A/N Huge thanks to percabethbooklion for leaving a review, it means a lot.

Chapter 2

The Start Of A War

The cold air stung Annabeth's eyes. She wished she had brought some glasses or something to shield her eyes from the air assault being placed on them. She was too cold to keep holding up her sign that read, 'we need to change our ways'. So she decided to get something to warm her up.

"Hey, Rachel. I'm going to go grab some coffee, okay?" She asked.

"Yeah, just hurry back." Rachel replied.

Rachel was one of Annabeth's best friends. No matter what happened, Rachel was always at her side. Especially when it came to protesting.

What were they protesting against? Good question. They were protesting agains the new order. After all, the laws of that order had only started when she was five and in the time since they have started, had caused a giant uproar from the citizens.

They had come so close many times to causing the rebellion they had been trying for years to ensue. But like watching an airplane from solid ground, it was always just out if reach.

And now she is coming way to close to falling off the cliff she had so desperately clung onto for the whole of her life. And at the bottom of the cliff was what she had been looking straight at for years but only now could see clearly.

And it sucked.

She always thought that knowing was the worst part. Knowing that in less than a year she would be forced to marry only made the waiting ten times worse.

As she turned to stalk away from Rachel, she ran into someone. Looking up at there face she realized it was just Percy.

Percy was a guy that would frequently show up at the protests. He was super sweet and she might have developed quite a crush on him, but she new her feelings didn't matter. She would be married in three months. There was no point in laying a foundation for a building that would be knocked down so soon.

"Oh, hey Percy. How's it going?"

Her stomach did flip flops as he tilted his head as if getting a better look at her.

"I really hope you aren't leaving. Because I just got here and it'd suck if I just missed you." He gave her a flirty grin, showing a white smile.

Her cheeks tinted pink. "Oh, well, I was just, um, going to go grab some coffee." She said gesturing her hand in the direction of The Coffee Club, a horrible named, yet surprisingly delicious, coffee shop on the corner of the street.

"Ah, we'll mind if I join?" He asked. Annabeth didn't want to have feelings for this guy, there would be no point, but he sure wasn't making it easy.

"Sure." She squeaked and walked around him, not missing a beat.

As he caught up to her she could realize how much he must have cared to go through so much trouble trying just to be near her.

As they walked into the coffee shop without a word, Annabeth waisted no time sitting down after getting a hot coffee to wrap her achingly cold hands around.

Coffee always reminded her of the good memories. When she would wake up extra early on her father's work days. Her and Malcolm would make a big pitcher of coffee and pour some in the giant coffee cup that said, 'worlds best dad'.

Those were the good old days. The days before this happened. The days before the Higher Power. The days before Malcolm…

Although those were good memories, they never failed to deflate the fake happiness she would surround herself with. Her mother always used to say, the sweetest of memories can leave the deepest of scars.

Ever since this started, Annabeth had agreed with that statement. But she never found wether she was agreeing with the fact that those memories left scars, or the fact that she is scarred from those memories.

Although she loved her parents, she still moved away when she was 18. Nothing could keep her in the house she grew up in, because the house was a memory, and memories leave scars.

Maybe that's why her life is so dull. Why she lived so monotone. The thing was, why create memories worth remembering when all they do is hurt. She didn't want the hurt; she didn't want the pain, or the heart ache, or the reminders at all.

But no matter how hard she tried, she knew she would make a life to remember. And it scared her.

"Earth to Annabeth," Percy said waving a hand in front of her face.

She brought her eyes to look at him. "Sorry, I was, uh, thinking."

"Ah, well, there can never be to much of that, right? So, like, how's work going and stuff." She couldn't help but to smile at his complex choice in words.

"Well, it's pretty boring. Same old stuff everyday. To be honest, I thought becoming an architect would be a dream come true, but there are no buildings to be built anymore. No family owned businesses. No, no, well, nothing." And it was true. Limited lives meant limited living places. That meant no apartment buildings or houses.

He didn't say anything so she decided to go on. "So, I don't think I ever heard where you work."

"Oh, well, I, uh, do a little hear and there, y'know?" His face showed nervousness.

"So, practically, you have no j—"

"Yes! Practically." He said interrupting her.

"Yeah, well, I've always thought that—"

"Every one shut up!" Yelled Sheila, a usually nice barista. So it kind of surprised Annabeth that she would say something some rude.

Sheila grabbed the remote for the little tv hanging from the ceiling at the end of the bar.

"Breaking news, coming to you live from Brooklyn New York. A riot has recently broken out, rattling many of the Brooklyn residents."

"My parents live in Brooklyn." Annabeth said, thinking out loud.

Percy gave her a sad look with a bit of thoughtfulness in it before turning back to the screen that showed images of many people running around the streets, not three hours away.

Annabeth's ears were on fire. She thought she might throw up right then and there, but instead forced herself to listen to the tv.

"Many people have joined the fight in attempt to cause a disruption in the system. We have word that the Higher Power has sent out forces to stop this useless rebellion at once. We will get back to you when—wait, what's that!" The reporter said, pointing up at the sky.

The camera turned in that direction showing three jets flying in perfect unison. Before her mind could process what was happening, the jets deployed several rockets heading straight for the conflict.

As the rockets crashed down to earth, Annabeth could feel her ribs cracking as her heart attempted to break free from her chest. Hot tears now began to silently trail down her face. Although her eyes were red and her nose was pink, she showed no emotion.

Her parents, along with many other innocent people, were now dead.

She snapped.

She stood up screaming and cursing at the tv, all the while tears fell in rapid streaks down her face.

Percy stood up and locked his arms around her waist trying to keep her from moving.

She kicked and screamed but deep down appreciated how he comforted her while almost being punched in the face. He held her until she stopped crying.

She went limp in his arms. Taking in deep breaths to calm her body. She turned and hugged him tightly as if he was her only anchor to this world, and if she let go she would float away from him and everything else real, once again fooling herself with fake happiness.

"Shhh, Annabeth. Everything will be okay." Percy whispered. Only now did she realise he had been saying that the hole time.

"It's not fair," she said in a shell-shocked voice. "They just killed so many people because of a 40 man riot. There is no more Brooklyn New York, Percy. It's gone. It's all gone."

"I know," he said pulling her away to look at her face. "Something needs to be done about this, and no protests are going to stop it. We need something more powerful."

"What?"

"The most powerful thing in the world, Annabeth. We need hope."

She slowly began to nod. And they didn't just need there hope, they needed everyone's hope.

This wasn't the start of a new age, this was the start of a new war. And if the people had to go down, they weren't going down without a fight.