(yet another) !Prophet Percy au, this time explicitly percabeth bc I actually haven't read any of those and haven't written any prompts with it either.
Percy Jackson has seen a lot of things. He hasn't quiet experienced them just yet, but he's seen them.
He's seen a blue-eyed boy turn into a golden-eyed monster. He's seen the world fight itself. He's seen two siblings be separated, a story that keeps repeating itself.
(Jason and Thalia as kids, Bianca and Nico, Castor and Pollux, Artemis and Apollo when the later is turned mortal, Jason and Thalia when he dies-)
Point is, he's seen a lot. He knows a lot, about most of the people at Camp Halfblood.
(It hurts. It hurts so, so much. He has to look at these people and smile, pretending he hasn't seen them die, pretend he hasn't burned their shrouds, pretend, pretend, pretend.)
He knows his mom is alive. He knows who his dad is. He knows where the bolt actually is.
He knows these people should stop insulting Hades, the god who will receive them when they die. Hades, who is one of the Kronides.
When they return from the quest and Lee Fletcher looks him over for any injuries he almost breaks down there and then.
(His body is mangled, unrecognisable, his shroud golden and beautiful-)
He leaves after the summer ends. He can't bear to look at these children, already convicted by the Fates.
He comes back, of course. There's things to be done. It hurts just as much.
He never gets used to it.
He isolates himself, just slightly. Keep your circle small. Grover is fine. So are Annabeth and Tyson. Later, Nico, Thalia, Clarisse and Rachel.
Keep the others at a distance. Don't let them see you. Let them think you're just slightly asocial.
It's better than getting close to them.
Even with his friends, he keeps them slightly further than normal. Especially Annabeth.
He could learn to love her. He knows that.
But he can see her mourning him, after the Titan War. He can see the two of them on the verge of death.
No, it's better for her if they remain friends. He's destined to be yet another tragedy, but she can continue with her life.
The war storms, and then ends. Annabeth and Percy never kiss.
Percy disappears. Annabeth nearly goes mad searching for him anyway.
When Percy wakes up, with no memories except the vage image of a blonde girl, he assumes she's his girlfriend in this world too.
They reunite. They split up. They reconverge in Rome. Percy cuts the web holding Annabeth before it has the chance to pull her down, but in doing so, he falls himself, the earth crumbling beneath his feet.
Annabeth dives after him.
In one world, Percy falls so Annabeth isn't down there alone.
In this world, it's the other way round.
"Why would you do that?" Percy will ask, despite knowing the answer. In a way, he did it for her as well.
"Because I love you. I have for a while now."
Down there in hell, as they're dying, Percy will talk about the things he sees for the first time since his mom told him he saw too much.
In turn, Annabeth will explain, exactly how her mind works. That 'Athena always has a plan' is literal. She's constantly working through dozens of hypotheticals, planning for every variant of events, sometimes years in the future.
Annabeth might not know what will happen in the future, exactly, but she sure knows what to do with it.
This is the moment they get together :3
[The reason why my prophet Percy aus (most of my PJO prompts actually, at least those from Marmosis and Marianna, bc that definitely includes prophet Percy) don't really have any ships, is because I think it creates a weird power imbalance. Like, he knows their Fate and can actively try to change it. Idk it's a bit weird for me. But in this au, I fixed that!! (I think). ]
