Ch 14

Days later, the tension between the two camps had increased. Training sessions stopped being about training and more about taking out the frustration out on each other. Mornings runs seemed to be the only time they ever got along, which had something to do with the fact that half of the camps were still asleep when they ran.

Nevertheless, Chiron and Piper had to break up a couple disagreements between the two groups.

Annabeth had a lot of her mind. Faye's fiance had arrived a few days ago and when she saw them embracing and crying softly, it hit her hard.

This war was nothing like the war she and Percy had fought side by side. The mental toll would be much morse than the physical toll.

Hunter was on the mend but he and Mel had been arguing.

Nico and Will were dancing around each other while Luke avoided Thalia at all costs. Zoe and Bianca found it amusing, especially when he tried to duck behind them.

Ryan and Anastasia had been pouring over books in the main house and talking with Chiron. They were eager to learn and to figure a way out of the chaos they were in.

Scott was having trouble sleeping and Annabeth honestly wanted to give up and go home.

But she couldn't, she owed so much to Lord Chao, he took her in, acted as a father to her, she owed him this. So instead she trained and trained. She was the first one up and the last one to fall asleep. She was wearing herself thin. And soon everything was going to come crashing down.

And it did come crashing down.

Annabeth had been working on one on one skills, getting some training in. Scott and Rachel were working with Nico, who was running through some simple moves for them to defend themselves with.

Luke was sitting on the ground panting, as Annabeth had managed to tire him out. Bianca and Zoe were practicing archery with some of the Apollo campers.

That was when Percy entered the arena.

For the past few days, he had been studying the general trying to see why she felt so familiar.

She put him on edge but at the same time, he knew she would have his back when it came down to it. She reminded him of her.

He had been debating whether to not to spar with her. Thalia was against it but Clarisse encouraged it.

She had said it would be a good idea to know how the enemy fought.

Although he didn't really see her as the enemy, a pain but not the enemy, at least not at the moment. They had bigger problems to deal with.

So he held Riptide in his hand, fingers clutching the pen.

Rachel paused when she saw him as did Scott.

Nico froze and he fought the urge to stand in between Annabeth and Percy but didn't move. Annabeth never needed anyone to protect her.

Bianca and Zoe both turned, bows drawn and Luke sat up. The Apollo campers shifted from one foot to the other and one of them ran to find Will and Chiron.

Piper who had been sparring with Annabeth drew back.

"Jackson."

"Piper."

Annabeth turned and looked at him, heart pounding. She fought the urge to reach for the streak of silver in her hair.

Anastasia had gone to dark market and found some Hecate potions on sale. They were to hide her identity as long as she wanted to. Hair dye did not work on the silver streak.

Percy eyed the dark red hair, noticing a flash of white but ignores it. He nods his head at her.

"Want to spar?"

Annabeth shrugged and stepped back, nodding at Piper.

The two swords met in the middle, two quick touches on either side of the swords before the two headed to opposite sides.

Luke cleared his throat.

"Alright kids, keep it clean and safe. First to fall or draw blood. Medic is standing by."

Annabeth bowed and Percy followed suit and then they both straightened up. They circled each other until Percy made the first move which she deflected.

This continued to happen. One struck the other deflected. They were evenly matched. They noticed the little tells the other had and used it to their advantage, this history coming into play. Percy couldn't help but think she fought a lot like Annabeth and Annabeth was impressed at how much he had improved since she left.

Meanwhile, it didn't take long for word to spread that the two were going at it, in the middle of the ring.

A crowd gathered around them, but they were in their one bubble. Both had ignored Luke when he suggested they stop, the blood in their veins pumping. There was something in the air and everyone could sense it.

Strike, block.

Thrust, deflect.

The two dance around the makeshift ring, oblivious to all but each other.

Rachel and Scott stood froze, hands held tight.

Both were thinking of what they had seen.

The flash of silver hair.

Scott remembers the countless time he had seen Annabeth die her hair, the silver streak always stood apart from her hair.

"We have to get them to stop."

"How? They are too caught up."

"Where are the girls? Lucy and Aria?"

"They were with Katie and Hunter."

"Go get them."

Scott turned and his eyes landed on Clarisse.

She was looking at the two fighters.

She approached them and Rachel took off to avoid talking to her and to get the younger girls.

"You know, I have been here for a long time. Only person here longer than me was Luke and Annabeth. I trained with them, learned from them, taught them. I would know thier style anywhere. "

Scott can feel his heart pounding and she steps closers, going in for the kill.

"It's her isn't it?"

Her voice isn't angry but instead sad and wistful.

She may be angry at us and have this whole new life but her style, her tell hasn't changed much.

He doesn't say a word eyes focused on the two in front of him.

"You know, I was really anrgy when I heard what happened but then, once I got over my anger a lot of things didn't make sense. Annabeth loved Percy too much to cheat on him and now I can see that Nico bats for the other team."

Scott forced a laugh but his eyes darted to where Nico was standing next to Will, their hands clasped together tightly.

"I'm just glad's she okay."

Scott finally looked at her, to find Clarisse looking at the fighting couple sadly.

"Mom!"

Everything seemed to move in slow motion,(even though in reality it was less than a minute).

Annabeth turned around and Percy's sword caught the edge of the mask and cut through the side and her skin. It's a shallow cut.

Her hair spun around and her sword fell as did Riptide.

"I'm so sorry." he reaches out for her and Annabeth hand shakily reaches of her cheek. She's staring at him in shock, blood on her fingers.

Without thinking, Percy reaches for her mask peeling it off.

She can feel her mental defenses coming down and she forgets that Hecate's potions only hide her identity as long as she keeps her defenses up.

"We need to disinfect it… Annabeth?"

Everyone freezes. He whispers it but everyone still hears it and many have front row seats to the drama occurring.

Annabeth and Percy look at each other, the silver in her hair, falling out and curling around her face identical to the one in Percy's. Green eyes met gray and Percy dropped the mask and Annabeth took a step back.

So I won't be updating this for a bit. The last few chapters I managed to write out during winter break but I'm back in classes so it will be a while, also this is a very old story, from when I was young, this is actually the second piece of fanfiction I have ever written and I came up with this and did not come up with a plot. This still does not have a plot, I'm actually writing this as I go which I why it is all over the place. Also, I sort of fell out of this fandom a while ago, Percabeth is very dear to my heart but I have not been active in this fandom in years.

If it were up to me I would delete this but I had many people message me telling me to keep going, so I'm going to keep going but I can't promise that we will reach the end soon. I have an idea of how I want this to end but no idea how to get there, so please be patient.

Thank you Wallflowers, for sticking with me for so long.

-love, Queen