As promised, shout-outs to those who reviewed: Nicole |x|, THE GUEST, jj, duck, ChaserMoonstone, xXWise Girl xXx Wanna BeXx, ElmoDaHorse, SwimmyTheNerd, StormyMystery, drakon91, FlorenceBradbury, pokes, SingingFroggy, FindingAdventures, Head Over Heels standing, and Velocity Drew Warren.

Keep in mind the story is an AU, and there are differences in characters. Clarification: Percy's about 27 while Annabeth is 26.

"Kill."

The single phrase resonated in Percy's head as he drove back. As he thrummed his fingers against the wheel he groaned in slight frustration at the traffic going back to base. Not only were there too many vehicles on the road, the weather did nothing to improve the mood. The cloudy dreary day had led to a downpour of rain that streamed down his windshield.

Other than the rather bleak weather and the fact he was slowly losing his mind and patience in the traffic, Percy was perfectly content. Just as he had hoped, Kronos had ordered him to kill Luke. Even if he hadn't said so, Percy would have done it. But having Kronos' approval only furthered his motivation. He now had a time constraint, two months until it was all over, the years of haunted thoughts. The guy had it coming to him after what he had done to Rachel, his Rachel.

Thoughts of Rachel plummeted Percy's mood almost immediately. Images of the girl's long curly red hair flashed through Percy's mind. He was reminded of their first prom together as a couple sophomore year of high school at Goode High.

She had been older than him by a year. Yes, she was a junior when he was a sophomore. It was a little embarrassing admittedly when she had to drive to his house to pick him up for prom. Percy remembered the incident like it was yesterday. The day had been just as pouring as the rain spared no one with its incessant barrage:

Sophomore Percy Jackson stood behind the window of his house as his mother, Sally Blofis, fussed over his bowtie, adjusting it several times over. The lady attempted to brush her son's hair. With every stroke of the brush, a new strand of hair stuck up. Finally, in exasperation, she had used hair spray to calm the torrent of black ebony hair.

She insisted on taking pictures of her son at every angle as her husband looked on at his stepson sympathetically. Percy tried to behave just for his mother. If someone asked who he loved more than himself, he would have immediately replied: mom.

"Percy, my little baby's grown," she had to restrain herself from squealing as she hugged her son. Percy tugged his bowtie uncomfortably as he let his mother hug him.

He heard the screeching halt of tires against his driveway. Percy looked out to see a red Porsche pull up onto his driveway as the driver aggressively fishtailed it. A tall, lanky red-head walked out, almost proudly. Her pumps screamed death, yet she managed to hold herself regally as she came to ring the door.

Percy slowed himself down when he went to answer it, realizing he was a bit nervous. He opened the door to find the girl staring right back at him. He was speechless at the sight of her in the green body-fitting backless dress. He tried not to ogle as he said, 'hey", weakly.

Rachel gave him a little chuckle, "You clean up nicely, Jackson. Not half bad."

He gulped as his cheeks turned a deep red color. Sally, not noticing her son's discomfort, ushered the pair inside, insisting they take more couple pictures. Percy found himself in an even more awkward position as he noted Rachel was a good six inches taller than him in heels. Even without them, she was two inches taller, but now, he looked just like a dwarf in comparison.

In one picture, she had to lean down to wrap her arms around him until they were cheek to cheek. The next one was one of her planting a kiss on his cheek. As the pictures progressed, Percy had looked redder than the previous one.

After what seemed to be an hour of pictures, Sally was finally ready to let her son go, "Percy, be good."

"Mom!" he protested, blushing a deep red.

"It's all right, Mrs. Blofis. I'll take good care of him," Rachel replied, winking once at his mom. She wrapped her arm around his neck as she led them out. "You're lucky right now, Jackson. I am so tempted to ruffle your hair, but considering it's actually tamed for once, I'll try to savor it."

The night that followed was almost dream-like for Percy. He barely remembered dancing; only almost floating in happiness. Except for that one moment where he accidentally stepped on Rachel's foot.

Fast-forward to three years later…

Percy was now in the navy, following Rachel's footsteps when she had enlisted the year before. The Naval Academy grounds were stunning colonial style buildings redecorated to suit the modern day. (A/N: I stayed at their dorms last summer. Most gorgeous campus ever.) The color scheme of the light green/teal was very soothing to look at.

They hadn't broken up when she had graduated a year before him and still managed to keep their relationship intact. They would Skype every month as the Internet connection on campus was pretty decent.

When they had both graduated from the Academy, they had immediately gone into service. Those who had trained at the Academy had been prepared to be officers of their platoons. The first year of service had gone well (Rachel's second) as they were allowed on field mission after field mission. As the summer approached, they found themselves relaxing a bit more.

That's when Percy had popped the question: Would she marry him? The answer had been yes. The two had been a happily engaged couple for the year… A year until…Rachel was killed.

Percy found himself at the entrance of the base by the time he got to Rachel's death. By this point, he was done crying over the mention of it. Now, he was on a path of revenge. He lumbered back into the barracks, climbing into his bed before the sleep took him over.

Two weeks later—

Percy found himself dozing off in another one of Dr. Thorn's lectures. They had done some flight simulations, but that had been as far as they had gotten. Percy was thankful for that. He was in no way ready for lifting off ground. Dr. Thorn had hinted at possibilities for off-ground training for the following week, but he would need some way to get out of it.

He tried to keep himself awake by pinching himself every thirty seconds, but even then, he could feel his eyes failing him.

"Private Jackson!" the loud voice barked. But before he could continue, another voice interrupted, repeating the same thing. Mrs. Arnolds stood at the entrance of the room, her short frame trembling. She motioned for him quickly.

Percy waked out to find the woman very close to tears, her body shaking even more pronouncedly.

"Mrs. Arnolds? What's wrong?"

"Captain Chase," she choked out.

"What?! What about her?"

"She's gone. She's no longer at the hospital."

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Review in the box below. Those who though, I'll think of something. I'll update after Wednesday since I'll be out of town.

~TJ