In which Percy is awesome, and Annabeth, Percy and Rachel actually show that they can, in fact, still work together when the going gets tough. I won't be updating tomorrow, sorry not sorry.
Replies:
Undeath9087: Well neither of them should have known that Percy was in the water, so not exactly, but Rachel isn't exactly the average mortal.
Guest: Not yet I'm afraid! Sorry not sorry lol.
Percy had woken cuddled up in Luke's arms, and the morning hadn't gone too bad. She'd had some breakfast, said goodbye to the others, and she and Grover had decided to sit on the deck getting some sun.
Then Luke had showed up, and as much as Percy had known it wouldn't be fun, she did know that they needed to clear the air between them.
The conversation had been, well, heavy to say the least, and there had been tears shed between Percy and Luke- with Grover there as a supervisor between them- because there was no way Grover would let Luke be alone with Percy in that moment after the shit show in the stables- she loved her best friend more than anything, she really did.
And she also loved Luke. Her big brother didn't really get it- but he was trying. And he knew he'd screwed up before, and they'd spent a while talking about it.
And Luke at least sort of realised that Percy was struggling immensely with the amount of pressure- both that she was putting on herself and that everyone else put on her- even if they didn't realise they were doing it.
And he also seemed to understand that her coming back to life didn't make things suddenly better, that it hadn't been a good choice for her.
She did get the feeling that he was going to be the single most protective big brother in the universe for a while- but she was sure she could handle that- and when she got sick of it she'd just tell him- he'd agreed that if she asked for space he'd give it to her-and if she asked for him to drop subjects he'd do that too.
And after that Percy had needed a break- so she'd decided to take a dip while Luke and Grover went to grab some snacks.
She had been relaxing in the water- talking to several excited fish- one of them had offered to take a message back to her father for her- a fact which she was very grateful for- she was sure he'd like to at least hear that she was okay and she had her memories back- though she wasn't sure what condition he'd be in with the whole Greek/Roman issue. That would definitely complicate matters. Still, maybe Amphitrite and or Triton would be in a state to listen to her message- she'd missed them both horribly too.
And then, just as she'd finished relaying her message to the fish and talking to the nereids- who had given her some potentially very helpful, and some very worrying, information, she'd sensed it. And truthfully she wasn't sure why or how she had- she hadn't been that focused so she probably shouldn't have noticed a tiny dagger being tossed into the water- but she had- and then the knives had followed, and Percy had known, she'd known in the depths of her soul that something was wrong.
And all of that had led to where she was now, with Annabeth and Rachel staring at her as if she'd hung the sun in the sky, and that made her heart ache- it was better than the glares and anger, but she was willing to admit that it was painful seeing them looking at her like that.
"Well." Rachel broke the stunned silence, crossing her arms, a smile playing across her lips, "It took you long enough."
"Hey, cut a girl some slac-"
"Let us down!" Octavian yelled, "Let us down! I'll kill you! I knew you were-"
"Do shut up Tavie." Percy waved a hand dismissively, and the hands yanked the three Romans beneath the water, if only to shut up Octavian.
"Uh-" Hazel eyed the water wearily, "As much as I honestly wouldn't blame you- you're not gonna drown all of them are you?"
"No." Percy gave Hazel a grin, "Mores the pity. They're in an air bubble down there, once it pops they'll be able to swim to the surface." Percy shoved her hands into her pockets, tilting her head, "Now, we should probably get out of here." she held out her hands, expanding the platform of water- and she had to swallow hard when Rachel and Annabeth grabbed her hands and let her pull them onto it- though Hazel and Piper had clearly decided to leave the trip on their own as they were running up the dock to the ship- which in Percy's humble opinion was boring.
"Go on then Seaweed Brain." Annabeth's smile was slightly tight but genuine, "Get us back to our ship."
"Of course." Percy nodded, willing the platform of water to move even as Annabeth took back her dagger and Rachel scooped up her knives- and honestly Percy was impressed as the red haired girl started putting them away, hiding them in different sheaths all over- it was also scary how well hidden they were and how many she had.
In any case Percy pushed away those thoughts, though she did tilt her head slightly, "Why did you toss them in the water?"
"It was Rachel." Annabeth admitted, "She went all blank for a minute and then suddenly she just snatched my dagger and tossed it in and started to toss her knives in."
"But neither of you could have known I was down there. I took a dip after talking with Luke cause I needed to de-stress."
Rachel gave a small shrug at that, strapping the last knife to her upper arm, "I just knew." she said simply, "I just- I knew that it was our best chance of getting out of there."
"Was it like your dreams?"
"No." Rachel shook her head, "It was a gut feeling more than anything else." she admitted, "But hey, I mean it worked out for the best right?"
"Right." Percy stared at her ex for a long minute. It was definitely very odd. The dreams were strange enough, but this was more than even that. Rachel had some sort of link to the future- she let out a soft snort, Rachel would make a better Augur than Octavia- Percy paused, her thoughts metaphorically running into a brick wall.
Camp Jupiter had legacies. They had children descended from the gods, not just demigods. Octavian was one of those legacies, a legacy of Apollo. And he probably did have some form of power or he'd have never been made augur but... Percy eyed Rachel as they reached the Argo II and she and Annabeth jumped off of the platform, Annabeth grabbing Rachel's arm to steady her.
Maybe she could ask Will about it. Sure Octavian looked like a washed out skinny anaemic version of Apollo- with anything that made him attractive taken out. But not all legacies would so strongly resemble their godly ancestor- and- Ariadne had been considered a clear sighted mortal but technically she'd been a legacy hadn't she? The daughter of Minos, who was a son of Zeus.
It would explain a lot wouldn't it? Percy bit her lip as she jumped down from her platform of water. Now wasn't the time to bring it up. She'd mention it to Will later.
Her feet hit the deck and she took a deep breath, "What now you two? What do you need?"
"Piper and Hazel have probably gone to tell the others what's going on." Annabeth's expression was serious- it was her thinking expression, her brows were furrowed just slightly. "Rachel, can you go tell them to Iris message the Jason and the others in case they haven't thought of it? Percy, I need your help, we need to get this ship to Fort Sumter."
Percy gave a small nod, sprinting towards the mast as Annabeth rushed to the helm-and together they took control of the ship and Percy focused on her powers- the ship responding to her desire- ropes flew on their own, releasing the dock ties, weighing the anchor as the sails unfurled and caught the wind, and Percy could feel as Annabeth managed to get the engine fired up, the oars sliding out with a sound like machine-gun fire, and slowly but surely the Argo II turned from the dock, heading towards the island in the distance.
There were three eagles circling overhead, but they made no attempt to land on the ship, probably because Festus the figurehead blew fire whenever they got close. More eagles were flying in formation toward Fort Sumter—at least a dozen. If each of them carried a Roman demigod…that was a lot of enemies but Percy was confident that they could handle them- even if Jason, Frank and Leo didn't make it back, after all they still had four big three kids, as well as Will, Piper, Ethan, Luke, Annabeth, Grover and Coach Hedge. Yeah, they'd be able to handle it.
And as they sailed towards the island there was sound from the stairs- Luke and Grover emerged first, Luke almost falling over his own feet, "PERCY! Percy are you-"
"I'm fine." Percy said quickly, "Everything is gonna be fine we're just heading to Fort Sumter where we're probably gonna have to fight some Romans." and as she spoke the others tumbled out onto the deck, Grover grabbing Coach Hedge before he could start waving his bat around wildly.
Piper was the last to reach the deck, her face pale.
"I managed to get through, it was kind of fuzzy but they're on their way." she said quickly. "He should be- oh there!" She pointed up into the sky.
Soaring over the city, heading in their direction, was a giant bald eagle, unlike the golden Roman birds.
"Frank!" Hazel said.
Leo was holding on to the eagle's feet, and even from the ship Percy could hear her baby brother screaming and swearing. Percy snickered. "Mom would not be happy if she could hear him."
"I wish I had my phone on me right now." Nico's expression was almost evil "It'd be funny to film him."
"We're under attack and that's where your mind goes?" Hazel's voice was incredulous and Nico shrugged.
"What can I say, Leo is my brother it's my job to lightly torment him for the rest of both of our lives."
"Yes boys but now we need to focus." Luke's smile was soft as he reached out to ruffle Nico's hair, much to Nico's annoyance.
"Bet Leo wishes Jason was carrying him." Piper snickered- and Percy nodded as she spotted Jason behind Frank and Leo, riding the wind.
"I've never seen Jason fly before. Is it just me or does he kinda look like a blond superman-"
"Yes." Piper spoke quickly, "Very much yes- oh god!" She clasped a hand over her mouth, and Percy heard Thalia let out a cry too as the Roman flying chariot had descended from a cloud dove straight toward them. Jason and Frank veered out of the way, pulling up to avoid getting trampled by the pegasi. The charioteers fired their bows. Arrows whistled under Leo's feet, which led to more screaming and cursing. Jason and Frank were forced to overshoot the Argo II and fly toward Fort Sumter.
"I'll get 'em!" yelled Coach Hedge.
He spun the port ballista. Before Annabeth could yell, "Don't be stupid!" Hedge fired. A flaming spear rocketed toward the chariot.
It exploded over the heads of the pegasi and threw them into a panic. Unfortunately it also singed Frank's wings and sent him spiralling out of control. Leo slipped from his grasp, which made Percy scream and Luke grabbed her as her legs nearly gave out from the horror.
The chariot shot toward Fort Sumter, slamming into Jason.
Percy watched in horror as Jason—obviously dazed and in pain—lunged for Leo, caught him, then struggled to gain altitude. He only managed to slow their fall. They disappeared behind the ramparts of the fort. Frank tumbled after them. Then the chariot dropped somewhere inside and hit with a bone-shattering CRACK! One broken wheel spun into the air.
"Coach!" Piper screamed.
"What?" Hedge demanded. "That was just a warning shot!"
"GET BELOW DECK!" Grover almost roared the words at Coach- and the Satyr reeled backwards, a stunned look on his face before he rushed below deck as Annabeth gunned the engines. The hull shuddered as they picked up speed. The docks of the island were only a hundred yards away now, but a dozen more eagles were soaring overhead, each carrying a Roman demigod in its claws.
That was not good, the odds were getting worse and worse- but Percy had dealt with worse.
"Percy," Annabeth said, "we're going to come in hard. I need you to control the water so we don't smash into the docks. Once we're there, you're going to have to hold off the attackers. The rest of you help her guard the shi-"
"No." Percy's voice was a growl.
"What?"
"I am coming with you." Percy ground out, "Leo and Frank are in there I am coming with you-"
"But you're the best with water-"
"We can handle things here." Nico spoke quickly.
"Yeah." Hazel nodded, "We have three big three kids just for a start." she agreed.
"Percy." Thalia's expression was grim, "You find my brother too. You look after them."
"I will." Percy gave a firm nod, "And you guys take care of the ship."
"I don't like this." Luke's voice was tight, "We only just-"
Percy darted towards him, kissing his cheek, "We'll be fine." and she could see Rachel hugging Annabeth tightly before Annabeth pulled away and focused on Percy.
"Just like old times eh Percy?"
"Just like old times." Percy found herself smiling back at the other girl.