PeaceMaker

Annabeth flinched, her mind not recognizing the voice. She didn't want to turn around. 

"My Lady?" The voice called out again, it's hand tapping her shoulder. "My Lady, what are you doing here by yourself?"

Annabeth clenched her fist and shrugged his hand away. She was about to turn and run but she stopped when she realized who it was. She almost said his name out loud and instead did a deep bow to apologize multiple times. 

Antonio smiled. "It's ok, it's ok."

Annabeth gave another bow and was about to give another one when he grabbed her shoulders and held her up. 

"I said I'm ok," Antonio chuckled, his face spreading into a smile. His gray-blue eyes filled with amusement when she had started to bow. 

His eyes searched through the veil on her face to find Annabeth's eyes but she wasn't looking up at him, her eyes focused down when her shoulders relaxed and she let out a deep breath of air. 

He smiled. "I scared you there for a second didn't I?"

Annabeth's head bobbed furiously. She had thought she was done for. She was the one who had told the girls not to separate from whoever she was walking with and yet she got lost. She had hidden with others but as much as the events in the castle might be of royalty, there were other little events being acted out by loosely restrained Lords and Marquess. 

She thought she had gotten caught by the two groups of boys that had laid eyes on her. She was more than rejoiced that it was Antonio. 

"It is a bit scary to be in here at times, especially alone as a lady with no accompaniment," Antonio nodded, as he let go of Annabeth's shoulder and turned to the snack table. Annabeth's eyes trailed his movements. "A lot of things could have happened to you…"

Antonio turned to face Annabeth, she flinched and looked down. "Are you ok?"

Annabeth nodded. 

"Sigh… that's good then," Antonio grinned, running his hand through his black curly waves and gray-sh blue eyes lighting up. "We thought we had lost you…"

Annabeth's head looked up curiously, then narrowly avoided Antonio's gaze which seemed to crave looking into her eyes. 

"When we got to the table and realized you weren't with us, we were all sent into a panic and your two sisters seemed visibly worried, one almost moved to tears," Antonio chuckled nervously. He looked at the snack table and sighed, his tense shoulders relaxing. "I was worried something might have happened to you so I sent Falls to find you but then he didn't come back to the group and got pulled somewhere else."

Antonio turned to look at Annabeth, "Did he find you?"

Annabeth nodded. 

"That little- he could have spared us all the worry if he had just told us that he found you," Antonio groaned, his eyes shutting tightly in annoyance. He looked back up at Annabeth to continue explaining. "Then it got to a point where I had to go look for you myself, I also sent out Ciergo to find you. I'm hoping he doesn't get worried when he doesn't find you because I did first."

Annabeth smiled.

"He's probably going to almost break out into sweats," Antonio teased, "he's always been a soft man."

Annabeth turned away, stifling a laugh. 

"But anyway, I thought I saw your frame next to the table and recognized your dress so I came running here immediately. Thank god I found you," Antonio smiled. 

Annabeth nodded, bowing again to express her gratefulness. Antonio reached and caught her by the shoulder before she could bow again. "I swear, you must really like to bow do-"

He looked up at the same time as Annabeth and they locked eyes through the veil for a second before she stood up straight and looked away. 

Antonio's eyes followed the way her veil moved when she looked away. He had almost gotten a look at her face. He wanted to see it now, his curiosity brimming. He stopped trying when Annabeth stepped back to create some distance between each other. 

"Ah…" Antonio muttered as he snapped out of his curious gaze. "I'm sorry."

Annabeth shook her head to say it was ok. 

Antonio gave an apologetic smile, "Anyways, then it led to how we are now. I ended up spotting you here and came. I'm still a bit worried and curious though…"

Annabeth cocked her head to the side as if to ask. 'Curious about what?'

Antonio smiled, his smile holding a bit of concern in them. "Where did you go the whole time? We checked all of the snack tables multiple times and you were at none of them. Did you hide somewhere?" 

Annabeth nodded. 

"Can you show me where?" Antonio asked. 

Annabeth thought about it for a second before nodding. If the place cleared a bit, she was sure she would be able to spot it. 

"Ok then, you'll show me on our way back, right?" Antonio asked, picking up a chocolate from the table and popping it into his mouth.

Annabeth nodded. 

"Then let's go," Antonio grinned. "The socializing part of the meeting is almost over so the room will start clearing as people move down from the ballroom to the banquet room for the meeting of the king and the main events."

He turned to Annabeth. "If it was easy to get pulled away in the normal crowd, you'd be carried away when all of these people transition to the banquet room."

Annabeth stifled her laughter. Antonio noticed.

He smiled. "Let's go back now then," he suggested, "we need to make it to the group table and quick before they started to move."

He looked at the chocolate pile in her hand, "How quickly can you eat that?"

Annabeth turned around and stuffed them all in her mouth. She almost choked for a second, letting out a cough but she kept them in her mouth. Antonio patted her back when she coughed. He could tell from the cough alone that she probably had a good voice. 

Annabeth reached down to the table for napkins and wiped her fingers off the chocolate that smeared on her fingers. When she was done she turned back to him and nodded, a signal that she was ready to go. 

Antonio grinned, he wanted to see how she looked with the chocolates all pressed against her puffy cheeks. A puffy cheeks due to the abnormal amount of chocolates that sat in it. 

"You ready?" Antonio asked. 

Annabeth nodded her head.

"Ok then, stay close behind me," Antonio warned as he turned around. "Let's go."

They stepped into the crowd, weaving through the groups of people that were either talking to each other, or trying to walk past each other. It was a maze. 

Annabeth looked up. She couldn't see the frame of Antonio anymore. She stopped walking. She had gotten lost again. 

'What do I do now?' Annabeth pondered as she stood in the middle, looking around for him. She stopped after swinging her head for the fifth time. He was nowhere to be found. 'How am I going to find them? Do I have to join another group for the rest of the night?'

Annabeth's eyes lowered and anxiety washed over her. She hated being lost. She hated being lost in crowds. 

"What are you doing just standing there?!" A voice scolded her. 

Annabeth looked up to find Antonio looking down at her. 

"You were about to get lost! I said, follow me closely right? Why are you getting lost now?" Antonio continued anger and intense anxiousness on his face. 

He looked down at Annabeth. She didn't have a reaction. "I was worried I lost you again. I would really be killed if I couldn't find you. The moment a Lady steps into a group, it's the man's job to look after her," Antonio leaned into Annabeth, "Don't get lost again ok?"

Annabeth didn't like the tone he spoke to her in but she was more than happy to see him so she dealt with it. 

Antonio looked behind Annabeth. The group coming up behind her had dispersed. He had noticed her missing 4 seconds after she lost her way as he didn't smell the scent of her perfume close behind him. Thank god he made it to her on time. She would have gotten pulled away by a group entirely filled with boys. 

Antonio looked down at Annabeth with slight displeasure. He leaned away from her. He wanted to be mad at her. To scold her a bit more but he noticed her shoulder droop. She had heard enough.

Antonio sighed and stretched out his hand. "Let's go."

Annabeth looked down at his hand and back up to Antonio, her eyes making sure to stop as his neck before they saw his face. 

Antonio shook his hand impatiently. "We need to go."

Annabeth looked at his hand in confusion, unsure of what to do with it. 

Antonio sighed and walked forward, grabbing Annabeth's hand and tightly but gently wrapping his fingers around them.. He looked at Annabeth, "let's go."