Thinking of the Sea

Prologue

"Annabeth you did a great job, just look at our daughter." I said joyfully, yet trying to take into account that she was still weak.

"Oh, Percy, She's beautiful" she replied "but what's this" she said with a suspicious look taking over her face "she's got someone's sea-green eyes… hopefully the seaweed-brain doesn't come as part of the package, or you'll be in trouble" she said jokingly.

"Hey!" I said defensively "I take offence to that" she rolled her eyes "plus, I definitely see some golden strands of hair on her head, so that means she's got your brains" I said in a silly manner.

"And how did you come to that conclusion?" she questioned, ridiculing my sense in a whimsical fashion "yep, she definitely must not have your brains" she finished

We stood there for a while, admiring our child. I remembered how whilst Annabeth was still pregnant, we were told to visit the Oracle of Delphi, my friend, Rachel. Apparently, Olympus was ringing with great expectations for the child of the two heroes of Olympus. I remembered Rachel's rasping, tripled-over voice; her glowing green eyes, as she uttered the next great prophecy.

"The child of the Sea and of the Owl"

"None other owns a fate so foul"

"The old god's murmurs which few can hear"

"The cause of immortal fear"

"Those who choose to brave the threat"

"May save the world from certain death"

"Or doom the world to darkness eternal"

"Like the days of old, with nothing carnal"

I shook my head 'this is not time to be thinking about such things' I told myself.

We had decided that her name would be Hallie, 'Thinking of the Sea', the perfect name for a child descended from Athena, goddess of Wisdom and Poseidon, god of the Sea. That a child could be descended from those two, is a miracle in itself. And because of this peculiar heritage, we have come to a decision that we were about to share with our fiends and family.

Almost everyone was present; my mum and her new husband, Paul Blofis. Annabeth's Dad and step-mom. My best friend Grover, standing awkwardly as he usually does when he wears those fake feet to hide his Satyr feet, restricting movement. The greatest teacher I've ever had, Chiron, he also had to come in his magical wheelchair, to hide his lower horse-half, as we are in a mortal hospital. Thalia, as young as ever, had taken time off her duties as a hunter, to be with her best friend Annabeth.

"Hi everyone, sorry we're late" a voice from behind the door said. Nico came in with his very pregnant girlfriend Terrie Aster, a daughter of Demeter.

Everyone was around Hallie and I heard Thalia joking with Annabeth saying "see, if you had become a hunter, you wouldn't have gone through all this pain" Annabeth simply laughed it off, but I didn't find it funny in the least bit.

Nico came up to me, "congrats Perce" he said

"You should be telling that to her" I replied, gesturing to Annabeth. "Anyway, congrats to you Nico, I hope my daughter and yours can be good friends"

"Same here" he said "at least they'll be in the same grade".

I took a look at Terrie and said "It's like father like son, right Nico, to think you'd both fall in love with daughters of Demeter"

"That's just how we are" he chuckled.

"I can't imagine the goddess of the harvest being too pleased about it though" I joked

"Well, she didn't exactly give me her blessings" he said jokingly, but I'm sure he meant what he said. "Speaking of parental troubles" he continued "I don't see Athena or Poseidon"

"Well their dispute has, sort of, escalated, especially as their grandchild may be the child of prophecy" I removed the joyous tone from my voice, as I remembered how after the war, my dad had requested help from Olympus in rebuilding his kingdom; however Athena had a hand in the request being rejected, something about how "someone who doesn't respect the sacred place of others, doesn't deserve help in the reconstruction of his" and with most of the other Olympians siding with her (namely Demeter, due to past grievances against my father) it was rejected. Since then their relationship has just spiralled down from worse to worse, and their relationship wasn't exactly buddy-buddy in the first place.

"It's best that they're not here anyway, we don't want a godly war in the middle of Manhattan, now do we?" I questioned. Nico shook his head "This has something to do with why we asked everyone to come here anyway" I said. I walked over to Annabeth and held her hand. She looked at me and understood what was about to happen.

I cleared my throat. Everyone stopped talking and turned towards us.

"Me and Annabeth, w-well we've been thinking" I stammered. It was almost as awkward as when we told the news that we were getting married. That day always replayed in my head whenever I was in an awkward moment or situation, it had become my standard for all things awkw-

"Seaweed-brain!" Annabeth yelled, jarring me from my memory "must I do everything by myself?" Everyone simply giggled at the perfect couple that we were.

"Well we've been thinking" I repeated "and we decided something… but everyone, please, calm down" everyone seemed to brace themselves, sensing the edge in my voice. "We decided that we might not tell Hallie about her fate" confusion seemed to wash over their faces "at least not until the fatal age" I quickly added.

Chiron seemed to be the only one to regain his composure enough to calmly say "Percy, I don't seem to be able to find the wisdom behind this decision" he shot a glance at Annabeth "surely it would be wiser, to have her know her fate, as to be prepared for it" Leave it to Chiron to pick at the problem we had when deciding.

"Well Chiron" I said "that's true and all, but we already thought that through" heck, if your wife's a daughter of Athena every decision you make is well thought-through. "Let's assume she was trained at camp, what cabin would she stay at?" yeah, that sounded as silly to me as it must have to everyone else, but I continued "that's just an example of what I want to say, imagine how angered one of our parents would be, if she were to choose the other as a patron. Imagine the carnage that would follow, we all know how the gods are" I said this reeling back in my head on the countless stories Annabeth told me about the gods, of how Zeus, swallowed Athena's mother when he learned that a son born of them would overthrow him. Cra-paranoid right. ( the C word, is a big no-no).

"Even now, they can't put their differences aside for the sake of their grandchild." 'And if she chooses none?' I could tell that Chiron was about to ask this very question, so I carried on. "If she chooses none, even I can see that throughout her life our parents will constantly be sending "divine signals" to try and persuade her. Having to choose between her grandparents is not a weight I want on her shoulders until she can handle it, not to mention the issue with the prophecy, that's just too much altogether." I was on a roll now. "I remember when I almost gave up all my responsibilities, on…" my voice was trailing of but I blurted out "On Ogygia because they were too much!"

Maybe I shouldn't have said that last part, and I could feel Annabeth's grip on my hand tighten slightly, but I couldn't stop, however I did calm down a little and when I realised I was almost shouting I softened my voice. "We came to this decision, because the best we can do for her, is to let her enjoy a normal life as long as possible, sure monsters will eventually sense that she's different, but we'll always be there to watch over her." I stopped and looking at all the sympathetic, speechless faces I said "so that's why we wanted to ask you guys for your help, in keeping her safe from monsters and… from her fate"

Grover was the first to break the spell of speechlessness "no problem Perce" he said "of course we'll help", now everyone one seemed to be pitching in

Terrie and Nico said "and we can get our child to help as well, luckily they can go to the same school"

Thalia seemed enthusiastic when she said "it might be weird to have an aunt who remains 16, even when you reach and pass it, but I'll help in any way I can, and I'll tell the hunters to look out for her whenever they can"

We all turned to Chiron and he simply sighed. I guess he's already accepted that there's no changing our minds when they are made up. "I guess I'll ask the same of the campers". He seemed to remember something when raised his brows "I do hope you're going to tell your parents about this"

'Damn you Chiron!' I thought. I was so hoping we would not have to do that, but I conceded. We'd have to do it eventually anyway. "Yes Chiron" I said, like a child telling his mom he'd brushed his teeth "we're just about to".

Well this is my story, i have a clear idea where I want to take it, for example, in the next chapter, or maybe the one after that, I'll be moving to Hallie's POV, after all the story is all about her, and even though it's very long, this is just the prologue. So thank You for Reading and I hope you review to tell me anywhere i'm lacking in (e.g. does Percy seem far too OOC to You or is it just me.)

P.S. I was thinking of adding, for the next chapter, the very awkward discussion, where Percy breaks the news to Poseidon, but that would just extend the prologue and awkward really isn't my forte so unless people want to read it (they need to say so) I might just skip it and start Hallie's story.