Distracting (Annabeth)

[annabeth chase]

They were back in Tarturus, and the dream started out like any of her other nightmares. Huddled up with Percy safely in the cave of their dear friend. But, soon they had to leave and try to make their way to the gates. Suddenly, the red lightning split the sky and Annabeth jumped into Percys arms, but as he wrapped his arms around her his grip started to tighten. "Percy, Percy you're hurting me," she said, trying to shove him away. She finally did, and when she looked up into his eyes they were black, his smile sadistic and twisted. "Percy?"

He moved toward her, and she backed up, her broken ankle catching on a rock. She yelped in pain as she fell to the ground. Percy raised his hand and the black poison started to smoothly glide toward her. Her eyes widened in fear as the blackness starting to wrap around her ankles, started to choke her.

He was really choking her.

Annabeths eyes flew open as she gasped for air, reaching up to pry Percys fingers from around her neck. "Percy-" she choked out, lifting her right foot to push against him, trying to kick him off her.

[PERCY JACKSON]

Percy's hands tightened around Annabeth/Medusa's throat. He felt an anger boil inside of him like he had only felt once before. This woman was trying to kill him by using what he loved most. No. Not gonna happen. 
She grasped at his hands, gasping for air but none came. Then her foot kicked against his chest, sending his stomach into spasms that pushed the air from his lungs and made it impossible for any to come back in. 

He jerked awake, gasping and found himself on the floor. He sat up with his eyes closed. He rested his elbow against his raised knees and ran his hand through his hair, stopping to squeeze the crown of his head as if that could erase what he had just dreamed about. He could still feel the anger surging through him. As he went to move again his breath caught at the surprise of pain from his chest. He had been kicked in his dream... so why did his chest still hurt?

Opening his eyes, Percy looked up, expecting to see Annabeth sleeping. What he saw terrified him more than his dream. His eyes widened as he looked at Annabeth, the love of his life, his best friend, and the look she had given him. What had he done?

[annabeth chase]

Annabeth gasped for air as she successfully managed to kick him off her. She sat up, looking down at him with horror in her eyes. Not anger, no, but pure fear. He finally looked up at her and she blinked, silent for a moment. "Percy... What were you dreaming about?" She finally asked slowly, her voice soft and almost inaudible.

He looked just as horrified as she did, but also very confused. Did he really miss what had just happened? There was no way he did all that on purpose... But what was going on?


PERCY JACKSON

[PERCY JACKSON]

He tried to clear his head. He couldn't think about why Annabeth was looking at him with fear. His mind raced back to Tartarus, the only other time she had looked at him with fear. He had vowed that he would never do anything to induce the horror on her face again. But here he was? What had he done?

"I--" his voice cracked with tears he hadn't known were coming. He pushed them down. Not now. "I was with you, but your turned into Medusa and tried to kill me. " His voice was soft, but he chose not to mention how angry he had felt, how it had felt right to punish her for what she was doing to him. Not Annabeth. Medusa.

Looking up at her, he asked the question he didn't know if he wanted an answer to. "Did... did I hurt you?" he hand straying to the bruise on his chest.

[annabeth chase]

That was a horrible thought, her turning into Medusa. "I'm... sorry," she muttered. But then he asked if he had hurt her and she raised her hand toward her neck instinctively, the same way his hand strayed to where she had kicked him in the chest. "It... was an accident. Don't worry about it," she shook her head, snapping herself out of her terrified state and leaning forward, offering a hand down to him. "Hey, hey come here," her voice was soft, a trace of fear still left in it but she tried to will that away. She didn't want to be afraid of Percy, that was crazy!

[PERCY JACKSON]

His mind was reeling. How had he had such an awful dream? Normally his dreams weren't something that he enjoyed, but they had something to do with the crazy current events that were happening around him. This... Annabeth wasn't turning into Medusa, so why was he dreaming about this?
He shook his head slowly and pushed himself up. A pain sprung sharply through his chest but it dissipated after a moment. He sat down on the bed and looked at Annabeth, feeling ashamed. Even if he had been sleeping he didn't think he would ever hurt her. Yet he had. As he glanced at her neck he saw small bruises beginning to blossom. He turned away.
"I'm sorry." his voice broke on the words, something he hadn't expected, but not something he could stop.

[annabeth chase]

Percy didn't take her hand, but still pushed himself up to sit with her. He only looked at her for a moment before turning away. She sighed, looking down at her own hands for a moment before finally reaching over and taking one of his, whether he resisted or not she was going to hold on. "Hey, we can let this get to us. We're supposed to stick together Percy. Everything will be fine as long as we're together, remember?" she said, her voice growing more firm as the sentence went on. It was true, that was their creed. That was how they showed their love to one another. She lifted his hand a little before taking it with her other hand as well, leaning forward to kiss his knuckles. "Come on Percy... listen to me," she pleaded.

[PERCY JACKSON]

She had his hand in hers, and her lips brushed against his skin. He felt the familiar warmth of her touch and he wanted to crumple into it. He just wanted to curl up next to her, safe. Was it strange that Annabeth was his safe place? He nearly laughed. He sounded like one of those stupid girls from a young adult romance novel. But it was true.

He turned his head to look at her, his eyes catching on the purple spots on her neck before shifting to her eyes. That was where he found strength.
"As long as we're together." he whispered then pulled himself closer to her. He buried his face in her blonde hair. It was just a dream. Just a dream.