Emperors Errands

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE CHARACTERS. ALL RIGHTS TO RICK RIORDAN WHO CREATED THE CHARACTERS.

Rated: T

Main Pairing: Percy/Annabeth

Summary:
Recent murders have been occurring all around America. It's up to one of the most skilled agents, Annabeth Chase to put an end to the ongoing mystery. But what happens when she is forced to work along with another agent? (PERCABETH, SLIGHT apocalyptic, Human AU)

TAGS:
Adventure, romance, crime, secret agent, Percy, Annabeth, spy, spies.

Annabeth's POV
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I jumped awake with a gasp.

I studied my surroundings, double-checking the room as I went. I was in my temporary bedroom, no harm in sight. My gaze trailed to the open window on the far side of the room. The bright full moon shone back at me. I was okay; I was in my room, not in an alley. I took a deep breath and laid back down, cocooning myself in the comfy duvet. This was not good; the dreams were coming back. A hazy image of Luke in the restaurant crossed my mind. On instinct, I slapped my hand to my forehead to keep me grounded to reality.

"No, you're not going to do this. Don't do this to yourself, Annabeth," I scolded myself shaking my head. I closed my eyes, trying to clear my mind.

You're fine. You're possibly even more than fine. You are professionally trained and are a force to be reckoned with. Nothing could take you down if they tried.

Suddenly, a creak echoed around the room, sounding from the hallway. I opened my eyes, holding eye contact with the door. Was there someone out there? Maybe Percy? He might have heard me scream… Damn it! I probably woke him up! Now I must confront him about—

Another creak followed by a door slamming.

Definitely not Percy, I thought. As quietly as I could, I stretched my arm out towards the bedside table. Gently pulling the draw out, my eyes caught sight of my golden dagger in the dark. Gradually wrapping my fingers around the hilt, I silently pulled the covers off. Careful not to make any noise, my feet dragged themselves onto the soft carpet.

My back met the wall next to the door without a sound. I rested my cheek against the cold smooth wallpaper. As subtlety as possible, I extended my arm outwards so the tip of my blade was pointing at closed door. I made a sidestep toward the wooden door, the floor screeched in protest. My brain was racing, picking out all the worst possible scenarios, trying it's best to convince me that I was going to get killed. Luckily, I was trained to ignore fear and focus on the task at hand. My hand jerked toward the knob of the door, steadily turning it till I heard a light click.

I waited for a few seconds before pulling the door open. Again, I waited for a couple of seconds to make sure nothing was on the other side. Once I determined that I had waited enough, I stretched my head around the corner and peered into the corridor. There was a window in the hallway which had moonlight fluttering through the blinds and emitted shadows that danced across the carpet. Apart from the airy endless vibe I was getting from the hallway, it seemed to be empty and motionless.

Was I hearing things? The last thing I need right now it to be admitted into a hospital. My feet ended up carrying me across the floor to the stairs. I gazed over the railing down towards the first floor. Vacant, just like everywhere else where I had checked. Huffing quietly to myself, my hand crept up to the handrail as I slowly descended the stairs that lead down to the sunset room, making sure to keep my dagger pointing in front of me. Yes, we had to classify each room with a feature since there were so many rooms.

Once I reached the bottom of the staircase I did a quick check around the room. Everything looked undisturbed. So, it was either a stealthy stranger or I was going crazy; and going crazy is not an option I'm willing to accept.

Looking around the area, everything was untouched. The curtains were closed shut, concealing the silvery moon that beamed outside. All the lights remained off like how I had left them and there were no electronics on. As motionless as the room was, a dreading feeling of danger came at me like that one kid in gym who sweats too much. No matter how normal everything seemed there was something off that I couldn't put my finger on, which was exactly my job; finding the reason of why that something was off.

I proceeded into the kitchen until something hit me. Shouldn't I be getting Percy? I mean he is supposed to be my partner and it is his job as much as it's mine. Then just like the angel and devil in movies, I had a side thought. But this is your opportunity, Annabeth! To prove you don't need anyone to accompany you on missions! Why get Percy when you could do it all by yourself? Yeah, you do not need that seaweed brain's useless opinions!

With that, I did a quick search of the kitchen. All appliances off; check. All lights off; check. No sign of recent activity; check. My fingers dragged across the marble countertop, feeling for any evidence. Trotting over to the fridge, I opened the fridge to find it how I'd left it; stocked up with food. Absolutely nothing in here either, great, I'm setting myself a record. I'll be known as greatest anti-climax in history soon.

Closing the fridge door, I found myself pacing around a corner into yet another long hallway. If I wasn't a skilled agent I'd be lost in this place within seconds. At that very moment, I heard a loud crash as if something heavy had fallen onto the wooden floor further down the hallway. I leaped towards the nearest room for cover. Just as I assumed, there was someone in the house. Unless you consider the wildlife that live around the house but surely it can't be an animal, so that leaves the likelihood that it is in fact a human being.

I kept my ear firmly against the wall next to the doorframe to hear what was going on. I waited for a couple of seconds, twenty seconds, thirty seconds and I still wasn't hearing anything. What if they're around the corner? With that thought, I hastily spun around the doorframe and revealed myself. I immediately saw a silhouette spin to see me. Not wasting a second, the figure sprinted to the far end of the house. Whoops! Probably should have waited…

With the adrenaline kicking in, I raced right behind them. Someway and somehow, they managed to run in a circle towards the sunroom which I had been to earlier. Entering the room, I found the intruder standing on the couch facing me with their fists in front of them in a fight stance. Idiot didn't even think to bring a weapon to defend themselves. Then as if they read my mind, they must've realised how much of a disadvantage they had and pulled a long golden weapon from nowhere. On further inspection, at least as much of an inspection you could do in the dark, I concluded that the weapon was a long golden sword. They seem to like the classic, opposed to guns. A bit like me…

Without any further thoughts, I ran at them and they decided to make a grand move by running off the edge of the couch and leaping to tackle me to the ground. I dodged to the side and swung my knife toward their arm closest to me. Maybe I could do some damage to their arms which would limit their ability to fight back and defend themselves. Going into action with my plan I swung again at their arm but they rolled to the side just as my knife contacted the carpet. They didn't waste any formalities by swinging their golden sword in an arc toward my neck which I swiftly dodged. I countered back by crouching down and sweeping my leg under their feet hoping to catch them unbalanced before sending my fist straight to their nose as they tripped and stumbled.

But unfortunately, the stranger was rather well trained and used my current fist attack as a chance. While my fist was going toward their nose, they sidestepped and pulled my fist forward so it threw me onto the ground. I planted my hands firm on the ground to cushion my harsh fall. Knowing they wouldn't want to waste the opportunity to attack me while I was defenceless I rolled to my back to avoid any attacks.

The silhouette loomed over me, the blade of their raised golden sword reflected moonlight which hugged the walls every now and then. As defence I threw my foot with as much force as I could muster at their inner ankle. As my foot made contact with their ankle a blunt click was heard as they tumbled to the ground beside me. I straddled the stranger putting my dagger to their neck. I did a quick search of the black figure for the golden sword they were previously holding and any other items they could use against me. None, must have dropped the sword when they fell, perfect.

"Who are you?" I asked slowly and deeply. Since this person was rather good with a sword I didn't want them knowing my identity just yet. The person's body remained limp and unmoving.

"Answer—" I was cut off as the figure sat up in a rapid motion crashing their forehead against mine.

My hand didn't waste any time coming to the rescue by cupping my now pulsing headache. My eyes shut tight in hopes to minimize the pain somehow. I was tackled to the ground, now lying underneath the intruder. My hand reflexively tried to stab the person in the hip to distract them but my fist was stopped mid-air to be met with another fist. Our fists collided together, making an efficient cracking sound, accompanied by groans of pain as my dagger flung across the room. I retreated my hand back to my chest to shield it from any more pain. Listening closer I could identify the groans of pain to be masculine. He probably knows I'm a female now. I let out a frustrated growl before using both my legs to kick him in his chest. He let out a deep cough as the air was kicked out of his lungs and landed on his back.

I groaned again, this really wasn't going how I imagined. I had a tremendous headache along with a likely fractured hand. I shuffled into a sitting position trying to collect myself. Plan B, don't attack but defend until he gets tired then make a move. Or, I could figure a way to take him down with the resources around me…

Going with my gut instinct, I got up and ran to the wire that attached the (currently off) lamp to the electrical socket. I disconnected the wire from the lamp but left the wire still plugged into the wall. I then ran to the wall to turn the electrical socket on so I now had the wonders of electricity on my side. I took a stance and pointed the two metal talons from the end of the cord toward him. Slowly but steadily, he got up and balanced himself out. He looked around for a bit to find me until he saw me standing by the wall. He seemed to think I was resorting to my last possible way to defend myself since I didn't pick up my dagger. Which now, I really wish I had. Oddly enough, he didn't go straight for me, but he instead went for my dagger rather than his sword which was a couple feet away. Not what I was hoping for but I can still make this work.

Suddenly he charged at me while I readied my wire. He raised the dagger above his head like it was some magic sword as came very close to me. Does he not know how to use a dagger? A weird sort of giggle came out of me before I realised his distance to me. Without any hesitation, I stuck the wire out in front of me in a horizontal line and leaned away to the side. My dagger that he was holding came down on the wire cutting into it and sending flares of electricity to light up the room as a big POP screeched to confirm the small but effective explosion I created. In the little time that the room was lit up, I saw a flash of sea-green orbs look into my stormy grey ones before being flung back by the explosion and landing on my back against the wall. Once the room returned to its dark unknown nature, I groggily sat up and felt for any burns or serious damage. When I decided I was fine, I looked into the distance in front of me at the dark figure.

Did I just…? No, surely not. I couldn't have just fought—

"Percy?" I asked loud and clearly.

There was a pause of silence before, "Annabeth?"

I breathed in a deep breath before I muttered quietly to myself, "moron."

I heard a strike followed by another until the room suddenly lit up. I studied the flame then proceeded to look at the owner of the hand to find it was indeed Percy holding a lit match with its matching box in the other hand, pun not intended. Where did he even get those? Looking down, he was wearing his tool belt which held his appearance, his hair was a mess, as if a drakon had used his head as a nest. His forehead was tinted a light shade of pink and slightly swollen from the head-butt. He was wearing a loose blue shirt and pale blue cotton shorts that ended above his knees. His hand also looked to be somewhat injured like mine. But what annoyed me the most was that he had the nerve to smirk when he looked at me as if to say: 'oh, will you look at that; the person I tried to kill turns out to be my partner.'

Percy dared to let a light chuckle fall from his lips, "You're not that bad."

And like every cell, every molecule in the universe, every part of me was enraged. "I am what?" My voice dropped lower than usual. He wouldn't dare mock my capabilities. "Repeat that again and you risk ever seeing another sunrise," I threatened clenching my teeth tightly together all the while glaring daggers at him.

His eyebrows raised in alarm. "Is that a threat?" He smirked as if he were amused by a puppy walking around in circles trying to chase their tail.

"I don't know, want to stick around and find out?" I sneered. This man was a burden to have around. "I'm a professionally trained agent. You don't know what I've seen, what I've done and what I've had to live with. So don't you dare for a second underestimate my capabilities, I could have killed you! Life and death is not a game so stop acting like a child!" I spat out, my eyes were wide with disbelief and my chest was rising and falling in a rather rapid motion.

I could tell he was taken aback by this by his sudden unnerved body posture. His body tensed in a sort of defensive way. "You think I'm not taking this seriously? I could easily have the same argument as you," Percy stared me down, clearly as enraged as I was. He did have a point, I still didn't know much of his background or history. "And before you think of attacking me", he added, "just remember whose side I'm on."

His words hit me like a brick. I was told to see Percy as an asset, an advantage and here I am throwing that out the window just because of my own selfish wants. Sure, it sucks when you're paired with someone incompatible to your own style, but that's just a problem you learn to deal with. A problem I should just suck up and accept because arguing with him will get me nowhere. I was officially caught in the wrong. I had been proven that I was wrong which felt very weird and strange. Does that mean I must apologize? I tried to rid myself of the possibility of that situation until I met his eyes. They held disappointment, anger, frustration and hesitance, Gods only know what he saw in mine. He shifted his weight and rolled his shoulders back and took a deep breath as if to clear his conflicted thoughts.

There was a long pause in the room. "Maybe this, maybe we—" he started to speak more confidently, "I don't think we can do this together."

I listened intently to what he was saying. He seemed to be following my thinking path which is not good because if we don't do it together—

"I just don't think we're going to make it if this is how we will be working together, we might as well not waste Chiron's time." I analysed his eyes again which had oddly been communicating with me more than himself. He was telling the truth, he truly felt that way. However, this couldn't be, he was willing to just give up on Chiron that easily?

"No," I stated, "I won't let you." His eyebrows furrowed together and his head tilted to the side slightly. "How dare you disappoint someone just because you aren't willing to learn their ways and learn to work together!" I spat out, venom laced in my tongue. We stared each other down, his facial features became more prominent as did the bruise on his forehead. He had very faint freckles across his nose. Right then and there, I believed he started to finally understand what I was trying to convey.

"Remember who you are doing this for, Chiron," I spoke. Another stretched out silence engulfed the room. My words seemed to be slowly sinking into him. He nodded in response.

"For Chiron," he replied.

His laugh echoed around the room.

"And then she gave me this look, like I had destroyed her science project or something," Percy wheezed, tears forming in his eyes from the uncontrollable laughter.

I couldn't contain my bursting laughter as I giggled alongside him. We were currently sitting on the couch in our favourite spot, the lounge with the sunset. I was wearing my typical mission attire, a stretchy pair of black yoga pants that ended just under my knees and a dark tank top. My sheath was strapped to the outside of my thigh which held my dagger. I also had my tool belt equipped which some other necessities. Oddly enough, this is what us agents call 'light clothing'.

Ever since the night incident, we had lightened up to each other, a bit. Emphasis on a bit. We had a new respect for the other although we were still cautious. I took a sip from my half full coffee. Did I mention the kitchen had a built-in coffee machine? Best moment of my life when I found it. I can't lie; I do love a good cup of caffeine in the morning to keep my energy up.

"And what did you do?" I questioned, intrigued by his story, all the while holding the mug close to my face for warmth in the frosty morning.

"I left her to clean up her mess. If she had listened to me, she wouldn't have fallen into the fountain," he reasoned.

I burst out in a fit of laughter. For the past three days, we had oddly enough started to get along. He had told me stories of when he was younger and had gotten into trouble. In return I told him a few stories of myself when I outsmarted people. Because to be honest, I had been a perfect student in school, scoring above all my classmates according to my teacher. I may have rubbed it in a few people's faces, claiming that even with something that was meant to make learning difficult for me, I was more intelligent than them. Speaking of education, I had learnt that he too had dyslexia and ADHD from his rants about school.

"That reminds me of this one time—"

A crash echoed around the room interrupting me.

As on instinct, we both pulled out our preferred weapons from their respective sheaths. He pulled out his 'trusty sword' which he nicknamed 'Riptide', as I grabbed for my golden dagger that Luke had given me.

"You go through the backdoor, I'll take the front," Percy commanded, all humour wiped from his face.

"Are you crazy? How could you just run into something unprepared?" I retorted, keeping my voice down. And there it was again, back to square one with our disagreements.

Even though we had spent a couple days together talking about the mission, we still hadn't discussed our battle strategies so his act of courage was a smack in the face to me. He seemed to be more of the 'go hard, or go home' sort of guy. Whilst I was more likely an 'independent planner', who thought out every possible consequence thoroughly. I guess you could say there was quite a large difference when it came to our style of fighting.

"You expect us to go fight something that— A: could be an animal, B: Something we aren't experienced in fighting, or C: run right into a trap.

"Well yeah, we can't just hide here, can we? Besides we are trained professionals," he reasoned, "we'll be fine, have faith in me."

"Sorry, did I forget D: All of the above?" I snarled rather annoyed at his antics.

He rolled his eyes, clearly not seeing my point. "Would you rather waste time or go look?" He cocked an eyebrow.

I glared at him hoping he'd back out of his 'plan'. To no avail, he stared right back.

Just as I was about to open my mouth, he started walking for the backdoor so I had no choice but to follow. It wasn't like I could just drag him back into the lounge and tell him to stay like a little puppy. Uncooperatively, I followed fit behind him.

The shadows from the trees danced across the chiselled concrete path, creating a rather depressing and uncomfortable atmosphere. Several light rays found their way past the bitter cold plantation, striking the ground every now and then making patterns along the path. The air seemed dead, compared to its usual chirpy feel. The orchids that decorated the gardens were drooping like a sad soap opera. This garden was clearly ticking all the boxes for dangerous. It didn't take a genius to figure that out.

"Wait up, hydrogen," I hissed, being cautious to keep my voice down.

I found Percy crouched behind a rather large boulder. It towered over no more than the height of an adult's hips deeming it a perfect piece of décor to hide behind. I crouched down beside him, scanning the area for any threats. I swear, if he is trying to prank me or trick me in any way, shape or form—someone can say goodbye to their job. Okay, focus. There are some lilies, peonies, and is that a pair of yellow eyes? Did I miss Halloween?

But the eyes were so unhuman. They were best categorised feline. Dark thin slits for pupils and a sickly yellow for irises. In hindsight, I would've assumed I was looking into the dead eyes of a dragon if they were real. The sewer-like eyes had a sort of craze in them which made me shift a tiny bit in my spot. Oddly enough, the eyes stared right back at me as if I were some alien threatening to harm everything it loved. I peered in Percy's direction to see what he thought of the sight. He looked to be in a trance with the strange eyes, as if he too couldn't believe someone had no taste in makeup.

"What the Hades is that thing?" He muttered under his breath. Truth be told, I had to agree with seaweed brain. What the Hades was it? It couldn't be someone who had an extremely good idea to prank their neighbours, because there were no other houses in sight for miles for a fact.

"Don't know, don't care," apathy flooded into my voice. "But whatever the Styx it is, it isn't welcome into my luxurious villa." Percy cracked a smile at that but it didn't last long before the unwelcomed creature chose to take action and run out of view.

Adrenaline kicked in at full speed, twisting all the cogs in my brain to life. "Oh, no, mother of all that is holy!" I cursed silently, "where'd it go? Did you see what direction it went in?" Angst crept into my voice, unmistakably that thing had seen us.

"No, though it's the reason I have this bad boy," he said after raising his beloved blade dubbed 'Riptide' as a dramatic effect.

I took a low breath to clear my head of useless thoughts and concentrated. Alright Annabeth, you got this. What do we know so far? We know that those eyes aren't human, no doubt one hundred percent creature. It doesn't attack at first sight; maybe it uses a type of hunting technique?

"Here's what we're going to do," Percy interrupted my thoughts. "We'll run over there," he said pointing to the open grass area a few meters in front of us, "and put up a fight with that thing."

My eyes darted from the creature that I caught crouching behind some bushes straight to him. "What! Are you crazy? No, we should split up. I'll make my way behind that tree on the left," I said pointing to said tree, "and you go to the right and distract it. While you're there you might as well do some damage. Then—" I paused as I looked further into the backyard studying it. There appeared to be a large yew tree, towering over various other trees. Its branches spread out as if it were caught between a game of tug of war, wanting to stretch its branches to cover as much of the area as possible. But amongst the branches was the black sheep of the litter. It was moping out to one side, reaching out as if to kiss the ground. In other words, it was highly unsteady, almost to the point of collapsing entirely.

"Then," I continued, "I want you to try and attract it over towards that branch."

"Which one?"

"The one that looks like it's going to fall. By then, I'll already be up that tree. All that branch needs is a good jumping on and possibly some hacking and it'll fall right onto that, well, thing," I said. The mysterious eyes were still lurking around us.

Percy huffed in annoyance. "Or, we could just attack it." I gave him a grim look, which he responded to by raising both hands in defence. "C'mon, we're both professionally trained in fighting. What could go wrong?" I rolled my eyes. A lot of things could happen, seaweed brain. "Fine, we'll do it your way," he said scrunching his eyebrows together and stretching his shoulders.

Percy crouched waiting impatiently for her signal. "Hey, Annabeth," I flinched from where I was. This was one of those rare occasions where he addressed me by my name. Not Annabelle, not whatever pops to his head when he sees me but Annabeth.

"What?" My voice came out rather harsher than I anticipated. I wasn't angry at him or anything, I was frustrated because I felt I was wasting my time giving him orders that he likely wouldn't follow being the stubborn guy I know. My grey irises found his deep aquamarine ones. I strained my eyes a bit just to get the message through that I would not tolerate any of his uncooperative behaviours.

He cocked his lip up in his signature smirk. "Please don't get too mad at me when I don't follow through with the plan."

His words immediately registered through my brain. I tried to reach out for the collar of his shirt to pull him back but it was too late because he was already sprinting towards the monster. I silently cursed to myself before sprinting to the other side of the enormous garden toward the yew tree. I should've known better, it was impossible to get that boy to follow instructions.

Starting the great climb up the tree, my right-hand grasped the first branch while my left-hand wrapped its finger around another branch. Using my strength, I hauled myself up and quickly reached out for a piece of wood to start my ascent. When I was about half way, which wasn't really that far off the ground, I stopped to check on Percy's progress.

Percy was no more than a couple trees in front of me. He appeared to have already caught the monster's attention by aggravating it with jokes describing its 'ugliness'. However, I can't say he was in the wrong to do so. The monster or whatever it was, was hideous but at the same time terrifying. Now I use to study classical studies in school, so when I recognise something relevant to that subject, I'm almost positive I'm correct. The monster resembled somewhat of a mini chimera. It looked so real, how is it even possible for a creature to have three heads and be breathing? Am I going crazy?

I blinked and looked again and sure enough, a mini chimera the height of a tall dog at best, roaring at Percy. He didn't even flinch when the animal came close to clawing his face off, he simply dodged, rolled out of the way, and slashed its back. Was he crazy? How is he so chill when something supernatural is happening? I mean, it could be scientifically possible, but why or how did someone let it escape and why am I the first to discover it? Nothing is making sense… I only know that this thing was hostile and a threat and threats must be eliminated.

As I was taking my final steps up the tree, I heard Percy yelling my name. Alarmed by this, I decided my best odds were to get up to my destination to the leaning branch rather than stopping in midst climb. A blasting roar crashed against my ears that I instinctively covered one ear with my hand to stop the assault on my ear. Not realizing what I had just done, I slipped down the trunk with my one free hand desperately clawing at a branch to stop myself from plummeting into the monster's mercy.

I heard Percy scream my name again followed by a disapproved growl of the monster. I could sense the monster's present at the bottom of the trunk, if I fell now, it could possibly be the end of me. I frantically began to haul myself up again, my foot making attempts to find a place to firmly lay itself to help me push. Some bark scraped me and left faint cuts on my hands. I could hear Percy slashing at the beast trying to lure it away from me but to no avail it wasn't working, the mini-chimera was determined to have me as a snack. I could feel the beast's humid breath on my leg which encouraged me to hurry my pace even more.

I finally reached the sloping branch. I didn't waste any time getting to work at hacking at it too. A slight cut in the wood started to form and the bark fell to the earth. I heard an anguished hiss below me indicating that some of the bark had fallen in the eyes of the third head that looked all too much like a snake. A few more slashes at the branch and a thick deep cut was present. I only needed to jump like a maniac for it to come loose and fall on the beast.

Steadily holding onto the trunk to keep me stable, I stood up. I held onto a thick branch above me to keep me from tumbling to my doom. I used my core strength the pull myself up as if I were doing a pull up then crash my feet down onto the slashed branch. When my feet contacted the wood, I heard an immediate crack. Repeating my previous action, I lifted myself then thrusted my feet down harder onto the branch, another crack was heard. The leaves rustled and became looser each time I jumped.

A frustrated shout haltered my jumping session. I knew not to look down at that moment, it would be a terrible idea considering the risk I'm already in but I was tempted to check on Percy's progress. He had given up on trying to change the monster's focus because it clearly only wanted to feast on me. He was squinting his eyes at the beast clearly uncomprehending its craving for me. I gave the thick wood a few kicks before building enough anger to scold Percy.

"What do you think you're doing?! Nothing? Because it sure looks like it!" I shouted in frustration while he sent me panicked look. "I don't care what you do, just do something to get this thing away from me! I need a good minute or two before this branch gives way!" I barked. He quickly swooped into action by suddenly sprinting in the opposite direction, earning the monster's attention.

The monster now curious of him, shuffled a few feet away from the tree before blasting into a full chase. Not what I wanted but it will buy me some time. Sweat started to roll down my neck as I jumped like a maniac. A significant crack was heard. One more jump and this branch would snap. I needed to get the monster underneath the branch again. Looking in the direction Percy had run, I saw him hitting at trees as he passed to keep the animal's attention. He seemed to be running in a circle around a set of trees to possibly distract the beast.

"Percy! Lure it over here!" I frantically pointed below myself.

He didn't look up to me once as he started charging to my tree with his sword now in sheath feeling no need to use it. He ran past the trunk of my tree to hide behind another big boulder for cover. The mini-chimera didn't falter and following behind him. However, it came to a stop when it lost focus on Percy and picked me as prey instead. The animal with three heads had its full attention on me, unconsciously waiting patiently for its death. With one final jump, the branch snapped and collapsed onto of the animal. A distort roar, hiss and baa called out from the impact.

I managed to wrap my legs around the branch I was holding onto before the one I was standing on collapsed. I took this time to gather my breath before making another dramatic action. I could hear the complaints coming from the animal below me clearly indicating that it was still breathing. I never pictured it to be die from the impact of a large branch anyway but it would keep the beast down and unmoving. From there I could easily end its life. I looked down at the bellowing monster as it tried to squirm free with its lion front paws and goat hindlegs. Percy came out from his hiding spot to inspect the monster. After a good moment of watching it battle against the large piece of fallen yew branch, Percy caught my eye.

"Hey, you alright up there Spider-Man?" he asked with a breathy voice.

"Don't joke about spiders," I replied sternly whilst rolling my eyes. He laughed with what breath he had left before glaring at the buried loud and uncooperative lion morph. "Make sure it doesn't go anywhere while I get down."

"Yes, ma'am," was his answer.

I started to shuffle towards the trunk using my legs to pull and my arms to push. My progress was soon cut short when a deadly crack ruptured the silence before I soon realised my impending doom. My heart rate increased and adrenaline starting pumping through my body as instinct kicked in and I swung to reach for something, anything to break my fall. Everything started moving too quickly and next thing I knew, I was tumbling to my inevitable downfall. My arm got tangled around a thin branch during my rapid descent tossing my body in an awkward position. Kicking around in mid-air didn't help either as my calf scraped against a part of the trunk that had a protruding sharp piece of wood. My piercing scream was the last thing I remembered or heard before my plummet ended.

I couldn't do anything. I couldn't move, see, feel, smell, taste or hear. Everything was so fuzzy and I felt lightheaded. It took me half a minute to register that the state I was in was certainly not normal. My body was completely numb and I couldn't think, I could only stare at the darkness engulfing me. I lay there for what could've been minutes but felt like years. Fear started to kick in, I started panicking. How long was I going to be like this? Will I be stuck like this forever? My head hurt when I tried to think back to where I last was before I went into this state. I tried to push the pain to the back of my head, convincing myself that it wasn't important right now and tried to think of the last place I remember being. But I just couldn't, it felt like my entire world had just turned against me and left me to wallow in pain and misery.

After hazily choosing to wait some more time out to heal from whatever I was experiencing, hope finally decided to show its face. I could feel something rubbing my numb hand. Something was watching over me, I couldn't help but form what was probably a lazy smile. Suddenly sound came crashing down upon me. A violent ringing started in my ears causing me to scrunch my face up in hopes to somewhat relieve the pain. Taste came next, a salty copper taste spread across my mouth, blood. I had enough strength to graze my lips with my tongue to moisten them. I was starting to feel something rubbing my arm more prominently. I used my limited strength to wriggle my body around to wake it up.

I tried to pry my eyes open but my eyelids just wouldn't budge. I became desperate to try to awaken as the pain started getting worse. Then all at once, everything seemed to fall on top of me. My eyes flew open and my breathing drastically changed to a high tempo. I first studied the sky, it was vibrant and gentle. It made me question why I was suffering and the earth was revelling in beauty. I studied my surroundings and ignored my aching head. I was laying six or seven meters away from a monster lying on some nicely trimmed grass. My eyes widened, I had no idea what was happening, how did I even get into my position? I eyed the boy with tousled raven hair who was a few feet away from me and frantically trying to contact someone on his phone which he soon resorted to yelling into in frustration.

A throaty roar caught my attention as I quickly gazed back at the beast who was trying to squirm from its confine. I sat up using my forearms to support myself. My body immediately rejected this decision by sending a wave of agony down my spine. I groaned but held still downright refusing to lay back down. I flinched when I looked to one of the sources of my pain, my leg. It had a nasty gash that covered the area from my foot to my knee. Blood was quickly seeping through it. Panic reared its ugly head but I held it back, panicking was going to get me nowhere and only lessen my chances of survival. I had to confront this boy if I was to get anywhere.

"Boy! What are you doing? Help me!" I shouted at the idiot that was pacing trying to talk to someone. His eyes widened and he raced to my side and crouched to my level.

He grabbed my chin and turned my face to the left then right. "I'm so sorry Annabeth. Is your head okay?" He asked calmly as if he dealt with this daily.

I swatted his hand off my face. "I'll be fine for now, just—" pain shot up my head and I clutched it with my hand. He stared intently at me and his eyes followed my hand as I pulled it away. My hand was covered in blood. "What happened to me? And, and who are you?" My voice cracked with uncertainty.

He was clearly shaken by this as he pulled back a little. "Annabeth, it's me, Percy. Your head took a blow when you fell from that tree," he concluded. Tree? What is he on about? "I think you got yourself a bad concussion."

Well, that would make sense. Assessing my symptoms he was probably right. "Wait, tree? What—" Oh. I fell from a tree… My memory was fuzzy but it was coming back. Holy Hera it was a miracle that my memory loss was only temporary.

"Give me a second to take care of that thing," he pointed his thumb behind him in the direction of the monster, "then we'll get you fixed up." I nodded and hissed as everything went black for a heartbeat.

I watched Percy make his way to the monster. He pulled his sword out of it sheath and pointed it between the eyes of the lion head. He gave it a nasty glare before holding Riptide up and bringing it down in a swing beheading the creature. Its other two heads didn't take likely to this by the hissing and aggressive baas. Leaves rustled as they fought against their restraints. Percy moved along to the snake head clearly annoyed at its hissing. The snake head would be harder to get rid of because it could stretch out further by weaving through the branches and twigs of its confine. Percy raised his sword once more but fell short as he stood there studying it before his eyes widened and backed away from the monster which soon turned into a run toward me.

"Annabeth, run!" he shouted. I ignored his request sending him a confused face. "RUN!" he shouted louder this time with more dominance in his voice.

I was about to question him before I saw that behind him the big branch I had used to constrain the beast flew over Percy and crashed beside me. My heart rate increased rapidly and adrenaline kicked in. The animal rose to its full height and looked dead into my eyes before charging. I screamed. I, Annabeth Chase screamed. My piercing scream concerned Percy as he tried to run to my side but with a second look behind him choose to dodge to the side to avoid a swipe of a lion's paw. The mini-chimera charged straight at me as I used all my strength to attempt to stand but I couldn't, I had too many injuries holding me back. Going with plan b, I rolled onto my stomach and started a furious army crawl away from the beast.

With a risky glance behind my shoulder, I determined the distance between me and the animal deadly. It was closing in on me fast, I had to make a sudden move otherwise it would be all over for me. I dragged myself along the grass one more time before rolling onto my back and grabbing my knife out of its sheath and pointing it straight up toward the monster. I only took a second to look at the trail of blood I had created coating the once freshly green grass into a crimson mess.

Percy screamed my name one last time before the creature pounced at me. My adrenaline slowed everything down, I clutched my dagger until my knuckles turned white and prayed to any and every god out there that I would be able to see another day. When the growls became ear piercing and I could feel the breath of either of the heads, I closed my eyes and thrusted my dagger up hoping to stab something.

For once, everything was deathly silent. Another violent roar from each animal head. Another moment passed and I could still feel my aching body. Was this what death felt like? A heavy weight fell atop me and wiped the air out of my lungs. My eyes flew open to what I thought would be hell but was in fact the lifeless body of the beast. My eyes trailed down its chest noticing a bloodied golden sword poking out through the golden fur. The sight probably would've stolen a breath from me but I didn't have any oxygen in me. My body was aching with an undeniable agonizing pain. I felt something pushing the weight off me to my side. Percy, I thought in relief. I used my little strength to somewhat help him. He pushed the body off me with a big push. I took a deep breath and revelled as oxygen filled my lungs. I lay there, bleeding out from my wounds and watching the clouds roll by. Percy kneeled staring at the grass with his back facing me trying to catch his breath.

My cheek embraced the vibrant mowed lawn as I rolled it to the side to watch him. He finally snapped back to reality and looked over his shoulder to see me staring at him as I unintentionally turned the grass a dark shade of red. I studied his face blocking out the pain and my body's protest. His long eyelashes brushed his cheekbones as he looked down at my wounds. He turned his body fully around straightening his back. He reached his hand out to touch the gash I had on my leg but I never felt his fingers. He just held his hand over the wound. Percy's hand finally landed on my knee and rubbed my kneecap with his thumb. He stared deeply at my leg before retracting his hand and looking up at me to find any more serious injuries. Finding none, he sucked in air before letting go a heavy breath of relief. Finally, his beautiful green orbs reached my silver ones. I sent him a drowsy smile, silently telling him I was okay.

A year could've passed and I wouldn't have noticed. He didn't reciprocate, he just looked back to the gash on the side of my shin as if he was too deep in thought to respond. By reading his body language, he didn't want to talk just yet, he just needed comfort and reassurance.

A glimmer of gold caught the side of my eye. I watched the monster's body slowly disintegrate into shiny gold dust which flew off into the breeze fading from existence. Just yesterday I wouldn't have imagined a living and breathing lion morphed with two other animals but today, after what I went through, I'd believe any of the sort. It's weird how fascinated I found the deformation of the corpse. The shiny particles would gather together in the air to form a flame shape before disappearing from the face of the earth. It was oddly beautiful in the most disturbing way.

The breeze blew a strand of my hair onto my face. I batted at it to get it off my face before acknowledging it was no longer the shiny blond silky strands I once knew but coated in a thick layer of maroon. Percy flashed his green eyes at me and furrowed his eyebrows together. I pursed my lips preparing myself to build up enough mental strength to confront him about what just happened.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

Physically, nope. I almost died from my inability to move. But I knew what he was referring to. He was asking if I was mentally stable. I guess he knew how much a life and death situation can really affect a person, let alone scar them. I thought about this, was I really just, okay? Was it just another mere death experience to just brush off? Back there, I believed I was going to die which is something I would never imagine that I'd ever feel. I hate to admit it, but that did scar me inside. After all these years of convincing myself I could do anything and I almost die from my own plan? I was not okay, but Percy could not know that. I had to keep up an act and live up to it. I'm not a wimp or a coward so why start now? Hesitance will only lead to more problems.

"I'm fine," I said, even though it was only half true.

He nodded but I couldn't tell if he really meant it. "You need serious medical attention, I can only do so much before your gash-" I flinched remembering the wound and the pain it was inflicting. "You're losing a lot of blood, Annabeth. I need to get you to a hospital."

I shook my head and he looked at me as if I was crazy which at this point he wouldn't be necessarily wrong. "Chiron, you can't tell him. If you take me to any medical facility, they will report me back to him. I can't live knowing I disappointed him. The other night, we made a pact. We're doing this for Chiron and we will stop at nothing until we make him proud," I croaked out squeezing Percy's arm.

His eyes widened clearly stunned at my words. "But to what point do you come to the conclusion of putting your life on the line just to stay true to your word? When did you conclude that Chiron is going to be ashamed that you failed your mission because you were bleeding to death trying to accomplish it?" he reasoned. I sent him a helpless expression to which he sighed.

He reached out for a large leaf and pressed it down against the wound of my leg. I silent hiss left my mouth as he applied pressure to my deep cut. "Please," I breathed. A word so simple with so many different meanings.

He bit his lip assessing the situation at hand. I could've sworn I saw a cog turning in his head. "Fine," he said, finally giving into my stubborn nature. "I'm not going to move you yet, that might trigger another wound to start bleeding," he said remaining rather calm. "I'll be right back, I'm just going to go get fetch the first aid kit. Call if you need help," he spoke with confidence before standing up, taking one last look around then proceeding to march inside the villa.

A couple minutes later, Percy arrived and kneeled beside me with the first aid kit. No conversation was needed, he went to work with the gash on my leg. He placed a long spongey pad on top of it. He then lifted my leg just enough to started wrapping the bandage around it and I assisted him by not squirming too much. To keep it secure, he tucked the last strand of the bandage in and used some tape provided in the kit to keep it from coming loose. His eyes then found mine before looking up to my forehead where he brushed his fingers near my hairline. Percy scrunched his eyebrows together then retracted his hand and stared at it. I was wondering why until I remembered that I had touched it earlier and it was bleeding. Digging back into the first aid, he fished out another fluffy white pad. He gently dabbed it on my forehead while I stared at him like an idiot. Then next thing I knew, he was wiping the blood away with what felt like a wet wipe. Once he'd cleaned up most of the blood, he held the pad there to stop the blood flow.

It amused me how something so simple and boring could make the world shine a little brighter. I probably sent him a dorky smile because he smiled right back at me. It was strange to see his way of handling tragedy. I'd expect him to be all over the place rather than what he was actually like which was calm and collected. Then again, the reason may be because he barely knows me so it wouldn't affect him too much if I was in a severe condition. What if I had been important to him? Would he worry for me? I let what felt like a giggle slip through my mouth at the thought. He was only doing this because he needed me as an asset. On top of that, Percy would likely loose respect from Chiron if I died. He wasn't helping me because he wanted to, he was helping me because it's his job, because it's a code he must abide to.

A/N. I'm the worst. How long has it been? Half a year? Whoops... Sorry is not going to cut it, will it? Well I don't really have any excuses. I guess I lacked the motivation and I keep starting projects and losing track of time. I have the worst habit of starting things I know I can't finish, T_T.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! The first half of the chapter is from last year so it may not be all that good. The second half is more recent though! I will admit I had a ton of fun writing the second fight scene. :3 I know, I'm cruel. Six months later and I throw this at you. Sorry if you find a million errors in this one but I felt I had to upload something. I'll be coming back to it to fix the errors though.

Please leave a review, recommend, favourite, follow and all that good stuff! It really makes my day! That's all, thank you and bye! :D

-GiftFromTheSkies