Chapter five: Affectus Peribat

Disclaimer: I most definitely am not married, with two kids, earning millions off of book royalties.

Author's Note – First off, thank you all for your positive reviews and encouragement, they're what allow me to keep writing. I did not post yesterday because I was tired and slept wayyy too early. I hope in this chapter I can do justice to Annabeth's characterization and her feelings. As usual, PLEASE REVIEW!

"We may be the master of our thoughts, but we are still a slave to our emotions."

Annabeth's POV:

I absolutely hated it when he came to talk to me. I hated it when he looked at me with those eyes that said, "do you really not remember me…or us?"

I felt mad. It wasn't my fault I could not remember him. Worst of all, he seemed to know everything about me. My fatal flaw – 'hubris', my dreams, my problems with my family. He would make some off-handed comment about me and all I would do is look at him and wonder how the hell does he know that?

I had tried praying to Athena to help me, but it seemed Olympus was off limits for us demigods. I wanted so badly to remember him that it hurt, a physical pain just as acute as a stab wound.

Because that was what it felt like, every time he would turn his eyes or hastily wipe a tear away. I hated seeing him in pain because of me, which was ridiculous because I had just met him…...or at least I thought I had. I was determined to figure out who had taken my memories and I was sure as hell going to figure out who Percy Jackson was.

I was jolted out of my thoughts by Leo.

"Hey Annabeth. We're almost there." He said

I raised one eyebrow when I saw the place.

"Are you sure we're going to find celestial bronze and tar here? Salt Lake, Utah of all places?" I asked.

"Hey! No need to doubt Festus! He scanned the area." He said.

"I still can't believe we're on a mission to save the world in a ship whose masthead is Happy the Dragon" I grumbled.

By then, everyone had come to the deck, including Percy who was wearing an Orange Camp Half Blood T-shirt with jeans. His hair was a mess as usual, but in a…. cute kind of away. I slapped myself mentally "He is NOT cute." I said to my brain.

"Yeah right." It snorted.

"So, since Jason here is out of commission, how about I go with Hazel to get the Celestial Bronze and Percy and Annabeth go get tar?" Leo said.

"What about us" Piper and Frank asked simultaneously.

"Piper, watch over Jason and Frank, guard the ship" he replied.

I was just about to tell Leo to take me with him rather than Hazel since going with Percy could be awkward when Percy himself said "Alright, sounds like a plan." And asked me to come with him.

"Did you read my mind or something?" I asked him once we were alone.

"No, why do you ask?" he replied.

"I was literally just about to ask Leo if we could switch teams when you spoke." I said. A flash of hurt crossed his face, but it was gone in an instant.

"I don't have to read your mind for that. I know you Wise Girl."

"Don't call me that" I mumbled, but it sounded half-hearted at best. Because impossible as it was, I liked it when he said that.

"I'm sorry what was that?" he asked.

"Oh shut up Seaweed Brain." I replied, and I immediately felt him stiffen. "What is it?"

"What did you call me?" he asked.

"Oh…uhmmm Seaweed Brain. I don't know, it felt right" I said, embarrassed for some reason.

He smiled at that, a wide smile that seemed to light up his eyes and my face flushed. "You're remembering" he declared.

"What. No!" I said. "I want to Percy, I swear, but I don't."

"It's what you called me before your memories were taken Annabeth. No one else calls me Seaweed Brain." he said, looking at me with an intensity that caught me off guard.

"Anyway, let's go. We have some tar to collect." He said. I was grateful at the topic change and hurriedly agreed.

When we reached the Tar sands, located in the Uinta basin, Percy looked at me asked "Umm what exactly are we looking for?"

I laughed. "Tar, you dummy. It's in the sand in this area so we shouldn't have any problems" I said.

Right then, the ground rumbled a little and started to shake. Small droplets of the black, gooey tar started moving and becoming larger until we were facing five fully formed 7-foot tall tar monsters.

They looked like huge, humanoid creatures with two hands, made entirely of tar that kept drooping off of their bodies and falling to the ground, hardening in a few moments. While they carried no weapons, I knew that getting caught in the tar would be bad.

"Don't get caught by the pitch." I told Percy.

He looked at me once and nodded seriously before asking "What exactly is that?"

I looked at him incredulously. "The tar, Seaweed brain, don't get caught by the tar." I sighed.

"You could've just said that. You don't exactly make things easy for me." He grumbled.

"I'm never going to make things easy for you Seaweed Brain, get used to it." I replied without thinking.

He looked at me in surprise, as if remembering something and I felt queasy, as if he might ask me something I wouldn't remember.

But he just said, "fight first, talk later?"

I nodded. "All right then, you use your Yankees cap and go invisible. I'll distract them with Riptide while you find their weak spot." He said.

To say I was surprised was an understatement. Not only had he created a great battle strategy, he knew about my magical item. I couldn't believe that this was the same person who had asked me what pitch was. The way he formulated the strategy told me this was something we had done this many times before, as if he knew exactly how we worked together, and I was overcome by a fresh bout of frustration.

Out loud, I only said "I can't. The cap doesn't work anymore."

"What? Why?" he asked me?

"I'll tell you about it later. Not now." I said.

"Okay, if stealth won't work, we'll go with the obvious." He said and drew Riptide.

Even though I had seen the sword before, I had never realised how beautiful it was. It was a 3-feet long one-handed double-edged sword. I recognised the leaf-shaped design as that of a traditional xiphos. It had a leather grip, with a flat hilt riveted with gold studs.

I drew my dagger and looked at him. "Ready" I asked.

"Ready" he replied.

And then we charged.

Author's note: Hey! Another chapter with 2 author's notes, you must hate me now (laughs nervously.) I was re-reading chapter four and I found a tiny plot hole, admittedly, it isn't very noticeable so it's okay if you guys missed it. I wrote that as long as Percy will have CHB and Camp Jupiter to return to he would be okay. Except in my fic, he has only been to Camp Jupiter once, and that too for a very short time. Also, even though the Romans did not attack them, please pretend that some other monster did and damaged the ship. I haven't explored the whole Leo-Sammy-Hazel dynamic coz frankly this is mainly about Percabeth and what would happen if the roles had been reversed. If you want something more detailed and exhaustive, I'm sorry but please read the book.

P.S. – REVIEW!