Given to Fly (PJ/MR Crossover)

Book 1: Chapter I

A/N: Heyo! This is a Percy Jackson/Maximum Ride crossover. It takes place after Blood of Olympus and MAX. Enjoy the story! Oh, and don't be shy; I'd love to hear all your thoughts and opinions.

DISCLAIMER: If I owned the rights to Percy Jackson and/or Maximum Ride, this wouldn't be fanfiction. ;)

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BOOK 1 : THE FLIGHT

Flight: (noun) the ability to fly; also
the act of running away

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Annabeth

We were on a date when it happened. I remembered the day perfectly; it was seared into my mind, taunting me endlessly with everything that I could have done differently - how I could have saved him. Everything we went through and then this happened. Sometimes, I felt as if the Fates had some sort of personal vendetta against us, or maybe we were just the old hags' best source of entertainment. Whatever the reason, I'd been getting really pissed off at whatever force was keeping us from our happily ever after (because the gods knew we deserved it, a hundred times over).

It was Winter Break, the year anniversary of Percy's kidnapping (in hindsight, maybe there was some irony in this particular date), so to celebrate being together and surviving yet another war, Percy and I had decided to go out for some pizza and then to the movies like normal kids our age did. Of course, maybe after so many years of being a demigod, I should have known better than to expect normal, that would always end up jinxing it.

We made it through dinner (one large pepperoni pizza with extra olives) before a monster decided to interrupt our date. My boyfriend and I had been walking through downtown San Francisco (we'd decided to visit Camp Jupiter and my family before the holidays) and had gotten through an alleyway - Percy insisted that it was a shortcut - when we heard a familiar growl. Beside me, Percy had already uncapped Riptide and turned around. I grasped for the drakon-bone sword on my belt, then remembered that I had left it at my dad's because my step-mom had convinced me that bringing a sword on a date was not "the proper etiquette" and would be "very noticeable" even with the Mist. Now I cursed my stupidity as I was left with only a small bronze dagger that I had stowed away in my boot.

Just as I pulled the blade out of my shoe, my eyes caught sight of the monster. It was a hulking hellhound - easily one of the biggest I'd ever seen, dwarfing a one-story building - running towards us alarmingly fast. Taking a deep breath, my mind went into high gear coming up with a plan to take down the beast. I quickly took in our surroundings. We were at one end of a long, fairly vacant alley about a block away from the small pizza place we had just left and four blocks from the theatre. Percy was standing two feet in front of me, putting himself between me and the approaching black hound (being the Seaweed Brain that he was). I then zeroed in on something over Percy's shoulder, and an idea formed in my head.

"Keep it occupied, I have a plan," I rushed out before reaching into my back pocket, slipping on my trusty Yankees cap, and high-tailing it to the fire escape. The ladder was eight feet above the ground, but I managed to jump and grab ahold of the last rung, pulling myself the rest of the way up (and thanking the gods for all those lava wall climbing lessons at camp). After climbing to the top of the two-story fire escape, I finally allowed myself to look down at my boyfriend.