Remember Me

Chapter Four

Percy's POV

By the time they arrived in the forum, the entire crowd of demigods from before was back. All of them were staring at the Greek warship still hovering above the camp.
Percy found Annabeth standing near Reyna, only a couple feet away from the ladder.
Ready to make a quick getaway. He thought.
He grabbed her shoulder and spun her around a little more violently than he meant to.
"What the hell do you think-" he started, but she interrupted him.
"You think we planned this? I don't know what's going on any better than you do. All I know is that something's definitely going on with Leo."
The short Latino kid that had arrived on the ship, claiming to be the "Supreme Commander", had gone back on the ship to give Octavian a tour. Of course, he didn't need one since he wouldn't be going anyway, but everyone knew Reyna sent him up there just to get him out of her hair. No one minded either.
Annabeth was right. When he looked up, Leo had some crazed look in his eyes, his arms moving the ballistae jerkily as if he couldn't control them.
"We don't know what's going on, but we need to do something quickly or the Romans will see this as a war threat and attack," she said.
As if on cue, Octavian appeared on the side of the ship and began climbing hurriedly down the ladder.
"The Greeks are attacking! He fired on our camp!" he shouted, as if that wasn't already obvious.
The Romans, however, took that as permission to fight. They surged at Jason, Piper, and Annabeth as if they'd been waiting for this moment. Some looked at Percy warily, as if waiting to see who's side he was on.
Percy looked at Annabeth about to ask if he, Frank, and Hazel should go with them and embark on their quest. She nodded before he got the chance, as if she could read his mind. Then she went back to deflecting her attackers.
Percy turned to Hazel and Frank, who were looking at him expectantly.
"We're going with them," he said.
He joined Annabeth in the battle.

::::::::::

The battle afterward was a blur: Hazel had summoned Arion, Frank turned into a dragon, Jason was hit with a brick, and Piper somehow made Romans back off just by telling them to. Percy and Annabeth fended off attackers while fighting back-to-back, a feeling that was strangely familiar to Percy.
When they'd finally boarded the ship, leaving Hazel and Frank to catch up later, Leo had been in a sort of trance. Annabeth fixed that by slapping him across the face.
Leo, who seemed to be perfectly fine now, messed with some buttons on an odd-looking control panel, and the ship began rapidly gaining altitude.
Piper brought Jason below deck, as he was out cold from his encounter with the brick.
Percy sat down against a wall to catch his breath and was joined a few moments later by Annabeth.
"We didn't plan that, I swear," Annabeth said, once her breathing had returned to normal.
"But then why--?"
"I don't know, but--"
"I know you didn't plan it, okay?"
She nodded. "Whatever it was, I've never seen anything like it, and I've been dealing with monsters for more than half of my life."
"How did you do that?" He asked.
"Do what?"
"In the forum. I was gonna ask if me, Hazel, and Frank should--"
She rolled her eyes. "'Hazel, Frank, and I.'"
"...What?"
"Nothing. Grammar. Sorry, keep going."
"Okay? I was gonna ask if Hazel, Frank, and I should come with you guys, and you nodded like you read my mind or something," he glanced over at her. "Is that, like, an Athena kid thing?"
She laughed. "No. I'm just good at reading people, I guess. Especially you."
"Why me?"
She looked at him.
"Oh, right. 'Cause I was... yeah," He felt his cheeks grow pink. Gods, he hated when he did that.
They sat in awkward silence until he realized that this was exactly the type of "free-time" Frank had been talking about. And who knew when the next time they could relax would be?
   He cleared his throat.
   "Uh, remember earlier when you asked me if I remembered anything else?"
   She nodded.
   "I do. Only a couple of things, and they don't make any sense. I got them when you... you know," He made a half-hearted hugging motion with his arms. "I was wondering if you could..." He trailed off again. He couldn't form the right words. That was unlike him. He had always been a big talker. So why did he feel so nervous?
   Annabeth, thank the gods, read his mind again. "You were wondering if they had anything to do with me? If I could help you figure them out?"
   "Exactly," he smiled.
   "Okay," She sat up. "Hit me."
   He blinked. "Sorry?"
   "Hit me. It's a phrase, Seaweed Brain," She swatted the back of his head, then seemed to realize what she'd done and blushed.
   "Oh. Well, the first one, it felt like I was in some sort of truck. It smelled really bad and--"
   "The Kindness International Truck," Annabeth said, smiling at the memory.
He stared at her blankly.
"On our first quest, we were trying to find Zeus's lightning bolt. Someone stole it, and we thought it was Hades. We were trying to get to the entrance to the Underworld, which is in California. Ares found us along the way and told us he could get us a ride to Vegas in exchange for a favor. Of course, being Ares, he was as unhelpful as possible and our 'ride' was some animal transportation truck that was the polar opposite of kind. But the back of the truck was where we first really talked."
Ares. Percy hated Ares. And now he finally remembered why. "Ares tricked us. He stole the bolt."
"Right!" Annabeth smiled. "And...?"
Percy tried, but nothing was there. As quickly as the memory had come, it was gone. He shrugged helplessly.
Annabeth sighed. "Okay, what about the others?"
"Then there was this immense pain, like I was holding the heaviest thing possible, and it shouldn't have even been possible for me to hold something that huge."
"Atlas's mountain. I was kidnapped and taken there as... bait. He tricked me into holding the sky for him until Atlas could capture Artemis and trap her instead. Then you came with some other questers and took it from the goddess. That's where these are from," She touched the grey streak in his hair gently, and he noticed for the first time a matching strand in her ponytail.
He had a feeling that the "he" she had mentioned wasn't the Titan, but he didn't press her.
"Anything coming to you?" she asked.
He didn't expect anything, but he tried anyway.
"Someone... someone died that night. On our side," he remembered.
Annabeth nodded solemnly and looked at the sky, where the stars were beginning to appear.
"Zoë. The leader of Artemis's Hunt. 'One shall perish by a parent's hand.'"
Percy knew that the last part was from a prophecy, but none he recognized. He looked at the stars for a minute with Annabeth, then continued.
"Then I was on an island of some sort, but I didn't want to be there. I felt like I belonged somewhere else, with someone else," Percy was pretty sure that meant that he had wanted to be away from Annabeth, but he shared the memory anyways.
Annabeth's jaw clenched ever so slightly.
"Ogygia," she said. "Calypso's island. You were marooned there after you exploded Mount St. Helens."
She glanced at Percy and laughed, probably at the look of shock on his face.
"I... blew up a mountain?"
"It's a long story," she said.
"Were you stuck with me?"
"Hm? No. Only men end up on Ogygia. Calypso is forced to fall in love with them. That's her curse."
"I don't understand. How does that memory have anything to do with you, then?"
"Maybe the memories just came because I was something familiar. Or maybe..." she smiled slightly and shook her head.
"What?" Percy asked.
"Nothing," she said, clearly trying not to smile.
"Hey, you're supposed to be helping me with my memories. Any information is helpful information."
She began fidgeting with the laces on her Converse.
"You said you felt like you wanted to be with someone else, right?"
Percy nodded.
"Well maybe... I was that someone else." It was too dark to tell, but Percy was almost positive that she was blushing. He was definitely positive that he was blushing.
"Oh. Well... the last one: It felt like someone was pulling a string attached to my back, right here," he pointed to the small of his back. "And I was drowning. But I don't drown."
Annabeth's eyebrows furrowed. "The curse of Achilles. You chose the small of your back as your vulnerable spot. But what that has to do with me... I don't know. Maybe the memories don't all include me specifically. It could have been that I was one of the only people you told about your Achilles spot."
Percy knew it wasn't that. Another memory had come to him while talking to Annabeth. Nico was telling him to focus on something that kept him anchored to this world. Then he saw Annabeth reaching to pull him out of the water, only to discover that he was still in the Underworld with no one but Nico. She was what kept him rooted to the Earth.
Something told him not to share that with Annabeth.
"I don't know. Maybe it's just that you brought back familiar memories, like you said."
"Yeah..." she said. Then her eyes lit up. "I have an idea. To help with your memories. Come on."
She stood up, offering him her hand. He took it and she pulled him up.
They were now standing with their faces inches apart, hands still clasped between them. Annabeth gazed at him, almost longingly, for a few seconds. Then she blinked and let go of his hand.
"Um, this way," She began walking down the stairs Piper had gone down.
Percy stood there for a moment longer, wondering why he had felt the same longing that he'd seen in her eyes.
He shook his head and followed her below deck.

Hey guys! This chapter's a little long cause I got carried away so I hope you don't mind.
Sorry if some parts of this seem a little rushed, I was just trying to get to the Percabeth parts since they're the main story and we all know what happens in MoA anyways. I know of the stuff I include (like the hair streaks) isn't canon but I just wanted to include that since this is technically "fiction"
Also, yes I included Brason. How could I not?
Hope you're all doing well! <3