Disclaimer: Nope, just a fanfiction writer. I would be a man, if I owned it, wouldn't I? So nope.
Story: They weren't a perfect fit. They didn't make sense and no one believed in them. But even though they didn't match, they made it work and worked hard to do so. But then she messed up. And now he's gone.
Set after all the books.
Spoilers: All books.
Warnings: Cursing and violence for now…hm, just in case since I'm usually writing it, bit of crazy humor, perverted humor, morbid or sarcastic humor, and maybe some sexual situations…
Pairings: Percy/Athena

Forgot to Say
Chapter Twelve: Midnight Ends

Percy sighed as he looked at himself with his closet door mirror, fingers deftly making a knot for his tie. From the corner of his eye, he saw his…sort of sister peeking in on him shyly, and he smiled at her through the mirror.

"You need something, Rosemarie?"

She shifted a little nervously, before she shuffled into the large closet space. She gave him a small smile but didn't say anything, opting to just stand near him and watch him get ready for work.

It was strange to think he now had custody of her. It was stranger to think that she was also sort of his sister, or at least the sister of a past life of his. Something in him kind of believed in it, but it was harder for him to grasp the whole Greek mythos being not so much myths but truth. And there was a part of him, something he felt strange about and not wholly comfortable about, that felt the faint echoes of affection for Elena –Athena. From the moment, he crossed paths with her, he'd instinctively wanted to take care of her and felt instantly fond of her (and at times, he uncomfortably was aware that he'd been more than fond).

"Do you…do you still like her?" his sister asked quietly and he knew who she was talking about.

"I liked her as she was," he told her. "But that's as a person and not in the romantic way you're thinking of. I…admit that there's this part of me that still feels something, but at the same time it's faint and feels like echoes. It doesn't feel wholly me, but it's there and it's sincere nonetheless."

The fact that it didn't feel all him was what helped him realize and come to terms with the fact he had a past life and in that life had adored the wisdom goddess, and it made him feel glad in a way that he wasn't going crazy over his feelings. Still, the fact those feelings were present at all bothered him, even though he realized how and why they were.

Rosemarie sniffed slightly and he could see the tears that sprung up in her eyes, though they didn't fall. He finished up with his tie, tugging tight, before he reached out with an arm and put it around her, pulling her close. She buried her face against his shoulder and he could feel her tears dampen his suit.

"Still don't want to go to school?"

She shook her head against him.

"How about you come to work with me then?" he asked gently and she nodded. "Alright, get ready then. I'll wait for you in the living room."

"Mmkay," she muttered before pulling away and wiping her face. She gave him an awkward smile before she hurriedly left to get ready. He shook his head and smiled to himself.

He left his closet and retrieved his glasses, slipping them on as he walked into his living room, before spotting his mother rummaging through his kitchen in agitation.

"Geez, Mom, you could call first," he teased and Hera looked up from where she was digging through. Her name though, comparing to the Greek myths, now made sense as to why she was named as so.

"Son," she said, frowning heavily. "I'm trying to make an apple pie."

He raised an eyebrow at his mother. "Alright, you don't just suddenly come over and want to bake something. What's wrong?"

Hera straightened up and crossed her arms furiously across her chest. "Please tell me you aren't dating anyone named Athena."

That did it. Now he knew this whole Greek thing must have some truth to it.

"I'm not," he said flatly. "But I did meet her."

To his shock and disbelief, his mother let out a string of curses that he had never heard from or thought to hear from her.

"Don't go near her! Don't you dare. I raised you to have better standards, and I refuse to –"

Percy cut her off. "Mother, calm down," he soothed. "Don't go having a heart attack."

She sniffed irritably. "Well, since you know everything now, I'll have you know that as a goddess, I don't have heart attacks."

"Figure of speech then," he deadpanned, inwardly rolling his eyes. "Anyway, don't focus on that. Have you met my sister?"

Hera blinked. "Your sis –oh! You've, uh, met Rosemarie…"

That made Percy narrow his eyes at his mother, instantly figuring out that meant she'd known all along about this and that he'd had a sister of sorts. She looked instantly sheepish, so he just sighed and shook his head.

"We'll talk about this later," he said firmly. "For now, I think Rosemarie will come out soon."

Hera nodded, though she paused. "Perhaps you'd like to…to meet your father of before. Poseidon has been grieving for so long, I think it would help him to meet you."

That made Percy stand still and stare at his mother in shock, feeling caught off guard. But he thought about it before he gave a sharp nod, and then Percy went to collect his sister, leaving Hera to get back to her baking while he went to Rosemarie's door and knocked.

"H-hold on!"

A moment later, it was opened and Rosemarie stood there, hair still wet. Percy peered over her.

"How's your room? Anything you'd want or like to have?"

She blushed lightly. "I'm fine. I like my room. Um…thanks for giving it to me."

He smiled at her. "Of course. You're living here now and all. If you want anything, make sure to just ask, alright? Anyway, my mother's here, so why don't I introduce you?"

She hesitated, but she agreed and then she grabbed his hand and let him lead the way. In the living room, the way she and his mother looked sweetly awkward was rather adorable and he kept his smile to himself as the two waved at each other and introduced themselves unsurely.

Percy took a sip of coffee, thinking over what he had to do that day. He marked off a mistake on a form so it could be fixed later, and then he idly glanced up to see his sister still fixated on the game he'd allowed her to play. He was actually sitting in one of the chairs in front of his desk, reserved for those that came to see him, while he'd allowed his sister to take over his desk and seat so she could use his computer.

A knock on the doors was the only announcement they had before they opened and Artemis came inside.

"Artemis!" Rosemarie beamed happily and stood from the desk, running around the desk to rush towards the goddess and hug her tightly.

"Hello, Rosemarie," Artemis greeted calmly but fondly. She looked over Rosemarie's shoulder to Percy and gave a warm smile. "It's good to see you as well, Percy."

"Hello, Artemis," Percy stood as well and strode over. Once Rosemarie let go, he held out his hand to shake hers, but was surprised by the tentative embrace she gave him instead.

When Artemis let go, she gave a sad smile. "You must forgive me. I was much attached to your past self. It's hard not to want to slip back in the ways of before."

Percy gave her a soft smile in return. "It's fine. I hope we will become close again, and be able to once more get to know each other."

Artemis' sad smile became a little surer, and the three of them sat down on the couches that Percy had to the side of his large office.

"I can't stay long," Artemis said. "But I had something very important I needed to discuss with Rosemarie, and by extension you Percy, as her new guardian."

That made the two straighten up and look at her warily.

"I'm going to be frank," Artemis began. "Rosemarie, with your father gone and school not being a priority at this moment after everything, I have come to offer you a spot as a Hunter. It is, however, your choice and there is no pressure being put upon you. You may think it over and give your answer to me when you are ready."

She stood up then, while there was a painful clench in Percy's gut. He didn't want to think about losing his sister already, after just gaining her.

"I'll leave you here," Artemis said to Rosemarie. She turned to Percy and smiled lightly. "You have no idea how much you've been missed, no matter in what form. It will be a great pleasure and a grateful second chance to get to know you once again."

She nodded to both of them again, and then with a flash that they covered their eyes from, she disappeared from their midst.

"It would be easier, wouldn't it? If I wasn't here," Rosemarie whispered.

Percy frowned. "Easier isn't something I care about. Don't think about that. Rosemarie, if you want to join her, that's fine. I'll be sad to see you leave so soon, but I want you to be happy. However, but to just join Artemis' Hunters just because you think it'd be easier on me or because of something like that is not something I'm agreeable with."

Her face flushed red. "To be honest, I really like being here and being with you. I don't want to leave you and I don't want to stay away or hate you because you're a guy. I…I really want to stay here. I-is it alright if I do?"

Percy smiled warmly at her. "Of course."

Rosemarie smiled happily and tossed herself at him, holding on tightly. He returned that embrace.

Unbeknownst to them, they were being watched by Artemis and Apollo. Smiling fondly, Artemis hummed in satisfaction.

"I told you he'd be a great brother. Definitely better than you."

Apollo huffed. "That's a given. Percy, in any form, is a kind sweetheart. I should've kidnapped him from Athena when I had a chance."

Artemis just laughed at him.

Athena was depressed. She knew it and understood that she had entered a depression after the rejection dealt to her by the one she had felt she'd loved beyond all else. It was a rarity because Athena did not love as passionately and as obviously as many of her fellow Olympians.

So in her depression, she had locked herself up in her home in Olympus and ignored everyone and everything. It had been some weeks since the rejection, and she had kept to herself in her home and barely took care of her necessities. She ate, slept, and bathed. That was all there was to her life.

"And now the woman who thought she had it right finds herself at a loss," a harsh voice spoke and Athena flinched, glancing listlessly at Hermes, who leaned against the entrance to her living room and watched as she lounged lethargically on her couch.

"Have you come to lash out at me and laugh in my face?" she asked bitterly.

"No, you've done enough damage on your own," Hermes said bluntly, refusing to feel any sort of pity for her. "But I just came to say that you've made quite the mess for yourself. Now your heart's a broken disaster. But think clearly on why that is and what you've done. Think closely. You even had a second chance. How did you screw up? Who were you thinking of first, even if you thought you were thinking of him?"

If her heart was broken, then that was her fault, wasn't it? This all started because of her. She had Percy and didn't treat him right. And then she lost him for good. He died because of her selfishness and insecurities, and she'd grieved for a long time. In fact, though she didn't want to focus on it, she had been too focused on her own grief to care about anyone else's. Not even her own daughter, one who used to be her favorite and who had cared so much about her opinion, hadn't earned her a thought.

And, one worse than that, she hadn't dared or even focused too much on the grief of Percy's parents, godly or otherwise.

Then, when Percy was back in the picture in some way, she had latched onto him and thought this was her second chance. It was her second chance. Not theirs, not his. Not his to have a second chance at life and to be happy. More than that, she was so fixated on fixing her wrongs that she hadn't thought about why she should be wanting to right her wrongs. She just wanted to fix her mistakes, and only passingly thought of doing so for him, believing that she was thinking she was doing it for his sake.

When had she become so selfish?

"I understand what you're feeling, Athena," Hermes had no tone of anger in his voice, even if he still was angry at her. He didn't sound judgmental, though he was and always would be towards her. Right now, he was just stating facts. "I know what you're feeling. But let it go. Let him go."

She flinched. She didn't want to let Percy go.

"This is a different Percy with a different life, even if deep down it's him," Hermes told her. "He has a different path and choices to make. Let him make them and don't influence him, so you could have the past back and mold it to be the past that you wished could've been."

Athena took a deep breath, closing her eyes miserably and feeling tears spring up. She didn't open them until she was sure Hermes was gone from her home.

But, from then on, Athena had begun to leave her home again.

It wasn't long until Zeus called on her, and she appeared before him after the summons. She should have known this was coming.

Her father was frowning as he gazed over the rest of Olympus, pacing the balcony of his home. Thankfully, Hera wasn't there, though Athena was sure the other goddess was somewhere near. Ironically enough, that was what Zeus first talked about.

"You're lucky Hera isn't in this room," Zeus informed her seriously. "She's been wanting to tear after you and throw you off of Olympus."

"What did I do to her?" she asked grumpily, considering that she had a lot more people with more rights to grievances against her than an annoyed goddess who had never really liked her from the start.

"She raised Percy this second time around and looks at him like a son. She was livid when she found out that you'd run across him again this life, and more so when she heard you tried to reunite with him."

Shocked at the news, she was more tired and exasperated to find someone else holding a grudge against her. She just couldn't find it in her to care.

"Do you know why I called you here?" Zeus asked her and she sighed.

"To berate me and spout more blame my way?" She felt her answer was redundant and unneeded.

Zeus gave her a sad look. "No. But that attitude, no matter how understandable, is one of the reasons you'll never have much sympathy from others. "

She pressed her lips into a thin line.

"It's always about you, Wise Athena. You acknowledge your pain. And you know it is fact that others feel the same pain, but you do not acknowledge theirs in the same way. Worse yet, you know the wrongs you've done against Percy and yes you want to fix them, but you focus on fixing them for yourself and not for him."

She stayed quiet, not sure how much more could she take. She'd been so used to judging others, but now she was the one constantly being judged.

"No, I didn't call on you to just 'berate' you," Zeus faced her fully. "I wanted to apologize."

She stared at him in shock. After a moment, he continued.

"If perhaps more had given their support instead of the two of you standing alone together, then things might not have happened the way that it did. Maybe you wouldn't have felt so cornered…"

Maybe that was true. Or maybe her pride and jealousy would have still gotten the best of her, because more support for them wouldn't have eliminated the number of people that had loved and cared for Percy, all of whom she'd perceived as threats to her.

"I don't doubt you loved him, Athena," Zeus spoke softly. "I don't doubt that he'd loved you back. What I want to know is if you love him enough to focus on his happiness instead of yours?"

And maybe this was just the right extension to the talk she'd had with Hermes, and maybe she not only understood a little more now, but accepted what was being told to her finally.

Athena found herself in front of the goddess' home, looking before it with an unreadable look. She and Aphrodite had never really gotten along, and their tumultuous relationship had become strange and rockier during the years Aphrodite had sworn to 'take her under her wing' and teach her better about love. And she tried to listen and learn, but most of it was spent twisting and turning over grief and pain, made worse by everyone's blame and her isolation.

But now, here she was, and she knew she needed to talk to Aphrodite. She was the only one who could understand, who –as the Goddess of Love –would understand and know it best.

Knocking on her door, she waited as patiently as she could. When the door opened, she straightened up and anxiously opened her mouth, only to frown and almost deflate at the sight of Ares at the door instead. On the other hand, the war god looked infuriated to see her there, eyes flashing and his hand almost reaching out towards her neck. She barely moved back in alarm, as Aphrodite suddenly appeared and had stepped into Ares' side, stilling him as she placed a gentle hand on the god's chest.

"Why don't you train in the back while Athena and I talk?" Aphrodite murmured.

Ares growled quietly, scowling in Athena's direction. But a moment later, his shoulders slumped slightly and he raised a hand to gently brush his knuckles against the love goddess' cheek. Then, after one more heated glare, he turned and marched away from them.

"He hates you," Aphrodite stated factually, tone soft and quiet as she stared after her lover.

Athena looked down. "I saw him in the market with Percy once…"

Aphrodite gave an amused tilt of her lips. "Ah, yes, well…Ares had always used to have trouble accepting his own feelings regarding Percy…he could be such a brute like that," she ended fondly. "Come, Athena. Let us talk inside."

She hesitantly followed the other into the home, following her to the kitchen where Athena remembered with a flinch, the sight of Aphrodite and Percy kissing right before that fateful midnight outing that led to Percy's death.

"Why did you come here, Athena?" Aphrodite asked, but there was a knowing look on her face.

Athena looked down briefly before taking a deep breath and giving a solemn stare to Aphrodite.

"I just wanted to know if he really loved me, if we could have lasted…I want to know if I sincerely loved him."

After everything she's said and done up 'til now, she wasn't sure if she had. How could she be this way with him after all?

Aphrodite gave her a sad smile. "Athena, his love for you was a genuine as everything about him, as he always had been. If you two had fought through everything together, supported each other and believed in your love, of course you could have lasted. Anyone's love can last if they put the work and effort in it to make it last.

"As for you, Athena…you did love him. In fact, you loved him so much that you couldn't see passed him and the way you felt, until you saw how everyone else felt and was consumed to the point you couldn't see how he felt about you. What matters what everyone thinks and feels? It becomes too crowded in a relationship –acknowledge how they feel, of course. But when you are in a relationship, it's about you two. The only thing that matters is you and your partner. The whole world can go to hell, along with their thoughts and opinions. When you're in love, your love is the focus, Athena."

Athena closed her eyes and nodded. Aphrodite handed her a vial.

"It won't last long. An hour at most," Aphrodite told her softly. "But go to him. Find your resolution."

Athena's hand clenched around the vial tightly.

She saw him in the hallway that lead to the elevator that would bring him to his apartment. He was alone and almost to it, and she felt time slipping from her.

"Percy!" she called out, drinking down the vial.

She felt the transformation happen quickly, bringing her to her normal form while she ran. She could see his eyes widened, and this offered proof and would take away any more doubts he had about the Greek pantheon existing and of who she was.

By the moment she was an arm's length away from him, she didn't hesitate and bounded into his arms, closing her eyes as she kissed him. His lips were as she remembered, soft but firm, pressing against her in the same confidence as his hands moved to hold onto her. She recalled everything, breathing him in once more and trying to take him in as much as possible, not wanting to forget anything about him.

Her heart had been at war for so long, that at this moment she finally felt peace.

When they finally pulled away, she could see the conflict in his eyes as much as she felt herself drift back in love. But the moment he opened his mouth, she already knew what he was going to say.

"Some part of me remembers this," he admitted. "There's echoes of how I felt and lingering feelings I can feel teasing me at the edges of head and heart. But at the same time, I'm different and I feel different. You can't love me based on the past, and yet you also can't start over without acknowledging the past and trying to pretend it doesn't exist. There's no atoning when one is trying to cheat when the circumstances have handed a blank slate to take advantage of."

After everything she's heard from everyone else, her heart, her eyes, and her ears were opened, and she was finally ready to listen. It hurt to hear this and some part of her still hoped, but she knew in the end that this was a War of Hearts that had been happening for years and was now finally ending.

"I know…" She swallowed heavily. "I understand."

Tears had already sprung up in her eyes, and she both hated and loved that he had reached for her face and had tenderly wiped them away.

"I love you," she told him honestly, her heart breaking. "I always have. But you're right. Everyone was right. I just…I just wanted to come here and tell you that I'll always love you and I hope one day…maybe in another lifetime…we could try this again and maybe do it right."

He gave her a sweet, if sorrowed, smile that reminded her all too much of the old Percy, her Percy.

He came forward and brought her into an embrace, and she again closed her eyes so she could revel in it and sear this into her mind.

"I can't help but love you," she breathed out. She leaned her head back. "But I'll try not to so I can let you go."

She kissed him one last time, before she took a step away and opened her eyes. She gave him a grateful, loving smile, even with her heart broken into pieces.

"I'm sorry for everything."

And then, finally, she turned and reluctantly walked away, trying not to look back at him.

For him, his heart felt sad but also strangely relieved.

Maybe…maybe this was a new freedom for the both of them and there were no more chains binding to the past.

Started 8/5/16 – Completed 8/9/16

A/n: Wow, this is finally over! Maybe, in the future, I'll make a sequel surrounding Percy and Rosemarie and which might end up either PercyxAphrodite/Ares or Percy/Artemis (or even Percy/Lucille). In any case, I really hope that you guys enjoyed this last chapter and the whole story, and now I'll be working on "Scattered Memories on the Floor" next. Please remember to review!

Also wanted to say that sometime in the middle of writing this story, I did indeed decide that they wouldn't get back together and that this sort of ending would be it for them, to give a resolution to their past and what had happened. I hope you guys understand don't mind, but I understand if there will be those of you upset they didn't get back together or anything.