It's hard to say goodbye to stories, but especially for this story. You guys were awesome, constructive, excited and supportive reviewers. I never expected this story to affect as many people as it did, but I am most certainly glad and honoured that it did. Thank you for everything, through and through.

Disclaimer: I do not own Will Solace or the events of The Battle of the Labyrinth.

Part Ten

Two years later

Moving on to bigger issues than mutiny.

Jane.

He only saw her in person a few times per year, a few more via Iris Message, and nearly every day by rereading letters, or snatching up whatever he received from her during mail call. Sometimes he received a whole bunch of letters folded in an envelope, sometimes packs of them- a pack for Marilyn, one for David, another for John, maybe a note or a drawing of a basketball hoop from Adam…-and he reread them one by one so that it was just like getting the daily update after a day at school. Okay, it wasn't like that at all. She felt far away and he missed her, but that was what Iris Message was for, right?

She was in her room, the burgundy-walled room with mirrors and bird cut-outs and books everywhere, when he called. She was reading the newspaper on her bed. Her tanned legs were peeking out of boy shorts and she was wearing an enormous grey shirt- it was either his or David's. Her glasses rested on the tip of her nose and her hair was wrapped up in a knot behind her head, though loose strands toppled around her face in a messy and endearing way.

"Jane," he said.

She looked up at him and broke into a smile.

"Will!" she beamed. "It's been so-"

Her face fell when she saw his.

"What's wrong?" she asked immediately, frowning as if she could suck the problem right out of his mind.

Thank the gods that she could tell these things. He wouldn't be able to shatter her excitement and be the messenger of bad news if he tried for a thousand years…

"William Solace, you tell me what's wrong right now," she said shoving the newspaper aside. "Are you hurt?"

Will swallowed hard.

"Lee died," he said quickly. He felt irrationally bad about it, as if his saying it made it any more real or permanent.

Jane dropped her newspaper and put her hands against her mouth.

"Fletcher?" She checked halfheartedly. Jane had met Lee, the only sibling that Will had ever taken home since he'd insisted on Will not traveling back to Orlando alone on the first try. They'd kicked off okay- they had the same kind of temperament and whatnot.

"Yeah," Will said. He was still shaking. "We had a battle at camp…"

It occurred to him how much Jane would love to hear about the Labyrinth. She'd gotten so interested in Greek mythology once he'd coughed up the truth about his dad to her, after he'd found out and been relocated to camp, of course. It could have been ugly- she could have called him a lunatic, thought that it was all an elaborate prank… but no. Jane had stuck to her usual self –that is to say, being awesome- and she'd believed him after a quick fact check and interview with his mother. She'd gone so far as researching mythology, reading old musty texts, and sending him anecdotes or quotes from the Iliad scrawled on the back of the envelopes that post cards and letters came in regularly. Bless her.

But Will couldn't talk about that right now. He didn't want to hear anything about Luke, Kronos, the Labyrinth, Daedalus or war at the moment. But of course, Jane wasn't done worrying...

"Oh God," Jane said. "I'm so sorry… I couldn't imagine… Are you okay? Did you get hurt? Did your knee hold up? How bad was it?"

"My knee's fine, Jane. It will heal completely after all- that's what…" Lee. "That's what my siblings say. You can stop worrying about it."

"That's not what I heard from Kayla," Jane said.

"What are you doing talking to my siblings?" Will asked.

"Backing up my intellect," she said. "Good thing I do. Oh God, Will, I'm so sorry. Is there anything I can do?"

"Don't tell my mother," Will said automatically.

Mom had nearly started crying when he'd told her what the man with the blue eyes, stinking Apollo- the melodramatic bastard couldn't actually just come out with the truth, he had to be sinister and mysterious while claiming his children- had said. But she hadn't.

She'd given him five minutes to pack a carry-on, taken a wad of bills out of the freezer, and once they'd gotten in the car, she'd told him to call Jane and tell her that he had to go to New York for a family emergency. She wouldn't explain more than that. She just shipped him on a plane and told him to wait in the airport at New York until someone who knew his name and wore an orange shirt found him- but not to leave, talk or even look at anyone else. That was Mitchie, Will's satyr.

Jane nodded. "Anything else?"

He felt pitiful. He wanted her to hold him. He wanted to lie down in bed with her and forget the world. He wanted her to kiss his cheeks, his nose, his hair, his lips, his neck, his collarbone. He wanted to kiss her cheeks, her nose, her hair, her lips, her neck, her collarbone. That's what she could do to make him feel better. Unfortunately physics didn't work that way.

Jane put her hand up in front of her, sensing his look of worry.

Will put his hand up front too. As close to holding hands as they got- which Will felt guilty about. Jane deserved someone who could show up at her house in the middle of the night when something went wrong, who'd hug her from behind or kiss her neck out of the blue… but she wanted him. And a part of Will could never be more thankful.

Jane lied down in bed. Will lay down on the bathroom floor. It wasn't perfect, but it was their perfect.

"Tell me about home?"

"John won his science fair," she said.

"I knew it."

Jane smiled. "Full scholarship to Princeton, leading astrophysics program in the country- and it's all guaranteed before he even starts the twelfth grade. He was even approached by someone from Munich who was impressed by his proposed experiment. He'll be an astronaut before we know it."

"I have a lot of trouble imagining him going out into space," Will said. He'd seen John on a rollercoaster. It wasn't pretty. But Will really had to see John again sometime soon.

"Well, he'll at least study it. Marilyn applied for Harvard early. We'll see how it goes and if all that extra homework paid off."

Of course it would. Marilyn made Will think of a daughter of Athena, except with a bigger taste for earrings and feathers and hair dye and sticking out like a sore yet fashionable thumb. He missed her too.

"Dave?" Will checked.

"Dave's going to take a year off before doing anything else. He says that he wants to travel longer than the rest of us are planning to. Spend more than next summer overseas; go to more places."

"Where does he want to go so badly?" Will asked, surprised.

"Even he doesn't know. Marilyn is starting to collect money so that he can send us post cards as he goes. I guess we'll figure everything out then"

"The blind guy shouldn't be the one traveling on his own," Will said.

"He's got Wookie. That dog's so vicious and loyal; I think he'll be okay. Besides, it's David that we're talking about."

"I guess so. And you?"

"Still have that NYU scholarship under check," she said. She smiled and Will smiled back.

Thanks to her excellent work at the slams and maybe Mr Evanson pulling some strings, this year was their last year apart. They'd get to see each other! She'd move to the city for school, and Will was planning on applying to NYU as well. Even if he didn't get in, he was moving out to the city unless anything happened to the cabin, to camp or the world. He couldn't wait to see Jane on a regular basis.

Next year their relationship would make a bit more sense. Bless Jane for carrying it out with his frustrating and demigodly ass long distance for three years. This would be like a breath of fresh air for both of them.

"How's baseball going?" Will asked.

"Fine," she said. "We won our game last night."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. I played shortstop again."

Will smiled. Shortstop required lots of throwing and running- something Jane had always been scared of doing. Not all epileptics got triggered by physical exercise, but Jane did. "And?"

"It went okay. Coach even said I should consider playing short more often."

"Great!" Will said.

Jane nodded. "Adam's team got third place in the basketball tournament.

"Right on!" Will said smiling for real.

"He scored a goal in their winning game." Jane said. She was smiling with pride. "They won by a longshot, so it wouldn't have mattered, but hey. I've never seen him more proud."

"Tell him I'm proud of him, okay?"

"I don't know if he'll be able to handle that," Jane teased him. "I still have to live with him for a year. Don't want his ego to get to big. Matthew's just got his degree; he's already looking for a job with the schools to work with special ed kids."

She must've realised that talking about her brothers made Will a bit sick to the stomach.

"I'm sorry about Lee."

Will said. "Stuff like this… it happens all the time. Even more so now."

Jane's eyebrows furrowed. "You're still safe?"

"I'm working on it, Jane. I swear. Okay, tell me more."

"Lily's wedding is in December. Will it be safe for you to come?"

"I'm coming down for that no matter what, remember? Don't you go and get yourself another plus one. I'd hate to have to beat a guy up."

Jane laughed. "Wouldn't dream of it. You should see the dresses that Lily's put us in."

She was teasing. Gods, he hated that.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. I can't wait for you to see."

"I can't wait to see you in it."

Jane smiled and rolled her eyes.

"It's late. You look exhausted," she said.

"I am," Will said.

"You should get some sleep," she said. "We can talk tomorrow, I'm not working until Friday."

Will nodded.

Jane blew him a kiss.

"Kiss you in person soon. Love you."

"Love you too. I wrote your name in the sand but the waves washed it away," he said.

Jane started her line, "I wrote your name in the clouds but the winds pushed it away."

"I wrote your name in my heart and forever it will stay."

Even now: they had time for poetry.

The End

12:00 AM, 8/6/2013

11:20 PM, 23/9/2013

Forever scripting,

HecateA