A/N: Ignore the images and just play the song (it's called Youth, by Daughter if you can't get it to load!); the only video I could find where the song's sung in this way is on this video, so enjoy!

Shadows settle on the place that you left
Our minds are troubled by the emptiness
Destroy the middle, it's a waste of time
From the perfect start, to the finish line

THE RAIN FELL DOWN on Annabeth like the weight of the sky, crushing her until her vision went dizzy and she couldn't breathe. Grey clouds, so similar to the eye colour she shared with her mother, clouded the sun from her view, darkening the fading daylight. The grass beneath her feet was wet, rain drops flicking off of their blades from where they fell and darkening the faded black leather of her boots.

Despite the miserable scene of nature before her, Annabeth couldn't help but feel her breath taken away from her. Through her eyes it was beautiful, and she hated herself for every second she admired the way the weather echoed the way she felt. Had she been in school, and still acting like a know-it-all, she probably would've stuck her hand up and called it pathetic fallacy. Yet she wasn't, and a wave of pain washed over her as she realised how different it was being in the middle of it all rather than on the sidelines, calling out predictions and never seeing it through her own eyes.

But everything had changed, and Annabeth couldn't stop herself from falling to the ground, a sob tearing through her throat metres away from the entrance of the building she was yet to enter alone.

And if you're still breathing, you're the lucky ones
'Cause most of us are heaving through corrupted lungs
Setting fire to our insides for fun
Collecting names of the lovers that went wrong
The lovers that went wrong

THALIA DIDN'T ENJOY watching the little girl she considered to be her sister suffering. Even if she was physically younger than Annabeth, she'd lived longer than her and felt the exact same pain she was now feeling when Luke died. Her own heart ached upon the thought, so she pushed away the image of the son of Hermes and shouldered the silver bow in her hands.

Crouching down beside her, Thalia could see every tear that leaked from Annabeth's eyes as she cried, making train tracks of salt water on her face. She hated the fact she couldn't make her feel better, hated the fact that the gods had done that to Annabeth.

"Shh," she consoled the daughter of Athena. "It's not alright, it won't be for a long time – I'm not going to lie to you – but he wouldn't want you to be like this, would he?"

A sob was Thalia's only reply.

We are the reckless, we are the wild youth
Chasing visions of our futures
One day, we'll reveal the truth
That one will die before he gets there

JASON HAD ALWAYS EXPECTED, from the day he had fallen in love with Piper, to marry her. So when the day came, it felt long over due.

He stood proudly next to the vicar, Juno (who had, being Jason's Patron, asked to do the honours), in a smart suit as the music began to play, his eyes wandering the crowd while he waited for the creak of the doors that would announce the daughter of Aphrodite's arrival.

In the corner of his eyes, he could see his sister, her eyes moist as she wiped the tears away with the back of her hand. He doubted she had ever expected to see the day when he married, having been lead to believe he was dead for over a decade, and it made him smile even more knowing that the Hunt had allowed her a few days leave to visit him on 'his big day' – as Thalia had so nicely phrased it.

Next to her, his father, Jupiter, was stood, his eyes proud and watery as he watched his son. Jason hadn't actually expected a reply when he had sent a wedding invitation to him in an offering, but he knew that the day would be even more special to him and Piper when they could celebrate it with their godly parents – who usually weren't around for occasions like that.

Speaking of Aphrodite, the Lady of Doves herself was positioned by Zeus next to him, but that wasn't what caught his eyes.

At the back of the room, in the darkest corner Nico had been able to find, the son of Hades was stood alone, muttering under his breath as he wrote on the floor. In the centre of a chalk-drawn circle, he had placed a bead necklace. But it wasn't just any necklace, it was a certain necklace from Camp Half-Blood. How Nico had persuaded Annabeth to give it to him – and that one in particular – he had no idea, but an immense swell of pride rose in Jason as he watched the dark-haired boy stand back from his ritual.

Then the grand oak doors swept open, and Jason had to pry his eyes away from the ghostly form of one of his closest friends.

And if you're still bleeding you're the lucky ones
'Cause most of our feelings, they are dead and they are gone
We're setting fire to our insides for fun
Collecting pictures from a flood that wrecked our home
It was a flood that wrecked this home

DEEP UNDER THE SURFACE of the Earth, a son of Poseidon sparred while chatting to the friend he was attacking. He floated an inch above the ground and his image flickered every so often, greatly distracting him and the person he was sparring with. He went to strike a blow at his opponent, another powerful son of Poseidon, and vanished, appearing again behind his back before flickering out completely.

Terrified by the sudden disappearance of a fellow ghost, panic soon became a widely felt emotion in the training grounds. Dropping his sword, Theseus stared at place his younger brother had stood, fear in his eyes.

"Percy?!" he yelled out.

And you caused it
And you caused it
And you caused it

NICO BEANT OVER, trying to muffle his coughing as his lungs heaved for air. In his peripheral vision, he could see Piper walking down the isle to stand by Jason and the tears that watered in their eyes, but everything seemed to blur in the Ghost King's eyes – merging and separating into a abstract mess of a wedding.

Then the air around him seemed to drop several degrees and he looked up, tears forming in his eyes as he stared at the ghostly form of Percy Jackson, the dead hero's body transparent and faintly glowing so similarly to the way in which his sword once had.

And he smiled at him, a soft smile that Nico found heartbreaking when he returned it.

Well, I've lost it all, I'm just a silhouette
I'm a lifeless face that you'll soon forget
And my eyes are damp from the words you left
Ringing in my head, when you broke my chest
Ringing in my head, when you broke my chest

PERCY HADN'T EXPECTED to be pulled out of a fight to watch his former friends wedding, but he wasn't complaining. It felt great to him feeling the surface world's air and seeing all of his friends again without them having to join him in the Underworld, but he couldn't stop the lack lack of tears that sprung to his eyes when Jason and Piper said their vows – he couldn't help it, ghosts couldn't cry, and it pained him to his core.

He had always expected that it would have been those two married first out of all of the demigods in the Prophecy of Seven, he knew Hazel – with her 1900s mindset – would wait until she was an adult to get married to Frank, and Annabeth had always told him that the day they finished University he could propose but not before then.

He bet she was regretting the day she told him that, because Percy knew he was regretting listening to her say it.

Next to him, Nico stood quietly, his hands limp by his side as he watched the gathering before him. Percy looked down at him, and tried to slip his arm over the son of Hades' shoulder. It slipped through for a second before solidifying as Nico turned to face him.

"Perc-" he started, but was soon shushed by the ghost.

"Let me have my moment, di Angelo," Percy whispered to him. "I'm guessing I don't have long, this is the realm of the living and I'm dead, but let me talk to them again, if there's a chance – heck, maybe my ghostly form might show up on one of the pictures. Just let me show them that I'm here, that I made it."

And if you're in love, then you are the lucky one
'Cause most of us are bitter over someone
Setting fire to our insides for fun
To distract our hearts from ever missing them
But I'm forever missing him

ANNABETH'S HEART NEARLY SHATTERED when she saw her deceased boyfriend floating beside Nico during the wedding reception, a sob nearly escaping her before she stifled it.

Her eyes met his faded sea green eyes, time itself seemingly stopping as the two lovers ripped apart by mortality laid eyes upon each other. Annabeth's voice broke, "Percy..."

Percy was jolted into action, nervously tapping Nico before pointing in Annabeth's direction. The son of Hades nodded before walking over to where she and Piper stood from their previous conversation, Percy drifting along beside him. They stopped, a pace away from the two girls, and Nico's eyes widened and his face contorted into one of great fear.

Percy stared at him desperately, his face crestfallen as he realised what was about to happen.

And then Annabeth knew, from the look in their eyes, that their luck had betrayed them and something had gone wrong. Her heart clenched as the image of her boyfriend faded away, the ground rumbling almost unnoticeably beneath their feet.

Nico looked at her, shaking his head, "I'm sorry, Annabeth."

And you caused it
And you caused it
And you caused it