Hello, fanfictioners ( or whatever! ) . A new salty shippy chapter awaits ( I AM MAKING NEW WORDS !) . Enjoy….

Annabeth

Percy locked the door of their cabin. He headed towards the mini-bar and grabbed a bottle of tequila. He chopped a lemon and empted half the salt on a plate.

Annabeth had lied on the bed. She smiled with anticipation.

''Buy me a drink, sailor?''

''Ai, m' lady.''

''I am waiting,''

''Yellow or white, my queen?''

''Salty…''

Percy cracked a smile. ''Umm, my style.''

Annabeth held open her palm. Percy filled it with a slice of lemon full of salt. In her other hand, he placed the uncapped bottle. ''Remember the three steps. Lick, drink, bite.''

She glanced at him and smiled. ''Don't get dirty,''

Seven shots later, Annabeth was getting dizzy. Percy, well, he couldn't drink any more. She gave her a crazy-drunk-shy smile. She adored him. His eyes, his face, his humor, the fact that he was so short-tempered, that he seemed to have need of her. These eight months have been a torture. She touched his face and leaned over his chest.

''I have another bottle laying somewhere around here,'' he muttered.

''Leave it be, Seaweed Brain. We 're out of lemons,''

''That's the statement! Too bad! What are we going to do?''

''That's where my wits take over. Let's experiment!''

''Meaning?''

''Let's follow a Las Vegas tradition. Body shots!''

''Wise Girl, my eight-month absence made you filthy,''

Annabeth took of her shirt. Percy looked at her worried. ''Are you sure about that?''

She smiled. ''No, but I'm sure about you,''

He returned the smile, his fingers moving slightly from her neck to her belly. Her heartbeat increased and her hands moved automatically on his shirt. Percy took a deep breath and kissed her neck with passion. His lips made a huge parade exploring her face, her body. She sighed with pleasure when they arrived at her belly. His hands were all over her, now moving gently on her waist. Her face reddened when he uncapped her bra and a chill went all over her spine. She tried to talk but stopped as soon as both his hands moved down below. The chill came without stop. She reached for his pants, but felt something going wrong inside her. ''No,'' she thought desperately, two seconds before vomiting all over the wooden floor.

The next morning, Annabeth was still feeling sick. He had passed the previous night puking her insides out. Percy was holding her hair as she was aiming for the hole. Oh, hell, she did feel embarrassed. Poor Percy, he didn't say anything, nor had he created a disgusting lake on Leo's floor. Before he tucked her in near 4 am, he whispered in her ear ''Next time, we leave tequila out.'' He smiled and kissed her forehead. All she got was a father kiss. She couldn't complain, though. Her breath was sour and her lips swollen. Gods be damned, she couldn't stand kissing him like that.

Leo was pissed. He was shouting at her and Percy, having his little robot-cleaners rubbing and polishing the floor. ''Unacceptable,'' he spit when he saw the vomit. ''And I will hear nothing about my cooking skills. Excellent they are, as was my ship.'' Then he left, cursing his bad luck as Percy was trying to get rid of the little robots which had got the job done and now seemed ready to clean them, too.

Worst than all, she got that dream. Gaea had opened her cards at her and offered a last chance of salvation. Could it be what she said was true? Probably, Mother Earth wasn't a liar. On the other hand, she always used to deceive her enemies, frighten them, stag every last sense of hope from their soul. She knew what to say to tempt you, to make you feel disappointed, angry, to see betrayal as the last solution.

And what if that was true? What if betrayal was the only way to avoid her upcoming fate? Did she have to lose Percy now that they were back together? The Mark of Athena burns through Rome … None of them told her, but Gaea knew, she always did. And she told her. What everyone else hid from her, she spoke. The truth about the future, her future. And she knew the road towards there, the road to the Great Old Empire, to Rome.

And yesterday, she asked for a battle council, to determine what they would. And she was to tell them the road, what she found. She wanted to, yesterday at least. Today was another day, new facts on the table, questions without answer, one future that no hope would survive. What would she tell them? That she would die? Or that her choice was to die or betray them all? No, she would lie, as she had never done, preserve the truth. She couldn't destroy their last hope. Problem was, there was no hope. Hope wouldn't die last. It had died yesterday.

The room was enormous. In the middle of the room, there was round table with seven seats around it. Each seat had curved on it the sign of the god it represented. She sat on the grey chair. It was comfortably, she had to give Leo that. As the rest of the seven took their seats, a faint layer of colors surrounded them.

Percy cleared his throat. ''Leo, if you may. What's the situation?''

Leo took off his captain hat and got on his feet. He looked Annabeth exactly into her eyes and sighed skeptically. ''We got ourselves a situation. There is a massive army marching towards Camp Jupiter. Reyna took off with the army to meet them at mountain Tam. It's gonna get bloody. Percy wants us to turn back and help them while we have an upcoming challenge of our own. Twenty ships, each on with its own monster-cargo, are coming from every direction. We got to abandon the sea. Problem is that it doesn't blow enough so that Jason can use it to transport us. Either we fight and turn back to help Reyna or we fight and continue to Rome.''

''We should go back. There is no point in making one step forward and two behind,'' Frank said.

''Ridiculous. We don't have the time.'' Jason shouted.

''We can't just ditch them. The need us.'' Hazel intervened.

''The whole world needs us,'' Jason said coldly.

''Let's put it in a vote,'' Piper proposed.

''Agreed,'' Percy barked.

Piper bit a nail nervously. ''Those in favor of continuing our mission,'' she started. Jason and Frank and Piper raised their hands. Annabeth rolled her eyes.

''Spare us Piper. If you weren't into him, you would have been against this decision.'' Piper omitted the comment and continued. ''Those against…,'' and the other four raised their hands at once.

Jason lowered his head angrily. ''We are going to pay that. You'll see.''

''Are you mad? If Camp falls, we are all doomed. The Greek, will fall, we will fail and the gods will fade. Our era will end and it will be exactly how it started. Don't you get it?'' Leo snapped.

''We are Romans. Duty comes first!'' Jason yelled.

''No, we are demigods. And we don't abandon our people,'' Hazel said.
Jason took a trembling breath. ''Very well, then. Let's fight and go back! Octavian will have us beheaded shortly.''

He jumped on his feet. ''Come on, kids. I could use a fight right now.''

''Wait, Annabeth you didn't tell us where to head to.''

''Oh,'' Annabeth said ironically, ''continue straight and at the end of the corridor, turn left.''

''Yeah, we all laughed. Where to?''

''Go to Italy, and then will figure it out.''

Leo nodded.

''Come on guys, we got twenty wooden ships waiting for us,'' Frank said.

''Wait,'' Percy intervened. ''You said wooden?''

''Last time we checked, yeah.''

Percy cracked a smile. Jason too.

''Then, there will be not so much fighting to do. Jason, fly South and get your lightning-art into work. You'll have Hazel cover you. Annabeth, East with Leo. Get some fire do its work. Piper and Frank take the West and use your bows. As for me, well, North is going to feel the wrath of hurricanes.''

- ''I need Thalia. I love Thalia! Ahh, youth ( I meant cupid)! You know the magic word, R…''
-Shut up!