"You're awake."
A tanned hand held a cup to his mouth as golden hair lightly brushed against the right side of his cheek. Percy slowly sat up, taking the cup with his own hands as he drank, the ambrosia instantly melting away the ache in his bones.
"You should still lie down, you've been out for a while."
Percy set the cup down on the table next to him, finally looking back at the girl sitting at his bedside.
"Thanks."
Annabeth Chase was nothing like he imagined, not that he had any visual representation to go by. The two movies and the show…well, they were about as far apart from each other as two character designs for the same character could be. This version was a tanned girl, with blond, almost gold hair, and startling grey eyes. The kind of eyes that looked like a filter on TikTok.
"What?" She asked, her eyes darting across his face. "You've never seen a girl before?"
"Sorry." Percy laid back in the bed, looking up at the ceiling. "You're the first person I've seen since…well, I guess I don't have to talk about it."
"The minatour attack." Annabeth said carefully, studying his facial expression. After a few seconds, she continued. "…so you understand what happened, right? That it was a minatour, and not some dream?"
"Yeah. I definitely understand. It was a minatour. Very ugly." Percy sighed, running his hands over his face.
The Minatour, or rather, Asterius, was certainly ugly. Ugly, and extremely strong. Even in a scripted fight, meant to show him the basics of fighting, he nearly died. Not that it was fault, how was he expected to win with Kelpie?
[Kelpie (Level 6)]
[Trait: Striking Weight]
[Moves: Garu, Lunge]
Kelpie was an ugly persona, taking on the form of a floating green horse missing the bottom half of its body. Its hair was replaced by, you guessed it, kelp, and its eyes were blood red, with a constant snarl exposing its gnashing teeth.
Why was Kelpie his first persona instead of Arsene? Probably because he was the son of Poseidon, Poseidon made horses, and Kelpie was a horse.
Needless to say, this guy was getting fused into something else the second he got the chance. If the rules of Persona 5 Royal played out in the world of Percy Jackson like he expected, then replacing Kelpie for something better wouldn't be a problem.
"You're…not curious about what happened after the minatour attack?" Annabeth asked, somewhat cautious. "I think you still need some kind of explanation. I know it's a lot. It was for me."
Percy pulled his hands back, his eyes shifting from the mental image of Kelpie and back to Annabeth.
"Sure. Hit me. I'm sure I need to hear what you have to say."
"Well…" Annabeth thought to herself for a few seconds, before deliberating speaking a bit slower. "The place we're in is called Camp Halfblood. It's supposed to be a haven for people like you and me."
"You were probably a misfit growing up, couldn't concentrate in class or sit still for more than a few minutes. Reading was probably hard for you, and weird things always seemed to happen when you were around. Is this sounding relatable?"
"Yeah, yeah." Percy nodded, eager to get this conversation over with. "Are you gonna tell me that there's something special about me and you, and that this camp is the only place for us?"
Annabeth curled her tongue in her mouth, sweeping it under her upper lip. "Well…yes, I guess Grover and Chiron were underestimating you. The two of us, and the rest of the campers, are half god." She blinked, her eyes focused on his. "If your eyes were any lighter, I might have mistaken you as a brother."
Percy couldn't respond to that, so he didn't. He scrunched his nose, trying to appear as melancholy as possible. "My mom…she's dead, right?"
Annabeth didn't meet his eyes, a genuine trace of sadness coming over her. "We…don't know. From what we can tell, she isn't in this world. At best, she's being held captive in the underworld, at worst…"
Percy looked off into the distance. It had been a few years since he'd read the books. The lines, the relationships, even the plot, had started to fade. Trying to mimic the original Percy wasn't a good idea. He had to be himself and hope no one noticed anything was wrong.
"So my mom is as good as dead." His voice became heavy, his eyes looking at nothing. "Hell or Hades, regardless of the religion or mythos, no one comes out of the underworld alive."
Percy sunk into the bed, looking back at Annabeth one final time. "Hey, thanks for taking care of me. I'm sure it must've been a pain."
Annabeth didn't speak, just shaking her head wordlessly. After a few seconds, she got up, grabbed a book from the table, and put it in his lap. "Here's something to read if you get bored. Chiron thought some reading might help you recover."
She looked him in the eyes a final time, before quietly whispering. "I'm sorry."
[I can sense a bond of helplessness from Annabeth…]
Time froze in front of him, and the familiar voice echoed in his head. He'd heard it a million times before, but it was nothing quite like this.
["I am thou, thou art I... Thou hast acquired a new vow.
It shall become the wings of rebellion that breaketh thy chain of captivity.
With the birth of the Strength Persona, I have obtained the winds of blessing that shall lead to freedom and new power..."]
Strength…
Percy couldn't think of any other arcana that suited her more. In many ways, Annabeth had been Percy's source of strength. Some things, no matter the timeline or universe, ever changed.
Percy smiled, and Annabeth looked at him as if she had never seen anyone express happiness before. Unknowningly, his eyes closed, and he drifted into unconsciousness.