Annabeth

Annabeth tripped and fell over every branch and stone she made contact with. It was hard to keep up with a rebel leader, specially when he was dragging her by her hands, his fingers tightly circling her wrist. Annabeth was sure she would have red rings on them later. Her bad foot was not helping either and neither was her horror struck brain. She had just seen the nobles shower bullets over perfectly unarmed people. And Ethan was dead. What about Calypso? If anything happened to her it would be Annabeth's fault. Only if she hadn't asked Calypso to come with her... only if she had listened to Percy.

Annabeth squinted her eyes and tried to see what was ahead of her. In the pitch darkness she could only make out the outline of Percy's firm back and occasionally a huge maple tree here and a huge maple tree there. So it was only a while before she twisted her bad foot over a fallen branch and fell face first into the leaves and dirt of the floor beneath. She lifted her face and spit out mud.

"Come on Annabeth!" Percy urged frantically as he grabbed her shoulder and hauled her to her feet.

The moment his hands left her she stumbled and started going down again.

"There, there." Percy said while gripping her elbow and keeping her straight, "Can you walk?"

Annabeth wanted to be brave and say that she could. But the truth was that she had hurt her already sour foot again and it could not be good. Her stubbornness would only slow him down. Back at that party the lucky ones were shot and killed, the unlucky ones were captured to be tortured like pests and the immensely lucky ones had escaped and were in hiding. But Annabeth knew that the nobles were searching them and if they caught Percy she knew that he would put up a fight till they shot his heart or his head.

So she swallowed and decided upon the only right choice.

"I can't walk. Leave me here and go on ahead."

She held her breath and waited for him to drop her and bolt. She didn't expect anything else, it was her fault that he was in this mess after all. It only took him a second to wrap his hand around her waist and surge forward. Annabeth stayed quiet as his muscular side fit into her angular one, spreading the much needed heat and comfort through her shirt. She didn't want him to leave her and if he was having any second thoughts she didn't want him to work on them by provoking him.

There was a shrill scream from somewhere. The hair behind Annabeth's neck raised at that sound. She looked down and glared at her bad foot. Whatever happened with Ethan wasn't probably her fault but if something happened to Percy... her throat constricted involuntarily at that thought. She looked over at him and found him frantically looking upwards as they moved together. Annabeth knew that he could have been a lot faster on his own and she was weighing him down. At least she could help him look for whatever he was after. Two pairs of eyes would do that job a lot faster.

"What are you searching?" She whispered in his ear.

Percy wiped around so fast that their noses rammed into each others. He pulled his head back a little and gave a nervous laugh before returning his gaze skywards. This time she looked up too. She wondered what he was looking for in that mass of bare branches and dark cloudless sky. Annabeth noticed that there was indeed a crescent moon peeping through the clouds occasionally. The moon was so thin that it was almost invisible among the busy traffic of clouds. Almost.

"There must be a tree house somewhere." He said quietly, "The Sagwa tribes always build a few."

The Sagwas. The oldest tribe of Kyte. Annabeth had hated reading almost everything about their lifestyle. Unlike other nomads they used to build disposable tree houses and often left without disposing them. While reading their mundane structures, Annabeth had never imagined that she would be praying to the heavens for one of those tree houses.

Suddenly there was a rustle behind them. Annabeth's hair rose on the back of her neck. She had never given much thought to dying but she realized that she didn't want to die yet. She found Percy clutching her close to him while looking around.

"Do you know any water source around here?"

Annabeth asked mildly. All the stretches of the forest looked the same to her but hopefully they were streets and places for Percy.

"I think I can hear a spring." He said with his brows furrowed.

Annabeth looked up at him skeptically. She had perfectly fine ears and she couldn't hear anything. Now that she noticed, the forest had gone eerily calm but still not sound of running water came to her

"Let's look there then. A steady source of water maybe a good place for settling for a while."

Percy nodded in approval and started pulling her towards what he though was the spring. By the short sideways glance that he had shot her way after she had come up with that idea, Annabeth knew that she had impressed him somehow. Now if he really had an ear for water sources then together they could survive this night. She would think and he would act.

Turns out she was right. After being hurtled through the forest like a supermarket trolley and being pushed up a tree, Annabeth felt like she was ready to rest for eternity. Time and again her mind wondered back to their heated make-out session before hell broke loose. But somehow she didn't want to be the first one to ask what it was about. She wanted to wait and see what could happen. And if nothing happened then she would mark it off as a moment of weakness... which she didn't know was a good thing or a bad thing.

The tree house was a little shack with a lidless door and a window. They had sprawled below the window in their haste and were now trying to catch their breaths. As cool night breeze kissed their skin through the window Percy finally broke the silence.

"Where's your feet."

Annabeth squinted at him and realized that inside there was darker than the open forest and that she was sitting in the shadier part of the shack. After a few seconds of silence on her part, she felt his hands hovering over her wrong leg. He lightly tried to feel his way to her ankle and to fix it. The gesture was supposed to be sweet and caring and nothing more. But with each light brush of his finger Annabeth felt warmer and warmer and tinglier and tinglier. Her pants had ripped off from near her calf to her mid thigh.

Quickly she lifted his hand and dropped it on her injured ankle. She was glad that it was so dark. She didn't want him to see her flushing from her head to her toe.

"This may hurt." He whispered softly.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. Wasn't that obvious.

And then before could give him the 'it's alright signal' he snapped her foot back in position. Blind spots danced in front of her eyes and even the darkness seemed to blur. Annabeth's strangled cry was muffled by a hand which followed just a few seconds after the stinging pain. Annabeth wasn't sure if her ankle was fine or more damaged now. There was no way for her to tell without standing on it.

Moment's passed in utter silence until the clouds finally parted and a thin spray of moonlight entered the shack. Annabeth peeked sideways tentatively, wondering what her only other human companion was thinking. Was he as scared and terrified as she was? Or was this like a routine for him. This might become routine for her too if she couldn't figure out how to go back home.

Annabeth was startled to see the effects of moonlight on Percy. His skin looked pale and stretched and made him out like a ghost. His hair was a painful mess and his eyes were looking more green and frantic like gleaming jadeites. He looked like a horror straight out of Goosebumps that Malcolm liked so much. But the way his stoic posture radiated regret gave him away.

"You couldn't have saved them tonight you know." Annabeth said quietly, making sure to keep her voice down.

Percy didn't move or say anything. He kept staring out the window and ignored her completely. After what felt like an eternity and when Annabeth decided that it was time to break the murderous silence again he spoke up. His voice was so light and detached that at first Annabeth thought that she had imagined it.

"I was nine when I came to the camp."

Annabeth turned to look at him, this time without reservations, and listened because she knew there wouldn't be a repeat telecast ever again.

"The nobles burned down my home. My father belonged to the second house of royals my mother was the first from his concubine to give birth."

Bitterness bled into his monotone when he said concubine. Annabeth instinctively touched one of his hand which was curled up in a fist on his thigh. She expected him to jerk his hand away but he didn't even move. But the next time he spoke, the bitter edge had left his voice.

"Apparently she had had an affair with a commoner called Paul who used to come and teach the children there. My dad really didn't mind. My mom and dad were more of friends. It was around the time when the king prevented his eldest son from descending that my mother got pregnant with Paul's child. The king got the perfect excuse to end the second house then, saying that the son of a whore wasn't fit to become an heir."

His tilted his head slightly before continuing.

"He burned down the concubine residence."

Annabeth swallowed. She had always hated the nobles by reading about their tyrannical ways but she had been feeling the highly diluted pain of someone else after about hundred years. She wondered how it was to feel it first hand and knew it was traumatizing. She was sure that a young and vulnerable Percy had watched his mother burn to death, herd her scream and beg for mercy for her unborn child and her little son. That's the scene that keept playing through his mind at the slightest mention of that day. Annabeth wondered if he was going through it at that moment. She couldn't tell... he had gone too still and silent.

She laced her fingers through his and squeezed his hand. It wasn't fair that the weight of the universe was lying on his back. She knew there was more to that story and somehow he had managed to blame himself for all those misgivings but she wasn't letting go.

"Are you okay?"

He shook his head and frowned.

"I thought that I had finally stopped hallucinating but that's not it."

He turned and gazed at Annabeth, his eyes resting on her grey ones,

"It only doesn't happen when I am around you. I wonder why..." He trailed off silently.

A sweet smile spread across Annabeth's face as she cupped their entwined hands with her free one and sat forward,

"Then I'll stick around for a very long time."

Annabeth could have sworn that Percy was fighting down a smile. And he almost lost the battled when his lips turned up. But it was a minor victory.

"Anyway I told you not to go to that insanity for a party. There would be repercussions. You'll be cleaning the stables for a-"

Annabeth sighed in contempt. It was nice to see him ordering around again. To be honest a jerk Percy was better than a broken one. She smiled and listened to the long list of punishments awaiting her and even dozed off. She was acutely aware of the fact that Percy had pulled her into his warm, hard chest with his free hand around her and had decided to warm up her chilling self by bundling her up against him.

Annabeth didn't wake up to birds singing or daylight streaming in. One moment her face was buried in Percy's neck and the other they were being raided. Annabeth looked around and cursed herself for her stupidity. One of them should have been on guard. She should have been on guard.

They stood up hastily as three men in blue and black army suit came in with their guns at ready. Annabeth clutched Percy's arm as they stood up. Her hands were shaking violently and the only thing she could to hide that was to dig her fingers in his arm.

Then in a swift motion she was pinned against Percy with his arm around her neck. Annabeth struggled automatically, panic rising in her stomach. What was he doing?

"Don't move!" Percy barked, his gun resting on her temple.

Annabeth's eyes widened and a stray tear rolled down her cheek. What was he doing? He wouldn't possibly kill her to get away from them. Kill her for causing a distraction. An unconscious sob escaped her lips and the guards stilled. They had those thick brown pilot caps on their head, hiding their hair. One of them, the superior probably, with a face marred by dozens of scars took a step forward.

Perc'y gun pushed into her temple. She wanted that thing away from her. She hated guns.

"That is a-" The scared man started.

"A noble princess... yes."

Oh. So she was the bait. She should have seen that coming. Annabeth fought the urge to roll her eyes at herself for her insecurity. She didn't even know what she had been insecure about.

"Let her go!" Scar face growled.

"Drop your weapons." Percy replied back calmly.

The guards looked confused for a moment. Two of them even lowered their guns.

"Put your guns up you idiots!" Scar face ordered.

But it was too late.

In blink Percy pushed Annabeth behind his back and fired four shots.

"C'mon Annabeth!"

In a haste he took her hand and bolted for the door. While escaping Annabeth stepped over Scar face's body. His black eyes were open and slowly all life was draining out of him. Annabeth wanted to scream but her voice was lost to her. She was still in a daze from having a pistol on her forehead. She had never ever, even in her wildest dreams, imagined something like this would happen to her.

Annabeth didn't realize when she was off that tree and running away from it. Hot tears streamed down her cheeks and she felt the strong urge to wallow.

She jerked her hand away from Percy and stumbled back.

He turned on her with impatient eyes and barked, "We don't have time for a panic attack."

Annabeth's eyes narrowed. He was allowed to have a panic attack just by remembering his mom and she wasn't allowed to have one while watching her whole world crumble down? That wasn't fair.

"Leave me alone okay? I- I just want to go back home to- to my family!"

She yelled, not caring about who heard which was very immature of her she would agree.

Percy snorted and spread his hands to his side and said, "Who doesn't? But some do not have that luxury."

"It's not my fault that your mother died!" She shot back, anger rolling off her in waves.

Percy's eyes steeled.

"Don't you dare talk about her. And why are you being so childish? It was you who decided to have some fun with Ethan and ran away from the camp."

His voice was not loud, rather gritted, though his words penetrated deeper and infuriated her. She had never felt this angry ever in her life before, not even when she had caught her boyfriend Luke hooking up with someone else.

"Maybe you could have thought of me as a person and reasoned with me. But you didn't! I've always been sheltered and today you pointed a gun at me without any warning! How am I supposed to react? Why do you suddenly care? And how dare you think like that of me?"

"Like what?"

Annabeth's face flushed with anger as she stumbled on her words,

"Like- like- ugh!" She threw her hands up in frustration and groaned, "And why are you speaking of Ethan so disrespectfully? He-"

Percy's face darkened and he snapped before she could complete her sentence,

"Harlot."

Annabeth's mouth fell open. She couldn't believe her ears. And she had thought he was better than Luke. At least Luke thought of her as a child and not a slut.

She balled her fists and spoke through her clenched teeth, "Like you mother?"

If his eyes had steeled before, now they became murderous. His fingers closed around the hilt of his gun which made Annabeth take a further step back.

"I made a huge mistake last night by letting you inside my head."

Annabeth knew she had just pulled the worst card and had even felt horrible about it. But now the hateful look he was giving her simply hurt. Maybe he had kissed her because he didn't think highly of her at all. He thought of her as a burden and a harlot and nothing more.

Annabeth took a shaky breath and turned her back on him and walked away to god knew where, while wishing with every step she took that Percy would call out to her. But he just stood there and did nothing.

Leo

Leo joined the blue wire with the coppery red one and his greatest project hummed to life. He stepped back and examined his handy work proudly. Now he just needed to season the fuel and he would be running to save Annabeth in no time.

He whistled as he rubbed a smudge of dirt from his pants and unfolded that day's newspaper. A big picture of a glowing Annabeth caught his attention. The Article read-

Daughter missing

Annabeth Chase, a sixteen year old high school student has been missing for about five days. Annabeth has long and wavy blonde hair and grey eyes. She has a tan and is five feet eight inches tall. Anyone with any information about her shall immediately contact the Chases through the contacts given bellow. Any one who can provide substantial help would be rewarded handsomely.

Annabeth's an honor student of-

Leo threw the paper away and tried to push away the guilty feeling upsetting his insides. He would bring her back most definitely and pretty soon.

He took a long look at his time machine and muttered,

"Annabeth baby here I come. Hold tight just a little bit longer."

I'm sorry for the crazy long wait but life's a bitch. So please please please tell me how this is going? Do you want to read more or is this just... you know not good. Please tell me and tell me soon.