Not So Happily Ever After

Summary: When thrust into a fairy tale, you can't always expect a happily-ever-after. In fact, it's never guaranteed, and you should learn to live with what you're given. In which PJO characters are in fairy tales, and things don't always turn out like they should. (Chapters are not connected. AU. Some chapters may have demigods.)

Fairy Tale: Alice in Wonderland

Main character(s) in chapter: Rachel

IHeartRadio channels listening to when writing: Ke$ha, Lady Antebellum, Fall Out Boy

Chapter 1

Nightmares

Rachel had always known she was different. She had a big imagination and wouldn't let anyone stop her from doing what she wanted.

It may have been because she was a rich only child. She could afford to have whatever she wanted. But really, she just had an adventurous mindset. She could wander for hours though the halls and gardens of her mansion for hours, and her maid and chauffer (even though it wasn't really his job) would spend half the day trying to track her down at the insistence of her father.

It wasn't until the day of her sixteenth birthday that she found the entrance.

Rachel had heard the scrambling and cursing coming from her maid just outside her hiding spot in the bushes. She slipped from the plants onto the worn-down stone pathway leading to the center garden.

Just as she was about to turn into the circular area of the center, she heard a man's voice. Recognizing it as her chauffer's, she went to turn back the way she came, before hearing the muttering voice of the maid coming from that direction.

Thinking quickly, she scrambled over a stone wall and ran through the trees, bright red hair flowing from behind her. Just in front of her, a barbed wire fence appeared out of seemingly nowhere. Rachel couldn't stop in time, and instead threw her arm out to protect the rest of her body.

Droplets of blood appeared on her pale, freckled skin, and she ripped a piece of fabric off her tank top to wrap around it, and buttoned her old plaid shirt up to cover the hole.

She knew scaling the fence would be out of the question, and instead searched for another way in, wondering how it was she had never been to this part of the garden before. After all, she'd lived in the same house her entire life.

Walking alongside the fence, she took in the sight of the little pink flowers, just starting to bloom on the trees. Then one of the blueberry bushes rustled, causing her to jump back, startled. She walked around it to get a look at who, or what, was there.

Before she could get a good look, it jumped up and rushed off, following the fence in the same direction she had been going. Rachel followed, seeing only furry legs before it turned, making a sharp right through the opening in the fence. Rachel tried to catch up to it, but before she could, a large dog-like creature jumped in front of her. It was twice her size, with glowing red eyes, but before it could attack, she'd pulled an apple from her draw-string bag and pelted it at its face. While it was distracted, Rachel ran around it, but then something held her back. Like some kind of force-field keeping her away.

The thing with the furry legs turned at the base of a large pine tree, and spotting her with the large dog, shouted, "I, Grover Underwood, give you permission to enter camp."

The pressure left, and she practically fell through the barrier from the weight she had been pushing forward. It was just in time, as the beast snapped at her ankle, only to hit the force-field and bounce back.

Scrambling up, she tried to calm her nerves and even her breathing, but the dark-furred monster only a few inches away wasn't helping the matter. She rushed toward the animal-like thing at the top of the hill. It looked vaguely like something from the Greek myths she'd read, a satyr maybe, but she didn't think they wore T-shirts and Rasta caps.

"Wait!" she called, breathing heavily as she scaled the steep hill. Once she'd reached the top, she had about a million questions for him.

"What was that? Are you actually a satyr? What is this place? Why couldn't I get through? Who are you? And do you have a tissue?"

He answered each in order. "A hellhound, yes, Camp Half-Blood, because you're mortal, Grover Underworld, and yes." He handed her a crumpled looking napkin from his backpack. "I swear it's not used. It's just been in my bag for a while."

"Thanks," Rachel replied, blowing her nose. "Allergies," she informed him.

"How did you find this place?" he asked, walking towards some buildings. She followed him, unsure of what else to do.

"I have no idea. I was exploring my garden when I found the fence. I followed it until I found you, and then I just trailed after you."

He scrunched his eyebrows together. "That's weird," he said. "I've never heard of a mortal finding their way ever. And you've never found this place before?"

Rachel was about to reply 'no', when she took a good look around. The buildings were pretty mismatched and each one seemed to have its own theme.

One was made of rocks that had salt water stains on them. There were tridents on either side of its doorway. Another was a maroon, almost like blood. The paint was peeling and an ugly hog head hung above the entrance. Another one was practically glowing. It appeared to have been made entirely of gold. But yet another one consisted of entirely dark grays and black. Torches were lit that glowed an eerie, unnatural shade of green. There were many more, each one completely different than the one before.

There was big, open pavilion, filled with picnic tables, an amphitheater in a pit in the ground, and a tall building, with a blue roof. Something about looking through the top window made her uneasy. But the whole place seemed kind of familiar.

"I'm actually pretty sure I've dreamt of this place before," she replied eventually.

"Dreamt?" he asked.

"Actually," she said, "I'm pretty sure they were usually nightmares.

Grover looked down at his watch. "Oh, Hades. I'm late," he fretted. "I'm so late. She's going to kill me."

"Hades?" she questioned. "And who's going to kill you?"

Grover ignored her questions and ran towards the woods. "Go to the Big House!" he called back, pointing to the house with the blue roof. "Ask to talk to Chiron!"

[]()[]()[]()[]

Rachel stepped up onto the white wraparound porch. A girl about her age sat in a rocking chair. She held a book, with an old cover that was falling apart. Her hair was brown at the top with blond at the bottom. It was in a ponytail and she had a red bandana rolled and tied like a headband. She looked up at Rachel, her eyes a surprising purple shade.

"Um, I'm supposed to talk to Chiron."

The girl gave her a once over, before standing up, brushing dust off her overall shorts, and held her hand out. "Lou Ellen. Lou Ellen. You must be Rachel." Lou Ellen's red lipstick was perfectly applied, but her black nail polish was chipping.

Rachel shook her hand and said, "Yeah. And you must be psychic."

Lou Ellen just smiled cryptically, revealing a set of straight, pearly white teeth. "My mom told me you were coming. You must be important." Everything about Lou Ellen seemed to be contradicting itself. Some parts of her seemed like she spent laborious hours on her appearance and overall aura, but then other things seemed like she'd just rolled out of bed.

Lou Ellen pushed through the wooden door, and lead Rachel through a hallway filled with photographs. The frames seemed to be filled with the smiling faces of some teens her age. Most of the pictures had the same two people. A boy and a girl. As she walked along the two seemed to get older. In the first picture of them there was a distance between them. The girl had curly blond hair in a ponytail, a confidant grin on her face. The boy smiled, but mostly he looked confused. Like he couldn't believe what was happening. The satyr Rachel had seen earlier was in the photo. He looked a couple of years younger and seemed extremely nervous.

The next photo appeared to have been taken a couple of weeks later. The blonds hair was a wreck and falling out of her ponytail holder. The boy's dark hair was disheveled. The two an Grover all had their arms around each other. The had weary, yet happy smiles on their faces.

In each picture the two seemed even closer, and while Grover was in some of them, it was mostly just the one boy and girl.

Lou Ellen caught her looking at them. "Their names are Percy and Annabeth. They're the biggest heroes of our generation."

Rachel had never heard of them, but figured she'd be better off keeping that to herself.

The Percy and Annabeth in the pictures kept getting older. Eventually, there was a picture that was hard to make out. She looked closer, and saw the two holding hands, being held up by some other teens. They were laughing and blushing at the same time. They appeared to be at the edge of a lake. The picture after that one had a soaked Percy and Annabeth. Their clothes were sticking to them and their hair was flattened against their heads. Percy was planting a kiss on Annabeth's cheek.

After that, they were holding hands or kissing in every picture. Rachel's heart swelled and she felt like she'd just witnessed a love story firsthand.

Rachel looked back over Lou Ellen, who'd stopped walking and was staring at her.

"You're mortal," she stated.

It wasn't really a question, but Rachel answered anyway. "Yeah."

"I don't get it."

"What?"

Lou Ellen looked genuinely confused. "You belong here. But a mortal shouldn't. Unless..."

"Unless what?" Rachel asked.

"Unless you're the one we've been waiting for." Then her flawlessly tanned face broke into a grin. "You are! I can just feel it."

Rachel's head cocked to the side. "Who are you waiting for?"

"Our new Oracle. Come on, you have to meet Chiron."

Rachel was confused, but she followed the girl into a room. Inside, a man with a scraggly beard was sitting in a wheelchair. On the couch next to him, the girl from the pictures, Annabeth, sat, a worried expression adorning her face. She looked tired, like all of her life force had been sucked out of her.

"We found our Oracle," Lou Ellen announced before noticing Annabeth. "What's the matter?" she asked, worried.

"Percy's missing," Annabeth choked out, as though she could barely get out those two words without breaking into heart-wrenching sobs.

A/N: So here's my new chapter. It's been in my head for a while. head over to my profile, check out the poll, leave a review, follow, favorite, shoot me a PM. Whatever you guys want.

EDIT: I accidently originally posted the wrong chapter. I've fixed it now