Swan Song

Chapter I: He dies, she stays.

Disclaimer: Rick Riordan owns the rights to the Percy Jackson series.

"You're bleeding!"

Annabeth's eyes widened in horror as she watched her boyfriend, Percy Jackson, slice through the last monster— a dracaena. With a hiss of surprise, the half-snake, half-human creature exploded into dust.

The two demigods had been ambushed by a hoard of monsters in an abandoned gas station, where they had stopped for the night on their way back from Camp Jupiter to Camp Half-Blood. It hadn't been an easy fight, they must've battled at least a dozen different types of monsters. Annabeth felt exhausted from the effort; they had been driving for twenty hours straight when they decided it would be better to stop somewhere and rest for a bit. That's how they'd found the gas station.

Percy frowned at his girlfriend, then looked down at his abdomen. True to Annabeth's words, he was indeed bleeding. His orange T-shirt was torn and soaked in dark red blood, right above his left hip.

Oh was all Percy could mutter before his knees buckled and he collapsed on the cold tiled floor.

"Percy!" Annabeth screamed and rushed to his side.

She knelt down beside him, then raised his head up on her lap. Percy's eyes fluttered. He saw the daughter of Athena desperately searching for something in her backpack.

"For Hades' sake, where is it?"

She looked angry, jaw clenched and body tense as she fiddled through the insides of the backpack. "Ah, found it!"

With a shaky hand, she unwrapped the napkin around the ambrosia and picked one tablet, bringing it to Percy's mouth. The latter's breathing was ragged. Beads of sweat were rolling down his forehead. His hand was pressing on the wound, though blood was still gushing out, dripping onto the floor.

Annabeth pressed the ambrosia against Percy's lips. "C'mon, Seaweed Brain, y-you've got to eat this." Her voice was broken, you could tell she was on the verge of crying, but she tried to keep it cool for his sake.

Percy obliged. He ate the small tablet, even though he knew it was pointless.

"Ann—" he choked. The irony taste of blood filled his mouth.

"Shh," Annabeth croaked, as if someone was strangling her. Tears had welled up in her eyes and were running down her flushed cheeks. "I'll g-get water," she sobbed. "I'll get you w-water and, and y-you'll heal."

Percy's heart clenched. "N-no," he managed, voice hoarse. "Please, s-stay with—" He coughed again. "Stay with m-me."

This time she couldn't contain herself. She let out a sob. Hearing her in so much pain made Percy's gut churn. He couldn't bear hearing his girlfriend crying for him like that. The wound didn't hurt. Anymore. It was numb. He couldn't feel, nor move his legs. His arms were sore and his lungs felt as if they were melting. But it was alright. He couldn't think about himself, not when Annabeth was blubbering like that. With his last powers, the son of Poseidon willed his arms up, cupping Annabeth's face in his hands.

She opened her eyes. They were red and glistening with tears.

"P-percy, p-please," she let out a sob. "Please, we n-need to get back to c-camp."

He stroked her cheeks, wiping the tears away.

"I know," he whispered weakly, then brought his arms back down, not having anymore power to keep them up. "P-please, Wise Girl, d-don't cry."

Annabeth whimpered again, then choked a broken laugh. "Okay, I-I won't. But y-you have t-to p-promise... Promise me, Percy! Promise that you w-won't go..."

A faint, sad smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. He nodded weakly.

She cradled his head in her lap and started stroking his hair. Percy sucked in a breath. It was getting harder with every second to do that— an action so simple, so natural that you never even think about it, about how important that little action is in fact.

It felt like drowning, Percy thought. Technically, his lungs were getting filled up with his own blood so, in a way, he was drowning. And also loosing lots of blood. He knew what was coming, he could sense it. His vision had specks of white and was getting blurrier with every moment. His whole body felt tired. He felt so tired. All he wanted to do was close his eyes and sleep for a while. Sleep sounded so good. So good...

"Percy!"

Annabeth's voice rang through him like electricity through metal. His eyes shot open. He hadn't even realized he had closed them.

"Y-yeah," he croaked. "I'm— I'm here, b-but I think..." he swallowed thickly, "My eyes are so tired, I'll f-fall asleep."

Annabeth's lower lip quivered and she clasped a hand over her mouth, muffling a cry. Her eyes were tightly shut, though tears were still falling.

One landed on Percy's lip. He licked it, tasting the saltiness of the droplet.

Clearing his throat, he tried to speak without stuttering.

"Annabeth, I'm dying. There's nothing you can do about it."

She continued sobbing.

He continued talking.

"I knew this day would come... sooner or later. I didn't expect it to be this soon though, but—" he coughed up some more blood, "but here we are. I want you t-to promise me something..."

Blinking slowly, his eyelids heavier than ever, Percy glanced at his girlfriend. She looked down at him and sniffed, then nodded shortly.

"Ok—okay," she gasped between sobs.

"Promise me that y-you won't blame yourself f-for this, ple—please. And... and I want you to b-be happy, p-please Annabeth, promise."

As if hot iron was being pushed down her throat, the daughter of Athena found she couldn't speak.

"Mhm," was all she managed.

Percy let out a sigh of relief. His eyes had closed shut, he didn't have the strength to keep them open anymore.

Annabeth's body was trembling. One hand was keeping Percy's head in place, while the other was gripping the sleeve of his T-shirt. She watched as the boy struggled for one last breath, then felt his body go slack.

"I love you," she whispered, then broke into uncontrollable sobbing.

She screamed and whimpered, shaking as she cradled his head to her heart, kissing his forehead and pressing her hot cheek against his cold one.

"NO," she yelled, looking up. "PLEASE, GODS, PLEASE! WHOEVER IS LISTENING , YOU HAVE TO BRING HIM BACK!" Her voice cracked as she wailed. "You have to bring him back..." She whispered and tightened her grip around the dead demigod.

It wasn't fair, she was thinking. Percy wasn't supposed to die like that. He died for nothing. Not in battle. Not protecting someone. He died like a regular demigod, at the hands of a regular monster. He didn't die a hero.

He didn't die a hero...

Thank you for reading! If you liked this, a review would be very, very appreciated.

This was supposed to be a one-shot, but I think I'll turn it into a series of one-shots, each of them showing people's reactions to Percy's death.