Saying goodbye

Annabeth turned to give the order to retreat, already they were swamped and more and more Laistrygonians were swarming over the hill. They had stopped here to rest, in a seemingly safe place, that had soon turned out to be a cleverly based ambush. Again she called out, her hair fanning behind her, as she cried "Retreat".

She turned back to face the ogre nearest to her, planning to take him down then start running, finally she was able to get close enough to him in order to stab him in the thigh. As she was turning to run she noticed a small silver shape slice through the air towards her, a knife, in a split second she scanned the area, Jason, Leo, Piper, Frank and Hazel were almost to the ship, Percy was nearest to her and apart from him there was no-one close enough to her to see their sword. The Laistrygonians were coming closer and closer, one of them must have thrown it, she deducted, then seeing it again, she realized what they had been aiming at, her.

Her head was screaming for her to run, but she knew she didn't have enough time, she closed her eyes and briefly wondered if she would get into asylum, she heard Percy shout, but it was too late he couldn't do anything to stop the knife. She heard the solid sound of a knife piercing flesh, one she had grown used to in her life as a demi-god, but strangely felt nothing at all.

Opening her eye's the first thing she noticed was that she was still in the field where the ambush had lay, the second was the crumbled form at her feet, brilliant green eyes staring strait at her. "NO!" she screamed then suddenly everything came out of focus, she could feel someone - probably Piper - tugging on her arm pleading her to come, but all she could see was the crumpled from in the middle of the grass field, she slapped Piper away then pulled out her knife and turned to face her, how dare she stop me from murdering every last one of those monsters, she thought while snarling.

Annabeth suddenly looked down at how she was holding her knife, pressed against Piper chest, and almost dropped it entirely, "I'm sorry" she stuttered, turning she ran back towards the fallen warrior, intent on killing every single Laistrygonian, who had all by now climbed down the hill face and were advancing.

She sprinted falling into the familiar pattern of letting her brain go into auto-drive, Slash - Dodge - Stap - Hack. Pretty soon all that was left of the monsters where small piles of ash that were slowly being taken away, their ashes scattered by the wind.

Dropping her knife she turned to the figure in the middle of the field, blood was now pooling around him, she ran to him dropping her knife and pulling him into a tight embrace. "Seaweed brain" she cried "why did you do it, take the knife for me?"

"I owed you one remember, I guess we're even now" he gave a small chuckle, cut short by a sudden fit of coughs, tears that she had tried to hold back started streaming down her face.

"You were a hero, you'll go to Asylum", briefly Percy remembered her saying a similar thing to Luke as he died. She then turned to look at the cut, there was no way she could heal it, even with nectar and ambrosia, it was too deep, it was releasing to much blood.

"Annabeth" he tried "I love you more then Aphrodite love's herself". She almost smiled, tears now making tracks down her cheeks and pooling in the blood by her legs. "I love you more then there are blades of grass" she whispered. He smiled at her, then shuddered as he took his last breath before becoming still. She held him a little longer in her arms then opened her mouth and let a soft melody come out, becoming stronger as she finished.

"Sleep now, the sun has set

Sleep now before it rises again

Sleep now you are with love and care

Just sleep now in my arms

Go to a place where you can be free

But please don't forget your love for me

Go somewhere you'll be safe

As you lie here in my arms

In a clear spring valley

Where birds always sing

Once more we shall meet again

But this is the last time I'll hold you in my arms"

She gently kissed him once on the lips then on the forehead, as a blessing, then lay him down, muttering in Greek, praying to Hades, to grant him a safe passage and a beautiful new life, he deserved that, she thought, and so much more.

She then picked up her knife from where she dropped it and grasping it by the hilt, drove it into the now blood red earth, next to the cut that had taken his life. "Gaea", she shouted "Hear me now, I will not rest until you are dead and your soul has returned to Hades where it belongs, you have made an enemy of Athena and for this you shall pay!. She turned and spit on the floor, then turning for a final glance at Percy, she held her hand to his heart, ignoring the blood now covering it, "I love you" she whispered "and I promise I will find you".

Turning away she suddenly felt a pause in her flow of tears. 'What is the point of grieving, it wont bring him back' she felt something whisper inside her. So with her head down she got up and walked back to the ship, Hazel tried to comfort her but she shook her off, climbing down onto the lower deck, she walked into her room and began packing her bag.

Later that day Hazel exploded into the room where Piper sat with Jason, crying silently into his shoulder, she hadn't known Percy for that long but they had all learnt to love him and all missed his presence. "She's gone" she half screamed,

"What?" Piper said turning her head to face Hazel

"Annabeth, I went to get her for dinner, I knocked but there was no answer, so I walked in, all her stuff was packed up, and her window was open with a long rope hanging out"

"We should go after her" Jason said, turning to face him Hazel answered softly,

"If she doesn't want to be found, do you think we really could, there's only one person who would ever be able to do that, and now he's dead". Again Hazel felt tears pricking at the corners of her eyes, but held them back.

"Why would she go?" Piper whispered after a while, Hazel just looked at her,

"She left a note, saying she was taking the fight to Gaea, to finish this once and for all, so that no-one else had to be hurt"

"She's going to die" Jason muttered

"We have to have faith, she's strong and now she want revenge"

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