Half-Bloods and Hogwarts...

Chapter 22

Annabeth's POV:

The drakon is right behind me. I don't have long now. Percy. I have to warn Percy. I'm behind a bolder. The beast will be here momentarily. But I pull out a drachma and murmur the words. Percy's face appears in the mist. He doesn't understand. He'll figure it out. Because someone is trying to raise Erebus. If it is achieved death will no longer have a grip over the Earth. Percy is the only one who can stop this. He will need help, but there is no more time. So I swipe through the Iris message, wishing there was more time, wishing I would see my seaweed brain again, wishing I would get through this alive. But I was taught as a young child that wishes rarely come true.

The monster is upon me. All my life I have served Olympus. My judgement will be fair. I have the coins for my passage across the Styx. Percy will understand. He knows I love him. He will understand I had to do this. Because he knows what it takes to make the hard choice. He'll know that I wouldn't have done this unless they're was any other option. So as my soul slips from my body I feel peace, knowing that I have done well.

The darkness swirls around me, but I know that I'm not in Judgement. An excruciating pain shoots through me.  Somethings gone wrong, some variable I didn't foresee. That's when I relize whats happening; Percy is going to walk into a trap. And its all my fault. There's nothing I can do, any idiot chould see that. The pain worsens.  I cant hold on much longer. When I slip away this time there is no sense of peace. There is only disappointment. In myself.

Through the haze I think I see Percy, Nico and three other teen's. But that's impossible. Because Nico would've felt my death, he would have told Percy not to come. Yet they still come closer. And Percy is unmistakable. I try to sit up, to warn them. But I cant. I'm stuck. I watch in horror as Nico confronts my captor. Percy's face is twisted with pain. Longing to go to him, to give him some comfort, the chains wont let me move. And then the man they called Tom is gone. Percy is sobbing next to me, and still I cant move. I want to cry, keeping it all inside me is killing me. The chains are gone and strength begins to ebb back into my limbs. My body becomes solid. And Nico falls to the ground, whispering words I cant decipher. I'm alive, but he isn't.

One of Percy's new friends rushes to Nico's side. Percy, in a state of shock, helps me to my feet. We go to Nico's side. But there is nothing anyone can do for a dead man. Except Nico. He brought me back from the dead, killing himself in the process. And then impossibly, Nico begins to rise. He brushes off his aviators jacket with a smirk. I hug him in relief. Of course he's alive! He is the Prince of the Underworld after all! My arms go right the air where he was standing just a moment before. Then I realize, Nico is standing there. But he's transparent. Because now Nico is nothing more than a ghost.

Hermione's POV:

I watch as Nico stands, leaving his body behind. Percy's girlfriend, Annabeth, run's to give him a hug. The fact that she is now alive, while Nico, who was perfectly fine just moments before, is now dead, wont register in my brain. Annabeth's face falls when her arms go strait through the pale skinned boy. His eyes are sad, but there's no regret in his voice when he speaks, "Annabeth, I'm sorry. But it always had to be me, you know?" He looks at her, begging her to understand.

"No! I do not know! Turn it back now!" Annabeth screams.

"I cant do that." He sighs, as though he knew this would happen, "It wasn't your time to die."

"Who says you get to decide when its my time to die! Are you the Oracle now?"

"No, but I spoke to her. You have a lot left to do do with your life."

"But-"

"No but's. There is one condition though."

"Anything." Percy jumps in.

"I just want a proper funeral, so people don't remember me as a bad person. I want them to see me as a fellow demigod, not some kind of monster."

All Percy can do is nod, he's so choked up. Nico's image begins to fade as he opens his mouth one last time "Try not to get yourselves killed with out my awesomeness." A true smile spreads across his features, before he fades into nothing.

A/N

I cried writing this. I'm planning on finishing my story before I go to camp next week. I hope you enjoyed it! Vote, Comment, Follow, Be Awsome!!! Good bye Random Strangers, I hope your all having a great summer!