Heroes of Olympus Series. Annabeth Chase X Male Reader Story

Ignoring the Blast Radius

Tyson was wailing so hard Percy had to pause his speech a few times. Though nobody could blame him. Chiron's expression was dark, he looked so much older than he was, the centaur suddenly looked very tired.

Nico Di Angelo was inconsolable, Annabeth had always seen him as someone strong, a child of the big three, immensely powerful, but on that day. He just looked like a scared and sad kid. Looking at his tearful expression hurt her, so she moved on and kept looking.

She saw Zoe trying to keep a composed expression, but she failed horribly as tears poured down her face, once Percy had finished his speech, and the moment hit him, he started crying too, and they hugged each other as a small comfort.

Back then, Annabeth was too numb to feel it, right now, it was like a knife to the chest. The Hunters of Artemis had come too, Thalia remained stone faced, but Annabeth knew her well enough to know she was hurting too. Her sisters tried to comfort her but Annabeth saw it wasn't helping.

Clarisse's face was so red Annabeth was surprised she didn't pass out, and she saw the tears welling in her eyes despite her best efforts, Chris was practically holding her upright. Clovis was gritting his teeth and occasionally retreating his head into his pillow.

The moment she caught sight of the shock or red hair, Annabeth almost gasped, hoping she had seen what he had described, but when she looked down to see Rachel frowning deeply into the fire, she knew she had been mistaken. A trick of the firelight, reflecting off her hair.

As she spurred herself on during her silly little fantasy, she came to notice that a vast majority of the campers were stoic alongside her. The Stolls, Lou Ellen, Jake Mason, Will Solace, almost the entirety of the Aphrodite Cabin, and hundreds more, but among them, she still couldn't see it.

She remembered him telling a story, about seeing the ghost of a boy he once liked around his own funeral pyre, she wondered if she could see the same, if she would feel that comforting hand on her shoulder again, but it never came.

As much as she had longed for it, hoped for it, as much as her eyes had traced the outlines of the fire hoping for a familiar face, none would ever show itself to her, she had nothing to comfort her, except Chiron's hand on her shoulder.

She sat there for hours, well into the night, still searching for the ghost by the pyre, long after everyone else had gone, despite their protests and wishes for her to sleep, looking back, part of Annabeth thought she might have been waiting for them.

Deep down, she might have known they would come. As the last of the embers died, and the final ashes climbed into the sky, when there was nothing but silence. They were there. Part of her wondered if they always had been.

She was the only one who mourned alongside the dark figures in the shadows. The first to step forward, Annabeth couldn't exactly see. As much as she tried to, he wasn't exactly invisible, it was like she didn't want to see him.

In fact, again in hindsight, she realized perhaps, he didn't want to be there himself, she imagined no parent would ever want to, he said a few whispered words. He looked at her as he left, with the same eyes she longed for. Take that how you will, she was in a dark place back then.

He was joined by his brother a moment later, Annabeth saw the same comforting gesture, a hand pressed on his shoulder, was shared between them, and like that, they were gone.

Next was a child, led by a winged woman with short hair, both of whom Annabeth had met before, the child was sobbing uncontrollably one moment, and then comforting her companion the next. The two flew into the night together. Carried by his wings.

The pair that followed, Annabeth was again familiar with, a tired old man, hobbling over, but somehow still supporting a woman who looked very weak in her own right, dimmed by the darkness around her.