Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson or any related characters! Please, please, PLEASE review if you read; all feedback is greatly appreciated. You all are awesome, and thank you for reading my story!

Percy stared at Annabeth as she stood in the doorway. She sniffed, and her eyes looked red from crying. She was wearing her orange Camp Half-Blood shirt and a pair of blue jeans, which Percy thought was odd for her to wear considering all the destruction she's done. She moved over to Percy and sat next to him on the bed, her feet swinging off the same side of the bed that Percy was on.

Percy was frozen. He had wanted this opportunity, but now that she was right in front of him, he forgot what to say. So many things were rushing through his head that all that came out was, "Hi."

Annabeth took a shaky exhale and looked at Percy. "Hi, Seaweed Brain."

The nickname felt weird for him to hear. It just brought back all the memories they'd had together, but it also made him think of how much of it was just another trick. It brought him to his baby sister, Cyrene, and he felt steel in his veins. He stared in her gray eyes, the eyes that he had seen so many times, the eyes that had brought him so much comfort but could also pick apart an opponent within seconds. "Annabeth…just…why? Why do all of this?"

Annabeth looked down, bit her lip and shook her head; she looked absolutely broken, which was a weird look for her. She usually looked strong, calculating, lithe, always ready for a challenge. "I don't know if you want to know."

Percy looked outside and saw that it was lightly drizzling over the section of New York that they were in. A rainbow shone brighter than it should've through the sky, as a reminder from Iris. He focused his attention back to Annabeth. "You're not Kronos and you're not Gaea. Your reason is probably not to rule the world. I need to know. It's the least that you can do after kidnapping my baby sister."

Annabeth looked at him, this time with more strength in her eyes. "I don't want to tell you because I don't want sympathy. I don't want you to hesitate to put Riptide straight through me when the time comes."

Percy's hands began to sweat. Annabeth was telling him to kill her…? He shook his head. "Tell me. NOW." His wolf stare had formed on his face, and Annabeth sighed. The dream location shifted to Annabeth's childhood home in California. They were sitting on the mattress in her old bedroom. Percy put his hands out for balance and looked around; it was scary how they just traveled across the nation like that. However, there was still a bright rainbow outside the window. Annabeth stood up and walked around the bed, staring at it for a second.

"I told myself that I would never hope that anyone else could save me from this, but out of all people, you can do it, Percy."

Percy felt like uncapping Riptide. His senses were telling him that something terrible was going to happen. All of a sudden, a young girl with big blonde hair and striking gray eyes bounded into the room and went straight for Percy. He went to defend himself, but she went right through him as if he was a ghost and snuggled in her bed. The girl looked to be about five years old. She was taking apart and putting together a model boat. She was scowling and was seemed to be annoyed by something.

"Stupid stepmother…stupid new siblings…we had a perfectly good home here."

Percy heard infants crying downstairs.

Dream Annabeth began to talk. "That was me at five years old. When Matthew and Bobby were first born to my father and…stepmother. I was sad, mad, and scared, like a lot of older children who get younger siblings. I had a happy life with just my father, but then he began to date. None of the women impressed him enough until my stepmother came along. She seemed to be as into weird facts and history as he was, even educating him on some topics. She also exuded power, which reminded my father of my mother. They started to date, married, and had kids. However, even though you told me you met the twins Matthew and Bobby…"

The scene shifted, and they were in the same room, but it looked older and more worn out. The sheets were wrinkled, the room had gotten messier, and a few things had seemed like had been replaced or renovated. Percy saw some small kids come through the door and his breath caught in his throat. There were three Chase kids; two boys and a girl. They looked like identical triplets of about one year of age, who all looked like one another but not like Annabeth. Annabeth took after Athena more than she did her father. Even as young children, Percy recognized Matthew and Bobby, but not the girl that looked just like them. Young Annabeth came into the room with a homemade monster mask and trudged in, fake roaring. The triplets screamed and climbed straight through Percy and underneath the covers.

Time seemed to freeze, with Young Annabeth frozen in her monster pose and the three lumps under the bed frozen as well. Dream Annabeth continued. "They were actually triplets. Matthew, Bobby, and Jessica Chase. I told you that children of Athena have a fear of Arachne's children, the spiders? And you already know the story as to why Arachne and Athena didn't get along?"

Percy nodded. He recalled something about Arachne challenging Athena to a basket-weaving contest, something that was worthy of her fatal flaw, hubris. Dream Annabeth got up and looked out the window, beckoning Percy to join. He joined her and could even smell her hair in the dream; it smelled like cinnamon. She pointed out the window down to the rainy street, and a young Annabeth looked like she was coming home from school. She was walking across the sidewalk, but what was behind her made Percy almost choke. It was a harpy, flying after Young Annabeth and was prepared to grab her. She turned around right on time and slammed the harpy in the head with a rusty hammer.

Dream Annabeth sighed shakily. "Well…Arachne knew that I was a daughter of Athena by the time I was two or three. She claimed she could smell the pride coming off of me, and as a result, she sent countless monsters after me to get back at Athena. I would beat them all using my wits and some pointers from my mother, eventually becoming fond of a household hammer that I would use to defeat them."

Percy looked at her. He knew that she had a lot of monsters come after her in her childhood, but he always assumed that it was because she was a demigod, not that Athena's sworn enemy had a vendetta against her. Dream Annabeth looked back towards the room. "Now, I wish that I had succumbed to one of those monsters. They got bigger and deadlier as time went on. One day, she sent an empousai after me, trying to kill me in order to get back at Athena. However, the empousai caught a hammer to the head, and to the face. Some monsters would attack the house-"

Percy heard a huge boom that shook the entire house and he uncapped Riptide on instinct.

"-and some would attack me in my bedroom at night. But for every single monster I defeated, my stepmother would blame me, screaming at me that I'm a 'cursed child' and that I was endangering the family. The worst part about it? My father began to believe her. They both saw me as just a liability, a breathing, walking death sentence for the family."

Percy heard the screams of her stepmother and Young Annabeth crying downstairs. Dream Annabeth continued. "Eventually, Arachne either got tired or grew bored of me beating every monster she sent. I told you about the flood of spiders that came at night when I was little. What I didn't tell you was…that was the first time she had revealed herself to me."

Percy watched the sky turn to nighttime, but the night clouds still had a rainbow hue to them. Percy saw that behind him was Young Annabeth, sleeping in a bed. Dream Annabeth was standing in the corner, looking very pale. Percy got up and saw a spider crawl underneath her bedroom door. Then another one followed. Then another one. Then hundreds of spiders, all different sizes and types crawled onto her bed and swarmed her. Young Annabeth thrashed and screamed, and some spiders went into her ears and mouth. Young Annabeth began to retch, all the while trying to get the spiders off her, out of her ears, away from her eyes, out of her hair. Annabeth's eyes widened at the sight of something in front of her. Percy's senses went haywire and he turned to see a sight that made him grip Riptide.

Standing there was a huge beast that reminded him of a centaur. The top half of its body looked like a semi-human woman with long black hair, completely black eyes, and fangs for teeth. Its arms and hands seemed to be furry claws. The bottom half of the beast was a huge spider, with legs as big as Young Annabeth herself. The beast's head went to the top of the ceiling and absolutely towered over the young girl.

Dream Annabeth continued in a tight voice. "This first day she showed herself to me, my heart was jumping out of my chest. Fear was the only thing that I felt, but I will never forget the only thing she told me that night," Arachne leaned towards Young Annabeth as spiders continued to torment her. Green saliva dripped from her mouth onto the girl's covered body.

"You will be my champion, Athena-spawn."

It spoke in a strangled hiss that even gave Percy chills. The dream changed so Arachne was gone, but Young Annabeth was still being tormented by spiders. She thrashed and contorted in desperation, but they still attacked her. Outside, Percy could see the sky change from day, to night, from day, to night.

Dream Annabeth spoke. "I refused to be her champion. And once a week, she would come back in my dreams and try to get me to serve her. I would refuse, and she would torment me with a flood of spiders. I would scream for my life, as loud as I could before the spiders could climb into my mouth. But every single time-"

Percy heard footsteps approach. The spiders crawled away, leaving Young Annabeth with a body full of gruesome bites.

"-my stepmother would come."

Young Annabeth was crying and bleeding on the bed. The bedroom door opened, and it was her stepmother, the Asian woman with the red hair. Her hair looked wild, and her face was of pure fury. "What is it NOW, Annabeth? More spiders come to attack you and only you in the nighttime?"

Young Annabeth leapt out her bed and went to show her stepmother the bites, but they were gone. Her stepmother shook her head and gave Young Annabeth a curt backhand and Annabeth fell to the floor. "You are waking up the triplets! I am tired of hearing all of these complaints about nightmares. You are the worst combination of crazy, retarded, and insane! GO BACK TO SLEEP," her stepmother screamed. Percy remembered meeting her stepmother in real life; she hadn't seemed quite this bad. It made Percy's head spin a bit.

Dream Annabeth shook her head in the shadows. "I hate the r-word. I hate all of those words, in fact; they are some of the greatest insults to any child of Athena. But every night during the weeks that I would get attacked by spiders, I would scream. I couldn't help myself, I was only six. She would come, her eyes filled with anger. She would hit me, call me those names, and go back to sleep. The three nights before my seventh birthday, I was attacked by my worst fear three nights in a row."

The dream shifted so Young Annabeth was attacked by spiders again. It was hurting Percy's heart to see her suffer like this, and he wished he could do something to save her. He wished he could swing Riptide and just cleave through any of the spiders.

"Three nights in a row, Arachne came and told me to serve her. The first night, she told me that the torment would continue to come and more often the more I said no. But I still refused, and I was attacked by spiders until 3:00 in the morning. I had screamed at that time, gotten beat and cried myself to sleep. The second night, I refused Arachne, and refused to scream, soI was attacked all the way up until dawn, I felt their fur, their legs, and their bites all night long."

Percy looked solemnly at Young Annabeth writhing. He couldn't see how any kid could go through this and come out sane.

"On the last night before my seventh birthday, I saw her again." Percy flinched when Arachne was standing there again. Her mouth was drooling with the green saliva again. Percy saw it was 11:36 p.m.

"But this time, she was holding Jessica." Percy saw the entire room begin to flood with spiders, covering the walls, floors, windows, everything but the bed…yet. Arachne seethed and held up Jessica, who had the entire bottom half of her mouth covered in stringy, disgusting human-spider web. She was in some red and black flannel pajamas, and her legs were moving crazily, trying to reach the ground.

"You will serve me, Athena-spawn. If you refuse again, your sister will die tonight."

Young Annabeth kept her eyes on the spiders. "You…you will never get me to serve you. You're going to make me do cruel things and hurt people and do this to other kids…no. I won't. My mother will save me. My real mother."

Arachne smiled. "You mean Athena? Your faith in the gods is amusing. Watch if she stops this."

Arachne took Jessica and sunk her teeth into Jessica's neck. Percy fought the urge to look away as Arachne began to devour Jessica alive. The sister's bloodcurling screams sounded through the room. Percy tore his eyes away and looked at Young Annabeth. Her face was pale, and her eyes looked broken. Then the screaming stopped, resulting in a haunting silence that made Percy almost prefer the screaming.

Young Annabeth scrambled out of her bed, and grabbed her favorite hammer off her desk. The monster now had human blood dripping from her mouth, and she had finished half of Jessica; the sister's torso and legs was all that was left. Young Annabeth charged, but Arachne backhanded her just as her stepmother did. Young Annabeth flew into the wall and made a dent. Spiders began to attack her as Arachne finished her meal.

"You see, Annabeth, I am not one to say no to. You will submit." Arachne trudged out of the room, leaving Young Annabeth with the spiders. Percy thought it was over and Young Annabeth was going to be attacked by spiders all night, but Arachne came back into the room. Percy's blood went cold; she was holding Matthew and Bobby.

Young Annabeth saw and cried out a loose, throaty scream. "NO! NO, PLEASE!" Tears flowed down her face.

Arachne regarded Young Annabeth as the twins were thrashing, trying to get out of Arachne's grip. The lower halves of their face were also spun with disgusting webbing. "You will serve me."

Young Annabeth put her hands up. "I WILL. I WILL. Jessica, I'm so sorry…"

The spiders immediately stopped attacking her and Arachne scuttled over to Young Annabeth. "You will what?"

Young Annabeth stared Arachne down with blood and tears coming down her face; a soon to be seven-year-old girl staring down Arachne herself. "I will serve you."

Arachne hissed rhythmically, which might've been laughter. "You will be my triumph over Athena. She has abandoned you to my hand. Swear on the River Styx, girl, swear that you will serve me and be my pawn. You will do anything I tell you to do."

Young Annabeth was too focused on Matthew and Bobby, who had their eyes on Annabeth as tears flowed down their faces and into the webbing. Annabeth nodded furiously. "I swear! I swear on the River Styx! Now let them GO!"

Thunder sounded in the distance. The clock hit twelve; Young Annabeth was seven years old now. Arachne gave a fearsome, fanged smile and let Matthew and Bobby go, taking the webbing off their faces. The pair of now twins ran away, probably under the covers.

Percy thought that wasn't fair; Young Annabeth probably had no idea what a deal on the River Styx was, much less the repercussions that result if you break an oath like that. But Arachne wasn't playing fair; that was evident when she ate Annabeth's sister. Percy thought about how he would feel if he was seven years old and the Minotaur or some other monster had just ate Cyrene.

Arachne disappeared, as well as the spiders and their bites off Young Annabeth's body. She was crumpled on the floor next to the dent in the wall, sobbing and broken. Blood still stained her floor from her sister's gruesome death. Footsteps sounded and both Dr. Chase and Annabeth's stepmother flung open the door. Dr. Chase showed more concern than the stepmother and went to scoop up Young Annabeth. She fought him off and cradled herself. Tears flowed down her cheek. "She killed her. She killed and ate…Jessica. Jessica's dead, Dad, it's all my fault, and I'm sorry."

She crashed into him and her dad hugged her awkwardly, as if she was complaining in another language and he didn't know how to respond. Her stepmother stood in the doorway, made eye contact with Dr. Chase, and nodded. Dr. Chase nodded and pulled Annabeth away from the embrace. "Annabeth, sweetie, your mother has told me that you've been struggling with some pretty bad dreams. I'm sorry that you have had to deal with that."

Young Annabeth pushed her father away. "Dreams?! Dad, she killed Jessica! Your daughter!"

Dr. Chase swallowed. "Annabeth, we have never had anyone named Jessica in this family. Ever. It's just you, Matthew and Bobby."

Young Annabeth's eyes shook as she came to realize a lot of things. She backed away into the corner, and ran away. She grabbed her backpack and her hammer, sprinted through her stepmother's legs and into Matthew and Bobby's rooms. She woke them up and told them, "Come with me! You're in trouble! Come on!"

Matthew and Bobby stirred sleepily and smiled, then went back to sleep. Young Annabeth backed up again, realizing that she was on her own; Arachne had erased the memory of Jessica in the family and she was the only one who remembered her. Young Annabeth turned behind her and saw Arachne in her siblings' room, smiling. Young Annabeth was about to scream, but Arachne shot her with her weird human-spider webbing. She regarded Annabeth as if she was seeing how good the steak would taste tonight.

"Go. Run away from here, and go east. I will be in touch. I have big plans for you, Annabeth Chase."

Young Annabeth ran out the door, with nothing but flannel pajamas on. She tugged furiously at the webbing on her face, tearing it off as she ran. Percy watched through the window as she ran out the sidewalk and into the rain. She ignored Dr. Chase and her stepmother's yells, and sprinted into the night. She cried as she was on the move, holding only her backpack and her hammer.

Percy was speechless and turned to Dream Annabeth, who was still in the corner with her arms crossed. He couldn't believe she had gone through this and never told him. Dream Annabeth sighed. "Every single day on the run, I would be attacked by monsters, and every night on the run, Arachne would enter my dreams and replay her devouring Jessica. She would tell me to go somewhere, and I went, partly because I had agreed that I would do what she wanted and partly out of fear that she would attack Matthew and Bobby, or even my father. She warned me that something worse would happen if I said no to her because that meant I was violating the oath on the River Styx. And I believed her; she had eaten my sister."

The scene shifted to them at an outdoor bus stop; it was storming and wind blew sheets of rain through the streets. Young Annabeth was huddled in the corner of the covered bus stop in her same pajamas. They were ruined and ripped, and on the outside of the bust stop were some advertisements for a new McDonald's deal. Dream Annabeth and Percy were standing in the streets, looking right at Young Annabeth. The rain assaulted them as well, but Percy didn't feel like drying himself. Percy saw that the puddles around them had the rainbow-type colors they sometimes do; it was Iris' reminder that this was just a dream, and all he had to do is wink and he would be taken out.

Young Annabeth was shivering and rocking back and forth. Her teeth were chattering. Suddenly, she looked straight at Dream Annabeth and Percy with wide gray eyes. Percy blanched, but something went straight through them; a telkhine with an axe was running straight towards Young Annabeth. She scowled, gripped her hammer, and stood up.

The scene shifted and they were in a dark alley between red brick warehouses; and the sign above one of the doors said, Richmond Ironworks. On one of the houses was sprayed graffiti with what looked like all rainbow colors. Percy did a double take. Annabeth had somehow made it all the way to Virginia, attacked by monsters and tormented by Arachne. Percy saw a stack of old crates, and saw Young Annabeth dive behind a sheet of tin. She had her hammer ready and her eyes looked the same way Percy's Annabeth looked when she was in battle; like she was hunting. Percy and Dream Annabeth heard footsteps and saw Young Annabeth tighten her grip on the hammer. Percy saw two shadows, and one of them ripped away the tin. Young Annabeth flew at them with her hammer, swinging and trying to kill whatever it was.

"Woah!" A human hand grabbed Young Annabeth's wrist and twisted it so that her hammer went skittering across the cement. Young Annabeth thrashed like she was getting attacked by the spiders again.

"No more monsters! Go away!"

"It's okay!" Percy got a good look at her adversary and his throat went dry. Luke was standing there, except he looked to be about fourteen years old. This was the same vision that Hestia had shown him before the last fight against Kronos, telling him that he needed to understand Luke's past. They were at the point where Luke's past and Annabeth's past had converged. Percy saw a young Thalia holding her spear and her old shield, Aegis. She looked about twelve years old.

Luke turned to Thalia while holding Young Annabeth down. "Thalia, put your shield up. You're scaring her." Thalia tapped Aegis and it collapsed into a silver bracelet on her wrist. Her blue eyes seemed to glow even in the dream, and she looked so…young. He couldn't believe how more mature she was now.

She took on a soothing voice. "Hey, it's all right. We're not going to hurt you. I'm Thalia. This is Luke."

"Monsters!"

Percy couldn't blame Young Annabeth for thinking that; throughout his life, there were plenty of monsters that were able to disguise themselves as humans.

Luke looked in Young Annabeth's eyes. "No, but we know all about monsters. We fight them too."

Young Annabeth stopped kicking and studied Luke and Thalia.

Dream Annabeth stepped forward and the scene froze in time again. "I had been having a mental breakdown about all the monsters, but Luke and Thalia showed themselves to be demigods as well. I had avoided any and all potential allies because I believed that they would be killed because of me. It was at that point where I thought that I could escape Arachne's influence; maybe they could save me. They seemed to be strong. Arachne told me in my next dream to follow them because she was curious. I half-followed her because Arachne told me to and half-followed them because I hoped they could kill Arachne and I could be free."

Percy wished that he was there for Annabeth, to save her from this torture she was in. He took another look at Luke; he looked so pure and so young. He looked like he genuinely wanted to help Annabeth. Percy understood that to Annabeth, Luke was older, attractive, good with a sword, and provided a way to escape from her bind to Arachne. He studied Thalia frozen in time; her eyes were looking at Luke and he saw…love in her eyes? Can someone even love at twelve years old?

Percy felt irritated that he knew Luke would betray both girls one day. The scene shifted, and it was nighttime in a familiar forest. The moon was out, but it seemed to be the color of a rainbow. Young Annabeth, Luke, and Thalia were sleeping with their weapons, cuddled up against one another as they lay against a tree. Young Annabeth flinched and woke up in her sleep. She had wide eyes and was panting hard.

Dream Annabeth stepped forward. "Arachne had told me at that point to kill Thalia. She believed that Thalia was too much of a liability and that she needed to get rid of the threat as soon as possible. She wanted to keep Luke around though, because she figured he could have me manipulate him in the future. Thalia, conversely, was too headstrong and was not going to be as easy to trick. So, she told me to take her life."

Percy looked in terror as Young Annabeth gripped her new knife and stood over Thalia in the night. Percy noticed that the regular sounds of the wind and animals in the forest were now silent. Deathly silent. It reminded Percy of the silence after Jessica was eaten. Young Annabeth raised her knife, then hesitated. She stepped away from Thalia as a tear went down her cheek. She asked herself "What am I doing…"

Young Annabeth sheathed her knife and went about five feet away from Thalia. She sat cross-legged and watched Luke and Thalia sleep. Dream Annabeth narrated. "For the first time since my bedroom, I said no. I couldn't do it. I thought that I was turning too much into a monster like Arachne was. If I killed someone as a means to an end, how was I any better than her? I refused to do so, and I stayed up all that night, ready if Arachne came to take them. However…I had broken my oath on the River Styx. Which means that I had to pay."

The scene shifted to the three of them running on Half-Blood Hill. It was daytime, but the sky looked like it was going to start storming. Grover was running with them this time. They seemed to be running towards Camp Half-Blood. It reminded Percy of his first time facing off against the Minotaur. But this time, following them was all three Furies and an army of hellhounds. Percy's heart leapt into his throat. The hellhounds looked just like Mrs. O'Leary, but they were foaming at the mouth and barking. Dream Annabeth shook her head. "Because I refused to kill Thalia in her sleep one night…"

Thalia waved Young Annabeth and Luke to Camp Half-Blood. "GO! We didn't come all this way for every single one of us to die." Luke hesitated, but Thalia turned to look at him with lightning flashing in her eyes. "GO!"

Luke grabbed Young Annabeth's wrist and they ran towards Camp. Twelve-year old Thalia held her spear and gritted her teeth. "COME ON, YOU UGLY FOAM-MOUTHED DEMONS!" The Furies tried to fly past Thalia, but she slammed her spear on the ground, releasing a blast of lightning that pushed them back. Thalia began to fight her hardest, stabbing hellhounds, striking them with lightning, hitting them with her shield, etc. She managed to keep the monsters at bay long enough for Luke and Young Annabeth to cross the camp borders. When Thalia saw that, her face relaxed and she turned towards the re-assembling army of monsters.

She had a whisper of a smile on her face. "I've been waiting to try this." Lightning arced underneath Thalia's skin. Her eyes glowed lightning blue-white for a second. Thalia yelled and expended all of the energy within her body. Her body arced with lightning and produced a lightning explosion. The lightning extended and killed all the monsters on Half-Blood Hill. The monsters and the Furies were now dust. However, Thalia's body was smoking. She staggered, then fell over.

Thalia landed on her back, dead, on Half-Blood Hill.