Inception ♚ Percy Jackson & The Olympians [1]

⟬Chapter Two⟭

Forget. Simply Forget It All

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"Hey, starlight?" A five-year-old Andromeda lolled her head to the side of her own pillow to copy him. "Hey, Baba?" The man pursed his lips to hide his smile, bright, amber eyes gleaming in the light. "Don't forget it's us against the world—me, you and your mom." The girl raised her eyebrows cutely at him, having to widen her eyes to do so. "I know that. Ohana, remember?" Rick snorted a laugh seeing as he had walked right into that one. "Of course, how could I forget?" Blue eyes were wide and endearingly innocent as a tiny hand patted his cheek consolingly. "I'll remember for you, it's okay."

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"You know," Percy collapsed in a heap beside her, "every time I think that thing in the museum didn't happen all I have to do is look at you for proof something did." The boy wasn't far off. Since the field trip, Andy hadn't slept through the night. Beady, glowing eyes lurked in the dark, sometimes in pairs of three, as they plagued her mind. Keeping up with her life at school was hard with sleep deprivation and Andy barely cared enough given that it didn't matter. Her grades were good enough to stand the hit, the girl simply lounging around parts of the school with her books and assignments for show. 

"Wow, Perce, you sure know how to make a girl feel special." Her nightmares gave her the dark circles and bloodshot eyes Percy was referencing as proof since only Andy validated what happened. Mr. Brunner outright denied Percy's claims and Grover ignored them most times. If the boy wasn't choosing that road, he was feigning confusion about the supposed monster Percy swore up and down was their math teacher, Mrs. Dodds. And that since he had killed the monster she became, suddenly the teacher she had been didn't exist anymore. No one remembered her except Andy and honestly, given all the denial around her, she questioned if she was as crazy as Percy was.

"I think you should feel special," the boy said as he picked up one of her books, flipping through it without gathering a single drop of information, "it's a pretty important job keeping me sane—is this in German?" Andy took the storybook he had, manhandling the boy into one of the chairs on the mat before sitting at his feet. "Yeah, Rick's been teaching me—he says I should know a little for when his grandpa comes to visit. That and he thought it was funny to give me a German book about Greek myths." 

Unprompted, Percy combed his fingers through her curly hair, catching painful knots a little less than he usually did. At this point, the boy was conditioned after a few months of Andy making him practice on her hair. "Can't you do it yourself?" He had whined the second time after she hadn't given him an excuse, simply demanding he give it another attempt despite his first one being a sorry excuse for a braid. "I don't want to, also your mom said enrichment activities would be good for you." The boy leaned forward so she could see his unimpressed look which she met with a cheeky grin. 

"C'mon, Percy. Imagine how happy your mom will be when you show her you can braid her hair. She always wears it in a bun for work and the one time I do, my head hurts. If you can braid it for her, she'll be really happy." Percy had relented then, grumbling as he complied because he really could see his mother's proud smile when he showed her what he'd learnt and how she'd be eager even if it would be a natural disaster for her to fix with only a few minutes to leave for work. 

Sally Jackson would express pride over anything he did, horrendously messy or surprisingly good and he could see how her eyes would be so bright when she would look in the mirror to see he did a good job. It put a smile on his face every time Andy sat down for him to practice, his hands moving in clumsy but determined movements. Right over middle under left. Left over middle under right. Over and over again.