Annabeth — Dog Person

Annabeth (13) - Travis (13) - Connor (12)

January

post the lightning thief

—

Annabeth promised Cerberus she'd come and visit.

And she will.

She won't break her promise.

She'll never break her promises.

(not when she came back to camp when things are going bad at home again and she's reminded again of Luke's promise to her, 'I'll be your new family and I promise I won't fail you the way our families did', a promise he clearly broke.)

Coming back to Camp Half Blood for a little break from her family reminded her of that promise she made in the Underworld.

But the thing is, when she made the decision to go visit, she didn't think she would have two pesky brothers on her back, asking questions about why she's trying to sneak out, about why she's trying to hijack the car, about why she's trying to call the Gray Sisters' Taxi Services.

They're so nosy and impossible and such little dicks,

"We'll tell Chiron, Anniebeth."

"Tell us where you are going."

"Why are you trying to leave when you just got back?"

"Do we bother you that much? Oh gods, we do don't we?"

"Awesome! We still got it."

That she ended up bringing them along.

Which is a good thing, she guesses.

Because she was about to get into the Underworld the way she did before with Percy, but they — Annabeth remembering their father's epithet psychopompos, shepherd of souls — they know another entry. One that is a lot closer.

So she follows them out of camp undetected. (When she asked how, they refuse to tell her, winking and saying in unison, it's a secret.)

She follows them to the main road where they hitchhike to Manhattan. (Never mind the fact they were picked up by a cyclops and were nearly back to a den of hungry one-eyed monsters.)

And she follows them to the bowels of New York City.

It is obvious they are at home here. They blend and merge into the crowd, so fluidly, so unnoticeable, she lost sight of them. They had to go back for her and Travis had to keep a hand on her wrist as she's pulled along.

Pulled straight to a dumpster.

She wrinkles her nose.

"Are you sure this is it?"

Travis nods. "We hid here once and saw the door to the Underworld."

Connor smiles cheekily at her. "Why? Is Anniebeth scared of getting a wee bit smelly—"

"There's a cockroach by your feet," Annabeth says, ignoring Connor's screeching, Travis' laughing, and walks up to the dumpster. She lifts the lid and pulls back in disgust.

It smells.

Like a dumpster should.

Travis and Connor jump in without hesitation, but Annabeth lingers by the entry, staring at the red stain on the bottom and at the black grim coating the walls and at the single, black trash bag in the corner. There's nothing here that indicates a passage to the underworld.

If it were anyone else, Annabeth would have doubts. But after 5 long (very, very long) years of living with them, of being pranked by them, of being bothered and annoyed and teased in every way Mankind knows how, she can tell they're not messing with her.

She almost wishes they are.

With a sigh, Annabeth pinches her nose with a hand and jumps in after them, choking as the lid close and the damp, moldy smell grows stronger and unbearable.

"So what do we do now?"

Connor crouches down and touches the dirtied bottom with his hand. Annabeth would have retch in disgust if the pattern glowing brighter every second didn't halt whatever her stomach is going to push up. She stares as the outline of a door appears on the floor, traced by a neon blue and she watches as it loses its 2nd-dimensional shape. The door seems to rise off the ground, rising and rising until it's an inch above the grim-coated floor. Near the edge of the door, a line glows the same blue and caves in, forming a car handle.

Travis grips the handle and heaves up, the door opening wide to Hell's fiery sky and ghastly screams drifting up from the entry.

"That… that is really…"

Connor grabs her wrist and tugs harshly. He looks strained. "Come on, hurry. Before anyone notices."

They descend into hell with Travis dropping the door behind them.

She falls only for a few seconds before landing firmly on solid ground, noticing she's right across from the River Styx. She could see Charon on the other side, a hand on his cheek and appearingly bored out of his mind.

An entrance where the dead don't have to pay the fare. That could spell trouble.

"Travis? Travis?! Holy shit. Annabeth, do you have any ambrosia?"

Annabeth spins around and her heart freezes for a moment when she sees Travis on his knee with Connor half standing, half kneeling over him and a hand underneath his shoulder.

"I'm fine," Travis says. He doesn't sound fine. "Don't cuss. Swear jar."

Travis tries to stand and crumbles down to his knees. He glances at her, probably sees the look on her face, and instantly his grimace is replaced with a smile.

"Don't worry. It just takes a lot of power to open a gate to hell. I don't think visiting Cerberus can be a daily thing."

She bites her lip, moving to Travis's side and helping him stand. "I'm sorry for dragging you along."

The smile and dismissive wave of a hand didn't really mean much when Travis's knees buckled after one step. Connor moves to Travis's other side and hook the arm over his shoulder and together, they move forward.

"Hrnnnghhhhhh, Travis, why are you so heavy?"

"Shut up, Connor. I'm not heavy. You just don't have any muscles."

"Stop bickering," Annabeth snaps. "Cerberus should be around here and being aggressive will make him aggressive."

It shuts them up for a good five seconds before Connor leans his head past Travis to fixate his eyes on her. An eyebrow is raised and his mouth is drawn tight. "Hey, Annabeth. Are you positive Cerberus is a good monster?"

Annabeth understands his concern. There's no such thing as a friendly monster in their books, especially demigod eating ones. But Cerberus was willing to listen to her commands last time. She's sure he'll listen to them again. So she nods her head and answers with the confidence she can, "Positive."

Right after she said that Cerberus pounces on them.

A paw knocks them down and pins their lower bodies to the ground. Annabeth hears a low growl, hot breath gushing into her face. A wet snout presses near her face, sniffling. And just as quick as Cerberus attacked, he got off, sitting on his hind legs and shaking positively in joy.

Faintly, she's aware of Connor's yelping (Th-that's Cerberus? You didn't tell me it'll be this big. It's-it's-it's the size of our cabin. Oh my gods. Ohhhh my gods) and Annabeth frowns. Whoops.

She stands and Cerberus plops onto his stomach that shakes the ground and nearly causes her to fall back down. Even down on all four, the dog almost towers over her. Tentatively she raises a hand, six pairs of eyes following it, and scratches the leftmost dog's head, chuckling at the little yips. She smiles. "Hey, I came back."

The middle sniffs her pockets and whines. They paw the ground, looking at her with begging eyes. Annabeth shakes her head sadly. "Sorry, I didn't bring any toys with me."

"I did." Travis presents a red rubber ball. A normal size rubber ball. For normal size dogs. She really should have told them how big Cerberus was.

"I stole, I mean, brought it before we came here plus some other dog toys. But I think you're a little too big for — ah!"

Cerberus races to Travis and nearly stomps him into the ground in their eagerness. Connor pulls him back by the scruff of his shirt in time before Travis becomes a pancake.

Connor's tensed, pale, trembling, a hand shoved in his pocket where he has his celestial Swiss Army Knife, a gift from their father supposedly. The idea of a small knife facing against a giant beast like Cerberus is laughable and Annabeth would have laughed if she wasn't terrified of how Cerberus will respond. The right head is already baring their teeth. The middle head is cocked to the side and soon the left will notice something is wrong. They're going to die if she doesn't do something.

"Connor, wait— don't! — you'll make them—"

"Sit, Cerberus," Travis commands with a strictness she didn't think he had in him, voice rising when Cerberus remains standing. "Sit down now."

It plops down, whimpering. The right head bares its teeth once more and growls lowly. Travis snaps at it to stop and surprisingly, it did. The middle barks, almost scoldingly, at the right head who flattens their ears and looks down.

Travis turns to his brother, eyes twinkling. "Dude, Connor, he's massive. I never saw a dog this big before," Travis says in awe, all sternness gone from his voice, "Hey, Cerberus, see the ball? Can you catch? Catch!" He throws the ball in an upward arc, far and long. Cerberus got up quickly, feet stumbling a little over each other as it does a 180. The tail would have sent them flying if they didn't duck

Annabeth worries for a moment the toy will become a choking hazard, but it seems even they know it's too small. With dexterity and speed that's admirable for its size, Cerberus runs after the ball. Rather than bite, it jumps and smacks the ball down with its oversized paws, pinning it safely to the ground before rolling it back to them.

It sits on its rear, looking expectedly down at them.

Travis is the one who reacts first, pulling himself to his feet with Connor's help. "Holy macaro — that's so cool! You're such a good boy, Cerberus!"

The tail wags.

"Here, you ready for it again? Go get it!"

Connor drops his hand on Travis' shoulder, grimacing and jabbing a thumb behind him. "Imma go. Be careful. Call me if you need me. Bye."

And just like that Connor is turning around and walking away. Giving a look to Travis who seems to have a handle on the situation, Annabeth follows Connor. They didn't go far, just a couple meters away.

Connor sits on the ground with a sigh and closes his eyes. "Please, please, please, Anniebeth, give me a size warning next time. I nearly peed my pants when I saw it. Gods, I hate dogs."

Annabeth sits down carefully next to him. "Why? They're adorable."

"Not when they're trying to chew your face off. A rabid dog attacked us once in Wisconsin. Ever since then, I don't want anything to do with animals."

Oh.

She watches Travis laughs and rubs Cerberus on the tummy, unflinching when one of the heads nuzzles him on the cheek. "Does Travis not care or doesn't remember?"

"He remembers. He's just a weirdo whose danger sensor needs a fixing with Beckendorf."

Travis must have heard them because he rubs Cerberus with more fervor and coos in a ridiculous puppy voice, "You're such a sweetheart, aren't you? You won't hurt me. Ignore your mean uncle. I love you so—ack! Too much licking! No more licking! Oh my gods, your breath stinks. Who washes your teeth?"

Connor rolls his eyes, but there's endearment in his action. She can see that (but she can't say the same for her—). Connor's head lolls back and he asks with sympathy, "So trouble at home again, huh? Are you done for the year or are you going back?"

She crinkles her nose. "We only had a little… spat. It's not too big. I'm going back next week." Just thinking about her family, when this is supposed to be break time from them has her blood boiling a little bit. It was just a little, itty-bitty monster and she took care of it before it ever got close to them. Why do they get so mad at her? It's not her fault. The monsters just come. It's not like she can turn off the demigod part of her.

Connor bumps her shoulder with his. He's grinning at her and the smile is just a level short of malicious. "Do you want me and Travis to come over? I'm sure we can make you seem like an angel."

Annabeth bites her cheeks and tries hard to keep her face straight. "What's the price?"

"5 drachmas for each day we're there. Transportation must be included."

"And?" she says, "What is the plan?"

The smile grows more crooked. "You know, the usual. Prank a little. Yell a bit. Throw a couple punches at each other. For 5 more drachmas, we can get law enforcement involved too."

"And what about the monsters that will definitely come with three of us there?"

"You'll kick their asses and make your brothers adore you. Everybody loves badass sisters. It's an extra 10 drachmas for each monster that appears though. Safety fee, you know."

"I want the friend discount."

"No discounts."

"Then I'm not interested," Annabeth says with a turn of her head to the side, trying and failing, to keep her laugh in.

Connor shrugs. "Hm. Okay. Whatever you say. We'll see in a month or two. You'll definitely give in by then and I'll have the last—"

They both heard it at the same time.

Charon's creaky boat drifting through the River Styx and coming their way.

Connor stands first and pulls Travis' arm over his shoulder. "Sorry. Timetogo. ByeDoggieDog." And he starts dragging Travis away. Annabeth pets Cerberus' snout and pushes slightly when they stand to follow Travis.

"No, Cerberus, stay," Travis yells over his shoulder.

Cerberus listens, but cries and whines, almost howling.

Are you coming back? They seem to ask.

Travis promises soon. Connor groans and yells for her to hurry up. Annabeth smiles and gives one last head scratch before running after the brothers.

They're waiting for her when she arrives. Travis has his hands on a rock, eyes closed in concentration. The outline of a door glows and Connor hurries to pull it open. Annabeth pulls Travis with her as she crosses and Connor, following suit, closes the gate.

The first thing she notices is that they're not in a dumpster. The air she so heavenly breathes in is too fresh, too clean.

No, that dumpster would be a thousand better than where they are.

Because right in front of them, out of all the places they could end up, it had to be in a horse stall, right when the horse is defecating.

And right when there is a girl there grooming the coat.

They stare at each other. Annabeth's gray eyes and the girl's bright green ones.

Nobody said anything for a moment.

Then Travis sneezes and the horse rears. The girl snaps her eyes away, pulling on the reins to lead the horse out. Dimly, Annabeth is aware of the walls, of the ground, rumbling and shaking and grumbling.

"Da-Dad! Daaaaaaaad!"

"Katie? Katie, what is it?!"

Ohh crap.

Annabeth scrambles for her drachma, finally noticing the slumped over Connor on her back. He would have faceplants into the pile of feces if Travis hadn't caught him.

"Is he okay?!"

Travis nods quickly, gesturing for her to get a move on and eyeing the rumbling walls beside them. They're moving. Something is crawling along the ways but Travis shakes her shoulder hard before she could looker closer. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, he's fine. Now let's hurry and get out of here!"

Somehow they manage to make it back to camp. Manage to sneak back in undetected. Manage to avoid any questions why the brothers slept all day. And, according to the letters Connor mailed her once she went back home, for the next month managed to keep it all a secret until that girl they met in the stall came to camp and ratted them out.

It was fate, Annabeth thinks, that the girl— Katie Gardner— took the title of being the Stoll's favorite victim from her for the next three years.

Author's notes:

(I know it's unlikely Annabeth ever went back to play with Cerberus again like she promised but just let me live in the fantasy that all doggies end up happy and that no pet ever suffer.)