Chapter Text
She never thought she'd choose between them. Or even be around both of them at the same time. But with her shoulder burning from pain and the feeling of Percy's eyes on her dissolving into horror as a lightning strike engulfs his torso, lighting up the metal of his armor, after Clarisse's spear had engulfed Thalia's tree with the magic from the Fleece, Annabeth feels her stomach sink like a stone when she whispers Thalia's name as her friend collapses to the ground.
Percy falls too, engulfed by the lightning, and Clarisse swears, steadying Annabeth as she pushes herself to her feet with a sound of pain that she swallows. She stumbles as Grover, who'd been holding onto her as well before, now lets go and moves forward as if in a daze to murmur "... Thalia,"
And then Clarisse's voice pierces the air in a whistle as Annabeth's eyes are drawn to her other friend, also in a heap. His curls seem to smoke, and his skin is pale save for the blood that still seeps from his mouth and nose.
"Medical! Where in Hades are Apollo's kids?!" The daughter of Ares snarls, and Annabeth says nothing, thinking only of the spear of pain that pierces her shoulder in regards to the arrow-shaft from one particular daughter of Apollo.
But Alison is no longer here. Or at least, she's nowhere close enough for Annabeth to be concerned about her presence anymore. Now, she's dropped to her knees next to Percy, feeling tremblingly for his pulse. She hadn't even realized she moved, or how fast, and isn't aware of how loud she speaks, but is informed (later) that she screams his name.
"PERCY!"
And then with a satchel, dragged and staggering over with a hand practically clamped around the back of his neck by Clarisse comes a skinny little blond-haired boy, who says "'scuse me, I'm here to help heal th- oh, man." His voice is a drawl and he comes up to Annabeth. "Willya hold still? I can get this arrow out -"
"No, not me, don't worry," Annabeth sniffles hard and shakes her head. "Check on him, and her," she indicates Thalia as Grover has dropped beside the daughter of Zeus. "Help them first, I'll be okay."
"Chase," Clarisse says, but Annabeth stares her down. Grover looks up in time to see the daughter of Ares literally lift both of her arms in the air and back off. "Okay, owl head. It's your wound, but you need to get that looked at quick because arrowheads in joints aren't a good combination."
"Well, you need to get off that leg, then," Annabeth fires back. Clarisse blinks, because - that's fair. How the daughter of Athena can immediately tell where she's been injured, honestly Clarisse shouldn't be surprised; part of the wisdom and battle aspect of the strategy goddess is being able to ascertain whether or not someone has exploitable injuries.
"I will if you let this kid heal you," she replies. "What good are you to Jackson if you bleed out while this little kid heals him?"
The little kid in question is tipping a canteen to Percy's lips, golden nectar dripping from the corners. He presses his mouth flat and puts the backs of his fingers gently against Percy's throat, doing a sort of stroking motion "this should help him swallow," he says, voice sounding bright even as his expression is serious. He looks around at Clarisse and Grover. "We need to get them both to the infirmary really fast," he says. He lifts his hand from Percy's throat to touch his forehead, corners of his mouth turning slightly downward. "I'm gonna need y'all's help now," he says, standing up quickly.
Annabeth nods, sniffing and immediately asking as she rises once more to her feet "Understood, what can we do?"
"Carry her," he nods at Thalia "and someone else carry him. Unless you want a medical tent in the field, which we'd have to build, but-"
"It would mean you would be able to more quickly start your work to heal them," Annabeth says.
The kid nods, his mouth splitting into a smile. She sees dimples. "Yes! That'd be great if y'all -"
"Say no more," Grover, gasping as he hauls Thalia's unconscious body against his, lifts his head to look over the battlefield.
The extent of Half-blood Hill is pockmarked with divots from hooves and feet, swords and shields and bodies, some of which are still leveraging themselves up, others lie still, and still others (those in Luke's faction) have slunk or rather run away to lick their wounds and regroup aboard the Princess Andromeda. Why Luke would choose that name, when he at this battle honestly tried to kill Percy, Annabeth doesn't know. Unless it's some twisted joke she has yet to fully understand.
Honestly, a lot of Luke's choices feel like a twisted joke she's yet to understand.
At least, his recent ones. Kronos... The Titan must be exerting a ton of control.
She blinks back to the moment when Grover calls "Tyson!" And he is lumbering over to them again, big eye softening as he sees her, it seems.
"Grover, Annabeth, scary girl. Um." His eye drops away from Clarisse's face as her eyebrows rise. And then he sees "Percy!" His voice shakes, practically breaking as he runs over. He wraps Percy in his arms, shifting his lolling head and patting him on the back a little. The sight puts a lump in Annabeth's throat.
"Tyson, listen," she starts to say.
"It's okay, Percy," Tyson says even though his voice is wavering. "Just hold on, you have to hold on, brother."
Even Clarisse is affected by that. She clears her throat. "Cyclops," she says, and Tyson looks up at her, even as he keeps cradling Percy against his chest. Percy looks pale, and small, unmoving as he is in Tyson's arms. Annabeth tries not to cry, she slowly inhales and blinks away threatening tears. She focuses on Clarisse's words, as she points to trees and says "You're strong enough to pull up these, get some cloth and make a tent by the treeline." The location is covered by the slope of the hill, and she adds "We're making a medical tent. Jackson doesn't get to die; not after he made sure I finished my quest." She grumbles something along the lines of "I refuse to owe that sea-twerp anything. You got me?"
"Yes," Tyson nods. "I got you." He stands up, still holding Percy, and strides over to the trees Clarisse had pointed out, pulling the tops of them inward towards each other. He pulls a long rope or wire, the girls can't tell which, out of a pocket it seems with one hand and his teeth, and wraps the length around the trees, tying it off while still holding Percy.
Something in Annabeth's chest clenches, crumbles at the sight of that. She regrets ever disliking him, or being rude. He is caring, compassionate, and he's trying to help. He always seems to be trying to help.
As he's doing now.
With that done, he jogs to grab several shields. Pulling the handles free, he fashions them into makeshift cots by flattening the curvature and then taking some clubs left behind as spoils from the dust of Laistrygonians, Tyson lays the shields across clubs arranged in an approximation of an 'X'. He puts Percy tenderly on one shield and the young healer nods and moves right over.
"Amazin', real great work. Now bring your lady over Mister Satyr, and-"
"Grover," Clarisse says, and Annabeth adds her voice as Grover blinks and registers being spoken to.
"What? Oh! Here," he pulls Thalia, lifting her with each step, and Clarisse rolls her eyes at his excruciatingly slow movements. She barges over to stop in front of Thalia and says
"Heads up daughter of Zeus," and ducking her own head, she wraps an arm around Thalia's leg and lifts her, letting Thalia's body fall over and across her shoulder in a fireman's carry. "Take it easy Underwood, she'll live," Clarisse's tone is her typical harsh grunt as she turns around and takes Thalia to the other repurposed shield.
Grover, who had clasped his hands over his mouth to muffle the almost-shriek he had just made, flushes and sputters "Well you could've warned me! How do I know you weren't gonna drop her, Clarisse?"
"Simple," Clarisse looks up at him as the young healer moves to check on Thalia's condition. She doesn't quite smirk, as her features are drawn, betraying exhaustion and some pain. But her eyes do shine - honestly, they almost glitter - as she answers "-I wouldn't even consider dropping anyone but Jackson."