PERCABETH FLUFF

Distract Me

A/N: Hey guys, it's been awhile again...

I had forgotten about this story for awhile and saw all the notifications and I thought, why not post another chapter from the drafts?

(I also apologise for probably a lot of incorrect references in earlier chapters)

Timeline: 1 year after the war with Gaea

ANNABETH POV

Everything hurt. My feet were tired from running, my arms and legs were experiencing a completely new level of soreness, and I wanted to collapse from fatigue. Thankfully, we all collectively agreed to call it a night - and get rest for tomorrow. I didn't want to be the one to stop us from going on, I will never allow myself to be weak. It was Percy who had made the call that everyone gets some sleep, but I'm not an idiot. We'd been walking through the caves, and in a moment of locked eyes, I know that he saw the exhaustion in mine. I'd normally be upset with him for halting the progress of our quest out of concern of my strength, but I'm so weary right now that I can't feel anything but thankful.

I know, however, that tomorrow is another day - and the quest's not over yet. The Greek half snake half woman, Echidna, was on some sort of revenge spree - kidnapping demigods and keeping them as hostages in undiscovered areas of the Drogarati caves in Greece, as we had found out from Rachel the Oracle that she had migrated there after conflict at the Arima caves. Her motives for these kidnappings are still unknown, but she has proved to be much more powerful than we had anticipated. Camp Half Blood had decided to send some of their most powerful demigods, and Percy, Frank, Leo and myself had accepted the quest. We had started this quest with a long day dodging the tourists at the entrance of the cave to find deeper passages, and have been met with a fair share of traumatising monsters that have kept us busy - who were all sent as defenses from Echidna.

The cave was dark and dangerous, and rocky spikes had been tumbling down from the ceiling all throughout the cave like daggers, and we had numerous near-death experiences today from barely avoiding the spikes piercing through our skulls. When we called for rest, Leo had set up a tent, which, according to him, was "scary-knife-cave-proof", and the best thing I could do was trust him.

The caves were about as comfortable as sleeping on cement, but somehow Frank was in the corner of the tent, sleeping soundly on his side as a brown bear - his snores rattling the little rocks around him. Leo has been sleeping with his back to him, using his fur for somewhat of a comfort, and Percy was opposite me, fidgeting around the floor with a thin blanket under him while he tried to find a comfortable position.

I pulled a scroll and a pen out of my backpack, and brought a lantern close as I unrolled the scroll. The soft glow from the lantern illuminated the map I had been trying to sketch of the cave and the tunnels that we had passed through. I drew more lines across the paper, trying to recall the paths we had took whilst running. The ink was nearing the end of the page. We had been down in these caves for days. Trying to find a way back out was beginning to look hopeless.

"Annabeth," I hear a murmur in front of me, and I look up to be met with Percy's concerned face. His eyebrows are scrunched together in that cute way they do when he's worried, and he's sitting up, leaning against the wall of the cave. "Come here, get some sleep," he said.

"Percy," I felt my voice crack, "How are we going to get out of here?"

He reaches over, taking my arm and gently pulls me towards him. I tuck myself into his side as he had scoots over to make space for me on the blanket. "We'll find a way out of this," he says, pressing a warm kiss to my forehead, "We always do."

"I'm really tired of this," I hear myself ranting, "I just want some peace. That's all I want. I want to finish a normal year of college, and get married one day, and we can have kids..."