'Ello! I has a new chapter for you today. Woopee! It's a good one guys :) I know you'll like it. It was so fun writing it, and asdlfkajsdf I'll just let you read now.
Let it commence.
Percy
My feet slammed down hard on the ground, and I instantly fell on my back. My breath came out in a whoosh, and I clutched my stomach, trying to suck in air. After a couple minutes and finally managing to get my breathing back to normal, I sat up.
Annabeth was nowhere in sight.
"Annabeth?" I called. There was no response, and no blonde-haired girl lying next to me.
Standing up, I pulled out my sword and uncapped it. Three feet of sharp metal extended out of the point, and I held it out in front of me, turning a circle. I was standing in the middle of a forest clearing. The trees were extremely tall, and their leaves rustled in the breeze. There was no sound. It was silent. No chirping, no animals, nothing.
I had absolutely no idea where I was.
And I was alone.
"Annabeth?" I yelled a bit louder. There was still nothing.
"Freaking…stupid…Hypnos!" I cursed, glaring at the ground. "Where the heck am I?!"
I didn't get an answer, but I swear the wind picked up a bit.
Giving the ground one last glare and deciding that I wouldn't get anywhere yelling at Hypnos, I chose a random direction and started to walk, my sword swinging at my side.
I walked for a couple minutes, still yelling Annabeth's name. I had no idea if Hypnos had even sent her with me; she could still be in his cave.
I suddenly stopped, the hairs pricking up on the back of my neck. My ears were still ringing from what I'd just heard.
A scream.
A girl's scream.
"Oh, no," I muttered. And I ran.
I tore through the underbrush, the branches whipping me on the arms and legs. My clothing snagged as thorns caught onto the fabric, but I sprinted forward. I didn't care if I was bleeding. I had to get to her.
My breathing turned ragged, and I got the feeling I was running in circles. I wasn't getting anywhere, and I didn't hear another scream. I stopped, pricking my ears, listening again.
After hearing nothing in the deathly quiet forest, I decided to call again. "Annabeth! Where are you?"
Again, nothing.
Letting out a yell of frustration, I took my sword and swung it at the nearest thing. A tree. It sliced through the bark easily, and I yanked it out, still feeling mad. And scared. And worried.
What if she was already dead?
No, no. You can't think like that. She's a survivor. She's still alive.
Praying to any god that would listen to point me the right way, I chose a random direction and started running again.
I started to hear breathing behind me, and I stopped in my tracks. Whipping around, my sword out and ready, I turned and saw…
Nothing.
I didn't hear the breathing anymore, either. My follower could easily be hiding in the bushes, but I pretended not to think that.
Feigning shrugging my shoulders, I turned around and started to walk at a quick pace. I could hear the breathing again, along with the rustling of bushes.
There was something following me.
Spinning on my heel, I turned again. I saw a flash of movement duck down behind a bush.
"Hello?"
"Percy?" a girl's voice asked.
"Oh, thank the gods, Annabeth," I said, breathing out a sigh of relief. "Where are you?"
"Behind the bush. I got hurt, and I was trying to follow you."
"What got you? Why didn't you just come out?" I asked, walking over to the bush. I used my sword and poked away the leaves.
It wasn't Annabeth.
"This is why," a hoarse voice snarled. And the thing lunged, jaws aiming for my throat.
Annabeth
I fell to the ground and managed to do a split-second somersault to break my fall. I jumped to my feet, immediately pulling out my knife.
I was standing in a small clearing, with enormous trees standing close together. The grass was tall, and it went up to the middle of my shins.
I was alone.
"Percy?" I called. "Where are you?"
I didn't get an answer.
"Ha ha, Percy, very funny. You got me. Come out."
Nothing.
"Seriously."
Still nothing.
"Oh, gods, must I do everything?" I muttered. I checked behind the trees and felt around in the tall grass, but I couldn't find him anywhere.
I let it sink in. He wasn't here at all. I was completely alone.
"Percy?" I yelled again, hope slowly diminishing. "Are you here?"
After waiting a couple seconds, I finally noticed how completely quiet it was. Not only was there no sound of Percy, there was no sound at all.
"Okay…" I said slowly, my grip tightening on my knife.
I started to think. Hypnos had given the whistle to Percy, so I had no way to return to the Underworld. That meant I had to find Percy if I wanted my memories back. And…he wasn't here.
How could I find him if I had no way of knowing where he was?
Accepting the answer that I didn't want, I chose a random direction and started walking, trying to ignore the fact that I could just be walking farther away from him.
After several minutes of ear-pressing silence, I started to call his name, hoping that he would answer.
If he's even in this stupid forest, I thought nastily.
I walked through the forest, trying to remain as silent as possible; I didn't want to let anything know that I was here. I was more hoping that Percy would show himself.
A yell broke the silence.
That sounded like Percy.
It sounded like it came from my right, and I started to run. I ripped through the bushes and trees, hacking them out of the way with my knife.
I ran into another clearing, and I slowed down, looking around, breathing heavily.
It sounded like Percy yelled from here, but I didn't see him anywhere. I poked through the bushes surrounding when I heard a growl, and it sounded like laughter.
I walked carefully over to where I heard it, knife held tightly in my hand, and pressed my back against a large tree. I poked my head around the tree slowly, praying that I wouldn't get spotted.
The thing had its back to me. It was a deep red with a swishing lion's tail. Its body looked like a deer's and it had hooves like a goat. I couldn't see what its face looked like, but it was hunched over something.
Something that looked like Percy.
He was lying on his back, but I couldn't see his face. All I could see were his shoes underneath the things body. I had no idea what we had gotten ourselves into. Percy didn't have time to tell me. All I knew is that I had to kill that thing before it killed Percy.
I pulled my head back, breathing heavily, trying hard not to panic. Percy could be injured, maybe already dead.
Ignoring my screaming mind, I gripped my knife even tighter and burst out from behind the tree. I sprinted toward the monster and launched myself on its back, grabbing its ears and pulling hard.
It screamed in pain and thrashed around, trying to throw me off. I gripped the sides of its stomach with my legs and plunged my knife in its side. It shrieked and managed to buck me off.
I sailed through the air and landed hard on the ground, my hip landing on a rock. I cried out but managed to stand up.
I saw what the beast looked like. It had the head of an animal that I'd never seen before, and instead of teeth, it had a bony ridge in its jaw. It looked a lot worse than teeth.
Percy moaned on the ground, and I ran forward, grabbed his hands and yanked him out of the way just in time. The monster charged at me and I dove out of the way, dragging Percy with me.
"Annabeth…?" he moaned. He had blood on his lips, and his voice sounded thick. A bubble formed when he spoke, and it popped, splattering more blood on his nose. He had a cut on his head, and a trickle of blood was running down his jaw.
"It's me," I said breathlessly, trying to ignore his bloody face.
"Is it actually you?"
I didn't know what he meant by that, and I didn't have time to answer. The monster leaped at me and I fell against the ground. I put my feet and hands up, and I managed to flip the monster over my body.
"You fight well, demigod," the monster said in the voice of Percy as it got up.
What?
Apparently it saw the shock on my face, because it laughed, tail swishing back and forth.
"I am the leukrokottas," it said. I swear it was grinning with its bony jaws. "I am the Imitator."
I tensed, bouncing on my knees. It was trying to bait me with Percy's voice, trying to throw me off. It was doing a good job.
"Yeah? And I'm Annabeth Chase. And this is my knife. You'll get to know it really well." I held it up and pointed it toward the monster. "It's already gotten to know your side."
It screamed, and the hairs on my arms stood up. It sounded exactly like Percy. It charged at me, bony jaws open. I tried to dive out of the way and get it in the throat at the same time.
I missed.
Its hooves didn't.
One of its hooves came out of nowhere and kicked me against the temple. I cried out in pain and fell hard on my back, a massive welt on my head. I saw stars, and I struggled to get up.
It walked over to me and kicked me in the side where the rock had hit. I screamed and clutched my side, a tear running down my face.
Its skeletal face leered over me. "You were a good opponent. It's a shame to kill you."
Hearing it in Percy's voice made it worse. I almost started to cry.
It suddenly exploded, giving out a horrifying shriek. I stared up in shock as the yellow dust rained down on me.
I saw Percy standing there, sword out, with a terrifying expression on his face. "Not a shame for me to kill you," he spat.
"Oh, gods," I whispered. Then I rolled over and cried.
Hearing the leukrokottas talk Percy's voice was too much. It felt like I was going to get killed by Percy, and it was absolutely horrible. My mind just couldn't get over it.
Percy sat down next to me. He picked up my head and put it in his lap and ran his fingers through my hair. We sat there in the silence as he let me cry.
"I-I'm sorry," I finally said thickly when I finished crying, wiping my face. "I just—can't handle…"
"Hey, don't apologize," Percy said softly. "It used your voice, too."
I sat up, rubbing my eyes. "What?"
He gave me a small smile. "It's how I got injured. It pretended to be you, hurt in the bushes. And when I walked over, it pounced on me. I didn't even see it coming."
My hands fell in my lap. "Ouch. What happened?"
"I managed to throw it off me, but it head-butted me in the face. I think I lost a tooth, and its jaw got a nick at my head. I was knocked out cold. I guess that's when you ran in."
I smiled back at him. "Good thing I was there to save you, Seaweed Brain."
"Me to you, too."
He stared at me for a bit, but I didn't look away. His green eyes seemed to understand exactly how I was feeling, and it was nice to have someone finally get me. Even if I was only me for a couple days.
My mind started to grow fuzzy as I looked at him, and I barely felt him take my hand.
"Do you have a headache?" I asked, a smile tugging on my lips.
"No," he said. "I just wanted to finally hold your hand."
I squeezed his hand and put my head on his shoulder, hearing his heart pound and his steady breathing.
He rested his head against mine; we sat there in the silence, just taking in each other's presence.
And it felt good.
Ah, and that felt good writing it :) Srsly, guys, I didn't even know where I was going when I wrote that little Percabeth moment. I just let my fingers type, and that's what came out.
So good... :')
I want to say a ginormous thank you to (oh my gosh! Apparently ginormous is a word, because I don't have the red squiggly underneath! Sorry, just thought I'd say that.) all of my reviewers:
Me (seriously, that's their name. I'm not thanking myself. That'd be weird) - Haha, why do I confuse you?
Whoooooooooooosh - I hope you didn't wait too long for this chapter!
PercabethAndZebrasFTW - I'm actually not quite sure the leukrokottas is Greek. A Greek guy did mention it, so that's good enough for me.
OceanaFallen - Haha! In the mythology, Hypnos had wings, so I thought What the heck! Your reviews always make me laugh! *wipes tear*
Free (from Brisbane!) - Thanks for pointing that out! I always forget that stuff...stupid dyslexia! Your review was really nice :)
Guest - Don't worry! I plan on finishing this before Mark of Athena! I don't want to overlap, because, dude, I'll be reading the crap out of that thing.
vball17girl - I rant all the time! Don't you fret. And thanks about Hypnos! He was fun!
Guest - I try to post a chapter a day (sorta). So you can semi-accept a chapter every day. Yay! I did say in my other story that I HATE it when authors forget to post, so I try not to do that :) POST ALL THE CHAPTERS.
THE END.
I just wanted to give a small response to the people who recently reviewed. I read all of your reviews, and I try to respond to as many as I can. No review goes unread!
I think this is enough of an authors note. You probably didn't even read all this. If you did, yay! You get nothing, just the joy of reading more words!
OKAY BYE.
R&R EVEN MORE PERCABETH!