Notes before you read-
Perachel,cause I know Percabeth is the only thing on par with Solangelo,but I love Perachel equally.
Basic Summary,cause I'm too lazy to expand.
Now,go ahead!
At some point he realizes it's something he's always done, from the first moment he met her at Hoover Dam. He uses Rachel's mortality and the clarity of her sight as a shield from the world he lives in, from all the gods and monsters and prophesies that try to do him harm.
He didn't even think about it too much back in Nevada, or during his orientation at Goode when she led him away from the empousa. It's so easy to fall into step beside her, and trust her to protect him from the constant craziness he found himself in. He knows that is a little backwards – he's supposed to protect mortals, not the other way around – but Rachel never did like following the rules other people set.
After the Labyrinth, after the battle and the funerals, when Percy tries to get back to something that resembles a normal life, Rachel is there. He did his best to explain his life, the war, the prophecy but he knows she didn't fully understand. It didn't matter. Rachel made it clear she's along for the ride and Percy selfishly clung to her.
It helps they don't really fight. She never gets mad or blames him when monsters barged into the movie theater they were at, or the deli where they got lunch, or any of the numerous other places they show up. She just tells him she'll meet him around the corner as he leads the monsters into a back alley or deserted park where he can vanquish them without much mortal attention. Afterwards she grins and they go about their day as though nothing happened. There's no grumbling, no anger, just acceptance of the things they could not control.
As the calendar counts down to his birthday, and what he suspects will be his death, her acceptance break down the walls he keeps up for everyone else. She becomes the harbor from the storm that is his life, the one he can curl his soul around when it gets to be too much. His mom tries but her anxiety is contagious and Paul is just confused. Everyone at camp has their own problems, especially as the number of burned shrouds grow.
Rachel handles his tempestuous mood swings. She lets him mope, brood, seethe, panic or any of the other emotions he cycles through without judgement. When he finally breaks down into sobs during a late spring thunderstorm, she merely cards her hands through his hair as he lays his head in her lap, watching the rain pound the windows. She never gives him platitudes. When he whispers that it's not fair, she hums in agreement.
He's too tempted when she offers him the trip to the Caribbean. It's horrible timing, but also the best because maybe he could just crawl into a ball on the sofa and watch her paint as his birthday passes by, safe in her presence. He wants to, so bad. But he claimed the prophecy.He can't run away now. It's the first time she actually gets mad at him, but they both know it's the right thing to do. And if he takes some solace in the fact that it means she will be far away from New York, far away from him, when the world potentially ends, well no one needs to know.
Then everything happens too fast.
They lose Beckendorf. He learns the prophesy. He swims in the Styx. They fight Kronos's forces. Rachel comes to Manhattan anyway. They fight some more. His sixteenth birthday is drowned in blood and tears. In the end they lose far too many but win the war. He chooses mortality as the price for making the gods swear to do better by all the children they killed. Rachel dumps him in favor of following her destiny, sending a white-hot bolt of fear through his being. There is a breath of relief as the spirit of Delphi takes and she does not suffer May Castellan's fate, but there is also a hard edge of resentment that Olympus stole his one mortal comfort besides his mom, permanently tying her to this messed up world of gods and monsters.
Annabeth kisses him and suddenly he has a girlfriend. It leaves him a bit off balance. Too much has happened in too short of time, but now looking at a life beyond his sixteenth birthday he thinks this is fine. Everyone else tells him they've been waiting years for them to get together. He's scared he's going to screw it up, disappoint her, that he's too messed up to make her happy, but he smiles as she takes his hand with a smug smirk on her face.
Things slow down but it doesn't take away his pain.
Life after the war is fine. Not great, but okay. Annabeth is busy rebuilding Olympus and he is back at Goode High, now without Rachel. He misses Rachel, more than he wants to admit. He spends a small fortune in drachma Iris Messaging her when the nightmares of his dead friends keep him up. Annabeth is closer but she doesn't like being woken up at and has too much on her plate for him to bother her. So he lays in the dark with Rachel hundreds of miles away, as she chatters on about life at finishing school and in New Hampshire. She's not a fan of either.
Sometimes she stays up with him till dawn. It helps him feel ready to face the world outside his head, even if he's exhausted and strung out. She never complains, even when their late nights cause bags under her eyes, just smiles and tells him to call if he needs her.
The gods go silent. Annabeth does that thing where she's panicking but trying to cover it up with endless theories. Again, he feels the weight of the prophesy settle into his being. Rachel doesn't make fun of his fears, but instead smiles and offers to come to camp for the weekend. She does and he spends most of that time curled on the sofa in her cave while Rachel paints and hums off key. He thinks they are both waiting for the other shoe to drop, but he will be okay if she is willing to wait with him.
He disappears. He wakes up staring at a giant godly wolf with only the memory of Annabeth's face. He spends months wandering Northern California trying to figure out who he is and where he is supposed to be. When his memories do return, there's a long list of reasons why he wants to flay Hera alive. Near the top is taking away his Rachel, taking away the one that kept him sane so far in the crazy godly world. Annabeth may be his heart but Rachel is his soul. Annabeth was his anchor to mortality but Rachel is the one he trusts to guard it; he knows the truth of this down to his bones. And having a goddess erase her, for any bit of time, is unforgivable.
Annabeth nearly causes a civil war with their reunion, only to have Leo finish the job a few hours later. Nico is missing and there is way too much hormonal teenage drama on the ship for Percy's taste. He considers Iris Messaging Rachel just to inject a bit of sanity into his week, but with Annabeth constantly at his side he doesn't. He knows she doesn't understand and doesn't want to hurt her. So they sail the Atlantic, piss off Hercules, trick some pirates, and fight some dancing giants. And then he and Annabeth fall.
Tartartus sucks more than he could have imagined but at least getting to the doors gives him a goal. Annabeth tries to pretend things are normal even while they are traipsing through hell. She tries making him nervous by mentioning Rachel, something he's noticed she does at times, but it doesn't have the effect he thinks she's looking for. Because suddenly he remembers that Rachel is up there, with her clear sight and freaky oracle powers, and he desperately hopes she can't see down here. For him, she'll try and that kills him. But Annabeth just smirks and sends the note as Percy silently gives his apologies to the oracle upstairs.
They make it out but Percy can't forgive himself for the cost and Annabeth can't forgive Percy for what he did to survive. They are breaking apart, he's breaking apart, and his shield is still on the other side of the world.
He fights besides his father and gets booted across the world. The sky explodes and Gaea is gone. When the battlefield finally stills, he finds his arms full of Rachel, her red hair tickling his nose as he buries his face into her shoulder. There is no violence unless you count him nearly falling over from her flying hug. He is covered in blood and dust and her warmth and her smell, that strange combination of acrylic paint and Japanese incense, is enough to have him finally break down. His shield is back. She can help put him back together again.
"I saw you fall," she whispers, heartbroken. "And then I couldn't see you. I tried, but I just couldn't."
"I'm so sorry," he chokes out.
He sees Annabeth frowning at them in the distance, but in this moment he chooses to be selfish and stays where he is. He loves Annabeth but sometimes he needs more than what she is willing to give. Because she is filled with just as much darkness and covered in just as much blood as he is, even if she can't see it. So instead, he focuses on Rachel.
"Please stay," he whispers, hoping she'll understand how broken he is now, how much he needs her light to pull him back together.
"Always."
A couple years pass and for once there is no world ending prophesy in sight. Rachel temporarily loses her oracle powers and Apollo grows as Lester. They all grow up a bit. He and Annabeth are officially still together, mainly because she ignores him every time he tells her it's over. It's an eldritch horror of a relationship that everyone except Annabeth accepts is dead. Sometimes he wonders if the reason she refuses to let go is because she sees him as the ticket to what she thinks she is owed after two wars and Tartarus: divinity.
Because that is the new force settling into his bones as sure as he felt both great prophecies. It's been seeping in ever since Tartarus, no matter how much Percy doesn't want it. He doesn't understand how gods think immortality is such a boon when the mere thought terrifies him. They don't talk about it but he knows Rachel has seen it. And again she offers only her acceptance.
One night they lie facing each other on the oversized bed in her cave, one of the few places he feels safe, their faces lit only by an antique lantern Rachel picked up, fingers loosely linked together.
"You could be my Ariadne," he whispers out of the blue.
"You think I have a broken heart?"
Percy huffs out a laugh. "Fine. I can be your Ariadne."
Rachel is silent as she fiddles with his hand. He knows it's a lot to ask, to take on the reality of forever for a boy she's only kissed once. It's a crazy leap from their first meeting at Hoover Dam. But over the years one thing hasn't changed - he needs her. Even if he'll no longer have a mortal soul for her to protect, he doesn't think his human heart would survive without her. He's terrified he'll become the type of god he hates if she's not there to ground him with her smile and light.
Eventually she raises his hand to kiss his scarred fingers. "For you hero, I can do forever."
And finally Percy knows he is safe.
AN-
Should I write ValGrace next?