Chapter 2: Day gone wrong
I own nothing, all the characters here are either Nintendo's or Rick Riordan's
Percy was getting sick of this.
All he had asked for was a peaceful afternoon with his girlfriend Annabeth at the beach but nope! It seemed like the Fates had had other ideas.
The teen pulled his frustration out on his sword as he spun Riptide in a lethal arc, successfully in decapitating a couple of hellhounds. This was the third attack this week. After the Titans and the Giants Wars, you'd think they would finally leave the demigods alone but noooooooooooo.
Just yesterday, the son of Poseidon was tagged by two empousas on his way to the grocery. And now, his date with Annabeth was cut short when five Hellhounds shot out of absolute nowhere and attempted to take a bite out of the Half-bloods.
Key words: attempted.
Percy allowed himself a small smile as he watched Annabeth sliced the third one's throat with her gleaming Drakon bone sword and stabbed another one in the head with her dagger, which she wielded with her left hand, successfully dustifying them.
The last one quickly realized that it was out-numbered and, wisely, decided to make a run for it. However, Annabeth didn't give it a chance as she tackled it on to its back. A moment of slashing and growling later, all what was left of the black beast was a puddle of shadow, which quickly sank to the ground and the daughter of Athena stood up tall and victorious.
Flipping her honey blonde locks out of her face, she grumbled: "That's for ruining my date."
Gods, he loves her.
"Nice job." Percy grinned, giving his Wise Girl a thumps up. Annabeth smiled with pride as she concealed her dagger and her sword fashioned itself into an ivory bracelet, which she clasped around her wrist.
"Thanks." She didn't even sound tired. Her smile, however, did drop a bit as she gazed thoughtfully at the spot where the hellhound had disappeared from, "This is the third attack this week. Piper had told me that she had been spotting more monsters than usual around L.A, too. Last I heard from Camp, Jake told me that the amount of monsters lurking around the barrier had increased as well. It's like they're waiting for something to happen."
Percy's stomach sank. Suddenly, the blue donut he had just eaten didn't feel so appetizing anymore.
"Well," He swallowed, putting Riptide away, "I guess the date is canceled?"
The blonde rolled her eyes: "Complaining doesn't look good on you, Seaweed Brain. We had a good time." She gestured to the blue ocean waving at them, "Tell you what: let's take another dip before going back, and the date will be considered successful. Sounds good?"
Percy didn't need to be told twice. The teen took off and raced toward the sea, screaming: "Last one there has to give the others their cookies!"
Laughing, Annabeth sprinted after him: "In your dream, Seaweed Brain!" Sally Jackson made the best blue cookies the Half-blood had ever had the pleasure of eating. There was no way she was going to lose her share of those heavenly bake-goods.
The couple's laughter was muffed as they dove beneath the blue waves, not bothering to change into more swimming appropriate clothing.
"I believe I won that one." Percy proclaimed once they had collected themselves. "Annabeth stared at him in mock surprise:
"Really? I was under the impression that since you had a head start but I caught up nonetheless, that made me the winner!"
Gods, she had beginning to pick up on his sasses. Percy thought in amusement as he laughed and flicked his hand at her. Immediately, the blonde's head disappeared under a wave of salt water, drowning out her yell of surprise. The son of Poseidon quickly followed as she grabbed his ankle and dragged him down with her.
Smiling, Percy summoned an air bubble for both of them. Without missing a beat, the daughter of Athena swam closer and pulled him in for a kiss.
Percy's stomach exploded into fireworks as their lips connected. It was just like their first underwater kiss under the Camp's lake, perhaps even better. It had been so long since they last kissed like this, but between being put to sleep for eight months by Hera and fighting against their evil Mother Nature Great Grandma, they just didn't have the time.
After what felt like an eternity of happy, sunny days, they pulled apart. Annabeth was grinning like crazy and Percy doubted if his face was any difference. He could never forget how beautiful the blonde looked, especially under water. Her rich honey blonde hair was swaying with the rhythm of the waves, the blue aquatic light of the sea only made her eyes brighter and livelier than ever.
"Are you still there, Seaweed Brain?" She teased and he stammered a bit, which only served to make her snickered louder, "Come on, let's go back before anyone started to worry."
"Worry? Since when have I ever let anyone worry about my well-being?" Percy's joke earned a murderous glare from his girlfriend, which successfully made him recoiled and grinned sheepishly. "Okay, okay. You go up ahead, I'll fine a seashell."
Annabeth rolled her eyes but didn't suppress her smile. It had become something of a tradition between the two of them. Every time they hung out at a beach, they always come back with something from the sea, mostly exotic seashells which Percy fished out of the ocean.
"Be back soon, Seaweed Brain." The daughter of Athena jokingly warned. With a final peck on his cheek, Annabeth broke out of their shared air bubble and returned to the surface. Percy watched until she was out of sight before smiling and headed deeper down and planted his feet onto the ocean's floor. Littering on the sandy ground was billions of sea species ranking from tiny sea snails to one of those gigantic starfishes.
"Hello!" The son of Poseidon greeted a nearby sea turtle, who slowly bobbled his head in acknowledgement, "Have you seen any special seashell around here? I, uh, need one for my girlfriend."
The turtle took a moment to reply: "Yes, my Lord, I believe I saw something the other day… a golden seashell… it was over there…" The turtle waved his fin vaguely to the left, "It's only a few steps from here… you can't miss it…"
Percy beamed. A golden seashell? That sounded perfect.
"Thanks a lot man!"
The turtle bobbled his head again: "My pleasure to help, my Lord… I hope your girlfriend enjoys …"
"She will." Percy promised before making his way toward the pointed direction. True to the turtle's words, the teen found the shell sitting on a rock, gleaming underneath one of the few rays of sunlight strong enough to reach the ocean floor.
The shell wasn't too big, it wasn't small either. And like the turtle said, it was gold in color and was spotted with turquoise spots forming wavy patterns all across the shell's smooth surface. It was so beautiful Percy almost thought the thing was from one of those home décor shops. But when he picked it up, he could tell that it was a real, legit seashell. The golden surface of the shell was warm, despite having sat there for gods know how long.
If this was yours, dad, thank you.
However, something about the shell began to unsettled him. It felt… wrong, like it shouldn't be here in the first place. The demigod was suddenly aware that the ocean around him had gone silent. He couldn't hear the sound of the water and he couldn't even hear the sound of his own breathing. All he could hear was a small hum emerging from the shell. Percy realized the humming wasn't just random noises, they were forming a tune, a lullaby, though Percy didn't know how he knew that.
Screw it. Percy thought as the shell started vibrating and dropped it. I'm not getting murdered by a singing seashell.
Not a second too late, the Half-blood regretted ever thinking that.
The seashell hit the ground with a visible, vibrant "tink" that echoed through Percy's brain. Not a moment later, the shell exploded into hot, burning light.
"Oh crap." Percy cursed his own luck as he tried to get away, drawing in the strength of the ocean to aid him. But the light was acting like a vacuum and was sucking him in. slowly, he felt his strength leaving him as the light steadily becoming painfully bright. Percy's vision was going black and he was finding breathing very difficult. He was going to drown.
"Oh gods. Annabeth!" His scream was stuck in his throat as the light swallowed him whole.
And Percy Jackson was gone.
