*Last chapter. Thank you for reading this, even though it took a while to finish, I owe you guys one. Hopefully I'll have something up for Thanksgiving by Thursday, if I'm not too busy.

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Rick Riordan's.*

*Chapter 6: Epilogue*

(Annabeth)

"I have loved you for a thousand years, I'll love you for a thousand more." -Christina Perri

"Wow," Piper said softly. Her, Jason, Leo, and Chiron were sitting around me. Chiron had tears in his eyes, and I knew he secretly missed Percy just as much as the rest of us do.

"Well, Greg was right, wasn't he?" Leo said. "Two months later he gets kidnapped by Tia-I mean Hera."

"I know!" I snapped, furiously trying to blink away my unshed tears. I rubbed my eyes. "Sorry, Leo, I just . . ."

"Yeah, it's cool." Leo offered a small smile. "But only two more months to wait, right?"

I smiled back. Sort of. It was more of a grimace. "Right." I stood. "I'll see you guys later," I told them, then left, suddenly wanting to be left alone. I didn't know where I was going, exactly. I just let my feet take me where they wanted. I kicked off my shoes and started walking barefoot. There was one thing I left out about that night, a very private moment from the last hour of that night . . .

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

"Percy, where are you taking me?" I asked, even though I already knew where we were headed: the beach. It sort of became our place, next to the canoe lake where we'd been tossed in the first night we'd started dating on his birthday.

"I want to give . . . um, I have . . . never mind," he choked. "I'll show you when we get there."

"What happened to the accent, Captain?" I grinned. "Is Captain Jack Sparrow suddenly too good to have an accent?"

He rolled his eyes at me. "Ha-ha. You didn't even attempt to put on a fake accent."

"Oh shut up." I lightly punched his shoulder, then looped my arm through his.

The waves were gently crashing against the sand, and I could smell the salty breeze of the water. Or maybe that was just Percy. I stopped and turned. "Okay, what is it you want to show me, Seaweed Brain?"

"Um." He reached into his pocket and pulled out something small and red.

"What is that?" I asked. "Coral?"

"Yeah," said Percy. "I got it when I was at my Dad's underwater place."

"It's beautiful," I murmured. "You know, for a piece of coral."

Percy laughed. "Good. Because I wanted to give it to you."

I looked up from the piece of red in my hands. "Really?"

"Yeah." Percy shrugged. "No big deal."

It was my turn to roll my eyes, and I tackled him in a hug. "Thank you," I murmured against his neck.

"Welcome," he said back, and it was a few seconds before I realized I was squeezing him. I pulled back just enough to kiss him.

"I should give you stuff more often," he muttered against my mouth, and I laughed. The cold feeling I'd been feeling earlier was gone, and I hoped with Percy, it would stay that way.

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

But it didn't. Percy wasn't here, and the cold feeling kept coming back and pressing on me more and more the closer we got to finishing the Argo II.

I plopped down onto the sand, wishing Percy were here beside me now. Being here on the beach didn't feel the same without him. To make matters worse, all of the happy memories I'd ever had with Percy were starting to seem like distant memories.

"We're coming, Percy," I murmured, running my thumb softly over the coral pendant now on my necklace next to my dad's college ring. "Don't give up on me just yet."

*Hope it was alright. Anyway, so. I've already got plans for my next story, that might be a kind of tear-jerker in the first chapter, but it's not a sad story, I assure you. I want to know if I should start it, or not. Tell me what you think.

A monster - I like to think one of the eidolons - takes over Annabeth's body and tries to kill the baby as she's giving birth. The baby makes it, but Annabeth dies. Heartbroken Percy lets Athena take his daughter away to keep her safe. Now seven years later Athena returns to tell her - her name is Carter - that she must go to New York and find her father. With the help of two friends, Will and Harper, Carter must find Percy and stop the monster that had tried to kill her as a baby. She also discovers that Athena may be keeping a dark secret. Some old characters returning, like Percy, Athena, Chiron, and Thalia. Maybe Sally. Annabeth will not be magically coming back to life. Or will she?*