Hey, guys! Another story's up!

Percy: Am I in this one too?

Annabeth: Percy!

Me: *sigh* Yeah, you are, Percy. Now do the disclaimer.

Percy: All rights go to Uncle Rick, whoever that is. Except the OCs and the plot. Those belong to Read-Them-On.

Me: That's right! Now, read it on to find out my modern take on the Dionysus-Ariadne (prompt) story for the Camp Half-Blood forum that I'm a part of! Enjoy!

Myself Again

"I'm going to fail that damned subject!" The young man felt the scar on his face itch, as if it was fresh again.

"Dude, you're the exchange student. How can you fail?" His friend's eyes were wide with surprise and possible curiosity.

"It's fucking history, dude! And I dunno why, but the professor hates me! He told me himself that he was deliberately going to set the paper so difficult that I will fail, no matter what!"

A voice from behind the boys interrupted the heated cafeteria conversation:

"I can help."

"These are the ones? Are you sure?" his breath was so close to her face.

He thrusted a gloved hand towards her and with only a mere second's hesitation, she handed him the envelope which contained the answers to each and every question her father was going to put up in the history paper. Her hand flew over to her hair and she twirled them around her finger. Her mind nagged her, reminding her that it was not her usual behavior, but she pushed the notion aside. And then internally rolling her eyes at herself, she smiled, but the expression soon morphed into one of worry.

"I'm positive, Luke. Now go before someone sees you!"

His white teeth shined in the pitch black of the night.

"Thank you, Annabeth."

Within a moment, he was gone.

But not before planting a kiss on her cheek.

And her heart fluttered from then on, every single time she saw him.

"He knows?"

"I-I think he does. That other day he-"

"Forget it. My senior year is almost over and it's only a matter of a few days before we get the result and after that I'll be leaving Harvard for good. Then everything will be as it was before."

"Where will you go?"

"Home; to my mother. I promised her that I will return home after I graduated college."

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and opened them again.

"Take me with you."

His widened eyes confirmed that he was indeed shocked.

"Take you with me? But Annabeth you're only in your sophomor-"

She could hear the wind howl outside the shop, as if warning her of something.

"I know the risks, Luke, but I-I love you," she felt compelled to say that, but it didn't exactly feel right, "I've made my decision. My father will never let me be with you. Not after he finds out what I've done to help you. I will never be forgiven."

His hesitation was noticeable.

"Alright, then," he finally conceded, squeezing her hands in reassurance, "Meet me at the bus stand near your house at sharp six o'clock in the evening, exactly a week from today."

And when the time came, they ran away in the sunset, but she didn't seem to think of the truth: after the rosy hue of dusk, always comes the night.

The ringtone was starting to irritate her. But she couldn't just accept that she was defeated. She was Annabeth Chase; she didn't ever lose.

Her heart, though, seemed to have dropped in her stomach.

"Pick up, Luke, please! Pick up!" she pleaded as her eyes frantically searched for him or his car in the pandemonium of New York.

No one looked at her. No one knew that she was hurting from the inside.

She rummaged her duffel pack: only some spare clothes, a tad bit of money (she couldn't convince her heart to steal from her father), her personal care stuff and a half-eaten sandwich.

She dialed the number that she knew by heart again.

And it ringed and ringed and ringed but no one answered from the other side.

A part of her knew how the one she was madly in love with could abandon her so simply, in a city that she didn't know that well and had just visited once when she was eight years of age. It was like the Greek mythological tale she had read in her literature course: the story of Theseus and Ariadne. It had sort of a happy ending, at least for Ariadne. Theseus had returned to his home after leaving Ariadne on the island of Naxos to fend for herself, but her curse had him forgetting about his promise to his father, who killed himself thinking that his son was dead. But if she was Ariadne in this situation, then she knew no Dionysus was coming to help her. Well, she didn't even want to expect a savior. And she blamed it on the independent mind-set of her upbringing.

"What am I gonna do now?!" she frantically whispered to no one in particular.

She figured that she could technically call her dad and confess everything to him and apologize, but a sudden tug in her gut stopped her; her heart refused to make the call. The question 'what would he think of her?' scared her more than anything. Then there was another question, which probably tied with the former for the first position: what did he already think of her?

Her eyes scanned her surroundings once more but she saw nothing that could help her get out of the misery.

And then, her eyes landed on the bridge.

As she stood on the railing, balancing herself, she couldn't help but admire the beauty; it was past seven o'clock in the evening but the city was still as lively as ever. The ground had starrier lights than the sky did.

And while her mind was flooded with the many facts about the Manhattan Bridge (like its six thousand eight hundred fifty-five feet length)

The wind tousled her hair. Her palms sweated profusely. She closed her eyes and took in a lungful of salty air. The flow of the water was not too fast, not too slow, but she knew that the height will do the job.

"Fuck him," she found herself saying, "I hope his car crashes."

No one heard her as the words got carried away in the wind.

She took in a deep breath. If this was going to be the end, she was going to own it and do it the way that she wanted. Well, she had never imagined that her life would end this way, but hey, the situation was critical. And who knew, maybe in the heaven, she could be herself again - what she could have never been, being in a relationship with Luke Castellan, now that she thought about it.

She jumped.

And mid-fall, she realized that this definitely wasn't one of the best ideas she's ever had.

But now, it would be over. The probability of escaping a fall of more than three hundred feet was near zero.

Tears escaped her eyes and the next moment, she couldn't see anything.

"What is she doing?! She's gonna kill herself!"

Even as he muttered that to himself, he knew that she perhaps wished to kill herself. It seemed to be her own decision, after all.

Still, he couldn't see someone drowning and not help. And that quiz on the internet had revealed his 'fatal flaw' to be loyalty.

"I have to save her."

He dived in.

The first thing to cross Annabeth's mind when she woke up was: why is the heaven so white?

And when she managed to focus on her surroundings, her eyes widened.

She was in a hospital.

Soon, it all came back to her: Luke, her foolish betrayal to her father, her abandonment and finally the stupidest decision of her entire life.

She tried to sit up but failed.

"Hello? Is anyone here?" her voice sounded nothing like before; she must have hurt neck or something.

"You're awake!"

The sound came from somewhere besides her. She craned her neck (painfully) to find a jet-black haired boy about her age sitting on a couch, reading what seemed to be a marine magazine. His sea green eyes sparkled with self-appreciation.

She figured out that he had saved her and was happy that her at least her brain was working fine.

Then, due to her nature, she got reproachful at him.

"Are you mad?! You plunged in the water to save a complete stranger, risking your own life?!" she blurted out and the perplexity on his face was obvious.

She didn't think that he's reply to her in the way that he did:

"Are you mad? What were you thinking when you jumped off the bridge?!"

And she was the one left speechless.

They didn't get a chance to continue the conversation as the doctor rushed in to check on her and ushered him out.

And she didn't think that she'd see him again.

How wrong she was.

"I'm sorry," she found herself speaking and smiling at the same time, a feature that hadn't graced her face in a long time.

She had found herself face to face with the boy who had saved her . . . again. Even though she had yelled at him the last time, he met her days later outside the room when she got discharged. And this time, she had decided to show him a bit of gratitude.

"It's alright," he returned her smile, "I'm Percy Jackson, by the way."

"I'm Annabeth Chase."

"So, Annabeth, if you don't mind me asking," Percy said, as he walked at her pace (which was pretty slow due to the temporary crutches) to nowhere in particular, "but where are you gonna go now?"

This was a question that she had speculated about in all the free time she got in the hospital (which was pretty much all of the time), but had never gotten any real answers out of her thinking.

"I don't know."

She broke down.

When he offered her solace, she didn't pull away. Instead, she poured out her heart to him and he just listened.

And when he suggested her to stay at his home with him and his mother until she was ready to talk to her father, she didn't deny.

Things were finally going to get fixed up hopefully, for after the night, always comes another dawn full of sunshine.

"Catch me if you can!"

She laughed as she sprinted away from him and he chased her, all while mumbling how she had a head start. The snowflakes crunched under their feet as they dodged all the children and their half-built snowmen.

They were at a park near his house and were currently having fun playing in the snow.

Then suddenly, out of nowhere, a snowball came hurling towards her and in an attempt of ducking while running, she fell face first in the fluffy snow.

"Here," Percy came running towards her, his expression looking like he was trying hard not to laugh, "Take my hand."

She grumbled as she got on her feet and noticed that he hadn't let go of her gloved hand.

She inclined her head to look at him. He wasn't that much taller than her (well, she was quiet tall), but still had a few inches more.

His breaths were short and ragged, his hair disheveled as they usually were.

The next moment, his lips were on hers in a soft kiss and she reciprocated instantly.

"I love you, Annabeth."

He rested his forehead on hers and she sighed.

"I love you too, Percy."

And this time, she didn't feel obliged to say so; for him, it came to her naturally. As if she was herself again.

"I can't call him, Seaweed Brain!"

"You are one of the bravest persons I know, Wise Girl," his voice was firm, like the hold he had on her hands, "You need to call him. It has been ten months. Don't you think that you have worried him too much already?"

She wanted to disagree with him, but his point was too strong.

"I'll call him . . . Don't give me that smug look, Jackson."

The living room was silent for long five minutes as the couple gazed at each other with all the love they harbored just for their significant other.

The moment was broken by the sixteen years old teenager, who was minutes ago holding in her squeals.

"What happened next, Mom?"

"Well, as it turned out, Grandpa forgave me and I went to live with him again until we both completed college," Annabeth glanced at the young marine biologist, "And then your dad and I got married. He had an amazing friend circle which welcomed me in with open arms."

"Who are those friends, Dad?"

"Your auntie Piper, Hazel, Thalia, Calypso and Reyna and uncle Jason, Will, Nico, Frank and Leo were and are those 'amazing friends' she's talking about, Seashell," Percy laughed heartily, reminiscing all the fun moments the crew had shared, "Then a year and a half later, you were born, and after two more years, we had Liam and Leanne. The rest is history as you know it."

Sophia Jackson grinned at her parents.

Finally, after seven years of her parents telling her that she was way too young to hear the full story, her novel could come to an end.

As they lay down under the sheets that night, cuddling, a sudden thought occurred to the blonde lady:

"Seaweed Brain?"

"Yes, love?"

"Why did you save me that day?"

"I'm a great swimmer."

She rolled her eyes.

They fell into silence again, and this time, it was Percy who broke it.

"Hey, Wise Girl?"

"Yeah?"

"Why did you come to my mum's house with me that day?"

"Well, 'cause with you, I had a feeling that I could be myself again."

And done!

Annabeth: You made me attempt suicide?!

Me: Now come on, Annabeth, it was all for the plot to build up! Or you can go blame Mr. D!

Percy: I can do that!

Me: Lol, sure you can. Well, dear readers, I'm not feeling the love recently, so please REVIEW/FAVORITE/FOLLOW!