ᴄᴀᴠᴇ ᴄᴀɴᴇᴍ: ᴘᴀʀᴛ ɪɪ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴇʀᴄᴀʙᴇᴛʜ/ꜱᴏʟᴀɴɢᴇʟᴏ ᴘʀᴏᴊᴇᴄᴛ

ᴠɪɪɪ | ᴘᴇʀᴄʏ ᴄᴀɴ'ᴛ ᴛᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜɪꜱ ᴀɴʏᴍᴏʀᴇ, ꜱᴏ ʜᴇ ᴇᴀᴛꜱ ᴀ ᴘʀᴇᴛᴢᴇʟ

CW: Panic attack, medical scene (stitches, blood)

Mortals sure can come up with an excuse for anything. When Percy gets off the train, Annabeth's limp and battered body over his shoulder, passengers thank him for stopping the train before it 'hit that family of ducks.'

In reality, he stopped the train because there was a monster Percy didn't recognize running a rampage in one of the train cars. The mortals that were in the train car with him think they had to switch cars because some old lady's purse dog started peeing everywhere. Those people also thank Percy at the station, and one of them even buys him a coffee for his troubles.

He honestly wishes it were a pissing poodle or a family of ducklings to blame. He didn't like slicing a dog in two, especially not since he's a dog person. It looked so sad when it realized its unfortunate fate.

More than that, Annabeth looked so weak with a dog's tooth in the side of her face. Percy's never seen her freeze like that; she could have taken it. She wears weapons in her hair. She could have taken those weapons and killed the dog herself.

That's not important now. What is important is finding the nearest hotel and setting up a makeshift infirmary. He knows that cuts on the face tend to bleed profusely and for a long time, so the amount of blood on Annabeth's face truly looks worse than it is, but he doesn't know anything about that cloned monster that came after them. Hell, he doesn't even know if it was a cloned monster. There's no reason why Annabeth's ex-hookup and Pothos wouldn't be able to do the same thing with a regular animal.

Percy sets Annabeth down on a bench and finishes the last of his coffee before tossing it into a wastebasket. Hopefully, the caffeine gives him the energy to drag her to the nearest hotel. Munich is a big city. There's got to be a hotel somewhere.

They're due for a little luck.

***

The hotel concierge doesn't ask Percy too many questions when he shows up at the front desk, blood staining the shoulder of his t-shirt and Annabeth herself getting more blood on the other side of the shoulder. He just says, "Any room!" and then slides the New Rome credit card across the table.

He almost forgets to take the card back after the concierge gives him the room key. He doesn't even do a double take when he finds out he just bought the honeymoon suite.

When Percy, at last, gets into the hotel room, he goes straight for the bathroom because, despite the emergency, he'll still feel guilty if New Rome has an excessive amount of damage on that credit card.

Annabeth's been in and out since the incident. Now and then she mumbles something like, "I don't wanna..." or "Please leave me alone now." Percy doesn't know what any of that means. She sort of trails off before he can catch anything substantial.

He hoists her onto the countertop—the white countertop—and runs some tissues under the faucet, but then realizes a little too late that tissues are not supposed to be soaked, and has to pick little pieces of soggy tissue off his fingers.

Out of the corner of his eye, he catches Annabeth teetering like a buoy. He manages to reach over and keep her from smacking her head against the mirror. She can't have a concussion on top of everything else.

Finally, Percy decides that New Rome is just going to have to make a sacrifice for the greater good, and grabs the hand towel hanging from the wall.

Annabeth hisses in pain when he dabs it against her cheek. Maybe she'll feel better if he talks to her. "Hey," he says, "I've gotta clean this out so it doesn't get infected. Don't freak out, but there's a lot of blood."