A/N: Okay, the Percy Jackson series is my absolute favorite, and I think Riordan did a great job with pacing and how deep he went into stuff like Percy and Annabeth's relationship. However, as a fan fiction author, it's my job to expand on the two's relationship, and to add a little twist of my own. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians characters. I only own Thomas.

Chapter 1: I thought I knew

Percy

As soon as you know you love someone, everything changes for you. You can't be away from that person, and it's almost as if they're your sole life source. In other words, they're your air that you breathe, your oxygen. This is how it was for me when I realized I loved Annabeth. She loved me back, no kidding, but it wasn't just a boyfriend girlfriend kind of love. It was mutual. We had almost everything in common. We could talk to each other about anything. We knew each other's deepest secrets, save a few, and we understood each other to the maximum. It was great, no joke.

But greatness can only last for a while. After your fifteen minutes of fame, it's done. That's how it was for us. She loved me, I loved her. It was perfect, until Thomas Jilk came to camp, and Annabeth found how she could compare me to him. He was better at archery than I was (well, there's a surprise). He could canoe. He could run like the wind. He had a great hand for sword-fighting. He could play poker better than I could. He understood what Annabeth meant when she talked about architecture and her new designs for Olympus. He was everything she could ever want.

And I wasn't.

I thought I knew what she wanted. I thought she wanted me. I thought that I would always be her Seaweed Brain. I thought that I had won her over. Obviously, I was wrong.

But I'm not going to confuse you. Let's just go back to the beginning of the story.

The sun was setting on the horizon when Annabeth and I walked down to the beach. The water shone with the colors of the rainbow, a sight beautiful enough for just this moment. It was perfect.

We held hands and interlocked our fingers, the touch of her hand sending little shockwaves through my body. She brushed a strand of curly blonde hair behind her ear and looked into my eyes. I gazed into hers, those big, gray eyes, and it automatically felt like my brain was melting. Not just my brain, my entire body, too.

We walked a little farther towards the water and sat down in the sand, unlatching our hands so we could catch ourselves before we fell. Annabeth shifted closer to me and took my left hand again, running her fingers over my palm. It tickled a little, but not enough to say anything.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm reading your future," she said softly, continuing to brush my palm with her smooth fingers.

"I thought that was decided."

"Well," she smiled, looking up at me, "We knew your future up until the prophecy ended, and now none of us have any clue, including you. I thought it was time to get a little glimpse."

I wanted to say that we could just ask Rachel, the new Oracle, but I knew how adverse Annabeth would be to that decision. She probably wouldn't speak to me for a day or so.

So I asked, "What do you see?" Her eyebrows scrunched together, and I saw the look of puzzlement that flashed across her face.

"Anger," she whispered, "Hurt." I didn't see that coming. I thought my future would have lots of good things in it for once. But good things never come easily, as I have learned.

But I kept going, "Anything else?"

She put my hand in my lap and leaned in close, wrapping one hand around my neck. "Love," she said. And then she kissed me. It was deeper and more emotional than usual. I could feel it in her body language. She shifted her weight so that she was soon in my lap and my arms were around her waist. She was kissing me ferociously, and I liked it. I kissed back.

A breeze blew over us, and Annabeth shivered and snuggled into my chest.

"Cold?" I asked, wrapping my arm around her shoulder and resting my head on hers. She nodded and wiggled a little further in, making herself comfortable. And I was pretty comfortable too.

And yet, deep down in the pit of my stomach, I knew it wouldn't last. This kind of love would only be there for a little more time, and that's all we would have. Then it would be over.

I didn't want it to be over. I wanted this to last forever. I wanted us to last forever. But I knew, because we were half-bloods, that that was never going to happen.