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) Some kissing in this chapter, nothing too serious.

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.

Author's Note: BEWARE. LONG CHAPTER AHEAD. There might be some touchy stuff in there, but it's nothing too bad in my opinion. Have fun!

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Chapter 10: Turning, Turning, Turning

Annabeth's POV

Annabeth looked upward, blinking her eyes. She winced as the sun hit her eyes through the open blinds in her's and Percy's apartment. She moved her head to the side, hoping to find her Sea Prince beside her. Annabeth furrowed her eyes a little as she noted his absence. She looked around their bedroom. The closet was closed, as was the door, and Percy's whole side of the bed.

Maybe he went out for breakfast? Annabeth asked herself. She got out of bed and looked down at herself. She was wearing a pair of fuzzy pajama pants and a tank top. Shaking away her sleepiness, she went to the closet and got dressed, putting on a fresh pair of jeans and a t-shirt. She combed through her hair and left their bedroom content and ready to start the day.

She walked into the kitchen and found Percy sitting down and eating a donut rather messily. Crumbs littered the table as he shoved the pastry to his face repeatedly.

"Morning," Annabeth said with a smile, sitting in front of him were he had placed a donut for her. She raised an eyebrow as Percy continued to get crumbs on the table and on his Ocean hair don't care t-shirt. It was her favorite t-shirt of his.

He finished off his first donut and started destroying a second. Annabeth stared at him a little but then decided to eat her own breakfast. She looked down and saw her favorite, a boston creme on a napkin, and reached to grab for it. She saw the glint of her engagement ring and smiled to herself at the calming sight of it. She was about to say something to Percy about plans or maybe even what he was going to do today, when she noticed he had both hands on his donut, eating like a madman.

Okay, Annabeth said to herself. Percy's a messy person but two hands? Seriously?

"Woah there, it's not going anywhere babe." She laughed a little, trying to sound light. Percy looked at her with a slight blank expression and started eating it like normal. There was something in the back of her mind she had wanted to tell him, but Annabeth forgot about it the more she tried to remember. She sighed frustrated and started eating her breakfast.

"What day is it?" Annabeth asked Percy, trying to remember what she did yesterday. Her brows furrowed a little in concentration as nothing came to her mind.

"Tuesday," Percy replied with a slight grin. He finished his second donut and started wiping up the mess. That's weird. He usually does that after I'm done with mine, Annabeth thought. She looked back over at him and saw the pile of crumbs back where they were. She blinked but decided she must be tired.

"Oh," Annabeth replied. "I thought it was Friday."

"Oh yeah," Percy said, nodding. "I'm an idiot. What would I do without you Wise Girl?"

She smiled at the compliment and continued to eat. "You'd probably be dead."

He laughed his usual gorgeous laugh. "You're right. You're always right."

Annabeth squinted her eyes a little at him but didn't comment. He must be in a good mood for some reason. She thought to herself. Did we agree it was Friday? What happened yesterday? Thursday...hm...date night.

She felt a pinch in her forehead at the thought of date night. It was in the back of her mind, she knew it, but alas, she remained with nothing. Maybe they had especially good sex last night? But Annabeth didn't feel particularly sore, and she doubted that his behavior would only be because of sex. She still didn't put it past him though.

She finished her donut and saw him clean his mess as well as her napkin. She groaned at the prospect of going to class.

"I really don't want to go to class today." She said, leaning her head back and looking at Percy. She exposed her neck, hoping she get some loving nuzzles before the start of her day. Annabeth was granted her wish as Percy slowly kissed her neck up and down, once kissing her collarbone and other times kissing her jaw.

"So don't," Percy said devilishly against her skin. "Just skip class."

Annabeth closed her eyes in bliss, contemplating the idea for a moment. She was just about to give her answer when her senses noted different surroundings.

She opened her eyes as her nose filled with the smell of campfire smoke. She looked around at the vast land of Tartarus.

~~~!~~~

What am I doing here?! Annabeth screamed in her own head. She looked around and felt Percy's arm around her waist. Her body felt weak and she looked down at her clothes and noted they were tattered. They sat next to the river Phlegethon, resting on a crack of rock overlooking a cliff.

She looked over at Percy and saw his messy form. One that she had only seen in Tartarus. Annabeth felt her eyes go wide as she took him in and realized without a doubt that she was back. Any ideas she had, died in her throat.

"Where-What?!" Annabeth squeaked out, looking at Percy in shock. His head turned to her and he gave her a confused look.

"What's wrong, Annabeth?"

"What are we doing here? We were just in the kitchen- you wanted me to skip class- why are we back here?" Annabeth got out in horror. She felt herself grow pale just looking at the place. Definitely not her favorite place.

"Skip class? Annabeth do you need another drink? What do you mean 'back here'? We never left."

Annabeth felt her entire being growing pale, shocked, and terrified. They couldn't be back there. They couldn't. And the way Percy said 'never left', like they hadn't sealed the Doors of Death. Like they hadn't been through Tartarus before.

"Percy, how old am I? How old are you?" She looked into his eyes, desperate to know the answer.

"Annabeth I do think you need a drink..." Percy thought about her question a moment, his eyebrows pressed together. "Well it's hard to know with Tartarus being a mythical place and all, but I think you're still sixteen for a few days and I'm also sixteen."

"Oh gods," Annabeth said. "This can't be real- it can't be. I was just- we were just- and you-"

She tried to come up with some explanation for this. Some explanation for why she had seen everything up to the both of them in college- but she was still in Tartarus with him?! She could find none. Nothing fit. Nothing made sense to her.

She tried to place where exactly she was in Tartarus, anything she could remember from the time she spent there. Or dreamed about spending there. What if that's all it was? Everything up to college had been a dream? Or just a happy thought that had carried her too far? But her memories weren't happy were they? She had seen so many horrible things after they had left Tartarus that she wasn't sure anymore.

She wasn't sure if it had all been a dream.

She swallowed a wave of nausea that had threatened to come out. "Did I fall asleep?" she asked Percy.

He was looking at her severely concerned. One of his hands had flown to her forehead, obviously fearing that she might have a fever. Or worse, maybe a head injury somehow.

"No," He said. "We were just talking about Bob."

Annabeth's eyes grew even a little wider as her memory plunged her into what she could perceive as the present. It was before the fight with the pack of empousa, before Bob the Titan had saved them. Before he had came with them on their journey.

"What?" Percy asked her. "What is it? Something about Bob?"

Annabeth's mind whirled trying to piece together her thoughts. What if everything she'd seen wasn't real? What if it was all fake or implanted? Could she trust what happened? She decided to assume that it was true and tried to make a logical plan.

It was then that Annabeth remembered something Bob had told her in her 'memories' of Tartarus. Something about the Giants and the Titans against them.

"We have to go. We have to go now!" Annabeth said frantically, taking Percy's arm and pulling him to the cliff. He followed her misty eyed, obviously confused by the whole turn of events. He suddenly lurched his arm out of her grip and she turned to face him.

"Annabeth, no! What's wrong? Why are you acting like this? Why do we need to leave?" Percy looked at her in total confusion and worry. Annabeth felt acid in her throat as she tried to think of what to do next. She wanted desperately to tell Percy what was going on, maybe so he could help her understand, but they didn't have time. The elder ones were following them. That's what Bob had told them in Annabeth's 'memories' when they stopped at Hermes' shrine. They needed to move as fast as possible. The only problem was that Annabeth knew what would happen next. They were about to be caught by the empousai, but they were also going to find Bob. He was very important in this whole thing. She was torn between wanting to run as fast as possible and wanting to wait it out here on the rock until Bob came.

Eventually she decided the only logical thing was to retrace their footsteps, even if that meant a lot of pain and fighting. Annabeth felt like she wanted to throw up.

The thought pulled back her feeling of the thought at the back of her head. Something about throwing up...But was it even valid? If Annabeth was correct and all of her 'memories' had been just a vision then she'd never remember.

She felt herself blink her eyes, trying to keep herself together. She breathed a deep breath and looked at Percy calmly. It was one of the hardest things she ever had to do.

"Nothing's wrong. I'm fine. Just a little after effect of the Phlegethon. Maybe we should stay away from it for a while? Really, I'm fine, but we should go."

Percy nodded, obviously not believing her, and started down the cliff just as he had done in her 'memories'.

~~~!~~~

Every time Annabeth remembered something dumb she had said in her 'memories', she wanted to scream. Going through there once was bad enough, but twice? While she knew what was going to happen? She almost destroyed her resolve to stick to the script she remembered.

Annabeth tried to reason with herself that honestly there were something that just had to happen. The longer she stuck to this plan the harder it was for her to follow. Little by little Annabeth felt herself growing more and more insane, trying to stick to what she had done before and trying not to cry, knowing what would come.

Maybe this is the dream, and I just fell asleep during class, Annabeth said to herself. It would have been sensible, if the ground beneath her feet didn't feel so real and the air didn't taste so toxic.

Every now and again Annabeth would feel that tug at a memory, something trying to surface in her mind. Something about Percy, wanting to throw up, and Bob. Something she had said to him... It was half the problem. The other half was knowing for certainty that Bob would be stuck down here, and Annabeth couldn't think of any alternative.

So far, her 'memories' were going exactly to plan. Every single thing that happened Annabeth seemed to remember.

Annabeth, Percy, and Bob walked up to the shrine of Hermes' intact. Annabeth knew she was supposed to sleep, but felt it much more impossible than 'last time'. She curled up, trying her hardest to pray that it would all go away when she heard a voice.

"Annabeth if you can hear me I want you here,"

The voice was Piper's undoubtedly. It was also charmspeak. Annabeth blinked her eyes, looking around to find where she could have heard that voice. It was impossible.

"This isn't supposed to happen- I'm supposed to fall asleep next." Annabeth said with her eyebrows furrowed. She closed her eyes and willed herself to sleep, trying her best to follow the script even if it was killing her.

"Annabeth!" Piper's voice said again. Annabeth turned her head and found that the voice was coming from Percy. Annabeth's confusion grew.

"Annabeth you need to fight them! You need to fight from the inside!"

"Fight who? We'll be at the curses soon, but you should be with the Argo right now." Annabeth said dazed. She couldn't quite grasp what was real anymore. Her own body felt weird and fuzzy.

Annabeth distantly heard Percy's voice, scared and worried all at once. His voice was deeper somehow, weirdly more manly. Like the voice from her 'memories'.

"It must be showing her Tartarus. Oh gods. She thinks she's back in that place!"

"What do you mean back? I never left," Annabeth murmured completely at a loss. She heard a sharp intake of breath and instead heard Piper's voice once more.

"Annabeth listen to me. I probably don't have long. You need to fight the maniae from the inside, do you understand? Never stop fighting! I believe in you!"

"Maniae? The spirits of madness? But I won't see Nyx til' later. Til' after we meet Aklys." Annabeth felt like her head might explode. She tried to grasp at reality but didn't know which way was true.

For a brief moment she thought she was in Piper's living room. Percy knelt at her side from the couch, his face completely terrified. Piper stood next to him, Jason and Frank behind them somewhat to the left. Her head throbbed.

Suddenly she was back in Tartarus, curled on her side and trying to sleep at the shrine of Hermes'.

"I should have never let you go to the doctor alone. I'm so sorry I left you, Annabeth." Percy almost sobbed with his manly voice.

Doctor's. Left her...? And suddenly it hit her. She remembered what she had forgotten. She remembered walking home from the doctor's office, her mind a whirl of thoughts. She remembered the massive wall of black slowly descending on their apartment. She remembered that she was pregnant with Percy's baby.

Her surroundings disappeared. Instead of Tartarus Annabeth lay on black. The surface seemed had, but there was nothing anywhere. There was no light except for the small patch she lay in. She got to her feet, turning around and trying to make some sense out of any of it. There was nothing. Nothing everywhere.

Then suddenly there was a woman standing in front of her. She looked like an escaped mental patient. She was small and thin, a gray dress hanging off her form to her knees. The dress itself was tattered and dirty, as was the woman's body. The woman lifted up her head and Annabeth laughed. It was a psychotic laugh she never knew she could make.

The woman's eyes were completely black with no whites. Her face was sharp at the edges and her chin was pointy. Her eye sockets were deep and sunken and her lanky black hair fell around her like it was dead. The woman was also laughing, her hands curled at her sides.

Annabeth felt her eyes go wide and she covered her mouth with her hand, but her laughing didn't stop. She felt her head split in a hundred different ways. She let go of her mouth and clutched her head, trying to ease the pain.

All of a sudden the woman stopped laughing and so did Annabeth. She gasped, trying to focus on anything but the horrible pain going through her head.

Mania...that's what Piper had called her. Annabeth knew about these spirits- she had learned them when she learned about the different daemons of Greek mythology. Some of the maniae were good- they gave demigods helpful dreams/nightmares and had taken care of the god Eros when he was born.

Some of them were bad, however. Annabeth had heard stories of people driven to madness by these beasts, forced to live their own fears and worst memories. They weren't very friendly beings. Most of the time they stuck to mortal mental patients, making them think they're crazy for hearing voices in their heads.

She had also heard of another tale, deep within archives of Greek script. Stories of a mania who took over a pregnant woman and possessed her child...

Annabeth kicked the woman right in the chest, no talking needed. Usually she wanted to outsmart the monsters and make them do dumb things of their own accord. This was not the time for small talk with daemons.

The woman fell back giving a surprised shout. The woman stood again, a smile on her creepy lips.

"Oh I like were your head is at, Annabeth. I hadn't planned on doing so originally. I thought that you were just some demi-god. Didn't know I'd get the whole package for free. Three for One! How could I resist?" The mania's voice sounded like nails on a chalkboard and a cat's hiss. It was a truly horrifying sound to Annabeth. She fought off her headache by sheer force of will and readied herself to attack again.

"You touch me- or my baby- and I swear to all the gods-" Annabeth hadn't quite realized what the monster had said. She was too determined to fight to notice the daemon's words.

"Annabeth, sweetie, I've already been inside your head. I've seen all your thoughts. All your hidden thoughts of being abandoned? Seen those. My particular favorites were the ones about Thalia, Luke, and your parents. Pretty juicy. Also loved your control issues. Poor Annabeth never felt like she had anything organized in her life so she became extremely controlling in her personal one. Seriously, you got more goods in here than most grown men."

Annabeth gasped at the notion that this beast had seen everything about her. She was about to retort something possibly witty when she decided action was the best reaction. She punched the skinny bitch in the face.

She sprawled on the ground for a moment then disappeared. Annabeth turned around and brought her elbow up, hitting the monster in the face from where she was trying to surprise her.

Annabeth grabbed the thing's head and brought her over her knee. The mania tried to get up but Annabeth grabbed her head and smashed it on the ground, stomping on it for good measure. The mania gave a cry of pain and retreat a few feet away.

"I don't know how you got in here, but you better get out,"Annabeth said fiercely. "The dummys at Camp Half-Blood are better opponents than you. I could do this all day, so try and come at me. We both know that I've had years of training, or do you want to put it to the test?"

The thing laughed it's psychotic laugh again, tapping her head thoughtfully. "Do I want to stay here and fight you? Hah! How about I just jump into one of your precious demigod babies, hm? Much easier than fighting you."

"One of...?" Annabeth said, shocked for a moment at the beast. She then saw the thing disappearing through the floor and lunged at it, grabbing hold of it by the wrist.

"You can't come!" The monster hissed at Annabeth. "Mommy needs to stay in her own head. Or do you even want to be a mother? I've seen the darkest parts of your mind, Annabeth. I've seen you contemplate ways of getting rid of them."

Annabeth almost threw up, knowing that it had crossed her mind. With a world full of monsters and gods who used you, would it really be a good place to bring a child? Annabeth shook her head a little, knowing the thing was messing with her mind.

She yanked the thing's wrist backward, making sure that it stayed in her own mind if only for a little while.

Author's Note: I am so sorry that it's a cliff hanger! AH! I didn't mean to write this much I swear! Look- to make it up to you I'll just have to post another chapter soon. I personally love where this story is going. It wasn't what I originally had in mind but it kinda grows around me. Be sure to fav and review and allll that good stuff! Until I write again, love you! ~Cryellow