Invisible Forever

Summary*

War is cruel. So is death. Will Percy get through them unchanged? Will he brave all his trials? What happens when the one person he loved sacrifices herself for him? What will he do now, as he sees the Seven wilt and fade away as demigod after demigod dies?

A red sun rises today. To the world, it is a perfect day. The birds are chirping, enjoying the company of their mates. The sky is clear and blue. The sun shines bright and the trees rustle in the gentle breeze. The flowers in all their wonderful colours light up the world, welcoming them to a new cycle of life. Life bubbles both within and beyond the sea, but to me, everything is now a mockery. A mockery of that which I have lost. A cruel mockery of life itself.

The world holds no colour now. It is all so bleak and dull. I hear not the chirping of loving birds. I hear the mourning tunes that lay buried within birdsongs now, crying for the loved one that they have lost. I see not the clear blue sky. It is empty. I see not the glorious sun. I see a god whose life was owed now to not one, but two of my friends. The world holds no joy for me now, because it all died the day she did.

She was a hero. She always has been, and will always be.Was this to be our fate ever since we met? Was it our destiny to be forever apart? Would we never have the happy life that we desired for ourselves? We had never expected to live too long, but to have such a harsh reality driven home so soon hurt beyond anything I have ever felt before. I would never be absolved of my guilt, for I know it is my fault and mine alone. The say that fatal flaws can kill you and it is true. I died that day without being killed.

It seemed like any other day, but unknown to the rest if the world, a battle was raging. Not the kind of battle that would be sung and praised in ballads and legends, but a battle no less. We fought to rid the world of the Roman Emperors who had lingered for far longer than their time, cheating death for longer than they deserved. We fought to help a god regain his rightful place among the Olympians, but we also fought for something more. Vengeance. How many of our own had died for their greed and cruelty? How many young lives thrown away needlessly, for neither fame nor glory? How many sacrifices in the name of war?

I had been prepared to die that day. I had not given up in any way, but as a demigod, I knew any fight could be my last, and it had most definitely looked the part that day. I had mentally said my farewells to everyone that I had held dear. My mother, Paul, my father, my friends, my unborn little sister, I had bid them all goodbye. All save the one that I had loved. I had never stopped to think that the jaws of death would clamp down on her that soon. I would always be there to protect her, with my life if need be. She was much too smart to be trapped like that, and much too proud to bow down even to Death himself.

There wasn't much else for me to think about as a charged headlong into what I thought would be my last fight. It was a desperate situation. It is not everyday that you find yourself facing three undead Roman Emperors. Each one more bloodthirsty than the other. We were no longer The Seven, but a group of determined demigods and a fallen god, trapped in a race against time to restore Apollo's divinity.

We had made it past Tarquin's tomb, but little did I know that it would claim one more life. Reyna had led her people alongside Frank, holding of the others while we fought the emperors themselves. Piper, Meg, and Apollo were heavily outnumbered against their foes. They were fighting a losing battle, and someone had to help them. Someone had to tip the scales so that they could succeed. Jason had died to save them, and I owed it to him to at least try.

I fought Nero. It seemed we had a score to settle. The last time I had seen him he had tried to destroy my home. It was by no means easy, though I would have fought him time and again if it meant that she could live once more. She had faced Caligula for a time, blade against blade, but he was an opponent beyond any of our skills. He had centuries to perfect himself, and we were but a bunch of armed teenagers in every sense of the word. Bravely did we face the two emperors, but it wasn't enough.

I had known that Caligula would never fight fair, the enemy never did, and yet I had not bothered to look twice at him. I had known that it was he who had ended Jason's life, and yet, it was Nero that I faced. Annabeth fought by my side, taking advantage of the invisibility that her mother's gift had bestowed upon her. I should have known. I should have seen it coming but I did not. After all, she was the Wise Girl, but I should have known. I should have done something.

Even after all these years of fighting, it seems I have not changed, though I now wish I had. I fight to save those that are dear to me, often forgetting to defend my back. She and I had often fought that way. Invisible or no, we knew where the other would falter, and we fought as one person, protecting each other. That day was no different from the others, but one thing had changed. Caligula had stolen away from me once more that which mattered most. He had tried to kill Apollo the way he had killed Jason,and I had tried to intercept the blow. I had not realized what was happening until it was too. I had braced myself for the impact, yet it never came. She had once taken a blade for me, and she did it once more for me. She died to save me.

I had fought then like never before. Our trials had been completed, but what use was it when I had lost the one battle that mattered to me? Apollo had become a god once more, but even the gods are powerless against death. She loved me, as I had loved her. She had known what my flaw would do to me, and she had let it kill her instead. She knew even before she died that nothing could save her from the pain that it would bring. She knew that I would do anything to save her, and so she left me no choice. Even in death, she had chosen to leave before her time, to save me.

I stand alone now watching her shroud burn. A shade of grey as deep and startling as her eyes had been in life, but now they only remind me of a cold and unfeeling stone. A reflection of myself. In that moment, I was truly alone. She had been there every time I had lost someone. She had been there for me, but I had failed her. She had held me as we mourned Jason together. I saw in her a caring friend as she held Piper, who had lost so much, with so many words left unsaid. So many regrets. I saw in her a kinship so strong as her tears mingled with Thalia's, who had lost everything that she had just found. I saw in her a love as great as mine as she searched for me tirelessly the six months that I had been missing. Together, we had mourned with Leo who had come back home, back from the dead, to find that his dear friend had left him forever without so much as a goodbye.

I saw in her a loving cousin each time she met Magnus. What would I tell him now? That his one living relative had died because of my folly? What would I tell her father and her family? That the girl they had entrusted me to protect had been lost? What would I tell Chiron? That his favourite student had failed? What would be said of me? That I had driven the wedge deeper between Athena and Poseidon? It mattered not anymore. She had been everything to me, and now, I too, was left with nothing.

She had mourned Jason as much as I, and we had healed together, side by side, with the unspoken promise that we would never leave each other again. Never would we let anything part us save death. All those years ago, she had promised me that she wouldn't die when I yet owed her something. Why now, Annabeth? Why now, when I owe you even my life?

The flaw was mine. The fault was mine, and yet she paid for it all in the name of love. I had killed us both that day. Her invisibility cost me so much that day. I would have given anything to see that face one last time. To see those golden curls as they gleamed in the sunlight, like a fiery halo. To look into her soulful eyes as she told me that she loved me. You said you'll never leave me! I wanted to cry, but the fight was lost, and so was I.

I am no longer the Seaweed Brain that she loved, for without his Wise Girl, he ceases to exist. Every day, I live in her memory, seeing her in all that is fair, and all that was once loved. I am but a seaweed, adrift but lost in the sea of grief, floating towards an unknown destination. The days mean nothing now for the hurts are too deep to be healed. The void will never be filled again, eating away until it is all over.

I will find her once more, and that day we will meet beneath the stars, when no one, and nothing will be able to part us again. We will meet in the starlit gardens when a lone nightingale sings its lament, the flowers around us never wilting in death. All shall be well once more, and so shall I, knowing that she is with me. There shall be only the two of us, lost in our love for each other, safe from the tears and hurts of the world, and in each other's arms, we will be at peace.

Till that day comes, I will be waiting, doing what she bid me do. The seas and gulls will sing to me no longer, neither will my blade hum as I swing it. Blackjack and Guido will soar in the skies, free from the needs of the one they had chosen as their masters, and the lives at camp will move on, while I, Perseus Jackson, son of Poseidon, continue to believe that Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena, still lives on in me, just invisible forever.