Disclaimer: I do not own PJO

ANNABETHS POV

(Under Mt. St Helens)

"Put your hat back on," Percy told me. "Get out!"

"What?" I shrieked. I couldn't leave him! He was everything to me. "No, I'm not leaving you."

"I've got a plan," he told me. "I'll distract them. You can use the metal spider-maybe it will lead you back to Hephaestus. You have to tell him what's going on."

"But you'll be killed!" I desperately tried to get this across his seaweed filled mind.

"I'll be fine. Besides we've no choice.

I glared at him, he was right. But I couldn't just leave him, he was my best friend. And he had never left me. Not once. The least I could do was tell him how I felt. So I kissed him.

When I felt him not respond, I started to pull away, thinking I had ruined our friendship. But I felt his hand cup my cheek, pulling me close. He angled his head so he could kiss me better.

I pressed my body up against his, closing the already small space between us. I couldn't believe we were doing this, but if felt so right. His hands found my waist, my fingers, his hair. The kiss was, hot, yet passionate.

He must have heard the sea demons because he pulled away. I didn't even realize that I had been crying until he used his thumb to wipe the tears from my cheek.

"Go." He whispered.

I nodded, to overcome with emotion to say anything. I slapped my hat on my head and ran towards the exit. At the doorway I looked back. My last view of Percy was his green eyes staring at me, Riptide at his side.

I don't know when I realized something was wrong. It could have been when I felt an immense pain, like my whole body was on fire. Or it could have been when I heard the explosion, cracks racing along the floor of the maze.

I don't remember telling the Lord of The Forges our story. I don't remember arriving at camp, alone. All I knew, that there was a gaping hole in my chest, like I had left my heart with Percy under the mountain.

NOBODYS POV

The campers were starting to worry about Annabeth. She stopped talking, and would spend all day either at the beach, or shut up in Percy's cabin looking at photos of him.

She didn't sleep very much, and when she did, she would always be awoken by nightmares. She started to sleep in his cabin, desperate to be as close as possible to him.

She wouldn't eat by herself. Chiron noticed this, and put her brother Malcolm in charge of making sure she was fed. But she still lost a lot of weight.

Eventually, the other demigods gave up hope of Percy coming back, but not Annabeth.

Whenever someone would voice their fears, she would glare at them, before bursting into tears. Again. The tears never ceased to exist.

Finally, Chiron drew the line. The funeral for Percy would be held that evening. He told Annabeth to write a speech on Percy, since he was his best surviving friend.

She poured her heart into that speech, revealing all of her feelings. She owed it to Percy.

ANNABETH'S POV

I stood at Percy's funeral. I stared blankly at the flames licking his shroud.

"I have asked Annabeth, his best remaining friend, to say some words." Chiron signaled me to begin my speech. I didn't need the paper I had written it on. I had memorized it.

"He was probably the bravest friend I've ever had," I began. "He-" I felt my heart stop. He was standing right in front of me, a look of horror on his face. I felt a sob spring up. He was alive. "He's right there!"

Everyone turned and smiled. I felt a wave of anger crash over me. Why had he made me worry so much? He said that he had a plan!

Chiron cantered over and started to talk to him, but I stormed over, wanting answers.

"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?"

I tackled him in a hug, relief and anger coursing through my body. But it felt nice to be in his arms again. Then I shoved him away from me.

"I-we thought you were dead, Seaweed Brain!"

"I'm sorry," he said. "I got lost."

"LOST?" I yelled. I couldn't believe him! "For two weeks, Percy? Where in the world-"

Realization came crashing down on me. Calypso. I felt a tear slide down my cheek.

When Percy told us his story, it only confirmed my fears. Afterward, I stormed back to my cabin, to see my journal lying open, to the page where my speech was.

It made the tears come harder. But as I read it again, I knew it was all true.

He was probably the bravest friend I've ever had. He saved my life countless times, and never came up with a plan. Somehow, he always came through. He sacrificed himself, so I could get vital information to Lord Hephaestus.

Most of you will remember him as the son of the Sea God, the guy who saved the world many times. But I'll remember him as Percy Jackson, my best friend, my first kiss, someone who I could always count on.

These past few days, I'd be staring at a corner, waiting for him to come around it, like he usually would do. I would wait for him to flash his goofy smile, and to wrap his arms around me in greeting. But now I have to accept that he's not coming back.

I'm never going to be able to call him "Seaweed Brain" again. I'm never going to hear "Wise Girl" yelled to me across camp. I'm never going to feel his strong arms around me again, never going to be able to tell him "I love you".

So heres to Percy Jackson, the greatest hero in the history of the gods.

I sighed. Why was he so oblivious?

Fin.

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