Annabeth ran. She ran and ran and ran until her lungs were breathing air in short rasps and her legs were too weak to stand and her arms were taut and strained. It was all she was good at, running. It took her mind off her problems that whirled around her brain so much that she would sometimes scream Just Shut Up aloud and receive troubled and uneasy looks. Sometimes, people would sometimes go so far to send her outright disturbed or dirty looks. It really depended on what part of the town she was in.

Annabeth didn't know where she was at the moment. When she ran, her mind shut down everything besides the signal to her nerves and the compass inside her head. Running took her mind off of things but it also brought her to places she never knew existed. Places that somehow fit her mood perfectly.

Once she looked around, Annabeth realized that she stood half a mile away from an old abandoned factory and a rickety bridge that only the insane or borderline crazy people would walk on, let alone drive.

But as the blond protagonist jogged the rest of the mile and half, she didn't seem to care. According to the whispers, she was already borderline crazy and getting ready to take the plunge down Insanity River.

The thing about Annabeth though, was that she didn't think that. No, she wasn't about to take the plunge down that river. She already had. And now was being taken by hundreds of strong currents that splashed over her, pushed her to the bottom where the sand was thick and red, and made her lungs burn and beg for air.

Annabeth stood at the front of the bridge. She watched the river flow by in thick wicked waves. Watched as the pebbles, stones, buckets and pieces of garbage flew with the speeding river. Some floated above while the unlucky ones were pushed down to the blood-red coated sand. She labeled the two sides; the left side, where the river water was rushing from, was borderline crazy and the right being certified insane. She imagined herself being taken by the right and joining the unlucky pieces that were shoved to the bottom. She didn't find the difference between herself and those pieces of garbage so why not join them?

The bridge looked like it was made by rotten wood and rusted metal. Each side was metal triangle slapped on metal triangle which, eventually, made it to the top where wooden pieces were made into something that resembled a sidewalk. Once upon a time, Annabeth suspected it would've had a boardwalk look to it but now wooden rectangles were broken off from the middle, end and sides.

Annabeth began walking to the middle, looking like she didn't have a care in the world and that the bridge wasn't almost one small catastrophe away from crumbling down. She stood for a moment before turning to the right, sitting down and swinging her legs back and forth vertically.

And then the problems started. First in her mind, where as much as she tried, they didn't go away; they dipped and twirled and swirled, creating a tango of words that she couldn't write down because she was dyslexic. They felt the constant need to remind her about the bullshit that people tended to spurt about her and that her life was far from perfect.

It wasn't what people tended to call imperfectly perfect either. No, it was just flat-out imperfect and skyrocketing to erroneous. It was difficult and far harder than having a killer cramp. It was something that made you question life in general. And karma.

And that's what Annabeth did. She sat on that rickety old bridge for God knows how long and contemplated. She contemplated about her mother, her father, her two baby brothers, her guardian (which also so happened to be her aunt) and the stars. The stars that had started to come out and decided to shine bright this summer night. Annabeth gently lay back and contemplated the stars. She never really liked stars but that night there was something peculiar about this one star that outshone the others.

After staring at that star for a good few minutes, Annabeth stood up to get a better look—though she doubted a meter and nine inches (give or take a few) would change the size of the star. It didn't.

Without realizing, Annabeth was moving closer and closer to the edge of the bridge hopelessly trying—and failing—to get a better look at the star that was reeling her in.

But then a voice stopped her. It was a beautiful voice, she thought. It was loud right now, in order for Annabeth to hear over the roar of the waves, and held a desperate touch. And so the voice yelled, "Hey, what do you think you're doing? Are you crazy? Move away from the edge! Are you trying to kill yourself?"

Annabeth immediately jumped back out of reflex. "Oh thank Gods for that," the voice said, followed by a sigh of relief.

Annabeth didn't know why that voice sounded so worried. She didn't turn around yet, but by the husky edge it held, she was pretty sure it was a boy.

"Come back here!" The voice demanded, "If you're not careful you're going to fall right through."

So, against the protests her mind held, Annabeth turned to face the boy. His face was lightened by the billions of stars in the sky so she could see how the ink black color of his hair contrasted with the vibrant green of his eyes that Annabeth could see three meters away. His soft pink lips fit nicely with his white skin and he was wearing a plaid shirt with dark jeans.

"What's your name?" Annabeth asked, her soft voice carrying over the storm like river. "I'm Annabeth."

The boy smiled nervously, "Percy's my name. You have a beautiful name, by the way."

Annabeth was shocked. No one had said that before. No one had bothered to. "Percy," she said, testing it out on her tongue. It rolled off effortlessly and sounded right. "Percy, is that your full name?"

Percy looked a little ashen by now, "Hey, why don't you come to the edge here and I'll answer, okay?"

Annabeth refused the urge to sigh because she knew it was too good to be true. There wasn't a single person on earth that would do something without asking for something in return. She turned back to watching the river.

And then there was silence. The slim girl wiped her sweaty hands down her dirty, ripped jeans and gulped down disappointment. She had thought he left and decided to watch the way the stars blind beauty reflected off the surface of the river. Well, that was until the bridge creaked under extra weight.

Annabeth whipped her head around and there stood Percy, a meter closer to Annabeth. "What are you doing?" Annabeth questioned in a tone that suggested he should go back to the beginning of the bridge.

"Aw, come on, meet me half way. You got to get away from the edge."

Curious to this, Annabeth asked, "Why?"

Percy looked appalled, "You're not actually trying to get yourself killed, right?"

"No," Annabeth replied, trailing off. At least she didn't think she was trying to do that.

"Then come a little closer."

Annabeth took three tentative steps towards him but then stayed put. They were now in hearing distance without Percy having to raise his voice.

Percy licked his lips, "I'm Perseus Jackson."

"Like the Greek Myth," Annabeth murmured.

Percy nodded, appearing to have heard her, "Like the Greek Myth."

"What are you…what are you doing here?" Percy asked.

"I ran here," Annabeth replied.

"From where?" Percy questioned, his curious side coming out.

"From Downtown," Annabeth replied quietly, her hand tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear.

"Downtown?" Percy repeated incredulously, "But…but why?"

"Annabeth shrugged, glancing up to see if her star was still there. Yes, her star. She found it first. "Because I wanted to run. Well, no actually. It was more like I needed to run."

And Percy had stared for the longest time after that, looking at her like she was under a microscope he was squinting through. "So you like to run, most likely cross-country," he finally said.

"I like to run," Annabeth conformed.

"Well, I like to swim," he then said, like he beat her at a game of something.

"And you can swim through that?" Annabeth asked, pointing to the river.

Percy looked down at the river and his eyes widened before he drew in a quick breath. "I hadn't noticed that," he shakily said.

Annabeth waited for an answer. She didn't know why but it felt important. When she didn't get one, she asked, "Well?"

"Huh?" he uttered, still staring at the river with a face that grew five shades paler than he was before.

"Can you swim in that river?" impatiently she asked.

Percy finally looked at her and slowly shook his head, "No."

Annabeth unconsciously took another step forward.

"Are you afraid?" Annabeth asked.

"What would I be afraid of?" Percy asked indignantly.

"Well since you can swim, you must be afraid of heights instead. We're pretty far up."

"Just don't…Hey, you wanna distract me? Come on, I need a distraction. Lay it on me."

"That one star is bothering me," Annabeth said and pointed to the bright one she had dubbed hers, not questioning the sudden need of his distraction.

Percy frowned and stared at the star, "Sure, this one's a little too bright but I like all stars, don't you? I mean, they're probably the only things that last forever."

Annabeth shrugged, "I don't fancy them. And they don't necessarily last forever. A star can die, you know. Everything can die."

"But the death of a star creates a new one. That one up there," Percy said pointing to her bright one, "It's probably so bright because so many stars wanted to be a part of it."

Annabeth suddenly wished she was that star.

"My favourite colour is blue," Percy continued, determined to keep the conversation going.

"Mine is gray," Annabeth hesitantly chimed in.

"Like your eyes," Percy said.

"Like my eyes," Annabeth confirmed.

"Say, what were you doing here anyway?" Percy asked.

"My compass brought me here," she replied, referring to the one in her mind and regretting it as soon as it came out of her mouth. How mortifying. He must think I'm insane.

But to her utter relief, Percy seemed to understand. Annabeth took another unconscious step closer so now only a meter separated them. She didn't know why she wanted Percy to think of her as totally sane (though she doubted she was doing a good job of it so far). It was a thought that was treading on confusing waters so she let it be, for now.

"I live with my mother," Percy said quietly, slowly taking a step closer. When he felt as though it was sturdy enough, he let his foot firmly lay in place and slowly brought the other foot beside his other.

And then he yelled. The wood beneath his feet gave out and he held on to the wood with three fingers while his body swung beneath him and the other arm hung at his side.

Annabeth screamed his name and ran toward him, suddenly frightened at the thought of losing a person who cared enough to start up conversation with her (a conversation to distract him, yes, but a conversation nonetheless).

His fingers started to slip but Annabeth managed to grab them. She held onto them and managed to pull him up high enough so that she slipped her hand into his. His face was scrunched up in a grimace and his stark white hand was as white as his face. He was shivering badly and seemed unable to stop but Annabeth kept on pulling him up until only half his body was left dangling.

With a few last tugs, Percy wasn't in danger of hanging any longer but Annabeth didn't stop there. She tugged and pulled until they were off the bridge and on the dead grass that was a meter away from the bridge's rickety entrance.

Percy couldn't stop shivering so Annabeth took of her ratty old sweater and laid it on him. "Hey, you're okay," she murmured, awkwardly patting him on his back. She was never good at condolences and was always the awkward girl telling people to look on the bright side.

"Can you sing?" Percy asked, his voice trembling. "I mean, can you sing for me?"

Annabeth quickly nodded—if questioned seriously, her talents would be running and singing but she never sang to people, never sang until today.

"A song by Ellie Goulding, do you know her?"

Not sending him a direct answer, Annabeth squeezed his hand and started to softly sing a chores of the only song she knew from that artist.

"I need your love

I need your time

When everything's wrong

You make it right

I feel so high

I come alive

I need to be free with you tonight

I need your love"

Humming the rest, Annabeth moved Percy's head to her lap and ran her hand through his hair (which she found was surprisingly soft).

When she ran out of lyrics Annabeth realized that Percy had stopped shivering. They stayed like that for a while; Percy's head in her lap and her hand continuously running through his hair while the other held her up.

"Perfection is part of the latter that broke off," Annabeth whispered, gazing at half of the crumbled bridge.

"Perfection is part of the latter that broke off," Percy repeated with his face tilted slightly towards the sky that looked to be painted with silver sparklers.

And there they lay until the beautiful colors of sunset were drawn on the sky that got lighter and they fell asleep; the brightest star in the sky fading last.

A/N

Hello Percy Jackson Fan World.

Three Notes: 1. THIS STORY WILL IS A SHORT STORY! It will (hopefully) be five chapters or less but each chapter will (also, hopefully) be 2,000 words or more.

2. THIS IS AN AU STORY! It will be a sad story with Percabeth and a touch of nostalgia.

3. When you edit a doc on FF and it underline a word in green and calls it a passive voice, yah can someone PLEASE kindly explain what that means? THANKS

Love all, May