This story is a bit different from my others. I don't want all of my stories to be the same and become repetitive, so I tried out this. I hope you like this!
Percy sat in his cabin, thinking about his friends that have long since passed.
Recently, he hadn't had the time to reminisce with Gaea rising, but now that the dust has cleared and everyone had settled again, he has finally gotten a chance to think.
Everything had passed so quickly. Friends had come and gone in the blink of an eye, and Percy had never gotten to say goodbye. The worst part was that they were good people, some of the best he had ever met.
It's always the brightest who burn out the soonest. Percy thought dejectedly.
Then, Percy spotted a box under his bed. It was peeking out just enough so that he could see it.
Percy had a pretty good idea about what was in it, so he grabbed the box and examined its contents.
In it, was pictures. Pictures of every moment in Percy's life. There were pictures of Percy when he was little, pictures of him after his first quest, and even ones that didn't include him.
Some of the pictures were old, worn, and fading. These were the pictures that friends had carried around for years, sometimes it was the only way to remember friends or loved ones. Others were taken more recently, the majority being taken by his mother. Sometimes Annabeth took the picture, knowing that he liked to keep pictures as mementos. They were still new, vibrant, and were only worn at the edges.
Percy ended up with people's pictures when they died or when they had no use for them anymore. On a rare occasion he'd find a picture on the ground, and he would put it in his box with the others.
He grabbed a stack of pictures randomly and sifted through each one. The first one was of the seven. They were all standing together at the top of Half- Blood Hill, and were posing for the camera. The second picture with similar, but this time they were all making goofy faces.
Percy smiled happily, and remembered the day those were taken. Coincidently, the pictures were for a scrapbook, and were forced. That didn't mean they hadn't had a great time.
This continued stack by stack, picture by picture, until he got to the older ones.
He stopped when he saw a picture of Beckendorf and Silena staring up at him.
It had been taken a few days before Beckendorf left to go blow up the Princess Andromeda. They looked so happy. Their eyes were still shining and their smiles were still bright, like they refused to be affected by the upcoming battle.
A flood of memories long suppressed by time and war came rushing back. Percy recalled Beckendorf looking at Silena's picture, the ship blowing up, and Silena revealing that she was the spy.
The stack of photographs fell from his hands and tears dropped onto the floor. He stared at the pictures of people's faces that he never saw anymore. The faces he saw were happy, frozen in time, laughs and smiles coming out in a moment of joy.
The guilt weighed in his stomach like lead. Percy knew he couldn't save them all, but that fact didn't make it hurt any less.
Names crossed his mind like fleeting shadows. Names of the people- the friends- he had lost.
Bianca, Zoe, Castor, Lee, Beckendorf, Michael, Silena, Ethan, Lukeā¦
The names played on repeat, like a broken record.
He saw remnants of them everywhere. He saw pieces of Bianca in Nico and Zoe's stubbornness and fighting spirit in Thalia. He sometimes thought of Castor when he saw Pollux and he thought of Lee and Michael when he saw the Apollo Cabin. Everytime he passed the new cabins, he was reminded of how far Ethan and Luke were willing to go to make sure future demigods weren't treated as badly as they were.
Percy saw his friends everywhere. They were in photos, inside of hearts, and in memories.
For that reason, he knew that he would never be able to go down to the Underworld until the day he died. Going down there was hard enough already, but just being down there with the knowledge that the friends he couldn't save were less than a mile away would be to much. Hades, it was hard enough now.
Percy continued staring down at the photographs. Just seeing the old times, the good times, when they were alive and together brought a sad smile to his face.
He may never see them alive again, but maybe seeing his friends in death would be enough. Someday, he would see them again and tell them everything he's wanted to say.
Percy picked up a group shot of all the campers that had attended one summer. It was the summer just after Thalia had been released from her tree.
"I'm sorry you had to go in order for me to see how much you meant to everyone. You are the real heroes, my heroes. You were the ones who died saving lives. I wish I could tell you that." he whispered, running his fingers over the picture.
Percy sat there for a while, just sifting through pictures and recalling on old times. Only when he was bleary eyed and was fighting to stay awake did he put away the pictures and retire for the night.
Whether it was a coincidence or not, Percy's dreams were filled with reminiscing and reliving times with his fallen friends.
I hope you liked this! This was kind of a split second story, and like I said, it is different from my other stories. Please tell me how well I did and how I can improve for future stories.
