Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Percy Jackson belongs to Rick Riordan and the title (and the inspiration for this fic) belongs to Sabrina Carpenter. Enjoy!

Thank you Nica for beta reading this!

We'll be the Stars

No, we're never gonna turn to dust,
Yeah, all we really need is us
Don't be scared to close your eyes
No, we're never gonna die, we'll be the stars

We'll Be The Stars – Sabrina Carpenter

They were legends. Stars, even. Every single demigod knew about them; not only the Greeks, but the Romans too—even some Egyptians and Norse had heard of them. How could anyone not have heard about Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase? At only seventeen, they had survived Tartarus and were saviors of the world (twice over).

More than that, they were epic star-crossed lovers; the modern, Greek demigod version of Romeo and Juliet. With rival parents, they were never meant to be together but had still managed it somehow. Aphrodite, the goddess of love herself, had taken a special interest in them.

They had a great future ahead of them. Stories would be told about the adventures of Percy and Annabeth for centuries: their first quest and their first kiss, their wedding and their kids. The odds were against them—after all, they were two of the most famous demigods in history, and demigods never had the longest life spans—but every single person who had ever heard of them knew that they were going to make it, because they were Percy and Annabeth and they could go through everything, even Tartarus, as long as they had each other.

Nobody ever thought that this wasn't going to always be true—that maybe they shared more than a forbidden love with Shakespeare's play.

It wasn't fair and it sure wasn't meant to happen. But it did and there was nothing anyone could have done. It was January 21, 2014, only three years after the war with Gaea. Both Percy and Annabeth were twenty years old.

"Percy, Annabeth—the Olive Garden a few blocks down—there's a Cyclops in the parking lot!"

Sally Jackson didn't bother with greetings as she barged into her living room, where her son and his girlfriend were snuggled together on the couch, watching something on TV. Percy had his arm around Annabeth, twirling some of her blonde hair between his fingers almost unconsciously. Guilt washed over Sally; the two rarely had a day off and she hated interrupting their peace. But she knew it was something they had to do. "The restaurant's closed so I don't think anyone noticed but the Cyclops had these two little kids between his hands and I don't—"

They didn't even let her finish before they leapt from the couch, shoving their shoes on before glancing at each other, seeming to telepathically know what to do next: Percy ran to his room, where Sally knew they stored emergency weapons, while Annabeth went to the kitchen for ambrosia and nectar. Just a few seconds later they reunited in the living room, no trace of the lazy smiles they were wearing before.

"Bye Mom, thanks," Percy said, kissing his mother's forehead before running out. Annabeth hugged Sally before following her boyfriend down the stairs.

"Take care!" Sally yelled. To this day, she's not sure if they even heard her.

As soon as they were out of the building, the couple sprinted down the street, barely slowing down as they bumped into people. Passerby glared at them but they never stopped; all that mattered at the moment were the two children in danger blocks away.

They arrived after what felt like hours, though in reality it couldn't have been more than a few minutes, expecting to see exactly what Sally had described. They didn't. They were in an Olive Garden parking lot, yes, there was a huge Cyclops, yes, and there were two little kids (two boys, both about seven years old, both with mops of brown hair, both looking frightened as hell).

But what Sally hadn't mentioned was the fact that it wasn't just one monster—Percy hated thinking about Cyclopes as monsters because of Tyson, but someone that was willing to eat two innocent children definitely needed to be classified as a monster—but a horde of them. He counted five Cyclopes gathered around the place, talking and laughing as they built up a fire to cook the kids in.

With another short, shared glance, the two crept to hide behind the restaurant.

"We need a plan," Annabeth whispered. Even if they didn't follow their plans most of the time.

"Okay. I'll distract them. You grab the kids."

Normally, she wouldn't have argued; she and Percy had fought side by side so many times that it felt completely natural to follow his lead. But this was barely even a plan. "How are you going to do that? There's too many of them. And we're not even close to the sea."

"I'll think of something." He grabbed her by the waist and kissed her, hard and short. "Go, now!"

Annabeth put on her Yankees hat. As soon as she was out of sight, Percy lunged forward, Riptide in hand.

"Hey, you ugly bastards!" He yelled at the top of his lungs. The Cyclopes turned to look at him with surprise. "Eating little mortal children? I bet they don't even taste good. Why not eat a grown-up demigod instead?"

The Cyclops holding the boys, who appeared to be the leader, looked him up and down with his eye, as if he were analyzing his nutritional value. "Son of the Sea God," he said slowly, nodding in agreement. "Delicious."

He was about to take a step towards Percy when a sword sank into his foot. The Cyclops yelped in pain and inspected his wound, which was bleeding heavily, clutching the two boys in his other hand. As he bent to touch his wound, Annabeth took her cap off, making her visible again, and taking advantage of the Cyclops' proximity to the ground, snatched the boys out of his grip.

"Perce, throw Riptide!" she shrieked as she ran from the monsters, her arms around the boys.

Percy immediately understood what she was asking. With a quick prayer to Apollo—who, by the way, owed him a favor—he threw his sword straight at the Cyclops' chest.

Bull's eye. He watched as the bad guy turned to dust, thanking all those hours of target practice at Camp Half-Blood.

Great, only four to go.

Two of the Cyclopes—who were thankfully not as tall as their leader—charged to catch Percy while the other two lumbered around the parking lot searching for Annabeth and their dinner. Reaching into his pocket, Percy realized that Riptide wasn't back with him yet. The only thing left to do was run, trying to stall until his sword reappeared.

The Cyclopes chased him as he sprinted around, yelling all kinds of obscenities. He checked his pocket again and smiled as he felt the pen. He uncapped it and lunged forward, slashing one of the monsters' forearms. Distracted by the injury, the Cyclops took his eye off the demigod for a second. That was all he needed; Percy jabbed Riptide into his chest and he disintegrated into dust. He turned to the second Cyclops to see his girlfriend fighting him and his knife with her own drakon sword. Confident that she had it, he turned around to fight the other two, who had just realized that Annabeth had hidden the kids, when he heard a scream.

The daughter of Athena had a deep gash on her right leg, with blood pouring from it, and the Cyclops was getting dangerously close to her. Percy moved to help her but was blocked by the other two monsters. He barely managed to evade their blades, so distracted by the thought of Annabeth hurt.

She's strong. Annabeth can handle a monster, he thought. And I won't be any help to her if I become Cyclops lunch.

Percy's battle instincts kicked in; he faced the two Cyclopes, ready to fight. Slashing, blocking, he fought furiously with Riptide, leaping up each time he fell to the ground. The pain barely registered when one of the monster's swords cut into his stomach; he couldn't stop until he knew that Annabeth was safe.

Before he knew it, all the Cyclopes had burst into dust and all that was left was a pale Annabeth collapsed on the ground, a pool of her own blood forming around her. Percy kneeled before her and dug for the ambrosia and nectar from her right pocket. It wasn't as much as he thought they had brought; only a tiny ambrosia square remained, the size of a tooth.

"The kids—they were demigods. I gave them all the nectar and ambrosia for their wounds. One of them was bleeding badly and the other one had concussion. They needed it," she whispered.

"This will do," Percy answered softly. He wasn't sure about that but he had to try. "Open your mouth and I'll give the ambrosia left."

Annabeth, being as stubborn as she usually was, didn't listen and extended her hand to touch his stomach. "You're bleeding."

"That's not important right now. You are."

"Is it bad?" She enquired and closed her eyes tightly for a moment. "It hurts."

He wanted to lie, to tell her that everything was going to be okay and that they were going to get through it but her stormy gray eyes seemed to pierce through him and Percy knew she wasn't going to be able to pull off that lie. Annabeth always seemed to manage to see right through him.

"I don't know… I don't think so."

She nodded slowly, as if she expected that answer. "I'm scared, Percy," she admitted, tangling their fingers together. "I know we've been about to die a thousand times but… I'm not ready. I'm just not ready to leave my family, all our friends at Camp. I'm not ready to leave you."

"Hey. You won't be leaving me. We'll always be together, no matter what happens. In Earth, in Hades, even in Tartarus."

"I know." She smiled at him. "But—I know this is my pride talking, but I don't want to go without accomplishing everything I wanted. I don't want to turn into dust like a monster. Not without finishing all of my projects. Not without saying goodbye."

"Listen to me, Annabeth Chase." His voice was barely a whisper, his eyes filled with tears. "You won't fade away like a monster. You've done so much. People will remember you for centuries. Savior of the world, Demigod of the Seven, architect of Olympus, survivor of Tartarus… soul mate of a Seaweed Brain."

Annabeth laughed softly. "I love you so much, Percy. I'm going to miss you so much."

"I'm not going anywhere. It's you and me forever, Wise Girl."

Percy kissed her lips for the last time as he felt her fingers slowly letting go. He watched as both her breathing and her heart slowed down, then stopped. Unsure of what to do, he closed her eyes gently and lay down next to her on the empty parking lot. I should go home. Call camp and tell them what happened, he thought, but he didn't feel strong enough to stand up. Maybe it was the blood loss; maybe it was the hole he felt in his chest where his heart was supposed to be. I'll just stay here for a moment. Next to Annabeth for the last time.

He closed his eyes, Annabeth's hand still warm in his. After a while, his heart stopped beating too.

It wasn't supposed to happen. They were stars, meant to last forever. But stars burn out. It might not be fair, it might be depressing, but that's fate. That's life.

Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase. Their stories would be remembered for thousands of years. The star-crossed lovers; the brave heroes that started off their journey together and finished it together.

Hey! I'm back with another PJO one-shot. Fingers crossed you liked it; I personally really love it but maybe that's just me... If you have any request, tell me and reviews make my world brighter :) Love you all !