What If

The Final Goodbye

Once the shroud finished burning, a group of campers carried Percy's body down to the beach on one of those wooden stretcher-type things. Someone had already taken the time the dig the grave, and there was a coffin waiting beside it. It was a disturbing sight, but the coffin was made out of Celestial Bronze and was a dark, deep blue with a small trident at the top.

When we all reached the site, the campers set Percy on the ground and watched as Poseidon strolled up to his son with Sally on his arm. The god knelt, picked up his beloved boy, and gently placed him in the coffin. From out of nowhere, he produced a sea-green trident from behind his back, and placed it in Percy's hands. A Son of Poseidon indeed. Sally was shaking as she approached the casket, one hand on her stomach, and Poseidon came to her side to help her close the lid on their son's sleeping face. When it was shut, Sally broke down and fled into Poseidon's arms and wept. It was quite a sight. A god and his mortal love, crying together over their lost boy. It took a few pained minutes before Poseidon sadly gestured for Paul to take his place. Sally's husband pulled her off to the side for some privacy.

Almost like it was rehearsed, every single camper came forward one at a time to lay a rose on the casket before it was lowered into the ground. Even those who didn't personally know him had heard stories of what he'd done and wanted to pay their respects to him. Each of the gods placed their flower as well, and eventually it was only me who hadn't gone. I walked up to the box, and knowing who was inside it... I felt my heart snap in half. I had twelve roses, and I placed each one down individually. Each time I let one go, I said something I would miss about him.

"Your smile. Your laugh. The way your fingers twitched when you were nervous. How you bounced on your toes before a fight. The way your eyes sparkled. How you would sing me to sleep. The way you held me. The love you had for your family. How you always knew right from wrong. How you bit your tongue when you were concentrating. How your eye would twitch when you were annoyed." My voice caught in my throat as I put down the last one. "How you used to call me 'Wise Girl'." Then suddenly, without any warning, my legs gave out, and I was on laying on the side of the casket, wailing my grief and anger, feeling my tears wet the cold Celestial Bronze. There were firm but gentle hands on my shoulders, and I looked up to find my mother at my side. She smiled sadly and pulled me to my feet, cradling me in her arms as I wept. It was from there that I watched the coffin sink slowly into the ground, while the Nine Muses (and Apollo) played another sombre tune.

One by one, the campers slowly fled back to their cabins. They would mourn on their own time, in their own ways. Many of them touched my shoulders or told me they were sorry as they passed, but I barely heard them. I felt numb to the world around me. I didn't know how to live my life without Percy in it. Eventually, it was just me, Sally, Paul, and all the gods left standing there as the braziers slowly died.

Zeus and Hera were the first to go. They just looked over at me sadly and vanished. There was nothing they could have said to make me feel better anyways. It was Hades' turn next. He walked up to me and said, "I'll look after him, don't worry." I nodded and watched him vanish into the shadows. Ares, Hephaestus and Aphrodite came after. "I hate to admit it, but I'll miss the punk," Ares told me. Aphrodite agreed, kissed my forehead and walked along the beach with her boyfriend. Hephaestus watched them go, and for the first time I wondered how much it must hurt him to watch his wife walk away from him time and time again. I reached out and grabbed his hand, gave it a squeeze and smiled at him. He smiled back, then vanished. Apollo approached me, and for once he didn't have any poems to spout. "He was a good kid," he said to me. Then he was gone as well.

"As far as men go," Artemis spoke from behind me, "he wasn't bad. If I had to choose someone for a maiden to be with, it would've been him." I smiled lightly, knowing how high of a compliment that was.

"Thank you," I replied. There was a light cough, and I looked around until I spotted Dionysus standing there with his wife.

"I hate to say it," he said to me, "but Percy Jackson will be missed. He was, by far, the best hero I ever knew." I stared at the god in shock.

"Mr. D... you got his name right."

He nodded sadly. "He deserves it." He kissed my cheek, held his wife close, and walked back toward the Big House.

The last few gods and goddesses had vanished without a word, and finally, it was just Athena and Poseidon. They stared at each other intently, and I could see the rivalry raging behind their eyes. But for that moment, they both pushed it aside. Athena grieved for the son of Poseidon that I loved, and Poseidon grieved for the love that the daughter of Athena lost. I walked up to Poseidon and hugged him tight. I motioned for him to bend down, and I whispered in his ear, "I will never forget him. What he gave, what he sacrificed." He looked at me with a strange light in his eyes.

He held my left hand up to the light. "I would've been proud to call you my daughter." Then he whispered quieter, "though I'm not sure how pleased your mother would be if she heard me saying it." He winked at me, and my heart clenched in my chest. He looked just like Percy. He gave my hand a final squeeze, cast one more glance at the now full grave, and waded into the lake.

I realized then that Demeter and Persephone had returned, so I walked over to them and asked what they were doing back.

"We have a gift for you," Persephone replied, and motioned for me to follow them. They led me into the woods, with my mother close behind me. A short ways in, I realized there was a patch of glowing... something. It hadn't been there in the past, so clearly it was something made by the two goddesses. I walked up to it and saw that it was a small pool of water – a water garden – and floating delicately on the top of the water were lotus flowers. But not just any lotus flower – they were sea-green, the exact colour of Percy's eyes.

Demeter explained to me that she had placed a special enchantment on the garden to keep anything but humans away, so the flowers would never get trampled. "A gift," she said. "For what you lost."

Persephone approached the garden and pulled one of the flowers out of the pool. "I created these in honour of Percy Jackson. They will never wilt, never die, even when pulled from the garden." She handed me the flower, and when I smelled it, I realized it smelled exactly like him. "For what he gave," she said to me. And then they were both gone.

I turned to my mother, knowing she was leaving soon as well. But she just held out her hand to me. I took it and allowed her to lead me away from the woods. She walked me back – not to the Athena cabin – but to the Poseidon cabin, where she opened the door for me and watched me walk inside. She sat on one of the bunks while Tyson snored on the other side of the room, so I went and sat with her. She pulled back the blankets and watched as I crawled into the bed and pulled the blankets up to my face. She stroked my hair and I felt my eyes starting to close. I hadn't realized how exhausted I was until that moment. It was the first time I felt like I actually had a mom, and the fact that she was sitting there on the worst night of my life made me feel just a little better. The last thing I heard before I fell asleep was Athena saying, "for a son of Poseidon, he was a good man."