The Legacy of a Demigod

Love and a Boat

[Annabeth's POV]

Under the late afternoon sun's glow, Annabeth sat with Y/N, nestled in his embrace. The sun cast long shadows as it dipped below the horizon, Apollo clearly eager to clock out for the day. Y/N's warmth enveloped her, a stark contrast to the cold emptiness she had felt since he left.

She'd craved these moments, needing them like she needed air, even if they were just dreams. Being near him, even if it was only a dream, was a comfort she clung to desperately.

He looked so perfect as the sun shone orange and red hues onto his content face. Annabeth could only stare at the same face she hadn't seen for ten months. She had no clue if this was still how he looked, or if he would even know her when she arrived.

Her mind, like always, restlessly began to wander. She turned to face Y/N, the man who so easily held her heart in his hands, even though he hadn't meant to have such a tight grip.

For someone who prided herself on her logical thought processes, it was astonishing how many of her thoughts drifted to him some way or another.

Even now, as she spoke to the dream version of him, a version she could only pretend was the real deal, she couldn't stop her anxieties from surfacing, spitting out her fears about their impending reunion, her voice barely above a whisper.

Her lips trembled as he looked down on her with those perfect bronze and silver eyes. "What if you've stopped loving me?" the questions poured out.

"What if you've found somebody else while you've been gone?" She could hardly choke out the questions. "What if... what if you don't even remember me?"

Deep inside, Annabeth knew that Y/N would never do something like that. He would never abandon her for someone else, or stop loving her. That wasn't who he was.

But the thought of him losing his memory like Jason, of him finding someone who liked him without knowing that someone already loved him ate away her insides.

The thought of his shining bronze and silver eyes looking upon her without recognition, without the same warmth and love that they always had, it haunted her, even now.

In the dream, Y/N cupped her chin gently, his eyes filled with incalculable amounts of love as he smiled sadly at her. "What if?" he asked softly, his fingers gently stroking her skin.

"Annabeth, these many fears of yours, they'll be lost to time like tears in the rain." he smiled, his other arm tightening around her waist.

"Even if I couldn't remember you, I would still know. They could never take you from my heart." he said, his eyes keeping a direct line with either her heart or her brain, it wasn't like she could tell.

Y/N was someone who defied all the logic she could muster. Nothing about how much he loved her made sense, and yet he did anyway.

Her fears, while somewhat quelled, still flared in her stomach and the front of her mind. Tears started welling up in her eyes as she put her hand on his.

"Why did you leave me?" she asked shakily, though she already knew the answer.

"Why do you always do this to me?" she whimpered. "Don't you know how much I love you? It makes me physically sick to be apart from you!" she shouted, tears streaking down her cheeks.

"How do you go so far, but still manage to always be right here?" she put her finger on her head, gesturing to her brain.

"You've died and come back, and I've still never felt as far from you as I do now." she shivered, feeling his finger trace in circles on her back.