Hello. Long time no see, eh? Well, the next chapter should be updated sometime on Saturday. Enjoy "Falling Into Swords is Not Recommended". News flash, right?

Annabeth

Apologizing wasn't really Annabeth's strong suit. Her fatal flaw, one that pretty much all children of Athena had, hubris—deadly pride—made sure of that. But she had no problem whatsoever with apologizing to Piper. Despite being a daughter of Aphrodite, Piper was a great fighter and confidante, in addition to being an amazing friend. No, apologizing wasn't the problem. Getting Piper to hear her out was.

The door to Piper's cabin remained shut, no matter how hard Annabeth knocked or how loudly she begged. Annabeth tapped her foot anxiously, checking her silver watch. Ten minutes with no response… Gods, Annabeth must have really wounded Piper with her words. She shuddered. Ghosts of the fight echoed in her mind. Child of Aphrodite… pathetic… all you can do is look pretty… useless dagger… Annabeth winced as she remembered the feeling of her hands wrapped around Piper's neck. One good squeeze, and Piper's would've died. Because of Annabeth.

"Hey, Annabeth?" a voice startled her. She whipped out a dagger lightning-fast and pointed it at the throat of a wide-eyed son of Hephaestus.

"No friendly fire, please!" he yelped, raising his hands slowly. Annabeth frowned and lowered her weapon. "Jeez, Annabeth!"

"What is it, Leo?" she asked. He smiled crookedly, fidgeting anxiously. Like he was scared of her.

"I wanted to say thanks. You know, for when I was, uh, let's say, out of commission. And—" he rushed on, not meeting her eyes, "I need you to help me with the device, too." He put special emphasis on the word "device". Annabeth understood immediately. He didn't know whether Lyssa was listening or not.

Annabeth still hesitated, glancing at Piper's door. Leo saw her gaze, raised an eyebrow, and sighed.

"Look, Pipes is just really… confused. She never actually experienced one of those duels before, you know. She's probably just sulking and wallowing in self-pity, or something. Trust me." Annabeth furrowed her brow. Not only did his words sound false (Annabeth prided herself on being able to read people), but Leo's voice had a strange tone to it too. It almost reminded her of a certain pair of Hermes demigods… Connor and Travis Stoll… In fact, the glint in Leo's eye reminded Annabeth of them too.

The door flew open suddenly, and an irate, fuming Piper stormed out. "Leo. Whatever-your-middle-name-is. VALDEZ! I am not confused! Or 'wallowing in self-pity', either! Gods, you should know better!" she glared at the snickering Latino. Wait. Why is Leo laughing..? Oh! Annabeth stifled a grin herself. Leo's a lot smarter than he lets on, she reflected. Meanwhile, Piper was starting to realize Leo's plan. "You—!"

"Are awesome? Thank you, but I already knew that." Suggested Leo, smirking. "Now, now, ladies, kiss and make up!" With lots of mutual mock-glaring at Leo and a lot of apologizing, they did make up. They definitely didn't kiss, though.

Honestly, Annabeth didn't know why Leo wanted her help in the first place. He was amazing. (Not that she would ever say that out loud.) Long, nimble fingers working furiously, occasionally sending out a spark of flames, Leo did in just a minute what would've taken Annabeth at least ten to figure out. Within a few minutes, he constructed a sturdy Celestial bronze/Stygian iron/Imperial gold wire outline of a box, about a foot in size, explaining that it would "constrain the activity of the anti-listening gears to the specified area and amount of which the operator sets the levels to". Seriously. Those were his exact words. (When she asked for a normal-person explanation, he said, "Big box and magic wires: good. Tiny box: bad.") Annabeth cut out sheets of Celestial Bronze to create a rough casing for the outside, but Leo shook his head and showed her a much more efficient way to do so.

Leo was shown to Annabeth in a whole new light. Sure, she knew he was serious when working. But whereas she took a half-hour long break for food that was only supposed to be for 15 minutes (it didn't help that Percy whisked her away for a makeout session), Leo kept on working continuously. No breaks. At all.

"You know, Leo," Annabeth started, intending to voice some of her realizations.

"Yeah, I do know, you coiled the wires the wrong way. But if you just put the socket for the quartz on the other side, it'll work fine." He responded, not even looking up from his work, which was painstakingly crafting and sculpting a tiny quartz gear. Annabeth frowned. Leo was avoiding any talk about himself at all. (And if Annabeth was to be completely honest with herself, she wasn't entirely happy that Leo pointed out her mistake. Hubris strikes again. Thanks, Athena.) But she didn't press the son of Hephaestus, and when he proudly announced that the device would be finished by the next morning, well, Annabeth might've jumped and hugged him. Maybe. Just maybe. And when she drifted off to sleep that night, snuggled in Percy's strong arms to the gentle rocking of the ship, she was perfectly content.

Of course, that wouldn't last long. Annabeth was jolted awake rudely when Lyssa screamed, Percy cursed bloody murder, and a mermaid lamp fell over. Note to self: As Percy who decorated his cabin with creepy life-size unrealistic naiads with lightbulbs sticking out of their heads.

"WAAAAAKE UP, DEMIGODS! Today is Day Three of Lyssaland, and Duel Number Five will begin shortly. Report to the training room—or should I say arena?—RIGHT NOW! But look presentable first! That means you, Percy and Annabeth!" Annabeth blushed. Percy was shirtless, and Annabeth was just wearing a gigantic, knee-length T-shirt. (It was a limited-edition size "Cyclops Small" "Eye am from Camp Half-Blood" novelty shirt from the camp store.) "Oh, and Valdez, GET SOME CLOTHES ON! Honestly! I'm immortal! I'll never be able to get that image out of my mind!" Percy snorted, and sat up, stretching lazily and pecking Annabeth on the cheek.

"We better get dressed, then." Annabeth said lightly. She was in an excellent mood, having thought of a plan in the middle of the night while Percy snored loudly. Not even her rude awakening could ruin her mood. But getting picked by Lyssa for the duel barely 24 hours after the last one? That would be a different story.

As soon as all the demigods trudged into the training room, with varying degrees of foot-dragging, Lyssa started talking. "Annabeth Chase and Leo Valdez will be today's victims! The second time for both of you! This will be so fun… the daughter of the so-called wisdom goddess and the son of the tinkerer!" giggled Lyssa. The other six demigods zoomed to the wall, and based on the fact that they all looked like gasping, winded fish, Annabeth concluded that Lyssa was very eager for this particular duel. That, and the fact that she was laughing madly.

"Hey, lady, how 'bout you shut up and let us live our lives?" Leo growled. His nose burst into flames. Leo blushed and patted it out.

"How 'bout… no?" Lyssa replied sassily, and Annabeth felt the sensation of Furores swooping around her, closer and closer. She tried in vain to fight it. She didn't want to be possessed again! Stop, stop! Possess someone else, away from here! I hear that there are some nice Underworld spirits just dying to be possessed! (A/N: See what I did there? Underworld spirits dying? No?) They've got lots of Happy Meals there for you, too! She thought. (Nico had told her that ghosts liked Happy Meals, for some reason. Annabeth wasn't sure if that applied to spirits, but just in case…) the swirling paused momentarily.

Happy Meals? Lyssa never gives us Happy Meals! We want Happy Meals!

Thank you, Nico, breathed Annabeth. But of course Lyssa ruined her chance at freedom.

No! The girl lies! Nobody in the Underworld has Happy Meals! Continue, my Furores! The swirling started again, and Annabeth felt that it would be so easy to relinquish control of her mind and body, and just release her fury at Leo.

Who almost ruined the quest to defeat Gaea? The Furores whispered to her. Leo did! Who's the useless seventh wheel? Leo is! Who felt like he was too good to talk to anyone or hang out while building the Argo II? Leo, Leo, Leo! All Leo! All his fault! And Annabeth exploded, in the manner that only Athena's kids could. With cold fury.

"You—I can't believe that once I thought you would be a good ally! You're useless. Psh, you're nothing. You almost ruined our quest by firing on New Rome! And to top it off, you're dangerous. Even more of a loose cannon than Percy!" Annabeth didn't see the hurt look on her boyfriend's face. Even if she had, she would've ignored it. "Gods, you murdered your mother! But that's not even the worst part. FIRING ON NEW ROME? YOU CAN'T BE TRUSTED! I HAD TO ASK FRANK TO WATCH YOU—" Frank looked extremely guilty. But Annabeth ignored that too. "I HAD TO ASK FRANK TO WATCH YOU, YOU KNOW WHY? Because… IT WAS ALL YOUR FAULT! And you thought you were too good to talk to any of us while building the Argo II, huh? Always ignoring our invitations? Always ignoring us?" Rage filled her body. The Furores had complete control.

"Seriously?" Leo raised an eyebrow. Anger distorted his features. "You were the one ignoring me! I didn't eat for a week, building the ship. Did anyone notice? Of course not!" Jason and Piper looked stricken. The two combatants disregarded them. "If I got four hours of sleep a night it was an achievement!" Piper began silently sobbing. Leo took a step towards Annabeth, flames flickering through his hair. "I worked my butt off for six—freaking—months! And I'm very sorry that my getting possessed by an eidolon was a slight inconvenience to you!" Annabeth blinked. Had she really ignored Leo for half a year? But the Furores whispered to her again.

It doesn't matter! The war was his fault! He deserves your revenge! Attack him! A primeval growl escaped Annabeth. She leaped at Leo. Tackling him felt so satisfying. And the crunch that was Leo's wrist? Eh. Collateral damage.

Leo yelled excruciatingly, clutching his wrist and rolling in agony, away from Annabeth. Random tendrils of fire licked the floor. Annabeth was one with the Furores again. Together, they stumbled through the flames, ignoring the heat and stabbing pain, towards the flaming demigod again. She cocked a fist, but Leo jumped up and lashed out first.

Annabeth doubled over, her breath knocked out of her. Who knew the scrawny mechanics could pack such a powerful punch? But she kicked wildly with her foot, and by pure luck, Leo fell over. Directly towards a pile of sharp, deadly swords. Wait—no! Leo grabbed Annabeth, and as he fell, she fell with him. Into the swords.

Reader's question: Which fight would you be more excited for: Percy and Nico, or Percy and Jason?

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