Hi everyone.

Some of you probably expected that I dropped the story. I would never do that! I'm sorry that my updating has been getting steadily farther and farther apart. I've been writing for this story a lot, but I just haven't had time to upload it. Me not having a personal computer is also a contributing factor.

But you don't want to hear my pathetic reasons. Let's just get to the extremely long awaited chapter, shall we?

Let it commence.

Percy

I should've expected getting bombarded by a dream when I fell asleep. I was perfectly happy with Annabeth in my arms—which was the first time in a long time—but the stupid dream snuck up on me.

"Percy!" Annabeth gasped.

We were sitting on the grass in Central Park, having a picnic. I was squirting some ketchup on some fries that I'd picked up from a street vendor, and some of it had splattered onto Annabeth's shirt.

"Crap, Annabeth, I'm sorry," I said, quickly picking up some napkins and trying to dab it off her. She glared at me, a bit of ketchup in her hair. I tried hard not to smile.

She saw me smirk and grabbed the packets of ketchup, an evil glint in her eye. I dropped the napkins, realizing what she was about to do.

"Annabeth, don't," I said quickly, trying to get away from her. "It was an accident, I promise!"

"Too late, Percy!" she said, and pounced, ripping open the packets and dumping them in my hair.

I fell onto my back and she scrambled for more packets. Before she could pour more ketchup on me, I grabbed her wrists and flipped her over me onto her back. She landed on the grass, laughing so hard she couldn't breathe.

"It's so on." I grinned evilly, picking up more.

I pulled apart the ketchup packets and squirted them on her shirt. She squealed, but it was suddenly choked off into a gasp of pain.

"A-Annabeth?" I dropped the ketchup, staring at her shirt.

The ketchup was becoming thinner, turning a deep red and dripping off her shirt into pools on the grass.

It looked like blood.

"No, no…" I gasped. I lifted her shirt, and an open wound was deep in her stomach.

"How—?"

The scene was changing. The grass was turning to dirt, the trees shrinking away. Annabeth clutched my shirt with bloody hands and kissed me with bloody lips.

I pulled back. "Don't—Annabeth, you're not leaving me. You're staying here!"

She looked at me sadly, pain in her eyes. "I'm sorry, Percy."

And she vanished, my hands still in front of me where I was holding her, the pools of blood still seeping into the ground.

I was running for my life.

I was wearing a praetor's toga, and I was sprinting away from the senate house, tripping over the sheet and gasping for breath. I could hear people behind me screaming for my blood.

New Rome was deserted, and even though stars were shining in the sky, the streets were dark.

I ran past the statue of Terminus and into the Field of Mars. As soon as my feet stepped onto the dirt, the screaming sounded like it was underwater. Time seemed to slow down as I saw a figure standing in the middle of the Field.

Slowing to a trot, I could finally see who it was.

It was Bethany.

And she was staring at the pithos.

"Bethany!" I yelled. "What are you doing?"

She looked away from the pithos to stare at me. She looked confused.

"Get away Percy," Bethany said.

She faced the pithos again, her hand reaching for the lid.

"No!" I screamed. I tried to run at her, but time felt like it was slowing me down. I couldn't get there fast enough

She jerked her hand away, and it looked like she had an epitome. Her hand rested on the lid again.

"Bethany, stop!" I pumped my legs, but it felt like I was running on a treadmill, and the stupid toga kept getting in the way, pushing me further and further back.

"It has to be this way, Percy," Bethany said firmly. "You don't understand." Her hand closed on the handle, and she lifted the lid into the air.

Light burst from the pithos, so bright it burned my eyes. I fell to the ground, screaming.

"Agh!"

I sat up so fast Annabeth fell off my lap and hit her head on the stone ground.
"Ouch!" she yelped. "Percy, what the Hades?"

She tried to sit up, but I pushed her back on the ground, yanking her shirt up.

"Percy!" she hissed, trying to pull the shirt down. "What is wrong with you?!"

Triple checking there wasn't a gaping hole in the middle of her stomach, I let go of the shirt and put my face in my hands. They were shaking.

Annabeth went silent. I heard her sit next to me, and she put an arm around my shoulders.

"What happened?" she asked softly. "Was it a dream?"

I sucked in a deep breath and looked at her. "Yeah."

She took one of my hands in hers and rubbed it with the other. "Do you want to tell me? Like, why you attacked my shirt when you woke up?"

She smirked, and I tried to smile back. It probably looked like a grimace.

"There was ketchup," I said stupidly.

"Sorry?" she asked. "You had a bad dream about ketchup?"

"No," I said, "the ketchup's not important."

She just looked at me.

"The dream…" I hesitated. "The dream was about Bethany and the pithos."

Annabeth's hands tightened around mine. "What?"

"She was standing in the middle of a field with the pithos. I tried to stop her, but I kept tripping on my toga. When she opened the jar, I was blinded. Then I woke up."

Annabeth huffed. "I'm sorry Percy, but could you be any more vague? Ketchup, and then a toga? Is there anything else?"

I nodded. "Bethany didn't seem like herself. But then she did. She didn't quite look possessed. She just seemed confused, but then it was like she understood what she was doing. And then she opened the pithos."

Annabeth glanced around to see if anyone was listening. "Did you recognize where you were?" she whispered.

"The Field of Mars," I said. "It's just outside New Rome."

"Then we can't let her get there. We have to do whatever we can to make her stay here."

"But I thought you said we shouldn't try to avoid prophecies," I said.

"I think this one is bad enough to try and avoid," Annabeth said. "Elpis, or hope, is trapped inside. If she releases it, then we're releasing hope. Our hope to stop Gaea. And besides, this isn't a prophecy. It's just a dream, right?"

"I hope so," I muttered, thinking about Annabeth bleeding in my dream. I shuddered. I was just psyching myself out.

Annabeth let go of my hand and put her hands on my shoulders. "We'll fight through this. We're together again. When have we not stopped the bad guys?"

"I'm sorry," I said, not quite sure why I was apologizing. I just felt guilty. My emotions felt like they were mixed up in a blender and shoved back inside me.

"I love you, Perce," Annabeth said.

"I love you too, Beth," I replied, pulling her toward me and just hugging her.

"Don't call me that," she huffed, hugging me back.

I felt awful. Annabeth had been holding me up for such a long time, and I could tell it was exhausting her. She was always being my cheerleader, trying to make me feel better, and reassuring me for every decision I made and comforting me with every worry. I was afraid that I was going to break her soon. She had her own worries, and I was adding to them by a million. I guess that was why I said I was sorry. Because I was always her biggest worry. She never knew if I was going to make it through the day, and it was slowly eating away at her. Even though I was hurting her, I knew I couldn't let her go. I desperately needed her and she needed me.

She was the only one who could even slightly understand how I was feeling, and me to her. We were always so alone.

And so I held her tightly against me. We didn't kiss, and we didn't look longingly into each other's eyes. We just held each other, trying to fill the gaping holes that had steadily gotten bigger and bigger since I vanished from Camp Half-Blood all those months ago.

It always amazed me how a hug could make you feel better.

I know Percy gets a little philosophical at the end, but I felt like it was necessary. I've actually always felt this about Percy and Annabeth's relationship. While Annabeth has her own problems, Percy always seems to be the biggest:

Annabeth Chase and Oh Crap He's a Son of Poseidon

Annabeth Chase and Sneaking Away From Camp With Percy

Annabeth Chase and Percy Better Find Me or I'm Gonna Die

Annabeth Chase and I Think Percy Blew Up

Annabeth Chase and The Stupid Prophecy I've Been Worrying About Since Day One About Percy

THE LOST HERO-LITERALLY. I CAN'T FREAKING FIND MY BOYFRIEND

THE SON OF NEPTUNE-I STILL CAN'T FIND MY BOYFRIEND

THE MARK OF ATHENA-I FALL INTO TARTARUS WITH MY BOYFRIEND I FOUND A WEEK AGO

Let's get real.

So I felt like Percy needed to actually feel remorse about how he KNOWS that he's been causing all of this trouble for Annabeth.

Anyway, I hope you guys liked the chapter!

AND, I want to ask a favor from you guys.

I don't have anything to read.

please please PLEASE give me suggestions! Your favorite books, least favorite, whatever! I'm so tired of just staring at a screen before I go to bed because I don't have actual pages to turn. Drop suggestions in the reviews or send me a PM.

Thank you!

OKAY BYE.