Note: If any find this chapter weird, I don't blame you. I found it weird, and I wrote it. Anyway, the idea got stuck in my head over a year ago, so I decided to trim it down and throw it in for the gods to view and react. Let me know the result.

Good... Bad... No idea it's weird.

IIIII

"It's a little late to say that now," Hera told Zeus. She knew it wasn't queen-like to roll her eyes, especially at her husband. But that's exactly what she wanted to do and what she was mentally doing, even if it wasn't showing on her face. "You can't pick and choose. We can only see what appears next."

"Perhaps." Zeus nodded, then smirked. "Perhaps not. Fates, if you can hear me now, I'd like to request the next path be different. Not a dalliance between Percy and a goddess or our heads getting spiked in an arena... If it's not too much trouble."

"Brother, you didn't." Poseidon groused, sharing a look with Hades at Zeus yet again daring to ask the Fates for something. The god truly was pushing his luck, and every one next to him would probably suffer for it whether they wanted to or not.

"Is it too late to disown myself?" Apollo murmured to Hermes, only half joking. Quick flickers of the future passed through his mind, but none that genuinely alarmed him enough to go that far. Of course, it was always a possibility he'd leave open.

"You and me both," Hermes replied, his face a tad more serious than Apollo's.

"Oh, enough chit-chat." Aphrodite rolled her eyes. Unlike Hera, she had no issue with the action. "Unless we're discussing which of my daughters Percy will marry next. I don't think there's anything left to talk about."

"As if." Artemis snorted and was about to roll her eyes, but remembering Aphrodite did that, she stopped herself and glared at the other goddess instead.

"C'mon, dad, what's the big deal?" Percy sighed as his father gave him yet another glare. The god had been in a rather unpleasant mood since Percy had revealed he was dating Annabeth. Athena's daughter and his dad's rival, not that the man would ever acknowledge the fact.

"Woah, that was quick." Apollo jumped a little in his throne, the screen blinking on and jumping right into showing Percy speaking with Poseidon as if they'd unpaused a movie midway through.

"Did this happen before Poseidon?" Demeter questioned, catching Percy's thoughts of recently dating Annabeth.

"No." Poseidon denied it, lying a little. If what was about to be shown was what he thought, then part of it might be true. However, he was going to deny it as much as possible. He'd already gone through the embarrassment when Percy had told Annabeth their conversation. He didn't want to hear it from his siblings as well.

"Deal... The big deal?" Poseidon ground his teeth at his oblivious son. Athena may have let Percy date her daughter, but the goddess would undoubtedly use this to humiliate him somehow. He just knew it. And Percy, his son, was helping that witch do it, the teenager far too infatuated with the goddess's daughter to see anything else. So naturally, as the boy's father, he would have to set him straight. No son of his was going to be with a daughter of Athena, let alone have children. Shuddering at the thought of his bloodline mixing with Athena's, Poseidon reaffirmed his thoughts, hardening his heart. His son no doubt wouldn't understand, but he wasn't about to let Athena win in whatever game she was playing.

"Cool, I think that's the first time we've seen a different perspective," Hermes commented lightly.

"Oh, I'm flattered you have such a high opinion of me, Poseidon," Athena smirked as she got a peek into her rival's mind. She'd considered the idea that they might see someone else's perspective other than Percy's. But Poseidon? That was too perfect. She already knew the god well enough to predict him most of the time despite being an unpredictable god. Yet, with insight into his head, fighting against Poseidon would turn into practice more than any real challenge.

Stone-faced, Poseidon ignored Athena, pretending to be laser-focused on the screen even as the memory of that night played in his mind alongside the image they were watching.

"Percy, I'm sorry, but when you return. I'm sure..." Pesedeion paused, then glanced at his son with a bit of hesitation. "I hope you'll have a clearer head. A few weeks in the sea should wash away those thoughts."

Frowning up at his dad, Percy was about to ask what was going on when he felt his energy begin draining, his father stabbing him with his trident, creating a portal of water in front of him, drawing him in.

"Sorry, Percy, see you in a few weeks."

"That did not happen!" Poseidon stood up from the throne in shock. Everything up until that point had followed his thoughts and words to the letter. All until he stabbed his son. He would never do that to Percy, no matter the reason. Sally would kill him for even thinking it, Annabeth too, as well as Amphitrite, even Triton would... In fact, many people, gods and goddesses alike, would probably have his head if he thought of attacking his son.

"So... Did the other stuff happen?" Aphrodite asked, curious. Usually, she wouldn't be, but she'd never seen any trial or difficulty from Poseidon in Percy and Annabeth's relationship. From Athena, yes, but not Poseidon. It was strange; she wasn't sure how she missed such a thing if it truly happened in their time.

"Who knows," Apollo replied before making sure Poseidon wasn't paying attention to him and giving Aphrodite a discreet nod.

Unable to gather the energy to speak, Percy looked up at his father in shock, confusion filling his mind. Then as pressed by some invisible force, Percy staggered into the portal, no longer able to continue standing.

"...Are you sure that was the right decision?" Amphitrite asked as she came up behind her husband, looking worriedly at the portal that was beginning to vanish. While Percy hadn't visited much, Amphitrite had come to like the boy. He had a charming personality, and his sarcastic wit had her quickly overcome her initial dislike of her husband's child. The fact Percy was beginning to treat her as a second mother was simply a bonus in her mind. "I could have spoken to the boy. There was no need to take such drastic action."

"Another perspective?" Athena frowned, unsure of what was happening now. Poseidon was one thing, but now adding in the god's wife? That was pointless and didn't help in her information gathering whatsoever.

"Hmm... That reminds me, I should visit Amphitrite." Hera said. It had been a long while since her last visit. Things had been a little strained between her and her sister-in-law since Percy's memories were changed.

"I hope so." Turning away from the spot where he'd banished his son, Poseidon left the room. He needed to gather the Atlantis council and discuss Athena's plans. The scheming woman was probably improving her plan every second that passed. After all, without a war or prophecy going on, what else could she do? It wasn't as if she was going to enjoy the peace and let Percy date her daughter. No, that would be ridiculous.

"That's better," Athena smirked as she studied Poseidon's thoughts on her potential plans and methods. He truly did know her as she did him, not that she expected any less of her rival and uncle. All the same, she was a little surprised at his ideas and their validity of them. While she hadn't done as he'd thought, she had briefly considered such a thing before ultimately deciding her Annabeth's future could be decided by her daughter and her alone.

IIIII

Blearily blinking, Percy, without thinking, screamed. A loud screech, at least, to his ears that quickly died down when he noticed the pain he should have after getting stabbed wasn't there. A little confused, he mentally made a list. Ignoring the little Annabeth in his mind that was giving him a look of disbelief. "Alright, first, my dad brought me to a room I've never been to. Then he stabbed me, and I fell into a portal of water. Now... I'm... Here."

"Mini Annabeth?" Athena pursed her lips, a little amused. That was a rather odd description of the boy's consciousness if that was what he was speaking of.

Nodding to himself as he recalled the events that had just happened, Percy looked around himself and frowned. He had no idea where he was other than that he was somewhere at the bottom of the ocean floor. As for the specifics, well, he was lost and, oddly enough, couldn't feel the ocean like he usually could. It felt as if something was blocking his connection to the sea and, in turn, preventing him from locating his exact coordinates.

"Lucky kid." Ares clicked his tongue as Percy thought of being unable to sense his position. He'd kill to be able to have his naval commanders have that ability. Sure, if Poseidon felt generous and Ares had a favor to call in, he could get his uncle to bless his general. However, that rarely happened, and he'd much prefer it if he could do it himself.

"I didn't know you could do that," Hades said, turning to Poseidon. "Is it similar to shadow travel or something else altogether?"

Poseidon shrugged. "A mixture of the two. It would be best if you had a connection to the sea to accomplish it. The rest is simple after that."

Looking above himself, Percy tried to see the moon or any light at all and failed, unable to see even a dozen feet in front of himself, let alone anything above the water. In fact, Percy couldn't even tell how deep in the ocean he was.

"Alright, time to get out of here. Hopefully, I can find a fish soon." Muttering to himself, Percy tried to kick off from the sandy ocean floor... and couldn't. His feet, or at least, what should have been his feet, were gone. Feeling the first beginning of panic begin to rise in him, Percy looked over at himself, only noticing now that his eyes, which had never been able to do this before, could now bend backward.

"Now that's freaky, even for me." Aphrodite shuddered. She liked her eyes where they were, and that wasn't going to change anytime soon.

"Really?" Artemis smirked. "I think it'd be an improvement on you."

"Oh, gods..." Jaw-dropping, well, mentally, that is. Percy stared in disbelief at the small yellow-striped snail shell... His new body. At least, he was pretty sure it was his body unless he was a pair of floating eyes. The snail shell was the only thing he could see besides the sand around him. Trying to move, Percy confirmed he was the snail as it shifted in the sand, moving forward slower than a slug. His unfamiliarity with his new body led him to move far slower than he should be capable. Percy's familiarity with snails(and other marine life) allowed him to know that he was an assassin snail. Something rather odd given that the type of snail he was now shouldn't even be in the ocean let alone survive.

"...You can do that?" Zeus asked Poseidon, a little shocked. Artemis could change people into animals as it was part of her domain. However, he'd never seen or heard of his brother performing similar feats.

"It's rare, but I have on occasion," Posiedon admitted. "However, that shouldn't have happened. Something's amiss."

Looking around himself once again and seeing nothing but sand, Percy sighed, then slowly began his crawl across the ocean. Looking for any life other than sand, a feat that would be difficult with his pacing, but he knew it could be done.

A few hours later

"YES" Percy screamed in snail language; that is, he couldn't formulate human words with his current body's vocal cords. "Hello, my brother!"

"Oh good." Poseidon breathed out a little relieved. It was likely Triton, Percy found, which meant whatever mishap was happening would get fixed quickly.

Out in the distance, a good few feet away from him, Percy found another snail. Now it was a different type with a nicer-looking shell, but it was a snail all the same, and he felt no shame in calling it brother. Ocean critters had to stay together, didn't they?

"Is your son alright, Poseidon?" Hades smiled briefly, trying to hold back a chuckle. Percy had his moments. He knew that, as did everyone else in the room. Calling a snail brother, though, was definitely an unexpected one.

"He's a kid here," Poseidon replied weakly, trying and failing to think of a reasonable explanation for his sixteen-year-old son's actions on screen.

"Why are you running away?" Frowning to himself, Percy gave chase to the fleeing snail. Luckily having gotten used to his new body as he traveled, he quickly caught up. Within a few minutes, Percy reached his fellow snail, the little guy appearing to give up on running away as he shrank into his shell.

"What's up with oh..." Understanding hitting him, Percy glanced back at his own shell and remembered he was an assassin snail. Or at least his current body was, the other snail no doubt choosing to flee for its life, probably terrified.

"I would be too if a total stranger started calling me brother." Dionysus sneered.

Glancing at the god, Apollo wanted to mention that one of Dionysus's sons had done just that a few weeks ago at camp, yelling brother and chasing another demigod with a mudpie. Still, he held his tongue, knowing it probably wouldn't be wise to start an argument right now.

"Hey, little guy, it's fine. I don't eat snails." Percy paused at those words, then spoke again, this time trying to appear more confident for the other snail. "I mean, I won't eat you or any other snail."

Sighing, Aphrodite placed a hand on her cheek. "Poor Percy, he's missing out on so much. Snails are delicious."

Slowly moving closer up to the other snail as non-threatening as possible until he was right next to it, Percy began walking or rather sliding through the sand with the other snail. The little sea creature either now realized its efforts to escape were futile as it slowed down, or it was hoping to be ignored. Either way, Percy now had a companion, albeit an unwilling one, to accompany him on his journey.

"Hello again... Shelly." Percy said after a few minutes of peaceful silence, having spent the time coming up with a name for his first underwater companion. It may have been unoriginal, overused, and not creative in the slightest. But he came up with it, and well, the snail wasn't going to tell anyone. Besides, he had done way more embarrassing things than giving something a bad name, in fact. He was almost positive Annabeth had a list of them, just waiting until he forgot to bring them all up again.

"What is it with you and your children's terrible naming sense?" Hades raised an eyebrow. "Last week Perseus suggested naming their child Carri, short for Carribbean. Something about not yet visiting there and inspiring an adventurous spirit in the baby."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Poseidon shrugged. "It's not a bad name."

After a few hours, or as close to that as he could tell, time was a little tricky to judge in the ocean. Percy was beginning to feel tired and more than a little hungry, his already shrunken stomach growling inside for a meal to fill it—a problem as he wasn't sure what to eat or what he could eat. Assassin snails had never really been on his list of needs to know when it came to marine or aquarium life diets.

Stopping by some tall plants, the size of which appeared to be over ten meters in height, though it could have been his changed perception. Percy hid by the base, climbing up the side of the plant with Shelly right beside him. The other snail had gotten a little more comfortable during their journey, enough that it soon was curling up and off to sleep without care of Percy, who it'd been running from just a few short hours ago.

"The poor thing." Artemis chuckled.

Following the action, Percy curled himself into his shell, and while cramped, he immediately felt safer. The edges of his exterior felt like a tank against his skin, although he knew it wasn't true. He could probably break the shell with his fingers. Despite that thought, it did offer some momentary comfort as Percy tried not to focus on the hunger gnawing away inside.

Thankfully, after a while, he managed to ignore it enough that he could feel himself slipping away. Sleep slowly overcame him, and within a few more minutes, Percy was out. Drifting in Morpheus's realm, unaware of anything happening in the outside world. Unaware, that is, until a strange feeling began spreading through his body. One so strong it broke Percy's dream, and for a moment, he thought a god or something else was trying to contact him. It wouldn't be the first time someone had invaded his mind only to leave once they realized he was resting.

"And I've apologized." Both Apollo and Hermes said in unison. For some odd reason, whenever they wanted to contact Percy, they always happened to pick a bad time. Even when it was the middle of the day, they'd somehow manage to choose the one day to reach Percy when the man was in the middle of a nap.

"You two need to learn to use the Iris message." Artemis gave Apollo and Hermes an annoyed glance. Percy wasn't the only one the gods kept contacting at the worst possible times. It was a wonder no one had invented a way to block messaging without special props.

Blinking his eyes, Percy looked around, feeling as if his world was sideways—a feeling he was going to chalk up to still being unused to his new body. However, before he could, he looked down and realized he was on top of Shelly, no longer in his position by the base of the plant but sleeping on his friend.

"I didn't know I could sleepwalk." Muttering to himself, Percy slid off his friend's shell to the plant leaf. The texture was strange against his body, more comfortable than sand, but not something he'd noticed the night before. Feeling oddly full, yet another strange thing to add to the list of occurrences that had happened recently. Percy turned to his friend, ready to wake him up, then stopped in place. Eyes locked onto the suspiciously small hole in Shelly's body. A hole that just so happened to be right where Percy had woken up a few seconds ago.

Frowning at the screen, Poseidon wondered not for the first time what was wrong with his children and seafood. No matter how many demigod children he had, they all hated seafood and couldn't stand to hurt marine life. Even Amphitrite and Triton, who lived in Atlantis, couldn't stand the thought of eating fish. Yet he could. The god of the ocean and protector of the seas had zero issues eating a steamed crab.

"Poor kid." Apollo winced. Percy was a strong demigod, but seeing the scene couldn't help but remind him of a time millennia ago, of one son of Poseidon who'd accidentally eaten a fish. The guy had been so shocked he'd thrown up and died choking on his vomit. That had been a dark day on Olympus, with storms raging the seas for weeks straight until Poseidon calmed his grief.

Having a pretty good idea of what he was about to find, though hoping otherwise. He stretched his eyes above the hole and peeked inside the shell. To his disappointment, Shelly wasn't there as Percy had feared. All that was left inside the now empty husk were remnants of slime... Or saliva. Nonetheless, Percy didn't want to believe it was from him and preferred the thought that it was what Shelly had left behind.

"Hey, off-topic. Isn't Shelly a girl's name?" Ares asked with a grin, already planning to bring it up the next time he saw Jackson.

"Depends on the culture, Ares," Hera answered tiredly.

"I'm sorry, my brother," Percy said to the open waters of the sea, closing his eyes and murmuring a short prayer to Poseidon for the snail's soul. He wasn't sure if it'd do any good or if his dad was even listening after sending him off the way he did. But it was the least Percy could do, and it helped him feel a margin less bad about the ordeal than he already did. Shelly was the first and only seafood he'd ever eaten, and if he could help it. Percy would make his snail brother the last.

"...Uncle, do snails have souls?" Apollo asked Hades, staring in utter shock at Percy, praying for the soul of a dead snail. There was something just so absurd about it he couldn't even laugh.

"...No?" Hades responded, unsure himself. It was never something he truly paid attention to. The sea was Posedions domain, and while the souls from there did enter his realm. A snail's soul was probably too small to be even noticed by any in the underworld unless they were looking for it.

Trying to ignore his guilt, Percy pushed Shelly's shell off the leaf, plunging it into the sand below. Then, hopping down after it, he began digging the sand, creating a burial pit for his fallen brother. Ten minutes later, and multiple stops to blink sand out of his eyes, Percy finished—a small hill covering the snail's shell, with a single rock representing Shelly's grave.

"I'll never forget you." Percy sighed, bowing his head in silence for a minute. Once done, and with one last glance at the makeshift grave, he started moving on, knowing he had to get moving before it got any later. Percy had wasted enough time. He now had to find food and shelter and figure out a plan for what to do next. After all, it wasn't as if he could wander the sea forever. He had to get back home to Annabeth.

Sighing, Aphrodite fanned herself exaggeratedly.

Over the course of the next few hours, Percy continued his journey alone, seeing no other living creature other than the occasional fishbone half buried in the sand. What type of fish those were, he didn't recognize, so he kept moving. Going further and further through the open waters until finally, he saw a change of scenery. A mountain of rocks piled up into the sky with roots of plants of various types growing in between the gaps.

"I'm surprised he hasn't seen a shark," Hermes mentioned, receiving a glare from Aphrodite.

"There's more than sharks in the ocean, Hermes," Poseidon commented, sincerely doubting a shark would appear. Percy, in his snail form, was too small to be noticed by a creature of that size. No, it was more the smaller prey varieties of sea creatures that Poseidon feared might target his son.

Speeding towards it as fast as he could, Percy left the sand and climbed up the rocky mountain. It was slow going. However, Percy was determined to make it up, so he did. Rock after rock, he climbed, leaving a trail of slime all the way to the top in order to get a better view of his surroundings.

"Where in Hades am I?" Percy groaned as he got a taller view of his surroundings, only taking a moment to mentally apologize to his uncle before groaning once more. All around him were sand, sand, more sand, some rocks, and wall after wall of plants. They were a type of sword plant that Percy only vaguely recognized, but from what he did know about them, they grey fast. Which should explain the number, but not the odd rectangle shape that the plants made up. It looked more like someone purposefully grew them that way, but that was impossible unless he was close to Atlantis or an underwater temple.

"Thank you, Percy." Hades nodded at the snail. He'd long ago stopped paying attention to the sheer number of demigods cursing his name. Nevertheless, it wasn't enjoyable. So hearing an apology was nice, even if unneeded.

"Hmph, better you than me." Aphrodite scowled. Still not happy about Hermes's use of the mortal's rather creative curses they'd invented over the years involving her.

"Just wait, give it a few more centuries, and they'll be using my daughter's name as well." Demeter sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose.

As it was, while he was scouting the area, Percy saw a flash of red. He discovered two small blobs in the distance at the bottom of the rocks below him, growing excited at finally finding other creatures and ignoring the mini Annabeth on his shoulder, telling him to be careful. Percy leaped down from the rock, gliding through the water all the way to the bottom to see who was there.

Unfortunately, mini Annabeth was right, with Percy hitting the sand and soon finding himself next to a dull red lobster. The creature distracted, only sparing him a glance as it chased the other blob Percy had seen, a snail resembling Shelly. Dashing, or rather trying to wriggle back to the safety of the rock's edges. Watching from afar, Percy wanted to help. He really did. Yet he couldn't. It was suicide even to try.

"Again?" Athena quirked her lips. She knew Poseidon's son loved her daughter. That was obvious and had been for a long time. Still, to hear the boy describing in his mind her daughter guiding him in ways or speaking to him was strange and also quite humorous.

"Percy, think of his family." Mini Annabeth said, her lips twisted in a frown. "It was probably finding food for its children."

"...Now that's just freaky." Apollo shuddered. "Can you imagine seeing your wife everywhere you went like that?"

"You don't have to tell me. There's a reason I'm not married." Hermes shuddered as well.

"As if anyone would want to marry either of you," Artemis said, putting her two cents into the conversation. Of course, realistically, she knew women, mortals, and goddesses would jump at the chance to marry Apollo or Hermes. She didn't understand the appeal; however, she didn't have to tell them that, not that they probably didn't know already.

"Since when do you care for snails?" Percy glanced at the girl on his shoulder in confusion. Logically, he knew his girlfriend wasn't there, and he was talking to himself in a twisted and strange way. However, she looked pretty real, and that made all the difference. "Besides, I'd die!"

"Since when did that stop you?"

"She has that right." Athena nodded at her daughter's words... Or rather Percy imagining her daughter and therefore speaking through her.

"...True. But what can I do?" Percy asked, trying and failing to win even against the imaginary Annabeth. "It's not as if I can climb onto that lobster and attack it, right?"

"You can try~!" Mini Annabeth sang with a grin, then vanished with a pop of a bubble.

Staring at the now-gone Annabeth, Percy waited a few moments to see if she'd reappear, then sighed as he started toward the lobster and snail. "You know, I'm telling Annabeth what you said when I get out of here. The real her would never come up with such a stupid plan."

"Eh, I don't know about that," Hermes smirked. "I rem-"

"She had a reason. That's all that needs to be said." Athena interrupted, glaring at her half-brother, daring the god to continue his sentence.

After a few minutes, his fastest speed nothing compared to the lobster, he finally caught up right in time to see the snail get captured in the lobster's claws. Not even thinking, Percy slid up the legs of the creature and climbed to the head of the lobster, barely fitting up there, even as small as he was. Looking around for anything to attack or even distract the snail hunter but seeing nothing, Percy was ready to leap onto the claw (a dumb idea, he knew) and try saving the snail when he remembered an important detail. He was an assassin snail.

"That better mean something cool." Ares groaned, growing bored. "Hurry up and fight Jackson!"

"You know he can't hear you, Ares." Zeus glanced at his son.

"I know. What of it?"

Thinking back to what he did to Shelly, though he was technically asleep and unaware at the time. Percy lowered his mouth onto the hard shell of the lobster's head and bit down. Unsurprisingly, he didn't pierce through anything. In fact, it felt as if he'd just bitten down on some metal that hardly moved, even when biting again. Not giving up, Percy kept at it, biting down repeatedly, scraping his teeth against the lobster's crown as he tried to break to the other side.

"As if that would work." Athena scoffed.

"You never know." Artemis shrugged, watching. She'd experienced many plans that seemed stupid but worked for her hunters. Demigod luck, good or bad, had a weird way of working things out. That went double for Percy.

Now, maybe it was because he was a demigod, not in his current form, but he wasn't going to think of the minor details. However, after feeling like he'd almost broken his teeth against the shell he was attacking, Percy felt a burst of energy flow in him, and the metal-like surface turned into something like jello. His teeth punctured with ease, so much so that he went a little too far, biting the shell and ripping off the top half of the lobster's head.

"This is absurd." Athena rubbed her temples, annoyed at seeing something obviously impossible occur and at Artemis being right after she'd already said it shouldn't work.

Immediately, no doubt in pain from what Percy had done, the lobster dropped the snail and started flailing about, falling to its knees and clamping its claws in constant motion over and over again. Silent cries that Percy couldn't hear, but he could definitely sense tearing through the water in agonizing howls.

"Now we're talking." Ares grinned, slamming a fist down on his knee.

"I'm sorry," Percy whispered, guilt rearing its head once more at killing yet another creature of the sea, even if it was to save another. Still, as it was, he tried to push the guilt away and began biting the lobster again, trying to put it out of its misery as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, as if his usual demigod luck had changed its mind about being on vacation, it reared its ugly head, and instead of Percy killing the lobster. He just seemed to make it hurt worse.

"And this man married Tyche?" Hades murmured. How one demigod, even as powerful as Percy, can go from having good luck to such rotten luck... It was terrible, and unless the fates proved otherwise, most likely predetermined.

"Poseidon, do you have any daughters the size of a snail?" Aphrodite asked, hearing Hades' voice and remembering the issue of Percy's future relationship issues. It didn't look like he was going to be human anytime soon again. That meant more potential pairings to look into for the future of Percy's underwater love life.

The lobster constantly twitched and spasmed erratically in the sand. At one particularly bad twitch, the creature even threw Percy from its head to the sandy floor beneath. Forcing him to dodge snaps of claws and sharp pointed legs that narrowly missed crushing his body as he left the lobster and reached a safe enough distance away.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." Percy apologized again, watching as five slow minutes passed, and the lobster eventually stopped moving, a slow and no doubt painful death. "I'll ask my uncle to bring you back. If he can't... I'll find a way to get you to Elysium.

"No." Hades shook his head, denying the possibility as soon as he heard it. He'd be the laughing stock of the underworld if he resurrected a lobster to live in the sea again. The creature would probably die five minutes later. Not only that but finding the soul, if it had one, would be a hassle he didn't have time to deal with.

"It can't hurt to check," Poseidon told Hades, already knowing where his brother's thoughts were going after his refusal.

Perhaps it was ridiculous. Annabeth would probably be in tears from laughter if she heard him say that. However, to Percy, it wasn't a laughing matter. He'd always been connected to the sea and its creatures. Killing one of them, he'd never in his life done (Beside's Shelly). It felt wrong, like the natural order of his world was twisted upside down, wrung out, stomped on, and then lit on fire. An over-exaggeration, maybe, but that's how he felt watching the lobster die. Worse, his actions added an extra kick in the teeth to how he felt.

"On over-exaggeration is putting it lightly," Athena said dryly.

Catching a flash of shadow from the corner of his eyes, Percy dived into his shell right as something swam past his head. Staying under for a minute, unsure of what swam by and trying to be cautious. He waited and slowly peeked an eye out, finding nothing in his immediate surroundings. Getting more confident, Percy uncurled and exited the safety of his shell.

Glancing once more at the lobster corpse, Percy turned in the opposite direction and followed the other snail's trail. There was no point hanging around any longer, plus if there were any fish, they'd find the body and soon be swarming the area. It was best he left and checked up on his new friend.

"Well, at least he hasn't completely lost his mind." Athena nodded in approval at Percy's actions.

"My son's state of mind is fine. He's in perfect health." Posiedon frowned.

Chuckling, Athena tilted her chin slightly. "So says the father who stabbed his son with a trident and turned him into a snail."

A short trek later, Percy soon stumbled across an empty shell, one identical to the snail he'd just saved. Though maybe identical was being optimistic. It was the snail he saved, the trail he'd been following ending right at the shell's remains, his little friend having just escaped the lobster only to be eaten by another predator.

"Can't say I expected anything different." Hades nodded. "The oceans a vicious place."

"It's not that bad." Posidon denied. Sure, there were some creatures that could rip ships in half, the occasional titan, storms, and barriers that destroyed any who approached, say, a place like Atlantis to help keep it secret. But, overall, he didn't think it was that bad. No one ever complained to him about it, at least.

"It's hard for us snails, isn't it... Kevin." Percy looked down sadly, mourning his fallen snail buddy and, as he did with Shelly, creating a mound of sand to bury what remained. Starting a small grave, this one a little quicker than last time, with another stone to mark the location. It was something he couldn't do with the lobster because of how large it was. Nevertheless, if Percy could give a burial and farewell, he would.

"Yet another name..." Hermes sighed.

"You must admit, man, it's better than Shelly," Apollo replied.

Leaving the area for a plant next to the wall of sword plants, Percy climbed up one of the base stalks close to the top, then hung beneath the leaf for extra cover, exhaustion settling in through him once again. It was weird how quickly he got tired, sure it made sense, given his newly acquired snail body. That said, it would take time to get used to it, not that Percy wanted that to happen. He'd much rather be back to his old self than become accustomed to living in the ocean as a snail.

Closing his eyes, Percy tried to sleep and, after a while, thought he'd managed it, growing drowsy while an odd achy sensation spread through his body that he figured was from all the traveling he did. That assumption ended when he flipped over, then snapped his eyelids open in surprise at successfully flipping over. He wasn't supposed to be able to do that in his current snail form.

"Oh, what does he know? He's only been a snail for what, a day?" Demeter commented to no one in particular.

Despite knowing that, Apollo chose to answer anyway. "True, but you can't know until you try. I'm sure Uncle will be happy to help you try it out yourself."

Excited, Percy thought for a second he'd returned home. Right until he saw the water and miles of sand everywhere. Disappointed, he tried to look down and see why he rolled over and found something strange. He could no longer bend his eyes like before. He could feel them. It's just they weren't as flexible as before.

"I hate it when that happens." Aphrodite groaned.

Giving Aphrodite a strange look, Artemis eventually decided against asking. It wasn't worth it, and she'd rather not be forced to hear the details of whatever the goddess was speaking about.

Feeling a new connection, for lack of a better word, one's that reminding him of his arms as a human. Percy lifted them and, to his surprise, saw shiny red claws lift in his vision. Close to identical to the lobster, except those had been more of a dull red while his claws were bright and way more colorful. Healthy even, in comparison to the creature he'd killed.

"Yeah, that's weird." Hermes coughed, surprised at the change.

"Can you do that, lil sis?" Apollo questioned, only to receive a silent loof from Artemis as she stared at her twin, showing her displeasure with her eyes until the sun god looked away.

"Annabeth, am I a lobster?" Percy asked as he saw the mini version of his girlfriend appear, sitting on the edge of his claw.

"Does he really have to ask?" Zeus raised an eyebrow, then turned to Poseidon. "I must say, brother, you have an odd way of punishing your children."

"So it appears." Poseidon sighed, too tired and shocked from everything they'd witnessed to try and argue the finer details. More specifically that this was all a mistake, and he most certainly hadn't done it on purpose.

"Yeah, seaweed brain, you are. Exciting, isn't it?" Mini Annabeth clapped.

"...Again, I can't see you saying that in this situation." Percy, if he could have raised an eyebrow, would have. Closing the claws, mini Annabeth vanished in another bubbly disappearance act, leaving Percy alone to figure out what was going on with him. He'd gone from snail to lobster. How that was possible, he didn't know. It wasn't as if his dad had visited him in his sleep and changed his body again, right?

A little unnerved at the possibility, Percy threw out the idea for now. He knew worrying about it wasn't going to get him anywhere, so the best thing to do now was to find food. One that didn't require him to go hunting snails. That would be ridiculous and going way too far. One day rescuing snails, the next hunting them. Triton would never let him live it down if he knew.

"I should make them both sit down and keep them in their chairs until they finish eating a pot of snails each," Posiedon muttered quietly at the thought of his other son Triton. After these paths were over if someone did mention snails to him when he returned home. He might have to go with his plan and get his family to hop on a seafood diet and stop their ridiculousness.

Sliding off the leaf, the plant barely holding his weight with his new change, Percy looked around the sandy area for some food but saw nothing. It was all bare, most likely picked clean of anything edible by the lobster from before or whatever fish lived in the area. So as he didn't want to go walking again, Percy instead turned his attention to the wall of sword plants. Curious about what lay on the other side.

"That is so weird. Does anyone actually plant stuff like that for decoration?" Hermes asked, confused about the aesthetics of the people of the sea. He couldn't see the appeal of a bunch of plants almost resembling overgrown grass to purposefully grow.

"You'd be surprised." Apollo pointed a finger down at the floor beneath them. "Though maybe not, didn't those twins of yours find out how to grow weed under Chiron's nose for a few weeks? It's the same thing, but with a different purpose."

"...No, that's not even close to being the same," Hermes replied with an odd look in Apollo's direction.

Moving closer and gripping two plants with his claws, Percy peeled the plants back, then froze. Cursing was never his strong suit, whether in English or Greek. However, upon seeing a pane of glass, one that spanned from one end to the other as far as he could see. Then through the glass at what appeared to be some palace room that looked as luxurious as some of the architectural locations on Olympus. Percy wished he knew more curses so he could call Poseidon every one of them.

"Ouch, some son you have, Uncle." Apollo winced jokingly.

How he'd mistaken a fish tank for the sea was unbelievable. Better yet, how his dad, god of the seas in all his infinite wisdom, thought it was a good idea to turn him into a snail and place him in a fish tank was absurd. Who did that? At least his being in the sea kind of made sense. But a fish tank?

"...Brother?" Zeus asked, Hades while silent, also throwing a questioning look at Poseidon.

"It's a path, remember, I didn't and would never." Poseidon sighed, shaking his head at the decision of the other him in the path. Why that Poseidon had made such a decision was beyond him, he'd thought all this time a mistake had happened, but even mistakes like that hit a point where something had to be planned.

Poseidon had lost his mind.

"It wouldn't be the first time," Athena smirked with amusement, her smirk growing wider when Poseidon didn't even try to argue.

IIIII

"Poseidon, dear. Isn't it about time you brought Percy home? It's been a few weeks now. Surely it's been long enough." Amphitrite sighed, slightly annoyed with her husband as the god paced before his throne. The past few weeks had been getting ridiculous with the conspiracy theories and council meetings Poseidon insisted happen at least twice a day. Honestly, she just wanted Percy to return to at least have one normal person in the family to speak with.

"You know, you should bring her up here more often," Demeter told her brother. "It would be lovely to see Amphitrite more."

"Soon, not now," Poseidon replied, a deep scowl on his lips. As embarrassing as it was to admit, he'd found no scheme of Athena's, no plan, whisper, or rumor of what the witch planned in allowing their children to be together. He'd even gone as far as to ask his nephew Apollo for any prophecies as a precaution. One could never be too sure, after all. However, no result. So, he'd concluded it was a false alarm. That was one week ago. Now he had a new issue, one he'd kept secret from his wife and the rest of the gods on Olympus.

He'd lost Percy.

"Well, that's a relief," Poseidon said, feeling a little bit better about what they'd all just watched now that he had confirmation it'd all been one giant accident.

"Poor Perce, man. I'll have to tell him what his father thinks of him the next time I head over for dinner." Apollo mock sighed.

"You know that's not what I mean," Poseidon said, giving his nephew a scowl.

How such a thing was possible, Poseidon didn't know. How did one manage to go and just lose their son? It was ridiculous. The boy was supposed to be in a secure room in Atlantis, learning from Triton about politics and whatever else his other son could think of to keep the boy busy. Sure, stabbing him with a trident was a strange way to send him there, but it should have worked. Only, as he recently learned, it didn't, and now he had a missing son.

"Strange? That's putting it mildly." Hera coughed, trying and failing to hold back a smile. Why her brother had thought of that way to send Percy away, she didn't know. Of course, she couldn't talk. Her history and dealings with demigods were bad enough. Still, though, hers was usually with ill intent, but not against her own children.

"I wonder if it's a feature. I don't remember building that in the trident." Hephaestus, who'd been silent until now, spoke up, staring at the trident as it appeared on screen in a flash from Poseidon's memory.

"You probably forgot," Poseidon replied. He knew what the other Poseidon had done with the trident wasn't a feature. It was an ability he had, but he used it with the trident for some reason. However, if Hephatasuss wanted to think otherwise, then he didn't mind letting the forge god take the blame for Posedion's own mistake.

"What am I going to do..."

"Do what, husband?"

Sighing, Posedion glanced at his wife and knew it was time he came clean. With luck, she'd have an idea of where to search before things got too out of hand and the other gods got involved. "Amphitrite listen..."

[Do you choose this future?]

"No," Poseidon said instantly. "Who knows where Percy ended up? I won't choose a future with my son lost forever."

"As I doubt any of us here want to as well." Zeus agreed, if a little begrudgingly. The last world, having soured his mood a little towards Perseus even if he knew it was another path. The fact the Jacksons even had that level of power and were having a kid of their own bothered him slightly. Not that he would ever do anything. The attempt alone would no doubt start a war... And he wasn't sure how many would stick with him should it ever come to that.

"That was weird... That's all I have to say about it." Artemis frowned. The romance was interesting, as was the gods being hunted, even if she hadn't liked the latter. Regardless, what they'd just watched was... Strange, and that was putting it lightly.

"I agree with Artemis." Aphrodite yawned. "We need more excitement. Maybe the next one, Percy will decide he likes mature women and chase after Athena instead of Annabeth."

"Aphrodite..." Athena began, voice becoming icy. "...Be quiet. We don't need to hear any more pointless comments from your mouth."

"I like Aphrodite's idea," Apollo said, then immediately held up his hands when Athena focused on him. "For the excitement part, that's all. The rest was nonsense, right Hermes?"

"What last part?" Hermes asked, pretending to look confused. "Are we talking about Percy and Artemis finally getting together?"

"Enough of that rumor!" Artemis yelled, glaring not at Hermes but at Aphrodite, the goddess who'd first begun spreading it. "It's not happening. It doesn't matter the path. Not happening."

"We shall see." Aphrodite shrugged before pulling out a mirror and checking her makeup.

IIIII

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