For all of my lovely readers, whom I can always count on.

I dedicate all of these words to the readers who took the time to follow 'After The Last Olympian', and still continue to put up with my terrible updating to this day.

Thanks.

'After the Last Olympian' isn't over, but this idea sprang into my head…

…and I had to write it down.

I hope you enjoy it.

~Twilight1801

Brighter Than The Stars

It took about every single ounce of courage I had to open my car door and step outside into the midday sunlight.

Truthfully, I had no idea what I was supposed to do.

Sure, you see it happen on movies all the time, but I seriously doubt that even a fictional character has ever been in this exact predicament.

I'd been through it once already, yes, but that had definitely gone a lot more smoothly than anyone would've guessed. Especially me.

But this was different.

This one hated me.

But I has put this off for long enough.

If she had ever doubted my loyalty, she'd sure better get over it after this.

I took a deep breath and slammed the door to my blue, totally retro, Porsche 911. A gift, of course. From my father.

I smirked gently, remembering. But that's another story.

You might be wondering why the Hades I slammed the door on such a car.

Well, let me give you some insight: I am scared as HELL.

I ground my teeth and walked as quickly as I could toward the door to the Empire State Building, slipping through the crowds of tourists and walking- like I owned the place, of course- toward the elevator that put me way to close to where I was going.

In case I don't make it, I wrote down clumsily on a post-it-note, I love you.

I took another deep breath and jammed the note in the pocket of my jeans.

"You won't need it, Perseus… you'll be fine…" I muttered to myself, cringing as the elevator jolted upward.

Too late to turn back.

I felt the numbness in the inside of my cheek as I bit down unknowingly, tightening my hands into fists and glaring as the numbers went up and up above my head.

All of my fear multiplied by seven-thousand-and-four (my new favorite number) as the elevator doors opened and I noticed the Goddess standing in front of me.

Nope, not Aphrodite.

Amazingly, the Goddess was smiling at me. "Perseus."

I nodded, looking at the ground, cringing as I realized she was waiting for me to move.

But I couldn't. I couldn't do this!

"You know that I know what you're here to ask of me," she said, speaking clearly and decisively, gazing at me with 'that look'.

The look that Annabeth gave me every time I did something so completely stupid that it caused her to almost die of a heart attack. Actually, it was the look after that look. The look that said, "you're an idiot, but I've decided to love you anyway." With a special "I hate you" twist.

I took another breath. This was a good sign. A sign brighter than the stars, in my eyes. I had a chance.

"I… I…" I choked out a few vowels before I could finally say something coherent. "I… love her. I know it's never even happened before, but, I mean, we made it this far, right? And, I mean, after everything, this should seem like such a small thing, but-" Sure, I was rambling. Who wouldn't?

I was cut off with a smile from the Goddess of Wisdom. "Sure, Percy. You may marry my daughter."

And, with that, she shut the elevator doors in my face.

With love,

Twilight1801.