A/N: Still Singing Fire's story/ words... and I don't own any of PJO or HoO, so yeah.

Annabeth knew she was going insane. The second it turned dark, her mind went blank and she was out of control. Crying, muttering, totally deflated and hopeless. Her first instinct was to find Percy, wherever he was. She needed him, no matter how pathetic and sad that was.

Piper found her first, trying to comfort her. Annabeth tried to tell her she needed to see Percy, but her mouth kept saying "It's too dark, where's the sun?"

Jason walked in, and she felt shame burning in her chest. She tried to get angry, but her eyes were wet with pathetic tears, and she couldn't stop them from overflowing.

Jason led her towards the infirmary, and she felt her heart slowly start to shatter. He opened the door and left with Piper, leaving her alone with Percy. She felt grateful.

Percy was lying on one of the cots, his skin deadly pale except for the flush of red form the fever. His eyes were closed, and she would have thought he was dead except for the slow rise and fall of his chest. His leg was bound in a cast, his sword hand blackened with burns, and his hair tinged with soot. She stroked his hair and whispered to him.

"I'm sorry Percy. For you getting hurt, for dragging you into Tartarus, everything."

She held his hand in hers and gave it a soft kiss on the knuckles. She felt his hand squeeze hers back, as if saying "not your fault"

She felt the traitorous tears slipping down her cheeks again, but for once, she didn't care. She gave him a soft kiss on the forehead, and for the first time in a while, totally relaxed into a peaceful sleep.
She woke up to someone shaking her shoulder Her eyes flew open and instinctively reached for her knife. Of course, it wasn't there.

She glanced down and saw Percy, half sitting up and smiling at her with that annoying lopsided grin of his. Annabeth felt her heart leaping with joy and she grabbed him into a crushing hug.

"Annabeth, my lungs." Percy groaned.

Annabeth, with a happy, tear soaked face, let him go and asked "Are you alright?'

Percy rubbed his side and said "I didn't know you had such a tight grip."

She felt herself laughing against her will and said "I'm alright, thanks for asking."

He pulled her into a soft kiss and she felt her mind flying, high above the clouds. For once, she was totally at ease.

Until Leo burst into the door…

A/N: Dun dun dunnnnnnnnnn