A/N: I am going to try to make this story relatively angsty, soooo...be prepared. i have never written angst, so this is my first try.

Disclaimer: If you recognize it, it's not mine

Annabeth stirred her coffee and looked up at Piper. Piper was talking about her boyfriend Jason. She was always talking about Jason. Annabeth nodded and smiled, not quite following what her best friend was saying. Her mind was wandering back to the essay she had to write about the birth of art-deco for her architecture class. She stared into space, not noticing that piper had stopped talking.

Piper seemed to notice Annabeth's lack of attention and mistook it for something other than disinterest. She took Annabeth's hands in her own.

"Hey, I want you to know it's OK to be worried about it. It's natural to be."

Annabeth feigned ignorance.

"About what?"

But she knew what. She was reminded everyday of it. Every time she got dressed and happened to glance down at the little timer, merrily counting away to the day she died. Every time someone someone looked at her wrist, they always did, and gave her a pitying look. 'twenty three' they'd say.'that's awfully young'. She never told them it was the same day as her birthday. She didn't want them to pity her even more than they already did.

Piper gave her a withering look. She knew Annabeth hated the subject, Annabeth could tell, but it didn't stop her from bringing it up all the time.

"Annabeth…" Annabeth sighed.

"Piper, really. I'm fine." She really was. Of course when she was young and she first did the calculations telling her that she would die on her twenty third birthday she hadn't wanted to believe it. She had cried every night for days. But over time she had learned to accept it. It was a part of her, just as much as her curly blonde hair and tan complexion. It was fate, and it was never to be altered.

"But Annabeth, you've got to be at least a little concerned. Your birthday is in 8 months."

"It almost sounds as if you want me to be constantly pondering my death."

"Well….no, but you've got to be thinking about it a little bit, everyone does."

"Nope." Annabeth said and popped her lips on the "p". She gave piper a small smile and got up.

"I'm going to go throw this away."

Piper nodded and she made her way to the trashcan on the other side of the park. It was mid October and all of the leaves had started to turn colours and fall off of the trees. The weather was brisk, as if foreshadowing how cold it would be in less than a month. Annabeth tugged the grey scarf she was wearing tighter around her neck as she neared the bin. She threw her coffee cup away and started to turn around, but smacked right into someone.

"OOMF!"

"Oh my god, I am so sorry!" She looked at the person she had bumped into. It was a boy of about her age, tall and lanky, but not unmuscular. He had crazy dark brown hair, almost black, that made him look like he had just walked through a hurricane, and mischievous sea green eyes.

"Haha...nah, it's fine." He rubbed the back of his neck and smirked at her(making him look extra mischievous). Annabeth sort of smiled back.

"Percy by the way." He held out his hand. Annabeth puzzled at why this stranger just decided to make friend with her. She had just walked into him. Nonetheless she timidly shook his hand.

"Annabeth."

"That's a really pretty name." He said with a grin. Annabeth hoped he wasn't trying to hit on her. She already had a boyfriend. She wondered if she should tell him this, but decided against it. She was sure he was from out of town. He had an accent that sounded like he never wanted to fully finish his sentences. Very New Yawk. He was probably just visiting. No one ever transferred into this college, and he looked to old to be a freshman, or even a sophomore. There is no way he would be able to keep that accent after over two years.

"Thanks, my mum made it up."

He nodded and glanced at her wrist. There it is. She had been wondering when he would look at her timer. Everyone did it, it was only a matter of time. She had already seen that he had 53 years, 7 months and 5 days left. She waited for the pathetic look of pity, like she was already dead. A walking corpse.

What she got surprised her. A grin and no reaction besides that. Percy pulled his phone out of the back pocket of his jeans and checked the time.

"Oh! Sorry Annabeth, I've got to go meet a friend." He smiled, waved and started to jog off. Annabeth watched him and looked at her wrist. 60 years, 5 months, 10 days. She blinked. She tapped her timer. She closed her eyes and shook her head. Her timer still read the same thing. 60 years, 5 months, 10 days.

That couldn't be right. Never in the history of the timers had she ever heard of one changing. The day of her death was set in stone. Then Annabeth recalled a news story from her current events class last year. A woman had been walking across a sidewalk when a car had almost hit her. At the last minute a man had pushed her out of the way. When the paramedics came they said she seemed confused. She had kept glancing at the timer on her wrist and muttering "that was the end, that was supposed to be the end." Annabeth started. What if what happened to her had also happened to Annabeth? Could the man pushing her out of the way of an oncoming car reset the timer, just like what happened to Annabeth?

A sliver of hope. Like a door opening, just a crack to let the light in. Her fate had changed. She was going to live until her eighties. Why it had changed she didn't know. She didn't think it was possible, but here it was. She smiled and looked up just as Percy rounded the corner and disappeared out of her sight. I'm going to live.

She smiled a began walking back towards Piper. She chanced one more look at her watch, one more happy reminder, but stopped right in her track. She stared on in horror as the number on her wrist turned blue. The 60 dissapeared. The 5 months turned to 8 and the 10 days turned to 16.

And just like that, the door slammed shut. That tiny ray of hope that she hadn't noticed had grown the size of the sun had been put out and trampled on. Annabeth thought she had accepted it, but she was wrong. The cold hard truth faced her once again. Fate doesn't change.

But it had. Just for a minute it had. Her short life had grown longer and fuller. There were so many lost moments that had appeared before her and then had been taken away in a flash. She continued walking forward, towards Piper. She was determined not to let how crushed she was show on her face.

She had to wonder though. Why? Why had her time jumped? She didn't know it was possible, but something must have changed. What in her life had changed? What was new?

"You ready to go?" Piper asked smiling and getting up from the bench they had been sitting on. Annabeth nodded.

Percy. He was what had changed. That was the only thing it could be. Somehow he was going to extend her life. He was going to help her.

"Annabeth…, are you sure you are ok. You seem a bit….off." Annabeth nodded again, not quite looking at Piper.

Annabeth was not going to accept an early death. Percy. Annabeth was going to find him and make sure he never left her.

I'm going to make sure that boy stays by me forever.