Chapter Text
Percy walked away from the Hermes Cabin, leaving behind his befuddled past-self and Annabeth. He was honestly having way too much fun trolling them. If it was Annabeth in the past instead of him, she would probably already be home. Percy sighed slightly, thinking of his girlfriend in the future.
Future...
Other universe?
Whatever. His brain wasn’t equipped for paradoxes this early in the day. Time travel was not his strong suit.
Is time passing where she is? Is Percy sitting in the past while she waits for him at Camp Half-Blood?
He couldn't do that to her. He imagined how Annabeth felt when he was kidnapped by Hera, wondering where her boyfriend was.
Hopefully he gets home soon.
Percy walked over to the dining pavilion, narrowly missing where Clarisse and her half-siblings were loitering. In a few minutes she would try to stuff his past-self's head in a toilet and, in return, get doused with water.
He smirked slightly, remembering their old feud.
Nowadays, he and Clarisse were good friends. They still bickered, but it was all in good fun. It was common to see them sparring against each other when their visits to Camp Half-Blood aligned.
Are they looking for me back at Camp?
He had told Annabeth he would be there a couple hours ago. Not that he's always exactly punctual.
Lost in his thoughts again, he narrowly missed bumping into a camper.
"My bad," he said, steadying the girl.
She looked up.
Long black wavy hair cascaded over her shoulders, framing her pale face and bright eyes.
It was Silena Beauregard.
Albeit, a 14-year-old-aged Silena, but her nonetheless. Percy sucked in a sharp breath, past-Silena's face flickering back and forth. One moment she was staring up at him in suspicion, the next she was covered in blood and burns, wearing Clarisse's armor as she died.
"No, it's alright," she said, eyes narrowing slightly. "Who are you?"
He took a step back from the ghost of a girl and cleared his throat. "Er—yeah, my name is Percy."
"I thought that was the new kid. The one that killed the Minotaur." Her arms crossed, and her eyes flashed suspiciously.
"Yeah, it's a whole thing. Time travel, Fates, yadda-yadda." His voice cracked a little on the last word. He hoped she didn’t notice. Absentmindedly, he scratched at his arm, looking anywhere but at her.
"Really?" Her voice alight with surprise. "You're Percy Jackson from the future?"
Percy grimaced, taking another step away from Silena.
"Yeah. Anyways, got stuff to do, people to confuse!" He backed away slowly, toward the direction of the bathrooms.
"Alright, I suppose." Silena waved half-heartedly and smiled. "Nice meeting you."
I'm sorry, is what Percy wanted to say.
Instead he turned on his heel and walked away, steadying his breathing with each step. Is this how it's going to be? He's going to see dead friends and have to act normal? He shook his head and sighed.
Why is it always me?
He heard a shout ring out across the Camp—Clarisse and two of her friends in the mud outside the run-down bathrooms.
He inconspicuously walked over to the stalls, getting a weird sense of déjà vu as Clarisse glared at someone in the bathroom (him, most likely).
“You are dead, new boy. You are totally dead.” She spat the words at him with utter hatred in her voice, practically seething.
He vaguely remembered what his past-self said after that, but he knew it was something stupid.
“You want to gargle with toilet water again, Clarisse? Close your mouth.”
Yup, there it is.
Clarisse's friends dragged her back, spitting and flailing, to Cabin 5, and he heard in the background Annabeth speak to his past-self.
“I’m thinking,” she said, “that I want you on my team for capture the flag.”
He quickly departed from behind the building after that, not wanting the two to see him spying on them after they left the bathroom. Annabeth would soon show Percy more stuff around Camp, and rumors would fly about the new kid who blew up the toilets and his supposed future counterpart who is an enigma.
Percy walked towards the lake, knowing the water would clear his thoughts. He sat on the pier, his long legs brushing the surface of the lake.
A couple of Naiads looked up at him, waving and smiling.
Percy waved back and watched them giggle.
He sighed, for probably the tenth time today, and looked out across the horizon.
What am I going to do?
Dad, if you hear me, I could really use some help.
There was no response, of course, but for a moment he thought the lake rippled a bit more than normal.
That's real helpful.
He sat there a while, willing the water to move back and forth slightly. He must have been sitting there longer than expected, because he could hear baby Annabeth and Percy approaching the lake.
“I’ve got training to do,” Annabeth’s voice got closer but still sounded as flat as ever. “Dinner’s at seven-thirty. Just follow your cabin to the mess hall.”
“Annabeth, I’m sorry about the toilets.”
“Whatever.”
“It wasn’t my fault.”
Percy snorted, causing past-Percy and Annabeth to look over at him in mild shock.
"No, no, continue. I'll just sit here," Percy said, waving lamely. Past him looked vaguely horrified. Past Annabeth looked vaguely murderous.
She glared at him and turned back to past-Percy, giving him an exasperated look.
At least his baby self had the decency to look a bit guilty for soaking Annabeth with sewer water.
“You need to talk to the Oracle,” Annabeth said.
“Who?”
“Not who. What. The Oracle. I’ll ask Chiron.”
As his past-self stared into the lake, Percy couldn't help but notice just how similar the conversations were to how it was the first time.
It's like him being here doesn't affect anything at all!
Baby Percy waved to the Naiads, and just like last time, Annabeth warned him from encouraging them.
He zoned off for a moment but came back to reality when he heard Annabeth speak again.
“I mean not human. Not totally human, anyway. Half-human.”
“Half-human and half-what?”
"Oh my gods." Percy groaned. "Annie, why can't you just tell him. I remember how confused I felt last time, and this isn't helping."
They turned back to him, baby Percy looking so, so confused, and Annabeth just calculating.
"He hasn't seen the orientation film, so just explain." Percy smiled slightly at his past self, trying to reassure him.
He remembered how hard this was last time around.
"You haven't seen the orientation film?" Annabeth sounded surprised, as she stared at his past-self in what looked like mild guilt.
"No, Mr. Brun—Chiron said that it wouldn't explain enough." Past-Percy was sheepish, rubbing at his neck.
"Well, that's stupid. It would explain the basics so you don't ask obvious questions." Annabeth sighed and crossed her arms.
"Half-god, Percy. One of your parents is an ancient Greek god."
Percy snorted again and turned back to watching the water.
Vaguely, he could hear baby Percy's skepticism and Annabeth's exasperated explanations. He stood up ramrod straight when Annabeth spoke again, however.
“It depends,” Annabeth said. “Some campers only stay the summer. If you’re a child of Aphrodite or Demeter, you’re probably not a real powerful force. The monsters might ignore you, so you can get by with a few months of summer training and live in the mortal world the rest of the year. But for some of us, it’s too dangerous to leave—"
What?
"Woah, woah, woah." Percy turned back around, looking at Annabeth incredulously.
"...what?" she asked, confusion on her face.
"Why are you saying Aphrodite and Demeter kids aren't powerful? They're awesome!"
Percy thought of Piper and Meg, both very powerful demigods.
"I have a couple friends who are the children of those gods, and they are super powerful! Honestly, this kind of prejudice was crazy back then. Er—I mean now, I guess."
Annabeth's face flustered, and her grey eyes turned stormy. "Sorry."
"I'm not saying you're being rude, I'm just telling you not to judge a demigod based on their parentage." Percy raised his hand placatingly.
Baby Percy looked back and forth at Annabeth and Percy like a tennis match.
Damn, I should probably leave them to talk.
"Well, I'll see you guys at dinner." Percy patted his past-self's shoulder hesitantly and walked off without another word.
...
This.
Is.
Torture.