Soulmates.

Piper didn't believe in them, neither did Percy. Jason toyed with the idea of them, but he wasn't sure if they existed. Annabeth hated them. She didn't care if they existed or not because she hated them with all of her heart.

That was, until Thalia and Luke met for the first time.

It's funny how Luke was the actor that Piper claimed hung around her house a lot because he deemed Piper a "pretty cool chick" and Thalia was Jason's older sister who was the head of a club completely against soulmates.

Yet, when they first met, everything seemed to stop. Time slowed down. And the only thing anyone in the room was aware of was the fact that Thalia's everlasting silver aura (the one only the four friends could see) grew stronger and Luke's golden one (that they all had assumed they were imagining, because, come on, the guy's a really hot actor) joined it.

The circumstances they met in weren't exactly ideal either.

Piper and Annabeth were dared to pull a "Lady and the Tramp" and kiss while eating spaghetti (not like it was their first kiss anyway, Piper kissed Percy when they were five and Jason and Annabeth were dared to when they were eleven). Luke was snorting, Percy was poking Luke, and Jason was wearing his 'philosophical' face, which basically meant that he wore a constipated look on his face while thinking about why oranges were called oranges.

"Hey, Jase," Thalia muttered while walking into the living room. "I just found your-"

Time stopped as Luke and Thalia stared into each other's eyes.

"That's how we knew they were soulmates," Annabeth whispered to Jana, her 14 year old daughter.

"Where does dad fit in?" Jana asked. "I mean, even though you divorced, you must've been soulmates at one point. Or known each other for a long time? Gramma says that's how all soulmate stories start. They meet each other when they're young, are soulmates, but don't fall in love until they're older. And one of them has to hate soulmates or something like that."

"I didn't know your father back then," Annabeth whispered. She didn't bother to comment further, instead opting for a change in subject. "Come on. It's time to visit Aunt Nyssa."

Percy hadn't always hated the idea of soulmates, neither did Piper.

When they were five, all they hoped was for the other to be their soulmate. Sally Jackson, Percy's mother, thought that it was cute, but not meant to be.

Then, they grew up. Soulmates grew to have a bad connotation. And it was impossible for Percy or Piper not to comment loudly and rudely in class whenever they learned about them. Sally's soulmate was lost at sea. Either that, or he found a prettier, younger girl that he preferred over Sally. Piper's father couldn't talk about Piper's mother, his soulmate, without punching the wall in his blind rage.

"That was why we decided to only be best friends," Piper told her 12 year old son.

"Because you love dad, right?" Miles inquired, gray eyes wide.

"Of course, sweetie," Piper reassured him. Just not as much as Jason.

"Prick!"

"Bitch!"

"Bastard!"

"Slut!"

"Man-whore!"

"Piece of shit!"

"Twat!"

"Retard!"

"My twat, though," Piper stated, matter-of-fact.

"Well, if that's the case, then you're my retard," Jason replied, smirking.

"Friends again?" Piper held out her pinky.

"Of course." Their pinkies interlocked, and somewhere along the way they may have kissed. But, no, they didn't. Of course they didn't! Why would they? They don't even like each other like that! (But they did kiss. More than once actually. Never to be spoken of again.)

"So you two were best friends, and you called each other those names?" Ryder, age 15, said in disbelief. "Damn, things were messed up back in your day."

"Ryder," Jason chastised. "Don't make fun of your old man."

"Emphasis on old," Ryder muttered.

"I heard that."

"Not sorry."

"Ryder Grace!"

Piper called him Ariel. Percy called her Pocahontas. Annabeth called him Seaweed Brain. Percy called her Wise Girl. Piper called him Sparky. Jason called her Beauty Queen. Annabeth called her Eagle Feathers. Piper called her Blondie. Percy called him Superman. Jason called him Aquaboy.

Nicknames. They loved them.

They signified their everlasting friendship. The friendship to last an eternity.

"So why don't we ever see them?" Rebecca said quietly.

"Because things change," Percy told his 16 year old daughter. "Everything will. People grow up, gain new dreams, change their perspectives. Friendships, relationships end. Everything changes."

"But you were supposed to last forever," Rebecca insisted.

"Then why haven't we?"

Rebecca grew silent.

"I realize we haven't seen each other in a while," Piper stated. The four were gathered around a coffee table at Starbucks. Everything was quiet, awkward. Nothing like when they were teens. It's been twenty years, of course nothing was the same.

"So, Piper? Married?" Annabeth asked.

"I'm your sister-in-law, Annabeth," Piper said. "Married Malcolm? Ring any bells? I have a 12 year old son named Miles?"

"Oh," Annabeth blushed. "I have a daughter. Jana Mason."

"You married Jake Mason?" Jason asked. Annabeth nodded." I have... Reyna. And a son named Ryder. 15." His eyes flitted over to Piper, who look saddened by that fact.

"Rachel," Percy spoke up. "You know the redhead who we all liked back in middle school before she went to that fancy girls' boarding school. A daughter, too. 16. Named Rebecca."

Piper broke the awizard silence by bringing up soulmates. This lead to laughter and stories and recounting the tales of what had happened in their lives ever since they lost touch two decades ago. But when the night drew to an end, they left, but not without looking back.

They were friends meant to last forever, but all good things come to an end.

I think I cried while writing this. Why am I so cruel to myself? Please review, they make me happy.