Percy was dying.

It wasn't a secret. He laid there in the Hospital bed with his eyes closed and his chest barely moving. His breathing was labored, tired. His eyes, weak, couldn't focus on anything. He couldn't hear very well and every touch made him wince with fear and pain.

There was no secret about it, no sense of lying, everyone in the camp knew it. Hell, everyone in the Roman camp knew it. Reyna and Gwen came one time to visit, telling Annabeth and Chiron (well, Gwen told them. Reyna stood there with her arms crossed and her eyes down) that they wanted to thank Percy Jackson. Annabeth agreed, and for ten minutes each they spent their time. Reyna only used three minutes of it (there was yelling) before she came out and demanded Gwen to take her turn so they could leave.

Reyna wouldn't admit it, ever, but she returned two days later and spent some more time with him in the middle of the night, without the camp knowing. Annabeth wasn't angry. Percy said nothing about it. They all knew.

Nico's visit was the quietest, possibly, of them all thus far. He walked up onto the big house, fiddling with his jacket and quietly asked Annabeth if he could go in. She nodded— it wasn't her decision, but everyone seemed to want her permission to see her boyfriend. Nico walked in and slowly closed the door behind him to the hospital wing. It was only three minutes before he came out again. Annabeth watched him leave, and late that day when she grasped Percy's hand and brushed his hair out of his face did she ask what Nico had said.

"Nothing I hadn't already figured out," Percy whispered to her hoarsely, smiling off toward the Hades cabin, though his eyes looked deeply troubled. Annabeth didn't get the chance to ask what Percy meant before he fell asleep.

He had about two weeks left when they found out he'd been poisoned. But there had been no battle, no mortal wound. Percy's string was almost out, ready to be cut so a new life could begin. He got weak by the second day, and when they went to Rachel for a Quest, she shook her head.

"I've got nothing," the redhead whispered. "I'm so sorry."

They told her she didn't need to apologize.

Jason came in one day from the Zeus cabin (he was visiting Piper). "He… he's my cousin," Jason told Annabeth on the porch three days after they found out, before Nico and Reyna and Gwen had come. "And he's a great Demigod, a hero. He's one of my best friends." Jason's proclamation made Annabeth smile and she watched as he walked inside the hospital wing. Neither would say anything about the crying she heard.

Piper went in after, after she told Annabeth and Jason that, while she didn't know Percy very well, she admired him. She wanted to say goodbye. She did. The next two times she would see the boy before he died was when he was at his end.

So the order was this; Jason, Piper, and then Grover, then Reyna and Gwen, and then Nico. Grover almost made Annabeth cry. She watched him go in, tucked in a sweater as it snowed around the big house. It wasn't supposed to, but Annabeth supposed the god's were mourning too, and the snow was death… and death, no matter how the snow glimmered, was not beautiful. Not this death.

Grover went in and came out twenty minutes later. He was smiling and he had tears in his big brown eyes and his cheeks were flushed red, either from the cold or from Percy's teasing she did not know. He looked tired.

"I can't sleep," he admitted to Annabeth— everyone was admitting things to Annabeth. She was the messenger. "But I remember all our times and I laugh. We laughed Annabeth, he's dying and we laughed. I feel good, but… I feel awful," he said.

Annabeth nodded. "I know. We laugh too Grover."

A day after Nico, one week before Percy would die, Hazel and Frank came upon the camp on Arion. Hazel was frantic to see Percy, chattering about how she wanted to talk to him and how it wasn't fair. Frank was silent, his hands stuffed in his pockets as he kicked at the dirt and observed the Greek camp with pursed lips. They took their turns before going in together. Hazel walked in first and while it was not said, they all the feeling she was telling Percy about the Underworld and dying and how, really, it wasn't so bad. She died. She knew how it was. Hazel could relate in a way Annabeth really could not. Frank told Percy that he was his best friend, really and truly. Annabeth listened in— she couldn't help it. When they came out, with Hazel in silent tears and Frank quiet, Frank told Annabeth the camp was beautiful and if he were to die anywhere, he would like it to be here.

"Percy feels the same," Frank said after. "I can tell."

Hazel smiled at Annabeth and gripped her hand. Annabeth knew Hazel very well, in fact, and was close to her. But… it seemed separation had taken its toll. They were like distance friends. "Be well, Annabeth," Hazel told her gently.

The next day there were no visitors and so Annabeth and Percy (in a wheelchair) went to the beach and sat there. He looked pained and for a while Annabeth and he argued over whether they should go back.

"Take me to the water," he said after moments of silence. "Please just… take me, please." He begged her. She didn't like it when he begged, so she took him. For a moment his color returned and his strength appeared and then Annabeth watched as it all faded with the washing tide. He fell and before Annabeth could reach him he grasped at the wet sand and screamed, frustrated. She bent down to touch him, to comfort him and then they sat there in the ocean for a few moments as he cried. It was the last time by the water before he died.

A day after Thalia came with the Hunters. She walked in and dragged Annabeth with her. She yelled at Percy, and then she cried, and then she told him he was the younger brother she never got to have after Jason was gone. Thalia told him she loved him and that he couldn't die and that he was her brother. Her brother. Percy smiled and when Thalia left he told her, "Goodbye, older sister." Annabeth found Thalia shooting the trees with Arrows.

After Thalia, with five days left, Percy was bed-ridden, more so than he had been before. He could not move. When Annabeth touched him, he bruised. When he breathed, he coughed and hacked. It hurt. No amount of Ambrosia or Nectar could heal him. Eventually the camp could see him. Many came, and Percy tried to sit up. He laughed with them, holding a cup of tea and Nectar, and smiled about the stories they told and the ones with him in them. After that, he told Annabeth not again. It was the last time the whole camp would see Percy outside of a statue.

The Athena children and Percy's other friends wrote down his story, his "myth".

"The Lightning Thief," Percy read when they presented it to him. He smiled. "I like it."

For the entire next day, he slept. Annabeth never left his side until Thalia came and dragged her away for dinner. Piper helped. Charmspeak was not involved. Annabeth left of her own free will, and for some reason that frightened Thalia and Piper.

The next day, Reyna, Frank, and Hazel returned. Hazel talked with Piper, holding hot chocolate in her hand as they resided on the porch. The Seven and Reyna were there. They met with Percy. No one laughed. He had two days left.

The day before Percy was supposed to die, it was Annabeth's turn. All those nights and all those mornings she had never said anything. She sat there, rubbing his hand. He was awake. He smiled. It was not the last smile. "Percy," she mumbled. "I love you."

"I know," he replied. "Annabeth, I'm so—sorry." He coughed. "I didn't live long enough."

"We never live long enough, you know. It's alright. I don't blame you. I blame the fates. I blame our lives. I blame our parents. But Percy… I couldn't ever blame you," she whispered.

"Thank you," he mumbled in return. "Do you think… if we had had regular mortal parents… do you think we would have met and fallen in love?"

"Yes," she lied. "I do."

"I don't think so," Percy laughed for a moment before coughing. "We wouldn't have." Annabeth lowered her eyes.

"But I'm glad we did. And that our lives are our lives, Annabeth. I—," he paused a moment to breath. "—I would change nothing. I would still lie here, dying, if it meant to got to spend my whole life with you."

Annabeth couldn't help herself— all those tears she had been holding fell. She cried.

The next day came, and when Annabeth woke the gods were there. Chiron, the seven. All the heads of the cabins were there. "Paying Tribute," Chiron whispered as he lifted the daughter of Athena off of Percy's sleeping form. When he awoke, Poseidon walked forward and kneeled down.

"My favorite son," he whispered, placing his forehead on Percy's hand.

"Dad…," Percy whispered back, smiling with his eyes closed.

A few gods were missing, Ares, Hades, Hera. Hera was sad, but she did not care. The others… Hades was angry. Ares was gleeful. Athena walked forward, watching the father and son, and did not smile. "Perseus," she said finally. "You have my blessing."

Annabeth smiled at her mother, holding Percy's other hand after having escaped from Chiron.

Apollo walked forward. "It was a great run, I'll admit. You were one of my favorite demigods to watch." And then Apollo reached down and touched Percy's forehead. "No more pain," the sun god whispered. Percy smiled gratefully.

Poseidon watched his son before standing up, his eyes closed in anger. He returned to stand next to Zeus who, while saying nothing, seemed oddly respectful.

"I… invited Percy's mother and stepfather to come see him. They are outside," Chiron told the crowd. Annabeth nodded. When the door opened, Sally and Paul walked in. A few of the gods muttered, seeing the mother of the greatest hero of all time. She had a bag of something blue in her arms. Paul, Percy's step-father, looked around the room in almost stunned fear. He didn't move from the door.

"Sally!" Annabeth exclaimed, rushing to hug the woman.

"Oh, Annabeth, sweetheart," Sally said, hugging the girl tightly. "How are you doing? Are you alright? Are you hurt?"

"No, no… I'm fine," Annabeth answered truthfully. Sally nodded, and then turned to the gods and goddess. She smiled warmly. They watched her like she was the most amazing yet normal thing they had ever seen. Athena's eyes bulged.

"Hello, I'm Percy's mother."

"Sally," Poseidon acknowledged, returning her smile.

Sally Jackson smiled but said nothing. She turned away and walked calmly toward her son. She grasped his hand and went down onto her knees to be at eye level.

"Mom," he whispered, without ever opening his eyes.

"Hello, Percy," she replied, smiling sadly.

"Are you alright? Are you okay?"

"I'm… I could be better," he laughed, for the first time in a few days.

"That's good sweetie, that's really good. You know, Paul and I are going to Montauk for a week, and you and Annabeth can come along."

"Mom—," Percy began, but coughed. Sally breathed a troubled sigh.

"No, you guys can come. It will be alright, okay?"

Percy paused, opening his eyes to look at his mom. "Same cabin?"

"Of course."

"The one you met dad in, right?"

The gods shot Poseidon a look, but he ignored them, staring at Sally and Percy.

"Always, always the same cabin. And we'll go, and we'll sweep the cabin out of spiders and we'll roast marshmallows on the beach and we'll stay there as a family. Then we will go back home, to the apartment, and we'll get ready for the new school year."

"Yeah…" Percy whispered. "We will."

"That's right," Sally confirmed, her voice shaking. Her eyes began to tear up.

"And it will all be happy, okay?" She rubbed his hand harder. Her shoulders shook. "It will always be okay and happy. And you will always be my miracle, my little boy. Alright, Percy?"

Percy smiled at her. And then, with all his leftover strength, he reached out and touched her cheek, staring her in her eyes. "You look beautiful, mom."

You've always looked so beautiful. It will always be alright, even when it's not.

For of all sad words

Of tongue or pen,

The saddest are these:

'It might have been.'

-Henry Greenleaf Whitter, "Maud Miller"

Fin.