The sun streamed into the window of the Athena cabin, waking Annabeth from her fitful sleep. She'd finally fallen asleep at midnight, but kept getting plagued with nightmares, relapsing back into the horrible months she'd experienced in the fall after the war. Each dream was a variation of Percy dying without her. She had watched him die thirteen times through the night, so when the sun finally rose, she was more than happy to get back into the real world, where Percy Jackson was very alive. She swung her legs out of bed and pulled on her standard camp outfit, a Camp Half-blood tank top and today she was spicing it up a bit with cargo shorts, instead of her usual jeans.
She climbed down the ladder and checked her watch, it was 8:20. She could take a quick walk and wake them up at 8:30. She left her cabin after counting the sleeping bodies and checking to make sure everyone was still there, and they were. She walked to the training area of camp, past the odd collection of cabins that now surrounded the central common area. She remembered back to when it was just a U. Now they had extra wings on either side of the rectangle for all of the new minor gods.
She walked through the strawberry fields and picked one of the ripe ones, no doubt a result of woodland magic and Dionysus manipulating the fruits. She checked her watch and decided it was time to get everybody up so they could make it to breakfast on time.
"Athena cabin, it's time to get up," She said softly to her cabin, stirring them from their sleep. They all took a minute to glare and yawn at her, an odd mixture of angry and confused.
Fifteen minutes they were ready to leave the cabin, walking across the green yawning. They sat at their table as the food magically appeared on their plates, each of them getting a variety of breakfast foods, before they scraped a piece into the brazier. Annabeth was sure to throw a bit more than she'd used to, just in case Bob needed a snack.
She ate her breakfast relatively fast, talking strategy with her cabin, assigning the alliances to some of their more charming members. They were going to ally with Apollo cabin and Hephaestus cabins. To do this, they knew they'd have to take their dishes duty for lunch and dinner, and while this would cut down on the training time that the Athena cabin would have, Annabeth knew the tradeoff would be worth it.
They also had border patrol in the morning, which they would need to get rid of, or at least not send the entire cabin, so they could at least get some time to train before the game. Annabeth decided that she would take the border patrol, because she knew she'd need to talk to Percy alone to get him on board with her plan, and to mend fences with him.
After breakfast, Annabeth watched Malcom lead the cabin to the training area, where they split up to work on hand to hand combat, sword work, bow and arrow, or any other form of training they felt they needed work on.
Annabeth climbed the hill and sat at the base of Thalia's pine, greeting the dragon that sat in the grass next to the tree. She ran through some tactics, drawing in the dirt with a stick, until she heard a car pull up to the end of the took a deep breath and stood, pasting a smile on her face. She hated apologizing to people, especially when she was at fault.
"Annabeth darling, how are you?" Sally Jackson got out of the driver's side door and gave Annabeth a hug. Sally knew they were fighting, but didn't care. Annabeth was like a daughter to her, and if she wanted to give her a hug, she damn well could.
"I'm good, how about you?" Annabeth said, smiling for real now.
"I've been excellent, and Paul sends his regards, but he has a teacher work day today and couldn't come to see Percy off to camp. Keep him out of trouble, won't you? No quests or world saving wars this summer, yeah?" Sally nudged Annabeth with her shoulder, trying to keep the atmosphere light while also gathering information about whether or not her son was going to war.
"Looks like it should be a pretty quiet year, but who knows. I'll try to keep him out of trouble, Sally. It's quite a task." Annabeth threw a wink at Percy, silently letting him know she wasn't mad anymore. Percy visibly relaxed and came to stand next to him mother. He was only an inch taller, standing at almost exactly six foot, but he looked much bigger than his mother, on account of his general buff-ness and overall imposing nature.
"Have fun! Be sure to call, and don't forget to brush your teeth!" Sally gave her son one last hug and waved goodbye to Annabeth before getting back into her car and driving back down the road. Annabeth turned to him, wishing she wouldn't need to apologize, but knowing she would.
"Percy, I'm sorry." Annabeth took a keen interest in her shoes. She hated apologizing, and knew he would exploit this for fun. He put a finger under her chin and forced her to meet his eyes.
"Annabeth, I'm the one who should be apologizing. This is my fault, I shouldn't have done that." He took his hand off her chin and grabbed one of her hands, the one that wasn't on her knife.
"No, I overacted. I shouldn't have yelled at you. You had every right to do that." Annabeth cracked a smile. "Now we're just apologizing in circles. How about I promise not to do it again, and you promise not to freak out on me like that. Or at least we'll try." They were both smiling by now, just enjoying each other's existence.
Percy wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly, not letting it escape his notice that she was giggling.
"I missed you, Love." Annabeth smirked.
"It's been three days. I had dinner at your house last Thursday. It's now Sunday." Percy rolled his eyes and made a little face out of his hand, miming her talking.
Annabeth laughed and gave him a kiss, because she'd missed him too. Percy quit messing around and pulled her body next to his, pulling her in by the waist.
He pulled away, leaning his forehead against hers, smiling. He hated it when they fought, but it was a necessity of life. They were both so intense that they were bound to clash at some points, but still, they got along pretty well.
"We should get to lunch, cause I'm starving." Percy said, causing a laugh from Annabeth.
"Let's go. And this time, I'm winning, no invincibility can save you this time," And with that she took off, sprinting down the hill, neck in neck with Percy. They tore down the hill, Annabeth pulling a slight lead as they wove through the crowd in the common area on the way to the Poseidon cabin.
"Ha! I won!" Annabeth shouted as she opened the door.
"No fair, I had to carry my bag!" Percy whined. He threw his bag on his bunk, glancing around his cabin. "Is Tyson here? Cause there is no way the harpies left a plate on the table." Percy looked at her in confusion.
"Oh, I ate in your cabin last night. You're co-captaining with me for capture the flag tonight against the Ares cabin. We're allied with Hephaestus and Apollo. I want to get Demeter too, but I think they might already be with Clarisse." Annabeth explained as they walked side by side to the dining pavilion. Percy nodded.
"They have numbers on their side, you know." He observed. He knew how many unclaimed younger kids were bunking in the Hermes cabin, which he figured would side with Clarisse.
"I really don't need numbers. I need you. And the two of us could totally take them." Annabeth looked to him out of the corner of her eye.
"True that. I think we should just run screaming at them and have no strategy. We should throw water balloons at them. Party Pony tactics." Percy grinned and elbowed her in the ribs. She laughed at the mental picture of her team running and screaming.
They walked into the pavilion and sat at their cabin tables for lunch, Annabeth checking in with her cabin to make sure the alliances were all in place. After hearing that they were, she went to stand next to the Poseidon table with Grover and Juniper.
"Hey G-man, long time no see! How have you been?" Percy said, pulling the satyr into a hug.
"I've been excellent, you know, spreading the word of Pan, saving the environment. Juniper has been traveling with me, planting trees everywhere she visits. The dryads are even more united now." His eyes had lit up with passion as he spoke of his beloved wild. Percy knew how much it meant to him, and was always sure to recycle in his name.
"How about you, O Savior of Olympus?" Grover said, raising an eyebrow at his friend.
"School is terrible as always, but Annabeth has been living in New York, so it's been tolerable." Percy shot her a wink, and Grover turned, noticing her for the first time.
"Annabeth!" He exclaimed, pulling her into a tight hug. Annabeth hugged him, noticing that he'd grown again; now they were the same height.
"How have you been?" He said, holding tight to his friend. "I've been pretty good. Overseeing the designs of Olympus is a pretty rigorous schedule, but I've been doing ok in school, and I've gotten to see Percy a bit, too." Grover looked at the two of them, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.
Annabeth went back to her table, leaving Percy with Grover and Juniper.
After lunch, she trained with Percy, both of them breaking a sweat so quickly that shirts were cast aside. Annabeth used this to her advantage, as he was a teenage boy, and her neon green sports bra was hard to miss.
They pushed each other harder and harder, neither of them able to land any blows for almost a half hour. They danced around each in a dance that would end instantly if either of them made even the smallest mistake. They were oblivious to the class across the arena that had stopped and was now watching them practice.
Clarisse was teaching, pointing out moves that they were using, and editorializing with little stories of times she'd used those moves, and times that those moves had been used on her.
"Ah, the viper-beheading strike. Percy Jackson was taught that by a fallen camper. A true hero. Luke Castellan. But she saw that coming." Clarisse kept the editorial up until she was shushed by the rest of her cabin.
It seemed the entire camp was watching their sparring, and a collective gasp rose from the crowd when Annabeth forced the sword out of Percy's hand with the very same move he had attempted to use on her.
It looked like the fight was over for them, but naturally it wouldn't end like that.
A/N: Thanks so very much for reading! I'm terribly sorry that it's so short (but still longer than the sucky first chapter). I've been a bit busy with the school play, Rent, which I honestly think everyone should see. Anyways, leave me a review, please. I would love to chat, so PM me to ask about the meaning of life, or my favorite color. I will be answering random questions, so feel free. Anyhoo. Leave me a note and I shall chat. Muchas Gracias My Lovelies ~M