Rated ""T" for teens.
I've had this one shot rattling around in my brain for a while now. And having a bit of a "plot block" in my other story (still in progress) made me think that if I could just get this out, then maybe the rest of my other story will follow. So here goes my one shot! But first: I do not own any of these characters or any property belonging to Rick Riordan. His underoos are his own! Now: let the story begin!

All My Pain

She sat by her desk, typing away on her laptop, the one left to her by Daedalus, her older brother. The designs she was now finalizing was a new set of buildings all arranged in a block; homes and shops for demigods and their families in the new City of New Athens. A city like this had been a dream she'd shared with her old flame, her Seaweed Brain. It had been years since she had seen him…

Olympus Many Years Ago

"Perseus son of Poseidon, you have successfully completed yet again another mission in defense of Olympus. And your powers as a demigod seem to have increased in strength to unheard of levels. By the very nature of these several great increases you should have either spontaneously combusted, or spontaneously become a god all on your own. We do not know why you have not, but I can see that you are actually emitting small bursts of what appears to be godly energy from various parts of your body."

Percy hoped it had nothing to do with his rear end; he'd had a Big Mac and fries before going up to Olympus; he hadn't wanted to face the Council on an empty stomach. And he was now upset; His cousin Thalia, Grover and Annabeth had been whisked back to Camp Half Blood after they all arrived at the Throne Room in a group.

It was amazingly beautiful. Annabeth had really labored on these designs, installing reflecting pools and gilt-edged murals of the gods and their greatest triumphs and conquests. The thrones had been redesigned, each god helping her through their desires and needs.

Several of the male gods had expressed a desire or a need to conquer Annabeth! As she had grown up, she had also "grown out", almost putting Aphrodite and Hera to shame! Her hair was now grown very long right to the small of her back, and the rest of her was amazingly "full" and curvy. All in all, she was very beautiful. And to Percy Jackson, she was his forever, and he was hers. And so the Official Architect of Olympus just brushed off the pitiful advances of five gods. Including Zeus! So now, Percy just stood in the middle of the center of the throne room, listening to his uncle Zeus go on and on about "godly energy" or some such.

"Nephew, you have become a danger to those around you; I am not lying to you when I tell you that you will soon be unable to restrain these energies and will literally explosively combust and destroy anyone or anything nearby to you, other than another god. Your physical form, frail and mortal cannot possibly hold these energies, nephew.('NEPHEW'? They were related now, were they? When the heck did THAT happen?)

His father looked at him straight in the eye and said, "Perseus, my son, I must echo what my brother Zeus has just told you. Please, Percy, for your sake and the sake of all of us who love you, do not refuse this Council again! This is the fourth time we have put this choice to you, the FOURTH TIME!

"Never before in the history of all this world has ANYONE refused godhood three times, nor been offered it more than ONCE! And there are many now who bless your name for your various refusals, and the substituted 'gifts' you have asked for. Your Uncle Hades and Aunt Hestia are now both Olympians and the legacy children of we Greek gods are now admitted to the Camps, actively recruited to the fourth generations since even they retain an almost demigodly scent!

"You are responsible for miracles amongst us; such as when you got the entire Camp to petition us to make Chiron a god, and we did that because YOU made such a brilliant case for it! And the level of training and management of the Camp has been raised to the greatest heights in it's history!

"My son, please", the old sea god arose from his fishing chair throne and descended to his son from his seat "on high", returning to his regular mortal height, "please accept this terrible decision; it is the only way to survive for you. Otherwise, you shall die."

"Father.." he began. But the demigod had begun to shoot out multicolored bursts of energy that were progressing through the color spectrum all by themselves; first from gold, to a brilliant silver, and then through a crystalline opalescence firing various cooler colors like blues, reds, greens and then the blasts of power which began to progress into white-hot jets of energy such as had never been seen before, even on Olympus! The great heat and energy drove back even Poseidon! THE LIGHT WAS LIKE THE SUN...

Zeus shouted out in alarm, "POSEIDON, BROTHER! GET BACK! IT'S TOO LATE NOW; THIS MUST RUN ITS' COURSE!"

And Percy began to SCREAM UNENDINGLY...

AND SUDDENLY… it was over. There was no trace of Percy. The Olympians all finally looked up and realized that Perseus had disappeared. The intense energies had apparently immolated Poseidon's youngest son. Even Hades was at a loss; Percy's soul was not in the Underworld. Where did it go?

Annabeth had been absolutely hysterical for nearly a week. Aphrodite explained it as two halves of the same soul, true soul mates suddenly being yanked apart forever. It was worse than an amputation. His Wise Girl was inconsolable ever since then. Poseidon and her mother Athena had both tried to explain things to her. But all they'd accomplished was leaving her with even more questions than ever before. Even Sally had tried comforting the woman she had accepted as her daughter in law, although she and Percy had never married. And they were always as mother and daughter ever after.

Statues were erected, a shroud in thread of gold with a beautiful trident and the crown of Atlantis was ritually burned at Camp Half Blood, signifying that a Prince of the Oceans had passed from this world. The greatest of all Heroes and the Three Time Savior of Olympus had died, his body attempting to metamorphose in it's own kind of abortive theophany, and unsuccessfully after all that.

The Atlantean Royal Family had all attended. Both Amphitrite and Triton had attended in full royal regalia. They had all blessed Annabeth and had adopted her as their daughter and sister respectively, out of sheer respect for the warm and loving and thoroughly incredible Son of the Oceans who had strived for just their love and acceptance, and always gave his absolute all for each of them. He was just 21 years old. Annabeth never went near the water again.

Many years later...

She sat back, hit "save", and closed the old laptop that somehow managed to keep ahead of all new programming changes, even Apple's new OS 242; WINDOWS 2064 was the newest PC system. Both were conversible with Daedalus' laptop. He had given it to her after the Battle of the Labyrinth all the way back in 2008, fifty six years ago. She had been so young then, just a dewy-faced girl of sixteen and so newly aware of her love for the black-haired boy with the sea-green eyes. And of his love for her.

Percy's passing took place just a few days after his birthday in 2013. And Sally had died of what the doctors described as a "broken heart", right after cancer took her husband Paul. That was in 2022. They'd been childless. Annabeth had just lingered on, existing but not quite living ever since then. Oh, she'd made her mark as an architect. She had designed the world's first "mile high" skyscraper. It sat in Manhattan, of course and it took up twice as much room at the base as had the original Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. It was called the "Perseus Tower", in honor of a man long dead, who had reached for the skies and achieved it.

Olympus now sat above it. But Annabeth just sort of existed. You couldn't call what she was doing actually living.

She'd never married, but miraculously had produced her own "child of the mind" in 2028. He was a beautiful boy, and she'd named him Percy. He had been killed on his first quest in 2041. He had been just 13. It had broken her completely. She almost never spoke to anyone again. Not meaningfully.

Somewhere Near the Center of the Universe...

He continued to drift; it had been so long now. He remembered... things. From time to time, he remembered exploding, every particle of his being utterly scattered all over space/time. Why had he not become a god? Why would he think he should have?

He could sometimes recall golden hair, a snarky smile and beautiful gray eyes. But who did they belong to? He wanted to know. He actually and really needed to know. He knew this was important somehow. But why?

And then he knew why! Because if he could just remember this one thing, he would finish what he started and would become a god! And then get could get back to... her?

…..ANNABETH

And the universe exploded around him as he emerged fully formed but naked, and beautifully Perfect. And he was full of power. He began to travel; the universe was so full of energy, filled with living beings, all far less powerful than this new being. And the universe was huge. He looked for "home". What was "home"? And then it hit him.

He could sense her. "HER". He was near the center of a galaxy, many galaxies away from HER. But no matter. He would get there soon. At the speed of thought...

Camp Half Blood, 2084

She passed away one night. She was then 82 years old and so sick of just existing. Chiron found her, called by another Athena child, Beatrice. It was Beatrice's duty that week to help the old woman up and get her breakfast, and get her dressed for the coming day, fix her thinned and much shorter hair. It was an easy job. She never spoke, never resisted, wanted no makeup. Just her Ancient laptop. It was almost a century old!

Chiron saw the small voice padd next to her. It had a message on it in a voice that should have been familiar, "Wise Girl, I'm almost home now. I love you forever". The voice was nearly a whisper. But Chiron was cursed with an eidetic memory that would never, COULD NEVER forget THAT voice!

And suddenly, a scent of the ocean swept in through the open cabin door, passing over Annabeth's body. Chiron, aware that something was happening stepped back to the door, just as a nearly-unbearable light exploded within.

Annabeth's withered old frame had disappeared, and in it's place stood a brilliant, nearly translucent version of herself, at a much younger age, about 21 years and completely nude. Chiron gasped and averted his eyes, but not before they registered the fact of Annabeth's physical beauty and perfection.

And standing next to her, equally brilliant as well as equally naked was the form of an incredibly perfected man, both of them looking at each other with an expression of the deepest of loves the centaur god and Master Trainer had ever seen in his incredibly long life.

The man turned to Chiron and smiled a lop sided grin, and Chiron was struck by that smile as if by an emotional thunderbolt; it was Percy, his most wonderful pupil and almost a son to him! And the old horse began to weep for joy!

"Percy!", he gasped out; "We thought you were dead!" Percy embraced the beautiful and youthful version of Annabeth, so clearly a spirit. They were able to seemingly physically embrace and Chiron saw an expression of utter joy play across her features such as one he thought he could never see again after discovering her now-deceased body.

"Was I? I don't know; but I'm here now, and I have traveled unimaginable distances and seen such beings and worlds..",

"Worlds Percy, WORLDS?"

The god Perseus looked at his friend and old mentor and replied, "Yes. Worlds. And beings beyond mere gods, Chiron. They were curious; about me. But not powerful enough to interfere with me".

"Amazing! We will talk together Lord Perseus, and have hot chocolate and you can tell me so many things I will want to hear! Your return is the greatest thing to ever happen here!"

"One more thing first, old friend". He turned to the smiling but quiescent form of his deceased girlfriend and said to his one and only love "I have brought you back here to me, and in doing this have destroyed your old body. Annabeth, my beautiful love, it was your love that called me here from the heart of the universe, from the seat of the Creator of all things. Your love has always brought me back to you, ALWAYS".

He began to embrace her closely and he said to her, "You are the other, and very best half of me. Without you I will fade to the Void. I could never face eternity without you, my Wise Girl. Never. Will you join me here as my goddess forever? Will you join with me with your love and your heart, and join my soul forever, completing us both, my love?"

Annabeth looked into the eyes of her long-gone and just now returned lover. She saw an infinity of love for her in his beautiful, so very amazingly beautiful eyes. All for her. Forever.

And she laughed; she laughed the laugh of a young woman in love forever!

"Of course I will, my love, MY Seaweed Brain; I will join you forever, as one. For you are my Heart and my Soul. I can only know paradise with you, my wonderful Percy, my amazing and beautiful SeaWeed Brain! I'm only ever Home with you, in your arms, and forever."

Percy turned to the elder god and said to him, "You might really want to close your eyes at this,Chiron".

Percy turned to Annabeth and said, I will create you as a goddess now. But because your body died already, this shouldn't hurt you."

She smiled up at this impossibly beautiful being of light and energy and warmth and LOVE, and said, "You came back to me. I knew you would. I always trusted you. And I trust you right now, and I always will".

Chiron left and closed the door behind him. It would be indecent to look on at them now. And the intensity of the glow took away the last darkening of the night.

A new day had begun at Camp Half-Blood, and it's light would shine like a beacon forever.