Hey, guys. Sorry about not updating for so long; I had track, low grades, lots of family in the hospital, and I went to Toronto, Canada with my class and terrorized some Canadians… kidding, we were discussing politics in an Italian restaurant's bathroom ;) Low grades for me are about a C+; I'm in accelerated placement, so I have to keep above a B in most classes. *yawns* I'm actually sick right now (as is my twin brother, two older sisters, and younger sister), so I thought I'd update and NOT seem like an evil monster. Fans for my other stories; I honestly don't know when I'm going to get to them. Maybe do them tonight, and kill two birds with one stone, eh?

~Elsie

Disclaimer: I do not own. Never have, never will.

Songs listened to when writing this chapter:

You Lie- The Band Perry

Halleluiah- Kate Voegele

Heartbreak Warfare- John Mayer

Infidelity- Regina Spektor

Night Train- Amos Lee-

What's been going on- Amos Lee

'Till it happen to you -Corrine Bailey Rae

I'll Be- Edwin McCain

Annabeth's POV

My head snapped up. There he stood, my big oaf of a best friend. I shied away from him, seeing those brilliant, familiar eyes gazing at me with curiosity.

Of course he wouldn't remember me.

"Hasn't your momma ever taught you not to eavesdrop?" Clarisse growled, standing and clenching her meaty fists. Percy's eyes widened, his feet tripping over the biting wind, his thick dark hair falling over hollow cheek bones and his lips quivering. He wasn't looking at Clarisse, though; he was peering around her at me.

"Why is she crying?" He asked, his perfect velvet voice burrowing it's way into my heart and making my bones ache. I could feel my rib cage constricting around my lungs, and I felt like the air that went into my lungs was the most potent of poisons. The smog of misery that encased and caressed me thickened, wrapping itself around my heart and gradually tightening. I hugged myself as the ghosts of memories laughed maliciously and danced around the ashes of my poor broken pieces until the rain of tears washed away all hope.

You've won, mother, I thought. I'm broken; are you happy?

I could feel the temperature in the air quickly turn to ice. The air felt stale around me. Every breath I took in made me feel like I was on high elevation, or holding up the sky again, crushing me under a pressure that felt fare worse than the sky ever could make me feel. I felt like the water in the air was breaking at my lips, taunting me to scream. Every breath I drew just made me lighter headed.

No, I didn't hurt because my boyfriend didn't remember me; it was more because my best friend didn't remember me. My partner in crime, my grand composer, my supporter and role model, my shoulder to cry on, the person that will scream with me at scram movies and will cheer me up no matter my problem didn't remember a single word I've ever uttered to him. Every one of my victories faded into the black around the wallowing defeat of losing the greatest person I've ever met. Yeah, I guess I missed him as a boyfriend, but I would give it all back without forethought just to have those sparkling green eyes looking back at me the way they used to.

I looked up and met his eyes, so full of concern for a person he thinks he doesn't know. I closed my eyes, the bright orange of the sun blinding my eyes. I didn't feel the warmth of the sun shining on my face, only the dark and cold.

Opening my eyes, I watched that thick darkness contort and form into a huge black snake, slithering to my slide and wrapping around me. The girls gasped, holding their hands over their mouths. I just watched the snake, mesmerized by it's perfect black eyes, and those scales that drained the color of the snapping golden leaves under us into black.

"Annabeth! What are you doing?" Thalia hissed. I ignored her, stretching my fingers out to the snake, those glowing black orbs watching my hand. The dark snake wrapped itself slowly around my fingers, following the lines of my veins up to my throat. I felt his warm lips on my throat, felling my back arch up and away from the tree and my head tilt back. His warm hands, able to wield a sword but could run like silk across skin, skim up my arms, trailing the snake's thick smoke of illusion up the patch of my collar bone and trailing slowly up my throat. His finger tips slowly pushed up my throat, the finger spreading around my face. I rolled my head, my eyes staring vacantly at the fuzzy gray haze around me. Looking up, even in my disorientated, almost high-like state I saw the mist of illusion transform into those perfect green eyes, staring out at me from the cloud of black that fell around me like a thick blanket.

The girls stood speechless, watching the snake as the forest drained of color as the black tendrils threaded their way around the trees and swirling up to the gray sky.

"No," I heard Piper murmur to him. "I don't think I can answer that question."

Lightning flashed in the sky, thick layers of salt water forming around us. Percy's eyes widened, the water reaching their knees. I crouched to the water, cupping some in my hands and bringing my shaking fingers to my lips. As soon as the water touched my tongue I felt the Earth begin to quake. Thalia fell into the water, her black hair sticking around her as her breath quickened. Piper clutched Clarisse's arm, screaming. Percy's hair began to whip around him in the biting wind.

"What's happening?" He screamed. Thalia clutched her wrist, the blood from her scrapes dripping and fading into the water.

"I don't know! Are you telling me it isn't you doing this?" She yelled back at him, her hair framing her face as the water just kept falling, sloshing up the their waists now. I tilted my head back, letting the water drip out of my mouth and down my throat. I felt the blood dripping out of the corners of my mouth, slowly trailing down my face and dripping down into the water. The wind howled, ripping leaves off of trees and tripping the tree spirits as they fled. Closing my eyes, I watched the vision unfold.

A perfect gray owl swooped down dangerously close to the water, it's wings frantically beating at the air as it tried to get away from whatever was following it. Blood dripped down it's injured wing, coating it's perfect silver feathers in dark maroon. It's eyes darted around the blackening sky, seeing no exit.

Abruptly, a handsome man with dark hair and wild green eyes arose from the water of the ocean, catching the bird in his big hands. The owl squirmed, it's breath quickening with every beating of it's heart. The man assed the bird carefully, tilting it up and examining it's dislodged feathers. A man came up behind him, his blonde hair rumpling in the wind. His cruel black eyes watched the bird coldly. A girl with perfect auburn curls and a white dress walked up next to him, tugging on his arm and insisting something in some forgotten language, her voice growing more and more pleading with every word. He shook her off of him, sending her flying back into the water.

"Kill it." The man's emotionless voice told the dark haired boy's. His eyes widened, holding the bird to his chest.

"Papa, no!" The girl yelled, scrambling up and clutching his arm desperately in her hands. The man spun around, slapping her squarely across the face, the sickening crack going arm-and-arm with another crack of lightning. The girl grabbed at her bleeding cheek with quaking fingers, her perfect silver eyes flooding with tears. The boy's eyes pleaded with the man, smoothing his fingers over the frightened bird's head.

"Kill it." The man spat. The boy held his eyes for a few challenging moments before he hung his head in blantant defeat.

"Yes, master," he whispered, wrapping his fingers around the bird's throat. It squaked in protest, wriggling. Tears dripped down the boy's face, staining his face with blue paths down his cheeks with every tear. He locked his jaw, closing his eyes tightly and breaking the owl's neck with one sickening snap.

The girl screamed, standing and grabbing the bird's body in her tiny hands. The boy sunk down into the water, burying his face in his hands and sobbing. The man growled from between his teeth and smacked the boy's face harder than the girl's. The crack of skin on skin echoed through the air, the desolate world unresponsive to the boy's blatant cry of agony. The man spit at the boy, grabbing fistfuls of his dark hair and yanking him up to his eye level. The boy screeched, tears streaming down his face with ever catch of his sobbing breaths. The man's face contorted in anger, his free hand balling into a fist and socking the boy in the stomach, The young man cried out, his scream crackling in the thin air.

"You are weak!" The man howled at the boy. "You are a spineless, feeble, shaky and selfless! Have you no sense of pride?"

"I have pride," The boy ground out from between his teeth, his nails clawing the man's hands in his hair. The air felt frigid, and you could see his breath as he spoke. "I'm just not detrimental and bitter!"

The man snapped another slap across the boy's cheek, causing the girl to grab at his shoulders and beg him again in that foreign language.

"And I'd hate to boost your already gargantuan ego," the boy spit a mouthful of blood into the water. "By letting you win."

The scene faded out as the man let out a chilling, bone-numbing cackle that filled the air as the forest caught flames, wrapping around them as if it was following a kerosene trail. I coughed and wheezed, running through the woods of fire with what seemed like no exit. Smoke filled my lungs and I let out a hacking cough, running and spinning, desperately trying to find the way out. I tucked my soot-ridden shirt up over my mouth and nose, gasping in breaths of the tainted air as the flames engulfed the dead grass at my feet, closing around me so fast I had no time to think of an escape plan. I felt the burn as my screams of pain joined the man's and the vultures swirled above head, the echo ringing as the air fell silent with only the crackle of flames.

So! Tell me how I did. So sorry if some of this doesn't make much sense; my mom filled me up with Dayquil so much that my head is kinda spinning.

Please review, and forgive me for the late update! Tell me any comments, concerns, theories and questions so I can improve for you guys!

Thanks a bundle, guys!

~Elsie