Beyond the Shining Lights (Percy Jackson Barbie's Mariposa AU)

Part 1 Prologue

Annabeth sat down at the edge of the city limits, near one of the lights and took out her book, reading the pages in the middle of the night. The nearest light was about 30 feet away, a tall stack of bluebell flowers emitting a soft blue light.

"You have got to be kidding me!" One of her friends said behind her. Annabeth turned around, having a hard time seeing her friend behind her light grey and blue wings, until she managed to see her friend Thalia, with her black hair, piercing blue eyes, black clothes, and dark blue wings, standing under the lights, her arms crossed as Thalia gave Annabeth an exhausted look. "You promised that you'd actually come this time!"

"I'm sorry, but you know me, Thalia." Annabeth said apologetically, setting down her book as she smoothed out her pastel blue skirt. "I don't mix well with parties."

"Yeah. I remember from the last time you went to a party. Sparkling punch everywhere. But you were supposed to hang out with me at the party tonight."

"Why would we hang out at the party if we're hanging out right here right now?"

"Annabeth..."

Annabeth giggled a bit, looking up at Thalia cautiously. "How'd you find me here?"

"You are the only fairy I know who actually wants to be as far away from the lights as humanly possible." Thalia said, shifting nervously under the bluebell lights. "Speaking of, why don't you come here and get away from the ledge?"

"But from over there, you can't see the stars."

Thalia looked up at the sky, then shook her head. "I can see them just fine over here."

"But you can't see all of them." Annabeth said, patting the ground next to her. "Come on... Take a seat."

"I don't know about this..."

"It's not dangerous. I do this all the time."

"That's what scares me." Thalia said cautiously, flying over and sitting down next to Annabeth as she looked up at the sky.  "Wow... I didn't know there were so many tiny stars."

"I know." Annabeth said, looking back at the city behind her. "It's called light pollution. The light makes all of the smaller stars seem invisible. The further you get away from the light, the clearer the stars become."

"That's... Kinda cool. Where'd you learn that?"

"From the multiple books I have in my house."

"Right, how can I forget that you have a floor to ceiling bookshelf in your house?"

Annabeth smiled, pointing up at the stars. "The stars even make shapes. See... There's Gemini, there's Lepus, there's Canis Major and Canis Minor, and that one, the one with the three stars in a row, that's Orion: The Hunter."

Thalia shrugged, staring up at the sky, quickly becoming more and more at ease. "I don't understand how you can see those shapes. It all seems so random."

"But it's the randomness that made the patterns." Annabeth said happily, pointing up at the sky.

"Okay... I can kind of see why you like this..." Thalia said uneasily.

All of a sudden, a flying Titan flew into Thalia's face. "Mmm... Butterfly fairies..."

"Ah!" Thalia shrieked, scrambling back under the bluebells. Annabeth stayed calmly where she was as the Titan saw the light, screamed, and flew away. Once the Titan was gone, Thalia glared at Annabeth from under the lights. "No, I don't understand why you like this! I don't understand at all! Do you understand the dangers of this!?"

"Thalia, the Titan saw the light. It's perfectly safe."

"But you understand why King Poseidon made the flowers light up, right?"

"Well... Yeah..."

"Tell me the story."

"Why?"

"So I make sure you understand."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "King Poseidon used his magic to put lights in the flowers to make sure we'd be protected in case-"

"Kronos and his evil Titans came to attack us because the Titans-"

"Love to eat butterfly fairies like us. I know. I've only read the story a hundred times Thalia."

"Then why do you insist on sitting at the very edge?"

"Don't you ever wonder what it's like beyond Halfling?"

"No!" Thalia said, shaking her head worriedly. "No I do not! You know, one of these days Luke is gonna come find you here and drag you back go civilization!"

"Oh please." Annabeth said, grabbing her book and stuffing it into her bag at her side. "Luke is too busy with his other duties to worry about me."

"It's too dangerous." Thalia said cautiously. "Now, it's getting late. You should probably go to bed."

"I will... In a bit."

"Annabeth..."

"I got to a really good chapter in my book..."

Thalia shook her head uneasily, turning around as she started flying away. "I will never understand what it is with you and books. I wish that you'd get your nose out of your books and start seeing what's in front of you."

Annabeth ignored her friend as she quickly finished her chapter. Once she was done, she stuffed her book into her bag and flew home as fast as she could. Once inside her house, her mother and father gave her a concerned look.

"Annabeth..." Her father said hesitantly. "What were you doing out so late?"

"There was a party tonight..." Annabeth said hesitantly.

"Yeah, but you weren't there." Magnus, Annabeth's cousin, said, flying into the main entrance of the house. He lived with them since both of his parents were dead.

"Annabeth..." Her mother said hesitantly. "When are you gonna start interacting with other people?"

"Someday... Just not today." Annabeth said, fake yawning as she made her way to her bedroom. "But I have to go to bed, so I'll see you tomorrow, night!"

"You better not oversleep tomorrow!" Her father yelled as she closed the door. "You do have your job!"

"I know!" Annabeth yelled, taking off her crown of light blue and white flowers and setting it by her bedside. As soon as her head hit the pillow, Annabeth fell asleep.

A/N: I bet a lot of you are wondering why I decided to write this of all things, especially since I haven't posted anything new on here in years. Well, the reason is this person right here: julia_rhapsody . I follow this wonderful human being on Tik Tok, where she announced that she was writing a Barbie AU of Princess and the Pauper (mainly because her audience demanded that it gets posted), but make it genderbend, but also make Percy Erika and Jason Anneliese, and then announced that she was writing other Barbie AUs, such as The Three Musketeers (Percy, Jason, Frank, and Leo), The Island Princess (Leo and Calypso), Magic of the Pegasas (Annabeth as the main girl and Thalia as the Pegasas because Thalia gets turned into a tree in the books), Fairytopia (Reyna as Elina because she doesn't need a man), and, the one that I am personally EXTREMELY excited about, Swan Lake (Hazel and Frank, but Frank is Odette). I'm bored in quarantine right now, so I took one of the movies she didn't mention, Mariposa, but made it Percy Jackson. I'm planning on doing these one draft and then post, so chances are, I will be posting in this at least once a day, twice if I get a chapter done in time. I am planning on including Mariposa and the Fairy Princess in this book too, so if you're excited, please keep reading, and if you want other stories like this, go follow her. I really enjoyed the first three chapters of The Prince and The Pauper.