[A/N] Hey guys! I won't be updating for a while cause I'll be in Seoul for about a week. So sorry about that. I don't own Percy Jackson, Rick Riordan does.

So anyway, the winner of the contest is renxoxoxD who guessed 13 years and 4 months so congratulations! He chose Road To Recovery which I will be writing after I finish this story, along with Half-blood Agency as it received the most votes with One Month as a close second.

Although I may write the first few chapters so keep an eye out! Hope you guys enjoy this chapter. Oh, and as for my exact age, it is…

…going to be revealed at the end of this chapter!

Chapter 21

Dashing forward, Luke swung the dagger in a wide arc, aiming for Annabeth's neck. "Well, at least he doesn't waste any time!" was Annabeth's only thought as she did not have time to think about much else as she leaped aside in a tumble roll just in time not to have her head sliced off.

Taking advantage of her excessive time usage for the tumble, Luke steadied himself, but hesitated when he had the perfect opportunity to kill her and both sides of the battle knew it. Annabeth had been preparing herself for the cold, sharp kiss of the blade before it sliced through one of her vital organs, but received nothing.

Recovering from her surprise, Annabeth knew that she had to kill Luke if she wanted to survive. She swung the spearhead upwards, undercutting Luke.

Much to her dismay, he had snapped to attention and used the dagger to block it before it could jam itself into his chin. Shock, betrayal, sadness and anger were f of the many emotions that flashed across his face in the mere span of a few seconds.

They pushed against each other. Annabeth upwards, while Luke downwards. Annabeth could feel a vein bulging on the side of her head with the tremendous amount of strength she used to keep the dagger from falling downwards. Luke had the greater strength of the two and to add to that, the force of gravity was on his side so Annabeth was struggling to keep up.

When she felt that things were about to go Luke's way, she jumped backwards and pulled the spearhead towards her. Not expecting the opposing force to suddenly move away, Luke lost his balance and stumbled.

He shot her a murderous glare, the killing intent in his eyes burning at full strength. Looking into his eyes was like looking into two blue balls of fire. It sent chills down her spine but she stood her ground defiantly, refusing to succumb.

At the same moment, they both swung their weapons. As they collided, the distinct sound of metal clashing against metal resounded across the field. This went on for about five minutes.

Either one of them struck and the other parried or they both struck. It was a battle of wills and neither of them were willing to back down. On both sides, there was too much at stake for them to even consider that option.

Finally, their energy gauges were nearly empty. They stood hunched over, facing each other. A lock of hair fell across her face as she huffed and blew it aside as Luke watched her. Luke then remembered all the good times they had together. He would not be able to live with himself if he did finish her off.

He realised that he did not love her the way Percy did. He loved her as a beloved younger sister, a best friend and someone that he could trust with his life. Well, maybe that was not the right thing to say in this situation, but he could see it in her eyes.

She did not want to fight him either. She was just defending herself and the person he loved. At first, he thought he had been jealous of young Perseus but the truth was that he felt that he did not want to give Annabeth to someone he barely knew. Now, he could see how much they loved each other. Annabeth had taken the arrow shot at Percy which Luke himself had tried to shoot and he had chased after her even though he had really important guests to entertain.

As much as he wanted to let them live and fight for their side, it was too late now. Kronos would hunt him down and it would endanger them even more. He had to pretend to be on the dark side, at least until the right opportunity unveiled itself.

He shot one last look at Annabeth and tried to engrave it into his mind before whipping around and running into the forest.

He ran and ran for who know how long, until he remembered that he had left her with Percy dying at her side who was much heavier than her in a deserted field. He then pushed that thought out of his mind. There was nothing he could do about that now.

He looked down and decided to give himself fake injuries before heading back to camp or else it would seem like he let them go without a good fight. He put the dagger to his waist. Clenching his teeth and closing his eyes, Luke quickly dragged the point across his waist, giving him a big but not too deep cut.

As blood started to gush out from the wound, Luke hurried back to the Titan's camp. He had some sabotaging to do.

…With Annabeth and Percy…

As she watched Luke leave, Annabeth felt her jaw drop. After all the fighting and even going to the extents of stabbing Percy, he still had the nerve to turn tail and run? What in the world was he thinking?

Too caught up in the whirlwind of thoughts in her head, Annabeth nearly forgot that the love of her life had a fatal injury and was possibly going to die. How ironic that it was at that moment when the group of four chose to show up.

Upon seeing her crush lying on the grass in a pool of blood, Rachel let out a shriek and dashed to his side. The bodyguards saw Annabeth in a battle stance and rushed to her side. Even Travis tore his attention away from Katie for a while. Said princess was currently tending to Percy's wound and examining it as Rachel put Percy's head on her lap and stroked his head gently.

Tears in the shape of pearls trickled down her face as Rachel assumed the worst. She had thought that the two love birds would have been engaged in a make out session and it had filled her mind with rage. Who ever said that first crushes die easy?

But seeing that they had been obviously attacked, Rachel could only feel remorse that they had not come sooner.

The Stolls snapped Annabeth out of her thoughts as they rushed to Percy's left side where hearts usually were. Even if her thoughts were a mess, Annabeth still had the sense to check for his heartbeat. She laid her head over Percy's heart and waited for a heartbeat.

She waited and waited.

But there was none.

Annabeth let her head go slack on his chest as she let out a small sob. The other four heard it nonetheless and they knew it was over.

Rachel burst into tears as Connor wrapped his arms around her in a comforting embrace. Even if he envied the guy for being Rachel's love, it was still a very sad event. Katie and Travis were in the exact same position as Connor and Rachel were and this time, Katie did not even attempt to push Travis away.

On the other hand, Annabeth was feeling strong emotions of heart-wrenching sorrow. As she cried her heart out, her head slid down to the right side of Percy's chest and felt a faint thump. Assuming it was from the sobs that were wracking her body, she paid no attention to it. Only when her head slid even further was when Annabeth felt the continuous thump of a heartbeat and she knew it was not her own.

Afraid to believe that Percy was actually alive, Annabeth timidly asked Rachel, "Rachel, is Percy's heart on his right and not his left?" Rachel gave a small nod of her head. Annabeth's breath itched in her throat. So that meant that Percy was alive!

However, if her suspicions turned out to be false, Annabeth but her hand over Percy's nose. And there it was! The faint wind of Percy's breath on the back of her hand! Annabeth elatedly squealed. "He's alive! I can't believe he's still frickin' alive!"

In her excitement, Rachel pushed herself out of Connor's embrace, much to Connor's dismay and put her head on the right side of Percy's chest. When she heard the comforting thump of his heartbeat, she smiled. But that quickly turned into a frown as she realised that it was getting fainter and fainter.

Hurriedly, she hollered, "Connor! Go get Apollo from the town's clinic that we were visiting! Travis! Hurry up and get Percy to Hestia's! Now both of you go, go, go!" The Stolls hurried away to do her bidding.

Annabeth nodded. "And I'll go and inform Hestia of our arrival. Katie and Rachel, you guys make sure that Percy's wound doesn't get worse or bleed again." Once she finished those few sentences, she turned around and dashed towards Hestia's Hearth.

But before she could get very far, Katie asked, "Then what do we do after that?" Annabeth stopped, but did not look behind.

"After that, we're going to the Capital! We've got a war to stop!" With that, Annabeth ran for her life.

Maybe not hers, but someone that she would die for in a heartbeat.

END OF CHAPTER

Ok, ok. The truth is that from today (the last day of November 2012) I am 12 years and 10 months old! No joke. I was born on 31st Jan 2000. ;)