Chapter 4

They were probably the only demigods in history whom voluntarily followed a Titan.

Percy glances at Annabeth, towards the screen she holds in her hand that shows Kronos' location. "Still heading this way?" He murmurs.

"Yes," Annabeth sighs, her blonde hair falling over her shoulder as she shifts slightly. Percy has the urge to tuck it back out of her face, but clears his throat and returns his gaze towards the front of the boat. "He's moving quickly, staying near the surface. It makes it easy to get a location."

The son of Poseidon just nods slightly, scanning the sea before them in case he'll glimpse silvery scales breaching the surface.

"Are we even going to talk about this?" Frank sighs.

"About what?" Percy asks, feigning stupidity – it's not particularly hard.

"Kronos," Nico says, leaning back against the side of the cabin, tucked just within the door to stay out of the rain. "The Titan who's supposed to be never able to reform again. And now here he is, Bolinas Bay, terrorizing local dolphin and mortal populations."

Percy snorts slightly.

"It doesn't make sense," Nico decides. "I've sensed nothing from Tartarus, my dad's sensed nothing, Hazel's sensed nothing. How can a Titan leave the Pit without us knowing?"

Percy doesn't know the answer to that, and neither do the others. But he knows Nico's right – Kronos was supposed to be gone forever only a few years ago. "Maybe there's a path between Tartarus and the oceans?" Percy suggests. "Somewhere. I don't know. I mean, the sea's massive. I can't sense him at all, so I'm guessing my dad can't either – he had to guess about what we were gonna find. So maybe he did leave Tartarus through the Rivers?"

"But how's he alive?" Frank insists. "He shouldn't be."

"Tartarus," Annabeth suggests quietly. "He could have something to do with it. He's powerful enough to probably block you two and Hades from sensing anything changing in the Pit too." She glances down at the screen again before turning to Percy. "A little to the left."

Percy turns the boat to the left. "My dream," he says slowly. "Tartarus was there."

"What dream?" Reyna asks sharply.

Percy tells the Romans about his dream. "But I don't know," he adds at the end. "Tartarus said he took their eyes, but Kronos seems to have eyes that work pretty well if he was able to follow me up at a distance."

"Maybe he doesn't," Annabeth muses.

He blinks at her. "What?"

She presses her lips together. "Some animals or creatures can see by echolocation," she tells him. "Maybe Kronos was able to 'see' you because he was doing that? Maybe his eyes are only for show? It's possible."

"I don't think that's it," Percy murmurs. "He looked at me, like right at me. He was curious. He didn'tâ€Ĥ I'd expect him to like despise me and attack me on sight, right?"

"You did stop him from razing Olympus to the ground," Annabeth points out. "And you were a large part of killing Gaia. And you killed Hyperion. And generally sent him back to Hell itself and stopped his attempt at world domination."

Percy flushes slightly. "Yeah," he says, firmly keeping his eyes on the sea. "Exactly. But he didn't attack me. Why?"

"Why's he a sea monster?" Nico questions, raising an eyebrow. "Why's he alive? How's he alive?"

"Absolutely no idea," Annabeth sighs.

"We can start by finding the divers," Hazel says, peering down at the screen. "He's stopped."

Percy stops the boat. If they go too close, Kronos could very well disappear off and they'll have to follow him again. He leans back against the wheel. "So, I'm not going down there alone again. Not while we now know who it is. It was a stupid idea the first time to go alone anyway."

"It's a stupid idea either way," Reyna murmurs. "But we have to find those divers. I'll join you, Percy."

The son of Poseidon's relief is probably obvious, but he doesn't care. Reyna's ability for sharing out strength will come in useful if anything happens. Annabeth nods to Percy, and that's all he needs to know that she'll also be joining him.

"We can stay up here," Nico says, gesturing between himself and Hazel. "Kids of Hades or Pluto don't mix well with water."

Frank nods in agreement, glancing at Hazel briefly. "Yes. I'll join you three then."

Percy exhales deeply. "Right," he says, "I'll keep sharks and that away and see if I can sense him if he approaches."

"Chances are that this is a feeding ground," Annabeth says. "Kronos' feeding ground anyway. The divers were killed back there," she gestures in the direction they'd come from. "And they've been moved over here. That's behaviour similar to an animal storing food somewhere. We'll have to be exceptionally careful. Sea serpent or not, Kronos won't like us snooping around his food. I doubt any Titan's willing to share food with demigods."

"It's not like we want some," Percy murmurs. "But yeah," he adds when Annabeth glances at him. "We've gotta be careful."

Reyna ducks out of the cabin to the deck of the Sunseeker, the rain almost instantly drenching her as she pulls on the rest of the scuba gear. "If anyone sees him anywhere, we have to tell each other."

Frank follows Annabeth out as Percy peers back at the screen. Kronos has moved slightly, but not enough to warrant moving the boat.

Once out on the back of the boat, Percy drops a hand into the sea. It hits him like a punch between the eyes, the primal anger that rages around them. When Annabeth stops beside him decked out in her scuba gear, he holds her hand and dries her off. "Have you got a plan for getting the divers, Wise Girl?"

She nods slightly. "Yes. And I'm relying on the fact that he didn't attack you to do it."

Percy makes a sound that's similar to a squeak. "Ah. Okay, so I'm acting as bait again?"

"I thought that since you always seem to do so well as bait that it was a fitting role," she teases lightly.

He huffs. "I could be offended that you keep trying to get rid of me easily," he says, grinning down at her. "So, the plan?"

"You draw him away from them if he's around them," Annabeth tells Percy. "Keep him occupied. Splash the water if it'll help. While he's preoccupied with you, we'll grab whatever's left of them and make for the surface."

Percy raises an eyebrow. "Simple. Potentially could work."

"Potentially?" Annabeth echoes.

Percy grins down at her. "Yeah, potentially. We still have no clue why he's here or anything else like that. Maybe he'll be too smart to fall for it."

"Or maybe he'll be too curious about you to not fall for it," Annabeth proffered.

Kronos was very curious about Percy. "Maybe," he muses. "Either way there are a lot of ifs there. I feel like I'm betting my life on them."

Annabeth smiles, tapping the side of her head. "Communicators," she reminds him. "Just keep telling us what he's doing and where he is and we should be fine."

Percy reluctantly nods. "Alright." He takes a deep breath. "So I'm going in first?"

"Yes," Reyna says as she joins them, eyes flicking between Percy and Annabeth before scanning the sea. "That should give you time to draw him away. Just let us know when it's safe."

"Safe?" Percy echoes in amusement. "We're plunging straight into the feeding ground of a Titan who's apparently a sea serpent and you're saying it's going to be safe?"

Reyna sighs. "As safe as it will get," she corrects.

Annabeth grabs Percy's arm before he can step into the sea. "Be careful," she implores.

"Don't worry," Percy assures her. "It'll be fine. It's not like I'm the bait or anything."

Before Annabeth can slap or judo-flip him, he quickly steps back until he's dropping into the sea. Percy isn't sure if he'd had the courage to go in if he did it slowly. As soon as he was submerged, a sharp panic took hold. The dark sea seems to swallow him, promising a painful and slow death as it whispers in his ears. Percy ignores it, flipping around where he is to face the depths beneath him and starting the descent.

Please let me know how my Percabeth is written... too much... I dunno? Please let me know.

Responses to reviews:

The Primordial of Causality: Thanks :)

Oh cool thanks for replying
Nice chapter

Matt: Well... he's greek... not norse...

Nice. Also I've been reading some F.F. crossover stories where Jason goes to a Hotel Asgard.

Lord Nitro: I think a shark or killer whale is a little too bulky or something for Kronos. He's more of a snake... manipulative and swift to strike (and really really fucking fast). Lol, because there's stuff they want me to do. Like I'm supposed to be polishing this bit of silverware thing that my mother hasn't polished in 20 years so its black and I'm sort of trying to pretend it doesn't exist if I'm honest.

kelphead: Well Kronos is a sea serpent and Percy a human, so it'll be a little difficult to pull that off in this one.

ShadowsClaw: No, we really aren't xD. Kronos is awesome. Well Kronos is sorta a bit of a snake generally so... I thought it was fitting.