Second Chance (Percy Jackson Chaos Theory Fanfic)

Annabeth

Going to make this quick, so just one thing today.
My CC: If you add an "a" to Perseus's name, you could get Perseaus. Catch the pun? Per"sea"us, son of the sea god? :P
Now we continue the story!

Percy POV

After my talk with Nico, I was wandering around camp by myself to give myself time to think things through.

I was so happy that I had at least one ally here at camp, one who wouldn't give away my secret and would be my friend forever. Everything was turning out to be good! Even so, I wasn't ready yet to reveal myself to anyone else.

As these thoughts ran through my mind, I heard someone coming my direction. A figure appeared, and I immediately tensed up when I saw who it was.

Annabeth.

She glanced up as I cleared my throat. "Oh, hello, Omega. Checking out camp?"

"Sort of," was my reply. "I've just been thinking about the different people I've seen at Camp. Nico's quite a character, isn't he?"

"Nico," Annabeth smiled. "I guess so. He's always the first to get around to talking to people. He sort of took Percy's place as best he could when Percy left."

I decided to take a different approach to thoughts of Percy... a.k.a. me. "I've heard Percy mentioned a couple of times since I've been here. Everybody seems to see him as a hero, yet they talk about him as if he's dead. Why is that?"

Annabeth stared at me, gray eyes wide. "You catch on to things quickly."

I shrugged. "When you've been around for five thousand years, it's easy to spot such things."

Something seemed to crumble in Annabeth's demeanor at my mention of five thousand years. "I suppose so. Percy was the hero of Olympus. The hero of the world. Everyone's hero. And my boyfriend."

"So you were close to him then?"

"Very," she replied. "We'd been dating for over two years when things turned bad. You see, it was our fault, and my fault mainly, that he left... or died. We're not sure what happened to him."

"Tell me about it," I demanded, though gently.

Annabeth took a deep breath before plunging on. "It started when a demigod named Bryson came to Camp. He lied to us about Percy. You see, Bryson was being chased by a hellhound when Percy heard him. Percy saved him, of course, but Bryson turned on Percy and lied to us, saying that he had saved Percy, not the other way around. It was foolish of us to believe Bryson, since we knew Percy so well, but we thought that Percy was trying to keep the fame for himself. Of course, I didn't believe that Percy was lying. But then that night at dinner, I was distracted with my second-in-command, Malcolm, when I heard Bryson shout out that Percy had tried to kill him. Again, I didn't believe Bryson, but everyone else did, even Percy's own father, the god Poseidon. Poseidon disclaimed him, and all Percy had left was me and his family. Percy never told us what happened to his mother and father-in-law. All we know is that they seemed to have disappeared. Then... I wish Percy could hear this part of the story, for I never really betrayed him! But he thinks I did!"

So it was true. Nico's story. I had to hear it from Annabeth, though. "What happened then?"

"Bryson somehow made a love potion and gave it to Malcolm, who then gave it to me. I still trusted Malcolm then, so I ended up drinking the potion... and I fell in love with Bryson against my will. Poor Percy thought I had betrayed him, after my promise that I would never leave him. We weren't sure what happened to Percy after that, for Nico couldn't find him: he seemed to have simply vanished off the face of the planet. Everyone else thought he was dead, but I never gave up, nor did Poseidon. He made us immortal so we could search for Percy forever. During that time, we ordered the gods to show us what had happened, since some of them can reveal the past. Zeus didn't want us to see, but Hestia agreed to our wishes and showed us what had happened. Percy had disappeared, and no one knew where in the world he was. That's about it, for we searched for him until you came. You know the rest."

I leaned back. "Wow." To Annabeth it would sound like I was saying wow because of the story, or because I was surprised at the hardships in Percy's life. But really, I was saying wow because I now knew that Nico was right. Annabeth really hadn't betrayed me. She still loved me and had been searching for me for the past five years. But I still wasn't ready. This would take time.

"So what? You're five thousand years old?" Annabeth broke the silence by asking the question.

I nodded. "Sort of, sort of not. It depends. Time varies in different places, but for most places, I'm five thousand years old, yes."

"How old are you here, then?" she inquired.

Unease flowed through me, and I shifted. "I'd rather not say."

Annabeth waved it off. "Oh, that's okay. And what, you're Chaos's heir, correct?"

"That's correct."

"So what's your story?"

Everything inside me shattered. I couldn't tell her. There was no way I was ever going to tell her... at least not yet. What was I supposed to say?!

Alpha saved me. He came trotting up that moment, waving to me. "Omega, Pisti wants to speak with you."

"Okay."

I stood up and walked away.

***

Annabeth POV

I watched as Omega walked away. I was sure now that he wasn't Percy. Five thousand years old?! How was that even possible? He was older than the gods! But his stutter when I'd asked him how old he was in earth years. How old was he really?

There was something going on here that I was going to find out.