Chapter Text
Love terrified Annabeth. It seemed to invite tragedy.
Growing up as a child of logic to a father who had tried to return her to Athena, she never really got why people would subject themselves to it. Love only ever seemed to cause her pain when it was around, whether it was from her, to her or didn’t include her at all. Her father’s love for her stepmother blinded him to the pain Annabeth felt from his rejection. Zeus’s love for his daughter had only made her own love for Thalia turn heartbreak when the lord of the skies turned her into a tree.
Later Annabeth would add her love for Luke only adding to the sting of his betrayal.
Even when she turned to the stories and myths, Annabeth would find that love always seemed to be followed by tragedy. Heracules loved his wife and children and the gods still made him kill them. Achilles lost himself to rage and wrath due to his love for Patroclus. Love caused the deadliest and largest war in all of Greek myths. Even the gods were not safe. Apollo had a string of romances that end poorly so long that it seemed cruel.
After a year at camp and having seen one too many romances between demigods end in tears, Annabeth had told the crying boy that he was stupid and loudly declared that she would never fall in love.
Chiron had shook his head with an amused smile on his face and Luke had just laughed at her. Her siblings had started to tease her about it and nicknamed her a ‘Huntress in waiting’. Annabeth kicked them anytime she heard it, still too young to channel her emotions correctly and too sore about the hunters trying to take Thalia away from her and Luke. Most of the Aphrodite kids had scowled at her and turned their nose up at Annabeth for a good while.
All except for Silena.
Silena had taken it as her personal mission to make the daughter of Athena believe in love. Every week the child of love could be found calling out “Annie! I’ve got a story for you!” before dragging Annabeth off to some corner of the big house to read her a story that Silena claimed would make her believe in love. Every time, Annabeth would point out some tragedy that would come near the end of the story or in a continuation and Silena would pout and say “But does that matter?” and look disappointed when the child of logic said yes. Eventually they ran out of stories. But still, Silena told her that one day Annabeth would have a love that shook the earth.
Which is why Silena was the first one that Annabeth went to when she thought she had the beginning of a crush on Percy.
The daughter of love was Annabeth’s first stop back at camp after being saved from Altas. Hearing about Percy breaking the rules again to come and save her had set the daughter of logic’s heart fluttering in a way she hadn’t felt before. Silena hadn’t rubbed it in her face or said ‘I told you so’. She had squealed and made Annabeth tell her everything. Silena had quickly become her confidant and biggest supporter.
Then Percy had went and blew both himself and Mt. St. Helens up.
Silena had found Annabeth crying in the sand dunes and hugged her.
“This is why love is dumb.” The daughter of logic had mumbled into Silena’s shoulder, uncaring she was insulting the older girl’s mother. “What is the point of all these tales about love and how great it is if all it ever ends in is tragedy?”
“Oh Annie.” Silena had said softly, pulling back to hold Annabeth’s face in her hands, wiping away a tear from her cheek. “You read the stories, but you missed the point. Myths and tales teach us. Good love stories end in tragedy for a reason. It is to remind you that when you have love, you cherish it and hold onto it as hard as you can. Because you never know when it could be taken away.”
Annabeth hadn’t really understood what she meant at the time. Her pain was too raw and before she could really process it, Percy had reappeared, and the war had really kicked into high gear.
But looking into the terrified eyes of the boy… man… (god) that she loved, Silena’s words made all too much sense to Annabeth.
The first person the daughter of Athena had heard praying to Percy was Travis, so one could maybe forgive her for not taking the worship too seriously. The son of Hermes had made a big show of it too, throwing a whole steak into the fire and loudly proclaiming his thanks to “the Protector of Demigods.” The older campers had laughed. By the Third night, some of them were getting in on the bit. Even Clarise had burned part of her dinner in thanks for Percy “being a good punching bag.”
But while they were laughing, the newer campers were not.
Too late did she realize that the Stoll brothers were convincing the new campers that they were serious. The twins had influenced every young child or teenager that walked through the doors of the Hermes cabin that Percy was not just a very strong demigod but rather a full god, deserving of worship and possessing powers beyond that of a demigod. They were helped, wittingly or no, by the fact that every older camper had a story of Percy doing something that none of them could do. Annabeth had only been made aware of this poisoning of the youth when one of her new brothers had asked her if she was going to give Percy “his first demigod child”.
Annabeth had almost broken her neck whipping around to look at the young boy.
“First of all, Percy is not a god.” Annabeth had quickly replied, confused at her siblings confused face “Secondly, I’m not planning on having kids anytime soon. Why would you even ask that?”
“Well, in all the stories, you seem to be right by the Protectors side.” The young boy answered “I just thought that maybe y’all were married or promised to each other. And since he’s a god and you’re a demigod, then your kid would be, like, three quarters god.”
Annabeth was stunned by her young sibling’s words. “Where are you hearing these stories?” She asked.
“Down by the beach!” the younger child of Athena said with a big grin on his face, “Malcolm tells them in the Temple.”
Annabeth had realized that it wasn’t the Stolls that were leading this effort but her own brother. She had told Malcolm he had to stop. Her brother refused. She had told him that Percy wouldn’t want this. He said he knew. But still he continued. Malcolm continued to preach and evangelize in the name of “the Loyal one”. But worse was the fact that older campers were starting to follow him. Hearing Malcolm’s conviction when calling himself a priest of the “hurricane rider” made a lot of the older campers realize he was serious and many quickly joined the newly dubbed “children of Percy”. Soon it felt like the only people who weren’t attending the sermons on the beach was Annabeth and Clarisse.
Well, Percy too.
Annabeth had tried to explain what was happening at camp to him but Percy still acted like it was a joke. It wasn’t until the son of the sea came back and had multiple young campers call him lord and bow to him that it seemed to sink in. The two had gone to Cabin three and sat for a time when it seemed to get to be too much for Percy. Then her boyfriend had gotten silent. It was never good when Percy got silent. Finally, Percy had asked for directions to the temple on the beach and marched off in its direction.
Annabeth waited on the porch of the cabin and was about to leave when the storm came. Winds seemed to blow in from out of nowhere. Storm clouds formed and the first drops of rain started to fall. Then more fell and more and more. It seemed like there was going to quickly be a flood. Then it stopped, like someone had turned off the faucet and turned off a fan.
Percy came back soon enough.
“I couldn’t get him to stop” the son of the sea finally spoke when they were back inside sitting in front of each other on his bed. “I tried. But he said he wasn’t going to. Said I was their god.”
Annabeth could see how much this was affecting him.
“Percy, you are not a god.” The daughter of Athena reminded him. “And you certainly don’t belong to them. The only people you belong to is you, your mom and me.”
“Thanks, Wise Girl.” Percy said with a smile, pulling her into cuddle as he laid back in the bed. “At least I got Malcolm to agree to no live sacrifices. I’m just worried that someone is going to get hurt.”
“Don’t worry, Seaweed brain.” Annabeth reassured “I’m sure this will all blow over soon. And hey, it will make a good bead for next year.”
Percy had laughed. She had laughed. They stayed cuddled like that for hours. It was perfect.
Then Percy went missing.
Annabeth would consider those initial days some of her worst. It felt like she was snapped back to the aftermath of Mt. St. Helens. But this time she didn’t have the mercy of thinking she knew what had happened. Percy had just disappeared. Kissed her goodnight at the fire and then gone in the morning. This time she didn’t have the war with the Titans to think about. All she had was time to worry and wonder.
This time she didn’t have Selina to lean on. This time, she had the Children.
Every time she turned around, Annabeth had someone there to reassure her. Whether it was Malcolm as a shoulder to lean on, one of the Stolls as a hand on the back, or just a younger camper holding her hand. All of them telling her that they would find him. Annabeth appreciated how supportive they were. She did not appreciate them calling Percy “Our lord”.
Seaweed brain was her boyfriend first.
By the time Annabeth was getting visions from Hera, her nerves were starting to fray. When they found Jason instead of Percy, the daughter of Athena felt ready to scream. When she realized that Hera had tricked her into finding someone to save the goddess of marriage instead of finding Annabeth’s boyfriend, she had wanted to go find the goddess herself just to strangle her. When the questers had come back saying they knew where Percy would be, she could have jumped for joy.
When they told Annabeth it would be six months, the daughter of logic had cried.
Those six months were hard. Regular trips to see Percy’s mom helped but being in camp, for the first time, felt suffocating. Annabeth found herself rounding the corner to look at the cabins and expecting to see Percy leaning against cabin three or at the fire pit talking to Hestia. The daughter of logic found herself staring into the ocean more times then she care to admit waiting for him to just walk out of the waves like he had done all those years ago. By the time the ship was ready to fly to where they thought New Rome was, she was sick to death of hearing everyone say not to worry and that they would find “the Protector”.
The Children got on her nerves. As did the quest her mother had given her.
Annabeth felt she could be forgiven for how she reacted when she finally got her man back.
It was not until later, when they were flying across the country as fast as they could to escape the Romans and make it to the Atlantic, that the two really had a quiet moment to themselves. In the bowls of the ship, Annabeth was finally able to really look at Percy and she noticed something. The son of the sea looked good. Too good. Percy had always had a roguish handsomeness to him but now it was like someone had turned it up to 11. He looked perfect. Too perfect.
It worried her. What he said next worried her more.
“I heard them you know.”
“Hmm? Heard what?” Annabeth asked cuddled into his chest.
“The Campers. ‘The Children.’” Percy answered not looking her in the eyes, “When I was asleep, I heard and saw visions of them. I didn’t know who they were or who they were praying to but I felt like I wanted to help them. Even when I was at the Wolf House or finding my way to the legion, I heard them.”
Both of them were silent for a while. If she were honest, those words had scared Annabeth and she could tell that speaking them frightened Percy too. They stayed in that silence as neither of them wanted to ask the question on both of their minds. Eventually one of them did.
“Annabeth what if I-“ Percy started.
“No. Stop Percy.” The daughter of logic cut him off before climbing to straddle the son of the seas hips and hold his face in her hands. His strikingly too perfect face. “You were dreaming. You’ve had wandering dreams before and that is all those were. And you were probably tired and exhausted and just hearing voices. You are not a god Seaweed brain.”
Percy had stared into her eyes for a long moment before smiling.
“Yeah. You’re probably right, Wise Girl.” The son of the sea stated, pulling her backdown into his chest. “Don’t know what I was thinking. All that cult stuff your brother was doing probably just messed with my head.”
“About that.” Annabeth sighed “You are probably going to have to have a conversation with Jason. The Stolls kind of got to him and he is a fairly strong believer.”
Percy had been silent for a second before starting to laugh.
“What is so funny?” Annabeth asked through a smile. She loved hearing Percy laugh.
“I’m just imagining the big sky man’s face at hearing his kid is worshipping me.” Percy chuckled out.
Annabeth had laughed. Percy had laughed. They kissed. They fell asleep in each other’s arms.
A few days later they fell to Tartarus in each other’s arms as well.
Tartarus was hell. There was no other way to describe it.
They had been in Tartarus for less than ten minutes when Annabeth had decided that it was not something she would wish on her worst enemies. Falling into the River of Lamentation had been a bad start, with the daughter of logic having to convince Percy to work with her to get out while dealing with his lamentations for ‘His Children’. Having Seaweed brain refocus on a life in New Rome with her helped. By the time the two of them got out and got their baring’s, they were freezing and shivering. Only a long shot call by Annabeth had them go to the River Phlegethon.
Out of the Freezer and into the fire.
The boils and blister on her hands as she dipped them into the river was a pain she would never forget, as was the taste of its waters. But the river did its job. It healed her and sustained her enough that she could get Percy to drink from it. Seeing his face go from blister covered, with his eyes forcefully closed shut, back to its new almost too perfect nature was a relief.
The intensity with which he stared into the flames when he could finally open his eyes was not.
It took Annabeth shaking Percy to break his impromptu stare down with the river of fire. It shocked him and sent him back peddling away from the river as far as he quickly could. He kneeled and muttered something to himself she could not hear.
“What did you say?” Annabeth asked.
Percy looked up to her face. His eyes, usually the color of a stormy sea but now a familiar teal with an encroaching ring of gold, were watery and steam was rising from the sides of them as what would have been tears rose as water vaper above his too perfect for the situation dark hair. The son of the sea was beautiful and haunting in that moment. Even for all of her time spent around Percy, Annabeth was stunned by him in that moment. So much she nearly missed his reply.
“I can’t ascend here. I can’t Annabeth.” Percy almost sobbed. “I can feel it. If I ascend here, Ill be wrong. No. Not just wrong. Inverted. Everything they want of me, everything they ask of me, everything they pray to me for. I’ll be the opposite. I can’t do that. I can’t ascend here.”
Percy quickly grabbed one of Annabeth’s hand.
“Promise me, If I look like I am going, you’ll kill me.”
SMACK!
Annabeth’s free hand moved almost faster than her mind and struck Percy across the face. She quickly used both to grab the back of his head and pulled him into a hard kiss. A kiss that demanded that the son of the sea break out of whatever spell he was in. As the daughter of logic pulled back, she looked directly into her boyfriend’s eyes.
“Now you listen to me Seaweed brain.” Annabeth began, voice hard and strong as it demanded the son of the sea’s full attention. “When you underwent the waters to get the curse of Achilles, it was not the campers that kept you whole. It wasn’t Nico. It wasn’t Grover. Di imortales, it wasn’t even your mom. It was me. I was your humanity. And even though the Curse is gone, I don’t remember giving that position up. I do not care what my brother says. I do not care what Jason says. You are not a God until I say so. You do not get to ascend until I say so. You are mine. And I am yours.”
Annabeth kissed him again before she broke down and just hugged him. They stayed there for some time, scorching under the heat of the river. Eventually Percy pulled back and it was his turn to hold her face as he spoke.
“Okay Wise Girl. No ascending until you say so.” The son of the sea promised softly. “Now let’s figure out where we are going.”
That promise made by the river seemed to calm Percy. It seemed to ground him even as they were attacked by monsters and Bob fell in to help them. It grounded Seaweed brain enough that he was able to laugh when Annabeth included a line about playing nice with the other children in her note to Connor. As they rested in the hut of Damasen, Annabeth truly thought that they were going to be able to make it out of this hell without having to worry about the possibility of Percy ascending.
Then they met misery.
They had expected Akhlys to betray them. They had even expected needing to fight for the Death mist. They had not expected that the mist would literally turn them to mist. They had not expected mere complements to be enough to earn the Protogenos’ ire. They had not expected misery to focus on Percy. They had not expected Akhlys to surround the son of Poseidon in a veritable sea of poison.
Akhlys did not expect Percy to turn her own poison against her.
Annabeth did not expect Percy to start glowing.
Suddenly terrified of her seaweed brain’s prophecy coming true, Annabeth screamed for him to stop. She screamed and screamed but it was like he could not hear her. His too perfect face slowly shifting into something terrifying and his body starting to glow. Not in the soft teal color that Annabeth remembered from Percy’s eyes but rather a sick green color. Annabeth screamed one last thing in desperation.
“YOU PROMISED!”
Percy’s head snapped to her, in a move that would have made a horror movie villain proud, and it was like suddenly he realized what he was doing. The son of the sea dropped to his knees as Akhlys fell like a marionette whose strings had all been cut. The poison disappeared from the ground and Annabeth rushed forward to pull Percy into a hug. He panted into her shoulder before starting to laugh. It was not a kind laugh like the ones they had shared in the cabins or on the ship. It was a laugh that should have shifted into a sob but it seemed like Percy didn’t have it in him for the laugh to fully transform.
“You were right.” Percy finally wheezed out, pulling back to look Annabeth in her eyes. “I did promise. I’m yours and only yours as long as you want. No ascending till you say so. I promise.”
And now he was asking her to give him that permission.
Percy could not and would not verbalize it. Annabeth knew that. It was not in him to intentionally bring her pain and he knew that this would cause her pain. The son of the sea would not ask the daughter of logic to give him up when he knew how much she had already given up for the world.
Percy was a good man for that.
But Annabeth knew there was a question in those terrified glowing eyes. As the earth shook with new life and monsters closed in to surround demigods, Roman and Greek alike, the daughter of Athena knew there was a request in those eyes. As her brother and a Kool-Aid stained roman kneeled and presented a standard with three bolts of lightning atop it, Annabeth knew what he was asking.
Percy was asking for her permission to ascend.
He was asking her to let him help these people, their people, who have put their faith in him. The son of the sea was asking her to let him show them they had not been wrong to worship him. He was asking her to let him become the Protector.
Percy would be a good god for that.
Annabeth knew what she had to do.
“Go. Protect our people” Annabeth said softly. “Be the god they need and carry the heart of the good man you are.”
Percy leaned in and kissed her. The two had kissed many times in the past but this one felt different. Their first under the lake had felt like exhilaration at having survived the titan war. The kiss in new Rome had felt like relief at being reunited. The stolen kisses in Tartarus had felt rebellious and reassuring in the face of unending horror.
This kiss felt like a promise.
“I love you, wise girl.” Percy said as he broke the kiss to lean his forehead against hers.
“I love you too seaweed brain.” Annabeth whispered back.
Percy turned back to the two still kneeling Demigods. Annabeth realized as she stared at his back that this might be the last time that she sees him as a mortal. The daughter of logic prayed that this moment would not turn into one of the stories she used to read with Silena.
Annabeth prayed she would have a love story with a happy ending.