A/N: Heyyy dudes :D School finally calmed down 'n' I'm back~ Man, see funny thing is, I wrote this, and then accidentally deleted it... SO YEAH. BUGGER OFF DELETE BUTTON. GEEZ. So this is mark II OTL feel free to point out any mistakes ;A; spent like an hour rewriting it ;n; but yeah! I'm back n maybe not better than before OTL *ahem* mmhm, so have fun reading~ tried makin it longer to make up for the really long hiatus oAo... oh wait, also~ about the chapter division thingy, i was gonna do Thalia odd #s n Annabeth even #s, but turns out their too short :'D SO YEAH~ HAVE FUN READIN~

Thalia's POV

I sighed as I walked out of the mess hall. It wasn't that I didn't like camp or anything. I liked the vibe of the place. How it always seems to be moving and comfortable. When the summer campers left for school, the ones remaining were usually the homeless or too powerful. Like Annabeth, some of the Ares kids, me. Y'a know, the norm. It was more like I didn't really like the expectations. Everyone thinking I'm supposed to be the best just because my dad happens to be Zeus. I mean, he never even answers me for gods' sake! I didn't choose to be born to one of the Big Three. But hey, I'm not sayin' that it's not cool being able to shoot lightning. That is one cool ass ability right there.

I guess everything is cool. Archery was cool to do as a pass time. I could imagine someone I didn't like being the target. That usually results in a bull's eye. Oh, or I could imagine the Minotaur as the target and hit the bull's eye. Heh, see what I did there? Bull's eye? No? Okay.

Sparring was pretty fun, too, I guess. Just dress up the dummies as a specific somebody that I don't like and BAM! Dead. I mean, I totally don't dress up the dummies as my friends. Like Percy, or a specific Poseidon kid... But okay, I only dress the dummies up like him on the really bad days. Most days he's a pretty cool dude to hang out with.

I headed over to the lake and sat there for a while, thinking about what to do and just stuff in general. I heard someone walk over and turned to see who it was. Annabeth greeted me with a smile and a soft, "Hey."

I grinned slightly. "Hey. Finished already?"

She nodded and sat down next to me. I watched the water nymphs play around and weave baskets. "I've been meaning to ask, why do you eat so fast?" Annabeth was looking at me funny as she asked this.

I shifted a little and looked over to the side of the lake. There was a nice little shaded area so I hopped up. "Eh, it's just that it's boring to eat alone I guess?" I decided to change the subject and ask if she wanted to move over to the shaded area. I didn't mind that she had a good, healthy tan… It's just that when I get a tan, I can't really rock the clothes I like rocking.

"Fair enough." She hopped up and grabbed my hand, making my heart jump just a tad bit. "But before we sit over there, can we go grab my sketchbook first?"

I tilted my head curiously but nodded. "Sure, but why?"

She smiled mysteriously. "Just wanna do somethin' while we're over there."

I frowned a bit and then shrugged. "'Kay, why not."

She grinned and then said, "Race y'a there?" And with that, not even waiting for a response from, me, she shot off towards her cabin. Her hand slid out of mine and left remaining warmth in my empty hand.

"Hey!" I ran after her, trying to keep the left over warmth in my hand just a tad bit longer…

Annabeth's POV

I ran into my cabin before Thalia and then closed the door. Laughing, I said to her through the door, "Beat y'a!"

She was laughing and said slightly out of breath, "Aww, come on Annabeth! Lemme in~" She knocked on the door and I could hear her trying to find a way to open the door.

I smirked. "Come on~ What's the password~?"

She fell silent for a while and then said in a slightly embarrassed voice, "Uh… I don't know it…"

I frowned. "Come on! It's not that hard~ What do both of us like doing? Back when we were running around with Luke."

She made an, "oh!" sound and then said in an amused voice now, "Reading together?"

I grinned. "Yep!" I opened the door and looked at her. She had a light blush color, that made her look very, very nice. The memories were from a different type of time. They were nice times that weren't so stressful. "Happier times" is another way to phrase it I suppose.

"Got the sketchbook?" She looked around curiously.

I shook my head. "Nope, hold on a sec. I'll find it real fast."

I looked around and then noticed my sketchbook lying on my desk. "Got it!" I grabbed it and then walked over, holding it out to her.

She took it with a slightly confused look and asked me why I gave it to her.

"Strategies for the next War Games. We're up against Apollo's cabin, Ares's cabin, Hermes's cabin, and Aphrodite's cabin." I frowned and added with a slight pout, "The only ones to watch out for are Ares and Apollo. Range and healing are bad with pure power like Ares…"

She looked at my recent strategy. "Hm, I can't say I don't agree. Defense looks nice, but maybe a bit more offense? We have Athena's cabin, Dionysius's cabin, Hephaestus's cabin, and then me and Percy, right?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I guess the offense is okay. You and Percy can probably lead us. Hephaestus's cabin could make some weapons for us."

She nodded and then looked up. "Wanna head to the lake now? I can think better outside instead of in a cabin." She grinned and then opened the door which had swung closed a few minutes ago.

I nodded and went out. "Thanks." She said no prob', and we walked over.

That's right. I should explain the War Games! The War Games are a week-long event that happens every now and then. It consists of two base camps on separate sides of the camp. There are specific points that opposing sides need to capture to force the other to surrender or lose. The point of the game is to strategize and respond quick enough to defend your points and capture the opponents' points. It's sort of like an extended version of Capture the Flag. The points have mini flags to capture and make back to your side of the camp. The entire camp is fair game and obviously, no killing, maiming, brutally hurting, or torturing is allowed. Each side has one spy that is from the other team. The spy's job is to not get caught and help the team they are spying for. Obviously. Methods vary by either leaking plans or by sabotaging a defense/ maneuver. That's basically the ropes of the War Games. Wining side gets to choose some things to do. Either they choose to switch chores, or they get to order some punishment on the losing side.

We ducked under the shade of the large tree and relaxed for a bit. I noticed Thalia about to turn the page and then remembered what the next page was. "No—!" I ended up half tackling her and half pushing her down. I couldn't have my comfort compromised by her seeing what was on the next few pages.

"Whoa!" She fell over with me lying on top of her. "Geez, what's wrong?"

I started stammering. "Well, uh, it's just, y'a see, erm…" I didn't quite think through what I would say after I stopped her. "The next few pages are, uh, surprises! Yeah, that!" I grabbed the sketchbook and clutched it closer to me.

Thalia said with a slightly suspicious edge, "Fine?" After a bit of a pause she said slowly and with a bit of embarrassment, "Uh, Annabeth?"

I had quickly settled down when she consented and looked at her questioningly, "Yeah?"

She blushed slightly and looked off to the side, "C-could you get up?"

I looked at our situation and realized how compromising it actually was. "Oh! Uh, sure!" I was blushing as I quickly got off and sat down. "S-sorry… Didn't realize I was on top of you…" She was rather comfortable, and it reminded me of when we were younger. She used to let me curl up against her when we went to sleep. Those were nice times because I never thought much about them. Now they struck me as slightly embarrassing and yet very, very nostalgic.

She sat up and then chuckled slightly. "S'all good. No prob'. Just reminds me of when we were kids."

I nodded in agreement, but I couldn't help noticing several differences. One, our bodies fit perfectly together. Not like when we were kids, and she was bigger than me. No, now we were about the same height and well, more mature. Ahem, in certain areas.

She smiled and then looked off into the lake, seemingly ending the awkward situation we were just in. I couldn't help noticing how perfectly the scene looked, so I took out a pencil. The things I didn't want her to see were sketches of her. Fighting, shooting arrows, or just watching the sunset, like this one. I started a new sketch and slowly found myself doing less sketching and more just staring at her. She didn't seem to notice, but then again, neither did I.

Sometimes she was so beautiful that it hurt to just be around her…

A/N: Sorry again for the delay ;n; I tried making it longer with Annabeth to make up for it…? Did it work? oAo? Seriously sorry for the wait, and I'll try to update more often now that school's finally let us free~ THANKS FOR READING~ R&R ARE MUCH APPRECIATED~ Sorry if I made any grammar mistakes ;A; please correct me so I can fix them~ Again, sorry and thanks for your patience~;;; Btw, you guys wanna see a War Game? IS IT EVEN A GOOD IDEA OAO? And did i cover everything that seems needed? ono I tend to forget some times...