The Death of a Hero | Percabeth Fanfic

The Ghost King

Feel free to comment any suggestions or anything in particular you liked/disliked. Comments and votes are the things that keep me going through the day so, thank you so much. Most chapters will be around 800-1200 words long, just a heads up :)

(CHARACTERS NOT OWNED BY ME)

(IF YOU'RE BORED AND WAITING ON MY LAZY BUTT TO UPDATE. GO READ MY OTHER STORY <3)

(Also I'm switching to first person again, fight me)

ANNABETH

I woke up in the Poseidon cabin, alone. Everything that happened the night before came crashing back- me thanking Jack, him gently carrying me back to my cabin. I smiled. Maybe everything would be okay. 

I decided to go look for Jack out on the beach; I still can't believe he'd rather sleep in the sand than in the Hermes cabin. Not that the Hermes cabin is much better. The pranks in there get to be insane. 

As I walked along the beach, I noticed a rut where it looks like Jack would have laid. That's weird, I thought, He doesn't seem like a morning person.  A couple feet away from the rut was Jack's camp T-shirt, haphazardly thrown away. I looked up; The sun was almost directly overhead. That's when I spotted Jack swimming quickly back onto the beach, where he hadn't been just a moment before.

"Where did you come from?" I asked, curious, when he finally made it onto the beach. He seemed surprised to see me. He didn't have his shirt on. 

"I thought we already discussed this. I have absolutely no idea," Jack joked, and grabbed his shirt. He shook the sand off and frowned at it, before shrugging it back on over his muscular frame. 

Jack gave me a lopsided grin; his head was tilted to one side. My heart fluttered. I scolded it, you've only known him for like a week. But my heart didn't want to listen, and kept doing tap-dances in my chest. 

Jack plopped down next to me and let out a breath. I held mine and silently celebrated him being so close to me, but masked it pretty well, if I do say. We sat like that, watching the waves, me feeling content for the first time in a long time. I looked over at Jack and saw that his eyes were closed, his breathing steady, and his chin drooping onto his chest. I figured he didn't get much sleep last night, doing gods only know what. 

I took a chance and hesitantly placed my hand over his. He snapped up, wide awake, and I cringed and quickly pulled my hand away, like an awkward teenager. 

Jack just laughed quietly and stubbornly grabbed the hand that I had not-very-gracefully pulled away from him. His hand was warm and comforting and just fit perfectly in mine. Like Percy's.

For the first time, I didn't tear up when I thought about his name. No, the thought made me happy. And if Percy were here, watching over me, I knew he'd be smiling too.

Jack looked over and grinned cheekily at me, squeezing my hand. 

"Oh, shut up," I grumbled, but I was blushing. We sat there like that for a few more minutes, enjoying the peace and quiet, Jack's hand still in mine, which warmed me right down to my toes. 

Then, Jack suddenly pulled me up, twirling me around and stopping me in a dip. His face was inches from mine, and my heart all but stopped. He held me there, smiling, and then spun me back up to my feet. My face felt hot, and I smiled shakily.

"Shall we?" Jack held out his hand for mine, and I gladly accepted it and we started walking to the pavilion. 

Then, we heard a scream. Not one of pain, no, one of frustration and anger. I saw Nico Di Angelo stomping over to us. I quickly let go of Jack's hand, and a hurt look crossed his face. I gave him a look that I hoped said, later. He simply nodded and studied the black haired person in front of him. I noticed Will behind him, looking confused and trying to calm Nico down. 

"YOU!" Nico shouted, and shoved his finger into Jack's chest. Jack was completely and utterly confused. 

"You left us. You left us all by ourselves. I can't believe the audacity you have, coming back here, you-" Nico said a few choice words in ancient greek. We were all stunned. Nico's eyes smoldered with uncontrollable rage, and he kept going, "You idiot! Do you have any idea how much I missed you! How much we all missed you? Your stupidity has hit an all-time high. I can't even..." 

Nico trailed off. His eyes turned glassy, his face became slack of all emotion. Jack, Will, and I were all at a loss for words. 

Finally, it was Will who spoke, "Nico? What's going on? Why are you yelling?"

His eyes cleared, and then Nico was visibly as confused as the rest of us. 

"W-Will? What's going on? Who's this..." he said, pointing at Jack.

"Uh... Apparently, the person who's stupidity has hit an all-time high?" Jack shrugged, and held out his hand. Nico shook it warily.

"I'm Jack. And the reason you were yelling at me is because..?"

Nico raised his eyebrow. "What do you mean, yelling at you? I've never met you before in my life." He turned around to face Will, grabbing his arm and clinging to it. 

"Babe? You came stomping over here, yelling at this guy. You don't remember?" Will said gently.

Nico looked actually pretty scared. "I- no, I don't. Last thing I remember is waking up this morning. How did we get here?" 

I sucked in a breath. Nico didn't remember coming over here and yelling at Jack? It was strange. He had seemed more angry than I'd ever seen him.

Nico looked terrified now. "Will, what's going on? What is everyone talking about?"

"It doesn't matter now. Let's just go back to bed," Will said gently, and grabbed his hand. Nico just melted into him. Will shot me a look over his shoulder; I could tell he was worried.

Jack turned to me, and raised an eyebrow. "Well that was... interesting?" 

I gave a short laugh, grabbed Jack's hand again, and led the way to the dining pavilion for breakfast. In my head, my gears were turning. I wonder if... No. It's too crazy. "Forget it." Shoot. I said that out loud.

"Forget what?" Jack stopped, a thousand questions probably running through his head.

"Nothing. It's fine." I tried to dodge the subject, leading him toward the pavilion once again, but he stopped me. 

"Seriously, Annabeth, tell me. Something's bothering you, and I want to know what it is," Jack insisted stubbornly. 

"It's just... Nico is a son of Hades. What if he recognized your soul, and the same thing that wiped your memories wiped his as well?" 

Jack stood and thought for a moment, his hand still in mine. I blushed involuntarily, but kept it there. 

"I suppose that would make sense. But which soul?" 

"No idea. Like I said, it doesn't matter. Let's eat breakfast." 

...

(Ok but solangelo is goalsss. Annabeth is smart af, what's new? luv ya <3)