Between Two Wars

Note to all: I do not own the Percy Jackson universe. None of the characters are mine. All rights reserved to Rick Riordan. I do not make any money in this. It is purely my own enjoyment.

Warnings: Graphic content, blood, pain, inner turmoil, period talk, cursing, innuendos, trust issues, explicit intercourse ( In a separate chapter, with a separate warning)

Summary: Percy and Annabeth are finishing college at New Rome soon. Annabeth has a building job making the new temples around Camp Jupiter and Percy is training for the Olympics. Their life is peace, as Gaea is dead and the fighting stopped. For now. But what happens when not everyone can be trusted? What happens when a new monster comes to town? Will Percy and Annabeth fight along side their comrades? Or will Annabeth's shocking secret keep them both from saving their friends?

Pairings: Percy/Annabeth , Jason/Piper , Will/Nico , Frank/Hazel , Leo/Calypso , Reyna/Jessica.

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Chapter 7: Round and Round We Go

Percy's POV

Percy's mouth was hanging open. He stood in shock as he watched his fiancèe get taken by the black fog. He watched her bend over, her head in her hands, as she fell to her knees in front of their apartment.

A few hours ago-

Percy sighed after Annabeth left. He was really worried about her. Throwing up four times in a week isn't usually something that happened to Annabeth. Sure, he had his own thoughts and doubts as to what it was, but right now he was just hoping the doctor might have some idea. She had reassured him it wasn't a big deal, but Percy could tell she was worried. Percy dimly wondered if demigods could get cancer, it's not like there was a handbook. They usually patched themselves up with some nectar or ambrosia but Annabeth had said she already did that. Besides, he himself had been almost poisoned during their voyage on the Argo II and had spent a good couple days -almost a week actually- just throwing up in a good portion of the toilets. So vomiting was kinda above the whole 'nectar healing' thing.

"Cancer is a little dramatic though," Percy grumbled to himself. He decided the best course of action was to not think about it, and grabbed his bathing suit from his school stuff.

He went to the pool connected to the New Rome College, and swam the breast stroke for a solid hour. His body shaking from all the effort, he continued to train. His goal was to be in the Olympics by age twenty-three, but since he's spent so much time on school it's been a little bit of a stretch. He was better than all his teammates, at least. He could easily out swim every one of them without even thinking about it. It also kinda helped him that he breathed underwater, but sometimes he pretended like he didn't, that way he didn't hurt his teammates' morale. He also had an uncanny ability to train so hard that he forgot to stay dry and got himself soaked in the process.

By the time he was almost completely drenched in sweat, he decided it was time to go home. Annabeth should be done by now, he reasoned. He put his regular clothes on, his hair completely soaked, and walked out into the street headed for home.

He heard the screaming and the shouting from an adjacent street and ran his way over onto the street where the apartment was. He could see the rolling black fog, slowly moving it's way across the buildings and the street filled with yelling people. There were people yelling and shouting. They hit each other; some even fell over at the contact of the dark fog. He felt his own heartbeat speed up as he looked frantically for any sign of blonde hair.

Fortunately, he didn't have to look very far. Percy heard a screech as Annabeth ran toward their apartment and stood outside, waiting for something. He realized with a jolt that that something was him. He looked up at the fog above her head slowly making it's way toward her.

"Annabeth!" He screamed, looking fearfully at her. She turned her whole body towards him, relief on all her features. That only made him more scared. Her entire body was now facing him, and not the mass of blackness that threatened her. For a split second she looked like she wanted to tell him something. Instead she realized her mistake too late.

"Run, Percy run!" She screamed back at him. "Go! Leave camp! LEAVE CAMP NOW!"

Percy's mouth was hanging open. He stood in shock as he watched his fiancèe get taken by the black fog. He watched her bend over, her head in her hands, as she fell to her knees in front of their apartment.

He heard her shout with all her might one last phrase before she was taken- "I love you!"

His body leapt into action. He didn't have Riptide since it had been taken by the border patrol Terminus (screw that terrible god and his weakness) but he made due with his own fists. He ran his way toward Annabeth, bumping and running past anyone in his way. He had got right in front of the fog, almost to Annabeth when he noticed the eyes in the darkness. There were several pairs. One was green, another was yellow, one was an even darker black than the fog, others were mostly shocking red like demons. Percy stood wide-eyed as he looked into the mass of horror and suffering. For a brief moment he thought he saw his mother in there, but that didn't make sense. She was back in New York. She had to be.

His moment of hesitation was his downfall, because the next thing he knew he was on the ground with bright blonde hair in his face. He was about to shout out in surprise, but she punched him in the face.

Annabeth?! He shouted in his head, as his fiancèe straddled him and pounded him to the ground. She had wrapped her legs around his arms, so he was forced to lay beneath her as she beat him to a pulp. He looked up at her as she wailed on him. Her eyes were no longer stormy gray, instead they were black as night. Her face was in a twisted sneer as she continued her assault.

Her surprise quickly faded, however, and he pushed her off of him and stood in front of her. He wiped his bloody face with his hand, a severely confused look on his face.

"Annabeth?" Percy asked, looking at her in shock. He heard her laugh maniacally and shake out her bloody knuckles. Her body was bent at an odd angle, her back arched and her head down a bit as her body leaned to the right. Her face held a crazy smile- one he'd never seen on her before. Her black eyes looked like she had gone completely insane.

He held up his hands at her, misery clear on his face. "A-Annabeth I don't want to hurt you. Please!"

Even as he said it, he knew that the daughter of Athena was gone. This wasn't her. This wasn't the same girl that had rode with him to Las Vegas in a truck full of cages, or fought with him in countless battles, or kissed him under the water after the war. This wasn't the same girl that had bled with him at the Parthenon, or the girl who had made him jump for joy, telling him they were going to New Rome. As he looked at Annabeth he saw every memory he had had with her. Some were bad, sure, but most were good. But this wasn't his Annabeth. The only problem was, if he hurt this Annabeth, would it hurt his Annabeth? Is something possessing her? Or was it some type of illusion?

She gave him a mock shocked look with hands on the side of her head. When she spoke her words were like the scratch of a chalk board mixed with a cat's hiss. It made Percy flinch and harden his resolve that it wasn't Annabeth at all. "Oh don't hurt me! I don't want this new body to go to waste! So much trauma already!"

She gave him a feral lopsided grin and started limping her way toward him. Her body looked broken and dead. Percy fought an urge to sob.

"I promised you, Annabeth. I promised you on the River Styx that I'd never leave you. I will keep that promise." He slowly backed up. He didn't want to heed her words- that meant leaving her alone- but he wasn't sure he had a choice. He was fresh out of other plans and options. The black fog kept swirling hopefully in his direction, planning to make a meal of him too.

"Annabeth's not home at the moment, care to leave a message?" The thing said, twisting Annabeth's features into a slightly wider grin. Then he saw Annabeth's leg move forward, and suddenly she was attacking him. She was swift, despite having almost no practice since they moved to New Rome. Percy was admittedly just about as bad. Most of his time was spent in swim practice, not monster fighting anymore. Whatever had consumed Annabeth had obviously given Annabeth some sort of advantage. Instead of being about as weak as he was, she was raking her nails over his body and punching in vulnerable areas. He regretted not keeping his battle armor after the Giant war.

He realized that no matter how much he tried to convince himself that it wasn't Annabeth, he couldn't hurt her. He couldn't force himself to punch her back or even to knock her out. He wasn't capable of doing something like that to her. He stumbled back farther away from the darkness, dimly pressing against someone's shoulder. He looked over at the person, expecting another one of the ravenous zombies like Annabeth.

What he got was Frank Zhang. With a gasp, Percy saw someone with golden hair and chocolate skin attack the Chinese-Canadian. Before Frank could get the crap beat out of him, Percy ducked Annabeth's punch, and kicked Hazel square in the chest. He knew Frank couldn't have done it himself, just as he couldn't hurt Annabeth. Sure, the son of Poseidon felt bad for Hazel, they were family, but it was easier fighting someone that you didn't have to sleep with every night. Percy locked eyes with Frank and felt a warmth as the Roman knew just what to do.

You can't fight Hazel, and I can't fight Annabeth, Percy conveyed with his eyes. Frank nodded and swung around to face the daughter of Athena. Percy whirled and faced Hazel, her usual golden eyes now a swirling mass of black. She gave a crazy laugh that Percy somehow heard over all the chaos, but only because he knew she had done it.

"Poor, pure, little Hazel thought you would cure her curse," Hazel's mouth moved but the shrieking sound that came from Annabeth also came from the darker girl. It reminded Percy of nails raking through solid ground or wails of the damned. He had heard a few in his time. "Too bad she was wrong. She never did figure out if she was 'cured'. Too bad she'll never find out."

Hazel limped like Annabeth had; swift and broken. Her head lay to the side, swaying as if it was only attached by strings.

"She's used her powers!" Shouted Frank. Percy glanced briefly over to him and saw him holding Annabeth's wrists. She had scratched his face a few times, apparently, since he had bloody marks all over his face.

Percy looked back over to his own fight, where indeed Hazel had risen large chunks of gold the size of baseballs. She started chucking them at him like she was pitching for the Yankees.

He dodged a few, but after he came up out of a duck, one hit him square in the gut. He got the wind knocked out of him but knew what he had to do. He feigned falling over and grasped his stomach with a grunt. As Hazel came over to examine him, he swung his elbow up in the air surprisingly quick, and knocked it straight on top of her head. She knocked out cold.

Percy glanced over at Frank and saw he had her in- were those claws?! He had- in fact- turned into a giant crab, and had Annabeth in between his two claws. Percy winced as he looked at the dirty form of Annabeth hanging in his grasp. She was also unconscious. Some part of him yearned to take her in his arms and clean her up. Unfortunately the other parts of him, that were screaming that they had to run, were the ones he was listening to.

"We have to get out of here!" Percy said over all the shouts and chaos. He glanced nervously at the smoke that came ever nearer to the end of the street where they had ended up. Frank turned back into himself for a brief moment and looked at Percy with grim eyes.

"We can't trust anyone. Not everyone has the black eyes. I've seen some come out of the fog without the eyes, killing and ripping apart people." He shook his head in disbelief. "I don't know what it is- or better yet if we have reinforcements. Just because I left the legion earlier than Reyna doesn't mean I forgot the schedule. They'd be in limbo right now. It's time for the exchange of campers before summer. A lot of our people are spread across the country."

"Then we need to get out of here and warn them!" Percy said with determination. "We can't stay here!"

Frank nodded and turned into a large silver back gorilla. He picked up Annabeth in one hand and Hazel in the other. Frank hobbled after Percy as he ran to the end of the street and tried to remember the fastest way out the city.

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The four demigods had passed the Coliseum about fifteen minutes ago. Percy and Frank had walked east through a good portion of all of New Rome, seeing people in a craze all the while. Percy had resisted the urge to stop when he thought he saw a brunette in a purple cape, but decided if it had been Reyna, he wouldn't want to approach her in such a state anyway. He reasoned that the best course of action for himself, the two unconscious girls, and Frank was to keep going to the Pomerian line and hope to call on Mrs. O' Leary to shadow travel them somewhere. Maybe even talk to their good pal Terminus, the talking statue god, who was supposed to keep things like a swirling mass of evil out of the city.

Percy didn't have long to wait since Terminus was in a heap a few steps ahead of them. Percy blinked in shock as he walked up to the pile of rubble that was supposed to have protected the city. Percy heard Frank drop the girls lightly and grunt a little as he changed back into a human.

"Terminus," Percy said, rummaging a little to find his head. He pulled out two slabs of marble and pressed them together into the shape of the border god's head. "What happened?!"

Terminus was chipped in places around his mouth so it sounded like he had both a lisp and a mild stroke. "Too many g-g-gods. I... couldn' stop em'."

"Gods? Are you telling me gods just destroyed the city?" Frank said in disbelief.

"The darkest...the-the...cruelest...the kindest..." Terminus was muttering at this point. Percy decided that he might have to leave the statue to regenerate on the hill alone. Staying within the vicinity of the mangled city was not an idea he wanted for anyone- but he had two knocked out girls, and he was already almost passed out from so much action in one day after so long.

"Riptide, do you have it, Terminus? I need it," Percy said valiantly. He tried not to put his panic into his voice, he had been through this much chaos before, but all of those times he had Annabeth. This time, he had only Frank, and he seemed even more tired than Percy was.

He heard a small poof as his ballpoint pen fell to the ground next to the rubble. Percy swallowed his pride a bit and looked at the statue in his hands. "I-I want to help you Terminus, but we have to get help. We'll get reinforcements. You have to stay safe as much as anyone else. Try to delay them as much a possible, maybe even find a way to make them leave. We'll be back as soon as possible, I promise."

Percy felt Terminus nod his head in his grasp. He put the statue down, stood up and made the loudest possible taxi cab whistle he could.

He saw Mrs. O' Leary bound up to them and looked at Frank with an eyebrow raised.

"Where are we even going to go? Four demigods all the way to Long Island is a little much for her," Percy said, patting his hellhound's neck. She nuzzled up to him, having missed him for so long. He had made sure when he moved to New Rome that she stayed relatively close. It was Frank who had decided that Hannibal the Elephant could use a friend in war games. Mrs. O' Leary had loved the idea so much she had coated Percy in a layer of dog slobber that had lasted almost a week. It was, however, a very busy time of year and so the last time he had seen her was around March. He frowned and promised himself that he would visit her more often.

He saw Frank nod in concentration. "Is Jason and Piper still at Mr. McLean's house? I don't know where it is but I bet Mrs. O' Leary could find it."

"We don't want to accidentally show up right in front of him, remember? Piper always said she was adamant that he never knew about all this. A hellhound right in his face is a very rude wake-up call."

"Then how about just Jason and Piper?" Frank looked at him desperately. There weren't exactly a lot of people on this side of the coast that they knew, Percy realized. The only other people that Percy thought about was Annabeth's family, and he sure as hell wasn't putting this on Mrs. Chase. She was always on pins and needles about the whole demigod-thing, anyway. Walking right up to her door with a giant black dog and two unconscious demigods was not a good idea. He begrudgingly nodded to Frank's plan and helped load the two girls on the back of his dog. He hopped up onto her behind her ear and whispered into it.

"Find Jason and Piper, girl. I know you can do it."

Percy caught one last sight of the foreboding darkness and the mass of screaming people before he was whisked away into the shadows.

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Author's Note: Okay don't kill me please. I know it's long, and I am so sorry about that. I just couldn't help myself. Action is like one of my favorite things to read in novels. I found that writing it was just as pleasurable. We will learn about the darkness a little more in the next few chapters but for now I like it a mystery. I also wanted to have a Frank-Percy type moment in here because as beautiful as Riordan's work is, he did a major no-no in totally letting go of their whole relationship. SoN was a book dammit! They were good friends at one point! Anyway, fav, review and all that Jazz. Also I'm going to be posting a new story soon so you should check it out. (For fans of Percico, hint hint) Bye lovies! ~Cryellow