Queen of Atlantis - Rewritten Entirely

Chapter 14

The battle at the camp was not as short-lived as Percy would have preferred, but it was not nearly as long as he had worried it would be.

As he'd expected, 600 soldiers were more than enough to surround and destroy the Tartarian Prince's camp. They had even managed to stop Kronos from disappearing which was a miracle on its own because no one knew what he looked like.

At first, Percy had thought the man was just another soldier. His scythe had been difficult to fight against, but Percy had managed. The blond at his side had been the one who finally revealed his identity. It was moments after the soldiers had surrounded them and ordered them to surrender, yet Percy still wasn't quite sure how it had happened.

"Is Annabeth okay?"

The blond's question had nearly made Percy drive his sword through his stomach.

Whipping around, Percy brought his sword up under the man's chin. "How do you know her?"

"We were friends once."

A soldier held Percy back, stopping him from attacking the man in front of him.

"You brought her here," he snarled. He fought against the two soldiers holding him back, nearly breaking through their hold until two more joined them.

"I didn't think it would go like this," the man said quietly.

Percy didn't believe a word he said and was about to say so, but the man beside the blond let out a chilling chuckle.

"You fool," he sneered. "You were a fool."

There was a flash of something to his left and suddenly the guards holding Percy back all raised their swords. In front of him, the man had swung his scythe without any warning and had very nearly succeeded in hitting Percy.

As Percy raised his own sword to knock him back, the blond man jumped between them. Rather than raise his dagger at Percy, though, he brought it down onto the attacker's shoulder sharply.

The man let out a pained scream but it was short-lived. A second later, the blond withdrew his dagger from the man's shoulder and slit his throat in one smooth motion.

Percy watched dumbfounded as the man's body crumpled forward and the blond was wrestled to the ground by several of his soldiers.

"Tell her I killed him," the blond gasped, writhing on the ground under the weight of so many soldiers. "I didn't know what he would do."

Percy's eyes flickered to the body in front of him at the blond man's desperate plea and made the connection.

"Kronos," he murmured.

Turning to the nearest soldier, he ordered him to wrap the body to take to Athens and burn while the rest of them took those that remained captive. Once he was satisfied, he all but sprinted back to the ship.

He had trusted Jason to take Annabeth to the ship safely. He had. There had just been a growing sense of panic in his chest from the moment he saw her pass out and leave. Hours later and he still had yet to make sure she was alright.

The ongoing battle had helped distract him some, but never enough to stop the tightness in his chest and the unease that followed him like a shadow. She had been shaking in his arms and then she had been motionless in Jason's. There was only so much he could take in a day.

There were already a few soldiers that had returned to the ships to tend to their own injuries or take care of prisoners. At Percy's insistence, prisoners were being taken to the other two ships. Not a single one was to step foot onto the Argo.

Scrambling up the ladder and onto the ship, Percy's eyes narrowed in on the door to his quarters. Without offering a word to either the captain or surrounding soldiers, he pushed open the door to his quarters and sighed in relief at the sight of Annabeth lying on the narrow bed.

Even asleep, there was a small grimace on her face and she looked uncomfortable, but he could see the shallow rise and fall of her chest that assured him she was alive.

Across the room, his eyes fell on Jason.

"Did Will look at her?" Percy whispered, dropping down beside the bed and very carefully taking her hand in his.

"Yeah." Jason didn't elaborate immediately and Percy's eyes narrowed. "She, uh, has a pretty messed up ankle. He mentioned something about potentially fractured ribs too. And the bruising around her neck is new."

Percy's eyes drifting to her neck where light purple marks were slowly getting darker. He hadn't noticed the marks when he had first seen her which meant they were only going to get worse. 

"Thank you," Percy murmured, dismissing Jason silently.

When the door clicked shut behind him, Percy dropped his head to Annabeth's uninjured shoulder and took a shaky breath.

"Percy?" she breathed. With a grimace, she opened her eyes and Percy lifted his head to look at her. "Percy."

A small smile spread across her face and her fingers twitched in his hand.

"How do you feel?" Percy whispered, pressed a soft kiss to her jaw and one to her brow. "Jason told me what the doctor said."

"He gave me something for the pain," Annabeth assured him. "I hardly feel it."

The way she grimaced as she tried to shift on the bed made Percy doubt the honesty of her statement.

"Lay with me?" she whispered, squeezing his hand tightly.

"You're in pain," he reminded her. Annabeth's eyes narrowed and she let go of Percy's hand to shift to one side of the bed as if to prove him wrong.

As she sat up and pressed down with her injured shoulder, she let out a hiss of pain that made Percy's stomach drop. He darted forward, immediately trying to help her so she wouldn't end up injuring herself further. When she was satisfied with where she was lying, she settled back down and patted the bed beside her. Percy still hesitated.

"You should sleep," he tried to argue. 

"So should you," she bit back. Percy's eyes narrowed. "Jason told me you haven't been sleeping. Or eating. The least you can do is lie down with me."

With a sigh, Percy got up off the floor and very carefully laid down beside her.

"You'll tell me if I hurt you?" he asked softly. 

Annabeth hummed in reply, wriggling until her head was on his chest.

"You never would," she murmured, closing her eyes slowly. Before Percy could think of a reply, she was asleep.