Chapter Text
Gather 'round friends and let us tell you a story.
A story about Ever After High
A high school of the sons and daughters of the most famous fairytale characters that have ever lived
But this year was like no other for the students of Ever After High
For a new character has appeared, one like no other.
When Percy finally opened his eyes, the abrupt light of day piercing into his skull made him close them again with a wince. His head throbbed something fierce and he feared that his brain was going to ooze out of his ears in a gnarly and explicit river of gore. He had no idea what he'd been doing a second before that could've resulted in what felt like a pretty bad head injury. Maybe training with the other campers had gotten too rough?
He groaned and opened his eyes again after mentally preparing himself, fully expecting to be in the camp infirmary in Cabin 7. But instead of the familiar walls, floors, and indignant Apollo campers, he found himself in a cozy looking room with warm earthy colors decorated with intricate carvings that would make Annabeth go wild with how beautiful and detailed they were. Instead of fluorescent lights, the room was illuminated by flowers being powered by what appear to be fairies.
In other words, this wasn't what one would expect of an infirmary.
What the fuck? Percy blinked the last of his haze away as his mind jolted to alertness, years of waking up in unfamiliar places making him battle ready. No matter how safe, warm and inviting this place maybe, it could all easily be a façade to lure him into a false sense of security. This reeked of a monster trap. He felt around for his pocket, seeking out the familiar presence of Riptide. However, his jean pockets were flat and empty, no Riptide to be found.
Instead, his hands got tangled in what appears to be a golden fishing net decorated with small seashells, which appeared to be tied around his waist. He didn't remember a time he ever wore something like that. Alarm taking over him, Percy through the fuzzy fur covers off of him. What he did find were that his pants, usually light blue and plain, had been replaced by dark jeans that were covered in patterns meant to resemble light blue waves with pearls of different sizes and colors littered all across them. They looked like something an Aphrodite kid would wear, not the fashion senseless Percy Jackson.
His shirt wasn't much better. Now that he was fully awake, he was aware of the highly decorated sea foam green sleeveless shirt he was wearing. That and the golden arm bands that had an art deco style of carvings. Carvings that were associated with Ancient Rome or Greece. Complementing the entire look was another golden accessory around his waist that was used to fasten clothing in Ancient Greece.
It was already off putting enough that he was wearing completely different clothes. But what really made his heart race was the extremely on brand ocean theme of his clothes. Too on brand to just be a coincidence.
Wherever this place was, it clearly knew about his heritage. Why else would he be fitted with clothing that encapsulates his power and identity?
Not good.
An abrupt sound of movement nearly made him jump out of his skin. His head snapped towards the source of the noise, only for his mouth to go dry at the sight of an elderly woman floating through the beaded screen coming from another room. Before Percy could ask "Who the hell are you?!" The elderly woman spoke first, her eyes kind but Percy knew not to let his guard down. "Ah! You're finally awake, young Perseus. You gave us all quite the scare when you collapsed out of nowhere. Your friends have been out there waiting for you to wake up for hours now--"
She was cut off by several bodies barreling into the room. Each person was dressed in the same elaborate "modern style meeting whimsical madness" manner that he was. The overlapping voices stabbed at Percy's head like a sword. He really wished they'd shut up.
The old woman seemed to notice his discomfort, and she turned to scold the teenagers, "Please keep your voices down. We don't want to overwhelm so soon after he just woke up."
The three teenagers brushed themselves off, sheepish looks on their faces before one of them, the only boy in the group speaks. "We're sorry Madam Yaga. We were just so worried about him." He apologized. "Sorry if we scared you, Perseus. We're all just glad you're okay."
Okay, how the hell did these people know his name? They kept calling him Perseus instead of his preferred Percy which caused the pit of dread in his stomach to grow wider. Wherever he was, they knew him and the son of Poseidon did not like that one bit.
Deciding to bite the bullet, he asked with narrowed eyes, "I'm sorry. Who are you guys?"
That was the wrong to say as evidenced by the wounded puppy look that crossed all of their faces simultaneously. Even the old lady, Madam Yaga, looked taken aback. It all almost made Percy feel guilty. Almost.
"You must have hit your head pretty hard when you fainted," Madam Yaga mused mostly to herself. "While normally, I wouldn't discharge you so soon, today is the first day of classes and you need to be there to claim your dorm."
Percy didn't remember fainting, but he didn't contradict the floating woman who Percy guessed had some sort of magic power. The name "Yaga" did ring a bell, maybe reminding him of a folktale he heard when he was younger. He wasn't sure.
"Don't worry Madam Yaga," the girl who spoke up had brown skin, chestnut hair, and was dressed in flowing robes which made her look like a Greek figure reimagined in the modern era, just like Percy. Her energy reminded Percy of how it felt to be around the Aphrodite Cabin. Beautiful, surreal, and the slightest undercurrent of violence. "We'll make sure to look after him until he recovers his memory fully."
Madam Yaga spun turn her, a smile on her face. "I know you will, Agnes. Spoken like the true next Venus herself."
The girl, Agnes's, smile faltered as she tried to keep it in place. Though that didn't catch Percy's notice because the last part of Madam Yaga's sentence made his brows raise.
Before he could think better of it, he asked bluntly, "The next Venus? If she's already immortal, why does she need a replacement?"
The boy in the group spoke again, eyeing Percy warily, the other occupants in the room unconsciously mirroring him, "The Gods aren't immortal, Perseus. Us heirs are raised to take their place, and it's been that way for generations. You know this."
No, Percy did not know that. Words failed him in that moment because what could he say to the fact that the Roman equivalents of the Greek gods were not everlasting and in fact were a rotating door of different people operating under one name.
"Maybe you should stay here longer, Perseus," Madam Yaga suggested after thinking it over. "It wouldn't do for the next Neptune to have lost his memories."
What the fuck.
The place that Percy Jackson mysteriously woke up in is called Ever After.
From a web series called Ever After High.
Epic. Just Epic.
He wasn't aware of the gritty details, but he was vaguely aware of some of the younger campers having watch parties in view Ever After High. From what Percy could remember, the web series had a pretty straight forward concept: children of fairytale characters attend a high school where they are taught and prepared to take the place of their parent for their destinies.
Much like Descendants. Just with better writing and character designs. At least, that's what the Apollo Cabin told him.
Looking around, he noticed other people, teenagers, whose appearances were cohesive to himself and yet differed from each other in the sense that they reflected their...fantastical...heritage? Percy didn't know how else to put it. However, what really caught his attention was a sort of divide. Don't get him wrong, it's normal for teens to stay in their own cliques and friend groups as a coping mechanism for being in a new environment, but it seemed ramped up to eleven here.
Despite what people thought, Percy Jackson was far from stupid. In spite of the diversity, Percy noticed two distinct types of people. The first type wore polished, ornate outfits with lots of gold accents, structured silhouettes, and luxurious fabrics that make them look like storybook royalty. The second type dressed in edgier, more personalized styles with darker colors and asymmetry. They looked sort of cool. What's more, these two types of people only hung out with others like them. What's up with that?
As he was being led to the dorms by his so-called friend group through the front entrance of the school, his friends tried to make idle chat, likely trying to him in to make him for comfortable. Kinda hard to do when he was currently freaking out about being in a cartoon with no idea how he's supposed to get home.
That and the fact that he's supposed to replace a god who isn't really a god in this world. What has his life turned into?
"You might not remember right now, Percy," Marcellus Sparks turned to him with a smile. He continued, his voice light and airy, "But you and I are supposed to be dorming together. We were really excited when we found out. It's going to be a blast."
Percy nodded unenthusiastically, not looking forward to spending time with someone who was essentially a fictional character.
"Lucky you," Agnes Lovelace, which Percy believed these names to be a little too on the nose, rolled her eyes in annoyance. "I'm stuck with Olive Silverquill. I swear she thinks she's better than everyone just because she's wise and the next Minerva."
Percy would've made a sarcastic quip disparaging the gods awful names assaulting his ears if it weren't for the fact that he'd just learned the name of another up-and-coming goddess. Minerva. While he never made a point to learn about Roman gods (the Greeks were already far more than enough) he did know their corresponding Greek equivalent. Despite the overly complicated mess that was syncretism, Minerva has always been identified with Athena.
Which technically meant that this world kind of had its own version of Annabeth.
Though he felt incredibly bad for her because imagine having a counterpart whose name is Olive Silverquill. Annabeth would either kill Olive, kill herself, or both.
"Is she really that bad?" Percy asked. Because if she was anything like how Annabeth was when they first met, this was going to be a long time in this world. He didn't dislike Annabeth. Anymore. But she was a piece of work when he joined camp, and he wasn't in the mood to deal with another version of that while trapped in this fantasy world.
However, the various bewildered and shocked faces being given to him at his question didn't inspire any confidence. The other boy in the group aside from Marcellus raised an eyebrow, like he couldn't believe what he was asking, "Dude, she's literally your mortal enemy. If anyone knows how bad she can be, it's you."
Ugh. Percy facepalmed. There goes any hope.
Marcellus at least had the decency to elbow the guy, "Knock it off, Mercari. Madame Yaga told us that Perseus has temporary amnesia. We shouldn't stress him out over his rivalry with Olive." He gave Percy a soft smile with kind eyes, which Percy noted, made him look really pretty. Don't worry about it too much Perseus. She'll be too busy preparing for Legacy Day to bother you. Everyone will be!"
Percy was tempted to ask what Legacy Day was but refrained from doing so to avoid standing out too much. Most of his other questions had already garnered unwanted reactions and he had the sneaking suspicion that Legacy Day was supposed to be a huge deal. He could piece together context clues to deduce what Legacy Day was later. For now, with no way to get home, he had to blend in as much as possible.
Percy smiled back, "I'm trying. But everything's been so overwhelming. I'll try to avoid her. I promise."
Marcellus looked as though he was going to respond but their conversation was interrupted by a loud shout of, "It's Apple White!"
All the heads currently present turned as one to the entrance of the school where the shout came from. To Percy's shock, the culprit was a pig. A talking pig standing on two legs wearing a shirt and pants like a person. Now, Percy's no stranger to anthropomorphic animals. He grew up with Disney, after all and he can speak to marine life, but actually witnessing a talking animal moving and dressing like a human was another thing entirely!
Is he going insane. How could this be a normal occurrence?
While he was enraptured by the talking little pig, everyone's eyes were glued to the two girls who came through the entrance. One of them had a massive head of blonde curls, pale skin, and a primarily red, apple shaped short dress and the highest, most decorated heels Percy had ever seen any girl wear in his life. The other girl had browner skin, brown hair with hot pink highlights, a pink dress with rose and thorn like imagery. It wasn't hard to figure out who the school was currently going gaga over.
The guys and some girls swooned.
Others leaned over the railing to get a better look. One girl gasped out of delight.
Even Agnes was gazing at them with some level of adoration.
Percy, however, couldn't believe that the pig that had screamed Apple White was actually referring to a person. Who names their child after a fruit and color? Did her parents hate her or something?
Things got even more bizarre when a giant with an oddly soft voice asked if Apple needed help carrying her bags.
"Apple White is so wonderful," Agnes said as they resumed their conversation. "Everyone looks of to her, and the teachers all love her. She's the blueprint of fairytale perfection."
Something about that statement felt odd, but Mercari voiced that sentiment before Percy could with a scathing voice, "I don't get why. I mean, there's literally no difference between her and the other royals. The teachers only like her because she won't shut up about following her destiny and the students like her because she's pretty."
A frown found its way onto Agnes's face. "That's not true and you know it. People like Apple White because she's good and kind, just like any future Snow White ought to be. And lower your voice unless you want the entire school to know you were bad mouthing her."
Mercari sneered but did as he was told.
The part about Apple White being the next Snow White (hence her surname being "White") confused Percy. From what he heard from the Apollo and Hermes cabins, Ever After High was cancelled because of its similarities to Disney's Descendants. Both of the franchises are based on the children of fairytale characters, but he's certain that in the case of Ever After High, the characters are the children of the original fairytales rather than the Disney versions.
Speaking of Disney versions, when Apple White and her left to presumably find their dorms, the same pig screeched, "It's Raven Queen!"
The aftermath was immediate. In sharp contrast to the adoration Apple White received, Raven Queen (seriously what were these names?) was met with nothing but fear and scorn.
"Run everyone!"
"She's going to place curses on us!"
"No one can trust the next Evil Queen!"
Percy craned his head to get a good look at person who could inspire so much fear in the hearts of others with just her name. He almost burst into laughter at seeing the so called "Evil Queen". An intimidating figure of darkness is what one would expect, but Raven Queen was far from that in Percy's opinion. At the entrance, she had deep purple hair with black highlights topped with a spiked head band and she wore a gothic looking dress with frills and heeless high heels.
In short, she was not intimidating in the slightest.
Percy spent most of his childhood fighting horrifying monsters and dealing with fickle gods who had conflicting plans for him, so Raven was nothing in comparison.
The teal eyed boy rolled his eyes and allowed the others to drag him away. They didn't seem to be afraid of Raven either, though that was likely because they were destined to be gods. As scary as people considered the power of the Evil Queen to be, she was still a mortal.
The gods are much, much scarier.
Percy wasn’t sure what he expected a dorm room in Ever After High to look like, but it definitely wasn’t this. The space was split down the middle—Marcellus’s side already decorated with warm reds, bronze metals, and sharp geometric patterns that reminded Percy of Roman armor polished to perfection. His own side was… ocean‑themed, of course. Sea‑glass blues, pearly whites, and a carved trident motif above the bed that made Percy want to bang his head against the wall.
At least the bed looked comfortable.
Marcellus was kneeling by a trunk, carefully unpacking folded clothes that looked like they belonged in a museum exhibit titled “Ancient Rome, but Make It Fashion.” Percy sat on his own bed, pretending to organize the pile of seashell accessories someone had apparently decided he needed.
For a while, the only sound was the rustle of fabric and the faint hum of magic from the glowing flowers overhead.
Then Marcellus broke the silence.
“Legacy Day is coming up fast,” he said lightly, but Percy could hear the strain under the words. “I mean… you know that. We’ve been preparing for it since we were kids.”
Percy nodded like he totally knew what Legacy Day was. He absolutely did not.
Marcellus kept talking, but slower now, like he was choosing each word carefully. “I’m supposed to pledge myself as the next Mars. Everyone expects it. My family, the teachers, the whole school.” He let out a shaky laugh. “I keep telling myself I’m ready. That this is what I want.”
Percy looked up. Marcellus’s hands were still, frozen over a crimson tunic embroidered with gold thread. His expression didn’t match his words at all—his eyes were tight, his shoulders tense, like he was bracing for a blow.
“You don’t sound excited,” Percy said gently.
Marcellus hesitated. “I’m… honored. Really. Being Mars is a big deal. But sometimes I wonder if I’m choosing it because it’s my destiny… or because I’m scared of what happens if I don’t.”
That hit Percy harder than he expected.
Because suddenly, painfully, he realized something: He couldn’t pledge anything. Not here. Not in this world.
He wasn’t the real Perseus of this dimension. He didn’t know what the original wanted, what he believed, what he dreamed of. If Percy pledged himself to become the next Neptune, he’d be locking someone else’s life into a path they might not want.
And worse—he’d be tying himself to a destiny he had no intention of fulfilling. He needed to get home. He needed to figure out how he even got here in the first place.
He had to avoid messing up the life of a boy who wasn’t him.
And he had to find a way out of Ever After High before the entire school expected him to become a god.