Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Do you want something from the vending machine?” The question was abrupt. The kid didn’t have to contemplate if he was talking to her. She was only one left in the waiting room.

The girl wrinkled her nose. “My mom told me not talk to strangers.” A moment and then she tacked on, “sir.”

Until this year, Percy had never before been called sir in his life.

“Look, we don’t have talk. It’s just…” he trailed off, trying to find the right words to explain why he felt the need to step in. “You were in here before me and I’ve been sitting in this waiting room for hours. I haven’t seen anyone visit you.”

The girl raised her chin. “Pinky promise you won’t drug the snacks.”

Gods, she was young if she believed in pinky promises. (Had he ever been that young?)

Percy offered out his pinky. “I pinky promise I won’t drug your snacks.”

Her shoulders sagged. She genuinely believed him. Percy’s mouth twisted even though he should be relieved; after all, no one had visited the the kid at all since Percy had been here and she had to be hungry. Still how easily she trusted a stranger - no wonder her mom was telling her not to talk to strangers - was worrying. How-

“I like Doritos,” the girl admitted quietly. Hearing her voice broke Percy out from his thoughts though.

“What flavor?” Percy asked as he finally got up from the chair. His ass felt fucking numb. It was from the hours he had spent sitting in that uncomfortable chair.

“….The blue ones.”

Cool Ranch then.

Percy could definitely get her some of those. Vending machines often had that and Nacho Cheese flavor in regards to what kind of Doritos they were stocked with.

“What’s your name, sir?” The girl abruptly asked. She was still kicking her feet in the air; she wasn’t tall enough for her feet to reach the floor while she was sitting in that chair.

“Percy,” Percy said and it was nice. Nowdays, Percy rarely wasn’t recognized on sight. “I’m Percy Jackson.”

The girl didn’t recognize the name. He could tell because her expression didn’t change. “Thank you for Doritos, Mr.Jackson.”

Mr.Jackson.

Percy stared at the girl. It felt like someone had knocked the air out of his lungs. Percy knew without any doubt that this wasn’t just some kid. This was Alex.

(Why was she so young?)

“You don’t have to call me that,” he told Alex despite knowing it wouldn’t do anything. “What’s your name, kid?”

The girl’s eyes widened for the first time since their conversation had started. “I’m Alex.”

Percy stared at her. Not for the first time he wondered where her parents were. (Why was she so young?)

“Nice to meet you, Alex.” A moment passed and he added, “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

It was only then that he headed toward the door. He was careful to not slam it behind him; his strength made it easy to slam things if he wasn’t careful.

Chapter Text

“We’ve met before, haven’t we?”

Alex shifted her chair. She was still eating from the blue bag of Doritos he had bought her. Eventually, she spoke, “I’m not suppose to talk to strangers.”

Percy stared. A part of him wanted to argue that Alex had already talked to him earlier so why would she try to draw that line in the sand now? He didn’t do that. No, instead he asked, “Is Ned Rodriguez a stranger?”

At hearing his question, the crinkling of the bag of chips stopped. Alex turned her head to side only to then lift her chin. (She really was young; it showed because the Alex Percy had known had been as tall as a weed.) She narrowed her eyes as though that would help her recall who Ned was.

Percy hoped mentioning Ned would her jog her memory.

“Is he a classmate of Noah’s?” After asking that Alex opened her mouth only to shut it a second later.

Noah.

That name sounded familiar. Percy tried to figure out where he had heard it from but he couldn’t remember. He felt like he should know it though; seriously, that was an important person in the Bible. If he knew someone that name he would remember, wouldn’t he? But then again….Percy couldn’t remember how he got here.

“No,” Percy said, after he found his voice. “He’s your friend.”

At one point, Percy had thought Ned had a crush on Alex but he later realized that-

Alex was shaking her head back and forth. “I don’t have friends anymore.”

Percy’s eyebrows knitted together. Alex had always been friendly to others from the times Percy had seen. Which, admittedly, he hadn’t seen much of Alex until recently. She hadn’t been one of the campers Percy had mentored-

“Are you here to kidnap me?”

First, it was drugging the snacks. Now it was kidnapping. Percy shook his head side to side. “No, I-I’m trying to figure something out.”

Why didn’t Alex remember him? Actually, no, that wasn’t the important question. The better question was why was Alex younger?

“Miss.Drake says if you can’t figure out how you messed up an equation you should start at the beginning.” Alex told him, her voice louder than before.

“Thanks for the advice,” Percy told her automatically, his attention was focused elsewhere.

Where was Ned? If something had happened to Alex and him then what happened to Ned? Was he in hospital too or was he somewhere else?

Percy closed his eyes. He breathed in through his nose.

‘Where are you?’

A noise filled the air. Percy’s eyes snapped open. The sight that greeted him was Alex having gotten up from that chair she was sitting on. She was staring at him.

“……Do you know where a trash can is?” Alex eventually asked him.

Percy blinked in surprise. Seconds dragged by. He didn’t hear anything from Ned even though normally Percy would have; after all, Ned had been able to slip his thoughts into Percy’s mind back when Percy had only been nineteen years old.

He offered his hand out. “I can throw it away from you.”

Alex was still eyeing him. “Okay.”

She walked up to him and held out the empty, blue bag of Doritos. It was only then that Percy thought to ask, “What day is it?”

How much time did they have left before the Summer Solstice?

“It’s Tuesday.”

Also, if Alex didn’t remember him or Ned then why was she staying in hospital? (Did she remember Camp Half-Blood?) Especially when Tuesday was a day she would be in school.

“No, I meant what is the date?”

Alex’s eyebrows drew together. Percy shoved the empty chip bag into his pocket. He would worry about throwing it away later. “That’s not what you asked earlier.”

“I know,” Percy said. “I didn’t ask the right question earlier. I meant to ask what the days was.”

When Alex told him the date, Percy proceeded to swear in Latin.

Alex’s face twisted as though she had swallowed a lemon. “You need to put money in the jar or get your mouth washed out.”

Percy stared down at the kid. That was Latin. That hadn’t been Greek. That had been Latin. Only Ned should have known what he was saying and Ned wasn’t even here.

….Was Alex like Ned?

Was she a Roman demi-god?

Was that why she had never been claimed at camp?

“That was Latin.” He sounded shock. (He was shocked.)

Alex shrugged. She had started looking at her shoes instead of him.

“Alex, how did you-“

A door in the hallway opened. A man stepped into the room. He was taller than Percy. His brown hair had grey scattered across it. Almost immediately he noticed Percy. His mouth thinned.

“If you’re a reporter, I’ll tell you the same thing I did to last one-“

Percy interrupted the man, “l’m not one.”

The man didn’t relax, “Then why the hell are you bugging my daughter?”

Percy didn’t weigh his options for long. “I’ve got a family member in surgery. I was waiting for it to finish and I noticed how long she’s been here by herself. I bought her some Doritos.”

The man’s eyes continued to be narrowed. Alex had inherited her eye color from her mortal parent. “She isn’t your family. You shouldn’t have-“

Percy interrupted him again, “Look, I don’t want any trouble. It’s just if that was my daughter I wouldn’t want her to be hungry.”

The man stalked over. His clothes were wrinkled. The kind of wrinkled that came from leaving them in the dryer overnight instead of immediately hanging them up. (He hadn’t bothered to iron them. Either he didn’t care about appearances, didn’t have time which was likely option since he was in a hospital, or couldn’t be bothered to care in his current circumstances.)

“Well she isn’t your daughter so do me a favor and stay away from her.”

Percy met the man’s eyes. (What had happened for the man to be worried about reporters harassing his kid?) He was bigger than Percy but he wasn’t threatened by him. It took a lot to scare Percy.

“Sure,” Percy said, lying through his teeth.

The man eyed him like he didn’t believe him. He didn’t call Percy out though. “Come on, Alex. We’re going home.”

It was only then that Percy’s eyed darted to Alex. She was no longer staring at her purple Sketchers. Despite being younger, the look on her face was a familiar one. Something twisted in Percy’s stomach.

“Yes sir.”

Chapter Text

Percy pulled out his phone from his left pocket. The Lock Screen almost immediately flickered on; Percy pressed on the button at bottom of his screen and waited for a keyboard to pop up. He was quick to type in the password.

The Home Screen was a different photo than the Lock Screen; Paul had been the one to take it so Percy could be in the photo. Percy tapped onto the green telephone app before scrolling down his most recent calls. It took less than five seconds for him to find Annabeth’s number.

She picked up pretty quickly despite the time of day; maybe that shouldn’t surprise him. He rarely ever called her when she was at work so no wonder Annabeth answered.

Annabeth beat him to speaking first. “What’s wrong?”

Other people would have maybe been bothered by how direct she was. It wasn’t Annabeth’s nature to beat around the bush; especially when she thought someone was in danger. Percy wasn’t. There was something comforting about the fact Annabeth was almost always immediately ready to throw herself at a problem instead of trying to hide from it.

“I don’t know where I am,” was the answer Percy settled on. There weren’t a lot of people in Percy’s life that understood how unnerving it was to admit that. After the Titan War, Hera had not only kidnapped him but had stolen his memories. Percy had only remembered three things: his name, how important Annabeth was to him, and the fact he had gotten into a fight with Ares. Well. Kinda four things. While he hadn’t remembered Nico he had just known in his gut that he once had.

“What’s around you?” Annabeth asked, her voice demanding. It didn’t frustrate Percy. He had known that tone of voice since he was twelve.

Percy’s eyes didn’t dart around. He didn’t need to try and look around before describing where he was. “I’m in a hospital waiting room.”

“A hospital?” Annabeth asked. Before Percy could respond she asked another question, “Have you asked any staff what the address is? You can say you’re trying to Doordash some food and didn’t know the address.”

It was a good suggestion. It wouldn’t fix Percy’s situation though.

“Once you get the address, I can head that way to pick you up.”

Percy shook his head even though Annabeth couldn’t see it. “That’s not all.”

Annabeth didn’t ask what else had happened which surprised Percy. He brushed it off though. She probably was waiting on him to go ahead and explain.

“Alex doesn’t remember who I am.”

When Annabeth responded it was only two words. Two words that hurt more than a kick in the ribs. “….Who’s Alex?”

Percy closed his eyes. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong. (Annabeth knew Alex was a camper Ned was close to.)

Percy didn’t ask what year it was. He didn’t ask if Annabeth knew where Ned was. He simply said, “I’m going to find an employee and ask about the address. I’ll text it to you once I learn it.”

He didn’t wait for a goodbye before hanging up.

He slipped his iPhone into his pocket. It hit against Riptide.

Percy froze, abruptly feeling cold.

He would have heard it if the Doritos bag had fallen out of his pocket. It hadn’t. So where was it? Percy hadn’t thrown it away and, if anyone was to try to steal from him, why would they take an empty bag of cool ranch Doritos instead of Riptide or his phone? (If the thief was mortal, they would have stolen the iPhone. If the thief was a monster or demi-god they would have taken Riptide.) There was also the fact no one had been close to him to steal it out of his pocket.

Percy breathed in through his nose. He exhaled a few seconds. It didn’t help with the uneasiness he felt.

Panicking wouldn’t solve the situation. This was already a mess.

Why a Doritos bag? Had they meant to grab something else from his pocket but had only been able to take it instead of his iPhone or pen? But even then that didn’t make sense. Percy didn’t even remember anyone being close enough to take it and he didn’t remember hearing the crinkle of the bag. If he didn’t remember, why wouldn’t they be able to get what they wanted?

“Fuck.”

Chapter Text

What do you do when you live in a world where gods can kidnap you and steal your memories?

That was a question Percy often thought about. Some days, the answer was move to Alaska.

That wasn’t a feasible option right now though.

Percy breathed in through his nose. His eyes darted around. The waiting room was still empty.

(Why a bag of Doritos?)

He needed to hide Riptide so no one could steal it. After all, Percy knew from past experience that gods could keep Riptide from returning to him; Terminus had taught him that valuable lesson years ago when Percy entered New Rome for the first time.

Percy exhaled. He slipped his hand into his right pocket and pulled out Riptide. He closed his eyes.

He pictured his kitchen. It was a cramped thing. The cabinets were painted a dark blue and the countertops were wooden. There was a clock that Percy had hung up on the wall so he could check the time in there in case he (admittedly often) forget to grab his phone before walking into the kitchen. The dish rack - which was sitting on the left side of the sink - was a cheap plastic thing he had bought from Walmart soon after he had moved into that apartment.

Percy then imagined placing his pen on the kitchen table. It would be safe there.

When Percy opened his eyes, Riptide was gone. Something in him ached despite knowing it was safer in the Duat. A god couldn’t steal Riptide from him if Percy didn’t have it on him.

When Percy needed it he would be able to retrieve it from the Duat; Carter had taught him not only how to access the Duat for storage but how to do so quickly under pressure.

(Carter often imagined a locker when access the Duat for storage; it even had a combination lock that Carter had to recall the numbers of in order to access

His ex had confided one night that it was because, at the time that Bast was telling him about using the Duat for storing things, he hadn’t had a school locker.)

Percy stared at his hands for a few more seconds before making his way out of the waiting room. It was time to figure out whatever was going on. He was done twiddling his thumbs.

It didn’t take long for him to find an elevator; he had seen it earlier when he had gone looking for a vending machine. Percy raised his hand and pressed the button that would let him go to the lower floors. The arrow pointing down began to turn yellow.

The elevator arrived quicker than Percy expected. When the doors slid open, there was no one on the elevator. That didn’t soothe Percy’s wariness. He walked into the elevator and pressed the button for the lowest floor; there were four floors for the hospital. If Frank was here he would mention how his grandmother wouldn’t have liked that number. He would ramble about how that number was considered unlucky because in Mandarin and even in Cantonese the number four sounded similar to word death. Percy would either joke or not say anything but he would remember the fact none the less because it mattered to Frank. (Percy knew facts about a wide range of subjects because those facts meant something to people loved.)

The elevator began to play music. Despite the years that had gone by Percy recognized the song.

“I was tired of my lady. We'd been together too long.”

His heartbeat picked up. He was going down. He wasn’t going up. He wasn’t in Tartarus.

“Like a worn out recording of a favorite song.”

Percy breathed in sharply through his nose. He didn’t close his eyes despite wanting to.

This wasn’t Tartarus. Small Bob and Bob weren’t fighting to give them a chance to escape. They weren’t-

His vision was getting blurry.

“If you like pina coladas and getting caught in the rain.”

Percy shut his eyes.

Chapter Text

Percy went and got food. If Annabeth was here, she might have made a comment about him thinking with his stomach. The thing was Percy wasn’t hungry. It’s just, as Percy got older, the more he realized eating food helped him focus. Low blood sugar could be a bitch.

“Do you know what drink you want?” The waitress asked in a cheerful voice. It was the kind of cheerful tone you knew would disappear the moment Rachel wasn’t talking to customer.

Percy would know. He had worked as a waiter before. While he had never bothered to sound cheerful, he knew of multiple coworkers who did that. It was a thing even outside of the food industry. Retail - which was another job Percy had worked - employees did it too.

“Water,” Percy croaked out before wincing. His voice sounded rough even to his own ears.

Thankfully, the waitress - she had introduced herself as Rachel - didn’t comment on that. Just like she hadn’t commented on his blotchy face. “Okay. I’ll get that right out,” she told him warmly.

The brunette didn’t bother writing down water on her notepad. Rachel walked off without another word. Percy reached into his left pocket and pulled out his phone. He pressed the circle button on the bottom to turn on his Lock Screen before punching in his password.

This time he noticed the date was wrong. (He hadn’t noticed it when he had called Annabeth.) He wasn’t surprised though. When Percy had stumbled out of that elevator he hadn’t just asked the receptionist- or whatever the job was for hospital staff who worked at the front desk - not only where he was but what date it was. She had looked him like he was crazy. Maybe she had thought he was drunk. The lady had still stammered out answers to his questions before asking if he needed any help.

Percy had tried to grin before saying he was good. He didn’t believe she had believed him. It didn’t matter though. He had left the hospital soon after.

He should have called Annabeth back after leaving the hospital. He hadn’t. He had just walked. He originally hadn’t had a destination in mind. Percy had just been trying to figure out just what was going on.

He still hadn’t figured out that out. A kid started screaming. Abruptly, Percy wished he had earbuds in his pocket. Demi-gods weren’t suppose to use technology since it somehow attracted monsters. Percy had eventually came to conclusion that monsters were always going to hunt him down either because of his scent as a demi-god or because monsters could smell other monsters he had killed over the years. (He only knew that was thing because Stheno and Euryale
had mentioned they had been able to smell the fact he had killed Medusa years ago.)

“Someone put a pacifier in that brat’s mouth,” a man loudly muttered nearby.

Percy didn’t look around but if he had to guess: the guy was sitting either in the booth in front of Percy or behind him.

“Daryl,” chided a woman.

“What, Teresa?” Daryl asked annoyed. Someone, maybe Daryl or Teresa, scraped their plate.

“Be nice.”

Percy clicked on the green messages icon. He scrolled down his text message list until he found Carter’s contact.

“What?” Daryl asked indignantly. “You know I’m right.”

The silence was pointed. Percy fought the urge to snort. After a minute, Teresa spoke up, “How about we focus on-“

“Here’s your water,” Rachel announced before placing it on the edge of the table. Percy glanced up his iPhone. Rachel had already grabbed a pen and her small notepad. “Do you know what you want to eat?”

Percy scratched his arm. His skin was itching. “I’ll take a hamburger.”

“And your side?” Rachel asked. She had her brown hair in pigtails. Percy thought about what some of his old coworkers told him about pig tails and tips. He frowned.

“I’ll just take fries.” They also offered potato wedges or a bag of chips of your choosing - Lays, Doritos, Cheetos, and Sun Chips - as other options for sides.

With his free hand, Percy gave the menu to waitress. He hadn’t needed to close it; Percy had never opened it. He wasn’t really hungry but he couldn’t remember the last time he ate so he was forcing himself to eat something.

“Have they found out who the driver was?” Teresa asked, catching Percy’s attention. She was whispering but it was a loud whisper.

“Okay, I’ll go give the kitchen your order.”

“Thanks,” Percy told Rachel before going back to looking at his texts. Carter’s last text was about Sadie driving him insane. Percy lifted his thumb and pressed it down at the top of screen before dragging it down. His eyes scanned earlier texts. It was just mundane things. Nothing that explained why the fuck he was in Georgia of all places.

“No,” Daryl admitted. “It’s a damn shame. That man should be shot for what he did.”

“Daryl,” Teresa said sharply. Despite himself, Percy couldn’t help but wonder if they were family catching up with each other after church or if they were married.

“The fucker ran over a kid and didn’t stop.” Daryl argued. “I don’t know the damn boy but that doesn’t make it-“

“There are kids here. You can’t cuss like that, Daryl.” Teresa lectured the man.

Percy hit the blue icon that left him go back to his message history. He found Grover’s name and clicked on it. Just like with Carter, there was no text that could explain just why he was here. Annabeth hadn’t known anything when he had called her so who-

Another kid started screaming or, maybe, it was the same kid. Percy hit the back button and went through his messages.

Something was wrong.

He didn’t know what but something was off. (And it wasn’t about the Doritos. It was about his phone.) He just had to figured out just what-

“Here’s your burger!” Rachel announced.

Percy’s head jerked. He hadn’t even noticed she was walking his way.

She put the plate down. The smell of freshly cooked hamburger filled his nose. Percy’s mouth watered. “Thank you,” he told the waitress.

She smiled at him before lifting a hand and pushing her glasses further up on her nose. “Is there anything you need?”

I need to know why I woke up in the wrong year.

Percy didn’t asked that though. Rachel wouldn’t know. Well. His Rachel might - she was an Oracle of Delphi after all - but this mortal wouldn’t.

“I’m good.” Percy said before give a small smile. The answer was true in regards to his experience at the restaurant. His glass of water didn’t need to be refilled because he hadn’t even touched it yet. His meal was here and looked delicious. There wasn’t anything he needed in regards to eating out.

“I’m glad.” Rachel told him before leaving his table to go look after the other customers in her section.

Percy continued to scrolled through his contacts. There was nothing Mom, Hazel, Paul, Lily, Frank, Nico, Chiron, Piper, Leo, or……

Percy felt as though someone had dumped ice cubes under his shirt.

He hadn’t seen Ned in the list of contacts. Even though the year was wrong - the thing was Percy couldn’t remember what year it should be, he just knew this year wasn’t right - Ned should have been in contacts. He had given Ned a phone by now. So why wasn’t his son-

Alex hadn’t recognized him. Which, yeah, he hadn’t known Alex at this age but Percy knew her. She hadn’t remembered him.

What was going on?

Percy’s phone rang. It took a few seconds to realize his screen had Annabeth’s name on it. Percy answered the call immediately.

“Are you okay?” Annabeth demanded. “You never called me back-“

“I’m fine.” Percy said, instead of going into detail. He was diner filled with mortals. He didn’t want someone overhearing him and thinking he was insane. “Real quick though. Do you remember a kid named Ned?”

She hadn’t remembered Alex. Which, to be fair, Percy hadn’t known Alex at this time either. But Ned was someone she should recognize even if she didn’t know Ned was his son.

“No,” Annabeth answered and she sounded confused.

Percy let himself frown. There was no one there to see it though.

“Why, what’s wrong, Seaweed Brain?”

Percy stared down at his burger. Something inside him was screaming that this wasn’t Annabeth. Annabeth hadn’t called him Seaweed Brain in many years.

But that was wrong.

This was Annabeth. Just an Annabeth whose memories had been tampered with.

Percy tried to shallow. His mouth was dry.

“Nothing,” Percy lied.

“Percy,” Annabeth said, her tone warning. She didn’t believe him for a second. Of course not. Annabeth knew him well.

Percy licked his lips. His skin itched. Something in him continued to scream something was wrong. “I don’t need help yet but I’ll call you soon.”

“Are you sure?” Annabeth asked. “I could get Mrs.O’Leary-“

Percy shook his head. “I’m fine right now.”

Annabeth was silent for a few seconds. “Okay,” she eventually agreed.

Percy told her he loved her before hanging up.

He didn’t know what was going on but he needed to find Alex and Ned before figuring out what god had messed with people’s minds.