[A/N] CAC takes place two years after the events of TLO. If you have not read TLO and do not wished to be severely spoiled, then please, read no further. Also, please keep in mind that the ending events of TLO have been slightly altered, in that, Percy Jackson actually accepted Zeus' offer to become an immortal. Instead of proposing to the Gods that they recognize and claim all their children—Percy Jackson became a God himself. The proposal never existed. And for arguments sake, lets pretend Annabeth and Percy are between the ages of seventeen and eighteen years old. I understand that technically Percy should still be frozen as a sixteen year old forever, and Annabeth would have aged to be between seventeen and eighteen—but that's not going to fly with me, and I'm a bit uncomfortable writing it that way. So, put on your imagination caps—and pretend! Okay? Enjoy.

I. Midnight Rendezvous

A soft, emerald light, danced across the ceiling of a bedroom he'd once been able to call home. In the still of the night, Percy Jackson quietly materialized, enveloped by four familiar, dinosaur-stenciled, blue walls. He was careful not to wake the rest of the old, sleepy apartment building, and out of pure nostalgia, climbed into bed.

"Home." He thought, closing his tired, weary eyes, "Home sweet home"

He was early, and still had a few moments to himself before his scheduled midnight-rendezvous with Nico would be taking place. Anxious and impatient, Percy pulled into view, a tattered, Yankee's ball cap, folding it possessively into his hands. It had been burning a hole right through the back pocket of his jeans—and the mere memory of it, straight through his chest.

"They don't have souls, like you and me." She'd told him once after he'd defeated the Minotaur, "You can dispel them for a while, maybe even for a lifetime if you're lucky. But they are primal forces. Eventually, they re-form." Despite the numerous blankets he'd tucked himself beneath, he shuddered at the horrific thought raging through his chest. It trickled slowly through his veins, consuming his entirety. Unlike the hundreds upon thousands of Monsters he'd sent flying back into the dark ages—they'd always come back. They'd always re-form. But if he lost Annabeth—because of something so beautiful and so pure as her soul, the fates would keep her from him for an immortals eternity.

"Immortal." He said, tasting and rolling the seemingly foreign word around and about his tongue. The very word he'd been using to describe himself, regrettably as, for the last two years—but, that too, had been his choice from the beginning. Flashes of hot, white light, sporadically filled the dark room. Heavy, silver droplets of rain, streamed over the rooms single window pane. Menacing thunder clapped overhead.

"Something must've happened on Olympus." Percy thought dryly, rolling into himself. He'd found the sudden storm to be rather soothing, and in that moment, he slipped away. He dreamt of her, of course. Soft-pink, wry smiles. Cascading, wavy, honey-blonde tresses. Blinding light shot out around her.

"Annabeth?"Percy stumbled now through an onyx-black field, hands outstretched, shielding the powerful rays ahead from view, "Is that you, Annabeth?"

Percy looked out into the darkness of the unknown around him. Nothing. Nothing for miles. But something was out there looking back at him, lurking away in the shadows, watching his every move—something evil was approaching. Percy turned back to Annabeth. The bright light that had been surrounding her dimmed. Percy lowered his arms, sprinting forward.

"Annabeth! We have to get out of here! Hurry, take my hand!" Percy shouted, holding out his right hand, and searching for Riptide with his left. Terror filled her wise, gray eyes. Hesitant, Annabeth stepped back.

"Annabeth? Annabeth—Trust me!" Percy yelled, frustrated, his heart pounding in his ears. The earth suddenly gave way. A fissure cracked open beneath her feet, and she sprung forward, staggering into Percy's arms.

"Percy?" It was Annabeth's voice for the first time since he'd finally found her, holding her tight against his chest.

"Annabeth?" He said, looking down at the crown of her golden head, relieved to have found her alive.

"Percy..." She said again, and Percy knew then that something had gone terribly wrong. Annabeth raised her head slowly. She had turned ashen-white in color, and was quickly withering away into a small pillar of gray ashe. And as her lips crumbled away from the rest of her disintegrating face, like a century old piece of parchment, she whispered, "Save me."

"Annabeth!" Percy cried out, crippling with anger. Percy shook the ashe away from his hands, and the soft, foreign touch—her touch, that still lingered deep within his now empty palm.

"Annabeth..." He whispered, torn in between a fabricated edge, discerning dream from what was reality. Tendrils of wispy, gray smoke coiled around his body, and even though he was now immortal, death's grip felt more than imminent. Pain, suffering, and grief consumed him.

"Am I interrupting something?" Nico said, falling back into a chair at the foot of the bed, exhausted, "I can come back if you'd like? Let you finish up your nap—or whatever freakish nightmare you were having." Percy's eyes snapped open, shaking the dreadful feeling that the son of Hades had always brought with him away, and shifted to his feet. It had been the same, reoccurring nightmare he'd been having for the last two weeks—and he'd spent every waking moment since then, trying to decipher it.

"No. I'm fine." Percy said, stashing the Yankee's cap back into his jean pocket, and away from view. "You're late by the way"

"The Underworld is in a different timezone, remember?" Nico replied pointedly, feeling cut short for his services. Lightning struck the sky, igniting the small room, momentarily painting the four walls around them with light. And for that brief interlude, Nico could see the anguish in Percy's eyes, feel the pain strangled behind his tight throat, and knew, he too, had been there before.

"Oh. Right." Said Percy, he could feel the pressure underneath Nico's microscopic lens. "Well. Did you find anything?" Percy finished, hopeful.

"I mean—this shit can linger forever, can't it? Not to mention it's a real party killer." Nico finished, swatting at the leftover smoke, seemingly annoyed, and attempting to unsuccessfully avoid the question all together, "It's no good with the ladies either, I might add. At first they're curious, and then they sort of—just run."

"Nico." Percy chided.

"Fine." Said Nico, shuffling his feet, and tugging nervously at his thumbs, "But you're not gonna like it"

"I can handle it." Percy said, trying to pull the unassuring lines from his face. "Just tell me. I can handle it." Percy repeated, desperate to convince himself, more so than Nico. Desperate. That's what he was. More than anything—he needed to know.

"Nothing." Nico said finally, on edge, waiting for the coming explosion.

"Wait. What do you mean nothing? You're sure? You checked everywhere?" Percy stood, relief setting in.

"High and low."

"The Asphodel Fields."

"Nothing."

"Persephone's Garden."

"Please." Said Nico, offended. "I can't even get in and out of there with a mere pomegranate without being spotted. Trust me. Annabeth's not there."

"The River Styx."

"Nope. Not there either."

"Fields of Elysium."

"I told you already. Nothing." Nico said frustrated, pulling himself up, curling his long, thin, milk-white fingertips over the foot of the bed, "She's isn't dead. Not yet at least."

"She's not dead." Percy chewed on that a bit.

"She's not dead." Percy tried them aloud. "Well, then, where in the hell is she? It means she's alive then, does it? She's out there alone somewhere, but I can't find her. I've looked everywhere. She must be in danger. I know she's fighting. She's fighting to stay alive, and she can't hide. Not without..." Percy gripped the ball cap behind his back, slowly turning to Nico. Anxiety crashed head-on into his chest, ripping the breath from his lungs.

Explosion.

"Shit! Dammit! Where the fuck is she!" Percy threw the now useless cap on the floor, angry with it—angrier than ever with Annabeth. He thought for sure it would lead him to her. He couldn't possibly understand. "Why'd she leave Camp? Why would she ever leave? Knowing what's out there." Percy said numbly, falling back onto the bed.

"Nobody stays at Camp forever, Percy. Maybe...maybe she felt like it was her time. We all gotta graduate sometime." Nico said carefully, reasonably.

"If she's not in the Underworld then I can still—

"You can still do nothing." Nico interrupted. "You can't interfere in the lives of mortals or half-bloods. That's what Annabeth is, Percy—a half-blood. We shouldn't even be here. You shouldn't be doing this." Nico finished. He stared out the window, frustrated, unable to look into Percy's eyes , and tell him what he most wanted to hear. The truth. The truth was, that it was all Percy's damn fault, and he needed to hear it from someone other than himself.

"Nico. You don't understand. I have to find her. I can protect her." Percy pleaded.

"Well, you should've thought about that before you became a God, Percy Jackson." Nico lectured, turning to look Percy dead in the eyes. Animosity thick between them.

"That day. After the war. My decision—That's more complicated than you would like to believe, Nico." Percy replied, tersely.

"Oh, right. Lemme guess, Zeus offers you immortality on a silver plate, next to Daddy on the great and wonderful table of the Gods. Right. Complicated." Thunder raged among the skies, and Percy was certain Zeus had overheard them.

"I'd watch your little half-blood tongue, then." Percy warned.

"You were one too once. Before you abandoned us. Tell me, Percy. Did you even glance back? Did you even glance back at us before you made your complicated decision. Could you even look at Annabeth?" Nico pushed. He'd been suppressing the rage he felt toward Percy. He remembered a time where they'd once been closer than two brothers, and now, how he'd thrown it all away.

"I did." Percy said quietly, almost embarrassed. "I looked back for Annabeth. I glanced back for her...but she had already gone."

"Good. Then she got out while she could." The moment he said it, Nico instantly regretted it. And not because two large, muscled hands were pinning him into the wall.

"Take that back!" Percy said at once through gritted teeth. Nico dissolved into a pillar of black smoke behind him, unable to keep the smirk from creeping onto his thin, cold, purple lips.

"It's good to see a human reaction from you every now and again—but killing me wont help you find Annabeth." Nico shrugged the wrinkles from his black, skull t-shirt, and stepped forward.

"I wouldn't kill you, Nico. But you sure as hell have a good way of knowing where to push my buttons," said Percy, leaning against the wall himself. "But I need to find her Nico. If I could take it all back I would. If anything, I need her to know that."

"I'll help you, you know that. Annabeth was like a sister to me. Hades, even Bianca's worried." Nico said thoughtfully.

"Bianca?" Percy said taken back, baffled.

"Yea, I'm actually in the Underworld more than any living person would care to admit." Nico began darkly, "Bianca's worried too about Annabeth, and I'm sure she wouldn't just let me sit back and watch without doing anything."

"Thank you." Percy sighed, relieved, sliding on his back to the floor.

"But I need to know—for my own endeavors—just one thing."

"Anything?" Percy agreed.

"Why? Why'd you do it? The whole God complex?" Nico asked curiously. Percy nodded, and Nico leaned forward—closer to hear him speak.

"After the war with Kronos—after all the lives lost. I knew it wouldn't be the end. Luke did what he did because he felt abandoned by the Gods—his own father. I knew they would never change, and that someday it would just happen again. I thought that when the Gods abandoned you all again—I wouldn't. I would still be there to protect the future generations of half-bloods, but..." Percy swallowed, coming up short.

"But you forgot." Nico said quietly, wrapping their short story up, "And while you were under the sea—bonding--the Gods had forgotten their saviors once more. You'd forgotten us—you'd forgotten Annabeth"

"I didn't mean to. I got so caught up. Getting to know my dad. Catching up on everything I'd missed. I never meant to forget. I took it all for granted." Percy said, sadly enough, holding onto his chest—willing his heart to stop beating.

"Maybe Annabeth doesn't want to be found." Nico said, staring at the crumpled hat across the room, "She's a half-blood, remember? Hiding's what we're best at."

"She would never leave that. It was a gift to her from her mother—Athena. The only reason for her to leave that behind is so that she can be found. She wants me to find her—I can just feel it." Percy imagined Annabeth on a cold, dark street, fighting off attacks, and doing her best to blend into a society that had turned its back against her, "I'll find her. I have to. I'll do whatever it take to keep her safe. I must."

"I guess I'll get back to work then." Said Nico, strangling a small smile.

"Thank you." Said Percy, but Nico had already dissolved into a chain of dark smoke. Percy looked around the room, and pulled himself up to stand, swiping at the air and said, "He has gotta stop doing that."

Muffled Footsteps scratched down the hall, closing in on the door. Percy knew, he too, had overstayed his welcome. "Percy?" Fingertips lightly tapped against the door, "Percy, is it really you?" Sally Jackson choked back the tears. She hadn't seen her son in the two years since he'd chosen to become an immortal.

"I've missed you Percy. I really have, and I know the rule about not interfering with mortals or other half-bloods, but I want you to know one thing. This will always be your home. This will always be your room. And I will always love you. That will never change."

"Mom." Percy thought. Just one of the many important people he'd thrown away in a moments split decision. He wanted to throw the door open and hug her with the human strength he remembered he'd once had—but he could never stay. He leaned down, dusting the crumpled Yankees cap off, and shoved it back into his pocket.

"I'll make things right." He thought. "I don't know how, but I will—and I'll start with finding Annabeth." As the door creaked open, Sally Jackson peered in, and caught the glint of a small, jade-green light disappearing from view. The room was empty.

[A/N] Ta-DAH! So I'm finally done with the first chappie! I haven't written any fanfictions in a while, so I know it's not the best, but I promise future chapters will be better! With more badass Annabeth please! LOL! So have fun reviewing, and if you're going to tell me it sucked then at least tell me why? I'm really good with constructive criticism. So, just telling me it sucked isn't going to help me at all with my writing. THNX for reading!