PJO oneshots/ headcannons

22 - Don't I Always?

"Don't do it." She whispered, and her voice was mixed with those heavy tears falling down her cheeks. "Please don't go."

"Hey, hey," He took her by the shoulders. He made her look into his eyes. Sea green eyes, full of that kindness and bravery she loved so much. He didn't know he was breaking her even more. "Shh, it'll be alright. I won't be gone forever. Not again. Not after what we've been through. I won't leave you."

She was shaking her head because she knew that it wasn't true. He was lying. He was lying to make her feel better, she was sure, but it only made her feel worse. 

"Just this once. Please. Don't be the hero, Seaweed Brain."

"I won't leave you." He repeated, like there was nothing else he could've said. 

She felt like slapping him. She wanted to. She wasn't an idiot. There was every possibility that he won't ever come back. But Annabeth steeled her nerves. She stopped crying. She wiped away her tears. She was a daughter of Athena, and she was a demigod. Demigods always had to make the harder decision.

Always.

She pulled Percy close and hugged him; pulled him in so close she felt his breath on her cheeks. "Promise me you'll come back to me then."

She felt his smile. "Don't I always?" 

* * *

There were bombs exploding everywhere, and it was deafening his ears. He held a gun in his hand and for the very first time in a long time, Percy Jackson felt scared. 

All this noise. It was too much. 

The blood. The noise. The shrapnel flying everywhere. Too much. It was too much.

He closed his eyes and he saw Annabeth. He saw her next to him, holding his hand. He saw his mother, giving him those big hugs she always did. He saw her friends: Tyson, Grover, Thalia... and he saw Annabeth. Annabeth and her blonde hair. Annabeth and her grey eyes. Annabeth. Just Annabeth.

He felt like he was twelve again. Innocent and gentle. Fragile and only just learning. Only just learning the horrors of war. 

This was different from anything else he's ever seen. These were not monsters. These people didn't disappear into golden dust. They stayed. The scars stayed. The wounds never healed. And when they died, they never came back. 

This was the reality of war.

* * *

The news was on every hour of every day, so was the radio. And a pile of drachmas sat on her desk, just in case. 

She hardly ever slept and when she did, she'd wake up screaming from a nightmare and there'd be no one to hold her and tell her that everything was okay. There was no one left to kiss her hair and whisper little comforting words in her ear until she fell asleep again. 

She'd wake up and she'd stay awake, staring at the clock, holding on to her neckless, clutching the one bead with the green trident. 

Even when he managed to Iris Message her in secret at night, it wasn't enough. She wanted him next to her. She wanted to hold him and make sure he was really there. She could see the faded scars on his face. She could see his broken eyes. But he still smiled. He never once stopped smiling.

She called him Seaweed Brain, but he wasn't really an idiot. He knew; smiling made it better.

* * *

It was the only thing that kept him from breaking down completely. The only thing that stopped him from crying. Writing helped. He wrote letters. Even with his dyslexia, even with the knowledge that they may never find their way home. He wrote letter for Annabeth. He wrote letters for his mom and Paul, and Jason and Piper. Leo, Hazel, Frank, Nico; he wrote to them all.

It was the only thing keeping him from going crazy.

But he wrote about happy times. Never the sad ones. Not one mention of war. He wrote about the things that made him laugh. He wrote about the things that were close to his heart. The only things that could help him. 

He wrote about happy times.

* * *

When they announced it on the news, she had been drinking tea. Her cup fell to the floor and broke into pieces. She fell with it. 

She broke down too. She cried. 

The shards underneath her dug into her skin but she didn't care. She could only feel one emotion and that was sadness. 

Heartbreak and sadness.

Then she heard the knock at the door. It kept going until she got up, back onto her feet. It didn't stop once until she pulled open the door. It kept her going.

 And there, on the other side... He was beat up and injured and he was broken but he was there. And he was smiling. Even his eyes were smiling. Still wearing the crisp uniform, still covered in blood, but he was there and that's all that mattered. 

She didn't think. For the first time in her life, she couldn't think. She ran and wrapped her arms around him. She held him close.

"You came back."

And she felt him smile into her cheek. "Don't I always?"