A/N: I own nothing but plot. Only slight M, maybe just a tad too spicy for a T rating. Enjoy!

Annabeth wasn't sure how to react when she first met the guy wearing one shoe.

"Where is he?" She had demanded, not even bothering to wait until the chariot had stopped to hop off. "Where is Jason?"

The black haired boy merely looked confused. His green eyes looked fractured for a second, a glimpse of vulnerability before his eyes hardened with suspicion. "What? Who's Jason? And who are you guys?"

Annabeth could hardly shove back her feelings of frustration and anger. Hera, that bitch. She should have known that her least favorite goddess in the entire damn universe would also be the least useful immortal. Once again for the billionth time since Jason's disappearance, she hated how gods and prophecies always spoke in riddles. Part of the supposed fun was detangling out such mysteries, but her best friend was missing!

She stopped herself from shaking the guy with the missing shoe by the shoulders for answers, clenching her hands into fists. Only the pegasi got to the guy first, nuzzling his shoulders. One of them started chewing on his purple shirt.

"Hey, stop that."

Surprisingly, the pegasi listened, though they didn't stop asking for pets. The one shoe guy frowned as though he was listening to something as he hesitantly pet the pegasi.

One of the other two demigods with curly black hair slapped his face. "Um, am I dead from falling into the Grand Canyon and I'm now in heaven, or do those horses have wings?" He asked, one side of his face turning red.

Butch, the son of Iris, and Annabeth exchanged a look. Well, if the pegasi seemed to like the strange demigod, then perhaps Annabeth didn't need to throttle him by the throat yet.

The two other demigods were equally confused and scared by their recent storm spirit attack. Annabeth only had a brief moment to wonder why they seemed older than other demigods were when they were brought to Camp Half-Blood. Jason had ensured that all demigods would be claimed by age thirteen last year. These three demigods looked around her age.

Leo Valdez and Piper McLean were their names. As for the guy with one shoe…

Percy Jackson. Annabeth sounded out the name in her mind. Percy was a bit shorter than Jason, and much leaner with a build more like that of a skateboarder. If Jason was a lion, then Percy was like a panther.

Alarm bells kept rising in Annabeth's mind as she studied him. Black hair, green eyes. Like a certain god.

She could feel her stomach sink. It couldn't be…

The dark skies rumbled, breaking her thoughts. Annabeth didn't have a great feeling as the winds began picking up.

"Let's get on the chariot. We'll talk when we get back to camp." Annabeth ordered.

Her intuition was unfortunately correct as the chariot swayed left and right in the winds as the pegasi tried to keep the chariot stable.

"Venti!" Percy shouted.

"What? This isn't Starbucks!" Leo yelled.

Piper turned green and held onto the chariot tighter.

Annabeth turned her head around and cursed in Greek. A whole horde of violent storm spirits in equine forms were chasing after them, lightning streaking across the sky. She wished Jason was there with them. He could have easily controlled the wind and lightning as a son of Zeus.

But how did Percy know the Latin word for anemoi thuellai?

With a burst of speed, the pegasi flew to Camp Half-Blood. But the chariot was on fire and the weight of five demigods plus a bronze chariot was too much to bear.

"Aim for the lake!" Annabeth yelled.

She closed her eyes. At this speed and height if they hit the lakewater, the water would be like concrete. The chances of them becoming a permanent demigod pancake were much higher than survival.

"Hold on tight!" Butch warned. "This is going to be rough."

"This is such a stupid way to die!" Piper screamed.

"Ahhhhhhh!" Leo yelled.

Annabeth was wont to agree. Hopefully the lake naiads would help soften the blow, and maybe they would only end up with a few broken bones if they were lucky.

Next to her, Percy suddenly yelled as he had kept quiet unlike the four other screaming demigods. Just before impact, the lake water flew up in giant waves. But the pain Annabeth expected didn't come. It was as though she had merely jumped from a low diving platform into the lake. Her body drifted slowly into the churning of bubbles. Dryads circled in the water, arms stretched as though ready to help. But before they could, an arm was around her waist and she was hauled onto dry land.

Annabeth coughed up some water as demigods ran up with towels and a giant bronze leaf blower.

"You okay?"

Annabeth blinked the water out of her eyes. It was Percy who had pulled her from the water. Annabeth blinked again, thinking that she had banged her head and now her brain wasn't working.

But no, her eyes were just fine. Percy was perfectly dry, the exact opposite of Annabeth who was sopping wet.

By now, even Percy noticed.

"What the hell?" He said, looking down at his dry sneakers.

A piece of lake algae on the top of his head was the only indication that he had ever fallen into the lake.

Annabeth's heartbeat began picking up. No, she thought. But how? They had been sure that only two of the Big Three had children. Had this been another play of Kronos in order to control the prophecy?

Everyone else had been rescued from the lake by this time. Before Annabeth could question him, Chiron took one look at Percy's arm and stiffened. Now that Percy's purple shirt was tattered with one sleeve ripped off, she spotted an eagle, some letters SPQR, and a bunch of black lines tattooed on the demigod's arm. Before Annabeth could say anything, Chiron promptly whisked Percy away to have a talk, but not before instructing Annabeth to take care of the other two demigods.

Annabeth scowled at their fading backs. She hated being kept out of the loop.

Then she found out Hera was kidnapped, possibly imprisoned. Though she knew this was bad news for the balance of Olympus, there was a small part of her that said good riddance.

Three new demigods, a major Olympian kidnapped, and a mysterious parentage. Yet, there was still no clue as to where Jason could be.

She watched glumly as Percy was claimed by Poseidon later that day as he controlled the lake waters with ease, swinging a sword made out of strange gold metal that turned into a dumb ballpoint pen when he didn't need it.

Athena and Poseidon had never gotten along with each other, not since the founding of Athens. Even a son of Hades was much more preferable. Nico di Angelo wasn't too bad of a kid.

"I'm sorry," Percy said to her. "I know you were trying to find your friend, Jason. I really don't know anything. I just wish, I mean, my memory's just gone."

Desperate for a clue, she took Percy to Clovis, but Percy had no regular amnesia. His memories were stolen.

Great. Just great.

For once, Cabin Three had its lights on while Cabin One remained lonely and cold.

Annabeth was glad to leave on her trip to find Jason while the three new demigods left on their quest to rescue Hera. It was hard not to feel bitter. The logical part of her brain told her it was unreasonable to blame Percy, a demigod who didn't even know where the last sixteen to seventeen years of his life went, even if he was the son of her mother's rival. Even if Annabeth wanted to believe that Percy was lying, he wasn't.

There were no results on Annabeth's solo trip. When she arrived back at camp, shocking news awaited her that there were both Greek and Roman demigods. And Percy was no ordinary son of Poseidon, no, –Neptune.

And Jason, poor Jason, was at the center of the Roman camp. With the hapless luck most demigods seemed to have, Jason most likely didn't have his memory either.

If Annabeth was still a pre-teen who couldn't control her emotions, she might have tried to make Percy's life hell while at Camp Half-Blood in retaliation. But she never could.

For one, as much as Percy was infuriating with his sarcastic wit despite having a seaweed brain, he was just as infuriatingly nice. The other campers had nothing but good things to say about him. Piper and Leo were adamant that Percy had saved their lives many times on their quest. Even Chiron was appreciative of Percy, praising that it was no wonder that Percy had been an important leader at the Roman base.

Two of the strongest demigod leaders were exchanged from the Roman and Greek camps. Fucking Hera, she cursed in her mind. Jason was supposed to be Hera's favorite hero, and then the stupid goddess just had to go and drop Jason in the middle of enemy territory. And to exchange Jason for the spawn of Athena's rival…

"Jason will be fine." Percy said.

"You don't know that," Annabeth said, miserably, facing the beach.

"From what everyone's been telling me, Jason is someone who can take care of himself." Percy sat down next to her. "Camp Jupiter will accept him."

"You sure have a lot of trust in your Roman friends." Annabeth muttered.

"Just like they will have to trust in you guys," he answered softly.

Annabeth felt awful. No doubt the Roman camp was wondering where their Percy Jackson was. Percy's friends and family must be worried out of their minds just like Annabeth was.

"I'm sorry," Annabeth said, her eyes downcast. "I shouldn't have snapped at you like that."

"I know. You're just worried about your friend. I get it, really."

A tissue appeared in her face. She took it and blotted her eyes. "Thanks."

"You're welcome."

It was hard to hate Percy. They were all in the same boat, after all. His memories were coming back, albeit slowly. If only Percy wasn't such a nice son of Neptune then Annabeth could feel justified for hating him. But she couldn't bring herself to even dislike him, not even a little.

For the sake of world peace, Athena and Poseidon, er, Neptune, had to work together, Annabeth reminded herself. Roman and Greek camps. United they stood, divided they fell.

The two sat next to each other in silence, watching the waves pass by.

"If you ever tell anyone I cried…"

"Wouldn't dream of it, Chase." Percy smiled.

"You better not, Jackson. I'm still going to pummel you in capture-the-flag."

He laughed, his grin lighting up his whole face. "I wouldn't expect anything less from a daughter of Athena. Come on, didn't you guys say the harpies will come eat us if we're out past curfew?"

Percy reached out his hand to help her up. Annabeth smiled back and let her fingers wrap around his briefly before letting go.

A/N: This short story is completed, so I will update once a day. My housing situation has changed so I'll be busy moving and will work on my other stories after I settle in.

This is dedicated to those who said my stories don't count as PJO anymore. So I think this story should count as being very PJO-centric lol. Enjoy, and see you next chapter!