How Heroes Fall in Love (Robin X Fem Percy)

18. Over and Over and Over and-

Percy POV~

I've lost count.

At first, I tried to absorb every detail of every day but now I can barely remember the main characters in my own story. Every day is different than the last, whether it be a small detail or an entirely different day. The only consistency is my death. At the end of every day, I die. I die and I wake up in my bed. Some Mystery Spot-Ground Hog's Day hybrid that is just as inescapable. I'm beginning to take it personally.

Some days feel like a different dimension. I have different friends, different experiences, different schools, different towns, so on and so forth. Sometimes it hurts emotionally, sometimes it hurts physically. Every death has been different too, some way too embarrassing to repeat. If I get out of this, I'm gonna have to start my own Stupid Deaths game.

When. When I get out of this.

Annabeth is one hundred percent working on a solution right now. She has to be. She wouldn't just leave me for dead like that. She's way too smart. And it's not like she hasn't saved my sorry butt before. Shes probably already talking with Chiron and Apollo and Will and all the best healers at Camp Jupiter too. She would never give up on me.

Then there's Dick. I've wondered on many occasions what he's up to. Is he helping Annabeth? Wallowing in self-pity? Continuing his life as normal? Ad if nothing had ever happened? As if he had never met me?

Somehow that thought hurt more than any of the excruciating deaths I've lived (died?) through. I know that Dick isn't one to just give up and I know that he considers me a friend at this point but what if? What if he doesn't? What if he's happy that I'm out of his hair, not causing any more trouble? What if other people feel the same? What if I'm actually dead and I somehow landed in the Fields of Punsihment? I know I've been a pretty okay person for most of my life but what if?

I've lost count.

I wake up as usual, in my bed, not a scratch on me. My room looks the same as ever. It's a little messy but what else is new? I'm wearing my normal pajamas and my hair is a tangle of long curls. I can almost pretend it's a normal day. That I'm back in Gotham with my friends and family acting normal and nothing ever happened.

Except I know better.

I know that I'm going to die in a couple of hours. Someone I love will not recognize me and my heart will break further. Someone will no longer be present in my life at all and the tears will flow with no clear end in sight. This is the neverending punishment I must endure for as long as I'm trapped in whatever this place is. To think, Josh, the stupid, arrogant asshole he is, managed to do all of this. All of this is his fault.

But it's not. It's my fault too. I wasn't good enough. I was the one who didn't fight hard enough. Who didn't pay close enough attention to my surroundings. Who didn't kill Josh before he could hurt anyone else.

And that brings up another question. Did Annabeth and Dick even survive? Did Josh kill them both? Am I still stuck in here, not because they aren't trying, but because they're dead? What did I do?

My thoughts are interrupted by a knock at my bedroom door.

"Percy? You up yet? You're going to be late to school." That sounded like my mom but her usual cheery, confident tone was gone. Replaced with doubt, worry, and anxiety? What kind of hell was today going to be?

"Yeah, I'm up. I'll be out in a minute!" I called back. I got out of bed and searched my room for my school uniform. Looks like today was a Gotham Academy day. Yippee.

Once I was ready for school, I made my way through the house, down the stairs and to the kitchen. I expected to see Paul or Poseidon, as it alternated randomly each day. I was instead greeted with an even stranger sight.