A/N: Hey guys!
I've been meaning to write for a while, ever since I saw Total Recall. Yep, you guessed, this story is a crossover from the movie and PJO. Oh, and supernatural, too.
This story explains what happens to Percy when he gets put to sleep by Hera. The goddess loses him, however; this is the story that follows, starting a short couple of weeks after Percy's kidnapping.
Also, IMPORTANT: Liam and Percy are the same person; I just refer to them differently based on whoever's P.O.V. it is.
What distinguishes reality from illusion, people? Let's find out.
Disclaimer: I do not own PJO or Total Recall or Supernatural.
Liam 'Sam' Winchester, better known to the world as Perseus Jackson, jerked awake and immediately hit his head on the ceiling. If it wasn't for his inexplicable (and limited) invulnerability, Liam was sure he would have cracked his skull. It sure didn't stop the wracking headache that erupted, though.
Cursing, he got off the top bunk and dropped down to the floor in perfect silence. He was late, yet again. Gaea would definitely not be happy about it this time around. He had managed to crash in the first dormitory room he had found – admittedly not a good idea, since he got stuck with the top bunk.
Why the fuck are we in this gods damned war anyways? Gaea promised me I'd be able to go back to living with Khione and mom! I've been waiting years for this!
He still remembered his past clearly, as if all those events from before had happened just yesterday.
He was Liam Winchester, son of Poseidon, destroyer of the Greek Legacy, champion of Gaea. He had single-handedly stopped the Titan Lord Kronos from returning, and that had happened just the year before. He had saved the earth from certain destruction, and now the Olympian gods, his father amongst them, had risen up against the world, in an effort to take over and rule it.
Not on my bloody watch, you're not. I'll save this planet from any of you damned betrayers.
He woke up Khione; turns out she had slept in, too. Liam didn't understand where that came from; she was a goddess, she shouldn't need the sleep.
He smiled slightly at her tousled hair. This was his goddess, and he was definitely going to propose to her once the commissioned ring was ready. They'd certainly be married by the time the rebellion would be crushed. Liam snorted at his own chain of thought.
Maybe I'll get my happily ever after.
Khione stood up and waved her hand in front of his face, to check if he was still there. Liam's eyes flitted back to her, and he flashed his trademark 'drop-dead gorgeous smile' before kissing her lips softly. He started to deepen it, and sucked her upper and lower lips separately and was intending to do more when Khione stopped him.
"Liam, not now! We're late, and Gaea's got something to do for us today, remember?" She spluttered out in a rapid machine-gun style, so completely unlike her usual self. He frowned slightly before waving it off and running after her towards the castle's courtyard.
Turned out all Gaea had in mind today for the secluded group of demigods who took residence in Liam and Khione's castle was exterminating monsters. Apparently, a somewhat organized pack of hellhounds and empousae had been lurking in the neighbourhood; it was time to end their demigod hunting days.
When they returned, Gaea told them to take the evening off; she had important matters to attend to, and she wouldn't be able to spend more time with them.
Fine by me; I get more time with Khione.
That night, Khione had slipped herself into Liam's bed and they were sleeping contently next to each other. Liam hadn't wanted to do anything too intimate between them before he had proposed, so sleeping was all that it really amounted to, only in the comfort of each other's arms.
He embraced the warm and beautiful goddess next to him and dozed off.
He wasn't prepared for the torment of nightmares, though.
Liam had just finished singing with the people next to him. He had an arm laced around the waist of a very beautiful golden-haired girl with stormy grey eyes, and they were laughing.
"Seaweed Brain, isn't it time for bed?"
Liam wondered what was going on, but he couldn't budge; he was trapped in his own dream.
The two of them had reached the front porch of a wooden cabin. A smell of sea-breeze passed them, and Liam sighed, feeling relaxed. He turned towards the girl, and his mouth opened up of its own accord and answered her.
"Wise girl, I love you, you know?"
That certainly jarred Liam. Who was this wise girl, and why did he say those things to her?
The shock was clearly visible on the girl's face. She faltered for a second before a huge smile lit her face.
"I love you too, Seaweed Brain!" They both leaned in for a tender kiss, and after a long while the girl hopped off to Gaea knew where.
Liam turned and walked towards the cabin slightly dazed from the thing that had just happened.
Once he entered and hung a cap on the rack, he turned around.
That's when he got hit straight on the head, and he blacked out.
Liam Jackson woke up, sweating slightly from the things he had just seen.
He got off his bed and took a few deep breaths before looking out the window and gazing at the stars. Khione stirred on the bed and looked at him with warmth he hadn't thought possible for her. After all, she was the goddess of snow.
"Sam, baby, what's up?"
"Nothing, Khione; just a nightmare, that's all."
Khione's ears perked up at this, an action which didn't go unnoticed by Liam.
"You sure, baby? Tell me about it, I might be able to help, you never know."
Something told Liam to lie to her and brush it off. He followed his instinct, and blamed some weird story about monsters clawing at the castle gates instead of the proper dream. He saw the glint in Khione's eyes fade a bit, and he immediately realized something was off.
"Anyways, Liam, come back to bed. We've got a day off tomorrow, and I'm not letting you waste the morning to sleep."
Liam chuckled despite himself and crawled back in bed.
Sleep wouldn't come easily this time around, though. Besides, he didn't want it to; it seemed to bring weird, unwelcome visions with it, and he wasn't ready for all that extra baggage at the current point in time.
He woke up once more, from a similar dream. Apparently, the girl, who called herself Annabeth, had apparently taken a knife for him during the fight against Kronos.
Liam didn't want to show that he was disturbed by the dreams; after all, they were only dreams!
Somehow, he had a hard time trying to convince himself of that. And if he was any good at observing things, Khione seemed to be expecting something form his dreams as well.
Quite uncharacteristically, Liam decided he would stay up. Sure, it was five o'clock in the morning. Sure, he was tired.
Sleep was starting to become a confusing experience for him, and he decided to be able to enjoy the day-off with his girl, he would need to distract his mind from the dreams.
Naturally, he planted a quick kiss on the sleeping goddess's lips and jogged off to the basement boxing room. He hung up a bag and wrapped his hands up.
Then he started punching.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Khione looked up from her sleeping form. Percy Jackson, currently known as Liam Winchester, was nowhere in sight, and a slight yearning look passed her face.
Immediately she chastised herself. She couldn't be falling in love with the sea-spawn, could she?
"Get a grip of yourself, Goddess. He's a mere demigod, and besides, if we didn't enmesh him in our net of false memories, he would currently be our enemy."
Startled, Khione turned around to see an earthen replica of a very naked Mother Nature staring at her.
She snarled at Gaea. "I know that very well, thank you very much!" She spat out.
"Good. It wouldn't do for you to forget yourself and immerse yourself totally in your role, now, would it?" Gaea taunted her.
Khione's icy expression returned, ever-reminiscent of the merciless cold of her domain.
As Gaea left, Khione's shoulders sagged. She didn't understand how Percy did it. He actually managed to bring out the playful and – she retched – good-natured side of her. It was all so wrong!
She steeled her resolve; if they managed to keep Percy with his current memories, then he would be on their side, fighting for them, forever. She was having second thoughts about her orders should he show any sign of treachery, however. She couldn't help it; 'Sam Winchester' was so fucking desirable.
Khione's face hid under a mask of cold indifference. She wouldn't fail; she would kill Percy Jackson if it turned out he had turned on them (and back to the gods). Too much was at stake already; the goddess couldn't and wouldn't fail at this stage in their plan.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
When Liam looked at the grandfather clock behind him, he took a step back in surprise and checked again. He had been pounding the bags for a couple of hours now. It was time for breakfast in the castle's banquet room. He put away the punching bags and cleared off the area before taking a quick, refreshing shower and sprinted off to get his morning meal.
Sitting at his table was a beautiful looking Khione. Liam smiled inwardly; he still couldn't believe he had been dating a goddess for the past couple of years. It seemed almost too good to be true, and for a moment his mind pulled up the dreams he had seen. He waved them off before making sure to remember to check on the ring he had commissioned.
She looked up at him, and his heart flooded with love for her and all that she represented for him. Freedom, passion, tenderness, and pure emotion; but then he was sure she also felt similar things for him. He looked at her straight in the eyes, and peered into them, pouring as much of himself as he could through his expression.
Something had changed about Khione, though. There was an unfamiliar hardness in her gaze, and her (what he considered) usual jovial side was not visible. That didn't mean she wasn't smiling; she was smiling back at him, alright. But the expression was not the one that he was looking for; this smile seemed empty. He wondered if something had happened to her while he was away training. Was it the fact that she had woken up alone? Had she thought that he didn't like her?
Liam's sudden bout of paranoia quickly caused him to rush to her and apologize about the morning. With an amused smirk Khione watched the demigod stumble and stutter in front of her, before deciding it was enough; she cut him off with a sickly sweet smile and pressed her lips against his for a short moment before pulling back. Liam relaxed visibly before whispering to her that he would be right back.
The ring was finished, and Liam was glad that he could now take it. He thanked the mortals and paid them before jogging back to the castle.
Khione was in the process of picking out a movie when Percy finally showed up. She smirked and patted on a spot on the ground right next to her and he plopped down beside her, exhaling loudly.
Khione turned to him and noticed his chest moving up and down a bit quicker than normal.
"So," she dropped the question casually, "where were you that you had to run so much to make it here in time? You left two hours ago, in the middle of breakfast."
She had to make sure he hadn't been doing something he shouldn't have been, and she figured this was the best way of finding out. A nice, clean, and direct approach. In war, full-out frontal attacks always brought results; never mind that it usually served to give the more numerous side the upper hand. Besides, Khione was pretty sure she was the dominating figure in their 'relationship'.
"Uh, um, it... it's a surprise!"
Khione blinked. Who was it for? She asked the question out loud.
The only result she got was that she would find out later on, and it didn't really make her any happier. She was already calculating the possible outcomes of different situations, planning quick and efficient kill tactics. She was the sneakiest goddess around; she was the whisper in the wind, the wind that turned on unsuspecting victims. It was safe to say she could be a deadly assassin if she tried.
However, words were her forte, not knives, although she was pretty good with them. She would definitely find a way to fix Percy; she didn't really want the demigod dead right now.
She was having internal arguments; it was an obvious case of conflicted interests, and finally she realized that she would weed out whatever Percy was planning by the end of the afternoon.
After a marathon of The Jason Bourne trilogy, both of them decided it was enough; they had already missed lunch, and Liam's stomach was growling.
Popcorn and hotdogs remediated that, and Liam decided that Khione need to go to the beach with him. That is exactly what they did; Khione flashed to the nearest clean (Gaea would appreciate) beach and Liam surprised her the second they appeared by planting a quick kiss on her cheek before running away along the beach.
The rest of the afternoon was spent chasing each other, having ice cream (which thanks to Khione didn't melt in the heat) and generally enjoying each other's presence.
They ended up watching the beautiful red sky that lit splendidly up once the sun dipped below horizon, and Khione figured this was the best time to ask him about the surprise. Just as she opened her mouth, however, Liam blurted out a few words that got her suspicious side acting up again.
"Khione, my love, I have something to tell you."
She looked at him questioningly, clearly indicating the 'go-on' signal.
What happened next, however, left her speechless. For a while, anyway.
Liam dropped to one knee, pulled out a small blue velvet box and opened it to reveal one of the most beautiful rings she had ever seen.
"Khione, will you marry me?"
To be honest, she didn't think he had it in him. After all, most of the memories of him with her were fakes. But apparently, the past two weeks had given him more than enough time to somehow go and buy a ring.
Khione had an internal war raging. She couldn't decide on what to do; she couldn't just say yes, she had only 'really' known him for two weeks, even if she was forced to act as his long standing girlfriend. She couldn't really just say no,either. He had been truly amazing, and she hadn't expected to start liking him as much as she did.
In the end, she didn't even have a choice in the matter.
Gaea had decided to butt in on 'their moment' and urged her to agree.
Liam, poor guy, was visibly shaking from the nervousness. Khione seemed to have a look of pure disbelief on her face, and he wondered if she didn't really like him as much as he thought she did.
No, that couldn't be true; Khione had been helping him all along; she had been helping him from day one, ever since he had joined Gaea in her quest to free the world of evil.
Gathering up every last ounce of courage left in him, he ventured the question again.
That seemed to snap Khione out of her thoughts, and for a fleeting second his world crashed; he thought the look on her face pretty much indicated that he was going to be met with a refusal.
However, though, it turned out that she had different plans.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Liam definitely qualified himself as the happiest man on earth. His girlfriend of a few years had accepted; he was definitely jumping for joy as at the dinner table that evening.
Something which all the demigods present noticed and chuckled at. After all, they didn't have too many people living at the castle, and everyone now went by first names' basis. Many had flings and trysts with each other, and they were a tight-knit family, completely unlike a certain dysfunctional one that Liam had saved from the wrath of the time titan.
If only he knew.
Khione decided she would enjoy the night; it was perfectly obvious that Percy would never betray them, now; his fatal flaw being personal loyalty, his character made him so that he would never leave Khione. Perseus Jackson, champion of Gaea, was now Khione's fiancé.
Of course, Gaea had to ruin it. Just as Khione was prepping herself for bed, slightly uncomfortable with the fact that now they were engaged, Percy would probably try something with her, Mother Nature had to interrupt with some news.
If only her period had been the reason.
Gaea reminded Khione of her duty towards her, and how she would not be where she was currently if she forgot herself. After a good half-hour of gritting her teeth and keeping her mouth tightly shut while she was being lectured, Percy walked in to their room.
They had left their old bunks and settled for the master bedroom of the west wing of the castle, and it was spacious. Gaea had graciously furnished it, keeping in mind a specific baroque style and sticking to it for the west wing. Which looked completely out of place when compared with the north wing, of course, which was modern art-deco; and visibly clashed with the other two wings. One was renaissance styled, with original Rembrandts hung on the walls, and the dining hall was situated in this wing. The square structure of the castle with an internal courtyard and magnificent hanging garden complemented its gothic architecture perfectly. True, one a stormy night the whole building may have spooked out more than a couple of the passers-by, but in broad daylight it was a sight to see. Recently a world UNESCO heritage site, currently owned by the Baroness of Florencia (no relation to the city), it had apparently served as Gaea's refuge in modern times.
When Liam walked in, Gaea gave him a quick, knowing, wink before vanishing into dust like she always did. He stared as the dust left the room before literally jumping on Khione, ramming her into the bed as he did so.
Noticing Khione's flustered look, he chuckled. She was lying under him, and she was obviously starting to get uncomfortable. Liam sighed; not tonight. He spoke up.
"Khione, baby, look at me." As she did so, Liam smiled at her and caressed her face, cupping her cheeks in his hands. She looked at him intently, waiting for the inevitable.
Which didn't come.
"Khione, baby, we won't do anything unless both of us want to, okay? For now, let's just relax like we used to do. I promise, baby; nothing's changed between us. I'm fine with anything you (and any-when) you choose."
Khione smiled at him gratefully before knocking out Liam's knees so that he fell on her. This quickly turned into a passionate kiss, but it didn't go beyond that.
Afterwards, Khione smiled. She would give the demigod a shot; maybe he would be worth it. He seemed amazing enough, respecting her choices even though they seemed weird to him. After all, you don't just say no to your partner after so many things happen to make you happy. Khione simply needed a little bit of time to adjust to Liam's memories.
Hand in hand with the happy thoughts came the malicious side of her. She grinned; Percy would definitely do anything for her, now. She smirked; it was always a bonus to have to the world's most powerful demigod on your side.
Especially if that demigod happened to be your fiancé. Then you always got that little extra on the side to go with it.
She lulled herself to sleep, finally agreeing with Gaea that maybe kidnapping Perseus Jackson was the best way to take down the Olympians.
Liam had another fitful night of sleep. The snippets of memories he kept seeing that night were like continuous reel videos; they didn't seem to stop once he delved deep enough. He woke up twice in sweat; he wasn't certain about exactly why those dreams were coming to him. Was this some ploy of Kronos? Or worse, yet, the Olympians? No, that couldn't be it. The Olympians themselves had come to thank him after he had protected their home. No, this was decidedly the work of Kronos; however, he wasn't sure how the old geezer was still able to reach him.
Maybe it was an after effect of his last battle with him. After all, the titan lord of time had fired golden blasts at him, and they had both played a deadly dance with each other, hurtling hailstones and big chunks of rocks, amongst other things.
But if that was true, then that meant that those dreams actually were Liam's own memories, from his own past. No, that wasn't possible. He would remember if he had actually had a girlfriend called Annabeth, right? And many of the things that the Annabeth from the dreams had done were actually done by Khione!
No, he must have been confusing some mortal with Khione. Maybe this was a test from Gaea, to see his love for her. If so, then he wouldn't fail.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Annabeth was frantic. She had been desperately searching for Percy for the past two weeks. It didn't help that at the very moment that she needed help, Olympus had shut its doors to lesser beings. Apparently, demigods, and especially one specific architect of Olympus also fell into that category.
She had enlisted help from Nico, the Hunters, anyone who would agree to help her.
Dionysus had packed and left not two days after Percy's disappearance.
I won't fail you, Seaweed Brain. We both made promises to each other, and I intend to keep the one I made to you, so you can keep the one you made to me.
She hoped that his curse was still valid. Otherwise, Percy might never remember her, and he would be in great trouble.
She prayed desperately to anyone and everyone, begging the deities to bring her boyfriend back.
Far away, high up in the night sky, a star twinkled. A couple more seemed to supernova, which made those stars stand out amongst the multitude that were visible.
Annabeth looked up and smiled. She had well-wishers, high up in the heavens, and she had no doubt that she would always find help if she asked them for it.
She mused for a long hour, thinking about her memories with the huntress. There weren't many; she had appeared once when she was with Luke and Thalia, and once again during the sky bearing episode. She thanked Zoë for watching over Percy and her.
After all, it was well known that the Huntress had liked Percy before her ascension to stardom.
"Funny pun, Annabeth; really funny."
Annabeth jumped around to see Thalia. It would seem she had said it out loud.
"Okay, Annie, here's the deal. You," Thalia drawled the vowels out while pulling out a map, "are going to go visit some architecture."
She was about to protest that Percy was more important right now before doing a double take. She hadn't realized how much he truly meant to her, and how much a part of her life he truly was. Thalia noticed her dropping back in her thoughts, and she yelled out at her.
With a yelp Annabeth returned her attention to her friend and listened to what she had to say.
Apparently, there was a castle near the outer area of the state where a castle had recently been declared a world heritage site. What made it more interesting was that apparently a member of some royal nobility owned the place. Her interest was piqued, and Thalia knew she had succeeded in helping her friend out.
She still couldn't believe that an ethereal Zoë had come to visit her, much less tell her that Annabeth needed to go and visit some castle.
But hey, Zoë probably knew what she was doing; she wouldn't waste time on earth on a fruitless endeavour; that much was certain.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
When Liam sneaked up on the demigods training in the arena, he wasn't prepared for their conversation.
"So, do you guys really believe that 'Sam' is on our side?"
"Well, yeah, obviously. His fatal flaw's loyalty, you know? He's not going to leave Khione, no matter what he remembers about his past."
That definitely got Liam worked up. What were they talking about? What past? Was this linked to the dreams he was having at night? He decided to get closer and try and catch more of the conversation.
"You know, it's funny how he easily Gaea convinced him. I still find it weird the great Percy Jackson would willingly drop his name and take up another one once he joined us."
"Well, it's obviously to protect his previous identity. I'm guessing if we hadn't found out from Khione's musings that Liam was Percy, none of us would have figured it out."
So Khione was in on this, too? What the hell was going on in here?
Liam Winchester was working himself up to a rage, and the results would not be pretty, added to the basic fact that he would be discovered. If he could trust what he was currently hearing, which he was doubtful of, then there was something extremely fishy going on.
"Well, I'm sure I would have. I mean, isn't it obvious? One of our most feared enemies is reported missing, next day this guy turns up here with Gaea, while Khione fills us in on the different memories of him. Besides, we would have been stupid not to figure it out from his last name."
Of course, leave it to the only daughter of Athena present to act like a know-it-all, stuck up, arrogant piece of shit. Liam really didn't have any love for her; bloody meat-bag in the castle, that's all she was. Third-rate Athenian hell-spawn, that's what she was.
Whoa; easy there on the anger, buddy.
"Well, excuse me, Sherlock. Didn't stop you from going all googly-eyed over this guy. If I remember, I heard you moaning something later that night. What was it, did you pray to Gaea for an earthen copy of Winchester?" That caused the daughter of Athena to turn crimson, and almost everyone present laughed.
Liam smirked; he liked the daughter of Hephaestus Joanna a lot more, now. However, matters of greater importance forced him to stay hidden. What the hell did they mean when they said 'their most feared enemy'?
This wasn't working; he needed to do some more digging and snooping around. Khione and the others were screwing around with him, and he wasn't going to just sit there and take it.
Oh hell no. It's time to show them what it means to take on a Winchester.
Yeah, I agree, not the best ending for the first chapter, and I specifically intended this one to be a lot longer, but this was dragging on for too long, and I just had to put it up.
So, yeah, love, hate, flames, whatever. Just leave me a review if you want to hear more about Winchester-Jackson.
The Total Recall part's going to come soon, no worries. :)
Also, I've been using line breaks in this story! Yay!