Chapter 13

Death's Greeting Me

Death felt strange.

Silent and peaceful.

Like I was finally at peace.

I think I could see my parents with open arms signaling me to come with them.

At least that is what I thought death would be like.

Nah, I was fucking with you I didn't die.

That would be very anticlimactic.

When I jumped I didn't feel anything. Stress and anxiety maybe. But also I didn't see the whole "life flashing before my eyes" thing which was an anticlimax if you ask me.

When I awaited the hard and inevitable fall, I could've waited for eternity, because when I landed I fell into something soft. People were cheering and I didn't get it.

I looked down and saw all kinds of soft materials beneath me. I realised that they were pillows and blankets. "What the hell?" I muttered and climbed down off the pile. Which didn't look very gracious and heroic to be honest.

I thanked some people not really knowing what I was going to do now. I thought that I was going to die, so I hadn't really thought about what I was going to do when I survived.

I looked around until I saw her.

I could only see her back, but it was enough. Her beautiful hair and body seemed exactly like her. She seemed to be looking around for someone. I hoped that it was me.

Yet she wasn't supposed to be here. But there she was. Looking as beautiful and radiant as ever. I screamed her name and ran to her.

I ran to a head of blond curls that looked like Annabeth. But when I spun her around, still pumping with adrenaline, and I saw that the girl was not Annabeth I could only stare at her with wide eyes.

"I'm so sorry! I thought that you were my girlfriend, but you're not. So I'm sorry. Uhm, have you seen her? No wait- she probably isn't even here. So I guess- no for sure- uh, have a nice day." I rambled when I felt someone nudge my shoulder lightly.

"I see you have a type. Getting a new girlfriend?" I recognized the amused voice, I would always, thus I spinned around so fast that I probably got a whiplash.

"Annabeth! You're here!" I exclaimed, not believing my eyes, I thought that I would never see her again.

Annabeth smiled brightly and waved.

I reached for Annabeth and attacked her into a hug which she immediately returned.

"I'm sorry." I told her and I hugged her really tight. "I know that it was stupid and impulsive." I was still stiff with adrenaline and shaking like a leaf.

"I call it brave and hazardous." Annabeth mumbled back against my chest and I couldn't help but smirk the biggest smirk at her as she looked up.

"Hey you have something on your face." She lightly touched my lips and tiptoed, while I leant down and kissed her. And in that moment I didn't really care that there were a lot of people there; a lot of people that were staring at us. Those people included my uncle and Annabeth's mother. Some even cheered which only made me go more red.

"Thank you so much for saving me." I whispered against her lips. Annabeth just tiptoed to kiss me again in response.

"It was you right?" I asked after a while. I'd thanked people for coming and was still searching for Chiron.

"Duh. You mean that you didn't see the pillows up there?"

"Er, no." I rubbed my neck sheepishly.

"Idiot!" Annabeth shouted and lightly hit me. "You didn't know that you were going to survive?! You were really ready to die?"

"Not ready. But yeah..." I didn't exactly know how to respond to her. "How did you even get all the pillows here? I know that you like to sleep with a lot of pillows, but this is intense."

"How do you know that?" She asked with a suggestive smirk.

"Oh come on, your father isn't here." I argued with a smirk as well.

"But I am." A voice behind me said and in that moment I wished that there hadn't been any pillows.

"Hi uncle." I tried to sound as upbeat as I could when I turned around and plastered a big smile on my face. Annabeth was super red and buried her face in her hands.

"Thank God Percy that you're still alive." He wrapped me in a hug and after a second we pulled Annabeth with us.

"But I want to know how you did this." I said after a while. I clutched her hand in mine and still had a big smile.

"Okay... I wrote a letter in the newspaper for everyone to place their pillows here. I only arrived this morning an hour before you needed to jump. I took my pillows with me too and stole a pair from your house." She explained with a kind of guilty smile.

I rolled my eyes but had a big smile on my face. I don't think that that one is ever going away. I picked Annabeth up by her waist and spun her around. "You're amazing!" I exclaimed not caring for the people around us. Annabeth didn't seem to care either. She only squealed and laughed loudly.

"I love you." I told her still holding her up. "I love you too." She responded and hugged me tightly.

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Annabeth decided to stay with us for a couple of days to my happiness.

I soonly got my new assignment, this time in the mail. I would never understand them completely.

"You know I have been thinking and I don't think I want to be a king. I don't even know why I wanted to do this in the first place. Well yeah... to help people, but I don't really think that I can be that helpful when I'm a king. And I don't think that I would be fit to be a king." I confessed a feeling I had felt since I jumped off the St. Artolius.

Annabeth only nodded. And squeezed my hand softly. "I get it Percy." She said after a while. "And I think that you would be an amazing king."

"I'm just a stupid 18 year old kid. I can't even handle my own life, how can I help other people or rule a kingdom? It would be absurd."

"To be honest, that's great! Are you still going to do the tasks? I presume not."

"Well yeah. If I pull back now I'll look like a wuss. And I really want to help people. Maybe I'm going to do that for the rest of my life." I wondered out loud. Annabeth jerked her hand away out of mine and stared at my angrily. Woah, what had I done?

"I'm sorry did I say something wrong?"

"Yes. You're being you. You say you want to help people but what about me? I want to be there for you Percy. I really do. And I'm not some damsel in distress, some dumb blonde - a helpless girl."

"Hey I know that. Everyone does." I reached for her but she took a step back. Away from me.

"So I can handle a thing. I can take a lot of things. But I can not take being constantly afraid that you are going to die. But if you realise it or not; you can really die. Die Percy. Like really dead. Just gone. And I'm alone. And I know this sounds over dramatic and-" Annabeth began softly sobbing.

"Hey- hey. Annabeth. Look at me. Are you really that afraid of that?" I kept reassuring her, slowly reaching for her, not wanting to scare her. Eventually I could reach her without her flinching away and pulled her into a firm hug.

"It's okay Annabeth. I'm alive. You can hear my heartbeat. Listen." I put her hand on my heart, my hand over hers. My heart was beating so loud that I could even feel it through her hand.

"I'm not going anywhere." I whispered, still having another arm wrapped protectively around her.

"Falling in love with you was a bad idea." She muttered and let her hand down from my heart. She turned around still my other arm wrapped around her. My other arm was now down my side just like hers. I couldn't act like I wasn't hurt by what she said.

"I need some time alone, Percy. I'm sorry." She unwrapped my other arm off of her, wiped her tears away, though they were coming again. Or that were my eyes. Either way she shot me an apologetic look and walked away.

"So this is it?" I shouted, asking her while tears ran down my face.

She turned around, too far away for me to see her face precisely, but I knew that she was crying too.

"I don't know. I just can't do this right now." She said and turned around again. Walking away.

I looked at her until I couldn't see her anymore. She didn't look back once. I let myself fall on the ground in the middle of the forest where he had been walking and buried my face in my hands.