Disclaimer- I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or the Heroes of Olympus Series. (One can dream though) All rights go to the proper parties.

Note***- Will be boy x boy. (I promise, it is coming) Don't like? You don't have to read.

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February 3rd

Percy POV

The best part about having television again was that when it was pouring rain outside, you could stay indoors and watch movies instead. Apollo and I had watched most of the movies that we had been sent, though there were still a few we hadn't seen. For our rainy afternoon, we had decided to pick one of the ones we hadn't watched yet.

"I have to admit... this is a rather dark movie." I winced as a young girl was speared through the chest. "What kind of sick government would make children kill each other? I mean, Katniss is only 16. She shouldn't have to worry about feeding her family and being murdered for amusement." I frowned as she killed the young boy who had murdered her friend.

The god of the sun gave me a disbelieving look, "Umm Perce? You do remember that you killed the Minotaur when you were 12, right? And you stopped a war when you were 16. And you stopped Gaia from rising last summer. Not to mention everything else that you've accomplished. You're only 17 yourself; you should know just how much a teenager can accomplish."

"Still... that doesn't mean I would wish my life on anyone else. I can't understand what kind of person comes up with stuff like this."

Apollo shrugged, "This may be the only movie I've ever seen where the kids fight to the death, but the Battle Royale idea is far from new."

I tilted my head in confusion. "What's a Battle Royale? Isn't that a movie?"

He raised one eyebrow. "Yes... but it's also a specific type of battle. It means free for all, anyone can challenge anyone."

"That... sounds kind of fun."

He chuckled, "It can be. There are no teams, though you can always make alliances as long as you remember that you will eventually have to break them. There are a bunch of tournaments that use a free for all rather than assigning opponents. It can be a little chaotic though."

I felt a smile split across my face. "We should do that! I'm sure Jason, Leo, and Reyna would want to join."

He shrugged, "It's only fun if there are a lot of people."

"Then we should get all of Camp Jupiter to join."

Now that the idea was in my head, I wanted to try it. The thought of a tournament where anyone could fight anyone sounded fun.

"Usually these kinds of tournaments are for games. If you're talking about a combat tournament, then I should probably point out how likely it is that people will get hurt."

I frowned, "Maybe, but people get hurt during training too. This will just be like a big training session, only we will be able to train with a bunch of partners rather than just one or two."

"I don't know Perce..."

"Oh come on, I'm positive that people would want to join. We just have to convince them it's a good idea."

He sighed, "I'm not going to be able to talk you out of this, am I?"

I laughed, "Nope."

"Alright, then you should probably go through the proper channels at least."

"What do you mean?"

"If you want it to be city-wide, you're going to have to sell Frank and Reyna on the idea."

ΩΩΩ

I was glad that my two friends had agreed to meet me. I wasn't certain exactly how to convince them of my idea, but I thought it was a good one.

I wished that Apollo had come with me to talk to them, but he didn't want to. I was fairly certain that he thought my idea was stupid, but I thought it would be fun. Frank and Reyna were already waiting for me. I think 98% of the reason that they had agreed to meet me so quickly was because I asked them as the Praetors of New Rome's, not just as my friends.

Frank smiled at me, "Hey Percy. What did you want to talk to us about?"

I smiled, "I have a great idea, an event for all of Camp Jupiter."

The daughter of Bellona raised one eyebrow, "Really? What, exactly, is this event?"

I felt my smile grow even larger. "I have two words for you. Battle Royale..."

The leaders of New Rome frowned. They were silent for a few moments before Frank shook his head. "I don't know Percy."

Reyna nodded. "That sounds more like a Greek thing. Romans fight as a team, that's where we get our strength from. I don't know how well the campers would respond to a free for all battle."

"Oh come on. It's a great idea for that exact reason. They won't always be in a large group. This will be their chance to see what happens when they get separated from the battalion." They looked far from convinced. "Think about it. As you said, you guys always train together, but we all know that things happen. This will be your chance to see where everyone is when they don't have the rest of their legion to fall back on. You guys will be able to see who needs some one-on-one training."

Reyna sighed and leaned further back in her chair. "I know you think it's a good idea Percy, but I am not certain. There is a lot of room for things to go wrong."

"It could always be an optional thing. That way, whoever wants to can join and those who don't, don't have to."

Frank at least looked like he was seriously considering my suggestion. "It could be fun. I know my siblings would be interested. The children of Mars never seem to want to miss a battle."

"Perhaps... It might be a good exercise." The daughter of Bellona still didn't look convinced. "We will not give you an answer today. Frank and I will have to discuss this with the senate, but we will think about it."

They didn't look as excited about the idea as I had hoped, but at least they were going to think about it. I nodded and said good-bye to my friends before I left.

ΩΩΩ

I didn't feel like headed back to the apartment right away. Since the rain didn't really bother me, I decided to take a walk around town before I went home.

I found my mind wandering to the idea of a free for all tournament. To me, it sounded like a great idea. I could already think of quite a few campers in New Rome who would no doubt want to join. I wasn't lying to Reyna; it would also help the Romans find out which campers could use extra help. If they never worked one on one, how could they ever go on a quest? Their formations were awesome, but only if there were enough warriors. If there were only 3 people, most of their plans would fail. With 3 people, you need to be able to hold your own.

I was lost in my thoughts and I wasn't really paying attention to where I was going. It shouldn't have surprised me so much when I walked into someone.

"Oomph," The person I walked into fell to the ground.

"I'm so sorry! I wasn't watching where I was going." I held out a hand to help them up.

"Percy?"

I froze at the sound of the familiar voice, "Annabeth?"

The daughter of Athena pulled off her hood and looked up at me in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

She took my outstretched hand. I shrugged as I helped her to her feet. "I was just out for a walk."

She raised one eyebrow, "In the rain?"

I smiled and gestured to my perfectly dry clothes. "Son of Poseidon, remember?" She gave me an envious look and I took in her drenched outfit. "What are you doing out here though?"

"I was just doing one last walk through of Kymopoleia's temple to make sure everything was done right."

I felt my eyes widen in surprise. I looked around and saw that my feet had taken me to the field for new temples. "You finished it?"

Wisdoms daughter smiled proudly, "Yep. They finished building it yesterday."

I was shocked. I hadn't thought it had been that long since I had last come to the temple field, but looking out, I could see the completed structure and evidence that they had already started on another. "I didn't even know that they had started building it."

"Did... did you want to see it?" She sounded nervous. The daughter of Athena knew architecture wasn't really my thing.

I smiled. "I'd love too." Girlfriend or not, I would always support Annabeth because she was my friend.

She gave me a small, hesitant smile and led me towards the buildings. She showed me what they had finished on Khione's temple first. There wasn't much done. The walls were only about 6 feet high so far and it didn't have a ceiling, but it was definitely beginning to look like a building. She told me that she had already finished the blueprints for temple of the snow goddess and started the designs for Somnus's temple; there was just a natural delay between finishing the designs and finishing the building.

Due to the darkness caused by the heavy rain I couldn't really see the outside of Kymopoleia's temple but as soon as we stepped inside, I felt my jaw drop.

"Annabeth this... this is amazing."

It really was. The walls, floor, and ceiling were made of a dark gray stone. The walls were covered in carvings of violent storms. There were ships of all eras being tossed about by huge waves while wind, rain, and lightning drove them towards destruction. The carvings were so well done that the waves appeared to be moving. With scenes like that, I wasn't very surprised that the Romans feared the sea. It was certainly a different ocean than I was used too.

At the back of the temple, there was a life-like statue of the goddess herself. Her face held a look of vicious pleasure. I shivered at my memories of meeting my half-sister. The sculptor had certainly managed to catch her attitude perfectly.

"This is just... wow. You've really out done yourself Wise-girl."

Annabeth blushed at the complements. "Thanks. I'm glad you like it. I know that you're not really a fan of architecture."

I shook my head. "It doesn't even matter. Anyone could appreciate this; it's a work of art."

She gave me the same bright kind of smile that she used to before we had started to go out. Then she went into details about the building itself. There were even more details that I hadn't noticed at first. She pointed out the mural in the floor made out of abalone shells. It was in the shape of a hurricane. I wasn't really surprised when Annabeth told me that that was what she had chosen to be on her banner. She had an unhealthy love of destruction.

The daughter of wisdom also told me that the carvings on the walls were done by some of Apollo's children. It still surprised me a little when I thought about how many children my friend had. I would have to ask him if he was as good at art as his kids, though judging by his fantastic poetry skills, I wasn't going to hold my breath.

Once the tour was over, we headed back out into the rain.

ΩΩΩ

"So what brought you down here today anyway? Why wouldn't you just wait until the rain stopped?"

The daughter of Athena shrugged. "I just wanted to make sure that the temple looked exactly like it was supposed to."

"Still though, it won't do you any good if you get sick."

She rolled her eyes. "Say's the boy who is wearing a T-shirt."

I looked down at my bare arms and shrugged. "I wasn't actually planning on going for a long walk, but at least my clothes are dry."

She laughed, "Now you're just rubbing it in. Not all of us can control water."

I gave her a playful smile. "Are you saying your jealous?"

Annabeth scoffed, "As if. I'd much rather be my mother's child than a sea-weed brain, even if you can stay dry in the rain." I couldn't help laughing. She looked over and gave me a soft smile. "I missed this, hanging out as friends."

I sighed softly and nodded in agreement, "Me too."

She bit he lip and looked down. "Do... you think we made a mistake? Getting together when we did?"

I thought carefully about what she said before I answered. "No, I don't think it was a mistake. If we hadn't at least tried, we would always have wondered 'what if'. Our friendship may be strained for a while, and I'm sure it will take a long time before we don't think about it whenever we see each other, but least now we know."

She gave me a surprised look. "Since when are you so mature? Fred must be rubbing off on you."

I couldn't help but laugh at that. "Nah, he's just as immature as I am. That's why we're such close friends."

The daughter of Athena shrugged, "He does seem like that most of the time, but sometimes he says something that makes me feel like he's a lot older than us, rather than just two years."

We were beginning to get a little too close to his secret, so I decided to take the conversation back to what we were talking about before. "I'm glad that I bumped into you. I missed you."

She smiled. "I missed you too Percy... though I wouldn't have minded if you had said hi rather than just throwing me to the ground."

I blushed. "I already apologized for that."

She laughed, "I know, but your fun to tease." She came to a stop and I realized that we had already reached the house. "Well... I'll see you around."

Saying good-bye was still awkward, but at least it wasn't quite as painful. "See you Wise-girl."

I turned and started to walk the final few blocks to our apartment. It would take a while before everything was back to normal between us but for the first time in months, I felt like I might be finally starting to get my friend back.

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Authors Note

I'm not entirely certain what happened to this chapter. It's sure a lot different than I had originally planned it to be. It was supposed to be filled with action. I'm not sure when that changed to be a chapter about Percy's and Annabeth's slowly healing friendship...

It's officially been 1 year since I started writing this. I must admit, I thought I would have finished it by now. They're not even together yet, though it's on its way.

Next update will be November 22nd

Next Chapter:

"Hey Apollo? Will you be my Valentine?"

I started choking on the glass of water. When I finally was able to breathe again, I looked at Percy in shock. "I'm sorry... could you please repeat that?"...