Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Percy feels like his head is wobbling dangerously, expanding, and being crushed all at once. He spits blood, or rather coughs some out - yeah, he knows it's gross, but the light is sparking so brightly in his eyes as he staggers towards the edge of the battlefield and his breaths are catching raggedly in his throat that he doesn't care how it looks when he spits blood, he just wants to breathe.

That's when he hears her sound of pain and sees the arrow sprout from her shoulder. No- "Annabeth!" His voice cracks, roughened from his own pain. He runs to her, feeling every footfall jarring his head like a spike driving upward through his chin.

"I'm okay," she gasps out. On the ground but sitting up, Grover's eyes huge as he kneels beside her. "I'm all right, Percy." He looks at her, his vision blurry. It's almost as if she has an outline that's slightly lighter, it floats and flickers before resolving itself, and Percy feels his stomach lurch as his head pounds. He nods, or tries to.

He wants to reassure her, and he knows they have to get the Fleece to the tree. To Thalia. Clarisse limps up to them, her right hand going to Annabeth's good shoulder.

"You good, Chase?" She asks.

"Yeah," Annabeth nods, inhales. Her chin lowers and eyes darken as she looks across the field to where the originator of the arrow is. Clarisse looks and stands as Percy almost staggers as he turns.

But he sees that reddish hair and the curve of her bow. "But she isn't, Alison freaking Simms, I'm gonna kill her," and he lowers his head, squeezing the hilt of Riptide.

Annabeth thinks of the words he said to her, about sacrificing the quest- or Camp! for her. She shakes her head, desperate. No no no no- "Percy," she licks her lips and leans forward. "Listen to me. Take the Fleece- you have to get it to Thalia's tree."

"Annabeth -" his mouth is full of blood, his lips, lower lip especially feels weird and his vision is blurry, but then he feels pressure around his hand.

Annabeth has moved forward, making a tiny sound of pain, and grabbed onto Percy's wrist and around the outside of his hand, holding on to him. He looks at her and even though she's blurry, he can see the way her eyes plead with him. "Take care of the tree. Save camp. That's what this is about."

He lets out a loud sigh, and looks at Clarisse as she clutches the Fleece. He grabs for a spear, misses and then stumbles. His hands wrap around it and he nearly falls to his knees, but the shaft presses into the dirt just far enough to keep him standing. He sways upright, pulling it from the ground and putting out his hand.

And this is what it comes down to, Clarisse thinks. She had flown back here to Camp alone, to fail without friends, but she can finish the quest... except he is asking for the Fleece.

She thinks of her father snarling about the sea-twerp that she let break her spear, that she let him get the better of her- and then she hears said sea-twerp apologizing, thinks of how he handed her the Fleece and told her to finish the quest.

She stares him down, and then hands it over.

And Percy, feeling sick and dizzy and wondering if he's going to fall down or puke, or both, grimaces as he shoves the spear through the shimmering golden wool. And then he offers the spear back to her. "Here," he says. He doesn't want the glory, doesn't need it. She can throw the spear and she should. "It's your quest, remember? You should finish it," he speaks roughly as a thick large blot of blood drops onto the back of his hand. He looks down at it. "Well that's gross," he says aloud as Clarisse takes and hefts the spear in her hand before launching it at Thalia's tree.

It hits the trunk higher than anyone but those giants could reach, and the golden magic begins to work, making the barrier around camp begin to show up, shimmering blue-white briefly before its energy throws the remaining monsters of Luke's army out. He crawled off somewhere; Annabeth looks for him, and she sees Alison with an expression of burning fury turning and rushing away down the opposite side of Half-blood Hill.

And then she hears something like a wrenching groan, and a thump, and she turns to see Percy swaying and then falling to his knees, head flopping to the side, blood still dripping from his nose. He looks- his face is so pale... No- oh, gods-

"Hey, hey!" Annabeth moves, she goes to him and lifts both hands to press first to his chest, to keep him from falling, and then she lifts one to grip his face. "Don't you fall out on me, Seaweed Brain," her voice shakes slightly.

"Percy!" Tyson is coming close, and Annabeth looks up at him with tears burning in her eyes.

"Tyson," she chokes, swallows. "What did- Luke do?"

Tyson shuffles his feet and lifts his shoulders. "They were fighting, but there was a lot of fighting,"

"Tyson!" Annabeth speaks more firmly, her chin dropping a little as her voice gets lower. "What happened?" Tyson blinks, his eye full of tears now too. He's a kid, practically a baby, Annabeth reminds herself. And he's terrified.

"He- he hit Percy. A bunch of times, after Percy knocked his sword away." Tyson sniffles. "Then Percy fell down and - got hit a lot more times. I stopped him from stabbing - h-he was going to..." Tyson presses his lips together and gulps. He seems truly terrified now, and Annabeth feels sorry that she was ever suspicious of or unnerved by him.

"It's okay," she says, grunting as Percy sags into her. "Mmf, you saved his life. But Percy, you have to wake up!" She pushes him back and slaps his cheek, eyes going over his face.

His eyelashes flutter and he opens them with a slurry sort of murmur "I hear ya, Wise Girl. Mm, you're okay?" There's even more - softness, or something, about Percy now. He blinks at her and then half-falls, half-wraps his arm around her shoulder. Luckily it's the good one, although the other feels as though it's burning with pain from the arrow. The arrow. They both need medical attention; Percy moreso than her- sustaining that much head trauma is incredibly serious.

Annabeth's hand drops to brace and squeeze his upper arm as she twists her head, searching for "is there a healer? Any kids of Apollo?" She would call for Chiron, who could carry Percy on his back if necessary, but Chiron isn't here. Neither is Tantalus anymore, which is a relief that she pushes away for now. And the Fleece is healing Thalia's tree. That she allows herself to register, her lips twitching and eyes full.

But she looks up now at Grover, who is alternatively looking at, checking on her and Percy and then back to Thalia's tree. And standing with one leg extended a little awkwardly, brushing grass and dirt off her knee, "Clarisse," Annabeth says. The older girl looks at her. "We need a healer, can you-"

"On it." Her eyes flick to Tyson "have the Cyclops carry Jackson if it's necessary." If he gets worse, she means, and Annabeth feels a tightening in her chest. She blinks hard and shakes her head. Clarisse has already turned and runs, or rather holds her left leg stiffly and moves in sort of a jogging limp towards the woods, swearing with every step.

But still, she goes. Just as still they fight - the campers - they all had fought..., Annabeth looks around, seeing younger kids picking up weapons and helping each other. They all had fought people who used to stay in the cabins with them; those who slept in bunks beside them. They had fought their friends.

A sense in the air is of solemnity, the wind rises like a dirge, blowing across bloodied grass and slumped forms that Annabeth can hardly see now for the tears that fill her eyes. This wasn't a victory, or it doesn't feel like it. She sniffs and wraps her arm more tightly around Percy's side as she hangs onto him to keep him awake.

This wasn't - and it doesn't feel like a victory because she knows that it's only the beginning.

Chapter Text

Percy groans, feeling weight pressing against his chest. His head hurts, spikes of pain driving from his face through, into the back of his skull. His mouth feels warm and swollen, and he blinks, trying to get his eyes to open, but the pressure is intense, like it's squeezing, almost suffocating him and-

He inhales an enormous breath and then feels his arm being held and moved, wrapped around something. Someone. "I've got you, Seaweed Brain," is softly spoken to him. Annabeth. It's Annabeth. She - she was hurt, but she's still here, holding on to him.

She's got his arm around her but the arrow - she was SHOT in-

"You - your shoulder," he says, blinking and opening his eyes, trying to focus on her. She's beside him, practically pressed against him with his arm around both of her shoulders. She's holding it above and away from the arrow-shaft that still protrudes from the front of her right one. "You need to- Annabeth, you need that to get looked at, I'll be-"

"I know, but I'm waiting here for the medic. And then I'm going - I'm taking you to the medical tent." Her eyes are focused, serious, locked on him.

"But you're hurt, I don't need -"

"Percy. You got slammed into the ground five or six times after being punched. You definitely have a concussion, at least. And ...I don't know what will happen with Thalia's tree," Annabeth looks over Percy's shoulder "-but she's healing now, from the Fleece. Because you helped Clarisse, and I was- I think I was right about what I said to Luke."

Annabeth watches as Percy's eyes darken, or it's almost as though they cloud over, like some sort of film crosses them. He wobbles. "He was my friend," he says quietly. "But he just - he would've killed me." Suddenly his body lurches, his cheeks balloon and he pushes back, arms waving. "Annabeth -" he croaks, and her eyes get huge.

"Percy, what -"

He holds up his hand. "Hold that thought," and then he's stumbling and turning away from her. He bends over and she hears him vomiting into the grass. She is torn between rolling her eyes and wrinkling her nose, and definitely does the first but as he wavers back up to stand again, spitting and wiping his mouth almost frantically, his pupils still big and his facial expression seeming caught somewhere in the middle between confused and horrified, she carefully moves to duck once more underneath his arm. She wraps her hand around his wrist. "What're you doing?" He asks. "That was gross, I know you don't want -"

"You're right. It was, but you have head trauma, Percy. I HAVE to get you to-"

Her grip tightens, one hand around his wrist and the other grips his waist as she hears footsteps moving towards them from out of the woods, only to see Clarisse beckoning or more like shoving this skinny little kid with golden hair over. Or rather, she sweeps her arm and says "that's who needs medical attention."

"Okay, thanks miss Clarisse!" This kid clearly knows nothing about her, Percy decides fuzzily. He sees Clarisse standing still for a moment like she's honestly shell-shocked by the words, then she jerks her chin at him- or maybe it's just Annabeth- before turning and disappearing back into the darkness of the trees.

"Cool," Percy says, stepping with Annabeth as she tugs on his arm to get him to move. "... Clarisse points us out to a tiny child and then leaves. She definitely doesn't want to be in-impl- she doesn't want it to come back on her that we died."

"Oh stop it, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth shushes him. She looks at this little kid and says to him, eyes flickering as she focuses until Percy can see the light of remembering, and recognition "You're- Will, right?"

His head shoots up where he'd put down a big bag of bandages, a thermos of something and what Percy guesses are a bunch of medical supplies. Either that or stuffed animals and a gaming console and whatever else elementary school age kids play with.

"Yeah, yes ma'am. I'm Will Solace. It's great to officially meet you. You're Annabeth," he looks at her and then his eyes go big and round as he looks over and says in almost a whisper "-and YOU'RE Percy Jackson." His tone of voice is this bright thing that makes Percy's head spin.

Either it's that or it's his concussion.

He tries to turn his head to look at Annabeth but feels super sick again, so deals with hanging onto her and trying his absolute hardest not to puke. He's already drooled in his sleep in front of her, the last thing he needs is to barf on her too.

Luckily though, this kid is coming over to check Annabeth's shoulder, and she starts telling him what happened to Percy like she isn't bleeding and having a child pull a literal ARROW out of her. He immediately places a patch of gauze, Percy thinks - and he's wearing gloves that Percy hadn't immediately seen (which is kinda crazy, because they're blue) which makes the blood from Annabeth's wound that gets on them look less red than purple. (Which would probably freak him out a little ordinarily, but at this moment it's kinda fascinating.)

"You're like a grape," Percy says to her. "You have grape jelly blood."

She says something to the kid - Will- and he says something back that includes "-yeah he should maybe sit down," before

"Percy?"

She's asking, she's talking to him but she sounds terrified. Why is she so scared, it's okay, they're just walking in the woods right? He knows he said something about grape jelly, they're going on a picnic to have PB&J sandwiches. Yeah, that's gotta be it. They made it back from the quest they asked for and-

"Percy, drink some of this," he sees Annabeth's face. She's so serious. He wants her to have fun, to laugh. That's why he told her to watch movies. But he didn't tell her any funny movies! Oh no, he's - "okay, I promise I'll watch a comedy movie with you, I just need you to drink this," she's saying, and he feels her hand- she's holding him, holding the back of his neck. He feels something against his lips and swallows. It's warm, liquid. Nectar, he registers the taste. And then it's as though his eyesight clears, even as he feels warm and slightly sweaty.

He hears another voice say "...we still need to get him to the infirmary, but that should help some."

Annabeth says okay and again she's beside him. She's walking with him.

"... Annabeth," Percy says. "We're not holding hands, are we?"

"No."

"I mean, is that weird for you? Would it be? Like, we're friends, so it doesn't have to be." She sighs, he somehow feels her do so. And then he registers his arm is around her- draped over her shoulders. She's holding his wrist and he feels her thumb rub back and forth. She closes her eyes as she stops moving for a second. Seemingly steeling herself, or dealing with the fact that she thinks he's ridiculous.

"It isn't weird, Percy."

"Okay. That's good," Percy nods. He steps as she does and they keep moving. They're going through the woods, following behind this kid who's just casually taking them to the infirmary. "Whoa, is he a doctor? Hold on." Percy waves the hand not draped around Annabeth. "Where'd he get his medical license? The same school Doogie Howser graduated from?"

"Percy."

"I mean I thought fifteen was young to go through medical school, and this kid is DEFINITELY younger than fifteen, whoa. But what do I know I guess," Percy says.

Annabeth shakes her head slightly and sighs, tightening her grip a little around him as they walk.

Chapter Text

The flap of the infirmary tent's cloth makes a sliding slap sound as it's pushed up and held open for them. Percy ducks his head as Annabeth helps him first to get inside and then to sit down on a cot. "Here," she says, and then he drops heavily like a sack of potatoes and she yelps "Percy!"

"Oof, sorry," he catches her, or rather spreads his arms and ends up with her pretty much falling into his lap. He notices, eyes still a little blurry, that she has a bandage around her shoulder and she's taken off her coat at this point. The bandage peeks out from the orange sleeve of her camp T-shirt, and something about that makes a lump come to Percy's throat. He reaches out and folds the sleeve down, the edge of it having been rolled up, or flipped a bit. It makes him recall the way Annabeth had fixed a buckle on the shoulder of his armor for him last summer.

Armor he honestly kinda thought he'd just be using for training and games of capture the flag.

Now he's fought - and gotten his ass handed to him; his head feels heavy and a spike of pain drives through his face even as he knows, can tell the nectar helped. He winces and makes a noise. And Annabeth hears, of course she does, because even as she's pulled herself up and gotten out of his lap, she's still close. "Percy? Are you okay? What can we do?" She looks at the boy who'd brought them here, and who carries his supplies over to a table. Will. "What else can you do for him?"

"Well, the nectar should keep working," Will Solace says. "I can get some ice, but the main thing is, he can't go to sleep. At least not until it's clear he doesn't have swelling internally or - anything else like a...brain bleed." Will bites his lip and shuffles his feet. Annabeth inhales sharply and he says "I'm sorry, I really hope- I don't think that's what we got here, but if you wanta stay with him and keep him talking so he stays awake, that'd probably help." He smiles, or tries to; this kid who's ten years old, he just came to camp for the first time this summer after learning about his dad, and he was thrust not only into battle, but into being a healer.

Annabeth can only imagine how stressful that might feel. Sure she had been fighting monsters at seven years old, but she was a little different. She ran away from her mortal life, rather than being forced to leave it. The way Percy was.

She looks at him, now shuffling to sit with legs stretched out on the cot-bed he'd dropped down on. "Well," he says now, looking at her. "...I guess you have to entertain me, Wise Girl."

"Oh yeah?" She raises an eyebrow.

"Yeah," a smile plays around Percy's mouth. "I think so, I mean, I can't go to sleep and I need to be talked to. Doctor's orders." He moves his eyes and lifts his eyebrows to indicate Will where the boy still stands.

Annabeth shakes her head and chuckles. "You're so ridiculous," she says.

"Okay, and?" He nods, shuffling a little and beckoning to her.

"And what, Percy?"

"And, come over and tell me all the other things I am. Oh I know one, I'm - what was it..." Percy makes a show of thinking, although he does slightly wince, even as he tries not to make a big deal out of it. He rubs his forehead. "I'm... insufferable, right?"

Annabeth feels a lump come to her throat. She moves to sit beside him. "-You called me impossible," she points out.

Percy laughs. "Yeah, I did. But I think now I'd say it like..." He pauses, tapping his finger against his chin. His eyes, still slightly glazed, but less glassy than they had been, do their best to focus on her. She's caught in their oceanic depths and has to fight to pull herself out. She knows about the undertow.

The riptide.

Thinking about that, a current that tugs a person under and pulls them out to sea, Annabeth nearly doesn't hear Percy's next words.

"I think- now I'd have to call you impossibly smart." He looks serious, but something soft remains in the expression on his face too. "And it's not because of your mom."

Annabeth stares at him. He clearly can't tell why, though, because he keeps on talking.

"I mean, you came up with the plan for making it past Scylla, and to get the Fleece. Telling me to think woolly thoughts was hilarious, but also...kinda genius." Percy smiles at her. "I really don't think I'd have thought about acting like a sheep on my own."

Annabeth's face feels hot. She wants to think he's teasing, that this is a bit of banter she can throw back at him, but it isn't just the expression on his face, his voice is soft and earnestly gentle, and he seems so... sincere. He keeps looking at her too, and a smile tugs at his mouth as he drops his arm behind her, almost as though to put it back around her shoulders.

Even as he shuffles to make sure that she has enough room.

She inhales and practically freezes. She doesn't know what else to do, but she also... doesn't want to move. She's sitting practically cuddled next to Percy Jackson in an infirmary bed, talking to him so that he'll stay awake, and she doesn't mind.

Chapter Text

Annabeth is nestled close to him - actually, she's got her head leaning into the curve of his neck and her cheek is against his shoulder. Her body is pressing to his, and Percy has no idea what to do.

He sort of lets his arm rest around her back, careful of her shoulder wound, but he figures she can hear the pounding of his heart, or maybe even feel it in his neck.

He definitely is not going to be falling asleep with her here.

Which is probably the point. Smart of Annabeth, as always.

He tips his chin down carefully just a little, and as he does so her eyes lift up and catch his. And he thinks unbidden about the way her head had flopped towards him outside of Polyphemus's cave. It makes him gulp and his hand wraps around her farther arm, pulling her a little closer.

Hanging on to her a little tighter.

"What is it Seaweed Brain?" She asks, and he blinks. He pretty much lost it in that cave - he gave up the Fleece to save her, and he hadn't really told her about it. Was she conscious for any of that, aware exactly how she was healed AND how she got back onto Luke's ship?

Does she even want to know?

"Do you, when you, after you stabbed Polyphemus... were you awake? Did you-" hear me? "Did you figure out how you got back on Luke's ship?"

Annabeth rolls her non arrow-pierced shoulder and keeps her eyes on his. "I remember not being able to breathe after I stabbed Polyphemus," she says. "I knew he would kill you, all of you as soon as he moved his doorstone and I didn't..." She exhales. Closes her eyes and laughs slightly, but in a way that Percy can tell isn't out of actual humor. "I made a human choice," Annabeth says quietly. "I didn't think six steps ahead. His foot hit me and I - I couldn't breathe, but I"

"You went flying," Percy tells her. "You slammed right into a rock and I felt like I was going - nuts. Then Tyson showed up and threw him off the cliff and Luke -" Percy gets a burst of pain in his head along with the rage, the thought of Luke... "He told me you were dying. And I couldn't stand it, I had to make sure you you'd be okay."

"... So you gave the Fleece to him," Annabeth says, putting it all together. "That's why he had me on the ship. But Simms took the Fleece. Pretty much ripped it off me, actually. Acting like I'm some sort of competition or something," Annabeth mutters the last and then stops.

"Competition for what?" Percy asks. "If it's for winning fights or surviving, or doing anything the best because you've thought about it, that's you, Annabeth. No contest. If we're going by the fights we've had against her that's like, what? Three? And the only time she hit you with anything was at a distance when the fight wasn't directly you versus her. She shot you from across a whole field of battle, a literal field, so-"

"Percy,"

"-that shouldn't even COUNT as far as I'm concerned, her sniping you is some seriously petty ranged bullshit and-"

"Percy!" Suddenly Annabeth's hand is on one side of his face and she's lifted her head up. He turns just as she leans in and her lips brush his cheek, but hit the corner of his lips as well just about. His eyebrows shoot up and then he feels her hand shaking. He sees the shimmering of tears in her eyes as she pulls back just enough to choke out in close to a whisper "thank you. You were so sure you'd give up on the quest for me, give up on camp if you had to make a choice...but you didn't. You saved both of us. So- thanks."

Annabeth exhales a trembling breath, and Percy doesn't know what to do except for take hold of her shaking hand, so he does. He wraps his fingers around hers, and tries to register the fact she had just KISSED him. He hears a crowd roaring in his brain and can't make his mouth form much of anything in the way of words. He just keeps his other arm around her shoulders as he wonders if he should let go of Annabeth's hand now or not.

"Thank you," is what Percy says, stupidly. "I mean, you're welcome, I mean - I couldn't think of anything else to do," the words fall out of his mouth from his brain. "You were my priority, I just had to make sure you were safe first, and then - then I could focus on the Fleece and camp. So I'm lucky it worked out I guess."

Worked out. When he still looks practically bloodless, save for those bruises around his eyes, the swelling only kept at bay because of the nectar he had to drink. Annabeth looks at him and then tucks herself tightly against his side, squeezing his hand before resting her head once more against the cloth of his shirt. Like she's resolved something, or relaxed. Either way, he carefully holds on to her and swallows hard, trying to understand what just happened. She's grateful to him for making sure she would be okay, that's got to be what it is. And she's probably relieved he didn't let his fatal flaw screw everything up. She's definitely glad they're still both alive, and he is too.

Chapter Text

Annabeth resting against him makes Percy feel warm. No, it's more like... comfortable. Safe. He knows that Grover is around and okay, back at Camp with them; the Fleece is healing Thalia's tree, and "Here," the little super blond boy, Will, is suddenly standing on his opposite side. Percy jerks, his hand tightening on Annabeth's shoulder immediately.

"Sorry," he says to her, and "jeez kid, you sc- you just showed up out of nowhere!"

Will's eyes are huge and "I'm sorry," he immediately says. "I just need you to drink some more of this, and...tell me how your head feels. Are you in pain? Dizzy? Do you feel sick?"

"Uhh," Percy blinks several times and lifts his free hand to run fingers across his forehead. "I uhm, I guess it still hurts a little. Definitely not as much as it did before after I...how many times did Luke hit me?"

"Ten," Annabeth says quietly. "He punched you ten times."

Percy stares. "Jeez I'm lucky Tyson was close enough to help." He feels his stomach lurch as he recalls the hits, he remembers the first few, and then his head was slamming back into the grass and against the ground over and over. He presses the back of his hand against his mouth and squeezes his eyes closed. Swallows several times until the nauseous feeling lessens. "I guess - I'm still a little dizzy but it's -" not from getting hit, he doesn't think. He registers the press of Annabeth's mouth against the edge of his, and figures she hadn't meant to do that, she was just thanking him for saving her AND camp. Because it was a big deal to do both. Yeah.

Percy is so busy convincing himself that he doesn't register Will saying anything else or Annabeth answering, but he blinks and Will is walking away from them.

"Wait, where's he going? Don't I need some sort of doctor advice? Am I allowed to sl- oh." Annabeth hands him what seems to be one of those insulated cups, the kinds he's seen adults and some older teenagers carry around in the mortal world.

"He said you need to drink this," Annabeth says. "Either all of it now, or half now and the rest later if it makes you feel sick again." She gives him a firm look, her brows lowering. "Just as long as you don't throw up on me, seaweed brain."

"I definitely won't," Percy takes the cup and sips. "You would probably stab me. And I don't think I would even blame you if you did. That'd be a version of Fate that doEs suck."

Annabeth laughs, shaking her head. Percy drinks the nectar, because he can tell that's what it is- the telltale taste of his mom's chocolate chip cookies is a dead giveaway. He offers the cup to Annabeth after a minute, thinking about her wound. "How's your shoulder?" He asks her as she gives him a look.

"It'll be fine, Percy. You're the one who's supposed to drink all this."

"Okay, but I don't think you having one or two sips is gonna be a problem, who's gonna stop me, the nectar police?"

"Percy." She appears unamused.

"Annabeth," he replies. "I'm serious. Now if you tell me there's such a thing as nectar police, I might believe you, but only because you've been coming to Camp a lot longer than me."

Annabeth sighs. "Percy -"

"Look I'll even drink almost all of it first, and you can have the last little bit," he gulps more until he feels like he can't stomach one more sip, and once again holds the cup out to her. She stares at him, and then slowly sits up and takes it.

"You're so annoying sometimes," Annabeth says. Percy shrugs.

"But you're drinking the nectar, and that's all that matters."

Lowering the cup from her lips, again Annabeth sighs. She carefully leans and puts the now empty drink receptacle down before shuffling back to her previous position with a frown crinkling the skin between her eyebrows.

"Annabeth, what's going on?" Percy asks. "What's wrong?"

She's dropped her chin, face shielded behind several of her braids. "I don't get it," she speaks softly.

Percy raises his eyebrows. Did he hear her right? Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena, not getting something? "You don't get...what?" His voice is soft.

"This," Annabeth says. "You! I mean... you've been saying all these things to me, like. That my mom should take notice, and that you see- it only took you two DAYS to see how special I am," her eyes rise up and Percy sees a shine in them of- tears. Why is she getting teary? "And then you said you just saw me, when you heard the sirens singing, and I told you just now that you're annoying, but you don't even seem upset about it. I don't -" Annabeth pushes at her hair and her shoulders drop on a breath that she exhales, practically huffs. "I don't GET it, Percy. I've been a burden or an annoyance all my life. My dad didn't want me around, I'm the reason Thalia sacrificed herself, and Luke..." She bites her lip, shaking her head. "He was willing to kill you, because of me. Because I told him that I think the Fleece can bring back Thalia. And you even gave it to him in the first place to save my life! I don't understand, what does that -"

"Hey," Percy reaches out to her. He grunts slightly in a little pain as he pushes himself into a sitting position. He reaches out to her, putting his hand on her arm. "If it makes you feel any better, my crappy stepdad Smelly Gabe called me a lot worse things than annoying." Percy catches Annabeth's eye with a smile, and after hesitating for a moment, he carefully puts his hand on her back and rubs up and down a little. "And besides, we help each other. Because we're friends now. And sometimes friends call each other annoying when they're being annoying. They can be honest like that. And Annabeth," Percy once more catches her eyes with his "it's okay. It doesn't make me hate you or- I don't know, not want to be around, or any of that other stuff that your family treated you like. You're not a- a burden or anything. You're the smartest person I know, and you think you're lucky to have been found by Luke and Thalia, well. I think THEY'RE lucky they found YOU." He's set to say more, maybe, but Annabeth turns to him and throws her arms around him, sending them both flat onto the infirmary bed. She's on top of Percy upon their landing, and she kisses him on purpose this time, her lips meeting his.

His words and brain instantly stop, and he just keeps one hand on her back, the other practically frozen at her side, fingers spread and holding on as the soft press of her mouth against his has Percy pretty much forgetting how to breathe.

He does inhale, though, eventually, before trying to kiss Annabeth in return (and probably failing spectacularly because he's never kissed or been kissed by anyone before). They break apart and she looks at him, her eyes flickering across his face before she ducks hers and huddles beside him again. He exhales sharply, heart pounding. "So, that was -"

"Don't," her voice is muffled against his shoulder and his shirt.

"Don't what?"

"Don't say anything, Percy."

"Why?"

"Because you're either gonna make a joke or ask a bunch of questions and-"

"I'm not! Well, maybe...I mean, I was going to, but I won't," Percy blurts. Annabeth makes a small noise. "I won't, I'm serious, I just..." He gulps, lifting his free hand to touch his lips with the tips of his fingers. "I'm just surprised, I guess. Did that actually just happen?"

Annabeth lifts her eyes, peeking up at him. He would never classify her as 'shy' or anything like that, but right now she's just looking at him. Like she's trying to figure him out, but he isn't that complicated. He's just hearing a roar in his ears again, which he realizes isn't the sound of a crowd. It's either his ADHD brain acting extra weird, or maybe it's the nectar healing that makes his heart beat loud. In any case, he keeps his arm around Annabeth beside him, because there's a chance she will get up and go away, if the expression on her face is any indication.

Annabeth closes her eyes. "Yes, Percy, it did. But we don't have to say anything about it, all right?" She opens her eyes again. "Just - why don't you tell me about some...I don't know, some movie you want to watch. You still have to stay awake."

"Oh trust me, Annabeth, I'm not going to fall asleep after doing that."

"Percy, please," she groans, pressing her hands against her face. Percy blinks. Okay, she doesn't want to talk about this. Maybe wishes she hadn't done it. Well, he can- he can talk about what she wants to talk about, sure. It has been a crazy few days anyway.

Movies. He can do this. Maybe he'll be able to describe one or hype it up so she'll enjoy it more than she liked Jaws.

"Okay, uh. Well there's this movie, actually it's sort of a group of movies..."

Chapter Text

Percy talks about this apparent group of movies "-okay they're not like, clay skeletons old exactly, but the first three have a ton of practical effects that like. Might seem less good than what movies can do now, but I promise it's- they're actually better. When you hear the soundtrack suddenly you're THERE. It's honestly amazing, I can't wait to show you."

Annabeth still doesn't understand what exactly he means, she hasn't really even seen a movie in the theater before, or at least, when she did it wasn't something that she could get totally immersed in. Probably because her dad was there with her stepmom and step-siblings and they got a giant thing of popcorn and a bunch of candy and drinks, and she had slouched down at the end of the row trying not to be touched by sticky fingers and wanting to put on her Yankees cap and disappear.

This is better, hearing Percy describe movies. His eyes are alight, even though he still has purple and red around -especially under- them, and his skin remains incredibly pale. His eyes aren't full of pain anymore, though, she can see that. There's this sort of ... looseness in the skin around them, not crinkled or held, stretched tight from pain. No, Percy still has his arm around her and he's gesturing with his free hand as though he could somehow conjure up every movie that he can so clearly see in his memory.

"I guess your brain is okay," she says when he pauses.

He deadpans "Oh yeah, go ahead and ask me the first lines of the first movie in this franchise. I mean, there's debate over which movie should be WATCHED first but I stand by the fact that viewing order should go by the first ones made."

"...you really like these movies, don't you," Annabeth says. It's not even a question, really; it's more a statement of fact. Like she knows, because she can tell. He had encouraged her to be a kid at the end of last summer, before she went home. She wasn't really able to be, not the way he hoped she would. It's why she couldn't say anything about what she truly thought of the movies and school and splash mountain in the letters she'd written to him; she felt-disappointing. That she would be, and he would feel disappointed in her for not being able to enjoy a ride on a roller coaster or a movie in the theater.

But here Percy is telling her more about this thing, these things he likes so much, that clearly mean a lot to him. And he didn't seem bothered by the fact that she hadn't liked the movies she had watched - and mentioned before. Sure, that could have been because he was angry with her for getting Clarisse not to pick him to go on her quest, but he clearly still isn't bothered by it, at least not a lot because he's regaling her with information about his favorite movies now.

"There's these two characters we stay with for a lot of the first movie, right, and you might get mad at one of them- or you might relate, I can't decide..." Percy is squinting a little bit as he speaks, and Annabeth finds herself wanting to kiss him again. Even though she told him not to bring that up, and if she was to act on what she's feeling, he probably WOULD bring it up, and she wouldn't be able to blame him.

The thing is, though, that she doesn't know what to say. Because - him being the way he is, saying the things he does to her, and MEANING them, is kind of a big deal. No, it's definitely a big deal. Annabeth knows he's being honest, because of the way he followed the directions of her plan, even if he didn't get it or maybe even thought it was crazy (thinking woolly thoughts comes to mind) or totally reckless and borderline stupid (the fact she didn't tie herself up or untie him from the mast of their ship the second Circe magicked her special beeswax back). He only asked her what she was doing when she talked to Luke via his Iris-message, and told her that he trusted her, even after he was legitimately angry at her for initially keeping him away from the quest. Or trying to.

Percy trusts her, and comes back for her, and encourages her to do the impossible and to believe that she is special. And that she's not crazy or over proud for wanting, no not just wanting, being almost desperate for her mother's approval. Sure he HAD made the joke later when she mentioned hubris 'hey, isn't that the stuff they put on veggie sandwiches?' only for her to tell him 'no, seaweed brain, that's hummus. Hubris is worse.' but

Annabeth is pretty sure that Percy asked her what could be worse than hummus just to make her laugh.

It worked.

The thing is, it's almost like some weird twist of Fate to have her like him, although she hopes it isn't fated- that feels way too predestined and kind of creepy, for every feeling that she has to be mapped out, woven into her thread of life already. Annabeth figures it goes AGAINST Fate, the fact that she cares so much for Percy. About him, because of her mother's age-old issues with his dad. (It doesn't escape her that the gods are as petty as humans, dialled up to eleven. Or eleven thousand, even.)

And as she stays here next to him and listens as he goes on about the later works in this movie trilogy "-actually there are two trilogies that connect to each other, and another one I hesitate to even describe, but like. I don't know what they all would be called. A sextrology or something, maybe if we're talking about the number six," Percy actually seems a little flustered by his own word choice. "I remember a little bit of the Latin that Mr Bru- I mean, that Chiron taught me when he was pretending to be a regular teacher."

"He's still a teacher," Annabeth says.

"Yeah, I know, I'm just saying that he's not a MORTAL teacher. What does it say that he's honestly the only teacher I ever really liked and learned from, and he was a centaur the whole time? A centaur in a magic wheelchair," Percy mumbles the last.

"It means that you were definitely ready to come here," Annabeth says simply. "You were ready for camp."

"...you say that like it's the only answer. Like it's obvious."

"Well it was true- you took down the minotaur! You did what Thalia-" Annabeth blinks rapidly, her voice catching a little. "... what Thalia was trying to do."

"Thalia saved you though," Percy says. "You AND Luke. I couldn't - I helped Grover, but I couldn't save my mom...." His voice cracks and his joyfulness when describing movies is utterly gone.

"Don't - Percy, don't compare yourself to Thalia. You don't need to."

Percy looks at her, his eyes appearing darker than they were, his voice now low. Serious.

"Are you sure?"

Chapter Text

Annabeth looks at Percy, at the way his eyes grow dark and he seems to curl in upon himself a little.

He is like Thalia in and with that darkness, she realizes; Thalia would get angry over choices that seemingly HAD to be made as well as being chased by monsters; she and Luke would have terse, sometimes harshly-whispered conversations that Annabeth could hear but doesn't fully remember. She only remembers that Thalia had chosen to go to camp to save HER. To keep her little family safe, and that still burns and aches in Annabeth, the fact that she had caused Thalia to make that choice.

But Thalia had been sure of herself. Certain in everything that she said and did. Percy... Is different. He's impulsive when he speaks, and seems sure sometimes then, or at least he doubles down on what he decides to say but he doesn't seem to be sure of himself. As when he said he only learned much of anything from Chiron, and what did that say about him? Annabeth sees it as him being a demigod ready for camp, but Percy saw it as him being stupid. Or not meant to learn, not teachable. Something along those lines. And now, he's comparing himself to Thalia with the daughter of Zeus coming out on top.

Annabeth cannot stand that.

If she could reorder the world, it would be to have Thalia never need to make her sacrifice. She would be at camp in the Zeus cabin, and her being there too would calm Luke's anger at the gods, just a little. Enough because both of them would enjoy camp. They'd feel safe, and she would. And then Percy would come, win his fight against the minotaur, and Thalia would be impressed. She'd find it cool, actually, and the fact that Percy had yelled "Hey, stupid! Ground beef!" at a gigantic raging bull man would add on that he was funny. They would be super powerful together, and Annabeth is aware that causing electrocution underwater would be a pretty useful skill in certain situations. And if Luke still opposed the gods ... She shakes her head as she thinks it, remembering what Percy had said.

Luke's her friend too. She'd have to choose between the two of you.

Of course Seaweed Brain had ALSO told Annabeth that she had no idea what that was like, which isn't true - she had chosen him over Luke last summer, when she heard what Luke said. She'd gone invisible because... Honestly, she was curious as to what two boys walking through the woods would talk about, those two in particular. She thought Luke might congratulate Percy on surviving his quest, or maybe fight with him as some more training, to show Percy that he still has things to learn.

And then he said what he did, about Kronos. About bringing back the golden age without the gods. And through the hurt, the heartbreak and shock, she watched Luke go for Percy first as if holding back, but then willing to hurt him- and this time, now he is willing to kill -

"Annabeth,"

And if she had talked to him last year, if he came to her, would she have been able to help? Could she have encouraged Luke to fight back against Kronos even as the Titan infiltrated his dreams?

"Annabeth, hey."

She feels something - the grasp of a hand, gentle on her arm. They were a family, Luke had said; Thalia did too. They took care of their own. Well, Thalia did. Luke was supposed to, but he has his own now, giants and dracaenae and demigods who've been conned or convinced or coerced.

And there's a traitor, or there was, Clarisse had mentioned that even as she and Percy had discussed it too. There were traitors at camp, kids who decided to join Luke in his fury against the gods. She could have stopped them, if she'd known; surely she could have talked to them, or if she stayed at camp and spoke up on behalf of Chiron-

Annabeth is deep in thought, trembling, her hands gripping at her hair, and she gasps, jerks at the feeling of a hand taking her wrist, gently loosening her fingers.

She blinks and turns her head to see those seafoam eyes, the blue-green gray and sometimes even brown she catches in Percy's gaze. He seems tired, but is focused on her, and he's speaking.

"Annabeth, you couldn't have known... it's like, how hard it is to know when someone's actually drowning." Percy seems amused by his own analogy for a second before he gets serious again. His voice is soft as he holds on to her hand. "It's super obvious when they're splashing and yelling, but people who are in the most trouble, they just sort of- freeze. They don't move, they just stay where they are and take in water, and they start to sink."

Annabeth feels a chill as Percy says that, thinking of Luke...how angry he was, how he refused to accept Thalia's transformation, demanding to know where her body was, to mourn her death. "So Luke was drowning, and I didn't know," she practically whispers. "If I had, I - I could have stopped him, I could save - but he was going to kill you!" Her eyes are wide and tears well up in them. "He would've killed you today, Percy - and he was just a couple of years older than you are when we got here. He would cut down someone -" Annabeth bends forward, folding in on herself, her hands pressing against her cheeks and over her eyes.

"Hey," Percy still holds her wrist, but he lets go and carefully wraps his arms around her instead. He pulls her close, brain no longer spinning from their kiss. He feels like he should tell her the way Luke stabbed him on the ship when he was almost away, but that wouldn't make her feel better. She wants to believe he can still be saved, somehow. Or she is horrified because she's now fully aware of how far he's gone, but either way, Percy can't bear to hurt her anymore. So he wraps his arms around her and holds her shoulder, resting his head against hers and telling her "but he didn't kill me, I'm still here," and then with his voice rough but trying desperately to add humor "you're not getting rid of me that easily, Wise Girl."

Annabeth expels what sounds like a cross between a laugh and a sob, burying her face against Percy's Camp Half-blood T-shirt. It's soft and he isn't cold, even though he's not all the way warm. She clutches on to him, staying as close as she can, and he holds fast to her.

"Just my luck," Annabeth manages to murmur.

"Yep," Percy laughs, she feels as much as hears the sound, and feels as well his hesitance as a few of his fingers twine into her hair. She closes her eyes and breathes as he says softly to her something she hadn't heard, at least not directly, even from Thalia:

"I'm not going anywhere."

Chapter Text

It's much later that night when Percy hears pounding of feet running towards him. And he knows that this isn't a dream. He holds Annabeth close to him and pushes himself up as close to standing as he can, ready either to move or swing Riptide as he clicks the pen into his sword. Holding right hand out, arm slightly bent, his body is stiff and he feels exhausted, but he's a lot less dizzy at this point. The lights swing and blend from double into one, and his brain almost catches and hangs on to that, except he then feels as Annabeth shifts against his chest.

Her arm, wrapped around his lower back, tightens as her hand both gets a grip on his shirt and seems to steady him in his movement. He doesn't even have to look down at her to know her dagger is in her free hand. Percy lifts his leg carefully in an exaggerated bend as he steps away from the cot. Annabeth takes smaller steps to move with him, even as he now looks at her and sees her forehead creasing.

And then bursting into the infirmary tent is Grover, wide-eyed and wild haired, his chest heaves and he's waving his hands around and saying "Annabeth, Percy, the tree, the Fleece - it's worked but it just started glowing and then it was like a golden stream solidified and-"

"Thalia's tree?" Annabeth's head snaps up. "Grover, what happened?"

Percy groans as through the empathy link he's getting screaming, maybe excited but also scared, and Grover is still kind of babbling and waving his arms around.

"Just - lying there and I didn't know what to do, I mean, it's not like she's a nature spirit, right? If her tree had a dryad, I would know what to do, but-"

"Grover!" Percy's voice cracks, great. He steps forward, puts away his sword for the moment, and grabs onto the shoulder of his best friend. "What's going on? What exactly happened?"

He can feel Grover literally shaking, his eyes are huge and he stares from Percy to Annabeth as he starts to bleat. "Blah-ha, I was watching, I've been checking on the tree to make sure the poison is leaving it, and then- Clarisse came by with the campers patrolling the border, they came running because Thalia's tree started to glow gold. And then it was like a bunch of golden- sap, or something, slid down one side where the poison had been, so at first I thought it was that, but" Grover inhales and Percy thinks of the last thing Luke said to him.

"You were never the one. It was always Thalia."

He feels a clenching cold inside as Grover says "-And then she was just ... laying there, beside the tree. Like she fell to her knees, and I knew she'd need ambrosia, so-"

"Where's Will?" Annabeth asks, and she's moving down the tent to find the kid, who jumps up, he has apparently fallen asleep. "Will, we need nectar and ambrosia."

Percy has already grabbed a blanket and is following Grover, they move through camp as he sees that drachma spinning in the void. His head feels like it's going to pound, but mercifully it doesn't as he breaks out of the forest and falls, scrambles back up to get to the top of the hill.

Clarisse stands there, training her spear on a slumped figure with dark clothes and dark hair. Her eyes are huge and knuckles bulge pale around the spear's shaft. "Jackson," she says.

"Hey, Clarisse. What's happening?"

"She hasn't moved," the daughter of Ares says, and he can tell this has rattled her because for once she isn't looking at him as though he's an idiot. She jerks her chin, fingers flexing on her spear. "But I'm standing guard." Her dark eyes flicker around as she adds "this could be a trick."

Annabeth is frozen, staring, her eyes full of tears, and she steps forward as Percy goes to the slumped figure, a girl with curly black hair that he recognizes from his dreams. He swallows and kneels, carefully putting his hand under her shoulder and with the other lifting her head. He drapes the blanket he had picked up around her back.

Moonlight shines on her face; a strong nose, prominent lashes and eyes that flutter open and burn. Thunder booms as the wind is rising and Will, who's come up to stand beside Percy, almost seems like he could be knocked down.

A spark flies between the fingers of the girl's hand as she throws it out, and Grover dives one way, Clarisse ducks the other as a spark of energy, blue-white lightning shoots out, flies past them, and luckily strikes the ground of the hill rather than a person. Or a tree.

"Uh, hey! It's okay," Percy says to the girl. "You're safe, but you just -came out of a tree. Are you feeling okay?"

Eyes narrow as she pins them on him before looking around. "I'm fine," her voice is clipped and growing stronger with each syllable. If Percy had any doubts about her identity, he has them no more when she demands "Where are Luke and Annabeth?"

"I'm here," Annabeth steps closer, Percy feels her close behind him, her voice thick and choked with tears. His hand that he's dropped away from the fallen girl reaches up and catches hers instead. Annabeth links their fingers. Hers are shaking. Percy turns his head to see her with eyes full of tears as she lets go of his hand and reaches out to the girl who now rises, swaying, to stand. "Hey, Thalia."

As she moves, and Percy stands immediately, automatically ready and moving to protect her, Thalia's sharp eyes go from Annabeth to him.

The hair stands up on Percy's neck, and again, he can hear as well as feel the wind rising.