Hey everyone! This is the last chapter of 'More Than Just Friends"!

Thank you so much to everyone who supported this fanfic (remember to check out my other social medias!) and I sincerely hope you enjoy this conclusion :)

3 Weeks Later...

Percy's POV

The wind breezed past me as I made my way through the trail in the Southern Woods that was just outside the Camp Half-Blood building. The fresh air felt good and, as I stepped off of the trail and sat down on the wooden pier that overlooked Canoe Lake, I could hear locusts starting to buzz in the trees over-top.

Summer had begun.

I put my head back and let the cool gusts of wind blow through my hair. Almost three weeks of being cooped up inside was starting to catch up to me, which was why I had decided to take a little break and enjoy the outdoors.

Of course, I wasn't going to appreciate the peace of the forest and watch the beautiful sunset that was about to happen all by myself.

I had asked Annabeth that morning if she wanted to take a walk with me in the evening to relax and catch up. After all, we had barely been able to talk past the simple "Hi"s and "See you later"s over the past few weeks and I thought that, since today was more of a chill Saturday at Camp Half-Blood, we could take advantage.

Luckily, she said yes.

I smiled at the thought of Annabeth - her laugh, her voice, her wit - but it was more of a wistful smile than anything else.

I snickered: a few weeks ago, before we had been sucked into this world of magic and demigods and war, I wouldn't have understood what the wistfulness in my smile and my thoughts of her meant.

Now, however, I did understand.

And I still wasn't sure how I should feel.

"What are you smiling about, Seaweed Brain?", I jumped at the sound of her voice from behind me. I craned my neck and saw Annabeth above me: her loose blonde curls framed her face and she was wearing an orange Camp Half-Blood T-shirt, jean-shorts and her beat-up converse shoes.

My heart thumped at the sight of her smile.

"Nothing at all, Wise Girl," I said with a nervous chuckle.

She raised an eyebrow as she crouched to sit beside me at the edge of the pier, "Oh, really?", she inquired but, before I could think of some excuse, she laughed it off and said, "So how have you been, Percy? We haven't talked in days!"

I smiled at the sound of her laugh and said, "I'm good. Tired. Confused. But what else is new?"

"Same," she chuckled, "How's your training been going? Have you mastered the ways of waterbending?"

"Hey, it's not waterbending," I said, although I couldn't think of a better way to describe it, "But my training's going well. Oh, I can do this!", standing up to show her. I put my hands out and focused on the water in front of me. Almost instantly, millions of little water bubbles flew up into the air and, as I put my hands closer together, the bubbles combined to form one big water droplet floating in mid-air.

"Woah!" Annabeth said, "Pretty good."

"Yeah?", I asked, "Watch this." I raised my right hand above my head and the giant glob of water flew up into the air until it was a mere dot in the sky. I sat down and smiled at Annabeth's raised eyebrows before the water droplet fell back into the lake with a whoosh and water splashed onto the wooden dock (and us).

Annabeth laughed at the sudden contact of the cold water and said, "Okay, show-off, that was pretty impressive. Way more impressive than my 'powers'," she said making air-quotes, "Which consists of an abnormally high reading level and the ability to solve riddles quickly. Amazing," she said with a joking smile, but I knew she was actually pretty bummed out.

"Hey, reading is cool!", I said lamely, trying to cheer her up, "And I can't even solve a 100-piece jig-saw puzzle. You can do it in, like, 5 minutes."

"True", she said with a laugh, "How's sword-fighting?"

"Pretty good, actually! The swords we used at first to practice were pretty heavy but I picked out my own sword, Riptide, a week ago so now it's becoming a lot easier to use the different sparring techniques we're learning", I said thinking of the pen-sword in my pocket, "What about you? Have you picked out a weapon yet?"

"Yup", she said digging in her backpack, "I'm learning to use a dagger. Generic, yes, but it works", she said holding up a bronze knife with a leather handle. The blade gleamed with the light of the setting sun and the leather grip made it look ancient and...powerful.

"Woah," I said in genuine awe.

Annabeth smiled as she carefully placed it back in her bag and asked, "Is your sword back at Camp?"

"Actually," I said, digging into my pocket and holding out the ballpoint pen, "This is my weapon."

She smiled and said, "Ha-ha, very funny."

I stood up and, smiling mischievously, uncapped the pen. It instantly grew into a 3-foot-long double-edged sword with a bronze blade and leather hilt. I laughed at the sight of Annabeth's shocked expression and, as I held it up to the light, the blade glowed a deep red-orange.

"That's incredible!", she gasped, "Awesome powers, awesome weapon...Percy, if you're not careful you may very well become the best demigod warrior in history!"

I chuckled as the sword reverted back to pen-form, "Hm, I'm pretty sure Hercules holds that title", I said, sitting back down beside her, "But, thanks anyway."

She smiled, "How's your mom?"

I thought of the conversation my mom and I had just that morning over the phone: I updated her on my progress in training and what we were learning at Camp Half-Blood and she tried to keep the conversation somewhat normal by talking to me about how she was thinking of quitting her job at the candy shop and taking up a career of writing.

"Go for it, Mom! You'd be a great writer," I said honestly, although I was starting to get nervous since we were getting close to the end of our time restraint for the day. I still had so much more I wanted to say to her and, since this was pretty much the only time each week I had time to call her, I tried to cram as much information into each call as possible.

"Thank you, Percy," she said softly, "Are you making friends at Camp?"

I found myself thinking of Jason Grace, Leo Valdez, Nico di Angelo and all of the other friends I had made around Camp. I nodded automatically and said, "Yeah, I have. There are a lot of good people here and I'm somehow more popular here than I ever was at school."

"That's great," was all she said, and I knew she was thinking of the possibility of me, one day, going back to finish high school and attending college. I'd told her before that I wanted to stay at Camp Half-Blood for a while before thinking too much about my future but it was obvious that she wanted me to at least get my diploma.

And maybe one day I would.

I heard a beep in my ear that meant the ten minutes we were allowed per day was almost up. I had questioned Chiron on multiple occasions about how stupid it was that we were allowed so little time to call our friends or parents and he always responded by saying that it was dangerous for us to use too much technology since it might give off our location to Kronos and his Army.

I still thought it was a stupid rule.

"I love you, Percy and I'm so proud of you for how you're handling...all of this," she said fiercely as she heard the time warning too.

"Thanks, Mom," I said, my cheeks reddening a bit, "I love you too. I'll call you again soon, okay?"

"Whenever you can, darling. I'm guessing you won't be able to call next weekend?", she asked, referring to the fact that, next weekend, I wouldn't be at Camp.

"Oh, right, yeah I can't, I'm sorry," I stammered, momentarily forgetting all about the super important trip me and several other demigods were supposed to take across the country.

All the way to a place called Camp Jupiter.

"It's okay, Percy. Just promise me two things."

"Anything", I breathed into the receiver.

"Stay safe and say hello to Annabeth for me," she said and, with that, the line went dead and I was left smiling sadly at the bare wall in front of me.

"She's great," I told Annabeth in response to her question, "She's worried about the huge trip we're taking next week but...she trusts me. She trusts me not to do anything stupid and to stay safe," I refrained from adding for her, "She says hello, by the way."

Annabeth smiled and said, "I'm glad she trusts you to stay safe, although I don't know about you not doing anything stupid," I chuckled and soon we were both laughing together and it was like nothing had changed since the last time we sat down in peace together and laughed at each others' jokes.

Back when we were oblivious to this new world of magic, demigods and war.

"Are you nervous for the trip?" I asked Annabeth quietly. When Chiron had first announced it to the demigods at Camp - about how he was electing six demigods to go on a diplomatic mission to ally ourselves with the people of Camp Jupiter, saying how we needed allies in this time of imminent war more than ever - I immediately became nervous and more-than-a-little self-conscious about going on such an important trip when I was so new to...everything.

And I could tell many campers agreed with me, judging from their sideways glares and the murmurs that started whenever I walked into a room.

However, Chiron assured me that he thought I was "excelling" in my sword training and "hydrokinesis" (as he called it), but I still couldn't help but feel inadequate and unsettled by being paired up with such experienced demigods like Jason Grace, Piper McClean, Leo Valdez and Nico di Angelo (who - while being an angsty thirteen-year-old boy - still had much more fighting experience than I did).

"A little,", Annabeth answered with a sigh, "I'm nervous about going on such an important diplomatic mission when we're so new to all of this...but I'm also really eager to learn about everything. The politics, the diplomacy, the architecture at Camp Jupiter that I've been studying up on, everything," she said passionately, and I could tell she was truly excited from the light in her eyes as she spoke.

I chuckled, "Yeah, I'm excited too. It'll be awesome to meet the people at Camp Jupiter. You wonder if they're as friendly as the Campers here...", I wondered, "Speaking of friends, how's Piper and Malcom?"

"They're fine," Annabeth said, staring at the lake in front of us, "Malcom's pretty bummed about not going on the mission since he's also a child of Athena. Piper's pretty nervous about the trip. How are Jason, Leo and Nico taking the news?"

"Oh, Leo's ecstatic. All he talks about is how many tools and parts he's gonna be packing and how he's excited to meet "da ladies" at Camp," I said, chuckling at the thought of crazy Leo Valdez tinkering with his gadgets, "Nico seems pretty indifferent...as usual. But Jason...", I paused, thinking about Jason, my first friend at Camp.

Usually he was so calm, cool and collected but lately...

Lately, he'd been reserved and quiet. He still laughed at the jokes Leo or I made at breakfast or smiled when Piper came into the room (seriously those two are made for each other) but I could tell the humor or joy was forced - he was nervous to go back to Camp Jupiter.

Back to the home that he couldn't remember.

"You think he's nervous to go back?", Annabeth said, seeming to read my mind for the millionth time that evening, "Piper told me a bit about Jason: how he lost his memory in some weird accident and wound up here but knows he came from Camp Jupiter. She didn't elaborate though, what do you think?"

"He didn't tell me much more about what happened than you know," I said, thinking back to that night when I had first met Jason - that had been the only time he had bothered to open up about his past, and it was the only time I had pried, "But I think that's probably why he's acting so off lately. Who wouldn't feel nervous about going back to a home you don't even remember?"

"I know right. I can't imagine," Annabeth said, turning to look at me.

Suddenly, my heart felt lodged in my throat: my mind flashed back to Annabeth on the night our lives had changed forever - her messy, twig-filled hair, tear-stained face and the drained look in her eyes - and compared it to the Annabeth who was looking at me now - her determined expression and how the light of the now-setting sun gleamed off of her confident storm-grey eyes. The eyes that stared back at mine.

The only word that came to mind in that moment was beautiful.

"Why are you staring at me?" she asked with a smile, snapping me out of my daze.

"Oh, no reason," I said, trying not to sound like an idiot, "I just...I was just thinking about how far you've come. How far we've come. Remember how terrified we were that night we came here?"

Her expression turned a bit darker as she remembered that day, "Yeah. We thought we were entering Kronos's Army. At least we were right about one thing: this is where Luke came from," she said, her voice hitching a bit at Luke's name.

We hadn't talked about him in a long time, what with us not being able to talk much in general and the fact that he was somewhat of a touchy subject around Camp - every time I brought him up during conversations with Jason, Leo or Nico, they got quiet, most likely thinking of the guy they used to know before he left and betrayed them all.

To be honest, I still didn't know what to make of Luke: on the one hand, I felt furious by the fact that he had betrayed and hurt so many people by leaving Camp and joining the ranks of the bad guys (not to mention the fact that he tried to kill me).

But, a part of me felt sorry for the guy. He hadn't seemed like that bad of a person around school and, while it was most likely that he had gone to that school just to spy on me and Annabeth, I still couldn't bring myself to believe that it had all been a facade. I truly believed he was a decent dude and that he may have very well been misguided.

Though if he had never gone to the dark side, would Annabeth and I had ever learned about Camp Half-Blood and Kronos's Army?

"Yeah," I agreed with a heavy tone of voice, "Do you ever...miss him?", I asked with a weird curiosity.

She thought for a moment before answering, "Sometimes. I know it's wrong: he tried to kill you! But...I don't know, he didn't seem all that bad before. And he...he seemed to almost regret everything in the end. I guess that's why he injected himself," her voice got more and more strained as she went on and I could tell this was a tough subject for her to talk about.

Before I could think much about it, I squeezed her hand reassuringly and said, "I think you're right. He did seem to regret what he did in the end. He injected himself because he was terrified of what Kronos would do to him if he failed again, but also because he couldn't bring himself to kill me. Or hurt you. Remember what he said before he died? Don't let Kronos win," to that day his last words had haunted me and it felt right to share all of this with Annabeth.

To reassure her that Luke had realized his mistake in the end and was willing to pay the price for it.

"Yeah", she agreed with a sniff, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, "And we won't let him win. For Luke and the rest of the world's sake. We'll beat him and his stupid Army...together" she added fiercely, looking into my eyes and I couldn't help but gulp as I nodded in agreement.

At this point the sun was almost over the horizon in the distance - the light orange glow of earlier had transformed into a deep red-orange bath of light that gleamed beautifully off of the still water of the lake in front of us.

I turned towards Annabeth again and jolted at the sight of our still-intertwined hands. She seemed to notice at the same time as me as she chuckled softly.

I chuckled along with her, though with a tinge of nervousness. Without thinking, I started to stand up, "We should probably get back to Camp before they send out the Harpies," I said, thinking fondly of the weird feathered ladies that came out at night to look out for any Campers who were gone past their curfew.

"Oh, right, yeah," she said, sounding as hesitant as I felt as she stood up along with me. However, we both stood there - hands still intertwined - mesmerized by the gorgeous sunset that unfolded before us: the sky was a mixture of reds, oranges, yellows and purples and it seemed to emanate one word from the beautiful display of colors:

Hope.

I tore my eyes away from the setting sun and my heart jumped yet again at the sight of Annabeth's eyes staring back at mine. She was smiling softly at me and I couldn't help but match her smile at the sight of her - the way her lips curled up and the way the light of the sunset gleamed off of her blonde locks, dainty eyelashes and seemed to bring a world of color to her confident storm-grey eyes.

Somehow her lips were inches from mine after I resurfaced from my stupor, but, surprisingly, I didn't feel the familiar jerk of my heartstrings or the forming of beads of sweat on the back of my neck or the palms of my hands (okay, that last one is a lie - I hoped to whatever gods above that Annabeth didn't notice or care about the sweaty hand that was interlaced with hers).

I only felt hope and little bit of confidence as we both seemed to come together and melt into one long, soft kiss: our right hands intertwined with my left hand hovering over her waist and her left hand grabbing my shoulder somewhat fiercely.

"Percy", she murmured after we came apart. My eyes were still closed and I was so wrapped up in the ghost-like feeling of her lips on mine and the fact that we had just kissed that I didn't notice the urgency in her voice until she said my name a second time, "Percy!"

Before I knew what was happening, my left arm flailed as my eyes flew open at the feeling of open-air below my right foot. Annabeth screamed as we both slipped and plunged into the lake below us.

Cold water shocked my senses and millions of bubbles surrounded my line of vision. I could feel Annabeth's embrace and, without thinking, I found myself mentally trying to form an enormous bubble around the both of us. I didn't know how to do it - or that I could even do it - but, in less than a minute, Annabeth and I were facing each other inside of a huge air bubble in the middle of the lake, completely dry.

She smiled wide and soon we were both cracking up, the laughter coupled with the feeling of just being with Annabeth in that moment lifting all of the lingering heaviness off of my chest.

Still giggling, she wrapped her arms around me and kissed me, this time deeply.

When she pulled back I smiled and said in a bit of awe, "We just did that."

She nodded fervently as if she couldn't believe it either and whispered, "Yup. Though what did you expect, Seaweed Brain? I told you we'd get through this together, didn't I?"

"You did," I said, my voice still tinged with wonder and something else...

Happiness.

"Together," I agreed and we embraced again, not pulling away from each other until we safely resurfaced to the top of the lake.

And, while walking home in the light of the stars above us, our hands intertwined contently, I couldn't help but think back to everything that had happened those past few weeks and how it had all seemed to lead up to this.

I guess Annabeth and I were always destined to be more than just friends.