Previously...

Your mind was reeling with all the new information, but before you could make any sense of it, a sudden wave of exhaustion came over you. Will must have noticed it as well, because he said "You should probably sleep. Don't worry, you won't go back into a coma. You'll wake up in maybe 10-15 hours."

You accepted his advice and closed your eyes. You were not looking forward to the future at all.

When you woke up, everything was blurry to your half-awake eyes. You blinked a few times to get the effects of sleep out of your head. It took a few minutes for you to recall why you weren't in your bed in your cabin and what on earth you were doing in the infirmary. Once you remembered, you wearily closed your eyes again and quickly became frustrated when you realised that that was all you could do. You couldn't move, talk, eat, nothing. You could only blink and sleep. You internally sighed as you remembered Will's last warning to you before you fell asleep.

"It's going to be really hard, (Y/N). Harder than you think. You've probably forgotten how to walk, move, and eat. Reading is going to be like you're back in grade one. You're basically going to have to re-learn your life."

You groaned. Or at least, you would have had you been able to. Opening your eyes again, they were immediately drawn to a figure sitting patiently on a chair next to your bed. They seemed to be waiting as you oriented yourself. However, since you hadn't completely woken up yet, you didn't put a name to the face right away. You took in their features lazily; curly blonde hair, super tanned skin, camp necklace with a heck ton of beads... wait.

Annabeth?

She was slumped forward on the chair, arms crossed and head hanging on her chest. Her breaths were slow and even. She wasn't waiting, as you previously assumed; she was actually sleeping, although you couldn't imagine what had possessed her to fall asleep in such an uncomfortable position. She was sure to have a major crick in her neck when she woke up.

Speaking of waking up, you were wide awake now. Your mind was running a million miles a minute with all the questions that were popping up. Why was Annabeth here, of all people? What about Rex or Charity or even Clovis? Why weren't they here? Rex and Charity were your siblings, for Hera's sake! Why would they send Annabeth to keep a watchful eye on you? Not that she's doing that at the moment, though, you thought, amused.

Since Annabeth didn't appear to be waking up anytime soon, you settled for waiting for someone else to (hopefully) walk in. You had just noticed how parched you were. Water would be incredibly appreciated to your dry throat. In the meantime, you decided to test yourself and see if you were really paralyzed (a fact that you didn't want to think about too much).

You strained to move your leg, for starters. Unsurprisingly, nothing happened. You had been expecting that, even though a part of you was hopeful and didn't want to accept your situation. Maybe that's too big of a body part, you thought. Next, you tried your hand, and when that didn't work, your finger. You tried each of your fingers and toes, and to your disappointment and frustration, none of them responded to your cues. You were just as motionless as before.

You supposed that you shouldn't expect to magically become better. After all, you had been a wisp of a memory a mere three months ago. Progress will be slow, you lamented. And you weren't happy about it. You hated doing nothing more than anything. When you allowed yourself a few minutes of being alone with your thoughts, you were in danger of losing yourself to your fatal flaw: daydreaming.

You knew it sounded stupid. It was stupid. But you couldn't change it. Basically, what happened was that you would get lost in your thoughts. You would become unable to distinguish between reality and what was going on inside your head. Maybe you'd be thinking about what to do for your free period, like hanging out with Rex or Christa from the Apollo cabin. All of a sudden, you'd believe that you are actually doing what you think of, instead of just planning it out. You could be in a daze for hours if someone didn't snap you out of it. Just like how Percy's fatal flaw, loyalty, didn't seem like it was a real fatal flaw at first, yours seemed absolutely ridiculous.

However, you were far from getting pulled into your thoughts today. You were too jittery and strung up to do anything except get worked up about your current predicament. There was no way you would be relaxing in this state. Especially since you were still thirsty. Your eyes darted around the room. When would someone come and give you some water? Your throat was so itchy you wanted to claw it out. You were also slowly becoming more and more frustrated. Where were those Apollo kids that were supposed to heal you? They couldn't just leave you alone, right? There was nobody in the room! Nobody except for-

"(Y/N)?"

You flicked your eyes over to where Annabeth was sleeping- well, had been sleeping. She was wide awake now. She stared at you with her calculating grey eyes. They showed no emotion, although you noted that they were giving off slightly less of a "I can kill you with a single hand" vibe than usual. You hoped that was a good thing.

A few seconds of silence passed. The corners of Annabeth's lips quirked up in a half-smile. "Morning," she said, sounding like she hadn't had a wink of sleep in days.

Since you didn't have any way to respond, you settled for blinking twice in greeting. Her smile faltered, and you could have sworn that she looked almost guilty, but dismissed it as the look passed in a split second. Again, silence took over until Annabeth spoke her next words. It wasn't like you'd be saying anything, anyways.

"Are you thirsty?" You blinked rapidly. She chuckled slightly, although it was void of any emotion. "I'll go get some water for you." She stood up and walked away, disappearing behind the corner. It was only a minute before she reappeared, clutching a tall glass of water in her right hand. She set the glass down on the table next to you in order to first pull you up to a sitting position. Your head lolled around, limp as it hit the wall behind you. Ow.

Annabeth winced. "Sorry!" She gently leveled your head and parted your lips. Lifting the cool glass to your mouth, she let some of the liquid slip out and down your throat, soothing it immediately. Ahhh, you sighed. That's the good stuff. Slowly, she continued tipping it forward until all the water was gone and your throat no longer parched. You didn't even care (that much) about how awkward it was and how much you hated being treated like a baby. You simply rejoiced in the knowledge that at least one of your wishes had been fulfilled.

The head of the Athena cabin sat back down on her chair. For whatever reason, she wouldn't meet your eyes. They stayed firmly focused on her hands in her lap. In fact, if you thought back to earlier, you realised that she had been avoiding your gaze the whole time. Was she okay? Was she... was she mad at you?

Oh gods. What if she was mad at you? What if she was mad about how there were now several people that knew about Percy's previous situation? She had told you to keep it to yourself. You hadn't, instead going to your siblings and the whole Hypnos cabin for help. So much for keeping it secret.

You really hoped you hadn't upset her. She and Percy were very close friends and Annabeth was protective of him. There was a good chance she thought you had betrayed her trust. Plus, she had a pretty strong reason to be angry. You just prayed that she wasn't off-the-charts angry because she could be terrifying when she wanted to and having her as an enemy was something you wanted to avoid at all costs.

Luck didn't appear to be in your favour, though.

"Why would you do this?"

Shocked, you shifted your gaze back over to her. To your growing fear, Annabeth was now standing up, fists clenched and eyes shining with the ferocity of someone who was prepared for battle. Her previously empty look was exchanged for one of fury. You mentally prepared yourself for the lecture of the century, although the scolding you expected was not the one you received.

"Why would you sacrifice yourself?"

Her wide eyes matched your own. She wasn't going to berate you for telling others about Percy's nightmares? She was instead... mad at you for sacrificing yourself? But I saved him, you thought with bewilderment. Why would she be upset about that?

She ran her hands through her hair and pulled at it in an anxious way. "Why? You almost killed yourself for someone you don't even know all that well! Percy isn't your brother or cousin or anything, so why did you try so hard? You didn't have to do that. You shouldn't have done it. You knew that you were going against a force that you couldn't beat. It's Tartarus, (Y/N)! He's one of, if not the strongest, most powerful deity there is. You knew that! And you still... you still went. You knew that there was a chance you wouldn't survive. It was a suicide mission. I never asked you to do it. You should have told me before! I would have stopped you!" She scowled angrily to herself. "I just wanted you to help him! I didn't want... I didn't want this!" She gestured helplessly with her hands at you, at how you were motionless.

Annabeth breathed heavily, apparently done with her shouting. You didn't know how to react other than with confusion and shock and she seemed to not know how to react either. Her eyes darted around as though searching for her next victim. Eventually, as her breathing evened out (and so did yours, since your heart had been pounding crazily) she slowly relaxed her stiff posture and sunk wearily down on the chair again. She rested her elbows on her knees and put her head in her hands. You heard her sigh heavily, then watched as she raised her head to meet your eyes.

You were still staring wide-eyed at her. You tried to not let the fear you had of her show, but it was quite difficult. After all, you had just endured a scolding like never before, by someone who could and would attack you without breaking a sweat. You must have completely failed in your attempt because all of a sudden the previous anger that shone in her eyes switched to worry and... guilt?

Before you could even begin to make sense of that, she opened her mouth and your thoughts fell silent, wanting to hear what she had to say.

Annabeth inhaled sharply. "I'm sorry."

Wait, what?

That was it. You were beyond the point of confusion. First she had acted indifferent to you, then a shouting match occured, and now she was... oh no. To your growing panic, she looked scarily broken. A huge difference from the nonchalant mask she had on before. Her wide eyes were brighter and shinier. She was watching you with such a guilty, defeated look that you had a hard time believing this was the same Annabeth that had gone through Tartarus. And it was scaring you.

"Oh my gods." She brought her hands back up to her face to cover it. "I shouldn't have yelled at you. You don't deserve that. I just... I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, (Y/N). I... I caused this. I'm the reason you're paralyzed. I'm the reason you were in a coma. I- I'm so so sorry." You grew even more worried when her shoulders started shaking.

Unfortunately, despite how much you wanted to comfort her, say it was okay and it wasn't her fault, you couldn't. You were bound to your bed and stripped of your speech. You could do nothing as Annabeth broke down in front of you, apologizing over and over for something that she had had no control over. After all, you were the one that agreed to it in the beginning and made the decision to face the problem head on. If anything, it was more your fault than hers. She shouldn't feel this guilty. She was Annabeth, the analytical genius that helped saved the world twice. How had you managed to reduce her to this... this mess?!

"I'm sorry, oh gods, I'm sorry." She continued croaking out apologies as you watched on helplessly. "I'm so sorry..."

You had to say something. It didn't matter what; it could even be a simple wheeze. Anything to show Annabeth that you would get better and you wouldn't let yourself wither away in this bed. You wanted to give her hope that someday you would be able to walk and move as you did before, and it would start with your voice. You wished it with all your willpower. You strained and strived to first open your mouth, just a small parting of the lips, so that a sound could be let out. You pushed yourself harder than any of your other attempts to move because this one mattered so much more. You pleaded with the gods or whoever was listening to answer your simple request.

"..."

"..."

"Mnh..."

Annabeth's head whipped at lightning speed to you. Her body was rigid and still. She immediately ceased her mumblings. Her wide eyes were no longer filled with guilt, but with shock and what you yearned to see blossom: hope. "(Y/N), did you just speak?" she asked carefully. However, you saw the growing hope in her eyes, most likely because your mouth was still parted.

You struggled to produce another sound, despite how it caused a sharp, rough pain at the back of your throat. "Nt fult," you managed. You prayed that she would understand what you tried to say.

Her eyebrows furrowed together. "Not fault?" she wondered out loud. "Not fault... wait, are you telling me that it's not my fault?" She seemed reluctant to believe it.

Instead of responding orally, you blinked twice. Her eyebrows shot up in surprise and the previous guilt ventured back into her eyes. "But (Y/N)... I'm the one that started it. I'm the one that asked you for help."

"No." You refused to allow her to continue putting herself down like this. "No."

Her shoulders drooped forward. "But-"

"No." It took all your willpower to even force out that single syllable. Your strength was slowly fading and your sight was starting to get blurry. You were so tired after saying only five words. But you needed to make Annabeth believe that you didn't blame her.

She stared at you, not speaking. You felt your eyes beginning to close involuntarily. All you wanted was to sleep. "Taherd," you mumbled. You wanted to warn her just in case she thought something was wrong.

"Tired?" You blinked twice. "Okay, (Y/N)."

Your eyes finally closed and your mouth sealed shut again. Before you fell asleep, though, you thought you heard her say one last thing.

"Thank you, (Y/N)."

So? How was it? Was it worth the month wait?

Yeah, I'm really sorry about that. As I said in the previous chapter, I was sick and missed the first week of the first semester, so I had a lot of catching up to do. It took me 2 weeks for me to finally catch up (since I have my worst subjects all in this semester). I was planning to type up this chapter during that weekend, and you want to know what happened? I got sick again! Go immune system! Despite all that, I'm truly sorry for the long wait. I'm a huge hypocrite, since I hate it when authors take forever to post (unless they have a reason) so I apologize for that.