Chapter 18 Teamwork Makes The Dreamwork

Hey guys! So I totally just realized this chapter glitched out and had a weird thing going on with the punctuation (Random things were replaced with â€| thing. ) Idk why and I'm super sorry. I hate technology sometimes, but it's fixed now.

Percy really hoped he looked more confident than he felt. Intro lines like the one he'd just used often seemed cool in movies, but it felt really weird saying it in real life.

"What are you doing here?" Triton asked, "Last I checked you were rotting in a prison cell."

Percy shrugged, "I had help."

Triton glared at him. He glared back. Don't lose it now, you got this.

"Well, Percy," Triton said the name as though he were talking about a piece of gum on his shoe, "as fun as this family reunion is, I believe this is where your road ends."

Percy grinned. He just needed to keep up this facade. Maybe he could convince Triton to leave. It wasn't likely, but it was better than cowering at his feet.

"That would be great," Percy said, "But considering that involves me dying, I'm not too fond of the idea."

Triton rolled his eyes.

It was go time. He'd come up with a plan on the way; now was the time to enact it. Percy looked Triton dead in the eyes, "And unfortunately for you, your time ends now."

Percy stomped the ground and closed his eyes.

Nothing happened.

Crap. Why hadn't it worked? He opened his eyes and gave Triton a cheeky smile, "I mean now."

Again, nothing happened.

No. This couldn't happen. It had worked so well for his little dramatic entrance! Was that all he got? He'd seen his dad level underwater mountains, but he couldn't make an island wobble more than once?

Unfair. Also, totally not the time to realize he didn't have the powers he'd hoped he'd had.

Uh-oh. Percy thought.

"Amusing, really," Triton said, looking bored, "I'm so scared."

Percy knew he had seconds before Triton lunged for him. If he got taken out, it was game over. That couldn't happen. But he was out of options. He didn't have a weapon. All he had were his powers.

So much for keeping Triton away from the water.

But what could he do in this moment that would do some damage? He could send in a tidal wave or something, but that would not only endanger his friends, but it would give Triton yet another advantage.

Then Percy had an idea.

"Okay, new plan," Percy said. He held up his left hand and made a finger gun.

The cyclops directly left of Triton stumbled back, a hand flying up toward his head.

Percy smiled in disbelief. It worked. It actually worked!

The water gun idea was something Percy had come up with a few years back. He knew he could gather water vapor in the air into a single point, but what if he could weaponize that? If he could get the ball of water small enough, and force it through the air fast enough-

Boom. Water bullets. Granted they still only stunned people, but that would be enough.

"What was that?" Jason pulled against the large arms restraining him. The cyclops held him tighter.

For a moment, anyway. Percy held up a hand and shot him. Jason stumbled free of the cyclops's grasp. He immediately grabbed his sword and went at another one.

"I don't know what you just did, but keep doing it!" Jason yelled, dodging a cyclops's club.

Naturally, Triton chose that moment to charge at Percy. Percy dodged and started freeing the others one by one. Leo, Hazel, Frank..

Oh gods, Annabeth.

Percy didn't know how he'd react to seeing her, but he hadn't expected it to hurt this much.

He shook his head, not now.

Triton swung his sword at him. Where had that come from? Percy would've sworn the guy's hands were empty just moments before…

He needed a weapon. Badly. But what…?

There. Most of the cyclopes carried clubs, which were far from ideal. However, Percy pinpointed one carrying a trident. It would probably be bigger than he was used to, but he could make it work.

He used his new water trick to knock the cyclops back. The cyclops dropped the trident and Percy immediately scooped it up, turned around, and blocked a quickly approaching Triton from slicing him in two.

"Why are you so difficult?" Triton roared as Percy swung at him.

Gods, he missed Riptide. Not only was this new trident about three sizes too large for Percy to comfortably fight with, it was also clearly off balance.

"You really think you can beat me with that thing?" Triton asked as Percy dodged another attack.

Nope. Even with the trident, his attacks would be too slow. Abandoning that idea, Percy ducked and ran, leaving the trident on the ground.

"Get back here!" Triton began to chase Percy.

At that moment, Percy realized that, at least on land, he was a lot faster than Triton. Finally, something he could use to his advantage.

He took a quick look around the clearing to see how things were going for everyone else. Surprisingly, they weren't losing miserably. The others seemed to be holding their ground quite well. How had they gotten captured so quickly, but now fought like this?

They'd probably given up hope, Percy thought. They'd needed a push, a spark to get them to fight back. After losing so many times on the quest, it certainly made sense.

Percy checked to see where Triton was. He was still chasing Percy, though he wasn't catching up anytime soon.

Percy glanced ahead. He either needed to turn or run into the woods. The space in the clearing was running out. If he could lose Triton in the woods, then come back and help get rid of the cyclopes…

Holy Hera, that just might work.

Percy burst into the trees. His pace quickly slowed as he had to maneuver around bushes, branches, and the occasional venomous creature. Luckily, Triton did as well.

Percy turned left. Then right. Then two more lefts. Then he went in a large circle. He looped Triton around so many times that Percy didn't know how the god was still following him.

Eventually, Percy stopped. Even if he was faster than Triton, and in pretty decent condition considering all the hours of the past eight years he'd spent training, he still had a limit when it came to sprinting. He glanced around, looking for any sign that Triton was nearby.

He saw trees. Lots of trees. A few birds flew around.

But no Triton.

Percy took a deep breath. Then two more, trying to slow his racing heart. He'd done it. Now he just needed to go back to the clearing and-

"Got you now, demigod."

Percy gasped as someone tackled him from behind, knocking him to the ground and forcing the wind out of him.

Triton stood, holding him down with his foot, sword pointed directly at Percy's neck, "You really thought you could beat me, couldn't you?"

No. No no no no no no. This couldn't happen. Percy was completely defenseless. After everything he'd been through, this was how the gods rewarded him? Dying at the hands of his egotistical brother?

"I must say, you really are persistent," Triton said, "But I believe this is where it ends."

Percy struggled against Triton's foot, trying to get away. It was no use, and every muscle in his body ached from the effort.

"Let this be your final lesson before you enter the Underworld," Triton said, "Try as hard as you can, do everything in your power to try to defeat us, but it won't work. Fate is on our side, Percy. It's nothing more than a power shift."

"You're killing billions of innocent people!" Percy yelled.

"Sacrifices must be made. But relax, you won't even be here to see it," He smiled and a chill ran down Percy's spine, "Poseidon warned me not to kill you, and that he'd punish me if I did, but honestly? I'm willing to take that chance if it means getting to see the life drain out of your eyes."

"What did I ever do to you!?"

Triton laughed, "You don't get it, do you? You just existing is what caused all this. From the moment you were born, Dad has loved you more. Cared more. You've always been the favorite. But now, I'll finally come out on top. For the first time in two decades, I will have beaten the great Percy Jack-"

The rest of his monologue was cut off by a cry of pain. Percy suddenly noticed a sharp gold tip poking out of his chest.

The tip retreated, and Triton fell to the ground. Percy rolled out of the way just in time to avoid being crushed under him.

He looked up to see Annabeth staring at the now critically wounded Triton, holding an ichor-soaked dagger.

"Annabeth?" Percy asked.

"I don't…understand," Triton whimpered, slowly turning himself so he wasn't lying with his face in the dirt. He put a hand on the stab wound, "How…can this be?"

"You forgot something," Annabeth said, hatred in her stormy gray eyes. Those beautiful, gray eyes, "Percy's not on his own."

"This is impossible!" Triton cried, "I am immortal. I am a god!"

"Well, gods can still be killed," Annabeth said. Damn. Percy hadn't realized how much he'd missed that spunk of hers.

Triton began to breathe heavily, "This isn't over, Percy. Father will not go down so easily."

Percy knew Triton was telling the truth. The battle wasn't over yet. But, he could revel in this moment.

"Thanks for the heads up." Percy said, "We'll make sure to take it into consideration."

Triton glared at Percy one last time before disappearing in a cloud of water vapor.

"Let's hope he stays gone for a little while," Percy said.

"At least a couple hundred years." Annabeth added.

Percy paused and looked at her after a moment, "You saved my life."

"Had to return the favor."

"Well, thanks."

Silence quickly filled the air. Percy cleared his throat, unsure what to say. This was the girl who had screamed at him, called him a liar, and slammed a door in his face, leaving him to the brutal elements of a category five hurricane. What did he say to her?

Apparently nothing, because then Annabeth said, "We should probably get back."

Percy was all too quick to agree.

Neither said anything until they reached the clearing. It was void of cyclopes. Percy figured they'd all either met their end or run for their lives.

Percy jumped as he was met with a bear hug from Piper.

"Thank the gods you two are okay!" She said.

Percy frowned. Two? As in, both him and Annabeth?

But… didn't they all hate him?

"So what happened to Triton?" Leo asked. His hair was smoking. Percy was surprised his abilities were working at all this deep in the Bermuda Triangle.

"He's gone." Annabeth said.

"For long enough that he won't bother us anymore." Percy finished for her.

"So that means the lyre is ours?" Frank asked hopefully.

"We need to get it back to Apollo as fast as we can," Percy said, "It's only a matter of time before Poseidon comes after us."

Frank nodded, "Makes sense."

Leo groaned, "Do you know how long that's going to take? How many times did we almost die on the way here? And now we have to go back?"

"We don't really have any better options," Jason told him.

"I know," Leo said, "But how are we even gonna do that? With the ship in the condition it's in…"

Leo and Jason continued talking, but Percy began to involuntarily tune them out. How much time would they have before daddio himself showed up? A day? An hour? If that happened before they got the lyre back, they were screwed.

Can't think about that yet, Percy reminded himself. Right. He needed to focus on what was going on now.

Like the fact that he was surrounded by the friends he'd lied to and betrayed.

Everyone but Leo and Jason, who were still enthralled in their own conversation, was looking at him.

Annabeth was looking at him again, as if she wanted to say something but didn't know how.

Percy could still feel the tension from back in the woods. She stared at him for a long time. Eventually she said three words.

"You came back."

Percy nodded, "Well, I couldn't just leave you guys here, could I?"

Annabeth blinked, "After what I said to you I figured I'd never see your face again."

I don't want you here. Gods, how did I not notice? You brought this storm here to kill us?

Goodbye, Percy Jackson.

"You do have a way of inflicting pain on people with just your voice," Percy said quietly.

Annabeth flinched. Percy frowned. Was that…regret? Did she regret what she'd said? But why? Surely she'd told the whole group what she'd learned.

So why did she seem remorseful?

"But…" Percy continued. He figured he should at least explain himself before he left for good this time, "I realized I cared about you too much to let something like that change my mind." He looked away, flustered, and quickly added, "I mean, all of you. Like, collectively." He paused, "You guys are the family I never had," Percy then added, "I realized that I couldn't let you guys down, even though I knew you all hated me."

"Hated you?" Frank asked.

Percy cocked his head, "Well, yeah. After Annabeth's…explosion, I figured she'd gone and told you all that I'd lied to you and was going to betray you and then none of you would want to talk to me again." Percy looked around, "Did she not?"

Leo flashed a suspicious smile. Percy was now extremely confused.

"Yeah, Annabeth did exactly that." He ended up saying.

"Oh." That's what Percy thought. So why was the mood so upbeat? Shouldn't they all be annoyed with him and want him to leave as soon as possible in a "Yes, thanks for helping us, but it's time for you to go now" kind of way?

"But," Leo went up and put his arm on Percy's shoulder, "She quickly found she was in the wrong. Especially after Nico explained the whole situation."

Percy had to take a moment to process that statement, "Nico?!"

"Yup. He saw you stand up to your dad. Or…heard it, at least."

Percy immediately turned to look at Nico, who merely shrugged, "I was eavesdropping. Initially thought I was about to blow some big conspiracy. Well, I did, but not in the way I believed."

Percy blinked a few times, saying nothing, stunned.

Nico. Of all the people in the world to defend him, it had been Nico. The one who'd been against him from the very start. The one who'd told the others time and time again not to trust him.

In the end, he'd been the one to save him.

Percy swallowed and looked at Nico, "Thank you."

"No problem, man," Nico said, "Though it would've been nice if you'd been honest from the start."

"True," Jason added, "It's not exactly great that you lied to us for the majority of the quest."

Percy rubbed the back of his neck. He definitely deserved that.

"But we understand why you did," Hazel said.

"And we're glad you had a change of heart," Frank continued.

"We wouldn't be here today if it weren't for you," Piper finished.

Percy nodded. Then he smiled. He could feel droplets forming in the corners of his eyes. No. He was not going to cry right now.

"We all make mistakes, dude. Or get roped into situations way bigger than us," Leo said, grabbing Percy by the shoulders, "And we don't care if you move on from here and go your own path in life, just know you always have a place with us on the Argo II."

Percy bit his lip, trying to fight the tears. It wasn't really working.

This couldn't be happening. After everything he'd done to them, everything he'd put them through…

They still wanted him?

Leo gave him a hug, "We're here for you, Percy." He paused, "Our offer is still open, of course."

Percy looked down at him, "Really?"

"Duh. People at camp would love you," Leo said as if it were obvious.

Percy took a deep breath. The words refused to form in his throat. Why was this so hard? It was just talking, "I'd like that."

The moment following could have lasted hours, but in reality was probably no more than a couple minutes. Tears fell. Lots of them. All his friends gathered around him in a big group hug, even Annabeth.

It felt like home.

Once Percy wasn't such a blubbering mess, he began following the group through the woods, assuming they were going back to the ship.

They walked like that for a while. Percy trailed behind at the back. He caught a couple of pieces of conversation. Something about the ship needed serious repairs? Hadn't Jason and Leo mentioned that earlier?

Suddenly Percy became very aware of Annabeth walking right next to him.

"Hey," She said.

"Hey," Percy said back. Gods, why was talking to her still so awkward? They'd talked through things already with everyone else, so that shouldn't get in the way.

It was just his feelings he couldn't get over. He needed to realize that that possibility was long gone. He'd said the wrong thing way too many times. Even if she'd once reciprocated his feelings, there was no way she still did.

He needed to move on.

"Thanks again for what you did back there," He said, trying to distract himself.

Annabeth shrugged, "Of course."

"How did you know I was there?"

"I followed you and Triton. I had a bad feeling you were going to do something stupid, and letting yourself play hide and seek with a murderous god definitely falls under that category."

Percy laughed.

"Annabeth," He said, realizing the weight of what he was about to say, "You killed a god."

Annabeth immediately held up her hands in defense, "No, we did. I can't take all the credit."

Percy smiled and looked at the ground, "Fine. We killed a god."

The two said nothing for a moment. Just from that short snippet of a conversation, Percy could imagine what a life with her would've been with. Of course, that was impossible now. If only things were different. Maybe in another universe, they were meant to be. Maybe in every other universe, they were. Perhaps Percy had ended up in the one world where that didn't happen.

Or maybe he was just blowing things out of proportion. This was just a short dumb phase he was going through. He'd get over this stupid crush eventually and move on with his life.

Just like she'd move on with hers…

"Look," Annabeth said, slowing her pace. Percy unconsciously matched it, "I'm really sorry about what I said to you."

"You were in shock," Percy said, "And in your defense, I had come on the quest to betray you. And I lied to you. Several times, I might add."

"I know," Annabeth hesitated, "But I still feel awful for it."

Percy nodded, "Yeah. I still feel pretty awful about what I did to you guys too."

"You didn't have a choice! Poseidon practically made you do it."

"Didn't Apollo force you on this quest?"

Annabeth smiled, "Yeah, I guess so."

The two continued walking for a moment.

"Maybe we just call it even, then?" Percy asked.

Annabeth shrugged, "That works."

Percy looked forward, content. This was his first step to moving on. If he could be at peace with the situation, then this could work. If they could at least be on good terms with each other, then that would be enough.

Another moment passed. Percy realized they'd fallen back from the group.

"We should probably catch up to the others," Percy pointed out.

"Yeah.." Annabeth trailed off. Percy stopped and looked at her. Her eyes seemed very interested in something on the ground, as if she was trying to completely avoid eye contact.

"What is it?" Percy wondered.

"I…" Annabeth faltered. She took a deep breath, then continued, "I just need to talk to you about this, and I wanted it to be somewhere where no one else would hear, because it's kind of awkward and I know how it's going to end because of everything we've been through but I just need the closure so I need to say it. And…I hope you don't think I'm weird or crazy for saying it."

Percy's heart skipped a beat.

"Say what?"

Annabeth laughed in frustration, "Gods, you're so dense sometimes, you know that? It's like your brain's filled with seaweed or something. Am I really gonna have to say it straight up before you get it?"

No. Percy shoved the sense of hope in his heart down. That would just provide even more disappointment. That couldn't be what she was talking about.

Things like that didn't happen to him.

"Percy Jackson…" Annabeth stopped for a long time, long enough that Percy didn't know if she was going to finish that sentence, "I like you. Like… a lot. I have for a long time now, and when you left I was mad at you so I had a reason to think my feelings were gone but once I learned the truth they all came flooding back and I can't get them to stop and-"

Percy placed his hands on her shoulders to get her to calm down and stop rambling. She looked up at him, eyes closed, anticipating rejection.

He tilted her chin towards him and kissed her in response.

Percy immediately flew back. He hadn't asked her for permission or anything! He'd just done that. What was he thinking?

"I'm so sorry!" He said.

But instead of stepping away, Annabeth moved closer, grabbed him by his shirt, and pulled him in again. Percy didn't know how to describe the feeling. He'd heard plenty of sirens rave about their first kisses more times than he could count, but he'd never experienced it for himself.

And it was one of the best moments of his life.

"Hey guys, you okay- WHOA!" Leo said from in front of Percy. He stepped away from Annabeth instantly. Annabeth did the same from him. Shit. Should he wipe his mouth off or something? Would that make it more awkward?

Gods, he wasn't good at this sort of thing. Of course, his first kiss got ended because someone walked in on it.

Typical.

Weirdly enough, Leo didn't seem that shocked. Grossed out, maybe, but not shocked.

He grinned like a little kid, "Finally!" He said, "I thought after your big fight on the boat it wasn't gonna happen, but I'm soooooo glad it did."

…What?

"You don't seem that surprised," Annabeth commented, now fidgeting with her hands.

"Well, Percabeth makeout session was not on my list of things I thought I'd see today," Leo started, "But I was hoping against hope that someday you two would make it official."

"Official?" Percy said at the same time Annabeth yelled, "Percabeth?!"

"It was pretty obvious," Leo said, "At least, I thought it was. I've been shipping you two pretty much since you first met."

"That bad, huh?" Percy winced and looked at Annabeth. She smiled and ruffled his hair.

"Nice going, Seaweed Brain," She said, but Percy could tell she meant it in a joking way, "Can't even get our first kiss right."

Our. Percy liked the sound of that. But…Seaweed Brain?

Oh well. There were worse nicknames.

"Back at you, Wise Girl," He said, grinning like an idiot.

"I never thought I'd hear that name again," Annabeth told him.

"Well you better get used to it," He said.

"As long as I get to call you Seaweed Brain." Annabeth retorted.

"Fine with me."

Percy then realized Leo was nowhere to be seen. "Where'd he go?" Percy asked Annabeth.

Annabeth's eyes went wide, "Oh, gods."

"What?"

"We need to get back to the ship before he does," Annabeth said, grabbing his arm and proceeding to haul him off through the trees.

"Why?"

Annabeth didn't slow her pace while she talked, "The two of us have been off on our own for a while. And Leo is known to heavily exaggerate his stories."

Percy thought for a moment. Huh? What could she possibly mean by that-

Oh.

Oh.

Percy really didn't want to find out what sort of scenario Leo would make up when telling the others what he walked in on.

"Yeah. We should go," Percy said.

Annabeth nodded and the two took off even faster through the forest.