A/N: Alright, so I know I said that I was going to stop writing fanfiction. Well, this little baby popped into my head over Christmas break and I had to start writing it. So please enjoy!

Swear on the Styx
By BlackVelvetBand

Chapter One:
An Impossible Possibility

The picture was following her. It was literally staring at her as she paced back and forth across the room, reciting facts for her test in Eastern European history class tomorrow. Annabeth lamented for the umpteenth time that she hadn't been able to get an override into the History of Ancient Civilization class.

Stupid professor. Stupid full class. Stupid liberal learning requirement.

STUPID picture.

Annabeth let out an inarticulate yell of frustration, smashing her palm down on the offending photograph, knocking the frame roughly into the laminate of her dorm room desk. She looked at the object, lying there forlornly, for a moment and was immediately struck with a pang of regret. She hurriedly lifted the frame back into position, making sure that she hadn't damaged it.

Annabeth glanced over her shoulder, grateful that her roommate wasn't around to see her mooning away over the same photograph. Again.

Annabeth lifted a finger, European history forgotten, and traced the delicate, shimmering shells that outlined the damn picture. She stared longingly at the sea-green eyes set in the smiling tan face of Percy Jackson, her best friend and current ex-boyfriend.

He had given her the frame as a gift for their two year anniversary as a couple, the summer before their senior year of high school. At the beginning of the summer, she'd gone with his family on vacation to the cabin at Montauk. Percy taken her diving to ocean floor and Percy's stepdad had snapped the picture as they had come out of the water. A complexly dry Percy was holding her high in the air, forcing her to look into the camera. Paul had closed in on their faces, expertly capturing the delight dancing in their eyes.

Annabeth banged her head against the desk. For a daughter of Athena, she could be pretty idiotic sometimes. Then again, this whole situation had been her mother's fault. But Annabeth knew that no one had forced her to actually heed Athena's advice.

Why had she told Percy that they should see other people while they were in college? Better yet, why had she decided that she had to go to college in California? Annabeth had often heard the saying that one grows wiser with age. At this point, she heartily disagreed with the statement because her capacity for sane thought had obviously failed her at eighteen when she had sworn to herself at the ripe age of seventeen that she would relinquish Percy Jackson to no woman, monster, or goddess for that matter.

She still remembered exactly how the conversation went. Why was it that unpleasant memories tended to burn themselves on your inner eye so that they could pop up unbidden whenever they pleased?

- - -

Percy swung their hands between them as they walked along the beach at Camp Half-Blood. It was past curfew, but neither one of them was worrying about being turned in. Half of their fellow campers were engaging in naughtier nocturnal activities. They had done this most of the summer anyway, most kids were too afraid to snitch on Percy for fear that he would do to them what he had done to Kronos.

Annabeth couldn't believe that it was their last night at camp. The next day, they would leave for college…on opposite ends of the country.

Annabeth swallowed heavily, mentally preparing herself for the conversation she was about to start. She glanced up at Percy as he walked next to her, the sea air gently blowing his hair around his familiar face. His eyes were the color of the depths of the ocean in the dim light. He glanced down at her and unleashed the genuine smile that always caused her heart to lurch pleasantly. Seeing Percy smile gave her the contented feeling of coming home at the end of a long day. Annabeth bit her lip and tried to steel herself against his charm.

"Seaweed Brain-- Percy," Annabeth corrected herself, "we need to talk." She ceased to walk along side of him. Percy paused in his movement as well, turning to face her with a look of trepidation.

"That never means anything good," Percy stated. He brushed a few windswept curls away from her face, uneasy due to Annabeth's use of his actual name.

"Percy, we're leaving for college tomorrow. On opposite coasts," Annabeth began a little stronger this time.

"And whose fault is that?" Percy interjected with a poor attempt at humor. His grin died at her blunt reply.

"It's mine." Annabeth looked up at him, her eyes hard. "We're going to be apart for months at a time."

"Come on, Annabeth. Don't remind me" Percy said, his voice edging on a plea. He took a step close to her and slipped his free hand around her waist. "Can't we just enjoy tonight, I don't want to think about it right now."

"Well, I can't stop thinking about it," Annabeth snapped. She deliberately stepped of his embrace and turned to face the ocean. The sight did nothing but remind her of the boy behind her. It was like being surrounded by Percy. She tried to assure herself that she was making the right decision for both of them. Percy would thank her later.

Annabeth took a deep breath and begin the speech that she'd rehearsed lying in her bunk the night before.

"College is a stressful adjustment even for normal kids," she stated matter-of-factly. "I don't think that on top of sporadic monster attacks, all of our classes and everything else that comes along with college, we should add the stress of a long distance relationship. Statistics show that most high school couples don't last through the first semester without one of the partners cheating on the other—"

"Are you dumping me?" Percy steamrollered over her next comment. Annabeth smiled a sad smile as Percy finally understood where she was going. He was such a Seaweed Brain. "You're dumping me because you think I'm going to cheat on you?" he reiterated incredulously.

"I think we should…take a break," Annabeth said miserably, turning around to face him. She immediately wished she hadn't as she saw the confusion and anguish in his eyes, illuminated under the light of the suddenly full moon. Annabeth prayed that Artemis wasn't providing the proper lighting so that their break-up could be broadcast on Hephaestus TV.

"I would have gone with you to California," Percy said. "I wanted to go with you" he amended quietly. Percy tried to step toward her again, but ran up against Annabeth's hand. She ignored the jolt of pain that ran up her arm as the curse of Achilles protected him from her block. It felt like she'd just fended off an approaching rhinoceros.

"You couldn't have afforded the out-of-state tuition Percy, and we both know it," Annabeth said gently, staring at the camp half-blood logo on his t-shirt..

"Then I would have worked two jobs or something." He ran an agitated hand through his black hair. It then came to melt against her cheek, guiding her face towards his eyes. Annabeth bit her lip, wondering if this was the last time she would feel his hands, tough with sword calluses, handle her face so gently. "I won't even look at the other girls," Percy promised encouragingly.

"But I want you to," Annabeth said, the intended conviction behind her voice ruined by the way it wavered.

Percy let out a nervous chuckle. "Excuse me?"

Annabeth covered his hand with her own. "Don't you ever wonder if…if this isn't the way it's supposed to be?" she queried softly, removing his hand from her face.

"No," Percy declared bluntly. His grip on her hand tightened.

"I do," Annabeth said, letting her eyes drift to the ocean once again. "We keep saying that we want normal lives. But no normal kid spends their life with one person. The only way to know if it's meant to be is if we can't make a relationship work with other people." Percy dropped her arm as if she had just slapped him in the face.

"Let me get this straight," Percy said, beginning to pace in agitation. "You want to break up with me, so you can date other guys, just to make sure that we're right for each other? That is the dumbest thing I've ever heard coming from you Annabeth."

"Why?" Annabeth demanded, kicking some of the sand that his steps had overturned back at him. She was starting to get aggravated that Percy was exhibiting his usual tendency for making things difficult.

"Because that might be what normal people do, Annabeth, but that's not what we do. We aren't normal. Most kids our age don't have Greek gods for parents, run around with magic ballpoint pen-swords and enchanted Yankees hats. They don't take knife wounds for each other or bathe in rivers of death!" Behind them, the sound of the waves picked up, crashing on the shore. "Why don't we just track down the fates and coerce them into telling us if we were meant to be together. It's more our style anyway."

"Because, what I propose is actually possible," Annabeth rejoined. It's the wisest thing to do." Annabeth, stuck her chin in the air defiantly, a gesture that Percy usually found endearing but tonight it triggered something in his memory… a woman in jeans and a white blouse, threatening him…

"The wisest thing to do?" Percy repeated, stepping closer to her. "Your Mom put you up to this didn't she? This was her brilliant idea, wasn't it?" He threw his hands up in the air. "I thought we agreed to stop listening to our parents years ago."

"I don't listen to my Mom unless I think she's right," Annabeth said with as much dignity as she could muster. Percy wheeled around once more to fix her with a disbelieving stare.

"You think she's right?" he demanded. "This isn't right. This is right," Percy added, gesturing wildly between the two of them. He wrapped both arms around her waist as she attempted to duck around him.

"Put me down, you idiot," Annabeth stated, whacking him for good measure. She swore when her hand was met with the brick-like sensation that any violent assault on Percy rendered. "Put me down!"

"Not until you look me in the eye and tell me that this is what you really want," he countered, easily combating her valiant struggle to escape.

Annabeth stopped struggling and twisted in his embrace so that she was facing him. Percy lowered her slightly so that they were at eye level. "I really want this," Annabeth said stoically.

"I don't believe you," Percy said icily, dropping her unceremoniously to her feet. She landed with a squelsh on the suddenly soaked sand. The waves, propelled by Percy's anger, were pounding the beach so hard, the tide had reached their ankles. "But if it makes you happy…" he trailed off. "I guess it's over." Percy stuck his hands in his pockets and began to walk away from her farther down the beach. It took Annabeth a few mintues to recover from the shock of his sudden acceptance.

"Percy," she called out, sprinting to grab his arm. She clutched onto his arm with all the strength that years of training had given her. "You and me…even though we're not…We'll still be friends right?" she said, raising her eyes took look at him. Her heart thumped erratically in her chest. She had foolishly never considered that she might lose Percy forever by breaking up with him. Annabeth had not realized how accustomed she had become to having Percy in her life, the constant variable in a changing equation.

Percy looked down at her and gave her a small, wrenching smile. "Best friends," he said quietly. Annabeth let out the breath that she'd been suppressing and furiously wrapped her arms around him.

"I'll miss you, Seaweed Brain," she whispered, her fingers subconsciously stroked the small spot at the center of his back that anchored him to his mortal life. He shivered against her, burying his face in her hair.

"I'll miss you too, Wise Girl," he replied. Annabeth bit back tears for the first time in years and her hand pressed harder against his back inducing another shiver. "Don't," Percy said quietly and Annabeth, who understood the effect her touch on that particular spot had on him, released her grip. She really didn't make anything easy for them, did she?

"Will you IM me every couple of days so I know you're alive?" Annabeth asked briskly, stepping out of his embrace.

Percy let out a harsh chuckle. "I don't think you need to worry about me," Percy stated, but nodded his head. "Yeah, I'll let you know."

"Thanks," Annabeth said, meeting his eyes..

"Goodbye, Annabeth," he said after a moment. He bent down and pressed a kiss, as warm and gentle as a breeze off the water on her cheek. Then he was gone.

- - -

Annabeth plopped her head down on the cool surface of her desk, frowning in the wake of the memory's assault. She could have at least given him a goodbye kiss worth remembering. Gods.

Here she was alone in her dorm room studying for a test in a subject she didn't want to take when she could have been in a dorm room on the other side of the country, studying with Percy, who would have kissed her every time she answered a question correctly.

Because, if she was honest by herself, Annabeth had been single for six months now, and the only thing she did was compare other boys to Percy. And Percy always won. And every fiber of her being resonated with the incontestable truth that he always would.

Shit.

Annabeth glanced up as a strange light hit the back of her eyelids, causing the darkness to burst into a kaleidoscope of brilliant colors. She blinked her eyes open, surprised when the small decorative fountain on the corner of her desk was glowing with a misting rainbow. Tyson had assembled the rather unassuming contraption for her right after the war. It looked like a normal desk fountain but was powerful enough to produce enough mist to allow for Iris-messaging. Of course, she had used it ever since to keep in contact with Percy.

She smacked her head on the desk again before opening a drawer and rifling through it to find the drachma that the pleasant voice of the rainbow goddess was asking for. Annabeth frowned; she really wasn't in the mood to talk to Percy right now. Their conversations were always short and strained, but it gave her a sense of peace to know that he hadn't gotten himself into too much trouble since she'd been away. Annabeth took a quick look at the time; it was almost one, late for Percy to be calling. He was usually in bed by eleven-thirty since the Styx took a toll on his energy.

Annabeth dropped the drachma into the fountain and politely asked the goddess to deliver the message. Annabeth blinked when the face that swam into view wasn't Percy's, but Grover's.

"Grover?" Annabeth said, scooting her chair closer to the fountain, shielding it from view in case her roommate returned soon. "How are you?" Annabeth hadn't heard much from Grover since he had started touring the wild, spreading the word of Pan's last message. "How's the work going?"

"Annabeth," Grover said, his voice almost a bleat. "Thank the gods." Grover glanced over his shoulder. She listened, thinking she could hear voices in the other room…and sobbing.

"Grover, what's going on? What's wrong?" she demanded. "Where are you?"

She heard a crunching sound as Grover nervously crushed a tin can and raised it to his lips to chew. "I'm at Montauk," he replied around a hunk of metal. "Mrs. Jackson called me. It's Percy."

"What's wrong with him?" Annabeth demanded rising to her feet. Her chair hit her bedpost with a clatter as it fell to the floor.

"Annabeth," Grover bleated mournfully, "Percy's dying."

"That's not possible," Annabeth said, staring at Grover's flickering image in the mist. But the unchecked anxiety etched into Grover's face spoke otherwise.

A/N: Review, or Persephone will turn you all into dandelions!

On a side note, for those of you who read our Harry Potter story, Points in the Right Direction, Debbie and I have not given up and plan to update as soon as possible.