Archive of Our Own ^beta

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     After coming back from the future, I’d picked up a habit of talking to the stars whenever I could see them. Not always something important, just… talking. So when we decided to stop for the night and assigned watches? I talked to the stars while the others slept. I didn’t know if they could hear me, or if they even cared, but it felt good. It was easier than talking to someone in person, and I didn’t know why. Maybe it was because they couldn’t talk back? 

     It doesn’t really matter. They can’t respond, or maybe they won't. The point is that I do it, and that perhaps I should’ve been a little quieter, if the way Aphrodite snuck up on me said anything.

     “They won’t respond. They sleep in Ouranos’ embrace, peacefully. It’s a gentle thing, I think.” Her voice was soft, soothing. 

     She had turned her aura down over the course of the quest. That or I’d gotten more used to it. Her voice was… hushed I suppose, though with none of the difficulty to hear you’d normally get from a whisper. It was like she was talking directly to me, as if none of the distance that would make her voice harder to hear was there. I couldn’t tell if she genuinely thought that, or if she was just kind enough to let me believe that.

     I couldn’t help but think about Iapetus, or Bob. Some of the final words I’d heard from him; ‘Tell the stars that I said hello’. I knew he was related to Atlas, his father I think. So I had to wonder if he knew about Zoe and her place in the stars.

     “... Thanks, Aphrodite. I think you’re right. Or at least I’d like you to be.” With that, neither of us spoke for the rest of the watch. When it was time to switch, Aphrodite wished me well, but her voice sounded much more distant, as if something was occupying her mind.

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     By the time I had woken up, Aphrodite and Annabeth had ‘jaunted’ off (is that how you use that word?), and I didn’t see any food preparations having been made. That aided my decision to Prepare breakfast for whenever they returned. 

     A good skill to have as a Demigod? Learning to tell time from shadows. With the way the shadows angled, and how long they were? It was probably early morning. Somewhere between six and seven. They were probably taking a bathroom break. Or tracking down a boat. Either way, I know better than to let them come back without preparing food. 

     Keep in mind I’m not the best cook, but I am a passable one. As far as food goes, it’s edible but it’s never gonna be good as mom’s.

     I settled for making pancakes and bacon, and thank god I had the materials to do so. A shame I didn’t have any blue food coloring, but whatever. 

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     So, we got a boat. Kinda. We got a speed boat, one of the ones with four seats. that Annabeth may or may not have mugged a person for. I’m not judging, we’ve all done weirder. If you’ve paid attention to the route Annabeth plotted for us, you’d know we had to follow the coast for a while. The fun thing about being the son of Poseidon? I didn’t actually need fuel to make the boat go zoom . The downside? I become a beacon for every living sea creature within a hundred miles. 

     And you know the thing about speedboats? They’re really not good for fish to be around. Like at all. On the other hand if I can, at 13, singlehandedly pilot the Queen Anne’s Revenge, then I’m pretty sure I can make the boat seem pretty deadly. 

     “You know where we’re going, right Percy?”

    “Well enough. I can follow the path.”

    “So, the reason we’re following the coast?”

     “I’m not breaking pathing laws today.”

     And that was that. That was the end of the conversation. For a convicted terrorist and possibly-kidnapped child, I don’t like breaking mortal laws. I think almost everyone else would call me weird for that.

     I was making for a doc to steal a bigger boat. No matter how good a speed boat was, they’re not built for sustained sea travel.

     Three weeks and four days left.

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     Spoilers, we stole a yacht from a group of monsters. Which… is a weird pattern. Why do monsters have so many yachts? It’s not like they’re all that good at making money.

     Meh, doesn’t really matter. We had a better boat, and our path was set. All systems go and all that.

     On the other hand, it was a nice yacht. It didn’t have a name but it responded to my controls eagerly, kinda like a shark pup. So that was nice. That doesn’t mean it’s alive, by the way, just that it’s receptive to me. It doesn’t make sense but I don’t mind. Not much of my life ever does

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     So… the ocean’s beyond my father’s reach have giant death worms straight out of Dune. I could sort of understand what she was saying, but I think Aphrodite understood the thing much more clearly than I did. Her face had paled at whatever the worm thing said, and whatever voice it said was not in a language I could understand without the help of the sea.

     “Perseus, why did you take us into … Caoránach’s territory?” Aphrodite questioned me, and, you know what? Fair.

     “Well uh… I can’t exactly sense territories. I just memorize the ones I’ve been in. Um. . . sorry Lady Caoránach? Didn’t mean to intrude upon your lands?” I figured apologizing to the building sized demon worm was a good idea, on the other hand, it screamed at us.

     “Aphrodite? Where… what is it from? That name isn’t Greek.” Annabeth raise a good question, unfortunately it was forgotten instantly as the giant death worm thing roared at us like a sea serpent who's babies we’re being threatened. A good thing to note? Never threaten baby sea serpents, the mom is always nearby and will always hunt you down.

     The sea opened up behind us as if someone had pulled the plug in a bathtub, and the worm(Wyrm?)’s tail shot up out of it. The thing curled around us like a Titanoboa wrapping around some prey. It drew up to Aphrodite, until they were nearly face to scaly, ugly face. Neither drew back, neither spoke, or exhaled, or even blinked.

     The tension in the air was so thick I could almost taste it. I figured if anything was going to kill us it would have been Jaws, or a megalodon or something, not… a death worm from who knows where.

     It took four minutes, I could barely breathe, barely look away. 

     “We will leave, Lady of the Bleak Oceans. We did not mean to intrude, or offend.” Aphrodite’s voice was calm, clear, and laced with charmspeak. It was working on the worm. (Could her children do that? Charmspeak the less humanoid monsters? 

     It didn’t hold. The monster, no, Caoránach, broke free of the charmspeak. It roared loud enough to nearly deafen us, or at least me. 

     She (Do dread worm’s have genders?) threw us, probably. That’s what that pull in my stomach usually means, you know the drop when a roller coaster suddenly speeds up? Yeah it was like that, except only for a second. Granted, that was when I passed out. Or was knocked out. I’m still a little fuzzy on the details. And my vision.

     Black out.

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     Hey everyone, sorry about this, but for one reason or another I can't continue this part of the series. 

     So while I work on writing the next installation, I'd like to say this: Thank all of you for reading, thank you all for subscribing if you have, and I especially appreciate the kudos.

     To that end, feel free to take this and run. This series started as a self fulfillment AU. I wrote it for myself and I love the fact that others enjoy it as much as I do.

     So. I'll see you in California.