This chapter's going to be a little choppy, in the sense of covering a lot of wake/up/go to sleep. Bear with us; it's going to be pretty awesome!
oOo
Annabeth found Percy in his room, pacing, expression both furious and morose. The second he heard her enter, he looked up.
They were in each other's arms before they knew it, holding one another tight.
"Ann-Annabeth...I couldn't do it...I just couldn't leave you that way..."
Annabeth nuzzled her face against his shoulder, heaving a worried, upset sigh into his shirt. "I know, Perce. I would have done the same."
"Would you have?"
"In a heartbeat." She tried smiling, but it was exhausted and half-hearted. "Don't worry about them. Fancy swords aren't the only winners of wars."
All Percy did was shake his head sadly and change the subject. "So are you...staying tonight?"
What he meant, of course, was if Annabeth would be sleeping in his room that night instead of her own.
"I'm only staying if you want me to," she replied gently, knowing the answer before he even said it.
"I always want you with me." A smile touched his lips and he shook his head again, but that time it was in jest. "But I'm thinking we're both in need of showers. Do you want to borrow some of my pajamas?"
"That's an odd question."
"Check in the dresser. I'll get you a towel." He disappeared limping into the bathroom.
The second he came back, Annabeth shook her head and declined the towel in his hands. "You can go first. I'll stay awake."
"You don't you want to go before me? Isn't the rule ladies first?"
"It just so happens that the man stinks more than the lady. Do want to make this whole ship smell like your armpits?"
"I'm a guy. Stinking is what we do best."
"I'm not even going to respond to that..." She rolled her eyes and nudged Percy towards the bathroom. "Just go. I'll just wait here, don't worry."
Percy grumbled in amusement and tucked the towel over his arm, mumbling something about children of Athena's logic while leaving to shower.
While he was in there, all Annabeth did was sit on the edge of the bed and stare off into space, forcing herself not to fall asleep. She was so zoned out that when Percy finally did leave the bathroom, she only noticed when he nudged her.
"Hey," Percy said softly. "You're turn. Are you okay enough to, uh...stand? In there?"
"I'm fine, Perce." Smiling gently a little at him, Annabeth stood and shivered. "I'll be fine."
"...You sure?"
She gave Percy a kiss after grabbing a pair of PJs he'd given her. "Yes, I am. Seriously." With that, Annabeth left her boyfriend staring off into space with furrowed brows as she went into the bathroom.
Under the boiling spray of water, Annabeth washed her hair four separate times and scrubbed every inch of her skin until it was raw and red and would never smell like anything other than green apple body wash.
Though she'd never been more exhausted and sore in her entire life, Annabeth stood there in the shower and braced herself as all of her worries and thoughts came rushing into her brain at once.
It was so hard holding everything in, but despite what she tried showing, she was absolutely terrified. She could never imagine losing any of those people. They've only been a group for a short time but they were already as close as family.
She knew Percy was thinking it, but what if...what if one of them lost the other? If Percy died, Annabeth would... Well, she didn't know what she would do. She was not the kind of girl to fall completely apart, but deep down inside, she knew that would be exactly what would happen if Percy was killed. He was so important to her.
Asides from Percy's death, so much else could go wrong. The Romans could reject the Athena Parthenos. They could have secret weapons and destroy the entire camp, obliterating the possibility of ever defeating Gaia.
Maybe the Romans would agree to join them, but still; defeating the lady of the earth and her army of giants alone would prove to be nearly impossible. People would die. So much could go wrong; it was painful thinking about it.
"Stop it, Annabeth," Annabeth muttered to herself, blinking away hot tears of worry and rinsing her hair for the last time. "This isn't getting you anywhere."
The last of the water dribbled down Annabeth's back as she turned the shower off and stepped out, grabbing two huge towels to wrap herself in. It was oddly comforting, in a sense, to breathe in the scent of clean laundry and soapy steam. It made her feel like she was back home. Of course, she might not ever see the inside of her house again, but no matter.
Swallowing even more worry, Annabeth dried herself off and dressed in the pajamas Percy lent her: a pair of too-big fleece PJ pants and one of his spare Camp Half-Blood shirts that hung almost halfway down her thighs. They smelled like him. Sadness swelled inside of Annabeth's lungs, and she brushed tangles out of her hair with more force than necessary.
As Annabeth stared into the mirror, there was a girl who stared back. The girl had long ringlets of golden-wet hair halfway down her back and scratches all over her face, blue circles under silver eyes. Every time Annabeth frowned, so did the girl. She looked stronger than Annabeth felt, looked older than Annabeth was.
It wasn't fair. It was like the girl in the mirror was taunting her.
Forcing away all of her misgivings, Annabeth snapped the band on the end of her braid, brushed her teeth quickly, and left.
Back in the bedroom, Percy was sound asleep. He was lying crooked on the bed, looking as though he hadn't meant to go to sleep, with the blankets scrunched up around his ankles. Shaggy black hair tickled over his eyes.
"Percy..." Annabeth laughed a little and felt the weight rise a little off of her shoulders. Seeing him like that made her realize that not everything was terrible and hopeless. They were together, after everything. If nothing else mattered, that did, and as long as they had each other, things weren't all lost.
Letting out a little sigh, Annabeth walked over to the bed and stretched out next to Percy, pulling the blankets up to both of their chins. Percy only barely shifted when she did that, letting out a breath that sank him lower in the mattress. Their shoulders brushed.
"Good night, Perce." Annabeth relented to his adorableness and nestled up against him, putting her head on his shoulder and resting her cheek on her hand. "...I love you. Don't forget that, no matter what happens…"
Unfortunately, the night brought no peace for Annabeth.
In her dreams there were unspeakable things, and darkness that ate the whole world.
It tore at her flesh and filled her whole body with terror, both freezing and boiling.
She tried screaming but she was frozen. Everything she thought she saw wasn't there when she looked the second time and she remember nothing, only the pain, the cold and the hot, the darkness, darkness, darkness. It ate through her but left her in one piece, trying to scream but unable to, endlessly consuming until all that was left was the agony.
Annabeth woke with teeth in her skin and fire inside of her body. Her eyes opened but could see nothing past the fear from her dream. A scream could be heard far away. Was it her own? She didn't know.
Things grabbed her from behind and she tried tearing away, lashing out.
The tears falling from her eyes felt like acid, burning tracks of blood down her cheeks.
"Annabeth-" someone called out, but it sounded miles away.
Annabeth yanked herself away from whatever was holding her and she stumbled off of the bed, coughing, colors whirling.
The carpet met her feet.
The light in the room turned on and flooded into her eyes.
The darkness left, just like that, and the screaming that was Annabeth's own abruptly stopped as her legs buckled.
Annabeth fell to her knees, and the second she dropped, it felt as though a baseball bat was swung to hit her stomach.
Foul-tasting bile filled her mouth as Annabeth was sick right there on the floor, arms hugging against her chest.
"Annabeth-" Percy said again, and it was Percy who was wrapping his own arms around her, holding her tightly, rocking her as she wept.
"I'm sorry," Annabeth was saying, coughing and hiccupping, trying to stop the waterfall of tears down her face. "I'm sorry, I didn't-"
He hushed her and just held her tightly. "It's okay, Annabeth. You're okay."
When Percy starts to reach for a rag on the nightstand to clean up the mess, Annabeth stops him.
"Don't. You don't want to clean this up," she says, wiping at her eyes, but another sob ripped from her throat unexpectedly, making her cough even more. "I-I'll-"
Percy hushed her again and hugs her closely. "Don't worry. I'll clean it up. Why don't you go into the bathroom and get yourself some water, okay?"
Annabeth only hesitated for another second before hiccupping once more, nodding her head, and dragging herself into the bathroom.
Stupid Percy always being so...Percy. So nice and unaffected by Annabeth's accidental breakdown.
Behind the closed bathroom door, Annabeth splashed cold water on her face, guzzled about five gallons straight from the tap, and brushed her teeth.
The fear from the dream was still there inside of her, though, and Annabeth shivered. Though no matter how much it hurt her, she couldn't remember any of it for the life of her. The only thing she recalled was the dark, but that could have just been the room when she first opened her eyes.
She didn't usually have nightmares. Mortals are the ones that have "nightmares". Demigod dreams are usually prophetic or recreating past events.
Was that the experience she and Percy had in Tartarus?
Was that what he was protecting her from?
Was that what he was holding up, all on his own, bearing the weight of the week in hell?
Annabeth wanted to be angry at Percy for taking away her memories, but now she was unsure.
When Annabeth lifted her hand to her face, her fingers came back wet. She'd been crying without even knowing it, and when she did realize, it only made her sob harder. For the millionth time in the past 24 hours, she put her face in her hands and cried.
She cried over her memories-but-not-really-memories of Tartarus, over the slim chance they had of convincing the Romans to fight against Gaia, over the slim chance they had against Gaia, over the chance that Percy would die, over everything that had happened to them that summer that seemed to strip Annabeth of everything she was.
There was a timid knock on the door, and when Annabeth didn't answer, Percy came right in. He took one look at her sobbing her eyes out, squeezing the life out of the toothpaste container she was holding-getting minty freshness all over the sink-and he was immediately at her side, letting her fold herself against him.
Percy didn't say anything as he held Annabeth, just ran his fingers through the strands of her blond hair that had escaped from their braid and pressed his lips to the top of her head and stroked his thumb against her cold, goosepimpled skin.
Annabeth let him hold her, let him see the most vulnerable side of her. She hated ever seeming anything less that the strong person she tried to be. She hated ever looking weak. With Percy, though, it didn't matter how weak she was. He'd still love her no matter what, and it was that realization that made her take a deep breath and pull away.
Toothpaste from the tube she was still holding was smeared on the side of Percy's shirt.
Percy just took the tube gently away from her, set it on the counter, and put his arm around her shoulders. "Come on, Annabeth," he said quietly, and guided her back to the bedroom.
In there, he took out two more of his shirts from the dresser, gave one to Annabeth, and switched one out for his own toothpastey one. Annabeth, not caring about anything, just took her shirt—which had gotten puke on it—off right then and there, and slipped the clean one over her bra.
Though Percy was trying not to watch her as she did that, he did notice that one of the wounds on her side had opened up some time during that whole ordeal and was soaking straight through the bandages.
"Come here," he ordered.
Annabeth hated people ordering her, but she didn't have the strength to argue, and dragged herself forwards until she was in front of him.
Percy already had the fresh bandages in his hand, and didn't even ask Annabeth's permission before kneeling down and pushing up the edge of her shirt to see the wound.
"I guess this is sort of a switch," Annabeth said through a hoarse throat, clenching her hands into fists to stop them from shaking.
"Not a switch at all." Percy removed the old, bloody bandage and tossed it into the trash.
"This is what we do. We help each other. You said that just yesterday. Did you already forget?"
"Of course I didn't forget." Annabeth was only offended for a moment before she heaved a sigh and turned her head away so she didn't have to watch her boyfriend clean up all of the thick, dark blood from her stomach. "It's just odd."
The other demigod remained quiet and continued tending to Annabeth's wound until it stopped bleeding, and he put the fresh wrappings on. When it was all better, Percy stood back up and shook his head. "Will you be okay?"
Annabeth thought of her nightmare and of the terrible things she'd seen but not remembered. She was certain that was what Tartarus was like. Could she ever be okay after that?
Percy wrapped one of his hands around hers and brought it up to his mouth.
Yeah, she'll be okay.
Annabeth swallowed and looked at their entwined hands. "Percy, I'm...I'm sorry."
"You don't have anything to be sorry for."
"But seriously, I'm-"
"Annabeth, shut up." Though his voice was stern, Percy's face was soft with adoration. He motioned for her to get back in bed.
What was that, Percy finally wearing the pants? Since when did he have the courage to boss Annabeth around like that?
Annabeth wasn't certain, but it wasn't really that agitating. She did what she was told, hiccupping, and crawled onto the bed again. After turning out the lights again, Percy tucked the covers in around her and sat at the edge of the bed, holding one of Annabeth's hands, staring at the opposite wall. He, too, had purple bags under his eyes, but did not look like he wanted to sleep.
"Percy..." The word was slurred with sleep, even though Annabeth was doing her best to stay awake. Nightmares really wore her out.
Percy looked over at her, and when she tried to talk again, he adjusted the blankets around her chin. "You're okay. Just rest."
"The bed's cold," she insisted, even though it really wasn't.
Only after Percy rolled his eyes did he let go of Annabeth's hand to walk over to the other side and crawl up under the covers, letting her snuggled right up against him.
"I'm sorry," she tried saying, but again, Percy shook his head.
"Go back to sleep, Annabeth. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day."
"Perce..." Annabeth's eyes were already closing. "You weren't..."A yawn interrupted her. "...really asleep after I got out of the shower, were you?"
Percy let out a sigh, but it was not an annoyed one. "No, I wasn't."
"Then you heard me?"
He turned his head to face Annabeth, and even in the dark light of the room, the green of his eyes still twinkled. "Yeah, Annabeth. Yeah, I heard you."
"...Good." Annabeth pressed the side of her face against Percy's chest, feeling the alluring grips of sleep already swallowing her. "'Night, Perce."
Percy only waited a second, getting over his mild surprise, before kissing her forehead and closing his own eyes. "Sweet dreams."
Like that, the two fell asleep, protecting one another from the dreams that no longer threatened them for the rest of the night.
The next morning, Annabeth woke with a start, but it wasn't because she'd had any more nightmares. For a few minutes she didn't move, keeping her eyes closed against Percy's shirt.
Her throat was sore and her eyes were sticky and every part of her hurt, but all of that seemed sort of numbed compared to the growing feeling of dread inside of her.
One less day they had before everything either gets better, or much, much worse.
Licking her dry lips, Annabeth peeled her eyes open and started to sit up, but it woke Percy.
"Are you alright, Annabeth?" were the first words he spoke, mumbled against the blanket. Percy turned his head to blink sleepily up at her, and for a second, all Annabeth wanted to do was lay back down and curl up to him again and sleep for another few days.
Instead of doing that, however, Annabeth pushed the blankets away and swung her legs off of the side of the bed. After a night like she'd had the night before, she felt sleep-deprived and cranky on top of all the leftover nastiness from Tartarus.
"Just peachy," Annabeth told Percy, voice scratchy, and she stood. The little clock on the nightstand said that it was just a few minutes until noon. She cursed quietly. "We slept in... Everyone's probably at lunch right now."
"There's no rush," Percy replied, yawning, and he reached up to feel the healing gash on his forehead. "We actually have an excuse to sleep in a little."
On her feet, Annabeth felt more bitterness and fear swell in her stomach, bringing nausea that almost made her fall. "The world may be ending. We don't have time for excuses."
There was upset in her voice. It choked her tongue and made her words thick, and even if that wasn't obvious enough, her shaking hands would be a dead giveaway.
Of course, Percy saw her edge and sat up, frowning guiltily. "I'm sorry. Annabeth, w—"
"Please don't." Annabeth felt a hot lump grow in her throat and she couldn't look at Percy, because when she did, she remembered the night before when he was so wonderful to her. It was the first night they'd shared together, not on a life-or-death quest or in the stables or anything. He didn't blame her when she had that nightmare and has thrown up on the floor, and still let her curl up against him and fall asleep.
He was too wonderful, too carefree and loving, and Annabeth felt guilty for not letting them have a second when they didn't have to worry about anything. She'll always worry, and seeing Percy just trying to please her broke her heart because deep down inside, she knew that it would be a long, long time until she was truly happy.
Though she thought she felt it for a second the night before...
"Please," Annabeth whispered again, sat back down on the bed beside him, and put her head in her hands to think. "Just give me a second, Perce."
Percy pursed his lips tightly, trying not to make any noise. He laid on the soft white bed with his arms crossed over his chest, his black hair askew and his night shirt wrinkled up around the stomach, exposing a strip of tan skin. For a while he was motionless, a strange reaction in his eyes as he watched Annabeth sitting there holding her head.
There was no anger in his expression when he'd been shushed; only anxiety and fierce protection. It really made Annabeth feel even worse. If only Percy could be as focused and worried and edgy she was, she'd feel less bad about everything. There was something else in his look, too. Something Annabeth couldn't put her finger on.
No matter, though. She couldn't change anything, and there was no reason being so upset that it wrecks everyone else's moods when there wasn't anything she could do about it.
Taking a deep breath and standing, Annabeth said in a wavering voice, "Never mind. I'm fine. We should be going to lunch and talking to the others." She glanced back at Percy, who was still lying on the bed, and held her hand out to him in a sort of peace offering. "Coming?"
Grateful for Annabeth's supposed recovery, Percy quickly got to his feet and wound his fingers in hers, an unsure grin plastered on his face, but it soon melted into his trademark expression of innocence. It was typical Percy; ridden completely of worry and full of no good mischief, but, as Annabeth noticed, there was something hidden in his expression.
The lighting of the room made Percy's eyes twinkle brightly, and it was hard not to stare into them. One fact about Percy is that his eyes always expressed what he was thinking, no matter how hard he tried to hide it. All the contents inside was free to browse to anyone who dared looked inside, which made it super easy for Annabeth to tell what was on his mind.
That time was no different, though she wasn't sure she really wanted to know.
When Annabeth had been holding her head, trying to think, she locked eyes with him. Only a split moment she saw the look flash across his face when she had done so. It was a strange emotion that Annabeth didn't recognize, or at least, didn't register its importance until now. It was rare for her to even see that look, and he had allowed it to slip.
Inside his eyes, Annabeth thought, she had seen fear.
It was the same kind of fear she had seen on his face when Percy had rushed into the infirmary when they had escaped Tartarus, and it was the same kind of fear he had shown when Nico asked what she remembered of Tartarus.
She was certain now; there was no mistaking it: the way Annabeth was acting reminded Percy of how she had acted in Tartarus, and it was scaring him out of his mind.
When Percy and Annabeth arrived in the mess hall, everyone was already finished with their lunches. Leo and Piper were laughing and punching each other around Jason, who was sitting between them smirking in amusement. Frank was sitting across from those three, holding Hazel's hand with a sheepish, embarrassed grin on his face, listening to her and she talked quietly. Nico was sulking at the corner of the table next to Coach Hedge, who looked like he fell asleep in his chair with bits of a napkin stuck to his lips.
Like the day before, when the other two demigods entered the mess hall/lounge, everyone else fell silent. However, they quickly resumed their normality.
As they sat down, Annabeth cleared her throat a little. "Sorry we slept in. We w-"
"Ha!" Leo made a noise of triumph and punched Jason's arm. "I told you they slept in the same room. You owe me five drachmas." He held up four fingers and shoved it in Jason's face repeatedly. "Five, five, five!"
"I only have denarii..." Jason replied in annoyance, swatting his friend's hand away, but it was in obvious effort not to react to the whole "sleeping in the same room thing".
Piper and Hazel, however, were half-hiding their pink faces and giggling.
"They slept in the same bed!" Hazel said to Piper, sounding half-scandalized, half-impressed. "Why didn't Coach catch them?"
"He was too busy eating our plastic cutlery and practicing how to kill things in his cabin." Jason mumbled, pushing away Leo's hands that were trying to grope his face. "I hate having a cabin next to that guy..."
"Those two could get away with murder, and Coach wouldn't notice..."
Just then, Coach Hedge snapped his head up and made an attractive grunting sound with the back of his throat and wiped some napkin from his mouth. "Mmfg… We there yet?"
"No," Jason said. "You can go back to sleep."
Hedge did.
Percy and Annabeth were ignoring that whole thing. They sat quietly and piled their plates as high as they would go with banana-walnut pancakes, even though it was lunchtime. While everyone else continued their conversations, it was noted that their cheery tone was a little too cheery. It masked the uncertain and tense air that had fallen upon the Argo II like a blanket.
Annabeth caught a drip of syrup on her thumb and glanced over at Leo. "So… Where are we today?"
"Flying over the Atlantic." Leo propped his feet up on the table and leaned back, folding his hands behind his head. "E'yup. Captain Leo always knows."
"Well, duh. I was asking how far along we are. Meaning how long we have until we get to Camp."
When everyone else heard Annabeth ask that, they went quiet again and shifted uncomfortably in their chairs.
Leo took his feet off of the table and scratched the side of his head. "Well, uh... If Festus keeps up his pace, we should be there...around..."
"Tomorrow morning." Jason picked a piece of lettuce off of his girlfriend's plate and ate it. "Really early tomorrow morning."
"I was getting there..." grumbled the son of Hephaestus.
Annabeth felt her stomach drop into her feet.
Tomorrow?
She wasn't ready.
The moving mural of Camp Half-Blood on the wall of the mess hall looked as normal as ever, but an evil, sickly air began hanging. All of the plans they'd worked out the day before seemed to vanish for a second as fear gripped her chest.
Stop this, Annabeth, she scolded herself, suddenly not wanting to eat any more of her lunch. Get a grip on yourself. She couldn't freak out then. She was Annabeth Chase, daughter of the goddess of battle strategy and wisdom. She doesn't "freak out," especially right before a battle.
Gods, please don't let there be a battle. They needed the Romans to trust them to win this war.
Annabeth forced herself to calm down and glanced over at Percy.
He looked as worried as she did, but his concerned expression was not focused on the large picture of Camp Half-Blood on the wall. It was focused on her.
"I'm fine," Annabeth snapped at him, though he hadn't said anything and looked wounded when she used that tone of voice. "Sorry," she amended, pressing her palms into her eyes. "I'm just...worried."
"...We all are, Annabeth." Jason looked sympathetic. "We all have friends who are going to be there fighting tomorrow."
Feeling that squeeze in her chest again, Annabeth just palms harder to her face. "No. We can't fight. We can't."
Swallowed nervously, Piper said, "There may not be any choice."
"We always have choices." With shaking hands and a hot lump in her throat, Annabeth looked up again and turned her gaze from one demigod to another. "There are always choices. We can't fight. Not if we want to win this war."
"War is war," Piper argued back. "People are going to die. It's not an 'if'. It's a fact. Today might even be the last full day the seven of us spend together as a team."
Ignoring Nico, who was scowling into his cup of orange juice, Annabeth stood suddenly, nearly knocking her chair down. "Don't say that! Don't you dare say anything like that. We're all going to...we have to..." As soon as the wave of anger hit her it faded, making her tremble all over. Her heart was pounding violently inside of her and her stomach hurt and she felt freezing cold.
"Annabeth," Percy said quietly, reaching up to touch her arm gently.
That's right. Annabeth Chase never freaks out. She doesn't do that. She's always the realistic one, the one telling the others that people die in war. She doesn't do that.
Letting out a moan, Annabeth felt the world tip beneath her and she sat down again heavily, shaking like a leaf and feeling that creeping feeling of sickness in her throat. "...I don't feel so well," she whispered.
"You're burning up," Percy told her, feeling of her forehead. "You should go lay back d-"
"No." Annabeth pushed his hand away. She had to do this.
Of course, Percy was unconvinced, but wordlessly pushed a glass of nectar into her hands and waited until she'd had a swallow until speaking again.
"Piper's right," he said, even though he sounded as nervous as everyone looked. "War's nasty business, and this is a war. Like it or not, the Romans aren't going to be very welcome to sitting down and singing campfire songs with us before fighting Gaia's giants."
"...If that is the case, I want to Iris-Message my dad today." Piper glanced over at the fountain Leo had installed in the other end of the mess hall, specifically for Iris-Messaging. "You know...to tell him not to worry, or something."
Everyone nodded, each knowing that the other was thinking about Iris-messaging their loved ones and people who they cared about and who cared about them just as much. Just to assure them that they would be fine, even though they knew there was the possibility of death around every corner.
Though…Piper, Percy and Annabeth were really the only ones who had family in their little group.
"I wish Octavian would just disappear..." Frank mumbled sadly, perching his face on the palm of his hand.
"Frank, don't be down about Octavian," Hazel said with a smile, patting her boyfriend's back comfortingly. "It's Gaia that caused all of this; Octavian's just trying to be loyal to the legion."
"Yeah...Yeah, Gaia caused a lot of this, didn't she?! She's the whole reason for this!"
Everyone snapped their heads at the angry voice which, to everyone's surprise, came from Leo.
He hit his fist on the table, clenching his teeth with anger so hard he could've broke them. "Percy and Annabeth wouldn't have fallen into Tartarus, Frank's grandma wouldn't have gotten mixed in all of this, Piper's dad would have been stolen…" Leo furrowed his brows and hit the table again. "Hazel lost her life and then...so did..." Leo trailed off from his sentence, immediately lowered his head against the table and wrapping his arms around his head like a protective cocoon. "My mom..." He mumbled, his voice starting to shake a little. "All of this because of Gaia...because of her..."
The seven demigods became silent, all looking at Leo with sympathy in their eyes. Even Nico, who had been glaring into his orange juice the whole time, looked at him with similar look of sympathy.
Leo had always been the wisecrack of the team, the only one who could actually laugh after bad things happened. Seeing him so heartbroken and angry like that only reminded Annabeth how vulnerable they all were.
There they were, the last hope of the two camps—no, the whole world as they knew it, and they were falling apart at the seams.
At what point in their lives were those emotional scars going to heal? That is to say, if they even make it out alive at all.
Annabeth had been running around on quests to save the world ever since Percy came into her life, and every time she set out on these quests the solution always got just a little harder to reach. She'd been always willing to fight to save her friends, and never had she ever thought of complaining about it.
That time felt different, though. Not because she didn't want to fight for her friends, but because it felt like if she went into the battlefield there was no way they could win. No way that they would come back. No way of saving the world.
It felt like a suicide mission.
The last suicide mission (like this one) that she'd had was the battle with Kronos, when they only won by pure circumstance and luck, and Luke deciding to be a good guy in the end. They wouldn't have won that war without his sacrifice, but there was no way Gaia would realize she was wrong and change her mind.
How could they win again?
She wondered quietly if another sacrifice was needed to win this suicide mission, too. If it meant sacrificing herself to save Percy and all of her other friends, then she'd do it without hesitating. Some part of her knew that all of her other friends thought the exact same thing, but it was no use just thinking about it the whole time.
Caught up in her own muddled, depressing thoughts, Annabeth hadn't realized that people had been trying to talk to her until Percy shook her shoulder gently.
"Annabeth?" he asked, looking even more concerned for her wellbeing. "Did you hear what I said?"
Annabeth shook her head, clearing the cobwebs, and took another shaky sip of nectar. "What did...What did you say?"
"I asked if you wanted to IM Chiron back at Camp with me after we've contacted our families."
Do they know that they found Percy in the first place? Of course they do... Has he talked to him since then, though? Annabeth couldn't remember.
"Well?"
"Um...yeah." Annabeth rubbed at her eyes and tried paying attention, but her mind felt foggy and a headache was brewing in her skull. "Yeah, that's a good idea. Sorry."
Her eyes stung and were blurry from rubbing her eyes; she didn't feel so good with everyone asking her so many questions, even though they hadn't been asking much of her at all. She felt like every little word someone sent at her took a chunk of her soul with it, draining her more and more until she'd just eventually snap and start banging her head against the table or something.
Annabeth craned her tired neck wearily upwards just in time to catch Nico's stare, his olive colored eyes examining her in her state of unguarded emotional territory. There was nothing malicious about his stare, which Annabeth found odd since he'd been cranky all morning, but instead he looked sympathetic, the kind of sympathetic look that your parents give you when you fall on the sidewalk and scrape your knee. Why on earth was he looking at her like that?
Annabeth cocked her head slightly at Nico, giving him a questioning stare, to which he replied with just a half-hearted smile. He wasn't going to tell her over the table, she decided. She would have to talk to him after.
"Hazel," Percy began, his thick voice making Annabeth's headache just a little bit worse, "Didn't you slow down Gaia once before?" He scratched the back of his head awkwardly, a crooked frown forming on his lips. "Do you think that maybe you could, I don't know...slow her down again? Safely?"
Hazel cringed, slowly looking up to meet Percy's gaze. "Percy...I wish I could..." She reached up to her cinnamon brown locks and began to curl a strand of hair around her tiny finger. "But that last time...That last time I don't even think I slowed her down physically. She didn't lose any power; it just took her longer in raising her son again after I brought the cave down, and at the expense of me and my mother."
"Oh..." Percy sighed dejectedly, resting his head roughly on his perched up hand. "I thought we had something to work on…" Percy noticed Hazel's expression start to sadden, quickly turning his frown into an attempted big grin. "Hey, whatever, Hazel. We'll just find another way to kick Gaia's butt."
"And we'll all play our part in it." After nudging his friend in the shoulder, Jason turned back to the rest of the demigods. "But if we're done having lunch here, I think we should let everyone go ahead and Iris message their families."
Everyone else shrugged and mumbled "okay" and they stood, all except Percy, Annabeth and Coach Hedge (who was still passed out).
"Awwwh, shoot! I have no money!" Leo whined, snapping the bands to his overalls with a pout. "Jason still owes me my five drachmas!"
"There are coins at the bottom of the fountain," Hazel pointed out. "As always."
The look the son of Hephaestus shot his friend was indignant and huffy. "Well…okay, but he's not getting away with anything."
"Who do you want to contact?" Hazel asked politely, looking curious.
"My—" In the middle of his sentence, Leo's face abruptly fell and he huffed again, sinking even lower into his seat. "I don't really have any family to contact, do I? Maybe my cabin… See how everything's going, you know?"
Though it was obvious that he was hesitant to even IM anyone anymore, Leo just pled his plate high of gummy bears and began eating them slowly, as though it was his depression food.
"Hey, uh... Maybe you should go first, Piper." Percy shot a quick glance over at Annabeth with that same worried expression, and stood. He offered her hand to her. "Do you want to go up to the deck with me while we wait?"
Only waiting a second before answering, Annabeth took his hand and stood, doing her best to ignore the brief dizziness that struck her. "Yeah, sure." With a sympathetic expression, she peeked over at Piper, who was looking nervous and upset. "Good luck, Piper."
The two girls had always been close. Even though they felt a little distant after Annabeth's return from Tartarus, there was still that unwavering friendship towards one another, and Annabeth knew that it was going to be hard talking to their families. She already dreaded having to talk to her dad, knowing that she might never see him again.
"Come on." With his hand securely around Annabeth's, Percy guided her out of the mess hall, but her gaze would not tear from Piper's until they were out of sight.
oOo
This chapter was originally over 10,000 words long, so it's cut a little bit. Hope you enjoy it!