*I own nothing of Rick Riordan's.*

Thalia and the other Hunters gathered on the Argo II with the others.

"Percy!" Thalia grinned.

"Hey, Pinecone Face," Percy said. Thalia stepped forward and hugged him. The other Hunters shuffled nervously but didn't object. Jason turned away.

Thalia pulled away and playfully punched his arm. "Where the Hades have you been? It's been eight months!"

"It's a long story, and I'll tell you later," Percy promised. "Right now we have a whole army of monsters to face, before Gaea takes over Rome."

"We can't take them all, there's too many," Hazel said.

"We can help," Thalia insisted. "With all of us, maybe . . ."

"They're appearing faster than we're killing them," Frank said. "We need a distraction or something."

Everyone was silent for a few moments. The monsters were creeping closer to the ship.

"I'll go," Percy said. "I can hold them-"

"No, I'll go." Jason swallowed.

"But-" Percy started.

"Annabeth is waiting for you back at Camp Half-Blood, and all of your friends. I'll go." Jason took a deep breath.

"You all have people to go home to," Frank said. He took his bow and arrows out. "I'll do it."

"No!" Hazel cried. "Frank, no!"

Frank looked at her. "It's okay. It'll be okay." He turned to Leo. "If I don't make it out, take care of her for me."

"Frank!" Hazel said hopelessly. Then she started to cry.

Leo looked a little flustered, but he said, "Yeah, sure, Frank. Of course."

"Guys, we don't have time to argue!" Piper said sternly. "Let's just throw a bomb or something, so no one has to sacrifice themself."

"There has to be something else we can do," Jason said frusteratingly.

"There isn't." Frank slung his bow over his back. "I'm going in." Before Hazel could protest, Frank kissed her quickly and headed for the rope ladder. "Remember what I said," he said to Leo over his shoulder. Everyone watched hopelessly. Percy followed.

"Frank," he said. "Don't do this."

"I have to." He looked at Percy. "You've been a good friend, Percy. I'm glad I met you."

"Thanks." Percy's shoulders slumped. "Is there any way to talk you out of this?"

Frank stared at his friend. Percy had a girlfriend, a mother, and friends waiting for him back home, in both San Fransisco and New York now. If he let Percy go out there instead of him, he'd never forgive himself.

"No, there's not. But, when you get back to camp, tell Reyna I said I'm sorry." He turned to the latter, but Percy put a hand on his shoulder. "At least let me go down with you."

Frank hesitated. He always trusted Percy, but something didn't seem right. "Alright," he said. Percy climbed down the latter to the grounds of Rome below. Frank followed, and just as he was about to reach the bottom Percy suddenly pulled out the Wii controller that controlled the ship. He shook it, and the ladder started to magically pull itself up aboard the ship with Frank still on it.

"Percy, what are you doing?" Frank tried to climb to the ground, but he was already too far up. Percy tossed him the remote, and he caught it.

"I'm giving you a chance to get out. Go, while you can, I'll be okay," Percy called.

"No!" Frank shouted. He frantically shook the remote. "Go back down, latter! Down!"

"Tell Annabeth I said I'm sorry. Tell her I'll . . . I'll be okay."

"Percy!" Frank said. He reached the edge of the ship, and Frank climbed back aboard. He leaned over the side. "Percy, don't do this!"

Percy watched as the others peered over the side. They all shouted, but Percy ignored them. He wanted to climb back aboard, back to safety, but he knew he couldn't. His friends were in danger. He had to protect them.

Percy gave them one last half-hearted wave before he turned to the scene before him. The monsters had immediately spotted him, and they were marching toward him. Percy knew that if he was going to die, he would die fighting. He pulled out his pen, uncapping it until it grew into a bronze sword. He tapped his wristwatch, and it turned into a shiny bronze shield, a gift from Tyson from their adventures in the Sea of Monsters.

"And tell Annabeth I probably won't be coming home," Percy whispered, then lowered his shield and marched toward the monsters that awaited him.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Everyone aboard the Argo II sat in stunned silence, even Leo. He held the Wii controller in his hand. Frank held his head in his hands and wouldn't look at anyone. Hazel was silently crying. Thalia was the only one standing, and she paced restlessly back and forth.

How could he do this, she thought angrily. How could he? When he - she tried not to think if - he came home, she was going to kill him. Out of all the stupid things he's done . . .

"Argh!" Thalia punched the side of the ship. "Why did he have to be so arrogant?"

"No punching my ship," Leo muttered.

Thalia sat down and ran a hand through her hair. "How are we going to go back and tell everyone? How can I tell Annabeth? She'll . . . she'll be . . ." Thalia trailed off. She knew how Annabeth would be. Devestated. Sad. Angry. She wants to be there for Annabeth when she breaks the news. It was the only comforting thing she could give her best friend.

Hazel sniffed and moved to Thalia's side. "We'll all be there when we tell her. When we tell them. I guess this means we'll have to get another praetor," Hazel said miserably.

Jason looked away. Normally he would have jumped at the chance to take the praetorship back, but after Percy's sacrifice, he didn't think he could.

"We'll just have to get through it, one day at a time," Piper said, crossing her arms tightly across her chest. She stared out at the horizon. Just below them, the sea was shining. She knew if Percy were still on the ship, he'd be gazing down at the ocean.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Everyone at Camp Half-Blood was waiting for them as the ship floated down to the ground. They'd decided to go there first, to break the news about Percy. With heavy hearts, everyone climbed down the rope ladder. They winced at the smiling faces of the excited campers, waiting for Percy to come home. There was Grover, a relaxed and happy smile on his face, and Chiron, sitting in his wheelchair.

"Thalia!" a voice cried, and Annabeth broke through the crowd and approached Thalia, grinning.

"Hey." Thalia tried for a smile, but it was more of a grimace. She hugged Annabeth. Thalia knew that once Annabeth realized that Percy wasn't going to appear off that ship, everything would turn into a disaster.

Annabeth looked over Thalia's shoulder for Percy. "Where's Percy?" she asked. "I've missed him."

Thalia winced. She looked at the others behind her for help.

Hazel stepped foward. "Annabeth, we need to talk," Hazel said, her voice soft.

Annabeth took a few steps back. "Where is Percy?" she demanded, looking from one face to another. No one would meet her eyes.

Frank stepped foward too, until he was standing in front of Annabeth. "We were surrounded by monsters in Rome," he explained. "We knew we wouldn't be able to make it out in time."

Annabeth's gray eyes widened. "No . . ."

"We agreed that someone had to stay behind and bid time for the ship to get away," Frank continued, guilt washing over him the sadder and more devestated the look on Annabeth's face became.

Annabeth shook her head. Her eyes turned misty. "Gods, no . . ."

"I was going to go." Frank didn't want to tell this part, but he knew he had to. He owed it to Percy. "Percy climbed down before me, I-I thought he was going to tell me good-bye. But before I could get off the ladder Percy waved the Wii controller, and the ladder started bringing me up again, without him on it."

Annabeth fiercely shook her head, and the tears spilled over, falling down her cheeks.

"I'm sorry," Frank told her. "I should have done something to stop him. I should have stayed with him."

The rest of the campers were standing there in shock, all smiles gone from their faces. They'd waited for Percy to come home. They hadn't expected this.

Jason stepped foward with Piper, holding her hand. "I'm sorry," he said. "I know he meant alot to this camp."

Frank swallowed. "Annabeth, he wanted me to tell you that he was sorry. And that he would be okay."

Annabeth buried her face in her hands. "Oh my gods . . . oh, Percy . . ."

Thalia wrapped her arms around her. "I'm so sorry," she whispered.

"Well . . ." Chiron swallowed. "Tonight we'll have a memorial service. Excuse me." He quickly wheeled away, to the Big House to grieve alone.

Annabeth watched him go. Then she stepped out of Thalia's arms. "Yeah, I-I need to go." She turned and ran. Thalia was about to follow her, but Hazel grabbed her arm.

"Let her go," Hazel said quietly. "She needs time."

Thalia was a loss for words, so a thought didn't occur to her until she was facing Grover, who'd had the same idea.

Grover gaped at her. "Thalia . . ."

"You don't think . . ." Thalia tried to remember everything about Grover and Percy's empathy link. She knew that they could hear each other's thoughts, and feel each other's emotions. Maybe, because Grover was still alive that meant Percy was still alive, too.

"Can you feel him?" Thalia asked.

Grover closed his eyes. "No," he said miserably. "It's like last time, I can't feel him at all."

"But he's still alive, and that's all we need." Thalia turned to Hazel and the others. "If you guys want to come, you can. But Grover and I are going to look for Percy."

"Frank and I are coming," Hazel immediately said. Frank nodded. "Percy is our friend."

"So are we," Jason added. Piper and Leo both nodded.

Thalia inhaled. "All right, then. We should start at Rome, and work our way from there."

"We just got back," Piper said. "We can leave early tomorrow morning."

"Right." Thalia let out the breath she'd been holding. "We've got our quest. We can bring Nico, too. now that we've got him back, he can shadow travel to search."

"Well, what about us?" Drew asked, shoving her way through the crowd. "We can search, too. The more people the better, right?"

We've got enough people," Grover said. "Should Annabeth come? She'd want to go."

"You know we couldn't stop her," Thalia sighed. "I'll find her. We'll leave first thing in the morning."

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Annabeth felt bad when she saw the tear stains she'd left on Percy's pillow. She'd ran to Percy's cabin to be alone so no one would see her crying. Thankfully no one had tried to follow her, so she could cry freely. She rubbed her hand across the pillow and tried to dry the saltwater stains. But more tears soon replaced the old ones, making the pillow wet all over again.

A knock on the door made Annabeth jump.

"Annabeth, I know you're in there," Thalia said softly. "Can we talk? I have something to tell you."

"No," Annabeth said, but she got up and opened the door anyway. She knew she looked terrible, with her bloodshot eyes and her hair in tangles.

"Are you okay?" Thalia asked, but she knew she wasn't.

Annabeth shrugged her shoulders, and Thalia stepped inside.

She turned around in a circle. "So this is what his cabin looks like," she murmured.

Annabeth sad down on Percy's bed and buried her face in the pillow again. Thalia sat down beside her. She put her hand on Annabeth's shoulder.

"Annabeth, you know Grover and Percy had . . . have an empathy link, right?" Thalia started. Annabeth winced at the word had.

"Yeah, so?"

Thalia gave a tiny smile. "I'm surprised you haven't already put this together yourself, being Athena's daughter."

Being her daughter isn't exactly a good thing right now, Annabeth thought, remembering the mark her mother had left on her. "Put what together?"

"Well, you know that Grover's still alive."

Annabeth gave her a confused look, then buried her face again. "Just say it, Thalia. I'm not in the mood for riddles."

"Okay," Thalia said. "But this is going to bring your mood up. We think Percy's still alive somewhere, because Grover is still alive."

Annabeth sat up, her gray eyes wide. Thalia was right. Why hadn't she thought of that? "Well, we have to find him!" She jumped up. "Now. I'll go ask Chiron-"

"Woa, slow down." Thalia grabbed her arm. "We've already decided who's going. We're leaving tomorrow morning. You're coming, right?"

"Of course I'm going," she said quickly.

"Alright. Get some sleep, we'll be leaving early." Thalia headed for the door, but turned back to Annabeth before leaving. "He'll be okay."

Annabeth gave a small, sad smile. "Of course he will. He's Seaweed Brain. And he hasn't let me down yet. I just hope we can get to him on time."

*READ: important.

So, this was originally going to be a one-shot. I want you guys to review and tell me if I should continue, or leave it as it is. This is supposed to be intwined with The Mark of Athena, so Annabeth's still got a part to play, or whatever Hera had said. For now it stays as it is, unless I get enough reviews to change my mind. And I've had bad writer's block lately, so it's going to be hard, if I continue it, but I will. I already have it plotted out in my head, so, yeah. Anyway, hoped you liked it.*