Annabeth had taken a prudent approach to her recovery, abiding by Chiron's rule of no fighting or physical activity until she was fully healed. Even Percy agreed to that, which probably just went to show depressed he was because of the outcome of the quest.

"Oh look, it's the damsel," Sherman yelled from the basketball court. He'd been playing with some Ares kids and Apollo kids. "Off to see your knight, the choker?"

Annabeth glared at the boy; he'd always been the most troublesome Ares child, and he had temporarily taken over for Clarisse as counselor when she was missing. Since she'd returned, the boy had been quite bitter, as Clarisse thought he did a gods awful job at counseling. Thus, he'd been itching to pick a fight with anyone, including Annabeth.

Unfortunately for the daughter of Athena, Sherman wasn't the only one having those types of sentiments. Not only did most of the Ares kids agree with him (excluding Clarisse, despite their differences), but maybe half of the camp had been talking about her behind her back, including some of her own cabinmates and over half of the camp counselors.

In short, she'd grown used to it, and that was the problem.

Annabeth was about to go over there and beat him up herself, but he was reprimanded before she could take more than a few steps. "Why do you feel the need to do that?" a young Apollo girl questioned. She had just come last summer. Her name was Winona Solace, and she was the girl that had elected to care for Annabeth when she arrived in a near-dead state two weeks ago. The Apollo counselor, Michael Yew, chose to care for Percy, to make up for not participating in a stupid volleyball match that apparently happened during Annabeth's captivity. She chose not to ask when it was brought up.

"Because it's true," Sherman looked so sure of himself, before Win landed a direct shot to the family jewels. The boy immediately keeled over.

"Well, what's also true is that guys can go down way easier than girls. Idiot," she said, putting a hand on her hip. The girl waved to Annabeth in a friendly manner, and then shooed her away, probably for her own good. The daughter of Athena reluctantly waved back, and then took her up on that advice.

It wasn't as if she would actually do anything to the asshole anyway; her probation from combat wasn't finished yet. Though, if she could've gotten him to throw the first punch…no…

Annabeth didn't want to be hit again by a guy claiming to be on her side.

The blonde proceeded up to the Big House, where she expected Percy to be. The two had had a talk the previous night, and he said he was going to ask Chiron something important. She walked in just as the conversation started.

"I want to leave camp until summer," he announced. The centaur blinked in surprise for a moment.

"Ah! Bless!" Mr. D looked like he might jump for joy, if he wasn't so fat anyway. "Finally you'll be out of our hair."

"Percy," Chiron started cautiously. "You mean to return to your stepfather?"

"No, I don't," the son of Poseidon returned. "Never again."

"Then…I'm not sure I quite understand, Percy. What brought about this desire?"

"I just feel like…things would be easier out there," Percy said. Annabeth recalled his words to her the night prior.

"I want to be in the normal world for a while. This one just has…too much pain…too many failures to be reminded of everyday," he'd said while rubbing his neck.

"Then…you wish to return with Annabeth?" Chiron guessed. "She should be leaving in-"

"No, he's not coming with me," Annabeth claimed, walking into the room. "We already agreed that that was probably not a good idea. With my stepmom and my dad, and my step-brothers…he wouldn't really get the privacy he needs."

"I see…then what do you propose?" Chiron questioned.

Percy took a deep breath. "I don't want to ask too much…and I'll still…do schoolwork for you too. I just want a small place to stay, in New York somewhere, like a cheap apartment. I'll be close enough to camp to come back if you need me, but…I'll be able to just think and be alone if I need to as well," Percy reasoned. "But I mean, if you can't then that's-"

"That's fine," Chiron said. "It is fine, isn't it, Mr. D?"

"Yeah, sure," the god waved the conversation off. Percy was well aware that he'd rather see Percy dead; he had voted to have him vaporized not two weeks ago.

"Then I will handle the specifics. Should I plan for you both leaving the same day, then?" Chiron inquired. Percy couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic, but Annabeth seemed confident enough.

"Yeah," she said, giving her best smile. She was sure Chiron could tell it was hollow. "Thanks Chiron; you always pull through."

The centaur also gave his best smile. It seemed both could tell how dour the mood was, but neither would acknowledge it. Annabeth led Percy out, claiming that they had chores and had to go to the infirmary for their daily ambrosia.

Silently, Percy wondered what he'd do without Annabeth. Countless nights, he'd woken up sweating from a nightmare in which she was killed, either during the conflict with Atlas, or bloodied against rocks off the cliff at Westover. Every time, Percy was unable to fall back asleep until he saw her that morning and made sure she was alive.

"What? Is there something on my face?" she wondered. Percy looked away, not realizing he'd been staring. He felt his cheeks go red.

"Um…bandages?" he offered, trying to not to sound like an idiot.

"Smart-ass," she said, wrapping her arm around him as they walked. Both of them still had difficulty walking, though Percy was getting better faster than her, as the brunt of his injuries were his upper body. He had taken what was essentially a bullet train impact to the chest, his right arm had been basically shattered up to his elbow, and his neck now had a permanent scar forming a jagged ring from when Atlas' cold rocky hands scraped and squeezed the air from him. His lower body was mostly strained, first when Atlas began beating down on him and his knees buckled, and again when he forced himself to stand under the weight of the sky. If anything, it made his calves ripped, if not sore for a few weeks.

Annabeth, however, got it much worse. While she didn't have the severity of injury that Percy had, hers was spread throughout her entire body. The Algea had caused an excruciating amount of pain that lasted in her body even through ambrosia treatment. Not to mention the impact of the fall at Westover, which she definitely should've died from, and other physical abuse as a captive.

Annabeth shook her head, trying to rid herself of those memories. "What's wrong?" Percy wondered, his face showing great concern.

Annabeth smiled, trying to put on a brave face, for his sake. She knew he'd just worry if she brought it up. "It's nothing," she claimed.

Percy didn't buy it for a second. "You sure? I mean…you still haven't talked about what they did to you, you know?" the son of Poseidon knew he was treading on thin ice. Behind her fake smile, Annabeth was nearly at tears just thinking about what they did to her. Thankfully, they only wanted to cause her physical pain, so they didn't do anything sexual. Still, abuse of any kind is still abuse.

"I'm fine," she assured. "Here, we really should get to the infirmary."

xxxXXXxxx

Approximately three months had passed since Percy left camp. During this time, he had barely done anything of note. He mostly sat around and tried to read, or watched Netflix (Silena let him borrow her password), and generally lazed about. That isn't to say he didn't stay in shape. In fact, he did what he could to not be in the apartment, but he could only do so much.

Mostly, though, Percy had just gotten a lot of time to think, and it wasn't the good kind. He had thought he needed space; that he needed to be away from the world of gods and monsters for a while, to clear his head. Unfortunately, this isolation from the friends he'd come to know has been killer, with the loneliness having crept in after the first week of being out of camp.

He sat in the shower. Literally, he sat, letting the water patter onto his head, letting his long hair soak as images flashed in his head, of the countless enemies that Percy had defeated. Now, they all seemed so threatening, when before, they might've been a joke. It was like it just dawned on him how real the danger had been, how real the chances of failure were. Normally, he tried to brush them away, as none of them were good, but he had the water to aid him this time.

Percy was shaking, trying to just let the memories run their course. "Is this truly how far you've come?" Atlas' stone-cold taunts were still fresh in his head. Percy flinched when he remembered them, and then the feeling of helplessness and fear that came with it. Soon, Percy had trouble breathing as he remembered the Titan's death grip on Percy's throat. "Cruel Spider…" the title that once he had thought of as threatening now seemed like a pet name or the equivalent for a demigod.

"Percy!" Annabeth called his name as she knocked loudly on the door. Percy was roughly shaken out of his thoughts. He clenched his fists and instinctually stopped the water in the air and in the pipes as he panted, regaining the ability to breathe properly. "Are you okay in there?"

The son of Poseidon took several more deep breaths before answering. He wanted to sound as normal as possible, so as not to make her worry. Eventually, he let the water flow again, releasing the tension in his body. "I'm fine," he claimed as he shut off the water and stepped out of the shower.

He tried to dry off as quickly as possible, but he caught glimpses of himself in the mirror of the bathroom. On his bang was an extremely prominent gray streak, as if all of the stress that came with lifting the sky took its toll there. Annabeth had one in the same place. Percy also noticed the countless scars that lined his body from his many battles. It used to be that they gave him pride, as proof that he came out on top of so many harrowing encounters.

It only took one particular mark to wipe that foolish idea from his mind.

All the way around his neck was a thick, jagged, crack-like scar from when Atlas' stone-like hands scraped and gripped around his throat, squeezing the life from Percy like he was Atlas' personal stress relief toy. Give it a squeeze and all your worries would go away, along with the toy's life. It was the ultimate insult to Percy, and it served as a permanent reminder of his Herculean failure, when he was supposed to be at his strongest and his bravest.

Percy took a deep breath and tore his eyes away, quickly getting decent to let Annabeth shower, and by decent, what he really meant was just boxers and shorts. Then he exited, being careful to hide the underside of his right arm.

Annabeth was waiting at the door. Her blond hair, streaked with gray, was held up in a messy bun and looked ready for a washing. "You're sure you're fine?" she asked again.

"Yeah," he assured, giving off a smile, but it soon faded when he saw her staring. First she glanced at his neck, as she did often recently, and then at his chest, where Atlas had nearly killed him with a single blow. She reached up and stroked the area, with it being scarred like an outline, due to the sharpness and edge of Atlas' fist. Percy tensed when she touched it, and quickly grabbed her wrist. He took a deep breath, and let her go, before motioning into the bathroom. "Shower's all yours," he said before he entered his room to get a shirt.

He soon heard the shower running, and chose to just lay across his bed. "What was that about?" Riptide wondered. "You don't trust her?"

"It's not that I don't trust her…" Percy mumbled. "It's just…"

"You promised that you wouldn't keep secrets from her."

"It isn't a secret, what happened," Percy said, his voice lined with bitterness. "That's part of the problem. That's why we're called the choker and the damsel at camp now."

"Even still…"

"I'll…let's just…wait for some more time to pass, alright?"

"Sure, man. Whatever you need."

It was still strange to think that his sword was technically a goddess now. Zoë Nightshade, the new Artemis after the previous fell in battle, was the spirit speaking to Percy telepathically through his sword, which was originally hers. It still blew his mind to try and process, so he just took it as what it was; a coincidence.

"So what's the plan for the rest of the night? It's the last one she's staying, right?"

Annabeth had visited for her spring break, and she had to return to finish up her junior year tomorrow. She'd worked on some school work while she was visiting, as much as she didn't want to, and, not to be coy, but it was all Greek to Percy. You may interpret that as you wish.

"I don't know…probably just chill out in the apartment or something," Percy claimed. "Maybe watch a movie…"

"What movie?"

"Why does it matter?" Percy questioned. "…I don't know, Brighteyes was never one for chick-flicks; thanks the gods."

"What about 'Your Name'?"

Percy scrunched his nose. "Ew, no. You and I already watched that and you know what happened when she disappears before she can write her name on his hand."

"You balled like a child."

"I see too much of myself in that poor sap. So no. We're not watching that."

"I don't know; she might appreciate that you have a softer side."

"I show it enough around her," Percy waved it off. "Though drama might be a good genre…"

"Good Will Hunting?"

"Maybe. Might be cool for her to see Harvard and Boston and stuff. She might like the setting…Casablanca?"

"I didn't think you watched that far back."

"You kidding? It's a classic, how could I not have seen it?"

"Psh, as if you have standards…" it teased.

"Bite me, you piece of scrap metal," Percy said.

"Ahem," Percy sat up and saw Annabeth at the door, with a towel wrapped around her torso. Her face was red as a beat, though whether it was from the shower or from Percy seeing her so close to naked it up for debate. "I just need to get dressed."

"Y-yeah, sure," Percy stood and went to the doorway. "So…movie?"

"Sure," she said, smiling, before she closed the door on him.

So, the two made a warmed up a quick frozen dinner, and then popped on Netflix. "So…what are you feeling?" Percy wondered.

"Hm…" Annabeth thought about it, putting some pasta in her mouth and chewing while she thought. "I think…Your Name seems interesting."

Percy blinked. "You heard?"

"I heard that you might have a sensitive side, and I'm dying to see it," she smirked.

"…Would you be satisfied if I said you already saw it?"

"No," she announced. "Put it on, Seaweed Brain."

xxxXXXxxx

"I'm not gonna cry, I'm not gonna cry, I'm not gonna cry…" Percy repeated over and over in his head, even as Annabeth shed tears at the same scenes that he had upon his first viewing. She was leaning her head on Percy's chest. "Just be strong…don't give in the trap of this gorgeously animated…nearly perfect…tragic love story…"

The movie played on.

"Hey. So we don't forget when we wake up…let's write our names on each other's palms," the guy suggested, taking out a marker which he'd brought along. The girl's eyes lit up.

"Great idea!" she agreed, holding out her hand. The boy wrote, and then gave the marker to the girl. Right as she made the first stroke of her name on his palm, the marker dropped to the ground, and she was gone.

Annabeth felt something warm and wet hit her cheek, and looked up to see Percy's eyes streaming with tears. "Oh, Percy!" she cried, feeling equally saddened by the moment. The scene continued on in the background, as the guy quickly forgot her name, and then why he even was where he was; he had been searching for her prior to forgetting her.

Percy gripped Annabeth tight. "You've gotta promise not leave me like that!" he begged, trying to regain himself.

"I promise, Percy; let's just finish the-"

"No way! I already suffered through this once!" he cried.

"Oh my gods, Percy; it's just a movie!" she claimed, giggling. "It'll be over soon."

xxxXXXxxx

Percy avoided looking at Annabeth as she went to take out the disc. "See," she said, cheery at having seen a fantastic film. "Just goes to show that anyone can have a happy ending."

"Mhm," Percy responded. Annabeth sat with him.

"And you were being such a big baby about it," she poked his stomach playfully, making him flinch because it tickled. "So…when were you gonna tell me about the tattoo?"

"Eh?"

"The tattoo on your arm," she laced her fingers with his and turned his palm to face up. "Or is it temporary?"

"Oh…I was, erm…" Percy wasn't sure how to explain it.

"STNA?" Annabeth questioned. "What does that mean? Did you misspell Stan, or something?"

He gently took it away from her view. "Let's just say…I don't want to add another 'A' anytime soon."

It didn't take very long for Annabeth to put the pieces together. "Percy…"

"Let's just…not talk about it…okay?" he asked, trying to keep his cool.

"…Their deaths…weren't your fault, Percy," she claimed, wrapping her arm around his neck and running her other hand through his hair. "You…couldn't do anything to stop it…"

"…Yes, I could've…" he muttered, almost inaudibly.

"Percy…" Annabeth said his name so delicately, it just made him feel worse; that he'd have to be spoken to so carefully was an embarrassment in and of itself. Annabeth hated it just as much. She didn't want to have to tiptoe around his problems. She knew that, eventually, they'd have to confront them, but for now…the wound seemed too fresh. "Come on," she stood and tugged at his arm.

"Where…?"

"Just come on," she repeated, giving her best smile. Reluctantly, Percy followed. The daughter of Athena dragged a chair from the kitchen table over to the actual kitchen, where she pulled out some scissors. "Sit," she ordered.

"You wanna tell me what your big brain has planned?" Percy wondered, scratching his scalp through his mangled mess of hair.

She snipped the scissors. "You're getting a haircut," she announced. Percy instantly stopped scratching, and blinked.

"You aren't stupid enough to run after me with scissors, are you?"

"I'm not clumsy enough to stab myself when I catch you, no."

"So…"

"You can't escape me, Seaweed Brain," she claimed, smirking. "Now sit."

"Ugh, fine," he said, leaning back onto the back of the chair. "Not too short, okay? It's still cold."

"As if that were ever a factor in your growing it," she returned, starting to cut off large tufts of black hair.

"Whatever," the demigod returned. "So…are you excited to go back to school?"

"Not really," she said. "It's been pretty boring without Thalia."

"Mm."

"How do you think she's doing? With the Hunters?"

"I think…I don't give a damn," Percy claimed.

Annabeth frowned. "You know, for someone who stuck their neck out for her, you sure don't seem to care."

Percy shrugged. "Meh. Her and I never really got along."

"Yeah, I heard," she said. "But still…you did vouch for her. You lied for her sake too, to the gods even."

"Whatever," Percy waved it off. "I'm just wondering if Zoë has been able to get through to her. Those two working together…doesn't really seem like a good idea."

"They'll be fine. Even if they don't like each other, they know how to work efficiently. I guess they're two sides of the same coin in that regard."

"I suppose…" Percy replied, letting the blonde do her work. "Are you certified?"

"Nope."

"Hm."

"Alright…done," she said, putting down the scissors. Percy walked over to the bathroom and looked in the mirror, finding his hair to now look relatively close to how it was last summer, when they went into the Sea of Monsters.

"Cool," Percy said, running his hands through it and ruffling it a bit to get the loose hairs out and into the sink where he could wash them down. "My turn."

"What? No way."

"Come on, you did my hair, and yours is getting pretty long too, right?"

"I'm a girl! I'm allowed!"

"And I'm not?" Percy challenged, stepping closer to her.

"Nope."

"Who says?"

"Me."

"And what give you the right?" Percy grabbed her by the waist and touched foreheads.

"I'm the girlfriend; I decide fashion."

"Whatever you say, Brighteyes," the two kissed, and they kissed a lot.

"You gonna make a move?" Riptide wondered. "You're young, you've got hormones…"

"Shut up."

"It's gonna be your last chance for another three or four months," it claimed.

"Shut up," Percy repeated, though he moved the make-out session closer to the couch, where they tripped and the two fell onto it, Annabeth on the bottom.

Percy reached under her shirt and lifted it up as they kissed. At first, Annabeth felt strange about it, with Percy grasping at her bare skin in a way he hadn't before, but she decided to let it play out a bit further. Retrospectively, she might say she was testing where his boundaries were in comparison to hers.

The two continued kissing as Percy lifted her shirt over her head and took it off. This was where Annabeth started becoming just a bit uncomfortable; they'd never discussed the possibility to things going this far so soon. "Percy," she said his name between kisses as he reached lower to her shorts. "Percy," she repeated, grabbing his wrist.

In an act of little thought, Percy reacted and gripped her wrist instead, holding it down by her waist as they continued kissing. She put her other hand on his chest, just in case she needed to push him away, but they kept kissing, as Percy lifted his own shirt off. He then reached again for her shorts, but she grabbed his wrist again.

"Percy," she said his name again, trying to not get freaked out. She tried to stop him from exposing her anymore, but he grabbed her wrist again. Now both of her hands were retrained. It instantly brought panic to the daughter of Athena, to be completely at someone else's mercy. "Percy!" she cried. Either the boy took it wrong, or he ignored it. Either way, he continued kissing and trying to do more. Soon, she couldn't take it.

Annabeth started thrashing and kicking, quickly shoving him off of the couch and letting him sit there on the floor, dazed and confused. He wasn't even entirely aware of what had transpired, it had been so instinctual. "I…" he didn't even know what to say. "I, uh…"

Annabeth curled up into a ball, hiding her exposed areas of her stomach and breasts. She didn't say anything, just looked at her boyfriend with a glare that told him "if you make a wrong move, you're dead."

Slowly, Percy picked up her shirt and handed it to her, before looking away so she could uncurl and put it on. "Safe…" she claimed, and he faced toward her again.

"I'm, um…sorry…" Percy said. "I thought…I don't know, that…I wasn't really thinking, you know? It just kinda…yeah…" he was very concise.

"I'm just…not ready for that yet…" Annabeth muttered, avoiding eye contact. Her face was as red as a cherry. "I mean…with everything that's been going on with you and…I don't want to it be just to ease the pressure…you know?"

"Y-yeah, but…" Percy knew to tread cautiously. "It…didn't exactly seem like it was about the sex. It seemed like…something else…" he suggested. "Is there…something you want to talk about?" She gave him another warning glare, her silver gray eyes piercing through him. "…Or do you just wanna call it a night?" Percy offered. She nodded. He sighed. "Alright, I'll go…get the bed ready. Could you pull out the couch for me, then?"

The girl nodded, and Percy left to his room to get all of the junk from the bed and fix the sheets. "Thanks a lot, asshole."

Author's Note:

Hey all! Been a while, hasn't it? Well, luckily, I have the majority of Battle of the Labyrinth written already, or at least half of it, so with any luck I should have a consistent schedule from here on until I finish adapting the book.

I actually wanted to finish writing the adaptation before starting to post, but I wanted to reward you guys with early stuff and more stress for me, because this story now has over 25,000 total views across all its chapters! Thank you all so much!

Another thing, I'll probably end up changing the rating to "M" sometime during BotL, as the story will contain some material not "suitable" for younger teenagers. Personally, I think it's all a load of shit, but the site has its rules, so I'll follow them...even though I've already technically broken the rule of minimal cursing in rated "T"...oh well. I don't know; what do you guys think?

On another note; this chapter is basically a means of me explaining what happened to the characters between books, so next time will pick up right where BotL starts, so look forward to that.

Um...fun fact: I was originally going to call this chapter "She Broke Your Throne" in reference to the line from Hallelujah (which the line was referenced with the hair-cutting scene already), but I didn't want to be too on-the-nose about the reference...also, you can hypothesize about what the throne is in this case all you want.

Also, for those wondering what the tattoo thing was; it was the first letter of all of the people that Percy was friends with (or just the important people) that have died. Sally, Tyson, Nico, Artemis.

Other than that, let me know what you thought of the chapter!