When she woke up, Rory was confused, and she could feel something on her arm. Her head was still thick and she couldn't tell where she was. She looked around the room and saw that she was in the infirmary and Annabeth was lying on her arm fast asleep. She tried to move but her head throbbed causing her to groan quietly. Annabeth woke up and immediately looked at Rory. The first thing she noticed was her bloodshot and puffy eyes. There were tear streaks running down her face and her hair was a mess.
"Oh Gods....oh Gods you're awake! Will! Will!" Annabeth called. The sudden noise made her head throb. She sat up and moved to a kneeling position on the bed. "Oh my Gods are you ok? What happened Rory tell me you're ok!" Rory couldn't find the words, instead nodding.
Will walked through the door and immediately started checking Rory over. Throughout the whole ordeal she refused to make eye contact with either one of them. Annabeth stayed perched on the edge if the bed until Will was finished.
"Well, her vitals are back to normal. As I said, you are going to have to stay for a while, just to make sure you don't have another incident." Rory nodded and turned to stare at the ceiling without saying anything. "I'm gonna give you guys a minute." With that he left.
Annaneth and Rory sat in silence for a minute. "How do you feel?" Annabeth asked. Rory rolled over and looked her in the eyes. Her eyes were dark and gloomy, her face stone cold. "Did something happen?" she pressed. Rory remained silent but her eyes watered.
"You can tell me, you know. If something happened you can tell me." Rory moved closer to her and rested her head on Annabeth's knee. "I don't know if you could hear anything I said, but if you didn't then I'll say it again. I care about you, big time." Saying the words while Rory was conscious was almost harder. "I was so scared that weren't gonna wake up," her voice was hoarse. Rory stopped her from talking by pulling her into a hug. Annabeth was shocked but hugged her tight. "Please, tell me if there is anything I can do. I don't want to lose you," she whispered. Rory pulled back and looked her in the eyes.
"I'll try." Her voice was so quiet. It broke Annabeth's heart to hear Rory sound that broken. She wanted to make her feel better, to get her back to her old self. She didn't mean to, but she couldn't help but feel protective over the her. Annabeth wanted to keep her there and make sure she didn't get hurt again. It wasn't long before Rory was nuzzling into Annabeth's shoulder.
She started to move to leave but Rory tightened her grip around her and mumbled; "Please don't go. I don't think I can be alone." Rory pulled her down and into the bed. Stunned, Annabeth lifted up the sheets and slipped in. Rory moved over slightly and wrapped her arms around her torso. She let out a sigh and whispered something unintelligible.
"Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere. Not if I can help it." Annabeth meant what she said. Rory was her friend but she couldn't bring herself to tell her what happened. To tell her that she had been unconscious for that long. She would find out, of course, and she would be angry, but hearing that she had been unconscious for a week would wreck her, and Annabeth couldn't do that. She hoped that Rory didn't notice her unease.
Rory fell asleep in minutes, no matter how hard she fought it. Strangely, she didn't dream at all. She was once again stuck in the black room. At first she panicked that she had fallen back into that strange other world she was in. She could still feel Annabeth next to her and she was able to calm herself down. This time, there was no figure waiting for her.
Her main concern was Annabeth. She seemed so stressed, like she wasn't sleeping or something. Rory also had no clue how long she had been out. An hour? A day? Her thoughts were amplified, displayed as pictures around her. She still couldn't figure out how to wake herself up, though. It worried her, that she might not wake up for another Gods know how long, and that some random thing was talking to her via her head. If a mortal were to hear that said somewhere she'd be shipped to a mental hospital. The thought made her laugh.
Rory had tried to find some kind of wall, or ceiling, or door, but had ended up walking in one direction for what felt like hours. She hated being trapped there. There was nothing that she could do. Nothing to build or fidget with. ADHD was a bitch.
After what felt like years her eyes opened. She was relieved to find herself still in the infirmary next to Annabeth. Rory was glad to see her still asleep; she was peaceful like that. She took a deep breath and her eyes fluttered open.
"Hey, look who's awake," she grumbled. Rory rolled her eyes as best she could without burning her brain.
"How long was I out?" She asked timidly.
"Uh...not sure. An hour mabye? Not much more than that I think," came the reply. Rory let out a sigh of relief. "Were you worried or something?" Annabeth asked propping herself up on her elbows. Rory nodded her head and buried it in the crook of her neck, something she found herself doing far more often now. She felt Annabeth wrap her arms around her torso. She felt safe, more than anything. She didn't want to leave. Rory feared that if she were to stay sleep would creep up on her again and she would be forced to go back to that waking nightmare.
It wouldn't be long before Annaneth figured something was wrong, she was clever like that; always managing to know when something wasn't quiet right. Rory wanted to talk to her, but when she tried she couldn't manage get the words right. Her thoughts felt so clear, yet so scrambled at the same time. She was stuck in a constant state of feeling nothing and everything at the same time.
After a few minutes of laying in silence, Annabeth found the courage to break it. "I feel like we should talk." She didn't mean for it to sound so curt, but she didn't know how else to say it. The guilt of not telling her how long she had been unconscious was eating her alive. Rory propped herself up on her elbows and held back a wince.
"Yeah."
"Will and I didn't exactly tell you the whole thing," she began. "You were unconscious for...seven days." She sucked in a breath, waiting to be bombarded with questions. The silence was worse. Rory was just staring, eyes and face blank. "Please don't be mad. I wanted to tell you but I thought-" she was cut off by Rory.
"Please don't. I'm not- I- why would I be angry?" Her voice was barely above a whisper. The words were muddled and rushed. Annabeth let out the breath she had been holding.
"Are you sure? I would understand if-" once again she was cut off mid sentence.
"I'm not mad. Please don't beat yourself up over this." Rory put her head back on the pillow. "Now lay down Smart-ass." Annabeth chuckled and did as she was told.
"What's with the nickname?" She asked. Rory looked thoughtful.
"Not sure. Just seems to sum you up pretty well." Annabeth faked offence and let out an over dramatic gasp. She was glad that it made Rory laugh. It had been a week since she had heard it. It was a beautiful and it made her heart flutter slightly. She had clearly been staring because Rory looked confused.
"What are you looking at?" Annabeth shook her head.
"Nothing. Guess I'm just dozing off." Rory smiled and pushed herself closer.
"Don't let me fall asleep too long. Please." She whispered. Her eyes fluttered closed and Annabeth was alone. Rory's rhythmic breathing eventually lulled her to sleep aswell.
* * *
Annabeth's dream was very different from what she expected. Instead of camp she was sitting in a coffee shop. The sun was shining through the windows, the weather was warm. It felt so perfect that Annabeth immediately assumed something bad would happen. Nothing did.
She felt like she was waiting for something. There were only a few customers milling about. Content, Annabeth waited.
The bell rang indicating a new customer. Annabeth looked and saw Rory standing in the door way. She was wearing a light black summer dress with a colourful flower pattern. Her hair was down and curled. Annabeth knew she was staring so she looked to the floor. She heard footsteps comming closer until they were right next to her. Looking up she saw Rory standing next to her.
"Hi. I take it you're Annabeth?" She asked smiling. She was taken aback but played along.
"Yes that's me. You're Rory then?" She nodded and took the seat across from her. Up close, Annabeth could see she was wearing a small amount of makeup. It was odd seeing her without some form of dirt on her skin, but she looked beautiful. She had a light spray of freckles across her nose, something Annabeth had never noticed before.
"Sorry if I'm being awkward. I've never been on a blind date before." Annabeth's heart skipped a beat. Date. Rory's cheeks had turned a light pink.
"Don't worry. I haven't either," she replied. "You look nice." Rory smiled.
"Thanks. You do too. Do you want me to get you something to drink?" Rory asked. Annabeth smiled.
"Caramel latte, please." She watched Rory walk to the counter and start ordering. Maybe this was what her life could've been like. Maybe this was some kind if glimpse into her life had it been normal.
Rory came back to the table carry two drinks; one latte and an iced coffee. "Don't worry about paying," she said sitting down. Annabeth felt like she had so many things to say, but she couldn't get the words out.
"What if we did a 'get to know each other' game? You say an answer, and I'll guess the question," Rory suggested. Annabeth nodded.
"Pizza."
"Favourite food?"
"Spiders." Rory looked thoughtful.
"Favourite animal?" Annabeth burst out laughing.
"Nope. Worst fear."
Annabeth had no clue how long the game continued, but it felt so right she didn't want to wake up. When she did, she came face to face with Rory. Their faces were so close Ananbeth could feel her breath on her cheek. Their limbs were completly tangled, so that when she tried to move Rory's eyes shot open. She looked at Annabeth quizically before slowly trying to retract her arms and legs. Annabeth sat up and perched herself back on the side of the bed.
"I think we should get up before we fall asleep again." Rory nodded. She climbed out of the bed stiffly, wincing every time she moved to much or too fast. Annabeth offered her arm and Rory took it.
"Where to?" Annabeth asked as they walked out of the infirmary. Rory shrugged. "We should probably eat something. I think it's lunch." Together they walked across camp to the dining pavilion.
Rory tried to walk by herself to the Hepheastus table but her knees buckled. Thankfully, Annabeth was there to catch her before she fell. She felt so weak and useless. Like she couldn't do anything by herself anymore. Annabeth helped her walk to her table and she sat down next Leo.
"Hey! Look who's back from the dead!" he exclaimed. Rory laughed. She took her plate and ate without looking what it was. She glanced up and found herself searching the Athena table for Annabeth. She was talking with her siblings but Rory could see she was thinking about something. She always had that far off intense look in her eyes.
* * *
The dream kept playing in Annabeth's head. Over and over again but she couldn't make sense of it. She knew that Demi-God dreams could be weird, but they would always mean something. She had no idea why she would dream something like that.
She could see Rory watching her from across the pavilion. It felt like her stomach was filled with butterflies. Annabeth looked down and picked at her food. Why did she suddenly feel like this? She shook her head trying to clear it. It didn't help. She looked up again and saw that Rory was talking with Leo. He seemed to be laughing about something, but Rory seemed agitated. She was leaning in close to him, clearly whispering. The other campers on the table were also laughing, causing Rory to send death glares to all of them.
One of her siblings nudged her in the ribs. She turned and saw Malcom waggling his eyebrows. "Who you lookin' at?"
Annabeth's cheeks turned a deep shade of red. "What do you mean?" she asked. Malcom rolled his eyes and let out an exaggerated sigh. Annabeth turned around and ignored him. She looked over at the Hepheastus table and made brief eye contact with Rory. She couldn't shake the feeling that something was about to change.