Chapter 3: Rude awakening

I do not own Percy Jackson or BOTW

The suspense was going to kill her. Zelda's curiosity was burning her alive and if not for Mipha's insistence that the patient needed to rest, she would have badged in and proceeded to wake him up herself with not necessary gentle ways.

The Princess had sent a letter back to her castle saying that she would be spending the night at the night at Zora Domain. When the stranger woke up, she wanted to be if not the first to be there then the first to hear about it. It was ten o'clock at night but the blonde still couldn't sleep. She had so many questions and theories about the strange occurrence of the day that it was impossible to turn her brain off.

Finally, she gave up on trying to coax herself to sleep, knowing that it would be fruitless. Zelda instead chose to put on her robe and went for a walk. This was far from the first time she had ever done this. The Princess had had many sleepless nights since her mother passed away. Back at Hyrule Castle, it wasn't "proper" for a Princess to wander around at night. However, here at Zora Domain, the rules were not as stern. Even at night, the palace's blue corridors were never empty. Zelda found several elder Zoras and even a few young ones strolling across the crystalized floors, some stopped and talked to her, but none questioned her decision of a late night walk.

After a while, the Princess found herself alone on a bridge overlooking a small waterfall nearby. She spent the next of her time observing a handful of Zoras diving off the waterfall straight into the water below, just to swim back up to the top without breaking a sweat. Zelda had seen Mipha performed the act many times before, but it would never get old.

She lost track of how long she had been standing there, lost in her endless stream of thoughts until she heard hurried footsteps approaching her. Zelda was surprised to see Link running toward her, looking positively excited.

"Link? What is it?" She asked.

"He's waking up." That was all Link said, but that was all Zelda needed to hear to feel a burst of excitement roaring through her veins. Without a word, she took off toward the infirmary, Link keeping up behind her.

They made it inside in no time at all. Mipha, who had automatically shushed them the moment they set a foot inside the room. The red Zora has her right hand hovering above the unconscious stranger's forehead, her palm glowing faintly while the Zora's less dominant hand was placed firmly on her chest. Zelda had seen this type of magic before, this particular spell was often used by healers in order to wake someone up once their body had fully recovered.

The Hylian held her breath as Mipha finished the spell and the stranger began to stir. Then, without warning at all, his eyes snapped open, revealing the most beautiful shade of green Zelda had ever seen. Those eyes were bright and were the perfect combination of green and blue swirling together. Anyone would want to have eyes like those.

However, the Princess didn't have much time to admire the stranger's eyes as he sat upright so fast it made Zelda cringed. Not missing a beat, he jumped out of bed and onto his feet with impressive speed and steadiness for someone who had just woken up. Then, just as quickly, the stranger turned to face them, he pulled a sword out of absolute nowhere and held it in a defensive stance. All of that happened in a matter of seconds.

Almost instantly, the blonde Hylian was pushed behind Link, who had had his own sword and shield out and was holding them in front of her protectively.

For what seemed like forever, they stood there, frozen in one spot. Zelda could see the stranger's sea green eyes scanned briefly over the Master Sword, the Hylian Shield and Link, they lingered slightly on the Knight and the Princess' pointy ears. He raised his eyebrows at the sight of Mipha before gazing at the door and settled back to them again.

Link, however, was more focus on the young swordsman in front of him, or more specifically, his sword. The weapon was made of a brownish gold metal, copper perhaps. But Link had never seen the design of it before, and he had literally seen every kind of weapons in Hyrule before, from the most common Knight's Broardsword to a Yiga's Demon Carver.

The sword pointing at him was short and leaf-like, similar to a Rito's Feather Edge but hid blade wasn't as wide. Comparing to the Master Sword, the blade was almost… petite. This could be a disadvantage on Link's part, since foreign weapons usually meant unknown fighting style. And judging from the way the sword sat naturally in the stranger's hand, Link didn't need to be a seasoned fighter to know that he was lethal with it.

Finally, before the tension snapped, the stranger spoke: "Okay… I'm gonna assumed that I'm not dead and this isn't some kind of crazy after life or some sort of messed up dream." He took a deep breath, and his next sentences came out urgently and demanding: "So… who the heck are you? Where the heck am I and where is Annabeth?"

The swordsman's voice was raspy –probably from lack of water- and he had a foreign accent, but Zelda could make out the words just fine. She, however, didn't understand half of what he was saying. The Princess tried to collect her thoughts. She had participated in diplomatic matters with her father before, but this was rather new. Nevertheless, when in doubt, start with introductions, that would guarantee some trust from the other party.

"My name is Zelda," The blonde Hylian began, hoping that her voice wasn't that high pitched, "This is Link," The mentioned only tensed up more. Not helping Link! "And Mipha." She didn't mention the fact that the two girls was loyalty, the stranger didn't need to know that just yet.

"You are in Zora Domain." Mipha provided with a polite smile, "Home of me, and my people."

The young man's eyebrows knitted together and he mumbled something about "fish people", and demanded: "Still didn't answer my last question: Where's Annabeth?"

Zelda didn't miss the fact that his voice seemed to quaver a bit as he said the name out loud. She exchanged a look of confusion with Mipha, who decided to replay the event earlier: "I do not believe we know this 'Annabeth' you speak of… We saw you fall into the water from the sky and we brought you here. There was no one else with you."

The swordsman muttered something under his breath. The meaning of the word he said escaped her, but judging from his tone, the word wasn't exactly kids friendly.

"Could you tell us who you are, or at the very least your name? We could be able to help if we know more about you." The Princess dared to ask, the stranger snorted and challenged:

"Right. How 'bout you tell blondie overt there to put the sword of destiny away, then, I just might tell you."

Zelda's mouth curved into a frown and then turned into a straight line. She wasn't exactly used to being challenged, probably had something to do with being the King's daughter and all. But the stranger didn't know that, and he didn't seem like the type to bow down to anyone either. His undying eyes were drilling a hole into Zelda's head, and she was starting to get slightly uncomfortable under the pressure. The Princess knew that sooner or later, they would have to reach to a compromise. And personally, Zelda would very much like to settle it right now before the two bombs in the room went off with their glowing swords.

Slowly, the blonde placed her hand on Link's forearm, signaling him to lower his weapons. The Knight gave her an incredulous look but he sheathed the Master Sword away nonetheless, even though he still kept his shield in place.

She looked back at the swordsman, who was frowning but he was still holding his sword out. A moment passed, Zelda could see the gears behind his unkempt black hair turning, trying to decide whether to trust them. The tension in the room was so intense she could felt it crawling on her back.

Finally, he lowered his sword and the Princess let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding. She watched, fascinated as the weapon seemed to fold into itself, turning into a small pen. The stranger stuffed it into his pocket before speaking up in a tired voice.

"Percy. I'm Percy Jackson."

/- (O) -/

Annabeth Chase was not happy. In fact, the daughter of Athena was next to livid. Though if asked whom she was angry at, the grey eyes one might have some trouble finding the right answer.

It had been hours since she had gotten out of the sea. It had been hours since she had been waiting for her boyfriend to come out with some kind of exotic seashell with that dumb grin on his face. It had been hours since she had last seen him.

The demigod might be overreacting, but she couldn't bear the thought of having to be separated from him ever again, not after Hera, not after Tartarus…

Annabeth shivered at the mere thought of the place. She closed her eyes and forced the memories out of her head.

"Annabeth?" The blonde was snapped out of her trance, she looked up to see her one of her half siblings standing awkwardly a few feet away from her.

"Yes Jake?" She asked, keeping her voice cleared of emotions.

The elder teen cleared his throat: "Chiron wanted to see you, and Grover's here."

Annabeth stiffened for a heartbeat. Grover had an empathy link with Percy. If anyone could know what happened to the son of Poseidon, it would be the satyr.

"Thanks. I'll be there." Annabeth informed her sibling as she exited the cabin.

It was summer, so Camp Half-blood was in full swing. Everywhere she looked, she could see Campers strolling around in groups, participating in different Camp's activities in content. She could even see the son of Hades, Nico di Angelo, with his boyfriend Will Solace, a son of Apollo, hanging around the archery range. Following Chiron's advice, they had kept Percy's disappearance a secret in order of not causing mass panic. And so far, it was working.

"Annabeth!" Grover exclaimed happily as she entered the Big House. Despite everything, the teen had to smile at the sight of the satyr, who had matured up so much since they had last met properly.

"Grover! Good to see you! You've gotten taller!" True enough, the once shorter-than-her satyr was now a good foot taller than her, including his pair of slightly curved white horns. Their reunion was cut short when Chiron rolled into the room in his wheelchair form.

"Annabeth." The centaur greeted her warmly and the daughter of Athena greeted back respectfully.

"I trust that you knew why we're here, correct?" The blonde gave him a solemn nod, her eyes stormy.

Chiron turned to the other occupation in the room: "Grover," The satyr sat up a little straighter at the mention of his name, "I believe that you have news regarding Percy, don't you?"

"Yes, I do." Grover's expression turned serious, " I can't connect to him through my empathy link."

What? Annabeth's head was buzzing with unanswered questions. For all that she knew, Grover's empathy link with Percy had never failed: not when Percy's memories were locked up thanks to a certain goddess, not even when he was pitched in that place.

"How?" She asked.

Grover shook his head: "I-I don't know. I didn't know that was even possible. That's why I went to investigate. I-uh- I traced the empathy link back to the beach where he disappeared. There was this ocean nymph who told me there was a sea turtle that was near when –uh- something happened. The turtle said he saw Percy picked up a seashell and dropped it, he said the shell –erm- exploded into light… when the light faded, Percy was gone."

By the end of the satyr's story, Annabeth was gaping at him. Grover was starting to squirm uncomfortably under all the attention he was receiving. The daughter of Athena was sure her head was going to explode with questions. Swallowing thickly, she tried to keep her voice from breaking as she asked:

"And where, exactly, is that seashell now?"

Instead of answering, Grover simply reached into his jacket and pulled out something. There, nested safely in a thick scarf, was the most beautiful shell Annabeth had ever seen. It didn't take a genius to see why Percy had picked this one.

"The nymph told me that the sea creatures saw it appeared out of nowhere three days ago." Grover explained, carefully setting the seashell on the table like he was holding a ticking bomb. Given the events that had happened, Annabeth didn't rule out the possibility. The satyr continued: "None of them questioned it or paid it any mind; they thought it was Poseidon's or something. Apparently, things randomly popped up in the ocean a lot."

Chiron was inspecting the shell carefully, his hand hovering in inch above its polished golden surface but never quite touching it. A wise move.

"Curious indeed." Chiron muttered to no one in particular, "The shell contains ancient magic. It felt godly… but not familiar to the type I know."

"It's not Greek?" Annabeth's thought was going miles per hour, "It's not Roman either, is it? Egyptian? Nordic?" Chiron shook his head and the Half-blood's stomach sank.

"Great. More gods. Just what we needed." Thunder rumbled, Chiron gave her a warning look, the blonde ignored them both. She was too tired of all of this.

"I'll go to the library to see if there's any pantheon with a teleporting, exploding seashell." Annabeth volunteered dejectedly, "I'll tell you if I find anything."

Chiron nodded solemnly: "Good luck, Annabeth."