Hello, yes, I am back already like two weeks after I just updated, but...I've gone far with this and I want it out there for all of y'all to see. So please, enjoy this chapter is fluffy.

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X-X-Part2 2-Chapter 9-X-X

Annabeth was ready, readier than she had ever been for such things. She had planned it all out. And, would Snow come to discover her hand in all of it, she was sure he would behead her, and then Percy as well. Or perhaps he wouldn't and let them live because Gaea wanted them alive. Whatever the consequences, she was hoping the latter was real. That by being input prisoner of Gaea's they had a ticket for life when it came to Snow. At least until a certain point.

Her idea had started out simple. Get into the games, show who's boss and win. Slaughter everyone if it meant getting out more quickly. She wasn't Percy, and the blood of those children wouldn't hunt her the way it must have surely hunted him. She wasn't afraid, and she wasn't loyal to a fault like he was.

That simple idea had soon developed, and over the six months she had to plan it all out, she had managed to come up with a stronger plan than what she had started with. A deceit that would entertain the Capitol, and therefore, Snow would think twice about killing her when it was over. Of course, he wasn't going to kill the winner of the Hunger Games was he, especially when she'd give them the show she had in mind.

So her life was safe, but what of Percy's? She sighed through herself. She had to hope that in this case, he'd be able to hold himself through. Once they were together, nothing would stop them. So just a little bit of time and they'd go back home. Just a little bit more time.

Time who was never on their side.

The day of the reaping came all too quickly, but she knew what she had to do and she was confident. Confident for all of it.

So she dressed pretty, in a delicate grey dress that the mayor's wife had passed down to her, and braided her blonde hair sideways down her head. She was going to look as pretty as she could, after all she was going to deceive them all, wasn't she. Every single one of them, and looking pretty was the first of it.

She might have mentioned to Jacob that she was going to volunteer for as tribute, but that was about it. She had told him he was going to see her in the games this year, and that was it. She didn't specify what she was going to do about it. She didn't tell him her delicate plan.

She looped thin and intricate earrings through her earring holes and then clasped them close behind. She added some ornaments to her hair, just to add to it, in a way. Make it look like she cared a lot. Which she really didn't. Days before she had purchased some gold covered bracelets and she put them high on her arm and by the end of it, she could have passed off as a girl cosplaying as a goddess. A Greek goddess.

A calculated move on her part. When Snow would see her he would see and understand. She would not be broken so easily. She hoped the same worked for Percy as well.

When Jake saw her…his jaw dropped. "Are you crazy," he asked, noting the cleavage the low-cut the dress showed. She had done her best to have her breasts appear bigger. She had to look the part, however disturbing it was to her own mind. The Capitol will know she would not break for them. Heck, they'd break for her, before this was all over.

"I," she said slowly. "Am perhaps the craziest person you'll ever meet."

He nodded, in agreement. "I won't argue with that, you are."

She grinned at him and then offered her arm, for him to loop his around, which he did. "Shall we go to our doom, then?"

She had told him, clearly, that she would not want him to volunteer, if e wasn't chosen. It would do nothing but serve as a death sentence. She had said with much guilt, but she had meant it. She was the one that was going to come out of that arena alive, and the fates help who tried to stop her.

As they made their way to the square of the reaping, she acted like she had never before, and she enjoyed it. Acting childish and girlish and swinging her hips side to side, flicking her hair behind her, twirling locks of it in her finger, all the while with her arm hooked around Jacob's.

Perfect.

She grinned to herself, and then put on a scared expression as she went into the line, to get her freaking finger pricked for her blood. Her godly blood which was worth more than the peacekeeper taking it and stamping it onto paper. Then she went to her section. Eighteen year olds. If only she had been born a month earlier, she wouldn't need to be there, and wouldn't have the chance to see him again. So she thanked her mother for bearing her a month too late.

She stood there. Silent. Catching Jake's eye, one or twice. Her heart steady as she looked like she was listening to what the mayor was saying, but really was conjuring up ways to kill all the peacekeepers in the square, and that horrid lady from the Capitol, what was her name again, oh yes, Angelica. She thought about smudging all the make up she was wearing and using it to paint her death.

Good thoughts, good thoughts indeed.

She grinned, slyly, when Angelica moved to the edge of the podium.

Just one step and you fall, Annabeth thought. Then perhaps you die.

Truth was, that as much as Annabeth wanted the lady to die horribly, she needed her to go on with the reaping. Her reaping. The Capitol lady said in her shrill voice, "Happy Hunger Games, and may the odds be ever in your favor!"

Ah, jokes on her, the odds where never in her favor.

"Ladies first," Angelica said as she moved to the bowl of the girls and picked a slip. "Katherine Manova!"

Annabeth grinned inwardly. Great. Perfect. She couldn't have asked for better. Katherine Manova had become a good friend of hers. And her, volunteering as tribute…it wouldn't be half as weird as her volunteering as tribute for another girl she didn't know. Of course had she been picked in the first place…

"No!" she wailed, as Katherine started walking, stiffly out of line, from beside her. She held her by the arm. "NO!" she repeated, with more heart break as she moved out of the line. "I volunteer! I volunteer in her place!"

Angelica smiled, sweetly and called her to the podium. Enough time for Annabeth to conjure up fake tears. She wiped at her eyes, and sniffed, adding to the performance. She thought about the worse thing she could think about, the feeling of when Percy had first been taken from her, of when she'd woken up in the District a year before. She let it overwhelm her.

"Oh dear, what's your name?" Angelica said, trotting towards her on those high heels.

"Annabeth Chase," she said, acting like she was scared. Her eyes searched for Jacob, and found him shaking his head, a small smile gracing his lips.

"It is very honorable of you, to volunteer in her place," Angelica said with a huge smile. Then she moved to the centre again, towards the boys's bowl. "Now, for the boys." Her hand dropped in the bowl, shook around until she picked up a piece.

Annabeth felt it in her gut. She just felt something about to go wrong. She was so close to yelling at the lady to choose another strip of paper. Every but that. No. No. No.

"Jacob Lewis."

-.-

Darren had quickly told Percy what to do. When he was on that stage, acting as the mentor of this year's tributes. He told him how to act, and how to sit, and how to talk, and how to look. He didn't need to be told of the last one, he always had to look lovable, especially when the feed was going straight back to the Capitol.

So he walked onto stage, following Genevieve, and sat next to her as the mayor talked. He didn't say anything, although his pose alone was enough for his deal with Snow. The expensive jacket he wore, the way he had groomed himself for the occasion. Everything. He did everything. With a smile.

He listened, to the mayor's boring speech, which he realized was the exact same as the previous year. Well, he looked like he was listening, all he could really think about was Annabeth, again. He hoped, selfishly, that she'd be in these Games. That she'd be in them so that he could see her again, and talk to her and gods above, he wanted to kiss her so badly.

His hopes were high. Really high, and so was this belief that by the end of this day, he was going to see her. At least once, either be it on television or in person. He was going to see her and remember all he had forgotten about her. He was sure of it, so he also hoped, that no one he knew, would be chosen for this year's reaping. No one he had grown to care about. Because he wouldn't be able to forgive himself, if he started mentoring them, and giving them false hope of a safe return when, possibly, Annabeth was their competition.

He took a deep breath as Eliza, District Six's lady from the Capitol, stood and like the year before said, "Happy Hunger Games, and may the odds, be ever in your favor."

A chill ran down his back. Like the chill he had exactly one year before, just before his name had been called out. He let his smile fade and he glared, like a wolf would a prey, to Eliza's back. Although he knew, that chill was reason from a way, nastier lady. He sneered when she bent down to pick a slip from the girls's bowl.

"Eileen Ryal!" Percy sagged lightly, not recognizing the name, although when the girl stepped out of line he had to contain his urge to start a killing spree. She came out of the line of the thirteen year olds. Thirteen. This girl was thirteen. With blonde hair braided in two dutch braids. Her eyes were wide with panic, and tears were already forming. Two years, and she was already reaped.

This wasn't fair.

Percy was stiff when he shook her hand. When he sat back down and he stopped breathing when Eliza said, "For the boys." His own eyes widened, and that chill down his back…it came back. He swallowed as his blood went cold. "Joseph Peterson."

It took him every single will of power he had to not move, to not gasp or make some noise he'd regret. He stood, even stiffer than before, to shake his hand, and that's when he closed himself off again. Those mental shields rose from the ground around himself. A smile graced his lips, as he shook the hand and then everything happened so damn fast.

-.-

He didn't really waste any time, once the belongings he wanted with him where on the train, and he had claimed his room, he made his way to where both Eileen and Joseph were. Where the peacekeepers had left them. He found them there, sitting on chairs, looking at a television screen that was projecting the tributes. He didn't say a word, moving to stand behind them and perhaps catch that of District Six.

The program was on District Four, both tributes had volunteered, and were about around eighteen. So old, and experienced enough to be part of the Career's group. Then came District Five, and Percy didn't miss how upset he had looked. And…uncomfortable. He only hoped Snow wasn't going to make him pay for that. Eileen and Joseph were picked, no volunteers. Then came District Six.

When Katherine's name was picked, he gripped the armrest of the chair so hard he actually ripped the leather. Why were the fates always against him. But then, when the camera zoomed in on her, he was sure his eyes were tricking him, because he thought he was seeing a goddess beside the eighteen year old. A goddess except.

"No!" The camera zoomed in to the being next to Katherine and Percy gasped. There she was. He started shaking. His eyebrows scrunched. His eyes unfocused. There she was. "NO! I volunteer! I volunteer in her place!"

He bit his lip, keeping the small sound of triumph within. Annabeth. He was going to see her again. Today. Today had just turned from crappy to wonderful except…Joseph was sitting in front of him. Joseph was here. He was a tribute and he'd need to go against Annabeth. Neither of the two sitting in front of him were going to make it out alive. How could he lie to them.

He turned his eyes back to the screen. She was making her way to the podium and she was crying. He couldn't help the chuckle that escaped. He didn't care, that Genevieve, who had come in shortly after he had, gave him a questioning look. He didn't care because she was there. And right now, she was on a train to the Capitol. And tonight…the fates wouldn't be enough to stop him from seeing her.

Although, he had to wonder at the crying part. What did she have in mind. And, why was she dressed like a goddess. Did she want Snow to kill her for her impertinence. Did she want them all to die for it. But, he had to admit, he had never seen her more pretty. More beautiful. She was a goddess, in her own way. She was his goddess. And his only.

She acted throughout it all, crying and acting, so unlike her. So girly, which she was not. He wondered, gods he wanted to yell it out, why she was doing it, and what she had in mind for it. But for now, for now, he'd work on the two tributes sitting in front of him.

They continued to watch the reaping and once they were over the tv turned off and the two turned around to face Genevieve and him. He gave them a smile, and said, "Hi, in case, you missed last year's Games, I'm Percy Jackson."

-.-

Annabeth felt giddy, just at the thought of what she was doing. Gods that felt wrong. She felt giddy because she was about to go in an arena and kill teenagers. Great, the Capitol was getting to her brain. This year she had spent on her own had not paid off well.

Her eyes were bloodshot from all the fake crying she had done, and the thought that Jacob was beside her alone made it ten times worse. When she had told him she'd walk out alive, she had never really thought about it seriously, but now that it was happening, that they were both in them…she wasn't so sure.

She sighed. They weren't going to stick together. She had a plan, and she would need to be alone in order for it to follow through. She'd be the bitch and leave him to find another someone to ally himself with, if he had any hopes. Her only hopes, was that he wouldn't survive so long for them to find each other at the end of the other's sword. At that point, she wasn't sure she'd be able to do it, but perhaps if it was someone else…

Gods she was a monster.

"I'm sorry," she said as she put her hand over his. They were sitting on leather couches. A whole buffet in front of them. Nothing like those on Olympus but she didn't mention it.

"What for?" he asked her, sounding oblivious to the point of her apology. "I understand you want to go home. And that this, this isn't your home. You want to go back to that Percy god guy. I don't blame you."

She didn't like it when she swallowed down her pride and apologized, only for the other to make you feel worse for what you said or did. "I shouldn't have said I'd kill you, that was awful."

He finally looked back at her. "Life isn't fair."

"You have no idea."

"So I'm not waiting my last days moping, I'll live them as much as I can. And if you'll allow it, then I hope I'll be by your side."

It was a request. Already. An alliance request, that they stick together. "We will stick together. During training, but once we're in the arena…I made a plan. And…I'm not sure it'd be safe for you to be near me when we're in there."

He raised her hand to his mouth and kissed the back of it. "Then I'll enjoy the next week of training. After that…every man on his own.

"I'm so sorry."

"Don't apologize for love, Annabeth. I hope you'll be happy."

She laughed. "I'm not sure that day will ever come. But I'll try, for as long as I live."

He opened his mouth to speak, but then the two victors turned mentors came through the door. One a male, with brown hair and eyes, looking slightly drunk. The other, a girl, looking less drunk than he, but still like someone who had fallen under some type of drug or alcohol. To forget about the horrors, Annabeth realized. They ruined themselves to forget about the horrors that occurred in that arena.

She could only hope Percy hadn't done the same.

They sat in front of them, and started eating as Annabeth and Jacob already were. "So," he said. "Some tips, perhaps."

"Stay alive," the male, a much older guy than any of them. A showcase of how long it had been since the last male Victor. "Don't get killed. Try to survive. I don't know, what do you want to know?"

"Nothing," Annabeth cried out. "I won't survive either way."

The girl, what were their names, snickered. "Everyone says that when they come here. It's never different. The boy is always more willing, the girl…" She ran her eyes over Annabeth in a way that had Annabeth contemplating whether throwing the butter knife she was holding would look good sticking out of her eye hole or not. She didn't throw it. "She only cries."

"Didn't you?"

She laughed, mad laugh. "No," she said. "I wanted to win, and I won. So tell me princess, do you want to live, or can you spare me the waste of time."

A sob shook her. Clarisse used to call her Princess. "You can… you can go to hell!"

"Annabeth," Jacob scolded her.

"Oh, look," the female, she was no girl, she was in her late twenties at least. "We got a couple Bryce," she said as she nudged 'Bryce' on the sides. So he was called Bryce, at least that.

Jacob snickered. "We're not a couple."

"Sure you're not," the woman said. "Well you can call me Lora. If you really need to call me. Other wise…just don't bother. Anything else?"

Jacob was contemplating it. "Is it scary, the cornucopia?"

"Yes," Lora said, "You'll be terrified when you're standing on that platform. If you're lucky you'll even have some nasty sneering Careers next to you. Just run the hell away and try to survive in whatever the arena is."

"Do you have any idea on what it's going to be?" Jacob asked.

Bryce sighed and set down her fork. "Do you never close your mouth?"

"Let him talk," Annabeth wailed. "Gods we're screwed, the both of us. Please Jake, tell me you've got a plan?"

He looked at her like she had gone utterly insane. Oh and she had.

"I am so done," she said, standing up, and rattling the table. "With all of you."

She turned and left. Just like that. Like a boss.

-.-

Genevieve had done most of the talking, although, he realized he should have said some more, since he was after all the Victor of last year's games. He had more of a fresh memory of what had happened and how things were than she had. She was in her twenties, but she had been fifteen when she won hers, so it was a decade, if not more since those Games.

Guilt tore at him because of it but it didn't bother him as much as it should have. He'd give his counseling hours on other days, today…his mind was stuck on her. Only her, his every thought was followed by a whisper of her name. Every single damn thought. It physically hurt and he was getting a headache by how much he was thinking about her. Everything just turned on to her. On how beautiful she had looked in that dress and how painful that memory was already becoming.

His stupid mask slipped back on his face when the train pulled up in the Capitol, and he smiled, some of the citizens, women he had lain with and he smiled at them more, part of the deal. He shook their hands and they hugged him. They touched him. They had him like they wanted and he didn't protest. Genevieve didn't say anything, and neither did the two tributes, they were probably too distracted with the cheers and strangeness of them all to notice.

He thought it was better that way. Much better that way, it avoided questions he didn't want to answer.

He escorted them to the area where they'd be groomed beyond recognition and wished them both good luck. Because they would no doubt need it. He still remembered all those baths he had been forced to take, and how they had stripped him of so much hair he had never felt more naked. The way they touched and probed and cleaned, everywhere. Even where you didn't want them to clean you. It was embarrassing.

Luckily, this year, he didn't have to go through it again. Instead, he was showed their quarters, on the fifth floor of the training centre, the same one as last year. He went straight to the room that had been dubbed as his and ran for the showers. He was clean of his own, but it would be hours before the chariot ride and…he didn't want to look too bad and he had to pass the time somehow. Genevieve had gone to her room, so he went to his.

He took a bath, and played with the controls he hadn't had the pleasure to the year before. All the colors and themes. He tried changing the color of the walls and how big the bubbles came and he played with his powers. He was having so much fun with himself, just enjoying the feel of that well being drained by a bit that he didn't realize someone was knocking on the door until Genevieve came through and caught him.

He yelped and his hands immediately flew down, to cover where the sun doesn't shine, and then remembered that the foam of the soap was already doing that. Red covered his cheeks, as it covered Genevieve's but she looked pissed, too. Something he'd done, no doubt. It was always something he had done. Always. There was no such thing as otherwise.

"Mmh?" he looked at her questioningly.

"What was wrong with you today?" she asked him as she sat down on a stool that was there. "This job is for two, I need your help. Your input. Percy, you won the games last year, they look up to you to tell them how to win this one."

He let himself sink down to the point he was submerged all the way to his neck. "They're not going to win them," he said honestly. She opened her mouth to speak but he cut her off. "No, listen! I love them. Joseph, his family took me in when my own died. But I saw the competition. They're no match."

No one was a match for her, for his Wise Girl. No one.

"That's really harsh to say, Perseus," Gen said, knowing exactly the effect the name had on him.

"Look, I'm sorry okay," he said. "But don't tell me that the year after your games, you were the best mentor out there. You know how helpless things can get in there. They're not gonna— I don't think they're gonna win. Either of them."

And as harsh as it was, he hoped they wouldn't.

She looked ready to kill him, and for a moment he thought she would. Then she grabbed a bottle of soap and threw it at him, with hard force. He barely swatted it aside before it would hit his face. Barely. "Ow," he said just for show, showing his own temper was loosening. "What was that for?"

"You're an asshole! That's what!" she almost yelled at him. "I've been doing this for a decade. I've been meeting child after child and they've never come back. Darren was positive, and he hoped with me, that they would. Now you don't even give that positivity. Where has humanity gone? I hope you burn in hell, Perseus Jackson!"

Ouch. He didn't realize his words could hurt as much as they had. He didn't realize his actions could hurt like this. He hadn't thought about it, that's the point. He understood, though, what she meant. He could understand the feeling. Training and mentoring children that were going to their own slaughter. His words wouldn't help with her morale. Though she herself had opened old wounds.

"Been there, done that, thank you very much," he said as she walked away and she stopped at the threshold.

"What do you mean by that?" she said, and for a moment he thought about telling her. About telling it all to her. The gods, the war, the whole country that awaited beyond Panem's walls. All of it.

"Well, you've seen the scars on my back," he said with no shame. "And if you haven't I can show them to you. That's…what happens in hell."

"You said your father beat you with a belt," she said, saying what he had said to Manila a year ago during his Games. "How is that hell."

Without thinking, he said, "It wasn't my father." She fully turned around and looked at him, curiosity and concern coating her face. "For almost a year, I was…a prisoner, to get back at my father. The guy, he…hates my father. He's literally the bane of— my father."

"I never knew," Gen said as she looked at him, her eyes trailing over what was visible. "I'm sorry to hear. What happened after?"

"My father died," he said. "There was no reason for him to hold me there so when a couple of friends came to get me out…he let them. And then, well before he could change his mind I had to come here. Then being a Victor had me untouchable. From him."

Truths and lies mixed together. It was always the best way to lie. To not tell the truth. His favorite he had learned from Annabeth.

Annabeth who he'd soon see.

"I'll try to be a better mentor," he then said. "But…I'm not the right guy. I'll do what I can. But, hope in these cases…it's never worth it. It will always be a let down."

"Last year it wasn't a let down," she said. "You won, and you came back."

Percy stood, letting the water cascade over his body. He didn't care about nudity, and he wasn't sure she cared either. Well, being a Victor for ten years surely must have had a toll on how much she cared. The Capitol citizens liked to touch everywhere, and Percy was sure the Victors let them because of threats President Snow exhibited on them.

He walked out, taking some water with him. "Yeah, I came back, but I'm nothing like Darren, and I'm also a sour arrogant pessimist." He grabbed a towel and wrapped it around his waist, covering himself. "I'm not sure that was as good as you had hoped."

"You know," she said, following him to his bedroom. "Sometimes I feel like that's all an act. You're different than when you talk to Cesear. It's like you're two different people. At home in the District, you're a humble modest man, who helps the old ladies with their heavy loads. Here in the Capitol, you become cockier and more arrogant. Outside, down in the city, it's like all you want to do is fuck."

He laughed. "I'm a male, what can I say."

"That, is no excuse."

"Well, it's my excuse," he said as he picked out a stupid outfit for the night and dropped it on the bed. "Now, as wonderful as the conversation has been. Mind if I change."

She chuckled. "I should probably do so, too. Just remember to be more supportive." With a smile, she left, and Percy looked down at the suit he had put on the bed. Gods he hated them.

-.-

He ended up asking Genevieve to tie the tie around his neck. He hadn't bothered the year before with learning and he wasn't going to start now. He was wearing another suit, blue because power and electricity and screw Zeus with his lightning bolts…That had…nothing to do with it.

They made their way down to the place where the chariot rides would take place. Percy couldn't understand how stupid and utterly useless it all was. Hours for cleaning and a makeover, for barely a minute out there, in front of the Capitol, filmed and watched by thousands. All for that. Well, he wasn't going to complain, although, when they arrived, a man in a sly suit handed him a letter, which he thought twice about not opening.

From President Snow, an address, and a time. Curse the man.

Then they were amongst the tributes and the horses were all around, harnessed to the chariots. He heard their voices in his head, luckily, neither paid him too much attention and they reached the fifth chariot. Joseph and Eileen were there already, Dorian talking to them. When Percy saw the stylist he grabbed his arms and shook it, then embracing the man in a one arm hug. A grin on his face as he then turned around, toward the chariot of Six and—

His world stilled.

She was there.

In the flesh.

He swallowed and blinked, even turned away.

Then looked back.

She was looking at him.

He heard his blood pumping in his ears.

The talking horse's voices were ringing in his ears and he felt something prick his cheek. Something wet. He brought his hand to feel and found that his eye was leaking, tears. He swallowed down. She looked so beautiful. It looked like their stylists had liked her clothing, because she was wearing a black tunic, adorned with jewels. Her hair braided down the side of her head with rings in it.

Before he could do something stupid, she turned to the boy next to her, Jacob Lewis, his name was. He saw their chemistry as she talked to him, his eyes widen when he saw him looking at her. He couldn't lift his eyes from her. He couldn't and he didn't try twice. She was so damn beautiful.

She said something to the two Victors, and then looked back at him and smiled at him, like a lover would and then she left. He mumbled something to Genevieve, something along the lines of, 'I'll be right back.' and went after her.

She knew where she was going because when he finally stopped, after having gone through a door, they were alone and she was in front of him. His hand were on her face immediately, cupping it in between his muscular fingers. He was walking and then she hit the wall softly, and there were tears on her perfect face and down his own as well.

Her own hands were on his neck, her fingers digging into his hair. Then she pushed herself to him and crashed her lips on to his. She, because he couldn't get enough of staring at her. He couldn't get enough— he was blasted out of his being. He lost himself in the kiss. He didn't let go of her, and she of him. Heck, Gaea could have appeared and he wouldn't have cared.

He claimed her like he had never claimed her, and she claimed him, not bothering with the scents that were so not his. He'd answer to those another time, for now, they had each other again and it was all that mattered.

He pulled away, and touched his forehead to hers, they're tears mixing as he looked in her eyes and their noses touched. So much raw emotion. Too much. It felt like he was being reborn again. Like the past year, he had gone into a cave and hadn't seen the sun until now. Until he had stepped out again and it shone so bright.

"It physically hurts, Annabeth," he mumbled, his lips so close to hers. His eyes so unfocused yet he could see every detail of hers.

"Percy," she cried and he squeezed his eyes shut. Too much time he hadn't heard his name on her lips. Too much. He quickly opened his eyes, afraid that the beauty in front of him would dissolve if he didn't. She was still there. "Never again."

He shook his head and then hugged her so her head was on his chest. "No," he agreed. "Never again."

She pulled away, biting her lower lip. "Don't you dare leave again, or I will throttle you!"

He laughed, which had a sob escaping her, and she was laughing, too, and they were a wailing mess. Both of them. He smiled down at her and when she smiled at him, it was the prettiest sight he had ever seen. Nothing could compare to it. To her lit up face after so long time without it.

"You must go," he told her. "The chariot— you— you look beautiful."

Her smile didn't waver. "I love you."

He kissed her again. "Annabeth Chase, I love you, too. Go." It took his everything to urge her to go rather than pull her close to him, so that her heat was his, but they had something to do.

"Percy, will I see you after this?"

He slowly shook his head, remembering the letter Snow had sent him, the address and the time. "No, not after this, but tomorrow— I promise you tomorrow I'll be there as much as you wish me to."

She didn't argue, she didn't ask why, she only grabbed the front of his shirt and crashed her lips onto his, much like she had when she had first kissed him all those years ago, just before he had gone to explode a volcano. And just like then, she disappeared right after.

He stared after where she had gone, the door still open, and then sighed, deeply and thoroughly through his nose. He took out the handkerchief in the pocket of his suit and wiped away his tears. Then he willed his skin dry, using his godly powers.

When he walked back to the chariots, where Joseph and Katherine were already standing inside, Genevieve didn't bother glaring at him. He felt like a huge and tremendous weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He felt like he could do anything and that he had all the goddam time to do it. Nothing would stop him now. No. Now that Annabeth was by his side again, there was nothing that would stop them. Nothing.

He said a few encouragements to his two tributes, knowing they needed them and then quickly apologized to Genevieve for having disappeared for so long, and then asked him how long it had actually been. She was mad, and however much she seemed to have forgiven him before, it was now gone again. But he couldn't say that he regretted.

He allowed himself to look to the chariot of Six. Her chariot, and the smile returned to his lips when she saw her. It was like she had never cried, like her hair had never come out the little ways it had. His eyes trailed over hers, and hers where on his, staring like he was. Drinking each other in, even from a distance.

Then the chariots started moving and he lost track of it, but amongst them all, she was the prettiest. The most radiant sun in the galaxy, the prettiest flower in the field, and little did they know, she was the deadliest of them all. The one that in three weeks worth of time would be returning to District Six.

That night, while she contently crashed on her bed, he made his way to the mansion he was told to go, where a lady, openly dressed welcomed him inside. Tugging him close to her as she did. Where he lost himself as the arrogant tribute who won the seventy-second Hunger Games. Nothing else.

-.-

Annabeth was the first one to the dining room. The mute servants the only ones beating her to it. She wore baggy pants and an oversized shirt. Her hair was a knotty mess, but she couldn't bother with it. She let it flow around her head, framing it as they would. She didn't care. Nope, the only thing she cared about was seeing him again.

She raised her fingers to her lips, tracing them where his mouth had graced them only yesterday. Her grin was nothing short of romantic as she sat down on her spot and pulled food towards her. She was going to bloat herself up before midday. She was sure of it.

It wasn't fully her fault. The pastries were delicious, and the hot chocolate better than she had ever tasted. She allowed herself to eat, and ravish herself in the food. It was only right. Although, she understood what the Capitol was doing, filling them up to then kill them, like pigs for slaughter. She chuckled to herself, nothing short of feral.

Then footsteps.

Her eyes lit up when she saw Jacob coming towards her, dressed much like her. "Sleep well?"

"I could have slept better," she admitted. With Percy beside her.

He grinned and sat down, pulling one of the pastries she had been devouring to him. "I never thought," he started. "I never thought he was so big."

She laughed. Right, they hadn't talked about that little…encounter, yesterday at dinner. They hadn't because their mentors were douche-bags and she wanted to kill the both of them. "He was smaller last time I saw him." What she didn't say was because he had been starved for months, and he had been after all, huddled on himself. "But I won't complain."

"So you two had some time to talk, yesterday night?"

She shook her head. "I wish we had," she said. "Truth is, I haven't seen him since the chariot parade. He told me he had something to do."

He raised an eyebrow. "And you didn't ask what?" She shook her head as she took a whole biscuit in her mouth. "My, my. Annabeth Chase not getting to the bottom of things? What is going on?"

She chuckled. "There was no time," she told him. "And don't worry, tonight I'll get all the answers I want. And more."

He smiled at her, and she was glad to see real contentment in his features. He was happy for her. She was happy for it. Perhaps they wouldn't be friends in the arena, but right now, for now, nothing had changed between them. One year living together…perhaps things didn't have to be as bad as they looked.

"Imma tell you something," he said slowly and quietly, implying it was important. "If I were gay, I'd hit him up."

She swatted him as her voice carried out a heartwarming laugh. "Gods above, Jacob, don't start crushing on him. Please. All my life I've had competition. Not you too."

He laughed with her, softly rubbing his shoulder where she had hit him. "Really, competition? I'm imagining a long list."

She laughed at it. "You have no idea."

"I think the more he grins at the cameras the longer that list gets," he added, more seriously but still with a jokey tone to it.

"What do you mean?" she wasn't understanding what he was talking about.

He narrowed his eyes and she wondered whether she would have to threaten him to get the answer, but then, when she was about to ask again, he said, "You haven't seen all those eyes on him. Girls, women, the other tributes, men too."

She raised her eyebrows and her lips curled. "Nope, I haven't seen that," she admitted. But then, she realized she had noted it, but every time she had seen those he'd been in the picture too, and her eyes had been more on him than the others. "Gods, no." She gasped as she came to an idea of what had him occupied him the day before. "Fuck, I'll kill him."

"Who?" Jake was quickly worried and concerned.

Her eyes stared at him. "Everyone," she said. "Every fucking person in this shithole of a city."

"Annabeth—"

She had already stood, knocking her chair on the floor. "I'll see you later, Jake."

She didn't give him the possibility to answer because she was already walking away, back to her rooms.

-.-

She searched for him, and she searched and searched for him. A sort of panic arising her when she had gone to every single damn floor and searched as far she could without being turned away by the peacekeepers. Panic because what if Snow had him. What if Snow was seeing through her little joke and he was punishing her by hurting him, by keeping him away from her.

She stopped searching and started making her way back up, to the level of District Six, when the elevator doors were stopped from closing from a robotic hand. Her eyes lit up when she saw him enter. She pushed the button that would close the doors and flung her arms around his neck. Crashing her lips onto his as she moved with the momentum.

Too much already they'd been denied, and she wanted so many answers but she knew that those would need to wait to tonight. For now, she could relish in the fact that he was with her again. He was wrapped in her arms and his lips on hers. She bit his lip and then pulled away, holding his jaw with her hands.

"I thought you left," she said as tears flowed down her cheeks. "I was so scared."

He wiped away at her tears with his muscular thumbs, his eyebrows scrunched together. "I won't leave you, Annabeth. Not without warning you."

"I was afraid Snow had you," she clarified. "He threatened you so many times—"

He pulled her close to his chest and she let him press her head to it. "Shh," he calmed her down. "He won't. Not unless we do something real bad. Don't worry, Wise Girl. I'm not going anywhere without you."

"I searched for you everywhere in this building, I couldn't find you. I just panicked."

He smiled at her sadly as he nodded his head. "I wasn't here. Not since after the chariot parade."

"Where were you?" she urged him.

He toyed with a lock of her hair, smiling as he did so before he looked back at her. "Tonight, after you have dinner with your team, come to level five. You're allowed to spend the night in my room. No one will bother us. I promise, that I'll answer all your questions then. Right now, you should be going to train with the other tributes." He finished by brushing a finger on her cheek.

"You promise you'll tell me?" she asked him, grabbing his hand and kissing his fingers.

He nodded as he pushed his lips on hers once more. "I swear it," he said, his breath on hers.

She pecked him again before pulling back and wiping at her tears, while she pressed the five button in the elevator. He grabbed her hand as the elevator went up and held it tight between his hands. "It's so small."

She chuckled. "Maybe your's is big."

He pulled her close to him and turned her around and he wrapped his arms around her, resting his chin on her shoulder as he did son. Then the elevator door opened and he pressed a soft kiss on her bare neck and then urged her to go. Not that she wanted to, but her legs betrayed her and she walked away from him, hearing him sigh as the doors closed as they brought him higher up.

.

So yea...I dont know what this last bit was but I hope you enjoyed.

Reviews and follow boost for the morale of this story, I swear.

HUnter