Jason was almost finished with his plate of stir fried chicken when a peculiar noise rang out from the top deck.
Immediately dropping their forks, the seven exchanged weary glances across. Random monster attacks were not uncommon on the Argo II, as sailing across the ocean and through the sky with seven demigods (three of whom were children of the Big Three) aboard tended to cause quite the commotion. Percy, with his natural instincts to protect not only his ship, but his friends, stood up and Annabeth followed in suit. However, they had only left Tartarus a mere two days ago and although the ambrosia and nectar had kicked in and healed most of their injuries, they were still rather battered and bruised and Jason didn't think it was necessary to tire them out with something the others could handle themselves.
Hazel's sisterly side kicked in and she glanced worriedly across the table at Percy, whose eyes still had bags underneath them. He definitely had seen better days.
"You two stay put, Piper and I will check it out." Jason nodded to his girlfriend. "We've basically finished our food anyways."
Percy, about to protest, was stopped by Annabeth putting her hand on his shoulder and pushing him down slightly, urging him to take a seat. Although it wounded her pride to step away from a chance to prove herself, she knew that Jason and Piper would be able to manage whatever they needed to do.
"Alright, call us if you need any help." Annabeth said, and Percy smiled a tight yet grateful smile at the two, the straight, almost healed cut along his cheek deforming as he did so.
"Yeah, we will. I'm sure it's nothing." Piper reassured the rest of them and patted Leo's head as they left. Leo, itching to head back and continue on the device he was working on, shook her hand off.
Jason picked up his gladius (which was leaning against the wall, along with most of the Seven's weapons for easy access) and then led the way down the corridor and up the stairs. They were about to emerge onto the deck when he heard a muffled, deep noise and a clack, almost as if someone was stamping hard on the wood with a pair of tap shoes on.
Instinctively, Jason wielded his gladius and heard Piper sheath her Katopotris. With a rush of adrenalin and the urge to protect his girlfriend, he slammed the door open and prepared to attack — a pegasus?
The black stallion's head whipped towards them and as soon as Piper saw it's face, she knew that he had met him before, she just couldn't place where. With everything that had happened in the last year, less significant faces and memories sometimes slipped her mind due to how fast everything constantly spiraled out of control in. His mane was long and almost tangled, with a jet black coat and equally dark eyes. He seemed to be as strong as a bull and although stood in a proud stance, something about him told Jason that he had a lot more character than that.
Piper began to gush over him. "Oh, isn't he gorgeous! I wonder what he's doing here. Is he lost or something? Does he need any food?"
The pegasus neighed and shook his head. Jason began to inch towards him, a steady hand placed in front of him to show him that he meant no harm. "Hey, calm down boy. What's wrong?" The pegasus just moved away and began to make even more noise with his hooves constantly clacking against the wooden floorboards. Jason didn't really know what to do; Camp Jupiter never really had that many horses of any kind, and he had only ridden one a couple of times. At Camp Half-Blood, they had stables, sure, but he never really took the time to pay attention to them. Why use a pegasus when he could fly on his own?
The pegasus started roaming around the deck and flapping his wings, the muscles in his dark, chunky legs rippling. He was getting impatient, but neither Piper or Jason knew what he wanted. Jason was about to step forward again when Piper piped up.
"Jace," Piper pulled on his arm a little bit. "Why don't you let me have a go? My dad had stables in one of our summer homes and I used to ride some of the horses,"
Jason looked between his girlfriend and the frustrated pegasus. He knew that Piper was more than capable with handling herself when it came to a giant, let alone a stray pegasus. But that didn't mean he couldn't worry about her. Reluctantly, he let go. Besides, she could charmspeak him to calm him down.
"Hey gorgeous," Piper cooed, lightly walking towards the pegasus. "Why don't you just calm down, hm? Just take it slow, boy" The pegasus stopped pacing as much and began to relax at her voice. "It's alright, we just want to help you."
Piper was only a few feet away from him when the door opened again and Jason turned to find the rest of the seven coming up, Frank in the front with Percy following at the back.
Losing her concentration, Piper's eyes flicked towards the door and broke eye contact with the pegasus, whose nostrils flared and head turned at lightning speed towards the door too, as if he could smell something important to him.
Annabeth emerged onto the deck and the horse neighed excitedly at the sight of her. As soon as she looked at the pegasus, Jason saw her gasp.
Percy opened the door and stepped out, "Hey guys, what's taking so lo — Blackjack?"
It appeared evident that Percy knew the pegasus, Blackjack and was the person the pegasus had came to see. Watching him in amazement, the six other demigods saw Blackjack neigh in delight and began to gallop forwards. Percy, who couldn't quite believe that his pegasus was there, ran forwards too. Blackjack nuzzled his face into Pecy's neck as his hand began to stroke the pegasus' muzzle.
Boss! I can't believe I finally found you!
Percy laughed as Blackjack's wings started flapping, sending gusts of air across the deck. The rest of the seven had to hold onto the railings to avoid being blown off, but they didn't seem to care that much. The reunion of a lost owner and his loyal pet was much too admirable.
"Who's that?" Frank whispered to Annabeth, who had a wide grin on her face. It was lovely to see her boyfriend with his pegasus again. She knew how close they both were, especially since Percy was technically Blackjack's lord. However, Annabeth knew that Percy was his friend first and master second.
"That's Percy's pegasus, Blackjack." Annabeth told them, watching as Blackjack continued to nuzzle his face into Percy's hand and wrapped one wing around him, which in a strange way resembled a hug.
Piper and Jason shared a look — that's why he seemed familiar. They had seen him briefly outside Cabin 3 once, smelling around the entire area. He must have been looking for Percy.
"Hey boy," Percy laughed shoving the pegasus away jokingly. His smile was the widest Hazel had seen it since Tartarus, and she couldn't be happier for her bug brother. "What did I say about calling me boss?"
Leo's eyebrows furrowed. "What does he mean call him boss? He literally just neighed but it's like they're talking to each other of something."
Jason, eager to know what was going on, turned to Annabeth for answers as well. However, Hazel was the one who piped up.
"Nep - Sorry, I mean Poseidon is the father of horses, so Percy can speak to horses and pegasus and that sort of thing. So yeah, they're both just having a conversation." Hazel explained.
Annabeth decided to tack on a bit of extra information. "All horses and pegasus have a natural instinct to respect Percy, his dad's their Lord and Percy is, in some way, their lord too. But Percy saved Blackjack from a ship that Kronos had him on and since then they've had a bond that I've never been able to understand. He's the only Percy Blackjack let's ride him, and refuses to call Percy anything else but Boss. It's quite funny, actually." Annabeth laughed.
"That's awesome," Leo dragged on the word, watching the two interact again with wide eyes. He couldn't understand what Blackjack was saying, but they all got the gist of the conversation solely from Percy's side.
Where did you go? Me and the rest were worried boss! Dude in the stable next to me said someone said you went missing, I've been looking for months!
Percy's eyes softened, "You've been looking for me?"
Piper could feel the love between the two. It was heartwarming.
Jason heard Blackjack neigh again. Yes, boss
Percy felt a sudden rush of affection to the pegasus. He really didn't deserve the love, honestly. He should have tried to find Blackjack sooner, he really did deserve a better owner, well, Boss, than him.
"Come on boy, let's go for a ride, huh? Just like the old times,"
Blackjack reared excitedly, and Frank was sure that meant a yes.
Sure boss, but can I have a doughnut? I'm starved!
Jason saw Percy laugh and throw a look over to Annabeth. She seemed to understand his amused expression and it reflected on her own face. "Let me guess — doughnuts?"
Percy nodded and Blackjack snorted excitedly. "I'll have it ready by the time you get back." Annabeth promised.
Frank didn't have time to wonder what they meant by "doughnuts", if it was some code word or something, as he instead watched Percy swing himself gracefully onto Blackjack's back as if he had been doing it for years. To be fair, he probably had, and that natural horse-riding grace was probably built into his genes.
You ready boss?
Percy patted the side of his neck. "Sure, and for the last time, stop calling me boss!"
Whatever you say, Boss.
Jason watched in slight awe as Blackjack took a running start and flapped his wings with such strength that he had to manipulate the wind to keep the boat from rocking too much. They disappeared into the dark sky, Percy and Blackjack's silhouette blending together in the dim light of tonight's moon.
(Blackjack, known for being an avid conversationalist when it came to his Boss, finally shut his mouth in the stables as he saw Boss and Annabeth share a sweet moment together. She smeared jam from the doughnut she was eating onto his nose and in return, he wiped the sprinkling of icing sugar onto her cheek, before licking it off. Annabeth laughed, and it seemed to Blackjack that that was all Boss ever wanted to do: make her laugh. Boss turned to him and jokingly apologised for the waste of his favourite food. And, although Blackjack would have loved to demolish that delicious jam doughnut in one go, he looked straight at his Boss and saw the happiness in his sea green eyes, something he knew hadn't been there in a while. All he cared about was the grin on Boss' face, because to Blackjack, he was the greatest Boss any pegasus could have asked for. Seeing him laugh made the months of searching all worthwhile, so for once, Blackjack really didn't mind that he didn't get the doughnut.)
There you go! That's my first ever published work on here. I'm an avid Percy fan and honestly one of my favourite things about the series is the relationship between him and Blackjack. Their reunion is a very, very uncommon thing in the world of fanfiction and I've always pictured that this would be the way it went down and that Blackjack cared so much about Percy that he would search all over for him.
Let me know what you thought, all comments appreciated! :)
Thank you very much for reading!