Down in Flames - Rewritten Entirely

Chapter 20: The Final Chapter

The days leading up to the wedding were the busiest days of Annabeth's life. She had known that a royal wedding required a lot of attending and organising, but she hadn't fully anticipated how much work it would be. Her time that had been spent with Percy was now spent giving her opinion on decorations.

Chiron had happily taken over where the servants were concerned. After the first time she had met with him to discuss some preparation, she had decided she didn't want to be responsible for it all. She was certain there was some unofficial rule against doing so, but she hadn't thought twice before handing over much of her work to Chiron.

They didn't hear back from Athena until two days before the wedding.

When Percy walked into her chambers during breakfast, a letter in hand, she knew instantly what it was. It had taken her mother longer than usual to respond, but Annabeth wasn't going to worry about why.

"Is she angry?"

It was the first thing Annabeth could think of to say. With a chuckle, Percy handed her the letter and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

"You tell me," he said.

Annabeth skimmed the letter at first. After the first time through, she took a few moments longer to actually read the words that had been written.

The simple story was that Athena was not angry. There was a long part of the letter addressed to Annabeth where she reminded her that she would not be officially recognised by the throne of Athens, but it was not bad. In fact, Annabeth considered the letter quite a success. Queen Athena wasn't upset that they would be revealing who Annabeth was. As long as she got an apology, she would consider aligning forces with Atlantis to fight the alleged Tartarians.

"No," Annabeth said, handing the letter back to Percy, "she's not angry."

"That's good." Percy set the letter aside and his lips twitched into a smirk. "I'd hate to call off the wedding so last minute."

"That's not funny," Annabeth warned.

Percy chuckled and pull her under his arm. Very little physical affection was tolerated by the royal circles before marriage, but Annabeth didn't think Percy even noticed what he was doing. Fortunately for both of them, he only pushed the limits when they were left alone.

"Are you supposed to be here?" Annabeth muttered. Her face was pressed to his chest and she wasn't sure how much Percy understood, but she had no intention of moving. "It's the morning before."

"No one will know."

"Rachel will."

Percy frowned and Annabeth laughed. As she pulled away from his chest, she took his hand and led him back over to her door.

"It was wonderful to see you," she said, "but you should probably go."

"That's unfortunate," Percy grumbled, stepping through the door as she pulled it open. "I was going to suggest we sneak off for lunch."

Annabeth gave him a look. "Goodbye, Percy."

The door was shut in his face before he could even think about trying to convince her further.

* * * * *

Annabeth would like to say she kept her composure during the hours leading up to the wedding. Unfortunately, that was not the case.

Although neither her mother nor any other female relatives would be arriving for the proaulia celebrations, Rachel did. Her presence was calming as Annabeth completed the ritualistic sacrifices and on their way back to the palace, Rachel made sure she didn't disappear in thought. When it became apparent that Annabeth would not be easily distracted though, Rachel offered to stay the night with her.