A/N: I own nothing but plot. Enjoy!
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Annabeth was glad to crawl into bed after each day's grueling training in swordsmanship. Surprisingly, she had been able to pick swordsmanship quite well.
"That's not too shocking. Athena is the goddess of both wisdom and war after all." Perseus had remarked. "Break time is over, Wise Girl. Keep training."
He then proceeded to train Annabeth even harder, which Annabeth thought was the sea god's petty revenge for her stubborn insistence on using the dagger.
In a large underwater sea bubble the sea god had created over the arena to simulate being on land, Annabeth practiced swinging the sword two hundred times in each posture Perseus had shown her before he would make her perform a sword trick two hundred times. It was only after the sea god was satisfied with her performance would he end the practice for the day. Gradually, over the week Annabeth had improved bit by bit.
But it seemed that today she was not tired enough for her dreams to cause her more distress.
She was praying in the temple, the same one she had dreamt of before.
"Please," she prayed. "Give me your guidance on how to overcome this obstacle. I cannot take this madness anymore. This sacrifice needed to use the power. Can't...can't I be the sacrifice?"
The glittering light turned harsh. "As long as one is pure of heart and free from the taint of evil and selfishness." The voice said. "It will only work in the moment of need and true sacrifice." Then the light disappeared.
She felt a part of her began to despair. Pure of heart? She was a fraud to those who knew of one side of hers, and a disappointment to her family on the other.
She stumbled out of the temple, her legs shaking. When she was away from the temple's boundary, she collapsed by the riverbank.
"Have you found the answers you sought?" The voice gurgled nearby.
She didn't have the energy to turn her head to the voice. She already knew who it was. He had sent him there to watch over her, to remind her that family bonds were stronger than other ties. To make sure that she was obedient. Her life source was already in his hands.
"I just didn't want to hurt anyone." She murmured.
"There will be less suffering if you just listen to what he says," the voice babbled again like a river's hollow bubbling. "Fewer people will be killed than if you insist on continuing this foolish path."
"I can't." She wailed. "That would mean hurting...I can't stab him in the back like that."
"You must." The voice insisted. "Or the innocent shall continue to die until the power is awakened."
The dream shifted again and she was back running with some companion by her side. A monster lunged at her shoulder and its jaws moved to rip at her throat...
Annabeth woke up in a sweat. She groped for the water jug at the side of her table.
The cool water felt good down her throat. But the splash of the water reminded her of one of the voices in the dream. She felt she had been dreaming of something crucial but the dreams had been so disjointed she could hardly make them together.
Just a bad dream, Annabeth told herself. Just a bad dream.
Sleep evaded her. There was no sun down here, so she couldn't tell whether it was morning or night.
Frustrated, Annabeth decided to go on a walk. As long as she stayed within the palace grounds, she wouldn't be lost.
She found her way into the palace gardens full of the mysterious coral statues. With all the glowing pearls, it was almost as if the garden was bathed in moonlight.
Annabeth looked up at the statue of Perseus. The sculptor had done an impressive job in capturing the sea god's likeness, even capturing that brooding expression the sea god tended to have. Did the god ever smile?
Someone was humming a soft song. Annabeth drifted closer to hear more, almost spellbound.
"Grrrrr..."
Before she knew it, she was outside the underwater palace just by the gates. Annabeth blinked. The song had been so sweet and bewitching she forgot she wasn't supposed to be out of the palace without permission. Triton and some other sea creatures were still averse to having a daughter of Athena stay in their domain.
"Grrrr!"
Annabeth turned towards the sound that had taken her out of the enthralling song that had faded into the background. In a thick seaweed patch, an orange and red seahorse the size of a child was floating upside down. Then, Annabeth saw a fishing net that had been cast over the seahorse's tail and fins.
The seahorse looked distressed, moaning and thrashing in an effort to escape. However, its actions only caused its fins to be more tangled. Spotting Annabeth, the seahorse moved even more frantically.
"All right, I can help you, but you'll have to stay still for me to unravel the net. I don't want to hurt you by accident."
The seahorse made a sound like it agreed before calming down. Annabeth thought about using the dagger but was too worried that if the seahorse moved again, she might cut one of its scales. She didn't need the crime of hurting one of the sea kingdom's citizens on her head.
The net looked almost hopelessly entangled, but Annabeth managed to make headway. Soon, the seahorse was freed.
"Grrrr!" The seahorse looked at Annabeth with its large eyes, then nudged at her side.
"What are you trying to say? I'm afraid I don't quite understand. Ow! That's where my dagger is. If you bite there, you might hurt yourself."
Suddenly, the seahorse froze and looked up. Annabeth glanced up just in time to see a dark shadow
"Quickly, move!" She slammed into the seahorse as the dark shape rolled over where they had been in just a few seconds.
Annabeth rolled up from the sand as the shark swam straight towards her with its fearsome jaws wide open.
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Whenever Percy needed to ruminate, he found himself back at the shrine. Usually, he didn't stay down in the seas long enough to have time to spend in the shrine. But with the appearance of the Blade of Souls that no longer held any power, Percy felt that the gears of time that had ended for him after that battle long ago had once again begun moving.
He first laid eyes on Soul-Eater when he first met her.
A rustle in the bush startled him. Percy raised his sword to guard against whatever monster was about to attack.
"Yeeek! Get out, get out! How dare you trespass here!"
Percy withdrew his sword just in time and then quickly averted his eyes. "My apologies." He quickly scampered out of the bushes.
Right after him came a young woman holding her robes tightly to her chest. She was just about to take off her chiton to bathe in the pond hidden behind the thicket of bushes Percy had entered.
Percy stared at the woman with rose gold pearls in caramel colored hair who was now angrily waving a dagger at him. She looked like a dryad or perhaps a water nymph with her effortless beauty.
"Who are you?" She demanded. "How dare you peep—Are you injured?" Her angry expression turned into an incredulous one as she spotted the blood leaking from Percy's chest.
"It is not of your concern." Yet, Percy could hardly keep a grimace off of his face. "I apologize for intruding on you." He made to step around her but stumbled.
"Good sir! Are you sure you're all right?"
She had put away her dagger but Percy was still careful to maintain his distance. He'd been attacked by wild nymphs before.
"I'm fine. I just need to get to the water."
He stumbled along until he reached the pond. A little creek ran through the pond, bringing fresh water. As soon as Percy stepped in, he felt a wave of energy rejuvenate him. His injuries sustained from a pack of hellhounds began to heal itself, flesh reknitting and skin growing to cover the gashes. Seawater would be best but freshwater would do in a pinch to at least staunch the bleeding until he could properly heal himself.
"A son of Poseidon..."
Percy turned back. The nymph-like woman was there, watching in bewilderment as his injuries healed. Her soft brown eyes only held wonder. But to Percy now, perhaps he should have detected any hints of malice or calculation behind those shining eyes.
That was how their ill-fated relationship started.
Percy tugged at a simple leather cord necklace around his neck. The clay beads from his demigod days were still there with the sea glass his little sister had found, but the coral pendant she had given him had been destroyed.
Suddenly, Percy detected a presence flash behind him. He turned to see someone with golden hair walk past the shrine, unaware of his presence. Annabeth?
Annabeth was now past the palace garden and going through the west side entrance. Percy followed her silently, wanting to see who she was planning to meet or what she was trying to do. His ears perked at a light, humming notes of a song. It was similar to a Siren's enchantment. Were he not a god, he might have fallen prey to its tune.
Perhaps whoever was the mastermind of the scheme had dared to finally make a move after a week of no movement. Percy had deliberately given in when Annabeth had wanted the dagger for her weapon in order to lure out the person behind her.
Percy sped up, just in time to see Annabeth set free a seahorse tangled in a net and seaweed. She was not running away as he had suspected, nor was she meeting with someone. The seahorse's thoughts were all on Annabeth's untangling and whether the dagger would accidentally cut it.
A dark shape rushed from the etches of the sea.
"Quickly, move!" He heard her cry out, slamming the seahorse out of the way.
Hungry, so hungry! A blacktip shark swerved around and aimed to make another attempt on the demigod's life.
The seahorse screamed in fear and quickly darted away.
"Wise Girl! Roll left!" Annabeth was not as fortunate to be able to swim away quickly but she heard his cry and quickly threw herself towards the left as the shark dove for her.
Controlling the seas, Percy solidified the waters in front of the shark into a solid barrier. The blacktip shark slammed into the solid barrier and was stunned temporarily.
With another hand, Percy brought forth a large wave that swept Annabeth from the shark and towards him.
"My lord!" The demigod dropped her hand with the dagger which she had been prepared to fight off the shark with. He could see the relief in her eyes.
But the blacktip shark seemed to be courting death as it shook off the daze and prepared to charge at Percy.
Cease this immediately. Percy ordered the shark.
Hungry! Must feed!
Most sea creatures obeyed him naturally in the order of things. But Percy detected that something was amiss. The blacktip shark's thoughts were all on acquiring nourishment as though it hadn't eaten in days. In addition, the jaws were tainted with frothy purple foam.
Easily, Percy summoned his sword from a pinned brooch on his chiton. As the shark charged again, Percy placed Annabeth behind him and struck at the shark with his sword. Crimson blood leaked into the sea in a cloud of red.
Percy frowned. He had deliberately aimed to slash at the shark where it would only be incapacitated, but not killed. The shark gurgled one last breath before its body sank to the floor. Percy stared into the sea but couldn't detect anyone else.
By now, the attendants of the palace had arrived.
"Lord Perseus?" Ione called out.
"Where were you all when Annabeth was about to be attacked?" Percy turned his fury onto the attendants. There were dolphin guards and Nereid maids, yet none of them were to be seen while Annabeth was lured out. The Nereids quickly dropped to their knees and bowed, quaking. The dolphins chittered their apologies.
We caught signs that a disturbance had occurred through the east side entrance, Lord, so we rushed there right away. We have failed in our duties.
Percy could tell that whoever had planned this was careful, drawing the guards' attention elsewhere. They knew how the guards in the palace worked. He would have to report this to his father. There was a spy in the underwater palaces.
"You will all come and receive your punishment at my office later." Percy said, shortly. He turned to Annabeth. "Are you hurt? What happened?"
"I'm uninjured." Annabeth described wanting to take a walk but heard a song in the palace gardens. The trapped seahorse had stopped her from going out further. "What was the song that I heard?"
"It's called a Siren's enchantment. You fell prey to someone's trap."
Perseus thought for a bit before commanding a dolphin to search for the seahorse and another to investigate the blacktip shark's corpse. There was something unnatural about the way the shark was in hunger.
"As for you, you will stay in my sight." Percy decided. "The seas are too dangerous now."
There was another bit of information that he had gleaned. The true goal of the enemy indeed appeared to be the dagger, not to kill the daughter of Athena on Poseidon's lands, although that could still be a side goal.
He was now certain why Athena did not claim her daughter. Someone powerful was attempting to kill Annabeth in the ocean and potentially start a war between Poseidon and Athena, and the goddess of wisdom was attempting to subvert this crisis. They were powerful enough to reach their claws into his own palace. But few people were more powerful than Percy was. This being must be at least a god level or above.
Triton? But Percy doubted his half-brother would put out such a half-baked plan, nor would Triton's dislike for the children of Athena extend to killing Annabeth like this. Poseidon, his father, was even more unlikely to provoke such a war.
So who was it, and what advantage would such a war make?
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The floating figure frowned as the shark died. The plan had layers and layers weaved into it, yet the spawn of Athena had managed to escape it all.
Damn that seahorse. Not only did it manage to trap itself in some fisherman's net, it had failed in taking the dagger. Nor was the demigod lured out further from the safety of the palace. The blacktip shark was even unable to kill the demigod and had to be killed before it could be captured and interrogated. To top it off, the sea god's wariness of the demigod had not even increased but was now more cautious of having the demigod be further away from him.
The figure snarled quietly and drifted away. The master would not be pleased.
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A/N: Almost everything that could go wrong today went wrong. Oof, rough start to my 2023 year. Here's hoping that everyone else's will be better!
A/N #2: I watched Bullet Train over winter break, and someone says to Logan Lerman's character, "You look like a Percy." Made me laugh, lmao.