Take Me Back (Percico) {Collab}

Chapter 3

Song: Wherever You Will Go by Charlene Soraia

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Nico's POV

One

Two

Three

My heart raced as I fell out of the shadows.

He's dead. He left me too. Everyone has left me. Now I'm really alone.

He can't be gone. He can't.

I was on my knees, and had both hands out in front of me to steady myself. The stone was cold. My fingers were numb. Fuck that, my heart was numb.

Breathe Nico, breathe. In. Out. In. Out. In. Out.

I drew in a shaky breath, and tried to keep myself together. This can't be happening. But it was. I felt a tear trail it's way my down my face. Then another. And another. I couldn't control them.

I can't control anything. It's pointless. I'm pointless. I've failed everyone. Even Percy.

The tears broke free, uncaring of how fast they flew. Before I knew it, my shirt was soaked, and my breathing ragged. I gasped for breath, and then scolded myself. Why did I deserve air, when Percy didn't? When Bianca didn't?

I coughed and gasped. Tears flooded my eyes and blocked my vision. I let out an angry scream, and punched the ground.

I was shaking uncontrollably, and a bit surprised that I hadn't summoned anything by accident. I choked on my tears, and forced them down. I had to be strong. To live for Percy too.

Yet Percy was my reason for living.

If I had to live for him, who would live for me?

I closed my eyes as exhaustion set in. I must have shadow traveled far. As the last tear stained my face, I fell into a blissful unconsciousness.

Annabeth's POV

In the next few days that passed, everything stopped mattering.

Life stopped mattering.

A dead sort of feeling settled gradually over me, and I hated it and loved it all at once; because it wasn't excruciating pain, but it was empty. So empty. So alone.

Camp life slogged along in a daze. Maybe the dead feeling was mine. Or maybe it was poisoning the very air we were breathing. Because who would ever have thought? Who would have thought Percy Jackson would ever run out of luck? And in such a way...?

He'd literally been to hell and back. How did he manage to get himself killed at a McDonald's?

What a Seaweed Brain...

...There was the pain, slicing through the emptiness like a reopened wound.

Gods, why couldn't I cry? My eyes had just dried up. But I needed to cry. I wanted to cry. It would be such a relief. And it felt almost like betrayal, being unable to shed a tear for Percy, for my tears had betrayed me. And it felt like I was holding up the sky again, except this time, I was alone.

So alone...

Damn it, stupid funeral preparations...

A sharp knock cut through the stillness of the empty Athena cabin, and I started up reflexively.

"Annabeth?" It was Will Solace, sounding utterly exhausted. "You in there?"

"Yeah." I got to my feet and tugged on shoes, snatching up my notebook and a few papers as I tied up my hair, and left the dark safety of the cabin. "Hey, Will."