This chapter will be terribly boring at first. Annabeth feels guilty and sad and depressed blah blah blah.
Annabeth's POV
With Luke now dead, there are only thirteen demigods left in the games. And I'm one of them. So is Percy. We still stand, even though we're apart.
I thought it would be impossible to live without him, like somehow, I wouldn't be able to breathe without him next to me. But I can. I feel guilty for functioning. Yes, I'm broken on the inside. Yes, I want to cry my heart out until it stops hurting. I can still feel a lingering sense of love, left over from him from just a little bit ago. Silent love is calling faith.
The rain continues to pour down. Thalia left hours ago and she hasn't returned. A part of me believes that she went to kill herself. A cannon hasn't yet sounded, so she must still be alive
I feel terrible guilt. Yesterday, I saw Percy and acted as if we were perfect strangers. I left him to go see Luke. Sure, Luke was dying and then he did die, but I gave Percy no explanation, nothing.
Every time my heart beats, it beats his name.
I think of the last time I kissed Percy. The way his lips felt, so soft, shaping around my own. The way he held me, strong, yet gentle. He didn't act as if I would break in his presence. He held me like he was the one breaking and needed to hold on to something stable, something there. He held on to me. I waited for me to break, to shatter me through his hallways. But I didn't. Percy makes me stronger. He makes me feel as if I've been sleeping my entire life and with one look, he woke me up. His touch electrifies me and fills me with an energy that I can't define.
I suppose everyone in love feels this way. I don't know if you could consider the two of us in love as much as broken.
Luke's body is gone, taken away by someone. Or something. Not that it matters. In the end, he would have killed himself just to secure the safety of Thalia. Thalia was all he ever really wanted, in the end. The way they had kissed right before he died made me feel so bitterly alone. Percy probably believes that I hate him. He most likely doesn't care anymore if I die or not. I hurt him. The only thing he should want is to hurt me. I cast him aside just to join two who abandoned me in the end. I can still feel the pain of Luke dying, raw. Somehow, the pain of leaving Percy is worse, shaping into echoes I can feel and rehearse the way I heal.
In the distance, I hear a loud shout. Before, I would have gathered my supplies quickly and fled the scene, knife in hand, running through the rain. Now, I stay seated on the fallen tree log. At least when someone kills me, the pain will be gone.
I hear a girl's voice, yelling at someone else. The other person replies and I hear it.
It's just a scrap of his voice, but I know, deep down, that it's him. He is here.
I hastily stand up and grab my dagger. I silently creep forward. I turn back around and see my bag, laying on the forest floor. It seems wasteful to leave it there. I pick it up and continue to walk towards the voices.
"-you think happened?" The girl's voice asked.
"I don't know, Bella. She didn't seem like herself," Percy says.
Is he with the other girl? There's a twisting feeling in my heart, cold and bitter. It would serve me right. I left him with no reason whatsoever and I expected him to just wait for me.
"And a cannon sounded last night. That's never a good sign," the girl, Bella, says.
"I know," Percy says, his voice incredibly tired.
"Are you sure she didn't get stung by a Tracker Jacker? I heard that someone else did."
"No, no. Annabeth is way too smart for that. She must not be around here."
I feel a sharp pang in my chest as I realize that they're talking about me. Percy is looking for me. He's still searching.
"Right, well I'll go left, you go right? Meet back here in twenty minutes, 'kay?" Bella says. I can already hear her walking away.
"Okay," Percy agrees. I realize that he's coming in this direction. He's coming towards me.
Heart thumping, I'm not sure what to do. Do I just wait or sit or run to him? I don't have to make a decision. Percy appears in front of me, the rain making his hair wet. I remember that he isn't wet if he doesn't want to be. He must be concentrated on something else.
"Annabeth?" He asks, a question more than anything else.
I nod, unable to say anything.
He runs towards me. I find my legs pulling myself forward. As cheesy as it sounds, we run into one another, the rain making us slide a bit more than I wanted.
"You're here. Annabeth, ever since I saw you last night, I've been searching so bad. So so bad. I thought something bad had happened. When the cannon went off..." Percy trails off, his voice cracking. He holds my head in his hands, pressing his forehead against mine.
"I'm here. Gods of Olympus, I'm here. I'm so sorry. Percy, I never wanted to leave. I thought you somehow be safer if I wasn't there. I thought you would survive if I wasn't there."
Percy makes a noise in the back of his throat. "Survive without you? I can't. I tried and I can't. Living without you is trying to live without breath. I love you, Annabeth Chase. I love you. I'll run away with your footsteps. I'll build a city that dreams for two."
"What if I leave again. What happens?"
"And if you lose yourself, I will find you," he says, his voice full of promise.
I kiss him. He tastes like saltwater. The rain on his lips makes it more wetter than normal, but I don't mind. I'm with him. And as long as I'm with him, I'll always be safe.
We pull away, gasping for breath. I look at him, really look at him. After leaving him, I don't ever want to forget his face.
In the back of my mind, I feel a sense that this has already happened before, but for a longer amount of time. I can't imagine ever being apart from Percy for months. I can't imagine being separated from him again.
"I love you," I say.
"I love you too," he replies.
I could have stayed like that forever. I wanted to. We were high on words we almost used. I needed him even more. But a scream pierces through the air.
Percy curses. "Bella. I forgot all about her."
I take his hand. "Let's go."
He gives me a grateful smile before running towards the direction of the scream.
We run past trees and through the rain. We slip, but never fall. We hold on to each other, balancing each other out. He holds me up, and I hold up him.
I see an area of the forest that I haven't yet noticed. Birds fly around everywhere. At first, I don't know what the problem is. Then the birds open their beaks.
Percy is screaming for help. Even though he's right in front of me, he's screaming in pain. I look over at Percy and see his face is what I imagine mine looks like. Terror mixed with panic.
"Annabeth," he starts.
"I hear it too. I'm right here, I'm fine. Ignore it. We have to find Bella. The birds, they're just jabber-jays. They can't hurt you, except for in here," I say, pointing at my head.
"But they sound so-" his voice sounds like he's panicking.
I grab his face in my hands. "Listen to me, Percy. It's not real. It's all made up. It's in your head. Right now, you're loosing yourself. I will find you."
He looks at me, his green eyes meeting mine. Percy gives me a small nod.
We run down the hill, birds cawing right above us. I try to ignore them. Percy is right next to me. He's fine. We're both fine.
I hear another scream, different from the ones the jabber-jays are producing. This one is real and human.
"Bella!" Percy shouts at me. I nod and we run in that direction.
I hear her before I see her. She's clasping her ears with hands, pressing down hard. She's crying and shaking her head at the same time.
"Stop!" She yells. "Stop it! She's dead, she's not here anymore," she says, before dissolving in tears.
"Bella!" Percy shouts. We're too far to do anything other than call her name.
She looks up and meets his eyes. Bella then looks at me. She nods, like she was expecting I'd be there. Her eyes are red from crying and she has claw marks on her face.
The birds screech again and Bella lets out a tormented scream. They circle down near her, seeming to grow braver as Bella grew weaker, feeding off of her terror.
"Stop it!" She screams. "She's dead! Stop!"
The birds circle lower until they surround her. She's enveloped in a tornado made of birds.
"Stop!" Bella yells, her voice completely raw. She stops saying words and the scream continues forever. The birds screech louder. Percy and I are running, trying to reach her through the birds.
Then everything stops. The birds, the tormented screams of Bella, everything. Calmly, the birds disband and take roost high up in the trees. I look where Bella was sitting, just seconds ago.
She's still there. She's laying still on the ground, her hands still over her ears. Her mouth is open in an eternal scream, begging for the birds to stop. Blood runs down her cheeks, mixing with her tears. They must have suffocated her, making her scream then flying so close, their feathers blocking all air.
"She's dead," Percy says, almost emotionless. I look and see his face is pale. He's staring at Bella's vacant eyes, staring forever into the great unknown.
Not knowing what else to do, I put my head on Percy's shoulder. "I'm so sorry," I say.
"I didn't really know her," he says, sounding blank as if we were talking about homework. "I just found her after you left and teamed up with her. I though 'hey, two is better than one. We can help each other'. Then I sent her this way. I killed her. Not the birds. It was me."
"No. Don't blame yourself for this, Perseus Jackson. Who put us here? Did you do it? No. The fault lies with the ones who are forcing us to play this sadistic game. None of this is your fault, Percy. None of it."
He looks up at me, his beautiful green eyes looking into my gray ones. He has this feeling of hopelessness, as if he had already seen his fate and accepted it.
"None of this is your fault," I say, more gently than last time.
"Why, then. Why did she have to die? Her and everyone else."
"Someone put us here," I tell him, choosing my words carefully. "They put us here to fight and that's what we're doing. Bella was brave, just like everyone else who has died in here."
"What about us?" He asks me. "Are we going to get out of here, together?"
"As if there was any other way," I say before kissing him.
"What are we doing?" Percy mutters. "Why do we continue doing the same things, making the same mistakes?"
"It doesn't matter. We're together now."
He kisses me again. I hope right now, all of the gods are watching us, seeing what happens in their sick game. Two broken demigods, clinging to their love for each other at the side of the corpse of a dead girl.
After today, I know one thing. No matter what happens, I will always find my way back to Percy. He will always find me. And I will always find him.