Annabeth stared wide-eyed at the scene in front of her.

What did she do?

Her hand was inside the patient, and she was going to die. She should've known better than to get herself into this situation. She told herself she was going to die, and it was unfolding right before her.

A sixth sense.

She felt light-headed, her whole world threatening to topple over, sending her to the floor and the OR exploding into bits of flaming fragments. She could almost imagine it, the way she'll erupt into searing pain only to have her life swept away by the force of the blast.

The only thing keeping that image from becoming a reality was herself. Her life, and everyone else's lives around her, relied on her and her only.

Annabeth was only brought out of her deep reverie as the guy from the bomb squad wrapped his arms around her torso, gently forcing a heavy jacket onto her chest, not that it would do anything to protect her from the blast. She was trembling, and the guy was trying his best not to startle her as he secured the straps, but she couldn't stop.

She looked up, anywhere that wasn't directly at the bomb cavity, and she was met with Piper's alarmed eyes, staring up at her with genuine concern and something else she couldn't read. Annabeth couldn't be bothered to even try to read Piper's emotions; she could barely read her own.

"Shoving your hand in there was the dumbest thing you could do," the guy whispered into her ear with a gravelly voice, tugging on her thick jacket to make sure it would stay in place.

An icy sense of dread filled her from head to toe. It was obvious the guy was trying to lighten the mood, but it only darkened her thoughts. "You don't think I know that?" she just barely managed to squeak out.

"Well, it was," Piper added, her demeanor broken down. "You— you could die!"

"I know that," she hissed, focusing so, so hard on not moving a single muscle. "You have no idea just how aware I am of that. Now, there is a bomb squad guy whose name I don't even know strapping a flak jacket to my boobs. Now is not the time to make me feel worse than I already do."

"You're going to be okay," the guy behind her soothed. "Just take deep breaths. I'll make sure you get through this."

"Hm." Annabeth couldn't even find words to express what she was feeling. She did know, however, that she wasn't going to be getting through this. She always knew. "What's your name?"

"I'm sorry?"

"Odds are that we're going to be dying together," she said with a subtle shake to her voice. "I should at least know your name."

"I'm Ethan."

"Ethan," she repeated, laughter taking over. She was really a delusional mess, but she didn't know one she was supposed to act in a situation like this, so she'll let it slide. "I'm sorry for getting you into this mess."

"You don't need to be sorry, because we're going to get out."

Annabeth could barely prevent the breath of disbelief from escaping her lips. She had every reason to be sorry. They were here because of her, and it was the end of their lives as well as hers.

Sorry doesn't even begin to cover it.

"I had a feeling—"

"Enough with the feeling!" Piper pleaded. "Now is not the time!"

"I am going to die! You can't tell me that I didn't know that because I've been saying it all day, and now it's happening." Annabeth bit her lower lip harshly, enjoying the sharp stab of pain it caused her as her teeth imprinted into the skin. It made her feel more prepared for what was surely to come, for some reason. "I had a feeling."

"That's all it is," Piper said. "A feeling. It hasn't happened. You are standing here, alive, and that means that we can still get you out. If you're not dead, you're alive and we will all make it through this, so stop talking about your fucking feelings because I don't care to hear about them anymore."

Annabeth breathed deeply, closing her eyes. She kept them shut for a long time, her entire focus on not moving. It was funny how the moment she needed to stay still the most was when her body wanted to twitch. She didn't want to think about what would happen if she moved, but it began to blur the corners of her mind once again.

Annabeth only opened her eyes again when the door in front of her was swinging open and Jason was walking back inside, eyes trained directly onto Piper, who never once left her side.

"You need to go," he said lowly once he reached Piper's side, as though Annabeth wouldn't hear him in a silent, echoing operating room. "It's dangerous here."

"I'm not leaving." Piper didn't even look at him to speak.

"I don't want you to get hurt."

"I'm not leaving," she said again, more malice and force lining her voice. Annabeth appreciated that Piper didn't want to leave her alone. Piper was too good to die. She didn't deserve the same fate as Annabeth.

"Go," Annabeth said before Jason could argue with Piper. "We don't both have to do this. One life lost is better than two."

"That's why I can't leave! I'm not going to let you die! You're twenty-six and you deserve so much, and you can't die. Not yet. You need to become a surgeon— I have to watch you take your oral boards and turn into a blubbering mess, because you are my best friend and you cannot die." Piper glanced to Jason for a second. "Do what you want, but I'm not leaving."

Jason groaned, unable to stifle his annoyance. "Piper—"

"She is my person. I'm staying." Piper gave Annabeth a tiny smile, and Annabeth's eyes rimmed with tears. She couldn't let Piper do this.

"Exactly," Annabeth said. "You're my person, and I need you to be okay. Please. You have to go."

"What? No!"

"Piper—"

"I'm not leaving!"

"There is no reason for the two of us to be dead." Annabeth swallowed roughly. "Go. I'll be okay."

"I don't want you to die," Piper pleaded.

"That's what Ethan's here for," she said. "It's his job to keep me safe. It's your job to keep you safe, so do it."

"Where do you expect me to go?" Piper aggressively squeezed the ambu-bag. "I have nowhere to go."

"Go help Dr. Jackson," Jason offered, taking the bag from her hand. "Help him finish his surgery."

Piper looked at Annabeth for approval, stress clear as day in her eyes. She didn't want to leave, which is exactly why she had to. Piper was a good friend. She deserved the world.

"Go," Annabeth said, giving Piper the approval she needed, and then Piper was walking out of the OR slowly, reluctant. She shot a glance over her shoulder, gave Annabeth a single lift of her lips, and then she was gone. It felt too certain for Annabeth.

"So," Annabeth whimpered once the door shut, her teeth clenching together to stop the uncontrollable shiver. "We have a plan, right? You say you want to get me out of this, but we need a plan, so what is it?"

Ethan nodded at her once, and her eyes locked to his, she began to listen as he told her his plan.

Piper pushed the door to Percy's OR open with much more force than intended, ready to break apart. Her best friend was stuck in an OR with a bomb clenched in her hand, and all Piper could do was stand and watch the guy who broke Annabeth's heart do brain surgery, and that sucked ass.

Percy looked up, startled by the dramatic entrance, and as his eyes fell back to the open skull in front of him, he said, "You shouldn't be here, McLean."

"Well, I am, so where do you need me?" Piper couldn't bring herself to look at him; her hatred for the guy standing in front of her was astronomical, but he was deep inside of a patient's brain, and once look at Piper would let him know something was severely wrong.

He couldn't find out, Piper decided. It posed too much of a risk to the patient that was already near death, his brain being poked and prodded to stop the bleeding.

"I need you outside the OR," Percy said, his breathing controlled as he kept his fingers steady. "You need to leave."

"I'm not leaving." Piper was feeling a lot like a broken record. She couldn't just sit there feeling useless. She had to do something, even if that was suffocate on Percy's arrogance.

"McLean."

"I'm here to help," she snapped, letting one of the nurses that stayed behind help her into her surgical gown. She did not have the patience to deal with Percy today. "Let me help."

Percy's mouth wasn't visible beneath his mask, but she strongly suspected that he pursed his lips at her antics. Still, he didn't fight her as she stepped towards the table, which was a good thing because she was about to start throwing hands. "How's Hannah doing?"

"Hannah?"

Percy raised an eyebrow, looking at her questioningly. "The paramedic with the bomb."

"Oh." Piper's breath caught in her throat. "She's managing."

"Why did you hesitate?"

"It's just— high tense situations," Piper lied, hoping he would let it go.

"Mhm." Percy went back to what he was doing before, and Piper watched silently until he spoke up again a few minutes later. "Are there any updates on the situation?"

Yes.

Annabeth was the one with the bomb.

"No," she said instead. "Nothing new."

"At least it's not getting worse," Percy said absentmindedly, already losing interest in the conversation.

Yeah, right.

It was definitely getting worse. It was getting worse as in Annabeth grabbed the bomb and was likely going to die, and she had been kicked out of the OR by her boyfriend against her will, and now no one has any idea what's going to happen. Everything's just dandy.

Piper made a sound of disagreement, but he didn't call her out on it. He was either too used to her short temper or he didn't hear her, but either way, she wasn't going to tell him. He thought everything was going fine, and she was content to keep it like that as long as possible.

Oh, but if only he knew that it was so much worse than he was aware of.

"We have a problem."

Annabeth shut her eyes tight, holding back a cry. How much worse could this situation get? She didn't even want to know at this point.

"We have to move."

Annabeth laughed, but there wasn't an ounce of humor in her voice. "What?"

"The oxygen tanks are right underneath the OR," Ethan said.

It started up again. The images inside her sprang back to life, because with only one sentence, she realized how much trouble she was really in.

She really hoped she was wrong. "When you say we have to move, you mean…"

"I mean that if the bomb goes off in here, it'll bring the entire hospital down with it. The oxygen tanks will explode and ignite everything, so we have to go to another OR further away from the main line."

She grit her teeth. Lovely. Perfect. Spectacular. "How am I supposed to move to another OR without setting it off?"

"Very carefully," he answered, which did nothing to clarify how they would actually manage it. He probably didn't know himself— it's not like something like this has actually ever happened before.

It was ironic. Oxygen. A basic element. Atomic number of eight. One of the seven diatomic molecules. An integral part of life.

How could something so essential to life mean the end of hers?

"I'm not going to like this, am I?"

Ethan looked empathetic, and then she knew she was not going to like this.

"So I can't move any of my fingers even a millimeter, but you expect us to be able to get this entire gurney out of here?'

"It's our safest option," Jason, who had been silent in the corner, interjected. "We'll move slow. You can do it, Chase."

"Right," she said distantly.

"We have to move quick," Ethan warned. "Are you ready?"

Annabeth snorted, staring death in the face. "Are you being serious?"

Ethan took her response as answer enough, already moving towards the gurney with a few other people, all prepared to move. From that point on, it felt like everything was floating by all too fast. As the group started to wheel her out of the room, inch by inch, she could barely feel herself.

She did nothing but put one foot in front of the other. Keeping herself steady while walking next to a moving gurney with a bomb inside of a patient was difficult— but she wasn't there anymore.

There was a ringing in her ears that began to grow, and everything narrowed to her. The only thing that existed was her and the bomb threatening everything she'd worked to accomplish and become.

The wheels of the gurney creaked with each rotation as they left the room and started down the hall in the opposite direction of the oxygen tanks. Annabeth had no idea how long she walked, dragging her feet and suppressing the tremors of her hand, but it wasn't long enough once Ethan started talking her through the process.

"When we get there," he said, voice dull as though to not startle a wild animal, "Dr. Grace is going to have everything ready. The device is shaped like a rocket, eight inches long. When you're ready, you're going to need to wrap your hand around the device—"

"And pull it out," she finished.

"You have to keep it level," he warned, still carefully pushing the gurney along the floor with the rest of the bomb squad. "If it's not level, we risk it going off."

"I'll keep it level," she whispered, still in a trance-like state.

They continued towards the end of the hall, and someone near her was whispering words of encouragement, and she was trying so hard not to move. They were about halfway there, and it was going smoothly so far, and she was just starting to think that they could get there without commotion, but then—

"What are you guys doing?" Piper hissed, holding a door open right in front of the gurney's path.

Annabeth tensed, nearly bursting into tears on the spot because if she had popped out a second later, there was a very good chance she would've hit the gurney, and it would've been endgame.

"What's going on?" she asked again, dancing around nervously. Her voice was hushed, and Annabeth figured it had something to do with whoever might've been listening from inside the room. Her brain screamed Percy.

"We're moving away from the main oxygen line," Annabeth said lightly. "You know, cause it might blow up and we'll all die."

Piper opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by Ethan.

"Dr. Grace told you to leave," he said, hushed and stern. "Get out of here."

"Dr. Grace isn't here, is he?" she sneered, looking to Annabeth. "Are you okay?"

"I'm trying to be."

"You guys are just going to… pull it out?"

"That's the plan," Annabeth said.

Piper paused, thinking, and then she stepped closer to them, letting the door shut behind her. "I'm coming with you."

"No, you're not," Ethan warned. "You need to leave."

Piper looked at Annabeth, and a silent message passed through them. Annabeth didn't want to be alone, and Piper knew that, even if Annabeth was too stubborn to say it. Piper was willing to stay anyways.

Ethan looked between the two of them, and he knew that there was no winning, so he motioned towards the wall for Piper to stand against as they passed through. "You're not coming into the OR with us."

Piper stuck her chin up but stayed silent, deciding not to push her luck.

Annabeth became desperate again as they started walking, needing something to distract her from the moment at hand.

"Tell me something," Annabeth said pleadingly to Piper.

Piper's lips parted slightly, but she had no response. Nothing could flood her mind at such a moment. Annabeth was literally pressed against a bomb, and Piper did not want to talk about her own life right now. She doesn't know how Annabeth does.

"Anything. Please."

Piper licked her lips, eyes flicking around the room, and then she decided on, "Jason told me he loves me."

Annabeth nodded frantically, going along with it. "Okay. What did you say?"

"I didn't say anything— he thought I was sleeping, and he whispered it to me. I didn't know what to tell him."

The distraction wasn't working. Instead, it was increasing that tension boiling deep in her gut, telling her to pay attention to the task at hand or they would all be paying for it. Every second she spent thinking of anything else made her more anxious because it was always there, lying just beneath the surface.

Still, she tried to carry on.

"Jason loves you," she repeated. "You should tell him you love him too."

"I'm not sure if I'm ready for that." From the way Piper was standing, it was clear she was still just as focused on the bomb in the patient than their conversation. "I mean, he thought I was asleep. He doesn't know I know."

"I think you love him too," Annabeth said. "You should tell him, while you still can."

"Stop that," Piper complained, voice almost imperceptibly low. "You're going to be just fine."

"I guess we'll find out," Annabeth joked. "If not, I—"

Annabeth's stomach lurched as the gurney rolled over a ridge in the floor, moving the patient. She felt her hand shift inside the cavity, and the intense ringing in her ears amplified as everyone went silent, eyes glued to her hand, praying that it didn't trigger the explosion.

After thirty seconds of not dying, Annabeth breathed a slight sigh of relief, looking at Ethan for further instruction. He just motioned to continue on, taking everything nice and slow, because that was really all they could do, and Annabeth was ready to have a mental breakdown.

The back wheels of the gurney passed over the ridge, but this time they were ready, so her hand didn't shift, and they managed to continue on.

"You had to say you were going to die today," Piper whispered, but it came out in a whimper.

Annabeth smirked sadly. "I told you."

And suddenly, they were in the other OR, leaving Annabeth wondering how they got there in nothing more than the blink of an eye. Standing by the head of the gurney in the center of the OR, she could feel the blood rushing through her blood vessels.

All at once, it hit her like a train. It was now or never. It had to come to an end at some point, and that point was now, as she fought every instinct to collapse onto a heap on the floor.

Someone was talking around her, but the voice didn't register in her mind. She was on another planet where nothing existed except her and that bomb. Only when they called her name again did she understand.

"Are you ready?" Jason asked lightly while holding his hands above the sterile field. It kind of bothered Annabeth, knowing that once the bomb out, they were still going to try and save the patient's life, even after he had endangered everyone else's.

Annabeth took a deep breath. "Yeah."

"We're going to begin then," he told her calmly, taking a step closer. "Do you remember what to do?"

She wished she didn't.

"I do," she whispered.

"When I tell you to go, you're going to gently wrap your fingers around the nose," Jason reiterated. "We're going to begin by largening the incision. Once we do that, he's going to start bleeding, so you'll remove it immediately, but you have to remember to keep it—"

"—Level. I know." Annabeth blew air from her lips. "I know."

"No quick movements," Ethan added, prompting her to roll her eyes. "Be smooth and languid."

"I know," she stressed. "Now do you have anything helpful to say?"

Ethan shut his mouth with a snap and Annabeth went back to her headspace, buzzing with adrenaline that was about to increase tenfold.

After a moment of silence, Jason pursed his lips, giving her a glance resembling sympathy, something she had seen too much of today. "You need to be ready. Are you?"

There was no turning back.

Death was so close she could smell it. A sixth sense. Death was standing in the room, breathing over her shoulder and there was nothing she could do. From the beginning of the day, she knew time was laced with death, but now, it was locked into place and there was no key.

"I guess so." Annabeth held her breath. "I guess I don't really have a choice, do I?"

Jason didn't say anything else. His head bowed down to the patient, and lifting his scalpel, he began to widen the incision, and, simultaneously, invite death in with open arms.

Piper had never been so desperate to not cry in her entire life. Her best friend in the entire world was a few ORs over, a bomb literally resting in her fingers, and she couldn't do anything about it. She kept getting kicked out, and they just didn't get that she didn't care if she got hurt— she just wanted to be with her friend.

For a while, she just wandered in the hall, pacing back and forth, before deciding to try and do something useful. Somehow, she found herself back with Percy, glaring at him and wanting to shove a scalpel in his brain, only a teeny bit unwarranted. He didn't make everything fall to pieces but he sure as hell still made Piper angry just by looking at him and his stupid face.

Piper sniffled, scrunching her nose as she glared at the open brain in front of her (not Percy's, unfortunately). It was a good thing Percy wasn't letting her assist in operating because in her current state, she would probably accidently take out the pituitary gland.

"You need to get it together, McLean," Percy warned lowly, barely giving her a glance from above the magnifying lenses on his face. "I get that there is a patient next door, but—"

"I don't think you do," she muttered before she could stop herself. Her leg was bouncing up and down on the ground, and she really felt the need to take a Xanax or two.

"Excuse me?"

"Nothing."

"That wasn't nothing," he pointed out, pausing talking to pick up another instrument. "It's scary, but the bomb squad has it handled. The paramedic is in good hands."

Fury raged inside of Piper because, no, he didn't understand a thing. He was acting like he had it all together, but if he knew who it really was holding the bomb, he would fall apart.

A part of her wanted to tell him, just to see him burn.

In any other situation, she might have, but right now, she couldn't. There were other people involved and she couldn't endanger them just because she wanted to see Percy hurt just as bad as he had hurt Annabeth.

"So the weather's pretty nice, huh?" Piper said, looking around the room as though there was a window in a useless attempt to distract herself from what was going on just next door.

Percy clicked his tongue. "You know how people like to dumb things down by saying that it's not brain surgery?"

"Yeah."

"Well, this is brain surgery, so let's not have casual conversation about the weather."

Piper crossed her arms, imagining the sweet sense of relief that would arise if she could just get her hands on that scalpel and shank him with it. Percy didn't seem to notice.

"Did you get any updates on the paramedic?" Percy continued on, blatantly unaware of how hypocritical he was being given that he had basically just told Piper to shut up two seconds ago. "Because she must be a complete mess, don't you think?"

"I think… she's more than fine," she answered bitterly, biting her tongue.

"More than fine? That poor thing is probably terrified."

"Stop acting like she's a damsel in distress," Piper snapped. "She got herself into that situation."

"She made a mistake."

"A mistake that could kill everyone in this hospital."

Percy clicked his tongue. "If we punished people for their mistakes, you wouldn't be here. None of the interns would be here, and we would have no doctors. People make mistakes."

"Yeah, well, her mistake might have just ended Annabeth's life."

Percy fell silent and it took Piper way too many seconds of nervous jittering to realize what she had just said to her attending.

Oops.

"What do you mean ended Annabeth's life?"

"Nothing."

"McLean."

"It's not important."

"It was important enough for you to say it while I'm in the middle of a brain surgery, so by all means, go ahead."

She really shouldn't, and she knew it. He was an asshole who deserved to cry himself to sleep every night, but he was also an asshole who deserved to cry himself to sleep every night with a knife deep inside someone's brain. The poor patient with a brain tumor didn't deserve to die because of Percy's stupidity.

On the other hand, she already brought it up and he wasn't going to let it go now.

Fuck it, right?

Piper gave him a smile, dripping with apathy. If he wanted to know, then so be it. She was done cushioning his feelings. "The girl with the bomb? It's Annabeth."

A sick sense of satisfaction filled her as his face slowly fell and morphed into concern. His world came crumbling around him and Piper had the pleasure of watching it happen. It was a horrendous thought, but she couldn't help but see this as vengeance because maybe now he would know how it feels to lose the person you loved.

"Alright, Annabeth," Ethan said, watching the blood start filling the body cavity as the incision was spread a few more inches. "Wrap your hand around and start to pull it out slowly."

The ringing in her ears was deafening. She started to move her fingers to oblige, knowing that it was going to happen sooner or later, but she stopped as something dawned on her. She wasn't done. Not yet.

"Leo and Silena," Annabeth rushed, looking at Jason. "They shouldn't have to move out of the house. Make sure they get to stay there."

"No," Ethan insisted, knowing what she was doing. "Don't give up yet. You are going to make it out of here."

"And Piper— tell her that I love her. She's my person."

"Annabeth—"

If this was really her final moments living on a world so cruel, there was one more thing she needed.

She loved Percy.

She could never be with him. Not anymore. But still, she couldn't die knowing he thought she hated him. At one point she did, but she knows now that she hated that she had to let him go. She never hated him.

"Tell Percy I forgive him," she breathed, every nerve in her body on overdrive. "I forgive him for choosing her. She was his wife, and he loved her at one point, and he was obligated to give her a chance."

"Tell him yourself," Ethan demanded.

"He deserves to know," Annabeth stated firmly, looking around the table at the two people who barely knew her yet still stayed by her side. "He needs to know."

"And he will because you will tell him yourself."

Annabeth sobbed, shaking her head pleadingly. A sense of urgency filled her. "You need to tell him. You need to go— both of you. I won't survive this, but you can and should, so please, go find him and tell him."

"Annabeth," Ethan said. "Look at me."

She stayed with her eyes down, breathing choppy and heavy.

"Look at me," he repeated with more determination.

Her eyes slowly dragged to his, but she couldn't see through the burning tears lining her vision.

"I know you're scared. I know I'm just the stranger who has been telling you what to do all day, but I need you to trust me. I will get you out of this, but you need to do exactly what I say, so you do whatever it is you need to. Pretend I'm someone you love and trust— that I'm the guy grounding you to reality and let me lead you through this."

"I'm scared." Her voice was as small as she felt.

"I know, but you're alive. I promise I will get you out of this, okay?"

She shook her head and swallowed hard. There was only one thing left to do anymore. Time was linear and it never stopped moving, meaning that she had no choice anymore except resume her grasp around the bomb and pray.

She took his advice, imagining that there were only two people in that room. She pretended that it was Percy standing across from her, telling her that it would be okay. It was Percy that she had to do this for, to protect him.

If she couldn't do this for herself, then she would do it for him.

It would be over in a second.

So she began, pulling the device out slowly, inch by inch. It was agonizing, watching as the blood poured around her hand, waiting for the sharp impact of the blast.

She closed her eyes, doing everything in her power to keep it level, bringing it past the skin and into the open air, unable to hear or feel or be.

Only a second.

The tears were falling faster now, and she couldn't breathe. As she brought the bomb to Ethan's hand, still suffocating surrounded by air, she thought knew what was going to happen. The same thing she's thought all day.

When she set it into Ethan's hand, it felt incomplete as he looked at her earnestly.

"You did good."

And then she was forced to watch as he stepped away from the table, leaving her safe and in one piece, but with dread still coursing her veins. It was like slow motion, watching him take step after step out of the room.

She had been so sure.

Annabeth was supposed to die, but she didn't.

It was still there in the room, though. Death was still breathing down her neck, sending chills through her entire body, and something was wrong.

Ethan disappeared out of sight, and she blinked. The moment was over, but it wasn't. She was missing something right in front of her.

Annabeth didn't know she was moving until she already was halfway out the door, ignoring Jason's calls behind her. She was in a trance, everything moving agonizingly slow, and so when suddenly felt the spark of electricity through the air, there was nothing she could do except watch.

The bomb at last detonated with a deafening explosion, and the only thing she saw before she was sent flying backwards against the wall, slamming her head against the cement wall, was Ethan being blown to pieces.

As she tried to focus through the pain spreading from the base of her skull and the blood dripping from the deep cuts and bruises, she saw the spot where he had been standing just seconds before. There wasn't even a remote outline of him anymore. He was gone.

There was fire everywhere, burning stray papers, and there were bits of debris floating amongst the dust, burning holes into the walls and floor.

Annabeth laid there, unable to move. It could've been for minutes or hours or eternities, but she didn't move. The line between life and death was a fine one, and she wasn't sure which side she was on anymore.

She should've died.

Only once people appeared over her – people whose names she couldn't remember anymore – did she move. There were only a few people, kneeling next to her crumpled form on the floor, and they tried to get her to communicate, seeing if she was okay, but she was too busy staring at the spot where Ethan's life had ended.

The spot where hers should've ended.

The spot where she wished it would've.

People should really just say the things they mean.

From where Piper stood against the wall, she watched as people embraced each other, relieved that they had made it through the explosion. It was disgusting, knowing that they hadn't even been in danger, yet they were the most relieved.

Piper didn't get to hug her best friend because she was the one in real danger, at the front line of the blast. Oh, how it wasn't fair. Life was so fragile she now knew firsthand, and so people should say things while they had the chance.

Percy, for example, should've told Annabeth how much he loved her while he had the chance. Piper knew that those two were ridiculously in love the second he walked into the hospital lobby.

He was still dressed in his navy-blue scrubs, worry written onto his face. He took one quick look around, and Piper knew it was for Annabeth, but when he didn't find her, he was already approaching the chief.

Piper said nothing, watching the scene unfold.

"Where is she?" Percy demanded.

Apollo's back turned so he could face Percy, and he tilted his head as he tried to calm him. "She's okay."

"Where is she?" he asked again.

"She's right there."

Percy turned to look in the direction Apollo gestured, and then a girl was calling his name, but it wasn't Annabeth.

"Percy!" Rachel exclaimed, jumping into his arms and embracing him. Percy seemed disappointed, but he wrapped his arms around her anyways. The people around them smiled, glad the couple had found their way safely back to each other, but Piper knew better.

He wasn't looking for his wife at all. The person he met in college and chose to marry was not the person he wanted to see, and somehow, Piper was the only one who knew it.

He was so painfully in love with Annabeth. Piper doesn't know how neither of them saw it.

"That's not the she he was talking about," Piper whispered to Apollo, pressing off the wall and disappearing to go find the only person she wanted to see right now.

It didn't take long to slowly trace the walls of the hospital before she found Annabeth. The scene in front of her made Piper's heart break.

Annabeth was standing up in the locker room, supported by Leo and Silena on either side of her. She could barely stay upright as her friends helped guide her under the running water, gently rinsing the caked blood away from her skin. The water pooled beneath her, swirling with hints of blood that came from more than one person.

And she couldn't even wince as everything burned. Her skin, her mind, her eyes, her everything. It was destroyed, and she was a mess. She wasn't sure she would ever be anything but a mess anymore.

It was clear that Annabeth wasn't there anymore. She was deep within her own mind, having retreated to the only place she deemed safe anymore. The world was too cruel to be in. Undeserving people died, and bombs got placed inside body cavities, and this wasn't somewhere she wanted to be.

Fate was laughable. She had once heard a story of three old ladies, sitting and knitting. They would knit and knit until they cut the string, and that would be the end of someone's life. She could almost imagine them, holding Annabeth's string taut and ready to cut.

In what world does fate get to be the one to decide how things turn out? Who lives and who dies?

Annabeth had been so sure of her intuition. She had known that she was going to die today, but she didn't. Instead, death had taken the person who promised to lead her through it. Ethan didn't deserve to die, yet he was gone, right before her eyes.

Maybe she had been wrong all along. That feeling inside of her since the moment she woke up could've meant she was going to be surrounded by death, knowing it was her fault. It could've been the fact that she was going to cause someone to lose their life.

Or maybe, she hadn't been wrong at all. Perhaps she had simply cheated death. It was possible she knew that she was going to wish she was dead after having to stand there and know it was her fault.

By the time she was back home, she had spent too much time thinking to herself. Too much time wishing that she had taken the bomb out of the room so that Ethan could've lived. He was so nice to her and promised her she'd make it through. She just wished it didn't cost his own life.

The knock on the door offered her a tiny semblance of relief, and she stood from the couch to answer it. Every twitch of her muscles ached, and as she moved, the cuts on her body pulled at the tight skin, and it hurt so badly.

It was nothing, though, compared to the pain of seeing Percy stand right in front of her on the other side of the door, tall and perfect, green eyes gleaming in the moonlight.

"I wanted to see if you were okay," he offered in explanation, breaking the tense silence, but he didn't move towards her. She didn't move either. "I heard you were the one with the bomb…"

"Yeah." Annabeth's hand stayed on the doorframe, ready to swing it shut at any given moment. She wanted to just fall into his arms, and that was a dangerous game. She was playing with fire, and she was bound to get burned.

"I guess you're doing alright."

Annabeth stayed silent, pretending not to notice him look her up and down, his eyes lingering on the stitches on her face. His hand twitched, and she knew he wanted to lift his fingers to caress her face softly like he used to do all those nights ago when there was nothing but them.

"I'm sorry," he said, already retreating back down the front porch. He wouldn't be able to stay in control otherwise. "I shouldn't have come."

She didn't want him to leave, but she didn't know what to say, so she simply called out to him. "Percy."

He stopped for only a moment, looking at her, and when she didn't speak any further, he did it for her.

"Annabeth," he breathed, still keeping the distance between them. He chose to bite first. "I love you so much it hurts."

She still didn't say anything, letting him go on. He was the one who left, and it was his job if he wanted to come back.

"I was worried," he admitted. "I love you."

"I love you too," she said, but she knew it wouldn't make a difference. She could sense from the way he was talking that it wouldn't change anything.

"I'm just glad you're okay."

"Define okay," she managed, glaring at him. It annoyed her how she couldn't control her feelings anymore. They both knew what she meant underneath her words. She wasn't referring to the bomb at all anymore. She was referring to them. "I hardly think we're okay."

"Annabeth—"

"I can't even remember the last time we were happy together."

He stuffed his hands into his pockets, waiting for her to continue.

"You say you love me, but something tells me that you're going to walk away again in a few seconds."

"I do love you, but I have a wife."

"Do you love her as much as you love me?" And she hated the way she sounded, desperate and begging for him to be hers. She never wanted to be the person to say choose me.

His silence was enough answer for her. He didn't want to admit that he did, but he was too afraid to leave.

"You don't have to be with her."

"I owe it to her to try."

"You owe it to her to be realistic. You're making her think that you two are okay. You're leading her on. Do you seriously think that things will go back to the way they were for you two?"

"I need to try."

"It should really tell you something," Annabeth managed calmly, "when there's a bomb in the hospital where your wife and dirty mistress both work at, and you come to me."

"I'm allowed to be concerned!"

"You know what?" Annabeth raised her hands in defeat. "Do whatever. Just get off my porch and don't come back. Go be with your wife that you're oh-so-desperate to see and leave me alone."

"I am trying here."

"To do what? You tell me that you love me, but you keep going back to the person who cheated on you."

"I cheated on her too."

"Oh, so that's what I am to you?" Annabeth snorted. "Fantastic. Go away."

Percy grabbed her wrist so that when she tried to pull away, she couldn't twist out of his hold. She resisted for a little while longer, refusing to lose without putting up a fight, before she gave up and settled for glaring at him.

"You are a terrible human being!" Annabeth yanked her hand away, wincing slightly as her bones cracked. "You turn left and right, destroying everything I loved without so much as a second glance."

"Is that what you think I'm going? Destroying everything you love?"

"You destroyed us."

Percy rolled his eyes, but he didn't leave. He stayed, listening to what she had to say.

"I was going to forgive you today, you know?" Annabeth laughed at herself. "I was actually about to die and the only thing I could think of was you. I haven't even known you a year and I love you so much that you were literally the only thing on my mind, and all I wanted to say was that I understood why you did what you did."

"Then why are you picking a fight with me?"

"I don't understand why you chose your wife anymore. You're clearly not happy, and neither is she. Your wife is at home wondering where you are and what she did wrong, and you're standing here in front of me, so I really don't get why you're still choosing your wife. You two were over before it started."

"I don't know what you want me to say."

"That sounds an awful lot like something someone who knows they're in the wrong would say."

"I give up." Percy nipped at the inside of his cheek. "What do you want me to do? Say it and I will."

"I want you to leave because as long as you're standing here, I won't be able to get over you, and I need to move on. You've had time to choose, and now that time has come to an end, so leave."

"Is that really what you want?"

Annabeth wanted to scream at him. It was the last thing she wanted, but she couldn't live like this. He was her poison, and as long as he was there, she would always pick him.

She doesn't even know how it's come to this. Annabeth was never the girl to beg. She could never put her pride aside long enough to do it, but now she was, and it was ruining her life. She was falling behind in the game of life, and it had to stop.

She loved him. Somewhere along the way, she met him and fell in love, and it was crazy to think that it had happened. But then again, maybe not. Time didn't matter— the only thing that mattered was how she felt, and she felt like she loved him.

It was destroying her.

That was why he had to leave. It hurt because he was right there, but she couldn't let what they once had burn her down anymore.

"Yes," she said, looking him directly in the eyes. "I want you to leave."

Percy nodded once, and he looked like he wanted to say something, but his shoulders fell and then he did as she said, leaving her standing on her front porch under the flickering light. The air around her was chilly on her bare skin and softly blowing her damp curls, but it was an appropriate feeling for the moment where there was an aching void in her chest.

Annabeth watched as he disappeared into the distance, and then she watched some more until she decided to head back inside. As she shut the door behind her, she let herself just feel for the things she lost today.

There had been so many twists and turns, but she was right back where she started again, feeling like she was going to die. She might as well have, and maybe that's what she had been feeling all along.

Ethan had died, and he took a part of Annabeth with him. What she and Percy had died, and that too took a part of Annabeth, leaving her with nothing but crumbling ruins.

Death. It was a funny thing. It took so much more than just life until you were better off not living at all.

Sorry for the wait and the length but hope you enjoyed. I've posted five long stories since last updating this just in case anyone's interested. Follow me on tumblr if you'd like (annabethy); I love taking small requests there (which I'm debating on whether or not I should post those here).

Thanks for reading babes, love you.