Once.

The last thing Percy remembered was seeing a pretty girl, her blond hair curled like a princess's. She looked down at him and said, "You're the one. You must be."

And then everything went dark.

When he came to he was in a clearing in the forest, and the girl was nowhere to be seen. His boots and cloak were gone, and - he realised with a panic - his sword was, too. He was completely vulnerable, lying beside a pond with no idea where he was or how he'd got there. His horse made a soft noise and nudged Percy's shoulder with his nose, encouraging him to move.

As he sat up things slowly started to piece themselves together. He remembered being chased… the minotaur, yes, it had been a minotaur after him. It had been a long fight, but he'd won, eventually. The beast had been vanquished and he… he had collapsed, injured and exhausted. So how had he ended up here? And who was the girl?

His body ached in protest as he slowly got to his feet. The sun was shining, and the forest was really quite pretty, he thought. Dappled light fell through the branches of the tall trees, the grass underfoot was soft and green, and scented flowers bloomed all around. Percy still had no idea how to navigate it, though.

He was considering his next move when he heard it - the most beautiful voice imaginable, singing. The sound was carried to him on the warm summer breeze, and he was instantly enchanted.

"You hear that, Blackjack?" he said, looking around at his horse. "Beautiful!"

Blackjack snorted, unimpressed.

Percy took a few steps, following the sound. "What is it? Come on, let's find out."

Blackjack stood still, shaking his head.

"Oh, come on! For an extra bucket of oats? And a few carrots?"

That got the horse interested. But of course, as soon as they set off, the voice was silenced. They wandered for a while but ended up going in circles, and Percy frowned.

"You know, Blackjack, there was something strange about that voice. Too beautiful to be real. Maybe it was a wood sprite…"

But he was soon proved wrong, for the singing started up again. He headed eagerly towards its source and spotted a flash of gold through the trees. It was the girl, stepping lightly through a clearing and singing to herself.

"But if I know you, I know what you'll do, you'll love me at once, the way you did once upon a dream," she sang, twirling away.

Percy hid behind a tree, watching her. Blackjack hovered over his shoulder, and Percy shot him an incredulous look as she continued singing.

He waited until she had her back to him, and then Percy stepped out and gently grasped her wrist, joining in the song.

"You'll love me at once, the way you did," (here her voice faded away, but he continued on), "once upon a dream."

"Oh!" the girl said, turning to see him. Her grey eyes went wide, and her blonde curls bounced around her elbows as she tried to pull herself out of his grasp.

He held on. "I'm awfully sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you -"

And then she gripped his wrist, leveraged his own weight against him and flipped him to the ground in one smooth movement.

"You didn't frighten me," she snarled, looking down at him where he lay prone on his back. Her eyes were stormy. She dropped his wrist, sending it forcefully towards his face. "And you drool when you sleep."

Well that wasn't what he'd been expecting.

For the first time he noticed the dagger in her hand, pointed right between his eyes - she'd been parrying, practising fencing moves. Singing and practising fight moves. Who was this girl?

"Oh," he said, at a total loss for words.

She flipped the dagger around, sheathed it and marched off. Percy scrambled to his feet, hurrying after her.

"Wait, who are you?" he called.

She didn't look back, continuing easily through the forest. "A stranger."

"We're not strangers," Percy said eagerly, "Don't you remember? We've met before!"

She stopped, spine absolutely straight, and turned her head to look at him shrewdly. Her voice was colder when she spoke than when she sang. "We have?"

"Of course, you said so yourself! Once upon a dream." He started to sing again, finally catching up to her. He reached out for her hand again, but she snatched it away and the song died on his lips.

"Have you had the dreams too, then?" she asked.

Now that they were closer and he wasn't on his back, Percy could see that she was young, probably around the same age as him. Her skin was tanned and her build was athletic, as though she spent a lot of time outdoors.

Percy couldn't be sure what dreams exactly she was referring to - as a half-blood hero, dreams with hidden meanings or quests were a common occurrence. He wondered if she was a half-blood too, if her dreams were prophetic. She was staring at him so earnestly, so hopefully, that he didn't want to let her down.

"You've seen me a few times, haven't you?" he asked.

She nodded, just a few stiff jerks of her pointed chin. Percy's eyes drifted from that chin up to her lips, and his breath caught in his throat. She drew her bottom lip between her teeth before saying, "I have. You… you help, in the dreams."

"Help with what?"

"My quest."

Percy couldn't hide his surprise. "You're on a quest?"

She pushed her shoulders back, eyes flashing dangerously. "Yes, does that surprise you? I'll have you know that I'm perfectly capable of completing this quest by myself, if you don't want to help -"

"No, no, that's not what I meant - I know you're capable," Percy quickly amended, absently rubbing the wrist she'd used to flip him before.

She didn't miss that, and smirked. Seemingly appeased, she asked, "So are you going to help, or no?"

"Well what's the quest?"

She hesitated, walking forward a bit more. She wound around a low hanging branch and leaned against it, obviously trying to be casual. Percy slipped beside her, leaning much more naturally against the tree.

"I… I have to break a curse," she said, looking out over the valley.

"What curse?"

"There's a prophecy," she said slowly, drawing each word out. Percy waited patiently, eager to hear what was happening but also content to just listen to her voice. He wanted to commit every cadence of it to memory. "The prophecy says that on her sixteenth birthday, the princess is going to be stabbed and fall into a death-like sleep. And I'm going to stop that."

Percy stared at her, admiring. "You are?"

She finally looked at him. "I am."

They fell into a comfortable silence, and Percy shifted just a little bit closer to her, until their arms were brushing. She didn't move away, and he smiled.

"What's your name?"

She took a few seconds to answer, looking as though she was in a daze. He wondered what brought that on. "Hmm? Oh, my name… My name's Annabeth."

The name sounded familiar, but Percy couldn't pick where he'd heard it before.

He opened his mouth to reply, but before he could say anything Annabeth straightened, looking panicked. She ducked under the tree branch and started to sprint away.

"Wait!" Percy called, leaning over the branch. He realised it would be quicker to go under than over and ducked down, scrambling after her again. "Don't you want me to join the quest?"

"Oh, yes, I suppose!" she called over her shoulder. She was amazingly quick on her feet.

"When, now?"

"No, this evening." Her hair flew out behind her as she ran.

Percy felt even more confused than when he'd first woken up. "Where?"

"At the supply cottage, in the glen!"

And then Annabeth was gone, vanished into the forest in a whirl of gold, and Percy was left staring after her, dumbfounded. His heart continued fluttering in his chest.

Blackjack neighed, and Percy turned to see that his loyal horse had found his belongings, piled neatly against the trunk of a towering tree.

"Can you believe that girl, Blackjack?" he said, too distracted by the memory of Annabeth to properly reward his horse for his good work.

Blackjack grunted and shook his head.

Percy couldn't wipe the grin off his face, absentmindedly patting Blackjack's neck and staring at the spot he'd last seen Annabeth. "Better rest up, we're going on a quest tonight!"

a.n. I watched Sleeping Beauty today, and I was struck by how similar Aurora looked to Annabeth. And then I remembered Percy's first thought about her, and her comment to him when he woke up… and yeah. This happened. I hope you enjoyed it!