Title stolen from Jason Walker's wonderful rendition of "Kiss Me" originally produced by Sixpence None the Richer. I suggest you listen to it while you read. I don't own it, obviously.

My apologies.

There are tears smudged underneath Percy's eyes. It's like they never managed to escape, scattered into wet smears beneath his black lashes. The scattered lights reflect off the wayward salt water, almost shimmering, as if she needed more reasons to be drawn to the electric green that was currently locked on her. There was something jaded about them.

He never looked that way, not in front of her.

Annabeth reaches out with her thumb and carefully wipes the moisture away. Her eyebrows pull in and she asks, "Percy, is something wrong?"

He smiles crookedly, chuckling while he retrieves her hand and settles it back on his shoulder. "You know me, I'm kind of a girl sometimes."

That's the most ridiculous thing she's ever heard, but his features are so rarely this open that she grins in response and allows him to twirl her once more.

Strings of glowing Christmas lights pass her in a lazy circle, standing out vibrantly against the dark blue backdrop of the night sky. The night is deep and endless.

Moonlight spills over them, giving everything a grayish tint.

The pavilion they are dancing on is simple and small, painted white wood that's been worn by countless couples covering their very steps. Pillars scratched with alphabetical equations and shaky hearts frame the singular world she's stuck in.

She doesn't notice much, not when Percy is standing right in front of her, finally completely focused on her. The war they're engaged in has pulled him in a thousand directions, everybody scrambling for attention of the boy who saved them from the very beginning. They are relying on an eighteen year old to guide them. She doesn't blame him for it, not in the slightest, but she does miss him.

"This is incredibly romantic, I must say," she comments quietly, after Percy has spun her back into his chest with unusually smooth grace.

Annabeth looks up to find that cocky, one-sided smirk back in town, and it's almost scary how much a relief it is to see it again. It had been dormant for so long, lost in a blur of death and misery. Destruction drilled the entirely played arrogance right out of him.

"I grew up, Annabeth," he says. One eyebrow lifts. "Shocking, isn't it?"

His gentle tone belies the condescension of his words, and Annabeth's drift around his face, wondering where the unknown emotion injected into the creases of his face has come from. It looks like something is bothering him, but even he doesn't know what. He looks like he's panicking, but hiding it underneath carefully constructed reactions.

"No, not really," she whispers truthfully. Percy's hand presses harder against the loose fabric of her T-shirt, warmth spreading from his fingertips and up her side. She takes a breath, wanting to get away from this subject, smooth the wrinkles that are ruining their time alone. "So when did you learn to dance?"

A soft laugh graces her eardrums, and Percy's head tilts back with his smile. "I convinced my mom to teach me. I figured that I'd need to learn eventually. As awkward as I can be, I didn't feel like falling on my face during our first dance. You wouldn't believe how good Paul is at it. Man, did she laugh that night." His wistful smile seems so far from her, and Annabeth watches it linger on his face, darkened. "Give her Frank Sinatra and five feet of space and she's gone." He pauses. "Crazy how much I love that lady."

His words drift into the languid air, no one there to catch them. Annabeth's stomach tightens momentarily, but Percy sighs heavily, seeming to exhale his troubles, and tugs on one of her curls. "Hey, who says I'm not the one teaching you how to dance tonight?"

Annabeth snorts in disbelief and shakes her head. "Once again, you have no idea what you're talking about."

Percy's lips dip in agreement, and he shrugs. "Most of the time, I don't." He leans down, getting closer to her. A conspiratorial look crosses his face. "But man, you wouldn't believe how people fall for it," he says softly. "Like this," he spins her in a circle to make his point. "I really have no idea what I'm doing, but it's making you happy, and that's what I love to do."

Hot butterflies flutter in her lungs, a pleasant reminder of his rare but incredibly sincere comments that blindside her every time.

Nose pressed against the gray cotton of his shirt, she inhales deeply, salt and the sharp tang of something else coloring his usually mild scent.

"Do you smell smoke?"

Several silent minutes pass, thundering in her veins and through her ears. She smells blood and smoke. Where was it coming from? This was their time. Percy just hadn't had time to change. War seemed to follow him like a dark shadow, and he was left struggling to shake it off.

She looks up to find Percy's eyes dangerously dark and gazing intensely into hers. His voice is gravelly and choked when he speaks, "I suppose I do, Annabeth."

That infamous smirk is now frozen, sending her stomach spinning in dread.

Warm air squeezes her throat as she stares up at her boyfriend.

The smudges under his lashes are back again, but before she can protest, even ask, his arms come around her and she's pressed tightly against his chest.

Percy's hand is on the back of her head, holding it against his shoulder. He heaves a shuddering gasp, and she can feel his breath heat her skin where his face is tucked against her neck. He's suddenly closer than ever and more alive than he's been the whole night. Percy's presence is all there is.

"I loved you from the beginning, you know that?" he says, tone fierce and tight. "From the very second I laid eyes on you. I didn't realize it at the time, but gods did I love you."

She feels his rough lips, a hundred memories of a hundred times he's been there before, but never like this. It's never been like this.

"And you stayed with me, through all of it. Through all horrible disasters and the deaths and Luke, and I love you more than you will ever realize. I never thought of anyone else."

Percy's voice breaks and she knows he's close to crying.

"Never Rachel, never any girl I met in school, never any beautiful woman I saw walking down the street, because you are the most beautiful woman to ever walk the planet."

He's practically heaving for breath now. It's like he can't get enough air and never will.

"Don't-don't ever forget that. It's probably the most disgustingly cliché thing you've ever heard, but don't."

Percy's voice is almost gone, choked and desperate. She can feel his burning tears soak into her skin. They are pouring down his face.

She can't see his expression. The only thing she can feel is the wet fabric beneath her and the tight grip of Percy's arms locked around her. She can't move. She doesn't want to leave.

"I love you so much," and the first sob seizes his chest. It ricochets from him to her, suffocating both.

He pulls back, framing her face with his hands, and she finally sees him.

His tear tracks are reflecting the vanilla light all around them, cheeks a haphazard red. His eyes, a brilliantly broken green, rapidly roam around her features, as if he's trying to paint a picture of her, before they are drilling right into hers, like they were going to burn themselves into the front of her mind.

They do.

Tragedy is echoing from his desperately repressed sobs.

"Annabeth Chase, I'm asking you right here and right now to forgive me for what I'm about to do you." His voice is fervent and he's saying it like it's the last thing he's ever going to say to her.

The lump in her throat is painfully large, and she breaks as she whispers in return, "Of course. Anything."

She watches the water hovering precariously on his lids fall onto the collar of his shirt. They create wet circles that darken the fabric on his sternum.

"Kiss me."

They are the two words she never expected to hear, and the only ones that seemed to fit. Grief settles deep into her bones, dragging everything she is into the ground. She's falling hard and fast.

"Annabeth, please," he begs.

She leans forward, hand wrapping around his neck, and kisses him.

His lips taste like salt water and blood and warmth, and she's suddenly aware of how everything around her is crashing and burning.

Percy pulls away, and his lips still brush against hers when he speaks.

She starts to say it, is moments away from uttering those self-proclaimed forbidden words when Percy cuts her off.

"I know."

There's a pause, a second of his heart beating in sync with hers, and he's not giving her enough time, He doesn't understand. She's finally about to say it. She's finally going to let him know. She's going to—.

"That's all I ever wanted."

Percy fades.

Annabeth sits up in her bed with a violent gasp, adrenaline rushing through her veins at an alarming pace.

The first thing she's aware of is the cool sheets next to her and Percy's missing shoes.

Her cell phone is lit and buzzing on the night stand that's on the far wall.

"No, no, no, no, no," she whimpers. She lunges from her bed, knees crashing on hardwood floors.

Her hands are shaking with brutal tremors but she somehow finds the answer key and a hollow voice echoes through her silent apartment.

"Violent mission—didn't see them coming—Grover tried to duck—ercy just jumped in front of it—nothing we could do—I'm sorry..."

The phone slips from her numb fingers and hits the ground with deafening crash.

She'd known.

She'd known he was gone.

She'd known because Percy died while he was kissing her.

No death-fic warning, I know. Some of you are going to be pissed at me because I didn't warn you; hell, I didn't even know Percy was going to die until it spilled in mysterious drops of water on my laptop.

I was hinting the ending throughout the entire thing, someone must have caught on. Probably before I did. It's a cliche plot line. Been used hundreds of times.

Divided They Fall chapter 10 is halfway done. I'm working on it.

My most sincere apologies if you're mad because I didn't put a warning before you read it, but the entire concept would've been lost had you known right from the beginning. Feel free to rant. I just hope I just did this idea justice.