So this is an AU I found on tumblr. I've been thinking about this a lot lately and wanted to write it. I hope you guys like it! I'm not sure if I'll continue this, but if I do, I won't be able to update regularly so I apologize in advance.
Beep... beep... beep...
That was all Percy could hear. A constant beep, chirping loudly in his ear. And then he opened his eyes, squinting at the light. For a moment he was disoriented, but when his gaze focused... he was still disoriented. The room he was in had blindingly white walls and a gray-painted door; where was he? This wasn't Cabin 3. Where were the blue walls, the fountain? What was going on?
Percy tried to push himself up, but his arms shook; they looked frail, as if all of his taut muscle had disappeared over night. He collapsed back onto the uncomfortable bed, only just now noticing the tube snaking out of his arm and the nubbins feeding him oxygen through the nose. What happened to him? Why wasn't he in the camp infirmary? If something so bad had happened to him, some ambrosia and nectar should have been able to fix him up just fine.
He looked around; there wasn't much to the room other than the bedside table and heart monitor. Had he been captured by Hecate and was currently being manipulated by her Mist? That had to be it. It was all an illusion. Percy concentrated hard on the walls, squinting, trying to make out a mistake anywhere, something that would give the whole facade away so he would be able to peel it off with ease. But there was nothing, no waver in the image.
Then a man in a lab coat entered the room.
"Apollo?" Percy mumbled. His voice was raspy and his tongue was like sandpaper.
Apollo's head shot up from the clipboard he was holding, his eyes widening at Percy. "You're awake!"
Percy squinted his eyes at Apollo's shock. The man rushed over to the wall and grabbed a phone. "Nurse, alert Percy Jackson's mother that he's awake, immediately. Her information is in the file for patient 1680392." He repeated the number once more and then turned to the bed. His eyes were still wide and he opened and closed his mouth before regaining the ability to speak. "Welcome back, Mr. Jackson. It's been a long time."
"Long time?" Percy wheezed. He tried to clear his throat but it was like all of the moisture had disappeared. Dehydration was a strange feeling to Percy. He was a son of Poseidon; water ran through his veins like blood. Apollo picked up the receiver once more and asked the nurse on the end of the line to bring a glass of water.
Then he said, "We'll need to run some tests, and you'll have to complete physical therapy before you're allowed back to school and all, but you've been in the best care..."
Percy stopped listening. Apollo always did ramble on, but never like this. He normally quoted Shakespeare and Dickens but now he was jotting down types of therapy he would need to complete and a nutritionist Percy should get in touch with. He knew Apollo was also the god of healing, but this was very foreign to him.
It was about ten minutes and a glass of water later- that didn't move no matter how much he concentrated; his energy must have been drained- when his mom came barreling into the room. Tears were streaming down her cheeks and suddenly she was hugging him like she hadn't seem him in years which was totally not true; he had gone home from camp just last weekend and had dinner with her and Paul...
"M-mom," he wheezed, "what's going on? What am I doing here?"
"Oh sweetie, you were in a car crash!"
A car crash? Wow. If anything would bring the downfall of a child of the Big Three, Percy would have though it would be an army of angry Titans, and even that hadn't killed him.
"That's right," Apollo said. "You were in a terrible car crash four years ago, when you were twelve. It was a terribly rainy night and you were hit by another driver. You're lucky to be alive, Mr. Jackson. You really are a fighter."
'Lucky to be alive' rung in his ears. He turned to his mom with worry. She was driving that car, she must have been. "You weren't hurt, were you?"
She cocked her head. "Do you... do you not remember that night, Percy?"
He shook his head, but a dull ache started to grow. He stopped and said, "No, not really."
Then Sally's eyes saddened. "Doctor, could you give us a minute?" she asked Apollo. He nodded and retreated from the room. "I wasn't in the car with you during the crash. Sweetie, that night, you were going to a party with Grover, that boy with the leg problem who was in his junior year. You remember him? You were very close with him. Well he was driving you two home and you got hit by another driver. He probably couldn't see through the rain. Oh, Percy, I hate to have to tell you this but- but Grover wasn't wearing a seat belt. He crashing through the windshield."
He heard the beeping of his heart monitor pick up. "W-what?"
"I'm sorry, Percy. Grover died," Sally said, and covered his hand with her own.
"No, that's impossible. He can't be; he's back at camp-"
Percy froze. Apollo said that he'd been here for four years, since he was twelve. Did that mean...?
"Camp?"
"Mom," he whispered, "where's Annabeth?"
Confusion appeared on Sally's face. "Who?"
Leave me a comment if you want me to continue this!
