Percy walked over to the pavilion, with a blue helmet. The Apollo cabin had captured the flag last week and that way they won from the Ares cabin, making it so that the children of Apollo had to pick an opponent from the group that had previously helped them. So, this week, it was Athena against Apollo, with Athena representing the red side, and Apollo the blue side. First, people had been surprised when Percy chose the side of Apollo. When the feeling of surprise drained away however, everyone just got really afraid.
The allies of the Apollo cabin were Poseidon, Demeter, Ares, Tyche, Hermes, Hypnos, Iris and Hephaestus. The allies of the Athena cabin were Hades, Dionysus, Aphrodite, Nike, Hebe, Morpheus, Eros and Zeus. They were all collected in the pavilion, where Chiron was explaining the rules as usual: no maiming or killing, no staying in the forest after the game, weapons are allowed, bla-die-bla most demigods had heard it all before. Annabeth and Will were standing in the middle of the pavilion, because they were the leaders of the opposing cabins, but neither of them were looking at each other - Annabeth only had eye for Percy, and Will only for Nico.
Chiron gave the sign that the game could begin, and the campers spread through the woods. A lot of them were very passive, like they were waiting for a storm to start - and that's because they were. They all knew Will and Nico, and more so Percy and Annabeth, would start seeking for each other real quick. It was a long-standing tradition that the two couples looked out for each other if they were on opposing teams during capture the flag.
The first to find each other, were Nico and Will. They held the usual couple battle: a lot of screaming and fake punching each other until one of them gave in and hugged the other. A wave of relief went over the other campers: now that one couple had fought it out, they could try to actually play capture the flag. The fact that Annabeth and Percy were also on opposing sides, was casually forgotten.
Eventually, the Athena cabin caught the flag, and they brought it back to camp accompanied by a lot of loud war-cries and other noises. The Apollo cabin and their allies were angry, but there wasn't a lot they could do about it. Chiron clapped, and after that asked the cabin to reorganise - that way they could see if someone was missing.
After a quick check-up, the campers realised that two Aphrodite girls, one son of Hebe, and Percy and Annabeth were missing. The campers shot each other scared looks - Percy and Annabeth being gone didn't promise a lot of good things, most of the time. Dionysus sighed and walked into the forest - since Chiron had been bitten by a snake in there, the centaur refused to go in as long as someone else was still able to do it. As such, Dionysus had taken over the duty of making sure all the children were safely outside of the forest.
Percy was still roaming around in the forest. He was pretty sure the game of capture the flag was over, but he knew that his girlfriend was still out there somewhere, ready to punch his arm for choosing another side. That wasn't even the really scary part - it was more tradition that he tried to get away from her as long as possible. Percy arrived at the little lake, and stood still. This was the place where he was first claimed. He remembered standing in the lake, with the sign of his dad above his head - it was a weird thought that he had been just twelve back when. He wanted to walk further, but was interrupted by someone jumping from the shadows.
Not so far from the little lake, the two daughters of Aphrodite and the son of Hebe were running for the lives, away from a huge hellhound. Luckily for them, Dionysus found them and send the hellhound back to Tartarus. Because of the chance that they got lost again, he made all three of them follow him and try to find Percy and Annabeth, which proved to not be much of a challenge.
Annabeth had found Percy and attacked him immediately. She pushed him against a tree, where Percy decided to use his last card in the hope it would work: hugging her. It did, in fact, work. Annabeth dropped her weaponry, and hugged him back. Percy leaned in, but just as they wanted to kiss, they heard a scream coming from behind them - they got busted by one of the Aphrodite girls.
The girl blushed. 'Sorry, I thought you guys were some kind of monster. I, er...' her sister, the Hebe-boy and Dionysus came out of the forest as well. The aphrodite girl and the Hebe boy giggled - Dionysus just sighed. 'I hope you two know that you two aren't the first couple to be found making out in the woods, and you two also know what the former couples got when they were caught, I presume?' Percy and Annabeth nodded. 'A week of cleaning duty, one as a dishwasher and the other one in the stables,' Annabeth mumbled. Dionysus nodded. 'You two get to fight out who does what.'
The next day, Percy was silently throwing a new batch of hay into a stable. The entire camp knew what had happened the day before, because of the feared List Of People Who Caught A Heart Instead Of A Flag, which was a list where everyone who ever got caught making out in the woods got written up on. So far, fourteen names were on it - Perseus Jackson and Annabeth Chase being the last to be added. Percy grinned. Being on that list meant two things for campers - on one hand, it was a bit shameful, seeing as how you were yet another couple who thought they could make out in the woods, only to be caught by Dionysus, who had so far caught every single couple making out in under fifteen minutes. On the other hand, the entire camp could see that the couple was official - and that also meant something, at least to Percy.