Tread Lightly (PJO + Avangers) *FEM Percy*

A Million Dreams

Whoops, sorry forgot to name it! Glad I caught my mistake!

Also, shoutout to @gummiebearsontoast thank you for being the first to comment!

Sorry guys, this has been meaning to come out for a while. But, hey! It's officially summer! 

One last thing: I had to take a road trip that lasted a week with my family to a million different places, so yeah. That happened.

The fates don't care how hard the world pushes you down. If you complain, they let it push you harder. Like holding up the sky. If you wasted effort on trying to make it better, it got worse.

Being home was one of the best and the hardest things ever. Don't get me wrong, I love my family and all, but there were so many memories there. Most of them good, but some I didn't want to resurface at the moment.

I look at the framed photos above the fireplace. One sticks out to me the most. It's a photo of two kissing on the beach, forever frozen and locked in the position. I found it sweet and kind of disgusting at the same time. Though, I then realized it was me. Me and Annabeth kissing, standing in the shallow surf of the beach.

Mom put her hand on my shoulder, my little sister in her opposite hip. Paul came up on my other side and we stood there. For once, I actually felt like I could relax, maybe even act as if I had a normal family. 

—————————Skip-pity Skip some time.......—————

I walk into my old room, seeing the bed perfectly made and my desk neat and organized. It must have been Mom's doing. 

I plop down on to the desk chair and open a journal. I wrote down in Ancient Greek:

I miss you Annabeth. I want to see you, but I know that would mean I have to die, and I know you don't want that to happen. I hope you get this message through the fire like that time in that place many call hell—Tartarus. Well, I'll try my best to get this to you.

I burn the paper with a lighter. It lets off some smoke, but I air it out using the open window before the smoke detector can pick up on the grayish white substance.

I look at the clock. 1:45 a.m.. I sigh and cover myself in blankets. I haven't been getting much sleep lately, but it doesn't hurt to try. Before I know it, I'm drifting off into a restless sleep.

——–———–——–——–——–——–

My eyes snap open, my body in a cold sweat. 

My nightmare was a flashback to the past. The final battle between the Earth Mother and the seven of the prophecy going through my head once more before dissolving into a wave of pain, loss and misery.

What I thought was maybe a few hours was merely 37 minutes. I jump out of bed, knowing I won't get anymore sleep. I rip my bedsheets off the mattress because they are covered in sweat. I walk to the linen closet in the bathroom, grab new sheets and throw the old ones in the washer. 

I go to the kitchen and sit at the table, not eating anything. Nightmares have ruined that. I can only eat a little bit in the morning a few hours after waking. I can't eat before bed because I will throw it back up from the demigod dreams that I have.

It being around 2:30 a.m., I just let myself sink like a shipwreck in the ocean deep into my thoughts. 

I think about the battle, of Tartarus, but mostly Annabeth.

I miss spending time with Annabeth, even if it was going on quests, or sailing a Celestial Bronze Warship of Doom across the Atlantic Ocean to fight a supernatural being that was literally slumbering for eons and created the ball of floating rock in the sky that humans depend on.

I know my mom will worry about me and try to get me to talk to her, but I don't want her to tell Paul and have them carry the weight of my problems on their shoulders. To them it will feel like me holding up the sky, but to me it feels like holding the Doors of Death closed. Hard, but still manageable.

I stand up and go to the mahogany cabinets, grab a glass and fill, it with water. Sipping on it, I dive back into my thoughts.

✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

Reread by author: Friday, September 3, 2021

No changes made.