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Annabeth wished she was in Elysium with Percy. She knew, with all her heart, that she wouldn't be able to reciprocate Orpheus’s actions and trudge down into the Underworld to get her boyfriend back. But, with the gift of being with Percy again... Maybe, just maybe, she wanted to do it. All these years, her goal of being the superior architect of Olympus was given with the help of Percy Jackson, her boyfriend. She had remembered the hero like the back of her hand.
His sea-green eyes seemed to have shown a story behind his irises. It was a story of a young boy who would turn into a young hero, a hero not only for the entirety of Camp Half-Blood but also a reigning hero in her heart, even if he was dead. Jet-black hair, tousled in a fashionable way always made Annabeth giddy. "Do you never brush your hair?" She would tease the guy, her fingers slowly brushing against his scalp. His hair – like silk – seemed to have found a way to embed itself through Annabeth's fingers. She would never forget that.
His smile was like a thousand suns, even better than Apollo's smile – perfect teeth with no imperfections. His skin, Mediterranean-tan with a soft glow, palpable once touched. The more she thought about Percy, the more hot-tears that were shed in the process. The image was so vivid... She could never get it out of her mind... and heart.
It was a few weeks after the death of Percy. The day his shroud was burned, Annabeth silently wept in the arms of her cabin mates. Even Chiron, the centaur, had shed a few tears once he had heard the news. Chiron had seen many heroes die, it was like a loop in his life -- a young boy enters and a hero leaves, a hero with a trail of golden on his fingers but a sickening, sanguine red was always left behind when it came to his death.
She took glances between the campers, trying to see that she was not the only one who was left broken. Around the fire, she saw Clarisse, her head in her hands. Hissing sounds kept on coming out of her gritted teeth but luckily, the Ares campers kept her at bay. Nico di Angelo's gaze was locked on the floor while Will Solace rubbed gentle circles on his back, trying his best to ignore the tendrils of shadow embedding weaving between his fingers. Although his actions seemed to direct towards his calmness, the afterschool of Percy’s death was still plastered in his eyes.
He was a healer but could he not have healed Percy?
Lou Ellen, Jake Mason, Nyssa Barrera and even Clovis were still trying to process the information. Even with the smell of salt water in the air, the campers couldn't have just believed that Percy was, well, dead.
"Hey, Annabeth?" Kayla Knowles once came up to her, her chin quivering. "Maybe..." She gestured her hands to nothing in particular, "Maybe Percy is wearing your invisibility cap, no?" A hint of courage was in her voice but once Annabeth threw her cap across her lap, Kayla knew that she had to give in on the death. "I- I'm so sorry." She murmured, before trudging back towards the Apollo Cabin.
On that same night, she remembered the loud cries that she had heard from that same cabin. As she took a peek from her window, she had seen Nico di Angelo, his back against the daughter of Athena. Even if Annabeth couldn't see it, she could feel the boiling tears trickling down his cheeks; his hands curled into fists full of a charged rage from his death. "No… No…!" He mumbled. It was too much to take in, thought Annabeth. Even with the distress calls from Sally Jackson, even with the apologies from her cabin mates and friends, her heart was still hollow.
Ever since she met Percy, she slowly felt her heart connect with him, as if an invisible string was tugging against the two's jugular veins. But now, that connection was gone.
Here it was, the present day. Annabeth was sitting alone in her cabin, her mouth gently sipping on some hot chocolate that Malcolm had made for her. Annabeth remembered the way Percy fought, his side steps, lunges and tackles against monsters and demigods on the bad side.
The thought might've lifted Annabeth spirits but all that fighting was the cause of Percy's death. The thought made a shiver run down her throat, making her gag on her hot chocolate. "Woah! You okay?" Malcolm rushed towards Annabeth, grabbing tissues from her bedside table. Annabeth nodded. She could barely talk. She couldn't even hum out a single thing without breaking down into tears. She had lost Percy and so many others. Losing even one more person could possibly make her break.
"Malcolm," Annabeth's hands, trembling, moved aside the cup, "Can I have some alone time...?"
"In this cabin?" He asked.
She looked over at the guy. Her eyes were the color of cherries. Every time she blinked, her eyes stung from the sheer effort. Crying so much, even the capability of blinking hurt her.
Malcolm seemed to have gotten the message. Slowly, he walked towards the door. With a slight THUD, Annabeth was alone in the cabin. Her head glanced over to the book shelves. Scrolls the size of her forearm hung on the walls. Dusty books were organized in alphabetical order on each shelf. She remembered the time where she hugged Percy – that was the same spot. She remembered the feeling of his hair against hers, the slight fuzz in each strand.
She probably looked hideous, since she was crying before the quest to go down in the Labyrinth. But, with Percy on her side, she knew that she wasn't alone. Her eyes darted towards the windows. The dining pavilion was right outside of her cabin.
It was empty today. The entire week the camp was empty. Yes, there were some campers but with the information about Percy and the sudden emotional pull it had associated within the camp, Annabeth knew that she wasn't the only one asking for privacy in her cabin.
She imagined herself as Percy, just suddenly waking up in Elysium and seeing his old friends – Charles Beckondorf, Silena Beauregard, Micheal Yew and a few other ones that she didn't have the time to name, all towering above her. "Welcome to Elysium! You just died!" They said halfheartedly. That wouldn't be fun, Annabeth thought.
She slowly laced her fingers in-between the loose fabric of her blanket, gently tugging herself in it. The last thing she thought of Percy was the compliment he gave her -- it was rather teasing but kind of cute. "Imagine you having the time to design Zeus's closet! I wonder what he even wears, ha!" He smiled, "But seriously, once the redesign for Olympus is complete, you and I will visit it together!"
"Now, I'll have to fight this monster... I'll be back soon." A gentle, chaste kiss on the lips was left of Percy.
Annabeth felt her fingers slightly graze against her lips. "Oh stop it." She chided herself. Before she tucked herself in bed, a sheer knock rippled through the room. A flicker of annoyance settled in on Annabeth before the knocking intensified. She heard sniffles and the slight pitter-patter of tears, hitting the marble steps in front of the Athena cabin.
Reluctant to get out of her blanket, she forced herself to open the door. She thought it would be Malcolm. If so, she would've screamed at his face to leave her alone. She wasn't in the mood to talk, much less hear any other news about anything else going on in the mortal and demigod world. Instead of Malcolm, she found Juniper.
Her eye-bags were the color of withered leaves -- leaves without their photosynthesis. Her green chiton was wrinkled and undone. Her hair was messy, framing her baby-face. "Annabeth!" She heaved, resting her palms on the doors.
"What happened?" Exclaimed the daughter of Athena, who was already leading Juniper inside.
Nestled on Annabeth's bed, Juniper's chin kept on quivering. Juniper's pupils dilated. "It-It's about Grover." She spat out his name. Her tongue fumbled. Annabeth kept a hand on Juniper's thigh. "What about the satyr? Tell me..." Her voice was awfully soft. Juniper ignored that.
"I just wanted to ask... When was the last time you saw G-Grover?" Everytime she spoke, a slight sob would try to erupt in her throat. It was unsettling, sending a slight tremor down Annabeth. She didn't know why Juniper was so upset but she had to follow Juniper's pace and answer her questions.
"I - I remember seeing him two weeks ago," That was true. "And, he was busy walking around camp, looking for tin cans." Annabeth gestured over to a pile of tin cans she had left in the corner. Her cabin mates had said that it was garbage and needed to be thrown, but Annabeth had always kept some for Grover. Her and Percy collected some for Grover, who had a weird obsession with the metal cans. Her eyes on the pile of tin cans, Juniper's eyes watered up. Tears the color of chlorophyll streamed down her cheeks.
"Wha- Juniper!" Annabeth didn't know what to do. She hated that. "What's going on? Speak to me!"
Juniper sniffed. "You know where he is, right?" she asked. Within the tone in her voice, Juniper must've known the answer, she just wanted to ask Annabeth.
Annabeth thought for a moment. Thinking about it, it was weird that Grover didn't meet up with Annabeth, much less attend Percy's shroud burning. It was unsettling. Grover was Percy's first friend that he had ever befriended – back at Yancy Academy. Percy still teased about the way Nancy fell in that fountain but the thought itched Annabeth's brain. Wait, not an itch... A deep wound opening up in her brain.
"No... I haven't seen him..." Annabeth fiddled with her fingers.
Juniper gulped. "And Percy's dead..."
Annabeth looked up at Juniper, her red-rimmed eyes almost matching with the dryad's, "Is there a connection?" She asked.
A look of distraught flashed between Juniper's eyes. Annabeth could hear Juniper's heart palpitations – and they were alarmingly quite high. "Juniper what's wrong-"
"Do you not get it, Annabeth?" Juniper's voice was filled with rage, but Annabeth knew that it wasn't rage for her... Right?
"Juniper...?"
"You were the one who saw Grover last! You should know!" Juniper snapped, the pure anger in her voice throttling out. Even if Juniper was showing the last fragments of her emotions, Annabeth still couldn't get it. The more she was confused, the more worried she got for the poor dryad. She tried to pitch in and help Juniper steady her emotions, but it got worse.
"Juniper!" Annabeth managed after she made Juniper inhale and exhale a few times, "Just tell me. I'll understand."
"If you understand Percy's death, then you'll understand Grover." Juniper murmured, her hands cupped over her mouth.
Annabeth felt like a block of lead settled on her shoulders. She looked around the room but everything was sluggish. Her vision was getting worse the more she cried. She felt tears form in her eyes. Again.
"What do you mean, Juniper...?" She asked, her eyes not wanting to take a peek at the dryad. Juniper's words still echoed in her mind. She was so damaged, broken and saddened by the death of Percy, she didn't even reminisce about Grover... Not even once. The thought of the satyr made Annabeth want to throw her tin cans across the cabin.
That satyr, the guy who loved enchiladas. That smile, even if it wasn't perfect, his grin still managed a laugh from Annabeth. The Lord Of The Wild. The Chosen One of Pan. Even with the greatest reigning status of all satyrs, he still had a heart of pure gold. His heart had more love than a plant with tendered care.
She knew about the bond he had with Percy. It was so heavy, the two both had an empathy link.
Empathy link.
The words reverberated in her ears, going down in her throat. "Empathy link." She blurted out before crumbling down. Tears shot out of her eyes like rockets. Her screams, muffled against the pillows, seemed like a wake-up call to the entire camp. Her blonde hair, now the color of muck, seemed to have stuck on her redden, puffed up cheeks. Within impulsiveness, she wrapped her arms around Juniper's neck and cried in the crook of her neck. "G-Grover..." Annabeth croaked, her voice a hoarse murmur. "He's dead."
Annabeth felt stupid. Grover was dead. Percy was dead. The two had an empathy link. If one died, the other one died, too. Annabeth thought of Elysium, again.
For a few seconds, she felt happy that the two might be reunited in the underworld. It then struck to her that Grover was a satyr. He would be reincarnated as a small sapling, ready to turn into a gigantic tree -- a tree that Annabeth hoped would outgrow the others.
The two women cried in each other's arms, cradling each other's heads. Understanding the loss of Juniper's boyfriend, she understood why she felt mad in the first place. Juniper hadn't seen her boyfriend in a long time -- it was sickening to the core, which made a void spiral in her chest. Of course, Annabeth thought, no wonder why she despised the fact that I saw him first. Grover, being the Chosen One of Pan, still had a lot of duties to cover. Carrying over half-bloods from across the country, checking over notes left over from other satyrs, making sure nature is balanced with the world.
Annabeth knew that when she died, she would see Percy. She would make it to Elysium. That was what she had thought about at first but now, with the news about Grover, what would happen with him? Would she ever see Grover again? Grover was one of the first people who have trusted him – besides from Luke Castellan and Thalia Grace, the two of her friends who had helped her out to Half Blood-Hill. Annabeth still felt the lingering voices of the two in the back of her head.
The times where the three of them played Hacky Sack, and Grover ate the entire apple.
Percy and Annabeth saving Grover and Clarisse from the tyrants of Polyphemus.
Annabeth seeing Grover, Thalia, Percy, Zoe and Lady Artemis fight off Atlas and... Luke.
Annabeth descending into the Labyrinth with Grover, Percy and Tyson.
And lastly, her, Percy and Grover working together to save Olympus.
With their deaths, the memories seemed to have come back to her -- spiraling around her like a T.V screen. It felt wrong to hear about their deaths but, what Annabeth had known, what everyone had known... Death will be arriving to us, sooner or later.
"Where did you plant Grover's plant?" Annabeth asked Juniper. It was quite hard to get the words out of her throat. Juniper, who was still trying to gather herself up, had forced out a small yet impactful statement to the daughter of Athena. "Beside my tree."
Now, every day and night at Camp Half Blood, Annabeth always took a stroll alongside the forests and the beach, which outlined the entire camp. She imagined Juniper and Grover, holding hands and walking around the soft waves of the waters. She looked over at the dining pavilion and reminisced about her kiss with Percy on his birthday, August Eighteenth.
It felt like yesterday.
But in the future, when she takes up her ambitions, when she creates a perfect monument of all, she would soon die in a terrible death -- and be reunited with Percy.
You know what they say, they are always a duo in a trio.
As Annabeth went back to her cabin, she felt a small shiver at the small of her back. She looked back behind her shoulder and saw Grover's plant glow in the midnight-colored sky, like bioluminescent mushrooms. "I'm sorry Grover." Annabeth murmured.
That was when she fled back to the marble steps of the Athena cabin.