This Way Out of Limbo - A Percy/Annabeth EP
Title: This Way Out of Limbo
Fandom: Percy Jackson and the Olympians/Heroes of Olympus; Percy/Annabeth
A/N: Started on this, like, a REALLY long time ago. Anyway, here! An EP for my OTP. ♥ This is set from the beginning of The Lost Hero (when they're separated) until after the events of the Son of Neptune (when they will be back together AND BEYOND!). Each song has its own little ficlet to go with it, too. Yay! Songs can be downloaded separately (Just click on the song title) or as one zip file and please, ignore the ridiculously horrible attempt at photo manipulation. Other than that, enjoy! (And comment, 'course.) :)
#1: I Will Not Say Goodbye - Danny Gokey [Annabeth]
I'm supposed to be strong.
I'm supposed to find a way to carry on.
I don't want to feel better.
I don't want to not remember.
I will always see your face
In the shadows of this haunted place.
I will laugh, I will cry,
Shake my fist at the sky
But I will not say goodbye.
"Can I go back to sleep now?" Clovis asked, yawning. Annabeth didn't answer. She was too busy staring at the sprig above the fire as water from the Lethe dripped down from it.
The water was taunting her. It was saying: ‘Drink me, and all your worries will go away.’ And for a scary moment, she actually considered taking a sip. She was tired of always having to appear strong in front of the other campers, even when she was already having internal meltdowns and generally being an emotional wreck. It would be so much easier to forget, to just have her memories washed away in the Lethe. No memories, no worries, no pain.
An image of Percy - brave, caring, loyal-to-a-fault Seaweed Brain, looking at her like she was the only thing he could see - popped into her head, and immense guilt flooded her. How could she even think of doing such a thing? To Percy, of all people?
Abruptly, Annabeth stood up, tossing Clovis his pillow. "Thanks, Clovis. We'll see you at dinner."
With that, she and Jason left the cabin. Annabeth didn't even give the Lethe sprig a backwards glance. She knew now that she didn't want to forget, because forgetting meant that she was giving up.
And she would go through hell and back before she would give up on Percy Jackson.
#2: Used To - Daughtry [Annabeth]
We used to have this figured out.
We used to breathe without a doubt.
The nights were clear for the first time that I'd see.
We used to have this under control.
We never thought; we used to know.
At least there's you, and at least there's me
Can we get this back (Can we get this back) to how it used to be?
I look around me,
And I want you to be there
'Cause I miss the things that we shared.
Annabeth wonders when everything in her life became so complicated.
It has never been this bad before, not even during the war. Then again, she had Percy with her back then. Everything was just easier - clearer, somehow - with him around. She could breathe easy because she knew that Seaweed Brain was with her, and he always has her back. Somewhere in between hating his guts for being a son of Poseidon and finally going out with him, Annabeth Chase had begun to feel invincible whenever Percy Jackson was around.
Now, with Percy gone, Annabeth feels so devastated and angry and hurt and lost, like she's missing something she couldn't really live without. She wishes she didn't feel that way (it freaking sucked), but that's probably just one of the consequences of being in lov-
Shit. That was just a slip of the tongue. She can't- isn't dropping the L-bomb so early in their relationship. No way.
Jason, Leo, and Piper are finally back from their quest to save Hera, and they've figured out where Percy is. Now, they know, without a shadow of a doubt, that he's at the Roman camp. What's more, he probably doesn't remember a single thing. Not Camp Half-Blood, not his mother, not her.
Annabeth wonders when everything in her life became so complicated. More importantly, she wonders if it's still possible to un-complicate things.
#3: Hang You Up - Yellowcard [Percy&Annabeth]
It's hard to see you; we are older now
And when I find you, you just turn around.
This is a black and white of you I found;
I hang you up and then I pull you down.
I hang you up and then I pull you down.
I get lost sometimes; another year flies by.
But I know if I try
Memories of the light in your eyes
Can take me back in time.
Today is the day, she says. Today is the day she stops staring at Percy's photo like some sort of lovesick teenager. In fact, she's going to ignore the picture altogether. Taking out her pencils and sketchpad, she intently begins on the outline of a new building.
Only five minutes later, her eyes drift towards the cabin wall beside her bunk. And amid all the papers, blueprints, and Post-It notes stuck there, her eyes instantly lock on to the photo of her and Percy. She smiles slightly, recalling his dimpled grin and the way his arms were securely locked around her in the photo, and then groans.
Clearly, this method isn't working.
Maybe she should help out in building the Argo II instead. Slipping on her sneakers, Annabeth stands up from her bunk bed and heads for the door. Before she leaves the cabin, though, her eyes drift back to the photo on the wall. Her fingers twitch.
She is leaving it there. She is not going to take it down and bring it with her to the construction site because that's illogical and just plain stupid-
Eh, might as well.
-----
Percy can think of at least fifty things he'd rather be doing right now instead of having a chatty grandma on his back. Those include: jumping off of a six-hundred-foot tall building, shooting out of an active volcano, and hurtling down the streets of New York dangling from a flying pig. In short, he has an overactive imagination and yeah, he really doesn't want to be here.
Can someone remind him why on earth he's doing this again?
Intense gray eyes flash in his head, and he stumbles down the path he's running down, nearly suffering a face-plant against the asphalt.
"Hey! Watch it!" The old lady protests, but Percy doesn't hear her. He's too busy desperately holding on to the vision he just had. He only saw it for half a second, but that's more than enough. He carefully files the memory away in his head, placing it in the same category as golden blonde princess curls, a knowing smile, and the only thing apart from his name that he never forgot: Annabeth. His lips involuntarily curl up into a smile.
Oh, yeah. That's why.
He's doing this for Annabeth. He's doing this to get back all of his memories about her.
As long as he keeps that in mind, he's pretty sure he can take anything, even carry the sky if he had to.
Compared to that, carrying this heavy old hag across the Tiber river will be a cinch.
#4: Before the Worst - The Script [Percy&Annabeth]
We were thinking we would never be apart
With your name tattooed across my heart.
Oh, who would've thought it would end up like this?
Where everything we talked about is gone
And the only chance we have of moving on
Is trying to take it back before it all went wrong
Before the worst, before we mend,
Before our hearts decide it's time to love again.
Before too late, before too long,
Let's try to take it back before it all went wrong.
For a really long while, they had always been 'Percy' and 'Annabeth,' two separate entities who just happened to be attached at the hip/the best of friends, and Annabeth was fine with that. Then they became 'Percy and Annabeth,' and it seemed almost blasphemous to mention one without the other.
She was fine with that, too.
Now, though, all of that had changed. Now there was only 'Annabeth' and she wasn't even sure if there was any of 'Percy' left. After all, she didn't know how much he remembered, or if he remembered anything at all. It was cosmic joke - ironic and stupid and not even funny at all - that her heart hurt like this for a boy whose own heart might not even have the slightest bit of emotion for her in return.
But in typical 'Percy and Annabeth' fashion, Annabeth refused to give up on Seaweed Brain, especially not now that they were boarding the completed Argo II and were about to sail for the Roman camp.
As cliche as it sounded (and trust her, she'd been trying in vain to explain it in any other way), she was going to get her other half back.
(And maybeprobablyabsolutely, 'Percy and Annabeth' still stood a chance.)
-----
Getting his memories back via Russian roulette was insane, even for him. And if Annabeth had been there, Percy was a hundred percent sure that she would've killed him once the gorgon's blood hadn't.
Annabeth.
Just thinking her name brought a smile to his face. He remembered everything about her now. Every word, every glance they shared. He now knew exactly why his entire being had been screaming at him to remember her. She was, simply put, an important part of him, something that made him Percy Jackson. Finally, after months of figuring out who he was, he felt complete - happy, despite the potential suicide mission that he was currently on.
At the same time, though, he felt horrible that he disappeared on her. Forget the fact that it wasn't his fault; they'd had an unspoken yet clear agreement that they'd always be around for each other, and he had (albeit unknowingly) broken it. He almost had it easy compared to her; how must she had felt when she found out he was missing? He never wanted to be the source of her misery, but that was exactly what he found himself being.
But he swore to himself that he would make it up to her. After this quest was done, after he helped the Roman camp find their eagle-thing, he would find her and fix things. He just needed to hold out a little longer.
Just a little more. Just a little more, and he would see her again.
#5: You and Me - Lifehouse [Percy]
What day is it? And in what month?
This clock never seemed so alive.
I can't keep up and I can't back down;
I've been losing so much time.
'Cause it's you and me and all of the people
With nothing to do, nothing to lose.
And it's you and me and all other people,
And I don't know why I can't keep my eyes off of you.
Percy couldn't quite remember his girlfriend being this beautiful.
Sure, there were dark bags under her eyes, and her blonde curls looked like they'd mercilessly devour any hairbrush that came within three feet; but those didn't change the way her stormy gray eyes glittered with a knowing gleam, or the way the sunlight on her hair made her face look like it was framed in a golden halo.
Clearly, his memory didn't do her any justice.
He watched her disembark the Argo with an intense rapture; it was like seeing her for the first time all over again. He couldn't believe it had been eight months since he last saw her. All that wasted time... But at last, he was finally here, and she was too. Nothing else mattered.
Someone - probably Hazel - forcefully pushed him towards Annabeth, making him stumble on his purple bedshee- er, toga. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her smile endearingly.
"Erm... Hi." He said, not really knowing what the proper greeting should have been.
"Hello." She replied warily, making his eyebrows furrow. Why was she so hesitant? It wasn't as if he didn't remember-
Oh.
He scoffed. "You thought that I'd forget you, of all people? Thanks a lot, Wise Girl."
Hope, brighter than anything he's ever seen, sparked into her eyes. Her eyes gave away her silent question of 'do you really remember? Everything?' He nodded, smiling.
Her eyes widened, and in an instant, her arms were around him. A bubble of laughter escaped her lips; it sounded partly disbelieving, like she was telling him: ‘I can’t believe you had the nerve to make me wait that long!’ Percy grinned.
He was home.
#6: With You Around - Yellowcard [Percy]
And I was falling hard;
You were barely hanging on.
And now I wanna chase forever down
With you around.
We were running underneath the California sun.
Some couples, Percy idly thought, bonded by watching a movie or going for one of those long, without-a-destination drives. They didn't fly across California on a Greek warship, nor did they crash said Greek warship and proceed to look for spare parts and a good dose of caffeine. Most couples most certainly did not blow up a convenience store with the help of the true-to-life Hispanic version of the Human Torch, or spend the rest of the morning battling against creatures straight out of a Greek mythology book.
Nope; Percy highly doubted any other couple aside from him and Annabeth could claim that.
"Damn San Francisco for being so monster-infested." Annabeth muttered beside him, and he couldn't help but agree.
"Don't they ever get tired of trying to eat us?" Leo asked from a few feet away, hurling a hammer towards an empousa before pulling another from his tool belt. Percy was amazed he hadn't run out of stuff to throw yet. The son of Hephaestus yelped when a hellhound almost bit him. "I'll take that as a no. What's the plan?"
Annabeth replied: "I've got one, but it's pretty farfetched."
Once she was done explaining her idea, Leo sputtered. "Are you crazy?"
"I told you; it's a little out there-"
"A little?"
"-but it'll work."
Meanwhile, Percy was looking at her in awe. "And this is why I'm in love with you." He blurted out. When his brain finally caught up with his mouth, he almost clamped his mouth shut with his hand.
For the love of the gods, somebody please tell him he didn't just say that in the middle of a battle.
For a minute, Annabeth just stared at him. Then, without warning, she pulled him in for a searing kiss.
"Aw, come on! Seriously?" Leo exclaimed. "This is so not the right time, you guys!"
Annabeth pulled away with a laugh, leaving Percy dazed and awestruck. He must have had a goofy grin on his face, because her face immediately took on an amused grin. She patted his cheek before drawing her knife and facing the monsters.
"Come on, Seaweed Brain," she said. "Let's go kick some ass."
He grinned and uncapped Riptide. Together, they charged at the remaining monsters.
Later, in the middle of battle, he snuck a glance at Annabeth. She caught his eye and winked, promptly sliding under a manticore and stabbing it, turning it into dust.
It was at that moment that Percy Jackson realized this was the girl he could see himself spending the rest of his life with.
download entire zip file
BONUS: Acoustic versions of With You Around and Hang You Up
Fandom: Percy Jackson and the Olympians/Heroes of Olympus; Percy/Annabeth
A/N: Started on this, like, a REALLY long time ago. Anyway, here! An EP for my OTP. ♥ This is set from the beginning of The Lost Hero (when they're separated) until after the events of the Son of Neptune (when they will be back together AND BEYOND!). Each song has its own little ficlet to go with it, too. Yay! Songs can be downloaded separately (Just click on the song title) or as one zip file and please, ignore the ridiculously horrible attempt at photo manipulation. Other than that, enjoy! (And comment, 'course.) :)
#1: I Will Not Say Goodbye - Danny Gokey [Annabeth]
I'm supposed to be strong.
I'm supposed to find a way to carry on.
I don't want to feel better.
I don't want to not remember.
I will always see your face
In the shadows of this haunted place.
I will laugh, I will cry,
Shake my fist at the sky
But I will not say goodbye.
"Can I go back to sleep now?" Clovis asked, yawning. Annabeth didn't answer. She was too busy staring at the sprig above the fire as water from the Lethe dripped down from it.
The water was taunting her. It was saying: ‘Drink me, and all your worries will go away.’ And for a scary moment, she actually considered taking a sip. She was tired of always having to appear strong in front of the other campers, even when she was already having internal meltdowns and generally being an emotional wreck. It would be so much easier to forget, to just have her memories washed away in the Lethe. No memories, no worries, no pain.
An image of Percy - brave, caring, loyal-to-a-fault Seaweed Brain, looking at her like she was the only thing he could see - popped into her head, and immense guilt flooded her. How could she even think of doing such a thing? To Percy, of all people?
Abruptly, Annabeth stood up, tossing Clovis his pillow. "Thanks, Clovis. We'll see you at dinner."
With that, she and Jason left the cabin. Annabeth didn't even give the Lethe sprig a backwards glance. She knew now that she didn't want to forget, because forgetting meant that she was giving up.
And she would go through hell and back before she would give up on Percy Jackson.
#2: Used To - Daughtry [Annabeth]
We used to have this figured out.
We used to breathe without a doubt.
The nights were clear for the first time that I'd see.
We used to have this under control.
We never thought; we used to know.
At least there's you, and at least there's me
Can we get this back (Can we get this back) to how it used to be?
I look around me,
And I want you to be there
'Cause I miss the things that we shared.
Annabeth wonders when everything in her life became so complicated.
It has never been this bad before, not even during the war. Then again, she had Percy with her back then. Everything was just easier - clearer, somehow - with him around. She could breathe easy because she knew that Seaweed Brain was with her, and he always has her back. Somewhere in between hating his guts for being a son of Poseidon and finally going out with him, Annabeth Chase had begun to feel invincible whenever Percy Jackson was around.
Now, with Percy gone, Annabeth feels so devastated and angry and hurt and lost, like she's missing something she couldn't really live without. She wishes she didn't feel that way (it freaking sucked), but that's probably just one of the consequences of being in lov-
Shit. That was just a slip of the tongue. She can't- isn't dropping the L-bomb so early in their relationship. No way.
Jason, Leo, and Piper are finally back from their quest to save Hera, and they've figured out where Percy is. Now, they know, without a shadow of a doubt, that he's at the Roman camp. What's more, he probably doesn't remember a single thing. Not Camp Half-Blood, not his mother, not her.
Annabeth wonders when everything in her life became so complicated. More importantly, she wonders if it's still possible to un-complicate things.
#3: Hang You Up - Yellowcard [Percy&Annabeth]
It's hard to see you; we are older now
And when I find you, you just turn around.
This is a black and white of you I found;
I hang you up and then I pull you down.
I hang you up and then I pull you down.
I get lost sometimes; another year flies by.
But I know if I try
Memories of the light in your eyes
Can take me back in time.
Today is the day, she says. Today is the day she stops staring at Percy's photo like some sort of lovesick teenager. In fact, she's going to ignore the picture altogether. Taking out her pencils and sketchpad, she intently begins on the outline of a new building.
Only five minutes later, her eyes drift towards the cabin wall beside her bunk. And amid all the papers, blueprints, and Post-It notes stuck there, her eyes instantly lock on to the photo of her and Percy. She smiles slightly, recalling his dimpled grin and the way his arms were securely locked around her in the photo, and then groans.
Clearly, this method isn't working.
Maybe she should help out in building the Argo II instead. Slipping on her sneakers, Annabeth stands up from her bunk bed and heads for the door. Before she leaves the cabin, though, her eyes drift back to the photo on the wall. Her fingers twitch.
She is leaving it there. She is not going to take it down and bring it with her to the construction site because that's illogical and just plain stupid-
Eh, might as well.
-----
Percy can think of at least fifty things he'd rather be doing right now instead of having a chatty grandma on his back. Those include: jumping off of a six-hundred-foot tall building, shooting out of an active volcano, and hurtling down the streets of New York dangling from a flying pig. In short, he has an overactive imagination and yeah, he really doesn't want to be here.
Can someone remind him why on earth he's doing this again?
Intense gray eyes flash in his head, and he stumbles down the path he's running down, nearly suffering a face-plant against the asphalt.
"Hey! Watch it!" The old lady protests, but Percy doesn't hear her. He's too busy desperately holding on to the vision he just had. He only saw it for half a second, but that's more than enough. He carefully files the memory away in his head, placing it in the same category as golden blonde princess curls, a knowing smile, and the only thing apart from his name that he never forgot: Annabeth. His lips involuntarily curl up into a smile.
Oh, yeah. That's why.
He's doing this for Annabeth. He's doing this to get back all of his memories about her.
As long as he keeps that in mind, he's pretty sure he can take anything, even carry the sky if he had to.
Compared to that, carrying this heavy old hag across the Tiber river will be a cinch.
#4: Before the Worst - The Script [Percy&Annabeth]
We were thinking we would never be apart
With your name tattooed across my heart.
Oh, who would've thought it would end up like this?
Where everything we talked about is gone
And the only chance we have of moving on
Is trying to take it back before it all went wrong
Before the worst, before we mend,
Before our hearts decide it's time to love again.
Before too late, before too long,
Let's try to take it back before it all went wrong.
For a really long while, they had always been 'Percy' and 'Annabeth,' two separate entities who just happened to be attached at the hip/the best of friends, and Annabeth was fine with that. Then they became 'Percy and Annabeth,' and it seemed almost blasphemous to mention one without the other.
She was fine with that, too.
Now, though, all of that had changed. Now there was only 'Annabeth' and she wasn't even sure if there was any of 'Percy' left. After all, she didn't know how much he remembered, or if he remembered anything at all. It was cosmic joke - ironic and stupid and not even funny at all - that her heart hurt like this for a boy whose own heart might not even have the slightest bit of emotion for her in return.
But in typical 'Percy and Annabeth' fashion, Annabeth refused to give up on Seaweed Brain, especially not now that they were boarding the completed Argo II and were about to sail for the Roman camp.
As cliche as it sounded (and trust her, she'd been trying in vain to explain it in any other way), she was going to get her other half back.
(And maybeprobablyabsolutely, 'Percy and Annabeth' still stood a chance.)
-----
Getting his memories back via Russian roulette was insane, even for him. And if Annabeth had been there, Percy was a hundred percent sure that she would've killed him once the gorgon's blood hadn't.
Annabeth.
Just thinking her name brought a smile to his face. He remembered everything about her now. Every word, every glance they shared. He now knew exactly why his entire being had been screaming at him to remember her. She was, simply put, an important part of him, something that made him Percy Jackson. Finally, after months of figuring out who he was, he felt complete - happy, despite the potential suicide mission that he was currently on.
At the same time, though, he felt horrible that he disappeared on her. Forget the fact that it wasn't his fault; they'd had an unspoken yet clear agreement that they'd always be around for each other, and he had (albeit unknowingly) broken it. He almost had it easy compared to her; how must she had felt when she found out he was missing? He never wanted to be the source of her misery, but that was exactly what he found himself being.
But he swore to himself that he would make it up to her. After this quest was done, after he helped the Roman camp find their eagle-thing, he would find her and fix things. He just needed to hold out a little longer.
Just a little more. Just a little more, and he would see her again.
#5: You and Me - Lifehouse [Percy]
What day is it? And in what month?
This clock never seemed so alive.
I can't keep up and I can't back down;
I've been losing so much time.
'Cause it's you and me and all of the people
With nothing to do, nothing to lose.
And it's you and me and all other people,
And I don't know why I can't keep my eyes off of you.
Percy couldn't quite remember his girlfriend being this beautiful.
Sure, there were dark bags under her eyes, and her blonde curls looked like they'd mercilessly devour any hairbrush that came within three feet; but those didn't change the way her stormy gray eyes glittered with a knowing gleam, or the way the sunlight on her hair made her face look like it was framed in a golden halo.
Clearly, his memory didn't do her any justice.
He watched her disembark the Argo with an intense rapture; it was like seeing her for the first time all over again. He couldn't believe it had been eight months since he last saw her. All that wasted time... But at last, he was finally here, and she was too. Nothing else mattered.
Someone - probably Hazel - forcefully pushed him towards Annabeth, making him stumble on his purple bedshee- er, toga. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her smile endearingly.
"Erm... Hi." He said, not really knowing what the proper greeting should have been.
"Hello." She replied warily, making his eyebrows furrow. Why was she so hesitant? It wasn't as if he didn't remember-
Oh.
He scoffed. "You thought that I'd forget you, of all people? Thanks a lot, Wise Girl."
Hope, brighter than anything he's ever seen, sparked into her eyes. Her eyes gave away her silent question of 'do you really remember? Everything?' He nodded, smiling.
Her eyes widened, and in an instant, her arms were around him. A bubble of laughter escaped her lips; it sounded partly disbelieving, like she was telling him: ‘I can’t believe you had the nerve to make me wait that long!’ Percy grinned.
He was home.
#6: With You Around - Yellowcard [Percy]
And I was falling hard;
You were barely hanging on.
And now I wanna chase forever down
With you around.
We were running underneath the California sun.
Some couples, Percy idly thought, bonded by watching a movie or going for one of those long, without-a-destination drives. They didn't fly across California on a Greek warship, nor did they crash said Greek warship and proceed to look for spare parts and a good dose of caffeine. Most couples most certainly did not blow up a convenience store with the help of the true-to-life Hispanic version of the Human Torch, or spend the rest of the morning battling against creatures straight out of a Greek mythology book.
Nope; Percy highly doubted any other couple aside from him and Annabeth could claim that.
"Damn San Francisco for being so monster-infested." Annabeth muttered beside him, and he couldn't help but agree.
"Don't they ever get tired of trying to eat us?" Leo asked from a few feet away, hurling a hammer towards an empousa before pulling another from his tool belt. Percy was amazed he hadn't run out of stuff to throw yet. The son of Hephaestus yelped when a hellhound almost bit him. "I'll take that as a no. What's the plan?"
Annabeth replied: "I've got one, but it's pretty farfetched."
Once she was done explaining her idea, Leo sputtered. "Are you crazy?"
"I told you; it's a little out there-"
"A little?"
"-but it'll work."
Meanwhile, Percy was looking at her in awe. "And this is why I'm in love with you." He blurted out. When his brain finally caught up with his mouth, he almost clamped his mouth shut with his hand.
For the love of the gods, somebody please tell him he didn't just say that in the middle of a battle.
For a minute, Annabeth just stared at him. Then, without warning, she pulled him in for a searing kiss.
"Aw, come on! Seriously?" Leo exclaimed. "This is so not the right time, you guys!"
Annabeth pulled away with a laugh, leaving Percy dazed and awestruck. He must have had a goofy grin on his face, because her face immediately took on an amused grin. She patted his cheek before drawing her knife and facing the monsters.
"Come on, Seaweed Brain," she said. "Let's go kick some ass."
He grinned and uncapped Riptide. Together, they charged at the remaining monsters.
Later, in the middle of battle, he snuck a glance at Annabeth. She caught his eye and winked, promptly sliding under a manticore and stabbing it, turning it into dust.
It was at that moment that Percy Jackson realized this was the girl he could see himself spending the rest of his life with.
download entire zip file
BONUS: Acoustic versions of With You Around and Hang You Up