Hands entwined, smiles nearly hidden by the night, Annabeth and Percy walked towards Cabin Three. No, no, no. It's not what you think. Annabeth wanted to spend as much time as possible with Percy this winter. This walk before the harpies came and announced curfew was the last time they'd be together for today. They didn't have these kind of moments. A lot. And that was because they were demigods.

If we weren't demigods, she sometimes pondered, would we even meet? She sure didn't want to find out the answer to that.

And, really. Annabeth wouldn't break the rules of camp just because she'd been constantly regarded as a heroine of Olympus and the gods and everyone else thought that she'd get her way around said rules. She'd love to prove them wrong.

"Tomorrow's going to be a big day, huh?" Percy grinned, squeezing her hands gently in his grasp. He leaned on the door of his cabin, a low bunker-like building resembling a shell.

"Peace, finally." Annabeth closed the distance between them and gave him a light peck on his right cheek. "And we'll be able to enjoy ourselves more in camp, catch up with everyone else. Maybe have a date while we're at it. A mortal, normal kind of date, I mean."

"The last time we had one..." Percy broke into a chuckle. She knew, even if Percy didn't vocalize it, he remembers the whole thing like it happened yesterday. Annabeth joined in his reverie, launching into some of their embarrassing moments. Their first date ruined by one of Hermes' trinkets. Well, an important trinket at that. The kiss on Mount St. Helens. Annabeth kicking the crap out of Percy's classmate in a burning gym. The zoo truck and Percy's fight with Ares.

Percy's gaze shifted to the sky. He smiled at it, a wistful kind of expression laced with content evident on his sparkling green irises. "Their deaths won't be in vain."

"We'll make sure that the new generation of demigods will remember them," Annabeth said, "honor their bravery and courage."

A confident grin graced Percy's face. "We definitely will. All the seasoned demigods. You. Me."

The conch horn sounded in the air.

"The harpies are coming," Percy murmured. "See you in the morning, Annabeth."

"Don't disappear in the middle of the night, alright?" Annabeth joked, ribbing him in a good-nature fashion.

"Ditto."

They shared one last kiss that night, before they made their way inside their cabins. Annabeth, however, lingered a little longer outside, just gazing at Percy's door, a smile on her face.

That was her mistake.

A cold body slammed into her and covered her mouth with a cloth. Annabeth thrashed, only that it proved useless against whoever her captor was- as sturdy as a tree, arms thick and full of well-developed muscle, his wide torso as cold as a gravestone. Chills spread on her back like wildfire, her skin crawling. Annabeth couldn't breathe much, and dizziness took over . . . It was from the smell . . .

Her consciousness plummeted to an abyss. Slowly, then all at once.