Percy Jackson Fanfics

Nightmares and Charmspeak

Title: Nightmares and Charmspeak
Author: HeyRachelViolet
Site: Archive of Our Own
Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26286013

TW: Implied/referenced Child abuse

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Piper was just getting ready for bed, undoing the little feather braids in her hair, when she felt her heart twinge. It was a feeling like fear, but far away, like it belonged in someone else's ribcage. Some deep, emotion-ruled instinct told her not to ignore it. Instead, she followed it. Out of her room, down the hall, one door, two doors… Percy’s door?

Piper hesitated. If she went through with this, it would probably end up very awkward. On the other hand, she was a child of Aphrodite. She was supposed to have a good sense of these things, and right now the heart on the other side of that door was hurting enough to throw some pain her way. She knocked.

No one answered, but that was no surprise. Percy had gone to bed early because he hadn’t been feeling well, and he was already the heaviest sleeper on board.

Well, she wasn’t just going to walk in on a sleeping boy, no matter what her feelings said.

She’d just turned away when she heard something from the other side of the door. The sound made her feel like someone was doing a silks routine on her heartstrings.

She knocked again, and quietly called, “Percy?”

He made the sound again, something like a whimper and a gasp.

Piper couldn’t take it. She opened the door carefully, only intending to peak in, to make sure he was alright. He wasn’t.

Percy was twisted in his blankets, shirt sticking to his back, pale and green and definitely crying, his lips wrapping around whispered words.

Piper stepped in, still unsure if she ought to be there.

Percy shuddered. “Please,” he moaned, struggling against the shackles of his own sheets. “No… I didn’t mean it.”

With a deep breath, Piper walked across the room , making sure to leave the door ajar.

“Percy?” she asked, standing next to his bed. Seeing Percy cough, Piper touched his shoulder. “It’s Piper. You’re alright.” Percy gasped for air like his lungs were filled with mud. “Wake up.” She shook his shoulder a little. With immense effort, Percy turned to his back, coughing.

Gritting her teeth, Piper grabbed both of Percy’s shoulders and shook him as hard as she could, adding just a touch of charmspeak to her words. “ Wake up! ”

Finally, gasping and panicked, Percy woke up. It took him a moment to actually see her and, even when he did, it was through glassy, misted eyes.

“P-Piper?” She took her hands off him. With a grimace, Percy sat up. “What’re you doing in here?” He pulled his knees closer and put his head in his hands.

“You were, um, I heard you from outside.” She decided to keep her intuitions to herself. “I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

Percy lifted his head. “Did I say something stupid?” He wiped away lingering tears and sweat on a light blue sleeve.

“No, not at all.” Percy looked her in the eyes clearly for the first time that night. They were green and bloodshot and not entirely believing her. “It wasn't stupid. Promise.” He nodded, accepting this and wiping at his face again.

He looked away. “What did I say?”

Piper bit her lip. Why did he want to know so bad?

“Just the usual nightmare stuff,” she said. “‘No’, ‘please’, ‘I didn't mean it’.” Percy’s head snapped up at the last one, eyes wide. He quickly looked away, seemingly lost in his own head. Piper debated leaving as she wasn’t really supposed to be there in the first place. But when Percy began to cough, she perched on his mattress and rubbed his shoulder, a steady stream of comforting charmspeak coming from her lips until his features smoothed again.