"Hey, you." He says, causing her to turn at his approach. She stands in the hallway between the compartments, lost in thought.

"Hey," She replies.

"You good?"

"I'm good."

"What's bothering you?" He says, causing her heart to flip. He always knows when something's wrong. He knows her like the back of his damn hand like he knows Riptide's edges.

"I hate quests," She groans, and he gives a sympathetic hum, brushing a stray hair off her face.

"We're going to be okay. We barely have to do anything," he smiles at her, "This still isn't our fight. It never has been, never will be."

"I don't like it," She hisses between her teeth, glancing away. He doesn't either, and she knows it. They all know it.

"We'll be okay," He tells her, coming closer to press a kiss to her sharp jaw. She smiles, her thin fingers clutching his face. One of them takes a curl that's fallen out of his ponytail, and she twirls it around her finger, the dark lock standing out against her browned skin.

He pulls her a bit closer, whispering reassurances to her, before she pulls away, glancing at a compartment behind them for a split second. But that's all it takes for her to smile lightly, revealing some of her too-white teeth. "Someone's watching us."

He can feel the stare on his back, so he doesn't even bother to turn around. He doesn't care what one wizard thinks of him. He's given up caring about mortals. "How's Grover?" Annabeth whispers.

"Good. Spent a good hour lecturing to me about my sleeping habits over the empathy link last night, but he's fine." Annabeth smiles at the comments, brushing back his hair.

"He's not wrong, you know?"

"Thank you, mother," He says, flattening out his tone.

She rolls her eyes, "Way to make it weird."

He smiles softly at her, "I try, love."

She smiles at him, "Sweet gods, I love you," He says suddenly cradling her head, and kissing her. She smiles, her nails brushing over his forehead and the thin white scar that traces his hairline. She brushes the baby hairs back, and her hands ache to touch where his soul was once centred on.

She doesn't. There's a strange feeling about her as she thinks about touching the place that once held every drop of mortality he ever had. It feels like...

Because it always feels like a goodbye.

Note: A Missing Moment is something that was missing from the original 24 chapters I posted on Ao3, and were under a different story entitled missing moments. These will be interlaced throughout the story, in chronological, not publication, order. There are thirteen missing moments in total.