Chapter Text
They were prepared for anything the world could have thrown at them. The mechanisms of Vox Machina, he'd learnt, were perfect in their imperfections - to liken them to a machine as he did with so many other things would be an insult to just how alive his friends were. He loved them with a passion like no other, the way he loved his creations and the quiet of night. He loved them both individually and collectively, and in that moment, he loved them as though they were his family. There was no group of people he'd rather face Ripley with.
The moment he'd stepped into that battle, facing once more the ghosts of his past, Percy could feel the target in his back. And as the fight wore on, he could feel himself slipping further and further, until all he could manage was one final stand. One final 'fuck you'. An apology. His hair was still white, his skin still scarred, and the de Rolos still dead, but as the words left him he could feel a weight leave him as well. He'd died once already, and from the look on her face, she wouldn't stop until he fell once more. He wasn't surprised. He'd looked at her like that too, once. The blows kept coming, but the fire never faded, and slowly he found himself unable to even stand, prone upon the floor as he looked up to meet her eyes.
Anna Ripley readied her pistol. He heard the click across the battlefield, even as his vision blurred and his hearing faded. It was a sound familiar to him, one of his own creation, but now tainted by the woman he'd finally managed to forgive.
Faintly, he could tell his friends - no, his family - were shouting out for him. And even as he stared into death itself, he managed a smile. To have them here by his side meant so much to him - and it was sad, truly, that he'd never get the chance to tell them so. He hoped they'd be okay without him.
Cursed laughter. The bang of a gunshot. The screams of his friends.
Then, silence.
---
This was his punishment. He'd spent his entire life anticipating it, and here it finally was.
A life - or, well, death - spent living in his own sins. He could feel them. Creeping, encompassing, consuming his body and mind until there was nothing left. Orthax's thrall had been strong over him once, and he had felt the corruption like a singing flame then. But here it felt like a torrent of fire all around him, stripping away his essence until all he could taste was smoke, all he could feel was sick dragging heat, and all he could hear was -
"Percy?"
- Vex'ahlia?
"Percy!"
Vax'ildan. Surely, a sick game played by Orthax.
"Oh, he's waking up!"
"Quick, Vex, get someone!"
But the darkness was fading, and in the corners of his mind, he was sure he could hear them. Orthax shrieked, and the pain they shared split through him, but even that was enough to lift his heart. Because they'd saved him. His wonderful, brilliant friends, friends he didn't deserve but still kept him around for reasons he didn't quite understand.
The darkness slipped away for good, Orthax's cloying influence dissipating, and Percy finally found the strength to open his eyes -
"It's going to be okay, Percy, Vex ran and got the nurses. You're at the hospital. You're going to be fine!"
- and saw Pike, sans armour and gauntlets and necklace of Sarenrae and everything that made her Pike, stood over him with a bright grin.
He wanted to say something. He wanted to say a lot of things, actually, mainly "what's a hospital?", but his mouth faltered as his brain stalled, and within seconds of waking up he felt himself promptly pass out once more.
---
"He woke up, and then just... went again?" Vex frowned down at the unconscious form of their friend, her fingers softly resting across Percy's limp hand. Like this, he almost looked as though he was just sleeping. You could almost forget the dark muscles bruising his chest, just out of sight, and the broken bones beneath the skin.
Vax, with his own eyes trained on Percy as he perched on a chair, nodded. "He looked terrified, Vex. Like he didn't know any of us. Doctors said it was normal, but shit, what if he has amnesia or something?" He swallowed, and Vex saw him bite his lip, a stress habit he'd had since childhood. Though both of the twins had managed to keep their cool in front of their friends, but now alone with him, Vex knew exactly how Vax was feeling. She traced another circle over the back of Percy's hand.
"No way." She said after a long moment, forcing a smile. "Percy wouldn't forget us. He couldn't if he wanted to." She didn't look up again, but heard Vax quietly mumble an agreement, though perhaps it was more for him than for her.
The door nudged open, jolting both twins out of their reveries, and the comfortingly familiar face of Pike popped through.
"Anything new?" She smiled at them, though it faded slightly at the looks on their faces. "Well, you heard them. He's going to be fine. Just takes a while to adjust, I guess! I called Scanlan anyway, he and Grog are on their way. Cassandra's still in the waiting room."
"Poor girl." She heard Vax sigh, and Vex nodded to herself, wincing at the thought. The de Rolos had seen their fair share of tragedy in their lives, and she could only imagine how it felt for Cassandra to end up in a waiting room once more, praying for her only remaining family to wake up.
Behind Pike, she heard Keyleth mumble something, and then the door swung open as the two women made their way fully in. Crossing the room with ease, Vex watched as Keyleth slipped her hand into Vax's, who reached up to wipe a tearstain away from her face. She forced herself to look away, ignoring the stinging sensation in her chest, and instead focused on Percy. Her sweet Percival, perfect even as he was laid out beneath her like a king in his tomb, staring up at her with narrowed eyes. She gasped softly, watching in wonder as his eyes focused. Across the room, Vax and Keyleth and Pike continued to talk quietly. They hadn't yet noticed him stirring. For a moment, it was simply her and Percy's bleary expression. She squeezed his hand softly, and then whispered, "Hello Percival."
He blinked once, twice, then spoke with a voice like dry wood. "Hello, Vex'ahlia."
He remembered her. Before she could stop them, tears sprang to her eyes - so to hide them, she flung her arms around his neck as gingerly as she could manage in the moment and pulled him close. Behind her, she could hear Vax spring to his feet, and the elated chatter of Keyleth and Pike, but all of it faded to white noise as she she hugged him close. She waited for his arms to wrap around her in return - but they never did. In fact, Percy hadn't moved an inch, whether it be to push her away or bring her closer. Slowly, she pulled away, puzzled expression now matching those of their friends, as his eyes slid from them to the room around them with an expression of undiluted wonder and fear. They waited for a long moment, she and Vax exchanging looks of "the fuck?" and "dunno, you tell me" until eventually he blinked and glanced back, as though he'd only just remembered they were there. His eyes were cloudy again. Vex's heart hurt.
"I..." He started, then faltered, then coughed and swallowed and began again. "I'm feeling a bit confused right now." Then, "I don't really know where I am."
Vex froze. Percy had seen his family slip away from him in this hospital, he'd told them one night, one by one, until all he and Cassandra had was each other. For him to not recognise, or even realize, where they were...
Vex felt Pike, ever the saviour, nudge forward and gently edge her to the side to reach him. The gentle touch jolted her, and she after a second she moved back to let her talk.
"That's okay, Percy." Vex smiled to herself as Pike, with ease, switched on her motherly tone. "The doctors warned us about this. We have some things about your life lined up, just to tell you and jog your memory. What can you remember?"
When Percy didn't reply, apparently opting to continue to glare at the floral mattress before him as though it were the most vexing thing he'd ever come across, Vax coughed quietly and added, "Where do you want us to start might be a better question, pickle."
Pike glanced back at them, then nodded. "Percy. Where do you want us to start from?"
The four of them watched in tense silence as Percy inhaled shakily, glancing around the room once more, before slowly looking up. He swallowed, and then, finally, spoke.
"From...from the very beginning, please."