Hello, readers! This is my first ever upload to this site, so be kind! That being said, please please please PLEASE review this! I welcome any and all feedback on the story. Like I said, I'm new, so I don't know if you can share this with people, but if you can, please do!

The story is very short, so you can expect more chapters (way more chapters) in the future. But for now...

Enjoy...

*engages evil laugh*

*chokes on saliva*

*begins coughing fit*

*ends coughing fit*

*engages less dramatic evil laugh*

Hehehe...

As Percy reached the top of the rope-ladder on the Argo II with Annabeth beside him, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"I missed you. So, so much," Percy said.

"I did, too," Annabeth said, hugging him, kissing him on the cheek.

They stayed like that for what felt like an eternity until Piper reminded them of their quest.

"It's good to have you back, but we need to talk strategy - figure out how we're gonna get to Athens and stop Gaea. The others are inside." Piper said.

"Alright. Come on, Wise Girl, let's go inside."

She nodded, smiling. Percy smiled, too.

But the life of a demigod is never so easy. He should've known to double-check for any threats. But his guard was down.

So he didn't feel the slight tilt of the ship. He didn't detect the razor-thin strand of white string wrapped around Annabeth's ankle, leading down and off the Argo II.

So he wasn't prepared when Annabeth slipped and tumbled towards the edge of the ship.

His eyes widened. He pulled out Riptide and uncapped it, lunging for the string. But to cut the strand, he would've had to take his eyes off of Annabeth for a split-second to not end up hurting her. Faced with this dilemma, he froze - for a millisecond - then chose to cut the string.

But he was too late. By that moment, Annabeth was already in the air, suspending 50 feet above the crumbling remains of the car park below.

Desperate, he lunged out to grab her already outstretched hand.

Time slowed to a standstill as she fell, her face contorted in shock, fear, desperation. Percy's face was likely the same.

Their fingertips brushed against one another. Almost there... but Percy wasn't quick enough. He was forced to watch as Annabeth fell with tears in her eyes, crying out his name. And he cried for her as well, helpless but to watch.

As she fell, his life - or rather, the life he would've had with her - flashed before his eyes.

First, he was 12, seeing her for the first time. "You drool in your sleep," she'd said. He remembered it fondly.

Then he was 15, in Mount St. Helens, staring at Annabeth. She was glaring at him. And then she had kissed him. He was speechless. Then she put on her blue Yankees cap and went invisible. That was when he accidentally unleashed Typhon when he exploded the volcano.

Then it was his 16th birthday. Annabeth had said, "I will never, ever make life easy for you, Seaweed Brain," as they sat on the bench, eating pieces of blue birthday cake that Tyson had helped make. Big blue bricks. With extra blue cement.

Then he was in his early 20s, in a groom's outfit, watching Annabeth come out in a beautiful white wedding dress, smiling under the veil.

Then he was in his late 30s. Old-him chased a 5-year-old son around their living room, he guessed, while Annabeth laughed hysterically in the background.

Then he was in his late 90s, sitting next to Annabeth on a swing bench outside their home. It was surprising to Percy that they had lived to be so old. Super-duper-old-him looked over at super-duper-old-her, who still looked as beautiful as ever, who was looking back at him, smiling. He smiled back before looking across the yard at what was presumably his grandchildren, who were playing catch with a tennis ball. Then, to no one in particular, he asked, "Time?" A voice replied in his mind, Yes. He smiled again and looked back over at Annabeth. He took her hand in his and sighed contentedly before saying to her, "Time." She looked at him and nodded. Together they passed into the afterlife, no doubt into Elysium, where they would rest eternity in bliss.

All that, in a matter of seconds.

He screamed to her, "I LOVE YOU, ANNABETH!"

She screamed back, "I LOVE YOU TOO, PERCY!"

And she landed with a sickening, heart-shattering, thud.

And I might as well as have fallen, too.

It would have saved me the pain.

It would have saved me from what was to come.