Percy is different when they finally meet him at the Doors of Death. This is something Annabeth would never admit to out loud, but she can tell immediately that he's changed. She can't narrow it down exactly, but she sees the signs everywhere. His eyes, which used to light up around her, seem deadened, like a diamond that's lost its sparkle. The only thing she can think when she hugs him, sobbing as he openly weeps against the crook of her neck is that she can feel his ribs poking at her.
"You're skinny," Percy mumbles into her neck.
Annabeth chokes out a laugh. Of course he'd say that. She doesn't tell him that it's because she couldn't eat. Memories of Piper trying to force feed her with charmspeak resurface, along with the accompanying nausea and inevitable vomiting of the food, but she bites her lip and holds her tongue.
"You're a mess," Annabeth replies instead, leaning back to take a good look at him.
The others are looking at them just sitting and sobbing there in Hades, hugging each other with bone crushing grips. None of them want to say anything, and even if they did they were more than a little terrified of what would happen if they dared to.
It takes a while, but they finally stand up together. Annabeth helps Percy as he throws an arm around her neck for support and limps to the Argo II. Leo doesn't make any jokes, and the walk is painfully silent even though it's a short distance. Annabeth doesn't notice this though. All she knows is that Percy's hand is in hers and that things were finally going to be okay.
You're okay, you're okay, you're okay.
He falls asleep the second he steps aboard, and the others jump, thinking he's fainted when Annabeth speaks up.
"He's sleeping. Help me bring him to my room," she says.
No one, not even Coach Hedge, bothers to question her about bringing him up to her room. Annabeth's earned it. They've both earned it. Jason and Frank help Annabeth carry him into her room, and they put him on her bed. Annabeth sits next to him. She's been holding his hand the entire time.
It's dark when Piper slips into her room with a plate in her hands. She hands Annabeth her dinner and watches as she takes small bites. Piper's ready to help her if starts to throw up again, but she's amazed when Annabeth doesn't. Slowly but surely, Annabeth eats all the food on the plate in silence without reacting to it negatively at all.
Piper's kind of amazed. As a child of Aphrodite, she can sense love somewhat. The Annabeth sitting in front of her now radiates with a glow brighter than a thousand splendid suns. It's blinding. It blinds her, and Piper realizes that this is what love is. This is what true love is: what it looks like, what it feels like.
She jolts when Annabeth starts crying again silently as she looks at Percy, almost comatose as he burrows into her bed. Annabeth looks back at her with a watery smile, and she wipes away the tears with the back of her hand. Piper starts to stand up. She's outstayed her welcome. This is too private for her to see. She doesn't have the right. But she freezes all the same when Annabeth catches her sleeve.
"He's okay. We're gonna be okay," Annabeth says.
For a second, Piper isn't sure what to say. There's nothing to say to something like that in a situation like this, so she settles for something safe and simply nods. It isn't okay. They aren't okay. Anyone could see that. But maybe they could be okay. The possibility glimmers faintly, insistently in the dark, so Piper nods.
When she closes the door behind her as she finally leaves, her last look of the two of them is Annabeth leaning down to press a kiss to his forehead, her hand still safely entangled in his, and, for the first time in a long time, Piper allows herself a smile.