The song that inspired me to write this chapter was the first few seconds of Finally Falling, sung by Victoria Justice. I love that song, but the first few seconds gave me the inspiration.

Anyway. I see a lot of you wanted Percy to win. I don't know if you will be totally thrilled with this chapter, because it seems like I just came up with it to make you happy WHICH I DID NOT but I know that I am totally thrilled with how this has ended up.

I loved your reactions, but I think, IF YOU STUCK WITH THIS, then you will be happy.

P.S. I think we can reach 300 reviews. 300th reviewer might get a preview of the sequel! I accept double reviews, but no more then that. Anonymous reviews are welcome too, but you should tell me your username so I can reply to you.

:D

-Blue.

Tears filled my eyes as I practically threw the rose at Nico, who was too stunned to speak, and darted out of the room. I ignored Thalia's abrupt gasp, sprinting to the room, locking myself in and locking the door. I sobbed on the bed, wondering if this was supposed to be happy. It didn't make any sense, but the tears kept coming and I kept crying.

I heard a knock on the door, and I threw a ridiculous high-heeled shoe at it.

"Hello?"

It wasn't a voice I recognized, but it came with a soft power. "What?" I snapped.

"Open up."

"Who is it?"

"I can't say."

"Then I'm not opening."

"Fine." There was a pause, then she added, "But shield your eyes."

I did so, blocking my eyes with my arm and doing a face-plant on the soft comforter. "You may look."

I lifted my head up and blinked, the excess tears sliding down my face and making my vision blurry. I saw a girl with wavy blonde hair and a petite face walk in. She was wearing a white blouse and a blue silk skirt that fell like a waterfall past her ankles, spilling onto the floor like a spreading spill. Her eyes were golden and perfectly round, with flecks of black sprinkled in them. She looked like a goddess, which was stupid because she was one.

"Aphrodite?"

She sighed. "Why does everybody always assume that just because I am pretty means that I am Aphrodite? It gets quite frustrating."

"Well then, who are you?"

Her eyes flared, then faltered into pity. "Since you have not had a good day, I will forgive your rudeness. I am Artemis, goddess of the moon and the Hunt."

"Sorry, Lady Artemis."

"Apology accepted. Now, Annabeth, you may not have may the best choice tonight. I am defying the very laws of the gods, by visiting. I have already done so with Nico-"

"You visited Nico?" I squeaked. "Great. Just stupendous."

"I have not visited him. That would be much too awkward. And I cannot break the rules that often, Annabeth. I summoned Bianca from Hades to whisper advice to him."

"So that's the silver shadow that's been haunting him..."

"Indeed. Annabeth, I am here to make you feel better. I am giving you one last chance-"

"I don't want to join the Hunt."

"You are one of the few at this age who-"

"No."

"Fine. I thought I'd thought I'd offer. But Annabeth-"

"What?"

"I promise you'll be happy in the end. Avert your eyes."

-o-

The velvet seat was soft against my hand as I ran it back and forth. Light, dark. Light, dark. The long white dress flowed around my ankles like a pale waterfall. Beautiful, yes, but not the one I would have picked out. Everything was chosen for me here. From the food I ate to the clothes I wore.

"You ready?" Dial, my designer asked in her distinct Southern accent. I had no bridesmaid, for Thalia was still furious at me and I hadn't spoken to any of my girl friends in over eight years. Tears threatened to spill, but I refused to cry. I brushed them away with the back of my hand and nodded.

"I think so."

-o-

Do you, Annabeth Michelle Chase, take Nico Bartholomew Di Angelo, to be your friend, your lover, the father of your children and your wife?

Bartholomew? "I do," I whispered.

The priest continued. "Nico, do you?"

His black eyes flickered toward me for a second, but I didn't meet them. He focused on the priest again. "I do."

"Do you swear to be each other's in times of plenty and in times of want, in times of sickness and in times of health, in times of joy and in times of sorrow, in times of failure and in times of triumph?"

At the same time, we chorused, "I do."

Finally, he spoke the last line. "Do promise to cherish and respect each other, to care and protect you, to comfort and encourage you, and stay with you, for all eternity?"

I froze. Vaguely, I heard Nico say the dreaded words. But all too clearly I could see Percy's red-rimmed eyes, half-hidden and shadowed by his black bangs. I could see the bicycle decorations we put in the wheels of Chiron's wheelchair about nine years ago and never bothered to remove. I could sharply see ten olympian gods in disguise, their glowing aura hardly contained. I saw my mother's shocking gray eyes, Zeus's curly gray hair, Aphrodite's glowing aura, Artemis's forced smile, and Apollo's glowing eyes. I turned towards the priest.

"I..."

The audience seemed to lean forward. The chorus stopped singing. The pianist and harpist stopped playing. Five hundred and eighty six people held their breaths, waiting for me to speak.

"I don't." I whispered. "I don't!"

A smile spread across my face, from a small smirk to an ear-to-ear grin. "I don't! I don't! I don't accept it!"

I grabbed Nico's shoulders and planted a kiss on his lips. Before I pulled away, I whispered into his ear, "Go get Thalia."

I let him go, laughing manically, the grin almost hurting. But I didn't care. I was free. I wasn't getting married, at least not to Nico. I hopped of the stage, strands of hair getting in my face but I didn't care. I grabbed Percy's hand and pulled him up into a hug. Reluctantly, Percy pulled away.

"What...?"

"It's always been you, Seaweed Brain." My voice cracked with happiness. "Whether you knew it or not."

-o-

"Let's try this again, shall we?" The priest said. He tried to sound annoyed, but I could hear the smile in his voice. "Do you, Annabeth Michelle Chase, take Perseus Orion Jackson," (Here Percy blushed, hating the fact of that his middle name was that of a Hunter), "to be your lawfully wedded life, in the eyes of the Christian Church and Jesus Christ, our Lord?"

"Forever and always."

The priest raised his eyebrow.

"Oh, sorry. I do."

The priest let his smile show. "In the name of the father, son, and the holy spirit."

"Amen."

"You may kiss the bride."

And kiss we did.

-o-

Later, at the party, as me and Nico were dancing, he slipped something into my hand.

"What's this?" I asked, and Nico shrugged.

"Read it."

Nico,

Sometimes the heart wants confusing things. Sometimes it wants to be with someone forever, other times it loses interest after a bit.

Sometimes a heart cannot keep up the love for a person it's entire life. It wants to, but it simply can't. Like yours. You desperately want to love somebody forever and always, but you can't. It's simply not your nature.

Other times, a heart can do nothing but love. It, of course, can pump the blood and keep the person alive, but as well the only reason it does that is to let the person continue on loving. Example A: Percy Jackson. His heart loves. He loves. Everyone he becomes close to he loves. And once you fall in love, you do everything in your power to keep the one you love alive. Have you noticed you haven't? You don't do that, because if they die, you can visit them.

Nico, I have seen very few with your type of love. When you do indeed find someone you are able to love for eternity, that love burns so fiercely that it could destroy anything that gets in it's way.

You have two people you love like that. One of them is Bianca. You know the other.

In the end, you will end up with the one you love. The one that has let your heart keep your ability to love.

Use love wisely, Nico. It can be the gentlest touch or the deadliest weapon. It is not something you play around with.

Love,

Aphrodite.

I looked up, confused. Partly from the letter, and partly from how I was able to read that.

"What?"

"That letter appeared in my room at the mansion. It was on my pillow and I read it... I knew."

"That it wasn't me."

He nodded glumly. "Yeah."

I was silent. "So why did you say, 'I do'?"

"Because I knew you wouldn't."

There was silence, nothing but the sound of Viva La Vida blasting through two foot tall speakers.

"You should go talk to Thalia," I shouted, motioning toward her, from lack of nothing better to say. "She's by the wine."

Indeed she was, staring longingly at the drink, probably wishing she could drink some. Her pale skin stuck out among the tanned bodies, and even from fifty feet away I could see the happy-sad sparkle in her brilliant blue eyes.

I turned to Nico, who was staring in my eyes. I blinked, confused. "What?"

Then he hugged me. He wrapped his arms around me and hugged me. He lifted me a foot off the ground, which was way out of character. "Hey! Let me down!"

He did, but he grabbed my shoulders. "Thank you so much, Annabeth."

I blushed. "Don't thank me."

"Thanks anyway," He said, before making his way to the girl. He whispered something in her ear, and her grin could've lit up New York, it was so bright. He picked her up and kissed her.

"They're a good couple." I turned around. A faint, ever so faint mist shone barely visible in the swirling lights. His blond hair was longer, and his eyes were duller, but it was definitely him.

"Luke?" I gasped. My voice cracked. He smiled.

"Yeah."

"What are you-"

"You can get away with certain things if you live in Elysium."

"I thought you went for Isle of the Blest?"

He shrugged, and his form flickered briefly. He winced. "I did. I got it, too. But I like this body best."

"So soon?" I whispered. After the war, I hadn't done much, demi-god wise. "But it's only been nine years!"

"Nine years, four as a cancer patient, one as a kid who died in a car crash."

"You died so young in all..."

"Yeah. Lets not talk about it." He changed the subject. "Look at you. You're older then me."

"I shouldn't have been."

"Shut up. Of course you should. You deserve to be alive way more than me."

I shrugged. "So why are you here?"

"What, I'm not allowed to visit one of my best friends?"

"Not without a reason."

He sighed. "Annabeth, there's something going on in the Underworld."

I froze. "What?"

He winced, as if it almost hurt for him to continue. "People are rising from the Fields of Asphodel. Uncontrollably. Hades can't stop them, someone is telling them to do it."

"Like who?"

I never did find out who, because with a hacking cough, Luke disappeared. I heard a loud scream, and saw two massive, black furred, dripping fanged, thirty feet tall monsters standing on their hind paws, searching around the crowd. One of the monster's beady eyes landed on me, and started to gallop near. With a swift movement, it picked me up and and swept me out. I screamed, kicked and clawed. It was my wedding day! This wasn't supposed to happen!

For a brief moment, my eyes locked with Percy's. His green orbs were terrified but determined as the monster carried me out, and I knew he would find me, just like when I had to hold the sky.

The monster's paws clenched tighter around me as we exited into the open air. The other monster was close behind it, clutching two people.

"Annabeth?" A voice called.

No. No no no. No. No.

"Thalia?" I whispered, not wanting to believe it.

"Where are we going?"

Thalia's voice was lost in the wind as the monsters spread their wings. Huge, leathery bat wings that had a span of fifteen feet. I gulped and tried not to be afraid, but how can you not be afraid when you're already a mile above the earth, and the only daughter of Zeus is right beside you, unconscious and held captive?

For a while, it was pretty peaceful. Nothing but the rushing of cool air through my hair and face. Then I realized we were still rising. The air was getting harder to breathe, and I began to feel light headed. I fought for breath, begging any god that would listen to not let me die.

And then we were hurtling through space, no gravity, no sound. My scream was silent, lost forever in the span of space.

I saw Thalia waking up, her eyes wide as she surveyed around us. There was no ceiling, no walls, no floor. It was amazing, but terrifying. We weren't supposed to be able to be here!

I saw the monsters making symmetrical movements with their hands, and all of a sudden an excruciatingly bright light appeared a bit in front of us. We neared it, the heat growing until it was unbearable. We entered the brightness, unmistakably going to die. I was hardly married and I was going to die.

I closed my eyes.

Fin.

A/N: Hm. I don't know what to think of this, but I kind of had to leave you on a cliff hanger in order to get you to read the sequel, huh?

ANYWAY, if action isn't your thing, then you are missing out. Immensely. But can you please review for the sequel?

A/N AGAIN: Okay. Now for the sappy part. I really, truly, love every single one of you who read and/or reviewed this. Having almost 300 reviews, this fanfic has truly made my day. Er, weeks. It has been my hobby, my heart and soul, and... well... analogy time.

You know when your ABSOLUTE FAVORITE SHOW OF ALL TIME x 100000000's season is over? Well, that's what it feels like now I'm finished. I feel like a little piece inside me has died. And now, because, if you are reading this a few months into the future when I'm hard at work at the sequel, I want you to know.

As of, 10/31/10, I have 270 reviews, 17,950 hits, 97 favorites, and 125 alerts.

I want to thank you.

So, now, as I go do math homework or finish the Lost Hero or work on the sequel, I want you to know I would never have made it this far without you.

So thanks. A ton. For your support and everything.

I guess there is only one thing to say.

Blue Truth is signing off.

For now.

Finally, I am sad and happy to say...

This fanfiction, is now complete.