AN: It's only been a few days, but it feels like a whole week since I've written anything. I guess it must feel longer to you guys, but thanks so much for being patient with me. Life has gotten increasingly busy for me, but I'm determined to see this to its end, however long that may take. Without much further ado, Riordan owns PJO/HOO and I own the cover art. Enjoy!

Annabeth, Camp Half-Blood, Infirmary

"There, that'll let him sleep for the rest of the day," Will says after injecting Percy with something.

"I wouldn't be too sure of that." Will looks at Luke questioningly. "I give it four hours, tops."

"What do you mean?"

"The nightmares, they'll wake him up soon enough, especially after that Arai."

"With that drug, he shouldn't be able to even dream. It should put him into a deep sleep, overriding the natural REM phase."

"Trust me, that won't work. In the first year, we must've tried everything in the universe to keep the nightmares away. No drug, spell, or coma could keep the nightmares away. No, he'll wake up soon." He sighs sadly, then adjusts Percy so that he's more comfortable. He picks up one of his arms and inspects the burns. "These are all over his body…" he says, more to himself than anyone else. "I need to get some salt water. If we treat these now, they may heal completely before he wakes up. But I have a feeling they're going to leave scars. Annabeth, stay with him for a moment, make sure no one sees his face."

He leaves, off to get water, I suppose. I watch his back as it disappears around the corner. I look back down at Percy, sleeping on the cot, in the infirmary, at Camp Half-Blood. I thought for a long time that I would never see him again. I'll be twenty-three on the twelfth. I have a Bachelor's degree in Architecture and Engineering and I'm going back to school in the fall to get my Master's. I've celebrated my twenty-first birthday by getting drunk with my friends. I've been on more demigod missions. I have a job; I pay bills; I do taxes. But Percy's never done any of that (well, maybe the getting drunk part). I wanted to do that with him though. He was supposed to be by my side through all of it, but when he needed me most, I just abandoned him.

Gods, I'm so stupid.

I clutch his hand in mine and wish so, so badly, that I could pull back his hood and look at his face, but I know he wouldn't want me to. I squeeze his hand and his whole body twitches in response. I wonder if he's already having nightmares. I feel tears well up in my eyes and I wipe them away in frustration.

I never used to cry so much.

"Do you think anyone saw us?" someone's voice asks.

Luke replies. "No, but if they did, tell them we need it for washing bandages. Thank you for your help."

Two voices reply in affirmative. Then, "He's going to be okay, right?"

I look up. Two soldiers are with Luke, and each of the three carries a bucket of what must be salt water. "He'll be fine. Hey, Will! Is there a curtain we can put around his bed? We need to get his clothes off so we can soak him and wrap up his worst burns."

"Yeah, just one sec."

"Um… acting Commander, should she be here, sir?" one of the soldiers asks.

"Just try to make me leave," I growl at him.

"Relax, Annie. No one's going to make you leave. Don't worry guys, she knows. She wouldn't betray him."

"Sorry, Miss, but I had to make sure. The Commander is very dear to all of us." They set down their water buckets near to the bed just as Will comes back with the curtains.

"It's fine." I say that, but I don't really feel fine. He's spent the past five years bonding with these people, and they all hold him in such high regard. It's selfish, but I wish he'd spent those five years with me. "Who are you?" I ask.

"Muto Rin," he says, lowering his hood and revealing his face. He's Japanese, probably a few years younger than me, and has dark brown eyes and hair. "Ranked Captain, Squad Alpha. Best spear-wielder in the Army."

"Seth McDougal," the other says, revealing sandy brown hair and bottle-green eyes. "Archer, Squad Alpha."

"I see. I'm sure you're both very capable soldiers, if he placed you under his direct command."

"Thank you," Rin says. He then repeats it in Japanese and smiles. "Acting Commander, you should really be out with the rest of the soldiers. We'll make sure he heals, and when he wakes up, he'll learn to not go in without a partner again."

"Thank you. Listen to Annabeth and Will, they know what they're doing." Luke smiles at me. "Come find me as soon as he wakes up. I want to give him a piece of my mind."

"Yes, sir."

"Great, see you later." Luke turns and leaves.

I let go of Percy's hand and begin to remove his hood.

"Chottomatte! Wait!" Rin grabs my hand. "What are you doing?"

"What do you think I'm doing? I'm removing his hood. I already know who he is, probably more than you do, and if we don't remove his hood, we can't help him. So let go of me."

"Sorry," he says.

I don't reply, I just take off Percy's hood. My heart drops when I see the damage. While it's nothing compared to his arms, the burns are still horrifying. I take off the hood completely and drape it over a chair. I take off the boots, socks, belt and sword, and the brace on his arm. The damage is significant and also really, really gross. His skin kind of reminds me of a hotdog held over the campfire for too long. Well, I never really liked hotdogs anyway, not since I saw the "How It's Made" episode on them.

"I need one of you to hold him while I take his shirt off. We have to be quick; I don't want him to wake up in pain."

Seth moves behind Percy and lifts him up under the armpits while I work his shirt off, trying to do it so that it doesn't hurt him. If he's in pain, he doesn't show it. Again, I wonder if he's in a nightmare. It doesn't seem like it, but how would I know?

"Okay, now the pants," I say.

"Um… are you sure?" Seth asks.

I scowl at him. "Yes, I'm positive. I've seen legs before, idiot. For that matter, I've seen a penis before, but I wasn't planning on taking his underwear off, just in case he wakes up. Now, help me, or I'll get someone else."

"Sheesh, Annabeth, you don't have to scare them to death," Will says.

"We only have a few hours; we don't really have time to think about his modesty."

With some maneuvering, we get Percy's pants off. Will hands each of us a rag and we immediately go to work soaking Percy in salt water. It's so gross. Seth looks like he's about to throw up. Pieces of burnt skin are coming off on the rags and all of his skin is raw and red. Will slowly pours some of the water over him. The water works, some places are already showing signs of healing.

"We should turn him over," Will suggests, "to get his back."

We wordlessly turn him over, shifting the wet sheet and being as careful as possible. I gasp when I see his back. There's a beautiful black tattoo going from the nape of his neck to the small of his back. It looks like an arrow, with eleven circles lined up along it. Two of the circles have rings around them and another has a smaller circle slightly to the side of it.

"How was this not burned away?" I think aloud.

"Beats me," Seth says. He starts wiping Percy's burned skin. "He got that a couple years ago. Pretty awesome, isn't it?"

"What does it mean?"

"Oh, well, those are the eleven planets with gods and goddesses. They're actually lined up straight, despite being in different galaxies and being light years away from each other. Those eleven planets are the capitols of the eleven Sectors that the universe is divided into. Chaos' Army watches over them all. Here is Earth," he says, pointing at one nondescript circle in the center of Percy's back. "It's the capitol of Sector Five."

"What's this one?" I ask, pointing to the small one off to the side of one of the planets, Sector Nine, I think.

"That's where the Army's headquarters are; see the little Chaos symbol inside it?" I nod, recognizing the circle with eight arrows branching off from it. "It's in Sector Nine, though most of us are from Earth."

I nod and pour water over the tattoo.

Once we're out of water, Will mixes some sweet-smelling ointment and puts it over the worst of Percy's burns, which are quickly healing. Then, we carefully wrap those areas in clean, white bandages. We opt not to put his shirt and pants back on just yet but instead drape a sheet over him from the bellybutton down, and we put his hood back on for him. It's strange, seeing him shirtless but with the hood on.

"Thanks for your help, you guys," Will says brightly (Get it? He's a son of Apollo, bright, the sun is bright. Yeah, I know I'm not funny, children of Athena rarely are). The three of them gather up the buckets and rags and walk off.

I sigh and start to gather Perce's clothes up from the floor. I put his socks inside of his boots and put them at the end of the cot. When I grab his pants, something falls out of the pocket and hits the floor with a soft chink. I pick it up and immediately know what it is.

Six clay beads represent the six years Percy spent at Camp Half-Blood. The most recent one is half orange, half purple, and has the Roman numerals for seven on it in black. I look at it fondly. But there's something here that wasn't before. On the black cord, hanging between his third and fourth beads, is a small, woman's ring. It's gorgeous. The band is made out of celestial bronze, and in the center is a small, white pearl with a tiny emerald on each side.

I get the feeling I shouldn't be seeing this.

I'm about to put the necklace back in the pocket when a bandaged hand stops me. I gasp and look over at Percy, who is trying to sit up in bed.

"Lay back, Seaweed Brain, you're still injured." I push him back gently until he's lying down again.

He chuckles. "Thanks for patching me up," he says in his signature charmingly playful tone, like I put a Hello Kitty Band-Aid over a scraped knee.

He takes his hood off.

I fumble for words, seeing that stupid cocky grin and those mischievous sea-green eyes. Ugh, get a grip, Annabeth! "Uh, this fell out of your pocket," I tell him. Idiot!

He holds out his hand for it and I let it drop into his bandaged palm. "Thanks." He touches the ring gently. I gulp. Why is my throat so tight? I was never nervous around him! I kissed him first, told him I loved him first. I've always been comfortable around him, so why am I getting butterflies now? Gods, I think I may actually be blushing. What is this?

I look back over at him and see that he's managed to sit up and move the pillow so that his back can rest against the wall. He grimaces a little and shifts until he's comfortable.

"Are you in pain?"

"Not too much, kinda feels more like sunburn now. A bad one, but still better than before."

I know I shouldn't say anything at all, but they words come rushing out unbidden. "It's a beautiful ring," I say. Aghhh! Stupid, stupid, stupid.

"Ah, yeah, well…" he seems as lost for words as I am.

Luckily, Will, Rin, and Seth come in to break the awkward tension. I stand and gather up the rest of the laundry off the floor, fold them, and place them at the foot of the bed.

"Hey, Muto," Percy says. "Hey, McDougal, Will. Uh, thanks guys, you saved my ass. Admittedly, not my best plan." It seems like that may be his most common saying.

"Uh huh, tell it to Miles. He's gonna ream you once you get out of the infirmary." Rin sits down at one of the chairs.

"In fact," Seth says, "I'll go get him now. He told us to find him when you woke up."

"Your loyalty is always appreciated, McDougal."

"Of course," Seth says. He salutes Percy, doing so rather dramatically, then marching incredibly stiffly out of the infirmary.

"How are the others?" Percy asks Rin.

"They're all fine. Most of the curses weren't too serious, and their partners got them all out and to safety."

"Good." Percy smiles. "Think I could make a run for it before Miles gets here?"

Rin rolls his eyes.

AN: Okay, so this is actually coming to you guys on Saturday. It is now 12:46 in the AM and I'm dead tired. I should've started this way earlier, but I had work and then almost forgot about it. I'm a professional procrastinator. However, as I'm sure you've noticed, the cover has changed! That's my peace offering to you guys for being so late with this upload. It's a sketch of Percy's tattoo and the Chaos symbol, signed by yours truly.

A quick note on the name choice for Muto Rin. When I lived in Japan, my sensei's name was Muto Ayako, and she is a beautiful, amazing woman and a brilliant teacher. She is very, very old, but I am sure she will live to be a hundred or more. The name Muto translates into "warrior wisteria" in kanji and I think it very much suits her. I hope it suits Rin as well.

Thank you for taking the time to read this; I hope you enjoyed!