Percabeth Drabble

From Annabeth's Perspective

It was all over. As she watched Arachne’s hairy silhouette drift down into Tartarus, she barely even noticed Percy pulling her gently away from the precipice, guiding her away from her death.

The next thing she knew, she was hanging onto Percy’s left hand, listening to him plead with Nico. Then, they were falling. His hand slipped out of hers.

“No!” She shouted, reaching for him. But he was too far away.

She looked down towards Tartarus, but instead of darkness, she was greeted with an obsidian black face with fire red eyes, its dark mouth open and ready to consume her. She could do nothing to stop herself from being enveloped in that evil entity. And then she woke.

“Percy!” She screamed as she sat bolt upright in bed. For a scary moment, she didn’t know where she was. Soft white cotton surrounded her, almost like the embrace of the black monster.

Lightning cast grotesque shadows through the window, followed by the sound of thunder and surrounded by the monotonous patter of rain on the windows. She ripped off the covers and stood back from the bed, wrapping her arms around herself and whimpering softly,

“No, no, no.”

Suddenly her warm, cozy pajama pants felt cold and harsh on her skin, like ice on metal. They did nothing to keep out the eternal fear that now froze her veins. Suddenly the warm cotton t-shirt she was wearing felt old and lifeless, the orange color meaning nothing to her, and the words 'Camp Half-Blood' written on it no longer holding any power.

She felt vulnerable and defenseless, like all she had in the world had been taken away.

Percy awoke, and felt the area of bed sheet next him. After not finding Annabeth, he whipped around, searching for her. She was still cowering in the middle of their bedroom, the intermittent flashes of lightning giving her face a pale, dead shade of white. He jumped out of bed and asked, gently but concernedly,

“Annabeth, what’s wrong?”

But she was numb. She couldn’t feel anything, couldn’t hear her boyfriend. All she saw in the white sheets was the black face of Tartarus itself, preparing to swallow her up. Percy ran over to her and wrapped her in a hug, his bare chest enveloping her. But he wasn’t like Tartarus. He was warm and comfortable, safe and secure. He was home. His embrace let her know that he was real, and for now, that he was permanent.

“It’s okay,” Percy soothed into the top of her head, “Everything’s okay. I’ve got you.”

She noticed that he didn’t tell her, ‘It’s just a nightmare.’ He knew that nightmares, especially demigod nightmares, were real, and horrifying. Demigod nightmares could drive people crazy quicker than Dionysus could.

“You’re okay,” Percy reassured, and Annabeth finally remembered to breath, exhaling a sob.

She hadn’t realized she had been holding her breath, waiting for the bed's attempt to drown her. She started to cry, even though she hated crying. She couldn’t cry, couldn’t be weak in front of anyone. But this was Percy. He was different. She could be anything she wanted in front of him, and now, she could be weak in front of him. He was the exception to her rules, the break in her order.

“Let it out,” He soothed, pulling her closer. And she did.

Like melting ice, tears shed from her and trickled down her face, still buried in his bare chest. After a while she realized she was indulging herself too much in the comfort of his body, but Percy wasn’t impatient. He would stand there until morning if need be. But she wouldn’t make him do that. So, she took a big breath in and Percy gently grabbed her shoulders, holding her at arm’s length.

“Do you want to talk about it?” He asked gently, not trying to push her.

Her mind, soul and body shook her head 'no', but she found herself whispering, “Yes.”

And so they sat on the floor, leaning against the bed as she began to recount her nightmare. She choked up when she first tried to recall being separated from Percy and falling, and she completely fell silent when she tried to describe the deity Tartarus in his primordial darkness, the thought too awful to contemplate. Percy put her arms around her shoulder and pulled her closer. As she finished her story, and she let her head rest on his chest once more.

After Annabeth had calmed down to where she wasn't constantly sobbing, Percy spoke into the silence.

“You know, I’ve been…having…nightmares, too.”

She lifted her head to see silent tears trickling down Percy’s face as he forced himself to look straight ahead. He was stoically calm in the face of his deepest fears, which was another thing Annabeth loved about him.

“Visions, just like yours. We…we fall into Tartarus. I try to grab you...but something forces us apart...and I...I...I let go.”

Then, he turned to Annabeth and cupped her face with one hand, the tears still flowing. Annabeth realized he was trying to be strong, trying not to let the past win over his emotions. But he had come to the point where that wasn’t possible anymore.

Annabeth also found something different about Percy’s nightmares. He had choked up when he had uttered the words, ‘I let go’. Annabeth realized that while her biggest fear was being separated from him once more, his biggest fear was letting her slip out of his grasp.

“Annabeth, I will never let you go," Percy sobbed softly, turning to look directly into her eyes, "I promise to all the gods and the River Styx, I will never let you go.”

"I know, Percy," She whispered.She hated seeing her boyfriend cry, but that had become routine in the months after the quest. She despised ever seeing the beautiful sea-green being mixed with the salty clear tears.

Annabeth hugged him tighter, and Percy wiped the tears from his face with one hand.

After they had both began to breath normally again, Annabeth found herself tracing the scars on his chest with one of her fingers absent-mindedly. There were so many of them, it took her a while to find every one with her fingers. But she appreciated it, in a way. They were a reminder to the hardships they had both gone through.

Percy’s words will still ringing around in her mind.

'I promise…I will never let you go.'

An oath to keep with a final breath, Annabeth thought, even though the quest was long over, That’s not a bad oath to keep, is it?

Annabeth leaned over and kissed Percy, and he closed his eyes tightly, kissing her back. But this wasn't an "I love you" kiss. This was an "I need you, and without you, I would be broken into nothingness" type kiss.

And with that, they both climbed back into bed, holding each other until the break of dawn, falling into blissfully nightmare-free sleep.

Notes

Enjoy,
Grafon