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Percy's shoulders ached as he pulled Grover up over the side of the boat. They had escaped Polyphemus' island, barely. He could still hear the angry Cyclops roaring and bellowing from the beach but they were safely out of range of the stones he had been hurling their way and the wind was on their side. Their antique wooden pirate ship sailed jauntily atop the waves as it put distance between them and their foe. Everyone else had made it onto a second ship with the Fleece, though Percy wasn't sure where that one was right now and he didn't have time to worry about it. With one last tug, Percy fell onto the deck, Grover landing heavily on top of him.
Percy allowed himself one second to catch his breath, then rolled Grover over and scrambled to his knees. Grover had been under the water for such a long time before Percy had gotten to him. He just prayed to the gods he hadn't been too late. He knelt over his friend and stared down at him, searching his face for any signs of life. Grover's eyes were shut, his lips slightly parted. Salt water was caught in his eyelashes and sliding down his cheeks like tears. Percy pressed his ear to Grover's chest and listened anxiously. But heard nothing.
He wasn't moving. He wasn't breathing.
Percy leaned back on his heels in shock, unsure what to do. After all the struggle, all the time he had spent fighting his way across the sea to Grover, this couldn't be how it ended. He couldn't lose his best friend now. He reached out desperately with his empathy link, psychically feeling for the satyr, nudging at the edges of his own consciousness for another soul out in the dark.
But there was nothing there. Nothing to reach out for, nothing to touch. Silence.
Percy gasped, a strangled sound that caught in his throat. This couldn't be happening. Grover couldn't be...dead. Percy felt like he was choking on his own grief. He let out a small sob, his throat constricting.
Actually, it was getting a little hard to breathe. He swayed unsteadily then doubled over, his hand slamming into the wooden deck to keep himself from face-planting. What was happening? Something was wrong...
Percy suddenly felt weak and sick and shaky and it was getting increasingly hard to pull in air, his chest tightening by the second. This wasn't grief or shock. Something physical was happening to him. Percy racked his brain for an answer, even as his vision began to dim around the edges.
Grover was gone. Grover couldn't be gone! But he was. And now, something was happening to Percy.
The answer slipped into focus with startling clarity, like a lightning bolt out of the blue. The empathy link. Grover had told him once that if one of the two sharing an empathy link died, it would affect the other. That they could slip into a coma. Or even...die.
Panic washed over Percy as he slumped sideways onto the deck, his fingers scrabbling weakly at the wood grain. He could barely breathe now, as if his own lungs were filling with water like Grover's. A truly cruel and ironic twist of fate. Percy couldn't even drown!
Wait...he couldn't even drown... There was something...there...the answer... But Percy was too weak to make the connection. He lay on the deck, his head too heavy to lift, staring sideways at his dead friend. A tear slid down his cheek, for Grover, and for himself and all the things he'd never get to do. All the people he'd never get to see again. His mother. His father. His new brother Tyson. Annabeth...
Percy's eyes were trying to to slide shut now but he fought it. Instead he reached out and dragged himself closer to Grover, reaching a shaky hand towards him. He'd let him down. He hadn't gotten to him in time, hadn't been able to save him. All these powers and he'd still let him die in the ocean. For the next few minutes of his life, the last few minutes, he'd never forgive himself.
Percy laced his fingers through Grover's and squeezed his limp hand weakly. And felt something. A surge of...something. Percy's head snapped up. He suddenly felt...different. A bit tingly. A bit stronger. He knew this feeling. And suddenly, he knew exactly what to do.
Percy dragged himself back to his knees and knelt over Grover, bracing himself with one hand. The other he cupped over Grover's mouth as he shut his eyes. He still felt seconds from death but now he had a renewed purpose. He pictured the water in Grover's lungs. Reached out for it. Tugged.
And he felt it respond.
Slowly, agonizingly, Percy began to pull the water from Grover's lungs. He could feel himself getting weaker--but he could feel Grover getting stronger, his life force reaching back for Percy from somewhere beyond. Percy kept drawing the water out. He began to tremble with the exertion, struggling. But he could feel Grover now, feel their bond again. He wasn't stopping now. With a loud cry, Percy pulled with all his might and Grover's back arched as water gushed from his mouth, spilling out onto the deck.
Percy collapsed beside him, chest heaving, totally spent. But despite his exhaustion, he felt stronger, like his energy was returning to him. He felt like he wasn't dying anymore. Which must have meant...
With shaking arms, Percy pushed himself back to a sitting position and looked anxiously over at Grover, still lying on the deck. Neither of them moved for a moment. Then the satyr took a deep, rattling breath and his eyes snapped open. Percy cried out in relief and fell back to the deck with a thud, eyes sliding shut, a smile on his face. He hadn't even known he could do that—it was just instinct. After a moment he sat back up and grabbed Grover by the arm, pulling him to a sitting position beside him.
"Wha--" Grover started to say, voice shaking, chest heaving. "How--"
Percy cut him off, pulling him into a tight hug. Grover continued to sputter into Percy's shoulder, his voice muffled against Percy's wet shirt. At last Percy released him with a shaky laugh.
"Did I--? Did you--? What happened?" Grover finally managed to ask.
"I--" Percy wasn't even sure how to respond. "You...drowned. I couldn't get to you in time and...you drowned." Percy hung his head, ashamed and unable to look at his friend. "I'm so sorry I couldn't--"
"Dude, stop!" Grover interrupted him. "That wasn't on you. And I mean, clearly you saved me!" Grover looked down, gesturing at himself.
"I guess I did," Percy said, somewhat shocked. "Couldn't tell you how, honestly." He laughed again, still frazzled and a little freaked out. "Oh, by the way, could you please not die again? 'Cause then I almost died, and it was like, a whole thing."
Grover's eyes widened in alarm. "The empathy link?" Percy nodded. "Yikes," Grover said, wincing. "Sorry."
"No worries," Percy shrugged.
They both laughed again, staring at each other a little awkwardly. Then Grover's eyes filled with tears and he reached out and pulled Percy into another hug. "Thanks for saving me man," he whispered.
Percy hugged him back tightly. Losing Grover had been some of the worst minutes of his life. He was never letting that happen again. Never.