him and having him show up at the funeral" "Why do I feel like this has happened and, more importantly, why am I not even surprised?" "Percy did that once. Remember when Mt St. Helens erupted two years ago?" "Yeah, why?" "Percy was in that explosion. In fact, he caused it. After that, he didn't show back up until two weeks later, when he crashed his own funeral. 'He was the bravest man I've ever met. He's… right there'" "Annabeth, are you okay?" "Yeah, why?" ""Oh, you were reciting something without previously indicating that you were going to that. When you do such a thing it's oftentimes because you're reenacting something because of a flashback, especially if the quote comes from a somewhat traumatic point in time" "Like the four-word-sentence?" "Yeah" "What sentence?" Reyna asked. "I'd tell you, but it might trigger my amazing girlfriend. Speaking of girlfriends…" "Oh gods, what's coming now?" "How are Frank and Hazel?" "Oh. They're doing great. I'm assuming. They're both working on their powers. We've had a mole problem once, but then Frank figured out that if he transforms into a snake, his eyes become precise enough to see them moving underground, so we got rid of them in a few minutes" "He sees them moving?" I asked. "Surely nothing more than vibrations make it to the surface" Annabeth explained. "It's not that he sees the motion, snake eyes are more like thermal cameras. I've heard they can tell a difference of one percent of a degree"
"Annabeth, you know way too much" "It's the closest thing I got to a godly ability" "I've heard you're also good with all sorts of weapons, which is also my main ability, along with being motivational. Minor goddesses, am I right?" "Athena is not a minor goddess, she's an Olympian" "Right, you Greeks like her. We kinda kicked Minerva out of Olympus" "And gave her a bad case of DID. I also got my fair share of that" "Right, Hazel mentioned something like that. Pretty weird stuff. Uh, no offense" "None taken. I don't have internalized xenophobia. If I did… I mean, I'm not even fully human, so if I actually cared about being normal, it would trash my mental health" "Annabeth, your mental health is trash" I pointed out. "Yeah, I know. I'm kind of a mess" "A hot mess" "As if that helps" "So, if you say hot, do you mean it in the way you just explained?" Reyna asked. "Yeah, why" "Can you discuss this when I'm not there?" "Maybe, by the way, are you…" Annabeth asked. Reyna showed us her right hand, which had a black ring on it. "Yeah, me too" "I know. You introduced me to the concept" "Right, yeah, dissociative amnesia. Sometimes memories just get lost. So you were saying that you just finished repairing everything?" "Yeah, this morning" "Now I want to visit you guys just to see it" "Didn't you want to study here anyways?" "Yeah, but that's still almost a year and I don't want to wait this long, if there's new architecture anywhere, I have to see it ASAP" "Maybe…can visit…Jupiter…some poi…near future" "Uh, you're breaking up on us" "Can't…eer…u" The connection ended. "That's not at all concerning" Annabeth said. "I wonder what she's planning" "What would she be planning?" "Didn't you see how she reacted when I mentioned visiting her? Very suspicious" "You could fill a book with all the things only you notice. No, it would not be considered a work of fiction" "You actually remember when I said that to Leo?" "The wisdom and wit of Leo? Of course I remember that" "I love you so much Percy" "I know"
In that moment, Piper came in, saying we had to get to the beach immediately. "Why, what is it?" Annabeth asked. "I'll tell you when we're there" And so, we followed Piper all the way down to the beach where we found…
A table. On the table was a burning candle and it was otherwise set for a meal. "Enjoy your date" Piper said. "Did she just…" I started. "She did. And with amazing timing as well" Annabeth responded, pointing at the sun which was just starting to set over the sound. It looked absolutely amazing, maybe Aphrodite had forced Apollo to work extra hard today. "It's been a while since our last date" I noticed. "If I'm not forgetting anything, the last one was the dam date like a month ago" "We met Chris on that day, right?" "I think so. Yeah, I ordered piña coladas and that triggered him out. Well, not out, but I heard his voice in my head. He did come out later that night though" "And there's someone else we met that day: lil dam" Seconds later, the skeleton cat materialized on our table.
"Aren't you worried to have him this close to a lit candle?" Annabeth asked me "I wouldn't even worry if he was covered in gasoline. I can just summon water to put him out. But if you feel more safe without him…" I picked up small Damasen and put him on the ground. The sun was now just touching the horizon, making everything glow red. Red sky. But, not dark red, like certain other places, no, this was something completely different. Annabeth must have sensed my fear as she reached for my hand under the table. This time, she was the one squeezing my hand.
Annabeth
I'll admit it, I didn't exclusively hold Percy's hand for his sake, I also felt a bit triggered. "A distraction would be good right now" I thought out loud. "That's something I can supply" Percy responded. The next moment, the water started spraying up, the tiny droplets reflecting the sunlight in beautiful ways. For a moment, I was too stunned to speak. Eventually though, the sun disappeared completely behind the horizon and Percy allowed the water to fall back down. This probably meant that the cleaning harpies were now out to kill us, but being with the strongest demigod from our generation (okay maybe Hazel's stronger) meant that I wasn't too worried about that.
"Wow. Just wow" Was all I got out. "I'm glad you like it" "Percy, that looked absolutely amazing. I didn't know you could do that" "Neither did I. I just tried something out and it worked" "That seems to be your main strategy for handling problems" "What can I say, it's effective. What was that saying again? If it's stupid and it works, it's not stupid" "Percy, you know I hate when you say that" "But in a way that makes you love me, right?" "Right" I looked at the candle. It was now the only light source around, meaning that everything aside from our faces and the table was in complete darkness. Darkness that meant that monsters could hide anywhere. But Annabeth, doesn't the border keep monsters out? Only the mythological kind, not the eight legged kind. Percy must have noticed my concern and so must have small Damasen as he started rubbing himself against my legs. "You're worried about something, aren't you?" Percy asked. "It's fine. It's just that… never mind, everything's alright" "You don't look alright. No pressure though" "It's just that… I've never been a huge fan of the dark and now…" And that's valid as Hades. I won't allow you to not feel safe during our date" He uncapped riptide, lightning up the surrounding area a bit. The way that this guy cared about my safety and well-being was truly incredible. "We could also go onto the lake, as far as I know spiders can't swim" "Spiders, who said anything about spiders?" "My common sense" "Fine, you're right" "Is that a yes?" "I guess it would have me feel safer" "Then let's do it"
Percy used his powers to pull the life boat boat closer to land and flipped it over so it was right side up. Once it was there, we carried everything onto it. Percy looked focused for a few seconds, then something collided with our boats soft bottom, making it a lot harder and more stable. Percy then maneuvered the boat out onto the lake. "I think you're safe from the spiders now" he said. "Thanks I guess" I said. Wait, this wasn't an appropriate response. It didn't even come close to doing the amount of love hormones flooding my body right now justice. I know, it seems a bit excessive, but it did mean a lot to me. While I was slowly learning how I should expect people to treat me, the feeling that not being treated like schist was already a huge upgrade still hadn't gone away and I was kind of grateful for that since it allowed me to feel this immense happiness and love for Percy whenever he did pretty much anything for me. On the other hand, it probably meant that I'd be satisfied with him doing the bare minimum and even then, he'd still have enough power to manipulate me into doing what he wanted, just like so many others had done. "Percy?" "What is it wise girl" He answered with a smile. "I think I'm overthinking again" I quietly responded. From Percy's look I could tell that he found me very cute right now, which was good because that meant a load of support was coming. Percy leaned forward a bit, then gave me a look, asking for consent. I gave it and leaned forward as well and we kissed. After a few seconds, I noticed something smelled burnt and pulled away.