I screamed and kicked and I called for my boyfriend. "Percy!" I screamed. I cried and sobbed. I wanted him to help me. I needed his help. "PERCY!" They chained me underneath the flames. The liquid flames that they were going to dump on me and burn me and sacrifice me for some horrific, misguided reason. "PERCY!" The man smiled and put a hand on my lips to silence me.

"It's alright dear. Everything will be forgiven." He said. I shook my head. He shushed me and brushed a tear from his cheek. "It's alright."

"You shouldn't have hurt him. He's not dead. YOU HAVEN'T KILLED HIM!" They had sliced open his stomach with a sickle and then dragged him away to bury him and took me away as I watched him die slowly. I was dragged away as the light drained from his eyes. As he suffered and tried not to show his pain. But he's not dead. He's Percy. He can't be dead. He'll save me. He'll be okay and he'll find me and save me. "HE WILL STOP YOU!" I screamed.

The man tutted and turned toward the gathered townsfolk. "They are not believers! He forced my hand. If we had let him live, he would have escaped and told people about us. I couldn't let that happen. But now we must sacrifice her or else the great god Hephaestus will send fire raining down from the sky once more and will kill one of your daughters or sons this time. I say let us sacrifice a stranger, a non-believer, than one of our own!" The crowd cheered and I let out a sob. Then a gun fired, the sound ringing through the air.

"DON'T YOU DARE LAY A FINGER ON HER!" It was Percy. He was alive.

"No! She will be sacrificed!" The man pulled a lever and the metal bowl holding the fire began to tip. Things seemed to slow down. I screamed Percy's name as he yelled in defiance and started running toward me. I turned, bringing my arms up as far as I could to cover my head as I ducked down. I saw Percy's arms appear at my sides. I heard the liquid fire splash onto his skin. I heard his skin being burned as the fire licked hungrily at his back. I saw the muscles in his arms go tense as he clenched his fists, blood running from them when his nails bit into his palm. And I heard his scream. I heard him scream as the fire burned him. I heard him scream as he was filled with agonising pain from the torture that should have been mine.

But he never moved. The whole time that the liquid fire fell from the bowl, he kept himself over me, shielding me from the flames and never once wavering. His arms shook and his voice cracked as his throat went raw. I sobbed hearing him in such agony.

Then his screams stopped and the sound of the fire died. Percy's breath was ragged and heavy. He shakily stood up, his fists still clenched tight as blood ran through his fingers. I stood up and faced him. Looking into his pain filled eyes.

"Percy..." I said quietly, reaching up a hand to place gently on his cheek. He grimaced and turned around to face the villagers. I gasped and put a hand over my mouth as I saw his back. It was bloody and charred, red and black. The back of his shirt was gone and almost all of his back had been burned and mutilated. I cried silently as he forced himself to straighten up and glare out at the crowd.

"You will let us go and never do this again. You don't need to sacrifice innocent people to please Hephaestus.  I know him. I have met him. He never sent down those meteors. This is not right." The people looked back in shock. One of them looked over at the man who had chained me, the man who seemed to be their leader of sorts.

"Look at him, Aurthor. Look at all has been through! How is he still alive? Maybe he was sent as a sign of the gods." The man said. The guy who chained me, Aurthor, whirled around and glared at the other guy.

"Terry, how could he be? He is but a mortal! He has defied our god Hephaestus! He is lying!" Aurthor turned back around and raised his gun. "He can die just like the rest of us! He will be our sacrifice!" The gun fired and Percy choked, staggering back a few steps.

"Percy!" I cried and put my hands on his back. He cried out and stumbled forward, away from me. I gasped  and started sputtering apologies. "Oh gods your back! I'm so sorry, Percy!" He groaned and collapsed to the ground. I fell to my knees and grabbed his face gently in my hands. "Percy! Percy, no. No!" I sobbed and buried my head in his chest as blood spilled from a bullet hole on the left side of his chest. "Percy! No, you can't leave me! I need you! I love you, Percy! I don't know what I'll do without you!" I sobbed and held him close as his choppy, ragged breaths got more labored. "Percy, please," I whispered and pulled my head from his chest and looked at him, staring into his deep sea-green eyes and ignoring the blood on his lips.

"I-I'm sorry, Annabeth." He stuttered out, his voice barely a whisper. "I love you." I nodded, tears flowing down my cheeks in endless rivers. I leaned down and kissed him, feeling the life drain out of him as he slowly stopped kissing me back. Even as I felt his lips growing cold and even as I knew that he was gone, I kept my lips on his. I wasn't ready to let go.

Finally, I pulled back, staring at his now empty eyes before closing them. "G-goodbye... Percy. I miss you already." I muttered almost silently into his un-hearing ear. I sat up and stared at the crowd of villagers as they watched me. Then I threw my head back and let loose a scream like no other. A horrible, gut churning, it's-so-horrible-that-I'm-could-piss-myself scream. All the townsfolk cried out in alarm and stumbled back a few steps.

"Maybe they were sent from the gods!" One whispered loudly to another.

"Look at her! How could someone look so heartbroken? And do you hear the sound she is making? How is a human being capable of making such a horrible sound?" A second person said to someone else.

I stopped my scream and they all started at me again. "I'M NOT COMPLETELY HUMAN YOU MORONS!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. "I'm a demigod! My mother is Athena! And his-" I jabbed a finger at the dead love of my life in my lap and sneered angrily at the people gathered before me. "His father is Poseidon. God of the sea, the earthshaker, the father of horses. And Percy was his only demigod son! Percy was his favorite son. You have brought down the wrath of the gods upon yourselves by killing this young man. And you have earned my hate as well. I LOVED HIM! AND YOU KILLED HIM!" I told them all off and raised my voice at the end, screaming the last two sentences. "IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!"

They backed away and ran. Each man grabbing his family and fleeing before I could bring myself to let go of Percy's body and stop them. I watched as they disappeared. I screamed again, he was gone. He was really gone and they had killed him. I fell back to Percy's still chest and sobbed. I don't know how long I stayed like that before I felt a hand on my shoulder. But I didn't react. If it was those crazy villagers, they could kill me and I wouldn't care. This life is pointless and empty without him. If it was someone else, a stranger maybe, they would have to ask me some questions and I would gladly tell them what happened so that they can get the local police to go after those crazy villagers. If it was someone I knew, then they could wait.

I felt strong arms wrap around me and tears slide down my neck as the person hugged me. The arms felt familiar. The hug as familiar as the arms. "Percy?" I said hopefully, raising my head and turning to look at who was hugging me. For a second, it looked like Percy. They had the same raven-black hair and sea-green eyes that my boyfriend did. The same natural tan. But this guy had a small beard and his face wasn't as lean.

"Not quite my dear." He sighed.

"Lord Poseidon. I'm sorry. Y-you just look so-so much like him. And-and you're hug felt like his... And I just... I hoped...." I looked back down at Percy's bloody body and let a choked sob escape. Poseidon nodded and wrapped his arms around me tighter.

"I know." He muttered.

----------------

It was a few days later. Poseidon had been pissed, all the gods had. They killed the villagers and Hades sent them straight to the Fields of Punishment. Well, the adults. The children went to Asphodel.

I don't know how I lasted so long. I haven't eaten, talked, or left his cabin since the gods sent me back. I don't respond when my friends try to comfort me. They tell me that he'd want me to move on, that he'd want me to be happy. But that's not possible without him here.

I fingered my dagger, thinking how easy it would be to see him again. All I had to do was use it. I grabbed it tightly and pulled the knife from its sheath. I glanced down at it sadly. "Goodbye guys. I'm coming, Percy." I whispered. I plunged the dagger into my chest and the world faded away. I smiled as I left. I would see Percy.

A/N Word Count: 1707
That was depressing, I know. But... um... School is shitty And my life is kinda crappy and um... yeah. Bye.

Yours in demigodishness and all that,
Annabeth_Jackson_12 <3