The wind whipped through her hair from the speed of the boat as the Argo II and the rest of the fleet behind her cut through the waves of the Atlantic like butter. She was by herself, having sent the rest of the seven who had wanted to come to back to their various daily activities. She knew this would be a sensitive conversation.
All was silent, and at first it just looked like she was just going to stand there, letting the sun warm the back of her eyelids and the sea spray wet her face, but then she spoke.
"Are you okay, Seaweed Brain?".
There was no response, but Annabeth knew that he was listening. Subtle changes in the current and the waves, differences that you wouldn't notice unless you were looking for them. She continued on.
"I know that must have been difficult for you. I'm proud of you".
The water was calm and flat as glass. Annabeth looked down, and there, at the bottom of the ocean staring back at her with his captivating green eyes was her Seaweed Brain. He was just laying their, on his back on the seafloor, seemingly completely at peace. But Annabeth knew better.
She could see it in his tense posture and the way that his hands occasionally twitched, his battle instincts kicking in as they sensed the turmoil inside of him. He had a small smile on his face, probably just from being in the water at all, and his hair floated gently around his head like a black halo.
She knew he was listening, especially when he looked up at her and blinked twice before grinning up at her and giving her a cheeky wave.
It was quite odd, actually, the way his moods seemed to change so quickly and so suddenly, but Annabeth was slowly growing used to it. She was getting better able to tell when Percy's mood was about to change, getting better at recognising the signs before anything happens.
"Are you okay, Percy?".
His grin dropped from his face, and he turned his head so that it was no longer visible. The water seemed to grow choppier, and she could no longer see anything of him beyond a blurry form at the bottom of the sea.
"Come on, Seaweed Brain. I know you can hear me".
A moment of silence. Then another. Then finally bubbles began to appear in the water just in front of the still moving ship, and Percy appeared.
He was floating along in the same position that he had been in on the bottom of the sea, pulled along and keeping up with the ship with his own personal current.
His eyes were still closed, and both his hands were folded behind his head like he was completely at ease, but Annabeth knew better.
Despite knowing this, she took the hint. He didn't want to talk about it.
That was fine for her for now. But Percy would talk about his feelings. She wouldn't let him just bottle them up inside of him like he always did.
So instead, she began to talk about anything and everything. Her latest design ideas, the Stolls' best prank at camp since he had been gone.
Gratefully, she watched as his muscles began to relax, one by one, until he seemed almost completely at ease, and he opened his eyes.
"Feeling better?", she asked, noticing this.
He gave an almost unnoticeable nod and a smile. Willing the water to his aid, he used it to lift himself up and onto the deck right next to her. She smiled back at him, and they simultaneously rushed forward. One of his arms wrapped around her waist and brought her somehow closer to him, and the other wandered up to her face, cupping her cheek and bringing her face up to his.
The kiss was sweet, and slow and gentle, and basically embodied all things perfect about their relationship, but it soon developed into something more.
It was at that moment, five minutes later that Poseidon decided that it had been too long and left in search of his son and his girlfriend. He rounded the corner of where he thought that they'd be, and walked straight into… a very awkward situation.
He was about to just try and back away without them seeing him when the floorboard underneath his right foot let out a loud creak, and the couple turned around to stare right at him. Immediately their faces bloomed bright red and they broke apart.
"Oh! I'm sorry, I was just— I wanted to come fine you and— You know what I'm just going to go and leave you to… yeah".
He retreated quickly back to the galley where the majority of the crew and major gods were still gathered.
His face, too, was bright red, and it was immediately noticed when he walked into the room. Apollo was bouncing a ball against the wall in his boredom, but sat up with interest once he saw his uncle's state.
"Uncle P! What's got you all worked up?".
Everybody else in the room turned to look at the embarrassed sea god as he plopped down on an empty couch.
"I just went to search for Percy and Annabeth".
None of the gods got what that meant, but the present seven of the quest just stared at him with mirth in their eyes.
"Lord Poseidon, with all due respect, you never go try to find Percy and Annabeth when they're alone together", Piper said smiling.
"Why not?", Athena asked.
Just then, Apollo seemed to get what they were talking about and burst out laughing.
"Once, they went missing and we couldn't find them for breakfast. We couldn't find them for close to two hours. Frank found them in the stables. They claimed they "fell asleep"", Leo said, joining in on the laughter.
Frank himself got red at the memory, and the other gods who finally got what they were talking about joined in on the laughter.
Athena's face went through a series of emotions, finally landing on anger.
"Poseidon! You get you sea-spawn away from my daughter!", she yelled, whipping around to face the sea god.
For his own part, Poseidon had long gotten over the embarrassment, and was now just glad for his son. He smirked at his long-time rival.
"I guess us sea-spawn are just irresistible".
Athena turned red and her whole body seemed to shake with anger. Meanwhile Poseidon's gaze swept around the room until it met his brother Hades.
He winked with a sly smirk, which just confused the lord of the dead.
And yet it brought back memories. Some of the only good memories he had ever shared with any of his siblings. From the moment his little brother had opened his eyes after being swallowed by their father Hades had always felt some sort of strange connection to him.
Maybe he wasn't a lost cause after all.
Hades was brought out of his unusually optimistic thoughts when the talked about couple walked in.
As soon as Percy saw the smirk still on his father's face, he groaned.
"Really dad! You had to tell them all?!".
Another peal of laughter went around the room, and both Annabeth and Percy turned an unhealthy shade of red.
Athena just glared at Percy with all she had, and it felt like somebody was burning a hole through the back of his head with a laser beam.
He chose to ignore her, and after a while of this she huffed to herself and gave up.
Percy was (understandably) in much better spirits now, and he spent the rest of the afternoon in the galley of the ship with the crew and most of the gods playing various games and even just sitting together and talking.
Occasionally Percy would catch somebody looking at him warily when they didn't think he was looking. They were still kind of shaken up from the revelations of earlier that afternoon.
Thankfully, Percy's close friends were already used to his serious mood swings, and had even developed a sort of intolerance to the horrifying stories that he told.
They treated him no differently, and everybody else followed their lead. They were glad to see their old friends beginning to emerge again. The light-heartedness of their journey so far was starting to get to him, and when he smiled it reached his eyes, turning them the beautiful sea green that everybody had come to know and love.
Eventually, though, night came and it was time to sleep. Sadly for him, Annabeth's mother was on the ship, and she was forced to sleep in her own cabin. Percy had volunteered for second watch, and had made Jason promise to wake him up when it was his turn.
The crew was still trying to go easy on him. And even though it was just in small insignificant ways like this, it still annoyed him.
According to Leo, they had entered the old sea a couple of hours ago, but with the happy mood the crew had been in for the better part of the afternoon, Percy had hardly even noticed.
Now he noticed, though. The boat swayed back and forth in the current. Had he been anywhere else, this would have soothed him. But these felt different, almost hostile. And just as he had felt when Percy had been on his quest in the Sea of Monsters all those years ago, he felt completely and utterly lost.
Ad he closed his eyes, a deep sense of foreboding filled him. And as he fell into unconsciousness, he saw why.
A dream was coming into focus. He couldn't tell what it was, but it felt off... different somehow. Though he couldn't quite put his finger on why.
The dream came into focus, and he immediately recognized the scene as one from a one of their first days aboard the Argo II after he had returned about two weeks ago.
He and Annabeth laid together on the floor of the stables of the Argo II. It had become their special place, though they didn't exactly understand why.
Their breathing cane faster than usual, and some slight sweat coated their brows. But they didn't seem to mind. In fact, it was quite the opposite. They were both smiling impossibly broad smiles, and Annabeth seemed to almost glow.
"Gods I missed you", Annabeth said a bit breathily as soon as Percy had broken apart the kiss that had concluded their... activities.
"I missed you too, wise Girl".
He sat back so that his back was against the wall behind him and he was sitting next to Annabeth.
Annabeth snuggled in closer to him, her head resting against his chest and finding comfort in the fast and strong beating of his heart.
"Don't you ever leave me again". She tried to make the words come out forceful and fierce. But her lower lip was shaking, and her head was partially buried in his shirt.
Personally, Percy thought that it was the most adorable thing that he'd ever seen in his life. But he'd never say that to her.
"I wouldn't dream of it, Wise Girl".
The scene changed, and Percy found himself in another memory, though this one was not so pleasant.
The horrors of the now familiar nightmare vision that Moros had shown him of Annabeth's supposed fate played behind his eyes, and he once again found that he was unable to do anything but watch as it happened.
Suddenly, the dream strayed from the norm, and a sound pierced the air around them.
It was a foreign sound, one that Percy didn't immediately recognize. Once he did, his blood ran cold, and he stared up at Annabeth, or more accurately, her stomach, with double the horror as before.
The dream flashed between this scene and the scene in the stables, all the while the sound of a baby crying in the background making Percy's blood run cold.
The dream continued to show him his new, changed path, and what he saw was even more horrifying.
The giant that had Annabeth in his grasp held her up high, just as he had before. And just as he had before, he raised the huge knife up towards her struggling body.
But this time, instead of slitting her throat, he plunged the knife deep into her stomach. Eliciting a scream that was filled with both physical and emotional pain.
"No! No, please, NO!", she sobbed as the blood poured from her body. Her words weakened the more she said and the more blood was spilled, until, at last, she hung completely limp.
A deep, feminine laugh echoed up from the very ground around him, and it was all Percy could do to keep from screaming at seeing the love of his life murdered... again.
"One death and yet two lives lost. How does it feel, Perseus to watch both the lives of your love and your unborn child end while you stood and did nothing?".
The words rattled around in his brain and tears streamed down his face. There was no doubt in his mind what Gaea had meant by her words. She obviously meant to say more, but before she could, he was nudged awake.
"Percy? You okay, bro? It's your shift".
Jason was standing above him and looking down at him with concerned eyes.
Percy reached up and felt the moisture on his cheeks, realizing that he had been crying in real life as well.
Embarrassed, he reached up and wiped it away before standing up and taking Riptide out of his pocket.
Jason and he walked out the door of Percy's cabin. Jason turned left and he turned right. Percy was glad as he saw his friend walk into his cabin and shut the door behind him. He had been working hard and deserved some rest.
Percy walked up the stairs and onto the deck to meet Hazel and Nico who were both on guard with him.
It was still the middle of the night when he reached the deck. Sea spray reached his face, but the water of the old sea provided no comfort.
The two half siblings of Hades were already there and engaged in their own soft conversation, so he drifted over to the railing of the ship and peered our over the moonlit water.
Far in the distance, so far he almost couldn't see it, but unfortunately it was there nonetheless.
A blurry blob he identified as land appeared on the horizon and got larger as they grew closer.
The sense of foreboding in the pit of Percy's stomach grew stronger, and a shiver ran down his spine.
They had arrived. By this time tomorrow, Olympus would either be saved or destroyed, and it all depended on what they did in the next 12 hours.
But no pressured right?