[ Oof. Percy knows to expect some resistance from her — after all, it doesn't surprise him that after everything they'd been through, she finally has the experience, capability and most of all power to reshape a huge part of this world the way that she wants to. It's an architect's dream come true.

It feels almost mean to take that away from her, and the feeling of her pulling her hand away from his so forcefully kinda smarts. But he still can't leave her here, not when everything in this place is a lie. She would never forgive him, and he doesn't think he can go on leaving her here like this either. Selfishly, he doesn't want to.

He quickly recovers, and continues on. ]

Do you remember how we met? Like, how we really met. [ He pauses. ] What about how we became friends? When you start to sift through all of those memories, the core ones that make us who we are — they're gone, right? Instead it's eight hundred years of made-up memories, so many of them that don't even make sense.

[ He gestures to their surroundings, the calmness of the beach and the sky. He glances towards the water and knows that his power could never be like what he had being the Herald.

But he had never wanted power like that anyway. He turned it down. He remembers that clearly too. He turns back to the goddess, his girlfriend, and meets her eyes.

Please. ]

Come on, Annabeth, you have to believe me.