The sword clattered to the stone floor of the arena. The crowd gasped, but Percy and Annabeth just smiled at each other, totally oblivious of the crowd that was watching them train. Their eyes locked, energy sparking between them, and Annabeth threw her knife over her shoulder at the wooden target behind her. It flew, flipping end over end, finally sticking in the center bull's eye, quivering in the wood. Percy smiled at her, and Annabeth knew she'd hit her target.
Both of them assumed fighting stances, Annabeth with her elbows up by her face, Percy with his hands in loose fists next to his jaw. They both had wiped the smiles off of their faces, which were now set in faces that displayed no emotion.
Taylor watched this with wide eyes. She had been following her cabin on their way to sword fighting class, when Connor had stopped and was watching the fight with baited breath. She'd already seen money exchanges between many people, but Connor had yet to place a bet.
Taylor's eyes shifted back to Annabeth and Percy who had begun their dance again. She could barely tell who was where. They were blurs of tan skin, only identifiable by the blurs of blonde and black that would become visible every so often. The entire camp seemed to have come out to watch.
"So, I take it we have an audience, Perce?" Annabeth's voice said, crystal clear, as if she wasn't fighting.
"It looks to be the entire camp, love" Percy responded, neither of them even stopping for a breath.
They both were slowing down, and grins were now visible on both of their faces. They were both flushed, sweat trickling down the sides of their faces. They slowed until they were just circling each other. Neither of them wanted to be the first to pick up the dance again. Both of their attention was now split between the fight and glancing at their audience. Annabeth took the opportunity.
Percy's green eyes were shifted to the crowd that was watching with acute interest. Annabeth shot at him faster than anyone's eyes could follow, but the outcome was immediate. Percy was suddenly pinned to the ground, Annabeth holding his wrists to the floor while kneeling on either side of his torso.
"Pinned!" she said, relishing the look of surprise on her face. Percy just smiled, and nodded, a smirk growing on his face.
"You got good. When did that happen?" Percy commented, as he accepted a hand up from Annabeth.
"Right around the time when you got easily distracted. But really people, spectating? Seriously?" Annabeth turned in disbelief at the now organized crowd that was watching.
They all looked at each other, a bit embarrassed, but not enough to say they wished they hadn't watched. Finally, somebody stepped forward.
"You shouldn't be so damn interesting if you don't want to get watched. But really, I was just here for the easy pickpocketing." Travis Stoll waved a handful of wallets infront of the crowd, and numerous people looked to their pockets, shocked. Annabeth just laughed. Percy reached into his pocket, pulling out a pen.
Taylor was officially confused. Why did he even have a pen? Any why hadn't it fallen out yet? And then he uncapped the pen, and Taylor officially knew she was going insane. The pen glowed and grew into the bronze sword that he had just been fighting with. Taylor barely realized Annabeth letting go of Percy's hand to go pull her knife out of the wooden target, frowning at the half centimeter that she'd been away from dead center, even though she'd thrown it over her shoulder without a glance at her target.
Percy threw his sword from hand to hand, frowning.
"How did I drop it?" He looked at Annabeth for the answer. She smiled and slowly demonstrated on him, again.
"You have got to be kidding me!" Percy yelled. "Viper beheading strike? That's quite a throwback. I learned that my first week. You rotter." He narrowed his eyes at her, but smiled anyway.
"It's not my fault you forgot it. You did learn it from the second best swordsman of the century." Annabeth shoved his with her narrow shoulders. Percy pulled a pen cap out of his pocket, touching it to the tip of his sword, shrinking the weapon into a pen and shoving it into his pocket again.
"Who's the best of the century then? Me?" Percy joked, but Taylor was lost. Confusion seemed to be becoming a normal feeling here.
"Don't be silly. I just beat you!" Annabeth put her knife into the sheath. "Of course I meant you, I don't count. And I think you may have been distracted." She shot him a wink, glancing down at her lack of a t-shirt. Percy rolled his eyes, but threw her the tank top that she'd been wearing.
"It definitely wasn't a fair fight, just for that reason." Percy pulled his t-shirt off, pouring water over his head as Annabeth did the same. "Now, if we both were shirtless, that'd be fair." Annabeth rolled her eyes.
"I can control myself, unlike you." Percy laughed, "Yeah, sure. You wanna go for a swim, cause I am toasted." Annabeth smiled.
"Let's go, because I am getting sick of the audience." She shot a death glare at the crowd, which scrambled to disperse. Annabeth smiled up at him, putting an arm around his waist as he put one around her shoulders. Percy pressed a kiss to the top of her head, and then pulled away.
"Race you!" He yelled, sprinting for the end of the pier, almost a half mile away. Annabeth shot after him, on his heels as they raced across the green, weaving among the crowd. They both reached the pier at the same time, diving in unison off the dock.
Taylor felt like a goldfish, her mouth opening and closing after the show she'd just witnessed.
"I suppose it's story time for our cabin, don't you think so brother?" Connor said, walking over to an open patch of grass and sitting down crisscross applesauce.
"Indeed it is. Anybody who already knows the story, don't waste your time, but we owe an explanation to all the newer kids. An explanation of those two. And what the hell their deal is." Travis sat down next to his brother, looking like he was about to tell a tale of sadness and love, except he had watched it unfold infront of his eyes.
-Page break-
Annabeth was smiling too much. She had always hated that when she smiled her nose scrunched up and made her look like a mouse. Apparently Percy found that attractive, because he kept telling her that she was beautiful. They were at the bottom of the canoe lake, enclosed in a bubble, just chatting.
"I cannot believe that there's hero worship even at camp. It's like Benedict Cumberbatch getting star struck at the Oscars." Annabeth waved her hands around or at least tried. One of her hands was interwoven with Percy's. Percy rolled his eyes.
"They're just curious. It's like we're new again, except people have already heard about us. I think it's kinda cool. Like were actual heroes, not just kids who got stuck saving the world. And really, Blenderenick Cabbagepatch? Not him again. I thought you weren't a fan." Percy stuck his nose into her face, accusing her with his eyes. He loved teasing her about this man who she for some reason fangirled over. Annabeth was a perfectly sane, logical person, and this Bedicute Covergirl had her squealing and watching YouTube videos.
"I'm not a fan." Annabeth stuck her nose in the air. "I was just using him as an example. And I think it's weird. I mean, this is home, and now people are suddenly watching us. Like, what?!" She signed after her outburst, wishing she could just let it go. It's not like she didn't secretly enjoy the attention, but she was already growing weary of the judging eyes that always seemed to be on her. Last summer, everyone had averted their gaze, the fallen hero who had done so much and sacrificed for nothing. This year was different. She was no longer the pathetic shadow that she was last year without him, and she was planning on having fun.
They talked about nothing for upsides of an hour, pausing only to kiss after their three day separation, which for them, was quite a while.
"What were we even fighting about?" Percy said as they walked up the beach hand in hand.
"It's silly." Percy smiled, "You actually got mad at me for finishing your mint chip ice cream Annabeth?"
She blushed, but nodded. "To be honest, I think you got fair warning." He nodded, smiling widely at her as they walked into the dining pavilion, ignoring the looks they received from the other campers. Because to be totally honest, they could care less what people thought of them.
A/N: I hope you all take time to review this new chapter (see what I did there?). But really people, you do know I have a little graph that tells me how many people have seen this, right? 310 people, and only 3 reviews. No pressure though. But really, just send me a smiley face. Even if it's a guest review. Cause I love you all. Muchas Gracias my Lovelies~M