Die Alone

Author's Note: The first in a Annabeth-POV, one-shot series that will include what I promised in my other Percabeth "finished" series. Inspired by Ingrid Michaelson's Die Alone. All credit to her and Rick Riordan; lyrics belong to her, book series belong to him. Read it while listening to her—it makes more sense for the title.

This is for the Last Olympian.

Annabeth never thought of anything close to romance.

There had been Luke, and that was that. There was never any turning back after that, she had thought. There would never be anything but that, she had thought.

This was the only person that knew her in and out, the only person that knew what she had gone through, the only person worthy of having her at all, she had thought.

She had been young. She had been hurt.

And then, even though she hadn't realized it, Percy came along.

She never truly realized what love was or what it meant to be with someone other than Luke.

There had been a few moments, though, when she realized that she might have a crush on Percy.

She wanted to brush it off though—Percy was Percy, for Athena's sake, and he has that stupid Rachel girl.

Ugh—don't get her started on Rachel! Rachel, Rachel, Rachel, that was all Annabeth was capable of thinking about when either Percy was near her or when an R-name came up. She had almost murdered her stepmother when she mentioned a Roxy—not really improving on their still-tenuous relationship.

It only took one moment, though, for her to realize that she might be—no, that she was, in love with Percy: when Luke asked her if she had ever loved him.

It wasn't really too surprising: it was just as if the whole world, the whole of the her life, made sense all of sudden. And it wasn't really too disorientating: she and Percy went about like normal, fixing up what was leftover after the battle, making sure Camp Half-Blood got back to normal. She woke in the morning, got ready for the day, ate breakfast, worked, ate dinner and went back to bed.

But when she found a bit of time, she went to Tyson, and together, they went to the kitchens and tried their best to make a Percy's blue birthday cake.

It ended up being the best summer she had ever had.