Camellia

5: "You were a hero at the end, Luke."

"Annabeth..." The voice speaking from Kronos' body wasn't his own; it was Luke's. His gold eyes were widened with fear as he stared at the younger unarmed girl standing before him, "I...I can't stop him. I'm sorry." He choked as the sword in his right-hand plunged downwards. Towards Annabeth's chest. 

Annabeth stared at Kronos/Luke in horror, her grey eyes shining with unshed tears, and braced herself for the blow. But it never came. Pax flung himself in front of Annabeth and cried out as pain, in the form of a sword, buried itself in his torso. He met Luke's eyes, which were a strange mix of relief, shock and fear, and promptly crumpled. 

Hands caught him before he hit the floor. They were steady but the voice that accompanied them was not. 

"Pax!" It was Nico, "Pax, hang on! Oh gods. Oh..." He cut off and said a string of expletives in Italian. Pax didn't know what that meant, but he was guessing it wasn't good. 

"Nico..." Pax whispered, and as his vision began to blur, he could see Nico's head floating in front of him, "What am I doing here?"

It was ironic, really. Pax was never meant to fight Kronos with Nico, Annabeth and Grover. For Hephaestus's sake, he could barely hold a sword, yet along wield one. He was supposed to be helping the injured with the remnants of the surviving Apollo campers. But the fight with Kronos had sort of blossomed outwards, and before he knew it, Kayla had shoved a sword into his hand, and he'd charged towards Kronos, flanked by her and Austin, in a rash attempt to steer him away from the injured. 

It had gone about as well as he'd expected. The Luke-Kronos hybrid had already disarmed Annabeth and Nico had been on his last legs, so of course Pax had stood no chance at all. His only purpose was to serve as a distraction long enough for the others to somehow kill Kronos. At least that was his semi-formed plan until Kronos had decided to kill Annabeth, and Pax's body decided that saving Annabeth was top priority. His brain concurred. 

And now he was dying. Though funnily enough he couldn't feel the pain, nor could he feel Nico's arms around him. He wondered if the son of Hades had laid him down on the floor to join the combat, but he couldn't feel that either. He could still hear the battle raging around him-some yells from Annabeth, some shouts from Luke, and occasionally, Kronos-but they were fading away. He could see a bright light shining above him and could make out a shadowy figure-was it Thanatos, to take him to the Underworld? 

Selfishly, he wondered if he'd done enough to get to Elysium. He'd never been much of a hero, and not being a fighter considerably reduced one's chances of getting into Elysium. The only brave thing he'd really done was sacrifice himself to Annabeth, and even that wouldn't be much, in the long-term, if they lost anyway. As the light grew brighter and the shadowy outline of a man became clearer, Pax wondered if indirectly getting-or almost getting- Will and Nico together as a couple counted as a heroic act. The man outstretched his hand (Pax was fairly sure it was Thanatos now), and Pax raised his own to touch him...

Then suddenly the man, and the light surrounding him, disappeared. The noise was back. As was the pain. 

"Come on, come on," said a voice in his ear, but Pax couldn't tell who it was. His vision was still blurry and he could only make out shapes "At least answer my prayer in this, Dad. Please."

"Will," said an excited voice. Nico. "It's working! He's coming back-I can feel it!"

"Well he better hurry," grumbled the first voice, exhausted, though excitement clearly overlaid the irritation, "I'm not sure how long I can do this for. I don't have much strength left."

Pax blinked and the shapes came back into focus. Will was in front of him, his blond hair plastered to his forehead. He looked drained, but he smiled when Pax's eyes landed on him. 

"Will," Pax whispered, and then, remembering the situation, struggled to get up, "Will! The others! Are they ok?"

"Woah, easy soldier," Will said, gently shoving him back down. Pax felt arms around him, pulling him down, "You almost went to the land of the dead. You need to rest." Pax tried to get up and Will winced, "I forgot how stubborn you were. Nico, keep him there please. I've got other wounded to see to." And Will got up, wobbling slightly, and walked unsteadily away. 

"Pax..." came Nico's voice, and Pax glanced up to see Nico above him. He was surprised to see he was crying, and Pax had never seen him cry before, "He could feel your aura fading. You almost..." He swallowed, and then his dark brown eyes hardened and he glared down at Pax, "Don't ever do that to me again. You hear?" 

Pax smiled slightly, "No promises. Help me up will you?"

"Can't," said Nico resolutely, "Doctor's orders."

"Yeah, well your doctor over there doesn't seem to be following his own advice," Pax said, nodding to Will, who was still wobbling away, "Help me up. Please." 

Nico sighed and pushed Pax up into a sitting position. He winced as his vision blurred slightly before coming back into focus. 

"Where are the others?" He groaned. But before Nico could answer, Pax saw them: Annabeth, Grover, Kayla and Austin were huddled around a shape on the floor. Luke? Pax swallowed and then asked, "Is he...?"

"Dead," came the voice behind him in answer. Pax nodded and the groggily got to his feet, Nico gripping his upper arm in support. 

"I'm good, but thanks," he said, smiling at the boy beside him, "And thank Will for me too, will you? You should probably go check on him. He doesn't look great himself. I'll..." He inclined his head to where the others sad, huddled, and Nico nodded, understanding, before hurrying off to find Will. 

Pax carefully made his way over to the group, and sat down heavily next to Annabeth, who was crying. He frowned when he saw that it was Annabeth's knife that was sticking out of Luke's body. 

"He did it to himself," she explained tearfully, when she saw his gaze, "He found the will to...After you..." She cut off, and without warning, flung her arms around Pax and bawled into his shoulder. 

Pax rubbed his hand along her back, hoping the repeated motion would soothe her, as he looked forlornly at Luke's body. He felt tearful himself. It was one thing to plan an enemy's murder; but it was another to see the deed done; their former friend would rise no more. 

Finally Annabeth broke away to stare him in the eyes, "And you," she smacked him, "Why the hell did you take that sword for me, you imbecile? You could have died too!" 

Pax was somewhat shocked; he thought she'd forgotten. "Because I..." he began. But before he could finish, the doors to the throne room swung open and the gods marched in. Annabeth's question remained unanswered but Pax spoke the confession in his head. 

Because I love you Annabeth Chase.