Authors note: So, this is the last chapter, but we are writing a sequel that in essence goes with Mark of Athena while ignoring Coach Hedge, and making it so that more than just the seven go on the Argo II.

It was several weeks after Ebony broke up with Gael yet her heart still ached for him. No matter how hard she tried to forget what they had she couldn't. Every night she would lay in bed and think about the boy she threw away, for the most stupid reason. Although she missed him, her pride wouldn't let her go crawling back to him.

But she also couldn't let herself forget that he didn't make time for her even though she made room for him. Since she got her concussion Gael couldn't reach her in her dreams. Without the dreams it was like she never saw him. Ebony was perfectly capable of taking care of herself, but, sometimes its nice to have someone want to protect you.

Today, she decided, to go to the arena to practice. To take her mind off of him and try and purge him from her system once and for all. She walked into the arena, it was completely empty. She walked to weapons rack, grabbed her sword, then beat on a practice dummy.

Gael wandered around the camp listlessly. He hadn't had much drive to do much of anything for the past few weeks which resulted in a lot more demigods losing sleep of mortal styled nightmares. Jacoby had convinced him to go out that day, so he did. Ace and Leo were being the cute perfect couple while working on finishing up the Argo II so rather than feel bad for himself, he decided to head to the arena. Maybe winning a fight or two against a newbie would make him feel better.

When he arrived though, he saw Ebony beating up a dummy. Just seeing her, made his heart twinge. He watched her for a few minutes before acting on his ADHD, "You wanna fight?"

Ebony turned to him, her heart ached at the sight of his dark messy hair and his dark eyes. But, maybe this fight is what she needs to get him out of her system once and for all. "Sure." There was little emotion in her voice, although her eyes probably told a different story.

He tried to keep his emotions at bay, but had never been very good at that. Instead of looking at her, he unhooked his knives. The charm bracelet around his wrist that held his crossed knives also had a sleeping eye, a dream cloud, and the newest charm that Ebony hadn't seen before was a skull. He held one knife in each hand, and looked up at her emotionless.

Ebony eyed the skull charm wondering where he got it. Who gave it to him? What did it represent? She shook her head to clear the thoughts that swirled around in her head. Ebony raised her sword and stood in a guard stance.

As usual, Gael jumped into an offensive fight. He nudged in close with one knife swiping at her side while the other held back for defense. Ebony easily blocked his knife then struck at his chest then spun as he struck again this his knives. As the metal clashed, Ebony slowly forgot the pain in her heart over losing him and began running on anger and the adrenaline of the fight.

He kept up easily, blocking her strikes with perfect timing before answering with a blow of his own. They were evenly matched, but he was silently praying that one of them would make a slip. Gael didn't want this to be a draw. In his mind, there was more riding on this fight than it just being a fight. He's promised himself that if she won, he'd walk away without trying to get her back.

Ebony's hands were growing sweaty and her arm was getting sore. They had been fighting for a while now. She stabbed at him, but when he blocked she couldn't hold on to her weapon. The sword flew out of her hand and landed in the sand. She was completely defenseless now.

One of his knives instantly went behind her head to the back of her neck with his other resting comfortably in front of her throat. They were centimeters apart, his face not showing any emotions. After a minute of panting, Gael closed the distance. Their lips brushed lightly together.

Ebony was startled. At first she didn't react then, slowly, she kissed back. Wrapping her arms around his back, pulling him closer. Gods she missed him! She missed the way he felt against her lips, the way he kissed her. She missed the way he made her heart flutter every time they touched. Ebony wished she could capture this moment and never let it go. This was the perfect moment, the one she'd been waiting for, the moment that would make her fall in love.

Gael wanted it to last as well, but after several minutes he had to pull away from the kiss to gasp for air. He looked into her eyes, trying to figure out if what just happened was good or bad. Ebony smiled and said the words she swore she never would, "I love you, Gael."

His smile seemed to light up the room with hope at her words. Gael let his walls down to let the giddiness in his heart out as he laughed from straight out joy, "I love you too."

She kissed him again, softly, "I missed you so much. I'm sorry I got mad. It was stupid of me."

Gael hooked his knives back together, before putting his arms around her waist, "No, you were right...maybe in some ways we both were. I wasn't trying to make room for you in my life..."

She noticed the charm on his bracelet and grabbed his hand to look at it, "What's this?"

He looked away from her, embarrassed, "It...I don't know what made me get it. I guess it was supposed to be a symbol of...trying to fit you in with my responsibilities."

Ebony smiled at him and kissed him again. Then she reached up to her neck and pulled out a necklace with a charm on it too. It matched Gael's cloud and sleeping eye. "I got this awhile ago, before we broke up. But I never showed you, I thought you might think it's...I've never taken it off since I got it."

Gael smiled, pulling her closer to kiss her hungrily, "So...we're okay?"

She kissed him back, running her tongue along his bottom lip. Gods he tasted so good! It took all her strength to not go crazy. "We're better than okay." She smiled and kissed him deeply.