Percabeth Proposals

Athena's Blessing

A/N: The picture above is the engagement ring.

Annabeth's P.O.V

100. That's how many days Percy had been away on his quest. He'd said he'd only be away for a week or two. After 3 weeks, I'd started to become concerned. Weeks passed and by day 70, everyone at Camp had accepted that he wasn't going to come back. I refused to listen to them. Everyday, I sat on the steps of the Big House and watched the entrance to Camp, waiting for him to return. I continued to do this everyday until the 100th day. It was raining but there I still sat, watching and waiting and waiting and watching. Chiron tried to get me to come inside but I refused, just staring at the horizon.

"Come on Seaweed Brain." I whispered "DON'T LEAVE ME LIKE THIS!" I began to cry "Please... Come back to me..." When I suddenly saw a figure limping past Thalia's tree. As they got closer, I could see that it was Percy. He'd finally come home. I ran to him in tears. He was really injured, but I could still see his face light up as he saw me and ran into my arms.
"Percy! You're back!" I screamed for help.
"Hey Wise Girl." He smiled weakly and then collapsed in my arms. Some of the Apollo campers from the infirmary rushed to where I was and helped me carry Percy to the infirmary. I sat by his side, holding his hand, as they patched up all of his injuries. As he slept (drooling, obviously), I watched him with a wave of peace washing over me. My Seaweed Brain was finally home.

Percy's P.O.V
100 days ago

Taking a deep breath, I pushed open the door and stepped into the room. The walls were covered with bookshelves and a single desk was sat in the centre of the room. At the desk was a woman who I recognised. She was beautiful yet so scary with flowing brown hair and wearing elegant grey robes under a full set of Greek battle armour, her helmet on the desk next to her. The one thing about her that wasn't scary were her stormy-gray eyes that, despite the anger that was radiating from them, I found calming and comforting as they were so like Annabeth's.
"Umm... Hello?" I nervously said "I-my dad.... Poseidon... Told me that you would be here..."
"And why were you looking for me, Perseus Jackson?"
"I... Uhh...Wanted to ask you.... I'm planning to propose to Annabeth but... I thought that... Well... I want your blessing."
"Perseus, you know that I've never approved of your relationship with my daughter." Athena stood up "But, as she is constantly pestering me about how I should accept that you two are dating, I will give you a chance to prove yourself."
"Th-thank you." I bowed.
Athena clicked her fingers and we were suddenly in her throne room.
"Have you ever heard of Phsyce and Eros?"
"Um... Yeah. He fell in love with her but she could never know who he really was. Then she was too curious and saw his true form and Eros had to leave her...."
"Very good, Percy. Eros' mum, Aphrodite, made Phsyce go through 4 trials to prove herself. I have four tests that you must pass to prove yourself. The first is your loyalty. I have spent enough time with all of these cheating gods to see that loyalty is one of the most important things in a marriage. One look at Hera and Zeus will tell you that. You have to go on a quest. You can choose 3 items to take with you."
"Um... Riptide, my shield from Tyson and.... My camp necklace."
She seemed surprised at this "Why that?"
I pulled out the necklace and showed her the ring that was on the necklace along with my camp beads "I can't risk anything happening to this."
"Very well." She raised an eyebrow. Once again, she clicked her fingers and everything went black.
******
"Hello? Is anyone there?" I called.
A light appeared in front of me, illuminating the paths in front of me. Rachel was stood in-between the two roads.
"Rachel? What are you doing here?"
"You tell me." She winked.
"Where-Where are we?"
"Does that really matter? All that matters..." She stepped closer to me "Is you and me."
"Umm...What are you... Doing?"
"Cut the games, Percy. We both know what's going on." She placed a hand on my shoulder.
"We...We do?"
"Yes... We do." She leaned closer to me, her face inches from mine.
"Umm... Rachel..."
She grabbed my shirt and pressed her lips against mine.
"Percy!" I heard an indignant shout from behind Rachel.
Pushing her away from me, I saw Annabeth standing at the end of the path to my left. Mouth agape and tears running down her face, she turned around and ran away.
"ANNABETH!" I yelled, trying to run after her but Rachel held me back. Somehow, she was much stronger than usual. A few seconds later, Annabeth screamed.
"LET ME GO! I HAVE TO GO TO ANNABETH!" I struggled.
"Through the path to the left, your loved one is in peril." Rachel said in a voice that I recognised to be the Oracle's "But through the path to the right, your Camp is under fatal attack."
"What?"
"Choose wisely, Perseus." Rachel said, her voice now sounding like Athena's.
Without thinking, I raced down the path to the left. Around 100 meters down the path, there was a humongous pit that I knew led directly to Tartarus. I could sense it. Annabeth was hanging over the edge, clutching to the ledge.
"Annabeth!" I ran to her.
"Go away Percy! I'd rather fall into Tartarus than see your cheating face again!" Tears ran down her face as she let go.
"No!" I grabbed her hands "You don't understand Annabeth. I didn't do anything!"
"Really(!)"
"No, seriously. It was all Rachel. I would never do anything like that to you. I love you so much." I pulled her up. As soon as we were both on solid ground, I pulled her into my arms and kissed her.
"I love you too, Seaweed Brain."
We stayed like that for a minute or two until I remembered what Rachel (in Athena's voice) had said to me.
"We have to go! Camp is under attack."
"Come on then, let's go!" She leapt to her feet.
We ran together, all the way down the  path until we reached the edge of Camp Half-Blood. For a few seconds, we stood by Thalia's tree and watched the chaos unfold. A monster army was marching on the Camp, leaving behind a trail of destruction. The buildings were burning, well, what was left of them. And leading the army was my old enemy, Polybotes, this time trying to attack my other Camp. All of our friends were backed up by The Zeus Cabin, desperately trying to fight back the overwhelming tide of monsters.
"We might already be too late..." I murmured.
"Don't say that!" Annabeth ran down the hill towards Polybotes.
As we got closer, I saw how terrible all of our friends looked. Reyna was leading the army, acting confident, but she could barely stand. Her sword trembled in her hand and her dogs, Argentum and Aurum, were lying on the floor. Aurum was twisted and half melted, Argentum was standing over him, trying to protect him from all of the monsters despite his missing eye and leg. Mellie was hidden behind a pillar, little Chuck in her arms, with Coach Hedge defending them, decapitating any monster that came close with his baseball bat. Grover and Juniper was leading the charge of the nature spirits, willing to defend their forest at any cost. Behind them was Chiron leading the Apollo archers in shooting volleys of arrows at the monsters but no matter how many they killed, more just kept on coming.
There was a makeshift infirmary behind the Zeus cabin where Will was rushing around, tending to the wounded as best he could with his siblings. Nico was at the entrance to the infirmary, leaning on a post with his arm in a sling, looking like he was about to pass out, summoning zombies and skeletons to defend the wounded. Occasionally, Will and Nico would glance up at each other and I could see the fear in their eyes. If they died here, neither of them would ever have admitted their feelings to the other. In the forest I saw arrows coming out of seemingly nowhere until I realised it was the Hunters. Thalia herself was going up against Polybotes, side by side with her brother, but they both looked exhausted. They couldn't keep this up for much longer. Frank was an elephant, knocking monsters to the side, with Hazel riding on top of him, using her powers to pull the monsters underground or make them think that their allies were demigods. Piper was locked in a duel with a mortal woman who I guessed to be Medea, due to all of the charmspeaking they were doing. Calypso was unconscious on the floor, probably from using her powers too much (she still wasn't too good at controlling the winds for long periods of time) and Leo was next to her, fully on fire, burning anyone who got close.
Me and Annabeth reached them just in time.
"Percy! Annabeth! You came!" Thalia exclaimed. Polybotes struck down at her and knocked her to the ground. She didn't get up.
"Thalia!" Annabeth screamed, running to her. Jason got there first.
"It's ok. She's only unconscious." He tried to stand up but fell to the ground.
Annabeth and I locked eyes. Together, we charged at Polybotes.
*****
All of it disappeared and I was back in Athena's throne room.
"No! Let me go back! I need to help them!"
"It's not real. Just an illusion." Athena said in disdain "Calm down."
"It... It seemed so real."
"You... Passed the first test. Now for the second. The test of power. You're going to be sent back into that illusion and fight Polybotes. Good luck."
Once again, I found myself in front of Camp Half-Blood, charging at Polybotes.
Annabeth drew her dagger and I uncapped Riptide. We didn't even need to speak, we instinctively knew what each other would do. I threw a stone I had picked up from the ground at Polybotes, hitting him in the eye, distracting him so Annabeth could put on her Yankees cap without him noticing and vanish.
"Poseidon spawn" He spat "Your friends, your puny camps that you call home, your whole world, they will all burn and you will watch, the only survivor."
"Talk less, fight more." I leapt up and stabbed Riptide into his thigh, spilling golden ichor over the ground.
He roared in pain and stabbed at me with his spear. I jumped out of the way just in time and he lunged again. Soon, I was jumping and rolling out of the way, slowly leading him to the borders of New Rome. I searched desperately for Terminus, but I couldn't find him anywhere.
"Ha! Do you really think I'm that stupid?" Polybotes mocked "You can't kill me that way again."
"Fine, I guess we'll have to do this the hard way." I leapt up as high as I could, propelling myself forwards by jumping on his leg. Riptide reached his shoulder and I stabbed, hard.
"RAAARRGH!" He pulled Riptide out and threw it to the floor along with me.
"You can't defeat me alone, Perseus. You have no god to help you."
I smiled slightly through my pain "Maybe not, but I have a secret weapon."
"What!? What is it?!"
I spotted Annabeth on his shoulder. How she got there, I had no idea, but he hadn't noticed her yet.
"Her name's Annabeth. And she's my amazing girlfriend."
He turned around but before he could hit Annabeth, she grabbed onto the edge of his breastplate, swung down so that her hand gripping onto his armour was the only thing stopping her from falling and stabbed him in the back.
Polybotes pulled her off of his back and threw her to the ground.
"ANNABETH!" I started to run to her but she propped herself up and I could just about hear her say "I'm fine... Deal with him."
Praying silently to Poseidon for help, I leapt up, all of the water from the Little Tibre rising behind me. It smashed into him with such force that he fell to the ground. I never would have been able to control that much water with that much force. Poseidon must be helping me. I plunged Riptide into his chest and he dissolved, the water dragging his remains into the river and washing them away until all that was left was Annabeth's knife.
I picked it up and looked over to where she was sitting "You dropped this." I smirked.
*****
"Well... You survived." Athena said, her words dripping with disappointment. "You've proved you're a good hero, but are you smart enough for my daughter?"
I tensed. I knew I was nowhere near as smart as Annabeth. She knew everything and was the smartest person I knew, even with her dyslexia.
"I have 3 riddles for you to solve."
I silently sighed in annoyance. Give me giants or titans any day. They're easier to deal with.
"I'll give you an easy one first; I am everywhere. I'm inside you, I surround you. I can be seen by you. I can kill you, yet you still play in me. What am I?"
I smiled, glad that I actually knew the answer for this one "It's water, of course!"
Athena smiled slightly "Not bad, Percy. Okay, next one. What word in the English language does the following: The first 2 letters signify a male, the first 3 letters signify a female, the first 4 letters signify a great, while the entire word signifies a great woman. Which word is it?"
I think back to when Annabeth had been trying to teach me Greek Mythology. She'd said something like this to me. I had my answer and double checked in my head. Now I was sure I was right "Heroine."
Athena raised an eyebrow "Not bad at all, Percy. Final one: You see a boat filled with people. It has not sunk, but when you look back again, you don't see a single person on the boat. Why?"
I'm tempted to say because I pulled them onto land with my powers but I had a feeling that that wasn't the answer she was looking for. I thought carefully. If I got this wrong, I wouldn't be able to marry Annabeth and I couldn't live with myself then. There were so many reasons that it could be, like they'd all jumped off the boat, but I had to be smarter than that. Nervously, I clutched the ring strung onto my Camp necklace and the answer suddenly came to me "They were all married!" I practically shouted.
"... Maybe I underestimated you, Perseus Jackson. You're definitely not the same bumbling idiot who walked into Olympus with Zeus' lightning bolt years ago. One last task. It's quite simple, really." She spread her arms "What was the purpose of each of these tasks?"
I almost blurted out what I was thinking, but caught myself just in time. Slowly, thinking about what I was saying, I said "Years ago, you said my fatal flaw was my loyalty. The first task was testing my fatal flaw, to see if I would save Annabeth or Camp, but I managed to save both..."
She nodded for me to continue.
"The second task wasn't about my power, it was about my bravery and what I would to protect Annabeth and the third task was a distraction, to try and make me not notice the hidden reasons for each task and make me fail this task."
"You are more than what meets the eye... Annabeth seems to love you and I can tell that you love her... You have my blessing."
Before I could even thank her, the room around me disappeared and I was on a street in Virginia, for some reason. I'd assumed maybe a day or 2 had passed, but it had been almost 3 months. My heart almost stopped. I could think about only one thing; Annabeth.
*****
"And so, for the past 2 weeks, I've been making my way back here." I finished my story.
"Percy, you did all of that just to get my mum's blessing?!" She kissed me.
"Well, the tasks weren't even the hardest thing. The hardest thing was being apart from you. I can't imagine what it was like for you!"
She smiled, tears in her eyes.
"So..." I got up from my infirmary bed and got down on one knee. "I was planning to do this more romantically but I've already waited 3 months. I don't think I can last a second longer." I took the blue ring off of my necklace. "Annabeth Chase, will you do me the honour of being my wife?"
"Of course!"
I placed the ring on her finger and kissed her.
As she wrapped her arms around me, hugging me so tight it kinda hurt, I could hear Athena's voice in my head saying Treat her well.