"The loneliest moment in someone's life is when

they're watching their whole world fall apart

and all they can do is stare blankly."

-F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

"Thank God that I was able to bribe my brothers to let me in here," Perseus panted, wiping a bead of sweat off of his forehead. He stretched his wings, twenty feet of glossy black feathers, and folded them behind his back, sitting at the edge of the bath basin to face his two friends. Piper was curled against Jason, her head resting on his shoulders and her feet folded under her body mermaid-style. She was beautiful, her angelic blood shining through her humanlike appearance as her eyes shifted with different colors. Jason was smiling like Perseus had never seen him smile before, and he automatically knew that they were practically soulmates, meant for each other in every way possible despite their big differences.

"Good for you, Perce," Jason snorted, his voice dripping with sarcasm, though his tone was rather grateful. More kindly he said, "It's good to see you. Do you know how hard it is to be stuck in a room with your wife all day every day?" Piper smacked the back of his head playfully as the three of them laughed, but Perseus was aware of the strain in Jason's voice. There were dark circles under his eyes despite the fact that Piper had said he'd been getting a full eight hours of sleep every day, and that unnerved Perseus quite a bit: One, because this exhaustion shouldn't be the result of eight hours of sleep, and two because human souls didn't sleep in Heaven. The third, reason, however, he had been sworn into silence not to reveal; Perseus knew it was Giel that was exhausting Jason, and by the looks of it the angel was working him too hard. He was beyond concerned for Jason's well-being, but the news he was bringing weighed on his shoulders like Atlas's burden, a constant underlying gloominess that filled the whole room with a crackling tension.

"Listen," the messenger angel growled, his voice low and gruff. "I can't tell you much because I'll be thrown out of Heaven if that happens, however I can tell you this; your friends are here as well." Jason got up so fast that Piper, startled by the loss of his support, could only just in time outstretch her arms to keep her from face planting into the mattress.

"Really?" Jason demanded, his eyes glittering with a mix of emotions that Perseus couldn't identify. "Where are they?"

"In different rooms, but you mustn't go looking for them lest they trace it back to me. I cannot afford to fall permanently, because that's when my wings are cut off by Archangel Ur-" Perseus faltered, realizing that Uriel was not around to hack off wayward angels' wings and punish them by casting them to Earth. He shook his head clear, though his friends undoubtedly noticed the pause, and continued, "I have managed to check up on all of them, and they are all well. Leo, Calypso, Nico, Reyna, Annabeth, and even Gwen and Dakota are all accounted for. We plucked the last two from the masses of the dead, of course, for this purpose."

"Thank God," Jason breathed, running his hand through his hair as Piper coaxed him to sit down again, but mostly since she could lean on him once more and not have to support herself. Perseus watched the exchange, how perfectly they worked together, and he felt a bit hollow and left out. Love sounded great, incredible even, but there was no female angel enticing enough to catch his attention, and there was only two who he'd truly considered taking as mates, though Perseus refused to think about them as of now.

"Why are they assembling the old gang?" Piper questioned, and Perseus was glad that that information was one of the few things he didn't have to conceal.

"The Archangels have gone missing," cue gasp and then the sound of flesh on flesh as Piper slapped Jason for not telling her earlier.

"I was sleepy," Jason mumbled in a rather drowsy and alarming way. Perseus didn't think he looked too well, and merely being in his presence revealed that Giel was pushing him to the limit.

Pretending not to have noticed, the messenger angel continued, "The angel in charge, the Metatron, has reflected on your heroic actions in defeating Lilith and Luke, and therefore he has called upon you to find them."

"But why us?" Jason questioned, forcing his eyes open and swaying a bit, worrying Percy to an even further extent. "Why can't the angels just do it?"

"We've checked all around Heaven and sent scouts through the Nine Circles of Hell, however the Archangels aren't there, leaving Earth as the only remaining option. You, as humans, will blend in more, and if whatever we're facing is powerful enough to capture not one but five Archangels, it is certainly powerful enough to detect angelic power from a mile away, and by the time we even come close, both it and the Archangels will be halfway across the planet," the messenger explained, trying to keep it as compact as possible in order not to confuse them. Jason was nodding, but Piper seemed a bit unsure.

"Nico, Calypso, and I are fallen angels, we must have some sort of residue leftover. Why recruit the two of us?" Perseus pursed his lips.

"We believe that this certain something may be conspiring with wayward angels, ones that have fallen out of misconduct rather than artificially, no offense," Perseus explained, casting Piper an apologetic look, which she waved off with one hand. "Your presence may even increase the chance of finding Gabriel, Michael, Azrael, Raphael, and Uriel."

"Very well," Piper replied, though she didn't look too convinced.

"Can I talk to Jason in private for a moment? It's a thing we need to clear up." At Perseus' words Jason, who was nearly half asleep, sat up straighter, clearly elated; Perseus was going to tell him what had gone on with the blue light and the disappearing angel. Piper didn't seem too pleased, but with a long moment's hesitation she nodded, obviously still sour from Perseus taking her husband in the first place. The messenger pulled the blond-haired boy off to the side, as far away from Piper, who'd retreated into the bathroom, as possible.

"Why can't she hear what's going on?" Jason asked, his voice low and rather bewildered. Up close, his normally dazzling blue eyes were bloodshot and glazed with exhaustion. "If I can hear it surely she-" The human didn't finish his sentence as Perseus placed two fingers on his forehead, and Jason's eyes rolled back into his head as he collapsed against the angel's chest, fast asleep.

"Listen to me you little piece of crap," Perseus hissed into his ear. "Giel, I know you're in there. I don't care if your wing needs mending. You're working Jason to death. And I swear that if you kill him for your own personal gain, neither the Metatron nor I will be very pleased. Just a heads-up to think about during the next eight hours."

"I though he needed rest," he confessed to Piper when he finally gave her the all-clear fro, her spot in the bathroom. The lie came out smoother than honey because it wasn't really a lie at all. Piper didn't disagree.

-Ω-

"It's really you," Michael whispered, awed, and hugged Percy so tightly that the messenger was barely able to breathe. "Fuck, it's really you. I thought you were gone…"

"That's great," Percy croaked, very much aware of the fact that Michael's wings had unconsciously wrapped around Percy along with the Archangel's arms, which was normally a something that mates did and made him incredibly uncomfortable. Despite the out-of-placeness for the gesture, Percy found himself reveling in it, and even though he was being crushed he managed to bury his face into Michael's shoulder. "It's good to be back." They stood like that for a while before Michael, suddenly realizing what his wings were doing, quickly drew back and flushed a very dark shade of red.

"My apologies. I…uh…um…didn't mean to…err…do that," the Archangel stammered, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. "Your room hasn't been cleaned yet, so…"

"I'll just use the guest bedroom. The one you use for your brothers' messengers if they've been flying all day," Percy suggested, grinning. The vertigo he got by standing in the main hall was unlike anything he'd ever seen; he'd been used to it for all his life, but after experiencing the structures that humans considered large but were actually quite insignificant, he couldn't get over the astounding architecture and the intricate designs. Michael throne in itself was a sight to behold.

"Um…about that," Michael hesitated and suddenly became very interested in his sandals. "Hazel's using that room now."

"Who?" Percy asked, but he could feel dread pooling low in his gut as Michael finally found the courage to look him straight in the eye.

"The new messenger," he mumbled, and he looked so guilty that the messenger angel almost didn't react. Almost. Percy's heartbrokenness must've shown up on his face because the Archangel scrambled to cover for himself, "I mean, I thought you were going to be gone forever…"

"I understand," Percy managed around the lump in his throat, and despite the fact that no tears were being shed just yet, his wings, of their own accord, slumped to the floor. "I get it. You couldn't wait for me forever and-"

"My brothers made me get a new messenger," Michael blurted, and Percy looked up sharply, shocked. The Archangel composed himself, but his blue eyes didn't look any less sad. In fact, Michael emitted a sort of melancholy that Percy's acute sense of smell could pick up, a melancholy that certainly hadn't been there before he'd went on that whole adventure with Jason. It seemed to cling to him, surround him in a cloud of dreariness, and the only other times Percy had picked up on this sort of thing was with widowers. "I was willing to wait."

"Really?" Percy whispered, awed, and the Archangel nodded, a ghost of a smile touching his lips. "Wow…thanks. But now that I'm back you can't just cast this Hazel girl aside."

Michael grimaced. "I am aware." His face softened as he seemed to recall something, no doubt his new messenger. "Hazel is wonderful. Had you not had several eons' worth of servitude backing you up, I may have been content with her." There was something in his voice, though, some unsaid thing that seemed to be perched at the tip of his tongue but he was forcing back. "Perhaps she'll stand in for you if you're sick or want a day off." Percy grinned, joy bursting in his chest as he realized that yes, he was being accepted back into the position as Michael's messenger. Nevertheless, he felt awfully guilty about making Michael give Hazel the boot, and he was already starting to miss his friends back on Earth dearly, but that was nothing compared to the feeling he got whenever he was here with Michael and doing what he did best: delivering messages.

The Archangel turned to leave, no doubt to send a messenger to Hazel about the new predicament, but he looked back for a moment. His wings were spread slightly, curving inwards, and if Percy didn't know any better he'd think it was a flirtatious courting gesture. "Percy?"

"Yeah?" he asked. He felt butterflies fluttering in his stomach, and a feeling that he couldn't name bloomed in his chest. "What is it?" Michael's eyes were full of a tenderness that Percy had never noticed before, and he felt cherished just because that gaze was somewhat leveled in his direction.

"I've been meaning to ask you…" And then suddenly it was over. Michael shook his head clear, his expression turning into one of stone. "It's nothing. Never mind. Farewell." And just like that he was gone in the flutter of wings.

"O-okay," Percy murmured to the room.

-Ω-

"Hey," Annabeth greeted softly, her hair framing her face in a wreath of golden curls that tumbled over her shoulders. Perseus' heart ached as he saw her, after six decades of being apart, and he fell into a stupor that could only be classified as heartsickness.

"Hey," he replied, which was really the only thing he could work his mouth into saying. He was glad that, unlike with Jason, he hadn't seen Annabeth in her old age. The messenger angel couldn't bear to think of her blonde hair streaking with greys and eventually succumbing to them, of her smooth skin growing wrinkled, of her grey eyes losing their luster as she saw and experienced more and more, exhausting her until she withered away into dust. Perseus would've had to watch her grow old while he remained the same age, hold her rough hands in his own smooth young ones. Only then did Perseus respect Piper for loving Jason until the end; it must've been torture to watch him grow hunched over and weak, unable to perform simple tasks that would be customary for young people. The same could be said for Calypso and Leo.

"You look like you've seen a ghost," she laughed, and Perseus felt his legs moving without him commanding them. Her laugh was just how he remembered it, her smile heartwarming in so many ways. "I've missed you."

"I missed you, too," Perseus managed, his voice coming out in a rasp. "It's been so long…" He embraced her and she clung to him like a lifeline, smoothing her hands over his shoulders, thick and hard with muscle, and trailing past his wings to grasp his hips from underneath his tunic. He in turn wrapped his enormous black wings around her, cocooning the two of them for a single instant, but then he withdrew, much to Annabeth's well-concealed disappointment.

"You know that everyone got married, moved on. Leo married Calypso, Jason with Piper, Dakota and Gwen finally getting together, Reyna with a good man named Alex. I never settled down, though," she told him faintly, her voice just above a whisper. "Always though that one day you'd come back, and when you didn't I'd think to myself, 'Tomorrow. Tomorrow will be the day,' but that only triggered an endless cycle of waiting. Nico helped, though, since he never really got over Will becoming a Watcher." Perseus felt tears touching his eyes, but he blinked them away since Annabeth seemed on the verge of crying as well, and he didn't want to see her crying.

"Annabeth…I'm sorry. I know I'm mostly to blame despite my duties as a full-fledged angel, but I can't believe you'd forfeit settling down in order to wait for me," Perseus choked, the astonishment clear in his voice. "You waited so much that you forgot to live your life."

"Now, Feather Brain, don't go around riding your high horse and thinking my whole life revolved around you," there was a quiet exchange of hushed laughter, however the bittersweet tone of it only thickened the things that were hanging in the air, "I dated on and off. The guys never stuck for more than a few months, the longest runner being a guy named Rodger who lasted a year, but I knew that he would propose if we lasted any longer." Silence reigned for a few moments and Perseus couldn't find anything to say.

"I'm genuinely sorry," Perseus hushed. "But I can't, you know…" Annabeth was already nodding, her facial features pinched with a melancholy acceptance.

"No, really, it's okay. I know," she replied, though her voice sounded a bit broken. "I just thought that, now that I'm in Heaven, we could," she struggled to find words, "be together." Perseus bowed his head, his teeth gritting as the overwhelming unfairness of it all washed over him.

"Sorry, I am obligated as an angel to mate with another angel and perhaps replenish the population if I'd mated with a female. If we'd settled down and…had children," he paused, a wistful thought of he and Annabeth sitting on a park bench while their children scampered around on unsteady legs crossing his mind, and continued, "they wouldn't be angelic, nor would they be human. They would be Nephilim, and if you've read any religious literature, the angels went to the ends of the earth to destroy every Nephilim they could find."

"It doesn't matter," Annabeth begged, "I don't care if we can't have children, I don't care in the slightest bit."

"I can't, Annabeth, I'll fall from grace and then I'll have to watch you grow old and die while I stay young-" his voice finally gave way, cracking terribly. Annabeth's face softened and she cupped his face in her hands.

"I've come to terms with it now, Percy, but don't think for one second to start hitting on some feathery chick while I'm around-"Perseus laughed genuinely, the built-up tension in the air shattering.

"I'm not even yours and you're already protective, Wise Girl."

"You're such a Feather Brain."

-Ω-

(A/N) I AM SO DANG SORRY I HAD A LOT OF SCHOOLWORK AND I KNOW THAT'S NOT AN EXCUSE BUT WHATEVER

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot