When Things Fall Apart

Chapter Three

"Come on Seaweed Brain," Annabeth called. Percy was packing the rest of his things. Him and Annabeth were heading to New York City to meet his parents.

"Almost ready, just one second." Percy finished packing and rushed out of the Poseidon cabin. They left with Argus inside the Delphi Strawberry Service van. Normally, Chiron wasn't too fond of letting demigods wonder outside of the campgrounds. But when it's the hero and architect of Olympus, it's alright to pull a few strings.
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"Percy."

"What?"

"Can you please stop humming the same song? It's been an hour since the radio played Party in the USA, and you are still mumbling to it."

"Oh, sorry. It's a classic."
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They finally arrived to Percy's apartment. They rung the doorbell and waited.

"Hey guys!" Sally chimed. She took a step out the door and gave Percy a big hug. Then, she turned to Annabeth and did the same, but to a slightly lesser degree.

Percy and Annabeth walked in, and Sally ushered them to the couch.

"Here we go," she said, while handing them a tray of blue cookies. They each ate around 10 cookies, and the rest of the night was full of sharing embarrassing Percy stories and baby pictures.

"Here he is in the bathtub, he sure loved the water."

"Yeah, that's a good one."

"And here is one of Percy picking his-"

Percy sat there with dread. "This so isn't fair."
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The next day, Percy and Annabeth took a walk in Central Park. He enjoyed holding hands with her, showing her all of the places he'd been.

"Hey, is that where you peed behind the bush? I'm sure Sally took the picture right by that tr-"

"I regret not burning those photos."

She smirked, "Don't worry, I printed out extra copies for myself."

Percy gave her a curious look. "And why would you do that?" he pondered.

"Well, two reasons really. First, they are funny and kind of adorable. Second, black mail."

"And why would you do that?"

"Hmm, I'm not sure. But when I need a big favor, I'll let you know. Gods forbid I give just one copy to one of the Stolls. That would just be terrible, wouldn't it?"

They kept walking through the park, when they came upon a tree.

"You know what that is?" Percy asked. Annabeth shot him a confused look.

"That is, or what remains, of Hyperion." The sun had died down, and it was almost pitch black. However, through the mist, Percy and Annabeth could see the tree emanating a faint light- the essence of Hyperion.

They sat on a bench nearby. Percy had his arm around Annabeth, and she rested her head on his shoulder.

"Annabeth..." There was a bit of silence.

"Yes Percy," she replied.

"I just wanted to let you know that these last few months, along with the last few years, have been some of the best of my life. And that's thanks to you." The frogs croaked from the ponds.

"And, I just wanted to let you know, that, Annabeth, I think, no, I know, that I love you."

Annabeth let out a humph and nestled deeper in the crest of his neck.

"You're a Seaweed Brain, you know that?"

"I guess."

"But you're my Seaweed Brain. And I know that I lo- AHHH!" Percy got up quick to see what happened. Annabeth was on the ground, holding her stomach. Behind the bench, he saw a dark spirit floating into the ground. It was an arai, if he recalled correctly.

He quickly rushed to her side.

"Annabeth, what's wrong?"

Annabeth let out a few yelps of pain. Percy could hear her breaths shortening.

"I don't... know," she barely spoke.

"Annabeth, please, try to take deep breaths. Here, do it with me. In... out... in..." She tried to slow her breathing, but it wasn't working. Percy kept doing this with her. He didn't know what else to do. There was no one around to ask for help, and he didn't have a cellphone.

"Percy" she gasped. He grabbed her shoulder and looked at her attentively.

"What is it, Annabeth."

"I..." wheeze "love..." cough "you... t-". She stopped talking and breathing. Percy checked her pulse. It was extremely faint. He had two options: carry her to the nearest hospital, which was far away, or perform CPR. He chose the latter.

After around twenty minutes, he realized that it was hopeless. When realization struck, he screamed, with the voice of an Olympian, "NOOOOOOOOOO".

He had just witnessed the death of his best friend and the one he loved.

"Annabeth" he muttered, with tears in his eyes and a lifeless body in front of him.