Heyo everybody I know it's been like what? A month since I last uploaded? But anyway I have a lot going on, from Varsity Soccer, to AP classes and stuff I have a lot of things to do. =P

Well anyway here's the next chapter and I promise to upload quicker. And once again PLEASE REIVEW! It would help motivate me to upload chapters quicker. Thanks

Chapter 4

My eyes slowly fluttered open from the heat of the sun. I felt a large weight on the small of my back right where my Achilles' heel was but I just kind of figured it was Annabeth laying on top of me. I tried to move with discretion, trying not to wake up Annabeth but there was one small problem. My body refused to cooperate with the actions that I was trying to give it. I strained to look towards my back and realized there was something gravely wrong. There was a nasty wound that cut exactly at the only mortal point on my entire body.

A stroke of panic struck through me. How did this happen? It's just like in the dream but last time was an arrow…Annabeth! I looked up and found exactly what I dreaded, the man in full Greek body armor with his pet dragon fighting none other than my Annabeth Chase. I looked back towards my wound and focused all my energy to my mortal point and willed the water to slowly ease the pain and close the wound. Exhausted, I laid my head on the sand, momentarily forgetting the real problem at stake.

I looked up and saw Annabeth with her dagger in her hand as she pulled out her Yankees cap from her pocket and turned invisible. I laid there in silence waiting for a move and that's when I heard a roar from the dragon. The dragon went into a fit, throwing its owner off its back and started spewing fire into the air. The dragon owner looked dazed and slowly got to his feet. All of a sudden he froze as still as ice. From the looks of it Annabeth had gotten him. Without really seeing what happened I saw the man plop onto the ground unconscious, but by that time the dragon seemed to regain its composure.

It sniffed the air as if looking for Annabeth but then zeroed its eyes onto me. Ah crap. Not good I couldn't fight that thing right now in my state. Then for some reason the dragon looked in my direction but had a look of confusion on its face. I looked up to see Annabeth holding my shoulder with her Yankees cap on. I guess I turn invisible if she touches me. She slowly led us into the water not only to give me strength but to hide the footprints in the sand. Wow, after all that she still remembered to do this stuff. I guess she really is the daughter of Athena.

"Are you okay Percy?" I heard her say as she squeezed the breath out of me.

"Ow…ow…Annabeth…" Is all I could manage to say.

"Oh…sorry about that," she said as she blushed a little bit. "Hey Seaweed Brain, here's some Nectar it should help with that wound.

"Oh thanks, thanks," I took the Nectar and immediately I felt some strength return. I looked up to see Annabeth but she had that thinking face on which made her look really cute. "What wrong?" I asked.

"Well…this might sound crazy but I really think that guy over there is Ethan Nakamura. I know that he died but it just looked like him. He had the eye patch and everything, but there was something…different about him." She said as she laid her head on my chest with her back towards the dragon rider.

"Really now? I guess we can discuss this later but we got to get moving before he wakes up."

As if on cue the dragon rider stood up looking a little dazed, but altogether looking like nothing happened. He climbed onto his dragon and went through a bag that hung on the saddle of the dragon and pulled out a bow and arrow. He scanned the area and then looked straight into my eyes.

It looked almost as if he could see us, but I knew that couldn't happen with the invisibility and all. Right? Just as I thought that, he strung the bow and pulled the quiver back and let it go. Just as I feared, the arrow was heading straight toward Annabeth. I didn't have the strength to will the water to block it so I did the first thing that came to mind. I spun Annabeth around and set my body to take the arrow. I guess that's what he planned because as soon as I set my body to take the arrow, it seemed to zero onto my Achilles' heel and hit the mark bull's eye. I stumbled into the water face first as a pain of explosion erupted throughout my body.

"Percy!" Annabeth screamed as she knelt by my side pulling my head onto her lap. Tears started to well up in her eyes. "Why did you do that you Seaweed Brain!"

I couldn't really say anything. Being invincible had its benefits but only now did I realize that my body wasn't accustomed to pain anymore. The pain was so unbearable that I could barely move, let alone speak.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw the dragon rider get off the dragon and slowly pace toward us. I looked directly into Annabeth's eyes then directed them toward the rider. She had a look of sadness in her beautiful stormy eyes, but I think she knew what I meant. Run. Her eyes had the I'm-not-going-to-leave-you look, but I lightly held her hand and pleaded with my eyes. She kissed the back of my hand and reluctantly pulled on her Yankees Cap and disappeared.

The dragon rider looked the direction Annabeth was running and stopped to consider if he should chase her or come after me instead. He looked up and had a devilish grin from ear to ear. Slowly but steadily he approached me and then squatted with hands on knees right beside me.

"Hello, Perseus Jackson. I believe that we have some unfinished business to settle," the dragon rider said as he proceeded to sit down next to me.

"I-I-I d-don't k-know wh-" but before I could finish the man pulled the helm off his head and hung his head low making his long black hair cover his face. He reached up to his eye and pulled off an eye patch that was covering one eye.

"I'm sure you know EXACTLY who I am!" and as he said that he looked up and pierced me with his eyes. Not any other ordinary eyes, but bright golden eyes, eyes that I knew all too well. The eyes of the Titan Lord Kronos. But what struck me odd was that it wasn't the body of Luke Castellan that Kronos was possessing, but the body of none other than Ethan Nakamura.

"But…h-how are you.."

"Oh why let me answer this for you. It's the least I could do for you before you die," Kronos stood up and turned his back towards me. "While we were fighting, I had complete and utter control of the fight, wouldn't you agree?" I reluctantly shook my head knowing that it was fact. We were indeed struggling, and I myself would have been fighting a brick wall instead of Kronos. He continued with his story.

"That's when I decided that JUST IN CASE something were to happen I would have a back up plan. And that young demigod, was Ethan Nakamura."

"But you killed him!" I exclaimed. It was true, I saw it with my own eyes. Ethan was smashed into the depths of Tartarus. But Kronos just let out a sickening laugh. Still with his back turned towards me he continued to explain.

"Ethan is but my pawn. You THOUGHT I killed him. But in reality I just sent him and part of my soul to somewhere very, very safe. But my one flaw, my one teeny tiny flaw was that blasted son of Hermes!" He turned to look me in the eyes, his face turning red with anger. "I thought that he was truly loyal to me, so when I split part of my soul and put it in Ethan, yes I was weakened, but I figured that Luke was already loyal so I would be able to maintain control over his body. But NO!" It really, really looked like he was going to blow up.

Kronos slowly calmed down and then picked me up by the collar of my shirt with ease.

"So…when that blasted, bitch, skank, whore, slut of a daughter of Athena had to get in my.." and before he could finish I blasted him 40 yards back with a wave of water that immediately sapped me of all the remaining strength I had. I staggered to my feet, pulled out the arrow still impaled in my back and yelled at Kronos.

"DON'T. YOU. EVER. CALL. ANNABETH. THAT. AGAIN!" I reached for my pocket and uncapped Riptide as I slowly, but steadily hobbled my way toward Kronos. Hardly dazed by my attack, he looked up but didn't look all that angry like I thought he would have.

"Do you honestly think I was fighting you at full strength when we fought that last time? That wasn't even a fraction of what I had." Kronos flicked his wrist as if swatting a fly away. Suddenly, an unknown force pulled me by the back of my shirt and sent me flying the measly 20 yards I gained and back into the ocean. "Like I said fool, you don't know what true power really is!"

After about 5 minutes, I looked up and found that my vision was blurry and I couldn't make out anything farther than 10 feet of me, but I did see two people fighting. One I assumed was Kronos, while the other was a fair bit shorter than him. As my vision returned to me, I saw that the other person owned a set of beautiful golden hair. Gods no! What was Annabeth doing here? I told her to leave! I tried to find that familiar pull in my gut to take control of the water but there was nothing at the moment.

Suddenly, I was swept off my feet and wondered if I was the one doing it. I tried to will myself towards her, but instead of inching towards Annabeth, I was being pulled away. I tried to kick and struggle my way free but whatever was pulling me back wasn't letting up. Without taking my eyes off of Annabeth, I took in every little detail.

She was doing a fairly good job holding off Kronos, but I could easily tell that he wasn't at all interested. Just then, I remembered the dream I had been constantly having about Annabeth. I watched as I saw her avoid a slash from the dragon then proceed to jab it in the eye. The dragon roared in pain and anger and threw Annabeth off balance. Then just like in the dream, I saw him pull out for the first time, his long gleaming sword.

Just like Backbiter, the sword was long and composed of half tempered steel and half celestial bronze. As it shined in the light I saw him pull his arm back and thrust it through Annabeth's exposed back. I heard a heart wrenching scream as she fell lifelessly onto the shores of Camp Half-Blood. As tears were welling up in my eyes, there was a fire inside of me that could have burned a hole through my chest.

I kicked and struggled even more, and just when I thought I broke free, a wave of darkness washed over me and I blacked out.