This takes place during the Stable scene in Mark of Athena — after they fall asleep but before the morning when everyone else gets up. This is canon compliant if you squint.

Honestly I'm just a sucker for angsty percabeth and I've had this idea in my head for awhile. I'm not sure if this will just be one one-shot or a series of one-shots. I'll do more if anyone is interested.

Annabeth wakes with a gasp.

The nightmare is already rapidly fading, slipping from her mind like water from her hands, but the emotions remain. They press into her skin, into her chest, into her head, raw and overwhelming, suffocating-

She is alone.

Percy is gone. Gone like everyone else. Gone like her father, gone like her mother, like Thalia, like Luke. He left-

"Annabeth."

She stiffens at his voice. Confusion weighs down on her mind for a still moment, but then, slowly, she recognizes the soft glow of the ambers lights and the steady hum of the Argo II's engine, and clarity washes over her.

She is in the stables.

She is laying on her side, her body aching from the hardness of the glass floor, and her eyes focus on the sky below her. - It is still night. The vast view of the world below is now hidden, the light of the room illuminating the thick dusky clouds that cocoon the glass.

And then she is aware of the warmth that is pressed along the length of her back, the arm draped across her middle, and she draws in a shuddering breath.

"Percy." Her voice wavers.

His reaction is immediate. He shifts away, moving his hand to her shoulder to roll her to her back.

His face hovers above hers, anxious, those sea green eyes searching, piercing, and the familiarity and unfamiliarity of him makes everything worse.

"What's wrong?"

What's wrong? What's wrong? A crazed laugh escapes from her lips before she can stop it. Everything is wrong. And its the final straw on the camel's back, and everything she has spent months and months and months pushing down - the panic and fear and confusion and hatred and loneliness. The loss. - is boiling up to the surface.

But she had pushed it down. She had to push it down so she could find him. She had to push it down because thats what she's always done when the people she cares about leave her.

And suddenly her laughter dies in her throat. Her breath is hitching, stuttering, and it isn't until she feels the wetness on her face that she realizes she is crying.

"Hey." Percy's voice grows alarmed. Warm fingers wipe frantically - gently - at her cheeks. "Hey. Hey. Hey. It's okay."

He tugs her closer then, enveloping her in his arms and tucking her head beneath his chin. One hand weaves into the curls at the nape of her neck while the other slowly rubs the length her back, soothing, reassuring.

Annabeth buries her face into his neck as he holds her. Her senses are flooded with him - his smell, his voice, the feel of his body - all things she had experienced a million times before but now seem vastly more potent. She winds her arms around him, needing to be closer.

When her cries finally ebb, and her breathing slows he presses his lips to her temple. "Do you want to talk about it?"

She shifts back some, not out of his embrace but enough to move her head. She keeps her eyes trained to his shirt, however, her fingers absently making patterns there as she gathers her words.

"I had a dream. A nightmare really. I don't really remember everything, but I know you had gone missing… again." - She shakes her head and scoffs - "And I'm not like this just because of one bad dream but because I've had to deal with this… this aloneness and confusion and pain for months, Percy."

She finally looks up, meeting his gaze. "And - its so dumb - but a part of me actually might think I'm cursed. My dad didn't want me, my mom won't talk to me, Thalia died, Luke died, you were taken from me. It's like all the people I love can never stay with me."

He's quiet for a long moment before speaking.

"Annabeth." His tone is soft and his eyes glassy. "I can't even pretend to know what it was like. I've been awake for a month, so confused about everything, but you've been going though this for nearly a year. If you think you're crazy, I probably would've have done something hideously stupid if the roles were reversed."

Her lips curl into a grin. "Oh I know you would've done something hideously stupid Seaweed Brain."

They laugh together for a moment, freely, easily before his face grows serious.

"But I will never leave you." Percy says fiercely, his eyes stormy and he pins her gaze with his. "Even the gods couldn't make me forget you."

Then he closes the remaining space between them, pressing his lips to her own.

The kiss is devouring, consuming, full of unspoken words and promises and time missed. His fingers thread into her hair, pulling her closer, closer, closer and her blood thrums with electricity.

She is drowning - they both are.

They part gasping, foreheads pressed together, and even though her eyes are closed she can tell he's smiling. His heart beats erratically beneath her palm.

It's everything.

After a moment, he chuckles. "I guess we've come full circle."

"Have we?"

"Yeah. We said this place reminded us of that Zoo truck from Las Vegas? Well, we also had a pretty cathartic conversation then as well."

Annabeth mock gasps. "Perseus Jackson. Did you just use the word cathartic in a sentence?"

The amber glow of the lights washes over his face, beautifully, his eyes turning a pale green, and he arches an eyebrow, grinning that damned trouble maker smile. "Oh how you wound me Wise Girl."

He cups her cheek then, softly, and kisses her gently. "I love you."

She smiles. "I love you too."

I honestly live for Person A comforts Person B and vice versa plots. I haven't read to much recent fan fiction but I don't feel like this aspect of Annabeth is touched on a lot — her fear of abandonment — so I wanted to expand a little bit more on that scene in the books.