Too Many Memories

Percy Pours His Heart Out To Me

Percy Pours His Heart Out To Me

Percy

My heart and mind broke when I saw the Iris-Message. After Annabeth had been missing for almost two weeks, I was frantic. To see her, her face so swollen that her eyes could barely open, blood caked on her skin and matted within her hair, one of her feet pointing in the wrong direction--it drove me mad.

"Percy." She whispered, a relieved smile crossing her face before she collapsed and I screamed.

A few of the campers came running to see what I was hollering at and gasped when they saw the mist. Luke pushed his way through the crowd, took one look at Annabeth, and turned to me. "I'll hold the fort. Just bring her back."

Without even nodding, I flashed away, planning to appear right next to Annabeth. Instead, I stumbled outside a dark cave. I knew Gaea had something to do with it, because if she hadn't I would be standing next to Annabeth's limp form right now.

I swayed, my head spinning and black filling my eyesight for a few seconds. I pushed the feeling away and growled, and my vision turned red. The only thought going through my mind was save Annabeth, kill Gaea. I balled my fists and stalked towards the entrance to the cave, rage controlling my body.

Darkness surrounded me and the earth shifted under my feet. Monsters rose around me but I hacked them down without even registering who or what they were. I traveled deeper into the cave, thoughts of Annabeth guiding me to her.

I came across a dead end, or what looked like one, and momentarily lost my balance. I scanned the walls and spotted a microscopic line in the wall that was too defined to be a crack. Another hint was the fact that the necklace I had given Annabeth hung from a nail next to it. A fist clenched my heart as I picked up the orb and carefully tucked it into my pocket. I dug my sword into the line and pulled, the wall moving to reveal a room.

Laying on the ground, exactly as she had been in the Iris-Message, was Annabeth. I sobbed and rushed to her, collapsing on the ground. "Annabeth! Wake up, please! You have to wake up." I tugged her into my lap and stroked her face, brushing her blonde locks out of the way.

Her eyes fluttered and a small section of her beautiful gray eyes were visible through her swollen eyelids. "Percy? Are you really here? No, you can't be. This is a dream. Or an illusion. Something of Gaea's doing. I won't believe it. Get away!" She struggled and tried to escape my arms.

I shook my head. "I promise you, Annabeth. This is not a trick, it's not a dream. I'm here. I have to get you out of here." She whimpered and her eyes rolled into the back of her head, and she passed out again. I gently stood with her in my arms and turned to the door I had entered from and saw it blocked by an earthen body. Gaea.

I growled at her. "I will kill you for what you've done to her."

"Oh, Perseus Jackson. Or should I say, Chaos. Will you? You can't even stay here. Have you told your lover the effects of staying here yet? What it has already begun to do to you?" As Gaea spoke my balance wavered again. She smirked, noticing it. I grimaced and shifted Annabeth's body in my arms.

"There is nothing to tell her."

Gaea smirked. "Suit yourself, but you will regret your choice later. For now, though, I cannot allow you to leave, with or without the daughter of Athena." She raised her hands and the ground beneath me groaned and moved, building up. I felt the pocket of my cloak move and dismissed it as the wind from the moving rocks and mud.

I carefully set Annabeth down next to me and readied my sword. The earth had almost solidified into a figure, when a silvery glint dashed through the air and hit Gaea in the torso. She stumbled backward, pulling the hilt of a dagger out of her body. Golden ichor flowed down her stomach. The earthy figure crumbled and I took my opportunity.

I sprang at Gaea and swiped at her legs, cutting them off at the knees. She wailed and fell to the ground, ichor staining the ground. Her legs had already started to reform, so I turned to grab Annabeth.

I froze. "Annabeth?" She had propped herself up against a wall and her hand was curled, as if she had thrown a knife. I checked my pocket and the dagger I had had in it before was missing. Annabeth had thrown the dagger at Gaea.

She winced. "I hate being the damsel in distress." She coughed, blood spattering the ground, and slumped over, unconscious again.

I scooped her into my arms and ran out of the cave, back into the unknown.

Annabeth

"Hey," a soft voice woke me from my peaceful slumber. A hand caressed my face. "Wake up, you need to eat. I know the sleep if nice, but I have to make sure you're okay."

I groaned and cautiously blinked, opening my eyes to see treetops above me. The ground was rough beneath me and my entire body ached. I tried to sit up and pain shot through my body, making me cringe and cry out.

Two familiar hands held my body down. "Don't, you need to heal more." I painfully turned my head and saw Percy's exhausted face next to me. He slowly pulled me into his arms, careful not to hurt me.

He buried his face in my hair. "I thought I lost you. You were gone for almost two weeks, and I had no idea where you were. It broke my heart when I saw the Iris-Message. How did you manage to send that?"

I gulped, my tongue, throat and lips dry. I opened my mouth and tried to speak, but no sound came out. I frowned and Percy noticed.

"Right," he held my head and helped my swallow a few gulps of nectar. Warmth spread through my body and I sighed as some of the pain was relieved. I found I could talk again.

"Somehow there was some sunlight in the cave I was in, and the ground was coated with water so it created a rainbow. Someone dropped a drachma into the cave with me from the crack where the sunlight came in, and I sent you the message." I didn't tell Percy that I knew who gave me the drachma, it had to have been Travis or Connor.

"I don't care what happened, I'm just so glad you sent me the message." Percy hugged me tighter and I squeaked in pain. "Sorry!" He released me and laid me back down. "Just stay still. Relax while I clean your wounds."

He poured the rest of the nectar onto the many gashes on my body and fed me a few squares of ambrosia. I grimaced but stayed still as the godly food and drink worked its magic.

"Let's see if I can distract you while I do this." Percy continued to dribble the nectar onto my cuts and scrapes. "You know how I'm Chaos, and that when I first came back here when I wasn't Chaos, just Pontus. The first Chaos didn't come, he never comes to any planet we go to save. Never. I didn't have to this time either, it would have been better and less risky if I hadn't. I'll become mortal if I stay too long.

"But I came. I can't stay away for long, Annabeth. I can't stay away from you. It was torture to stay away for a year after we left. I could barely last until Nico died and I visited with him. You have no idea how hard that was. I wouldn't have come here if you weren't here. I would've just sent my team, even though I once lived here." His voice choked up. "I love you so much, Annabeth."

Tears came to my eyes. "I love you, too." He resumed treating me and we fell silent, until I broke it. "Percy, if I were here on Earth and you could come, still immortal, and stay as long as you wanted without becoming mortal, would you?"

Percy stopped, the canteen of nectar in his hand and pondered my question. He sighed, before answering, "No."

I raised my eyebrows.

"It would put you in danger. I'm already putting you in danger right now, that's why Gaea took you. It's my fault. I can't risk that. I would love to, but I can't risk you getting hurt."

My gaze softened. "I understand." Percy finished cleaning the blood out of my hair and face and stood.

"Do you think you can travel?" I nodded and Percy bent down to help me stand. I hopped on my left foot, my right one pointing the wrong way and obviously broken. With his help, I took one painful step forward and promptly collapsed, landing hard on my left arm. A loud snap filled the air and I knew my arm had broke.

"Annabeth!" Percy hollered and huddled next to me. I moaned and clutched my arm, pain the only thing on my mind. "No, please. Don't pass out again. Annabeth! Keep your eyes open! ANNABETH!"

With each scream his voice got quieter and quieter, until it was completely gone and I succumbed to the darkness.