A/N: Hey guys! It's been forever, I know. I also said that in my last chapter so that says a lot about how awful of an updater I am... But I had so much fun writing this chapter, so hopefully I have time to update more often! Thanks to those of you still reading this story, you guys are seriously the best! So basically, this is the section of TLO where Annabeth takes the knife for Percy to save his Achilles spot. I know it's kind of long, but I didn't want to just cut out parts, like the one with Silena talking to them, it just didn't seem right, however, I cut some dialougue of people like Jake Mason and just sort of summarized the conversation. So yes, the dialougue is all Rick Riordan's as well as the plot and characters of this one-shot. This is written in Annabeth's POV, but the book is written in Percy's so that's the change I made. I hope you guys like it! Leave suggestions in the comments!

Here Percy and I were, fighting monsters, Titans, and evil demigods, just like old times. Except this was much more serious than old times. This was life or death. We were at war, but the only thing on my mind was protecting Percy. He meant too much to me to lose him now, I wanted him to stick around for a while. I'd miss him too much. Not like I have feelings for Percy or anything, I just have grown rather fond of him over the past four summers. This was our fifth summer together and I honestly thought we were going to have more than this to come. I mean, I could never have feelings for Percy because no matter how many monsters and evil Titans he defeated, he'd still be Seaweed Brain to me. Right? There was no way I liked Percy. I couldn't, not after what happened with... with Luke. I shuddered at the thought of him. I couldn't believe he'd betrayed the camp, betrayed me, like he did.

My attention flitted back to the fight that was occuring, Percy and I were shoulder to shoulder, facing opposite directions, but I could still see him slightly out of the corner of my eye. I gasped, and saw one of Kronos' demigods, Ethan Nakamura, with a knife approaching Percy, his eyes fixated on one specific area, the small of his back. Before I even realized what I was doing, I sprinted in front of Percy's back and felt a knife stab into my shoulder. I clutched my shoulder, peering down at the blood seeping down my shirt. I heard Percy scream, "Annabeth!" but I was too concentrated on the pain to respond. This was worse than any other pain that I've felt in my life, and I've felt a lot of pain in my 16 years. But I knew Percy would've done the same for me, I had to save his life, I owed it to him. I... I think it was because I was connected to Percy, not with something like an empathy link, like he and Grover, but almost, romantically. As in, my heart was connected to him, did that mean...? No that wasn't possible, Percy, like I said was Seaweed Brain. "No one touches her!" I heard Percy's voice ring as he screamed at the bystanders.

"Interesting," another voice speak. I shuddered, it was Kronos. No one else's voice was that shrill and cold. "Bravely fought, Percy Jackson," he continued. "But surrender... or the girl dies." I knew what Percy would do, and I desperately hoped that he wouldn't. "Percy, don't," I choked out. I couldn't let him sacrifice himself for me. He was the child of the prophecy, not me. He was going to save Olympus, and to do that, he had to be alive. Also, there was a part of me that wondered what it would be like if Percy really did die. I honestly would be clueless as to what to do.

"Blackjack!" I heard Percy yell. His Pegasus arrived, scooped me up by my armor, and we were off. The last thing I saw was Percy uncapping Riptide, ready to fight Kronos. I couldn't bear to watch, so I just closed my eyes. They seemed to stay that way for quite awhile. My eyes finally opened, what felt like a few days later, was really only a few hours. The pain was still evident, and so was the blood. I saw it out of the corner of my eye, but I couldn't look over at my shoulder. The cut was deep, I could feel it. But that wasn't the problem, it was the poison on the blade that was making it so painful.

Suddenly, I heard footsteps and my eyes found the the doorway, where Percy stood, looking red-faced and out of breath. He panted as he walked over to me, his green eyes bearing in to my grey ones. They were filled with concern, sadness, and... was that...? No, there was no way... I pushed the thought out of my head and concentrated on the pain. "Annabeth..." he choked out, his eyes brimming with what looked like tears. I tried to smile, but it came out more like a grimace.

"Poison on the dagger," I explained, "Pretty stupid of me, huh?"

"It's not so bad, Annabeth." Will Solace said in attempt to comfort me, "A few more minutes and we would've been in trouble, but the venom hasn't gotten past the shoulder yet. Just lie still. Somebody hand me some nectar." Percy grabbed the canteen next to him, while Will began to clean out the wound. Percy grabbed my hand and butterflies erupted in my stomach, they were so strong that they almost blocked out the pain of my shoulder, but not quite.

"Ow, ow, ow!" I exclaimed, grimacing at the pain. I gripped Percy's hand so hard, I was fairly certain it had turned an abnormal shade of purple. Will placed something that looked like silver paste over the wound and Silena seemed to be mumbling encouraging words. I couldn't really understand her, but it's the thought that counts, right? Will continued with the silver paste on me and hummed something that sounded like a hymn to Apollo. After he was finished with the paste, he applied bandages over it and stood up, but he didn't seem to be very steady as he did so. He looked pale, like healing me had drained all the energy out of him.

"That should do it," Will began, "But we're going to need some mortal supplies." He continued to give an Athena boy an address of a local drugstore. "Normally I would never steal-"

"I would," Travis Stoll volunteered. Being a son of Hermes, stealing was his area of expertise. Will instructed them on what to retrieve, and the group left hastily. Another demigod, Jake Mason, pulled Percy aside, probably letting him know that everything was under control, even if it wasn't. Percy seemed like he needed all the reassuring in the world right now, even if he knew the encouragment was all false. Percy quickly thanked Jake, and then Jake was on his way. That left me alone with Percy and Silena Beauregard, one of my favorite girls at camp, even if she was a daughter of Aphrodite. Silena pressed a cool cloth to my forhead.

"This is all my fault," she muttered.

"No," I responded, trying to sound forceful, but it came out more like a weak croak. "Silena, how is it your fault?"

"I've never been any good at camp," she said in a low voice, almost a whisper. "Not like you or Percy. If I was a better fighter..." She looked as if she was about to burst into tears at any second. I had to help her, I could not stand tears. They always seemed to make everything worse.

"You're a great camper," Percy reassured Silena. "You're the best pegasus rider we have. And you get along with people. Believe me, anyone who can make freinds with Clarisse has talent." Silena's eyes lit up with a sudden excitement.

"That's it! We need the Ares cabin. I can talk to Clarisse. I know I can convince her to help us." Percy held his hands up, as if to tell Silena her idea was a mistake.

"Whoa, Silena," he began. "Even if you could get off the island, Clarisse is pretty stubborn. Once she gets angry-"

"Please," Silena said, clasping her hands together. "I can take a pegasus. I know I can make it back to camp. Let me try." Percy glanced at me, as if to check for my approval. I gave him a slight nod, since that was all I could really manage. Percy hesitated, as if he still didn't feel comfortable with the idea.

"All right," he told her. "I can't think of anybody better to try." Silena threw her arms around him in thanks and then pushed him back, glancing at me as she did so.

"Um, sorry," she stuttered, looking at me with concern. Why would I be concerned? It's not like Percy and I were dating. We didn't even have those kind of feelings for each other... "Thank you Percy!" she continued. "I won't let you down!" Silena left hastily, almost skipping. I think she was just glad to play a part in the war. Silena was a genuinely nice person, she would help whenever she could, and if she wasn't helping, she'd find a way to. Percy knelt next to me, placing his hand on my burning forehead. Tingles ran through my body at his touch. I shuddered, as I was not used to the tingling. I glanced up at Percy, he seemed extremely concerned with my health. His eyebrows were furrowed and his eyes were filled with utter sadness.

"You're cute when you're worried," I muttered, almost to myself. "Your eyebrows get all scrunched together." A slight smile appeared on his face, sending another rush of tingles through my body.

"You are not going to die while I owe you a favor," he stated firmly. "Why did you take that knife?"

"You would've done the same for me," I explained.

"How did you know?" he asked, his brows furrowing even more.

"Know what?" I asked. Percy glanced around him, he seemed to be making sure the room was clear. He leaned in close, his lips accidentally brushing my ear, causing, you guessed it, a third wave of tingles. I guess the good part about getting that feeling so often was the fact that I was getting used to it.

"My Achilles spot," he whispered, his breath tickling my ear. "If you hadn't taken that knife, I would've died." I looked up at the ceiling trying to remember exactly what had happened when I had jumped in front of Percy. It seemed like it had been forever ago, it was all such a blur already.

"I don't know, Percy. I just had this feeling you were in danger. Where... where is the spot?" I asked. I was almost certain the spot was at the small of his back, but I decided to ask anyways. The one thing I remembered was Ethan Nakamura approaching Percy, his knife directly pointed at that one spot on his back. Percy looked around again, he seemed so nervous. He seemed to be considering whether or not to tell me about his spot.

"The small of my back," he whispered, confirming my suspicions. I lifted my hand to touch the are just above his tailbone. He shuddered, in just the same way as I had before when he touched my forehead. He moved my fingers slightly to get the exact location, and for the fourth time in the past hour, the tingles made a reappearance.

"You saved me," he said. "Thanks." I nodded, ever so slightly. I removed my hand from his back, but he grasped it, as if letting go of my hand meant losing me.

"So you owe me," I replied in what felt like a strong voice, but I knew it was just the opposite. "What else is new?" He chuckled a little, and the small seconds of banter reminded me of the way things were when were 11. Back when we did things like cut Medusa's head off. To most people, that sounds like a pretty dangerous event for an 11 year old, but for Percy and I, that was a small fraction of the brutal activities we'd endured. Never would I have thought beheading Medusa would be considered a normal activity, though. But compared to this war, it most definitely was. This war was serious, and it wasn't going to end until Kronos was defeated, or Olympus was defeated. And I was praying to every single God I could think of that it would be Kronos that was defeated.