Bunker 9
Annabeth still hadn't moved by dark, and I was getting worried. I wasn't sure what time it was, but the moon was high enough to know that it was at least midnight. Leo had baled after the sun had set, and decided to sleep in Bunker 9. Annabeth hadn't moved at all, which looked really unnatural. She moved when she slept, and I felt like a stalker knowing that information. It wasn't me who decided she should sleep in my cabin.I was laying on the floor when the moon was setting and the sun peaked over the horizon, illuminating Annabeth's face with a golden glow. She took a quick deep breath like she had just been holding it for too long, and shot upright into a sitting position, holding her head. I turned to her and hugged her up to me. She didn't move, but when I let her go, she smirked,
"What'd I miss?" Then she kissed me. She was smiling through it, but I was too so it didn't matter. l wasn't one to judge my girlfriend. She looked at me and I saw mischief burning in her eyes like a fire. She gave me a slightly sideways grin that I didn't recognize as hers.
"Are you okay?" I asked carefully. She nodded and evened out her smile.
"What't the capital of Utah?" I asked quickly. And yes, it was relevant. Usually the well known cities are the ones where things are hidden.
Annabeth looked confused for a second, then started singing (Yes singing),
"Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Indianapolis, Indiana, and Columbus is the capital of Ohio, there's Montgomery Alabama south of Helena Montana,Then there's Denver Colorado under Boise Idaho..." She kept going like this, making strange hand gestures, until finally, "Cheyenne is in Wyoming and perhaps you'll make you're home in Salt Lake City out in Utah where-" I interrupted her.
"Thank you." And she frowned at me for not letting her finish her song. She was quiet for a minute before she finished, "...Salem in Oregon, from there we join, Little Rock in Arkansas, Iowa's got Des Moines, Sacramento California, Oklahoma and it's city, Charleston West Virginia and Nevada Carson City. That's all the capitals there are!" Cheeky.
"Thank you!" I shouted like it should be 'shut up!', but she bowed ostentatiously anyway. Athena would be disappointed. Wait... I remembered something I had read before.
"Hey Annabeth?" I got her attention, "What's two plus two?" I asked.
"Fish!" She shouted, then thought about what she'd said and smiled, "Like you." Then she hit me on the shoulder like we were playing tag and ran away. Maybe we were? Or maybe Annabeth had gone insane. Joker? Try mentally troubled, and not in the way I am as well.
I found the rock doorway and banged on it as hard as I could, then found two sticks and rubbed them together until they got hot, blowing on them until I had a small fire. I touched it to the stone and it slid open. Figures. I put out my stick before dropping it, and stepped inside the bunker.
I saw Leo right away with his jacket on, sitting on a dusty bench with one arm bent under his chin on the desk in front of him as a cushion. He was playing Flappy Bird on his iPod (where did he get that?) with the other.
"Hey." He said without looking at me. "I take it Annabeth's awake, otherwise you wouldn't be here. How is she?"
"She's... awake. And... different." I tried to get words out of my mouth to describe her in a way that wouldn't remind Leo of himself before he disappeared. I got it now, just think like that, that Annabeth had turned into the Joker we thought we would have. I was worried about Leo turning into the Broken we thought we would have, even though I was convinced that Leo was currently worse off then Nico. I wondered what I would be like; what Hero Leo and Annabeth had envisioned me to be.
"What a wonderful description." He sighed and put down his iPod, "What's wrong with me?" He asked. Nor like people do for fun when they do something weird or out of place, but generally and sincerely and completely troubled. "I can't see the bright side of anything. Before, I told myself that if I joked about it, it wouldn't hurt. If I made people laugh at me on purpose, they wouldn't judge me when I did something by accident. I would tell myself that things would get better, but I know better now. I'm done lying to myself, pretending that everything's going to be okay, because it's not. People die, and I don't care anymore. I've been hardened beyond feeling, and I can't try to make things better now." He was looking at the floor, and I could swear he was crying. My heart broke for him. That little funny kid I knew was never going to come back again, and I felt like the real Leo had died. I guess he had in reality.
I had no idea what to say, and I didn't want to try to console him. I tried to stay still for a minute, but I couldn't. I guess I could describe it as standing bare foot on a burning hot floor and trying to stay still. You have to move or you'll scream.
"Let's find Annabeth." He said after a few minutes of me being bored and uncomfortable. I nodded, happy to be free to move again, and let him lead the way out of Bunker 9.
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