Heroes of Olympus: The Future of the Heroes

Chapter 56: Annabeth

HEY!

DEDDIE....

hayzloves1D!!!

... AND YES, IT WAS THE FIRST ONE.

HERE'S ANNABETH!!!


Annabeth

The first thing I felt when I woke up was pain.

My hands were tied behind my back and my ankles were tied together. I tried to sit up but I couldn't without bending my stomach. That's weird... I didn't think she was that big yet.

I seemed to be laying on some sort of dirt like surface, but it was too dark to see my surroundings.

I heard someone cough. "Annabeth?" Percy's voice called.

"I'm here!" My voice was hoarse.

"Jason? Hazel? Leo? Nick? Other Hazel? Piper? Everyone here?" Percy called.

"Yeah! What the heck just happened?" Jason asked.

"I have no idea." Piper said.

"Everyone! Come to me! Follow my voice!" Percy instructed.

"How?" What I thought was Leo's voice whined. "We're all tied up!"

I saw the faint bronze gold of Riptide from in front of me and I could dimly make out his features. Weird, I thought his hair was shorter than that.

I saw him stand up from where he was probably thrown, and cut ropes laid there.

One by one he untied or cut our ropes, and we were all gathered in a circle on the ground. Percy set Riptide in the center of the circle and examined everyone.

"Annabeth... were you that big before?" he asked.

I looked down at my swollen belly. "That's what I thought! How many months am I?"

"About 5." He said. "Weird."

"Um guys... what are we wearing?" Leo asked, horrified.

At first I didn't notice a problem. But when I examined everyone we were all wearing the same plain white t-shirt and dark wash jeans, but I could have sworn Piper wore a sun dress.

"I thought I was wearing a skirt." Hazel recalled.

"This is weird." Nick frowned.

I looked around. "Whose missing?!" As I looked around, there were only seven of us, not eight.

"It's Hazel!" Jason realized.

"I'm right here!" Big Hazel called.

"Not you, little Hazel!" Leo cursed in Spanish.

"Oh no! The kids only seven!" I felt my eyes well up.

"Maybe Kronos took sympathy on her and she's on the ship...?" Percy suggested.

I shot him a glare. "Percy! You of all people should know Kronos doesn't have sympathy for anyone!"

"Who is Kronos?!" Hazel asked.

Percy looked at me. "You wanna explain?"

"No... but I will." I took a deep breath. "Kronos is The Lord of time, and his children are the gods. Apparently he didn't trust them so he ate them, but Zeus escaped," I rubbed my temples, "I can't think of why but I think someone gave Kronos a rock to eat instead of Zeus. Later Zeus tricked Kronos into disgorging his brothers and sisters, who had been living and growing in the titans stomach, completely undigested. The gods later took Kronos's own scythe and chopped him into tiny pieces and cast them into Tartaurs. When Percy and I were sixteen he tried to rise and destroy the world in the form of Luke's body."

"Who is Luke again?" Jason asked, and I could almost see the gears in his head, trying to remember what I had told them about him.

My jaw tightened. "A friend of mine who was possessed by him."

"Oh." Jason had struck a cord with me.

"We think that Kronos may have possessed Frank somehow." I explained.

Suddenly, a huge screen appeared on the wall and it lit up, making spots dance in my eyes because of the sudden brightness.

The screen showed war. Horrifying things. People our own age, clashing their swords on the armor of monsters, Keres, Cyclopes, hellhounds. The people fighting had on bronze armor, and when they moved I could catch short glimpses of...

"Purple and orange t-shirts." Percy gasped. "Those are our guys. What the heck is going on?"

"Very good question, Percesus." A voice said.

A random spotlight opened up, and in it stood Frank, but after my explanation I knew none of us saw him as the guy who betrayed us, but the guy who was trying to escape Kronos.

He sighed. "I suppose I owe you all an explanation. You missed four months of your lives!"

"What?" Piper choked.

He laughed. "Daughter of Aphrodite, do not take it so harshly. I've missed thousands of years because of my ungrateful children." He turned to everyone. "When I snapped my fingers, it obviously knocked you guys out, bringing you here-"

"Where is here?" Percy interrupted.

"Patience, Jackson." Frank sighed with annoyance. "The Labyrinth. I've brought you back to the Labyrinth-"

"Wait," I interrupted, though I felt scared. "I thought this place collapsed when Daedalus died."

Frank groaned. "Can I please talk? No, parts of it did, but the Labyrinth lives off of Daedalus soul, not Daedalus himself. So, the Labyrinth has been constructing itself, covering more and more land. Anyways, I brought you here and you've been here for four months-"

"Wait," I frowned. "If you wanted to kill us so badly why did you spare us?"

Franks face twitched into a pained expression for a split second, but returned to its cruel sneer. "I knew they couldn't survive without you."

"What?" Jason asked.

"The war between demigods and monsters has been raging on for three months. The demigods found out about their possessions being stolen, and immidately went to war. They have no trace of you, and think I wiped you guys out."

"Where are we in the Labyrinth?" Hazel asked.

Frank laughed. "Why would I tell you? And IF you can find your way out, I will allow you to get back to the battlefield, IF you can find it, and I will allow you to help your friends."

Percy raised an eyebrow. "Really? I don't believe you."

Frank laughed. "You shouldn't." he snapped his fingers and he went poof into grey smoke.

Leo lit his hand ablaze and for the first time I could see the whole room, it was just a regular room with dirt as the floor and bricks as the walls and a small door in the furthest corner away from us. The ceiling went too high to see and I could no longer see the screen.

The feeling of dread set in when we walked through the doorway, leading us deeper or shallower into the Labyrinth, and we had no way of telling which way we were going.

We were back in the Labyrinth... the place where Percy, Grover, Tyson and I had discovered Pam right as he died. The place where we almost died countless times. The place where... I realized I really loved Percy.

I tried to keep my sobs quiet, because Percy was at the front of the group and me in the middle, but my sobs were violent and shook my body. I sniffled and Percy spun around instantly, sending my distress.

"Ssh, it's ok, Annabeth. Calm down I know we're back, but it's ok. Ssh." He put his arm around me and said soothing things, but he seemed more pained.

"I'm fine." I wiped my face. "It's ok. Really."

Percy, being his stubborn self, insisted on staying by my side and Jason lead the group.

A growl towards the front of the group and around a corner brought Percy's attention to the front.

Just as Percy turned the corner a hellhound jumped into view, and Percy's face went slack. Instead of stabbing the beast when he had the chance he sidestepped.

"Percy!" I shouted. "That's not Mrs. O'Leary! It will kill us!"

He blinked and sliced the creature and it exploded, showering us in gold dust.

We continued along with no talking and the only light was Leo's arm on fire. Everything was going fine until nature decided to play a little trick on me. I felt a pop and then something wet running down my leg. I froze.

Percy turned. "What was that sound?"

I looked down. "Haha funny story Perce... my water broke."

(I COULD HAVE STOPPED THERE BUT SINCE I'M NICE I DIDN'T *ahem*)

Everyone froze.

"What?!" Piper screeched.

"Not now!" Hazel screamed.

The boys looked extremely uncomfortable, and their expressions would have made me laugh if I wasn't about to give birth.

"Not now? Tell that to the baby!" I shrieked. "What now?!"

Piper jumped into action like she was trained for this. "Leo, get some blankets from your toolbelt."

"How many?" he started fishing out blankets.

"Three but give me two." she commanded.

"What?" I asked, staring at her.

"Do you want to give birth on stone floor?" she spread then on the floor. "Lay." she turned to the boys. "Go."

"Um... where?" Leo asked.

"Just around that corner but don't move. Leo, I need a light."

He pulled out a lantern and Leo and Jason chatted awkwardly as they rounded the corner.

My first contraction was fun. I winced when I felt it. "Ow. Yeah ok this is about to happen holy shit."

I laid on the blanket with the second across my bare legs and I assumed the third was for Selena when she was born. "Well, this is just awesome."

Percy held my hand and I think I cut off his circulation each time a contraction came, and he didn't wince or complain at all.

"Sometimes women are in labor for a day before the baby is actually born so we may be here awhile." Piper said.

I groaned. "We don't have a day!" I glared down at my stomach. "You had to come now?"

About an hour passed but it felt like eternity. Through each contraction through contraction, nobody ever left my side or complained, they just wanted to know what they could do to help.

Thirty minutes after Piper said, 'start pushing', it was like Hades was having a party because all I felt was pain.

"One more push Annabeth, c'mon you have to!" Hazel encouraged.

"I can't do it." I gasped.

Percy squeezed my hand. "Annabeth, do you love her? Selena?"

I nodded as much as I could. "So much."

"Would you do anything for her?" he prompted.

"Yes. Anything."

"Then push one last time. Annabeth you can do it."

I looked into his eyes and saw the same eyes that belonged to the boy I had told that he drooled in his sleep so many years ago. I saw the boy that I had called seaweed brain and not to mention so many other things. He stayed with me, all these years, put up with me and loved me.

I can do this. I thought.

I have one last push and a heard the wail of Selena Bianca Jackson.

"Leo third blanket!" Hazel shouted and a pink blanket came sailing from around the corner, nearly hitting the ground if it wasn't for Hazel's swift catch.

The cord was cut and after she was cleaned, Percy stood up and took the baby from a beaming Piper.

He almost looked like he was getting emotional. "She's perfect." I barley heard him whisper. He knelt down to me and I sat up enough to hold my daughter.

The baby girl with blonde hair and green eyes. A perfect combination of the two of us.


WOO LET'S HEAR IT FOR SELENA!!!!!!

C'MON, YOU HAD TO HAVE SEEN THAT COMING.

HAHA THAT WAS SWEET.

AWE PERC YOU TROOPER!!

*hugs Percy*

QUESTION:

WHAT ABOUT GETTING RIPTIDE IN THE LIGHTNING THEIF WORRIED PERCY??

YAY PERCY AND ANNABETH ARE PARENTS!!!