A/N: This is set about two days before the Princess Andromeda mission and the very beginning of "The Last Olympian", at Camp Half Blood.

By the way…You guys, who read and especially those who reviewed, made my Christmas. I was absolutely thrilled to see how many hits I got yesterday and how many people reviewed.

From the bottom of my heart – thank you a million. You Percabeth fans rock!

I hope you enjoy this chapter!

"So…You're going back to New York."

"Yes."

"And you're not planning on returning between now and your sixteenth birthday."

"Well…" He looked down at his shoes, back up at me, and moved his mouth open and shut as if he was trying to explain what he was doing but couldn't get the words out.

"So that's a no…"

"Annabeth…" said Percy, following me exasperated. "I can't…I already told you, being here...I don't even know what's going on, I can't be here feeling like everyone is planning my funeral!"

"Well maybe some people here just give a damn about you!"

"Well some people aren't making it very obvious!"

"WELL YOU'RE NOT MAKING IT EASY TO LIKE YOU RIGHT NOW." I was breathing hard, halfway between punching Percy and hugging him tighter than I could have ever imagined.

"If you're going to be like this, Annabeth," said Percy, "I'm just leaving."

"Percy, wait," I said. "At least…At least be careful. Don't do anything stupid."

Judging from the look on his face, that was the wrong thing to say.

"No," he said, sarcasm practically dripping out of his ears, "I'm going to run in front of buses, eat thumbtacks, and cuddle with alligators. It'll be awesome, because I'm so dumb."

"Oh, come on, I never called you dumb! And don't be sarcastic!"

"Oh!" said Percy, rolling his eyes. "Right, because only Queen Annabeth can be sarcastic. I forgot."

"Queen Annabeth?" I asked, taking a cautious step towards him, "Excuse me?"

"I'm Annabeth!" he said in a high falsetto. He started prancing around in a way that could not possibly have been an imitation of my walk, because he was leaping around on his tip toes and flapping his hands like he was a little chicken trying to fly away.

"Um, is that supposed to be me?"

"Why yes!" said Percy in the same falsetto, "I'm jealous and annoying and I can never let anyone do what they want! I make life at Camp Half Blood horrible because I'm always spouting off facts about stupid buildings! Ooh, look at this brick! It's a wonderful brick! Hey everybody, come worship this brick!"

"You said you liked hearing about all of that stuff! And jealous? What's that supposed to mean?"

"We were only being nice," said Percy, dropping the act for a moment, and ignoring my comment about being jealous, "You talk our ears off every day."

I put my hands on my hips, about to say something, but he just did the same, but far more exaggerated and far more stupid looking.

"Oh, come on, Percy."

"No!" he said, "No, you come on!"

"I didn't do anything wrong! And that was mean. Why did you have to say that thing about the buildings? I don't talk about it that much." Did I?

"Mean?" said Percy, laughing, "Really. Super smart genius Annabeth says mean like a little kid?"

"Would you stop being so annoying?"

"Would you stop being so Annabeth?"

"Would you stop making me angry?"

"Would you stop making me waste my time?"

"Why are you leaving?" I asked him.

"If you hate me so much, why don't you let me?"

I paused for a moment. I knew why I didn't want him to leave.

I just wasn't going to tell him.

"I don't like…I don't. I don't hate you."

"Rachel lets me come back here without even saying anything."

He just said the wrong thing. And I think he knew it.
We glared at each other for a moment. I felt as if I could have killed him, right then, right there, had I only had my knife on me. On the other hand, I also could have kissed him, right then, right there, if he didn't look like he was about to punch me in the face. Percy looked as if he wanted to apologize but was too stubborn to back down.

I knew why I was mad – I just didn't want to admit it. He was going to hang out with Rachel later today, and the Princess Andromeda was coming closer and closer. At this rate, the ship would be here anywhere from tomorrow to three days from now, but either way Percy's birthday was in a little over a week.

And he was leaving Camp Half Blood to be with stupid Rachel.

I tried to tell myself that the reason I was mad was that he was abandoning us when we needed our best fighter to train against, and the leader we could all see in him.

In reality, though, I was mad because it felt like he was choosing Rachel over me.

I couldn't figure out why he wanted to leave if it wasn't Rachel. And that's what pissed me off the most.

"I'm sorry," I said, laughing for no reason, "I forgot. I'm not perfect Rachel. Silly me, you go off and play with your silly little girlfriend."

"Rachel," said Percy, taking a furious step towards me, "Is not my girlfriend."

"Oh!" I said, throwing my hands up in the air and rolling my eyes, "Really? You sure seem to be spending one hell of a lot of time with her. Do explain, young sir."

Young sir? What the hell? Oh, awesome job, Annabeth, I'll just speak in 18th century language, that'll make a good argument.

"I already told you, she's…She's…She's a distraction!"

"From what?" I said, angry, "From the fact that you might die? Well, let's face it, Perce, we all could die at any second now. The prophecy pretty much screws everyone over," I should have stopped here, but I didn't, "We could all die tomorrow. And none of us are running away. So why can't you just face it?"

"Because I need…I need something…YOU'RE IMPOSSIBLE."

"I'm impossible? You're an idiot!"

"Pellet eater!"

I blinked at him. "What does that even mean?" I asked, genuinely curious.

Percy looked at the ground and fidgeted for a minute. "Um, you know, because, um, owls? They eat…Pellets."

"Owls spit out the pellets. You can't even insult me right."

"Would you just shut up?" asked Percy, glaring at me.

"No. I won't shut up. I want to know why you keep running away all the time. What the hell are you running from Percy?"

"I don't need to justify myself to you," said Percy, "Just…I need to be alone for a while."

"It's not alone when you're with Rachel."

"Just…Leave me alone."

"No!" I said, running towards Percy and spinning him around by the shoulder so he would look at me. "You need to explain this to me NOW. What are you running from?" I shouted.

"FROM YOU."

I stopped in my tracks. Percy looked as confused as I felt. "What?"

"I'm running from you!" he said, glaring at me. "I'm going to die in a week. There's no reason to…To…When I'll just lose you in 168 hours, and I can't…That's why I'm leaving."

"What's that even mean?" I asked in nearly a whisper.

"I can't be here," Percy took a deep breath and wouldn't meet my eyes, "Seeing you, being with you, knowing that I'm dying in a week and will never see you again after this. That's why I'm leaving. If I'm lucky…I'll…I'll see you later, Annabeth."

Percy turned to leave. I wanted to follow him, but it was as if my feet were rooted to the spot. "Percy…" I called after him. He was only a few steps ahead. He must have heard me.

But he kept walking.

For a few more seconds I stood there, nearly letting him go. I didn't need him. If he wanted to leave, I should let him.

But, I reasoned, a daughter of Athena could never let another person have the last word.

I ran up to him – he was far ahead by now, nearly to his mother's car.

"Percy!" I called, running as fast as I could, "PERCY!"

Finally he turned around. From the look on his face, he was glad I chased after him.

"I…I didn't want you to leave thinking I hated you."

"I never thought that. Just mad."

"Yeah," I stepped closer to him, "Percy…You'll come back."

"Unlikely." He said it seriously, but I saw the hint of a smile playing around his lips. He didn't want to admit it, but he was glad I was here.

And so was I.

"No," I said, taking him by the shoulders and boring my grey eyes into his green, "You're coming back. I know you are."

For a moment it felt like he was going to yell at me again, tell me to shut up. Instead, he did something far less expected.

He pulled me into a bear hug and said, "I'm sorry I called you a pellet eater."

Not the most romantic line, but I could roll with it.

When he let go, he looked at me. "Annabeth, I –"

"No," I said, putting my hand over his mouth, "Don't apologize for anything else." Percy looked bewildered. I suppose it was odd that I wasn't forcing him to admit he was wrong. It didn't seem important at the time. "Seriously. Just…Come back."

"I'll try."

"Have fun," before I could lose my nerve, I gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, "And if I don't see you before the Princess Andromeda mission, good luck. We'll be rooting for you."

Percy touched his cheek and blushed a little red. "Yeah," he said, looking a little dazed, "Mission. Right."

As I watched him leave, I forced myself not to think about how that might have been our last interaction.

He'd survive.

If he didn't, I thought, I simply would have to kick his ass.

A/N2: Definitely almost ended this with Percy walking away without saying goodbye and without Annabeth running after him. But then I decided that would be far too dark and if Percy actually died in the mission Annabeth would have gone all annoying, and my next chapter would have been pathetic.

Thank you for reading!