Hello there! It's 8DemigodRunner8, and I have finally brought you- the epilogue. The idea for this chapter was inspired by Wild West Pyro, so big thank you to him/her!

Disclaimer: Percy Jackson and the Olympians/Heroes of Olympus are not owned by me.

Frank's POV

Frank chose Elysium.

When he had arrived in the Underworld, he'd proudly stepped into the line of souls waiting to be judged and receive their afterlife result. The son of Mars had no regrets about what he'd done- though he did miss Hazel.

At least she gets to live, Frank thought with a smile. He wouldn't have been able to bare it if she'd had to go through what he had.

Frank flashed back to the Doors, reliving his last moments. After he'd forcefully shut the big black and silver Doors of Death, he'd felt sharp claws rake his back. Frank had spun around, a new angry glare lighting his dark eyes. He saw the horrid head of the savage Psofio Skylos, and with a scream he yanked out his bow and arrow and fired maniacally. He quickly gave himself some leg room in the circle of monsters he was trapped in, and the son of Mars even felt like he was winning.

That's when he was bit on the back of his thigh; with a sharp scream, he kicked the beast away and grabbed his leg, holding back tears of pain. Another Psofio pushed him down to the ground and scraped his arms while doing so. In that moment, Frank knew he wouldn't be able to survive in Tartarus, and fighting back would be useless. He was swamped, outnumbered, and had no advantages. He made the decision to let them kill him and end it then. It didn't take long for darkness to completely cover Frank's vision, and he had quickly lost all feeling, all thought, everything...and then he'd woken up surrounded by wandering shades sorting themselves in lines. Not a scratch was left on Frank's body, and he even still had his bow and arrows.

While it was true that Frank missed Hazel, he was glad that he did what he did. At least she and all of Frank's friends got to continue to live, and Frank knew that they could defeat Gaea. If anything, his death might've given them even more incentive to do so.

"Next."

King Minos, one of the Underworld judges, motioned him irritatedly forward. The three judges were positioned behind three dark grey podiums, each with a giant book placed on top. Behind them Frank spotted the endless Fields of Asphodel, the red-hot land named the Fields of Punishment, and Elysium, the only pleasurable destination. Frank remembered when he'd come here with Hazel during her flashback, and this time was a lot less nerve-wracking for him, since everything was familiar now.

Aeacus, the short second judge standing before him, looked down at a book on his podium. "Frank Zhang. Roman demigod- specifically, a son of Mars…" The dark, cloaked figure began to rattle off fact after fact about Frank as the demigod stood awkwardly in front of them. Attention had always made him uncomfortable.

Rhadamanthus, the third judge positioned in front of him, slammed his giant book shut with unnecessary flourish. Frank had subconsciously zoned out, and now her realized that a minute or two must've passed. "Frank Zhang, you are given two choices for your afterlife: Elysium or Rebirth. If you chose Rebirth, there is no garunteed that you'll earn Rebirth again, but without Rebirth you will never be welcomed on to the Isle of the Blessed."

Frank didn't have to think his choice over, and after a mere five seconds he declared, "I choose Elysium." That was the only way he'd ever see Hazel again.

"Your choice is final; welcome to Elysium."

The entire world blurred in Frank's vision, and the dark surroundings he'd been enveloped in before morphed into bright, lively colors as his scenery changed.

When Frank could see again, he was standing on a bright green field positioned around a pure blue lake. In the far away center of the lake was a small island, which Frank guessed was the Isle of the Blessed. On the fields he was presently standing was a semicircle of marble cabins, probably fit to house five per cabin. He saw many people wandering about, every single one of them happy and smiling- completely different from the monotone world of Asphodel. The only thing that could make this place an even better paradise- excluding the absence of his friends- would be a blue sky. He instead looked up to view a dark void of darkness lining the sky.

"Hey!" someone called out from Frank's left, and the son of Mars turned to see a tall, muscular boy running towards him, waving and grinning joyfully. As he waved Frank noticed how large and calloused the boy's hands were- like Leo's but blown up ten times bigger.

"Are you new here?" the African-American boy asked, not in a condescending way but as if inquiring whether or not he needed to be introduced to life in Elysium.

"Uh, yeah." Holding out his hand, Frank stated, "I'm Frank Zhang."

Shaking his hand firmly, the boy answered with, "Charles Beckendorf, but everybody just calls me Beckendorf." The teenager looked Frank up and down before commenting, "You look like a demigod, what with your weapons and such, but your tattoos and medal sure aren't Greek…"

He had been referring to Frank's SPQR lines and his centurion badge. He must be a demigod from Camp Half-Blood, Frank realized.

"I'm, um, a Roman demigod. Centurion of the fifth legion."

"Oh!" Beckendorf explained, shutting his warm eyes as he palmed his forehead. "Of course; we have a few of you guys here. I guess I'm just not used to the whole 'Roman' thing yet," he laughed.

Before Frank could say another word a girl with long, silky black hair ran up to the two demigods. She placed her delicate hand on Beckendorf's arm, and Frank guessed they were a couple from the way Beckendorf smiled lovingly at the girl.

"Aren't you going to introduce me?" she asked, smiling playfully and flashing a bright smile.

"Silena, this is Frank. He just got here. Frank, Silena." Frank shook her free hand. "Nice to meet you," he said a bit awkwardly. The girl, Silena, was really pretty, and being around girls like that always made him nervous; however, this girl seemed incredibly kind, not like the snotty pretty girls who used to attend his mortal school- Frank could just tell.

Silena tugged on Beckendorf's arm, starting to pull him back from the way they came. "C'mon, Castor is starting the campfire now, and we don't want to be late!" She turned to Frank and said, "You should come; we'll get you sorted into a cabin later, and this way you can meet everybody!" Frank didn't have much a choice, for Silena grabbed his hand too and pulled both boys along at a sprint, heading for a bright orange flame near the beach.

When they arrived, Frank noticed a decent amount of teenagers in orange shirts seated around a campfire, one playing guitar and the others roasting marshmallows. Frank didn't know how long they'd all been down in Elysium- people stopped aging in the afterlife- but they all seemed to be best friends. Maybe they knew each other from before, Frank thought. Besides, they're all wearing those Camp t-shirts Percy and most of the Argo II members seem to have, so I'll bet they all knew each other at camp. There were one or two guys in Camp Jupiter t-shirts, but Frank didn't recognize them.

"Everyone, this is Frank," Beckendorf announced, patting the newly deceased demigod on the back. He was greeted with a variety of hello's, hi's, and waves. Beckendorf proceeded to introduce the demigods in front of him, but Frank didn't remember all their names as they were pointed out to him. Memorizing things had never been his strong suit. He remembered there being a Michael Yew, Ethan Nakamura, and a Luke Castellan, but the other names faded away in his mind almost as soon as they were spoken.

"Here, take a seat," the blonde guy named Luke said, scooting over to provide a seat on one of the logs they had positioned around the fire. As Frank sat, he couldn't help but stare at the long scar running down Luke's face. Wonder how he got that, he thought with a slight wince. Whatever had happened, it must've been painful.

Frank suddenly noticed Luke giving him a weird expression, so he turned away hurriedly with an awkward cough.

"So, um...what do you guys do in Elysium?" he asked the group.

The guy Frank remembered as Michael answered with, "We like to spend a lot of time relaxing and relishing the fact that we aren't in danger." This got a few laughs from the crowd.

The demigods began telling Frank about how they play games, sit around campfires, sing, goof off, and naturally just have a good time; Silena had passed him a marshmallow on a stick, and Frank was presently holding it in the fire and smiling at the irony of it. The day before, he would've been scared out of his wits about being near a fire as large as this, but now that he was, well, dead, he had nothing to fear. He'd never realized how much bliss came with death, and everyone else seemed to have realized it too in their time in Elysium.

"So...Frank, right?" Ethan asked him. Frank nodded as he took a bite of his roasted marshmallow. The kid, Ethan, looked about fifteen and had a dark eyepatch over his left eye, making him look like a young pirate apprentice.

"If you don't mind me asking...how'd you die?"

Silence fell over the half-bloods, and even though it had seemed like a pretty personal question to Frank, everyone there took it casually. The subject of death was kind of hard to avoid in the Underworld.

Frank swallowed his gooey marshmallow before replying. "Well, it's kind of a long story as to why it happened-"

Castor, the guy with the guitar, laughed. "Trust me, we have more than enough time to hear a 'long story.'"

Frank wondered where to start his tale, and cleared his throat again to begin. "There was a new Great Prophecy referencing the rise of Gaea and the quest of seven demigods, some Roman and some Greek..."

The demigods nodded in understanding, and Frank assumed that some recently killed demigods must've spread the word of Gaea and the giants' army's rise. At least that made his story easier to tell. "Well, I was part of the Seven, and we were on our quest to Rome and eventually Greece when...when two of our members fell into Tartarus."

Silena gasped. "Tartarus?" She looked at Frank worriedly. "Are they alright? Did...did they make it out?"

Frank let out a short laugh. "Oh, they're two tough demigods; they were able to survive for an entire week and find the Doors of Death without dying." Then, in a softer voice, he added, "I could barely stay alive for a minute."

Luke's eyes widened when he heard Frank's comment. "You were in Tartarus too? That's how you died?" Shaking his head solemnly, he said, "That's a harsh way to go."

"Why where you in Tartarus as well?" Beckendorf asked him.

"When we got our friends out of Tartarus, the Doors were still open, and it was part of our quest to close them; the only way to close them is from the inside, so I sacrificed myself to save the others. Then I was ripped apart by Psofios."

Everyone's mouth hung open. "Oh gods, Frank," one of the Roman demigods sympathized, holding her hand over her mouth.

Luke was the only one not phased by Frank's death. The older demigod looked deep in thought, and then he turned to Frank and asked, "Who were the two demigods who fell into Tartarus before you?"

Frank shrugged before responding with, "I don't know if you all have met them before, but they were my friends Percy and Annabeth."

Michael spit out his marshmallow at the mention of the two. "Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase?" he asked incredulously.

"Uh, yeah?" Frank was slightly stunned by the reaction.

Silena and Beckendorf looked at each other in shock, while Castor, Michael, and the others began asking a thousand questions. Luke sat silently, though he was obviously just as surprised.

"I swear, that guy gets involved in everything dangerous," Silena said with a smirk. "Last time I saw him he was leading an army across New York to fight, um..." She stole a quick glance at Luke for reasons unknown to Frank. "Well, you know."

Beckendorf sighed with a reminiscent smile. "He was the last person I spoke to before the explosion that killed me." Looking mischeviously at Frank, he asked, "Are they finally a couple? Percy and Annabeth?"

Frank was still bewildered that nearly everyone there had met Percy and Annabeth before. "Yeah, they were a couple before I met them."

Beckendorf laughed. "I knew it!"

Frank looked over at Luke, who was lost in his own reveries. When he finally spoke, he mumbled, "At least they're safe now." He turned to look at Frank, before asking, "How's Annabeth been?"

Tilting his head, Frank replied, "Uh, good, I guess. She survived Tartarus, so that's a big plus. You knew her?"

Luke smiled while saying, "Yeah, we ran across the country together with our friend Thalia. We had some good times before...before the Titan War. And Percy...well, we never were really on good terms, but he's a good kid. I'm glad little Annie's found someone right for her."

Frank noticed that Luke still seemed pretty sad about remembering his old friends, but he decided not to press on that matter.

They all spent the next hour retelling stories about how they'd all known Percy and Annabeth, and then the conversation moved back to Frank's quest, and he told them everything he could remember. For the first time in forever, Frank was at complete ease, and he had a feeling that his friends were on their way to defeat Gaea right now. And he knew that they could do it; he'd never doubted any of them. Looking around at the smiling, cheerful faces around him, Frank realized that even though he' left his family up with the living, he'd found a new family here.

And that concludes the story Each Other's Lifelines! 'Twas nice to see all the old demigods, wasn't it? (Again, thank you to Wild West Pyro for that idea).

Sorry if the story seemed a little rushed, but it is an epilogue and I'm sure you all were anxious to find out what happened to Frank.

A BIG thank you to all my followers, favoriters, and reviewers- every single time one of you commented or followed my story, I couldn't help but smile :) . Thank you for all of your support, and happy holidays!

-8DemigodRunner8

PS: Did anyone catch my Frozen reference? :P