Secret Karma Serenade

Five Reviews…?

:') Hurts just a little.

To Jordan the Guest: Since I have not watched Seven Deadly Sins or any of the Fate anime, no. My next book will not be about them.

Speaking of books, the first chapter of the new one I'm working on is complete.

Also, shoutout to the one person from Uzbekistan of all places that reads this story, along with the Republic of Korea.

Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or BL

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"This is my boat!" Percy chirped proudly.

He had led Reyna, by the hand, all the way from Hotel Moscow's office, through the streets of Roanapur, to the harbor where Lagoon Company's torpedo boat was moored. To the great credit of these kids, neither of them was winded and were only slightly sweaty due to the tropical climate of Thailand in the summer.

Now, did Reyna care that she'd just been sprinted through the streets of hell by this almost-crossdressing boy? Not at all. Reyna thought it was completely and totally romantic that she'd just run through the city with Percy. She liked watching his ponytail and bangs flutter behind him and he ran.

Her eye lit up at the sight of the Black Lagoon, the shiny armor of the torpedo boat glinting in the afternoon sun. "Cool~! Does it actually fire torpedoes?"

"Yep! But they're kinda expensive, and since we fired the last two we had, we don't have any torpedoes right now."

"Why'd you have to fire the last two?" Reyna asked, engaged and curious. "Were you fighting a battleship? An aircraft carrier? Jormungand?

Percy blinked at the mention of the Norse super-snake, and answered, "None of the above. We used them on a helicopter."

Reyna's eye sparkled. "You took on a helicopter with a torpedo boat, and won using torpedoes!? That's so awesome! How'd you do it, how'd you do it?"

"Well, the pilot was this arrogant asshole that could've killed us, but he wanted a challenge, and so he let us go up this lagoon that dead-ended, but he decided to hover right next to this partially sunken ship. We came flying out of the lagoon, and the ship was at enough of an angle that we used it as a ramp. We went flying, launched the torpedoes, and one went flying right through the windshield into the pilot's face!"

Of course, what Percy didn't tell Reyna was that he'd been asleep during that whole time, his body recovering from one of his alcohol-induced rampage moments. Nor did he tell her that he'd fired an RPG through the window of the boat when he was jarred awake by the rough landing back in the water. Everything he'd recounted had been from the testimony of everyone else.

Reyna's eye had gone from sparkling to glowing with amazement and wonder.

"What about you?" Percy asked enthusiastically, excited and eager to hear about Reyna's war stories.

"There was this time when I had to make an escape out of a place after killing this guy, but my motorcycle broke down on me, and so I went running, but the guys chasing me had motorcycles of their own, right? Right. So I ended up in this high-end stable, and I got on this horse—"

"And you went riding a horse while guys on motorcycles chased you!? And you killed them all!?"

"No!" Reyna said with a beaming smile. "They had guns, so they just shot the horse, but I hopped in front of it, letting the horse take the bullets for me, then I lifted the horse and chunked it at the guys on the motorcycles, taking them all out. Six guys, one horse!"

Percy pouted. "Poor horse…"

"It's okay. It lived."

"Yay! How?"

"I gave it a Senzu Bean."

"A what?"

"This magic bean that a guy grows for us. Son of Hecate, calls himself Alabaster. He's into anime or something like that."

"Oh, cool. I like watching Scooby."

A strange combination of mischief, curiosity, and embarrassment appeared in Reyna's eye. "Scooby, right…so, um, Rock said something about Scooby-Doo underwear."

She phrased it as a question, and Percy blushed a little as he realized what she was asking of him. He nervous and unsure about actually doing that, though, but Reyna had shown him her underwear. Wasn't the gentlemanly thing to do be reciprocate the action?

With no idea as to how to actually properly behave with a girl that was romantically and evidently sexually interested in him, Percy lowered the hem of his shorts a little bit, not having to touch his shirt because of its ripped status that showed his bellybutton, and showed his underwear. Reyna looked totally enamored with the fact that Percy was indeed wearing Scooby-Doo underwear.

The waistband was Mystery Machine green, with the show's rhombus symbol inscribed with the stylized "SD" sewn into the fabric in a repeating pattern all over the surface.

"That's so cool," Reyna said. "Can I keep them? I'll let you keep mine."

Percy glowed red. "O-Oh…um…uh…they're…uh…"

How did he get out of this? Even with the prospect of keeping Reyna's panties before him, he didn't really feel comfortable with the idea of taking his underwear off and giving them to her. What did she want with them anyway? For that matter, why would he want to keep her panties? What was he going to do with them? Wear them?

Absolutely not.

Percy had his wardrobe boundaries.

Personal experience with a stolen pair of Revy's once upon a time taught him firsthand that girls had their underwear, and boys had theirs for a reason.

"These are kinda one of my favorites," Percy came up with, face still flushed. Gods, that sounded so stupid.

"You have favorite undies, too?" Reyna asked excitedly. "My Ariel ones really aren't one of my favorites. Mulan's my favorite princess, because she killed like, thousands of Huns, but they never make any undies of her. If they did, I'd only wear those."

Percy didn't know what to do with that information, but…

"I can get my aunt to strongarm some Disney guys and have the child slaves they work to death in Malaysia make panties with Mulan on them."

Reyna's eye sparkled. "You'd do that for me?"

"Yeah. Why not?" Percy asked, genuinely confused.

Weren't boyfriends supposed to get things their girlfriends wanted?

Reyna threw her arms tightly around his neck. "Thankyouthankyouthankyou! What do you want? I'll make sure you get it."

It was but a simple gesture, a returning of the favor, but Percy could only stop and draw a blank. What did he want? He couldn't really think of anything he wanted, material-wise, anyway. Simple things came to mind, like Revy, Annabeth, Rock, Dutch, and Benny being happy—he wanted that. He wanted his aunt and Hotel Moscow to become the most powerful criminal organization in the world, as was their goal for no other reason than because it was something to achieve. Other than that…Percy really didn't have anything that he wanted.

There was no material thing he could think of that he desired at the moment.

And Reyna was looking at him, eager and determined to repay this act of generosity and kindness. From a foot away since she was still hugging him. It was making Percy's underwear get tight.

Percy could tell Reyna wasn't the type of girl to let something like this go, either. She had a code of honor regarding her debts, and if Percy was going to go through the lengths to get Reyna some character-specific panties—which he was, since he said he was—then Reyna was going to go through the lengths to get him some thing too.

Percy's eyes darted to the Black Lagoon, and a thought struck him.

"I want some torpedoes for my boat."

"You got it."

Percy honestly found that to be an extremely unequal exchange, an observation that only struck him right after he said it, but it was done. He was going to arrange for Reyna some new panties, and she was somehow going to get him ship-destroying water missiles.

Really, this was the model for the ideal romantic relationship.

A boy got his girl some Mulan underwear, and in return, the girl got her boy some torpedoes.

If your relationship isn't like that, can you honestly say you love your partner?

If you can't, there might be some decisions to make.

Reyna looked at the PT boat, then back at Percy with a grin. "Wanna go for a ride?"

Percy grinned right back, because he wasn't allowed to take the boat out by himself despite the fact that he was the most qualified and capable captain on the planet. Being Poseidon's son came with some amazing nautical perks.

Minutes later, the Black Lagoon was barreling out of the harbor on its way for international waters.

The soldiers of Hotel Moscow that had been watching the kids the whole time, torn between smiling at how adorable they were and cringing at how much of a filter neither of them possessed—as they could read lips—phoned Balalaika and informed her of everything they'd seen through the scopes of their snipers as they provided overwatch.

"I see," the Russian sighed. "Thank you, comrades."

She hung up.

"They took the boat?" Boris asked.

"They took the boat."

"I will get in touch with our contacts."

"Don't bother, Sergeant. No one alive is a match for Percy on the water."

Balalaika picked the phone back up, and after two rings, Dutch answered.

"I take it the kids took the boat?"

"The kids took the boat."

Balalaika heard Dutch sigh, and in the background, heard Revy's outraged squawk.

The reason the Russian had called the Lagoon Company residence was because when it was previously stated that Percy and Reyna had gone running out of the office, they'd gone running too fast to follow on foot, and even on wheels with traffic. However, everyone knew where they were going, and so everyone departed. Balalaika called her guys and had them be on the ready, and Lagoon Company's Dutch, Rock, and Annabeth returned home.

"Copy that. Any chance we can count on Poseidon to make so it they can't get their hands down inside each other's pants?"

"We're talking a sexually immoral Greek god that's stuck his dick into every hole on record. What's a couple of kids having sex to him, even if it is his own son? I wouldn't be surprised if Poseidon watched. And gave tips during the action."

A rush of air through the transmitter told Balalaika that Dutch had a sardonic smile of his face.

"Fair enough, disgusting as it is. Got something up your sleeve to make sure Percy doesn't end up a teenage dad?"

"One idea right now. A long shot, but it might work. Poseidon may or may not be willing to let his thirteen-year-old son lose his virginity to a thirteen-year-old, but Amphitrite might be less than thrilled with the idea."

"Worth a shot, I suppose. The worst that can happen is that she gets so enraged she destroys Roanapur with a tidal wave."

"A truly terrible occurrence," Balalaika agreed. "Keep Revy under control, will you? I don't need her swimming after them."

"I'll do my best. Thank you for telling me about this."

"You're welcome."

Dutch hung up, and so did Balalaika.

Ironically enough, what did it matter of Percy and Reyna had sex while alone together on the Black Lagoon? They were both trained killers, knew their way around the streets, were survivalists, and were demigods. Their family history was rife with sexual immorality, and so they'd only be carrying on the tradition losing their virginity to each other at the ripe old age of thirteen. Even if Reyna got pregnant, it wasn't like money for the baby—or babies—was going to be an issue, nor was rearing the child(ren). Between Hotel Moscow, Lagoon Company, and Reyna's group, there was plenty of parental experience, or at least, life experience, to help the two kids be as proper a parent as they could barely into their teens.

Really, it was just a principal kind of thing.

You didn't just let a couple of kids that barely started puberty get it on, especially when one of those kids was your own child and the other kid was a business partner.

Well, technically your own child. Percy was Balalaika's nephew only technically speaking, and he'd been more or less adopted by the Lagoon Company, though none of them fulfilled any of the parental roles. Dutch was more like a mentor than even an uncle, and certainly not a father. If you thought Revy was a mother figure, you were dead wrong. Hell, she was barely a big sister. Benny was kind of just there. Rock and Annabeth were the closest things Percy had to active parents in his life, and even they weren't totally lining up.

Balalaika supposed her reservations for Percy having sex at such a young age stemmed from respect to Sally's memory…somehow. It seemed a betrayal to let her son start fooling around at such a young age.

With that line of thinking, Balalaika didn't really so much as pray to Amphitrite, so much as speak her mind to the goddess.

'Amphitrite. Prevent those two from having sex in such a way that their lives aren't in serious danger, or I will personally come down there, drag you out of that palace, and give you to a group of sexually frustrated hobos.'

With that, Balalaika picked the phone back up and called a guy. As the rings went off in her ear, she mentally readied herself to actually say what she was going to say.

The line up picked up. "Hello?"

"I need to place a custom order for Mulan panties big enough to fit a thirteen-year-old girl."

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Reyna was screaming at the very top of her lungs as Percy treated her to a great time with his skills. Her heart was racing, her blood was pumping, and her body was feeling good in a way that it had never been before. Percy's own body was reacting in ways it hadn't before as he introduced new pleasures to Reyna.

Though that was probably because he was powering the Black Lagoon solely with his will as he and Reyna stood in the nests topside, the wind whipping through their hair as they raced across the waves, Percy making the boat turn and spin, pulling off stunts because Reyna's excitement was his excitement. It made him feel all warm and bubbly on the inside as he made Reyna happy.

A thought struck Percy and he tapped Reyna' shoulder. She looked at him with an inquisitively, beaming smile still in place.

"Wanna meet Julie!?" he shouted over the roaring engine and whipping winds.

Reyna blinked. "Who!?"

"My shark!"

Reyna's eye lit up. "Fuck yeah! I wanna meet your shark!"

Percy brought the boat to a gradual stop and reached out with his mind, searching for the behemoth of a fish, hoping she wasn't in the middle of the Atlantic. He was in luck, for she was in the area. Percy grinned.

"She's coming."

"I am?"

"Huh?"

"Sorry. Bad joke."

"O-Oh…" Percy flushed a little bit as he got it.

A few seconds of mostly awkward silence passed, then Julie's dorsal fin broken the surface. Reyna gasped at the sight of it.

Bigger than a grown man, Julie's fin created near-surfable waves. Her undulating tail created undeniably surfable waves as she glided through the water. She hadn't gotten much bigger from when the last time Percy saw her, during the job to get the painting out of the Nazi submarine, but she had still managed to get even bigger.

Reyna hopped out of the nest and over to the edge of the boat, mystified and awed. She got on her hands and knees without even thinking about it, solely focused on the massive shark, but Percy became solely focused on something else. It might've been a business skirt, but still.

Julie came swimming up, body tilted slightly, and her big, black eye gazed at Reyna as she swam past.

An unexplainable feeling washed after the only living daughter of Bellona as she stared into that eye. Blacker than the ace of spades, bigger than her head, and seemingly devoid of all things while at the same time…not. Reyna felt small and insignificant as that eye looked at her, like she did when talks of space came up.

What was Earth compared to Jupiter, the gas giant that had a superstorm bigger than Earth swirling around on it? What was Earth compared to the Sun? Just a bluish-brown speck. And what was the Sun compared to the likes of UY Scuti, the largest star on record with a radius 1700 times bigger than the Sun?

Reyna hated space and all the massive things out there. They all just made everything on Earth seem so insignificant. What did matter if Reyna deposed the emperors and became the biggest, baddest boss in America when there was a star just down the galactic highway that made Earth look like a marble next to a semitruck's tire? What did it matter if Reyna became the most powerful boss in the whole world, rising to create a new world order under her heel, when there was yet another star out there that made the gigantic Sun look like a marble itself, a marble compared to a car?

The scope of the universe and the size of its inhabitants triggered feelings of inferiority in Reyna, feelings that stemmed from forgotten memories.

Reyna stared into that black eye.

Julie calmly swam away, and when she turned and began to descend back to the depths, her tail came around in a way that was nothing short of miraculous. The barest tip of her caudal fin just lightly brushed across the front of Reyna's nose in a wat that was almost…motherly.

Reyna wrinkled her nose around at the strange feeling of having her nose kissed by a shark's tail.

"Julie likes you," Percy chirped from less than two feet from Reyna's ear, making her yelp and jump away like a cat that turned around and saw a cucumber next to it.

Percy burst into giggles at her reaction, while Reyna glowered.

"I can't say the same. I don't like her eyes. They make me feel small."

"I mean, her eye is bigger than your head, and she can swallow you whole, so…you are small compared to Julie."

Reyna decided to roll with it instead of speaking about her insecurities. "Well, duh. Did she say anything else besides she likes me?"

"She said that if you ever hurt me, all I have to do is tell her about and she'll find you whenever you're in a body of water, whether it's the ocean, the bathtub, or the kiddie area at a waterpark, and she'll eat you."

Reyna blinked. "Is she a goddess in disguise or something? How's she going to eat me when I'm on land?"

Percy pursed his lips in thought of that question, then looked down at his feet.

"Your feet have the answer?"

"No, Julie's swimming around beneath us."

Reyna swallowed hard at the thought of such a massive creature being below her where she couldn't see it, couldn't get to it, couldn't defend herself from it. In fact, the more Reyna was out here, the more she was coming to dislike the ocean.

It was an unnatural place, a whole environment harmful to humans. Mobility was massively reduced, as was sight and hearing, and the temperature of the water was dangerous as well. Never mind all the creatures that lived in the ocean. Killer whales, sharks, other predatory fish, and of course, the monsters. Oceans were a twice-fold deadly place for demigods, because they had to contend with any monsters that were swimming around.

Reyna looked over the side of the boat, wondering what else was swimming down there that she couldn't see.

"Julie says she has her ways."

Reyna looked back at Percy. "She has her ways?"

"She has her ways."

"A monolithic shark has ways of eating me when I'm on land?"

"Yes."

"I believe it. I promise I won't hurt you."

Funnily enough, she was serious about it too. Reyna was unwilling to cross the scary mommy super shark. That, and Percy was literally the perfect boy for her. A trained killer like she was. Horrible childhood like she had. Lots of experience in the criminal underworld like she did. She didn't have to worry looking after Percy like she would with any other boy, even another demigod. She didn't have to worry about rejection for her lifestyle being too extreme or gory like she did with other boys, even demigods. She didn't even have to worry about Percy pulling that I'm a boy and you're a girl and so therefore I have to prove my dominance and superiority bullshit.

Being totally honest, if not for the deepening voice and the hair starting to grow on his arms and legs, Reyna would've had her reservations that Percy was even a boy until she saw the dick to confirm the absence of a pussy. As it was, with women like Annabeth, Balalaika, and Revy in his everyday life, Percy knew firsthand the concept of strong independent women who didn't need men, and so he wasn't going to try that protective boyfriend thing.

The more Reyna thought about it, Percy seemed almost made for her.

She hoped he thought the same way about her.

"I promise I won't hurt you, either," Percy said.

As it so happened, Percy did. Revy was never girlfriend material in the first place. She was too old and too…Revy. Annabeth was out of the question as well because she was Annabeth. As for the local girls of Roanapur, you could forget it. If they weren't ridden with STDS, even at the young age of thirteen, then they were assassins looking for a score.

And what greater score was there than Percy Jackson, nephew of Balalaika?

There were some groups that honestly thought it was a good idea to put a hit on the boy, despite how many other groups had done the same and were drowned to death in an acid bath.

Camp Half-Blood might've had some pretty girls his age, but Percy couldn't honestly recall. He was there only twice, the first time being when he arrived and he oversaw the renovation of the Hermes cabin at the hands of the Mexicans, and the second time was when he returned from the quest and he waited on Annabeth to get her stuff. He hadn't really been inspecting the goods as it were, and he hadn't had the same mind for it then as he did now, anyway.

And Reyna was just so fucking cool!

Reyna beamed at her boyfriend of a few hours, a strange relief flooding her at his promise and acceptance of her.

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Revy stared down at her nose at Reyna. Reyna held that gaze for all of four seconds before she went over to the kitchen, grabbed a chair, brought it over, stood on it, and stared down her nose at Revy.

"I have the high ground."

Revy grunted. "Smug little bitch. Just so you know, the potty's down the hall and to the left. Let us know when you have to take a shit that way we can help you take your fuckin' diaper off and make sure your ass is nice and clean so you don't get a rash."

"And the corner store is just down that way. Get yourself some diapers of your own before you bleed all over the floor."

Revy's pupils dilated as she reached for her gun. "Why, you little-"

As she reached for her weapon of choice, Reyna reached for hers. Only there was a bit of strategy in Reyna's move. When she dragged the chair over and stood on it, it wasn't because of some sassy drive to match the barely dressed bitch. Well, it was, but Reyna had moved the chair close enough that even with the height disparity between them, she was close enough that when she drew her saber, the blade rested against Revy's neck with length to spare.

Revy smirked. "Think you can move that sword faster than this bullet will blow your little brains out all over the fuckin' ceiling?"

"Yes," Reyna answered without hesitation.

"As interesting as that would be to watch," Dutch broke in, "need I remind you, Revy, that Reyna is the boss of a powerful criminal organization, not unlike Balalaika and Mr. Chang, and that killing her would bring down a lot of heat on us-"

"We're on the other side of the planet from those little fuckers!"

"-because Reyna has made an alliance with Hotel Moscow, and killing her would basically be like killing one of Balalaika's soldiers? We were all here a few days ago when that came to a head with the twins. You really want to put yourself out there like that?"

"…she's got a sword at my throat, Dutch," Revy said, like that it totally justified.

"And the lip-reading sniper has his scope on you, and knows you provoked Ms. Reyna."

"Reyna is just fine. Calling me Ms. makes me feel old. But I appreciate your manners, Mr. Dutch."

"Dutch is just fine."

"Noted. And I'll have you know I've never worn a diaper in my life. I don't even use pads," Reyna said smugly.

Revy's face scrunched up. "So, what? You were pissing and shitting all over the place when you were a baby?"

"Nope. I was born eight years old and already potty trained. My first memory is of me grabbing this saber and chopping my dad in half after he beat my big sister to death with a belt as he choked her."

Revy's gun lowered a bit. "That's…what the fuck?"

"I know, right? Now, can you get that out of my face. I'm trying to make a good impression for my boyfriend."

"And that's why my gun is in your face. You don't have my permission to be Percy's girlfriend," Revy jerked her head to everyone else in the room, "and none of your permissions count, so fuck off!"

Percy sighed.

Yes, he was here.

And he was in the comparable position of a Southern country girl whose gun-toting preacher of a father disapproved of her boyfriend from the city, and the two males were getting into it as their personalities clashed.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Give it up, Revy. Percy's a big boy now, which means you can't control him anymore. You hate that fact, because that's one less bit of control you have over your life."

Revy's eye moved to lock with Annabeth's. "What the fuck did you say to me?"

Annabeth stepped forward, grey eyes hard, but before she could say anything, Percy spoke up, and he was not happy.

"Will all of you please settle the fuck down? I feel like Jasmine!"

"That's kinda concerning that your mind is assessing this situation and drawing comparisons between you and a Disney princess," Benny coughed into his fist.

"Benny," Revy ground out, "why don't you go into the fridge there and make yourself a nice big bowl of shut the fuck up!"

"How about you shut up, Jafar," Percy huffed.

Revy was rather miffed at being equated to the creepy, pedophiliac snake sorcerer.

"The alliance has been made, and Reyna and I like each other. Like, like like each other, and I brought her here to introduce everyone to her, not so you could threaten her and make fun of her."

"Not my fault I can smell the shit stains in her panties because she's too little to wipe her ass."

"I'm surprised you can smell anything at all over the stench of the sushi bar between your legs," Reyna fired back.

Benny jerked his head to the side to hide his smile.

Rock covered his mouth, also hiding his smile.

Dutch pinched the bridge of his nose.

Annabeth grinned.

Revy fumed, blood vessels appearing across the sclera of her eyes.

Reyna appreciated the fact that being as petty as she was being, trading barbs with Revy instead of being cordial and civilized, was not earning her any brownie points with her boyfriend. In fact, she was only earning demerits, because Revy, while not necessarily Percy's mother figure or big sister figure, was certainly the chief person in his life. Just look at him.

He adored Revy. So much so that he'd modeled his appearance and fighting style after her, wearing short shorts, crop tops, growing his hair and styling it like her's, and dual wielding. Granted, Annabeth coming along had significantly changed things up, because she brought positive reinforcement and encouragement against Revy's negative reinforcement and degrading humor. Essentially, Percy had been living off of Revy's meth, and Annabeth had introduced him to LSD.

But still, Revy took the cake for Percy's most favored woman, and here Reyna was, insulting her and throwing gas on an open flame.

"I'm going to blow so many holes in your ass, you're going to have to pick which one you shit out of," Revy growled.

She clicked the safety off, and Reyna's muscles tensed along her arm, ready to pop her wrist and lop the woman's head off.

"STOP IT!" Percy thundered, accentuating his fury with a stomp of his foot that sent tremors racing through Roanapur.

Reyna's chair toppled, but she flipped and landed deftly on her feet, while Revy stumbled and fell on her face, ass left in the air.

Percy's angry eyes darted between the females, face contorted. He finally threw his arms up with a furious, exasperated groan, and went storming off, up the stairs and to his room, slamming the door behind him.

Reyna and Revy both winced, and Annabeth felt really sorry for Percy.

She thought it was really sad that Percy, a boy, was the Southern country girl, and his preacher father was Revy, the foul-mouthed atheist woman that dressed just as bad as any hooker, and the city boyfriend was Reyna, the beaten and abused daughter of a war veteran that went on to commit patricide and eventually become the head of a powerful criminal syndicate.

It honestly made Annabeth a bit concerned for Percy's mental health. Gender roles aside and ignored, the stress that a person was put under when their parental figured didn't just disapprove but actively fought with their significant other was enormous. Percy could already be considered unstable as it was, with his childhood, lifestyle, and the fact that he started puberty barely a month ago and so had all those raging, fluctuating hormones did absolutely nothing to help.

As Annabeth went up the stairs to comfort Percy in whatever way she could, she supposed that made her the final component in this romantic analogy: the country girl's caring, understanding, mediating mother.

Annabeth lightly rapped on Percy's door, and after so many seconds of no sounds that traditionally counted as permission to enter, she let herself in. The light was out, but the Sun's rays were coming through the blinds enough to where Annabeth could see that Percy's room hadn't changed since the last time she was here, his room still being an armory comprised of guns taken as memories from so many jobs. The newest addition was Gretel's little blue teddy bear that sat on a shelf.

The lump on the bed told Annabeth that Percy had decided to sleep, or was playing possum. She gently shook him.

"Hey, it's me. Wanna talk?"

No response.

Annabeth put her fingers to Percy's neck and watched his back rise and fall as he breathed. Wow, he'd actually fallen asleep in just the few seconds between when he slammed his door and when Annabeth got up here. That meant he was seriously exhausted by what had just happened, which meant he was seriously fucked up about it.

Just how much did he care for Reyna?

Annabeth left Percy alone, letting him sleep until he woke up.

Percy's mental and emotionally exhausted-induced sleep was not wholly peaceful.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Percy recognized this setting from the dream he had two months ago in the truck on the way to California with Hedge and Annabeth. The pond, the forest, the distant mountains—all very beautiful.

The woman was there too, wearing the same old dress, her eyes closed and her face set in a small, sad little smile.

"The time is coming, Percy. Just know that I love you very much."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

This was a fun, dramatic chapter. Percy and Reyna have a mini date together, in which Reyna meets Julie the Super Shark, and then meets Revy, who does not like her one bit in the slightest. The feeling is mutual. Then Percy has a rather strange dream.

Whoever could that have been? What does she mean when she says that she loves Percy?

Things are ramping up. Kronos is on the rise, the Triumvirate find themselves soon to be under fire; what will they do about this, I wonder?

Fav, Follow, and let's shoot for more than five frickin' Reviews please!