The Battle of the Conflicted

I - Annabeth

As soon as I had gotten the prophecy from the Oracle, the only thing on my mind were the last two lines:

Destroy with a hero's final breath,

And lose a love to worse than death.

What did it mean? Could Percy be the Hero? Or worse, could he be the one lost to worse than death? Even when I had to tell all the counselors the prophecy I just couldn't say the last line, I needed to figure out what it meant, and try to narrow down who could be the one lost and who could be the hero. Gods this was going to drive me crazy, but then again, that's what most prophecies do.

I gazed out onto the lake in front of me. The water itself was as blue as ever and the greenery bloomed. Light fog was crowding the air before the water. It seemed evil that it could look so pretty when absolute chaos was breaking out under our noses. With a sigh, I got up and began to walk towards the cabins.

Before I knew it I had gotten to Cabin Six. I entered the door and was greeted with the sight of papers, charts, graphs, and more hung all over the walls. I looked in the mirror and readjusted my ponytail before glancing towards the library at the edge of the cabin. It would be a good distraction from everything happening. And maybe I could find out something about the Labyrinth.

I was rummaging through old scrolls and papers; an attempt to distract myself from Percy and focus on The Quest ahead of us. When a sound rang out from the doorway.

"Knock, knock?" It was that voice I knew so well.

I turned with a start. I wasn't expecting company.

"Oh!" it was Percy "Hi. Didn't hear you."

"You okay?"

I looked down at the scrolls in my hands and frowned. What was I going to tell him? I couldn't say it was about the last line, he'd want to know what it was, I bet that's the reason he's here right now.

"Just trying to do some research" I said, because it wasn't technically a lie, just an unspecified statement. "Daedalus's Labyrinth is so huge. None of the stories agree about anything. The maps just lead to nowhere."

He looked down at his shoes, probably trying to decide whether I was telling the truth or not.

"We'll figure it out." he said as he looked me directly in the eyes. I looked back at him.

"I've wanted to lead a quest since i was seven," I was going to continue when he said,

"You're going to do awesome." I was grateful that Percy thought that, but I wasn't too sure. I looked back down at the scrolls and books I had in my hands. I wanted to tell Percy everything, no lies and no keeping anything from him.

"I'm worried, Percy. Maybe I shouldn't have asked you to do this." I blurted then quickly added "or Tyson and Grover."

"Hey, we're your friends. We wouldn't miss it." I looked back at him. His sea green eyes comforted me.

"But..." I stopped myself. I couldn't tell him. No, I wouldn't tell him. He looked at me with a questioning gaze.

"What is it? The prophecy?" I tried to hide the fear in my eyes as he spoke.

"I'm sure it's fine." I said in a voice way smaller than I had wanted. All of a sudden I felt tears in my eyes. I started to blink them back, I would not cry, let alone in front of Percy. Or any of my other friends... That's when, for once in my life, I put out my arms for a hug.

Percy took a step forward, probably worried that I had been possessed, and then went in for the hug.

"Hey, it's... it's ok." he said as he patted my back. I started shivering as I cried into him, aware of the salty smell of the ocean.