𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐑𝐘 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐐𝐔𝐈𝐂𝐊 𝐓𝐎 𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐕𝐄.
she wiped at her eyes, but the tears would not stop falling.
grover told her that him and the rest of her friends had gone off to camp to check out what had happened there.
unfortunately, even a private jet could only be so fast to travel from country to country.
back at camp, percy tried to rush through things as fast as he could.
hades lifted a curse, rachel became the oracle, almost immediately gave another great prophecy, and then went to sleep.
campers trickled in from new york by car, pegasus, and chariot.
tension was high as cherry and percy returned returned to camp.
nobody mentioned anything.
back at camp, the wounded were cared for. the dead were given proper funeral rites at the campfire.
silena's shroud was hot pink, but embroidered with an electric spear. the ares and aphrodite cabins both claimed her as a hero, and lit the shroud together. no one mentioned the word spy. that secret burned to ashes as the designer perfume smoke drifted into the sky.
even ethan nakamura was given a shroud. black silk with a logo of swords crossed under a set of scales. as his shroud went up in flames.
dinner at the pavilion was silent.
cherry sat at an empty table and said nothing. percy stared at her every couple of minutes, which everybody noticed
the only highlight was juniper the tree nymph, who screamed, "grover!" and gave her boyfriend a flying tackle hug, making everybody cheer. they went down to the beach to take a moonlit walk, .
mrs. o'leary romped around happily, eating everybody's table scraps. nico sat at the main table with chiron and mr. d, and nobody seemed to think this was out of place.
everybody patted nico on the back, complimenting him on his fighting. even the ares kids seemed to think he was pretty cool.
slowly, the dinner crowd trickled away. some went to the campfire for a sing-along. others went to bed.
cherry didn't want to leave yet, so percy stayed at the poseidon table by himself.
the moonlight lowered down below the horizon.
it was an unusually beautiful evening.
percy took a seat beside cherry, finally. cherry looked over at him. he had a blank expression on her face.
"happy birthday." the girl muttered.
he was quiet.
her eyes were glassy. he hated himself for making her feel like that, but he thought that in that moment, she was the most beautiful person he'd ever seen.
"cher, i'm sorry." percy told her.
she shook her head.
"i thought that you.." cherry trailed off.
"that i loved you?" percy asked. "i do."
"then why-" cherry began.
percy grabbed her shoulders.
"the only thing i'm sure about is that i love you. i've loved you since the second i met you. please don't ever question that." he told her.
"i can't.. i can't live without you. what happens when you-" cherry couldn't bring herself to say the words.
the silence was shattering.
percy began to tell her a story his mother had told him when he was young; a story about cherry's unnamed lover.
cherry was the sun, and one day, she would love someone who took the place of the moon. someone who she could never be with.
that was the reason sunrise and sunset were created, so that cherry would have time with the person she loved.
that her and her soulmate would be immortal forever, engraved into the sky.
they'd be together for eternity.
percy thought that that sounded nice. not the godly part of it, though. that actually made him a little scared.
but eternity far outweighed the bad.
"you can make your soulmate immortal, right?" percy asked. "if you.. think that i'm your soulmate."
his eyes searched hers.
cherry had grown so tired. they loved each-other so much and it'd taken years and blood for the pair to realize that it was the truth.
that they could not run from it.
they could not continue to flinch at soft words yet cry at the idea of being separated. they both crafted an image of being impossible to love, and never believed that the other felt anything for the other.
cherry held a pearl in her mind forever, a budding memory of the boy she loved.
she visited the thought and replayed the memories every night. she loved him more than she loved the world, or plants, or people.
that was dangerous.
every breath she took gave percy life. he faded into the ocean only with her blessing.
after meeting her, he'd never be free. he knew he was trapped in his own heart form the moment he'd laid eyes on her.
the night was beautiful, and the air was cold. for the first time, there were no interruptions, no knives, no secret terror of losing the other.
all they had to do was speak.
tell the other that they could not find peace if not with the other.
gentle breeze whispered in the dark.
"you are my soulmate." cherry whispered.
percy pulled her face to his and his lips met hers.
and that was it.
by the next week, the mortal citizens of the country of love would find an old scripture.
it would tell of percy jackson, cherry's lover, and what they sacrificed for each-other.
it was a tale of how love was crafted, and it would speak of how the boy rose from water and pulled her to shore, how he whispered secrets into her ear and only spoke for her.
their hearts matched the others.
cherry was always secretly terrified she was too much to love, that nobody could stretch themselves enough to love every part of who she was.
percy thought loving her was the easiest thing he'd ever done.
it was not second nature, it was his first.
he did not think she was too much. he didn't see her as an immature teenage girl or as a powerful god. he saw her as exactly who she was.
cherry wanted to be loved, she wanted to be loved by somebody who loved her as purely as she would.
she didn't want to love somebody.
she wanted to love percy. his soul was perfect, everything about the way he existed was perfect.
percy was prepared to live several lifetimes in her arms, but a voice called out.
"finally!" travis screamed, and jumped onto his brothers back.
the pavilion was filled with torchlight and campers. clarisse led the way as the eavesdroppers charged and hoisted them both onto their shoulders.
"you guys are so nosey!" cherry wanted to cover her face and hide away forever from embarrassment.
"is there no privacy?" percy agreed, his face tinted pink.
"the lovebirds need to cool off!" clarisse said with glee.
"the canoe lake!" connor stoll shouted.
cherrys hand remained in percy's the entire way to the lake, right until they were dumped into the water.
percy kept his arms around her.
his entire life, he craved simplicity. he wondered if he'd ever grow old. if he would achieve peace in a small town, not having to watch his back for a monster at every corner.
cherry was peace.
she was what was right for him.
they would sit by the water eternally, hands clasped together.
percy was the best thing that cherry had ever had.
no amount of money or lipgloss was better or more important than him. his soul was forever burned into hers. the way he was engrained in her mind.
they learned each others breathing patterns and mannerisms.
everything slipped out of cherrys hands except percy. he was all she'd ever known.
« ───── « ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ » ───── »
camp went late that summer.
it lasted two more weeks, right up to the start of a new school year. percy thought those were the best two weeks of his life.
grover had taken over the satyr seekers and was sending them out across the world to find unclaimed half-bloods. so far, the gods had kept their promise. new demigods were popping up all over the place, not just in america, but in a lot of other countries as well.
"we can hardly keep up," grover admitted one afternoon. "we're going to need a bigger travel budget, and i could use a hundred more satyrs."
"how much?" cherry asked, motioning to her purse.
"you're too nice. and rich." grover commented.
"the satyrs you have are working super hard," percy spoke. "i think they're scared of you."
grover blushed. "that's silly. i'm not scary."
"you're a lord of the wild, dude. the chosen one of pan. a member of the council of-" percy went on.
"stop it!" grover protested. "you're as bad as juniper. i think she wants me to run for president next."
percy laughed.
cherry still hadn't gotten over the noise, or how he made her feel.
neither had percy.
he wondered if she'd ever stop getting nervous around her. probably not.
"you totally should. you have my vote." cherry grinned.
"cher, i always forget you're supposed to be running a country. your dad just does it all for you?" percy asked, his head rested in her lap.
"basically. why? you wanna be first lady?"
"more than anything."
grover chewed on a tin can as they stared across the pond at the line of new cabins under construction. the u-shape would soon be a complete rectangle, and the demigods had really taken to the new task with gusto.
nico had some undead builders working on the hades cabin. even though he was still the only kid in it, it was going to look pretty cool. solid obsidian walls with a skull over the door and torches that burned with green fire twenty-four hours a day.
next to that were the cabins of iris, nemesis, hecate, and
several others. they kept adding new ones to the blueprints every day. it was going so well, annabeth and chiron were talking about adding an entirely new wing of cabins just so they could have enough room.
the hermes cabin was a lot less crowded now, because most of the unclaimed kids had received signs from their godly parents. it happened almost every night, and every night more demigods straggled over the property line with the satyr guides, usually with some nasty monsters pursuing them, but almost all of them made it through.
"it's going to be a lot different next summer," percy said. "chiron's expecting we'll have twice as many campers."
"yeah," grover agreed, "but it'll be the same old place."
"i'm glad i kept forcing my way into camp." cherry spoke, her hands resting in percy's hair.
"me too." percy nodded, and stared ahead.
tyson led a group of cyclops builders. they were hoisting huge stones in place for the hecate cabin. each stone was engraved with magical writing, and if they dropped one, it would either explode or turn everyone within half a mile into a tree.
nobody but grover would like that.
"i'll be traveling a lot." grover warned, "between pro-tecting nature and finding half-bloods. i may not see you guys as much."
"won't change anything," percy said. "you're still my best friend."
"except for cherry and annabeth."
"all very different things."
"definitely."
that evening was the last night of camp, the bead ceremony. the hephaestus cabin had designed the bead this year. it showed the empire state building, and etched in tiny greek letters, spiraling around the image, were the names of all the heroes who had died defending olympus.
there were too many names, but percy was proud to wear the bead. percy put it on his camp necklace, which had four beads now. he felt like an old-timer.
cherry smiled as she watched him.
she thought about the first campfire.
she thought about all the times she'd yelled at him. she would've never expected that 4 years later she'd be sacrificing her life for him.
"never forget this summer!" chiron told everyone . he had healed remarkably well, but he still trotted in front of
the fire with a slight limp. "we have discovered bravery and friendship and courage this summer. we have upheld the honor of the camp."
he smiled at percy, and everybody cheered.
"and now," chiron said, "early to bed! remember, you must vacate your cabins by noon tomorrow unless you've made arrangements to stay the year with us. the cleaning harpies will eat any stragglers, and i'd hate to end the sum-mer on a sour note!"
it was a strict camp rule that two people could not be alone in a cabin together.
a one time exception was made for percy and cherry though; they were sleeping on the same bed, completely knocked out.
apparently, percy was super tired from a long day of telling everybody he came across that cherry was his girlfriend.
« ───── « ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ » ───── »
the next morning, cherry made her way to the top of half-blood hill.
she was paused by juniper.
"are you coming back next to summer?" she asked.
"uh.. probably not, june." cherry frowned. "i have some things to do, but i'll try, i promise."
"okay! i believe you."
"by the way, you look cute! you know else looks cute? percy. have you seen him?"
"over there."
cherry nodded gratefully.
she waved the girl goodbye, and made her way up to the top of half-blood hill.
percy stood beside annabeth, talking about something.
"hello, love of my life." percy said the moment he laid eyes on the redhead.
"never call me that ever again." cherry grimaced.
"but it was funny."
"if definitely wasn't."
"you're laughing."
buses and vans pulled away, taking most of the campers back to the real world. a few old-timers would be staying behind, and a few of the new-comers.
percy would he heading back to goode high school for his sophomore year, the first time in his life he'd ever done two years at the same school.
"good-bye," rachel said as she shouldered her bag.
she would be attending clarion academy in new hampshire.
it would be next summer before camp got their oracle back.
"you'll do great." annabeth hugged her.
they got along fine.
cherry didn't know what to say.
the fact she had been so jealous and hateful towards the girl, even though she attempted not to be, made her feel guilty and embarrassed.
"bye, annabeth." rachel said, and looked at cherry. "be good to each other."
cherry waved goodbye, and thankfully, the girl waved back.
the guard dragon peleus curled contentedly around the pine tree underneath the golden fleece and began to snore, blowing steam with every breath.
"you've been thinking about rachel's prophecy?" percy asked annabeth.
she frowned. "how did you know?"
"you make the same face every time you think." cherry told her.
annabeth's face felt hot. "okay, so i have.seven half-bloods shall answer the call. i wonder who they'll be. we're going to have so many new faces next summer."
"yep," percy agreed. "and all that stuff about the world falling in storm or fire."
"does at the doors of death." cherry remembered. "can't we ever have a normal summer?"
"wouldn't be camp half-blood if it was peaceful," percy shook his head.
annabeth still seemed uneasy.
an expensive car pulled to the side. cherry would have to explain herself and her new relationship to her father.
"bye, annie!" cherry squeezed the girl.
"see you, cher." annabeth squeezed her rught right back.
the redhead made her way to the car, with a blonde right behind her.
percy wondered how he'd tell his mother that he was immortal.