Athena had never realized how beautiful the ocean really was. Of course she'd always seen everything above the surface, but beneath it was a whole other world. When Poseidon and she had reached the ocean shore, she figured it would have been more of a challenge to find a way across the ocean's waters, but Poseidon had taken care of it almost too easily. He simply stepped into the water, closed his eyes and murmured words unknown to her beneath his breath; before she knew it, life rippled beneath the surface and appeared, taking her breath away. She had seen many mystical things in her immortal life, but this was a surprise. A creature slowly bobbed to the surface, it's neck stretching high above them, teeth glinting out of its large snout and green eyes glowing as they found the sea god below.

"Oh my…" She had been struck speechless.

"Come, she'll be good." He then proceeded to wade into the waters until he was next to the sea monster, climbing easily upon its serpent like back and extending his hand out to her. After she hesitated he sighed softly, looking like he was trying to hold back laughter. "We were on a time limit?"

After eyeing the monster for another moment or so, she very cautiously approached, took Poseidon's hand and mounted the serpent. "I don't think-"

"Just hold on." Poseidon patted the creature's slick scaly neck and it's like it knew automatically what the sea god wanted. It turned and dove beneath the surface, jerking Athena back; but before she could slip off and get left behind she wrapped her arms tight around Poseidon's middle, keeping herself braced steady against him.

"This is insane…" She whispered and Poseidon once again had to hold back his laughter. She just looked so unnatural beneath the water, so scared; he'd never seen the wisdom goddess like this before.

"Just sit back and enjoy the ride. Should be nothing but smooth swimming." He gently patted the creature's neck once more before relaxing, but Athena wouldn't ease her grip even a little bit from around him. She of course noticed how dry they were and how she could take deep easy breaths even though they were beneath the surface. No doubt it was part of Poseidon's sea god powers and whatnot, but it was difficult to get her mind around.

"Frankly I think this is a little unfair." Athena finally said after hours of silence of riding beneath the water. Poseidon glanced back at her and raised a brow, but an amused smile came to his lips.

"Want to elaborate a little bit so I can defend myself?"

Athena couldn't help but return his smile, shaking her head a bit as she looked around to see schools of fish swimming by them, literally just an arm's width away. "You get the waters and the skies, that's all. Most of us only get the skies, but you're fortunate enough to have both: the Pegasus and then all these beautiful creatures below to take you wherever you please. Unfair."

Poseidon laughed softly beneath his breath; his eyes stayed forward as he spoke. "Well, I'm just fortunate I guess, but if it's more of the ocean you wish to see, all you have to do is stay on my good side and I'll take you wherever you wish to go." He spoke simply and shrugged like it wasn't a big deal.

Now it was Athena's turn to be surprised. "Okay now you're just being cruel, sea god. We both know once we find our children that this short-term truce is over…"

"It doesn't have to be that way… I mean… would it be so horrible to simply stay civil? It's just, well, I'm sick of this feud. It's nonsense."

"You really think we'll be able to tolerate each other? That we won't find something else to argue about? I don't want to return to the way we were either, but to me it sounds inevitable."

Poseidon sighed then, looking tired once more as he used to whenever he started an argument with Athena. "If it does turn out that way it will have been our own doing." Then, they reverted back into silence.


Athena didn't know how much time had passed before the serpent started to change course towards the surface, allowing her attention to sharpen once more. "Are we there already?"

"We've been riding for hours, but yes we're there."

The serpent slid its way through the water and parted the surface, staying low as not to attract attention. The mist would surely disguise their arrival, but who knows what the human's would see. Better just to keep a low profile all together.

They glided their way along, parting the waters until they came to the shore where Poseidon dismounted the beast and helped Athena down into the water as well. The creature then slowly brought its snout in front of Poseidon and Athena swore she could see affection in the serpent's eyes. She observed as Poseidon reached up with one of his big hands and touched the front of the snout, giving it a soft pat afterward before starting to talk in a strange language that even she couldn't understand.

After a moment, Poseidon stepped back and watched as the creature sunk back beneath the surface, disappearing from view almost as if it had never been there.

"What did you say to it?" Athena asked, curiosity getting the best of her. She was the goddess of wisdom. There wasn't a lot that she didn't know and frankly she was a little agitated that the sea god knew something she didn't.

Poseidon made his way through the water, glancing back at her with an amused glimmer in his eyes. "I just gave her my thanks. I heard that's usually the norm after riding on something's back." He laughed softly beneath his breath as he moved onto the shore and through the sand, hearing Athena's footsteps signaling she was following behind him.

"Oh my… this is beautiful." Athena's eyes took in everything at once as they made their way off the shore and up onto a cobblestone street where the brick structures stretched on as far as the eye could see; and although many were damaged and literally crumbling beneath her fingertips, she could tell that this was once a magnificent city. The Roman's that built this place really knew what they were doing. "My little Annabeth would love this place…"

Poseidon lightly shook his head as he started to walk through the streets. They could look at the sights as they went, but they had to keep moving. He could see the silhouette of what had to be the volcano in the distance, and from what he could tell they had a long ways to go. "You'll bring her here someday. After we get them back. Then she can see it for herself."

Athena nodded quickly in agreement, desperate to convince herself that they would indeed get her daughter back.


They moved through the ruins of the city faster than Athena figured they would, covering about half the city before she noticed the sun hovering low in the sky. "It'll be getting dark soon." She stopped in her footsteps and turned in a circle, getting her bearings. "I don't think we should continue on after the sun sets…"

Poseidon stopped her there with a burst of laughter, stopping and turning back toward her. "I never thought an immortal goddess would be afraid of the dark."

Athena gave him a pointed glare and placed her hands on her hips. "Watch your mouth seaweed brain. Have you forgotten that we're in Roman territory? I don't feel like getting stalked in the night-"

"Oh, loosen up. This place is abandoned, therefore, there's nothing to stalk us. Besides, we're immortal gods. What could anything possibly do to us?"

Athena was about ready to slap the ignorant sea god, but before she could the hair at the back of her neck prickled with a sense that they were being watched. "Shh!" She hissed and looked around, her eyes sharp as she tried to find any sort of clue to why she was feeling so uncomfortable. "Something's not right…"

"Gods, you're so paranoid-"

"Would you please-?!"

But she didn't get to finish as she was rushed by someone with a spear. She reacted on instinct and swiftly grabbed her dagger from beneath her jacket, dodged the spear and used the person's momentum against them, shoving them into the nearest wall, their body smacking into it full force, knocking them out. Athena was now in full war mode, a fire in her eyes that made even Poseidon not want to mess with her. "Abandoned huh?" She snapped.

Poseidon only stared for a moment before reaching for his own weapon. "Sorry," he said simply before swiftly turning, his sword coming out with a shing and he dodged the next warrior that came at him, running at the next one whose helmet made contact with the butt of his sword hard enough to bring the warrior to the ground. "Let's go!" he started moving down the street, knowing that staying in this one spot wasn't going to do them a bit of good. They were just going to keep coming.

Athena quickly followed after, her dagger held comfortably in her fingers as they ran. "What exactly is your plan?" She called after him, glancing over her shoulder to find the street empty, but no doubt more of them were lurking in the shadows, following them.

"Anywhere but here?" He asked it like a question, assuming he kind of needed her approval after he had been wrong.

"Good enough." They turned off the main street and into a sort of tunnel, their breathing echoing softly off the stone walls. They made a couple of twists and turns before emerging onto a large open area that, with a quick glance, reminded Athena of a sort of coliseum. "You expect us to lose them in here?"

"It's not like I really know where I'm goin-" He gasped as the ground dropped out beneath them, everything happening so fast. They dropped into a sort of pit, Poseidon first and Athena right after, a strangled cry erupting from Poseidon as Athena dropped down on top of him. She gasped and coughed as she sensed a sort of gas that she was instantly inhaling upon falling down in the depths of this pit.

"Poseidon…" She gasped and coughed, her mind going a bit fuzzy as well as her vision, but she was alert enough to feel a sort of warm slick liquid against her fingertips as she tried to raise herself off of the sea god. "What…what is this..?" Her eyes began to water from the present gas, but in that moment, she was more concerned about the liquid trickling down her fingertips. Ichor.

"Poseidon-!" She gasped, looking down, her eyes trying to focus, finding her magical dagger embedded up to the hilt into Poseidon's abdomen. "Oh..oh no… " Her shaking fingers lightly brushed the cold hilt of the dagger, taking a grip, but she wouldn't be able to pull it out as she didn't have the strength. She coughed and slowly laid her head back down on his chest, listening to his strong heart beat in his chest as her eyes started to close against their will. "It's going… to be… okay…" Her mind slowly began to go under, thinking she heard the soft click of footsteps before she completely gave in to the darkness closing in around her.


Hello my readers :) thank you for continuing to follow this story with me and I hope you're enjoying it. Please leave me comments and I shall update soon :3