Tether // percabeth

chapter twenty-six: the one with the happy ending

ANNABETH'S POV:

  The blood webbed across the ice, magnetized to the peak of the frozen prison holding Percy. Steam rose where the blood ran. Running faster when it mixed with the water it collected from the melting ice.

  Just as the first tendrils of Percy's hair protruded from the top, a terrible strike of pain ran up my spine. Worse than any of the others that had passed already. My teeth grinded painfully together. And as soon as the worst was over, another wave hit additionally worse than the first, and I could feel sweat springing up on my face. I knew I could hold off any longer. I was very much, in labor.

  I barely heard Nico question if I was alright, I'm not, I'm in no way alright.
 
  Im in so much, terrible, pain.

  The last thing I saw before blacking out, was Percy sliding gently onto the soft snow.

  PERCY'S POV:

( I read the brigerton books and now I'm magically a writing wizard 🧙‍♂️🪄)

  The fog, that had been frustratingly clouding my sight, parted to the shine of gold held to a light. Ice melting into my skin, my pores shrinking into themselves from the cold.

  What I had thought was the sun shining down, was in fact Apollo's son.

  I hadn't been too far off apparently.

  Will's expression pinched with concern and worry. His mouth moved like he was talking, but I didn't hear anything he might have said. I didn't get a chance to try to tell him though, before he was running off.

  With Will gone I let my eyes wander.

  Letting exhaustion weigh down my body.

  *****************

  Sleep had taken my mind before I knew it, not even realizing until I woke to a soothing heat on the side of my face, and seeing only illuminated stone when I looked up.

  It wasn't the same gray sky from before.

  And I could hear things aswell.

  Horrible screams echoed off the walls of this (obvious) cave. Bringing me right back to that dungeon, fighting to fall to sleep, but only winning in vivid imaginings of the tortures taking place a mere wall from me.

  Hauntingly, these screams where familiar, I had heard them hundreds of times in all my years fighting horrors at her side.

   They were Annabeth's screams.

  My stomach sunk into the tips of my toes at the realization. The fear of something hurting Annabeth to the brink of those horrible screams put me into a perfect panic.

After hours of wishing to be by Annabeth's side, but being too dead broken to move, the worst of shrieks was cut off by an even louder, shrill cry.

  My fear was swallowed by anguish.

  That new cry was my child, Annabeth brought our child into the world.

  I had simply laid there, limp and mute, while she created life without me.

  This whole time she had held hands with mother nature, and I hadn't been there to hold her other hand. She had to close her cold fingers into a fist to fight the battles meant for two.