This is sometime in the past. No real plot. Leo, Percy, Piper, and Annabeth are on the run. Think Robin Hood = Percy Jackson. Annabeth was the last to join them. They found her a couple years/months (?) ago in San Francisco.

"I stole you a cherry pie," Leo told me. He moved over, so I could sit next to him. I looked around. Piper was sitting on the edge of the other end of the log, with no room beside her. The logs kind of curled around the fire. I sighed and sat next to Leo. He handed me a pie with an S cut into the top of it. It smelled heavenly.

I lifted the plastic fork and stabbed it. The inside was filled with small red cherries the size of nickels. I took a scoop and placed it in my mouth. It took a small effort to swallow. My stomach rolled and I stopped, wondering if I had waited too long to eat. I could feel Piper looking at me, so I tried another bite.

Percy came into the camp just then, and his eyes went straight to me and the food. I took another bite and my stomach twisted. "Finish that, Annabeth. You didn't eat breakfast."

"And you only took a bite of dinner last night," Piper reminded.

I glared. "Thanks, Pipes."

Percy crossed his arms, and I took another bite. Sweat broke on my head; I felt like I was going to retch it all back up.

"Well, the good news—after a fashion—is that I couldn't fence the weapons; they are too distinct. No one around here is selling anything like them. So we all just got new weapons. Annabeth, you just got your knives back."

I winced out a bit of a smile, and he stayed watching me for a second. I took another bite. I held it in my mouth, trying not to swallow, but he just watched me.

I swallowed, and he looked away.

"Gods," I moaned, jumping up and rushing out into a forest. I just made it outside the circle of firelight when all the food rushed back up. My knees wobbled and gave out as I retched again, but Percy's arm caught me around my waist, holding me against him.

I retched one more time and tried to get my legs under me. "Easy," said Piper's voice.

I looked up, trying to pull away. It was Piper? Why had I thought it would be Percy catching me?

"Easy, easy," she repeated, rubbing my back.

"Stop touching me, please," I muttered. She stopped rubbing, but her arm didn't leave my waist. I pushed her off, crouching down over my knees. I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath. My head was beating out a mean tune.

"You alright?" Percy asked. I turned and saw him and Leo standing there. Percy's arms were crossed and he looked dark. I hated the way they were all looking at me.

"Fine," I said. I stood, feeling only a little wobbly.

"Annabeth, you're sick," Percy said, and his voice was rough and a little frightening.

"I'm not sick," I snapped. "I just told you, I eat when I'm hungry."

Piper was still on one knee. "You're too hungry. That's the problem, isn't it?"

I crossed my arms, and she stood up.

"That's what happens when you don't eat enough—you can't even eat when you want to. That's it, isn't it?"

"I eat, for gods' sake," I growled. I moved to go back into the camp, but Percy wouldn't budge.

"Still, after all this time?" Percy asked, soft. "You've been lying to me about eating more?"

"It's not about you, Percy," Piper said.

Percy's eyes shot to Piper, but I didn't dare look at either. "No, it's about her. I promised I'd look out for you, Annabeth. After you were so hungry in San Francisco, I swore to you that I'd get you fed. Why have you lied to me all this time?"

I felt shame rising up in my throat behind the food, and I hit his chest. "Because it wasn't what you wanted to hear, Percy!"

"Well, I'm listening now, Annabeth."

I shook my head. "I'm fine! I eat. But these damn bruises make my face hurt so much my stomach twists up." I glared at him. "And it doesn't go away. It isn't something you can fix. I was hungry for a long time, Percy, and much as I'd like, part of me won't ever get over that."

He grabbed my arms, bringing me closer to his face, and his eyes looked like the ocean, deep and dark and full of things I knew nothing about. "We don't lie to each other, Annabeth. Especially not about things that mean I might lose you."

My breath froze in my chest. Did he just say that?

He let me go. "Because losing one member would put the whole group at risk. Do you understand?"

Just like that, I felt all the heat leave my bones, and I shivered. I nodded, and Piper put her arm around me. "Let's get inside." To me, quieter, she said, "Try eating some bread or broth. They'll go down easier than a pie."

Percy glanced at Piper and Leo. "Can we talk, Annabeth?"

I didn't nod, but I didn't leave either. Leo hesitated then nodded at me and vanished between the trees. I let Piper squeeze me once more, then, her arm slipped from my shoulders and she was gone.

I leaned against a tree, crossing my arms and looking down. He leaned against a tree directly opposite me, looking at me. "What should I be doing for you, Annabeth? Honestly."

"Doing?" I repeated.

"When we left San Francisco, you weren't eating, and I tried so hard to get you to eat more. For years now I thought it was working. I thought you were eating just fine. But you're not, and I don't know what to do for you." He raked his hand through his black hair, messing it up even more. "You scare me," he said. "Thinking of you hurting scares me. So I have to do something. And you need to tell me what it is, because obviously what I was doing before wasn't right."

"I don't know," I murmured.

"You don't eat."

My face felt cold. "I don't need much. After California, it was always hard to eat much. Having none for so long wasn't easy. And now that I do..." I shook my head.

"Why didn't you eat in San Francisco? You're one of the best thieves I've ever met. You could have stolen your body weight in food."

A scoff jumped out of my throat. "I was barely a thief then. Besides, there were other people that needed it there too."

"Was there a person there you were stealing food for?"

"We're honest with each other, right, Percy?"

He nodded.

"Then don't make me answer that."

He looked at me for a long time, but I wouldn't look at him. "So what can I do, then?"

"It's life, Percy. Nothing to be done."

"Make no mistake," he told me. I looked up. "We do what we do—" He halted, then stepped closer. "I do what I do because I will always believe that no matter how awful life gets, there is something I can do about it. There is something I will do about it."

I nodded. "That's why you're the hero, Perseus, and I'm a thief."

I turned around then; there wasn't much more to say.

He caught my wrist before I was full out the door. "Annabeth," he said, rough, like rocks were running over his tongue. "I have done so many unforgivable things in my life. Don't let failing to save you be another."

I pulled my hand away. "I never asked to be saved!"

That was enough. I walked away. Not towards the camp but into the night.

~/~\~

I started at a slow walk that slowly got faster and faster until the trees were little more than blurs. And I ran. And ran. It took an hour to get to the nearest lake, deep in the Susquehannock State Forest. I felt trapped. I was vulnerable, and I needed to get that off me before the dawn before we patrolled the roads.

My fists were shaking as I ran, sweat pushing out the filth, desperate for the water. I jumped the big rock and dove in, breaking the surface and crashing into a fierce cold.

I hung there, under the water. My eyes were closed and my skin went numb. My limbs turned to ice. There was no room for nothing in my mind but cold.

When I pulled out of the water, heaving shivery breaths on the shore, I was free.

~/~\~

An arm grabbed me round the waist and I stepped on the guard's foot, then slammed my elbow into his face, knocking him out. At least that was one I didn't have to kill. Another guard was opening the door to the tunnel, and I vaulted past the first. Clutching my last two knives, I flipped till I stood on my closed fists, the knives sticking out like wagon wheel spokes, and came up in time to spin my sharpest into his neck. He fell just short of the back door, and twin threads of horror and victory spun through me at the sight.

Percy crested the stairs with a man covered in blood, barely walking on his own and leaning heavy on Percy. Another guard rushed through a door to my left, a black thrill in his eyes as he moved toward the duo. For a full breath, I stood frozen, staring. He fixed on Percy, but Percy never so much as raised his eyes to the guard. Percy was only concerned with getting the man safe.

Perseus was a hero, through and through.

And I was not. But then, criminals had their place too, and whether Percy wanted it or not, I would always stand between him and death. A thief could die to let the hero live.

It took me three steps, pushing off the dusty ground fast as I could, to get to the guard. He was raising his sword at Percy, a twisted smile on his face, as Percy tried to pull the man away. He wasn't fast enough. With a scream I dove forward, darting at the guard and tackling him around the waist, heaving him away from Percy. His sword came clumsily down over my shoulder, and I shrieked as the blade split my skin in two, biting deep.

He grabbed my throat, flipping me over and heaving himself on top of me. He squeezed my throat, and water popped out my eyes. "That's all I want, you little tramp," he spat, spat in true, all over my face. "I want to see you die. I want to see the light tamp out of those devil's eyes. You taunted us for all these years. Stealing and hiding. You stole from me. You are the reason my daughter died! Now I want to feel it as you die."

She had killed his daughter. An innocent girl died for a thief. She was no hero.

I looked to Percy.

Don't grieve for me. I don't want to see you for another 80 years. I'll wait. I love you.

She hoped he understood. He had always been good at reading her thoughts.

He stretched an arm towards me.

Too late.

She closed her eyes and her lungs ran out of breath.

The last thing she heard was Percy's scream.

So? Also, I'm so so sorry. I'll get around to doing yours (although sorry if I don't) as soon as I get some general idea.