Hiiii!

Just wanted to say it was my birthday last third of February. Yes. Me. MY BIRTHDAY. Just wanted to say. MY BIRTHDAY.

Okay, please keep reading.

Chapter 36

The first thing she registered was the ceiling. Then she realized it wasn't a tent.

Then she realized she was lying in velvety sheets. Then there was a bandage around her head. And her head hurt. Badly.

Then there was the blurry image of a man in a white suit sitting next to her. She squinted, hoping to get a more focused image.

And then she almost screamed. Almost.

"Wh-what are you doing here?!" she shrieked, scrambling to sit up.

"Woah, woah, calm down." The blond man raised his arms in surrender. "I-it's okay. I won't hurt you Annabeth."

She was about to scream at Luke and chew him out, but a sudden thought occurred to her.

"Where's Percy?" Her voice quivered. Was Percy still alive? Did her sacrifice work? She wanted to know where he was and she was scared out of her mind just thinking about what could've happened.

"He's alive, he's okay." Luke's voice was calm, but there was an edge to it. As if he was itching to tell her something he couldn't say. "He's been watching you for three days straight. He went to get something to eat since he hasn't eaten much the past days and I think he'll be back in about fifteen minutes, so-"

"Watching me?" Annabeth asked in disbelief. "For three days straight?"

"He refused to go home. I think Thalia brought him some soup he didn't finish from time to time." He sighed, obviously wanting to change the topic. "Listen, Annabeth, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry, okay? I never meant to bring trouble between you and Percy. He's a good guy, and you deserve him. I'm just…. I guess I'm just really guilty for… all that. Everything I've caused."

The princess's gaze softened, the storm in her eyes calming down. "Luke," she whispered, just enough for the both of them to hear, a small smile dancing on her lips. "I'm not really mad at you. Sure, you've caused trouble. But that's in the past." She sighed heavily. "God, it seemed so long ago. But yet, here we are, living on."

Luke smiled, sky blue eyes twinkling with mirth and relief. "Yeah." He said. "So… we're okay?"

"Yes."

"That's good."

There was a silence. Not an awkward, confused silence. But a comfortable silence which you can rest in, contented. Annabeth laid back in her sheets, eyes half-closed.

She felt a pain on the back of her head. It was throbbing faintly, but the pain increased with every pulse. It was growing. She felt sore, her muscles and joints feeling weakened all of a sudden.

She took a deep breath, her eyes were still closed.

Finally, she couldn't help it. She squirmed and shifted on her mattress.

She felt Luke's gaze on her even though she couldn't see him. After several more minutes of silence, the prince spoke.

"Annabeth, is something wrong?" he asked, inching closer, a look of concern on his face.

"No, no," Annabeth said with a little difficulty. "I'm…I'm fine." She waved him off. She took another deep breath, her eyebrows scrunching up.

"No." Luke said. "No, you're obviously not. I'm going to call the physician. You wait here."

"No, Luke I'm-"

Before the princess could finish her sentence, Luke stood abruptly from his seat and left the room, leaving Annabeth in annoyed silence.

She heard his footsteps fade down the hallway as he left her door wide open. "You couldn't have shut the door?!" she yelled in annoyance, which only proved to increase her painful headache. She got no answer.

Annabeth huffed. She fiddled with her thick blanket, twisting the fabric around her fingers. There was light reflecting from the silky material, allowing her to notice every strand of silk she could find woven into the fabric.

She looked up and saw the sunlight streaming in through the glass doors of her balcony.

"Fresh air." She muttered to herself. "Fresh air would help."

She lifted up her blanket and tossed it aside, swinging her legs over the side of her bed. She found herself in her light blue nightgown, the one that wasn't too loose yet wasn't too tight so it looked fairly nice on her.

She decided not to dwell on how she got in the dress.

Annabeth inched closer to the corner of her bed, grabbing the wooden post for support. She stood shakily, her knees feeling like jelly, but she managed to stand.

She was extremely weak, and probably shouldn't have gotten out of bed in the first place. She took two small steps, using the wooden pole for support. She took a deep breath and let go, wobbling a bit as she did so.

She took another breath and took an independent step forward.

Unfortunately, her foot gave way, twisted sideward and failed the rest of her body as well.

In short, she fell on her face.

"Are you kidding me?!" the princess screamed at the ceiling.

She knew she would be weakened, but she never imagined she would be that weak. Well, Rachel did warn her.

"It doesn't matter." She chided to herself. "At least Percy's okay."

Annabeth grabbed for the chair by her desk and pulled it closer with difficulty. She pressed her weight on it, trying to get up. And she did successfully, until she, of course, put her hand on the backrest causing the chair (and herself) to flip over.

"Ow…" she groaned, rolling off the chair. She decided to just give up and lay on her back, letting herself get comfortable on the soft carpeting of her room.

She could feel the pain in her arms, legs, and face, knowing new bruises were probably forming there already. She pushed her blond curls out of her face and stared up at the ceiling. She closed her eyes, sighing, and when she opened them again she was greeted with the familiar sight of confused looking green eyes and raven-black hair.

Percy looked at the chair and back at her, chewing half a cookie. He swallowed his food, wiped the crumbs off his face, threw his bag of cookies onto Annabeth's desk and picked the princess up bridal-style.

He was gentle and made sure not to put pressure on her newly-bruised arms and legs.

Annabeth expected him to scream out in concern, hug her tightly with dramatic reference, or even just scold her. But instead, she got a plain "Why?"

The princess blinked. "You're not even fazed by the fact that I'm conscious, out of bed, and on the floor?"

"Luke said you were awake. I spent all my excitement on the way here, sorry." He said. A playful smile was on his face as he set her down on her bed.

Annabeth couldn't tell whether he was joking or not. She was just happy to see him and hear his voice again. She finally felt safe, like she always did when he was around. She felt invulnerable and secure whenever he was close, and she was glad to have that feeling back after days of watching him die slowly.

"Thanks." She managed. Her headache was starting to fade despite the fact that she just fell on her face.

"Your bandage." Percy said. "It's bleeding."

He carefully unwrapped the bandage on her head and replaced it with a fresh one after cleaning up the wound on the side of her head. Percy came to rest at the edge of her bed, taking her hand in his which caused a pinkish tinge to creep onto her face.

"So," he started slowly. "How're you feeling?"

"Okay I guess." Annabeth muttered. "Just a little weak."

"Because falling flat on your face is 'a little weak'."

"Shut up." She said with a small laugh. After a long pause between them, she said, "Thanks, Seaweed Brain."

He looked up smirking. "What for? I should be thanking you. You saved my life." He squeezed her hand. "You're the best, you know that?"

They talked for a long while, even as the sun set over the kingdom. They chatted, laughed, told jokes and exchanged playful insults. Luke came in with Chiron at one point, he checked on her and then they left, leaving the princess and the knight alone once more.