Chapter Text
A black, tar-like substance swallowed Annabeth, capturing her screams in the surfacing bubbles. Percy couldn’t do anything but watch, he was behind that stupid dream forcefield, the ones that only show up when you're having terrible flashbacks, the ones that glue you in place and leave you unable to move. But this wasn't a regular flashback either. Ever since Tartarus, Percy and Annabeth had both been having terrible dreams, everyone reliving a darker horror than the last. The dreams don't give anything to you either. No prophecy, no message, no sign, nothing, just fear, but this dream, it felt real, painstakingly real. Percy could feel the trembling's of Annabeth in the darkening cave walls from underneath the lake. He could hear uneven, raged breaths coming from different corners of the cave. The last visible part of Annabeth was her hand, reaching out to something, someone in hopes that it would save her. "Percy," said a strangled cry somewhere beneath the walls. Percy choked on his breath. This wasn't a flashback. No, this was a message, and Annabeth was the target.
Percys eyes shot open, he gasped, “Annabeth!” the sound echoed into the empty Poseidon cabin.
“Anna-Annabeth?” Percy said again, quieter, looking for some sort of clarity but finding none.
He started shaking, the morning sun glinted off his now tear stained cheeks. He curled in on himself and cried. Most night terrors left him shaken, but never this shaken. What he needed was his girlfriend, what he needed, was Annabeth. But if that dream; no not dream, that wasn’t a dream that wasn’t even a flashback or a night terror, that was something else; was real, then Annabeth wouldn’t be in her bed sleeping soundly, and Camp Half Blood would be in mass havoc in less than a few hours looking for her. Percy paused and thought about that. “Hades” He cursed under his breath. He wiped the tears from his cheeks and got up. He didn’t even bother putting on a shirt as he ran out of the cabin. There was only one thing on his mind, and it was if Annabeth was okay.
Percy flung the door of the Athena cabin open, not caring if he woke anyone. They’ve been through this before. When the night terrors first started, this became a regular morning occurrence, until he learned how to determine the difference between the night terrors and actual dreams. Groans of protest came from some of the Athena cabin, and others threw their arms over their heads to block out the morning sun. “Another one? Percy you’ve gotta get this sorted out man.” Malcom groaned as he sat up on the top bunk, his head just barely missing the ceiling.
Malcom yawned and looked across to Annabeth’s bunk, “She’s still-” He paused. Percy was staring at Annabeth’s Empty bunk.
` “No,” Percy whispered to the air.
He stalked over to her bunk. It was messy and unmade, full of pillows and blankets but no Annabeth. “No,” he said louder.
“Percy-” Malcom started cautiously.
The rest of the Athena cabin started to stir, some occupants noticing the empty bunk and angry demigod, others only rubbing sleep out of their eyes. Percy snapped his head up to Malcom, “No!” Percy yelled, “She should be here! Why isn’t she here!”
Percy’s eyes turned dark and glazed over. “Calm down Percy, she could still be somewhere else at camp.”
Percy stomped over to Malcom's bunk and grabbed the collar of his shirt, nearly dragging him off the bunk, “Then. Find. Her. I’ve been to Tartarus and back. I'm not someone you want to mess with” he growled.
Percy shoved Malcom back onto the bunk stormed out of the cabin. Loud whispers could be heard from behind him as he exited the cabin.
Percy walked all the way to the big house, shirtless and shoeless, determined to find Annabeth. He walked into the main room, leaving a trail of footprints, from the morning dew. Chiron was laying in front of fireplace in his full centaur form, reading a book. “Where’s my girlfriend.” Percy interrupted, oh so graciously.
Chiron eyed Percy, but choose to ignore the obvious...physical aspects that needed to be unpacked and decided to start with the question. “I’m sorry, I’m not sure I follow.”
“Annabeth, she’s missing, where is she.”
Chiron closed his book gently and set it down beside him. “I’m not sure Percy, was she not in her cabin? Have you checked the whole camp? It is a big place after all.”
“I checked her cabin, but I know she's missing because I had a dream.” Chiron hummed in response.
Dionysus walked in the room yawning and scratching his stomach, “By the way that Perry Jensen kids' girlfriend is-” Dionysus paused and observed the scene in front of him.
“Never mind. I guess you’ve already figured that out.”
Dionysus turned around and returned to whatever hole he crawled out of. “See! Chiron, I have to find her. We’ve been through everything together I can’t lose her now! I don’t know what kind of sick games the gods are playing at this time, but they’ll pay for it.”
“I’m sorry Percy but I can't send you out of camp unless it's for a quest, and I can't send you on a quest unless you have a prophecy and the oracle currently isn't working, there’s nothing we can do. Try contacting her, see if the iris messages are working, but until the oracle starts giving out prophecy’s again, I can't send you away.”
Chiron got up from his sitting position and gripped Percy’s shoulder, “We’ll find her, I promise. Go back to you cabin and get dressed, take a minute to calm down and we’ll talk this over later.” Chiron left the room, the crackling of the fire now the only sound in the room. Percy sighed and sunk to his knees and cried for the second time that morning.
• • • •
Percy nervously paced in his cabin. He had gotten dressed but now he had nothing to do. He needed to find Annabeth. The black liquid swallowing her flashed in his mind, Percy cringed and sat down on his bunk. “Prophecy. How can I get a Prophecy if the oracle is broken? Maybe I could try contacting apollo? No that wouldn’t work the gods only like to come on their own time. What about-? No, that wouldn’t work either.” Percy put his hands in his hair and stood back up, going back to pacing the room.
Without warning, Grover entered the cabin, his worrisome look morphing into concern “I’m just gonna go to Rachel and see what she has to say about the dream and maybe it’ll strike a prophecy! Yeah, that works.” Percy stopped and stared at Grover.
“You alright there buddy? You seem a little out of it.” Grover cautiously entered the cabin the rest of the way, closing the door gently.
Percy stopped pacing, “Do I look okay? Annabeth is missing, I've just had one of the worst night terrors to date, one in which consisted of Annabeth drowning in a pool of black I don’t even know what, and Chiron won’t let me leave camp to go find her, because that stupid oracle is broken, and for all I know she could be dead by now.”
Percy didn’t miss a beat. Everything he said was true and he had every right to panic. “Okay, just, calm down-”
Percy cut Grover off, “If one more person tells me to calm down this morning, I'm going to go full Hera on this camp! How would you feel if the person you love most in the world went missing, or better yet, you went missing, had to go through absolute Hades, and then finally get to be reunited with them, just for them to be ripped away from you by the horrible beings that ripped you away from them the first time?”
Grover just stood there bewildered at Percy’s anger. Grover had never been subject to this side of his anger, and he had never hoped to be. Grover was speechless, he didn't have anything to say, because he didn’t fully understand the weight of the situation. Yes, he’d lost a half-blood before, but it just wasn’t the same. “Exactly,” Percy said as he pushed past Grover and out of the cabin.
“I’m going to find Rachel, don’t try and follow me.”
“Percy wait-” Grover started.
“Don’t Grover.”
• • • •
Percy found himself inside of Rachels cave. It was full of colors and art supplies. Everywhere you looked there was another plant. The entrance of the cave had beaded strings hanging from it and she had some nice Celtic like music playing. Rachel was sitting at the back of the cave working on her latest piece, her overalls and red hair covered in paint. For a second Percy forgot about the events of the morning, the cave calmed him, gave him the sense of clarity that he couldn’t fine when he woke up, but then he snapped back to the presence and remembered why he was here. “Rachel,” He cringed at the sternness of his voice, it didn’t belong here, in this calm space.
Rachel turned around and when she saw who it was, she smiled. That made Percy cringe even more. “Hey Percy! It's been a while.” The warmness in her smile wasn’t going away and that made Percy feel even worse. He came in here for the first time in three months just to ask her for help finding his girlfriend and she’s being nothing but nice.
Percy stuttered a bit, “I, uh, Annabeth is, uh, she’s missing.” His whole demeanor sank, he meant to come in here all stoic and to explain the dream but now, now he lost it.
Rachel’s smile dropped a little, her sympathy reaching Percy’s whole core, “Yeah,” she sighed, “I know.”
Percy’s eyes lit up just slightly but it’s as if she already knew what he was thinking. “No, I can’t give you a prophecy. I had a dream last night, and I tried summoning the Oracle fof Delphi, but I got nothing. I’m so sorry Percy.”
Percy shoulders slumped down. “Who have you talked too this morning? What do you know?” Rachel asked.
Percy’s cheeks flushed, remembering what he’d said to Grover just thirty minutes before. “I’ve talked to Malcom, and practically all of the Athena cabin, they don’t know anything. I also talked to Chiron, but he doesn’t know anything either and he won’t let me off camp wit out a quest or prophecy. He also told me to try contacting her through iris messages, I haven't done that yet, but I've been kind of avoiding it because what if she's not alive? And then there’s Grover, I kind of blew up on him.”
Rachel nodded, “Okay, do you want to try and contact her now?” She got up from her seat and grabbed a plant mister from her desk and opened a drawer and grabbed a golden drachma and held them bot out to Percy.
He grabbed the two items and walked out of the cave, Rachel following closely behind. They stepped out into the sunlight, and he shielded his eyes. He spritzed the mister until he saw a rainbow, then he threw the drachma in and said Annabeth's full name. The mist shimmered. Percy waited and Rachel put her hand on his shoulder in reassurance. A few seconds later the iris message shimmered into the black and white TV static that it does when it can't find someone, or Percy thought to himself when someone's dead. “I'm sorry Percy.”
Percy waved his hand through the mist, cutting the connection and left without saying a word.
• • •
Percy decided to skip breakfast and go back to his cabin. He didn’t feel like dealing with all the furious whispers from the Athena cabin, and the pitying stares from the rest of the camp. He knew that if he did go, he could probably get some sort of lead, but he just didn’t have the energy. He laid on his bed and sulked, he thought back on all the memories with Annabeth, the good, the bad, and the ugly. He thought of the first time she spoke to him, the age old, “you drool in your sleep.” He thought back on all the times she would put on her invisibility (cap, cloak? I’m not sure) and scare him. He thought back on the time that she judo flipped him, when she kissed him in the labyrinth, and when she was right there with him in Tartarus.
Percy was so zoned out he didn’t even hear the cabin door open. Two firmilar demigods popped in, two campers that he hasn’t gotten the chance to torment just yet. “Percy,” the short scary looking one said.
No response, “Percy,” he tried louder this time. Still no response.
Nico handed the plate over to Will and walked over to the bed, “get up you gods forsaken fool I'm trying to help you find your girlfriend.” Nico grabbed the blanket Percy was wrapped up in and unraveled him onto the floor.
Percy looked up at Nico, completely and utterly offended, “Ow!” He said rubbing the back of his neck.
“What was that for?” Percy used the bed for balance to get up off his butt.
“We’re going to find Annabeth.”
“What?”
“You heard me; we’re going to find Annabeth. Pack your stuff, we’re leaving tonight.” Nico and Will practically walked out of the cabin like they owned the place, -but not before setting the plate of food on his bed of course-leaving Percy in complete and udder disdain.