Annabeth breathed in deeply, leaning over the railings on the bough of the ship.

She and Percy had been back for two days. She felt tired and frail, even with the fresh saltiness of the air and the spray of the water as they sailed.

"Hey."

Piper had appeared beside her. Of all the people on the ship, Annabeth had missed her the most. They were kind of unlikely friends, but Piper had been there for her while she was looking for Percy. She had supported her on their way to the Roman camp for the first time, even when she had things of her own to worry about. She had been smiling as much as her when she found him and that said enough.

Not to mention, she hadn't been treading lightly around her like some of the others had been and it was a comforting reminder that with some time, things could get back to normal.

"Hi Pipes."

"Have you eaten?"

Needless to say, Tartarus had affected her physically as well as mentally. She was thin and pale and she hated catching sight of herself in the mirror in her room. It wasn't really helping her mood. Her exhaustion had her falling asleep a lot, which frequently resulted in vivid nightmares, which left her virtually unable to see straight, let alone stomach anything. It was a never-ending circle of pain.

But thats what Tartarus was designed for. Even now she was back up in the fresh air, she still felt like she was suffering constantly, withered by flashbacks and bad memories and old wounds that hadn't entirely healed.

"Not yet." She admitted.

"I wouldn't tell Percy that if I were you."

"No. If he asks -"

"I won't go out of my way to bring it up, but I'm not going to lie to him." She sighed. "He's only trying to look out for you and I'm not going to stop him. Someone's gotta do it and you'd probably kill me if I started doting on you."

She was trying to make her smile, but it wasn't working.

"But he'll worry. There's enough going on as it is. He doesn't need that."

"You think he doesn't worry about you already? Don't you worry about him?"

She huffed indingnantly. Piper was frustratingly good at justifying things, even when she wasn't using her charmspeak. She had never met anyone as set on doing the right thing since she met Percy - and that was saying a lot.

Truthfully, she was worried about him, almost frightened for him. He was acting disturbingly normal since they first set foot on mortal ground and it scared her. She knew he was feeling what she was, even if he hadn't admitted it. She wanted to understand. She didn't know what he was hiding it for. She wasn't sure if he was trying to protect her or stay strong for the group or if he was ignoring it for his pride - hubris was her fatal flaw, but Percy wasn't shy to it either.

She wished he'd just tell her what was going on with him.

"All the time." She admitted.

"Exactly. Doesn't he have a right to be concerned for you too?"

"He does. But... I'm sure I've not been the easiest over the last couple of days but he's not right. He won't tell me anything and I can't do this on my own."

Piper looked at her, and the look on Annabeth's face hurt more than she thought anything could. This was someone she'd call a sister, barely holding it together after being the person Piper had looked up to most. Her lip quivered and her eyes were pale and distant and for the first time ever, she was afraid for her. Annabeth was the strongest person she knew and she had never seen anyone look so close to giving everything up.

She couldn't show that though. She had heard somewhere that people subconsciously picked up other people's emotions. She didn't want to make things any worse than they were.

"First things first - you are not on your own. I have no idea what you've been through and I can't imagine the shit you've seen but I'm always going to be here to listen. I am actually good for things other than relationships, you know?"

Annabeth smiled weakly.

"I know that."

"Yeah, well, you seemed like you needed reminding. So - you and Percy. What's going on?"

"Nothing, as such." She stared into the sea, but it just made her worry about him more. "We're fine. I'm just worried because he's acting like nothing's happened. If I wake him up when he's having a nightmare, he won't talk about it anymore. We've hardly said two words about anything that happened down there and I can't live like that. I can't keep it shut in or I'll go mad. It's too much to keep quiet."

Piper nodded. Hell, she hated what Percy and Annabeth had been through, but she was glad it had been them. Of anyone on that ship, they were the only two who Piper would truly believe would come back alive and together. She had heard stories about everything they had been through tigether in the past, either from Nico or Annabeth and there was too much between them to let go of.

"Have you told him that?" She asked.

"Well, no. I don't want to argue about it."

"Of course not." She said softly. "I know I haven't known him all that long but I know he'll do anything for anyone who means something to him, even if he suffers for it, right?"

"Yes." She agreed.

"Maybe he's just afraid of hurting you, Annabeth. I'm guessing he just doesn't want to bring it up because he doesn't want you to have to think about it ever again."

Annabeth thought on that for a minute, gripping onto the metal bars in front of her. She hated this. She hated what it had done to her, she hated what it was doing to Percy. She hated waking up and seeing how much he was hurting. She hated the look on his face when he woke her up from nightmares. Everything felt like a mess and she didn't know where they were going to start in terms of recovering when they got back home, if they made it that far.

"Yeah." She said eventually. "Yeah. Makes sense. I need to go see if he's okay anyway. I left him asleep and -"

"Nightmares."

Annabeth nodded.

"Yeah."

"Its okay - talk to him. I'll see you in a bit."

"We need to talk about this expedition we're going on tomorrow anyway. Let's keep it sounding as risk-free as possible though please because -"

"'Cause of Percy. I know."

Annabeth smiled gratefully.

"Hey, would you thank Jace again for covering Percy's watch shift earlier for me?"

"He wouldn't expect you to do that."

"I know he wouldn't. Just... please?"

Piper rolled her eyes.

"Fine. Now go do something useful and keep an eye on your boyfriend, would you?"

"I'm going. If -"

"I know, Annabeth. We'll shout if we need you. Go." Piper laughed.

She smiled a little and squeezed Piper's shoulder as she walked away.

She was grateful they were travelling by sea, for Percy's sake. He had spent a lot of time in the water over the last couple of days. It comforted him and Annabeth knew it reminded him of camp. It had been months since he had been home and he had never really brought it up but she knew how much he missed his Mom, their friends, even his stupid pet Hellhound - people who Annabeth had promised she would bring Percy back safe to.

She slipped into his room, closing the door silently behind her.

It took her less than a couple of seconds to realise he was having a bad dream. She was used to doing this by now, but it still killed her to see him like it.

She perched by his side and squeezed his shoulder forcefully, her hand on his chest to stop him from freaking out too much, so he knew she was there.

His eyes shot open, wide and blown with fear.

"Hey. Hey - it's me." Annabeth whispered. He blinked. "I'm here, Percy."

His body relaxed and he sighed - half with relief, half out of frustration. It had been two fucking days and he couldn't get the place out of his head. He couldn't close his eyes for a second and not see it. He couldn't not see them. He couldn't look at the stars and feel the same anymore.

"Thanks." He said eventually, reaching out and shakily touching a curl that had come loose.

"I'm sorry. I was with Piper."

He rolled his eyes half-heartedly.

"S'alright. I don't expect you to babysit me."

"I guess not."

She leaned down to kiss his forehead, but he pulled her on top of him and he pressed his lips to hers. He had missed her. He couldn't remember the last time they were together like this and it was a good reminder that he had something to live for. There was every point in fighting.

There had been a few close calls in the past, but this felt kind of different. Both of them knew if one of them didn't stop, things would get too far and both of them knew that wasn't a good idea. Not because they cared about their first time being romantic or sentimental, but because anything could happen here. Attacks could be sprung on them at any second and they weren't exactly going to be able to defend themselves mid-fuck.

Percy was the one who eventually pulled away with a small, apologetic smile.

"I know." Annabeth whispered, rolling off him and lying by his side.

She wrapped her arm around him and sighed, vaguely content. She hadn't felt so alive in weeks. Her time since her Mark of Athena quest had been spent in a zombified haze. She had felt almost empty, just concentrating on what she and Percy needed to do to stay alive.

"How you doing, Seaweed Brain?"

The question took him by surprise, but he knew exactly what she was referring to. He hated even thinking about it, but he understood he'd never get over it if he didn't.

He was doing badly, in all honesty. The dreams were so vivid he couldn't even tell if they were dreams anymore and they weren't just repetitions of what happened. His mind had been conjouring up new and terrifying events that could have happened down there. Most of them had involved Annabeth.

He had suddenly become uncomfortably aware of their mortality. One day, one of them would die and one would have to learn to live without the other and the thought haunted him.

"Not great." He admitted.

"No. Me neither."

He sucked in a breath. It wasn't fair. None of it was fair.

"Everything I said down there;" he mumbled, "what I said about us. I meant it you know? You and me - we're gonna be okay. We're gonna be fine."

When things got rough, Percy had rambled on about their future, to keep himself going as much as Annabeth. Everything down to what their house was going to look like was described in explicit detail. These were things he would never say in any ordinary situation, but what did he have to lose? He thought he was going to die. He might as well have been honest with her about how much she really meant, how much he didn't want a life without her - so much so that if he was going to leave Tartarus, he wouldn't do it if she wouldn't be leaving with him.

"I know." Annabeth whispered. "But hey, you know I feel the same, right? Trying to get me to leave without you was pretty unreasonable. I would never have done that, Percy."

"I guess not. But I don't think I'd have forgiven myself if we had stayed and I hadn't tried."

It was noble and sweet, but Annabeth couldn't help feeeling a little pissed off. When she said they were staying together, she had meant it. The circumstances didn't matter.

"Yeah? And what do you think I would have done if I had left without you? I couldn't live with myself if -"

"Stop." He sighed. "I get it. I'm sorry, okay? For a lot of things. For scaring you. For the curses. For not being able to pull you up."

Annabeth rolled over and frowned down at him.

"Now you stop. I don't expect you to apologise for any of it. None of it was your fault. Hades, Percy, we were in Tartarus - it was always gonna unhinge us somewhat. The poison thing... you did what you had to do. We're alive. That's what matters."

He looked up at her tiredly and only then did she realise how much he had been beating himself up about that. She wouldn't deny it had frightened her and she doubted she would be able to forget it, but Percy wasn't a bad person. He would never hurt anyone unless he had to and his choices had been pretty limited, to say the least.

He was crying - finally. After holding it in for however long they were down there, it had gotten the better of him. Annabeth wished he knew he didn't have to be strong all the time - not for her, not for anyone.

"Hey. If I had been you I would have done the same thing." She touched his cheek. "Just stop blaming yourself for everything. You could have let me go, but you didn't and as much as I hate you for it, for putting yourself through more bullshit, I wouldn't have even survived the fall if it weren't for you. I would never have asked you to do any of what you did, Seaweed Brain. I wouldn't wish it on someone I hated, let alone you."

He nodded.

"And stop trying to avoid the subject. If we're going to come away alright from this we're going to have to talk about it."

He nodded again. She leaned down and kissed him.

"You don't have to pretend everything's alright, Perce. Not for me. I love you no matter what. You should know that."

"I love you too." He said hoarsely.

He rubbed his eyes on his sleeve and pulled Annabeth close to him, resting his chin on her hair. He wanted this quest to be over. He wanted to go back to the home he loved and rebuild the life he loved with the girl he loved even more.

"When we get back, we'll do something for your birthday. Cool?"

"I could live with that."

He smiled a little sadly, blankly staring up at the ceiling.

"See Mom first, though."

"Obviously. I miss her."

"Yeah." Percy sighed. "Me too, Wise Girl."

"I'll get you back to her. I promised her I would." She closed her eyes. "Its the last few days and then it'll be over. We can do this. And then we'll never have to do it again."

That was a nice thought. Within a couple of weeks, he could be curled up on his Mom's couch with the cookies he had missed so much, her soft laugh echoing through the kitchen. He could be back home, in the city he adored with the family he adored. He could finally get some decent time with Annabeth, doing normal things rather than walking through the depths of hell and fighting for their lives.

"We can do this." He agreed in a whisper. "Just stay safe on this thing you're going on tomorrow, okay?"

"I'll do my best."

It wasn't the confidence he needed to hear, but it settled him a little. He'd ask Jason to keep an eye on her either way. Just to be sure.

He squeezed her shoulder.

"Thanks. I -" There was a knock at the door. "Yeah!?"

Jace's head appeared around the doorframe. He was grinning a little and Percy almost laughed, knowing what he was assuming.

"Um, we're meeting in the mess hall in five. And no worries about covering your watch, man. It isn't a problem. You've had a rough couple of weeks."

"Thanks. I owe you one."

"Don't be an ass. Annabeth - I wouldn't tell Hazel you're in here if I were you. She's not quite comfortable on the bed-sharing front yet."

"I'm sure she'll survive."

"Not if you've been up to anything." He smirked.

"Which we haven't been. Thanks for the advice, though.

Jason laughed.

"I'll see you guys in a minute."

Percy rolled his eyes as Jason grinned at him again and jogged down the corridor.

"Hades. He's more desperate than I am."

Annabeth smirked and kissed his cheek.

"You're ridiculous. Come on, Seaweed Brain. Its lunchtime."