Annabeth watched Thalia make her pledge and came to a decision. She was tired of being left behind by people in her life.

"Lady Artemis, if you will have me, I would also like to join the Hunt," Annabeth stepped forward. "I pledge myself to the goddess Artemis. I turn my back on the company of men, accept eternal maidenhood, and join the Hunt."

"I know what you will ask. The greatest gift of all. Yes, if you want it, it shall be yours. The gods have not bestowed this gift on a mortal hero in many centuries but, Perseus Jackson—if you wish it—you shall be made a god. Immortal. Undying. You shall serve as your father's lieutenant for all time."

Percy looked up, stunned. He turned to see Grover, Thalia, and Annabeth with surprised looks on their faces. He thought long and hard about Charles Beckendorf, Michael Yew, Silena Beauregard, so many others who were now dead. He thought about Ethan Nakamura and Luke.

"Well, boy?"

"If I may, my lord, as much as I would like to serve my father, if I become immortal, I would like to escort demigods to camp myself, and I want you to claim them as soon as they arrive at camp. Kronos couldn't have risen if it hadn't been for a lot of demigods who felt abandoned by their parents," he said. "They felt angry, resentful, and unloved, and they had a good reason."

"You dare -?"

"Let me keep them safe. Let me guide them to camp, where they will learn to protect themselves. I want to oversee the camp to make sure that all children of the gods will be welcomed and treated with respect. That is my wish."

After a beat, Percy adds, "Besides, someone else has to take Mr.D's place when he's gone."

"Let's go, ladies, we're losing them!"

Annabeth was a step behind Thalia as the empousai ran from the group that outnumbered them. She ducked as one of them threw a branch in their direction, then heard an arrow whiz past her ear and straight to into its target. An empousa exploded into dust that scattered into the wind. A second later, a bronze sword swung out from behind a tree and decapitated the remaining monster. Stepping out to the open was a familiar face. The two girls leading stopped in their tracks. Another figure peeked out from behind a tree as Percy waved.

"Hey guys, long time no see! Do you mind if we hang for the night?"

The figure behind the tree turned out to be another demigod that Percy was escorting to Camp Half-Blood. It was getting late and, Percy figured that being around other non-mortals would help the young girl adjust to the fact that they were a demigod. While some grumbled about the presence of a boy, many hunters were much more accepting of Percy's presence, since a handful of them knew him from their time in camp.

"And I can stay up as lookout I don't need to sleep as much," making his case to the already decided group of girls.

Thalia nodded.

"We usually have two people out so um... Annabeth? You wanna take the first shift?"

Annabeth looked up from scraping her food into the fire and, with her mouth full, gave the lieutenant a thumbs up.

Everyone settled in for the night while the two lookouts readied themselves for each other's company. Annabeth poked the dimming fire with a stick while Percy grabbed some logs to keep it going. The tension between them was palpable, both unsure of what to say. They hadn't seen each other for so long, and they hadn't spoken to each other since Percy became a god. They only interacted when the hunters went to the camp, and they never spoke alone. Both of them just drifted apart. Both unsure if the other would still call them a friend.

Finally, Percy spoke,

"I never really asked you, why did you become a hunter?"

Annabeth looked into the fire as she weighed her options and chose her words carefully.

"Luke's betrayal was enough for me," she said simply, "I figured if I can't trust someone who I've known for seven years, then who can I trust? And since Thalia was joining, I figured 'hey, at least I'm not going in alone'"

" you could have trusted me, or Grover."

"Yeah."

Percy waited for her to continue talking, he knew she had more to say, but when she didn't say anything, Percy pressed on,

" Did you feel alone when you went on adventures with us? Is that it? Did we do something to hurt you?"

"It's nothing you did Percy, nothing you didn't do either," seeing that her answer didn't satisfy him, and trying to lighten up the mood, she nudged him gently. "Wow Seaweed Brain, a few decades of being a god has you thinking the world revolves around you."

The sound of his old nickname brought a faint smile to his lips.

"you could have trusted me, I wouldn't have let you down," he repeated.

"You don't know that," Annabeth gave Percy a sad smile, "besides, it seems to me like you've done fine without me. And I'm really proud of you, keeping the gods in check and bringing their kids to camp. I really needed that when I was younger."

At this, Percy lit up.

" I wouldn't say I keep them in check so much as I go to every single one of their solstice meetings and nag them. At this point, you would think it was easier for them to just claim their children so that they didn't have to see me so much. It's not like they have to pay child support or anything. I just want their kids to feel seen," he took a breath, "I was talking to Grover about it, and he thinks that I should just make a message group and send them pictures of the kid so they can figure out who's the parent and claim them when they get to camp. Or some kind of magical hotline where I just call them 'Oh hey, is this your kid? from Arizona, brown hair, kind of a downer.'"

At the sound of her old friend's name, Annabeth perked up.

"How is Grover anyways? I haven't heard from him since he went to the Amazon a few years ago."

"Still working to save the environment. A lot more relaxed since Mr. D left camp. Although, I think Grover's looking for someone to take his place. He's not retiring right away but, it's never too early to find a successor. The stress gets to you. You should have seen him when he met Rachel's dad a couple years ago, told him off."

Annabeth laughed,

"Percy you told me that 30 years ago"

This made him pause. Was it really that long ago? It didn't feel like it.

"Wow, I guess time flies."

Both of them settled into a comfortable silence as they reflected on their shared past.

Annabeth used the burnt end of the poking stick to draw pictures onto the unburnt log to her. She admitted to herself that she missed those days when she was off questing with Percy and Grover, she kind of even missed Tyson. Not that she didn't like Thalia and the hunters but, they can't recreate those stories and adventures, and the boys probably won't tease her for her outdated slang.

Percy thought about the night that Annabeth swore to be a hunter, and the panic he felt when he realized what was happening. He didn't think about it at the time but later on, he knew he had feelings for her. A part of him always wondered if she ever felt the same way for him.

'Well here goes nothing,' He thought.

"Did you know that I kind of had a crush on you? I just didn't realize it until way later."

"I would ask you the same question."

"Huh."

"Yeah, huh."

This revelation rendered them silent. Both of their minds suddenly filled with what-ifs.

Percy looked at the girl beside him, suddenly very aware of how young Annabeth was. Fourteen was pretty young to make a life-altering decision. He wondered how things would be if she had stayed mortal. What would their friendship look like? Would they still be friends? If she stayed at camp would that have been a good enough reason for him to reject godhood?

Annabeth was aware that Percy was staring at her, and forced herself to look back at him. Percy looked too young to be a god and not just because he was forever sixteen. Sure, Lady Artemis presented herself as a young girl but, unlike her, Percy did not radiate an old soul or have the air of arrogance and self-importance like most gods. At least not yet.

Annabeth refused to meet his gaze, worried that those feelings would come up again. That didn't stop her mind from going through all the opportunities she had lost by becoming a hunter of Artemis. She felt a blush creep up her face and hoped that the fire was too dim for him to notice.

'It doesn't matter,' she told herself, ' you took an oath and you're not breaking it, not now, not ever. Anyways that was decades ago.'

Suddenly aware of the silence and of how long they were staring at each other, Percy panicked and asked,

"Do you regret becoming a Hunter?"

"Of course not," Annabeth answered, hoping he didn't notice the slight waver in her voice. He did.

"Do you regret becoming a god?"

Percy was quiet for a few seconds before he replied,

"Sometimes," he looked up as if to make sure no thunderclouds were rolling in to reprimand him for not being grateful, "sometimes I think about how I might essentially live forever, and I don't know if I can do it. Sure, it's all fun and games now, but how long before I become cynical like everyone else? I doubt everyone on Mount Olympus was born brooding and jaded."

Percy looked down at the ground as he drew shapes into the dirt with his sword.

"I'm going to have to watch sister die one day, Annabeth. I watched my mom die. And even though it could be centuries from now, you, Thalia, Grover, are going to be gone eventually. Forever without friends is a long time."

Annabeth threw another log into the fire.

"Well, you have us now, so maybe send an iris message and say hi a little more often? Besides, you have Tyson, and you're you, I'm sure it won't be that hard to find new friends."

"Yeah. But I think that I'll miss you guys too much."

They continued their quiet conversation, trading stories and catching up with each other's lives for the next hour or so. Both relished in the familiar company before Annabeth had to trade shifts and rest.

The next morning, the hunters cleaned up their campsite and prepared to head west.

"We haven't hunted there in a while so we figured that we better do that before the monsters there get too comfortable," Thalia explained. She gave Percy a hug then turned to his ward who shared her electric blue eyes. "I know you're not interested in the hunters but, if you ever need to talk just IM me okay? I have a feeling we'd get along great." With that, she went to double-check that everything was cleaned up properly and that everyone had their supplies.

Just as the pair were about to leave, Percy felt someone grab his arm. He turned just as Annabeth gave him a bear hug.

"You can't just leave without saying good-bye Seaweed Brain. Promise me we'll IM more often. You can't miss me if I'm pestering you about monthly calls. Here," Annabeth took off her worn-out leather necklace and untied the end so that she could take out the bead with the pine tree. She then placed it in Percy's hand. "To remind you of me and Thalia and, to remind you to take a break once in a while to catch up with your friends."

"Okay," In turn, Percy took off his necklace. Though he had been at Camp Half-Blood for years, he only kept four beads on them. He took the last bead, the one with the Empire State Building on it, and handed it to Annabeth. "You never got one and I think you deserve it since you did so much for the Battle of Manhattan, more than you know."

The two took a moment to add their new bead to their collection before hugging one last time.

"Keep in touch Seaweed Brain."

"Right back at you Wise Girl."

They walked away from each other, both melancholy and wondering if things might have been different in another time.