Work Text:
Red fills the water around him as the cursed net continues to carve rivers into the meat of his tail, gauging out paths where there used to be smooth skin. He thrashed, screeching to urge the stupid sea monster attacking him to get away. He was already tangled up and injured by this net, he doesn’t need the stupid serpent on him too.
Something hard and wooden slammed into his side. Another guttural scream lost in the void of the ocean.
Wood. Percy felt blindly, water too red to make out much of anything visually.
A wooden post. He reached up, feeling around. Surface. Boards. It’s a boardwalk. The serpent crashed into him again, his face surfaced as he screamed. Both hands clutched at the post, clutching on so he didn’t lose this possible escape. At least he knows his mother got somewhere safe, he knows she’s okay.
He found the edge of the wood and pulled himself up with what strength he had left. He hated humans, never wanted to visit the surface, but he didn’t have much of a choice right now. It’s either boardwalk and maybe die, or stay underwater and definitely die. He’ll take the boardwalk, thank you.
The serpent tried to bite his side, but something else fended it off, helping him surface. If Percy had a pod to call for he would, but it’d just been him and Mom for a long time, and he told her to run almost as soon as the serpent came around.
Soft, dry hands took hold of his torso, dragging him onto land. The scraped the splintery wood against his mangled body made him screech for whoever was moving him to stop. It did within a few moments.
Human legs tucked under his shoulders and human hands ran against his skin. There was commotion. A lot of it. He supposed he did make quite a ruckus.
However, drifting over it all, was a gentle voice muttering to him.
“Got you. I’ve got you. We’re gonna get you to the hospital. You gave it a good beating. I’ve got you. You’re safe, now.” He didn’t know humans could sound so gentle. His vision began to adjust to the harsh light of the surface. He rolled onto his back and found himself staring into a human face. Blond hair and gray eyes, another standing just over them, a few others dancing around the corners of his vision. The human directly above him set one of her hands against his chest, carefully holding him against her lap. She was trying to soothe him, or protect him, or something. She definitely wasn’t hurting him. She looked worried.
“This net is still pulling his tail down, it’s doing more damage. Any ideas, Will?” A voice from somewhere else asked. Percy didn’t know human voices well to tell what sex it was.
“Let’s— I’m gonna get in the water and cut the extra off. I don’t wanna risk untangling him, too much of a bleeding hazard until the ambulance gets here.” The human holding him jolted, he groaned in pain. She muttered a quick apology before anger infected her eyes as she looked at whoever had spoken.
“Are you crazy?” She demanded. “That serpent could still be in the water! You’ll die!”
“Annabeth’s right, you can’t just—” A soft splash told Percy that ‘Will’ wasn’t listening to their friends. He could feel his tail bowing under the weight of the fishing net, bones cracking with the effort of trying to hold it up.
“WILLIAM SOLACE! If you get hurt, Nico is going to—” The rope snapped. Percy flicked his tail and felt a new wave of relief wash over him. His entire body still hurt, but now it wasn’t weighing him down. He pushed to try and sit up, watching ‘Will’ climb out of the water back on the boardwalk. Their hair was also blond, but their blond was more like a lemon yellow, unlike the gentle daffodil of the human Percy was currently being nursed by. Will grinned at Percy as they climbed back to their feet.
“That should feel a bit better. We got an emergency transport on its way.” Will carefully pat Percy’s tail. In turn, the mer collapsed back against the one holding him, one of their arms looped around his chest and the other brushing hair out of his face. They were careful with him, careful not to hurt him. Percy had never met a human who cared to not hurt him.
“He’s losing a lot of blood, is there—” They asked but cut themself off, “Can you talk? Do you have a name?” Percy had to blink the dizziness out of his eyes, the world was starting to spin. He pointed awkwardly to himself. “Yes, you. Who else would I ask?” Right.
“Percy.” His voice was already suffering from being out of the water. His whole body was. Some merfolk were fine out of water, they were perfectly okay to sunbathe on rocks. Percy was not one of those mer. He needed to be in the water to survive, and not just because he’s got a tail. “Water.”
“Magnus, hand me your cup!” Will ordered. The world started to go dark as another human scramble occurred. Water was poured on him, and it was soothing for a moment. It hardly lasted, however. A snarl sounded, Percy knew that snarl. That stupid serpent. He dug his nails into the girl’s arm and she ran a hand over his arm.
“You’re okay.” She promised, “Where is that stupid emergency vehicle? We’re right next to the damn facility!”
“I see them, they’re getting here.”
- - -
The mer— Percy— went limp in her arms. Annabeth panicked for a moment and looked down at him, but saw the steady rise and fall of his chest continue. He’s passed out, but he’s breathing. Not great, but breathing is the bar right now.
The boardwalk was stained red from a mix of blood and water seeping across the deck. Her own clothes were ruined, but he had been clutching onto her arm since she grabbed him and she was not going to let him go. He was obviously scared. Who wouldn’t be? Sea serpents are nasty creatures.
Hazel burst out of the back of the ambulance with Jason. A panicked maneuver of trying to get Percy on the hammock while not disturbing the netting constricted around his tail as little as possible ensued. The ambulance wasn’t big enough to fit everyone, but even in his unconscious state, Percy’s nails dug into her skin. It was a wordless agreement she stayed with him. Rachel, Jason, and Magnus agreed to stay off. Will climbed on with her.
“Water, water, water.” Will muttered, messing with the sprinklers installed in the ceiling for this exact purpose. Annabeth and Hazel carefully set down Percy, both holding him still so the drive back wouldn’t jostle him. Will flicked on the sprinklers and Annabeth felt like she could breathe watching moisture return to Percy’s skin.
“What do we have?” Thalia called from the driver’s seat.
“Percy, tiger shark. Age unknown, but I’d say somewhere around our age, twenty or so. Beached himself to escape a sea serpent that attacked him, tangled up in a fishing net with some nasty damage to his tail. Critical condition.” Will explained, already digging through the medical supplies they kept on hand to see if anything could help Percy. It seemed nothing could at this moment, but the sprinkler drizzling over him seemed to do more than it’s fairshare. His grip on Annabeth’s hand loosened. Those green eyes flicked open and stared blankly at the ceiling, searching for something.
“Mom—” He said something else, but it was a mer tongue Annabeth didn’t speak yet. She looked to the front, Thalia looked through the rearview. She knew whatever language Percy slipped into.
“Your ma’s not here, friend-o. We’re a group of human emergency responders. You’re—” Thalia explained, voice calm and unassuming. It seemed to do nothing to ease Percy. His eyes shot open and he thrashed, screeching loud enough to make Thalia fight not to swerve the car. Annabeth pushed him back down and made sure he could see her. He seemed to recognize her.
“Hey, hey. Remember me? Yeah?” Percy nodded. Good. “Okay. You trust me? Even a little bit?” She could see his eyes calculate, studying her for any sign of weakness. Annabeth didn’t let him find any. He pursed his lips and nodded. “Good choice. Everyone in here right now? All are fully focused on patching you back up and getting you back to your pod asap.” Percy flinched, but settled. His eyes settled back on the ceiling. A sinking feeling set in her chest. She looked at Hazel and Will.
“You don’t have a pod, do you?” Hazel carefully laid a hand on his upper arm. A mer with a pod wouldn’t have been taking a mauling from a sea serpent all on his own. He would’ve had other fighters in the pod backing him up. He looked at her, fear flashing across his face before he looked back at Annabeth. She’d heard from Jason and Thalia that injured mer tended to latch onto the first human they start to recognize as safe when they get picked up, but she didn’t believe it until now. She nodded at him, hoping it’d soothe his apprehension. He looked back at Hazel and shook his head.
“What about family? Or— Percy, are you alone?” The car veered to a halt. Annabeth looked up. They were in the medbay.
“Questions later! He needs blood and bandages!” Thalia slammed her door open. The back doors were already opening. Jason and Kayla met them, each grabbing a corner of the hammock as Will and Hazel grabbed the other two. Percy grabbed onto Annabeth with a grip to kill. She looked at him. He looked terrified. She placed her hand over his.
Lucky for Percy, the medbay also entered into some of the mer enclosures they had. Bad for the humans, every single mer in their care just heard this poor guy scream loud enough to shatter an eardrum or two when they moved him from the ambulance to the gurney.
Annabeth looked to the tank next to them. Leo and Piper slammed up against the glass. Piper ducked away just as fast, but Leo followed them down the hall. On her other side, Frank was cautiously circling. Half a dozen others watching. Annabeth kept one hand on Percy’s chest while he held onto the other.
“What do we have?” Grover and Chiron were already taking control of the gurney. As the surgeons, Percy was in their hands now.
“Tigershark, Percy. About early twenties, we think. Attacked by a sea serpent and caught in a heavy-duty fishing line. No pod, but we think he’s got a mom out there somewhere. Also, I’m scrubbing in.” They were nearing the doors into the surgical wing, which meant Annabeth had to make Percy let go of her and stop following.
“Percy?” His eyes met hers. Good, he was conscious. Well, maybe bad. “I can’t go with you down this next hall, but you’ve got Will. He’s gonna stay with you. Right, Will?” Two sets of desperate eyes leveled him. He had the determined look he got when he caught a good case.
“Wouldn’t dream of leaving. I’ve got you, Percy.” A seamless switch in positions of Grover and Will as Annabeth stepped away from the gurney and they took him down the hall. He wailed and Annabeth felt her entire chest stop working.
Thalia set a hand on her shoulder.
“He’s gonna be fine. He’s fiery.” It felt stupid to be this concerned about a mer Annabeth met less than twenty minutes ago. But the way he latched onto her, the way he found security in her for some reason. She told him he’d be okay, and she didn’t want to be wrong.