Merperson Percy and Owl person Annabeth is probably something others have done before, but this idea wormed its way into my head and refuses to stop bothering me until I got it out onto 'paper'.

So here is my attempt at a Percabeth fic. I hope I did their relationship justice ;w;


"Please?"

"No."

"Pretty please?"

"For the last time, no."

"But you know what I look like!"

Annabeth crossed her arms and deadpanned, "And that is not a good enough reason for me to show you my true form."

The Noctua Owl Princess was standing by the shoreline, mildly amused with the grumbling emanating from the blue tailed merman who was sitting in the surf zone.

His flukes swishing mulishly about, the merman asked, "Is there a rule that says Noctua owls can't randomly show their true forms to others?"

Annabeth cocked an eyebrow, "No, but I prefer not to show you my true form."

Percy pouted, "Because I'm part of the Atlantean pod?"

His sea green eyes pierced into Annabeth's storm grey, and she looked away with a sigh.

"Look, your pod and my clan aren't supposed to get along."

The Atlantean Prince raised an eyebrow, "And why not?"

"Do you really not know?"

Percy shrugged, "Wasn't born when it happened,"

Annabeth shot him an irritated look, "I wasn't born when it happened either. But surely your parents mentioned it to you?"

Percy blushed, rubbing the back of his neck, "Well…they might have mentioned it."

Annabeth waited, finger tapping on her arm.

"Okay, Dad mentioned it, but I don't exactly remember the how."

The Owl Princess sighed, "How are you a prince again?"

Percy huffed, uncurled his tail, and dove underwater, disappearing from sight. Annabeth blinked, startled. She peered into the water, but there was no sign of the merman.

'Wonderful, he's offended.'

Annabeth uncrossed her arms with a sigh, she hoped she had not exacerbated the conflict between her clan and Percy's pod. That was definitely the last thing she needed, not to mention that her mother would be rather displeased once she found out who Annabeth had been seeing during her evening walks.

Lifting her skirt, Annabeth carefully made her way across the beach, heading towards a large piece of driftwood that was partially buried in the sand. She sat upon it, gazing out towards the quiet waters that glinted under the sun. The view of the sea was breathtaking, especially when the sunlight changed the sea's colours.

The Noctua Owl Clan rarely left their forest homes for the domains of others. Thus, Annabeth had spent a good deal of her life within the borders of Noctua territory. At the age of 10, Annabeth began to grow curious about the world beyond Noctua forests, and had wanted to leave her home to explore. Unfortunately, her mother forbade it, saying that she was too young for such ventures.

This irked Annabeth greatly, and she could only content herself with the stories that her elder siblings would bring for her from their royal engagements beyond home. But it was not enough for her, which led to her current and first journey out of home: a diplomatic visit to the nomadic Snow Owl Clan.

When Queen Athena told her the news, Annabeth almost forwent all manner of decorum in the throne hall. After five years of waiting, she could finally leave the safety of her home for a taste of the real world! Although she was told that this trip was meant to test her diplomacy skills – and naturally she would never let her mother down, Annabeth was determined to get her fill of the outside world.

This resulted in Annabeth's evening walks by the shoreline after a day of diplomatic interaction with the Snow Owl royals and officials. Queen Athena had initially opposed her decision to take walks by the coast, but eventually yielded with reluctance to her daughter's stubbornness.

After all, Annabeth had argued, it was terribly rare for Open-Ocean Merfolk to come close to the shore. If she meets any merfolk, they would most likely be from the tropical pods; and even then, they rarely come close to the coast for fear of discovery by humans. She would be just fine.

Finding no loopholes in her daughter's arguments, Queen Athena let her daughter go. Who would have thought that on the first evening of her walk, she would run into the youngest prince of the Atlantean pod?

Annabeth's first instinct had been to leave, but something about Perseus (or Percy, as he insisted on being called) compelled her to stay.

Sighing, Annabeth smoothed out the crinkles in her skirt. The sun was beginning to dip towards the horizon, and she would have to return soon. Just as she was thinking about getting up, a splash from the surf attracted her attention.

'Percy?'

Annabeth rose, gathering her skirt into both hands as she waded back towards the shoreline. The splashes grew in volume, and she saw a blue tail slip beneath the disturbed water before a familiar figure surfaced from below.

"Percy! Where did you-"

"I asked. Apparently, your mom got my brother's daughter killed-"

"That is not how it happened-"

"And now both our families and people don't get along. But that's kinda stupid, right?"

Annabeth stared at Percy blankly.

The merman frowned, "That happened years ago, so it's stupid to keep up with the animosity."

The princess rolled her eyes, "Your head is really filled with seaweed. It's not that simple."

"Isn't it, though?" Percy challenged, "All your mom needs to do is talk to my dad or my brother, and boom, problem solved."

Annabeth sighed, "She did, your father was the one who would not listen. I don't know if my mother ever met your brother, but she spoke to your father, and he refused to hear her out."

She fiddled with the jade bangle on her wrist, "We even found the true culprit of Princess Pallas's death – some stupid soldier from the Eagle clan – but your father refuses to listen still."

Percy curled up his tail and stared at the rippling water that washed over his scales.

"I'm half-human,"

Annabeth blinked, "What?"

"I'm not a full-blooded merman," Percy looked up at the Noctua Owl Princess, "My mom is a human who lives on land. I…wasn't always a prince."

Annabeth was frozen on the spot, a mer-human hybrid?

"…never mind, I'm bumming you out. Here,"

Percy held out his hand, a piece of red coral sat in his palm.

"For me?"

Percy nodded with a smile, "Yeah. You said you've never seen the sea before, I thought…I'd find you something that would remind you of it after you leave."

Annabeth picked up the wet coral from Percy's hand. It was beautiful, quite unlike the usual pearls and seashells that most people would present as gifts from the sea.

"Thank you,"

The merman smiled, then turned away, "I should get going,"

"Wait!"

Percy paused, then turned back to Annabeth, who looked nervous. She walked back to the driftwood and placed the coral on it, then went back to where the Atlantean prince was waiting for her.

"Don't say I never showed you anything, Seaweed Brain."

She sucked in a deep breath, closed her eyes and concentrated. Warmth spread through her body, and Annabeth could feel herself shrinking. Her bones reshaped and rearranged themselves, and feathers began to sprout from her flesh. Soon, Percy found himself looking at a tiny brown bird speckled with white standing on the beach.

The merman flipped his tail and landed closer to the bird, pillowing himself with his arms as he studied the land creature in awe.

"You look grumpy,"

He grinned and quickly pulled back when the owl jumped at him, hissing angrily with its wings spread.

"Okay, okay, sorry. It's just…your face shape makes you look like you're frowning."

The owl hissed once more before folding her wings. She tilted her head, staring at Percy with those big, yellow eyes. Percy observed the owl for a little while longer, taking in the all the little details before reaching out slowly, "May I?"

Annabeth did not move, simply staring unblinkingly at him. So, Percy took that as a yes, and carefully stroked the head feathers a few times.

"Beautiful," He murmured, before drawing his hand back.

Annabeth stared at him, then turned around and bounded up into the air, spread her wings for a quick glide, and landed on the driftwood, before shifting back into human form, her cheeks tinged with red.

Percy blinked, "Did I…do something wrong?"

"Do you say that to every girl you meet?"

"Huh? I was talking about your feathers, the shades are beautiful. You don't see those colours underwater; or rather, they look a lot more different because of the light."

Annabeth huffed and scooped up the red coral, "You're insufferable, Prince Perseus," she said before hurrying away, leaving a very confused merman behind.


Haven't written PJO stuff in a long while! Below are the links to some references I used (just add in the missing bit and remove the spaces):

Annabeth's Owl Clan: : / / en . wikipedia wiki / Little _ owl

Merfolk References: : / / mermaidscorner . weebly sub-species-of-mermaids-tail-examples-and-anatomy . html

-Ninniacthel