Percy

We descended into the Darkness of the lake. Suddenly, I heard Annabeth saying "stop" followed by a much quieter "no, not now". I stopped our decent and looked at her. She had a panicked expression on her face, so I put my hand out for her to hold, hoping that knowing me here would help, but it didn't seem to. What had even happened to freak her out that much? I looked around and saw the sunlight far above us. That seemed familiar. Suddenly I felt air rushing past me and saw the rocky ledge getting farther and farther away from us. This could not be happening. I had to escape this pit, escape my memories. Where they memories? It felt so real. I focused on one thing: getting up. Slowly, my descent seemed to stop and then reverse, and I saw the sun getting brighter again. Then, I was back in the air bubble below the lake, together with Annabeth. Slowly, the expression of panic disappeared from her face.

"w-what happened?" Annabeth asked in a voice that, for some reason, sounded a bit like mine, but with something else mixed in that I couldn't make out. Probably because of the air pressure or something, like a reverse helium effect. Or maybe it was my imagination. "It's okay" I told her "We were, and obviously still are, in this bubble. I decided to go deeper and you had a flashback or something similar, so I brought us closer to the surface." Annabeth simply nodded. "But remember, you- well, we are safe now." That sentence seemed to really have helped, as Annabeth now relaxed completely. Or at least as relaxed as someone with ADHD and a ten-year-history of their life being in constant danger gets. For a while, we just looked at the water around us.

"They're beautiful, aren't they" Annabeth said. This time, her voice was back to normal. I looked over and saw her pointing at a swarm of fish. "I wonder what's at the bottom of the lake." She said "Wanna go back down?" "Uh, didn't that just give you a flashback like five minutes ago? " Yes, but as long as you leave enough light through, I should be ok." I nodded and started lowering our bubble, while still keeping a thin air column reaching most of the way to the surface, supplying us with enough light. After a while, a few meters deeper than we had gone last time, Annabeth said "stop" again. I instantly stopped, not wanting the situation to repeat. "What is it, are you ok?" I asked, slightly panicking. "Don't worry, I'm ok. It's just, the pressure was getting too high for me. Just go up a meter or two." I nodded and we went back up a bit. "You said you wanted to see the bottom of the lake. Ask and ye shall receive." I moved the bubble closer to shore, where it reached the ground, which was literally just sand and seaweed. The more interesting stuff is way deeper. "Look, it's your brain's extended family." "Very funny, wise girl. Very funny" We stayed underwater for a while longer and I told Annabeth about all the different fish we saw. It felt good to, for once, be the one who knew stuff, even though sometimes, I had to ask the fish for details.

Then, one fish swam up to us and said something I would never have expected, at least not from a fish: "so, you two are a thing now" The fish then explained to me what he was talking about. "Uh, Percy, why are you talking to that fish?" "Well, it's quite an interesting story. Remember when we met the sirens and I made a bubble for us? Well, some of the animals around noticed us and well, he's one of them. And he saw us and asked if we are together now." "I don't know if you can understand me" Annabeth said. "But this should answer your question." This time, I was the one who got a surprise kiss. We stayed like that for a few moments, until I heard a voice shouting: "found them!", followed by a loud splash when someone jumped into the lake. I saw Piper cutting through the light channel a few times, taking a deep breath every time, before she reached our bubble. When she entered it, I waved my hand at her to dry her off. "That looked amazing" Annabeth said. "And this is coming from the girl who's dating the demigod of cool water tricks" "Thanks, I practiced a lot" "how would you practice such a thing?" I asked "As far as I know, underwater air columns don't really appear that often" "they might not appear in this world, but they do in a different world, and that's where I practiced" We looked at her in confusion. What other world was she talking about? Piper answered our unspoken question with one word: "Minecraft"

"Oh, by the way, actually, not btw, it's actually the main reason I'm here: people are looking for you. Well, they have been until I told them I found you." "How'd you find us anyway? Is our bubble that obvious?" "No, it's quite hard to see from the surface. But I found this ability where I can sense people's romantic feelings when I'm somewhere near them. Well, your kiss was like a quasar of love, I could feel it all the way to the cabins. When I felt it, I ran to the lake and saw this straw thing barely visible from the surface and swam down to you. What even is that for?" "When we dived down, the light faded away and that reminded me-" Annabeth stopped, understandably. I also still had problems talking about it; the memories were still too fresh. "I know what you mean, you don't need to say it" Piper assured her. Annabeth continued "It was too dark, so Percy made this Tunnel, to let the light through." "Ok, want to come back up? It's almost time for dinner" "Sure, just one more question: what the Hades is a quasar?" "It's a group of stars in the center of a galaxy that glows very brightly." Piper explained. "Annabeth might have genetic wisdom" she added "but I have Kurzgesagt"

With that question answered, I slowly steered towards shore, rolling up the lake bed. When we reached the shore, the bubble opened and we got out.

So, that was my first Chapter for Percy. What did you think? Also, what was up with Annabeth's voice? Maybe it was just the air pressure. And why didn't she know what happened? Tell me your theories.