Chapter 77 - Etched on Skin (AU) (Part II)
published: Tuesday, 9 March 2021
Annabeth's first thought upon waking up was that this didn't look like the Underworld.
Her eyes squinted against the glare of the glowing orange yolk in the sky. The sunrise had splattered the blue with streaks of pink and purple. This was too beautiful to be the Underworld. No, even Elysium's sky was an inky abyss.
Her second thought was that there were trees in her vision and there was glass prickling her skin. Which meant that she was waking up in the same clearing she was pretty sure she had just died in.
And her third thought — there was heavy breathing somewhere to her right, and when Annabeth forced her head to turn, she saw Percy lying on the ground beside her, his chest rising and falling rhythmically.
Percy was alive. He was alive and breathing and fine after being run through by his own sword. The cloth of his shirt was bunched up from the angle of his fall, exposing his collarbone.
The soulmate tattoo was flashing as quickly as Annabeth had remembered, but now all she could do was ogle it with all the knowledge she had never had before.
this is insane
is he going to wake up
how am i alive
percy you need to wake up
how are we alive—who healed us—who helped us
The flashing made her dizzy. But the sheer surreality of the situation was worse. Because those—those were her thoughts. Annabeth's thoughts. She was reading her own thoughts as they ran through her brain.
this has to be some sort of paradox
if i just had paper to script it out
ask my mother
chiron might know
malcolm would help me
if only daedalus—
Percy stirred, and both the words on his collarbone and Annabeth's own feelings took a leap in another direction.
"Percy," Annabeth tried to say, not really sure what she expecting her voice to come out as. Mostly she was still in disbelief at being alive at the moment. "Percy," she said again, clearer and surer this time.
His eyelashes fluttered, and Annabeth was struck again by the ridiculous situation she was in. Stunned to the point that when his eyes opened wearily, Percy was met with the sight of a stricken Annabeth.
"Annabeth?" his words were slightly slurred. "I—are we—is this—"
Annabeth looked down at her wrist.
Hades is gonna kill me
any chance dad will come to the rescue
i cannot face nico again
that kid seriously creeps me out
Annabeth cracked a small smile that made her face hurt. "We're not dead." She struggled to prop herself up in her elbows. Her head was still pounding — like she was recovering from a hangover, or a migraine.
She drank in their surroundings. Her dagger lay a few feet away, stained with inky blood. Riptide wasn't anywhere in sight, but she was willing to bet that it had reappeared back in Percy's pocket.
"But how..." Percy's eyes travelled down to her stomach, and Annabeth followed his gaze to see the massive stain of blood on her shirt.
The words 'Camp Half-Blood' were no longer visible, drowned in her own blood. It might have dried, but the metallic stench still hung in the air and made her nauseous.
In fact, there was so much blood...everywhere.
Percy's own shirt was stained with it. Their hands looked like the rusty colour would never be washed out again. The patch of grass they were lying on was spattered with blood.
"It looks like a murder scene," Percy said with a shudder, slowly moving to sit up. His hand pressed against his temple as he winced, and Annabeth guessed that he was experiencing the same feelings she was.
"It almost was," she said grimly.
Annabeth's gaze flickered to Percy, and this time he caught it.
He mumbled, "I don't understand how..."
Annabeth swallowed. "I think it's to do with—with the fact that we're—" She broke off, studying his expression warily.
"Soulmates," Percy finished, paling. "You can say it. I figured as much when you were..." He waved dismissively, but grimaced. Percy's brow furrowed. "You had a stab wound. The same one as mine."
"Soulmates are bonded, remember?" Annabeth recalled. Percy her cut Beckendorf and Silena had bled. "Luke's spell."
Percy's tongue darted out as he slowly wet his lips. "Wait, so Luke...Luke isn't your soulmate?"
Annabeth glared at him. "Seeing as I almost just bled to death for you, no, I don't think Luke is my soulmate." Her exasperation felt familiar, gave her something to keep her grounded in the midst of all this chaos.
"Hey, you can't blame me for thinking it," Percy said indignantly. "You told me you had a crush on him."
"When I was 12," Annabeth emphasised.
"The line in the prophecy," Percy argued. "He was your 'love'."
"What about you and Rachel then?" Annabeth fired back, scowling.
Percy's face twisted incredulously. "Is that why you didn't get along?"
"How can one person be so blind?" Annabeth muttered, mostly to herself.
Percy looked at her. "Look," he sighed, "You never had anything to worry about," he hesitated. "It was always you."
Annabeth's jaw clenched unconsciously. "You shouldn't be allowed to say things like that."
Percy glanced at her. "Why not?"
"Because it makes me want to kiss you," Annabeth said loudly. "And I need to focus right now because I still have no idea how we're alive."
Percy fell silent.
Annabeth looked down at her lap. This was too much for her. This was too much for any one person. She was alive. She had survived a very fatal stab wound with barely a scratch to show for it. And she had just found that her soulmate wasn't as much of a stranger as she'd thought.
So much for...not meeting the person you'll spend the rest of your life with at 15 and how illogical the concept was and statistics and all that crap.
Of course, Aphrodite was just typical like that. Probably showed them on Hephaestus TV. The dramatic reveal must've made for great daytime television.
"I didn't know," Annabeth said steadily, staring at a spot on the horizon. "I didn't know if the prophecy was talking about you or Luke. I didn't..." Her right hand curled into a fist. "For the longest time, I thought he was always going to be the one for me. And then you just..." She gestured unintelligibly.
"I just, what?" Percy repeated softly.
"I don't know," Annabeth said shortly. "You were all...Percy. And then I thought you were going to die, so I thought — what the hell? — and I kissed you, and I thought I'd messed everything up." She sneaked a glance in his direction. Percy was still sprawled on the ground, limbs spread-eagles as he listened to her, his temple knotted, deep in thought. "And then we never mentioned it..." Annabeth trailed off and swallowed.
"I never mentioned it because I thought it was a heat-of-the-moment thing," Percy admitted. "Didn't exactly want to be rejected by my best friend."
Annabeth hid a smile. "I'm your best friend?"
Percy blushed. "You're not allowed to tell Grover," he said, alarmed.
She mimed zipping her lips and throwing away the key. "You don't have to feel obligated to..." she waved a hand unintelligibly. "I mean, soulmates sound great and all, but there are a million other things that could stop a relationship from working. Like, what if Beckendorf decided to move to Australia forever? He and Silena couldn't end up together. It wouldn't work. 'Soulmates' or whatever this is doesn't mean—"
"You think too much," Percy said abruptly, tugging on her arm to turn her toward her. "I think you're forgetting the obvious way to see if this works." He hesitated. "Can I..." His cheeks were flaming red. "You can't laugh at me."
Annabeth chomped down on her lower lip to stifle the snicker that was bubbling up her throat. "Sorry," she muttered. "Can't help it."
"Right," Percy said slowly, running a hand through his hair abashedly. "Because it's..it's you and me. It could be weird. We don't..."
"I won't laugh," Annabeth promised. Her heart was knocking madly against her ribcage, and she had keep her hands on the ground to keep them from trembling.
Percy leaned over and closed the distance between them.
It was only a peck. The lightest of kisses, and he pulled back almost immediately, already mortified and about to bolt. His chin dropped and he stared at a patch of ground in front of him hard enough to make it combust.
"Wait," she said quickly. Annabeth was smiling. In fact, she was smiling so wildly that she probably looked like the Mad Hatter. "Percy," she urged. He looked up at her through his lashes and Annabeth's breath caught in her throat. This was completely unfair. It was Percy. But...it was also...Percy.
This time Annabeth kissed him, pressing her lips to his for longer, moving forward so that she was kneeling between his legs. Her lips were tingling when she pulled away, both of them breathing hard, not necessarily from strain but from the surreality of the situation.
"I can't believe that just happened," he whispered, pupils blown wide as he stared back at her. His lips were a raw red and Annabeth felt a jolt of satisfaction. A territorial part of her that she ignored wanted to drag him out and show him to all the girls who'd ever almost come between them. She shook it off, but couldn't wipe the grin off her face.
"It's not weird," she reassured him. "And it's not in the heat of the moment."
"Good, good," Percy said, a little too quickly. "'Cause I don't think I can pretend that never happened." He braced his weight on his palms and leaned back, shaking his head and making a noise of disbelief. The weight of Percy's gaze on her made her look up expectantly at him.
She frowned. "What?"
"Just can't believe it," he murmured. "You could have anyone. Literally anyone, Annabeth. And you pick the guy who's supposed to die next summer."
Annabeth shivered at his words. She knew it was true. Kissing in the forest like they had their whole lives ahead of them was great, but reality was sneaking up on them.
"Don't want anyone else but you, Percy," Annabeth mumbled, her cheeks flushing. "Not very wise of me but..."
Percy shrugged, the corner of his mouth quirking up. "Luckily for me." The smile faded as a wary expression took over. "We have to get back to camp."
Annabeth grimaced. "God," she groaned, running a hand through her hair. "I don't know how long we've been gone. They must think we're dead." Struggling to her feet, Annabeth reached out a hand and hauled Percy up. The redness of his shirt made her feel queasy.
Reaching out, Annabeth tentatively lifted up the hem of his shirt.
Percy stammered, "Um, is this the best time—"
"Not that, you idiot," Annabeth grumbled, eyeing the patch of skin underneath the shirt. Not a single scar. No evidence at all that Percy had even been impaled in the first place. "Checking the wound."
"Right." He was scarlet.
"It's gone," she confirmed, dropping his t-shirt.
"So soulmates can heal each other," Percy reasoned.
Annabeth scanned their surroundings before she caught sight of her dagger. Picking it up by the hilt, she brought the blade up to her left index finger and gently nicked the tip of it.
A hiss of pain told her that Percy had felt the cut. She sheathed her dagger on her shorts and grabbed his hand, inspecting the cut. It didn't close up.
Annabeth didn't have much experience with magic, but she tried to focus on healing Percy, imagining the skin knitting up and closing over the wound.
And then it did.
Right before her eyes, the cut on Percy's finger closed, leaving no trace. The same on her own hand.
"That could be useful," she remarked, dropping his hand. "We should go. We have a whole trek back to camp."
Percy's nose wrinkled with disdain. "I don't suppose teleportation comes with the whole soulmate deal."
"Hey, you came back to life and got the girl," Annabeth scoffed as she started towards the trees. "Don't push it."
Percy jogged to catch up to her, stumbling over his own feet. "I got the girl, huh?"
Annabeth fought back a blush. "That was my subtle way of asking if the whole...kissing thing was fine."
"Thought you always had a plan," Percy commented. "You never get tongue-tied."
"Shut up."
"The answer is 'yes', by the way," Percy informed her. "But not if you keep being mean to me."
"You're insufferable. And that's non-negotiable," she said sternly. "I'm not going to be nice to you just because of that."
Annabeth scrunched up her nose for good effect, as if the mere idea of it was revolting.
"So you'll bully me," Percy said slowly. "But kiss me?"
"Yes," Annabeth said without missing a beat. "In fact, if you would stop moving like a snail, I'll kiss you when we get to the main road."
She didn't have to see Percy's face to know that he was grinning.
They didn't make it to the main road. It was Annabeth's fault, actually, though she'd never admit it out loud.
Percy said one too many stupid things, apparently Annabeth had a thing for morons, and then they spent a minute kissing against a tree.
<<< >>>
Clarisse was the first one to spot them. Annabeth didn't know how she didn't mistake for homeless stragglers when they crossed the border, clothes still soaked in now encrusted blood and looking like they'd just gone through hell.
"No way," were the words she uttered, with a few expletives. The daughter of Ares had blown her conch horn and was racing towards them, recovering from her astonishment fairly quickly.
She slowed to a jog as she approached them. "What the hell happened to you two?" Clarisse demanded. "We haven't heard anything from you in four days!"
Annabeth glanced up at the sky. It was sunset. Four days since they'd left camp. Which meant that they'd been asleep for three.
Percy caught her eye meaningfully, clearly already on the same train of thought. His eyes flickered down to her hand then up to her face again, flashing with something unreadable.
Annabeth looked down at her wrist. Stark as day, her soulmate tattoo read, 'do we tell them?' Clarisse was looking suspiciously at her wrist. Annabeth hastily tucked her left hand behind her back.
"Annabeth! Percy!" It was Chiron, probably about to pass out from relief, galloping towards them, a horde of demigods at his feet —hooves? "Thank the gods."
Annabeth heard Percy snort. She caught a glimpse of her tattoo.
not like they actually helped
we really shouldn't thank them
like ever
Annabeth hid a smile, wanting to kick him but unable to do so discretely. She could see Percy struggling to stifle his own grin.
"Luke sent through a messenger two days ago," Chiron sighed. He looked like he'd aged a decade over the last few days. "Said that both of you were dead and that we didn't have any choice but to surrender."
"Uh..." Percy stammered.
Annabeth fought the urge to roll her eyes. "We were ambushed," she explained. "Two giants were waiting for us at the place. I don't think Luke planted them though; probably just left behind when they evacuated. Percy was injured, so we had to wait for him to recover enough to get back. Luke must've thought the giants were successful."
"The explains the blood," Silena said ruefully, staring nauseously at the stain on Percy's shirt.
"That's a lot of blood." Will Solace frowned. "How are you still alive?"
Annabeth and Percy exchanged pointed looks. Not for the first time, Annabeth wished they'd been granted some form of telepathy.
shit
shit
shit
Her cheek twitched at the words on her wrist. Not really helpful at the moment, she thought, panicked.
'Are we going to tell them?' was the silent question that passed between the two of them.
Annabeth didn't know the answer to this one.
"There was ambrosia and nectar in the hut," Percy cut in, lying smoothly. It took all of her energy not to show her surprise. "I guess Luke didn't clear it all out."
"But there was nothing else," Annabeth informed Chiron. "Completely cleared out."
"That's still a pretty bad wound," one of the Stolls said. "You should get it checked out." Will nodded vigorously in agreement.
"It's fine now," Percy reassured them. "Completely healed. Guess I got lucky."
There were a few more unconvinced looks that went around. Annabeth cleared her throat, "So. Did anything happen while we were gone?"
Fortunately, Chiron took this as the opportunity to break in and fill them in on everything. "Silena and I pored over every piece of folklore we could find," he told her. "The soulmarks should disappear within a few weeks. Mr D confirmed it to be so — however off-handedly. All we have to do is hold out against an attack until then."
"Easier said than done," Percy muttered under his breath.
Chiron looked at the two of them again, still drinking in the fact that they were both alive. Annabeth felt slightly guilty for lying to him...but she wasn't ready for everyone to know about this yet.
"I'm glad you're both okay," Chiron repeated. "I have to see Mr D, let him know that the prophecy child is still alive." He nodded to them both before retreating.
A majority of the campers who had gathered round dispersed, leaving their friends behind to surround them with knowing looks.
"So you two have been gone for four days," Silena was the first to round on them, already scrutinising them suspiciously.
"Yes."
"Four days," Silena repeated. "Alone. In the forest. Both of you. Alone," she said again.
"Yes," Percy said, in the same monotone.
"How are you alive?" Silena demanded incredulously. "You two are constantly at each other's throats. You can't expect me to believe that you can spend four days together in isolation and there was no—no explosive argument!"
Percy shrugged. "I don't know what to tell you, Silena."
"Are we sure Annabeth didn't stab Percy?" Travis said warily, regarding their matching bloodstains.
Annabeth crossed her arms and glared. "Okay, I wouldn't stab Percy. I have come close multiple times but I have better self-control than that."
Clarisse made a humorous noise. "Oh. Oh, I see it now. They're not fighting because they finally got over themselves and faced their stupid feelings. Took you long enough."
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Annabeth lied through her teeth. Percy matched her words with an innocent smile.
"So four days in a forest and you still couldn't face facts?" Beckendorf said frustratedly. "Come on."
"There's no way," Travis insisted. "Four days alone with Katie in a forest and we'd—"
"Please stop," Connor gagged.
"Yes, please stop." Katie was positively green.
"What's it gonna take?" Silena prompted impatiently. "Because we'll lock you in a room ourselves. I'm not kidding."
Annabeth looked over at Percy, who looked like he was about to burst with the amount of smugness he was holding in.
Their friends always did this. Whenever she and Percy were alone, even just in a room, it was speculation and insistence that they were both blind, et cetera.
Ironically, this was the one time they were actually right. Annabeth and Percy had spent the last day on their hike back making out against trees and having spirited discussions about their relationship, squeezing embarrassing stories out of each other.
Percy had some of the worst ones, Annabeth had to admit. The next time she was on Olympus, she was going to have some words with her mother and Aphrodite.
Percy didn't grin at her, but his eyes were dancing with humour. The irony of the moment wasn't lost on either of them.
"You can stop interrogating us now," Annabeth informed her friends. "We should get to the infirmary. Make sure the wounds haven't had any lasting effect."
Both she and Percy absolutely hated the infirmary. It smelled liked antiseptic and reminded her only of the various people who had died in it. But anything was better than this, and Annabeth knew one of them was bound to spill the beans if this went on for any longer.
She made a shooing motion with her hands, and the other demigods, still eyeing her uneasily, backed away, moving like a herd of deer towards the basketball courts.
Leaving behind just one person — Grover.
Annabeth heart jumped. The satyr was standing there, head cocked to one side as he glanced between them, clearly not buying the act. She didn't know why she had expected him to; Grover knew them both better than anyone on the planet, except maybe for each other.
He hadn't said anything since they got back, but the look he was giving them now made Annabeth fidget and shift her weight from foot to foot.
"You might be able to lie to them but—" Grover didn't look anything more than suspicious as he looked between them. "Something happened in the forest," he said knowingly. "You don't have to tell me — I mean, you guys do this all the time — could you just not have a big fight about whatever it is and then not speak for weeks?"
"We don't do that," they said in unison.
Grover bleated. "Sure, and I'm part donkey."
Percy's face seized up confusedly. "But...aren't you?"
"Part horse!" Grover said indignantly.
"We promise we won't have a big fight," Annabeth told him.
"Okay then." Grover clearly did not believe them.
Percy thoughts appeared on her wrist again — 'do we really argue that much?'
Annabeth snorted.
Seaweed brain, she thought. Percy's gaze flickered down discreetly to his collarbone, and he fixed her with a grin.
Grover looked at them again, then shook his head. "You're both weird. Maybe you hit your head when you got stabbed," he suggested to Percy.
"Right," Percy's eyes widened in that way that did when he got an idea. "The infirmary. We should go." He grabbed Annabeth by the arm, tugging her away as he waved frantically to Grover.
Grover watched them go with a perplexed expression.
Annabeth couldn't help the laugh that slipped past her lips as soon as they were out of earshot. "Oh my gods, their faces—"
Percy dragged her behind one of the cabins, ducking behind the wall and out of sight of any passers-by. His cheeks were red with the adrenaline rush, eyes sparkling mischievously.
"You know, they deserve this," Annabeth said breathlessly, hiding behind the wall. Both of them slid to the ground in a fit of snickers, huddled together. She hooked her feet around his ankles, pulling him in. "They're evil. They've teased us for four years straight!"
"I mean," Percy wiggled his eyebrows. "They weren't wrong."
"It's the principle," Annabeth said decidedly. She paused. "You know the reason I didn't say anything about," she lowered her voice, "us, wasn't because of you, right?"
"Well, I hope not." Percy grew more serious. "I do know," he promised. "I get it. The gods are always in everything we do — everyone is. It's nice to just have this one thing to ourselves."
"Can you imagine the look on my mother's face?" Annabeth snickered.
Percy paled. "Yeah, it'll be funny — for the two seconds before she kills me."
"Well, it'll be funny for me."
He elbowed her with a frown.
"Do we tell Grover?" Percy wondered aloud.
"I'm sure we will eventually. He already suspects something," Annabeth reminded. "I wouldn't expect any less, honestly. He's your best friend — plus, the empathy link, and he can sense our emotions. If he didn't think something was up, then that'd be weird."
"Let's just figure out what the hell we're doing first," Percy pleaded. "I mean we..." He gestured wildly. "We're — what — soulmates?"
"I don't believe in soulmates," Annabeth confessed. "Well, I never did before. The spell, um, changes things a bit."
"Do you believe in it now?" Percy asked curiously.
Annabeth eyed him warily. "Would it matter?"
He thought for a moment. "No," he said simply. "I don't know if I believe in soulmates. What I do know is that I've had a crush on you since I was 13."
Annabeth rolled her eyes. "No, you haven't."
Percy grimaced. "I'm actually pretty sure I did. Although everyone knew but me, apparently."
"I didn't," she volunteered.
"Yeah, but we're just both stupid," Percy said dismissively.
Annabeth covered her eyes. "Urgh," she groaned into her palms. "Have we really been that blind? I mean, so many things make sense now."
"Rachel," Percy coughed conspicuously.
She responded with a sharp glare. "Luke."
"You don't...care about Rachel, right?" Percy said hesitantly. "Because, I mean, we're friends. I don't think I can just cut her out of my life—"
"Relax," Annabeth interrupted. "I don't own you, Percy."
Percy raised an eyebrow and pointed to the words on his collarbone. "You kind of do."
Annabeth hummed thoughtfully. "Does that mean you're obligated to kill spiders for me now?"
"I already killed spiders for you before," Percy informed her.
"In regards to the Rachel thing," Annabeth said emphatically. "No, I don't care. But you need to stop being insecure about Luke."
Maybe she shouldn't have brought it up. Luke always triggered a fight, and things were the most peaceful they had been in years — ever, in fact.
Percy did pull a face. But he nodded. "Fair. It was stupid to be jealous of him anyway," Percy admitted. "Sorry I acted like a dick about him."
Annabeth winced. "Well, sorry I was a dick to Rachel."
Percy smirked. "You kind of were."
Both of them laughed.
"You know," Annabeth realised. "If we'd just had a proper conversation in the last five years, we could've figured things out a lot quicker."
Percy snorted. "Hey, I tried to talk to you. You just ignored me — like always."
"Don't blame me, someone or something always got in the way," she grumbled. "Besides, I'll go to my grave swearing that Rachel has a crush on you. The number of times I have almost punched that girl..."
"Rachel doesn't have a crush on me," Percy said, confused.
Annabeth shot him an incredulous look. "You are the most oblivious person ever."
"That's not true," he protested.
"I kissed you in a volcano," Annabeth repeated.
"Yes, but like, as a friend or more?" Percy threw his hands up helplessly. "Unclear."
"You're such a Seaweed Brain," Annabeth muttered under her breath.
"In all fairness," Percy held up a hand. "You being jealous of Rachel was quite funny. Well, now that I actually know you were jealous."
"Wish I could say the same for Luke," Annabeth frowned. "Except the two of you tried to kill each other every single time." She sighed and leaned back against the cabin wall. "I don't care if you have female friends. Just—don't kiss any of them, okay?"
Annabeth knew that her rash declaration was probably the most territorial thing she had ever done — gods, she was becoming Percy, speaking without thinking — but it helped that Percy was grinning unabashedly.
"I won't," he promised assuredly.
<<< >>>
It wasn't like there was a massive change in Annabeth life. She didn't wake up feeling like a different person and her days passed similarly to how they did before.
But there was a change. Minuscule, but it was there. There was an evident shift in her and Percy's friendship; just the way they interacted with each other. Of course, they spoke before and hung out for all 24 hours in the day. But now they shared secrets and smiles too.
It wasn't easy at first to break the habit they'd unknowingly reinforced over the years — storming out during arguments instead of resolving them like normal people did.
"Communication is key to a relationship," Percy would quote monotonously at her, to which Annabeth would threaten to cancel the channel carrying Dr Phil on his TV at home.
It was weird at first. Both of them had too much pride that apologising didn't come naturally. But it got easier over time. They argued consistently — they always had, that was just something that came with being Percy and Annabeth — but now they also made up within the hour.
And everyone — and Annabeth meant everyone — noticed.
The Friday night after they returned from the forest was the bonfire and followed their weekly Capture the Flag match. Percy was on Annabeth's team (Percy was always on Annabeth's team) playing defence under Annabeth's instruction, hoping to have the element of surprise.
The plan was all about waiting for Beckendorf and their other teammates to capture members of the opposite team silently and one by one. But Percy got impatient, and when Beckendorf sent up the emergency sparks, he took the chance to step in.
But of course, that had been Hermes' plan all along. Once Percy was off defence, they made their move on the flag, and Annabeth was forced to sprint for her life back to base to defend it. Percy joined her at the last second, and they managed to salvage a win when one of the Apollo campers snagged the other team's flag.
While the rest of their team erupted into celebrations, Annabeth accused Percy of not following her plan and being reckless again while he insisted that going to Beckendorf's aid was more important than any of that.
"I didn't know who it was," Percy exploded. "I thought it might be you, or one of the younger campers, and I wasn't thinking!"
Annabeth recoiled into stunned silence.
"I'm sorry, okay," he mumbled, capping Riptide. There was the familiar shink as it retracted into a pen that Percy dropped into his pocket.
Annabeth swallowed, hard. Percy apologised.
Percy broke the silence first. "You don't have to look so surprised," he said reluctantly, after a few moments.
"It's, uh, a good surprise," she offered. Annabeth pursed her lips. "And I'm sorry, for what it's worth," she managed after a few seconds of internal struggle. "I shouldn't have put you in defence. Mind games are pointless against Kronos. You would've been more useful out in the field — I just wanted to try out a new battle strategy, that clearly isn't the one for us."
She waited for his reply with bated breath. Fortunately, Percy's expression cracked into an easy smile. He nudged her in the side. "Well, you could've just told me that."
Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Like you'd listen to me." Before she could stop herself, she reached out and untwisted the strap on her armour. "That's been pissing me off for hours."
Percy threw his head back with a laugh, and she joined him, grinning. When she recovered, sheathing her dagger sheepishly, Annabeth remembered that they weren't actually alone.
Surrounded by their teammates, who were ogling them like they were aliens from Mars. The other team had stopped their internal arguing to stare at them in a similar way. Expressions consisted of bewilderment mixed with disbelief and incredulity.
"What in Hades—" Beckendorf cut himself off, shaking his head. "Scratch that. Who the hell are you two?"
Clarisse snorted, leaning on her spear which had its point to the ground. "Yeah, and what've you done with the real Percy and Annabeth?"
Annabeth could feel herself going red as a beet. "You don't have to be so dramatic about it," she complained embarrassedly. Percy averted his gaze, messing distractedly with his hair.
Even Chiron was regarding them with a certain amount of suspicion.
"You make it sound like we hate each other," Percy protested.
"'Hate'," Beckendorf repeated, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Yeah, that's it."
Under other circumstances, Annabeth would've probably just died on the spot. Or done something to prove them wrong like ignore Percy for a week.
But all she did was shrug. "Okay." It was after she uttered the word that Annabeth realised her mistake, and she winced.
"Time for dinner," she announced, panicked, before anyone could say anything, marching forward to the rest of her siblings to drag them to the pavilion.
If the others hadn't thought something was up before, they did now. Clarisse watched them go with her mouth agape.
Annabeth figured they'd just drop it, as they always did eventually.
But apparently the change in her relationship with Percy wasn't going unnoticed anymore. Most of the jokes went right over their heads and barely even fazed either of them anymore.
"You're taking the fun out of it," Connor told them accusatorially.
Percy merely shrugged. "It's a shame, really."
It was only a couple days later when they were all hanging out in the arena, still with no one believing that this blanket of peace between Percy and Annabeth was going to last longer than a week, that Clarisse got that glint in her eye that told Annabeth she had a horrible idea.
"Prissy, spar with me," the daughter of Ares barked, shoving away her previous opponent, Travis, who was sweaty and battered.
Percy grumbled, "It's Percy." But he got up anyway, pulling and unsheathing Riptide. The giant sword sprung from the hilt.
Annabeth lost her train of thought for a moment, her mind going blank except for one irrational thought, 'that's hot'.
She saw Percy look down momentarily at his collarbone, then back at her with a smug look that she wanted to punch off his face, and Annabeth knew that he had seen the thought.
'Shut up', she thought, with an implicit eye roll. He saw that too, but winked at her jokingly anyway.
"—Annabeth!"
She blinked, attention snapping back to Grover, suddenly aware that she had zoned out mid-conversation.
"Urgh, I hate it when you guys do that," Grover complained.
"Do what?"
"Act like you're telepathic or something," Grover said with a frown.
Annabeth raised her hands. "Hey, you're the ones with the empathy link."
"Could've fooled me," Grover scoffed. He shook his head. "I just don't get it. You get on each other's nerves constantly—"
"That hasn't changed," Annabeth interjected.
"Yeah, but you deal with it differently," Grover insisted. "You're more...patient. And he thinks before he acts."
"Our Percy? Thinking?" Annabeth snorted.
"I can hear you," Percy called as he and Clarisse circled each other in the ring. His gaze moved off his opponent to meet Annabeth's eyes.
thought you weren't going to be mean to me anymore
Annabeth risked a glance at her wrist. Surreptitiously, she shifted her other hand to cover the words before Grover could see it.
'I made no such promises', she replied.
Percy pretended to shift his t-shirt, checking his tattoo.
On Annabeth's wrist, the previous words vanished, replaced by his newer thoughts.
my feelings are hurt.
i'll go cry myself to sleep tonight.
sure
see you tomorrow
Across the arena, Percy rolled his eyes.
Grover was staring at her again. "What the hell happened in the forest?" he demanded.
"Nothing," Annabeth emphasised. "I've told you a million times."
"Not nothing," Grover said confidently. "But you guys need to go back to normal. It's freaking me out."
Glad that this conversation had ended, Annabeth shifted her focus away from Grover and to the fight, as the rest of their friends were doing. She reclined in her seat, Grover following suit.
"3 drachmas on Percy," Travis declared. "Any takers?"
Silena swung one leg over the other and glared at him. "No, I'm not making anymore bets with you."
"Hey, I won fair and square!"
"I queued up for an hour for that autograph from Bruce Willis!" Silena said furiously.
Travis spread his hands. "Then you shouldn't have bet against me!"
"It's not my fault," Silena growled. "I was so sure—" Brown eyes flicked to Annabeth and then back to Travis. "Nevermind."
Annabeth frowned. "What was the bet about?" She met with the faces of six silent demigods. "Okay, seriously, what was the bet about?"
Katie was the only one with even a hint of remorse.
"Fine, don't tell me," Annabeth said irritatedly, leaning back in her seat.
"I'll win it back from you," Silena hissed at Travis. "I'm telling you. The next bet is mine."
"No chance," Travis scoffed.
"What are you betting about?" Annabeth asked again.
And yet again, she was met with zero answers and more bickering between her two friends. Beckendorf avoided looking her in the eye.
Annabeth scowled, but pushed it out of her mind, turning back to the fight going on.
Clarisse and Percy were dancing dangerously around the arena, a whirl of metal and the sound of clashing filling the air. They were pretty evenly matched on a normal day, especially when it was just a simple sparring match.
Today was different. Annabeth squinted. Clarisse's jabs had force behind them — actual force — and she nearly got Percy a few times. His brow was knitted with deep concentration, parrying and blocking without properly going on the offensive.
"It's a sparring match, Clarisse," Annabeth called out. "You're not fighting Kronos."
When Clarisse didn't respond, the narrowing of her eyes the only sign that she had even heard her, Annabeth felt her suspicion rise. The others didn't seem to have any knowledge of what was going on, Beckendorf leaning forward with confusion matching her own.
On Annabeth's wrist; she's up to something.
'Great minds think alike,' Annabeth thought to herself.
When she looked up, she saw that Percy had started to press his attacks more, slashing with wider arcs. The flat of his blade had already scraped past Clarisse shoulder a couple times.
Clarisse made a feint to the left with her spear, the blade crackling with electricity. Percy swerved right, stumbling backwards to avoid it, and Clarisse pounced, taking the opportunity to knock Riptide out of his hands with a downward slash.
"Ow!" Percy yelped as Riptide clattered to the ground, a dark line of red scarring his palm. The tip of Clarisse's spear had sliced right down his hand, leaving a shallow wound of about two inches long.
Annabeth felt the sting of the cut on her own hand a split second later, her toes curling in her shoes as she gritted her teeth and forced down the instinctive reaction to wince. Shoving her hands in the pockets of her hoodie, Annabeth curled her right hand into a fist, willing the blood not to stain her clothes.
When she looked up, Clarisse was staring straight at her in a way that made her skin crawl. Percy stood across from her clutching his injured hand, very purposefully not looking at Annabeth. Annabeth plastered a look of mild concern on her face, and released a breath when she saw Clarisse's gaze drop.
"Percy!" Grover was already on his feet, bleating, "You okay, man?"
"Yeah, yeah," Percy said dismissively. His gaze was trained on Annabeth, a silent question in his eyes. "It isn't deep."
"Sorry," Clarisse apologised, not sounding like she meant it at all. She was still eyeing Annabeth carefully.
As he walked over to the stands to pour nectar over the wound, Annabeth forced herself to look nonchalant, hands still in her jacket pockets. Her friends' heads had swivelled to look at her, most of their questioning gazes fixed on her hidden fists.
"Damn it," she heard Silena murmur to herself.
Beckendorf, who had his arm around her, leaned in to whisper. Annabeth caught some of it; "...for sure...owe me five drachmas..."
Clarisse entered the stands where they were sitting. "I'm done for the day, I think." Her body shifted so she was angled towards Annabeth. "Annabeth, why don't you take over? Spar Percy instead?"
Annabeth forced a glare down. Clarisse definitely knew what she was doing. Probably trying to test her hypothesis as to whether she was Percy's soulmate.
"Sure," Annabeth said, equally as unfazed, even tagging on a smile at the end for good measure. As she stood up, Annabeth brushed past Clarisse, feeling the weight of the other girl's stare as she walked towards the centre.
Percy turned around from the nectar, his hand already healed, regarding her warily. His gaze flickered back up to the stands, and then down to Annabeth's hands in her pockets.
"Annabeth!" he said abruptly.
She stopped short in her tracks. "Yeah?"
"Can I see your dagger for a second?" Percy asked, beckoning her over.
Annabeth approached him slowly, hyperaware of everyone watching them behind her back. Percy walked towards her, pivoting at the last second so that his back was to their friends, shielding them from sight.
"They're not as subtle as they think they are," Percy whispered.
Grinning, Annabeth pulled out her knife, bleeding hand hidden from their friends. Percy reached out and grabbed her dagger by the hilt. His fingers just brushed her arm, and Annabeth felt a soft tingling run up her skin.
"Oh, nevermind, I thought it was blunt," Percy said, a little louder for the sake of their friends, and handed the dagger back.
The wound on Annabeth's hand knitted itself up neatly, leaving no trace. She discreetly wiped the blood off on Percy's shirt, hoping they'd pass it off as remains from his wound, before she took her dagger back. "Please, I sanded it yesterday."
Percy sent her one last knowing smile before he turned around, retreating to the other side of the arena.
Annabeth turned her knife over in her hand a few times, basking contentedly at the puzzled expressions on their friends' faces when they saw her healed hand.
"Ready to lose?" she said cheerfully, voice travelling across the arena with a slight reverb.
Percy readied himself in position, Riptide's edge a few inches from his right cheek. His eyes narrowed and his feet shifted apart, planted firmly on the ground. Annabeth recognised the stance in a heartbeat. There was a reason they rarely sparred; they knew each other's moves like the back of their hand, and fights tended to end in an explosive argument and several days of no talking.
Annabeth glanced at the stands, where their friends were sitting, practically on the edge of their seats. Clarisse was standing, hands gripping the bar in front of her as she regarded them with pursed lips.
Annabeth knew why exactly why she'd been put up to spar with Percy; everyone knew that they couldn't resist an argument in the middle of a fight. Along with the heat of battle came rising tempers, and everyone looked like they were ready for them to get back to normal.
She raised her dagger, eyes flicking to her wrist.
they want us to fight
like, fight fight
Annabeth made an infinitesimal nod of her head.
well theyre about to be heavily disappointed
A moment's pause as Percy read her thoughts.
i've been meaning to ask—
why don't your thoughts have punctuation?
and no capitals—
and zero grammar—
Annabeth glared at him, spotting the twitch of his lips.
shut up
aren't you always getting on my back for not spelling my text messages right—
hypocrite
well yours are always broken off thoughts
so just
go away or something
see—
difference is that i don't care
"Fight already!" Connor said impatiently, pulling Annabeth's attention away from her soul mark.
Sometimes she forgot that she wasn't actually talking to Percy.
Annabeth made the first move, rushing forward, her mind already calculating a feint downwards. But Percy seemed to expect it, and at the last second, Annabeth whirled on her left foot, shoving her right foot firmly into the ground as she slashed with her dagger.
Percy caught the tip of her blade easily, parrying it away as he took a step forward, pressing the offense. Annabeth caught the strike on the hilt of her dagger and twisted her arm until it hurt, the force of it making Percy stumble back.
"No grace period?" Annabeth panted as she leaped forward, nimbly switching her dagger to her left hand as she ducked under Riptide's arc. When she sprang up, Percy had another strike in place, but Annabeth expected nothing less and had her knife ready to parry.
"Aren't the sarcastic comments with bad timing my thing?" he replied breathlessly, performing the disarming move on her. It didn't work; Annabeth barely even flinched. She gripped the hilt of her dagger tighter, flipping the move back on Percy by pressing her left palm into the flat of her blade and shoving at him — hard.
Riptide rebounded quickly.
Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Come on, you can do better than that."
Percy shrugged. "Worth a shot." He readied his sword. "That was the first move Luke taught me, you know?"
Annabeth smirked. "Who do you think came up with it?"
Percy scoffed, "Weren't you 12?"
"Semantics." Annabeth went in for another jab, Percy catching it with his blade. Gritting her teeth, Annabeth threw her weight into it, pushing against Riptide with the right half of her body.
Percy's jaw clenched as he matched her efforts. Stepping in, Percy closed the distance between them, almost nose to nose with their blades just a hair's width away from their faces.
Out of the corner of her eye, Annabeth saw the words on her wrist flashing rapidly. Switching her attention to it momentarily, she caught a glimpse of — 'back up and let her stumble'.
Less than a second later, Percy leaped out of their interlocked position, but Annabeth was ready, pushing off of her back foot, she sprang at him, lithe as a cheetah, whirling around and launching a counterstrike.
Percy, caught by surprise, wobbled as he switched to the defensive, her relentless strikes forcing him into retreat. "Hey! How did you—" he gaped at her.
Her soul mark changed again.
MY THOUGHTS
NO WAY
"No fair," Percy protested indignantly, staggering backwards.
Annabeth shrugged, hands in the air. "Just pressing my advantage." She flew at him again, refreshed from the brief pause with a lungful of air. Executing a perfect backhand strike — which Percy deflected with minimal effort — Annabeth pivoted again and they were locked again in a dance of blades.
Riptide clashed with her dagger what could've been a hundred times, each metallic clang ringing sonorously and every scrape of their edges making her wince.
As she parried one of Percy's blows, Annabeth saw her tattoo rewriting itself again. It was a—what the hell?
The words didn't stop — didn't vanish — just continued on in a messy scrawl from her wrist, forming a block of what had to be at least thirteen lines of script, curling slowly towards her elbow.
Annabeth brow furrowed. What—
A strike out of nowhere at the exact moment when her grip was slackened and her mind was distracted sent her dagger flying out of her hand. Annabeth watched open-mouthed as the knife clattered to the ground at least ten feet away from her.
The air in front of her whistled as Riptide came down, the cold blade pressing against her throat. The wielded of the blade himself looked as surprised as she felt, Percy's eyes wide with astonishment, as if he couldn't believe he'd just won.
"Ah, shit," Annabeth muttered.
In the stands, their friends were staring at them in stunned silence. Grover was blinking repeatedly enough that it could've been in Morse code, and Clarisse had fallen into a seat, aghast.
Percy's shock was rapidly washed away by triumph. "Holy Hades. Did I just beat you?"
Annabeth rolled her eyes, reaching up a hand and gently pushing Riptide away with two fingers. "Shut up," she said, disgruntled. "Yes, you win this once. That makes it one to...what? Twenty-seven?"
"I don't care," Percy snorted, his arm dropping to his side. "I'll take it." He grinned. "Maybe you're losing your touch, Wise Girl."
Annabeth could almost hear the intake of breath from the stands in anticipation. This was the moment. This was the moment that was going to keep their track record straight — sparring followed by harsh, hurled insults.
But Percy looked so proud of himself, eyes sparkling, However annoyed Annabeth felt about losing to him, she couldn't help smiling at the nickname.
"Don't get cocky, Seaweed Brain," was all she said as she strolled over to retrieve her dagger. "Soon it'll be one to twenty-eight."
"Or two to twenty-seven," Percy corrected, laughing.
There was a thud from the stands. Both their heads swivelled to their group of friends huddled in the seats.
It was Silena, having literally leaped to her feet. "What was that?" she shrieked. "What—what—what was that?"
Annabeth folded her arms across her chest and raised an eyebrow at the hysterical brunette. "Yes, Silena?"
Silena looked like she was seconds away from ripping her own hair out by the roots. "You always fight when you spar!" A string of curses escaped her.
Percy choked. "You kiss Beckendorf with that mouth?"
Silena's back was already turned to them as she conversed angrily with Travis, who had a smug look on his face.
Footsteps alerted Annabeth to Percy sidling up beside her, his gaze still fixed on their friends' fierce, hushed discussion.
"You know they're betting on us, right?" Annabeth told him, lowering her voice.
Percy shook his head in disbelief. "Do they really think we're that stupid?"
"You, maybe."
He shot her a withering look that Annabeth accepted with grace.
"So first they tease us relentlessly," Annabeth noted. "And now they're trying to make money off of us?"
Percy glanced at her. "We could really mess with them, you know."
Annabeth smiled. "Now that's an idea."