PJatO || Ethabastercy || PJatO || Dreams of Magic and Vengeance || PJatO || Ethabastercy || PJatO
Title: Dreams of Magic and Vengeance – Writer's Month 2020
Fandom: Percy Jackson and the Olympians / Heroes of Olympus
Disclaimer: All rights reserved to Rick Riordan. Aside from the Gods, they belong to the old Greeks. This fanfiction and its OCs on the other hand are entirely mine. No money is made with this, though reviews are more than welcomed.
Tags: polyamory (m/m/m), magic, dreamwalking, hurt/comfort
Main Pairing: Ethan/Alabaster/Percy
Percy Jackson Characters: Perseus Jackson, Ethan Nakamura, Alabaster C. Torrington
Writer's Month Prompt: dream
Summary: Alabaster's magic allows him and Ethan to visit Percy in his dreams, friends on two different sides of a war. That's how they find him when Hera wipes his memories.
Dreams of Magic and Vengeance
Writer's Month 2020
Ethan Nakamura and Alabaster Torrington had been dating ever since their earliest teens. They had been dating when Luke first proposed to leave camp. Though back then, dating meant something different. Holding hands and pecking each other on the cheek. Innocent kids stuff, really.
Then the rebellion formed and the couple left together with Luke and the others who felt betrayed by the gods. All of them, crammed together into the too small Hermes Cabin, like second-rate demigods, not worth the effort. While the Hera Cabin and the Artemis Cabin just... sat there, perfectly empty, ready to be filled. Instead, they had to roll out another sleeping bag on the floor for Percy Jackson. Poor kid, twelve years old, just lost his mom, now had to stay in an overcrowded cabin sleeping on the floor. Alabaster felt kind of bad for him, but then he did for most.
Luke had told Alabaster to keep an eye on that kid. It wasn't unusual; Luke was a good leader. He always watched out for the new kids. So Alabaster watched out for Percy, while they all worked together trying to find out who Percy's godly parent was. The kid was fun, cute.
The kid was also the son of Poseidon, as it turned out. So he left again, to live in Cabin Three, all on his own. The cute thing was that he didn't understand why he had to be all alone there. He wondered why he couldn't just invite others, like Ethan and Al, to stay in his cabin too instead of the Hermes Cabin; either way, they weren't children of the god whose cabin they occupied, after all.
And that was true. And Alabaster was mad about it too. Something about Percy was so pure. In the way that he believed in the good and was optimistic. It was cute. Sadly, they left him behind when they left Camp Half-Blood for good, because Annabeth had gotten to Percy more.
Alabaster didn't hate Annabeth, but... the godly brainwashing had really done a number on her. The girl just accepted the status quo, despite having been part of the original trio with Luke and the now deceased thanks to the gods Thalia Grace. Alabaster really didn't get why she, of all demigods, would side with the gods over Luke. Because she had her cozy, big cabin? Elitism of a kid of an Olympian? Bit cynical on Alabaster maybe, but he also knew he was right.
Alabaster had grown more attached to Percy than he had meant to. Sometimes, he used his magic to check in with him. Sometimes, he didn't need his magic. They ran into Percy on their quest for the Sea of Monsters. He was doing good, had grown a lot – not physically, but emotionally.
Then the labyrinth happened and Alabaster wasn't so alone in his little obsession anymore. After a run-in with Percy again, a more one-on-one encounter where he actually got to talk to Percy as they camped, Ethan found himself very drawn to Percy too. He insisted on Al checking in on Percy.
They did, using Alabaster's magic. Dreamwalking. It was handy, it allowed Alabaster to visit people in their sleep, in their dreams. Percy was startled at first, confused. Then he saw a chance, maybe try to make Al and E see reason. So they talked, many nights. Talked about how Percy was doing, how they were doing. Percy asked about the others too. Ethan and Alabaster knew better than to spill details about their whereabouts though. And Percy knew better than to talk about any plans.
Still, they grew closer. They grew closer and then camp attacked the Princess Andromeda and Beckendorf died and Percy cried in their arms in his dreams. He was still so young – they all were. But he blamed himself for Beckendorf's death. And Alabaster hated the gods just a little more.
And then the Battle of Manhattan happened and the war ended. Bloody, with too many casualties. One of them, nearly Ethan. He had nearly given his life trying to help Percy. Thankfully, Alabaster had his magic and managed to teleport his boyfriend to safety. There was no helping Percy though; the son of Poseidon was all on his own in the final battle. And he came out victoriously.
/break\
"Something is wrong", growled Ethan as he paced the ship.
They had stolen a ship, because they had to leave the US and the sea seemed to be as good a place as any to hide from the gods' wrath. Ethan and Alabaster had gathered all the survivors and taken them with them as their crew. Over the past four months since the war had ended, they still regularly met up with Percy in his dreams to talk, Percy had been adorably relieved to see them both alive, he had hugged Ethan so tightly he may have cracked a rib if it wasn't a dream.
Lately, Percy hadn't shown up for their meetings. And yes, that was a two-way street. The first few times around, Percy had been twelve and untrained, not knowing how to protect his mind. Alabaster had taught Percy how to shield his mind from unwanted invaders but also how to leave a door open for Alabaster and Ethan – that became important when Percy became around fourteen and his dreams weren't all blue unicorns and talking dolphins anymore. He was starting to get wet-dreams and after Ethan and Alabaster walked in on that for the first time, Al had felt it important to teach Percy how to invite but also how to block them from entering his dreams.
He's been blocking them for weeks now. Two weeks, to be more accurate. They couldn't get in. And a day, two, okay. Three days in a row were getting suspicious. But two weeks? Alabaster was growing antsy too, worrying if perhaps something had happened to Percy. They tried to justify that it was around Christmas, maybe he was just too busy and really needed his sleep and peace.
"We could try again", suggested Alabaster softly, grasping Ethan's wrist.
Ethan glowered, but when Alabaster leaned in to kiss him, the glower slowly eased off. Together, the two of them went to bed, to put themselves into the needed state to travel through dreams. The door – a blue door, because of course did Percy visualize his door as a blue door – it was there. Which meant Percy was currently asleep. Now they just needed to get in there.
"It's... open", whispered Alabaster surprised when the knob turned.
"Then let's go in there and check on our Percy", grunted Ethan gruffly.
Their Percy. Alabaster smiled a little and while turning the knob, turned to kiss Ethan's cheek. Yes, quite. Percy was their Percy. The past four years, they had grown closer and closer to him. They knew of his dreams for the future, the hopes he had, all his friends and family, the people who mattered in his life, his hobbies. They had come to care about Percy just so much.
"Perce? Hey, you in here?", called Alabaster out. "It's been a while. You doing okay?"
"Who... Who is there? Who are you?"
Alabaster and Ethan frowned and exchanged a worried look as they found Percy. The dream was in disarray. No unicorns or pegasi, not even dancing penguins and there were always some penguins. Instead, everything was chopped and disfigured and confusing and in the middle stood Percy, messy hair, wild look in his eyes, holding his sword. Alabaster raised his eyebrows.
"It's us. Ethan and Alabaster. Hey. What's wrong, Percy?", asked Alabaster.
"I've never dreamed of you before. Who are you? What...", asked Percy, voice wavering.
"E, can you... I'll just...", started Alabaster, motioning at Percy.
Even with the half sentences, Ethan understood what his boyfriend wanted. Smiling soothingly at Percy, Ethan approached the son of Poseidon, while Alabaster wandered off, his hands glowing poisonously green with his magic. Carefully, Ethan got Percy to lower his sword.
"It's okay. We're your friends. Everything's okay. Nothing's going to happen to you."
"H... How are you in my dreams?", asked Percy doubtfully.
While Ethan soothed Percy and explained things to him that Percy should already know, Alabaster found the source of the chaos. Someone had deliberately chopped Percy's mind like this. Everything was messed up, a labyrinth leading up, houses cut in half, everything upside down. Someone had messed with Percy's mind, which explained why they hadn't been able to enter Percy's dreams and it also explained why Percy didn't recognize them and didn't seem to remember anything.
"E, bring Perce here", called Alabaster out. "I need you guys with me so I can keep you safe."
"Safe... during what? What are you doing?", asked Percy, sounding frustrated.
"I'm Alabaster. I'm a son of Hecate. A very powerful son of Hecate. I wield magic. Someone used magic to mess with your mind, that's why you don't remember anything. I can fix this. But for that, I'll have to rearrange your brain and with you two sitting here, you may get in the way. So I need you to come here, stay close, don't move, be quiet and let me work. That sound good?"
"You can... give me back my memories? Yes. Yes, that sounds very good. Please."
Percy looked so desperate, so broken. Ethan didn't like that. He hugged the son of Poseidon close to himself as soon as they were near Alabaster. They stood right behind Alabaster, as close as possible. Gently did Ethan run his fingers through Percy's hair, smoothing it down in that manner that always soothed Percy. It worked like a charm and the son of Poseidon made a small, curious noise.
"It's okay. We got you", whispered Ethan softly. "Al's going to fix this."
The three of them started to float, inside a glowing green vaguely see-through orb. Alabaster's arms were spread out as he worked his magic and the things around them moved, until the landscaped looked less distorted, until order came into the chaos of this dream. Percy was clinging tightly onto Ethan, gasping or sobbing every now and again as the mess in his mind was being repaired.
"E...", mumbled Percy at one point, wrapping his arms around Ethan's neck.
"Right here, Perce", murmured Ethan. "We got you. It's all going to be alright."
"Okay. All's set and done. Look! The penguins came out of hiding again too."
Alabaster looked pleased as he picked up a tiny, fluffy blue penguin to present to Percy. Al didn't even like penguins particularly, Ethan knew all kinds of birds crept Alabaster out, but there was something about the blue cartoon penguins living in Percy's dreams that was oddly comforting for the both of them. Percy smiled and patted the penguin before pulling Alabaster into a hug.
"Thank you, thank you so much", gasped Percy out as he hugged both Ethan and Al.
"It's okay, Percy", assured Ethan, kissing the top of Percy's forehead. "What happened?"
"A... I... Hera? She took my memories, plucked me out of camp. I don't even know where I am."
"Okay, we can come and get you, you'll be safe", declared Ethan.
Percy tilted his head to look at them both, look from Ethan to Al and back. And then he hugged them again. Before letting go, he kissed each of them on the cheek. There was a faint blush remaining on his cheeks as he backed off. It was cute how he ruffled his hair awkwardly after.
"Uh. Sorry. I just..." Percy shrugged, unsure how to end the sentence.
"Come stay with us", requested Ethan on impulse. "You have to see that we were right now."
"Maybe not right in joining the titans, because that was literally just swapping one bad higher deity for another, but definitely right in turning against the gods. Look at what they did for you."
"I... just want my mom back", whispered Percy, shaking his head. "I've been living on the run, on the streets, for two weeks. She must be worried out of her mind. I-"
"Of course. But... talk to us again", requested Alabaster worried.
"Well. Now that I know what's behind the door, yeah", huffed Percy awkwardly, ruffling his hair once more. "I didn't know. When it was shaking, I got scared so I locked it."
"It's okay. No need to explain", chuckled Alabaster, making motions with his hands. "Here."
"...What's that?", asked Percy confused when he was handed a whistle.
"A whistle. For your puppy-dog", offered Alabaster. "It's enchanted so she can hear it and find you wherever you are. She'll be able to shadow-travel you back home to your mom."
"Why?", asked Percy, voice dropping into something incredibly soft. "I mean, I... our whole friendship is strange. I'm aware of that. We meet in my dreams. We met in my dreams while we were fighting on different sides of a war. You... fixed my memories. Now you do this for me. I... I know we're friends, but... you have to admit that what we have is..."
"Unusual", offered Ethan after a moment.
"What can we say, we've grown fond of you", sighed Alabaster. "You're like fungus. You grew on us and we can't get rid of you so we just accepted it."
"...Gee. Way to make a man special", snorted Percy and rolled his eyes.
"You're sixteen, you're not a man", countered Alabaster with a snort of his own.
"You're seventeen, don't at like you're some wise old man", argued Percy, poking Alabaster.
"I'm eighteen, so I have authority here and you two brats stop it now", sighed Ethan.
Both Percy and Alabaster stuck their tongues out at Ethan in a sign of true maturity.
/break\
Alabaster and Ethan were sunbathing together at the shore of their little island. Little island courtesy of the son of Poseidon. He had summoned a whole, entire island for them and the other former rebels to live in peace. The boat was nice and all, but there was little privacy. Here, on this island – not big, but big enough for little homes for each of them, or rather for the couples or the siblings who wanted to stay together. Alabaster and Ethan had their own little house, with a beach right in front of them. The jungle with a large lagoon of fresh water and many edible fruits was at the center of the island. Around that island, they had their houses built. It really wasn't too big, they could see all of the other houses surrounding the lagoon and between the trees they could see the opposite end of the island. But it was big enough for them – there was only thirteen of them, after all. They didn't need much space. And still, now they had it. They had their own little place that didn't belong to the gods, their home to live in safely. All thanks to Percy. Percy was amazing. Incredible, really.
"He—ey, guys. I brought meat for the barbecue. Mom made cupcakes for everyone."
"Hello, love. Put everything away and come join us", requested Ethan with a smile.
Love. That was new. Ever since Percy had raised the island two weeks ago, the day after he had returned to his mom. He had hugged his mom, let her coddle him, had contacted Grover and Annabeth to let his friends know he was fine – and then he had left to join Alabaster and Ethan on the ship. There was no way he was going to fight another war for the gods, especially not after what Hera had done to him. Which had been followed by the raising of an island and two kisses.
"How's your mom?", asked Alabaster as he accepted a cupcake and a kiss.
He pulled Percy down to lay between them on the blanket. Percy visited his mom every week, but he was happy living on the island of the outcast with them. Smiling, Percy snuggled up to Ethan.
"She's fine. Her and Paul are gonna come over for dinner this weekend", stated Percy.
"We're looking forward to that", noted Ethan with a fond smile.
~*~ The End ~*~
Author's note: I really wanted to include dream-walking in this, but I figured I'd take a non-Nico approach for a change! Involve Alabaster's magic to help Percy! ^o^