Bear with me. I promise a happy ending for Percabeth. I swear on the river Styx. One more chapter!
I went into a battle stance as soon as I saw him. He just laughed. I saw Annabeth out of the corner of my eye. She was also in a stance. But I could she that she was nervous by how rigid she was.
"What do you want?", I said. It didn't come out as a question. More like a whimper.
He laughed. "Fortunately for you, Perseus Jackson, I will not be fighting you myself. Unfortunately, you will be fighting something else. That is, if you don't want your puny friends to die."
I let myself get distracted on what it could be. Echidna, the Minotaur, the hydra, or the Nemean lion were the most likely candidates.
"Unfortunately for you, I have summoned this creature. Welcome, the bane of Percy Jackson."
A creature rose out of the ground. It was a cross between all of the enemies I've faced. Giants, titans, all of the monster I've encountered, rolled into one. It was constantly changing, and, worse, it bore a horrible resemblance to Tartarus. First my old buddy beef heads arm. And then it's Kelly's. I tried to make sense of it. I saw Annabeth widen her eyes. She had, apparently, recognized this monster. I would've asked her, but, it had already charged. I started in my fighting stance. I charged the monster. It's arm which was a centaurs, changed into and empousa's in midair. This was an advantage, I noted. After a couple minutes. Annabeth whispered to me.
"Percy, I love you."
I was in confusion for a few crucial seconds, which she then used to push me away, and stab the monster, and it retaliated by trying to stab her. She didn't try to stop it.
The monster fell to its feet, and blew into the wind as golden dust.
"Annabeth?", I called, "Annabeth?" I scrambled to her side.
"P-per-"
"Why?", I soothed her.
"Sacrifice, to kill.",she said.
We both knew she was beyond help.
"I love you,", I whispered.
"I love you too."
"See you in elysium."
"I'm going to miss you."
"I will too."
And with that, she passed.
Harry POV
I didn't really like watching people die, but this was different. One person had died, but two people died. Annabeth, and Percy. He was literally crying an ocean. It was sunset, and the two armies retreated. We burned a shroud for Annabeth, a beautiful gray outlined with white and blue. Percy locked himself in his dorm all night, probably to mourn. The rest of us were just as silent. Halfway through the night, Athena came and talked to Percy. There was some yelling, some crying, sometimes a mixture of both. Athena left a half hour later, and then Poseidon came. And eventually all the gods came to visit their favorite hero. Even the rest of the seven, well, now six, IM'ed him. He always gave the same monotonous reply. Nothing seemed to cheer him up. How do I know?
Well, let's just say that the Weasley extendable ears come in handy. I, truly, just wanted to know if he's okay.
The next morning couldn't have come slower. We trudged to the battle ground. Even Percy, who had bags under his eyes. We spotted the other army, half the size as it was yesterday, when Percy almost destroyed it overnight with a hurricane accompanying his nightmare. We started fighting. I saw Percy immediately fight his way to Tartarus. He had anger in his eyes. I kept on fighting until I was so tired that I just wanted to sleep. Eventually, we beat most of the other army, with the occasional injury. All battles were fought and won. All save one. Percy and Tartarus were still battling it out. Percy was barely surviving, but he was determined to beat Tartarus. After a couple of minutes, Tartarus swung his sword in a deadly arc. Percy engaged it and and it was a battle of strength after that. Percy was weaving in and out of Tartarus's strikes. Getting just out of the danger zone, almost as if to annoy him. And annoy him he did. Tartarus seemed exasperated that his strikes, which would've put down any other demigod, did not apply to him. It was only a matter of time, though, when Percy would tire. If he were to have any chance, that was to beat him before the time limit. Tartarus then said, " The only way to cream you will to show you my true form."
Tartarus seemed to molt. And time stopped. For about two minutes. While we were all still, Tartarus actually seemed to go hard on Percy. He was sweating, because he was also fighting against the time freeze. Soon Tartarus got his sword on Percy. On his head. Percy's body dissolved into dust before it could fall to the ground.
"How's that for the best demigod that ever lived?", Tartarus whispered into his armor. And then he said something else I couldn't catch.
His armor seemed almost to try and punch him. Tartarus let out a creepy laugh.
"Now, for the rest."
Percy POV
After I 'died', and dissolved into the armor, the first thing I realized was that all the spirits were not inside his armor. They WERE the armor. They wanted to get as far away as him as possible, but hit some invisible boundary line. They were in such shock and fear that they never realized they could attack Tartarus from the inside.
"How's that for the greatest demigod that ever lived.",I heard, and in a whisper, "Your girlfriend was a beautiful sacrifice to get me warmed up."
I yelled in frustration, and punched him. This actually seemed to annoy him, because he shifted a little. I pulled out my sword and slashed at his skin. I kept on going. The other spirits started to pull me away from his body. Others tried to help me. They took out their weapons, and started slashing. Tartarus began to shift more, until he finally yelled and took his armor off. I, as a spirit, of course, began to escape from the armor. I reformed, painfully, atom by atom, cell by cell. When I finally finished, I took a step forward, and fell on my face. I was painfully reminded of when Annabeth helped me walk after Tartarus. A tear dripped down my face.
Flashback
When I was in the hospital bed, after my first day of being truly awake, they all visited me. Everyone, including the nightmares. They were the same thing over and over again. Annabeth dies when I'm so close to saving her. Everyone dies when I'm so close to saving them. It always happens. Why is my life so unfair? Why can't I live a normal life, for once? I was interrupted out of my thoughts when I heard the door creak. I grabbed my sword, ready to uncap it at a seconds notice.
"Now, now, seaweed brain. Wouldn't want to kill me would you?"
Annabeth appeared out of nowhere, holding her cap in one hand. I relaxed, and prepared to try and sleep again, when I heard Annabeth trying to wake me up.
"Come on, Percy, let's try again."
I groaned.
"I don't want to try again."
She sighed." Fine. One kiss for every step you take."
I got out of bed faster than you can say cheese.
Flashback
I gritted my teeth. She was gone. Gone, never for me to kiss her again. Gods, I missed her already. Is if on instinct, the only thing I could do was to think about her. I gritted his teeth again. It was my fault. She's dead because of me. I took out Anaklusmos and raised it for the umpteenth time. I slashed again, my thoughts on Annabeth.
Harry POV
I watched as Percy came back. We were pretty she he wouldn't do that. Nikhil, a lieutenant of Voldemort, injured a wizard which I identified to be Neville. The yell was unnecessary, but it helped me calm down.
"Protego!"
Nikhil snarled, "Lord Voldemort will have your friends remains, eating them for dinner."
I retaliated with the simple, but awesome, "Really? Yo Voldy so stupid he climbed over a glass wall to see what was behind it!"
"Oh yeah? Yo Dumbledore so stupid he starved to death in a grocery store!"
"You wanna go?"
"*beep* yeah I do!"
"Yo mama smackdown!"
"Yo mama so stupid she threw a rock at the ground and missed!"
"Yo mama so stupid she so stupid she got locked in a furniture store and slept on the floor!"
"Yo mama so stupid she put two quarters in her ear and thought she was listening to 50 cent!"
"Yo mama so stupid it took her two hours to watch 60 minutes!"
"Yo mama so stupid that when yo dad said it was chilly outside, she ran out with a spoon."
"You mama so stupid she brought a spoon to the super bowl!"
He faltered. "What's a super bowl?"
I finished him off with a "Yo mama so poor that burglars break in and leave money!"
I could practically hear Neville going, "Oooohhhh! Epic BURN!"
He was already out of yo mama's, so he just pointed his wand at his chest, and said, "Abra-Cadabra."
I didn't whether to laugh or to scream bloody murder. This guy was so stupid. Everyone knew it was Evada Kedavra.
Nikhil eventually figured it out, and he took out a knife that they had to defend themselves against Percy, and slit his wrist.
He stared at me with hard cold eyes, and whispered the words I will never forget.
"I will come back, Harry Potter, and I will beat you in yo mama smackdown."
