Alternatively

Once Too Long Ago

War.

It fit in their mouths perfectly, made to be spoken by their lips. The smoke billows and the fires rage and they inhale brimstone as they stare steadily at the burning city, panic rising from the streets. The night is ablaze as flames engulf rooftops and shine off the armor of rampaging front men, orange burning in grey and green gazes.

Thick clouds roll across the sky to seal the attack, thunder rumbling low in their bones as they search the horizon.

Glass shatters and Annabeth lifts her chin as the lieutenant commands a new fleet to cover the southern breach. Her defenses will hold strong long enough for the counterattack at dawn, she's made sure of it. It's taken quick thinking on her part; Percy knows every inch of the grounds, knows the contingency plans and every alternative.

He had grown up learning them.

It hadn't been a surprise, waking up to smoke and screams. Annabeth had been tossing the whole night, unable to sleep, her skin crawling and stomach turning in anticipation. A side effect she is expected to exploit.

As she scans the glowing horizon, she feels his eyes somewhere in the destruction.

"Ma'am, we must evacuate."

She just shakes her head; he expects that. He's counting on that.

Dozens, hundreds of citizens are being slaughtered in the streets, blood gleaming in the light as glassy eyes stare at the embers turned stars. Children are left wailing, if not trampled in the rush of fleeing masses, and braying animals scream as they suffocate in their pins. It's muffled as Annabeth stands behind glass, but Percy can hear it as he stands upwind. The cacophony drills spikes into his heart, a sob hanging over his head, caught on an updraft.

His front lines ravage the city, destroying on his command en route to the stronghold proudly standing above it all. The gates he knows, the hidden alleys exploited to plunder every inch of the land he once called home. It's a methodical destruction, a threat to empty the city before he razed it to the ground, but the order had not been given.

It boils his blood as soldiers continue to defend, because it means she intends to stand her ground, like the prideful fool he knows her to be.

He just would have thought the culling of their people would force her hand, because there's a heart beneath the stone; he once had it in his possession.

His grip tightens on his sword as he gestures for the second wave to advance.

Too long had they been dancing around each other, too long had their battles been remotely controlled. Their skin pricked as they finally neared each other once more, their mortality flickering. Anyone can kill them, anyone can hurt them, but when the moment mattered most, their bond prevented the inevitable.

When the skies had been blue and the wind sweet, harming each other had been out of the question. There was no point, what when they ran through the streets lined with merchants and raced to the lake. Everything was fresh, and they were breathless with jokes and childish bickering. White sheets billowed in cool summer breezes and they tackled each other in the fields, resilient in their youth.

But Kronos took down city after city, an unavoidable threat and an alluring promise.

A better future, a better life.

When Percy's mother was killed, Annabeth thought she could be there for him. Percy thought she would be by his side, that she would understand. Both sides were wrong, but which was less?

Annabeth still remembers the look on his face when he realized she wouldn't betray their home, her knife unable to pierce his skin.

Percy still remembers the pain that shot through his body as he tried forcing his blade through her neck, the edge refusing to draw blood.

"You said you'd be on my side."

They shiver, unknowingly watching the same building collapse in a fury of smoke and embers. Try and try, they had tried sending death to the other on behalf of their commanders to no avail. Each side wants the star player dead, but each side is denied their victory. Accusations of protecting their soulmate slash daily down their credibility, but Percy and Annabeth remain adamant: I will kill the general.

And this war will be over.

But, even through the screams and bloodshed, they aren't quite sure they wanted it to end. Because where will that leave them?

What will they be?

i need everyone (i mean everyone, even you, person who reads but never comments or votes or reads and thinks i'm a terrible writer) to tell me what your favorite dinner/meal to make is. i need to be an adult and eat something that isn't pasta 24/7.