Breathe (Percabeth AU)

XXXIV: The Save

"Juniper's mom is a nurse!" Grover exclaimed, suddenly not paralyzed anymore. "She's out of town but June might know how to help."

"Okay, where does she live?" Beckendorf asked, snapping his fingers in front of Will's eyes to keep him awake. Thalia forced a water bottle to his lips and helped him drink.

"20 minutes away—"

"We don't have that kind of time," Thalia reminded.

Percy continued driving, trying to focus on the road. "We're going to the only person I can think of who might know what to do," he said finally.

They all understood and went back to their respectful quiet panic, Grover calling Juniper and telling her to hurry.

Percy whipped into Annabeth's driveway and cut the engine, jumping out with everyone else. Thalia and Beckendorf worked quickly to get Will out of the car, his face beneath the blood and bruises gaunt and pale. His teeth began to clatter as his body shivered almost violently.

"Annabeth!" Percy started hollering from the walkway. The lights were on inside and he was praying that she could hear him as they stumbled as quickly as they could to the door, Will could barely walk. "ANNABETH!"

They made it to the door and Thalia started pounding.

A muffled, "I'm coming!" was followed by hurried footsteps. The door swung open to reveal Annabeth, her face first confused before dropping to shock. She quickly moved aside as they ushered Will inside, his feet beginning to go completely slack. They laid him on the dining room table as carefully as they could.

"What happened?!" Annabeth demanded, rushing to Will's side. Percy watched as she clutched his hand and he weakly attempted to reciprocate. He was looking worse by the second.

"We're pretty sure Sloan and Nakamara beat the shit out of him. All we know was that we got a call saying that he was hurt on Crawford and to come get him. We found him... like this," Beckendorf explained curtly. Percy was thankful for that because he wasn't sure he would be able to.

"And you didn't bring him to a hospital?"

"We couldn't, his—"

"His dad, right," she sighed in realization, running a hand through her hair.

"Juniper said she should be here in ten minutes," Grover announced.

"Juniper's coming to help because her mom's a nurse. But right now, Will's bleeding out so those three years of scrubs club better kick in," Thalia said.

"Thalia, being a part of an after school club does not make me a doctor, not to mention when the president of said club is on the table!" Annabeth exclaimed. Will probably would have been telling them what to do if he weren't so close to unconsciousness. It was taking all his energy just to keep his eyes open.

"I didn't know where else to go, Annabeth." Percy suddenly met her eyes and he could see the fear on her face, and he knew she had realized how terrified he was.

"Alright, it's gonna be okay," she said, nodding at Percy reassuringly and looking back to Will. "Look at me, we're gonna get through this. But I need you to fight for me. Can you do that?"

Will groaned what sounded like an okay, nodding weakly.

"Someone get me scissors," Annabeth said. "Grover, there's peroxide in the bathroom cabinet. Percy get me towels from the basement. Beckendorf, keep the pressure on that wound." Percy obeyed as Annabeth ran to the freezer, getting an ice pack for Will's busted face. Behind their solemn expressions and focus was nothing but panic and fear—their determination to save their friend was the only thing keeping them together. At least, that was the case for Percy. His hands shook as he carried the towels back to the kitchen.