The pairing you guys may/may not have been waiting for! Everyone's absolute favorite, Percabeth! The song I'll be using here is…none at all. What, I never said it was going to be a series of songfics! But anyway, here you go.

Guest: You made my day. Thank you!

Writingnerd291: I'm so glad you liked it...and no, you didn't ramble. If you think you did, you should see me rant. I go crazy.

nayelicadena71: Love from the dark side!

Thank you huys so much for reviewing!

P.S. This thing is pre-TLH.

Chapter Two: Abandon

'There are times, painful as being stabbed, not because you were abandoned, but because you abandoned someone you loved, even when you didn't want to.'

-Anonymous

When Annabeth opened her eyes, the first thing she registered was the golden, almost heavenly-looking sunlight streaming in from the open window. She raised a slender hand to block it, squinting in recoil, her brow furrowing and her nose wrinkling at the sudden light.

The next thing she noticed was the pressure of a body beside her. The blond blinked in surprise as she uncovered the white sheets and revealed the sleeping form of the one she loved most in the world.

Annabeth sat up and smiled softly, one of those smiles only he could bring out from her generally closed off face.

She reached next to her to stroke his soft, messy hair, admiring how peaceful he looked when he was sleeping. Her long fingers stroked his tan skin, almost a golden bronze shade, fluttering over his long lashes which brushed his skin. They hovered over his shapely, elegant cheekbones, the back of her hand stroking his jaw and her fingertips moving over his collarbone.

The sensual touch must have affected him even in his slumber, as he sucked in a sharp breath, shivering at her tender touch, his eyelids fluttering open a little, allowing her to glimpse his beautiful green eyes, as deep and soulful as the sea he was born of. In a sudden bout of mischievousness, she raised her hand to pinch the bridge of his nose, smirking a little when his eyes shot open and his own hands reached up to grab hers and remove them from his face. "Ow!"

He grinned at noticing her, but the grin almost immediately slipped as he fully registered her presence, his mouth falling open in shock, eyes widening. She rolled her eyes playfully and smiled at him. "Rise and shine, Seaweed Brain."

Percy still looked at her in shock, and it took a moment for him to respond. "What are you doing here?" he hissed at her, his expression almost wild. "What are you doing in my bed?"

Annabeth huffed at him, annoyed by this time. "I don't remember. And is even your girlfriend not welcome in your lovely little sleeping place? Are you worried about your mom finding out?"

He narrowed his green eyes at her. "My girlfriend is allowed here. Just not random girls."

She crossed her arms over her chest. "And I'm just a random girl?"

She waited for Percy to get over himself and start blushing and spouting crazy ways to get her safely out of his house, unnoticed. This wasn't the first time this had happened, because, for the gods' sakes, they were sixteen. The legal age.

But that didn't happen.

Percy threw his hands up in annoyance. "Of course you are! You don't even know how fucking pissed Rachel is going to be if she finds I brought back a girl with me last night!"

Excuse me? Annabeth wanted to say, but something sounded off. He was glaring at her in an un Percy like way, and something told her that no, this was not a prank. Even some one as mischievous and troublesome as Percy Jackson wouldn't play a prank as daring and horrifying as this, and Annabeth knew from experience that the son of Poseidon's acting was far from even okay, unless you counted pretending during monster attacks.

And that left only one possibility. One possibility Annabeth absolutely refused to believe. Or even entertain or analyze.

But yet…

The daughter of Athena swallowed, her joy having turned to pure shock. When she spoke, her voice sounded thick to her own ears. "What?"

The young man next to her scowled. "Yeah! In fact, I'm pretty sure I didn't bring back a girl! That was all you, wasn't it? How dare you sneak into some random guy's room and use them as a teddy bear?"

She recoiled, as if slapped.

"What are you saying, Percy?" she half whispered, completely and utterly horrified by what her one true love-who seemed to be out of his mind-was implying. Rather, blatantly and bluntly putting in front of her, or rubbing in her face.

"Look," he rolled his eyes, so unlike the boy with his shy charms that she loved. "You're obviously a stalker or something. And if you don't leave soon, I'll have to gladly report you. So get out!" he practically yelled at her.

She stared at him, her eyes wide. "You better not be playing a prank on me."

He rolled his eyes. "Just get out!"

Annabeth climbed out of the bed, slowly and deliberately. "You don't remember me?"

Percy let out a frustrated breath. "I don't know you!"

She could feel tears forming in her eyes, the back of her throat burning. "It's Annabeth! Your girlfriend! Wise Girl! The one who was your anchor to the mortal world! The one you gave up immortality for!"

He snorted. "I think I would remember someone like that. Rachel is the one I love. Rachel. Elizabeth. Dare."

He turned his head away from her, holding his chin high in un-Percy like arrogance, his lips set in a jeering, mocking sneer, arms crossed against his chest, muttering something under his breath about dumb blonds.

And then Annabeth Chase accepted something that she had earlier totally disregarded.

This was not her Percy. This was not her love.

Disbelief clouded her mind. What was happening was…impossible. Just purely impossible. They were a couple up until now, and Annabeth was starting to feel suffocated, refusing to believe this. But it felt so real, and she felt so vulnerable, so weak…the fact that he would leave her for someone, anyone, was unbelievable in itself. But if he was that cold, that heartless, nothing like the boy she had known…

She shook her head, slowly, feeling the first tear streaming down her face. "Fuck. You."

Annabeth didn't remember walking out of the house, ending up in an alleyway with brickwork walls. She stood there and brushed her curls away from her face, tears streaming endlessly down her face, her hoodie clutched tightly around her, even though it wasn't particularly cold or even chilly. She replayed the scene over and over in her mind, wondering where anything had gone wrong. Anything.

"Percy," she whispered against the metaphorical icy wind. "What happened?"

"Annabeth?" A familiar masculine voice spoke out behind her, laced with confusion and worry. "What's wrong?"

She turned a little, but not before a pair of strong arms wrapped around her. The position felt familiar, somehow, and she found herself leaning into the stranger's embrace, the faint smell of molten steel and bronze in her nostrils, drifting from his body.

Amazingly, she didn't try to fight back, otherwise the guy would have been lying on the road right now, his arm bent at an unnatural and painful position. But something about t felt achingly familiar, and her limbs refused to work at her defensive logic's command, as if her body remembered and cherished something her mind didn't. The boy even smelt like home, like the days she had spent running away, with a small family of three.

He smelled like ink and dirt and parchment.

She turned so her face was buried in his jacket, which was covered in dirt, scratched and torn in some places. He started rubbing circles into her back, and Annabeth felt the gesture wasn't random, as if the mysterious boy knew exactly what would comfort her.

"What's wrong?" he repeated, softly this time, as if he was used to her having episodes of fear and grief like this.

"He left me." Her voice was slightly muffled, half buried in his jacket.

"Who, Annie?" The voice sounded a little lost, but ready to beat anyone up at her command.

"Percy." Her reply was a whisper, drifting softly from her still lips, barely caught in the wind.

"It's alright, kiddo." She sensed him smiling, an odd, comforting smile, even though she couldn't see him. "I'll never leave you. We're family, we always will be. I promise."

Something about his words sent her into a familiar sense of fresh comfort. Only then she noticed the dark patch of blood on the underside of his arm, soaking through the jacket, spreading fast in a stain.

She pulled away, and frowned, studying the stain. "You're hurt. And you're still here…you care about me more than yourself? Why?"

He stroked her hair, her honey blond princess curls, as if he had done so a thousand times before. Something about his touch made Annabeth look up, and gasp in utter shock.

A blond young man smile softly down at her, his sky blue eyes sad and grieving, as if he was going to have to hurt her and he couldn't do anything about it, as much as he hated it. And a scar.

A scar along the side of his face, white like chalk, that she knew to turn red and purple sometimes. "Family, Annabeth. I promised."

For the second time, she started sobbing, sobbing like a little girl, as if she was seven years old again, having found a family, who would leave her later, one by dying, and one by betraying. "Luke."

He gave her a mournful smile, and disappeared. When she blinked and turned around, the whole world was red. Red and flame and sulphur and acid. Jagged rocks like broken drakon teeth rising from the expanse, back as coal. A river of pitch, flowing with the wails of lost souls, of hopelessness. Another ribbon of water, another river, one of dancing flames, red and yellow and orange. Broken glass under her feet, digging into her soles. Veins in the earth, pulsing purple and maroon.

And a boy.

A boy with green eyes, tired limbs and raven like hair, messy and tousled. A boy, smiling at her through the pain, telling her it would be all right. A boy, with a Celestial Bronze sword and a tattered orange t-shirt, with an almost completely faded black print. A boy with his arm around her, kissing her forehead, an action so much like the boy she knew so well.

A boy, saying to her, like a prayer, I love you.

Saying, I love you, Wise Girl.

And a huge monster looming behind him, one with pincers and long, spindly legs, frothing at the mouth, its six deadly eyes glistening with malice, its fanged mouth grinning in glee.

And the boy, crushed in its jaw, blood flowing from his mouth, still holding her hand, and saying with his dying breath, I love you, Annabeth.

And that's how Annabeth woke up screaming.

Her sheets stuck to her sweaty skin, her throat was feeling raw and hoarse, and her vision was blurred with tears. Her breathing was labored, her chest was rising and falling, and she herself was filling with utter despair.

"It's just a nightmare, Annabeth. Shh, it's just a dream. It's all false, I'm fine, you're fine; I love you."

Percy was suddenly next to her, the lamp light switched on, bathing them with an orange yellow light. Annabeth squeezed her eyes shut and hot tears flowed from under her eyelids, and hugged her arms, unable to stop the shivering.

Percy rubbed her back and draped his arm around her, pulling her in a hug, her head tucking into his shoulder, as if it fit there perfectly. He smiled at her in a reassuring way, and rocked her back and forth, which calmed her enough to register the darkness outside, and the light silvery soft light streaming in from the half open window, told her it was at least the middle of the night.

The moon and the stars, which she could not see, but assumed to be there, seemed calm and serene, as if even Artemis herself was trying to calm Annabeth, maybe even for the sake of Percy. The dream…it felt so unreal, and yet so real at the same time, it made Annabeth want to curl up and cry.

So she clutched on to Percy for support, drawing strength from him, as if they were one person and could interchange their level of energy. Or better yet, he was the only thing in this established cruel world that made Annabeth want to keep going.

Slowly, after a comfortable silence her heart…calmed…somewhat.

"What happened, Annabeth?" his voice was so soft and gentle and caring, and so much like Luke's had been in the dream, she couldn't help but lose herself again to tears. Percy's arm tightened around her, pulling her head onto his chest as she cried, feeling his heartbeat quicken at seeing her in pain, the salt from her tears making his t-shirt saline, and wet.

"You were there." She said softly, finally.

He frowned down at her, her looking outside the window with glassy grey eyes. "What do you mean?"

Her palm rested against his chest as she leaned against him. "You didn't know me. You didn't remember me."

Percy squeezed his eyes shut; tight. It pained him to see her like this, especially if it was him, even a dream of him, a thought of him that had hurt her. It made him want to wish that she didn't love him at all, if it made sure of the fact that she wouldn't be hurt anymore. Not by him.

He rested his chin on her head, her mess of blond princess curls. "I wouldn't ever leave you. I wouldn't ever forget you. Even if I wanted to," he laughed. "I couldn't. I won't."

She gave him one of those soft, rare smiles of hers that made him happy that she loved him. Maybe it was selfish of him, loving her so. But what love wasn't?

Her smile faded as she remembered the second part. "And he was there too."

This time, Percy knew immediately. The one she had had nightmares of, ever since they returned from the war with the Titan lord, bloody and victorious; yet having lost something precious in the process of now faded time. "Luke."

She nodded and closed her eyes. "He was bleeding. Where he had stabbed himself…with my knife. And he kept speaking about his promise, about family."

He didn't know what would hurt her and what wouldn't, so he kept quiet and offered her support just by being there.

Annabeth took a deep breath, and exhaled. "Sometime I just…I want to throw that knife away, Percy. But I can't. Because he gave it to me. It reminds me of him, it hurts me every time I see it, but I can't bring myself to throw it away."

He said nothing, understanding how she felt. It was almost poetic, how, by comforting her through nights of restless, illusionary nightmares, he knew even her worst, darkest thoughts, and how she would respond to them, like the back of his hand. Then she intertwined her fingers with his and looked down, and Percy knew what she was going to say was going to be the worst part of her nightmare.

"And there was a place," she half-whispered. "Where blood ran like water, water like fire; water like souls of the damned. And there were rocks, jagged like broken swords. You, telling me over and over that you loved me." She looked up at him, her eyes shining with vulnerability he could rarely associate with someone as strong as she. "And a monster, worse than anything I have ever seen, with long legs and fangs and eyes like pits…it killed you, Percy, it killed you. It clutched you with blade like limbs and made you bleed. And you, with even your dying breath, told me you loved me. And I…" Her voice broke. "I can't live with that."

"I'm here," he said softly, holding on to her. "I'll always be here. I promise."

And she believed him.

Lying wrapped up in Percy's arms, calm orange light from a lamp, moonlight from the window, sitting in a bed in his cabin, Annabeth felt a security that she wouldn't find even in a safe house. So she did what any depressed, loved, and tired demigod would do.

She slept.

Her dreams were filled with stars and moonlight and love and Percy. And when she woke up at seven next morning, her head was on a pillow and she was lying in a bunk in Cabin Six, Malcolm sleeping on the bunk next to her.

She closed her eyes and banished the pain and tears, trying to hold on to the sweetness of the dream of the night. But ultimately, she had to get up, and had to search for him.

She would scour the seven seas if it meant he could be with her again. And for now, Annabeth had to look for Percy.

Why was he even gone? Did he abandon the camp? Abandon her?

Next to her bed, she drew another line on the wall, behind the calendar, along with the other tally marks. Five. Five days of Percy missing. Five days of Annabeth sacrificing her blood, toil, tears and sweat looking for him.

And she would look for him even now.

"Oh, Percy." She said softly, half careful not to wake her cabin mates, half connected to her emotions. "Why did you leave me?"

She looked out the window, streaming in sunlight like golden dust. Annabeth then turned away from it, as there was a picture of him and her tacked on the wall next to it.

"You promised."

So I guess I'm evil.

Just in case you didn't get it, the entire thing was a dream, and Annabeth really woke up when she woke up in her Cabin. Up until the line 'She slept,' Annabeth was dreaming. The initial nightmare, and the part of Percy comforting her, it was all a dream. So yeah.

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Until next time!