"Avada Kedavra!" A shot of bright green light hit Percy's chest, sending him flying backwards into the wooded clearing.

Seconds later, the only ones that remained in the woods were Annabeth, Nico, Will, Thalia, and Annabeth's dead fiancé.

~~~

Annabeth screamed when Will couldn't feel Percy's pulse. Everything she had been feeling the past weeks, months, years... was let out. It was let out in a heartbreaking scream.

Thalia stood off to the side, tears quietly running down her face.

Nico's face was buried into Will's chest, who was desperately trying to hold it together for his boyfriend.

The air was still. It was quiet, and the only sound heard was Annabeth's sobs echoing through the air.

The blanket of grief suffocated them on their walk back to Hogwarts.

Annabeth's heart hurt.

She couldn't save him. She was too late.

She stared at Percy's body in Will's arms.

Annabeth didn't think it was possible, but her heart broke again.

~~~

The first thing Percy saw was his mother.

"I'm dead, aren't I?" He said, looking around at the vast sea of absolute nothingness.

Sally Jackson walked towards Percy and hugged him. Wordlessly, Sally took his hand and pulled him from the empty white world.

He was in the woods.

Surrounded by his friends and family.

"Percy?" Hazel asked, tears in her eyes. "Oh my gods." She ran forward nearly running Percy over with the force of her hug. Beyond Hazel, Percy saw Jason, Frank, and Piper beaming with pride.

Seconds later, Percy felt a hand on his shoulder, looking up to see Paul's smiling face.

"We are so proud of you."

Sally continued smiling, looking at her boy.

"This- this isn't Elysium?" Percy stated, even though it came out as more of a question. "You- you guys, you're supposed to be in paradise. You- you all deserve that. Why are you... why are you here?"

Sally spoke. "This is your paradise, my dear. Surrounded by your loved ones. Could you ask for anything more?"

Tears streamed down Percy's face. "I'm not dead, am I?"

"That is up to you, Perseus." Turning around, Percy came face to face with Hecate. "Right now, you are experiencing the powers of the Resurrection Stone."

"The what?"

"The stone in your pocket." Percy reached into his front pocket and pulled out the rock. "It has the abilities to bring back the dead."

Percy stared at the rock in his hand, before looking up at Hecate. "So, I am dead?" He hated the flutter of hope in his heart.

"Do you wish to be?"

~~~

Will placed Percy next to the lake.

"Annabeth! We did it" Hermione yelled from across the lawn. Her, Ron, and Harry ran up to them.

When they got closer, they slowed taking in the scene before them. Hermione's hand flew to her mouth, as she buried her face in Ron's chest, ignoring his tears that fell onto her face.

Harry's eyes watered. He wasn't going to cry... but one look at Annabeth's puffy eyes, broke him.

~~~

Percy took a shaky breath.

"Do you remember Perseus, when I told you that you have many allies, but among them lie your greatest of foes?"

He nodded his head, allowing for Hecate to continue.

"Who do you believe I was referring to?"

"I- I don't know."

Hecate nodded her head. Gesturing towards Percy's friends and family and gave him one last smile and left.

Percy stared at them, running the rock in between his fingers.

"I don't want to leave you guys. I'm so tired. It's one thing after another and I- I can't do it anymore," He confessed.

Sally wrapped Percy into another hug. "You can't stay, honey."

Percy felt his stomach drop.

~~~

Annabeth turned towards Hermione. "What did you do?" She rasped.

"We destroyed the horcruxes. The diadem, cup... we found them and destroyed them."

"You said there were seven?"

Hermione's eyes flitted to Harry's and Ron's before she answered. "We don't know what the last two are."

Annabeth closed her eyes to prevent the hot tears from escaping.

~~~

"They need you. It's not your time, Percy."

"At least a few more minutes? I mean- there's no rush, right? It's like the Underworld- time moves different, right?" Sally's face was enough to make Percy's heart shatter.

He took one last look at his friends. Slowly he nodded.

"I love you, and I'm so sorry I couldn't save you. Any of you."

Piper walked up to Percy. "It's not your fault. Okay?"

When he didn't respond, Sally took over and looked her son in the eyes. "You can't keep carrying this. It'll kill you. Move on. You hear me, Percy? Please. Move on."

Percy took a shaky breath and nodded once more.

He slowly backed away, and as he did, one by one they all disappeared.

~~~

Harry looked at Percy. "What if...?"

"What?" Nico croaked.

"What if Percy was a horcrux?"

"That doesn't even make sense," Nico sassed. His best friend was dead, and now this idiot was spouting stupid ideas.

What Harry thought was a brilliant suggestion sparked an argument between everyone.

They were all so caught up in the logistics of Percy being a horcrux, that no one noticed when his fingers twitched.

Or when he groaned.

What did catch their attention, however, was when Percy rolled himself into the lake and said, "Remind me to never die again."

Annabeth whipped her head around and stared at Percy, eyes wide.

He lifted his head from the water. "Annie? Are you okay?"

"You're dead," She said. It was all she could manage to say.

Percy grunted trying to sit up. Finally being able to stand, he carefully waded out of the lake (dripping wet) and reached out to her. "Wise Girl... I'm like ninety- nine percent certain I'm not dead."

Annabeth stared at him for a few seconds, wondering if there was a god out there playing cruel tricks on her. Then she realized only her Seaweed Brain would do something as idiotic as this.

Before Percy could say another word, Annabeth judo flipped him. Hard.

"I deserved that."

"Damn right you did."

"Gods everything hurts."

"Shocking," Will mumbled. Nico stifled a laugh.

Ignoring the obvious shock in the air, Percy continued complaining. "Does anyone have a towel by chance? I hate being wet in clothes."

"Just dry yourself off," Hermione said.

Percy rolled his eyes."Well it's not that easy, her-my- oh-knee."

"You're literally a wizard," Hermione shot back.

At that, all of the tension seemed to melt away, and everyone began laughing.

"But seriously, I want to dry off."

Percy's seriousness in his voice caused everyone to start laughing again.

During those few minutes that everything felt like it was going to be alright.

Unfortunately, it didn't last long.

As a matter of fact, Percy's watch showed that they got exactly four minutes and 13 seconds of joy.

Because on that fourteenth second, Harry collapsed.

And the world went to chaos.