Hunter and Hunted

Chapter 1: Reunions

Disclaimer: I Don't Own the Percy Jackson Series or Any of the Characters. All Rights go to Rick Riordian for creating this Extraordinary Adventure!

Author's Note:

* Hello and welcome to the story!

* This is a story that takes place in an alternate universe in which Annabeth joined the Hunters of Artemis instead of Thalia. I've seen quite a few stories about this topic and it made me what to give it a shot. So, that's what this is! Also, the story starts off at towards the end of The Titan's Curse.

* But anyway, favorite and follow the story if you liked it (no pressure!) and don't forget to review if you want to submit input! Anyway, let's get right into the story!

Percy

Mount Olympus

There we were, standing in the throne room of Olympus. The Gods were voting on whether or not they should kill us. Zeus spoke:

"And what of the risk? Kronos knows full well, if one of you were to sacrifice the beast's entrails, you would have the power to destroy us. Do you think we can let that possibility remain? You, my daughter, will turn sixteen on the morrow, just as the prophecy says."

"You have to trust them," Annabeth spoke up. "Sir, you have to trust them."

Zeus scowled.

"Trust a hero?" he asked.

"Annabeth is right," Artemis said. "Which is why I must first make a reward. My faithful companion, Zoe Nightshade, has passed into the stars. I must have a new lieutenant. And I intend to choose one. But first, Father Zeus, I must speak to you privately."

Zeus beckoned Artemis forward. He leaned down and listened as she spoke into his ear. A feeling of panic seized me.

"Annabeth," I said under my breath. "Don't."

She frowned at me.

"What?" she asked.

"Look, I need to tell you something," I said.

The words came tumbling out of me.

"I couldn't stand it if… I don't want you to-"

"Percy?" she said. "You look like you're going to be sick."

And that's how I felt. I wanted to say more, but my tongue betrayed me. It wouldn't move because of the fear in my stomach. And then Artemis turned.

"I shall have a new lieutenant," she announced. "If she will accept it."

"No," I murmured.

"Annabeth," Artemis said. "Daughter of Athena. Will you join the Hunt?"

My heart began hammering in my chest. Stunned silence filled the room. I stared at Annabeth, unable to believe what I was hearing. I wanted to scream at her to say no, but for some reason, my voice refused to work. And then, against all my wishes, it happened. Thalia smiled sadly at Annabeth, squeezed her hand and let go, nodding at her with approval.

"Yes." She said in a firm tone.

No!

My blood had run cold. It felt like the entire world around me had stopped. I wanted to scream. It took all of my will power not to. Actually, scratch that. I couldn't talk, it felt like I couldn't see, and it felt like I couldn't breathe. Now I really did feel like I was going to be sick. I let out quick, shallow breathes as I reached for the neck of my shirt. I pulled on it, as if that would help me breathe.

"Nephew?" I heard Zeus ask, sounding like he was far away. "What troubles you?"

I had never heard Zeus address me as "nephew" before, but I couldn't worry about that now. I pulled on the neck of my shirt harder, desperate for breath.

"Percy?" I heard Annabeth ask. "What's wrong?"

No, you're not here. I thought to myself.

For some reason, her voice sounded even farther away than Zeus's voice. My vision had darkened so much, that I couldn't even comprehend where I was anymore. I felt like I was choking, even though there was nothing in my throat to choke on.

"Percy?" Thalia called out to me, her voice sounding distant as well.

"I can't." I said in hoarse voice. "I can't."

Then, I felt the sensation as if I were falling and I lost consciousness.

"Percy!" the last thing I heard was Annabeth and Thalia calling out my name with worry, in unison.

Sometime Later

I eventually came around and Thalia told me that I had fainted. When I asked what had happened, she had told me that Annabeth had accepted the invitation to join the Hunt. And that's when I felt it. I felt dead inside from that point on. After it was over, Thalia tried to talk to me, but I just wanted to be left alone. So, I left the throne room and went down to the lower levels of Olympus to be by myself for a while. I was down there, staring out at the clouds below us, when I heard the footsteps behind me. I didn't move from my place.

"Hey." I heard Annabeth say from behind me.

"Hey." I said in a glum voice, not turning to face her. "Aren't you supposed to be with Artemis and your sisters now? Why would you come to me when you're not supposed to be around boys?"

Annabeth said nothing for a second or two.

"You kind of freaked out, you know, after the conference?" she said.

"Freak out?" I asked chucking, as I turned to face her. "I had a freak out? Annabeth, I was fine!"

She stared at me with concern.

"Percy, you fainted." She said. "Are you alright?"

I nodded without hesitation.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I said. "Never better."

"Percy, it sounded like you wanted to tell me something before you fainted." She said. "What was it?"

I thought about whether I should tell her or not. I finally decided against it.

"You know what?" I asked. "It doesn't matter."

"Okay." She said.

We both went silent after that. And that's when I realized something. I still had her blue Yankees cap.

"Here." I said as I took it out of my back pocket and handed it to her. "I believe this belongs to you."

Annabeth eyed it, probably remembering how she had lost it at Westover Hall just a week ago. She reached for it and her fingers had barely touched it, then she stopped. She smiled and drew her hand back.

"You know what? You keep it, Percy." She said. "I don't think I'll need that cap anymore. Besides, it's something for you to remember me by."

Something for me to remember her by? I thought.

That's when it hit me.

"So, I guess this is it, isn't it?" I asked.

She looked at me, her stunning gray eyes seemed to reflect all of the emotions that I had been feeling. However, if she really did feel those emotions, she didn't say.

"Yeah, I guess so." She said.

We stood there in silence for what seemed like ages. Finally, she opened her arms to me.

"Come here." She said at last.

I walked into her grip and embraced her in a hug. She returned the hug for a few seconds and then pulled away.

"Goodbye, Percy." She said as she pulled away. "You'll always be my friend."

She kissed my cheek, just like she had last summer and then walked past me. As she walked past, I looked down at the marble floor of the path I stood on. For some reason I wanted to cry, but no tears came.

Camp Half-Blood

Five Years Later

I sat at the bottom of the canoe lake, next to the bottom of the pier, in Camp Half-Blood. I heard a splash from above me and I knew it was only a matter of time until someone drifted down to where I was. A few seconds later, Thalia floated down next to me, wearing a jet black one piece swimsuit.

I let out a sigh as I formed an air bubble around us, so she could breathe. In the last few years I had been training harder than before. Now when I made an air bubble, I could determine whether or not the bubble's edges were solid, that way someone could sit down in the bubble without falling out of it. Thalia sat down in the bubble across from me.

"Where did you go, Percy?" she asked. "I lost you there for a while!"

I shrugged.

"I needed to be alone with my thoughts for a while." I said. "And this was the only place where I could do it."

Thalia said nothing in return. I looked back down at my feet, until she spoke a few minutes later.

"Hey." She said. "Come here."

I looked up at Thalia, to see that she had a suggestive grin on her face. There was also a mischievous twinkle in her electric blue eyes. I scooted closer to her and as I did that, she did the same. Eventually our lips met, and our hands traveled. My hands went to her waist, while she put her arms around my neck as I laid down against the bubble. We made out for about ten seconds or so and then we broke the kiss. She stared down at me lovingly, as she stroked my arm.

"Wow, Percy." She said. "Anyone ever tell you that you're a great kisser?"

"Yeah." I said. "You tell me that every time we kiss, Thalia."

Thalia and I had been dating for about a year, by the way. She asked me out last year, around what would have been the end of my junior year of high school. It got so dangerous for me to try to keep going to school, that I had to drop out. And much to my chagrin, I had start going to Camp Half-Blood full time.

I would dare to say that our relationship wasn't even "real". I honestly think that she had just started dating me to try to cheer me up. I think that she knew I thought about Annabeth a lot. I mean, it was obvious to most of the campers. She smiled and pulled me into another kiss. This one didn't last as long, and I pulled away early. Thalia regarded me with a strange look.

"Are you okay?" she asked. "Is something wrong?"

I remained silent.

"Seaweed Brain, talk to me!" she said.

For the slightest second, my temper flared and memories of those couple summers and that those couple winter days with Annabeth flashed into my mind. I didn't get mad at Thalia, though. I finally turned to look at her.

"Thalia, I just don't think this relationship is going to work anymore." I said. "Don't get me wrong, you have been great, and you have been cheering me up so much. But I've never really been comfortable dating you."

"And why's that?" she asked.

"Because, we're both children of the Big Three." I said.

"I don't think I follow." She said.

"Think about it." I said. "Zeus is your dad and Poseidon is my dad. We're technically cousins."

"You do realize that Gods and Goddesses don't have DNA, right?" she asked.

I sighed.

"Well, other than that, it's just the fact that you're not…"

"I'm just not her. I'm not Annabeth, right?" she asked, interrupting me. "Tell me I'm right, Percy."

I sighed.

"You're right." I said. "But how did you know that?"

"What can I say?" she asked as she shrugged. "I had been expecting you to say that for months now. Also, if Annabeth is the one you want, minus the fact that she's a Hunter now, you should know that would kind of be the same thing. Poseidon is your dad and Annabeth is a child of Athena. Athena is Zeus' daughter, so that would make you and Annabeth cousins if that DNA even existed."

"Whatever." I said in gloomy tone.

"Say no more, Seaweed Brain!" Thalia said in a cheery voice. "If you don't want to be with me, I won't hold a grudge against you. I would still like to be your friend and I wish you well on your path."

I chuckled. Her "I wish you well on your path" thing was nice.

"Okay, I appreciate it." I said. "But I would prefer that you don't call me Seaweed Brain, Pinecone Face. Only Annabeth ever called me Seaweed Brain."

Thalia chuckled herself.

"Okay. I would ask you not to call me that." She said.

"Fair enough." I said.

"Come on," she said as she took my hand and pulled me up. "The rest of the campers are going to be meeting at the Dining Pavilion soon. We should get out of the water now."

I shook my head.

"You go on ahead." I said. "I think I'm going to go down to the Training Arena. I need some time to myself."

Thalia looked at me concern.

"Um, okay then." She said. "Just don't do anything stupid, okay?"

"Always." I said, before breaking the air bubble so she could swim back to the surface.

Once she was gone, I sat there at the bottom for a few more minutes and then went to the surface myself. I surfaced at the edge of the dock, grabbed it and pulled myself out of the water. Being a son of Poseidon, I was naturally dry. I collected my shirt which sat at the edge of the dock and put it back on, as I walked back towards the cabins.

I walked into Cabin Three, Poseidon's cabin, but I didn't bother to close the door behind me. I went over to my weapon rack, which I had built in the Camp's forges and collected a few things. I didn't have a lot of weapons. All I had was a bow, a quiver of arrows, a few daggers and a shield.

I picked up a spare dagger just in case, as well as my bow and quiver of arrows just in case I wanted to practice my archery. I walked over to the side table that sat next to my bed and picked up the two Ace bandages that sat there. With all of those, I walked out of the cabin and towards the Training Arena. Last summer we got a new addition to the Training Arena. At the request of Clarisse, a few punching bags were added. And not just like the small punching bags. They were full body bags.

Once I got to the Training Arena, I sat down all my weapons and walked up to one of the punching bags. I let out a sigh as I began to wrap the Ace bandages around my hands. After that I began punching the bag. Ten or fifteen minutes had passed in no time. The next thing I knew, Clarisse was walking into the Training Arena.

"Hey, Jackson!" she exclaimed upon seeing me. "I didn't see you at the Dining Pavilion! Where were you?"

She stepped up and took the bag next to me and began to hit it with her bare fists, no Ace bandages or anything. Just so you know, Clarisse and I were on good terms now. Granted we weren't best friends, but we could talk to each other without her getting her panties wadded up.

"I needed to blow off some steam." I said in a simple tone as I continued working the bag.

"Must have been pretty serious for you to just skip dinner." She said as she worked on her bag.

I didn't respond after that. Maybe I should have gone to dinner, because about five minutes after Clarisse arrived, Chiron, Grover and Thalia arrived, too.

"Percy!" Grover exclaimed as he reached me first. "Where were you at dinner?"

I punched the bag one last time, before I turned to look at him, huffing and puffing, as well as sweating.

"I needed time for myself." I said. "I'm fine."

Chiron slowed to a pace as he reached me.

"You never showed for dinner, Percy." He said. "You may almost be an adult, but I show concern for you."

I took a breath of air before I spoke.

"I'm fine, Chiron." I said. "Tell him, Grover."

Thalia walked up to me next.

"Damn!" she said. "When you said you needed time to yourself, you weren't kidding, were you?"

"Language!" Chiron replied in a stern tone. "And stay out of this, little one."

Thalia didn't seem to be pleased, being called "little one." Her electric blues eyes flashed with anger.

"Don't call me "little one", Chiron." She said in a dangerous tone.

"It's the truth, Thalia." Grover said.

"I'm twenty one years old!" Thalia exclaimed.

"Well, now that can still be little, little one." Grover said.

Thalia's electric blue eyes glowed dangerously, as the front of Grover's orange Camp Half-Blood shirt began to sizzle.

"Thalia…" Chiron said with caution.

"Thalia, back off!" I exclaimed, getting in between her and Grover.

"Okay, okay!" Grover said as he put up his hands and backed up. "I'm backing down!"

The glow in Thalia's eyes faded and Grover's shirt stopped sizzling. Thalia took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Once she opened them again, I could tell that she had calmed down.

"Thank you." Chiron said, before turning back to look at me. "Percy are you sure that you are…"

"I'm fine, Chiron!" I exclaimed, interrupting him.

Chiron looked a bit concerned and everyone went silent. Even Clarisse stopped hitting her bag next to me.

"Percy," Chiron spoke. "Perhaps you should consider counseling."

I shook my head.

"I said, "I'm fine, Chiron"." I said through gritted teeth.

Everyone fell silent again. Eventually, Grover spoke up.

"Well, anyway Percy, we came down here to tell you that Mr. D wants to see you." He said.

"Tell him I'll go see him tomorrow." I said as I turned back to the bag. "I want to finish my workout."

"You should go see him now." Chiron said.

I began punching the bag again, ignoring what Chiron had said.

"Percy." Thalia said, trying to get my attention.

"You'll tell him that I'll see him tomorrow." I said as I continued hitting the bag without looking at them.

Everyone was silent now.

"Come on everybody, let's go." Grover said. "We're wasting our time."

Chiron and Grover trotted off, while Thalia stayed. She stood there for several minutes as I kept working the bag. Finally, she spoke.

"Whatever it is you're thinking about," she said. "I hope you feel better."

She turned and walked away without another word to me. I continued working the bag for what seemed like an hour, when Clarisse walked past me.

"Hey Jackson, the Campfire Sing-Along is going to be starting soon." She said. "Are you coming?"

She was right, the sun was almost done setting.

"No." I said as I continued punching the bag. "I'm going to skip that, too."

"Oh, okay then." She said. "Well, good night then."

"Yeah." I said as she walked out of the Training Arena.

I kept working the bag for maybe another half an hour and I finally reached the point where I was exhausted. So, I decided to quit for the night. I gathered up my weapons and walked back to Cabin Three. Once I got back, I unstrapped the Ace bandages from my hands and put them on one of the side tables. I walked over to my weapon rack and deposited my bow, quiver of arrows and my spare dagger.

Once I had done that I walked into the cabin's bathroom and turned on the shower, before stripping off my clothes. I was really tense from the workout and I wanted a relaxing hot shower before bed.

Thirty Minutes Later

After a half hour long steamy, relaxing shower, I finally turned off the water and stepped out. I willed myself to be dry and then put on a pair of boxers, as well as a pair of basketball shorts. I stepped out of the bathroom and back into the main cabin. I shut the lights off in the bathroom and walked over to my bed.

I had decided to call lights out early. Well, the lights were already out, not that it matters. I dropped Riptide, in its pen form, onto my nightstand. I fell face first onto my bed and put my head into the pillow. I just wanted to fall asleep quickly. I knew that she'd be waiting for me in my dreams.

But then, it hit me. I lifted my head off of the pillow, as I sensed something familiar in the room. That's when it dawned on me that I wasn't alone in the cabin. I grabbed Riptide and uncapped it, allowing it to grow into full sword form as I jumped up and off the bed. I looked across the room where I saw her.

I knew who it was. I could see her blonde hair, curled like a princess's, illuminated by the moonlight coming in through the window. She sat in a chair across the room, staring at me with her legs crossed over each other.

"Annabeth." I said at last.

I could see her smile in the moonlight.

"Hey, Percy." She said in casual tone. "Long time no see."

Author's Note:

* So, what do you think? The actual plot will be revealed over the next few chapters. I hope that you enjoyed!

* Anything I left out in this chapter will likely be mentioned/explained next chapter. Anyway, please follow and favorite the story if you enjoyed it. If you want to submit input, consider posting a review maybe? Anyway, I'm going to though, so have a great day and bye.

Next Chapter: Percy and Annabeth reunite after five years. Mr. D assigns the two to a special mission.