Percy was tired.

He and the rest of the Seven had been fighting Gaea for the past half hour while the Olympians looked on, not interfering of course because of their precious dammed 'Ancient Laws'. The fight had started out well, with Piper trying to charmspeak Gaea while Frank, Annabeth, and Leo fought her directly. Percy, Jason, and Hazel tried to contain her power. Unfortunately, three demigods where just not up to the immensity of that task.

Frank and Leo had been imprisoned within the earth 10 or 15 minutes into the fight, while Piper had been taken out of the fight a short while later, dead or dying, after taking a blow for Jason that he would not had not been able to evade in time. Gaea had conjured up a spire of rock that pierced all the way through Piper's torso, and stopped only inches in front of the son of Zeus.

He had gone crazy then, going into a whirlwind of fast slashes that would have appeared as a blur to the mortal eye, and managed to sever one of Gaea's arms. Just as Percy had been about to jump in before he got himself killed in his grief and anger, Gaea was able to take advantage of his recklessness, delivering a kick that sent him flying 20 feet, and would have gone further had he not collided with one of the Parthenon walls with a horrific crunch sound that made Percy's blood run cold. Percy had wasted precious seconds making cocoons of ice around both him and Piper to try to slow their bleeding, but he had not had time to even apply Nectar to their wounds, let alone give them Ambrosia.

Towards the 20 minute mark, Gaea had become noticeably weaker, but the remaining demigods were weaker still. Hazel was barely able to slow Gaea's control of the earth while her mist illusions had failed completely, with her lacking the concentration to keep them going. With so many fighters gone, Percy had had to step in and take Leo's and Frank's places fighting her directly, while Annabeth had been fighting with a broken arm for five minutes already. Percy would have told her to get herself to safety if he believed for one second that there was a chance she would listen, but his Wise Girl was to loyal to retreat when her friends were in danger. He lost that option around five minutes later, when Hazel simply collapsed from exhaustion after fighting the primordial queen of earth in her own element for almost half an hour, leaving two demigods to face the goddess that could make Olympians run in terror.

And that lead him to the present.

FOOLISH CHILD, SURRENDER NOW AND I WILL MAKE YOUR DEATH QUICK

"Go die in Tartarus‼" Percy yelled back with a vehemence that could come from one who had experienced it first hand, even as he made a geyser appear right below Gaea, causing her to stagger back, allowing Annabeth to score a cut on her leg. Gaea roared and Annabeth jumped back as jagged ring of obsidian shards blasted out from around Gaea.

Seeing that she wouldn't be able to duck fast enough, Percy grabbed a hold of the blood in Annabeth's body and used it to pull her to the ground just as a jagged shard of obsidian the size of fist flew through the air where her heart had been mere moments before. It was a move that Percy had discovered quite by accident during the battle, and while he didn't like its implications, it had probably saved his friend's lives more than a few times already.

Despite everything, Percy still thought that they might have a shot at winning. Gaea was steadily getting weaker, and if Percy and Annabeth could just last a few more minu—

"Look out!" Annabeth yelled, tackling Percy to the ground as Gaea's spiky arm flew overhead.

The next few minutes were a sea of slashes, jabs, rolls, and dodges as Percy tried to keep Dirt Face's attention focused on him, and not Annabeth. He picked up a few more wounds during this, but just as he was starting to gain ground again, the unthinkable happened.

Annabeth had snuck up behind the earth goddess and raised her bone sword ready to deliver a powerful two-handed strike when Gaea abruptly turned and began to glow green. Annabeth gave out a single piercing scream that Percy knew would haunt him for the rest of his life, and then seemingly fell unconscious. Gaea loomed over her, intent on doing something terrible to his wise girl. Percy began to run forward, intent on doing something, anything, to save her, but as soon as he began, he realized that he wasn't going to get there fast enough.

Time seemed to slow down, and the ground was pulling at his feet, and no matter how fast he ran, he simply wasn't going to get there fast enough he wasn't going to save her- they were under Rome and there was the spider web and the hole in the ground, she was falling falling she was falling into Tartarus and he wasn't fast enough he couldn't get to her in time and he reached to grab her and Gaea's hand closed around her shoulder. The earth goddess said something in a language that seemed to radiate pure power and a brilliant emerald flash blinded Percy. By the time the light had faded away, Gaea was gone.

And Annabeth's eyes were glowing a brilliant, radioactive green.

"Ah, yes. This vessel is nice. I have not truly possessed a mortal in millennia, but I believe it is only fitting in this case." Percy's heart seemed to stop and the blood roared in his ears as Annabeth – no, it was Gaea now, rearranged her features into a cruel mockery of the smile he new and loved, before she began to laugh. "After all, I did once promise you a fate worse than death, did I not?"

It was her laugh, so like Annabeth and yet utterly NOT her, that finally broke him. In a dozen or more places around the Parthenon, the ground exploded upward in a spray of the liquid fire of the Phlegethon. Percy felt strength surge back into her limbs of the like he had not felt since Tartarus, when Annabeth received the curse of Calypso.

"GET OUT OF HER YOU EVIL BITCH‼" Percy screamed, charging forward with reckless abandon.

He almost tripped over Jason's fallen form in his haste, and, making a split-second decision, picked up his gladius and flung it forward at Gaea. It should have been incredibly easy to see coming, yet for some reason Gaea allowed it got hit her, only stepping forward a just before it landed so that it buried itself in her in the shoulder instead of the chest.

Half a second later, Percy got his reason, as Annabeth's eyes abruptly shifted back to their usual gray, and she stumbled forward and cried out in pain. Another second of seemingly infinite duration passed before Gaea took back control, her eyes once again shifting to that horrible green. Then, heedless of the sword embedded in her shoulder, Gaea began to laugh.

"Now you see. This body may be frailer than my own, but it does have its own benefits. You cannot hurt me without also hurting your own beloved Annabeth." she purred. "Of course, the same is not true for you, now is it?" She stood up, and abruptly closed the distance, before ferociously attacking him with all of Annabeth's skill.

Percy stared at her in horror. He barely managed to dodge the swipes of Annabeth's sword. Gaea lunged at him and maybe it was because of her inexperience in this body, but she overshot. Percy took this opportunity to come behind her in a roll. He was losing ground by being on the defensive, and what ground he lost, the Gods lost.

Sparing a glance to his rear, he saw that Ares was jumping up and down angrily waving his spear, while Aphrodite crouched curled up in a ball, tears streaming down her cheeks as Hestia tried to comfort her. Poseidon and Athena were barely held back from charging forward by Zeus and Artemis, respectively, and even Dionysus and Hera looked mildly uncomfortable.

He swiped at her arms but the cuts he made were shallow. He swung at her head, but at most grazed her forehead.

"KILL HER LIKE YOU MEAN IT!" Ares yelled, only to be silenced by Hermes shifting his Caduceus into a cattle-prod and tazing him. His voice was almost instantly replaced with Athena's own, as she pleaded with him to save her daughter.

A sudden rush of anger washed over him and he gritted his teeth. They said whatever they wanted while they weren't the ones fighting. They felt sorrows that did not belong to them. He made good use of this emotion to slash viciously at Gaea... just to falter at the face of his girlfriend, the love of his life. His moment of hesitation cost him dearly as Gaea took this opportunity to kick him in the chest. Percy felt something crack inside and drew back. Gaea allowed him to, with a sardonic smile. She was playing with him, like a cat with a mouse. Utterly and completely sure of her victory.

She used this time to pull out the gladius in her shoulder. She shrugged it a bit and the wound miraculously healed. However, this did nothing to remove the red blood- Annabeth's blood- that stained her shoulder and shirt.

Percy felt sickened. He danced about a little bit, trying to figure out some way to cause Gaea damage without hurting Annabeth. He remembered how her eyes had turned back to grey when Jason's gladius had stabbed her, and he remembered Luke's final moments. The beginnings of a plan formed in his mind.

He looked up with sudden determination. He hated what he was about to do. But he had no choice, not unless he wanted to lose. He gathered up all the courage he had and pushed riptide into Gaea's chest. Gaea, who hadn't been expecting this at all, screamed at the top of her lungs. But her voice eventually changed into Annabeth's and it wrenched Percy's heart. But still, he did not pull out the sword.

"Annabeth, can you hear me? Annabeth, please..." Percy said in what he hoped would be a reassuring tone of voice.

'Please let this work, please let this work, please let this work.' he thought silently. He couldn't bear the thought of having stabbed her for nothing.

"P-Percy," she stuttered out. It tore at Percy's heart to hear her like this, but at the same time, the very fact that they could speak to each other once again was a not-insignificant victory. "I'm here." he responded. "Annabeth, tell me, how do we defeat her?" Percy whispered.

He watched with pained eyes as the gears turned rustily in Annabeth's eyes. They didn't have time, his girlfriend was in pain, so much pain, but they needed to think of more than themselves. After a few minutes, something seemed to click. A grim light shone in her eyes.

"I... I have one, but your not going to like it." Percy blanched. If she was saying that, it could only mean... no, that wasn't true. It couldn't be true. She must mean something else. "Tell me" he said desperately, hoping beyond hope that there was a way he had not seen. "I'll do anything, just tell me how to save you and kill Gaea."

"Percy, I need you to kill me." Percy's heart seemed to stop. No no no this couldn't be happening this couldn't be true.

"...A better plan, please." Please let there be one let there be one there has to be another way.

Annabeth managed to choke out a laugh despite the situation. "Sorry Percy, it's the best I got." she said tenderly.

Percy looked into her eyes, looking for a hint of mirth, sarcasm, anything that would negate the words coming out of her mouth. It couldn't end like this. They were going to go to college, and get married and have a family. There surely has to be something else.

Annabeth's eyes flickered green and she doubled over. She squeezed them shut while breathing heavily. As if she could hear his thoughts, she spoke again. "Percy, listen to me. This is our best chance. Gaea willingly put herself into a mortal body. If you don't do this now..."

Percy shook his head. "Like hell I am—" he began, suddenly furious. But Annabeth cut in, saying "Percy please, there's no other way. I need you to do this." She held his face between bloody hands and looked deep into his eyes. "Percy, I love you, more than anything else. And I know that you love me just as much. So please? Won't you do this for me?"

Percy faltered but shook his head resolutely. "What about... what about Bobby and Matthew?" he said. "Someone needs to be there for them." Percy desperately hoped that this would work. He HAD to get her to think of something else. It couldn't end like this.

Annabeth closed her eyes. "Why do you think I am willing to do this? I want to make this world a place where they can grow up and be happy. Where I don't have to worry that some monster is going to attack them for how they smell because I spend too much time with them, where an angry god can simply point at them and strike them dead to make a statement." Raising her hand to forestall him, she continued.

"Do you remember our promise? That we were going to go to college, and get married and have a family? If we don't do this, then none of us will get to live to go to college, and get married and have families. Please, don't make this harder than it already is." Annabeth was getting choked up as she said this, and Percy could see that this was hurting her just as much as it was him.

Percy wanted to scream. He and Annabeth had gone through so damn much together, it couldn't end now. And yet, try as he might, he couldn't see any way out of the situation that would save both Annabeth and the world. He remembered Athena once telling him that he may have to choose between saving a friend and saving the world. At the time, he hadn't listened, and said that he'd find a way to save both. Failing that, he always imagined that he would be able to sacrifice himself for her, to be the one to give himself up for what was right instead.

The frightening thing was, if Gaea had given him the option right then of allowing Annabeth to live free at the cost of the world, Percy wasn't completely sure that he would refuse. He remembered the names of every demigod that died in the last war, on both sides. He couldn't imagine what he might do if he was forced to add Annabeth's name to that list. At the same time though, he knew that Annabeth would never forgive him if he allowed the world to be destroyed just to save her, nor could he forget that his own family, as well as hers still lived in it.

Seeing his pain, Annabeth tried to joke. "Hey, it's not like our relationship will really work with Gaea here anyway, right?"

She was crying now. He let out a short, involuntary laugh before he started crying as well. Even when she has telling him that he had to kill her, she was still trying to make him happy.

"I love you, Wise Girl." Percy said, choked up himself. He tried to think of some way to express the depth of his emotion for what might be the last time, and even though the words didn't really convey it, she seemed to understand. "I love you Seaweed Brain...which is why you have to do this." She whispered.

She pressed into a kiss, and they closed their eyes, trying to pretend for as long as possible that what was happening wasn't real, that when they opened their eyes they would be at his mom's house, or at Camp Half-Blood, or anywhere other than here. Then he drew his sword out of her stomach and stabbed her through the heart.

A wave of pure force blasted him back. Annabeth's body burned way, and in her place once again stood the 30-foot high form of Gaea.

Percy saw red. There was no way, absolutely NO WAY that what he saw could be true. He had sacrificed everything, killed the love of his life at her own pleading, this was injustice, this was outrage, this was unthinkable. He faintly heard Gaea shouting something angrily at him, but the only thing he could think of was the utter unfairness of the situation. Percy had sacrificed Annabeth to defeat Gaea, and whatever happened to him, he could not allow her to leave her alive.

The water from the geysers began to swirl around him and turned midnight black, of a shade only seen in water from the Styx, the malevolent river of absolute hatred. He could feel the skin on his arms and face burning from the acidic spray, but he just couldn't seem to bring himself to care.

Percy was vaguely aware of Gaea starting some sort of magic or ritual, but it didn't really bother him. After what had happened, it didn't really matter whether he lived or died after this. What was of some concern was that if she finished it, there was a good chance that Percy wouldn't be able to kill her, and that Annabeth's sacrifice would have been for nothing. That, Percy decided, was not acceptable.

Running forward at a near inhuman pace, Percy jumped upwards and solidified the miniature hurricane he had created into a staircase of Stygian Ice, which he began taking the stairs of three at a time. When he was about 20 feet up, Gaea seemed to realize the danger, and swept her hand out to knock it over even as she began speaking the words of whatever spell she was weaving faster. Percy didn't give her the chance though, instead taking a flying leap that carried him onto her shoulder.

Letting loose an unearthly scream, he raised Jason's Imperial Gold gladius high into the air and brought it down. He had considered trying to strike her head off, but he had worried that she would somehow be able to survive even that, or at least someday reform to terrorize even more demigods, which was not something he could allow. Instead, he brought it down point-first, and buried it in her spine. Percy was not finished however. He pulled out Riptide again, and holding the gladius steady, he smashed through the body of the sword with Riptide like a hammer to an anvil just as Gaea's chanting reached a crescendo and she uttered the words "Banished beyond the bounds of the world."

His eyes blinded by the light of a thousand suns, his heart shattered by what his actions forced upon him, and his body battered almost beyond repair, Percy Jackson fell to the earth, his last thought that he was going to see Annabeth once again. Then he knew no more.

A/N: So, that was... something. Percy will be getting to Alagaësia in the next chapter, but we need this one first in order to set the stage. Do you like the ability I gave to Percy to create water of the Underworld? I can promise we'll be seeing more of it. Also, MAKE SURE TO REVIEW! While people not reviewing is a pretty big problem in the normal fandom, I find it is an even bigger one in with crossovers, as there are so few readers to start with. I spent days writing this, and weeks brainstorming it, you can surely spare a few minutes to write a hundred words of your thoughts. Yes, YOU. I'm talking to YOU, right now. I get it, you don't want to. You really need to leave a review though, it only takes a few seconds. Also, make sure to follow/favorite the story so that you get notifications. Have an awesome day and eat food!

[1612PT 09/21/2018]