Title: Falling

Rating: T

Pairing: AnnabethxPercy

Word Count: 1027

Beta: N/A

Summary: Before the fall, Annabeth classified her existence into two categories: when she didn't know she was a demigod, and when she did. Now, she had two entirely different categories, Before the Fall, and After the Fall.

Before the fall, Annabeth classified her existence into two categories: when she didn't know she was a demigod, and when she did. Now, she had two entirely different categories, Before the Fall, and After the Fall.

She was always asked if she remembered being in Tartarus. It didn't matter who asked, her response was always, "I don't remember anything except flashes." Even to Percy, Annabeth looked them all in the face and lied.

In reality, every detail was so clear and vivid. She hadn't had a good night's sleep in weeks. She couldn't tell Percy, his memories were weighing him down too, and troubling him with her own nightmares was something she wouldn't do.

She remembered falling

down,

down

and down and wondering if this was what Alice felt, down the rabbit hole. But Alice wasn't dropped into hell.

The landing was so abrupt and jolting and it made her realize where she was.

She remembered the whispers and hisses in the dark.

"Him. He slew me yearssss ago."

"Oh pleassse, don't you remember her? Ssshe sstill has that damn knife."

The clutches of the monsters on her arms. The scars are still there; no amount of ambrosia will help.

She remembered stumbling around blindly; the only light being emitted was from her dagger and Percy's sword. Darkness crept in every corner.

What stood out most in her mind was when they finally escaped, not without their inner demons of course. And she turned to look at Percy and all she saw on his face was shattered, green eyes. The light and life was gone.

There were nights when she tossed and turned, plagued when harsh memories. When she awoke, she was back in the harsh reality.

Annabeth hated everything she remembered. She detested the fact that her painful memories were replacing her happy ones. She could barely recall what exact shade of blue the lake had been when Percy kissed her. She could barely remember Luke's face and Leo's laugh. Was Thalia's eyes electric blue?

Annabeth was strong though, Percy as well. Everyday, the awful flashbacks were lessening. Gaia's laugh wasn't as loud in her mind anymore. The feeling of helplessness, loss and desperation were fading. The darkness seemed a little lighter.

It was partly because of Percy. The nights she'd awaken clutching her knife and slashing the darkness, he was there. Whether as her temporary punching bag, or the shoulder to cry on. Because he was suffering too, and probably more.

But Annabeth didn't know what he was feeling. Percy was more closed off now. Sometimes she would find him on the beach, slouched over and staring into space. She'd sit next to him and try to coax him back, it took seconds, but she never thought she had all of him back.

"Here," Annabeth presented a blue cupcake to Percy.

"Thanks Wise Girl, what's the occasion?" He licked a bit of icing off his finger.

Annabeth felt her body go a little hollower. "Your birthday.."

"No, that can't be, what's the date?" Percy froze, one finger still covered with blue icing.

"August eighteen." She whispered.

"Oh."

Everyone had their memories though; it was not just Percy and her suffering.

Jason's losses were doubled; he felt the deaths of both Camps, especially that one girl.

Leo had always been the seventh wheel. Up until the Doors were shut.

Nico was probably the only one who truly knew how Percy and Annabeth felt. Maybe one day he would visit and talk to them about it, they hadn't seen him for a while.

"Remember when I kissed you? Right here?" His eyes had a bit of hope in them as he looked to the bottom of the water.

"Yes. Every detail." She couldn't kill his hope.

Travis was incomplete. One half of his life gone.

Both of Hazel's loves were gone. One sacrificed himself, and the other's life went up in flames.

"Look." Percy pointed to a sitting figure, a few meters away. "Should we go to him?"

"No, we should give him some space." They leave the horned boy, crying by a tree.

It's nighttime, and Annabeth sits on her bed, not moving. It's just her chest rising, and falling as she takes deep breaths.

"Leo, you can still come back."
"No, someone has to close it on this side!"

"Stop! Any longer and it will burn up!" Tears streamed down her face.
"I have to melt them! Hazel I lo-" His words are drowned out by the fire and her screams.

"Oh little one, you didn't think you could stop me did you?" Her voice, once sleepy, was now loud and confident. Her chuckles bounced off the cave walls.

"SHUT UP!" She claps her hands to her ears in an effort to stop their cries. "JUST SHUT UP!"

"Annabeth!" And suddenly Percy is there, one hand wrapped around her waist, and the other has a strong grip on the wrist holding her knife.

"I can hear them all." She said in a hushed voice.

"Think of it this way. You still remember what they sound like." He drops her knife to the floor with a clatter and sits next to her.

"What do you mean?" She asks.

"All I hear is white noise. I can see their mouth moving, and what's going on, but I don't remember their voices." His eyes are closed. "I can see Frank burning, but I don't hear him. I can see Juniper's back with a knife in it, but I can't hear her shrieks. I can visualize Reyna turning on Octavian, but then the jerk stabs her. I can't hear her yelling his name, even though I know she did. I have no voices to remember them."

"Oh Percy." She wraps both arms around his body and they talk about what they do recall. That time Frank caught them in the Argo 2. The time they travelled in the truck with a zebra and lion. When she kissed him in the volcano. Or when she judo flipped him.

For once they sleep, not bothered with their delirious nightmares. They dream of a pleasant past and maybe a happily ever after.