Aquaman? Whoops, Wrong Universe: A Percy Jackson Marvel Crossover

Chapter 25: Annabeth

Two weeks had passed.

Two weeks.

Two weeks of Leo forging celestial bronze arrows and throwing stars for Natasha and Clint. Two weeks of Nico angrily sparring in the training room, rage nearly consuming him. Two weeks of Thalia trying to stay upbeat when the demigods all knew she was still devastated over Jason. Two weeks of the ex-spies fruitlessly tracking down suspect HYDRA agents only for it to end up as a red herring, or a decoy. Two weeks of Annabeth trying to avoid her friends and the Avengers. Two weeks of wrecked calls to Sally Jackson to give her any and all updates. Two weeks of endless Iris Messages to Percy that never went through. Two weeks of Annabeth stressing day in and day out about her boyfriend. 

Was Percy even still alive?

That question haunted Annabeth's mind. She had no idea what HYDRA was really capable of. Would they kill off an asset? Annabeth didn't think so, but she couldn't be too sure. She had no status updates on Percy. No one—not a single person had seen him since the warehouse. He was officially missing. Missing and brainwashed.  

She couldn't believe that this was the second time he had gone missing without a trace. She thought they had left that behind. All she and Percy needed to do was finish their exams, and then finally, finally, be at peace and move to New Rome. That hope had been crushed when Camp Jupiter was attacked again, leading to barely reinforced borders and frequent monster attacks in the city. 

There wasn't a safe space anymore. There wasn't anywhere they could go where monsters wouldn't find them. They were all alone.

But that hadn't mattered, because Annabeth had had Percy. She only needed her boyfriend, and she would be happy. But now, Percy was gone. Maybe forever. Maybe he would never be the same again. Maybe... maybe he would never even remember her. 

When he had lost his memories the first time, he had still remembered Annabeth. Her heart fluttered every time she thought about it. Out of everything that had happened in Percy's insane life, he had remembered her. She was his anchor to the mortal world. They would always be connected.

Now, Annabeth wasn't sure he knew anything. Like, anything. He hadn't responded to his own name. And from what Peter described, he was so very different from her Percy. He... he had killed someone. Percy wouldn't be able to live with himself. Annabeth wasn't sure how she was going to address it. He had never killed someone before. Monsters didn't count—they just regenerated in Tartarus, swearing revenge on their killers. Luke also didn't count.

Percy had always vehemently refused to kill opposing demigods.

"They're just kids," Percy had said to Chiron, the summer before the Battle of Manhattan. "They don't really know what they're doing."

Then again, that cruise ship had had plenty of demigods on it, not known to Percy and Beckendorf before they boarded with their mission. Percy had told them to run, to get away, but Annabeth knew that there was no way all of them had escaped, nor wanted to escape. She had never brought it up to her boyfriend—he didn't need more food for thought on his guilt. He already blamed himself for enough deaths, despite Annabeth's consolations. 

Would their relationship recover from this?

Annabeth could only hope and pray to whatever half-cocked gods of love she could think of. After all the tragedies in her life, this seemed to be the only thing that Annabeth couldn't lose without falling apart, leaving no one to pick up the pieces. 

She thought about all of this as she sat on her bed, staring blankly at her computer that seemed to be her only companion these days. School took her mind off things. At the moment, she was working on a rollercoaster design for her architecture class. It wasn't difficult, per se, but it distracted her enough that she could take a break from worrying for a second. Unfortunately, those thoughts were always residing in her mind, just below the surface. If she paused, even for a moment, her thoughts would run like the wind, cooking up half-baked plans that wouldn't work, thinking about Percy, wondering about Percy. Percy this, Percy that—she just couldn't focus. It was like nothing in the world mattered but him. Her Seaweed Brain.