Alone Again (Percico/Pernico AU)

Chapter 4

I HAVE TO CHANGE A FEW THINGS IN THIS CHAPTER THAT SCREW UP MY CURRENT PLOT SO YOU CAN REREAD IF YOU WANT.

[TRIGGER WARNING: chapter contains mental disorders, such as bipolar disorder, anxiety, schizophrenia, PTSD, etc. Not all of the formerly listed are mentioned in this book, but are only serving as example. Also, I am near positive I have SAD, so I'm here for anyone if they want to talk about something like this.]

So, I just spent, like, twenty minutes looking up random medical stuff for this chapter. I'm probably still wrong though, since medical sites only give you, like, symptoms and treatments and stuff like that, but whatever.

This was bad.
*****

Percy gripped the armrests. Not here. Not now. He had just gotten here. He could get through this. They needed to stop arguing. Now.

Come on, Percy.

But the memories flooded back into his mind anyway.

"Please, Gabe! He's just a kid!" Sally pleaded as a cold metal knife was held at Percy's neck.

Gabe ignored her, mercilessly putting more pressure on the knife. That was the moment when his mother leaped at Gabe, forcing him to drop Percy. He simply drove the knife into Sally instead of Percy and walked away.

Percy quickly scurried over, ignoring his injuries. It was his mom. He checked for a pulse.

Nothing.

He checked for a heartbeat.

Nothing.

He checked for any sign of life.

Nothing.

Percy's breath grew shallower as he stumbled backwards. He backed into the wall, sliding down until he was sitting, head buried in arms. Silent tears rolled down his face as the realization hit him.

Sally Jackson was gone.

Something grabbed the back of his shirt collar, yanking upwards and earning a yelp from Percy. He saw himself face to face with Gabe Ugliano.

"You tell a soul, and you're dead, kid. Got it?"

Percy nodded furiously, trying not to anger him more than he already was.

"Percy?" Gabe spoke, but the voice wasn't his own.

Percy, breathing only worsening, kicked his stepdad in the stomach.

"Percy!" The same, unknown voice came from Gabe's mouth.

"Percy, come on!" A girl seemed to be shouting. Percy's eyes snapped open to see Rachel and Leo leaned over him.

He quickly stood up, forcing them to move, and began walking to the staircase. He took deep breaths, trying not to have the usual side effects. They could wait until Percy got away from them, right?

He was stopped by Rachel grabbing his arm with a death grip. "Percy," she stated sternly. "What was that?"

Percy shook his head, desperate to get away. "Nothing."

"Percy, please," she said, her tone suddenly a lot softer.

Black dots began to invade Percy's vision.

No, no, no.

He needed to get out.

Percy yanked his arm out of Rachel's hand somehow, speed walking to the front door and leaving before they could stop him again. He felt his throat closing up as his vision began to blacken more and more.

He began growing dizzy, and had to lean on what he guessed was a lamppost.

Just as he was about to collapse, someone grabbed him. Percy panicked, the thought of Gabe's contact coming back to him.

"Hey, hey. Calm down. You're okay," a calm, gentle voice said. Of course, Percy couldn't see who it was, but it probably wasn't anyone he knew.

"I'm going to bring you to your apartment, okay?"

Percy nodded. The voice, who Percy assumed was a male, carefully slung Percy's arm over his shoulder, guiding him through the city.

They walked in silence until they finally reached the apartment building. Ignoring the doorman's confused looks, the boy brought Percy to the elevator, bringing them up to the correct floor. They headed down the hallway, and the boy knocked on the door.

"I got your roommate, Grover," he said, silencing his knocks.

The door opened, Grover's eyes widening when he saw Percy.

"What happened?" Grover asked, concerned as he helped set Percy down on the couch.

The boy shrugged, sitting down next to Percy's feet. He reached up to Percy's forehead, gently sweeping a piece of hair out of his closed eyes. His breathing was slow and shallow, like he was trying to take deep breaths, but just couldn't.

"Hey, Percy. It's Nico. You're going to be fine," he said, waiting for Grover to get off the phone with Rachel.

What the hell actually happened? Nico was there, but slipped outside once he woke up, knowing he would try to leave.

He was just sitting there normally, besides his death grip on the chair. Then Nico noticed the lack of speech from Percy and went over to investigate. He was shaking his head, eyes closed, mouthing something. He began moving uncomfortably. Nico assumed it was just like one of those awake dreams, but a nightmare.

Percy studied the boy again. He seemed to be similar looking up close, even though that tough guy persona seemed to change when he was lying here, probably asleep.

"Just breathe, Percy."

Grover hung up, approaching the couch. "I told Rachel not to come over, but she's sending Reyna," he whispered. "That girl is way too persistent."

Nico nodded in agreement, sighing and getting up to sit in one of the chairs. Grover stood, leaned against the couch and looking down at Percy.

"So, recap?"

"We're not entirely sure what was happening. I think it was just an awake nightmare or something."

Grover nods, seeming to take the information into consideration. He was interrupted from his thoughts by a knock on the door.

"Wait a minute, Reyna!" Grover said, turning to Nico. "Could you bring him to the room that used to be empty?"

Nico nodded, cautiously trying to get Percy off the couch, who was lighter than expected. He dragged him down the hallway, pushing open the door for where Percy's bedroom would be.

"Whoa," Nico whispered to himself.

Grover had already furnished the room, with a bed in the corner, a dresser in the opposite corner, and a shelf near the door. The closet was in the back right corner, the doors closed. Nico assumed Percy hadn't been in here yet.

Nico managed to get Percy on the bed, which just had simple white sheets as of now.

Grover then walked through with someone that Nico wasn't expecting.

Annabeth.

TWO CHAPTERS, WOOHOO! Literally, I'm so bored rn😂

Whatever, bye.