A/N: I own nothing but plot. Enjoy!
When Annabeth woke up, she wasn't sure she was alive for a moment. Above her floated a large blue-silver tuna, its eyes looking almost curiously at her. Could tuna fly in heaven? Then she tried to sit up and realized she was underwater.
Annabeth's first thought was to worry about how to breathe. But the cold water she expected to rush into her nose was not there. Strange. She could feel the cool seawater move out of the way whenever she moved a limb, but she did not feel the wetness associated with water itself. Somehow there was a layer of air around her, and she did not find anything constricting to her means. Annabeth couldn't even feel any pressure from the seawater exerting above her.
"The gods…"
She must have somehow made it to the realm of the gods! Annabeth admitted that there was some part of her that did not quite believe in the gods, for how else did her prayers and the prayers of Pegai for rain go unanswered for so long? However, there was no other place that could be as magical as her surroundings was.
As if seeing that she was awake, the large tuna above her swam a circle around her and then swam away. Annabeth pushed herself up from the sandy ocean floor and took in her surroundings.
She had somehow landed in the middle of some underwater palace. Poseidon's perhaps? A large temple, taller than anything she had ever seen stood in the middle of this palace. Other gray buildings constructed from slabs as if hewn straight from the seafloor and still containing shells and coral stood imposing nearby. Pavilions were lit up from glowing pearls the size of her head, allowing light to filter through the water. Paths were strewn with glowing abalone shells and strange sea flowers grew in neat flower beds. The whole place seemed to be bigger than Pegai itself.
No scroll in the library, nor could Annabeth's own words, could ever depict the majestic sight of what she was beholding before her. The only thing wrong was that there were no other creatures here aside from the large tuna that she had seen. The palace seemed cold and empty.
But soon the tuna came back. It circled playfully around Annabeth and then swam away. Annabeth could have sworn that the tuna looked behind its shoulder to try to get her to follow. There was no one else here, so Annabeth pushed herself forward to follow.
The tuna swam at a speed just enough for Annabeth to keep it within sight. They passed by a garden constructed out of unique formations of coral and statues of merpeople and sea creatures.
At the very center of the garden, a statue caught her eye. The gray sea rock formed a human, a sword in his hand and a shield in the other. He seemed familiar to Annabeth, but she couldn't quite place her finger on where.
But the tuna was moving further away.
"Wait up!" She called out. In return, the tuna wiggled its tail but continued to move on.
Annabeth followed the tuna out of the gates, but the swim was long and she was still tired from lack of water and food. Outside the palace was darker, with rockier seafloor and high forests of seaweed. Annabeth had to swim faster to catch up.
Suddenly, the tuna darted and propelled off deeper into the sea. With a flick of its tail, the fish disappeared into a mass of green seaweed.
"Hold on!"
But it was too late. Annabeth frowned. She was now in the middle of this seaweed forest. Fortunately, she still remembered roughly what direction the palace was. She started the slower process of swimming back the direction she came from. Her energy had been quite depleted by the swim.
"Well, what do we have here? A little maid who lost her way?"
The bundle of seaweed she was pushing away in her hand suddenly had a mind of its own. The tendrils of tough green material wrapped around her hand. Others coiled around her ankles like rope, binding her where she floated. Annabeth managed to twist around and froze.
After seeing the amphisbaena and the mysteriously beautiful underwater palace, Annabeth found she still had room for surprise. The owner of the voice had unique anatomy. The top part of him was a handsome man but his bottom had two fish-tails. His eyes were proud and bright green, uncommonly so. Annabeth knew who he was from the stories told of the sea.
Triton. Son of Poseidon and heir to the Seas. Beside him were two dolphin attendants wearing bronze armor.
"Do not worry, fair little nymph." Triton inspected her. "The mortals send one in a different form this time, I see. You are quite a beautiful lady, with such golden curls. I do relish a different look. One gets tired of the same appearance every time, you know? But your current attire is quite...unique."
"Release me immediately, you fiend!" Annabeth felt herself blush. She had forgotten she had cut her chiton. The cloth now barely covered her torso and top of her thighs. "Don't come closer!" Annabeth struggled to get the seaweed bindings off with her free hand, but the seaweed was tight, and the struggle was loosening the pieces of chiton.
Triton looked amused as he ventured closer. "You are quite brave for calling a god a 'fiend'. Other less forgiving gods than I would have blasted you into a hundred jellyfish for smaller insults." Then his expression changed as he saw her eyes. "Your eyes…they are gray."
"And what of it?" Annabeth managed to loosen the seaweed on her wrist.
Triton tensed as he studied her more closely. "A spawn of Athena. I should have known, but the seas taint your scent. No wonder you are different from the others."
"What are you even talking about?"
A trident materialized from Triton's hand. "Speak, spy. Why have you come within our realm, to instigate a war again? Haven't you spawn and followers of Athena done enough harm?" The sharp trident tip turned towards Annabeth's neck.
"No!" She cried out, tears of frustration rising. "I don't even know what you are talking about!" Annabeth swung her arms outward in an attempt to swim away, but there was still seaweed wrapped around her ankles. In her haste, her chiton began to slip more off of her shoulders. It was also getting harder to breathe, now that she was in a panic.
The two-tailed sea god drifted forward. "I can easily take away your blessing to breathe underwater if you do not speak your intentions."
"I truly have no nefarious intentions! I fell here by accident after being sent as a sacrifice!"
Triton did not look like he believed her words and pressed his trident forward. She could feel the bronze tipped trident touch her neck.
Annabeth prepared to use the dagger hidden in the confines of her clothing. It was blasphemous to stab a god, she knew, but there was now a painful prick on her neck.
"Brother."
Someone else had come. A white cloth flashed before her, and suddenly Annabeth was wrapped up in white cloth, just in time as the pieces of her chiton fell.
"Be still and you will have a chance to live." The words were whispered into her ear. "Let go of the dagger before you can be charged with the crime of stabbing a god."
Annabeth looked up at the person who was currently holding her in his arms. In truth, while the position looked intimate from the outside, the man was pinning her arms to her sides to prevent her from making another move while fresh seaweed ropes bound her hands and ankles. Like Triton, the newcomer had dark black hair and green eyes, though equally guarded as they were. His bottom half was human, though. It was the man from the statue.
Brother, Triton had called this man. Annabeth could sense the same godliness exuding from this man. Her senses were still on high alert.
"Perseus." Triton frowned, but he moved away his weapon. "Why do you protect the offspring of Athena? She could be an agent sent to surveil our realm for nefarious purposes!"
"She is not much of a spy. Athena would not be a goddess of wisdom were she to send a child of hers directly into a realm where they are surrounded by all sides of water."
"Please. I implore you, what is going on?" Annabeth murmured.
She had no energy to struggle anymore as her mind grew dizzy and her lungs gasped for air. The man's face who held her became a fuzzy image. The fatigue of the day's events and the waning of her adrenaline had caught up as she slipped into unconsciousness.
Percy held the limp woman in his arms, replenishing a blessing that allowed her to breathe underwater. She had most likely fainted from the lack of oxygen as the spell wore off. Yet, who had given her that blessing to survive under the seas in the first place?
"Ione, Doris, take her back to my palace and give her what she needs. Sustenance, clothing, medicine."
The two Nereids stepped in and took away the fainted woman.
"Perseus, this is a matter of the most importance." Triton protested. "An agent of Athena trespassing in our realm?"
"I recognize that. However, I heard you say earlier that others have come before. I know that I am not often in the seas, but I have not heard of you taking humans as consorts." Percy said calmly.
Triton's tails lashed in agitation. "That matters not right now."
"Once the woman wakes, I will bring her to Father to discuss her parentage and her entrance to our realm. However, judging by her reaction, it seems that she herself does not know of her own lineage."
"Tch. A likely story."
"Regardless, she first fell into my palace, and therefore she will be my responsibility."
"No, she wasn't supposed to fall there in the first place! I don't know how she got away from the whirlpool-"
Percy lifted an eyebrow. "Oh?"
"I–" Triton closed his mouth.
Percy pieced things together quickly in his mind. "Have you been deliberately luring all the pharmakos towards your territory, brother?"
Triton glared at Percy with a baleful gaze. "Never mind," Triton muttered. "Just make sure she doesn't escape. It would be an embarrassment."
"You have no need to worry about that. The only embarrassment would be the one who let her escape from your enchantment in the first place."
"I didn't let her escape-" Triton was about to protest more, but a shark swam up to his side. Lady Amphitrite requires your presence, Lord Triton.
"Fine, tell Mother I will be right there." With one last look at Percy, Triton strode off.
Percy watched him leave. "Come out of the seaweed now, before I turn you into shark fodder."
My lord. A nervous tuna emerged from its hiding place.
"What were you doing in my palace?"
I apologize, my lord! Lord Triton asked me to retrieve the women who come from above the surface, but I did not expect this one to fall in your palace. Please forgive my transgressions!
"How many others?"
The tuna shivered. I-I do not recall as I was only tasked with this one duty recently, but I heard from my predecessors that one woman would appear every decade or so. Maybe this one is the ninth or tenth?
Percy studied the tuna. It was telling the truth. "And what of the women that you've retrieved? What happened to them?"
They are f-fine, my lord. Lord Triton treats them well.
Classic. Gods playing with the fate of mortals until they were tired of their playthings. Percy suddenly felt a sense of tiredness wash over him.
"Fine. If I ever catch you in my palace again, not even my brother can save you. Understand?"
The tuna bobbed its head up and down. Y-yes, my lord! I will never do it again, my lord! Thank you for your generosity, Lord!
"Then leave. Do not let me see you again."
The tuna was out of sight in seconds.
When he was sure that no one was around him, Percy took out the dagger that he had taken from the woman. He knew this dagger very well but thought it had been lost to history from the destruction of that battle so many years ago.
The dagger was made of Celestial bronze, around the size of his forearm. The hilt was still leather gripped, and its edge wickedly sharp.
Even all these years and plagued by his dreams, he still remembered just how sharp it was when the hilt was in his hand and the blade pierced through her.
Her death, all their deaths, were still stained as brightly red in his memories as the day her blood had dripped from the blade.
A/N: Why is it with every medium to long length project, my stories get darker lol? Athena once mentioned that Percy's flaw was personal loyalty. To save the people he loved, he would sacrifice the world. Well, I wanted to explore a little of that tension of having to harm, perhaps even have to kill, the people he loved in order to preserve the world. But, heh, not everything is what it seems.
Ta-ta, my lovelies. Thanks for reading as always, and see you all next chapter!