Previously:
"Don't give up hope, Percy, please." Lynn pleaded. "You have to trust me. We can do this."

"No, Lynn—"

"Nymph! You're needed in the med bay! The prisoner can wait. Those fighting for Pontus are more important!"

"Just hold on, Percy." Lynn said as she gathered her supplies and left.

"Well, Styx." Percy muttered into the black dark of his cell.

Annabeth stared as blood reddened the water coming out of Percy's cell. There was so much. Or maybe it just appeared that way. More likely he's lost too much blood. That could be a problem.

"General Chase?"

Annabeth shook herself out of her thoughts. She turned to see Lynn, the naiad assigned to care for Percy's wounds from his sessions with his visitors, standing with her head bowed. "Report."

"Per—" she cleared her throat. "The prisoner's wounds are very severe this time. If he were to sustain much more, he won't be completely healed by Lord Pontus' deadline."

"Is it safe to move him?" Annabeth asked.

Lynne thought about it. "Not very far, but yes."

"Thank you." Annabeth dismissed her. Once the nymph left, Annabeth turned to a cyclopes guard at the end of the hallway. "Get a fresh cell ready." She said. "But do not move him yet."

"Why move him at all?" A new, familiar voice asked.

Annabeth bowed. "Lord Pontus." She greeted. "The fresh sea water will help him heal faster. If his wounds are that bad, we should give his body more chances to heal itself. Does he need to be completely healed?"

Pontus pressed his lips together in thought. "Hmmm, yes, it would be best for the ritual. We have some leeway but not much."

Annabeth nodded, shifting her position. She was anxious to go somewhere, though she didn't know where. "Anything else I can help prepare?"

Pontus smiled, an oily, snake-like smile. "No. This is the last thing. Go. Train, relax. Whatever you do in your free time."

Annabeth bowed again and swam away. She had a lot on her mind. Training would help sort through her thoughts.

            —-        —-        —-

The training room was almost empty. The only other one in there was Kronos.

"Ah. Annabeth Chase." He said smoothly as he paused his deadly routine with his scythe to see who came in. "Now General."

"Lord Kronos."

"Tell me. Do you always cause the sacrifices of those close to you to become pointless?" Kronos leaned on the long staff of his weapon. "Or have you finally seen sense?"

"Which ever one you want to believe." Annabeth said, toneless as she walked put to a dummy. Letting his words get to her was not an option. She'd managed to evade alone time with this particular Titan so far, but apparently, her luck had run out.

Kronos eyed her carefully. "What made you decide to side with Pontus?"

Annabeth knew her usual answer about building a different world would not be enough for the Titan of Time. He'd offered the same thing at one point through Luke. "I'm tired." She went with simple but still true. "Tired of quests, of fighting. Pontus promised this would be the end. A war to end all wars."

Kronos, a master of deceit, would be hard pressed to find any lie in her words. And yet, he still hesitated. Though in the end, he accepted her words.

"Would you like to see how you fare against me now?"

Everyone had.

            —-        —-        —-

"I just need some space, Percy, please?" Annabeth said, frustrated. "I don't need you looking out for me so much. In fact, it would be better if you didn't."

"You don't like me watching out for my girlfriend?" He asked, almost wounded.

"Of course—" Annabeth sighed. "Of course not." She said, calmer. "You know what I mean. You could get hurt."

"That's going to happen anyways. Remember the prophecy?"

"I wish I didn't." Annabeth grumbled.

"So why do you need to start pulling away now?" Percy continued. "You don't leave for a while yet. Let us all get some more good memories before—" he couldn't finish his thought, choking on the emotion suddenly showing on his face.

"Before I leave." Annabeth finished for him softly. "And betray you, and the entire camp."

"Don't say that." Percy cupped her face in his hands. "You are saving them."

"They won't see it that way." Annabeth reminded him. "Not for a long time."

"Doesn't change the fact that it's true."

"They need to believe the lie, Percy. You know that." Annabeth said, pulling them back on track. "They can't do that if I don't start pulling away now. They'll be able to think back on this time and realize how obvious it was in hindsight that I'd changed much sooner than they thought."

"You haven't changed." Percy muttered. "You won't."

"It's inevitable." Annabeth said. "So much time spent pretending to be someone else will inevitably cause you to take on traits of that person. It will happen. You need to face this."

Percy said nothing as his forehead came to touch hers. They sat like that on Percy's bed for an unknown amount of time. Taking in each other's scent, their feel, touch... It would be a long time before they could do this again.

"We should probably stop meeting like this." Annabeth breathed. "Someone is bound to find out. And then it would all be pointless."

"Yeah." Percy's voice broke. He didn't say anything else. There wasn't anything to say. And yet, a million things ran through his mind. Not one of them nearly enough to express his thoughts.

"I love you."

            —-        —-        —-

"And what if something goes wrong? How am I going to help you?"

"You can't Percy. That's the point. It needs to be believable."

"I still think I should be the one to go." Percy grumbled, hands stuffed in his pants pockets, shoulders slumped. He stood at the fountain in his cabin, looking in the water.

"It's better if you stay here, Percy. You're a better defense and morale booster than I could ever be."

"Stop saying things like that, Wise Girl." Percy turned and took her hands in his. "You grew up here more than I did. If anything, you'd be the bigger morale booster."

Annabeth smiled. It was sweet of him to think that. The truth was that he was much better at making friends than he thought he was. He could be on an island by himself and he'd somehow make himself a friend. Like in Castaway.

"So if I need you to pay attention to something I say, what will we do?" Annabeth asked, getting them back to the original topic.

Percy sighed, letting the subject drop for now. "Go at me on my right. You know it's my best defended side. If you land a hit, I'll know you need my attention."

"The same spot?"

Percy nodded. "How will we know we understand what we're saying to each other?"

Annabeth tapped her finger against Percy's hand, still in hers. "Say the words, 'same page' somewhere."

"What about 'message received'?"

"Only if it fits the situation. 'Same page' is more likely to make sense in a variety of situations." Annabeth said.

"As much as this is helpful—this planning—it won't be helpful if we don't know when we've gotten the whole story. How will we know all of Pontus' plans have been revealed?" Percy asked.

"Every opponent we've faced have revealed their plans sooner or later." Annabeth said. "It's only a matter of time."

"Right. The evil monologue."

Annabeth smirked. "Exactly."

"How do we get him to do that?" Percy asked. He perched on the edge of his desk, pulling her with him.

"'One to capture and one to secret hold'" Annabeth quoted.

Percy grimaced. "I hate that line."

"We'll use the fact that you'll eventually get captured to our advantage. Use your gift of blab." Annabeth said with a smile.

"And then?"

"And then I get you out."