I do not own Percy Jackson characters or settings, all I own is the plot and some OCs if I decide to add some in. I'm only going to say that once, it's pretty obvious.

The following scenes contain death of major characters.

Percy looked around the battlefield, watching demigods and legacies of both Rome and Greece fight together against the waves of monsters that kept flooding in. He decapacitated a skeleton that was coming at him, and what surprised him was the amount of effort it took. He was just so bone tired.

A cry filled his ears, which very nearly killed Percy itself. "Annabeth!" He cried, and ran towards the sound. But he was too late. He arrived just in time to see her fall, her throat slit by a cyclops. She must have been so scared. A cyclops... he thought back to when they were 12 and Annabeth was so nervous, so against spending any time with Tyson, who was about as harmful as a skittle. Years later, she was killed by a cyclops, the very same kind that had killed Thalia. He held her hand as she died.

Next to die was Jason. He was impaled by a rogue demigod, and Gods, Percy would never forget the pain in Jason's sky blue eyes as the light left them. Piper was there for Jason, she had sang him a melody of a better place, over the rainbow. Percy was glad Jason didn't live long enough to see her get blown up.

Frank and Hazel fought together, and died together in a fire. Leo's screams were heart breaking. No doubt he blamed himself for not saving them. Perhaps that was why he gave up so quickly when he flew Festus up with Dirt Face herself. Percy opened his palms. Before he died, Leo had shaken his hand. Only now did Percy realise it had been Leo's way of giving him the Physician's cure. A final, half-hearted joke, and Leo was gone too. As he held the still-full vial of cure, Percy kneeled in the dirt that would never feel like home again.

They were all gone.

Character death scenes over.

The days passed in a blur. Will had quickly healed Percy's physical injuries, and went to fix up the more critically injured demigods. Later, he would find out that most of them were past the point of a chance for survival. He ate in his cabin. He slept in his cabin. He existed in his cabin.

Percy Jackson was just so tired.

The only bright parts of his life was when his old friend Rachel Dare came to visit on her breaks from mortal school. She pushed Percy to eat, and made sure he was sleeping. That made Percy want to laugh. It seemed like sleep was all he ever did. He had taken to taking some sleep medicine from the infirmary each night, so he didn't get any night terrors, however he knew that Will didn't approve. That didn't stop him.

Rachel would keep him happy. For a little while anyway. When she left, Percy would go back to bed, and proceed to stay there until it was time to get his medicine.

"Percy, I'm taking you off your sleep medicine." Will had told him one day, as he walked into the infirmary looking for his daily dose.

"But Will-"
"I'm sorry, Perce, but this has turned into an addiction and I can't let you take any more. Your body needs sleep, real sleep. Not the half sleep, half unconsciousness the medicine provides."

Percy knew the son of Apollo was right. But the thought of the night terrors that were sure to come was unbearable, so he acted without thinking properly and surged forwards to the cabinet where the medicine was stored. Percy grabbed the bottle of pills and ran out, ignoring Will's instructions to drop the bottle and calm down. He reached his cabin and locked the door, flinching a little when Will got Nico to rap on the door.

"Jackson, you'd better get your ass out here this instant before I personally bash the door down." The raven haired boy growled from outside Percy's locked door.

"Go ahead." He called out tiredly. He really didn't have the energy to fight with Nico as well as Will. All he wanted to do was go under the drug induced haze he had come to call sleep.

A loud thud, a groan of frustration and a window smash later, Nico was sitting next to Percy, trying to pry the plastic bottle of pills from the Poseidon cabin's only resident. Percy eventually relented, and let Nico snatch the bottle off him before laying down and burrowing under the covers of his bed, trying to block out the world. "Please, just let me be alone..." he whispered from under the covers.

"Percy..."
"Just go, Nico." He demanded, a little louder this time. He was just so tired.

A few moments later, Percy felt Nico's weight get off the bed and heard quiet footsteps going across the cabin and opening the door. He heard the door close, and closed his eyes in turn. At last, he was back in his bed. Unfortunately, without the drugs to slow it down, Percy's ADHD brain raced 100km an hour. Flashbacks of the final battle against Gaea, of holding his Wise Girl's hand as she took her dying breaths, watching the light leave Jason's eyes and hearing Piper's cry of surprise before the bomb exploded played over and over in his mind, and soon he was screaming and clawing at his face. Despite his efforts, they would not stop.

It took hours for him to calm down. And when he did, he still couldn't sleep. These were the night terrors he dreaded, the visions that would haunt him for the rest of his life, no matter how short a time that may be. Eventually, Percy dragged himself out of his bed, which had become a knotted mess of blankets in his struggle to stop the memories, and decided to take a walk down to the lake. Being by the water used to soothe him, before the war. He hadn't been down since the last battle. It was always such an effort to get out of bed. But Percy couldn't stand the thought of spending another minute in the room that had been his safe place ever since he was 11 years old. As Percy walked, he thought about his old fear of drowning and almost laughed, before remembering that since the sun hadn't risen, the patrol harpies would still be on duty.

 The moonlight glittered on the water. The staircase to the moon, Percy thought. How many times had he and his mother sat on the beach at Montauk, joking about how they would one day they would invent a device to help them climb that staircase? They would live on the moon, away from Smelly Gabe, away from rent that needed paying, and away from fathers lost at sea. Now, Percy knew that his father wasn't actually lost at sea. He knew he didn't need a device to go all the way out to sea to 'climb the staircase'. And Smelly Gabe was gone.

What was his mother doing right now? Was she with Paul? Percy hoped so. Paul made Sally happy, and that was all Percy wanted for his mother. Would she still welcome him home, once she heard that he couldn't save Annabeth? She'd probably hate him, just like Annabeth's half brother Malcom Pace, the only survivor from the Athena cabin. Malcom had sent Percy multiple Iris Messages, all of them negative. Percy didn't know any more than Malcom did about how the cyclops managed to get so close to her without either her or Percy noticing. Needless to say, it didn't help his mental health. Eventually, Percy had stopped answering Malcom's IMs. 

Percy walked into the ocean. Past the spot where Annabeth and he had shared the Best Underwater Kiss of All Time™. Past the spot he saved Bessie the Ophiotaurus. He sat down on a rock, ignoring the curious naiads that swam up to him. One of them was rather persistent, and tapped Percy on his shoulder. "Are you lost?" he asked her, exhaustion colouring his tone.

The naiad looked him in the eyes. "I am now." she crooned, and Percy sighed. (@perddictedtosea see I managed to use the line after all) 

"Look, I'm sure you're a very nice naiad and all but I just lost almost everyone I love. So kindly bug off." Percy told her, and with a 'hmph' the naiad swam away, her group of friends closely following her.

Percy didn't know how long he spent underwater. He was glad it still soothed him, and slowed his racing thoughts. It was only when his best friend Grover called out to him, using the empathy link the two shared, that he begun to make his way back to the surface. When he emerged, Percy noticed that the sun was just overhead, meaning it was around midday. 

Grover and Rachel rushed towards him. Grover was the first to speak, his words jumbling together in between nervous 'blaaaaah's and 'gods I need a tin can.' As Grover was almost incomprehensible, Rachel had to step in.

"Percy, there's been another great prophecy-" she started, before being cut off by Percy.

"No."

"It's not necessarily about him... right?" Grover whispered to Rachel.

Rachel sighed. "Grover, we've been over this. Percy is Poseidon's only mortal son, the prophecy must mean him."

"But what if I say no?" Percy asked. 

"The consequences would be dire."

Percy wanted to scream. Or cry. Or both. Why couldn't there be ONE prophecy that didn't involve him? He was so tired of demigod life. Save the world this, save the world that. Oh, congratulations you saved the world. DO IT AGAIN. Very vaguely, Percy heard that one song Piper played for him when she heard about his previous prophecy before the Argo II. "Let's do it again..." he sang deliriously to himself. The memory was like a knife, sending sharp stabs of pain through his heart. He missed his best friends. At least Grover had survived. If he hadn't, neither would Percy.

"Just tell him the prophecy, Rach..." Grover said, tiredly. I sensed that he was no more excited about the prospect of another life-threatening quest as I was.

Rachel nodded, and began to recite.

Son of the sea god

Shall face the time lord in the darkness down

Haikus and sunshine

(1749 words)