Hey, Everyone!

So, I did decide to put an epilogue in, as you can see, just to completely tie up the ending of the story.

Enjoy!

Epilogue

Annabeth

Annabeth was watching the stars from the deck of the ship.

Percy had his arm around her waist and they sat and stared at the stars together.

She finally shifted her position and hugged her knees. Percy moved a little closer to her so he could continue to wrap his arm around her waist.

He whispered, "Can you believe we're actually seeing these stars again? I really didn't think we would."

She shook her head, still looking at the stars. "Me neither. Especially not at the very end, when you blacked out on me."

"I wouldn't have done it if I hadn't believed in you," Percy said playfully. "I'm sorry, I tried to fight with you. You saw."

"You always do."

"What happened…when I was out?" he asked.

She took a deep breath. She could never get enough of those. Never probably would again.

"Well, the first thing that happened was that my air bubble popped." Annabeth continued to stare at the stars. But the color of the night sky started to remind her of the dark blue of the water when she was sinking. Sinking, sinking, so far down…

She looked down at the boards of the deck she was sitting on.

She was safe.

"Oh," Percy said quietly.

"Um, but I continued to fight the monsters. It became crucial, then, to get through as fast as possible. I grabbed you, naturally, before you could sink, pulled you onto my back, and fought with one arm, securing you with the other. You know, do you really want to hear all of this?" she asked. She didn't want to make him feel awful for not being there for her when she needed him.

"No, I want to know," he insisted.

"Alright, fine." She took another deep breath. Good, old air. Never got old for Annabeth. Never would again. "I fought through a bunch of them. But I was starting to sink. Because I was losing air. And I fought until they just decided to watch me drown. They had won, in a way, they thought, because the heroes had still died, and hadn't reached the Doors of Death, and all was good.

"But as I sunk, I saw a cave, and the cave was sort of…pulling the water in front of it toward it. And I got stuck in the current, and I was pulled into it, pulling you along with me, naturally.

"I actually saw a light, above me, in the shallower water of the cave that I had been thrown into, and I grabbed you and tried my best to swim up to it.

"And I broke the surface with you. And I climbed up onto the piece of land next to the water. And I pulled you with me. And then I did CPR on you. To save you from drowning yourself and dying. And then you coughed up all the water, and then you said my name. And then you fell back into unconsciousness. Until Jason came and pulled us through the Doors, I just sat, watched Gaea make these weird monster things with another weird monster thing, and checked up on you. You know the rest of the story." She took a couple more deep breaths. She loved air. She loved air so, so much.

She looked over at Percy. He was nodding at the sky. She looked back up at it as well.

"I missed the stars," she whispered.

"Me too," Percy replied. "And, believe it or not, I think the moon isn't full tonight."

"Thank the gods," she sighed as she looked over at the waxing crescent moon in the dark sky.

It didn't look like the color of the sky in Tartarus. But they believed the color would have reminded them, to some degree.

"But it looks lit up. And beautiful," Percy whispered. "I don't think we'll have any problems with the moon. Do you?" he asked.

She shook her head. Because she believed it. "No. I don't think so."

The long silence that followed wasn't awkward. It was the opposite. Comfortable. There was nothing happening. There was no need for them to be freaking out for their survival. No need to be talking right then. Nothing. Just silence.

Finally, Percy spoke. "Do you think Leo's alright?"

"Yeah, he's fine. He's in the hospital wing," Annabeth replied. "Demigods are known to pass out in stressful and important situations." She dug her finger into his arm, looking over at him.

His cuts were healing nicely and his bloody arm was fine. He was still wearing his torn clothes.

Annabeth understood. She was, too.

He laughed as she studied his face. "That was one time. Come on. But seriously, is he alright? Did he do that with his fire, or what?"

"No, I don't think so, he said something about the Archimedes Sphere when I ran over to catch him," she replied, turning back to the stars.

"Okay," he replied. "But, why didn't we see the sphere? At all?"

"Oh, gee, I don't know, Percy, there was kind of a big huge beam of light in our field of vision," she replied sarcastically. She was in the mood to make jokes for once. Be happy and light for once.

It felt like forever since she'd done so.

Percy laughed. "Yeah, I know that, but after?"

Annabeth shrugged. "I don't know, you should talk to him."

"I guess I should. But not now. Maybe tomorrow," he replied.

"Do you think you'll ever sleep again?" Annabeth asked.

"Maybe. In about ten or so years," he replied.

She nodded. "I was thinking the same thing."

"We can be screwed up together," Percy nudged her shoulder with his own and she laughed.

"But if both of us are screwed up, then doesn't that mean the everyone else is screwed up? Not us?" Annabeth asked, just to try to confuse him.

"No, because we know we're the screwed up ones," Percy replied.

"Seaweed Brain."

"Wise Girl."

And they sat and watched the stars as they ship slowly but steadily moved across the sky in the Argo II, back to their homes for another round of normal demigod life.

An oxymoron, Annabeth thought. Normal demigod.

Because they would never be normal. Because they had powers.

And they were the special seven that had to save the world. Which meant they were even less normal than a demigod in general.

Annabeth sighed. No one said it would ever be easy.

But she was in it now. And that experience had screwed her up so badly, she didn't really think she could stop now. She was in it now.

That was set in stone.

Thanks for Reading my House of Hades, all rights go to Rick Riordan, and see you all in another story!