Percy POV~
I've lost count.
At first, I tried to absorb every detail of every day but now I can barely remember the main characters in my own story. Every day is different than the last, whether it be a small detail or an entirely different day. The only consistency is my death. At the end of every day, I die. I die and I wake up in my bed. Some Mystery Spot-Ground Hog's Day hybrid that is just as inescapable. I'm beginning to take it personally.
Some days feel like a different dimension. I have different friends, different experiences, different schools, different towns, so on and so forth. Sometimes it hurts emotionally, sometimes it hurts physically. Every death has been different too, some way too embarrassing to repeat. If I get out of this, I'm gonna have to start my own Stupid Deaths game.
When. When I get out of this.
Annabeth is one hundred percent working on a solution right now. She has to be. She wouldn't just leave me for dead like that. She's way too smart. And it's not like she hasn't saved my sorry butt before. Shes probably already talking with Chiron and Apollo and Will and all the best healers at Camp Jupiter too. She would never give up on me.
Then there's Dick. I've wondered on many occasions what he's up to. Is he helping Annabeth? Wallowing in self-pity? Continuing his life as normal? Ad if nothing had ever happened? As if he had never met me?
Somehow that thought hurt more than any of the excruciating deaths I've lived (died?) through. I know that Dick isn't one to just give up and I know that he considers me a friend at this point but what if? What if he doesn't? What if he's happy that I'm out of his hair, not causing any more trouble? What if other people feel the same? What if I'm actually dead and I somehow landed in the Fields of Punsihment? I know I've been a pretty okay person for most of my life but what if?
I've lost count.
I wake up as usual, in my bed, not a scratch on me. My room looks the same as ever. It's a little messy but what else is new? I'm wearing my normal pajamas and my hair is a tangle of long curls. I can almost pretend it's a normal day. That I'm back in Gotham with my friends and family acting normal and nothing ever happened.
Except I know better.
I know that I'm going to die in a couple of hours. Someone I love will not recognize me and my heart will break further. Someone will no longer be present in my life at all and the tears will flow with no clear end in sight. This is the neverending punishment I must endure for as long as I'm trapped in whatever this place is. To think, Josh, the stupid, arrogant asshole he is, managed to do all of this. All of this is his fault.
But it's not. It's my fault too. I wasn't good enough. I was the one who didn't fight hard enough. Who didn't pay close enough attention to my surroundings. Who didn't kill Josh before he could hurt anyone else.
And that brings up another question. Did Annabeth and Dick even survive? Did Josh kill them both? Am I still stuck in here, not because they aren't trying, but because they're dead? What did I do?
My thoughts are interrupted by a knock at my bedroom door.
"Percy? You up yet? You're going to be late to school." That sounded like my mom but her usual cheery, confident tone was gone. Replaced with doubt, worry, and anxiety? What kind of hell was today going to be?
"Yeah, I'm up. I'll be out in a minute!" I called back. I got out of bed and searched my room for my school uniform. Looks like today was a Gotham Academy day. Yippee.
Once I was ready for school, I made my way through the house, down the stairs and to the kitchen. I expected to see Paul or Poseidon, as it alternated randomly each day. I was instead greeted with an even stranger sight.
Some random man sat at the table in a suit and tie. He had dark brown hair that was groomed to perfection, not a strand out of place. He didn't even have any stubble on his chin. When he looked at me I saw his eyes were brown and there was something... strange about his gaze. Something off about the way he smiled at me. He looked like something out straight out of a horror movie.
My mom zipped around the kitchen as if she were from Central City rather than Manhattan. Her face was drawn tight, brows furrowed and mouth stuck in a frown as she prepared breakfast. What was going on?
"Hey, kiddo!" The strange man was talking to me. His voice was tight and forced. Like serial killers in the movies. Something is so wrong with this picture.
"Hi..." Was the best response I could come up with.
"How'd ya sleep? Good, I hope. You have a long day ahead of you, am I right?" He chuckled to himself as he put down the newspaper her had been reading.
"Heh yeah... I guess so." I tried to keep the talking to the minimum, which is very unlike me, but these scenarios just get weirder the more I talk so I might as well just fast forward to the part where I die and get it over with. In to the next day.
"Say, is your boyfriend still picking you up from school today? You said you two were going to the movies tonight, correct?"
"My what?!" I choked on my orange juice at that. Boyfriend? This was new. I'd never had a significant other in any of the past scenarios. Today just got a bit more interesting.
"Did you and that Wayne kid break up already? I thought you two had been going strong last I checked. Was I mistaken?" The way this man kept asking for my input was a little rattling. Almost as if he needed my apporval...
And "Wayne kid"? Is he talking about...
"Oh! That boyfriend! Yeah, yeah. He's picking me up from school and we are going to the movies! Heh." I've found it's easier to play along at times like these.
My mom had left the room at some poitnafter serving breakfast, which is weird because she always eats breakfast with us, even in this weird dream world. Something is definitely different about today.
"Good! Alright! We better get you off to school, now shouldn't we?"
There he goes again asking me. Every thing he has said to me thus far has ended in a question. Weird.
"Yeah, we should."
Off to school and, if I live long enough, a date with Dick Grayson.
*Wow. I haven't written a time skip in so long...*
The ride to school was fine. The man (I still don't know his name) kept talking to me and kept ending his statements in questions. I kept the conversion to a minimum but he just came up with new things to tall about. I practically jumped out of the car when we finally reached Gotham Academy.
My locker was in the same spot and I had the same classes as I normally would in real life. Fantastic.
I have yet to see Annabeth at all so maybe she isn't a part of this sequence. But I have seen Dick Grayson. He was standing right next to my locker waiting for me with a big smile on his face.
"Good morning, Miss Persephone. How has your day been so far, your majesty?" He said in a mock British accent with a bow at the end. I couldn't help but laugh at his display and nudge him a bit.
"Call me Persephone again, I'll call you Richard for the rest of the month," I responded. Maybe today wouldn't be so bad.
"Okay, okay! Don't do that. But, seriously, how has your day been? I haven't seen you in, like, 7 hours! That's way to long. I think I might be going through withdrawl." He moved closer on that last sentence and pecked me on the lips. To say I blushed would be an understatement. Why am I so flustered? This is dorky Dick Grayson, mathlete and Boy Wonder. He should not be able to fluster me with a simple peck!
"Heh, I, um, my day has been, uh, pretty uneventful so far. How- how about you?" I stuttered through my sentences like some love sick schoolgirl. What is wrong with me?
"It's a lot better now that you're here, that's for sure. Are you ready for tonight?" He said.
"Yeah. What, um, which movie are we going to see again?"
"It's a surprise. I think you'll like it though. I'd like to think I know you pre-tty well." He shifted his weight between his toes and his heels as he said the word "pretty".
"Uh huh. You asked my mom my favorite genre, didn't you?"
"What? Psh, no, of course not?"
"Mm hmm."
With that, the bell rang and we all but sprinted to class.
*Another time skip? In the same POV?*
Today was a good day.
I haven't died yet. Dick is a surprisingly amazing boyfriend. Not that I would ever like him in that way. Yeah.
Anyways, school went by smoothly and before I knew it, Alfred was outside the school ready to pick Dick and I up and drop us off at the movie theater. This is so different from the usual and I'm actually enjoying myself. A little ray of light in this hellish nightmare.
"So, do you have any guesses about which movie we're going to see?" Dick asks. He is sitting right next to me. Like, right next to me. It's a little hard to focus with him that close. I can smell his shower gel. His hair smells like lemons. Weird how I've never noticed how blue his eyes are-
"Percy?"
"Hm?"
"Are you okay? You spaced out for a second there." Shoot. He noticed.
"Oh, yeah. I'm totally fine, just, you know. Have your eyes always been that blue?" Did I just say that out loud? Oh my gods, what is wrong with me? You don't just ask people about their eye color like that!
He just laughed and leaned in closer. Yeah, that's definitely lemon.
"Getting lost in my eyes, are we?"
Screw this.
"You're not getting lost in mine?" I responded in mock offense. Maybe if I just play along, things will be less awkward.
"Point taken." He stares into my eyes and I stare back. They really are blue. Deeper than any ocean my father could ever conjure. Swirling with so many emotions, so many positive emotions that I haven't felt in such a long time.
Caught up in the moment, I lean forward, and he follows suit. The distance between us slowly getting shorter and shorter.
The car door opens and we jump apart quickly. Alfred raises an eyebrow at us and my face feels hotter than Leo's flames. I am not falling for that dork. Nope. Not at all.
Dick recovers first and climbs out of the car as I follow. We both mutter a thanks to Alfred and he promises to pick us up at 7.
I am looking anywhere but Dick Grayson's face when he takes my hand and pulls me inside.
"So, any guesses?" His voice pulls me out of whatever trance I had been in and I look up at the most current movies.
"Uh..." I started. I didn't recognize any of these movies, but dream-me obviously had a preference. "I have absolutely no clue. Just tell me already!"
"That would ruin the fun! Come on," he stepped behind me and put his hands over my eyes.
Don't think about how close he is. Don't think about how close he is. Don't think about-
"You are going to have to wait until the movie starts!"
"Oh, you expect me to pay attention to the movie, do you?"
Did that just come from my mouth? I just said that? Oh, wow, am I bad at this.
Dick just laughed and guided me towards our theater. It got a little difficult when we tried to ascend the stairs to our seats but we managed and he eventually took his hand from my face. When we took our seats, he moved the armrest up (cause apparently you can do that at some theaters) and laid his arm across my shoulders before pulling me closer. I laid my head on his should and just enjoyed how right this felt. For a moment, I forgot that this was all a dream. That I was supposed to die soon. That tomorrow, none if this will have ever happened. For a moment, I let myself pretend.
*Three timeskips, wow*
The movie was good. It was some cheesy superhero movie and that's ignoring the irony of the situation. I didn't really pay all that much attention. I was comfortable and content and happy and all those other things that I haven't felt in such a long time. Today was great.
The credits started rolling and Dick stretched his arm and legs before dropping his arm back to my shoulders.
"What did you think?"
"That was probably the most cheesy movie I have ever seen," I started, watching as his face formed into a slow frown. "That's to say, I loved it. You really did ask my mom, didn't you?"
His smile returned to his face and we slowly stated standing up as the lights came back up.
"Guilty as charged. It was difficult trying to sneak past your stepdad but, hey, your worth it."
I had almost forgotten about the creepy man from my kitchen. A frown etched itself into my face.
"He doesn't like you?" This morning it had seemed as though he was almost... happy that Dick was taking me out.
"Like me? I'm pretty sure he hates me. I was expecting the shovel talk but the talk we had was more along the lines of 'break up with her, please, so I have an excuse'. But, I already told you that." He frowned again. "Percy, are you feeling okay?"
Before I could respond, the hairs on the back of neck stood up. Call it a spidey-sense, of sorts. Everything in my body screamed danger as I turned around.
The man. My "stepdad". He had that perfect smile on his perfect face with his perfect hair as he pointed a revolver at the center of Dick's back.
My eyes widened and I tried to maneuver myself in front of Dick but I just wasn't fast enough.
Bang!
Dick's body jerked forward as he fell to the ground. I think I screamed. The plumbing burst. Everything stopped.
I woke up in my bed.
I've lost count.
**********
Dick's POV~
She looks like she's dead.
Her chest still rises, still falls. The constant beeping of the heart rate monitor confirms that she is in fact alive. Her eyes still move behind closed lids.
But nothing about her seems alive. Her once perfect, tan skin is now ashy and pale. Her flawless curls fall in a tangled mess around her head. Her constant energy is gone. Everything about her screams dead.
"Who?" I hear myself ask. Annabeth knows someone who can help her. I need to know who.
"A friend of a friend. There is absolutely no guarantee that he'll even consider helping us, he never really liked demigods in the first place, but he's all we have right now." Annabeth's voice is a little more hollow than usual, a little less hopeful. I suppose I sound the same.
It's unfair. I just realized how I felt about her and now I may never be able to tell her. I may never be able to even get a clear rejection out of her. Which is selfish, I know. Percy is going through some kind of hell in her own mind and all I'm think about is how if affects me. But I don't care.
"Who?" I repeat. If this asshole refuses to help Percy, I'll take away his choice in the matter. I don't care what it takes but he will help her.
Annabeth pursed her lips.
"Look, I want to help her just as bad as you do, but you need to calm down. Getting angry is not going to help Percy. We need to approach this in a calm, calculated manner. We can't-"
"Who?"
"Dick-"
"Who?"
Annabeth didn't respond. I looked up at her and sighed when I saw how upset she really was.
"Sorry. You're right. Calm, calculated." I took a deep breath to calm myself and asked again, "Who?"
Annabeth sighed, "I don't know his name, but I know his reputation. He's supposed to be a healer better than Apollo and Ascelpius combined."
"How do we find him?"
"Chiron should know him. Hopefully, he can help us find him and he can fix her before-" she cut herself off but I knew what she meant to say.
Before whatever this is kills her. Before she dies.
"Let's go."
A/N WOAH WOAH WOAH! What is this? Where did this come from? What have I done? Anywho, hi! Welcome back! And, uh, sorry?
Yours in demigodishness and all that, peace out!✌
Word Count- 2,939