Beyond Tartarus (A Percabeth Fanfiction)

Chapter 25-Training Ends and Annabeth Cries

Chapter 25

Annabeth

Today was me and Percy's last day of training, and boy did it go by faster than we thought. Today was sort of like evaluation day, the completion of endless training, to find out if we were strong enough. In my opinion, I think we were. This whole week I've only had one really bad nightmare, no flashbacks in the middle of the day or anything serious. Nightmares at night were easy for us to handle, we've had those all our lives, and with this training, we were even able to stop those too. Finally, I can get a good night sleep! But today was especially exciting, so I woke up early, got ready and woke up Percy a few minutes after. Soon enough, the two of us were ready to go as we hopped on a bus and headed to Long Island. Once we made it up the hill, I couldn't contain my excitement, holding Percy's hand extra tightly as we both eagerly made our way to The Big House.

Chiron smiled at us as we entered his office, and as routine, he handed Percy a golden goblet, Percy then handing it to me as he closed his eyes, I took a sip and relaxed my shoulders as the nightmare began. I was shocked to see an older couple, sitting on their couch, the bright daylight sun sparkling off their wrinkled and happy faces. You could see through their skin that they were once troubled, but they seemed much happier in this scene. I noticed that the man looked slightly younger, due to his tanned skin. Meanwhile, the woman had whiter skin, making her wrinkles more noticeable then the mans. Holy Styx, this wasn't just some old couple, it was me and Percy! I felt like smacking my forehead at how stupid I was acting. Okay, so this is the two of us, old and happy, together. What could go wrong? I mean, despite the fact that I look like an old hag with my wrinkled skin bu-now, now Annabeth. Relax, gods I can be self-conscious sometimes. All this silliness running through my head was distracting me from the fact that the old Percy and Annabeth were no longer holding hands and smiling, but were now making their way towards the door. My focus came back to the scene, as old Percy grabbed Riptide (Wow, I can't believe he still has that thing!) and took Annabeth the old version's hand, running (not as fast as we used to run) to the door where a loud screech was heard. Suddenly, the door was blasted open and the two were thrown across the room. I gasped as their now limp bodies struggled to get up. I couldn't make out the monster because it all happened so quickly. I heard myself wail as blood splattered on the floor, and my vision blurred as I saw the lifeless bodies of them both, hand-in-hand as they took their last breath. I gasped as a hand reached for my forearm, stroking my hair as I continued to flood tears. Would that really be our end? Only time would tell, but I couldn't be certain this nightmare would become real. I was scared, yes, but if we could at least live up to there, die together, hand-in-hand, I could take it. "Well done," Chiron's voice echoed in my ear. "Only one nightmare, even though you were supposed to have 3. You two have officially completed this training, I will call on Apollo to let him know of this great achievement." Great achievement? I wouldn't consider seeing myself and my loved-one die in under 15 seconds a great achievement...

Percy took my hand and helped me up from my chair. I could tell that he knew this nightmare had been extremely terrible for me, and he might want to talk about it, but for right now, I was not in the mood. I stopped abruptly, causing Percy to slightly lose his balance. His eyes met mine as I said, "I-I need to get some alone time right now Percy. I'm sorry but right now isn't a good time to talk or...anything really. I've got to go get some air." I quickly ran out before he could even open his mouth, and I could feel tears threatening to spill as my mind started racing, Percy's face in my mind, hurt by my words. Our lifeless bodies on the ground. I sped up, ignoring the voices in my ears from passerbys, and unidentifiable voices in my head, Gaea's laughter, I couldn't take it all. I needed to get out.

Percy

I felt the urge to run after Annabeth, make sure she was alright but I knew the best thing for her was to be alone.

So, to overcome my boredom, I went to go visit the guys. I found Leo and Clarisse, having what seemed to be an awkward conversation. The two were down by the training area and didn't seem to be having a wicked time with each other. Their words were mumbled but I could definitely tell the conversation had drifted into uncharted territory. I could see the thankful look in their eyes as I invited Leo to join me at the beach, so Clarisse could continue with her training. Clarisse was very thankful to me when ridding her of Leo's presence, and I set out to find Grover to join our sad party of two. I found him hanging out with his girlfriend, Juniper, so I assumed it was best to just leave them alone. I needed to get my mind off of Annabeth's nightmare, I needed to just relax and hang with a few guys for a bit. When we arrived at the beach, I saw Leo smirk as two heads appeared behind a bush. I grinned as the two were identified as Jason and Piper, very busy. I couldn't believe Jason was back from Camp Jupiter all of a sudden, did that mean that Frank and Hazel were here too? I pushed the question aside as I almost cried out laughing watching the two, their tongues wrestling furiously and their bodies moving in a frenzy. Suddenly, I couldn't take it anymore, I burst out laughing and they both jumped, shooting me angry looks, their cheeks a bright red. And you know what made it even more humourous? Jason's face was smeared with hot pink lipstick, and suddenly both me and Leo were laughing uncontrollably, our sides sore from our outburst of laughter. Jason looked like he was about to shoot bolts, but Piper seemed to have let it go a bit more, despite the fact she couldn't stop blushing. She whispered a small goodbye to Jason, leaving him with the rest of us guys. By now, I was rolling in the sand, crying my eyes out. Eventually, I was able to control myself to some degree, and Jason was still slightly annoyed that we ruined his make-out session, but otherwise, he was cool. The four of us laughed for quite sometime, joking around and just hanging out. We'd all been so occupied with work and life that we never made time to just spend some time together.

We spent a few more hours together, but it started to grow dark, so we all went our separate ways for the evening. I decided I'd go find Annabeth, hopefully by now she'd accept my presence. I made my way to the Athena cabin only to find that it was completely empty. I then went off to see if she was training, only to find a few Apollo kids practising their archery. My mind working a mile a minute, my search to find Annabeth began.

Annabeth

I sighed as I lay in the corner, my mind finally at ease. Every few minutes I'd calm down, then break down again. I really needed Percy but I could barely move from my spot. Just as I had calmed down only a few seconds before, I began to break down again. I wailed continuously, tears flowing in outpours as I crouched in my corner, my soft whimpers echoing in the bathroom.

"Who's crying in there?" a voice spoke, a young, healthy girl with dark hair and bright, intense blue eyes.

"Thalia," I whispered. She crouched down beside me, "It's so nice to see you. What have you been up to?"

I made a weak smile as Thalia positioned herself beside me saying, "I think I'd like to know what you've been doing Beth. I heard from Chiron that you and Percy have been training to cure some after-effects you guys are having? Is that what this is about?' I nodded, and I could feel more tears streaming down my face as Thalia embraced me in a hug. I felt like pouring out to her all the feelings I had been keeping locked up inside, all the emotions, all the regret, the guilt, so I did.

It felt good to pour out all the things I'd been keeping inside, I never would've been able to pour this out to Percy, sure, he was an understanding guy, but if one thing's for sure, he is not good with girl's emotions. Speaking of Percy, just as I was pouring my last few mouthfuls of words, Percy came running in, an exasperated look on his face as he said, "There you are Wise Girl! I've been looking all over for you! I'm so glad you're okay!"

I smiled as I stood up, walked over to Percy and gave him a huge hug. He grinned, and I pecked him on the lips, walking outside the girl's washroom and into the late evening sunset. I thanked Thalia for her help as she walked off to go get some food, and I grinned once again as I took Percy's hand and walked over to the dining hall. Even if the nightmares did come true, and I pray to the gods that they don't, the two of us will make it through. With our love for each other, and our family, nothing can stand in our way.