A/N: Hi I am sorry for once again a long awaited update - but this chapter is much longer than the past few ones, so I hope you forgive me :-)) As always, thank you for the reviews! I deeply appreciate each and everyone, and they do inspire me to update much faster

To Guest: Thank you! you make it easy to keep writing :))

To JuicyFruits123: So I write with the idea that Piper was found by Thalia and Luke, making her take the role of Annabeth in many of the PJO series. I like your concept though, and may write a one shot based on it. Thalia, in my mind, still views Percy as her only family for a period of her life, as she and Piper never forged a deep connection. Her choice to join the hunt was more complicated, as she felt she was abandoning Percy, the only person in a long time who understood her.

To Matt-Jackson2000: Thank you! I'm so excited to keep developing Annabeth as a character, as I think this particular backstory hasn't really been done before. Also, I love Greek more too!

To Anonimo: Gah I loved your review! (after reading it, I actually immediately finished this chapter) You definitely picked up one the parallels I'm trying to create between Percy and Annabeth. Understanding the significance of Annabeth being to literal only daughter of Minerva ever is absolutely important. Thank you for your kind words :)))

Reyna is claimed the next day in the mid afternoon, after javelin tossing and before a discus competition. Her spear flies from her hands like an extension of her arm, sinking soundly through the middle of a bullseye a staggering 90 meters away. When she turned back to grab her next weapon, a bright red swan and sword floating over her head. Puzzled faces lining the edges of the open air arena, Reyna stares around in confusion and then shrugs when she realizes what everyone was staring at.

"Is there a cabin for Enyo here?" She says plainly while everyone's jaws remain slack.

"Who?" Percy asks from the corner, and Annabeth can't contain the roll of her eyes.

Reyna sighs, but wields another javelin in her hands. She looks over her shoulder and says, "Ares' twin sister," and then throws with such force that the speared tip shreds straight down the middle of the other one she had thrown before.

No one snickers behind Reyna's back after that.

They grumble about the lack of representation the Greeks host as Reyna moves from the Athena cabin to the Ares. No matter how much time passes, she cannot get used to using the Greek names instead of the Roman. She tries not to be surprised or disappointed while she remains 'unclaimed' on Greek soil, but she'd be lying if she said she didn't regularly check for any floating symbols above her head.

The days of the week fade into one another, without much excitement or meaning to her. She doesn't particularly warm up to any of her half siblings and keeps her distance still from the campers.

Jason, albeit, seemed determined to occupy her time despite her consistent protest. Reyna was intrigued by the various training blocks the Greeks held and spent her hours learning new fighting tactics, while Annabeth remained removed from any integration. Jason simply was not having it.

"So today, I was thinking we should go to the canoe lake," he said slipping next to her in the dinning pavilion, eagerly shoving a forkful of pancakes into his mouth. "Piper said she'll come, too."

"Wonderful," Annabeth groaned out before sipping on her coffee.

"And we can train later with Reyna, too. Capture the flag is tomorrow night."

She snorts in derision. "Capture the flag? As in the elementary school game?"

He tries his best not to scowl dejectedly, but she can tell her attitude is wearing him down. "No, more like when we play Siege."

"Except you can't commit attempted murder here, Chase," she hears from behind her and when she swivels around, Percy Jackson has the same shit eating grin he always wears on. He's scraping offerings into the fire a few paces behind Jason's table and was oh-so nosily eavesdropping.

"Lucky for you then," she quips back and turns while Jason sighs down at his plate.

So far, the one constant of Camp Half-Blood is the mutual disdain Percy and her feel for one another.

.

She's laying out on a floating dock in the lake with Jason and Piper, urging her mind to be still with her body.

She's never had time dedicated to lounging around and it honestly makes her feel guilty, like she's betraying herself or her culture or worst of all, her mother.

Jason and Piper are lying smooshed against one another on the other end of the dock, and she tries to slip her sunglasses down her nose to steal glances at them. They had an easy kind of connection, finishing each other's thoughts and exchanging telepathic stares. Annabeth felt like a third wheel yet again, amazed at how Jason had the unique ability to alienate her when any other female was around. Her stomach turned over every time they snickered at an inside joke she wasn't a part of, but her cheeks still burned red when he looked at her. Really, it just wasn't fair at this point.

Later, when they met Reyna at the archery range, Piper gave everyone a warm smile as she waved goodbye, heading off to the stables instead.

Jason's gaze followed her figure as she walked away, and Annabeth and Reyna shared an uneasy glance at one another. Reyna sighed and took up her bow.

Somehow, Annabeth felt relieved to only be jealous of Jason and Reyna. At least this was a familiar feeling.

"So," Jason says casually, stringing back another arrow, "what do you guys think about Piper?"

Again, Annabeth and Reyna share another trepidatious glance.

"What about her?" Annabeth treads carefully.

He stayed still, not looking around at them or pulling back his bow string. "Just, ya know, what do you think of her."

Reyna steps forward and lines up her aim against her own target. "She's pretty funny. And I feel like everyone here likes her, so that says something." Reyna, yet again, has perfect precision with her shot.

"I feel like we used to make fun of Venus girls," Annabeth tries to hold back her disdain, but the glance shared between Jason and Reyna left her unaware of her success.

"I feel like you just hate everyone here, anyways," Jason finally says with a monotone, but Annabeth sees the familiar static shock take over his body, even his hair sticking up a little straighter.

"Jason," Reyna offers out as softly as possible for her, but the comforting rub she gave his shoulder set Annabeth's jaw back.

"No, let him talk," Annabeth says with a tilt of her head. "I want to see how he'll come to the defense of his Greeks over us."

She turns back to him, slinging her bow back over her shoulder with her idle, anxious hands. "Go on."

Jason rolled his eyes and shared yet another silent glance with Reyna, making Annabeth's teeth close down on her tongue so hard, she bit off some of her taste buds.

"Don't act like it's not true. You complain no matter what. We've been here for over a week, and how many friends have you made? No, how many people have you even talked to?" Jason hardly ever makes a bullseye, but he turns back and with the swift pull and release of his wrist, he sinks it without taking a beat. She could see veins rippling down his arms and his neck, Reyna looking a little shocked back and forth between them.

"Oh, of course, because I'm the one who is inappropriate with the Greeks. How dare I not go goo-goo eyes over their togas and bad wine and puny camp? Why can't I just be more like you?"

Reyna still does not engage, but her slacked jaw has closed and she's just staring hard at Jason, like she's trying to send him a message with her mind. If he hears it, he pays it no attention. He stays fixed on Annabeth, taking a step forward.

He sucks down a deep breath, but then audibly releases it, his shoulders falling. "Honestly, sometimes I wish you would be more like me. Or Reyna. Or yeah, even Piper sometimes."

She recoils physically, but her lip stays drawn in a thin and taut line. "I'll—I guess I'll just work on that, then."

.

She would never admit it, but she has been praying more ever since arriving here.

At Camp Jupiter, there is nothing set aside for her mother. No corner or crevice or even crack in the sidewalk dedicated to her.

Here, Minerva's presence felt nearly palpable to her. People sacrificed multiple meals worth of food for her every night at dinner, desperate for her guidance and wisdom.

In all her years of knowing she was a demigod, she's never seen this kind of reverence.

So she figured if there was ever a time her mother might hear her, this is probably the best chance she'll ever get.

By day 13, she still hasn't been claimed.

.

She had walked away from their minor spat yesterday, her heart so empty that when she peppered her eyes with small fists, she found they were dry anyways.

After dinner everyone trots off rather excitedly towards the woods, starting to pull weapons out of seemingly thin air and toss them idly from hand to hand. Jason, unlike usual, had cut over to a table with more people and hadn't stopped by her before leaving the pavilion.

He normally went great lengths to avoid her after any level of confrontation, and she always let him. Most of the time, she would push him completely out of her mind and wait till the storm passed. Pluto hath no wrath like Jupiter—or a son of Jupiter.

Unsure of what else to do, she follows the masses and see's people begin to strap on armor and prep different defensive technology. Everyone also pulled helmets with large plumes on the top, either blue or red.

Clarisse came over and slapped chainmail and a blue helmet against her chest.

"Good luck," the daughter of Ares grunts out with a confident snicker.

Looking around, she deduced that they were in the prep stages of the capture the flag game they had been buzzing about all day. She began walking over to a crowd of her half siblings and Reyna but stopped short at the sight of their helmets.

"You're on the red team?" Annabeth said not containing any of her disappointment. "I must have the wrong helmet."

Annabeth turns toward the pile of armory, but Reyna's hand wraps on her shoulder.

"Um, no. You're with Apollo, Demeter, Hephaestus, and a few others."

Annabeth flinches back. "You're kidding. Why aren't I with my cabin?"

Reyna shrugs in response. "You'd have to ask Jason. Or Percy."

When she refused to meet her eyes, Annabeth knew there was something she was missing. She narrowed her gaze. "Just tell me, Reyna."

Reyna pursed both her lips and shuffled between her feet. "I don't really know… Jason mentioned something about fairly dividing up the Roman's and I think the Ares and Athena cabins just felt like they knew me more, so…"

Her heart panged, but she tried to ward off the inferior feelings that quelled in her stomach.

"Yeah, okay." She says flatly.

Reyna tilts her head and scrunches her lips to one side, her eyes heavily weighing on Annabeth. "I can try to talk to everyone, we can—"

Annabeth held up her hand. "No, it's all good." And she walks away before Reyna could say anything else, or more of her half siblings could crowd around and stare.

Marching towards the group huddle of the blue plume helmets, she slipped her bronze chainmail armor over her head and tied a leather belt tightly around her waist. She normally felt deadly and regal in her imperial gold breastplate, but with nothing but this silly slip of mail she felt like she was wearing a burlap sack for protection.

To make matters worse, her eyes trained on who was at the center of the blue team's circle, hunched over and drawing a plan in the ground with a stick. Of course, if Jason was the captain of the red team, that must mean she would get stuck with his Greek counterpart.

Angrily biting down on her tongue, she pushed her way to the center of the circle to investigate what kind of plan his kelp filled brain could possibly come up with.

"And then, Apollo campers should shoot arrows off towards the creek as a distraction, and they'll think you're guarding me and our flag. At that point, I should be in and out of their side, and have snagged their flag from Zeus' fist."

She snorts involuntarily, and his eyes slowly roll up to meet hers.

"Something to add, Chase?" He asks caustically.

"You really think they'll hide their flag in the most obvious spot? Jason would never do that. They'll leave that place cosmetically defenseless so it looks like you can sneak in, but it'll be a trap. Wherever Reyna is, that's where the real flag will be."

Percy does nothing but stare blankly back at her, like everything she said was so impossibly boring.

"Look, this is the plan. We're sticking to it."

"Maybe we should listen to her, dude. She knows them better, plus the whole Athena thing," the blond counselor from Apollo's cabin, Will Solace, offered up. She sent him an appreciative smile, and he reciprocated.

But Percy shook his head. "I'm telling you guys, Clarisse always sets up by Zeus' fist. Just trust me."

A low murmur ran through the group, but everyone was nodding in agreement.

If she was the daughter of Vulcan, she's sure smoke would be coming out of her ears at this point.

She doesn't protest when she's placed defensively as a sentry. She knows that when playing siege back home, she was always point; it had taken years to prove herself for the position, and she didn't feel like putting herself—or her pride—through that challenge again.

It's just as boring as she anticipates it to be. No one walks past her, she doesn't get into a single scuffle, and her knife stays in her thigh holster the whole time.

When she sees a flurry of arrows released in the distance, she decides she doesn't care what Jackson had told her to do, and she takes off towards the firing. By the time she gets there, she sees exactly what she had anticipated; Jackson a few yards behind Reyna, chasing after her desperately while Jason triumphantly crosses the creek line.

When they finally stop, Percy is hunched over with his hands on his knees, panting feverishly. She's never seen a sight that infuriates her more. With cheerful chants behind her, she glances over only to see Jason pulling Reyna in for a tight hug and when their lips touch, Annabeth turns back to face Jackson.

Without warning, she stalks up to him and cleanly shoves him down. He looks up at her, his green eyes furious. But it doesn't shake her.

"I swear to Zeus, if you keep fucking attacking me—" he thunders out, but she can't stomach another one of his words.

"Why is your brain so tiny and useless that you can't do anything right! This is a fucking children's game and you can't even fucking win at this. How in Pluto am I supposed to tell my people that don't worry, the great Greek Hero Seaweed Brain will save us all—"

"You wanna stop there," he responded viciously, coming to his feet.

"And you don't want to tell me what to do!" She shouts back. A crowd had formed around them but she felt alone in the world with Jackson, only focused on his infuriating smirk. "I told you what to do, I literally told you and what a surprise, I was right! Not that your salt water soaked brain can even understand that."

He takes an instinctive step forward. "Yes, Wise Girl over here just knows every-fucking-thing! You're just the Roman gift to the entire world, right? How did we Greeks do anything before you?"

"Because gods forbid there is anyone on this planet that doesn't agree with you. Gods forbid someone thinks you Greeks don't walk on water."

He takes another step forward, so close to her she can feel the heat of his breath and the tremors running under his skin.

"So why don't you just leave?" He growls, lips curling back, "Nobody is keeping you here."

She doesn't pull back, but pushes one finger against his chest. "Trust me, I want to get away from you as fast as possible."

Barely an inch from her face, he punches out slowly and quietly enough that only she could hear, "Maybe you don't like it here because nobody likes you."

This jolts her back, and suddenly she is very aware of their audience. Seeing her half siblings crowded together and leaning against Jason, Reyna and Piper with inquisitive eyes, Perseus' words make her dizzy.

Shaking her head and ignoring the prick in her eyes, she steps back toward Percy. "And maybe you don't like me because I know you're nothing special." She hits his shoulder as she moves past him, making her way out of the woods.

.

She winds up on the beach that night with Reyna and surprisingly Piper. Perseus' words clanged around in her mind like the tongue of a bell, and she was grateful that a Greek girl was giving her the time of day after everything rotten she had said.

"Where does he get off," she grumbles out leaning her elbows back against the sand.

Piper just laughs in response.

"Man, I wish you guys could just see yourselves."

Annabeth shoots her a warning glance but she winds up laughing harder, and Annabeth gets completely caught up in the contagious giggles.

"I swear girl, he goes red from head to toe and you get so huffy. Like a bad sitcom."

Annabeth's laugh dissipates, and she is left with only her anger.

"I just don't get why you all bow down at his feet. The guy wouldn't know a pugio from a pilum."

Reyna laughed and Piper shook her head in derision, still a smile fondly turning up the corners of her lips.

"Too bad his impenetrable skin doesn't deflect all your insults; I think you're really starting to get to him." Piper maintained her chipper voice, but Annabeth's brow visibly knit together in confusion.

Piper stared blankly back. "His skin? He bathed in the River Styx, what, like a year ago? Right before the Battle of Manhattan."

This answered none of Annabeth's questions, and her head cocked further to the side.

Piper laughed in response, and Reyna joined in trepidatiously, eyeing her blonde friend out of the corner of her eye.

"Girl, have you heard any of our stories around the campfire? I swear, that battle gets brought up like once a week."

"I've never gone to one," she answers evenly, trying to mask her contempt. She truly did not want to offend Piper any further, figuring she would be the best Greek to start to make an effort to befriend—assuming Jason's sister wasn't around. She didn't have to hide any resentment for followers of Diana, because she truly didn't have any.

Piper, again, giggled. She seemed entertained by Annabeth's lasting disdain. The latter let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding.

"Okay, long story short; Percy was kind of known as the chosen one here. He was a child of the big three, and the great prophecy. 'Olympus to preserve or raze,' all that good stuff. After years of me and Thalia and countless others saving his ass, he killed Kronos at the Battle of Manhattan. After that, he kinda just became the stuff of legends."

"Oh," was all she was able to muster as a response. She thought back to the battle she had survived, one single event in the fog of San Francisco, and suddenly felt her experiences paled in comparison. Still, she set her jaw on edge, feeling more to prove to the Greeks than she had before. Somehow, so much seemed wrapped up the single syllable she uttered.

Piper sighed, weight suddenly soaking her shoulders. A dark shadow passed over her face, kaleidoscope eyes missing their usually glittering mischief. "We don't really talk about all of it, I guess. Percy hates when we bring up his battles. A lot of our friends died."

Reyna suddenly sat forward, making Annabeth jump slightly back in surprise. "He never even told us about Kronos. He just chalked up the Battle of Manhattan to a bloodbath you guys were lucky to make it out of."

Piper shrugged absently. "I'm sure he feels that way. To all of us, though, we survived purely because of his leadership. He just sort of fell into the role of hero. I don't think he thinks of himself that way." She sighed again, now turning to look directly into Annabeth's eyes.

"He is a hero, though." And it came out with such force—maybe in part because of charm speak, maybe because of the sheer conviction wrapped up in her words—that Annabeth, for longer than just a second, actually believed it.

A/N: Thank you for reading! Please let me know your thoughts in a review!

P.S. what is your fav halloween movie? I wanna watch all the spooky szn things :-)))