Warning! Unbeta'ed and a very rough copy! Will be edited when I have time.

Nico didn't know how but he managed to stay on his feet long enough todrag the sea boy to the deck of his ship and order whatever skeletons were left to weigh anchor and get away from the island fast. They had to get out of there before the Navy or some form of authority showed up. Or, more monsters. Which, in Nico's condition, would probably kill him. He had barely managed to stumble through the galley and get inside his cabin before he completely collapsed onto the floor. Nico was exhausted fighting that creature, and using those tricks. He could barely stand after he did it once, let alone twice.

In the darkness of unconsciousness, Nico dreamed. Nico remembered a time when his dreams were peaceful, a time when they weren't plagued with terrible visions. That time was obviously long since passed.
Nico dreamt he was standing on top of a cliff. Looking down, the cliff face was unusually smooth and would be impossible climb. Nico looked around, a dense forest, alive with trees, streams and animals below and behind him. The sky peeked out behind clouds stained gold by the Sun. Nico faintly smelt smoke.

A rapid whump whump whump rumbled from the forest. Frightened birds took to the sky in one ginormous flock. Nico spied treetops disappearing with every whump, just as if something was knocking them down.
In the trees, running towards him, he could make out figures, although it was hard to see them, even when they were moving. Their faces were hidden by hoods, clothes blended into the wilderness. The only way for Nico to follow them was the silver glow that radiated from each one. Whether they were running from or to something, Nico couldn't tell.

The one lagging behind broke off from the group. Rolling to evade a spear, her hood fell and she didn't have time to right it before she sprinted off again. Suddenly, Nico realised that all these figures were girls.
She was young, twelve years old at best but Nico couldn't help but think she was older, the way her eyes flashed as silvery yellow as the moon. She readied her bow, glancing back, hunting for her target. Her auburn hair was falling out of the intricate braid that hung down her back, the circlet that sat atop her head was askew. She spun on her heel and fired. Something whimpered in pain. The girl didn't stop long enough to what.

"Run!" She screamed, "Lieutenant, lead them!"
The Lieutenant, the girl at the front didn't alter her course. Nico wanted to warn them, he wanted to tell them that they were being run into a trap but no-one could hear him. As he predicted, the Lieutenant, just barely managed to stop short of running off the cliff. The other girls skidded to a stop.
"What do we do?" One girl choked out in between breaths. They all looked at the first girl, the leader, Nico presumed. She clearly was not expecting this. Her brow was knitted into a scowl. He could see her mind working to figure out a way out. As her scowl deepened, she reached back for another arrow.
"We stand." She decided, "If we can hold until the moon appears, I'll regain my strength."
The Lieutenant's bright blue eyes peered in the direction they came.
"Hunters- Weapons!" she ordered.
The hunters all fanned out, drawing their bows, arrows. They took their deadly aim.

The snarling became louder. Out of the forest emerged tens of hounds. Not just regular hounds. They were hounds the same size as a pony, with pointed teeth and mean yellow eyes. All of the hounds had a scrap of leather around their necks. It didn't matter to them that they were under fire. The hounds continued to charge at the girls with wicked speed. At first, the hunters were the ones with the advantage. The hounds need to be close enough to attack. The hunters simply plucked them off with arrows. It was getting harder as they began to run out of arrows. One by one, the hunters abandoned their bows and unsheathed their daggers, cutting, hacking and slashing the beasts. The hounds, however, just kept on rushing. A hound pounced on a hunter. She struggle with it before its massive paw bored down on her throat and ripped it out.
The Leader cursed a familiar language. They couldn't possibly keep it up.

As if realising this, one girl broke rank. She glowed differently from the others, not brighter or duller, actually, Nico thought she felt friendly, safe. The hounds snarled, sensing easy prey. She moved swiftly and silently, like a shadow. She slashed open three, four, five hounds.
'Was she making a dash for it?' Nico thought.
She fell at the beginning of the cliff, her fists slamming against the ground. There was a horrible scraping and crackling, like lightning. A fracture appeared in the ground. With great effort, she pushed the fracture deeper.
The hounds raced at her, but the ground sank underfoot, halting them in their tracks.
The leader's eyes were widened with worry, "Stop!" She cried, "You'll kill yourself!"
The girl didn't seem to care, she curled her hands tighter and pushed against the air. The cliff wasn't so stable anymore, the ground quivered under Nico's feet. Nico mentally reminded himself that he was dreaming. The crouching girl howled. The ground gave away. The cliff broke.
Nico and the girls plummeted down the side of the cliff. They were all wailing in panic, even Nico. He slipped and fell off the cliff piece, crashing down to the forest below-

_
It was night when Nico came to again. His body protested with every motion he made. Gradually, he sat up, bones creaking, muscles burning. He rubbed his face, tracing the imprints the floor had left against his cheek. His sword was jamming into his thigh. Nico managed to get the boy off the floor and set him in his bunk. It wasn't like Nico ever slept in it anyway.

Nico undertook the motions of captaining a ship and pleasantly found that everything was in order. Every sail was in the right position, only a few vital skeletons lurking about. He made his way to the helm, waving away the helmskeleton. The skeletons had done what he wanted and gotten them away from the island. Unfortunately, they had done their job too well. Even with his spyglass, he couldn't find any land. Coupled with the fact he had absolutely no idea where he was going and his map was in his cabin, Nico didn't have any qualms with the current course. Sure, it would only take Nico a few moments to go get the map but the sea boy was still passed out in the cabin. He didn't care about waking the boy. He just didn't want to look at the sea boy too long.

Instead, he wanted to avoid thinking about what had happened during the fight. Nico hadn't completely understood what he'd just fought, or why. When he first 'commandeered'the ship, the odd man that had helped him mentioned the cost of controlling the vessel.
"Reclaimed from the depth and blessed by one that does not bless well." Even remembering the man's hoarse, icy tone, the way he limped shrouded in a black cloak, made Nico shiver.
"Such a ship has strange qualities. It will bring fearlessness and freedom to you. But it will attract perils you could never have imagined," he had cautioned, "Strange qualities will begin to emerge inside you, boy,"

The man was right. Nico couldn't have imagined such a demented monster in his worst nightmares. What's more, during the skirmish, he managed to shadow travel twice without passing out. That the boy had controlled the ocean, bending it to his will. Nico knew that his abilities weren't natural, just like his own.
Had he made a deal with someone to gain such abilities?
Nico sighed, passing the helm back to the helmskeleton.

Nico took the steps two at a time, his weight not enough to make them creek.
Below deck was grim. The shadows lurked in the nooks and crannies. Something seemed to hide in the shadows, though when you looked behind, you could never catch whatever it was. Nico sorted through the stock in the storage and retrieved some food. The boy was still unconscious and didn't show any signs of waking up too soon, nevertheless, Nico took an extra slice of bread and meat just in case.
He walked back to his cabin. Balancing the tray of food on one forearm, Nico gently cracked open the door.
He set the tray down at his table to one side and sat.

He produced his compass from his coat, placing it on the map. His stomach rumbled, prompting him to pick up the slice of bread. Nico chewed on the bread gingerly, eating out of necessity more than anything.

Nico was about a second away from flipping over the desk when he heard the boy begin to stir. Nico's hand went to the hilt of his sword. The boy still looked drowsy, as if sleeping for a day and a half wasn't enough rest. He propped himself, rubbing his eyes. Grumbling, he wiggled to the side of the bed. He looked up and met eyes with Nico. He blinked, most likely noticing Nico for first time. He didn't jump up and tackle Nico, start cursing at him, or anything at all.

His stomach rumbled.
Nico didn't take his eyes off the boy, fumbling around his desk for a bowl. Finally, his fingers curled around a bowl. He offered him the blueberries. The boy regarded him warily with eyes that held the brilliance of the sea in them. Nico sighed. You'd think fighting a monster side by side with someone would earn you a few trust points. He picked out a berry and popped it into his mouth, chewing exaggeratedly.
"Not poisoned." He promised, holding them out again.
The tension in the boy's expression drained and flooded with relief, as if he was glad Nico wasn't trying to kill him.
"Thanks." He said, taking the bowl from Nico.

Nico wasn't sure what to do next. He wasn't versed well in the etiquette of meeting a new person. As in, polite etiquette, not the 'swing first, ask questions later if they were still alive' etiquette. He settled for staring dumbly at his map, stealing glances at the boy from the corner of his eye. He looked human enough, in a scruffy greying shirt, the sleeves pulled down to his wrists and brown trousers. His long vest ended mid-thigh, it was muted turquoise with a metallic pale green trim and fastenings. His hair was a short dark spikey mess, his fringe about an inch from skewing his vision. On the whole, Nico was sure that the boy wasn't going attack him.

They didn't speak for a while, between Nico trying to figure out what to say and the boy catching up on the sustenance he had missed. Finally, after the boy had drained the entire jug of water, he cleared his throat.
"I'm Percy." After quick consideration, he added "Jackson."
"Nico Di Angelo."

Percy was looking better with every second. He scanned his surroundings with a slight smile on his face. "Does it have a name?" he enquired.
Nico blinked confusedly, until he realised he was talking about the ship.
"Um, no, I haven't really thought of anything."
"No?" Percy said, airily, "Well, it's not a scary as I first thought. The rumours I heard, I didn't think it be possible for anyone to actually get on the ship."

"I started some of those rumours actually," Nico admitted.
"Nice." Percy praised. Nico scratched the back of his neck. He wasn't used to praise. Or talking.
"So, you're not confused or anything?" Nico inquired, "You know where you are?"
"Well, judging by the surroundings and the steady rocking, I'm pretty sure I'm on a ship. And since you're here, I guess it's your ship?" Percy presumed.
Nico nodded, somewhat glad he wouldn't have to give such simple explanations.

"Speaking of which, where are you headed?" he put down the empty bowl and leaned over the map.
Nico wasn't used to other people in his personal space. He didn't know how to tell Percy to get back without being rude. He squirmed and curled into himself. Percy seemed to understand and backed up a little. He cleared his throat.

Nico shifted, "I've been meaning to get to this land here." He pointed with his pen, "But I've no idea where we are now."
"Hmmm." Percy centred himself and closed his eyes. Nico was worried he was going to do another trick with the sea. Instead, his eyes opened and he pointed to a place on the map, dead in the middle of the water.
"You're about here. If you want to hit land soon, shift the course to east east south." Percy advised.
"What?" Nico quirked an eyebrow, "Why?"
"Just trust me." Percy smiled, his teeth remarkably white, "If you're already lost, what damage am I going to do?"

Nico didn't have an argument to stand to that logic.
"Alright." Nico stood and headed for the door. Percy followed, he was taller than Nico thought. His hands had touched the doorknob when he hesitated. He had thought about what would happen if he were to ever bring a person onto his ship. It was a silly thought to entertain, as soon as any person saw the crew, they would fling themselves into the water, most likely screaming in terror as they did so. Should he warn Percy about the skeletons? Nico frowned. Why was he worrying about this? Percy had already seen them when they were fighting that monster.
"Whoa." Was the only noise Percy made.
No screaming. Nico smiled to himself. No screaming was good.

Nico went up to the helm and corrected the course himself. He didn't want to show Percy all his secrets, and how his sword controlled the ship was one secret he didn't want to give away so freely. Even though Nico didn't actually know what would happen if anyone else stole his sword and tried to order around the crew, if it would even work.
Percy stayed only a few steps behind him, vigilantly eying the skeletons.
"So they run the ship?" Percy asked.
"They do what I tell them to." Nico replied. "There's usually more but after that fight, they haven't returned."

"So what was that thing?" Nico asked.
Suddenly Percy wasn't very cheerful. He had an expectant look, like he had assumed Nico knew what had happened back at the dock.
"It was a Chimera." He explained, "An age old monster. Controlling a ship like this, you've never seen monsters before?"
Well, Nico had encountered monsters before. Once, he had fled from a town full of nothing but feathery demons. He'd cut down things that looked human but weren't.
"I've never seen a monster so fierce." Nico said carefully. He was curious what Percy meant by 'a ship like this'
Did he know something about it?
Percy was staring at him, re-evaluating him. Nico didn't appreciate being scrutinized. He folded his arms.
"Have you?" he demanded.

Percy nodded incredulously. He opened his mouth, hopefully to explain further on what Nico wanted to know. He was interrupted by a TUH UH EER.
Nico scanned around the ship. There were about thirty dolphins leaping out of the water, shrilling trilling. Percy stopped and listened. After they were finished, Percy looked to be considering something. The dolphins skimmed the surface of the water, splashing impatiently. Nico was totally weirded out, then Percy straightened.
Percy, without a word, sprung over the railing. Nico gaped.

"Bring her about!" Nico barked at the helmskeleton.
"Belay that!" Percy laughed.
Nico turn back to the railing and almost fell over from the shock of what he saw. The water was rushing up to Percy and turning, like a tornado, immersing Percy in a pillar of water. He was riding water just as easily as someone would ride a horse. Percy bobbed up and down with the water, he smiled brightly at Nico.
Nico couldn't help but stare. "What are you? Are you a sorcerer?" he asked. Nico had heard of great sorcerers that could level mountains and scorch entire lands with only a word. Percy certainly didn't seem to be the kind who'd want to level a mountain or scorch entire lands but hey, Nico had only had one decent conversation with the guy.

"Nah, I'm like you. This is just a little family secret." Percy's eyes twinkled like there was a joke hidden in his words somewhere.
"Thanks for not leaving me back there but I've got to get going." Percy waved, "I know you have questions, but I promise I'll find you and explain everything. I'll see you around."
Before Nico could reply or ask what 'I'm like you' was supposed to mean, the water tornado collapsed back into the sea, Percy falling into the inky depths. Nico rushed to the railing, hoping to catch a glimpse of the boy but he was gone.

"I'm like you,"

_
AN:/ Sorry it took so long, readers. Writing for Nico is really hard. I'm trying really hard to keep Nico in character and yet, add that degree of sureness in himself. Also, I'm trying to mimic Riordan's writing style but the thing with Riordan's style is that it has a lot of references to modern culture. And this is a pirate!AU, so I can't just refer to Jack Sparrow or Treasure Planet and other great pirate works in casual conversation. Also, he uses a fair amount of similes as well and I don't use many of them. I can only deal with so many 'likes' Ugh. Anyway, Percy is kind of cool. I'm having a lot of fun learning about pirates and revisiting mythology. I'm not quite sure where I'm going to go from here, but, hey, I'll figure that out later. Until next time, readers! Hopefully it won't take me too long to figure out a plot I can steer towards.
Cass Out.