Firstly, I would like to apologise profusely for the super late update.

Unfortunately, I can't promise faster updates. JC is tough and I have to balance my time with many things, not to mention personaly matters :/ sorry guys.

Enjoy this chapter!
~Kuntakintae

Percy's POV

"Why are you in such a rush to go to school?" I asked in a slightly frustrated tone as Annabeth stubbornly limped all around her room, packing her stuff for school.

It had been two weeks since Luke and I encountered each other. The deadly dance of death that we had was still fresh in my mind. No matter how much I tried to block it out, no matter how much I tried to discard the vivid memories about it, I couldn't get them out of my head.

It scared me. Something had definitely changed ever since the spar. It had reawakened something that had long been dormant inside me.

It wasn't so much of bloodthirstiness or anything that had to do with my personality or feelings. Thankfully, I had never had the cruelty and the violent nature that most of the other gladiators in Tartarus had.

Thinking back to that period of my life opened the floodgates of a thousand other memories that made my stomach churn with disgust and guilt. I shook my head quickly and focused back on Annabeth.

"I already missed two weeks of school. I'd prefer not to miss anymore. I really need to do well in school," Annabeth replied without even facing me as she slowly knelt on the ground to search for some books in a container on the floor.

"You're already leaps and bounds ahead of everyone in school, not to mention you're the first in school for every single exam," I pointed out, rolling my eyes in exasperation at her.

"You're just being overly worried. You won't learn anything you don't know even if you attend school now," I tried- with futility- to convince her.

"Nevertheless, it's not good to miss school," Annabeth replied. I gave up at that moment and sighed in resignation.

"Fine, go to school then. I'll go back and pack my bag as well," I told her and walked out of the room towards my own house.

"You can skip school if you want!" Annabeth's voice travelled through my ears as I continued walking. I shook my head.

"I'm going with you!" I replied without looking back.

There was no way I was going to leave her walking around school without me. Even if Nico, Thalia and the rest of the gang were going to be there with her, they wouldn't be strong enough to stop Luke.

Luke would instead massacre all of them. The only reason why I wasn't going to school to make sure they're all right was because I was pretty sure that Luke would not even bother with them unless they purposely attacked or bothered him.

I already had a serious talk with Nico and Thalia about avoiding him at all cost, and had told them to make sure the gang didn't do anything to instigate him to action.

After all, I knew how Luke rolled.

"Percy? I thought you were going to get your bag. Why are you still standing outside without your bag?" Annabeth's voice broke me out of my trance, and the dark memories that I had been reliving immediately went to the back of my head, waiting once again for the next opportunity to strike again.

"Sorry, I got lost in my thoughts. Gimme a sec," I shot at her a lopsided grin before unlocking my door and rushing in to get my bag.

"You've been lost in your thoughts a lot these past few weeks. Everything okay?" Her voice was tentative, and I knew why.

Ever since the short conversation I had with her, she and I hadn't mentioned anything at all about Luke or anything related to him. It was as though there was a silent agreement that we wouldn't talk about it until I was ready, and I was really thankful to Annabeth for that.

Tartarus was not an easy topic for me to discuss about.

"I'm fine," I gave her a meaningful smile. She caught the meaning behind the smile and nodded before looking back at the road ahead.

"Do you need help?" I asked in concern as I saw her wince a little every time she took a step. She shook her head and gave me a determined glare.

"I don't need a babysitter," She answered. I raised my hands in surrender and took a step back from her in mock fear.

"Woahh, so scary," I teased. She whacked me in the arm hard.

"Ouch! Hey, that stung Wise girl," I told her as I rubbed the injured spot.

"Serves you right," She huffed as she stared ahead. I gave her a withering glare.

We then continued walking in comfortable silence. It was six in the morning- relatively early- and there weren't that many cars travelling on the roads yet. The sun couldn't be seen yet, but soft rays of sunlight illuminated the sky anyway, turning it into a beautiful shade of soft orange.

It had been a while since Annabeth and I had walked like this to school. The recent events had made it quite inconvenient and nearly impossible for us to walk to school like this. This was the first time since Rachel woke up.

As I shot a sneaky glance at her, though she had a small wince with every step, I could see a soft smile brightening up her face as she took in the atmosphere. With her princess curls fluttering slightly in the gentle breeze and her pretty grey eyes that looked as stormy as usual, she looked amazing.

The feelings surged within me and hit me like a truck, and the attraction and affection I had for Annabeth, the… love… roared in me unrelentingly.

Annabeth suddenly turned and caught me staring at her. I was so shell-shocked that I couldn't move or react. I just stupidly continued staring at her, not even saying a word.

"Something on my face?" She asked, her eyebrow raising slightly in wonder. Her words saved me as my mind immediately caught the opportunity.

"Saw a fly on your nose. I'm surprised you didn't see it," I smacked myself repeatedly mentally at the lame excuse.

"Uh-huh. A fly. On my nose. Right." She gave me that 'seriously?' look which caused me to awkwardly scratch the back of my neck and chuckle in slight embarrassment.

"Hey, it's true!" I insisted, digging an even deeper hole for myself.

It's ironic that I could react immediately to swords approaching at the speed of light and think properly but couldn't react and even form a convincing excuse when someone catches me staring at them.

Or maybe it was just Annabeth.

"Too pretty for you, huh?" Annabeth shot a teasing grin at me, and for once I was thankful for the colour of the sky- it mostly hid the redness of my cheeks as blood rushed to my head at her statement.

"Yea yea, keep lying to yourself," I teased. She scowled and stuck her tongue out at me before turning to the other side.

…Though I did catch a slight tint of redness on her cheeks.

The rest of the walk was in silence once again, but this time my thoughts were solely focused on why she was blushing.

Hopes arose in my chest, but I quenched them down immediately. It was still too soon, too soon since Rachel.

Unfortunately, no matter what I thought, or how much I tried, the hope that just maybe she liked me back kept stirring up in me and made me feel like a kid.

Later on, I realised that if I could see her blushing at that moment, it meant that the sun didn't hide my blush as well as I thought it did.

The very moment that revelation came to me, I immediately got rid of it completely from my head.

If I remembered it, I wouldn't have talked to Annabeth forever- I would be too embarrassed to.