Percy

I know I am dead. As I come out of unconscious, my body aches with pain and soreness. My chest is killing me and I think that being dead sure feels like being alive. To make sure I am actually dead, I slowly open my eyes, expecting to see Elysium, but I am still in the cavern.

Annabeth is leaning over me and for a second I want to smile and embrace her, but then I remember and this Annabeth tried to stab me. I quickly try to back away from her, looking around for my weapon as Annabeth looks at me with worry and concern.

" Percy, it's alright you're safe now."

I scoff," Yah sure I am. You will just let me get my guard down again and stab me."

She looks at me with confusion," Stab you? Percy, I was waiting for you right where you jumped off. How could I have stabbed you?" She pauses and then asks, " Wait did you see me before you were stabbed? That's what he did to me too. He uses your greatest weakness to try to trick you. It almost got me."

I study her and I want to believe her but I am hesitant. I already fell for that once.

"Prove it. Where is my Achilles spot?"

Annabeth rolls her eyes," Gods are you serious? Fine. You lost that ability in New Rome but it was on the small of your back."

I stare at her and smile as I pull her in for a hug. We hold each other close and then she says.

"It's over Percy. He is gone for good. We are free. No more nightmares, no more fear."

"We can live our lives finally." I whisper and smooth out her hair as I slowly sit up and hold her.

Her voice gets a little thick," I-I thought you were dead."

I pull back and look at her and now she is crying, sobbing actually. She has been so strong through everything I put her through and I feel guilty for making her cry.

I put my hand on her cheek and stroke it while wiping away her tears," I am not going anywhere. I'm going to be here for a long time to love you."

She smiles with tears in her eyes and I think she has never looked prettier. I gently grab her face and kiss her, assuring her that everything from now one is going to be better.

Annabeth

A couple of months later

Percy and I are adjusting to our new lives. Percy is finally able to sleep through a full night now and my bad dreams aren't as bad so I can sleep in the dark.

Although we stopped one of our many problems as demigods, there are many more that can't be as easily fixed. Percy's scars are still a reminder for him but he isn't embarrassed about them anymore. I still carry my knife around and we have a monster attack every once in a while. But the end of the year was shaping up to be a lot better then the beginning of it.

It's now spring in New York City and I am enjoying a nice spring day in my favorite study spot. It is in the lawn under a big willow tree that provides just enough shade so I can be comfortable. On nice days like today, I like coming out here to study and work on projects. I am in the middle of finishing my term paper when Percy scares me.

" Percy, you almost gave me a heart attack!"

He snickers and sits next to me and gives me a kiss on the cheek. He smiles and said," What are you up to?"

"Term paper. Don't you have a paper to work on too?"

He roll his eyes, " Wise Girl, we both know you are going to have to help me so why do you even ask?"

" I was just wondering. I am almost done with mine and then I can help you but until then you will need to be quiet."

He nods and sits up against the tree. He kept fidgeting with everything around him, from his shirt to the grass and it's very distracting.

"I know you have ADHD but you need to take a chill pill Percy."

He smirks and scoots back up to me and as I am typing, he begins playing with my hair. He pulls it back and starts kissing my cheek, trailing down from my jaw to my neck. I close my eyes and it feels so nice but I am determined to finish this. I can't get distracted.

" Percy, I need to get this-."

"I'm not doing anything. " He teases as he keeps kissing down my collar bone and back up again.

"Yes you are!" I say as I shove him off and got back to typing. He sighs and goes back up against the tree but the ADHD is kicking in again. Finally he whines," Are you almost done? I am bored."

"Stop whining Seaweed Brain."

I type the last of my paper and save it. I finally turn to Percy and I give him my annoyed look.

He makes an innocent face and asks," What?"

"You know what."

Percy shrugs and says, "I have no idea why you are so annoyed. I was just sitting here minding my business."

"That's it." I tease and get up to attack him. He laughs and runs away from the tree as I am hot on his trail. As I get closer to him, I smirk and tackle him to the ground. I kiss his cheek and ask.

"Do you surrender?"

He smiles widely and his sea green eyes sparkle in the sunlight as he shrugs, "It wasn't very fair but fine." He rubs my back and kisses my forehead.

"I love you."

I smile back, " I love you too."

We both hold each other and try to hold onto this moment, never wanting to escape each other's arms and face a reality where one day one of us might not be around. The life of a demigod is rough and dangerous but having someone on your side through everything makes the journey much more easier.

Two weeks later

Percy

I am walking through the quad on a late spring day. The semester is almost over and summer is around the corner. I am excited to go back to home to spend time with my mom and Paul and to spend the summer with Annabeth. After everything this year, it would be nice to have a summer off but I know something will come along to ruin it. But until then, I am going enjoy what time I have with my family and friends.

We are going be juniors next year at NYU. It's crazy to think that we have already been here for two years and we then will have two years until we graduate and begin our futures. Annabeth has always known what she has wanted to do for her whole life where I have never really thought about it. I never thought about my future because I never thought I would have one. Being a demigod, I always thought I would die before I was eighteen so the fact that I have survived this long is mind boggling to me and probably all of my enemies.

So when I had to pick a major for college, I had no idea what I wanted to do. I declared undecided and went with it, bouncing from different classes and focuses until I found one that suited me. A couple of days ago with the help from Annabeth, I decided to switch my major to teaching. I thought I could help kids with learning disablitiles like kids with ADHD and dyslexia. It also would help me find kids who were demigods and direct them safely to camp.

For once in my life, my future seems set in a path that I want it to be and I am extremely happy. As I walk to Annabeth's for our date tonight, which was much needed, I try to hurry up because Annabeth hates when I am late. When I arrive, I knock at her dorm room and Piper answers the door.

" Oh hey, Percy. Annabeth isn't ready yet but come on in!

" Thanks Piper."

I sit down on their old couch Piper fills me in on how her life has been.

" So how is everything Piper? I haven't had the chance to talk to you in a while."

" I know it's been too long! Well I am doing pretty good. Jason and I have decided to move back to New Rome. He has been going back and forth so much but he decided he would like to live there and visit Camp Half Blood every two months or so. So this is my last semester here and then I am moving to New Rome over the summer and going to school there. You and Annabeth can always come and visit!"

"Well I have always wanted to go to school there but New York was closer to my mom. But I hope to move out there one of these days. But you and Jason are moving in together then?"

" No, I will be in a different cabin of course we are Percy!"

I am a little embarrassed but I thought Piper would have realized by now how I can be a little spacey sometimes.

"Well good for you two."

I look down and see a ring on her finger which wasn't there last time I was here.

But before I could say anything more, Annabeth walks out and says," Hey! You ready?"

She looks amazing. She is wearing a white lace dress and her hair in put in a ponytail, I look I always loved on her.

" Whenever you are Wise Girl. You look great."

She blushes," You don't look too bad yourself. So did you hear Piper's big news?"

" Oh yah that she is moving to New Rome with Jason."

Annabeth laughs and says, "Yes that and they are getting married!"

I look at Piper and she smiles shyly as I ask, "Why don't you tell me! Congrats!"

" I wanted to surprise somebody! Annabeth knew it the moment I told her I was leaving. And Hazel already knew because Annabeth told her! So surprise!" She smiles as she shows off her engagement ring. It's small and beautiful and perfect for Piper. I give her a hug and Annabeth comes over and asks," So you didn't tell me but when is the wedding?"

Piper replies, "Probably in the summer or fall or at least that's what we are hoping for."

" Oh that's the perfect time for a wedding! Oh I am so happy for you!" Annabeth hugs Piper and then Annabeth comes back to my side and ask, "Ok you ready?"

"Yep. Bye Piper, congrats again."

" Thanks Percy! Have fun you two!" She winks as we close the door and walk down the hallway. Annabeth take my hand," Isn't that awesome! I am so excited for those two!"

" Yah. They deserve it. "

She nods and we walk down the stairs and out the door. We walk through the quad towards exit to the city. I am taking Annabeth to our favorite diner in downtown. They have amazing cheeseburgers, fries, hotdogs basically anything that greasy and unhealthy they have it. As we walked Annabeth asks me, "Percy, can I ask you something?"

"Anything."

She takes a deep breath and said, "Where do you see yourself in 2 years?"

I know what she was really asking. She wants to know if I see her in future. It is such an easy answer that I am surprised she even asked it. We have been through so much and I know I want to spend the rest of my life with her. But I am in no rush to settle down and get married. We just got a break and I just want to enjoy it before something else comes along to destroy our peace.

I stop and look down at her grey, starling eyes.

"Where I see myself in 2 years is with you. We would be living in New Rome just after graduating, you would have your dream job in San Francsico and I would be teaching world civilzations or something. Annabeth, I am disappointed that you didn't already know that. Don't you know how much I love you, how much I need you in my life? A future without you isn't worth living. You are my everything. You are my future. Everything else doesn't matter. It's you and it's always going to be you."

Annabeth smiles and says, "We will get to New Rome one of these days Percy. And I don't know why I asked, I guess I am just thinking about the future and everything in between. I mean Piper is younger then us and she is already engaged. I mean I am fine with waiting to get married, I actually don't mind it at all. Waiting a couple of years would be fine with me."

She looks up at me and continues," Your future is my future too. And I just want you to know just because Piper and Jason are getting married doesn't mean you have to propose this second or anytime soon. I would rather work on us and be together then worry about getting married and planning a wedding. I don't care if and how we get married Percy. As long as you're the guy smiling at me as I walk down the aisle I can wait."

"I don't care when we get married. As long as I am with you I am happy. We could get married tomorrow or in 10 years and I still would have the same answer. I love you and I want to be with you forever."

She has tears in her eyes as she says," When did you get so good at that?"

" Good at what?"

" Loving me?"

"I learned from you. I don't know how you put up with me after all of these years but thank you for loving me and showing me that I am worth loving. You see a side of me that no one else sees. Everyone always thinks that I am some strong, invincible hero who doesn't have any self-esteem issues and has everything figured out. You have always known that other side of me, and I can't thank you enough for showing me that I can be vulernable and I don't always have to pretend that I am strong and emotionless."

Annabeth takes my hand and looks at me, "Percy, you are worth loving and you are a great person. No matter how many mistakes you have made in the past or how many incidents have happened, your past does not define you. You are allowed to be happy for once."

I smile at her and lean down to kiss her sweetly, her lips working in unison with mine. I am glad that we talked out our feelings for the future and I am perfectly fine with waiting until Annabeth seems alright to get married and settle down. Finally, we break apart and keep walking hand in hand.

Annabeth

While we are walking back from dinner, I am laughing so hard my sides are hurting. Percy is laughing to the point of tears and it's nice to hear him laugh again. At dinner, there was this jerk who kept trying to hit on me right with Percy was sitting there. After a couple of times of telling him to back off, Percy finally had enough. The guy said he was going to get some food and come back to slug Percy. So Percy did some quick thinking and used the local water fountain. He squirted the water causally at the jerk so no one knew it was him. But the funniest part was when the guy got soaked, he made this hilarious noise and Percy and I broke out laughing. We couldn't stop and it was 10 min ago.

" And-and then he was - was like wahhhhhh! Oh my gods! " Percy tries to say through laughing hard as he cracks up again.

" Oh stop! I-I can't stop laughing" I laugh and try to catch my breath. After awhile we both have calmed down and I wipe tears from my eyes. I look up at Percy who is just calming down and tell him," I've missed that."

He looks down, " Missed what?"

" Your laugh. We haven't laughed like that in a while. I missed it."

" I know. There's a reason though my sides are killing me. " He jokes with a smile. As we are walking past a dark alley, suddenly a hellhound comes out of the darkness and decks an unsuspecting Percy to the ground.

" Percy!" I scream as I try to run to him but another hellhound blocks my path to Percy, who is trapped under the first hellhound. Its teeth are bare and Percy is struggling to reach Riptide in his pocket while keeping the monster's teeth away from him. I pull up my dress and take out my knife that is strapped to my thigh. I looked to see if Percy is doing better and he was slowly getting his sword while fighting off the dog's teeth. He uncaps Riptide and jabs it up the monster's throat and chest. Immediately, the monster falls dead and Percy rolls out from under him.

" You ok?"

" Never better. I sure haven't missed this though."

We both fall silent and both lunged towards the hellhound. I slice at its neck while Percy spins and rolls off another hellhound who came to assist his friend. As he spins, Percy kills the late monster and it turns to dust. I focus on my battle and slash at it again. The monster regains it's composure and slowly walks towards me. Percy runs up next to me and he is panting.

" Out of breath Seaweed Brain?"

"That cheeseburger from dinner isn't sitting well with me."

I want to laugh but this was serious. " Well I guess next time you'll listen to my advice. So I take the right, you take left like old times?"

"Sounds good to me."

We both attack the lone hellhound is confused and doesn't know who to attack first. I distract it while Percy comes from behind and stabs it's back. As I watch his movements, I remember how much I have missed watching him in battle. He moves with so much power that it is unbelievable. He turns around and sees me staring at him.

" What? Do I have something on my face?"

" Come here."

He walks over and as soon as he is standing in front of me, I grab his shirt collar and pull him down to my lips. He's surprised but I feel him smile against the kiss and holds me tighter against his chest. I wrap my arms around his neck as his hands run across my back. It was a simple kiss but every moment with Percy is magical and enchanting.

Hope you all liked it! Don't worry my followers this is not the end. I still am going to right a couple of more chapters and I also have a a sequel in mind so don't freak out!

~Riptide14