Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Chapter 1: The beginning.

The first thing Percy’s brain registered when he woke up was: wind. He was falling… again, and this time he wasn’t sure where to or why. One minute, he had been in Olympus, and the next, the floor underneath him disappeared. He wished he could say he had it coming with how he usually spoke to Gods, but this time he had been on his best behavior, just as he had promised Annabeth.

It was the winter solstice. They were supposed to be there to give the new demigods a rundown of the demigods' experience and a quick tour through Olympus, while the doors to Olympus were open to them. The kids were excited, and to be honest, he was too. This was the first time since the second war ended, two years ago, that they were allowed back to Olympus. (No one really knew why. The Gods had gone silent right after the war ended, and communications only restarted almost a year later. They never explained why the silence, and my father had only said not to worry about it.)

It was also the first time he would see all the new buildings and improvements Annabeth had been working on. She had been allowed into Olympus only a few months ago and wasted no time retaking the project. Truth be told, her own words, not mine, there was still a lot of work to do, enough to last a lifetime. It didn’t make a difference to me. I was still so proud of her, no matter what.

He and Annabeth met in the lobby of the Empire State that morning. They were waiting with the kids for the elevator to come down, glad to have somewhere to hide from the cold outside.

“Ok. Listen to me. We are going up in two groups of 6! The first group goes with Annabeth and the second goes with me,” I said. All the kids nodded in unison.

“You know I actually forgot how good you are with the younger ones,” Annabeth said with a smile.

“Well, for once I appreciate being the hero of Olympus, it comes with its perks… sometimes” I responded half laughing, while holding the elevators door making sure all kids in Anabeth’s group went in. After a few minutes, and two elevator rides later, we were all outside the throne room.

“I can´t believe it's been almost a year since I last saw you.”

“We were both busy, and I didn’t think I was ready to see you after you know…” She trailed off.

“Yeah, I know we said it was a mutual agreement, but I wasn’t ready either,” I responded, scratching my head.

Annabeth and I, despite literally being to hell and back, couldn’t be together anymore. After moving to New Rome for college and trying to balance our relationship and school, we failed miserably. I was having a hard time adjusting to classes, and the nightmares kept coming. I was barely sleeping at all. It came to a point where I spent more time at sea, drifting away, than with Annabeth or in class. And Annabeth was struggling too. She was taking Uni like a fish on the sea (no pun intended) but trying to make friends and keeping a barely present boyfriend in check, while supervising her project at Olympus was a struggle. As hard and painful as it was to admit, we were growing apart and had nothing in common anymore, except trauma, and even then, it was painful and hard to cope with. So, they decided to break up. It was better that way, healthier, he reminded himself.

He went back to New York, to the camp. It was easier than staying in New Rome, trying to hold onto a normalcy that never really existed. Frank and Hazel had offered him a place in the legion, but as much as he loved them, it didn’t sit well with him. Camp Half-Blood was his home after all.

“Percy? Did you feel that?” A tinge of panic in Annabeth's voice brought him back to the present. They were at the end of the tour near one of the many ponds in the big garden in the middle of the temples.

“Feel what?” As soon as the words left his mouth, the floor underneath them trembled with a resounding echo traveling through the air. “Oh… that.” They locked eyes for a second and sprang into action.

“Everyone, let's head back to the throne room!” Both of them guided the kids back without looking too worried. Quickly but calmly, so as not to make them panic. When they arrived, the gods were looking nervous and confused.

“Percy!” a voice raised above the others to his left.

“Dad? What’s going on?”

“Nothing too bad, I hope. This wasn’t my brother’s doing. Something felt off a moment before Olympus started trembling, but we’re not sure what caused it yet.”

“Ok, so we just have to get the other demigods out of here before it happens again.”

Poseidon nodded. “It will be for the best, yes. Be careful.” He said while pushing me in Annabeth’s direction.

“We have to go,” I said, and Anabeth just nodded.

“We are missing Tadeus!” a 13-year-old, son of Hermes shouted. Annabeth looked at me and I sighed.

“Take the kids to the elevator doors. Send the first group down. I’ll look for the kid and meet you there.”

“Percy, wait! We don’t know what’s happening, we can’t split now.”

“We need to find the kid, and one of us must stay with the others, and make sure they go back down safely. It’ll be ok. I won’t take long.”

Annabeth gave me one last look before leading the young ones back to the elevator. I glanced over the throne room looking for Tadeus but he was not there. I tried going back to the temples, thinking maybe the kid was back in the garden when the floor shook again and it suddenly disappeared. The last thing I saw was the sky. A voice rang in my head “You’ve done enough for this world little hero; a new one awaits you.” And everything went dark.

Chapter Text

Percy disliked the feeling of falling… again. He fell for what felt like an eternity…again. This brought back memories he would rather forget, those that still kept him awake at night. He noticed the telltale signs of a panic attack - hot, suffocating, and sulfur-like air- and he knew he needed to breathe. Wherever he was falling to - a smokey red atmosphere and monsters everywhere- Annabeth wasn’t here to help this time. The wind rang in Percy’s ears, and the air suddenly became colder (that’s what pulled him back to the present: cold air, not hot), more humid. There was nothing to see except the night sky and big grey clouds. (If he were given a penny for every time he fell into the abyss, he would have two, which isn’t much, but it’s weird it happened twice. Just his luck.)

Suddenly, the skyline of a city came into sight. He was approaching land, and he didn’t know how to stop. Panic started to settle in again. He tried to think, to move, to do anything, but the pavement was approaching fast. He closed his eyes, trying to feel for water to mitigate the fall (preferably not a river with thousands of voices that beg him to give up), anything that could help him from becoming a splat on the ground. There, the silhouette of a lake came into sight, and he felt the familiar tug in his stomach. He tried concentrating to call a stream of water towards him. He succeeded… almost. His aimed was shit because instead of being sallow by the lake, like he intended, he hit the grass surrounding it… hard… but not hard enough to end up splattered across it (small mercies). He stayed there, face down on the concrete, still trembling in fear, and wet. Enough, he thought. He turned around and sat still for a second, trying to evaluate his injuries.

Well, he wasn’t too bad. Mostly bruises here and there, where his knees and torso hit the ground, a mild concussion… probably… and a sore throat from all the screaming.  He didn’t wait around to see if anyone saw him and started walking. It must have been the middle of the night because the streets were almost empty, at least the park where he fell was. As soon as he was out of the park and onto the street, he chose the nearest alley to hide and take a breather. Percy looked around, suddenly on alert, and found one end of the alley being blocked by a guy on a motorcycle and a bright red helmet.

The guy on the motorcycle looked right at him with and with a mix of confusion and shock he heard the stranger say. “What the actual fuck? Hey Dickwing, it's raining men… no, literally.”

--------

Jason was trying to have a normal patrol for once. It was late at night, and nothing too interesting had happened yet. He was in a decently good mood, and he was already thinking of cutting his patrol short; He was covering Tim’s patrol, and it was one of those slow nights. But God forbids he has a normal day, and no more than 2 seconds after he decided, a screaming voice coming from above caught his attention. Looking up to see what on earth was going on, he saw a figure approaching rapidly to the ground. He took off on the motorcycle, trying to calculate where the screaming guy was most likely to land (Robinson Park most likely).

He was about to catch on (Ivy was gonna be so upset that he drove the motorcycle into the park) when a bunch of water seemed to sprout from the lake and surrounded the guy, effectively cushioning the fall. Not enough to not hurt, but enough to not kill him. Jason saw the man stand up and run, (so, he was alive, good, but what the fuck.) then disappeared into one of the allies nearby. Jason sped up out of the park and arrived just in time to see the man (kid? He looked young but tall) leaning against the wall and looking around. Jason stood there and looked at the boy.

“What the actual fuck? Hey Dickwing, it's raining men.” He said, pressing on the comms.

“Is this some kind of joke? Because if it is I'm not getting it,” His brother answered, slightly annoyed.

“No, literally.”

“… what?”

“A dude just fell from the sky and landed on Robinson Park.”

“I can confirm that, I see him on the cameras,” A third voice chimed in, “I’m sending you their location.”

“Is… Is he ok?”

“Maybe, wait…”

Jason got off the motorcycle and walked toward the kid. He looked young, maybe 18 or 19, definitely younger than him, but not by much. Black wild hair and bright ocean-green eyes, tanned skin.

“Hey dude, are you ok?” The kid looked up, meeting Jason’s eyes.

“I think so… where am I?”

“Gotham”

The kid looked at him, confused and startled. Still shaking because of the fall. “Where?”

“Gotham?” Jason repeated.

“No, I heard ya… I just don’t know what that is,” The newcomer answered, in a very New Yorker accent.

“New Jersey. I don’t think you should be moving.”

“Huh… weird,” The kid said, “Could’ve sworn there was no Gotham city in Jersey, but my geography’s not the best.”

“Hood, what’s going on? I’m almost there.” Dick’s voice came thru the comms. “I said, wait,” I answered a little annoyed.

“I am? What am I waiting for?” New Yorker kid said.

“Not you. Who are you anyway?” Jason asked, “And how the hell are you alive?”

“Uhm…” the kid tensed and hesitated, “I’ve asked myself that all the time,” he continued with a half-smile. “Well… bye.” And then he started to run.

Oh, hell no, Jason thought and sprinted after him. “Kid’s running, but I don’t think he knows where he’s going.” He spoke to the comms. Dick’s reply went unheard; Jason was already focus on the kid running ahead. He turned left, continued straight for three blocks, then left again. He was fast, faster than Jason had anticipated, and he was struggling to keep up. Jason saw the kid running back into the park and tried to run after him, but the newcomer had already disappeared.

“What happened?” He heard Dick approaching him.

“He ran as soon as I asked for his name, lost him in the park,” Jason answered, “O, can you see him?”

“No, we don’t have many cameras in the park. I already called for backup, but the others are answering a robbery call in the diamond district.”

“There’s no point, if he’s smart, he will keep moving and by the time the others get here he probably be somewhere else.” Dick said, “Did he looked injured.”

If Jason knew him as well as he prides himself to then he knew that Dick was already worrying.

“No, just bruised as far as I could tell,” He answered, already analyzing what happened, “Maybe he’s a meta, I saw water coming out from the lake to surround him, that saved him from ending like an egg.”

Dick looked like he wanted to scold him, but only said, “We’ll keep looking tomorrow then, c’mon we still have to finish patrol.”

Chapter Text

Percy wasn’t sure what had set him off like that. The moment the motorcycle guy blocked one end of the alley, he felt goosebumps throughout his entire body, but this was a perfect moment to get some information, so he stayed put. He was having a nice, and confusing, conversation with this stranger about a Gotham in New Jersey (what a weird name for a city, but he didn’t expect much from New Jersey), when he suddenly felt like something was wrong. As soon as the stranger asked for his name (more like who he was, which in all honesty is a perfectly reasonable question when you find a stranger falling from the sky into your city), a voice in his head told him to run, fast; so, he did. The guy, despite being huge and bulky, was fast. Not as fast as him, mind you, but fast still.

Percy was in a city he knew nothing about. He felt lost, tired, and everything hurt, and this dude would just not stop! His fastest solution was to get back to the park; the trees could help cover him until he could get to the water, and that’s what he did. He climbed a nearby tree up high and waited. Another man, dressed in a black bodysuit with a blue bird on his chest, arrived, and Percy could hear them talk to each other about him.

“No, just bruised as far as I could tell,” The one in the red helmet said, “Maybe he’s a meta, I saw water coming out from the lake to surround him.” What on hades is a meta? Percy had no idea; “that saved him from ending like an egg,” the guy continued with humor. Very funny, man, Percy thought, I’m glad my tragedy makes you laugh.

“We’ll keep looking tomorrow then, c’mon, we still have to finish patrol.” The one in the skintight bodysuit answered. Great, now he has two weird dudes looking for him. At least the second one didn’t know what Percy looked like.

Percy only climbed down the tree when he was sure they were well gone and walked back to the lake to heal himself. He jumped straight into the water. If he was lucky (ha!), maybe he could find a fish or naiad who could tell him where the fuck he is.

...

He failed miserably, of course.

There were fish around, but all of them swam away from him when he tried to approach them. When he tried calling for them all, all he heard back was “No, my lord, don’t hurt us, please stay away.” He tried once more, but to no avail.

“Please,” he called them back, “I just need to know where I am”

“They will not answer, no matter how much you plead.” A feminine voice answered from behind him. It sounded familiar, but he couldn’t place it.

He turned around only to find a vaguely feminine figure: green algae floating around to form her shape.

“Will you?” Percy asked, Riptide already in his hand.

“Go back up, find a way to survive in this city, and you’ll find the answers you seek soon enough,” Algae lady answered.

“Lady, I don’t know who you are, and I’m tired of the mystery games. Either give me answers or send me back to my world,” He said, already getting angry.

He tried to move closer to her, squaring his shoulders and preparing to fight. The algae lady was faster, dissipating into a bunch of algae already pooling together at the bottom of the lake.

“You won’t be able to leave this city, don’t bother trying.” She said with a little laugh in her voice. “Don’t disappoint me, little hero. I’ll be watching you…”  She continued, the voice sounding far away.

“AAHH! This shit can’t be happening again, seriously! C’mon!” He shouted at nothing.

Frustrated, angry, and tired, Percy made his way back up. Pulling himself out of the water and drying himself, he started walking aimlessly out of the park and into the streets once more. Only then did he realize that the sun was already coming up, and with that, he knew that the only thing he could do for now was to find refuge and food. Not necessarily in that order, but you get the gist. He walked behind the nearest building and made a mental inventory of the things in his pockets: Riptide on his right front pocket, one gum and a small bag of ambrosia (just in case) in his left front pocket, his wallet on his back right pocket with a grand total of $15, three drachmas, and his driver’s license; nothing on the last pocket.

That morning, when he had left camp with a bunch of young demigods, he hadn’t thought he would need much, so he didn’t bother grabbing his backpack. Well, his mistake, he supposed. He totally should have anticipated he was going to be kidnapped (again) and sent to Gods knows where. He sighed and tried to loosen his shoulders. He wasn’t dumb, and this wasn’t even the first time he was in an unknown city with nothing but his sword. He took his time to look around, and judging by well-kept buildings and somewhat clean-ish streets, this was, almost certainly, a nice part of the city, or at the very least not the shittiest. All he needed was to find a family mart or a corner street to find a bit of food. Or a map... that would be helpful. A newspaper could work too; that way he could, at least, know the date and read something about the city.

As soon as Percy found a 7/11, he felt ten times more relieved. Turns out big company food chains weren’t that different from his world, nor were they hard to find. He spent the outstanding amount of $5 on a local map, with the 5 most common spots to find your favorite vigilante (Whatever that means), and $1.5 on a crumpled newspaper. No food, though. Who knew sandwiches were that expensive? Percy had basically just circled around the park, with the streets getting busier by the minute; he didn’t want to risk going too far from the familiarity of the park. That and people were looking at him with a certain amount of disgust and disdain, whatever. After a quick look at the map, he guessed his best bet for now was the library.

It wasn’t very far away from where he was, according to the map. When he finally arrived, an old lady sitting behind the front desk asked for his library card. He scanned the place and remained alert; she didn’t scream monster, but it wouldn’t be the first time one attacked him disguised as an old lady. She didn’t look suspicious, so Percy tried to explain that he was new to the city and didn’t have one. She looked at him unimpressed and gave him an application form and a pen. Deciding the lady wasn’t a threat, he sighed and looked over at the form, the letters already moving around the paper.

“I’m sorry, I’m dyslexic,” Percy said apologetically. “And I don’t have a proper address.”

After what seemed like ages, and with the help of the library lady (she said her name was Esther), he finally filled in the application.

“You’ll have to come back to pick up the card. In the meantime, you can use the guest credentials to access the computers,” Esther said, and scribble a user ID and a password on the back of his copy of the application. Percy thanked her and went in. He found a desk near the back and sat in the chair facing the entrance.

The library was nothing special. Old, barely kept. It was clear it had seen way better days. He dedicated the next couple of hours to struggling with reading the newspaper he bought earlier. Everything he read kept getting weirder and weirder. He wasn’t sure if he was misreading the articles or if they were as convoluted as they sounded.

“Red Robin and Spoiler stopped a bank robbery.”

“Batman and Robin send Riddler back to Arkham.”

“Red Hood starts a shooting at the Iceberg lounge, the Penguin complains of costly damage.”

Seriously, what the fuck is this city?

Chapter Text

Anabeth was a mess.

Since Percy's disappearance two days ago, she had been going on autopilot. Everyone was worried; Olympus was closed, and both camps were in complete chaos.

She couldn’t even understand how it had happened. They had been safe; Percy had been joking around with the younger demigods, and everyone was perfectly safe. They were supposed to… It was the Olympus, not some shady place, but… Olympus. They were surrounded by Gods, powerful beings. This was not supposed to happen. Not again. Not after everything had gone through. Not after finally getting a life of their own…

“Annabeth? Are you ok?” a familiar voice interrupted her thoughts.

Her eyes focus on the guy in front of her. Nico. He had grown taller than the last time she saw him. Still thin but not unhealthily so. His cheeks had a bit of color in them now, and his frame was broader. He looked different from the kid she had last seen, happier, maybe. She was glad. He deserved it.

But now he was looking at her with worry in his eyes.

“Yes, ok, I’m sorry. You were saying...” She answered.

“The underworld is sealed. I thought my father might be able to tell me something, but as soon as I stepped into the underworld, Charonte stopped me. He said no demigods were allowed in, not even me”. Nico repeated, and then he sighed; he passed one hand over his hair. “I try going in anyway, but a shadow pulled me out. I haven’t been able to work a way around it yet”.

“So, we know nothing then. We’re basically in the dark”. She said, voice echoing in Rachel’s cave.

“Basically… Have you heard from the others?” Nico asked.

“Hazel, Frank, and Reyna are trying to coordinate the investigation with what they have in New Rome. Piper said she was going to contact Leo, and they would both come here as soon as possible. Jason is on his way to Camp Jupiter. I also sent Grover a message, but he hasn’t answered yet”. Anabeth said, keeping her eyes on the floor. She couldn’t even look any of them in the eye. She felt… ashamed, guilty. Percy had been with her, and she left him there. She did nothing to help him, and now he was gone.

“Stop, Anabeth. I can see you spiraling”. Nico said, firm but gentle. “It’s not your fault Percy is gone, some other god must have planned this, we just need to find out who”.

“I know, you’re right, it’s just… I was right there,” She admitted.

The curtain in the cave’s entrance ruffled, and their ginger friend came into sight.

“And you help the others, just like Percy would’ve done. I’m going to throw another hairbrush at whoever did it”. Rachel said fiercely. “In the meantime, I have news.”

“Please let it be good,” Nice said.

“Apolo was able to talk to me, briefly. He said that no god knows what happened, but everyone is looking into it. This apparently rattled them a lot. All he could say was that the energy surrounding the place where Percy disappeared felt old. Like ancient, even for them. He doesn’t know if Zeus will open Olympus soon, they want to be sure that everyone is where they’re supposed to be”. Rachel sounded apologetic, “I know it’s not much, but we have been in worse situations, with less information.”

“I know, it’s ok. We just have to keep digging,” Anabeth said, shaking her head to regain focus. “I still need to contact Thalia. I haven’t been able to talk to her yet, but I see you again at dinner,” She continued, and started walking out of the cave.

Anabeth heard Nico say something else to Rachel, but she kept walking towards the cabins, his cabin.

Cabin three looked just like she remembered, and it smelled like him, too. Percy’s things were still there: dirty jeans and T-shirts crumpled on the floor; his backpack discarded under the desk. She thought back to all the times she had been here. They had been so impossibly young. She hadn’t been back to camp since the end of the second war, focusing on school and making a new life in New Rome. Now, sitting on Percy’s bed, she couldn’t help but wonder what would have happened if they had just stayed. But the nightmares and guilt had kept her from coming back; she would see the new campers, and all she could think of was the friends they had lost.

She sighed again and walked towards the fountain in the room. She just hoped Thalia had some information she could share.