The Missing Chapters

I leaned against the doorframe, my body half-wanting to go into my room, half wanting to run to Annabeth’s. I closed my eyes, but the images from Tartarus still stung my eyes. I closed my eyes even harder, as if increased pressure from my facial muscles would shut out the fire. Shut out the torturous rivers. Shut out the monsters. Shut out the pain. But it didn’t work.

“I’m no hero…” I mumbled to myself and no one in particular.

The Argo II was so quiet… so unlike the Underworld… I could still hear Tartarus’ heartbeat.

Boom-boom. Boom-boom.

I jammed my fingers into my ears but I couldn’t shut it out. I felt like I didn’t belong to this world anymore, like I was still in Hell, like I had lost something… Like I had lost a part of my soul and now I didn’t belong up above. Didn’t belong on earth.

I can’t belong here, I thought, I am only a soul waiting to be collected.

I took a deep breath and, needing some fresh air after the sulfurous poison I had taken in…downstairs, I dressed and went to the upper desk. Hopefully no one would be there. AS much as I loved everyone on board, I needed to be alone with my thoughts and feelings. I wanted to make friends with silence, the dead and frightening silence.

I walked over to the railing and looked up. The whole sky was spotted with stars. Big and little, bright and weak. Every star Annabeth had shown me at Camp Half-Blood so many years ago. They shone so peacefully… I missed the sky. Yeah, I don’t really love it, but I was so happy I could see the sky again.

You deserve to see this again, Bob, I thought.

I looked down. We were flying over some islands, flying towards Ithaca, apparently. I imagined people lying in their beds and dreaming happily about undiscovered galaxies, about different adventures, about their wishes to come true. I felt a jealous, because I would not sleep well tonight. Probably wouldn’t sleep well ever again. To be fair, demigods don’t exactly have good sleeping habits, but after Tartarus, well, there hasn’t been much data on that subject. Hades, I might even sleep better after Tartarus.

Everything had changed. We all had changed… Hazel, Frank, Leo, Piper and Jason had become so strong powerful. They seemed like true heroes. Like the true defenders of Olympus. I could never become what I was before Tartarus again. They had become a family while Annabeth and I were in Hell.

It’s only the beginning for them, I realized happily, only the start of their adventure. They’re going to be so powerful.

I felt proud, and then I thought about Annabeth and I. We had lost something down there. Lost a part of us. I felt less alive. Like we were not full demigods anymore. More like fractured pieces of a grenade. We had lost our spark.

I looked out onto the placid water and saw Tartarus shake his hand and scream, “Kill them!”

I remember telling Annabeth to go without me. I smiled at the thought of how violently she had refused that idea. I thought about Bob. And about Small Bob, the dragon-tooth saber-tooth…thing. He had fought valiantly. They had both died. A tear started welling up in my eyes, so I opened them.

I realized my knees were shaking and my breath had hitched, so I grabbed the railing to steady myself. I could not cry now. The job wasn’t done yet. We were not safe yet.

I looked down at my hands. They were shaking. I closed them into fists.

I realized that I should probably go check up on Annabeth. I hoped she was taking the first night better than I was. She was always so composed. I don’t think I could bare to see her in a wreck. I made my way down and went to her room.

When I opened the door, Annabeth was sleeping. A blanket was laying on the floor. I glanced at her face. It was concentrated, too concentrated for someone so soundly asleep. But she definitely was sleeping. I thought, with her face all scrunched up, she looked cute. But she must have been having bad nightmares, because she kept moving and writhing like she was in pain.

I took the fallen blanket and put it on her. She moved a little, wrapping herself in the blanket. Her blonde hair spilled over the pillow, the only peaceful thing about her appearance. I thought about our history, as amazingly long as it had been. That calmed me down a bit. I had already gotten through so much with her. I didn’t see why we wouldn’t be together for the rest of our lives.

I took a deep breath and sat down on the floor. I didn’t want to go anywhere; I didn’t want leave her. Maybe just being around her would calm me down a bit more. Suddenly, just as my eyes were beginning to feel heavy, her grey eyes flew open.

“Aaah!” The sound cut the silence like a thunder on a quiet day. “Percy!” Annabeth screamed pleadingly, her voice broken like a scared child’s. “Percy!”

“Hey, Annabeth! I’m here!” I took her by the shoulders and just held her. Then she did something I didn’t expect. She softly pushed me away, sitting back down.

She was transfixed on the sheets, breathing hard. She seemed a little frustrated and dizzy, like she didn’t know where she was. But then, her head seemed to clear, and she looked back up into my eyes. The bags under her eyes told the truth about her sleeping habits. Her grey eyes were broken into pieces like shattered armor. She was in a state of mortal fear.

I reached my hands to her and she lunged forward, hugging me tightly and starting to cry.

We didn’t have to say anything. We didn’t need words. Piper had told me that she envied how easy Annabeth and I were with each other. I started to realize how much I enjoyed that. We always knew what each other was feeling. We didn’t need conventional ‘communication.’

“Annabeth, I’m here… you survived. We survived it. It didn’t beat us. We’re together.”

I was trying to say strong, trying to keep my voice steady, but deep inside I was crying, too. I knew I shouldn’t show my tears, I should be strong, because Annabeth needed me. She needed those words, even if we both knew that the quest was still not over and maybe some of us would die. We needed each other. We had earned that much.

As Annabeth stopped crying (her body was still trembling), she moved just far enough from my chest to look at me.

“Percy…” She said quietly, barely opening her mouth. She was too exhausted to say much else. But I understood what she was trying to tell me.

“I’m staying, Annabeth.” I murmured, and gently kissed her in the cheek.

She moved a little, so that there was room for me on the bed and I laid down beside her. I wasn’t really sure what I was doing, but I just took her hand, crossed our fingers and pulled her closer to me. As she needed me, I needed her, too. I needed to just be besides her and hear her breathing and her heart beating.

Those sounds would make me forget Tartarus. These sounds relaxed me and I finally closed my eyes, not afraid to fall asleep.

“Percy, I’m happy we made it.” I heard Annabeth say. Soon after, I fell asleep with her hand in mine. Peacefully together for the first time in forever.

Notes

No, you better not have exploded into Frozen-song because of the last line of that. Thanks for reading the first chapter! And I know I haven't been on this site for a very long while, but now I'm on spring break. I will post chapters to stories which need them. Badly. Anyways, comment what you think!

Written by Sasha

Enjoy,
Grafon