Percy Jackson Pirate AU

To Sail the Sea of Monsters

The next few days of travelling were significantly less awkward than the days that came before. Annabeth had started to trust Percy after their night together. Trusting Percy made it very difficult not to trust the others, too, with the regard in which he spoke of them. She couldn't help but trust Percy's instinct. The other five were nice enough and Annabeth found them to be no different from any other regular demigods she'd grown up around at Camp.

She was also beginning to find out a lot more about their histories and how they had ended up as pirates - outcasts - together.

Leo had ran away after his mother died in a fire, hating Hephaestus for "cursing" him with fire powers (Annabeth hadn't seen much of his powers in person yet, though she had heard it was spectacular) and he had eventually found Percy, when Percy was alone at sea. Leo had never been to Camp Half-Blood. A few months later, they'd picked up Piper from the shore of Long Island after she'd ran away from Camp , hating her mother for being Aphrodite, and hating her siblings at camp even more. She had grown unable to stand their company and the stereotypes pressed on her. It was far too much pressure to be perfect.

After that, they had found Jason (Son of Jupiter and hating him for ruining his mother), Hazel (who hated Pluto for ignoring her and cursing her) and Frank (who hated Mars for simply being his father, embarrassed and scared by it) all on a quest for Camp Jupiter together. The idea of two camps still didn't make much sense to Annabeth, but she didn't want to ask too many questions because the topic of their old home seemed to be a sore spot. Percy and his growing crew offered to give them a lift across the ocean to aid their quest but they had found a home on the ship and never left, happy to have found other half-bloods who shared their opinions. Even if they were Greek.

She noticed how similar the story about how the Roman demigods had come to live as pirates alongside the others was startlingly similar to what was happening to Annabeth. She thought of the pirate style outfit in her room.

Currently, Annabeth was stood beside Percy at the front of the ship. They had been keeping up a friendly conversation for the last half an hour or so.

The sky was clear and the water was smooth, which improved Annabeth's mood drastically. Percy and Annabeth were along on the deck, the others in the canteen area of the ship in conversation. She and Percy had slipped out of the room together and made their way onto the deck the first opportunity they had got.

Annabeth liked the other half-bloods, but she liked Percy more.

"How long will it be until we reach the Sea of Monsters?" Annabeth asked, only once their conversation had run dry.

"Likely some point tomorrow," Why did he sound slightly disappointed? "Hopefully in the morning, if the tides are smooth,"

"Oh," Annabeth answered, her smile faltering. Tomorrow morning. This time tomorrow she could be fighting for her life against Polyphemus. She could even be lying dead.

Suddenly her mood wasn't so bright.

"But, um, we will wait for you. To pick you up after - Well, you know. After the cyclops is dead. We can take you back to Camp." It was clear by the way he said it that this choice had been made impulsively without much thought. Still, it was a brilliant offer which Annabeth didn't want to waste before he changed his mind.

"That would be brilliant. If you don't mind." She tried to show her gratitude in her voice.

"Of course I don't mind. I like having you around. We like having you around,"

That made Annabeth smile again.

"Oh, be quiet," She responded playfully, still smiling slightly. It did mean a lot to her.

Just then, Leo came up behind Percy and touched his arm. Percy screamed loudly like a child and spun around. Annabeth laughed.

"Bro," Leo said, while Percy regained his composure.

"Yeah?" Percy answered, casually as if nothing had happened.

"I know how shockingly attractive I am, but seriously, man, no need to scream,"

"What scream?" Percy asked, his tone serious, but Annabeth could see the playful glint in his eyes under his hat.

Leo narrowed his brown eyes, but didn't mention it further. "I was just going to say - we're entering the Sea of Monsters. Things are about to get nasty on the monster front,"

"Nothing we can't handle, though." Answered Percy, sounding confident. Annabeth wished she could share his confidence. "Although, I thought we wouldn't arrive until tomorrow,"

"Uncle Leo found us a short cut," Leo responded, winking at Percy then sharing his playful glance with Annabeth. But Annabeth wasn't paying much attention anymore.

She had researched extensively on Greek monsters and often regretted it. Her mind whirred with images and phrases she'd seen in books about the topic, and Annabeth didn't like the sound of fighting just about any one of them. She hoped these pirates were as good with their swords as they made themselves out to be.

As if on que, the ship jarred startlingly to the side, sending a spray of water over the edge onto them all.

In an immediate response Percy grabbed the ball-point from his sword holster and flicked the cap off. As he did so, it sprung into a full length, Celestial bronze sword. He held it over his front with a grim expression clouding his face. Leo shouted and skittered away down the stairs leading below deck to warn the others, while pulling a mallet out of the tool belt he wore over his dirty ship tunic.

"Nice of them to wait until after Leo warned us." Percy stated, before charging to the edge of the ship and raising his hands in the air.

The water in front of them lifted like a bubble, inside which a many-headed, scary-looking monster thrashed and kicked water onto the ship. It flailed suspended in a prison of water held midair above the ship.

"I knew I felt something funny down there," Percy said, his voice strained and arms still raised.

"A Lernaean Hydra." Annabeth filled with dread.