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Dear Annabeth,
I hope this letter reaches you at all, to be honest I don’t think I’ll make it to the end in the first place… but I wanted to make sure I at least tried to say goodbye. The quest isn’t going how I hoped it would, and I think Nico and I have been separated for far too long.
Ah, who am I kidding, that was too formal for me.
I love you Annabeth, but I don’t think I’m getting out of here alive. Hopefully I can find a drachma to send this to you through Hermes, but my odds aren’t looking good. Give the kids a hug for me… yeah?
Fuck, I’m going to miss the three of you so gods damn much, but there is no getting out of here. Believe me, I tried several times. Voice is definitely gone too from trying to call for help. I only hope that Nico can make it back to Will, gods knows the two of them have been through too much.
If you see my mom, Paul, and Estelle, give them a hug for me, yeah? Remember, they are family too, Annabeth. You can rely on them if you need to. I know Estelle adores her niece and nephew, the little spitfire is probably getting them into all sorts of trouble… Tell them all I love them?
I know you said no more quests, but Nico was in tears, and gods… Annie, he’s my little brother. Whether he likes the thought of that or not, the juries still out, but it’s true. I wasn’t going to turn him away, and I’m thankful that I didn’t. He could be dead and we’d never know, or Clarisse might be… Now the same might happen to me, and I know I’m “too self sacrificial”, but if my loved ones get to live? So be it.
I love you, I love the kids, and I pray you are okay.
Love,
Your Seaweed Brain
Percy kissed the wedding band on his ring finger, letting his head fall back against the wall as he tried not to think. This letter would be the last thing he’d ever send to anyone, and that was if he was able to send it at all. Nico may have tried to hide the prophet for the quest… but Percy knew one of them was going to die, they both knew it.
But Percy had beaten the odds before, so why couldn’t he do so again?
Percy pulled out his last drachma, sending a small prayer as he sent the letter to Annabeth. He didn’t know what time it was, nor did he know if she’d even get it anytime soon. But he sent something that that’s all that mattered to him.
He closed his eyes as he felt the edges of his consciousness begin to give… He thought he’d seen Thanatos, probably did if he was being honest. He sighed as a hand touched his shoulder. And he only smiled when he opened his eyes to see his Uncle, staring at him sadly.
“You died for my son.”
“He’s my brother.” Hades only smiled sadly, gently leading Percy away from where Thanatos had brought him. He’d turned and waved at the other god with a smile.
Annabeth cried as she dropped to her knees, a hand flying to her stomach as she read Percy’s letter once more. All written in Greek, something Percy had taken to doing out of habit. It was only luck, or Hermes watching out for the family, that the letter only appeared after the kids had gone to bed and she’d come down for tea. She bowed her head and cried, begging the fates not to take her husband.
Though he was already gone, wasn’t he?
Her arms wrapped around her stomach, as she curled up on the floor. She would allow herself a moment to cry, but then she needed to get up and continue on like nothing had happened. She’d have to check on Nico whenever he got back, make sure he was… make sure he was okay, for Percy.
And in seven months, she’d have three kids that she would need to take care of. Her Architecture firm was going strong, she had the money… she could teach her kids and raise them, right?
She would have to ask Sally for help, because Annabeth could absolutely not cook, that was more of Percy’s thing… and Estelle did love playing with the twin 5 year olds…
She took a breath, pushing herself up because laying on the floor would not be good for the baby, and moved to the couch. She would allow her moment of weakness for the night. In the morning she had things she needed to get done.
Nico gasped, feeling Percy die and dropping to his knees. Clarisse, who was ahead of him, turned and paled. They both knew what this meant. That Percy had died, and the quest still wasn’t over yet, and…
Nico bowed his head as he began to cry. It hurt when Jason died, and it hurt even more now that Percy had died too. Was Thalia next? Or Hazel? Frank? Leo? Fuck, what about Piper, who had wanted to live in the mortal world with her girlfriend, who was now her fiance?
“Nico… Nico we need to keep moving, come on.” He was vaguely aware of Clarisse pulling him up and getting them moving again. It took him a little while, which he found out later that he took an hour to pull his shit together again, but he was able to keep moving on his own.
The quest needed to end soon. And after that? No more quests. He’d protect the camp, because those kids needed to stay kids. And His boyfriend wanted to help out at the camp, since he’d practically grown up there…
This was his last quest, and he could see that for Clarisse, it was hers too. After this, no more for them.
He’d almost kicked her from the quest entirely, but no one but the two of them knew that she was pregnant, and the daughter of Ares wanted to keep it that way. She was a lot like a certain daughter of Athena that Nico knew.