-blinks-

Wow. Forty reviews. I'm shocked. Not to mention pleased. :)

Here's the deal: We get to 55 reviews and I post two chapters at the same time.

Oh, the memory that Percy was shown where Annabeth was laughing was when Nico made his comment about his looks. Kronos simply took it out of context.

Thalia Grace's house. Six months later.

It was quiet in the house at the end of the street, the owner out working. The sunlight streamed in through the open windows, the owner trying to bring more happiness into a house where happiness was in short supply.

On the kitchen counter sat two bottles of depression-pills, one empty, the other half-full. The one who popped these pills like they were lollies was still in bed, tossing from the constant nightmares that plagued her when she slept. Not that she slept much anymore. Or did anything except mope.

Thalia had tried to help her friend, tried to help her get a job, get on with life. But she couldn't, couldn't move passed what had transpired six months ago. She had lost the love of her life, and she had lost the will to live.

They were on the beach. It was sunset and Annabeth was happy again. He was there, and it was all okay. Then she was falling, the beach and the light and him dissolving into an oppressive darkness that strangled her, slowly as the cold worked its way into her chest, suffocating and freezing her...

She woke up, gasping, fingers clawing at the bed sheets tangled around her legs. There were tears in her eyes, tears of anger, sadness and most of all, hopelessness. The only time she was happy was in her dreams.

Annabeth was dangerously closing to acting so that she could dream forever.

O oOo O

Thalia walked into the house, dropping the briefcase that she loathed in the entrance. She was thinking about Annabeth, worrying, actually, as usual. Worrying that she hadn't done enough to help her, worrying that someday Annabeth would try to end her misery.

Thalia had never seen Annabeth like this before. Even when Luke had died, she hadn't acted like this, like the world had ended.

She walked into the kitchen, which was virtually undisturbed, except for an empty pill bottle on the floor. Thalia frowned and picked it up.

Still holding it, she went up the stairs, stopping at the first door on the right. Annabeth's room. Since Annabeth had had her house destroyed, and was unable to take care of herself anyway, Thalia had moved her into her house, partly out of sympathy, partly because she wanted to keep an eye on her.

It was still dark inside the room, the sunset and heavy curtain ensuring that no light had entered.

Thalia frowned and crossed to the windows, opening the curtains. The light was still dim, but Annabeth winced and buried her face in a pillow.

"Annabeth," Thalia said, sitting on the edge of a bed. "How many pills did you have today?"

It was hard, but she gathered her thoughts together enough to answer.

"I don't know?" she said, vaguely.

Thalia sighed, and patted Annabeth on the leg. She was so thin. She used to be slim before, but now her bones were clearly defined. So, Thalia made a decision.

"Get up," she said, switching on the electric light.

"Turn it off," Annabeth said, hiding under the covers.

"No," Thalia said firmly. "It's been nearly six months since you've been outside the house. You are coming with me, even if I have to force you." It looked like she did. And Thalia did something she wasn't proud of. It was necessary, though.

"Do you think Percy would be happy?" she said, uttering the name that was forbidden in Annabeth's presence. "Proud of the way you're handling yourself?" Annabeth began to cry, but Thalia ignored her, and ignored the painful feeling of hurting her friend. "Get up, Wise Girl. You need to start living again. For him." Her voice became softer in the last part.

Annabeth's eyes peeked out from under the sheets, grey, wide and uncertain.

"Do you think?" she asked in a quiet voice.

"Yes," Thalia said. "I think. Now, come on. There's somewhere I want to take you."

And that was how Annabeth found herself in Thalia's car, out of the house for the first time in a long time.

"Where are we going?" she asked, marvelling at how different her voice sounded. It was so small, and fragile.

"We are going to eat," Thalia said, pulling up at a McDonalds. "And you are going to eat all of it."

"But I'm not really hungry," Annabeth protested, while Thalia glared at her.

"Too bad. You're so thin it's got to be bad for your health. You are eating whether you want to or not."

Not really wanted to disappoint Thalia, who even Annabeth recognized was bending over backwards to help her, Annabeth did eat, more than she had for ages. Not that she had any choice in the matter, with Thalia scrutinizing her every move, even going to the bathroom with her to make sure she wouldn't throw it back up again.

The light was almost gone when they got in the car again, heading away from the McDonalds. Though she didn't ask, Annabeth was curious about where Thalia was taking her.

It was only a short trip, and Thalia parked, opening the door and getting out. The smell of the sea breeze hit Annabeth in the face and brought tears to her eyes.

They were standing on a beach, like the one where they had contacted Poseidon such a long six months ago. The water sparkled in the dying light, and the waves gently lapped the beach. It was beautiful, and heart-breaking.

Annabeth could remember going with Percy to the beach a while back. There hadn't been any romance, really, back then, but it was nice, and it made Annabeth pine for him more than ever.

"How could you take me here?" Annabeth asked Thalia, tears running down her cheeks. "How could you?"

"Because you need to heal," Thalia said firmly, though there was sadness in her eyes. "You need to move on."

"But I don't want to move on," Annabeth wailed, rather loudly, drawing looks from the others on the beach, few though they were.

Thalia simply hugged her, and Annabeth cried into her shoulder. How long they stood there, they didn't know. It was dark when Annabeth straightened.

"He would want me to be happy," she said, finally understanding. "He would want me to... to move on."

Thalia nodded, relief etched on her face.

"He would," she said. "Now, are you going to get your life back on track?"

Annabeth nodded uncertainly.

"This would mean no more pills," Thalia said, making sure that Annabeth understood. "I'm going to tip them down the drain when I get home."

"I—I'll do it," Annabeth said, combing her hair out of her eyes. "And it might be nice to see sunlight again."

Thalia laughed a little. "Exactly," she said.

Annabeth smiled, and though she didn't want to admit it, she felt a little better. Certainly not back to normal, but a little better.

EDIT: I now have a formspring. Go there. Link's on my profile.