Hey, look at that. I'm actually on time. An update, for once, right when I said it'd be! Maybe I'm starting to break this bad habit I've fallen into, of going a week or longer at a time without updating...Or not. ;P

I know it's a bit late at night, but it's Wednesday, and I said I'd update on Wednesday, and I'm doing it, and I'm in a good mood because I actually wrote a decent chapter. So, yay!

Most of you guys seem to picture me with brown hair, or at least dark hair, and either brown or blue eyes. A few of you were close, but none of you exactly right, which is a good thing, since that'd just be creepy. Anyway, I'm gonna give you all a few more days to guess, since not all of you have had the chance yet, and then I'll tell you what I actually do look like, because I'd just be evil to leave you hanging. :)

And I probably am sounding weird and freaking everyone out a little at this point, but as I said, I'm in a really good mood despite the fact that I'll be starting school again in less than three weeks. And now I hate my stupid brain for reminding myself of that fact. Oh well.

This chapter is longer than they have been lately, and it turned out good, and, and, I actually enjoyed writing it. My creative muse is back, baby! *pumps fist excitedly in air*

Yes, really, really, really good mood. Hopefully it'll be the same tomorrow. I'll most likely be updating again on Friday-Saturday, at the latest. I can't update Sunday, though, because I have plans (so nice to be able to say that. Gives me a thrill every time I remember I actually have something to do on a weekend. Or ever, really. And now I'm rambling.). But, anyway, I'll try to update Friday. If I don't, expect it Saturday, yada yada yada, blah blah blah, etcetera, etcetera.

Enjoy the chapter, my lovely warm and fuzzy friends! For tonight, we shall rejoice and be happy, because life is enjoyable for once! Hallelujah and-happy Hanukkah-and-stuff. Whatever. Good times, my friends, good times!

Chapter XCV

Percy

While everyone else is busy laughing-Percy momentarily wonders what it is that has Hazel and Leo laughing so hard before dismissing it-he ducks under the water and swims over to where Annabeth's standing, grabbing her foot and yanking her under. She yelps, a flurry of bubbles escaping from her mouth, and then rolls her eyes when she sees it's him and claws her way back to the surface. Percy follows, pulling her into his arms.

"How does it feel, being on the losing side?" He murmurs, and she lifts her head to look at him.

"Unusual. Unfamiliar. New." She replies, and Percy grins at her.

"I bet." He replies. "I know how to make it better, though."

"Mmmm." She says. "How?"

He kisses her, pressing his lips to hers, and her arms go around his waist, rubbing his shoulders, trailing her fingers in aimless circles across his skin.

He senses something coming towards them in the water, and pulls away, furrowing his brow in worry before realizing what it is and smiling, just as they arrive.

"I want to show you something." He tells Annabeth, and ducks under the water, pulling her with him. He touches her lightly on the forehead once they're under, and waits as she cautiously breathes through her nose.

"Cool trick." She says, seemingly impressed, if only slightly. Percy'd been wondering if he could do the same thing the icthyocentaurs did with Frank, Hazel, and Leo. Turns out, he can.

Percy grins. "I'm a man of many talents."

She arches an eyebrow dubiously, and then crosses her arms. "Okay, so what did you want to show me?"

"This." He says, and spins her around.

She gasps, her eyes wide with stunned happiness, and she looks at him. "How did you know this was here?"

"I'm a son of Poseidon; stuff like this is cool to learn about. I actually asked Leo specifically to see if he could stop close to it, and he managed one up from that, seeing as the ship's right above it." He explains.

She glances up to confirm, in fact, that the ship is floating directly above it, and then looks back at his surprise.

The sand curves down from where they're standing on the ocean floor, down into an ocean valley, and there, half-buried in the pale sand, are the ruins of some ancient Greek temple. Algae-covered columns poke up crookedly from the ground, and a few sections of cracked stone from the base of the building are visible in places. Several different types of colorful fish are weaving lazily around the crumbling ruins, and among them, exactly what Percy sensed was coming...

"Are those sharks?" Annabeth asks, startled, and Percy nods.

"Lemon sharks, technically. They're actually pretty harmless." He assures her. "Like puppies." He glances over at her, and notices a longing look in her eyes. "Wanna get a closer look?"

She turns her head to look at him, pure joy in her eyes. "Really? Can we?"

Percy shrugs. "Why not? It's not as if we'll get in trouble for it."

Annabeth smiles happily and Percy's left to follow as she swims down to the ruins. He doesn't mind, though; the happiness on her face makes up for a few minutes spent without her right next to him.

One of the lemon sharks comes up to him and bumps against him, nuzzling his chest, and he absentmindedly strokes its rough skin, focused mostly on watching Annabeth as she wanders around the ruins, keeping up a steady commentary that he, for the most part, ignores, since he has no idea what she's talking about.

"Hey, Annie." He finally says, and she stops midsentence, glaring at him for calling her by her most hated nickname. He just smiles and continues. "I don't suppose you'd like to pet a shark?"

Her eyes spark, and she grins at him. "Why not?"

There you go, buddy. Percy tells the shark he's petting. She wants to pet you some, too.

The lemon shark turns with a flick of its fin and swims meanderingly over to Annabeth, bumping insistently against her arm. She laughs in delight and strokes along its back, tugging a little on its fin. A few of the other lemon sharks seem to perk up, and swim over to join their friend, not wanting to be left out.

"Having fun?" Percy asks, grinning one of his trademark half-grins. She looks up at him, still smiling.

"They're so cute!" She says, and Percy's grin widens into a full grin.

"Come here." He tells her, and she does. He pulls her close and looks down at her. "You know what else is cute?"

"What?" She asks, tilting her head to look up at him.

"You." He replies, kissing her nose. "You're also beautiful, and smart, and the most wonderful girl on earth."

"Mmmm. Really?" She murmurs.

"Mmhmm. And you know what else you are?" He asks.

"What?" She mumbles, her eyes closed.

"You're my girlfriend." He tells her. "Which makes me the luckiest guy alive." And he kisses her, on the lips this time, hugging her tightly to him. "And I am never going to lose you."

She opens her eyes and pulls away a bit, looking at him with the saddest look in her eyes. "Percy-"

"Shhh." He tells her. "You're not allowed to worry today. And I mean it. I am never going to lose you. I'm never going to leave you, or anything else, because I am hopelessly, completely, utterly in love with you, Annabeth Chase."

Tears well in her eyes, just more saltwater in the unimaginably huge ocean around them. "What, are you proposing?" She teases weakly, smiling a bit.

"No." He replies. "Not yet, anyway." And then grins at her stunned look, before sobering again. "This isn't a proposal. It's a promise."

"A promise of what?" She asks, sniffling back her tears.

"Of everything. A promise that we'll be together forever, and that I am never going to leave you. The promise of a proposal, someday. The promise that, even though we're too young to make it official yet, I am going to spend the rest of my life with you." He swears to her. "How's that for a promise?"

Annabeth laughs-a watery sound halfway between a sob and an exclamation. "Pretty good for a promise." She answers, and wipes a hand across her eyes.

"You know what this reminds me of?" Percy murmurs, pulling her closer.

Annabeth glances around, up at the surface of the water. "The canoe lake." She answers.

Percy nods. "And you know what that means..."

"Oh, I could never guess..." She teases mockingly, right before he kisses her again, a proper kiss, not like the ones before-this is a kiss that seals his promise, that makes it real and true. It's a kiss that rivals the one they had the night they danced and the stars sang to them, although he doubts there will ever be a kiss that matches that one.

He only pulls away when he hears a faint splash from above-Leo, sticking his head under the water and wiggling his eyebrows at them.

Percy sticks his tongue out at him, and Annabeth laughs.

"We'd better go up." Percy says reluctantly, after she's finished laughing and Leo's back above water.

"Yeah, probably." Annabeth agrees, and they start to swim up, Percy using the currents to move them upward quickly. Then, a few feet below the surface, he stops, and turns calculatingly to Annabeth.

"What?" She asks.

He smiles. "How about a real underwater kiss? No cheating this time."

"Meaning we'll both actually be getting wet?" She asks, a little suspicious. "And that I won't be able to breathe like this anymore."

Percy nods. "For you, I'll actually let myself get completely soaked."

"But you'll still be able to breath underwater." She accuses, crossing her arms.

"True." He agrees. "I can't help that. But a real underwater kiss is much better than one where we're both cheating."

"Fine." She finally says, and then grins. "I'll be able to cross that off my bucket list."

He glances at her confusedly. "Why is that on your bucket list?"

"Just shut up, Seaweed Brain, and hurry." She tells him.

He shrugs. "Whatever. Take a deep breath." He reminds her, and then lets the layer of oxygen he wrapped around her fade away, before concentrating and willing himself to be soaked by the water.

He opens his eyes, having closed them to concentrate, and smiles at her before tugging her towards him and kissing her fiercely on the lips, stroking his fingers through the silky hair floating around her head like a gold halo.

They break apart, then, and kick for the surface. Annabeth takes a deep gasp of air as soon as they're above, and Percy then re-wraps his arms around her.

"Yeah." He says, his voice husky, tucking a few stray strands of her hair behind her ear. "You can definitely cross that off your bucket list."

Leo hoots at them, and Piper, surprisingly, cat whistles, while Jason looks on, exasperated but smiling. Frank and Hazel's faces are both red, but neither of them are refusing to look at Percy and Annabeth, and they're both smiling too.

Annabeth peers up at the sun, squinting at its brightness, and then blinks at her boyfriend. "It's almost noon, Percy, we should probably eat lunch soon."

"Yeah, you're right." Percy agrees, but then remembers something. "Hey, wait, there's one more thing we have to do."

"What?" She asks, but Percy doesn't answer. Instead, he whistles piercingly, a sound that echoes eerily off the water. Seconds later, a V of water shows where some enormous sea creature is approaching, and then its-his-head breaks the surface of the water and he whinnies to them.

"Oh, hey, look, it's Percy's pony monster." Leo comments, and Roseus snorts angrily in his general direction, his radioactive green eyes glowing dangerously.

"Shut up, Leo." Percy calls good-naturedly. "Annabeth, Roseus; Roseus, Annabeth. Now you've met officially."

Annabeth looks up at him with a slightly dazed look. "He's huge."

Percy nods. "Just a bit. He'd come closer, but the water here's a bit shallow for him."

"I think the pink's faded a bit." Piper comments, studying the sea monster's scales.

"Definitely." Percy agrees. "They're more...lavender, now."

Piper glances at him with a grin that says she's biting back laughter, but Percy doesn't care. Right now, he's on top of the world, and there's nothing that could change that.

Then, of course, it hits him-a wave of pain that nearly causes him to black out. He just barely manages to stop from gasping out loud at the suddenness of it, and all of his muscles tense. He squeezes his eyes shut in an attempt to ward it off, and tightens his grip on Annabeth's hand, probably crushing her fingers in his, but he can't help it.

Okay, maybe there's one thing. He amends, his thoughts strained.

"Percy-" Annabeth starts to say, her voice worried, and then stops, and Percy can hear that she knows there's nothing she can do and that she hates it. So she just says his name. "Percy, I'm right here." She whispers to him, and then, mercifully, it's over-the pain disappears, leaving behind a dull, throbbing ache.

Percy slumps a bit, exhausted. Not even being in the ocean, surrounded by his natural element, could ward off the pain.

At the edge of his mind, though, he can still sense Roseus' worry, even though he's not focusing directly on the creature. He manages a smile.

I'm fine, buddy. He assures the monster, and although his doubt is obvious, he doesn't question it. Really, for a monster, he's extremely intelligent.

Percy takes a deep breath and opens his eyes, a bit reluctant to find out whether the others noticed his-curse. Of course, they'd all been looking at him when it happened, so there's only like two percent chance they didn't notice, and...

And they're all staring at him.

Percy sighs through his nose, looking to Annabeth with a pleading look. Her expression is worried-and he can see her hopelessness in her eyes; he knows it's because of how there's no way for her to help him. But she doesn't have an easy explanation for the others, either, and can only answer him with a shrug.

"Percy," Piper starts quietly, talking into the silence, "What was that?"

He sighs again, and glances up at her before looking away again, anywhere but the others. It's stupid, he knows, but he can't help but feel...ashamed. Ashamed of his weakness.

The silence stretches longer, no sound except the water against the hull of the ship and Roseus' loud breathing. Annabeth's the one who finally answers, her voice a little shaky.

"It's-a side affect. From Tartarus. Something that ambrosia and nectar can't cure." She whispers, almost inaudibly, but still loud enough that the others can hear her.

Percy looks up in time to see the others-almost entirely in unison-glance towards him with near identical looks of worry before turning their attention back to Annabeth, hoping for more of an explanation.

They don't get one. Instead, she takes a shaky breath and bites her lip, staring off with a far-away, deeply worried look in her eyes.

"Hey." Percy tells her, breaking her out of her thoughts. "It's okay. I'm okay, I promise."

She nods and smiles, and he smiles back, her bravery giving him the courage to address the others.

"I'm fine, really. You guys don't need to worry. It's not life-threatening, or anything, just painful. And I know you want more of an explanation, and you'll get it, just not right now. Now, we're supposed to be having fun. Relaxing. No worrying allowed. Okay?" He tells them, grinning goofily to reassure them.

They all manage to smile back, although Hazel can't stop her eyebrows from furrowing in concern. Her natural mama bear side at work.

"Perfect. Now who wants to pet Roseus?" He asks, and lets the next few minutes of happiness take over and allow him to forget.

Piper and Hazel, not surprisingly, are the ones most excited by Roseus. Despite Piper's initial fear of him when she first saw him, she really seems to like him, and even goes so far as to kiss his nose. Hazel does too, but she loves horses, so that's entirely understandable. Piper snaps a few pictures with her camera-really, that waterproof feature comes in majorly handy.

Annabeth doesn't say anything about it, but she won't leave Percy's side. Not now; not right after what just happened. Percy appreciates it-as much as he hates to admit it, that most recent manifestation of his curse really took a lot out of him. Having Annabeth so close makes it more bearable.

After a bit, Piper announces she's hungry, and hangs her camera safely around her neck.

Percy grins, and before anyone can protest, creates a hurricane-reminiscent whirlwind of water that lifts them all back up on deck, and, of course, leaves Piper spluttering and glaring at him. The use of his powers takes more than usual, since he's so tired in the first place, but as they head downstairs to change and eat lunch together, he really doesn't mind. Even when Piper shoves him and nearly sends him headfirst down the stairs-she's grinning, and laughing, and he feels a rush of sisterly affection for the daughter of Aphrodite that makes everything that's happened totally worth it.

Even if Annabeth is still practically glued to him. Having his girlfriend so close is a good thing. Although it does mean any conversations with Piper asking for advice about possible future proposals is out of the question...Oh well.

The day reminds him of Hermes' words to him about family. About how families are messy...but that you can't give up on them. Percy wasn't sure about the words when he first heard them, but now they seem like the anthem of his life. And he's okay with that.

That ending could have happened in so many places at the end but my brain just wanted to keep going and it might've stretched on a little. But stretch is a good thing, right, so be happy! *does weird arm gesture finger snap thing with creepily happy smile*

I love you, you buttfaced miscreants (please tell me someone gets that reference), call an evil laundry bag or toe-stubbing chair a rat bastard for me (pardon moi), and please eat ice cream, buckets and buckets of ice cream, because ice cream is good for the soul and I'm currently not allowed to eat it myself. Love ya! ;)