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'Gothic Revival architecture varied considerably in its faithfulness to both the ornamental style and principles of construction of its medieval original, sometimes amounting to little more than pointed window frames and a few touches of Gothic decoration on a building otherwise on a wholly 19th-century plan and using contemporary materials and construction methods.'
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'In parallel to the ascendancy of neo-Gothic styles in 19th-century England, interest spread to the rest of Europe, Australia, Africa and the Americas; the 19th and early 20th centuries saw the construction of very large numbers of Gothic Revival structures worldwide. The influence of Revivalism...'
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"Gods dammit, Jackson! What are you doing? Are you trying to make me homicidal?!" Annabeth bellowed. She had been making notes for her research project on architectural styles used in Britain but she had, foolishly, thought getting Percy to form an Oxygen bubble around her so she could work at the bottom of the lake would help her focus without interruption. She had, somehow, forgotten how serious his ADHD was.
For the past few minutes, he had, at intervals, allowed small droplets of water to drop through the bubble and land on her head. She was getting more and more pissed off. When she finally broke and started shouting at him, he jumped into the bubble, leaving the fish he had been playing with before to entertain themselves. As always, he was irritatingly dry when he sat down in front of her, looking at her with a devilish, lop-sided grin that irritated her more, despite the grin she was fighting.
"Hey! What's with the last naming me? What happened to Seaweed Brain?" he whined.
"Seaweed Brain is a term of endearment. I save the last name for when you actually piss me off!" she replied firmly.
"A term of endearment? You're literally calling me dumb! Just in a nicer way."
"Exactly! I'm not actually calling you dumb. I'm being nice! However, you are, now, being extremely irritating. I'm trying to work here and you're dripping water on me! I came down here to NOT be distracted! So, maybe I don’t feel like being nice right now." she explained ominously.
"I know! I know. I let you work for like 2 hours now. But it's time for dinner. I was just tryna get you to come back up for food." he explained.
"What?! It's dinner time and your way of getting me to come up was to annoy me? Why didn't you just come and tell me?" she asked, incredulously.
"I didn't want to startle you. You're quick with that knife!"
"And don't you forget it!" she said, threateningly as she leant over her laptop, grabbed him by the collar of his blue t-shirt and pulled him into a kiss. He frowned when they separated.
"Why've you got to do that?"
"What?" she asked innocently.
"Make kissing scary!"
"So you know who's in charge." He scowled briefly and she chuckled at him. But she got impatient. "Well? Are you gonna escort me and my laptop to the surface?" she asked expectantly.
"I'm thinking about it." he said, but corrected himself at her glare. "Thought about it. Let's go." he said hurriedly. "Hold your breath." he instructed as he reduced the oxygen bubble to just around her laptop and they swam back to the surface.
Percy was, as always, the first up to the surface. He managed to get up to the boardwalk before Annabeth had even broken the surface. He reached for the laptop, freeing her hands so she could pull herself up. Percy started walking away, with Annabeth still stood there, dripping.
"Ummmm excuse me? Do you mind?" she exclaimed, gesturing down herself.
"Not really, thanks." he said, innocently, as he turned away again.
"Jackson!"
"Alright, alright. I'm coming." he relinquished, laughing a little at her expense. "Now who's got the power, huh?"
"You may have power, but I'm still in charge."
"I'm not sure that's how that works." he posited as he took hold of her arms and used his powers to dry her.
"Oh, aren't you?" she says with a quirked eyebrow. They had a brief staring competition.
"No, I'm not." he says after a few seconds. "As I understand it, relationships are supposed to be equal!"
"We are equal; equal in the understanding that I'm always right so it's best that I be put in charge."
"Yeah, sure whatever Gabe." Her amused look turns into one of genuine outrage and hurt at that.
"Hey, that's not funny!" she chides.
"I wasn't being serious! I was just playing along." he reassures her.
"Yeah, I get that, but why would you bring him up? Out of every asshole in the world, you had to pick the one that actually made your life hell?” she challenged, not quite managing to hide the hurt that she felt.
"OK! OK, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to put you out like that. I'm really sorry." he responded, his eyes serious and honest. He closed the gap between them and embraced her. She wrapped her arms around him tightly in response. The feel of him encouraged her. He was comfortable, he was loving, he was safe.
They'd been dating for a few months by this point and she had fallen for him more and more each day. The last few years had been frustrating, scary and emotionally turbulent. There had been so many times where she thought she might lose him, and, for many of those moments, she hadn't even had the opportunity to be honest with him about how she felt. Then, with the most immense sense of relief she had ever felt, they both made it out of the war and ended up in each other's arms.
As they spent time together without the threat of Kronos or a war looming over them, she appreciated him more and more. He didn't just have her back in the battlefield, but through all the day-to-day crap as well. He had improved with helping her deal with her emotions, which often consisted of him allowing her to let out her emotions in any way she needed to, whether that was ranting or crying, with his arms wrapped around her and then, once she was finished, got her talking him through things more calmly and giving her surprisingly sound advice. Most of the time at least.
She had never been happier. But, every now and then, he'd make some kind of joke, or something intended as light-hearted or witty, but ended up bumming her out because it reminded her of the war or of Percy's hellish childhood. She knew it was a part of the way he rationalised and came to peace with everything, but she hated it sometimes. Especially when he made this particularly jibe at her about Gabe. She knew she could be controlling sometimes. She knew she overstepped with helping people or taking control of situations once in a while. It was part of her hubris. But she was terrified of making Percy feel anything like he or his mother had felt around Smelly Gabe Ugliano. She simply wouldn't have it but knew that it would be possible if she let herself get carried away. Being held by Percy in that moment helped encourage her that she wasn't, but she was still breathing quickly, betraying her worries to him.
"Stop it, Beth. You're nothing like him. You never could be! I wasn't even a little bit serious. Are we clear?" he said as he pulled back to look in her eyes. "Hey, are we clear? No comparing yourself to him!" She met his gaze and saw the seriousness in his eyes now. Nothing like the light-hearted, amused look he had been sporting when he made the joke. Her lips started to quirk into a smile as her arms lowered themselves to rest on his chest.
"We're clear. I promise." At that, he smiled. He then pulled her in for another kiss. This one was slower, more passionate, but not aggressively so. It was loving and caring. It was exactly what she needed. It was exactly why she loved him.
Wait, no. That was too soon. Thank Athena she hadn't said that out loud. That would've been a little awkward. She would never deny it to Percy, or perhaps Grover, but if it were anyone else, she would adamantly deny it. No one needed to know how far she'd fallen, or how far she would fall given the chance; not this soon. After all, it had only been a few months since they had officially started dating. Now was not the time to say that word. But, if he said it, she'd have no second thoughts about saying it back immediately.
After that brief rumination about her feelings for Percy, they were interrupted by Katie Gardner.
"Hey, Annabeth! Put him down and hurry up! We're about to do the offerings!" They both groaned as they broke the kiss. Annabeth saw Katie walking away with a smirk. She narrowed her eyes on her.
"I guess we'd better join 'em." Percy said, smirking at Annabeth's glare and Katie.
"Yeah, we better had. I'll just drop my laptop off in Athena's cabin." she responded, picking the laptop up from off the floor and marched to her cabin. She dropped the gift from Daedalus onto her bed and then met Percy halfway to the Dining Pavilion.
They walked the rest of the way in comfortable silence, their fingers intertwined. They both hesitated before separating, heading to their own tables. She had been feeling increasingly bad about Percy having to sit on a table alone for dinner. It felt unfair. But she had agreed with Chiron and a reluctant Mr D that, once she had finished eating, she was allowed to go and sit with Percy. The same rule applied for everyone but people usually let the two of them be alone for meals.
It was nearly Christmas so most of the half-bloods were all there, some of them staying until a few days before Christmas, at which point they would go home and spend Christmas day with their mortal families. Annabeth would be going to Percy's for Christmas. She hadn't spent a great deal of time with Percy's Mom, or this Paul guy, but she was really quite excited about spending Christmas with Percy. She had already got him his presents. She had got him three things. One of them was a joke present and the other two were more thoughtful.
She had got him a recipe for a specifically designed Blue Lasagne from this weird diner in Texas. Apparently, they made it taste like the ocean. She was fairly sure they just put salt in it but she was willing to be proved wrong on that front. The other more thoughtful gift was a ticket to San Francisco for him to stay with her and her family for a long weekend in the coming March. Then, a few weeks prior to this, Percy had made a joke about being disappointed his dad didn't look more like Aquaman, so her joke present for him was an Aquaman figurine.
She got herself sausage and chips, relinquishing one of her Sausages as an offering to her mother before sitting down and working her way through her meal, excited to get back to Percy. Of course, she wouldn't be allowed to get away without some teasing from her siblings.
"Geez, slow down Annie! You'll get indigestion." said the youngest of her godly siblings, Lucy.
"She can't help it." her eldest sibling, Malcolm, chided, sarcastically. "Anything to get back to Percy wersy!" he said in an exaggerated soppy voice. She lifted her gaze to him, staring him down.
"I get you're trying to embarrass me, but you're the one that just said Percy wersy. I think you've come out of this looking worse than I have." she responded. Malcolm just turned back to Lucy.
"Don't worry, Luce. She's not always like this. She's not as emotionless when Percy's around. She gets all flustered and she swoons." Annabeth was outraged.
"I do NOT swoon!"
"Oh yes you do." said one of her other siblings nearer her age, Ellen. She continued in a purposefully swoon-like voice. "Oh Percy! You're so good with that sword! I'd be in such danger if you aimed it at me!"
"What in the Hades?! That’s not true! And I talk nothing like that!"
"Has he?" Malcolm enquired.
"Has he what?"
"Aimed his 'sword' in your direction?" he elaborated with a suggestive grin.
"What?! Eww, no! We're sixteen, Malcolm! And when exactly would we have had the time?"
"Don't think we haven't heard you sneaking out of the cabin in the middle of the night with your sneaky cap! Plus, you know a lot of people lose their virginity before they’re eighteen." he insisted.
"That’s not something to encourage! And you cannot prove I left at any point. Plus, I've never spent a whole night with Percy."
"No, you're right. But his cabin's only a minute's walk away and a lot can happen in an hour!" he said, eyebrows raised.
"I'm leaving now." she asserted, her plate empty and the entire Athena table chuckling at her expense. She stood and started over to Percy.
"Give him a kiss for me would ya?" Malcolm asked as she left. She said nothing, but made a distasteful gesture at him with one of her fingers.
As she approached her boyfriend, however, she noticed that he looked a little down. He was frowning, a little, and his fork was merely tossing the food around his plate. Her eyebrows furrowed and she gazed at him with a concerned look as she plopped herself down next to him.
"What's wrong, Percy?" she said, getting his attention. He looked back and smiled, but it did not reach his eyes.
"I'm fine." Her expression then morphed to one of exasperation and scepticism. "Alright, meh. I guess, every now and then I realise how much I miss Tyson. Especially sat here on my own."
"I know, I miss him too." she responded, planting her forehead on his shoulder.
"And Grover's off doing whatever he does in the woods with Juniper."
“True. They are cute though.” Percy chuckled lightly.
“Yeah, they are. It would be nice if he was here more often though, right?” His eyes met hers and she couldn’t maintain a forced smile. She deflated a little and nodded gently.
“It would. But he’s doing what he has to do.”
“I know and I don’t begrudge him that. Doesn’t mean I can’t miss him.”
“You’re right. I miss him too.” Percy looked down to his feet and Annabeth’s heart ached to see him so downhearted.
“It’s like, at random moments, I’ll say something or you will or anyone will and I’ll hear Tyson or Grover in my head saying something in response, I’ll even expect to hear them and then they’re not there. They showed up in my life so suddenly and they left almost just as quickly.”
“It’s not like we’ll never see them again. They’ll come back every now and then. Besides, people always move on in some way or another.”
“You tryna tell me you’re leaving too?” he joked, to which she smiled kindly.
“Of course not. You’re stuck with me, Seaweed Brain.” He smiled brightly at the return of his nickname. “But that does also mean I’m stuck with you, so when I’m working tomorrow, just come and tell me when it’s dinner time!” Percy grinned smugly.
“That’s boring.” Percy said, to which Annabeth leaned back a little and tilted her head to the side.
“Oh really? Well, I’ll make sure that my response is anything but boring.” she assured him ominously as she revealed her dagger from its sheath and started playing with it in front of him. He visibly gulped and then it was Annabeth’s turn to grin.
“Well, I’m glad.” Percy replied nervously. Slowly, however, his grin returned and he turned his body fully to face her. “I suppose you and me in a fight at the bottom of the lake will be anything but boring.” If his meaning hadn’t been clear from his words, the increasingly smug grin said everything.
“Wow. Touché, I suppose.” she allowed.
"Awww, going soft on me, Chase?" Percy joked, shaking her knee with his hand.
"Shut up, asshole." she demanded, but it was undermined by her own laugh.
It was getting dark by then, so Chiron dismissed everyone from the Pavilion and ushered them all to the Campfire. It was only a short walk, but Annabeth was getting tired already so she planted herself on the first seat she could find, dragging Percy into the one beside her. She intertwined their fingers, wrapped her free arm around his and leant on his shoulder. Her eyes slowly closed as she relaxed in front of the fire.
She didn't pay a great deal of attention to what was going on around her, she was aware of the singing but was too focused on how comfortable she was and how much she loved being able to sit like this with Percy. For a long time, she was terrified she'd never get this at all, let alone with Percy. First it was the fact that she was a demigod, lowering her life expectancy, and then the fact that Percy's life expectancy was even shorter. But here they were. Like a miracle.
It was only another few minutes before Percy's head rested on her own. Being this close to him made all the jibes and jokes worth it. She knew everyone was happy for them, but it was like a family here, in more ways than one, so she knew they'd never not give her a hard time when they could. But being like this with him made her oblivious to the rest of the world.
Then, before she knew it, Percy was saying her name. She opened her eyes to see that most had left now and gone to bed. There were a few stragglers but they were definitely near the end of their evenings too.
"I think it's time you went to bed, Beth." Percy whispered. She groaned quietly but nodded in his shoulder. She heard a light chuckle from him before she heaved her head upright so she could rise properly. They both stood up, eventually, and she smiled lazily at him before tucking herself into his side as they ambled towards the Athena cabin.
"Well, I think this is where I leave you." he said, reluctantly. She groaned again, and, again, he laughed. "You'll see me in the morning. I'll be up bright and early to make sure we have as long a day together as possible. OK? But you need to sleep. Like, now. Or you'll end up falling asleep out here."
"Ok, you better be up early tomorrow though. You've promised now! You can't take it back!"
"I don't remember saying the word promise, but I'll definitely try!" he said with a cheeky smile.
"Jackson!" she warned.
"Whoa! OK, take a chill pill. I'll see you tomorrow." he finished, before leaning in for a kiss. It was lazy, tired but comfortable. She marvelled at the reality that they could be in whatever mood or state of mind and they'd still be able to kiss or hug in a way that just worked. They just worked.
When he broke the kiss, she tried to follow but he was turning away, so she turned towards her door, hoping he wouldn't see how desperate she was to not let go of the moment. She looked back though, and so did he. They smiled at each other, lovingly, like the lovesick teenagers they were. She'd see him in the morning. But he was right, she definitely needed sleep.
—-----------
She was pissed. He missed breakfast, the dumbass, and she was not going to save anything for him. Well, she knew that she would end up setting aside an apple for him, or something similar, but she would make sure he felt suitably guilty before he got it. She had woken up an hour before breakfast began and she usually met Percy in the mornings for a short run in the arena. Hence, it was in the arena that she realised that he would be late. She had waited for about fifteen minutes before she just huffed and went on the run alone.
It was just as refreshing as it usually was, but it wasn’t quite as fun without Percy there. It wasn’t the first time he had slept through their morning run, but missing breakfast was much more rare for Percy Jackson. The whole way through breakfast, she kept turning to see if he was on his way yet, but was left disappointed every time.
By the time that everyone was starting to leave the pavilion, Annabeth was getting genuinely cross with her boyfriend. Why the Hades was he so late getting up on this day? He had never been so late before and there was absolutely no reason that he would have been more tired the night before than usual. She got up and started to walk towards the Poseidon cabin and worry started to seep in beneath her anger. She assured herself that there was no reason to think anything bad had happened to him, they were at camp after all, and she doubled down on her march as she approached the cabin.
She knocked with a fury on the front door as she shouted “JACKSON! GET THE HELL UP!” There was no response. “THAT WASN’T A REQUEST ASSHOLE! UP, NOW!” she continued as she knocked harder and harder. Still no response.
Her arm got tired so she stopped knocking and stared down the door, trying to figure out what she should do. She huffed several times before she violently burst through the door, to Hades with the rules.
She marched loudly through the cabin, reaching the far end of the front corridor with alarming speed. She scanned every inch of the building as she went through and noticed that it looked, typically, as dishevelled as ever. Annabeth just sighed and moved along at the sight of his jeans and dented shield on the floor. She reached the bed and her breath hitched. It was empty. The bed wasn’t made and his shoes weren’t anywhere to be found. She huffed again in frustration and stormed right back out.
The door slammed behind her and she glared around at the camp, deciding where to check for her dipshit of a boyfriend. It seemed so full, with herds of demigods parading around between the cabins, the archery range and the arena, some heading to their first activities of the day in their armour, while others were still, slowly, making their way to their cabin from breakfast. Even after years of being close friends with Luke, before the whole Kronos thing, she still could never understand the blasé attitude of the Hermes kids.
She could see Chiron in the distance, standing on all four hooves on the porch of the Big House as he surveyed the camp, like Annabeth was but less angrily. Their eyes met, even over the distance she could tell he was looking directly at her, and she could just about make out his eyebrows furrowing. She quickly averted her gaze, not wanting his stare to make her buckle and run over to him to explain.
Returning to her search, she decided the arena was a good first destination. She stomped towards it, her hair billowing behind her and other campers veering out of her way at a single glimpse. Sometimes she felt a modicum of guilt over how easy it was to make people scared of her, but it was times like this, when she hardly needed to try, that she didn’t care in the slightest.
She entered through the archway and scanned the grounds and stands of the arena. She couldn’t see him. She felt someone come up behind her and make to pass and leave the arena so, without looking, she grabbed their arm and tugged firmly.
“Where’s Jackson?” she demanded, without looking at who she was asking.
“I don’t know. I haven’t seen him.” She didn’t wait to reply, just shoved them a little as she let go.
“IF ANYONE SEES JACKSON, TELL HIM HE’S DEAD!” She stormed out again and stopped as she, again, glared around for him. “JACKSON!” Still no response, just a few strange looks from passing campers. It was a useless venture but she chose the Archery Range next. There was no way he would be there, but it was the next closest place so that’s where she went, just in case. “JACKSON! ANYONE?!” Everyone just shook their heads and flinched when she grunted, leaving the range and heading for the lake.
Now, when she looked around, she noticed several groups of demigods now searching for something. They were running around the Big House and shrugging at her as if to say “No sign of him.” and Chiron was slowly descending from the porch and furiously scanning every inch of the place. The sheer number of people she could now see that were looking for him and not finding any sign of him made the worry that she had tried to squash rise into her throat.
“You haven’t seen him?” she asked Malcolm when she passed him.
“Not since last night.” She sped up. The herds she had seen before were now gathering behind her or to her side as she approached the lake, all looking worried. The lump of worry in her own throat became fear with an essence of panic.
Annabeth was jogging by the time she had reached the wooden pier at the lake. She searched the water desperately as she ran down.
“JACKSON COME ON!” she began, but the fear and desperation seeped into her voice. “Seaweed Brain, where are you? You were supposed to meet me this morning, dumbass.” she tried, though the joke fell flat even for her. She reached the end of the wooden platform and lowered onto her front, holding her head over the edge to search the water more closely. She couldn’t make anything out. “Seriously? Seaweed Brain? I won’t use your last name today, just come out.” she joked thickly, though not believing it would work for a second. She was just desperate and he still wasn’t responding. When he was in the water, he had always responded and come up to meet her. She could feel something beginning to sting behind her eyes and tried to fight it as hard as she could.
She got up and turned back to the camp to find the entire congregation grouped on the beach. Chiron stood in the middle, towering over everyone, and Annabeth could see the shock and worry in his eyes. That broke her. The tears began to slip down as she let the fear and the panic completely drown out the anger. Even Mr D was there, looking around, with a confused expression. It was more emotion than she was used to from him. She scanned more of the faces in the crowd and was met by nothing but more fear and confusion.
No-one knew where Percy Jackson was. She didn’t know where he was. They were meant to be a team, they always had been one. He wouldn’t have just left. He didn’t. He had left most of his clothes. His shoes were gone though. He was gone. He wasn’t in the camp. Annabeth’s eyes met Chiron’s once more and they shared a look of pure panic and shock.
“PERCY!!!!!!” she screamed desperately, but only silence reigned.