Several days passed in similar succession of quiet conversation that danced around the underlying problem at hand. Breakfast was usually a quiet occurrence of two or three people as Natasha, Steve, and Tony were all on mission. Dinners were always a busier occurrence with Pepper coming to join them for a relaxed meal that Bucky never failed to produce.

Days were spent in quiet solitude for Annabeth as she couldn't bear the thought of spending extended periods of time with her heavily fortified façade placed firmly upon her face and deflecting comments on the tip of her tongue. Instead, she occupied her time carefully analysing complex architectural designs, a go-to that almost never failed to release some tension from her frazzled mind.

However, by the following Monday, Annabeth was ready to tear out all her hair with a spoon she was so frustrated with the never-ending concerned glances she continued to get despite her rather impressive act. That's why, when her alarm pierced the air in the early hours of the cool November morning for school, Annabeth felt the slight sensation of relief. She had somehow been able to sleep the slightest amount last night and was pleasantly surprised to wake up not feeling like the embodiment of Hades. Maybe today would be a good day.

Today was most certainly not a good day, Annabeth decided as she exited her second class of the morning carrying not one, not two, but three textbooks to help her catch up with all that she missed in maths alone. For English, she had gotten three novels to read which Annabeth could already tell would already be absolute murder for her brain without her dyslexia, let alone with. One small mercy was the fact that she had gotten Percy's stepfather for the subject.

When she had first arrived at the classroom, much too early for a teenager in their right mind, Paul had glanced up from his desk in the front of the classroom, face instantly brightening when he saw her small figure. He shuffled his papers to the side and jumped up from his chair, quickly walking over to her to envelope her in one of the biggest hugs she had ever received.

"Annabeth! How are you? It's been too long!" She merely blinked owlishly at him in surprise for several moments before clearing her throat and giving a smile of her own.

"H-hullo, Mr Blofis, how are you? How's Sally?".

If it were at all possible, his eyes softened further as he glanced over her much too small frame in what Annabeth could only describe as a parental frown. "Sally's fine, busy with her writing but good, good. We're both okay, Annabeth."

Without looking up, Annabeth knew that the last statement held more meaning then a simple reply from her question and it took several seconds for her to compose herself before she could glance into his eyes again. "Good, I'm glad to hear it." And she meant it; she really, really did. If anyone deserved happiness, it would be the two of them who emerged from all this the pain, all this treachery of loss, with kind hearts and kinder actions.

The man in front of her shifted slightly from foot to foot, a habit that had slowly become a familiar comfort to her as she began to spend more and more time at their apartment. "You know, Sally misses you. We were quite bummed out when we heard that you had to move away but when I saw your name on the register, well, let's just say we were both pleasantly surprised. You know," he continued without so much as a pause for breath, "you should come over sometime. We hold a monthly dinner with the rest of the seven and some of Percy's other friends just to catch up. The next one's this Friday."

The last time she had seen the Blofis' was days after the war had ended. The camps were still in ruins and it was taking the combined effort of both of the camps just to look after the sheer number of injured demigods. Annabeth remembered being up for days at a time just to try to ensure that no one else would be added to the casualty list. Despite her best efforts, the list had almost doubled by the end of the week.

Although her main focus should have been to help aid the others, a constant, nagging thought had remained in the back of her mind, always dividing her thoughts in uneasy halves. She knew she couldn't take too long to go over and tell Percy's parents the news- they had waited long enough- but it still took her to the end of the week to visit their small apartment.

Just like the last time she visited, during those long months when Percy was missing, the walls were strewn with photos and there was the ever present scent of Sally's cookies. Annabeth didn't realise how dearly she had missed them until stepping inside and being engulphed by two pairs of arms. As nice as it had felt, it had made it that much harder to tell them. She didn't ever think she'd forget the haunted looks that marred their faces.

She forced herself out of her thoughts and raced her face with a smile before replying in a voice that was much too soft for her liking "That would be nice."

By the time the day had ended, Annabeth had a grand total of seven textbooks, three novels and hours of work to do every day for the foreseeable future. Adjusting, her bag straps to release some tension from her shoulders, she sighed exasperatedly before starting her short trek back to the tower.

The scenery of crowds of evening commuters shoving past one another mixed pleasantly with the smells of street food and the shouts of venders trying to sell cheap goods to passers-by.

Annabeth weaved throughout the commotions of NYC expertly, making her way back to the tower in record time. The common room was vacant when she exited the stairs and it was abnormally quiet when she peered into the kitchen to get a snack despite the fact that all of the Avengers were gathered around the table sat in absolute stillness.

Unease started to flow throughout Annabeth, the hairs on her skin flying up like a terrified cat. Something wasn't right. Something was wrong.

"Hello?" Despite her alarm, her voice came out clear and strong, her body falling back into her all too familiar tense frame in preparation. "Are you guys alright?"

As she slowly crept towards the group, her unease grew tenfold. Something just wasn't right and as she got closer, she knew exactly why.

They weren't breathing.

Alarm rang through her body and before she could do a single thing, plan a single course of action, a cold, primordial voice pierced through the room. A cold, primordial voice that she was hoping to never hear again. A cold, primordial voice that was so malicious, so malevolent, it had followed her in her nightmares for years.

"Hello Annabeth," Kronos greeted from right behind her back.

...I'm sorry. Not really, hehehe.