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- ͙۪۪̥˚┊❛ 005. the leap of faith ❜┊˚ ͙۪۪̥◌

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         "YOU ASLEEP?" Percy whispered, a little shaken from his nightmare.

He only heard a single mumble from Andie. Grover was asleep, and he didn't know if Annabeth was too or if she was choosing to ignore the two.

"Everything okay, Perce?" the daughter of Apollo murmured.

"Yeah, no, it's just... You and Jameson were pretty close, right?"

She nodded. Did that really need an answer?

"What happened between you two? Luke told me that you two fell out because he did stupid things, and I don't know. I just wanted to know what he was like."

Luke talked about her again?

"Just didn't work out," she shrugged

"I doubt it's just that," the son of Poseidon pressed.

"Why does it matter?"

"Well, if we're stuck questing, I'd like to get to know you, you know?"

She stayed silent.

"Oh, come on Andie, the only thing I know about you is that you're empathetic, good with a bow, and good at healing."

"That about sums me up."

"Well, what about your favourite colour? I like blue."

"Yeah? I like yellow. Not neon yellow, the pretty kind you see when the sun rises," she nodded.

Maybe starting a conversation wasn't so bad after all.

"Okay, favourite flower?"

"Lillies. And sunflowers."

"Do you have a second name?"

"Yeah, it's Lily."

Andromeda Lily Dawson. It was a pretty name, for sure.

A pretty name for a pretty girl.
He shook that thought out of his head pretty quickly, though.

"So, now that I know that, tell me about it."

"Tell you about what?" she chuckled.

"The demigod way. I'm new at this, you know? And you've been on a couple of quests, haven't you?"

Andie shrugged. What was the demigod way? She certainly didn't like that it felt like this had turned into an Interview of some sort. (Or, how'd Elijah, Andie's brother would put it: WWADD? What Would Andromeda Dawson Do?)

"Favourite quest?"

"I've only gone on two, Perce. Can't really pick a favourite."

"Yeah, okay, sunshine," he scoffed.

Sunshine? A classic. But it certainly beat "Sundrey". Andie loved that nickname. It wasn't revolting, nor did it make her cringe.

"I liked the one where I had to help Apollo change his prophecy."

"Tell me about it."

"Well, it was a messed up prophecy, and if Jameson and I didn't change it, some threat would come to Olympus."

"Well, what did the oracle tell you?"

"yeah, it went something like this,

Five fragments scattered, lost in flight,
Hold the key to dark and light.
Hero, child of the sun and luck,
Airborne, flame and passion's own.
In the union of these five parts,
The fate of gods, where darkness starts."

Andie thought back to the events, with little her and mini Jameson, figuring it out in her cabin, as the Hermes cabin was overcrowded.

"James, I doubt we need to go to the underworld." Andie sighed.

"Sure, we do!!"

"No, we don't."

The pair analysed the prophecy word for word, careful not to miss anything. In the end, Jameson and Andie realised they needed to go and find five prophecy pieces around America alone.

They started the quest in Manhattan, ending it in New Haven.

"We started looking for the first piece of the prophecy in Manhattan. They were puzzle pieces. Multiple colours, the first one was blue. We found it by the Hudson River. Then, we went to Greensboro.
The first two were easy to get. But as we were heading to Georgia we found our first monster, it was by the Statue of Medea, where we found the second puzzle piece. It was a pretty yellow."

"James! I see it!" she pointed to the stone which had been carefully placed on the Statue of Medea's crown, hidden well in the statue, but it shone against the sunlight, therefore it was glowing in a gorgeous golden hue.

"How do we get that?" she inquired.

"No idea."

She turned around, before spotting maybe the worst monster her 10-year-old self had ever seen — "Is that a hydra?" Andie muttered.

"Yup," Jameson chuckled nervously.

"We're so dead."

"Anyway, Greenville, Nashville and Pittsburgh weren't all that special. Some monsters, and, no, that's about it. The stuff between Boston and New Haven is the part I call "the trials of the universities" because we had to run around campus, with monsters chasing us in public while searching for the last pieces to the prophecy."

Percy was listening attentively, not even spacing out once.

"And yeah, we solved it, and then there was the one with the mirror of memories, and then you showed up," she smiled weakly, realising this was the most she'd ever rambled to a boy.

"That seems so cool!"

"Yeah, I guess it is kind of cool," she shrugged.

"So, I take it he was nice then?"

"Jameson? Yeah, he was."

"He doesn't look nice, Andie."

"Really? Huh."

Andie thought about this. Jameson wasn't nice? It was a first, everyone said he looked nice. In both ways of the sense.

"What about you? How's your family, Percy?"

"My family?" the son of Poseidon chuckled, unsure what to tell her since she knew that that her mom was possibly dead and he didn't want to tell her that his dad was an alcoholic who loved to abuse him.

"They're okay," he lied.

Andie gave him a questioning look, one that was supposed to say "I don't believe you, stop lying to me", though it did maybe come out as in "You look like you've been through shit, you liar".

"What's there to say? My mom's gone and my stepdad drinks," he muttered bitterly, before adding:

"I'm not like him, though. I'd never drink and hurt my kids. Never. I'm not a jerk."

She nodded sympathetically. Poor boy.

"I think my dad would like you," she mumbled.

"Apollo?" he chuckled dryly.

"No, my stepdad. His name's William. Calls most boys 'buddy'. Except my brother, he's too old."

"Oh. Does he, y'know..."

"Drink? No. Only wine when we have my mom and stepdad's fancy lawyer friends over. I think he'd like you. You should totally come by some time!" she rambled, not even realising that this sounded like an invitation to hang out after the summer.

Their talk woke a now-cranky Grover up, which ended up with Annabeth telling both of them to shut up.

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THE MORNING was spent with a lot of planning, eating and giggling. It was surprisingly peaceful, considering.

However, it all changed when a transit officer came up to the four, asking for their tickets.

"Cabin 17b?" he asked, and they nodded.

The officer led them to their cabin compartment, which was a mess with a broken window.

"We didn't do that, Sir," Andie mumbled apologetically.

The officer sighed and told them to wait there.

"Let's just sit down," Annabeth sighed.

Another woman, concerned with a dog came up to them. "Do you mind if I sit?" she stuttered.

Her dog was whimpering and whining and she tried to act maternal to them. The daughter of Apollo didn't answer her questions, she avoided looking at her.

Grover questioned her and Percy snapped at her, so they found out that the woman's, correction, monster's name was Echidna.

In the middle of her monologue, Andie squeezed Percy's hand, signalling that they needed to get the hell out of there. He didn't notice that it was some sort of 'signal', he thought she was just afraid of the mother of monsters.

Her pet, "Precious" lunged at the four slashing the son of Poseidon right in the left arm. Annabeth stabbed its tail, Andie grabbed Percy's hand again, this time yanking him out of his chair and the four started sprinting again.

"That's a splinter," Grover muttered.

"Well, forget the splinter, do you feel okay?" Andie asked.

"Yeah, I feel fine, don't worry. Do you think it's poisonous or something?"

The other three shrugged, and they made their way to the Athena's Temple in St. Louis.

Annabeth rambled about the Gateway Arch, correcting Grover once more.

The satyr went to get tickets, Annabeth and Percy were talking, and Andie was inspecting the stinger. It didn't have any blood on it, so maybe it just got his clothing. Or maybe it was like Herakles and now his jacket is poisonous?

"You look pale," the daughter of Apollo interrupted, and right on cue, he stumbled down to the floor.
Oh oh. They were officially screwed.

"Perce?" she helped him up instantly.

"Water healed him last time, c'mon, let's go!"

They splashed him with water, though it didn't seem to work.

As Annabeth and Grover were stressing, and let's face it; paying no mind to how Percy was feeling, so Andie turned to him.

"It's gonna be okay, promise," Andie muttered.

"Gods, I hope so."

They helped him up, and they rushed to the elevator.

Percy and Annabeth were bickering again, and it turned out that Athena wanted to be a bitch and postpone the quest further, so they were screwed and couldn't ask for her help either.

"Annabeth, I really don't want to stress you more, but the arch has no water and if Athena doesn't help us, what's going to happen to Percy?"

"What are we going to do about Echidna and the Chimera?" Grover interrupted.

"No, what's going to happen to Percy? Because I'm sorry but I'd rather have him alive and well than focus on the Chimera right now!" Andie snapped.

"We'll fight it out," the daughter of Athena decided.

As the four managed to get to the top of the Gateway Arch, there were at least a dozen people there.

"Pull the fire alarm, it'll get everyone out and buy us more time because then Echida can't come up here quicker," Andie whispered.

"Okay, and then we'll split up."

"No, we won'. It's unnecessary." The daughter of Apollo argued.

"It isn't, Andie! The chimera's the demigod killer and it can't kill all four of us, and Percy can't fight in this state."

"I'll heal him," she decided, before turning to the satyr and Athena's daughter: "It'll be quick, I'll promise."

Grover leaned Percy down against a wall of the Archway, nodding at Andie to do her thing.

"Okay, we'll hold her back," Annabeth nodded.

"No, go with the others."

"Andie–"

"Annabeth. I'd take it you'd want your mother proud by the end of this. And I don't think the best way to accomplish that is to die in her temple. Go with Grover, we'll be fine."

Before the daughter of Athena could utter anything else, she pushed the two out of the door, and into the hallway.

Andie kneeled next to him, she hummed the healing song quickly, not missing a beat, even holding his hand for good measure.

And for a couple of seconds, Percy didn't focus on the pain in his chest. He focused on her hand and her reassuring yet nervous smile.

He didn't feel better yet. Though, which confused Andie a bit. He was getting paler by the second.

It was her thing. Healing. But why didn't it seem to be working?

"Is it supposed to hurt?" He muttered bitterly.

"What?"

"Andie, it hurts. It hurts really badly. Is it supposed to do that?"

She froze. What? It couldn't hurt. That's not how it worked. She was supposed to heal him. Heal! Not hurt him.

"Uhm, I don't, I don't— no. It isn't." The daughter of Apollo mumbled.

"Fix it, would you?" He groaned. And he looked worse than before.

Percy remembered something about the prophecy.

You will be betrayed by the one you call a friend.

Friend.

The word rang in his ears. Friend.

Was it really Andie? Was it her big betrayal?

The prophecy rang in his ears and the son of Poseidon felt angry. So damn angry.

Luke specifically told him that her weakness was her empathy. How could someone like that betray him in what felt the most gruesome way possible?

"Perce, I don't know why it isn't working. I'm sorry, really, I–"

"Don't call me that, Andie." He frowned.

"I'm sorry?" she asked, confused.

"Look, if this is your big betrayal you should've saved it for the end, or the beginning for that matter. God, I even told you about my dad, Andie," he shook his head. And he looked hurt, so incredibly hurt.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't play dumb with me!" He snapped.

"I'm not playing dumb, I'm not trying to kill you, I swear!"

"Look, Poseidon never helped me. And I don't think Apollo did you any favours either. And no one ever made it to Hades. So, I hope the other two do make it and get the bolt. And also, if we make it out of here, you're not coming with us, you know? I'm not letting a traitor go on our quest—"

"Traitor?" she scoffed.

"Gods, if I wanted you dead I would've done it during Capture The Flag, or Medusa, not now!"

"I told you everything. I told you about my dad, and my mom, and, what? Why are you looking at me like that?"

Andie froze. Echidna and the Chimera were behind him.

"Get behind me." She muttered.

"What? No."

"Percy, I'm serious. Get behind me!"

"No. Andromeda, you can't just poison me, or whatever you did and expect me to listen to you. I don't care if it's Echidna. You poisoned me. Poison! And trying to 'save' me from that thing won't make it better. You can't change the prophecy."

If only he knew, she thought.

She would gladly be on her knees and beg Zeus, Hera, someone up there to change the damn prophecy so he wouldn't be mad at her anymore. She would exchange all her money and drachmas for it.
She would do anything to change it, undo it, fix it so they could both have their peace.

But she couldn't tell him that. Not now. Never.

"Look, I'm sorry, okay? I don't know what happened," she mumbled.

"I'm sorry doesn't cut it, Andie!" He snapped.

While they were bickering the monster slowly approached.

Just great. They were going to spend their last moments alive bickering.

"I'm not letting you die," she decided.

"Too late for that," he muttered bitterly before Andie pushed him back, leaving him behind her.

Echidna's voice startled her though.

"This is the end, sweethearts. Don't fight it. And don't fight her, it'll only make her angry," She smiled at them mockingly.

Andie approached the Chimera, dagger in hand.

She took the first stab, getting its tail. The Chimera, feeling this, whipped it out, throwing Andromeda back to the floor.

"Andie!" Percy called out.

The monster spits out fire, too. And all she could do was crawl to him.

"You die, I die, alright?" she muttered.

"Deal." he coughed, his voice coming out weak and shaky.

Percy got up and stepped forward this time, wielding Riptide in the air, approaching the monster slowly.

He stabbed its eye, though Riptide broke and he was shot back into a hole.

"Percy!" she ran to the hole, and he was dangling around, gripping the metal.

Andie flipped to her back, holding one hand out, the other was gripping the dagger.

Echidna approached. Slowly, mocking them yet again.

"Maybe you two are more fitting to the title of 'Orpheus and Eurydice' than 'Perseus and Andromeda'. Same fates,"

They weren't star-crossed lovers, were they? Hell, they weren't lovers at all. Yet. He wanted to say, and he so desperately wanted to correct that monster but the only thing that came out were small grunts.

"It's a shame. You two would've grown up to be so beautiful. Never had the chance to do great. All because of your parents. The debt you owe for simply existing. They'll just say "good riddance" and move on after a month."

Andie only heard some whimpering and grunting from him until she heard nothing. She also noticed Percy never grabbed her hand.

And, not knowing what else she could do, she jumped after him, holding her arms out, hoping for the best.

Somehow, by some miracle she managed to hold on to him, wrapping her arms around his back.

He didn't say anything, because he physically couldn't say anything. Stupid poison.

However, he was questioning everything.

If Andie wanted him dead she wouldn't have jumped after him, would she? Maybe she wasn't the traitor, maybe it was just an accident like she told him it was. Maybe he was wrong to snap at her so easily.

There they were, falling off a 630-foot-tall monument. Nothing to say, nothing to lose.
What an interesting death.

She only murmured a "We're okay,", assuming that these would be her last words when all of a sudden she felt water splashing against her body.

Poseidon.

The next thing she knew she was floating up and coughing water out but Percy wasn't anywhere to be seen.

Oh Gosh. Not again.

"Percy?" She called out.

She looked around aimlessly and she swore she wouldn't get out of that water without him.

"Percy!" she exhaled the breath she forgot she'd been holding, and grabbed him, as he coughed some water up.

"Let's get out of here," he muttered.

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THE TWO got out of the water, coughing. They were soaked, but they were okay.

"Andie! Percy!" Annabeth ran up to them, wrapping her up in a long hug. Grover did the same, embracing the other soaked demigod.

"We're okay," he reassured.

"We're alive," she muttered.

"So, you two aren't as dead as we'd thought you'd be," Grover cleared his throat.

"Surprise!" Percy actually smiled.

They were traumatised but he was smiling. Smiling!

It was a nice smile, but just very unfitting.

Andie wanted to curl up into a ball and sob but he seemed fine. How the hell?

"Well, what happened?" Annabeth inquired

"Short version?" Percy chuckled.

The two nodded quickly.

"We need to go to Santa Monica."

୨୧ blue speaks! ✿

1) please ignore that the first part was an entire dialogue but they need build up 🤭

2) Okay, let's pretend that I have an idea what I'm talking about... (I used google maps for every single location)

Fun fact; there IS a statue in Georgia!!
(I did my research y'all)
SO, here are the locations (in order) (if we care idk)
1. Long Island, New York, USA
2. Manhattan, New York, NY, USA
3. Greensboro, North Carolina, USA
4. Georgia, (technically no clue where "Batumi" is, Maps didn't wanna work..😒) (just Google "Statue of Medea" and you'll find it!
5. Greenville, South Carolina, USA
6. Nashville, Tennessee, USA
7. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
8. Boston, Massachusetts, USA
9. New Haven, Connecticut, USA
10. Long Island, New York, USA
estm. time; 46hr

3) also, the things written in italic (text like this!) is supposed to be memories of the past, Andie's thoughts as she tells it to Percy, incase you were confused.

4) ALSO!!! Did you notice the TTPD references ??? ;)