νεκρός || Annabeth Chase x Fem!OC

Vol. 3.5-7: my emotions blow up like mount st. helens

TEMPEST

⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆

"You can't go in there," I told Percy and Annabeth. "The water will burn you to shreds."

"Or?"

"Or dissolve your entire essence," I snapped. "It doesn't do anything to me, though. Just... give me a second."

"How do we know it's right here?" Percy asked.

"We don't," I replied. "I'm gonna go searching. It might take a while. You... You should go back up."

It was obvious I didn't want them here for this. It was also obvious I knew this wasn't going to work. Still, I plunged under the water, sinking to the bottom of the deep River of Hate, and I began my search.

I really didn't want them here for this. I didn't need them to see this. I didn't even need to see this. I still don't remember dying, and I'm scared to see my body. I've seen the damage on my ghostly form. I feel like seeing my corpse will make it worse. I know it's been over eighty years since I died, but that doesn't mean anything. For all I know, that body is as well preserved as my normal form. For all I know, I still had blood on my body and it's still a little warm. That's what I'm so scared of. I don't want to see what once was.

I don't know how long I was searching before I felt it. Something strange, like the pulse of a heartbeat calling me. I touched around the bottom of the river and found a patch of loose stones. I started swiping them away rapidly, moving them behind me as fast as I could.

I saw the white cloth, and I knew.

I got the rest of the stones loose and saw the faint silhouette of my body wrapped in a white cotton sheet. I tentatively reached out, horrified as I curled a hand around my shoulder. Nothing happened. Nothing burned, no memories came back. Slowly, I tucked my arms around the corpse and lifted. I rose to the surface, emerging from the black water with a dripping corpse wrapped in white.

My friends stared at me in shock. They couldn't see the body, but they could definitely see the bloodstains on the sheet. I forgot how thin I was when I was alive. Tall, yes, but malnourished. I didn't weigh anywhere near as much as I ever should have. I fully got out of the water and stared where my corpse's head was, a large pool of stained blood covering the entire thing.

I stared at it for a minute and picked my head up to face Annabeth. She was crying and covering her mouth as she realized what she made me do. She made me do this, and I knew it wouldn't even work.

"Let's go."

⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆

I carried my body the whole way out of the Underworld. I disguised the three of us as we made it back to my car. I put the body in the trunk. Annabeth sat up front with me, not saying a word. I offered to drop Percy off, but he refused, saying he wanted to come. Just great. An audience for my torture.

"I'm smaller than you think," I finally said, thirty minutes into the drive.

Annabeth stared out the windshield. "Thin. Yeah." She didn't say anything about the blood.

"Why did she hide you in the River Styx?" Percy asked gently.

"Not sure. Maybe since it's the River of Hate. And I'm full of hate."