Heroes of Olympus Series. Annabeth Chase X Male Reader Story

Crossing The Rainbow Bridge

(Y/N)'s POV

He hated this, he hated leaving his fate in the hands of someone else, no matter how trusted those hands might be. As always, his dreams were a mixture of fantasy and reality, a mix of nightmare and dream.

He found himself dancing on the edges of cliffs, dancing to music he couldn't hear with a partner he wanted to see more than anything. The memories he held onto were the only thing keeping him from being torn apart.

They were the only thing keeping him from being spread so thin that he would no longer be himself, so he focused on what he left behind. He felt himself begin to recover; he felt his memory calling to him.

Flashes of events that he was sure that he was a part of, old enemies, old friends, and her. He could see her features, he could hear her laugh, "Who am I?" He asked himself like it was a game of questions to score points.

"(Y/N)" A voice would say, and he had heard it before, he knew he had. Hundreds of times, and as he collected himself, he heard it ask, "Are you coming back to me?" It would make him smile, she would never give up a point so easily.

But just like he had a thousand times, he would answer, "Not yet." Still, he longed to take the easy route, he wanted to make his way back home, his body knew the way, it was his soul couldn't survive the journey.

He had one single second of peace before something would drag him back. The feeling didn't crash over him, or make him feel trapped, it was simpler to say that it was always there, slowly rising to the surface.

He didn't feel awake, but not entirely asleep either, he tried to steady himself, reminding himself of the warning he was given, but it came back stronger, deeper, angrier. And he could no longer ignore it.

Pounding away at his head like it was a wall to break through, it rumbled, telling him that he had been brought back for a reason, that he had to fix things, that he couldn't waste this gift he had been given.

Always punished, never rewarded, always sacrificing his blood for others, but never having any shed in his name, he tried to focus as fragments of memory came to him, a mother returned to a son, but not to him, a change promised by the gods, but not the one they vowed to make.

A punishment given but not the one deserved. These thoughts rushed over him, and there were a few words that remained present in his mind. "Punishment...Retribution...Revenge..." Stuff like that. Repeatedly they cycled through his head.

He felt like it was burrowing into his brain, slowly deeper and deeper every time he made contact, he understood that it wasn't something he would fight off, it didn't work like that, she had made sure of it.

They were trying to convince him of something, trying to sway him towards something, what exactly, he wasn't sure, but nothing good he imagined, it's not like they were telling him about puppies, sunshine and rainbows. He tried to ignore the voice.

For now, he just had to get the kid to Iris and hope he could do the rest. He had to guide the boy towards what he was meant to be, he had to protect him as he became whole, "Save the cheerleader, save the world."

He shook his head. Putting his own dreams and want aside for the sake of the world, he was bemused by that thought, he had done that his whole life. Why not afterwards too? It wasn't like he had anything else to do.

He thought to the kid, the idiot who ran away from the monsters into the arms of something worse, but (Y/N) knew that the boy wasn't to blame, it was his fault really, if he hadn't heard that voice, none of this would be happening.

(Y/N)'s plans had all hit a brick wall, he decided that he had no better options. It had to be here and now, they needed to speak clearly, he was already breaking one ancient rule that pre-dated him by centuries, why not a few more?