"So is there anything you can tell us about this... Rom-Com?" Percy asked, even though he wasn't really looking forward to watching a romantic comedy.
"Let's see, it takes place in London and stars a small cast. We have Percy, Annabeth, Jason, Piper, and... Oh Grover! I knew we were forgetting someone!" Nick snapped his fingers. "Uh Cortana, can you teleport our satyr to us?"
"Sure thing, Chief." Cortana replied.
A beam of light appeared in front of everyone, which caused the demigods to block it out, before it dissipated. Everyone opened their eyes to find Grover Underwood, standing there with a dazed look.
"Grover!" Percy and Annabeth exclaimed before running over to him. "Grover! You ok, buddy?" Percy asked, holding him by his shoulders.
"Percy?" Grover asked, "Why do I feel the need to throw up my entire stomach?"
"Ok, um, where's a trash can?" Annabeth asked while looking around.
Nick then said, "Over by the door." Before pointing to it.
Percy and Annabeth then took him over to the can, and Grover heaved all over. It was a disgusting sound to everyone.
As the two heroes helped comfort their satyr friend, the former blonde Praetor asked. "Are you ever going to fix that thing, or is every mortal guest going to need a bag?"
"It's constantly being worked on. I've gotten used to it, after the first... 10 teleportations or more." Nick replied.
Soon, Grover was led to the seats and sat down next to Percy. "Ok so... I'm in space, with you guys and the Olympians, and we're watching other versions of ourselves? I got that right?"
"That's right." Annabeth nodded.
"You're taking this more calmly than I thought you would." Nico commented.
"Oh I'm sure I'll have it crash down on me, but I think having Percy with me is kind of mellowing me out right now." Grover replied, referring to his Empathy Link with Percy.
Just as Grover calmed down, it seemed the Multiverse just wanted to mess with the Satyr a little more as a loud crack was heard above them before a flash of light blinded everyone for a second. When they recovered their eyesight, they saw a 16 year old girl, her skin was white, short black hair and glowing yellow eyes that seemed to stare into a person's soul. She was wearing a white shirt that reached her knee caps with a sleeveless black coat over it and black heeled boots. She looked around the room in confusion, not showing any sign of being sick.
"Um, who are you?" Piper asked, not noticing how the two Children of Death were inching away from the new girl.
The question seemed to catch the newcomer's attention. Before the newcomer could speak, a letter teleported in front of her. She grabbed it in the air, as she read it, her yellow eyes widened wider and wider before she yelled out. "Fucking Seriously, dad!?"
Everyone was surprised by the girl's swearing. "Excuse me, watch your language, young lady." Sally said, immediately admonishing her.
"Who's child is this?" Hades asked, pointing at the girl.
The stranger seemed to still be upset, but looked at everyone in the room. She let out a light cough before giving a light bow. "Sorry for my outburst." She then straightened up before giving everyone a smile that gave even the original Olympians a chill down their spine as if they saw millions of dead souls stare at them.
"My name is Xion, the adopted daughter of the Crimson Weresloth. He couldn't come personally but he sent me to help Nick with this 'Project'... While not fucking telling me." She muttered the last part.
"Oh wonderful. He didn't tell me as well." Nick groaned before looking at Cortana, "Cortana, did Crimson send a message about this?"
"No email or message was sent." Cortana replied.
"Great. Well, good to be working with you, Xion." Nick said, holding his hand out to her.
Xion shook Nick's hand, though instead of feeling warm, it was deathly cold.
Nick internally shivered and let go of her hand. "Now, with that out of the way, we've got a schedule to keep." That's when he leaned towards Xion to whisper, "They're watching Universe #1739, but they don't know anything about it, so let's keep it a surprise."
Xion gave Nick an impish smile, before making a 'her lips were sealed' motion.
"So wait, what exactly are we watching now?" Grover asked.
Piper sighed, "A British rom-com."
"That sounds... Tame, actually. If what you've told me is true, and I'm not saying that you guys are lying and anything-" Grover tried to say.
"It's ok, G-Man. I get what you're saying. It's just weird that we're gonna watch something completely normal and probably get bored by it." Percy said, putting a hand to his shoulder.
"Anyway, is everyone ready?" Nick asked.
The Olympians looked at each other before Zeus growled out, "Start the damned thing already." The lights dimmed down and the screen turned on.
A black screen was all that could be seen, until Ghost Town by Jerry Dammers was playing before a bell rang. Suddenly, the screen turned on to show Percy Jackson in his late 20's with a goatee forming and a blank stare in a pub. "Last orders, please!" The bartender called out while Percy took a sip of his drink and took a drag of his cigarette. He continued to stare off until a woman's voice reached out to him. "Percy?"
This caused Percy to snap out of it and look to the origin of the voice and reply, "Yeah?"
The woman Percy was speaking to was Annabeth, with short haircut but same stormy grey eyes. "You see what I'm saying?"
"Yeah, totally."
"I know he's your best friend, but you do live with him."
"I know..."
"It's not that I don't like Grover." Annabeth said before looking at Grover. "Grover, it's not that I don't like you."
Grover was seen at an arcade machine and shrugged at her. "It's alright." He was chubbier, with a bald spot on the back of his head and still had his chin beard, but no horns or goat feet in sight.
"Woah, buddy. You really let yourself go, huh?" Leo commented.
"I really hope I won't end up like that when I'm older." Grover's shoulder fell, the weight wasn't a problem to the Satyr as long as it was a "beer belly" as what the mortals called it these days. No, he really hoped he wouldn't end up bald, which translated to low fertility for Satyrs.
"Don't worry about it. You're just human in this Universe." Xion said from her seat as she sipped on some unlabeled soda.
"Oh… Oh good." Grover said, unsure if how to feel about it.
Annabeth then looked back to Percy and said, "It's just be nice if we could..."
Grover pressed on the controls before saying, "Fuck!"
"Spend a little time together."
"Bollocks!"
"Just the two of us."
"Ugh, cock it!"
Percy looked a little embarrassed by Grover's responses.
"Woah uh... Grover, I didn't think you could swear like that." Piper said, looking a little shocked.
"The timing of his responses though." Aphrodite said, giggling slightly. "Is our beloved couple feeling separated~?"
Percy and Annabeth looked at each other having a non-verbal conversation before they turned to the Goddess and said at the same time. "Us? No. Them. Sadly Yes." Their Godly parents unsurprisingly don't seem to be pleased with their children's response.
"Percy, is there something you need to explain?" Sally asked her son with a raised eyebrow.
Percy and Annabeth looked a little nervous at that response. "Uh..."
"I do not need to hear this conversation." Nico groaned.
"Same here." Thalia added.
Sally gave the two demigods a motherly glare which caused Percy to break. "Annabeth has been staying in the Poseidon Cabin with me since the Giant War, please don't kill me, Mom."
This caused the rest of the group to realize why, to which they had eyes of sympathy.
"And why is she staying inside of your cabin, spawn of Poseidon?" Athena asked, her expression one of calm, but her tone and eyes held anger.
"Because of... Because of the Pit." Percy said, his face twitching in pain. This made the gods go slightly pale, and Athena's anger melted away, in placement was shock and another unidentifiable emotion. Was it pity, or guilt?
Sally also looked guilty as she held her son and Annabeth. "I'm sorry... I'm sorry." After things calmed down, the video continued to play.
Annabeth continued, "It's just with Grover here, it's no wonder I'm always hanging out with my flatmates and that only exacerbates things."
Percy shifted in his seat slightly, "What do you mean?"
"Well you guys hardly get on, do you?"
Percy leaned a little closer, "No what does exacerbate mean?"
"Oh, it means, um... To make things worse." Annabeth replied.
"Right right." Percy leaned back in his seat. "Well it's not that I don't like Jason and Pi." That's when he turned to the two that sat next to Annabeth. "Guys, it's not that I don't like you."
That's when Jason and Piper were seen. Holding each other's hands and with a couple glasses in front of them. "It's alright." They said in unison.
Percy then turned his attention back to Annabeth and held her hand. "And it's not that I don't want to spend time with you. I do. It's just that... Grover doesn't have too many friends." He whispered that last sentence.
"Huh, that's actually quite sweet." Annabeth said.
"Yeah, I know I can always count on you, man." Grover said with a smile.
That's when Grover stepped in, "Can I get any of you cunts a drink?"
This made Percy close his eyes and cringe in embarrassment.
"Thank the gods, Estelle isn't here." Percy whispered under his breath with Annabeth, Glover and Thalia shivered in unison, especially Thalia who once cursed in front of Estelle after stubbing her toe. To this day Thalia has never been more scared of anyone since the scolding Sally gave her.
"Wow, Grover. I wonder why now." Leo said with a chuckle.
"Uh, this might just be me not getting together with the times just yet but... What's a cunt?" Hazel asked.
Some of the gods were about to say several things, but Hades glared at them and said. "Not. One. Word." Aphrodite pouted and crossed her arms.
Nico leaned in to whisper in Hazel's ear. "About the same thing as it was back then." This caused half of Hazel's face to blush as red as a ruby.
"Heh, I like this not-Satyr already." Ares said with a chuckle.
Annabeth glared at Grover while Jason and Piper looked mildly uncomfortable. Which prompted Grover to ask, "Nobody?"
The three of them said, "No thank you." In unison.
As Grover walked away, Annabeth went to say something until Jason spoke up, "I know... Friends are important to Percy. But you two have to actually spend some quality time outside yourselves."
Piper joined, "Yeah I mean, Jase is always taking me to see his little buildings, and I'm always dragging him to the theater."
"I'm not so hot in theater." Percy said, rubbing the back of his head.
"Well how about a nice meal? It's your anniversary week, isn't it?" Piper asked.
"It was last week." Jason answered.
"Oh! Did you do anything special?" Piper asked, a little excitedly.
"We came here." Annabeth replied, looking at Percy.
"Percy! Hog lumps!" Grover called out, to which Percy looked towards him, only to get hit in the face with a bag of hog lumps.
Everyone turned to look at Percy and Annabeth, this time Annabeth answered before anybody could ask. "No, Seaweed Brain isn't that unromantic, we actually went to the American Museum of Natural History for our anniversary. Was really nice, though there were those two thieves that stole something from the Egyptian section." Annabeth said the last part with some disappointment.
"Thieves? In the Egyptian section?" Athena asked curiously.
"I think they were siblings?" Percy recalled.
This made the gods look at each other before deciding to talk about it later.
Xion seemed interested in this and began checking their universe. She pressed the play button to continue the video.
Jason and Piper sighed slightly while Annabeth brought the conversation back to her. "Percy all I'm trying to say, I need something a little more. I don't want to keep spending my nights at the Winchester. I want to get out and do more interesting stuff. I want to live a little. And I know you want to want to do it too!"
Percy was trying not to chew on the chip while listening to her while Annabeth sighed. "Listen to me. I'm starting to sound like your mum. Not that I don't know what she sounds like."
Jason and Piper were shocked at that. "You still haven't met his mum!?" Jason exclaimed.
"Not yet." Percy replied.
"Don't you get along with your mum, Percy?" Piper asked.
"No, it's not that I don't get along with her-"
"Are you ashamed by your mum, Percy?" Jason asked.
"No! I love my mum!" Percy exclaimed.
Grover stepped in, holding another pint for Percy. "Yeah, I love his mum."
"Grover."
That's when Grover sang, "She's like butter!"
"Grover!"
Sally couldn't help but chuckle before saying. "I love you too Grover, you are one of my boys."
"Wait, one of? How many boys do you have?" Jason asks.
"Me, Grover, Tyson, Nico and Frank." Percy said.
"Wait, what about me and Jason?" Leo asks.
"You don't visit Miss Jackson?" Frank answered.
"Yeah, you haven't visited her. So you don't count." Nico said with a small smug smirk on his face.
"Which is a shame because honestly Miss Jackson's food is better than the ones from Camp." Gover added.
"Especially her cookies." Percy said with a smile. "Gods, I could go for some of those."
A jar of regular non-blue cookies lands on Percy's lab. "Sorry, can't make your mother's cookies out of thin air. Take these as a snack instead." Xion said from her chair.
"Ooh!" Percy opened the jar and took one out before Annabeth snatched it out of his hand. She took a bite and had a smile on her face while Percy just didn't make a fuss about it and just got another one from the jar.
"Any other snacks or drinks?" Xion asked.
"Popcorn?" Leo asked, and a bowl of popcorn appeared on his lap.
Various answers of sodas and other drinks were heard before said drinks appeared.
After the last of them got their orders, saved from Hera and Zeus as Xion refused to ask them what they wanted, she unpaused the video.
Jason and Piper called out in unison. "Percy."
"Guys-" Percy tried to say before Annabeth also called out his name. "Percy."
"Annie. Listen. I get what you're trying to do, and I agree. We should get out there. We'll start tomorrow. I'll book us a restaurant. The place that does all the fish." Percy said before smiling at her. "Things will change, I promise."
Annabeth looked at him with hope in her eyes. "Really, Percy?"
Percy smiled and nodded before taking a sip of his drink. That's when the bell rang once more and the bartender called out, "Time, gentlemen!"
Percy then started space out which prompted Annabeth to call out his name.
"It's coming like a Ghost Town."
Another bell rang and the screen went black.
"... Maybe we should give him those lighter alcoholic beverages when he's 21, maybe the soda brands." Paul whispered to Sally, who winced when Percy zoned-out on screen.
"Got to get him started somewhere." She said in agreement.
"Ok, so... That was weird, right? Like he wasn't... All there?" Leo asked.
"It's possible he's just like every other average Joe. Working a dead end job, trying to do stuff with his girlfriend and just coming back to a bar every night." Annabeth said, holding his hand gently.
"Glad I don't have to worry about that." Thalia said with a cheeky grin. "Huntress of Artemis for the win." Thalia said, gaining a high-five from her Patron Goddess who also had a cheeky grin on her face.
The screen went back up with the song I MONSTER by the Blue Wrath played as it showed people going about their day. Doing their jobs and walking around with dead expressions on their face. Almost like they were dead people walking. The screen then cut to a house and inside a pair a legs stumbling forward and a groan was heard before the camera raised up to show Percy yawning. He walked out into the living room where Grover was playing a game. Percy joined him and the video game announcer spoke about player 2.
That was until Grover asked, "Haven't you got work?"
This caused Percy to leave and get ready for work.
"Wait, doesn't Grover has to work too?" Percy asks.
"Hey unemployed, but he does sell drugs to make a small living." Xion said, like it wasn't the biggest deal in the world. Though Grover could feel a dark energy coming from Sally, like a mother wishing to discipline their misbehaving child.
Cortana soon popped in and looked at her partner, "Should we really let her be doing your job, Nick? Also DACA Central has been alerted about her."
"Hey, she's just helping out for this one. Once it's over, I'll thank her and send her back on her way." Nick replied.
"Drug dealing? Well... I suppose that sort of makes sense for a Satyr." Apollo said, scratching his head.
"Hippies... War protesting hippies, the whole lot of them." Ares said, crossing his arms.
"Jeez, I think I'm starting to see why my other self's life isn't so good right now." Percy commented.
A quick montage of the toilet flushing, brushing of teeth, and hands being wash happened before Percy was seen tightening his tie. He sighed before closing the mirror to show Clarisse in a suit and tie, glaring at him.
"You do know the front door was opened again last night?" Clarisse asked.
Another quick montage of making toast and coffee happened before showing Clarisse and Percy in the kitchen. "I'm not saying it was you." Clarisse said.
"I know, man." Percy started to say before being interrupted.
"I'm saying it was Grover."
"... Right." Percy replied awkwardly, taking a bite of his toast.
"I can't live like this. Just look at the state of it." Clarisse said, groaning while widening her arms to emphasize her point. The kitchen had filled trash bags near the door and dishes that haven't been washed. "We're not students anymore."
"Clarisse-"
"I mean, it's not like he brings any real money into the house."
"He brings a bit."
"What, dealing drugs?"
"Well-he sells a bit of weed every now and again. I mean, you've sold a puff."
Clarisse looked at him with an unimpressed look. "Yeah once. At college. To you."
Percy sighed, "Well look... I've known him since Primary School. I like having him around. He's a laugh."
"What, because he can impersonate an Orangutan? Fuck-a-doodle-do." Clarisse said.
Sally's dark aura left her body after hearing that Grover was selling weed. She personally didn't had a problem with it, specially when it was the only reason she didn't kill Gabe sooner. But after selling Gabe's corpse at an art museum she honestly hasn't needed it since.
When the mess was shown, everyone was disgusted. "Come on! Why do I suck in this universe?!" Grover complained.
"Hey man, we're both losers in this universe. So you're not alone." Percy said, wrapping an arm around his shoulder. "Although it's very weird to see Clarisse being the responsible one here."
"Seems like she had to since she has you two as roommates." Frank defended his Greek sister.
"Still weird, but understandable." Annabeth commented.
"Huh… Weird to see my daughter being a pencil pusher at an office." Ares commented.
"At least she has a job to keep the house afloat." Hermes replied.
Percy sighed in slight irritation. "Oh leave him alone."
Clarisse backed off slightly. "Alright. I admit, he can be pretty funny on occasion. I remember that time we stayed up all night drinking Apple Schnapps and playing Tekken 2."
Percy and Clarisse shared a laugh at the good memories. "When was that?" Percy asked.
Clarisse's expression turned sour once more. "That was five years ago." This made Percy shut up as Clarisse asked. "When's he going home?"
Back with Grover who was playing TimeSplitters 2, Percy stepped in behind on the couch. "Hey man, um- Oh! Top left."
"Uh-huh." Grover shot an enemy in the top left side of the room.
"I was gonna say- reload."
"I'm on it."
"Um, since- Oh nice shot!"
Grover smiled, "Thanks!" That's when his phone rang and Grover put his controller down. "Two seconds." He answered it. "Ya alright, noodle?"
Clarisse stepped into the living room, wearing a one button suit and glared at Percy and Grover who was talking about his weed. "I got nothing. I only got a Henry for myself. Later."
Percy sat down next to him and was about to talk when Clarisse said, "Grover? Since you're not working at the moment, could you clean up a bit?"
"Yep." Grover replied.
"And at the answering machine, can you take down everyone's message, and not just your own?"
"Yep."
"It's not all that taxing, is it? Not hard to write on a little scrap of paper?"
"Nope!"
Clarisse nodded and stood up before walking away. In her back was taped paper that wrote, I Am A Bitch.
The two looked at Clarisse and Grover grinned, "Come on, it was pretty funny."
"Are you gonna do what she said?" Percy asked.
"I ain't doing nothing for her." Grover shook his head.
"Well, do it for me then." Percy said in an annoyed voice. Grover looked at him before saying. "I'm sorry, Percy."
Percy took a deep breath and shook his head, "It's alright."
"No no. I'm sorry, Percy." Grover said, a small smile appeared on his face.
Percy was confused before recoiling in disgust. "Oh! Oh my God, that's gross!" He covered his mouth and nose while laughing.
Grover laughed as well, before paying attention to his game. "I'll stop doing it when you stop laughing."
"I'm not laughing, I'm going." Percy said as he went to grab his coat.
That's when the phone rang. Grover called out, "Get that!"
"You get it!" Percy replied before opening the door to leave.
The answering message beeped and Annabeth's voice spoke up, "Hello Percy! It's me, look I'm going to be a bit tied up today, so when you got the table, could you make it 8, rather than 7? I'll try at work. Bye-bye-bye!
"Why do I feel like that's going to bite him in the ass?" Apollo asked before being hit in the face by a woman's shoe. Everyone turned to the source of the shoe and saw Sally with only one shoe still on her foot glaring at the Sun God.
"Watch your language." She said menacingly.
"Did... Did she just throw a shoe at a god?" Jason asked, with widened eyes.
"I love my mom." Percy said with a smile. "Besides, one of our friends, Rachel, threw a hairbrush at Kronos when he came back to life."
Artemis looked at Sally with growing respect. "If she wasn't married, I'd have asked her to join my hunt."
"Should have found her before she met Poseidon." Thalia whispers to her Patron.
"Then again if we did, we possibly would not have survived without Perseus." Artemis replied back.
As the Huntress were whispering to each other, everyone who wasn't at Camp Half-Blood during the 2nd Titan War were freaking out. "You're telling me that Rachel beat Kronos/Saturn with a hairbrush?!" They all asked at the same time.
"Yeah, when Luke used his body for Kronos' spirit, Rachel just up and threw it at his face before we escaped the Labyrinth." Annabeth explained.
"And now she's your guy's Oracle?" Jason asked.
"Yeah, she's awesome. She doesn't screw us over with every prophecy she gets. She'll spend hours or even days trying to explain the prophecy to the best of her knowledge. Heck, after the Prophecy of the Seven she spent a whole week going over it again and again until she said it might happen in 2 decades..." Percy said before pausing.
"To be fair, no one in camp knew about New Rome except for Nico." Annabeth patted her boyfriend's back while giving Nico an annoyed look which he could understand the reason for the look.
"Not to mention, that bitch stealing both you and my little brother." Thalia said with a growl.
Hera was about to say something but was stopped when a table was thrown at the Goddess knocking off her chair. Everyone turned to Sally, who already had her other shoe in hand but was in mid throw. Everyone slowly turned to Xion who was dusting her hands off. "As much as I would love to explain my action, I have no reason to. Now, back to the video!" She shouted out the last bit like a Captain ordering their crew to set sail.
Nick sighed, "Xion, please try not to harm my guests too much. I need them to learn from their mistakes, not have it beaten into them."
"No promises!" Xion replied.
Once outside, Percy opened the fence only to get hit by a foot ball. "Hey! You're dead." He said to the kid that had the ball before continuing to walk, giving Clarisse a thumbs up.
A homeless man with a dog walked by, "Spare some change, please?"
"Oh yeah." Percy pulled some change out and put it into his hand. He continued to walk, making a car stop and honk at him. He apologized and continued on his way, tripping on the curb. He made his way towards a convenient store, passing a jogger and an old janitor. He went inside and grabbed a diet Coke before putting it back and grabbing a regular Coke. He went to the counter and called out, "Nelson? Nelson." He looked confused when he saw the papers showing the headline of a super-flu, and mutilated remains. Before he could read anymore, a hand slapped onto the newspaper, making Percy jump.
"Hello, my friend! No beer today?" Nelson asked with a smile.
Percy laughed slightly. "Oh no, it's a bit early for me."
"Super-flu..." Percy said before everyone who knows Greek/Roman Mythology slowly turns to Apollo.
Apollo raised his hands before askig. "How am I supposed to know?"
"Aren't you the god of Diseases?" Nico asked.
"Wait, that's a thing?" Leo asked.
"Hey I can't tell what it is from another dimension." Apollo raised his hands up.
"I'm more worried about the mutilated bodies." Piper said.
"Probably just an animal." Frank said with a shrug of his shoulders.
"I'm gonna call it, zombies." Leo said.
"Really? In a rom com?" Percy asked skeptically.
"Besides, I'm pretty sure our host would've told us if it had zombies." Annabeth added.
"We'd more likely see aliens over zombies anyways." Jason said with a chuckle
Xion leaned to Nick before whispering so low that not even the Gods could hear. "I forgot, is this the same universe as Paul?"
"Uh no. That was something else entirely." Nick replied.
"Wait, zombies as in the dead that are brought back as a slave to a Hoodoo priestess?" Hazel asked in worry which made everyone look at her.
"I thought it was voodoo that do that stuff." Leo commented.
"So did I." Jason added.
"Voodoo is for communicating with the spirits and making offers to the Haitian gods. Hoodoo is more evil." Hazel explained.
"Let's get back on track, folks." Nick said gently before Xion pressed play.
It cut to Percy sitting on a bus, surrounded by people with dead expressions on their faces. Percy then looked out the window to see a person faint in the middle of the sidewalk. Percy was confused, but then it switched to him at work.
Percy was holding a clipboard while looking at several younger employees. "Gather around, everyone. Gather around. Um, as along with Mr. Sloane being gone. I'm afraid Ash is feeling a bit under the weather, so I'll be taking charge as the-"
"Oldest." A woman with bushy red hair interrupted with a smirk. Her name tag read Nancy.
"Senior staff member." Percy corrected. "So let's just keep it together."
Before any more could be said, Nancy's phone rang. She answered it right in front of Percy, "Hello? Hello mate!"
"Nancy."
"I was totally munted last night. Yeah I spoke with him. He's only got a Henry." She whispered. Percy sighed and tapped his pen against his finger before the cap flew off. He quickly grabbed it off the floor before standing up straight.
"Alright. Laters." She hung up before texting on her phone. Percy kept waiting until she finished texting. She looked up at him and said, "Continue."
Paul groaned in his hands as he had to deal with similar disrespect in his classrooms. Sally gently put a hand on his shoulder while Percy did the same, as he witnessed the same disrespect... Though they always learned some form of humility after several bathroom 'mishaps', that was no way related to him.
"Gods, why did it have to be her?" Grover groaned.
"Wait, you know her?" Annabeth asked.
"Our school bully back at the boarding school before I learned who I was. She was a sticky-fingered thief that liked to throw peanut butter sandwiches at Grover." Percy sighed, shaking his head. Seeing how much this counterpart hadn't changed.
Annabeth gave them both a serious look. "Where can I find her so I can... talk to her?"
"Annabeth, no!" Piper shouted out, already knowing where Annabeth's train of thought was going only for mother and daughter to say at the same time in an even tone.
"Annabeth, Yes."
"Before anything else happens, is no one else concerned by what's happening around the city?" Athena questioned.
"News of mutilated remains, everyone's expression of death, and a mortal fainting in the middle of the street." Hades listed.
"Are we really seeing a pandemic happening?" Apollo asked.
"And what am I going to do about it? Like, cuz if this thing is centered around me, then what's so important about me?" Percy questioned.
"Also it's a Rom-Com, I don't think anyone from the main cast is going to die." Piper added in. All while the host silently made chibi whistles that only the readers could see.
Percy nodded, "Thank you. Now, um as Mr. Sloane always used to say, there isn't an I in team. But there is an I in pie. Like, there's an eye in meat pie. The anagram is team- look that's it. And Nancy, phones off, this isn't a social gathering." Percy muttered a little angrily, pocketing his pen in his shirt pocket.
"Alright, keep your hair on, granddad." Nancy insultingly joked.
"Hey hey, woah. I'm 29 for Christ's sake. How old are you? 20? 21?"
"17." Nancy replied.
Percy was a little surprised due to how mature Nancy looked. "Look, I know you don't want to spend all your life here. I mean, I have things I wanna do in my life."
"When?" Nancy asked to which Percy didn't have an answer for. That's when she pointed to his shirt. "You got red on you."
Percy looked at his shirt to show the pen leaked ink on his shirt. That's when Nancy's phone rang once more and she answered it.
"I want to kill her." Annabeth said with annoyed tone.
"I'd love to help with that." Thalia joined in on the newly made Nancy Hate Club.
"Guys, that was years ago. I don't even know what she does right now. There's no need to go after her." Percy said, trying to calm them down.
"Sorry Percy, but I'm with Annabeth and Thalia." Grover said.
"Et tu, Brute?" Percy looked at him.
"She's currently stealing people's money from charity events." Xion said as she looked at her own phone before tossing it to Percy to see several criminal records with Nancy's picture and names.
Percy looked at the phone with a horrified expression before having a face of defeat.
Annabeth and Thalia didn't say anything, but they had a small smirk of victory, and a good excuse to go after Nancy.
"Ok, before we go plotting murders, let's get through this viewing first." Nick brought the focus back to the theater screen.
A little later on, Percy was seen giving a couple a demonstration of their Televisions. Clicking through channels until it stopped at News channels where Army trucks were seen driving down streets and men in hazmat suits were at work. Percy's interest was cut short by Nancy calling his name. "Percy!"
Percy looked over and pointed to the customers. "Yeah, I'm with customers."
Nancy pointed her thumb behind her to a man looking at the window. "It's your dad!"
Percy sighed, "He's not my dad. He's my stepdad." He walked over to the counter and looked a little awkward. "Paul."
He turned around to look at Percy and had a stone expression on his face. "Percy. I suppose you haven't forgotten about tomorrow?"
Percy shook his head slightly, "No."
"Your bimonthly visit?" Paul clarified to which Percy's eyes opened with alarm. "No, I haven't... Forgotten."
"Perhaps you can bring the flowers you forgot to bring Sally on Mother's Day." Paul said.
"I was gonna."
"And not a cheap Posie from a garage fort court?"
"I wasn't gonna." Percy said with a frown.
Paul nodded and replied, "Well we look forward to seeing you tomorrow then."
Percy nodded back. Paul then pointed to his shirt, "You've got red on you." He said before walking out of the store.
Percy looked at his shirt real quick before watching him walk out, but then became confused when he saw military trucks driving down the streets.
The Jackson-Blofis house looked at the screen in confusion. "What kind of interaction was that?" Paul asked as he and Percy have a good relation with each other.
"That's the kind of interaction that me and my stepmom had. She didn't like me, and I didn't like her, but my Dad did." Annabeth sighed.
"Gods, I'm terrible in this universe." Percy groaned in his hands, getting second hand embarrassment because of his counterpart.
Sally gently put her fingers in Percy's hair to give him a comforting scalp scratches that helped calm him down.
"Percy, none of us blame you, or hold you responsible for your other self's actions. This isn't your fault." Paul gently said, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"I know it's just... I just feel horrified at this... lack of attempt on my part." Percy said.
Annabeth wrapped her arms around his neck. "Hey, you have done more for us than anybody else in existence. This viewing doesn't change that. Nothing we watch will ever change that. So don't go thinking that about yourself."
"Thanks Wise Girl, what will do without?" Percy asked with a smile.
Annabeth gives him a peck on the cheek before saying. "Maybe destroy Olympus."
While some of the gods slightly laughed at that, some of them knew. They knew that if anything were to happen to Annabeth, then Titans and Giants would've been the least of their concern. The Castlevania universe taught them that much.
Nancy leaned near him and asked, "I thought you said this wasn't a social gathering?"
This spooked Percy to which he asked. "What?"
"How come you're allowed to speak to your dad?"
Percy turned his entire body towards her. "Ok, A. He's not my dad. He's my stepdad. And B. It was and emergency."
"What like, buying your mum some flowers?" Nancy teased him.
"Nancy, no matter what you might think, ok I don't find it difficult to keep my work and my social life separate." Percy said.
That's when an employee held out the phone to him. "Percy! It's Annabeth for you."
Nancy had a smug smile on her face as Percy took the phone. "Hello?"
"Hello! It's me!" Annabeth said in a cheery tone.
"Hello."
"Uh just a quick question, did you get my message?"
"Yep." Percy said, making his hand motion like a mouth.
"Oh! So it's all ok then?"
"Yep!" Percy replied before putting his index and middle finger to his head and showing his brains getting blown.
"8 o'clock then!"
"Yep. Goodbye, Annabeth."
"Bye-bye-bye-bye!"
Percy looked at Nancy, "Annabeth from head office. Nothing to panic about." Before putting the phone down.
"Okay, now he has no excuse when the date blows up in his face." Leo chuckled already knowing the trope being used all while Piper rolled her eyes.
Percy took a deep breath, "Please... Please don't screw this up, other me."
"Sadly I think it's a little late for that Jackson." Jason chuckled at his friend/rival.
"Thanks. Love the confidence." Percy lightly glared at him.
The scene switched to a man panting heavily while running away from something as indicated by the fear on his face. Percy saw this from the window of a flower shop. "Sir? Sir?" The clerk called to him to which he looked back to her.
"Sorry. Um, they're for my mum." Percy explained for the bouquet he was about to buy.
She pulled out two cards. "To a wonderful mum? Or Pow! Super mum?"
"Uhhh, the first one." Percy replied before signing his name. Out in the distance, a man in an odd stance stood in the middle of a flock of pigeons. He tried to grab one but failed. Percy saw this and opened his mouth slightly as he watched in confusion.
That's when he watched the man grab a pigeon and put it's head in his mouth. Before anything else could happen, a double decker bus drove by, and the man was gone.
"Uhh... What the hell was that?" Paul asked.
"Poor pigeon." Hazel said with little tears in her eyes.
"Eh, swear those rats with wings." Leo said with annoyed tone as Piper nodded in agreement only to get a shocked look from Hazel and Nico. "What?"
"Why would you call them that? They're so smart and loyal." Hazel said.
"What? No they're not." Leo said with disbelief.
"Of course they are, they saved many soldiers back in the World Wars." Nico said.
"That makes no sense, everyone knows they're just pest." Leo said.
"Yeah no, that started thanks to Thomas Hoving back in 1966 and claimed they were pest. Mostly because he was annoyed with people feeding the birds so he lied about them... He also had some unkind things to say about homosexuals that I won't go on about. Let's just say that the whole Pigeon are pest thing was a lie." Xion answered.
"Okay, thanks for a slight history lesson.. but that hasn't answered my question." Paul said but his question wouldn't be answered as Xion quickily pressed the play button.
Back on a bus, Percy was sitting with a bunch of people that were looking rather pale. One person was also coughing and an old lady was sleeping on Percy's shoulder. He grimaced and nudged her off. That's when he decided to get off the bus when he saw that it stopped due to a car crash. Percy walked to see the wreckage when he was suddenly jump scared by a woman showing up in front of him. "Oh my God! Percy!"
The woman in question was Thalia, she still had her spiky black hair, but she was wearing an army jacket. The two of them hugged. "Thalia!" Percy replied.
"How're you doing?" She asked.
"Ah um, surviving."
"So you living around here?" Thalia asked. An ambulance arrived with the sirens playing out loud.
"Uh, yeah, you!?" Percy had to shout over the siren.
"Yeah, I just bought a place, actually!"
"Bought!?"
"I know! Bit grown up. So you still with..." The sirens went silent now allowing the two to talk normally.
"Annabeth."
"Oh that's great! Glad somebody made it. How long has that been now?"
"Uh, three years going last week, actually."
"Oh doing anything special?"
"Uh, we're going out for a meal tonight, actually."
"Aww anywhere nice?"
Percy paused as he had a face of realization. "Yeah..."
"Huh, what's me and Kelp Head's relationship here?" Thalia asks.
"Just some old friends." Xion answer.
Thalia seems to nod in approvement of the answered. Percy groaned as he slammed his hand into his head as Annabeth patted his back.
"Oof man... Troubles are brewing." Apollo winced. Artemis elbow her brother.
Percy quickly made his way back home and put the bouquet in the sink with water before going through the phone book for the restaurant he wanted. He found it and was waiting for the restaurant to pick up. "Come on!" Percy gritted his teeth.
"Gonna thank me then?" Grover asked.
"For what?"
"Tidying up." Grover replied to which Percy looked around to see it still a mess. "Well, it doesn't look that tidy."
"I had a few beers when I finished." Grover said, continuing to play his game.
"Hello, Fulci's! Hang on please." The person on the other end said to which Percy growled in annoyance.
"Wrote your messages down." Grover mentioned.
"What?" Percy asked.
"Well, your mum rang about the two of you going out tomorrow night. And then Annabeth rang about the two of you going out tonight. And then your mum rang back to see if I wanted to eat her out tonight." Grover said with a smirk.
"What!?" Percy looked at him in surprise.
Percy looked at Grover with anger in his eyes, "GROVER!"
"I swear I never thought of doing that with miss Jackson, I swear!" Grover said in a panic.
Xion leaned over to Nick before doing the same silent whisper as before. "We sure this is Book Grover and not 2010 Dog Shit Trash Movie Grover?"
"You'd think so, but no. But believe me... It could've been a lot worse." Nick replied.
"How bad are we talking about?" Xion asked with a raised brow.
"As in Grover wanting to fuck a goat in the truck on the way to Vegas, bad." Nick whispered back.
Xion looked at Nick for a few seconds before saying as she leaned back in her chair. "At least it would have been accurate to mythology."
As focus went back to the guest, with Sally whispers to Paul. "I'm flattered that I'd still attractive enough that someone from my son's generation would still think that way but I'm to old for him." Paul smiles before backing up as a pair of arms wrap around over Sally's shoulders.
"Oh, but you're not too old for us." Aphrodite teased in Sally's ear, Sally was shaking thanks to the Goddess's effects on mortals. Before Aphrodite could do more, she was stop as both a trident, a spear and a drawn bow was pointed straight at Aphrodite's face.
"Keep your hands off of her." Poseidon growled out to her. Even if he still loved Sally, he knew she deserved better, like with Paul, and not to be a play thing for Aphrodite.
Aphrodite let go of Sally and held her hands up. "Forgive me, Lord Poseidon." Before sitting back down.
After Aphrodite sat back down, Poseidon nodded to his two nieces who also put their weapons down. Athena simply sat back down as Artemis gave the Sea God a nod back as the two returned to their chairs. Sally was given some hot choco from Xion, to help her nerves. Poseidon would then sit down on his chair ready to see this universe Groover face karma for his words.
That's when the Fulci's employee spoke up, "Hello, Fulci's."
Percy had some hope. "Hi, yes um, I know this is a very late notice, but could you possibly set up a table for two at 8?"
"Eh sorry, we just gave away the last table." The employee replied before hanging up. Percy growled before biting into the phone then stopped as he tried to calm down.
Grover then decided to mention, "Wasn't true about your mum."
Percy then turned to look at Grover and asked. "What am I gonna do? Where are we gonna go?"
"The Winchester." Grover replied.
"Don't be stupid! They don't do food."
"Grover, this is serious!" Percy exclaimed before the phone rang. He opened it with a hard tone. "Hello?"
The sound of Annabeth's voice was heard. "Hello, it's me!"
Her voice made Percy soften up immediately. "Hello!"
"So, what's the plan then?" Annabeth asked to which Percy winced.
"Yeah uh... There's been a mix up with the table, babe."
"W-what do you mean?"
"They-they're full up."
"But... I thought you said it was all ok."
"Yeah..." Percy replied in a sheepish manner.
"You didn't book it, did you Percy?"
"No..."
Annabeth took a deep breath before asking, "So, what is the plan then?"
Grover tapped his shoulder before making a W with his hands.
"No... No no, don't say it. Please don't say it." Percy said to his on screen version.
Percy turned back to the phone and asked hesitantly. "The Winchester?" That's when the phone was immediately hung up on him.
A collective amount of face palms was heard throughout the room as everyone was at this moment was disappointed with this universe Percy.
"Why?! Seriously why?!" Percy begins to have a rant in Atlantean which caused Poseidon to pale at the words that Percy was saying.
Zeus leaned towards his brother and asked. "What's he saying?"
"Let's just say it was a good move that Sister stole him and not Annabeth." Poseidon flinched at a word that sounded like a kookaburra on double spend.
"And why is that, Poseidon?" Hera asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Lets just say, you were this close to being-" Before Poseidon could contiune, the whole world paused as it turned black and white. Xion popped in front of Poseidon and grabbed the camera and began to fast forward to when Percy was seen getting cuddles from Annabeth and Hera was rocking in her chair with the fear of Tartarus in her eyes.
Xion stopped the fast forward before looking to the camera again. "Sorry folks, but don't want any spoilers for future watches." She went back to her seat and the world went back to normal.
Percy immediately grabbed the flowers and made his way to Annabeth's apartment where he pressed on the doorbell to her flat. "Hello?" Piper asked.
"Piper, can you let me in?" Percy asked.
Piper replied in a whisper, "I'm not sure this is the best time, Percy."
"Oh come on."
Jason joined in, "Annabeth doesn't want to see you, Percy. Go away."
"Just open the door."
"She's doesn't. Want. To see you, Percy." Jason replied in a hardened tone.
"What do you want me to do? Want me to climb the wall, come in through the window? Cuz I will!"
"You're not coming in." Jason said with finality.
Percy scoffed, "Alright! See you in a minute!"
"Don't-" Jason tried to say before the phone went dead. He and Piper looked at each other before hearing Percy grunting and groaning as he attempted to climb up the building. Ultimately it failed and the phone buzzed again. Piper picked it up and Percy called. "Hi, it's me again."
The scene changed to Annabeth slamming the mirror cabinet closed. She had make up on and looked into the mirror angrily. "Annabeth, please can we just talk about this? I mean, let's go out."
"What, to the Winchester?" Annabeth asked while putting lipstick on.
"I mean, do you want to?"
Over in the living room, Piper and Jason stood awkwardly listening to the two. That's when Annabeth shouted, "NO I DON'T FUCKING WANT TO!"
"Ok!"
Annabeth walked out with Percy in tow. "It's not the only place in the world, Percy!"
Percy raised his shoulders as he tried to come up with places. "Well... We could go to the Shepard's. They do Thai in there now."
Annabeth looked at him before saying, "I'm going out with Jason and Piper."
"Well let's all go together."
"What, you wanna come hang out with my friends? A failed actress and a twat?"
"That's harsh!" Percy noted.
"Your words!" Annabeth retorted.
Percy then immediately denied, "I did not call Piper a failed actress!"
The couple in question looked at the scene with annoyed looked. "No way my dad would let me fail in acting. He would have me practice until I become the character before I even tried my first audition." Piper complain.
"And what's this about me being a twat?" Jason growled at Percy.
"Hey, back off. This isn't our Percy calling you that." Frank said, defending Percy.
"Watch you language! If I have to tell any of you again, I will take the other shoe off." Sally threatened which made the kids go silent.
"This is the mother of the boy who saved Olympus twice..." Zeus said, slightly surprised by the fire in the mortal.
"You think that's impressive?" Cortana asked, appearing next to him. "You know what happened to her ex-husband? The one that treated her like dirt and she endured it to keep Percy safe from monsters? She used Medusa's head and sold him as an art piece. So believe me when I say this, she may be protected by her now husband and her children, and possibly Poseidon, but she can take care of herself. Especially against people who want to try and leverage her against her son."
"Wait a minute, what does twat even mean? I know it's an insult but I never actually knew what it meant." Leo asked which actually paused all the mortals for several seconds.
"Twat is basically what you would call a woman sexual organ." Athena answered, glaring at Aphrodite for some strange reason but was best left unsaid.
"Damn man, Percy just called you a pussy. Are you-" Before could Leo finish, he was somehow hit by a chancla which made him panicked. "How you got this, you are wearing normal shoes?!"
"All shows sent your way will be more chancla provided by me." Xion said with a devilish grin, causing Leo to start making himself a smaller target for future chancla throwing.
"Have we all learned our lesson to not swear in front of Mrs. Jackson-Blofis?" Nick asked everyone.
"Doubt that." Xion said.
Annabeth walked into the living room, "Look, we can have a laugh. Things will be fine, I promise." Percy said.
Annabeth looked at him with her hands on her hips. "You told me you'd stop smoking when I did."
"I-"
"You promised you'd go back to the gym."
"W-"
"You promised you'd try drinking red wine instead of beer."
"Well..."
"You promised to go on a holiday with me!"
"Well we went to Greece, didn't we?"
"We MET in Greece!"
"At a rave." Jason mumbled.
"It's just not the same! You promised things would change!" Annabeth said, sadness interlaced with her voice.
Piper then decided to jump in, "You promised to get us free cable."
Percy put his finger up, "I'm working on that."
"Ok." Piper backed off.
Percy looked back to Annabeth. "Well look, I can give up smoking. I can quit whenever I want." He said as he pulled a cigarette box out and tossed. "See? Don't need them. Now, what was the next one?"
Annabeth looked at him before walking away. "It's not enough, Percy."
Percy watched her walk away before pinching his eyes. Jason and Piper walked up to behind Percy and Jason had a small smug look on his face as he twirled some keys in his hand. "Basically, I'd say your nine lives are up, Percy."
"GET FUCKED, FOUR EYES!" Percy shouted at him in anger. "Why don't you go out with her if you love her so much!?"
Jason simply looked at him, "What do you mean by that?"
Percy scoffed and walked away, leaving Jason and Piper alone. Piper had an almost sad look on her face before covering it up with an awkward look. Jason had a small chuckle as he said, "Don't know what he meant by that."*
"No way." Aphrodite said in disbelieve as everyone back Jason and Zeus seems to notice.
"Huh... No wonder he seemed happy that Percy and Annabeth's relationship was failing." Piper said, a little upset at the implications.
"What do you mean?" Jason asked with genuine confusion.
"I'd also want to know." Zeus spoke up.
"Who's going to tell them?" Hazel asks, as she and everyone release that the two sky themed guests didn't notice.
"Nobody. Nobody will say anything and that is the joke." Xion said.
"Come on, can someone tell me?" Jason asked in exasperation.
"Nope. You will learn about it later." Nick said before pressing play once more.
Back in Annabeth's room, she was sitting down on her bed with a sad look on her face. That's when Percy stepped in and handed her the flowers. "Got you these." Percy said.
"Oh gods no..." Percy groaned as he placed his hands on his face.
"Just more fuel to that dumpster fire." Apollo commented.
Annabeth had a smile until she read the note. "To a wonderful mum?"
Percy realized his mistake, "Oh... Yeah. I did that, because I thought... It'd be funny. Cuz of what you said, you know. About sounding like my mum and all, so I thought it'd just be a bit."
Annabeth looked at them before asking, "They're for your mum, aren't they?"
"Yeah..." Percy admitted.
Annabeth nodded, "Smooth." She said in a dry tone before handing them back to her.
It was silent for a few moments. "Percy, if I don't do something, I'm gonna spend the rest of my life coming to that pub like all those sad old fuckers, drinking myself to death wondering what the hell happened."
Percy looked at her confused. "What do you mean, do something?"
The scene then cut to Percy outside the door, a sad and horrified look on his face before beginning to walk away. That's when it began to rain, which just made Percy hang his head.*
"Sorry man." Frank patted Percy on the back as he screamed in a pot that teleported in front of him.
Percy close the pot before handing it to Leo. "I'm fine, I'm fine."
"Knowing Rom Coms, you will either get back together, or you find a better girl in the story." Piper said.
"Really, and who would this better girl for Percy be?" Annabeth glared at Piper.
"Wait, I don't mean you're bad but maybe you and Percy in this universe aren't the endgame." Piper said with sweat running down her brows. "But maybe someone we've already seen that Percy can end up with."
"Doubt it. I'm the conflict in the story." Groover said, unaware of the actual threat to they're other selves.
"Well what about Thalia? Both she and Percy showed to have some kind of good relationship." Piper chimed in, Jason gives his girlfriend an annoyed look.
"Serious, no way my sister would-"
"I can see it." Thalia's words stop Jason's own words causing him to look at his older sister in disbelieve. "What?"
"You're serious, you think you and Percy would end up together? What about your oath?" Jason asks.
"One, from what I can see, I don't think I took the Oath of Artemis. Two, me and Seaweed Brain are on good terms so there's that. And three, I'm not a twat." Thalia listed with her fingers while giving a sisterly teasing smile at her brother at the last comment. This didn't last for long as she is hit by Sally's shoe causing her fall of her seat as she weakly said. "Worth it."
"Wait, sis. Did she take the oath? I might've missed that conversation." Apollo asked Artemis who was thinking it over.
"I... I'm fairly certain that she did take the oath." Artemis said, narrowing her eyes at her Lieutenant.
"Well you're not stealing my Seaweed Brain away from me, Thalia." Annabeth said with a glare at the Daughter of Zeus while wrapping her arms around Percy's.
Nick looked at them and asked, "Are they really doing this right now?"
"Looks like it, Chief. We should probably continue before things escalate." Cortana said.
"What are you going gung ho about?" Thalia asks as she looked at her Patron and Best Friend. "I did take my oath and I'm not stealing anyone's significant other. I was saying what we saw the other universe me. Calm down."
"Yes, let's keep watching before an incident happens." Nick said before pressing play.
Percy made his way over to the Winchester but stopped in his tracks when he saw a couple hugging near a phone booth. Out of anger, Percy tossed the flowers into the garbage bin.
Percy closed his eyes before biting into his fist to stop himself from screaming.
"Oh Percy..." Sally said sadly before hugging her son gently. "It's alright. It's alright. It's not your fault."
Leo opened the pot to let Percy scream in it again only for the echo of the preivous scream comes out and blast his ears, causing him to quickily close it.
The kids had to close their ears from that scream. "Good lord, Percy! Were you in a metal band or something!?" Piper exclaimed.
"No but he does have siren powers thanks to me." Poseidon said, causing every God/dess look at him.
"Serious, is there anything you didn't give the boy?" Athena asks with narrow eyes.
"He can't transform." Poseidon said that like it would be enough to get them off his back.
"That honor went to me!" Frank spoke up.
"That's does lead to a question, are you really long great cousin or what?" Percy asked Frank.
"I... That's a good question." Frank said.
"As interesting of a conversation as that would be, we have a viewing to watch." Nick said.
Inside of the pub, Grover was angry. "Fuck her!" Sirens were heard driving in the background before fading away. Percy looked miserable with red eyes from crying with several empty drink glasses around. "You got your pint, got your pig snacks. What more do you want?"
Percy didn't answer but Grover then had an idea. "Oh. Your favorite monkey? Shall I do Clyde?" That's when Grover started acting like a monkey, but not over the top. It ended with Grover blowing raspberries and flipping Percy off which just made him sigh. "See? I knew you'd get over her." Grover smiled.
But it only got worse when the jukebox turned on and a sad song began to play which made Percy look at it. Grover looked back and asked, "Who the hell put this on?"
"It's on random." Percy said, on the verge of crying more.
Grover just looked at Percy before groaning. "Ah for fuck's sake." He looked over at the pub owner. "John, yes please, mate!?"
A quick montage happened of John turning off the TV and jukebox, locking the doors and closing the blinds happened before going back to Percy and Grover.
"You know what we should do tomorrow? Keep drinking. Have a Bloody Mary first thing, have a bite at the King's Head, snatch a couple of princess. Stagger back here and Bang! Come back to the bar for shots! How's that for a slice of fried gold?"
Percy shook his head, "No."
"Oh come on man." Grover lit up a cigarette before saying, "Talk to me."
"She said, if she stayed with me, she'd be coming here every night like these sad old fuckers, drinking herself to death, wondering what the hell happened." Percy explained.
"That is harsh." Grover commented. "I mean, these are all rich interesting characters."
"Like who?" Percy asked in bewilderment.
Grover then nudged his head towards an older man with long white hair and a greying bushy beard. "Snake Hips. Always surrounded by women. He's a Bigamist. Strangled his first wife with a draft excluder and invented the mobile disco."
"Wow look at that, the one dude that's surrounded by women just happens to look like dear old Dad." Thalia said in a sarcastic tone and a cross of her arms.
"Watch your tone young lady or I swear-" Before Zeus could finish Artemis spoke up.
"Or do what? You know you're not allowed to harm or do anything to my huntresses after what you did to Callisto." Artemis gave her father a glare that reminded him of the arrow to the 'thigh' he got after he impregnated the Nymph.
Zeus growled and wanted to stand up, but then Percy stood up to glare at him. "You'll have to deal with me as well, and believe me, I'm not afraid of you anymore."
Zeus gritted his teeth, as much as he would love to strike Percy down here and now, he knew it would lead to a war between him and Poseidon, and most likely several other Gods. Zeus let out a loud growl while clenching his armchair rests before turning back to the screen, he'll have to deal with Jackson another time.
Thalia looked at Percy with an appreciative smile and Artemis gave the young man a nod of respect. Apollo gave him a thumbs up while Poseidon and Hades had a smirk on their faces at Percy challenging their young brother.
Percy looked back to Grover scoffed slightly before pointing to the old lady behind Grover. "What about her then?"
Grover looked behind before returning to look at him, "Oh, cockicidal maniac!" Percy and Grover both stifled a laugh from that before Grover explained. "She's an ex-pornstar. She's done it all. They say she started the world's first interracial hardcore film." That's when Grover put on a French accent and started sticking his finger through the hole his hand. "Cafe ole, aufue!"
Percy laughed more before pointing his thumb to the bartender. "Alright, what about John?"
"Was part of the Mafia." Grover replied to which Percy scoffed. "It's true, Big Al said so."
"Yeah well Big Al also says dog's can't look up." Percy replied with a roll of his eyes.
"I mean look at him. Handy with a blade. Rough demeanor. Bernie, the trophy wife. He's connected. I mean why do you think there's a rifle above the bar?"
"Cuz this place is called the Winchester!" Percy said.
Grover pointed to him, "Exactly!" The two shared another laugh.
"Like this guy's style." Ares said with a smirk.
"Of course you would." Hestia said with a shake of her head.
"What? Can I not be proud for one of my brother's kids?" Ares said as he loudly patted Hephaestus' strong shoulder.
Hephaestus flinched and shrugged Ares' hand off of his shouler. Aphrodite would've giggled, but her realization for how badly she treated Hephaestus, made her frown.
"Besides, I think Sarah Winchester may have been a Legacy of Hades." Ares said in a thoughtful tone.
"And what makes you think that woman is related to me?" Hades asked Ares with a raised eyebrow.
"Well her house is haunted, right?" Ares asked rhetorically.
"That doesn't... Really prove anything." Demeter said in confusion.
"Well she made every room look exactly like the room the person was murdered in so the ghost can have time to reflect and rest in peace." Ares added. "Name me one person other than Hades that can do that."
"Your logic astounds me, War God." Hades said in a monotone voice.
"I certainly feel more stupid after listening to that." Athena commented.
"Yeah well fuck you too." Ares said before getting a sandal thrown at his head. "Ow! What the Hades!?"
Sally glared at the War God, "Language!"
Ares rubbed his head while giving Sally a devilish smirk. "If you weren't under Poseidon's protection or married, I'd would've loved to try to know ya better."
"Hey!" Percy stood back up and glared at Ares, "Want a repeat of the last time we fought? Stay away from my mom."
To the surprise of everyone in the guests, Ares raised his arms up in a similar manner to surrender. "Hate to break it to you, but I ain't into forcing myself on women. Ain't my style." He said with his cocky tone.
"Well regardless, stay away from her." Percy warned him, before sitting back down.
Sally gently hugged Percy, "It's ok sweetie. I appreciate you defending me."
Percy hugged her back and smiled, "You're my mom. What kind of son would I be if I didn't do something for you?"
She smiled and rubbed his shoulders before sitting up straight to pay attention to the screen.
"See? You don't need Annabeth." Grover then said to which Percy immediately turned a little sour.
"Aww man, don't..." Percy said with a groan before putting his head down.
"No, man. Percy, look at me." Grover said and Percy looked up at him. "Now, I'm not gonna tell you if you love her, then let her go. And I'm not gonna say that there's plenty of fish in the sea. I'm not gonna bombard you with cliches, but what I will say is this." Grover then scoffed. "It's not the end of the world."
During Grover's little monologue, a silhouette of a man showed up at the glass door and placed his hand on it. Making everyone look to the window as the silhouette tapped on the glass more. "Sorry, we're closed!" John called out. The man then released a moan before putting his hand down.
Grover and Percy laughed slightly before Grover said, "Piss head."
"Ok, stop stop stop. Something has been bugging me since the beginning of this whole thing. Military vehicles, news of people in hazmat suits. Something is seriously going on, and nobody is just talking about it!?" Annabeth ranted slightly.
"The military is probably setting up quarantine zones. The hazmat suits are most likely a means to protect work aid. If anything thing, this seems normal." Hazel said, causing everyone to look at her. "What?"
"Wow Hazel... That was... Surprisingly logical." Leo said with surprise.
"Chances she's a Legacy of Minerva?" Jason asked Annabeth.
"Or maybe the fact I grow up after the Spanish Flu happened." Hazel pointed out.
"Oh yeah... That explains it." Nico said to which everyone nodded. Hazel had a adorable smile of pride on her face.
"Wait a minute." That's when Annabeth turned to Apollo, "Didn't you cause the Spanish Flu?"
"Woah woah, hold on! I was in a very dark place during that time." Apollo said, raising his hands up.
"A 100 million people died because of that plague!" Hazel shouted at him in anger as her eyes shined with rage.
"Woah ok ok! I'm sorry! I'm sorry if you lost any relatives because of that!" Apollo exclaimed. Artemis and Thalia were trying to stop themselves from laughing at his expense.
The apology didn't seem to work as Hazel tackled the god before beginning strangling him. Before anyone could stop her, Xion spoke up. "Let her, she needs something to release all that rage."
"We have a training area for that. I need my guests alive, Xion." Nick reprimanded her slightly.
Percy, Nico and Frank had to work together to pull Hazel off of Apollo. "Hazel! Hazel! You made your point! He's had enough for now!" Percy exclaimed.
"Come on, let's sit back down and plot his downfall later." Nico said gently, patting her back gently. Hazel panted heavily, before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath.
"I'm good... I'm good... I'm alright." Hazel said, after taking a couple deep breaths. "Ok... Let's keep going."
The friends left the bar while drunkenly singing "White Lines".
"Oooh, White Lines! Visions, dreams of pleasure. Going through my mind! And all the while I think of you! I- oh." The two stopped singing when they saw the couple from earlier still kissing.
"What's the matter, love? Haven't had your tea?" Grover asked, his words slurring slightly before they looked away with a laugh.
What they didn't see was the man of the couple's head suddenly fall and hung off the back by a few strands of flesh, as if his neck was chewed almost completely off. But the two did not notice as they continued walking away and singing.
"WHAT THE FUCK?!!" Everyone, including Sally scream at the scene on screen.
"Huh, guess I missed this scene."Xion said, a little unfazed by the death that happened.
"Did she just eat that man's head almost completely off!?" Paul exclaimed, before going a little green in the face.
"I was so right!! It is zombies!" Leo exclaimed.
"Oh shit." Thalia silently cursed under her breath, already making a guess that the universe went from a Rom Com to a Horror Com.
"So the world, or at least Britain, was falling down around us, and we just didn't notice?" Grover asked.
"Percy's other version did, but everything else took precedent. But still... Zombies? Like, how? How did that happen?" Annabeth asked, placing her fingers to her head to try and nurse a headache.
"Honesty we don't know. This is one of those events that even we don't know the origins." Xion admits.
"Wait, isn't it like your job to document these sort of things and figure out what happened?" Frank asked.
"All we have is what you see on the screen. So please drop it and just watch." Nick said with a hard tone, surprising the Seven.
"Easy, Chief." Cortana said, placing a hand on his shoulder. Nick then took a deep breath.
"Apologies. I simply don't like not having the answer sometimes." Nick explained.
"I know that feeling." Annabeth mumbled to which Percy rubbed her shoulder and kissed her head.
Cortana added, "Aside from documentations, we also contain dimensional threats which could prove to be a large threat to the very Multiverse itself. However, any more information is classified for only Overseers and those who have the proper clearance."
"Or individuals who are with 'Chaos'." Xion said with a smile, she then groaned when she felt Cortana's glare. "And I mean the Universal Chaos that helps balance the Multiverse."
"Xion, keep it on track." Nick reminded her before clicking play.
Percy and Grover continued to walk while singing the song. "Ahh, get higher baby. Ahh, get higher baby. Ahh, get higher girl! AAHH-"
That's when the two stopped as they looked at a man that moaned very loudly, shambling towards them very slowly.
The two looked at each other before scoffing. "Dibbidy-dib-bideb-bedib."
"Augh..."
"Dibbidy-dib-bideb-bedib."
"Augh..."
Percy looked at Grover, "What'd he say? Did he say bass?"
"Or freeze?" Grover asked before the two walking away and saying in unison. "What a tit."
The scene then transitioned to the two back in their house, with loud Electro music playing on a vinyl player. Grover was doing some dance moves while Percy had a basketball cap on with headphones as well.
Then Percy started to turn the disc to cause some disco scratch before Clarisse showed up in anger and ripped the vinyl disc out. "Don't scratch it! Wh-" Clarisse opened the window to their backdoor and threw it out.
"That was the second album I've ever bought!" Percy exclaimed.
"It's 4 in the fucking morning!" Clarisse shouted.
"It's Saturday!"
"No it's not. It's fucking Sunday. And I've got to go to fucking work in 4 fucking hours, because every other fucker in my fucking department, is fucking ill! NOW CAN YOU SEE WHY I'M SO FUCKING ANGRY!?"
Grover then joined in, "Fuck yeah!"
"Hey woah!" Percy quickly jumped in before a fight could happen. "I'm sorry, Clarisse. We had a few drinks... We split up, Annabeth and I."
Clarisse was still angry, but she looked at Percy with sympathy before saying in a calm voice. "Just keep it down." She went to leave but Grover had to ruin it.
"Bitch..." Grover mumbled out which made Percy freeze and go 'Oh shit.'
"Seriously?" Grover groaned, already knowing his other self fucked up.
"I know you guys aren't the biggest Clarisse fans, but she's not that bad." Frank said. "I mean beside the Big Three, Clarisse and Cabin 5 were the only ones from Camp Half-Blood that tried to get along with their Roman siblings at the start."
"Hey, we get that Frank, but you didn't spend every summer with her." Annabeth said. "Clarisse hated Percy's guts for the first two or three years."
"It's gotten better, but still not completely friends." Percy said.
"That said, Grover's got some nads on him for saying that to her." Nico chuckled. Grover simply whined and slinked down in his chair.
Clarisse stopped and turned her head slightly, "What was that?"
Grover shrugged his shoulders. "Nothing."
Clarisse spun around and marched towards him with her fist clocked. Percy then stepped in front of her and tried to push her back. "No no no! Come on, stop it we're friends!"
"He's not my friend! He's a fucking idiot!" Clarisse shouted.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Grover asked nonchalantly.
"It means, why don't you fuck off!? YOU WANNA LIVE LIKE AN ANIMAL!? GO LIVE IN THE SHED, YOU THICK FUCK!"
"Oh leave him alone!" Percy interjected.
"Stop defending him, Percy! All he ever does is hold you back! Or does it make your life easier having someone around who's more of a loser than you are?" Clarisse asked, calming down slightly.
Percy was confused as he asked, "What do you mean?"
"You know what I mean. So I assume it was Annabeth that did the dumping?" Clarisse asked, almost in a rhetorical manner, and Percy's silence was the answer. That's when Clarisse pointed to him, "Sort your fucking life out, mate!"
"Hate to say it, but she has a point." Leo said, causing both Percy and Grover to groan.
"Can I please leave, I don't want to watch this anymore. " Percy asked.
Xion replied. "Trust me, it's about to get funny."
Grover noticed a bandage on Clarisse's hand which was bleeding. "What's up with your hand, man?"
She looked at it before replying, "I got mugged on the way home from work."
"By whom?" Grover asked.
"I don't know, some crackheads or something. One of them bit me!"
"Why did they bite you?"
"I DON'T KNOW! I DIDN'T STOP TO ASK THEM!" Clarisse snapped, making Grover shut up.
Clarisse out her hand to her head and sigh, "Now, I've got a splitting headache, and your stupid hip hop, isn't helping." She began walking away when she saw the front door was cracked open again. "AND THE FRONT DOOR IS OPEN, AGAIN!!" She closed it before walking back upstairs.
Grover began grumbling, "It's not hip hop. It's Electro, bitch. Next time I see her, she's dead."
Percy was thinking and had a depressed look on his face as he ripped the baseball cap off his head. He started stumbling his way into the kitchen, clicking on the messages on the phone. It replayed Annabeth's previous message before Percy's Mom was heard leaving a message.
"Hello, Pickle! It's me, Mum. Paul said he saw you in town and said that you might be visiting tomorrow, which would be lovely!" Percy started writing on a white board on the fridge as her message continued. "Will you be bringing Annabeth with you this time? I mean, we can't wait to meet her."
Percy stumbled backwards as he began to pass out on a chair. "I was wondering if she wanted anything special for lunch. Because these days, a lot of people don't eat meat."
Frank was horrified, and so were Percy, Annabeth and Grover. While they have had their issues with Clarisse, she was certainly more friendly with them now. So to see another version of her already bitten, they knew it was only a matter of time, and they weren't sure if they were ready for that.
"What the, why are we stopping?" Xion asked in a confused tone, as she noticed the lights gently coming back on.
"Quick break, besides a lot has happened." Nick explained.
Percy got up from his seat and walked into the bathroom. "Do you have flooding insurance?" Xion asked just before what sounded like a sink exploding from the bathroom Percy walked into.
Nick groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'll have the clean up crew on standby." Cortana said.
Everyone watched him walk away before Leo asked, "Soooo... Who wants to go get him?"
Cortana raised a hand "I know this is just a suggestion, but I believe giving people space helps them process viewings that are more… well dramatic or traumatic."
"I can't just leave him there by himself." Annabeth said, starting to worry about the thoughts that would be running through his head.
"Miss Chase. I understand. Really, I do. I understand more than anyone else what you two have gone through. But just this once, let him process it by himself." Nick gently said which seemed to placate her somewhat, but she didn't like it.
Xion gave the two a glare but kept her mouth shut for now.
"Soooo... Zombies huh? In the middle of a love story." Frank said, still attempting to process that.
"And we're just completely oblivious to it." Grover whined slightly, hating how his counterpart is turning out to be.
"Seriously, we can't be that blind to our surroundings." Jason said.
"You can when you're drunk like Dionysus after celebrating the most minor of achievements." Hera said with a roll of her eyes.
"I swear if I die because I was oblivious, I'm just gonna walk out." Grover groaned, rubbing his hands on his face.
Xion kept a straight face before asking. "Beside the Zombies, do who do you think Percy will end up with?"
"Annabeth, obviously." Piper said. "She and him are now in the 'will they, won't they'. Which means they will like every other Rom Com."
"Not true, a Rom Com has the Will they, Won't they scenarios which sometimes they won't be with the pair in the scenario but with another pair of characters." Xion explained, getting surprised looks. "What? I watch Afterhours sometimes."
"But back to the question, who do you think will be Percy's end game?" She leaned in like a teenage girl wanting gossip.
"Well it can't be me, because I'm with Jason." Piper said.
"I'm nowhere in the story." Hazel said with a shrug of her shoulders.
"So really it's down to either me... Or Thalia." Annabeth said.
"Again, if we're only talking about the universe we're currently watching, I can see it." Thalia said with a thoughtful look.
"If Jackson so much as touches my daughter." Zeus growled before Sally glared at him.
"You're not going to do a goddamn thing." She said.
"Besides, Thalia under my protection, so if anyone was going to do anything to him, it's me. But Thalia has a point that this is another universe so I won't do anything to Jackson for it." Artemis said.
"Which is still weird." Jason mumbled.
"No, what's weird is that I'm Greek and you're Roman with the same mom and dad." Thalia said as she glared at Zeus.
"Now this isn't the type of love story I'd go for, but it is certainly the most interesting one I've seen." Aphrodite said, placing a hand to her cheek.
"More interesting than that one with young Perseus as Dracula?" Hephaestus asked her.
"Oh that one is quite a tragedy. To have a man who has suffered so much, to heal with love, only for it to be taken away… It breaks my heart. Truly. But this, well a story of Percy trying to win Annabeth's love back while trying to survive an undead attack, yes that is interesting."
Hephaestus thought about it before shrugging his shoulders. "Fair enough."
Before anymore could be said, Percy walked back in, his hair was a little messy and his clothes were ruffled, but he looked calm. He sat back down next to Sally and Annabeth and sighed. "Ok... I'm good."
"Great." Hazel said with a sweet smile.
Frank gives Percy a hopeful smile. "I'm sure things will work out. "
Percy sighed and hung his head, prompting Annabeth to pull his head to her collarbone. "It's alright, Percy. None of us think any less of you because of your other self. Especially me, you've done so much that I don't think I could ever think bad of you."
Percy allowed a smile to appear on his face, "Thanks Wise Girl." She smiled and kissed his lips gently.
"Can we get on with this? I'm getting bored. I wanna see some carnage happen." Ares groaned slightly as he shifted in his seat.
"Of course you do." Athena rolled her eyes at him.
"Has it been long enough of a break to continue or…?" Xion asked Nick.
"I think we're good enough. Oh!" Nick realized something. "The menus! If look inside of the little table in front of you, you will find food and drink menus."
Percy began to look through the menus looking for blue food only to find none. "You won't find food dye in a Order Faction at the moment." Xion explains as she throws Percy a bag of blue sour candy. "The guy who makes the dye is on trial at the moment and as such, shut down all dye production in the Order Faction."
Cortana sighed "DACA does have a supply of blue flavored candy, thank you. It's just that the brand is currently on back order."
"Really, you had a trial that lasted a decade. Progress." Xion jokingly said to the A.I.
Percy groaned slightly at the lack of blue dyed foods, but Sally patted her son's back.
"I'm sorry, this has been bugging me for a bit, but what's with the blue food request?" Leo asked in complete confusion.
"Back before Percy knew who he was, we lived with... An awful person." Sally tried to put it as delicately as possible.
"More like living garbage." Percy growled in anger.
Sally looked at him with sadness before continuing the story. "Percy once requested blue cookies, and the man said that no such thing existed, so I took it personally, and started making a lot of our food blue. Pancakes, cupcakes, cookies, candies, all sorts. It's an old Jackson tradition."
Cortana then continued her conversation with Xion as she said, "Look you little chaos gremlin, the only reason you're not sitting locked in a containment shield is because 1. You're a minor, 2. Nick hasn't ordered me to do so, and 3. You're only here for a short time before I boot you out of this station so either you sit down and be a good little chaos fae or you're going into Anti Chaos Containment time out. You get me?" Cortana looked right at Xion straight in the eye.
And what she said was true, ever since the first Dracula founded the organization, he had made it his goal to not only contain but also combat the forces of chaos in all forms, as such when a threat about containing a chaos being was made, it was kept which is why those of chaos rarely fight DACA agents.
"Except I'm a Delta Level, so those fields won't do jack all to me. I'm the daughter of your boss, the only ally in Chaos that he knows won't betray him out of the blue. And also, I still have to wait for dad to pick me up." Xion said with a smirk.
Cortana smirked and put a hand on her hip, "Wanna bet?"
"Hey hey! No fighting on my station!" Nick said, getting in between them. "Cortana, stand down. And you," He looked towards Xion, "don't provoke my partner."
"Didn't start it." Xion answered.
"I don't care who started it, I'm finishing it." Nick replied.
"Uh guys... Can we continue on, please?" Percy asked.
Sally pointed between the three, "Do you guys… need a uh… moment?"
Nick took a deep breath, "No. No thanks. I think we're good."
Leo leaned towards Jason before whispering. "Rather watched the cat fight over Percy's failing love life." Jason chuckled before both of them got elbowed by Piper as the video played again.