Heart for a Seaweed Brain
Annabeth forced a multivitamin into Percy's mouth, praying to Hermes it would work. They were both soaked to the bone, and Percy's time in the ocean hadn't seemed to help him much-his complexion was grey and his breathing shallow. Annabeth wasn't sure how either of them had survived; it looked like they were the only ones.
"Wake up, Seaweed Brain!" she screamed with no effect. She watched him instead of the ocean, hoping to see his color get better or his eyes open. Neither happened.
Ignoring her tears, Annabeth used the bottled winds to steer the boat. Clarisse and Tyson were surely dead; if they'd gotten into another lifeboat, she hadn't seen them. Percy remained still; after an hour or so, Annabeth force-fed him another multivitamin and sent another prayer to Hermes.
Be careful, a tiny voice inside her head warned her. You're starting to like him a little too much.
She shook her head at the thought. Percy was a friend, sure, even though on most days they could barely get along. She cared about him just like she cared about every other camper at Camp Half-Blood. She didn't want anything bad to happen to any of them.
Even as she told herself this, she knew it wasn't quite true. Something about her friendship with Percy was different, was deeper than with anyone else, except for Luke. She'd always love Luke, and that was why it didn't matter what happened with Percy.
She watched him breathe. Even if something more were to happen with Percy, and she wasn't saying that it was, it would be short-lived. She knew that already and it made things easier between them, even if she could never explain it to him. Percy knew of the prophecy, but Annabeth knew exactly what the prophecy said. Either Percy was the demigod of the prophecy, and he would die when he turned 16, or he wasn't the demigod of the prophecy, and he would die before he turned sixteen. That gave him less than three years either way.
When at long last Percy finally opened his eyes (half a day had passed, but it sure felt like a lot longer) Annabeth felt so relieved she almost cried again. When she told him about his brother, she did cry again. And as she hugged him a part of her deep down knew that this was happening and it was real. And she knew that even if it only lasted a little while, and it hurt like hell when she watched him die, it would be worth it.