This is the product of me being up at 4:00 AM and being sick: A brand new chapter fic that isn't an AU. :D

ENJOY!!

Oh, and please, if there is a space missing or if a word is missing the letter O, please ignore the mistake. The keyboard on my laptop sucks, and the spacebar and O key fail. I'm too *insert emotion you feel when you're sick* to even care about going back and seeing if I need to fix it :P

"Annabeth, hold still!" I shouted as I carried her up the stairs and onto the bus.

"I am, Seaweed Brain! Stop telling me what to do!"

I set her down on a bus seat and she sat up, shaking her leg.

"It's getting worse!" I told her. "Just stop moving!"

Annabeth glared at me, then gasped. She quickly grabbed my hand, wincing in pain, and I waved over Will solace from the Apollo cabin. I turned back to Annabeth and put my hand on top of hers. Her face was pale and her eyes were shut tight.

"It's gonna be okay," I muttered to her as Will approached us from the back of the bus.

"What happened?" He asked, looking at the cut on Annabeth's leg.

"Dragon got her when she wasn't looking," I replied, narrowing my eyes. "The next time Kronos wants to sick a dragon on us, could you make sure we're ready?"

Will smiled and rolled his eyes at me. As he turned to examine Annabeth's wound, I felt like I could have decked him in the mouth. I guess he'd gotten used to my attitude, just like everyone else. The war was really getting to me.

Will said something to Annabeth and she nodded, covering her closed eyes with my hand. Will reached into the seat in front of us and pulled some scissors out of a first aid kit. Annabeth's whole body tensed as Will lifted her leg and, starting at the rip from the dragon claw, snipped off one leg of Annabeth's jeans. The cut ran from the middle of her thigh to just under her knee, and it was bleeding like crazy. The skin around it was turning green.

"Poison," Will said. I closed my eyes and exhaled. Could this day get any worse?

Will removed some bandages and nectar from the first aid kit.

"Hold still," he said to Annabeth. As he poured some nectar on her leg wound, she squeezed my hand tighter, and I tried not to cry out. She had a mean grip, and she was hurt, but she didn't move a muscle.

"Of course, she stays still for you," I muttered under my breath. Annabeth scoffed and tightened her grip on my hand. I looked down at her, ready to say something, but I stopped short. I could tell Annabeth was trying really hard to be strong, but she was in a huge amount of pain. A tear slid down her cheek and she bit her lip. Will started bandaging up her leg and Annabeth took a deep breath, holding back a sob. I gripped her hand tighter and brought it to my lips.

"You're doing great, Wise Girl," I whispered against her knuckles. "He's almost done."

Annabeth smiled, and it felt like the greatest sight in the world. I couldn't help but smile back. Will finished her leg, tied off the bandage, and sat back to admire his handiwork. I flipped Annabeth's hand over and placed a square of ambrosia in her palm. She brought it to her mouth slowly and took a bite, her eyes still closed. I watched her as she finished off the medicine. After a few minutes, her breathing slowed and steadied, and she was asleep. Will looked over at me, stood up and smacked me upside the head.

"Ow!" I whispered. "What was that for?"

"You were grinning like an idiot," was his quiet reply.

"...Oh," I said, embarrassed. I ran my hand through my hair. "Thanks, man."

Will smirked. "Anytime, Perce," he said. He walked back to the other 2 Apollo campers that were with us.

As I sat on the bus floor next to the sleeping Annabeth, I thought about our mission.

15 campers. 1 monster camp. The task was simple: destroy Kronos' minions. So what went wrong? We'd followed Annabeth's and Michael Yew's plan almost perfectly. So why were there 3 wounded campers?

The sun was setting on another day of the summer from Hades. Kronos was getting stronger everyday, and we were running out of time. A war was going to start any day now, and we were still trying to cut down Kronos' forces.

And, go figure, it wasn't working.

It was July 3rd. We had a little over a month before my 16th birthday/the end of the world. Beckendorf, a Hephaestus camper, was busy up at the front of the bus as he tried to re-wire the circuits to get us home. will solace had joined 2 of his siblings in the back of the bus and were now going over the supplies we had left. I looked outside the window at the other 9 campers, cleaning up and collecting their respective spoils of battle. I saw Silena Beauregard, a daughter of Aphrodite, pick up a dragon skin and frown at it. I sighed in frustration as she began to carry the skin to the bus. I pushed off the ground and jogged past Beckendorf and down the stairs to meet her. I hopped off the bus and onto the dirt as she stopped in front of me, holding out the dragon skin.

"This is yours," she said, a concerned look on her pretty features.

"I don't want it," I replied, balling my fists and looking away.

Silena raised a plucked eyebrow.

"Why not?" She asked gently. "You killed it. It's yours."

"Yeah, well you should see what it did to Annabeth's leg."

Silena smiled knowingly like she understood something I didn't.

"Oh, so that's why you don't want it," she cooed.

"What?"

Silena laughed and tossed the dragon skin at me.

"Get some rest, Percy," she said as she walked away, flipping her black hair over her shoulder. I got back on the bus, where the Apollos were doing just what Silena had suggested and laying down in the back seats. I sat down next to Beckendorf and dropped the dragon skin under the seat. As I watched Beckendorf work on the bus, the rest of the campers gradually got on board and got situated to sleep. The sun had completely set when Beckendorf finished the bus' controls. He turned the key in the ignition and the bus sprang to life, waking up a grumpy son of Ares and the tired Katie Gardener, daughter of Demeter. Beckendorf grinned.

"Engine still works," he said, satisfied. I nodded. He and I were the only two still awake. He didn't look tired at all, but I could feel my eyelids closing.

"You should go to sleep," Beckendorf told me as he got settled in the driver's seat.

"What about you?" I asked, looking out the window.

"I've stayed up for long periods of time before," he replied. "And we have to get home."

"You have a point there," I said. Beckendorf looked over his shoulder and grinned.

"There's an open seat across the aisle from Annabeth," he told me. He gestured towards the back of the bus and I turned. Annabeth's feet were hanging off the edge of her seat and her head was resting on the window. I turned back to Beckendorf to ask him what he meant, but he was looking out the windshield, and I knew our conversation was over. I sighed and made my way to the empty seat.

I swung myself into the seat and rested my forehead on the window. It was extremely warm for nighttime, and the bus either didn't have air conditioning or it wasn't on. As Beckendorf put the bus in drive and pulled out of the ditch it'd been in, I peeled off my ripped, burnt, green t-shirt.

I hadn't realized how tired I was. My eyes closed almost instantly.

For the first time in a long time, I didn't dream. Of course, that was probably because I fell asleep and woke up and it felt like I'd just blinked.

I knew that a good amount of time had passed only because Annabeth was asleep on my chest/shoulder. I didn't know how or when she got there, but she looked so peaceful. I couldn't wake her up. I glanced over my shoulder out the window. We were on some highway. I strained to look at the driver's seat. Beckendorf wasn't driving anymore. He was passed out in the seat behind the driver's, snoring quietly. Silena Beauregard was behind the wheel. I decided not to question it and tried to go back to sleep.

Annabeth shifted and I froze, my eyes glued to the seat in front of me. She didn't make a sound and she didn't move, so I assumed she was still asleep. I looked to my left and found myself nose-to-nose with a very awake Annabeth, who blushed and turned away quickly. I smiled.

"I, um..." she began. "My... my leg was feeling better, and you looked cold, so-"

I laughed quietly and wrapped one of my arms around Annabeth so I could shift my weight without her falling off the bus seat. I rested my back against the side of the bus and Annabeth leaned against me. She started to poke and pull at her bandage. I placed my hand on top of hers.

"Don't touch it, Wise Girl" I said as I tried to stifle a yawn. Annabeth stuck her tongue out at me. I smiled and kissed her on the top of her head. She blushed and let her head fall back onto my chest.

I rested my head on the seat back and closed my eyes.

"Percy?" I heard Annabeth whisper.

"Yeah?" I replied.

"Thank you."

I opened my eyes. "For what?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. Annabeth looked up at me, and she seemed to glow in the moonlight.

"For killing that dragon for me."

I shrugged. "No problem," I said. "It's what friends are for."

Annabeth pursed her lips and looked away.

"Right. Friends." She said. I would have asked her about her sudden harsh tone had I not fallen asleep right then, tired and confused as Hades.

So, did you like it? Mind telling me if you did?