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May the gods bless you.
This is what Annabeth thinks when she gets to know her.
Her eyes are dark and big and full of life, endless skies of stars, her lips red like the wine the kings sip during ceremonies, her skin like bronze, wrapped in precious jewels and cloths that she doesn't need to look pretty, and her smile could end wars.
Piper - that's the girl's name - really looks like a gift from the gods.
Annabeth teaches Piper how to write poetry, how to count in complex ways, even tells her about her ideas the drawings she made and abandoned because she's a woman and there's no way in the world she's going to build the castles and the temples she's been dreaming of.
They play together in the thiasos' garden, they braid flowers in each other's hair, and Piper pushes Annabeth outside, on the beach, and they run together along the shoreline, holding hands, their feet and clothes wet and their laughter in the air, and they're free for the first time in years.
~~~
There's a boy who joins them in the beach. His name is Percy, and he's got eyes like the ocean and a laugh always coming from his lips. It vexes her, the fact that he never seems to understand how things work, and laughs instead.
And yet, she loves it at the same time.
Annabeth loves Percy's laughter, just like she loves Piper's voice. She loves them both, feeling her skin tight in a burning embrace every time they touch her.
Annabeth is not supposed to love a fisherman's son, and she's not supposed to love a girl. She's supposed to find a husband who Will tell her that she's pretty, so she'll give him the sons he wants.
Still, truth ti be told, Annabeth doesn't really care.
But the rest of the world does.
~~~
Annabeth wonders if things would be different for her, if her father didn't travel along the Nile, if he didn't reach Greece, if he stayed in Ethiopia.
She probably will never know.
It doesn't really matter, because Percy looks at the drawing she's made on the sand, right before the shore washes it away.
"You'll become something great, one day", he says, and he's wrong, but Annabeth wants to believe him anyway.
She kisses him, then kisses Piper, and the rest of the world fades away.
~~~
Percy has another lover, too. His name is Jason, and he's got the sorest eyes, yet the kindest smile she's ever seen.
Looking at him, no one would ever tell he's a soldier, someone who hurts and kills and robs and helps selfish kings conquer lands.
He never talks about his past, about his family, or the city he was born in. He only names a sister, Thalia, and he hasn't seen her in years. That Is the only time his voice cracks.
Annabeth watches how he looks at Percy, like he's the holiest being in the world, and how he holds him, cautiously, as if he's going to hurt him if he makes one wrong move. Like he's scared of losing him.
Annabeth understands that feeling. She's lost friends and siblings, too, to illnesses and to battles and to impossible loves, loves like the one she's living.
Annabeth sends prayers to Aphrodite, for the first time in years, hoping she'll let them stay together. Her words hang in the air, unheard and abandoned by every god in existence.
Annabeth still rests on the beach with Piper and Percy and Jason, and they watch the stars, and laugh and kiss each other, as if they'll ever have a future together.
~~~
The fire they've set dances in the dark, spreading trough the night, reflecting on Annabeth and Jason's faces. Piper and Percy sleep in each other's arms next to them.
"I'm going to die. I know it", he sobs, and Annabeth doesn't tell him that he's wrong. She can't seal a promise she knows She can't keep. He whispers: "I am supposed to watch over you. To protect all of you. I can't . I'll die, and no one will make sure you are safe".
Annabeth says: "We love you", against his ear, then against his cheek, and holds him tighter.
The next day, he holds them all as if the world was ending in minutes.
A month later, the king of Jason's kingdom declares war against another city.
Jason goes to battle and never comes back.
~~~
Percy drags trough life now, he no longer lives. He eats almost nothing, sleeps even less. And he no longer laughs like he used to.
Piper cries over nothing, studies the sky above them, and mumbles Jason's name like a beg.
Annabeth grows cold and silent to everyone except Piper and Percy. The world is still steady under her feet, but she wishes it was crumbling.
If it did, if laughter and love and sunny days no longer existed, everything would be easier to bear.
~~~
Time is a monster, a thief. Time takes everything away, doesn't listen, and doesn't give anything.
Piper has only grown more beautiful over time. There are dozens of men who cling at her arms and hair and clothes, yearning for something from her.
"You could become a priestess of Athena, you know", Annabeth tells her ine day.
"I could never", She answers, that beautiful voice of hers full of affection and sadness, "They would still find ways to have what they want. And I couldn't even be with you or Percy. I wish I were a man, so I could marry you and we could be together forever, without worrying about finding a husband"
Then they kiss, and, for a moment, Annabeth forgets about getting married, and her father and all of the world.
~~~
The wind blows warm today. It passes on her skin like a hand trying to comfort them. "Jason's still with us, somehow", Piper says, her hair hanging loose around her face, "He's in the wind. He watches over me and you and Percy like this. When I feel the wind caressing my cheek, passing trough my hair, it's him comforting me, telling me that he loves me and he loves us".
Annabeth is not sure Piper's right, but she still hold thight at hope.
~~~
Percy doesn't honor the gods as much as he should.
"They stripped me from one of my loves, they're going to take the other away from me soon. I have nothing to give them", he says, rage raising powerful from his voice, before Annabeth can stop him.
The next day, he sails on his boat, the sky clear and the waters calm.
A thunder splits the sky and his boat gets devoured by the ocean.
~~~
Annabeth and Piper spend the next two days crying in each other's arms.
The third day, Annabeth stands up and prepares to be strong again, for Percy and Jason.
~~~
When Annabeth first learns about her engagement, she locks herself in her room and cries for a day, not letting anyone, even Piper, come in.
Then she throws all her sketches, all her theories, in a campfire she's set with her bare hands.
Except for one thing. She's going to burn her last project, one she's been working on for months.
A beautiful, rich Temple in honor of Athena. She'll burn it, and then even the last part of her would be dead.
Then a hands, firma on her wirst, stops her. Piper, her eyes glowing like stars in the light of the fire.
"Don't. You'll regret it", she says. Her voice is soft, loving, yet confident, "No one Will remember you, if you leave nothing for them to find".
So Annabeth stops. Before she can feel finally something close to happiness in a long time, Piper's face breaks.
"I'm going to get married in a week", she mumbles, between sobs, as desperate as she could ever be.
They kiss, their lips salty from the tears running down their faces. Then they fallin each other's arms.
Annabeth falls asleep, still crying, and when She walked up, Piper is gone.
~~~
Annabeth finds all her different loves in different things.
Jason's in the wind, gentle and caring and warm.
Percy's in the waves, messy and free and joyful.
Piper's in the flowers of the wood, sweet and beautiful and full of life.
And she'll bring them with her, even in death.
When she takes the dagger out of her chest, She thinks her wisdom will be set in stone, found in the papera she's scattered in bottles and gifted to the ocean.
She closes her eyes one last time, and smiles.
~~~
Annabeth braids flowers into Piper's hair, Percy's head on her legs and Jason's arm around her shoulder.
"I'm sorry. I didn't want to leave you", Piper tells her, "They found me and dragged me to my father's castle. I was so afraid to live without you, that I could no longer think. I've escaped into the wood. A hunter thought I was a deer and shot an arrow at me. I'm sorry".
"Don't be. It wasn't your fault", Annabeth answers, "We're together now, and that's all that matters".
Elysium never felt so beautiful.