keep it together anyway: a world without percy [PIPABETH SCENES!]

eleven: past the end

Annabeth felt warm and weightless, as though she were in a hot tub.

Should I open my eyes? She wondered. I know I'm dead.

"Go ahead," said a bored voice. "Open your eyes. Ahhhhh! And all that. Whatever."

Annabeth nearly frowned at the voice's tone, but the feeling of floating, warm, soft air buoying her was so blissful that she almost didn't mind.

She opened her eyes, and recognized a familiar face. "Charon?"

He was wearing silk Italian robes. Annabeth grinned. "Did Hades finally give you a raise?"

Charon shrugged. "Enough so that I could dress myself properly." He glanced back at Annabeth.

"You probably have a million questions- and to answer one of them, I'm not answering any more." He rowed down the black river.

Annabeth pushed herself to her elbows. "Where are we?"

Charon sighed. "I just told you that I wasn't answering any more questions. Pesky demigods," he grumbled. Something on his wrist, a pager-type device, made a zapping noise, and he twitched. "Fine," Charon said. "You're on the way to Elysium. One-way trip. Paradiso. Whoop-de-doo, congratulations."

Annabeth's jaw hit the ground as they passed through a pair of towering golden gates.

"Wha-"

Charon shook his head. "No more! I'm sure all your other little demigod friends will have answers for you."

He came to a stop at what looked strangely like a ticket booth. "Get out here."

Annabeth pushed herself to her feet and looked down at her abdomen, where she had been stabbed. As if reading her mind, Charon said, "Nope. All injuries disappear. Good as new. Now, get out. I have another trip to make before my shift is over."

Annabeth stepped out of the boat in a daze, surveying her surroundings. It was the strangest thing, and it made Annabeth's head spin, but the landscape seemed to be a never-ending change of settings. It was as if she was looking at Camp Half Blood, Camp Jupiter, the Athena Cabin, the pegasus stables on the Argo II, and the bottom of the lake all at the same time. It gave her goosebumps and an even warmer feeling.

"I bet it looks the same to me," said a voice to her left.

Annabeth closed her eyes.

Footsteps sounded on the grass, and a familiar touch brushed her wrist.

"Hey, Wise Girl."

Annabeth didn't open her eyes.

"It's not really you."

The voice sounded offended. "Well, maybe if you'd open your eyes, you could figure it out."

Annabeth didn't want to open her eyes. She was afraid that if she did, she would wake up screaming back on the Argo II in her cabin, trapped in a cycle of pain and grief.

"Annabeth, for gods' sakes, this isn't a dream. Look at me."

Annabeth blinked and opened her eyes. She inhaled sharply.

His tousled black hair waved in the nonexistent wind, sea green eyes sparkling. A couple of crooked teeth showed as he grinned lopsidedly. He took her hand, rough calluses brushing against her palm. "Miss me?"

Annabeth stared. After a second, she reached out with her other hand to touch his face. An inch away, she stopped.

"Are you real?"

He pulled her closer to him and took her free hand. He placed it on his cheek.

"You tell me."

Annabeth stopped breathing. Tears welled up in her eyes.

"Percy."

She tackled him to the ground, wrapping her arms around him so tightly because he was everything, the only thing that had ever existed. Percy laughed against her lips, and Annabeth tasted tears. Whose were they? It seemed like the heavens were spinning just for them, fireworks exploding in a harmony of amazement, clouds flying by at the speed of sound, every color blindingly turned to white. Nothing else mattered, nothing but the feel of his damp hair between her fingers, the way he smelled of ocean air and the taste of his salty lips.

"I love you," she whispered. "I love you. I love you. I love you." Each time she said it, her voice got increasingly louder. Annabeth rolled over in the grass, Percy on his back and Annabeth kneeling over him. She was suddenly hit with a bout of déja vu. Percy smiled up at her.

"Remind you of anything?"

The memory hit her like a train. They were rushing at each other, ready to destroy anyone and anything that got in the way, and suddenly they collided like a hurricane, one with each other. And then Annabeth judo-flipped him, and he was on the ground, laughing at her death threats in front of a crowd of nervous Romans. The nerve.

Annabeth flashed back to the present. Percy was still grinning up at her. Annabeth bit her lip to keep from laughing. She put a knee on his chest and her elbow against his neck. 

"If you ever leave me again," she growled, "I swear to-"

Percy busted out laughing and pulled Annabeth's face down to his. They tumbled down a shallow valley and lay there in the grass for what seemed like forever, fingers intertwined again, humming to a song that only played in their hearts. And maybe it was forever. It was the afterlife, after all. 

"We're staying together," Percy whispered. 

Annabeth kissed him, soft and sweet. Their noses touched, and Annabeth opened her eyes. Two seas of green gazed back at her, seeing her pain and her torture, her past and their future. 

He loved her almost as much as she loved him.

"As long as we're together," she whispered back.