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Percy found himself wandering around the Big House in the late afternoon of their trip to Camp Half-blood. Percy had always been curious about the camp, but they seemed to be on their best behavior during official envoys with New Rome. This trip with Annabeth was like a peak behind the curtain at the organized chaos of the Greeks. He was thankful to have an hour to himself before the campfire to take it all in. As he slowly strolled the halls he looked at the photos that littered the walls, smiling faces, braces, and tie dye shirts were in abundance. It felt all together very home-y. He can see why Annabeth looks back at her time here so fondly. He continued down the hall before coming to an office with the door wide open. He knew he should just keep to the halls and not intrude but his curiosity got the best of him seeing the large framed collage of papers on the wall. Intricate lines ran their course all over the papers: scrapbook paper, napkins, pages ripped from notebooks, and stick notes. The handwriting looked so familiar. He leaned in to get a closer look. Then he saw it…
AC
Over and over across so many pages. He couldn’t help but smile to himself. Of course, it was Annabeth’s handiwork.
“Ah, New Athens. Annabeth’s passion project. I asked for the original blueprints for the wall. I thought they would be a nice addition.” Percy whirled around, nearly jumping out of his skin. Chiron had rolled into the office while he was focused on the display.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to intrude.”
“No intrusion at all, my boy. It truly is some of her best work.”
Percy looked up at the collage in the frame: Neighborhoods, Temples, Homes, even a school all sketched out over random sheets of paper. There was one that in particular caught his eye. In the very bottom corner on what looked to be an old takeout menu was a quaint little house, just big enough for a small family.
“It’s beautiful. I can’t wait to see it finished. I’m sure with the alliance we can send a Roman team for construction.” Sadness tinged Chiron’s thoughtful expression.
“That’s a very kind offer but it won’t be necessary.”
“It really would speed up the construction. I mean-“
“Perseus, come with me.” Chiron rolls out on the porch stopping at the railing to overlook the camp. “Look around… look at the campers, what do you see?”
Percy took note of the view. It looked like the campers had finished their activities rotations for the day and were all just winding down before dinner. Some Aphrodite campers were on their front stairs, braiding some younger campers’ hair. The Hermes kids had a frisbee that looked to actually be a piece of white china. Overall he just saw a bunch of kids having a good time with their friends. “Campers… kids.”
“Exactly. Only children... Annabeth is the oldest living Greek demigod to our knowledge.”
“She’s only 23.” Percy responded quietly, catching a glimpse of Annabeth in the distance, talking with some of her siblings. She looked to be correcting something on a large parchment, probably a battle plan for Capture the Flag.
“Exactly. And the only reason she’s made it this long is because she has fought tooth and nail for it and got very lucky along the way.”
“But New Athens-”
“-is a dream, a beautiful dream, but there is a reason why even Annabeth doesn’t push for it to be built. Unlike the Romans there isn’t a future for my campers. You all are soldiers. It’s a job that you can complete and then you retire having served your duty. I am tasked to train warriors, heroes. There is no retirement, just hope of eventual rest.”
“You mean death.”
“Yes… Greek tragedies aren’t just a piece of ancient stories.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Because I care for Annabeth as if she were my own child, and in a way she is. I have been her primary caregiver for almost all her life. I can see that you care for her too.”
“And you think it wouldn’t be a good idea for me to get involved with her, since you think she is going to die.”
“Quite the contrary. I think you could have a great deal of impact on her, but you should walk into your decision with your eyes open.” Chiron looked out thoughtfully over the camp.
Percy sat at the campfire, trying to tuck his new-found knowledge into the back of his mind. Denial isn’t just a river in Egypt, or so the saying goes.
But he watched. He watched as the younger campers began to fall asleep in their siblings laps as the songs grew from tales of triumph to soft lullabies eventually fading into woeful tributes to the fallen.
“I have one.” An Apollo girl spoke up, taking the offered guitar. As she began to strum a familiar tune hummed from the strings.
“Oh, I love this one.” Annabeth whispered beside Percy. He couldn’t help but admire the way her curls caught the firelight as she joined along softly. It took Percy a minute to be able to pull his focus from her beauty to hear the words. It sounded like a song he used to hear on the radio, but the lyrics were off, changed.
In a slow, melancholy harmony the campers sang.
When I die young, cover me in satin, lay me down on a bed of rosewood.
Set me in the river at dawn, send me away with the sound of a camp song.
This was their reality. A fact all of them seemed to accept. He watched as groups of campers swayed together tucked under the arm of their sibling or significant other. They were all so young, and yet as he really studied them in the firelight he saw something that seemed to be masked by the bright sun of day. Everyone left around the fire looked so tired, scarred and beaten beyond their years. Percy was looking at teenagers who seemed to carry the weight of the world, then his eyes turned to Annabeth. Little scars littered her tan legs, some larger raised in a way that caught the shadows and held them to her skin, a white gray streak winding its way through her unruly curls. She looked so tired, in a way he didn’t see from the legionnaires, even those who had long since retired.
Her smile turned toward him, and he couldn’t help but bask in the glow of it. It didn’t matter if he had her for another day or until the end of his days, he realized. He would give her everything he had, he would march on Olympus to keep her safe, to keep her in his arms.
He loved her.
They sat together on the dock, dangling their feet into the water as the moon rose over the lake.
He hadn’t told her about his conversation with Chiron, but she seemed to have known something shifted.
She watched his face carefully, her calculating eyes taking in every minute detail. Reaching her hand up she swiped her thumb along his cheek slowly, pushing away the tear he didn’t realize had fallen.
“I can’t give you forever.” Her soft voice was barely a whisper.
“I’ll take however long I can get with you.” He answered, sealing the promise with a searing kiss, pulling her as close as possible.