Mark of Athena Reunion

"I am one of the praetors of Camp Jupiter. Are you the leader of the Greeks?" Reyna had dark hair pulled back in a no-nonsense French braid. Her face was serious and dark circles ringed her eyes.

Annabeth shook Reyna's hand and nodded. Reyna seemed exhausted, but she was definitely not somebody to cross. Her eyes were calculating, but they had none of the emotion of Annabeth's grey eyes.

"You're Annabeth, correct?" Reyna said, letting her arm drop as she peered around Annabeth's shoulder, her eyes scanning the crowd of half-bloods coming from the ship.

Annabeth nodded again, and the side of Reyna's mouth twitched briefly. "We've heard a lot about you, Daughter of Athena. I'll let you, ah, mingle for a while," Reyna said, then fluidly slipping into the crowd.

'We've heard a lot about you"… did that mean Percy remembered her? Annabeth's hope surged and she fought to control the emotions washing over her. She stood, frozen, in the mass of demigods. She just felt so small, so worried.

Annabeth shook her head. Feeling small, she could deal with. But hope… too dangerous. There was no way things could turn out well, especially since Athena's little birthday surprise visit…

A hand on Annabeth's arm yanked her from her thoughts, and she turned to see Clarisse. "Annabeth, what in Hades do you think you're doing!? You can't just go charging through an enemy camp!" Clarisse had to shout to be heard over the din of voices.

"Enemy or not, I have to see him," Annabeth growled, so fiercely that it stunned Clarisse into silence.

Annabeth shrugged Clarisse off and shoved past a few more campers before stopping dead. A familiar face was bobbing and weaving through the crowd, a look of strain stretched across his features.

Percy. Annabeth broke into a run, barely looking where she was going. She ran headfirst into somebody, and as she looked up, muttering apologies, her words caught in her throat. She reached up her hand hovering above his cheek, watching his face for some sign of recognition. Annabeth was surprised when hot tears spilled onto her face. Percy traced them with his finger before wiping them away. His arms slipped around her waist, and Annabeth laced her fingers behind his neck.

"I missed you, Wise Girl," he whispered.

Annabeth's eyes lit up, and Percy swung her into the air and around in circles, completely disregarding the hundreds of onlookers. As he set her down, he pressed his lips into hers.

Annabeth's mind raced back to Percy's sixteenth birthday, and their first real kiss. This felt exactly like that, only it was better. In that moment, every worry was gone, their erasing almost Hera-worthy.

Annabeth wanted to hug him and kiss him forever, but first…

"Perseus Jackson, where have you been?!"Annabeth narrowed her stormy eyes, glaring up at Percy as soon as they broke apart. His smile melted into confusion. She poked a finger at his chest. "Six months, Percy. What the heck were you doing that you could just blow us off, blow me off like that? How do you think I felt? You just up and disappeared in the middle of the night! I've been so worried Percy, and oh gods, I'm just so happy you're okay!" She pulled him against her chest. "Don't ever leave me again, Seaweed Brain."

Percy chuckled. "You haven't changed one bit. Of course, Annabeth. Never again."

The might've stayed that way all day, but eventually Annabeth pulled away with a sigh. "I guess I should go find Jason. We probably need to formally meet with everybody, make a plan for a quest."

Percy rolled his eyes. "No way. The plans can wait. I have some people to introduce you to first."

Percy tugged her over to a tall, masculine guy who looked kind of Asian, and whose round, pudgy face did not at all match his body. A girl stood next to him. She was shorter, and younger looking. Her skin was a warm cocoa, and her pretty ringlets were caramel.

"Frank, Hazel, this is my girlfriend, Annabeth. Annabeth, these are my friends, Frank and Hazel, son of Mars and daughter of Pluto," he introduced them.

As Annabeth shook hands with Frank and Hazel, she noted the pride in Percy's voice. He was undoubtedly happy to call her his girlfriend in front of his friends, but he seemed proud of them, two.

Frank scowled. "You're the one who makes offensive Canadian jokes?"

Laughing, Hazel punched him in the arm. "Frank! I'm sorry, he can be a real animal when it comes to his heritage," she apologized.

"That's so not funny!" Frank said, but he couldn't help but smile.

Before Annabeth could ask what wasn't funny, Piper and Leo tackled her from behind. "So this is the famous Percy Jackson we've all been hearing about non-stop, so much that we just want to stuff y'all in the Argo II's ballistae and blast you halfway across the Sound?" Leo asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Oh, shut up, Leo!" Annabeth said.

Leo put his hands up. "Hey, no need to get defensive. We heard what we heard. Beauty Queen here just wanted to see how things were going, if they were staying G-rated, you know?" He said, smirking.

"Leo!" Both Annabeth and Piper were shouting at him this time, treating him with very colorful Greek words.

Leo just grinned wider, and Annabeth sighed and started introductions. "Percy, these are my new friends, Leo and Piper, son of Hephaestus and daughter of Aphrodite, and I guess Jason's around here somewhere. Leo, Piper, this is my boyfriend, Percy, and these two are Hazel and Frank," Everybody shook hands.

Annabeth couldn't help but notice how pale Hazel looked, and her eyes were locked onto Leo. Frank seemed to notice, too, and he grabbed Hazel's hand and squeezed it once before letting it fall.

Percy awkwardly cleared his throat, but before he could say anything, a loud whoop came from off to their right. Reyna's calm, collected mask had apparently been thrown to the wind. She was latched onto Jason, and she was kissing him and hugging him and shouting at him all at the same time.

Piper's face drained of color, and then her features began to shift from disbelief, to anger, to sadness, and back to disbelief.

"I-I think I'll go back to the ship now," Piper whispered hoarsely, turning and walking as if in a trance.

"Piper!" Annabeth shouted, but she was already gone. Jason broke away from Reyna, looking confused and embarrassed and worried all at the same time.

Percy was confused, too. "What's wrong with her? Didn't she know that Reyna and Jason were kind of together?"

Annabeth shook her head. "Jason's memory was a little slow coming back. When he appeared on a school bus, everybody had fake memories of him, and Piper remembered him as-"

"As her boyfriend. And after Piper found out that her memories were fake, well, she and Jason started 'bonding'" Leo finished up, "And on that happy note, is that a harpy?"

Annabeth instinctively reached for her knife as the harpy circled and landed beside Percy, but stopped when she started speaking. "Hello Percy, Frank, and Hazel. And strangers. Ella doesn't like strangers. Or cheese. Ella likes Cyclops," She blushed when she said the last part, burying her face in her scarlet hair, which matched her bright plumage.

"Umm, Percy? Who's your friend?" Annabeth looked at Ella quizzically.

"Ella is our pretty harpy friend!" A voice called, and everyone turned to see Tyson panting and jogging towards them.

At this, Ella blushed even more. Percy tried to explain. "It's kind of a long story, but we saved her from Phineas, the guy the gods cursed for giving away there secret. Anyway, he used to chase Ella and two other harpies with a weed whacker, but we saved her and broke her curse; now she can eat anything, not just food from his table." He told her.

"Ella likes words. And moose. And cinnamon. Cinnamon is good for harpies," Ella crooned, before vaulting herself into the sky.

"Ella is pretty and smart, but I am not as fast as chicken-ladies," Tyson grumbled before jogging after her.

Annabeth snapped her fingers. "That's right! Drew and Butch are going to be flying in later tomorrow with the pegasi. Blackjack couldn't wait to see you. And Grover should get here soon, too. Rachel said that she would meet him as soon as school lets out, and Argus would escort them both. You remember them, don't you?" she asked doubtfully.

"Of course I do! Pretty much impossible to forget my Pegasus, my best half goat friend, and the Oracle."

Annabeth laughed. The sun was setting now, and the sky was filling with constellations. Frank and Hazel were called over by a guy with a jug of Kool-Aid, and Leo went to see if he could find Piper, leaving Annabeth and Percy alone. Percy's arms wrapped around Annabeth's waist, pulling her in. She rested her head on his shoulder and sighed with pleasure. "I really missed you Percy. Missed this."

"So did I. But I still remembered you, or parts of you. Your hair, your smile, the way you used to laugh and kiss me when I did stupid stuff, which makes me wonder how I even got into high school," Percy chuckled at that.

"You remembered me? Out of all the things you've done, like return Zeus's lightning bolt, or defeat Kronos, you remember me?"

"Of course. Because I couldn't have done any of those things without you," Percy said, but his eyes weren't focused.

"What's wrong?" Annabeth asked, concerned.

"Nothing, it's just something Hera told me. It's nothing," Percy spoke a little too quickly.

"Something to do with the quest?"

Percy looked at Annabeth for a second, and then sighed in defeat. "Yeah, kind of. But not just that. She said… she told me some stuff about you causing trouble, and having some task to do. I don't know whether or not to believe her."

Annabeth was silent for a moment, before speaking very quietly, "Percy, I don't know what that's about. I don't know what in all of Olympus and Hades is going to happen when we sail to Greece. But I do know I'll stand by you. That's one thing that is never going to change."

"Thank you, Annabeth," Percy said, and he pulled Annabeth into a kiss. After they pulled apart, Annabeth leaned her head against Percy's chest. She opened her mouth to speak. Her causing trouble… did that have something to do with Athena's gift? Annabeth very much wanted to scream the truth out, but her new secret stayed inside.

"I love you, Wise Girl." Percy murmured against her hair.

Annabeth drew in a sharp breath. "I-I love you too, Seaweed Brain."