The Fox and the Hound (A Poki Story)

Ch I - The Village

The world was too bright, his ears were ringing and he hadn't even opened his eyes yet. He shook his head, groaning from the pounding in his skull. He shifted, his side screaming in protest. Rolling over onto his stomach, he slowly opened his eyes and groaned more. Where was he? He started, who was he?

Percy. Percy Jackson. But, how did he know that? Where am I? Who am I? What's going on? He had so many questions, but no answers. His head was reeling, where are my memories? His eyes grew wide. That's it. I don't remember anything.

Percy vaguely heard a voice and decided it was best to stop thinking before he drove himself insane. Focusing on the world around him, he realized he was in the middle of a grape farm. He found himself surrounded by a loose circle of younger kids - around ten to thirteen years old - all asking in very loud voices if he was okay. Wait, what language is that? Is that Greek? How did he know Greek?

No, no thinking right now. He focused back on the kids around him. "Too loud," he moaned, quietly. His head was still pounding.

The kids continued to ask questions and talking constantly around him, but one sentence stood out to him, "Mister, mister! Are you okay? You fell from the sky, mister!"

What?! Fell from the sky? What the hell is going on?! He concentrated on the boy who said it. He was younger than the others, around eight, with short and choppy black hair and bright blue eyes. "What?" Percy asked the boy. He could feel the fear beating in his heart. "Fell from th-the sky?"

Before the boy could answer his question, a woman pushed her way through the circle of children. "Are you okay?" she asked, bending down. "What happened?" The woman seemed to emit an aura of kindness, making it hard for Percy to not trust her.

"I-I-I... don't know," Percy stuttered out. The woman grabbed hold of his shoulders, steadying his shuddering. "I don't know," Percy whispered, looking at his hands in his lap as the woman held him still.

"What's your name?" she asked caringly.

"Percy," he answered, so quietly that she could barely hear him. He looked into her eyes, a dark brown so alluring he just wanted to curl into her warm embrace even further. He was so scared, no memories in a place that was unfamiliar, he would be insane to not be. Percy let out his fears the only way he could, he cried. He curled up and balled his eyes out into the woman's shoulder. And she let him, hugging him tightly and rubbing circles into his back the way a mother would.

Monica had no idea who Percy was or where he came from, but she knew she had to do what she does best, be a mother. She allowed the boy to cry into her arms for as long as he needed to, which happened to be about fifteen minutes. He waited for a bit afterward, taking comfort in Monica's presence until he muttered something incoherent to her. "What?" she asked.

"Thank you," he mumbled, only slightly louder then before. "You don't even know me and you're still so nice to me. Thank you." At the last sentence, he tilted his head up and meet her eyes, sea green meeting chocolate brown. His eyes seemed so broken, like he had gone through too much a kid his age should go through. "I-I, ah," he stuttered, unsure of what to say. "I don't remember."

"Don't remember, what?" Monica asked.

Percy looked down again, hesitating. It seemed to take him forever to muster enough strength to say the word. "Anything," he stated all too seriously.

That was a few hours ago, now Percy sat in the family's small living room. The farm house was rustic and warming, about two times the size of an apartment with the classic farm house decor, painted a bright blue color, it emitted a homely feeling. The family was very nice, setting him up in a room with one of the sons, giving him clothes to change into - considering he had showed up at the farm in a Finding Nemo onesie, don't know what that was about - and giving him a hot cup of tea, which was actually pretty good. The woman, whom he found out was named Monica, was very nice and suited to his every need, even when Percy told her she didn't need to. He felt bad, intruding in their home and taking their food even though they gave it willingly.