{ ' WE TAKE A ZEBRA
TO VEGAS ' }

010. . . ( forget me not )

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... 𝐂ountless empty apologies slipped from Pandora's lips as she made her way through the crowd, desperately chasing the man. She spared no second glances to those she may have accidentally shoved harder than anticipated, and kept going, not even realising just how deep into the casino she was venturing.

The man that she was following stopped in front of a poker table, so Pandora quickly yelled out before he could get involved. "Hey, excuse me?"

Multiple eyes fell on her and she suddenly felt really small. The man also spun around, but it wasn't who she expected it to be. In fact, she had never seen that face in her entire life.

Pandora's eyebrows furrowed in confusion and she swallowed. She was so sure. So sure that it was her dad. She recognised the distinct features on his face and ran forwards without a second thought, only leaving her embarrassed and awkward.

"You talkin' to me?" The man had a blatant Texas accent. Nothing like Johns Bostonian one.

"Oh, sorry. . ." Pandora mumbled, stepping back slightly. "I thought you were— never mind."

"You lost, sweetheart?" He asked, placing his glass of whiskey down on the poker table. "Who ya lookin' for?"

"No, no, it doesn't matter. Sorry to. . . bother you." Pandora shook her head, still slightly confused as to how she could've been so wrong.

"You sure? I can help you get back to reception if you're lost, doll." He looked around the area, seeing everyone's attention reverted to their gambling games.

"No, it's fine. Have a good day." Pandora denied politely, walking away swiftly.

But she wasn't as swift as she thought. "Nah, come on, let me take you there." The Texas man placed an arm around her shoulders to guide her wherever he wanted.

"No, I'm okay. Thank you, though!" Pandora repeated quietly, slightly shoving the man away.

Her action had caused the man to bump into some bystanders, who scoffed in annoyance and let out a few harsh words. Clearly some people had been drinking a little too much.

"No need to cause a ruckus, darlin'. Just trynna help."

"Well I don't really need your help." Pandora said with a hint of disgust in her tone. "I'm fine."

The furrow in her brow never relaxed as she continued to move through people, angling her body as to not nudge them. The crowds began to swallow her whole as she got lost among them, no longer having any co-ordination or any idea where she was.

She suddenly felt a very desperate need to get back to P— Who? She needed to find. . . Who did she need to find? She shook her head as if to clear her mind and get it back on the right track, but no matter how hard she wracked her brain, she just couldn't remember who she came here with, or if she came here with anyone at all.

Unfortunately for her, her mind being in a different dimension meant that her focus was no longer on where her feet were moving her, and she came straight into contact with another person.

"Watch where you're going, Jesus!" A feminine voice scoffed, moving to push the girl off of her.

"Don't push me!" Pandora wriggled her arms, directing the woman's shoving-attempt away from her.

"Listen here little girl, if I were you, I'd respect my elders." The blonde woman bent down so that she was eye level with her. "You can't just walk into a casino—"

"Bite me." Pandora retorted through gritted teeth, glaring at the woman. She was in no mood to deal with her bullshit, especially after believing some misconstrued delusions that her own eyes set her up for.

The crowd laugh and oo'd at her response, despite them all being adults. It was clear that they were either wasted or entirely too childish to be here alone, hence the big friend groups and families.

"Now now, let's all go back to what we were doing before. No need to start a scuffle." A man stepped forwards, beckoning the people away with the wave of his hand. He looked down at the girl when it was just them two left. "Hello, Pandora."

"Hi." Pandora said simply, looking up at the familiar god.

"It's a pleasure to see you again." Hermes smiled, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and walking forwards with her, moving her away from the middle of the pathway. "Your friends have already been to see me, so I'd run along back to them before your quest fails."

"Quest?— Oh!" Pandora faked realisation. "Oh, right, yeah, okay. Thanks, bud. I'll, see you around. And I'll get back to my. . . friends."

'Bud?' You did not just refer to Hermes as your 'bud'. Her inner thoughts scolded.

Hermes chuckled in amusement, taking a swig of his drink. "Okay, well, have fun! There's dance games up there!" He pointed to the second floor.

"Really?!" Pandora gasped, a sudden grin overtaking her previous dead expression.

"And don't forget the water slide!" Hermes nodded and pushed her slightly in the direction of the stairs.

She smiled broadly as she jogged up the stairs as quick as she could, hearing the sounds of children's laughter and giggling getting louder. Her eyes moved over every single one of the colourful glowing machines in awe. There were arcade games, rollercoasters and go-kart racing, all happening at the same time. It felt like a fever dream. The most heavenly fever dream of all time.

Pandora made her way over to one of the dance machines. She sighed as she realised she needed two people, until a boy approached the machine too.

"Wanna do it together? I don't have a partner either." He smiled, gesturing to the game.

"Oh, yeah, sure!" Pandora's face lit up as she stepped onto the machine. "I'm Pandora."

"Theo." He shook her hand before swiping the game screen, asking what song she would like to dance to.

Theo? What an awfully familiar name. Her eyes flashed with recognition for a moment before her entire surroundings changed.

She was suddenly perched on her knees in a storm of harsh wind and unrelenting rain. Her knees sunk into the squelchy mud beneath her and the grass curled around her skin.

A scream broke through the air, but it didn't come from any direction. It came from her.

A head rolled over to the side, staring up with wide eyes. Staring, not seeing. They were empty and glossed over, left in a constant state of fear that would never change.

It was a young boy. A young boy with chestnut brown hair and forest-green eyes, that always twinkled stunningly. His pale skin was splashed with a shiny, dripping red. It stained his skin and drowned his neck.

The green beneath her melted into red, draining his decapitated head of any of its remaining colour. But it wasn't a warm, welcoming red. It was a violent, gruesome red. The shade that caused distress and anger.

"No!" She sobbed, her fingers being painted the same deep red as the grass. She gripped them tightly, grasping onto this tragic, savage reality.

"Hey. . . Pandora? Are you okay?"

She was snapped back into reality as Theo's voice rang out. He was looking at her with concern, a hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah, sorry. I was just. . . in my own world." Pandora shook off with a light hearted chuckle.

"Okay. . ." Theo frowned, not buying her facade for a moment. "Well, I asked what song you wanted to dance to."

"I don't. . . I don't really listen to music, you pick!" She shrugged, leaning back against the metal bar.

"Pokerface by Lady Gaga." He announced, pressing the song and getting into position.

"Excuse me, have you seen my sister?" A young boy approached and asked. He had olive skin and shaggy dark hair with matching charcoal eyes. "She looks pretty much the same as me, just a bit taller."

"No, sorry." Pandora smiled sympathetically, "You want help finding her?"

"No, don't worry about it." He frowned, disheartened by the lack of location of his sister. He turned around and was on high alert again, calling out.

Pandora stepped forwards and breathed out, completely ready to win this game. "Prepare to lose horribly."

"Oh, you wish!"

Just as Theo had laughed, the song started to blast from the machine, but it sounded as if it was the only thing in the room. Pandora's feet moved and left the floor as the game instructed her too, and she looked down as the pink arrows lit up with every movement she took. She felt so happy and free. The dance kept going and her body turned to the side, and she met Theo's eyes. They grinned at each other as they shuffled and jumped, laughing loudly. The machine then instructed the two to dance together which they frowned at.

"I thought we were against each other!" Pandora panted, yelling over the loud music.

"I guess not!" Theo yelled back, taking her hand and spinning her around so that they had swapped dance boards.

They let out laughs and giggles as they continued to dance and mess about. They moved onto their next dance, which was Party In The U.S.A by Miley Cyrus. There was a weird handshake in the beginning that they didn't seem to get right, but continued to prance around anyway. It was all going smoothly until the game whirred off and the music became distorted before fading out.

"What the hell?" Pandora mumbled, standing there with her hands on her hips and a heaving chest. "We were doing so well!"

Her and Theo turned to look at the machines, as their backs had been turned to it, only to notice a trio standing besides the game. A boy with black, shaggy hair stood there with the power cord in hand, having pulled it from the wall.

"Sorry, 'Dora. Fun's over, we've got to go." He said, throwing the black wire onto the floor.

"Ooo, where are we going?" Pandora grinned, hopping off the game and standing in front of them. "Come on, Theo. We're going somewhere!"

"No, not him, just you." The black-haired boy sighed, placing a hand on her arm to slowly inch her away from the dancing game. "Sorry, man." He directed towards Theo, although it seemed very fake and half-hearted.

"Why not? There's always room for one more!" Pandora said, looking at her dance partner.

"Uh, no, it's cool. I'm going on the water slide now." Theo shrugged, stepping off of the arrow-ed floor.

"Ooo! Me too!" Pandora cheered, following the boy with an excited grin, but Percy held her back.

"We don't have time for the water slide, maybe next time." Percy rolled his eyes, keeping a firm grip on her arm.

"See you, 'Dora." Theo said sadly.

"Bye Theo!" Pandora waved enthusiastically as the boy walked off, leaving her with the trio she didn't know. "Okay, where're we going?"

"Santa Monica." Percy rolled his eyes as he dragged her through the arcade, the other two following along-side.

"Oh, fun!" Pandora giggled, clapping her hands excitedly. "The beaches there are supposed to be really nice!"

"What? No, we're not going—"

"And there's a big ferris wheel, and rollercoasters, and bumper cars! Oh my gosh, I bet they even have candy floss!" Pandora ranted passionately, all while the other girl was talking to Percy solemnly:

"Percy. . . She doesn't remember."

The shaggy-haired boy faltered for a moment and the group came to a stop as he turned to face Pandora. "What's my name?"

Pandora's elated expression faltered and she shrugged shyly. "I don't know, but I want to go to Santa Monica."

"Okay, what's my name?" The other girl asked, stepping further into view. She then pointed at the satyr behind them. "Or his name."

Pandora shrugged once more, "I don't even know who you are. How am I supposed to know?"

The girl and boy looked at each other and sighed. He swallowed thickly and cleared his throat, squeezing his eyes shut momentarily. "Okay, well, I'm Percy, that's Annabeth and Grover, we're your best friends. Now we really have to get going!"

"Aw, we're best friends!" Pandora cooed, placing her hands on her cheeks to hide her blush.

"Oh my. . ." Percy huffed, replacing her hands with his own. "We're on a quest, okay? We're extremely short on time and we absolutely cannot do this without you! I cannot do this without you."

Pandora then got the sense that something a lot more serious was going on you, so she nodded her head and smiled. She felt like she could trust these people no matter what, even if she couldn't actually remember who they were. There was no explanation as to why or how she felt this way, but she did. And one thing about Pandora Lamansoff, is that she follows her heart over her head.

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... 𝐏ercy and Annabeth, as Pandora learned, seemed to be the two most aware of the group, so that left Pandora and Grover to follow them around. Whatever they said, went, and that's how they ended up in the parking lot of the casino. A shiver ran through Pandora at the temperature drop. The room was no longer filled with insulated walls and more body heat than necessary, but was now cold and cement-filled. Percy recognised the way her body tensed and she rubbed her biceps to create some sort of friction, and quickly removed his plaid jacket, handing it to her.

Pandora smiled gratefully and slid the jacket on, immediately feeling warm, her nose taking in the scent of him. She then turned to him with a smirk, "Are you sure we're just friends?"

Percy turned a deep shade of red and his lips parted in shock. He nudged Annabeth as she chuckled and shook her head. "Y— Yeah, we're friends."

"Very close friends." Annabeth wiggled her eyebrows, making Percy blush even darker (if that was even possible).

"Anyway. . . what kind of car does the God of Travellers have?" Percy cleared his throat, trying to avoid the topic of his and Pandora's 'friendship'.

"Guys, I gotta say, so far, this quest is really exciting." Grover gushed, moving his hands about in excitement. "Really hoping we find that car!"

"Me too!" Pandora exclaimed, skipping excitedly before her eyes fell on a very lavish, wine red 1946 Cadillac convertible. "What about that! Seems very fitting for a god."

"Finding the car isn't the quest." Annabeth announced, but her tone sounded like she was reminding them.

Pandora let out a loud, exaggerated gasp. "There's more?!"

"Jeez. . ." Percy sighed, quickly grabbing her hand as she went to skip forwards again. It almost seemed like muscle memory now. "We'll explain it all to both of you on the way. We're in a bit of a hurry."

"We're late?" Grover questioned.

"Very, very late." Percy nodded, accentuating his words.

"Is that our fault?" Pandora pouted, suddenly feeling very guilty and as if the whole thing was on her and her easily distracted mind.

"Well, I think we were on time when they got me, so I'd say it's your—" Grover was cut off by Percy's impaling glare.

His eyes softened as he looked down at her, tightening his grip on her hand and squeezing reassuringly. "It's okay. We're gonna be okay." They continued walking when Percy sighed with a cheeky grin. "Although I hope that game you were playing was worth it."

"I was doing amazing!" Pandora laughed happily, talking about her experience dancing. "I was doing things I didn't even know I could do! I was like jump, jump, slide, and then it was like wham!"

"Sounds great, 'Dora." Percy admired her as she spoke so passionately about the game.

"But I really wanted to go on that water slide." Pandora frowned.

"I'll take you on one. After we go see that movie." Percy smirked, squeezing her hand teasingly.

"You're taking me to see a movie?" Her eyes lit up as she gasped. "I've never seen one before!"

Percy's demeanour fell when he realised that she didn't remember the conversation they'd had at the entrance to Waterland, but he quickly covered it up. "Yeah, yeah, I'll take you to see a movie."

"I was hunting for Pan." Grover smiled, thinking back to the virtual reality. "I mean, I actually felt like I was about to find him. That— That I'd be the first. That I'd help save the natural world. It just felt so real." His tone saddened towards the end of his story.

"Well, I think you will." Pandora squeezed his bicep encouragingly. "Maybe in a few years you'll be able to find him!"

"Guys!" Annabeth called out, being a few feet ahead of them. She was standing beside a bright yellow taxi, holding an envelope in her hands.

"Hermes drives a cab?" Percy questioned as they walked closer.

"And left us a note." Annabeth added, her eyes looking up from the paper.

"How do we know that's for us?" Percy was silenced when Annabeth turned the envelope to face him, the words 'TO THE DUMB KIDS' scribbled on the front of it.

"Well that's not very nice." Pandora frowned.

"Should've known the god of thieves noticed his pocket getting picked." Annabeth shrugged while opening the envelope and her eyes skimmed the page. "Back door to the Underworld, magic word, map in the glove box. And he says we'll become travellers once we're on the road. And then the car will take us wherever we wish to go."

"So, one of us just has to drive it out of the garage."

The four teens looked between each other, each sharing the same doubtful look. Their eyes fell on Grover, who was an automatic choice with him being the oldest.

"Oh, I'm still not 100% sure what we're doing here, which seems disqualifying." Grover defended himself.

"Yeah." Percy agreed. "Yeah, sure, I mean. . . I killed the Minotaur on my first try, right? How hard could this be?"

"You killed the Minotaur?!" Pandora gasped, turning to him with a wide grin.

"Oh my Gods, get in the car!" Annabeth exclaimed, grabbing the girl gently but with enough force to move her, and placing her in the passenger seat.

Apparently, driving was a lot harder than it seemed, and this was proven as the moment Percy stepped on the gas, he sent them diving forwards, crashing straight into the pillar in front.

"My fault. That was me." Percy apologised, looking around at the mechanics of the car. "How do you make it go backwards. . ." He switched gears and pressed on the gas again, sending them flying backwards this time.

"You're doing great." Grover offered some words of encouragement, although everyone knew he was lying.

Pandora gripped the handle on the door and the centre console tightly, pressing herself backwards into the chair, trying to sink as deep as possible into the cushioned leather.

"Maybe try aiming for the middle." Annabeth suggested from the back, her knuckles clenched against the edge of the seat.

"Look, you're welcome to give this a try." Percy sassed as everyone grunted as a result of the sudden jolt forwards.

Pandora shook her head while humming. "M-m, m-m!"

The tires screeched as Percy shakily drove, no longer crashing into anything. That was until the brakes came on heavily, making Pandora squeal. A car horn sounded as a black car drove past speedily.

"That guy didn't even slow down!" Percy complained, looking angrily at the retreating car before pressing down on the horn.

"Okay, just keep going." Annabeth said, trying to ignore the fact that the boy was getting road rage from his own mistakes. "Up to the street."

Percy made a sharp and uneven turn around the corner before coming face-to-face with raised cement markers, used to guiding the cars out of the car park.

"It's okay. You got this." Pandora patted his thigh supportively. "Change the. . . gear." She said as she moved the centre stick around for him.

The car went silent and they all turned to look at her.

"How do you know that?" Annabeth asked, sitting forwards in her chair.

"My dad. He told me a few things. They just sorta stuck." Pandora shrugged, leaning back in her seat.

Percy looked determined as he gripped the steering wheel so hard his knuckles turned white. He turned the wheel stiffly. But, whatever floats your boat, because the stiffness worked as the turn went smoothly.

He turned to look at Pandora, who grinned proudly back at him. His eyes stayed fixated on her until a loud scraping noise came, and they all realised the car was moving up against the wall. The lights on the wall exploded as the car came into contact with them.

As they pulled out of the car park, Percy smiled over at Pandora. Step one, successful. That was until blinding headlights shone behind the daughter of Aphrodite, and a large truck horn blared deafeningly. Percy was quick to step on the accelerator, praying to move out of the way in time. They all squeezed their eyes shut in fear and begged to not be crushed.

When they opened their eyes, they were no longer outside the Lotus Casino, but on a dark and windy beach. It was pitch black outside, black enough to the point where they couldn't see the ocean out in front of them, only the sound of the waves lapping onto the shore.

The rain pattered down extensively, blurring the windows on the car and making it almost impossible to see outside.

"Where are we?" Percy panted out in a panic.

"Turn of the lights." Annabeth ordered.

Percy looked around cluelessly at the buttons, so Pandora reached across and held one down, shutting off the warm illuminations.

They unclipped their seatbelts and stepped outside, thunder rumbling overhead.

"Percy, Annabeth, wait. . . you. . ." Grover stuttered, following them out of the vehicle. "You guys are my best friends."

"Yeah, I remember everything now." Pandora said as her eyebrows raised in realisation.

"Little weird that we forgot a lot more stuff than you guys did." Grover mentioned, raising a good point. "Wonder what that's about."

"We weren't alone." Annabeth said, looking up at Percy. "It's easy to forget what's important when you're alone."

The four of them looked out at the ocean, watching as the waves crashed more violently into the sound as an effect of the storm.

"I think I gotta go meet my dad now." Percy spoke, squinting as the rain lashed harder.

"We'll be here when you get back." Grover nodded supportively.

Percy went to step forwards before hesitating. "What do I say to him?"

"You'll know." Was all Annabeth put in.

Percy then turned to Pandora, seeing if she had anything wise to say. It was an action he'd grown pretty accustomed to.

"Just remember to breathe." Pandora half-joked. "Like, seriously. You can breathe underwater so please don't hold your breath and die."

Percy snorted and shook his head, going to step forwards again, when she pulled him back, placing a chaste kiss on his cheek.

The son of Poseidon was incredibly grateful for the lack of sunlight, or light in general, so the beauty in front of him couldn't see the bright redness of his cheeks. Though, she could probably feel the warmth emanating from his face. His lips witched up into a shy smile, before he finally took that step forwards.

And he never stopped. Not until he was entirely engulfed in the sea.

— 𝒋𝒂𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒌𝒔

take your angst and shush (i
love you all so much)

they're so cutesy omg i'm crying

theo is also my baby boy you
guys just don't know this yet xx

i'm low-key scared to finish this
book i'm kinda in denial but it's
okay because i'm moving onto my
walker fanfic after!!!