First of all I'd like to say I hope you had a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, ect and that you have a happy new year! So last time we left off, Annabeth was dragging Percy away. Now here is the next chapter. Please read, review, and enjoy.

Disclaimer, I don't own Percy Jackson all rights belong to Rick Riordan

"Fight me!" Annabeth shouted at Percy.

She had dragged him from the throne room all the way to the arena. The anger on her face could rival that of Nancy Bobfits when he sent her on her butt. Annabeth charged at him with her blade aiming for a hit. For the most part he was able to dodge the more hazardous blows, but she had given him some pretty good cuts on his arms and legs. On top of the cuts, he had bruises forming all over from her kicking him. Percy hadn't realized that she'd be this mad at him for not telling her that he was a son of Poseidon. Annabeth screamed again when he continued to avoid her rather than fight, but with how fiercely she was attacking him, he was sure he'd have to change his tactic soon.

Percy jumped back in time to avoid getting the front of his shirt sliced open. "I didn't think that it would be that big of a deal."

"Oh, you didn't think being a child of the sea god was a big deal?" The blond teen shouted at him. "Do you even know what that means?"

"That I shouldn't exists? Yeah, Jason told me all about it a couple nights ago." The son of Poseidon muttered bitterly. "I still don't see why you're so mad about it?"

"You idiot, Kelp headed, Seaweed Brain!"

Percy flushed at the insults. He was absolutely lost on where Annabeth's anger was coming from. Somehow, while they fought, he managed to do a summer sault and kick the blade from her hand. The teen would later learn he had his ADHD to thank for that. Percy was relived, thinking that maybe they could finally have a rational conversation without the use of weapons.

Annabeth wasn't having that she tackled him to the ground like a panther catching its prey. The teen expected her to punch him, but instead she sat on his chest and pinned his arms above his head. Percy was briefly reminded of when he fought the arachnid animatronic the night before. She glared at him with two beautiful stormy, grey eyes rather than multiple black ones. Suddenly, Percy realized the purpose of him wearing a dark grey shirt. It matched her eyes.

"Why did you lie to me?" she sounded less angry and more hurt. "If I had known you were a son of Poseidon, I would never have..."

Percy scowled, "Never have what?"

"Become your friend."

To say Percy felt hurt was an understatement. She would have rejected him off the bat because of who his father was? It didn't make any sense to him, even less so when she went on about some stupid feud that their parents had going. They were all pushed from their homes and needed to cooperate more than ever, but they were still holding onto millennium old grudges. Percy tried to squirm out from under her, Annabeth instead held his wrist even tighter.

"What does a stupid fight between our parents have to do with us?" Percy demanded. "It's rather silly that someone like you would let something like that stop us from being friends. I thought you were wise."

"I am wise, even more so because I am a girl." Annabeth leaned closer to him. "Unlike you, Seaweed Brain."

"You sound rather childish to me, Wise Girl." The son of Poseidon let his head rest heavily on the sandy ground. "Now can you get up before you squish me to death?"

The daughter of Athena went red and let him go immediately, "I thought you were a son of Zeus..."

Percy wondered where that comment came from as he inspected the cuts he had all over his body. He let out a scoff when he realized that he got hurt faster than he healed. That girl did have a temper on her, though he did have to admit that lying to her face wasn't the best way to get her trust. Annabeth stood and helped him to his feet, Percy winced as the cuts and bruise protested bitterly.

"Why did you think I was a son of Zeus?" He asked. She began to walk him to the exit of the arena.

Annabeth shrugged and inspected each of the wounds she gave him, "Well he's broken the oath twice already and you remind me of...never mind."

"Remind you of who?"

"Listen, you've got a long way to go before you have earned hearing any of my story Seaweed Brain, don't think that I forgive you for lying just because I decided to go easy on you." She scolded him. "I hate when people betray my trust..."

They had reached the exit and she walked him over to the fountain and made him sit. He had no idea what he was in store for when she suddenly pushed him over and into the water. As he expected, he got soaked completely, but the water seemed to take away the soreness he felt. Percy indignantly stood up in the knee deep water and glared at Annabeth. She smiled innocently and pointed at his arms.

"Just testing a theory." Annabeth told him. He looked down at the now fading scars. "It looks like I was right."

Percy's eyebrows scrunched together, "I don't understand."

"You're a son of the sea god, it makes sense that you can be healed by the water, dork." she laughed and helped him from the fountain.

"So do you still hate me?" Percy asked and tried not to think about Selena getting angry at him for destroying the clothing.

Annabeth cupped her chin in though, "I suppose not, after all you did save me the other night. But you still have a to earn my trust again."

"I think I can manage that." He smiled.

Unlike Annabeth, it seemed like everyone else wanted to avoid him more than before. The Stoll twins were even afraid to get close to him and every so often he'd notice Jason glaring at him. Annabeth told Percy it was because Jason's fatal flaw was hubris and he didn't like to be overshadowed. Percy couldn't see how he was overshadowing the other teen, his cousin, in any way, but he decided not to say anything more about the subject. As for the others, she said they had to get used to having a second child of the big three among them.

"My siblings may be harder to convince about being friends with you more than I am." Annabeth smirked.

"So the 'no matter who your father is' line excludes my dad?" Percy frowned. "Well that's just hypocritical. So why did you accept me so 'easily'?"

"You're different than what I expected a son of Poseidon to be." She admitted. "Besides, you were my friend before you were a son of Poseidon, I guess you were right when you said it be stupid to let this revelation make it any different. Just don't make me regret my choice."

Percy blushed, "Yeah, I'm sorry for not telling you, its just, I haven't had many friends in my life. Maybe two close ones tops. Grover would be one of them."

"Really?" Annabeth's features softened. "I kind of know what its like, I didn't have any friends until I was seven. Even then I lost those two friends before I was even thirteen."

"What happened?"

"One died protecting us." She scowled at the ground. "The other, he may as well be dead."

Percy scratched his head, "I take it he's the reason you didn't take my fib too well."

She didn't answer him as she dragged him to one of the abandon tables in the dining hall. Their 'fight' had extended into breakfast and he could see many of the other demigods already leaving the room. Malcolm walked over to the two of them, if his reaction to Poseidon being his dad was anywhere similar to how Annabeth reacted, Percy was sure that there was going to be some argument about him staying away from to older boy's sister. He checked his friends face to see if she was on edge, despite her calm expression, Percy could see a certain calculating look in her eyes. Malcolm sat with a heavy sigh,

"Look, you're a son of Poseidon." He began. "Under normal circumstances that would mean that we all would rather avoid you, but for a son of the sea god, you're not half bad."

"Meaning?" Percy asked.

Malcolm rolled his grey eyes, "Meaning, we're watching you, but most of us will reserve our judgment. But listen Jackson, if you hurt our sister...well, she'll kick your butt from one side of Olympus to the other and back."

"I already know." The son of Poseidon laughed and pointed to his shredded shirt. "She tried to kill me not too long ago."

"That's my Annie." Malcolm teased his sister and gave her hair a quick ruffle. "See you guys later."

Annabeth huffed indignantly just as their breakfasts arrived. Percy wolfed down his eggs and bacon faster than Gabe could seven layer bean dip. He was kind of surprised that he was so hungry. A goblet of orange juice was set in front of him by the wind spirit along with a batch of blue pancakes. It was almost as if the invisible chiefs had been reading his thoughts.

"What's with all of the blue?" Annabeth nodded to the blue stack.

"It's a reminder that anything is possible." He told her. "And it keeps me close to my mom. She'd make me blue things all of the time. Gabe and she got into an argument over the idea of blue foods, he had called me stupid when I asked to eat something blue. He said blue food didn't exist."

"How old were you?" The daughter of Athena asked.

Percy squinted in thought, "Maybe six, six and a half."

"Jerk." She blurted. At first Percy thought she meant him, but then he realized she was referring to Gabe. "The idiot was wrong and on top of that he tried to attack your self-esteem."

"Well if it makes you feel any better he caused his own death." The dark haired teen told her. "He died trying to kill..."

Percy paused, the sound of gun going off and could almost see his obese step father towering over him. The stench of metal and blood and beer filling his nostrils. He could almost vividly see his mother's lifeless blue eyes as she died. The son of Poseidon felt as if he were wounded on the grimy floor of his mom's apartment rather than sitting at a table having breakfast with a friend. Percy pinched his arm to bring himself back to the present, to Annabeth. The small sore spot let him pull himself from his living nightmare.

Annabeth placed a hand on his shoulder, "Trying to kill who?"

"Me."

"I'm sorry about your mom Percy, that you had to go through that." she returned her eyes to her half empty plate. "Have...have you heard anything about...what's going to happen with your mom now? Do you know?"

The teen once again felt as if the weight of the world was falling on his shoulders. Percy knew that he probably didn't have much time before Paul was forced to go ahead and have his mom buried. Percy knew if he missed his mom's funeral, missed his chance to say goodbye, he'd regret it for the rest of his life. It was just...the teen couldn't bring himself to even think about her death.

"Look Percy, my friend who died, I wasn't given much of a chance to say goodbye to her." Annabeth told him. "I didn't get much closure either, I used to visit the very spot where she died all of the time, but ever since the Titan army over took the camp I haven't been able to visit her in years. You, you have a chance to see your mom one last time."

Every word she spoke seemed to hit home for him, Annabeth sounded like she meant every word that she said. Percy felt as if he could tell Annabeth anything and that she would understand because she also suffered the same loss. The daughter of Athena grabbed his hand and squeezed it tight. Her fingers were warm and they seemed to send a wave of energy up his arm.

"She meant a lot to me, you know." he told Annabeth. "I'm pretty sure she was the one person who cared about me the most, and for a lot of my life I was sure she was the only one who'd ever care."

His friend bit her lip and looked torn about what she was going to say next, "Percy, Chiron told me...he told me that the funeral is going to happen the day after tommrow. You need to make up your mind, are you going to go?"

Suddenly Percy was no longer hungry, in fact, he was positive that he was going to throw up. He couldn't believe that this all was rushing up on him so quickly. The teen wanted to scream until his voice was horsed. Why did the centur send Annabeth to give him this message? Percy looked at his blond friend with burning eyes, she seemed like she wanted to comfort him, but she didn't know how. The son of Poseidon numbly slid himself off of the bench, away from Annnabeth.

"Percy, I understand what you're going through." She slid off of the bench more fluidly than him. "And I also understand that you need to go! If not for yourself then for her."

The dark haired teen felt his knees becoming weak, the images that had haunted him just moments before came rolling back like a dark storm cloud. Percy felt as if he were suffocating on the stench of his former home, the stench of death. He shook his head and dispelled some of the images, he would not show weakness, he would not let those demons make him look pathetic in front of Annabeth. Suddenly a pair of hands grabbed his face, it was Annabeth.

"Do you keep having flash backs?" There was a certain tone in her voice that made him think that she thought he was deathly ill. "Percy, are you seeing that night over and over?"

Percy pried her fingers off his jaw, "It's no big deal Annabeth, I'm fine. They don't happen that often anyway."

"Like Hades it's no big deal." She shouted. "This is not something you should brush off lightly Percy! You're a kid and your mother was murdered in front of you. And now her funeral is coming up! You had been shot yourself. You've been through more tragic events in one week than most people experience in their whole lives."

"I'm FINE, okay!" His voice rose too, he didn't need her to coddle him or look at him like he was some wounded animal. "Just forget it! There is nothing wrong with me."

Before she had a chance to snap back at him he was already leaving the dining hall. His brisk walk soon became a run, he didn't know how long he could avoid her, but he figured he could lose her long enough for them both to cool down. Percy soon found himself back at his room, he almost laughed when he saw the fish in the tanks bumping into each other just to get a glimpse of him. If he were any other type of person, Percy probably would have gotten an inflated ego at the sight, but he only felt lonely, even with the multiple prying eyes.

Percy let out an groan when he thought about how he had shouted at Annabeth. He flopped face first onto the silky sheets of the bed, the fabric was cool and soft, a lot more luxurious than he was used to. Most of the blankets Percy had at home were old sheets and pre-owned blankets that were scratchy and uncomfortable, and on top of his old wire mattress they were just down right torturous on bare skin. Percy stuffed his arms between the feather filled pillow and the bed as he let himself calm down. He felt bad about yelling at Annabeth when she was just trying to help him.

What do you think is wrong with the young lord?

Percy quickly lifted his head and searched the room for the source of the voice. He saw nothing except the usual scenery of the room his father had provided him with. The fish continued to stare at him intently, it was a wonder that Percy ever got to sleep with so many watching him. Percy shrugged, figuring he was just hearing things again, and he pressed his face back into his pillow. More soft whispers of concern reached his ears, Percy stuffed his head under his pillow, but he could still hear them just as clearly as he could without his failing noise muffler.

"Whose there?" He demanded and moved from under the pillow. "I know you're hiding somewhere."

"And you say you don't need my help..." The son of Poseidon heard Annabeth's voice behind him. She was standing at the door way, the blond didn't look mad or even annoyed. Annabeth walked towards him and sat at the end of his bed. "So have you gotten all of the shouting out of your system."

He blinked at her as he sat up, "I think I've got a scream or two still left in my system."

Annabeth ran her fingers along the silk blankets and let her grey eyes wander to his green ones. Percy could feel an apology bubbling just behind his teeth, she didn't deserve to be shouted at when she was helping him. That was all she had been doing ever since he had arrived at Olympus. The dark haired teen couldn't understand what he had done to get her to be so kind to him. She gave him a soft smile that seemed to make her whole being more vibrant in color and beautiful.

Woe, back it up Jackson, Percy mentally slapped himself.

"I'm sorry." Annabeth began. "I shouldn't have pushed you so hard."

Percy couldn't believe that she was apologizing to him, "I should be the one saying sorry to you. You were just trying to help and I snapped."

"You know if you want, I can go with you." She continued. "To the funeral. I can be there for your moral support. So how about it Seaweed brain?"

"I think, that's a plan." He agreed.

Annabeth blushed and then looked back at her fingers that continued to play with the silky bed sheets, "And I am a good listener if you ever need to talk. They say talking helps."

Percy really couldn't help but feel grateful to Annabeth, part of him wanted to blab about every thing he had ever gone through in his life. The rest of him wanted to ask about hers. He knew she wasn't going to be easy to open up, but if she was willing to give her time to him, he was willing to do the same for her.

"Thank you, Wise girl."

I figured that this chapter was the perfect time to introduce their nick names for each other! I believe my next chapter will be the funeral scene. If you have any suggestions, tips, or just some good old reviews please do so. Thank you guys for reading.