We Olympians (A Percy Jackson AU) || BOOK 1

Chapter 43 || Annabeth

When Annabeth woke up, it wasn't as bright as she thought it'd be. It was night. She tried to sit up and cried out in pain when she felt her stomach clench with agony. Looking down, she spotted white bandages along what appeared to be a gash in her stomach. Looking to her right, she saw Percy stirring, bandages along his torso as well. The moment his eyes snapped open, he looked at her.

"Percy..."

"Annabeth..."

The two sighed in relief.

"I thought you'd die," Percy said, a shadow crossing his face. "Annabeth, how many times are you going to give me a heart attack while I'm here?"

"I don't know..." Annabeth felt slightly guilty that she had worried him. "But I won't do it again. I promise."

Percy nodded before the door swung open. There was a girl standing there with gray eyes and brown hair. At first, Annabeth thought it was Athena, but then, she walked over to Percy and slapped him straight across the face. If Annabeth could go over and slap her back, she would, but she just stayed there.

"Perseus Achilles Jackson, what has gotten into you?!" the girl scolded. "You decided to get a poisoned blade stuck in your gut, you got kil--" She cut herself off. "Sorry, I said the wrong thing. The point is, you were such a Fish Brain that you didn't think about what you were doing and you didn't even tell me you got a girlfriend! HOW DO YOU THINK I FEEL AS A FRIEND?!"

"But Brina!" Percy whined. "You were away! Plus, we've only been dating for like... three months!"

"THREE MONTHS IS ENOUGH FOR AN EMAIL, PERSEUS!"

"Don't call me Perseus!" Percy whined.

"Uhm..." Annabeth stared at the two figures.

"Oh, sorry," the girl said. "You must be Annabeth. I'm Sabrina, your older sister."

"Oh..." Annabeth's eyes widened.

"Percy, is like my annoying little brother." Sabrina shot him a glare. "Anyways, I've gotta go talk to your other two cousins. Have fun!"

The door slammed shut and Sabrina walked out. It was all silence before Percy stared at the floor.

"I know what Sabrina meant when she cut herself off."

"What?"

"I died, Annabeth."

Annabeth felt her heart stop.

"What?" she choked out.

"I was dead, Wise Girl." Percy fixed his stare on her. "I felt it. I heard my own heart stop and I didn't breathe. I touched death and I came back."

"So you're..."

"A zombie." Percy confirmed. "But... I don't understand. That's not possible."

"What was it like?" Annabeth asked softly.

"Well, I was in blackness and I was sinking. I heard my heart beat getting slower and slower the further I fell. And I touched this whiteness when my heart stopped. But the white thing had a picture of you. But when I touched it... it wasn't real. So I knew I couldn't go into the white. I pulled myself out just in time before I was dead for good."

"But that means you--"

"Escaped Thanatos?" Percy frowned. "I don't know. What we need to find out is why I'm not dead right now."

That's when they heard someone clear their throat. Their heads snapped up and they saw Will standing there.

"I guess you know," Will said.

"I knew," Percy corrected. "I literally touched death. But it was like someone was holding me above it before I just left."

"So you think someone was helping you escape death?" Will asked. "Like dangling you above it? Percy, your heart stopped--"

"I know that!" Percy exclaimed. "But... isn't it like when people get a heart attack? Their heart stops but they're still alive?"

"Maybe..." Will frowned. "But what we do know is that you were almost dead. A breath away. Both of you. It's still unclear of why you're still alive. That's why we called Sabrina here."

"Oh..." Percy said, a cute look of realization on his face.

"Will!" Thalia and Nico came racing in. "We found it! It's called Death From The Dead's Perspective: The Ultimate Guide to Death."

"Great!" Will grabbed the book and flipped to the first page. "WARNING: Only to be read if you are in NEED of this knowledge or you are an extremely bored person. Contains frightening content."

"That's nice to know." Percy replied sarcastically.

"No time for sarcasm, Jackson."

"Here! It's on page... 149." Sabrina flipped through the pages. "I think I read through this book before, but I forgot about it, it was so long ago... Returning Back to Life."

Returning from the dead is not possible, proven by Thanatos himself. Once a person has entered the stage of death, there is no coming back. Not even Hades can retrieve those who have been deceased. However, those who appear to be dead may have been simply lucky. There are such incidents before the Greek gods fell, where the victim described themselves to be sinking through blackness towards a white void.

Percy froze, staring at the pages. That was exactly what he had been experiencing.

Thanatos, though he said he wasn't allowed to reveal much, said that the white void is death. Once the victim has entered the whiteness, they are truly dead and cannot come back. However, it is proven there is a loophole. The hero, Perseus--Percy's eyes bulged when he saw the page--son of Zeus, had been fatally wounded on the battlefield during the fight between Romans and Greeks. Apollo said that he appeared to be dead, but Thanatos claimed that he had saved Perseus, letting him come an inch from death.

"Thanatos saved him?" Will blinked a couple times.

People would assume that Thanatos broke his oath, however, it is proven that when Thanatos does this, he does not break the oath, since he merely slows down their deaths fast enough for them to get better. If they enter the whiteness, there is nothing he can do. Due to the ancient laws that still abide the Olympian realms today, he is only allowed to save victims once every thousand years. If he breaks this law, he is to be punished.

Everyone stared, frozen, at the page.