Ariadne was trying out the cheeses that Circe had let out for them as Annabeth haggled with the woman. Percy and the other boys had been smart enough to stay on the boat as Circe was still a little trigger happy when it came to the male species.
She walked around calmly as she waited on Annie and Drew to finish enjoying the specials that the resort was offering. She stretched casually as she looked over the "fair-priced" boats that were being auctioned. Ariadne looked up when she felt someone come to stand beside her, relaxing as she realized that it was just her brother.
Percy took one of the cheeses from her plate as he leaned against the railing, "You know being here now… makes me wonder how I forgot about this place. I knew I was forgetting something." Ariadne shrugged, eyeing the Queen Anne's Revenge and wondering if she should give it to Clarisse for her birthday. She looked back at her brother, smacking his hand away from her plate, "I didn't. It just wasn't my main focus." She then tilted her head to the side, "What's that sound?"
The two of them turn at the sight of Drew riding on the back of a chariot pelting other women in the face with cantaloupes. Drew still had on a face mask as she yelled out threats, power coating every syllable.
The twins stared before turning away. Percy gave her a look, "That's your daughter." Ariadne snorted, looking at the placement of the sun, "From two to three on Saturdays, she's Palphian's daughter." She ate another piece of cheese.
They looked up again when they witnessed Annie falling back through the halls… sword fighting. They stared once more. "You're not even a guinea pig," she muttered as Annie snatched a tray out of one of the handmaidens' hands and slammed it down onto a pirates' head. Percy groaned, "She's leaving herself wide open. Annabeth's going to make me, her, and the rest of the kids run through dozens of drills."
He winced when Annie tripped a pirate and he went flying through the air only to land on his precious jewels. But Ariadne wasn't paying attention to that. She was eyeing the handmaiden that grabbed a broken chair leg and was defending herself wonderfully against one of the pirates. The others were screaming and trying to use magick but this one— this one was engaging them in a fight. She doesn't think she had ever seen a fighting style like that before.
Annabeth walked out of the backroom with Circe annoyed as the pirates continued to wreck havoc. Circe was rubbing her temples as she muttered about this is why men are worthless. Thousands of dollars worth of equipment destroyed in seconds.
Ariadne turned around, "Drew, Annie. Here now. " The girls appeared at their side almost instantly, pouting as Percy waved his hand casually through the air. The pirates flew and slammed into the walls,held up by bands of water wrapping around their waists.
Annabeth sighed, "Sorry about this Circe." The woman waved her off, eyeing Percy suspiciously. "No, this one was on me. I forgot that you were with child and that the arctic seeds bring forth morning sickness for those carrying the ocean's offspring."
Ariadne grimaced. The other had told them she had only found out she was pregnant three days before. If morning sickness came so quickly when she was only carrying a child of sea, Ariadne did not want to see what it would be like for a being of the sea to be pregnant.
"Still," Percy stated as he brought the pirates together in a pile. "We should at least pay for the damages." Ariadne looked at him sharply. He was acting as if he were the one that does the paperwork and accounting for Castellan monthly finances. Percy rolled his eyes at her, "I do have my own funds as the Lord of the Yellow Sea. You can just bill me and I'll pay for any damages."
Circe looked at Annabeth who nodded her head in agreement, "Very well. Hylla, Kina… find some binds to secure these ingrates. Lacey, Mirabel, please put together some supply bags to send our guests on their way."
Ariadne eyed the handmaiden from earlier. The one Circe called Hylla. She wondered what her story was and how she ended up here. She wondered if she would be able to convince her to come to Castellan and train.
Circe turned back to them, conjuring a wipe as she turned to Drew. "It's not good to leave that on too long." The demigoddess looked at her mother who nodded her head as she brought out her checkbook. "How much is Blackbeard's ship going for? Can I put in a back order?"
Percy was quiet as they ended on the new ship which quickly caught up to Clarisse's own. Lord Ares was on the ship quizzing her on the best takedowns for any monsters and asking what her game plan was to get between Scylla and Charybdis.
Ariadne was down in the ship's kitchen with Krokus fixing some weird kelp and algae drink for Lady Beth to drink for her sickness. Percy was kind of excited if he was being honest. Ares had summoned some steel chains at his namesake's request. They were going to let them listen to the sirens' song as they passed through.
It was interesting since Clarisse agreed to join them even though she doesn't really care that much for them. Though that has more to do with the fact that the kids at the camp don't really like them. They blame Castellan's entire existence as the reason for war.
He remembered it quite clearly when a group of Annie and Clarisse's siblings tried to stuff his head in a toilet which he then exploded all over them. The cabins had it out for him ever since which made Capture the Flag a death match whenever they managed to join and play.
(At least Cabin Eleven were a little bit more welcoming and happily took them on whenever they did play. Which actually would be apart of the reason that Cabin 5 and 6 hated him still since they tended to lose when they played against him and the others.)
He could tell by the way the others tensed that the song was beginn—
It was frustrating to watch the kids struggle against their bindings and being able to do anything to help them. Having to consistently tighten the chains around them as they struggled to escape nearly brought tears to his own eyes.
Annabeth and Ariadne and Krokus were digging their nails into their skin, drawing blood as they forced themselves to stay back. Ares moved quickly wrapping a bind around Drew's face as she pleaded loud and clear and her charmspeak began to wash over them.
His sister turned away sharply, escaping back to the lower levels of the ship. Annabeth came to stand at his side and gripped his hand tightly, "I wonder what she is seeing. You know she's me but she's also not me. She didn't live my life. What are they showing her?"
"I wish I could tell you," he murmured. Pressing a kiss to the side of her head, he looked back at the kids before turning back to her, "You know… back when this happened for us, I grabbed your leg and I was able to see what you saw. Maybe you can do the same for her."
Annabeth shook her head though, "No. That's–that's something only she needs to see." Percy agreed even as Jackjack squirmed more earnestly. He was starting to think they shouldn't have let them do it.
Percy couldn't look at his siblings.
He knew that the twins were worried about what he saw. He could see it in their expressions, but he couldn't face them. When they finally sailed out the range of the sirens, he and the others had been untied. And he shied away from their touches.
They hadn't been able to school their expressions quick enough for him to not see the hurt clouding their features…. Features that looked identical to his. Features that were his. Things started to slot into place as he contemplated everything the song had shown him.
"The sea knows all," a voice sang throughout the song. He had been trapped in his own mind watching as the twins grew into a life he once lived. He didn't think he would be able to look at Luke the same way.
He didn't think he could look at his mom the same way.
(And that hurt more than the phantom punches he could feel from whomever Smelly Gabe was.)
He felt so frustrated with his namesake?/himself? … how could he be so blind to the things going around him? And yet, he understood it so much. He felt like he was drowning under all the pressure that he was thrown under.
He understood the twins a lot better now, but he just didn't understand…. Why didn't they tell him? Why did this have to happen?
And he was even more angry that the stupid song hadn't even shown him everything. Everything up until the moment that he let Annabeth (surprise surprise she's actually Lady Beth and not the annoying girl he saw as his best friend and thought she was his one-month older nagging sister) listen to the sirens while still armed to watching as Ariadne nearly died as a boat exploded and then it flashed through interactions with Ariadne and his mother and watching them break apart until it ended with him having a sword in his stomach, Luke's face with weird golden eyes glaring down at him before moving even further to them waking up into the grove (which now he remembers they couldn't even enter the caves as that had been forbidden early on).
He never wanted to do that ever again. Being trapped in his own body in another timeline unable to do anything…. Unable to help. He felt like he was going mad watching his friends…. The ones he hasn't met yet and the ones he already have consistently die for him… for them over and over again.
He never knew how scary they were until he caught a glimpse of their power. Seeing Lady Thalia scream in frustration as arcs of lightning explode out of her in rage; scarring everyone within a five-mile radius of her. Staring wide eyed as nothing was left but ashes and Lichtenbergs in the ground. Seeing Lady Katie's turn a battle scarred barren wasteland into her very own jungle where only she made the rules. He would never be able to look at a kitten or a venus flytrap the same way.
He could never look at them the same; not when he saw Lord Nico's shadows engulf a man leaving nothing but his skeleton behind that he then used to play baseball with someone else's skull. Not when he saw Lord Will casually tap someone on the head, not even watching as their body gained third degree burns before withering away.
He saw his namesake bring amongst a storm that not even the gods dared to approach. Not when emotions were so high. Not when he was ripping the earth apart like Goku from the anime that Ariadne watched to "learn a different language".
He felt like he could throw up at that very moment. He didn't know what to believe. What was the truth?
He couldn't even look at them.
Yet, Percy looked at when beef jerky appeared in his line of vision. His gaze trailed upwards until he was looking at Travis. The younger Travis that is.
Gods, this was giving him a headache.
"You look a little stressed," the older boy told him. Percy accepted the jerky as he moved over for him to sit; he leaned his head onto the other's shoulder, "Still recovering from the song, I guess." Travis laughed lightly, "You can't lie to the son of the liar." Percy snorted, "Hermes was never officially named the God of Lies. It's something that mortals gave him because they thought calling him the Divine Trickster was too nice."
Travis tilted his head to smile at him, "Yet I can still tell when someone is lying to me." He passed him another piece of jerky, "It's okay though. I'll pretend to believe you." Percy huffed as Travis tickled his sides, moving away just a little. He looked at him, comparing the way this Travis behaved to Lord Travis.
(He understood why they gave them nicknames and it wasn't just because of the same name thing.)
This one didn't have the same haunted eyes as the other. This one didn't see friends and family die over and over again just because Percy (and Ariadne) had been born.
It wasn't fair.
"You're frowning again," Travis muttered and Percy blinked as he looked back at him. "Oh, I'm sorry." Travis smiled a little, "Do I have something on my face?" Percy shook his head. His smile smoothed out into a smirk, "Pity. I would have preferred it to be your lips."
He could feel the blush rising on his face at those words. Travis snickered before their attention was drawn to the ship slowing to a stop. The waves roared. The light buzzing in the behind his ears that spoke of his control of the sea was ripped away from him. He looked at the others watching as all three of his siblings moved forward.
"What's going on," Clarisse questioned as the three focused on the water in front of them. Lady Beth turned to them, smiling grimly, "To get to the island… we have to sail between a rock and a hard place. Scylla and Charybdis."
That stupid siren song played in his head again; feeling the water lap at his skin as he felt his sister push him further away. Watching as an explosion took her and Tyson away from him. Unable to do anything as she screamed louder than he had ever thought possible, glowing as she was suspended in the air, forcing a broken ship to stay together. Watching in a dazed panic as she sank into the sea and a golden glow being the last thing he saw before he washed upon the island.
"Brace yourselves," Krokus warned. "This is a battle of wills."
"A battle for what," Annabeth (the younger one) questioned. His namesake's voice was grave as he answered, "To determine who truly is the ocean's offspring."