Of New Life

Chapter 31

This one is really short, sorry but the central idea of it can't be added in with other stuff. Also, I keep getting people in my comments spell-checking my writing saying that "Perce" is "Percy". Just so you know, I reread my chapters more than once before publishing. I'm also really bad at spelling, but I try my best. I mean "Perce" when I write, it's another nickname for Percy given in the books. Just had to explain that. 

All rights to Rick.

Annabeth's POV:

Annabeth stood in front of the floor length mirror in their bedroom. She wore a long black dress, as were a lot of women around camp. They had told all their friends about the baby already. Considering their, for lack of better word, status at camp, many people felt drawn to remorse for them.

Today, they were burying the baby. More specifically, they had been buried and Percy and Annabeth were going to see the grave. Considering the baby was never born, there was no major funeral of sorts. Instead, Nico had said he would oversee them being lowered down and made sure they made it to Elysium. That was sort of Nico's forte, making sure all of the dead were respected and properly buried. Both Annabeth and Percy appreciated him doing that for them.

Word had spread fast after Jason and Piper had returned. Part of that annoyed Annabeth. Every time she stepped outside, people would give sympathetic looks or whisper to their friends. Today, everyone around camp wore black. 99% of them weren't even going to see this baby's grave at the same time Percy and Annabeth were, but they did to show support.

Annabeth sighed and opened her closet, looking for a pair of shoes. She bent down to grab her black flats, but something caught her eye. Sitting on the shelf off to the side neatly folded, was a black headscarf.

She pulled it off the shelf and stared at it. Annabeth thought about what she had said to her mother and the rest of the goddesses when they were at camp. Don't expect me to wear that again unless someone dies, which hopefully won't happen.

Well unfortunately, that had happened.

She decided she should probably wear it. Many other women would probably have one on too. While they were all Greek demigods, the vast majority made no connection to the ancient culture. Funerals and honoring the dead, however, many demigoddesses would.

After pinning it halfway back on her head, Percy walked back into their room wearing a black suit. He gave a sad smile to her and a small kiss. "Ready?" he asked.

Annabeth nodded. He grabbed her hand and they walked downstairs. Very fittingly, dark clouds loomed overhead because the gods must've hated her (which many did). Silena and Luke were being watched by Malcolm and basically the rest of the Athena cabin.

After walking across camp, receiving too many stares, they almost made it to the cemetery but were stopped by a few people. First in the pack was Nico. Travis, Connor, and Leo for once weren't acting manic, but stood still and solemn. Hazel, Katie, and Piper stood next to them. Both Piper and Katie wore similar back headscarves. Piper was also holding Jason's hand, who was next to Reyna and Frank. Rachel Elizabeth Dare wasn't far from the rest of the girls. Finally, standing with Nico, was Thalia and Grover.

Annabeth figured that Clarisse would've been there had she not been pregnant. While Annabeth didn't mind, Clarisse had tried to give her condolences from a distance. Annabeth could tell she didn't want her still being pregnant to be the first person to comfort her. Not to mention, Clarisse didn't do comfort.

Nico was the first person to fully approach them. To Annabeth's surprise, Nico hugged her. He hugged her tight and stroked her hair lightly. "How are you doing?" he asked.