Disclaimer: I don't own PJO

"We're going to die down here," Annabeth whispered suddenly. Percy's eyes snapped from the wound on his shoulder that she was dressing to her face. She didn't meet his eyes.

"What?"

"We're going to die down here," she repeated, and this time she looked straight at him. Her voice trembled slightly.

"What? No -" Percy sputtered, "We're… We've…"

"Don't," she warned "I know what you're going to say. You're going to try to tell me that we can get through this, that we've faced bad things before, that we beat Kronos and I found the Athena Parthenos when no one else could and all that bullshit, but come on, Percy."

He was silent, looking for something to say. She continued.

"We've been down here for - for I don't even know how long," it was true; in the endless darkness of Tartarus, it was impossible to keep track of time "we're tired, we're injured. I can't even remember the last time we ate. We're almost out of ambrosia, and the monsters just keep coming. We have no idea where we're going, or how to get there. Even if we do find the Doors of Death, what are the odds that the others will even be there at the same time as us? This whole time - we've been kidding ourselves. We don't have a chance."

Percy stared determinedly at the cavern floor, and said nothing. He opened his mouth as if to speak, then closed it again.

"Percy, are you even-"

"Yeah, I know, okay? You're right. We're going to die down here" his voice cracked. His eyes were welling up with tears. Annabeth's breath left her; in spite of her conviction that she was right, she hadn't expected him to agree. The entire time they'd been down here, he had been the positive one, the one who was always urging her not to give up, that they'd find a way. Even though she no longer believed that, she began to regret saying anything. She couldn't bear to see him look so broken.

"Of course we're going to die down here, we were always going to die," he continued bitterly "I guess I was hoping that if we tried hard enough, maybe we'd at least be able to do something… I don't know. Something to help Frank and Jason and Hazel and all of them beat Gaea. But you're right. We can't do anything. We're already dead."

At this, Percy broke down completely, and Annabeth was soon to follow. They sat on the cavern floor, sobbing and holding each other for what could have been minutes or hours.

"I think maybe I always knew, deep down, that I didn't have a future," Percy said quietly. His sobbing had subsided, but his voice still quaked "maybe that's why I never really let myself imagine one."

There was another long moment of silence before Annabeth spoke.

"So, let's make one up."

"What do you mean?"

"If we can't have a real future, let's make one up."

Percy let out something halfway between a laugh and a sob.

"Why not?" he said. Then, after a pause, "I'd have graduated from Goode."

"The same school for four years? That's optimistic" her comment was ignored.

"You'd probably go to some hot-shot college. Harvard or Yale or something," he continued.

"Columbia," she decided "so that I could stay close to Olympus. I could rebuild it all through college."

"We would rent out an apartment your junior year"

"Well, what would you be doing?"

"I don't know. Not going to school, that's for sure," he couldn't see it, but she rolled her eyes at him "maybe I'd join the fire department. I'm pretty good at putting out fires."

"Literally or metaphorically?"

"What?"

"Never mind," she sighed. A wave of exhaustion overcame them both, and Percy laid back on the cavern floor, Annabeth still in his arms.

"We could still go to camp for our summers. We'd have beaten Gaea, of course" he decided.

"And I'd duct tape Rachel's mouth if she tried issuing any new prophecies, so maybe we could have a little peace." For the first time in a long time, Percy smiled.

"I'd propose to you out at the dock. Where they threw us in last year."

"You'd probably drop the ring in the lake"

"I probably would"

"Such a Seaweed Brain," if the circumstances had been different, it would have been awkward to have a conversation like this. But in the depths of Tartarus, facing certain death, neither Percy nor Annabeth felt uncomfortable discussing this future that might have been. There was no reason to.

"We couldn't get married at camp, though" Percy mused "my parents wouldn't be allowed in. Or your family, or any of our mortal friends, I guess"

"Not a church"

"No, not a church either"

"We'd get married in your parents' backyard, Annabeth decided after a pause.

"My parents don't have a backyard"

"They will," Annabeth said, before quickly amending her statement to "they would."

"Right. Grover would be my best man."

"Damn, he was going to be my maid of honor. I guess I'll have to pick Thalia instead."

"Would she be allowed to go to weddings?" Percy wondered aloud.

"She'd be allowed to go to mine," Annabeth snapped, her voice almost challenging. Percy grinned again. The tears had dried from his face, though his eyes still bore a hint of red. Annabeth looked much the same.

"You'd get some fancy job at an architecture office in Manhattan," Percy decided

"Firm."

"What?"

"Firm. You say "Architecture Firm". Not office"

"Right. Okay, you'd get a job at an architecture firm. And design a bunch of badass buildings all over the country."

"Who says I can only design buildings in America?"

"Okay, all over the world then. Better?"

"Better. But I think we'd have to ask Zeus to give you permission to fly on commercial planes. Otherwise, travel would be a nightmare," she reasoned. Percy laughed lightly.

"Maybe we'd have a kid or two. A couple of kids who are brilliant like you, so I'd never have to help them with their homework," he said.

"Of course they'd be brilliant," said Annabeth "and really, really good swimmers."

"And very attractive, of course. But they're not allowed to date until they're forty, so that part doesn't really matter."

"Forty? That seems a little harsh. Don't we want grandkids?"

"You're right. How about thirty? It probably wouldn't matter anyway. They wouldn't follow the rule."

"They'd be related to you, after all," Annabeth reasoned. Percy grinned.

"So they'd break our rule, get married, have kids… Then what? What would we do then?" Percy asked. Annabeth paused to think before answering.

"We'd keep living."

"We'd keep living," Percy echoed her "sounds good to me."

Annabeth sighed and repositioned herself on Percy's chest. She was beginning to drift off to sleep when Percy's voice jarred her awake.

"Annabeth," he whispered.

"Mhmm"

"I want that future."

Her eyes welled up again, and she shut them to prevent any more tears from falling out. It didn't work.

"Me too" she sighed. Percy brushed a strand of hair off of her forehead.

"Well, we're going to get it," he decided, his voice sounding stronger than she'd heard it in a long time "I don't give a damn how bad our odds are. I've always been horrible at math anyways. We're going to get it. We're going to keep fighting for it."

In spite of herself, Annabeth smiled.

"Alright, Seaweed Brain," she said, "Fuck math. Let's keep fighting."