Too Nice

"You'd think he'd run out of rocks," Percy muttered.

"Swim for it!" Grover said.

He, Clarisse and Annabeth plunged into the surf. Y/N hung on to Clarisse's neck and tried to paddle with one hand, the wet Fleece weighing her down.

But the monster's attention wasn't on the Fleece.

"You, young Cyclops!" Polyphemus roared. "Traitor to your kind!"

Tyson froze.

"Don't listen to him!" Percy pleaded. "Come on."

He pulled Tyson's arm, who responded "I am not a traitor."

"You serve mortals!" Polyphemus shouted. "Thieving humans!"

Polyphemus threw his first boulder. Tyson swatted it aside with his fist.

"Not a traitor," Tyson said. "And you are not my kind."

"Death or victory!" Polyphemus charged into the surf, but his foot was still wounded. He immediately stumbled and fell on his face. That would've been funny, except he started to get up again, spitting salt water and growling.

"Percy!" Clarisse yelled. "Come on!"

They were almost to the ship with the Fleece. Y/N was still recovering and the fight didn't look that good. Percy was bruised and looked exhausted. She felt guilty.

As soon as they reached the ship, Grover was helping her up while Annabeth supported her weight from below. Clarisse was waving frantically at Percy, telling him to come on.

With one last mighty effort, Tyson pushed the cursing older Cyclops away after fighting with Polyphemus, and they ran for the surf.

"I will smash you.'" Polyphemus yelled, doubling over in pain. His enormous hands cupped over his injured eye.

Tyson and Percy plunged into the waves.

"Where are you?" Polyphemus screamed. He picked up his tree club and threw it into the water. It splashed off to their right.

Percy summoned up a current to carry them, and they started gaining speed. He was beginning to think that they might make it to the ship, when Clarisse shouted from the deck, "Yeah, Jackson! In your face, Cyclops!"

"Rarrr!" Polyphemus picked up a boulder. He threw it toward the sound of Clarisse's voice, but it fell short, narrowly missing Tyson and Percy.

"Yeah, yeah!" Clarisse taunted. "You throw like a wimp! Teach you to try marrying me, you idiot!"

"Clarisse!" Percy yelled, unable to stand it. "Shut up!"

Too late. Polyphemus threw another boulder, and this time he watched helplessly as it sailed over his head and crashed through the hull of the Queen Anne's Revenge.

You wouldn't believe how fast a ship can sink. The Queen Anne's Revenge creaked and groaned and listed forward like it was going down a playground slide.

Percy cursed, willing the sea to push them faster, but the ship's masts were already going under.

"Dive!" he told Tyson. And as another rock sailed over their heads, they plunged underwater.

His friends were sinking fast, trying to swim, without luck, in the bubbly trail of the ship's wreckage.

Not many people realize that when a ship goes down, it acts like a sinkhole, pulling down everything around it. Clarisse was a strong swimmer, but even she wasn't making any progress. Grover frantically kicked with his hooves. Annabeth was hanging on to Y/N who was covered with the Fleece, which flashed in the water like a wave of new pennies.

Percy swam toward them, knowing that he might not have the strength to pull his friends out. Worse, pieces of timber were swirling around them; none of his power with water would help if he got whacked on the head by a beam.

We need help, Percy thought.

Yes. Tyson's voice, loud and clear in his head.

He looked over at him, startled. He'd heard Nereids and other water spirits speak to him underwater before, but it never occurred to him ... Tyson was a son of Poseidon. They could communicate with each other.

Rainbow, Tyson said.

Percy nodded, then closed his eyes and concentrated, adding his voice to Tyson's: RAINBOW! We need you!

Immediately, shapes shimmered in the darkness below-three horses with fish tails, galloping upward faster than dolphins. Rainbow and his friends glanced in their direction and seemed to read our thoughts. They whisked into the wreckage, and a moment later burst upward in a cloud of bubbles-Grover, Annabeth, Clarisse and Y/N each clinging to the neck of a hippocampus.

Rainbow, the largest, had Clarisse. He raced over to them and allowed Tyson to grab hold of his mane. His friend who bore Y/N did the same for Percy. They broke the surface of the water and raced away from Polyphemus's island. Behind them, they could hear the Cyclops roaring in triumph, "I did it! I finally sank Nobody!"

Percy hoped the cyclops to never find out he was wrong. They skimmed across the sea as the island shrank to a dot and then disappeared.

"Are you," Y/N muttered in exhaustion. "...okay?"

Percy's eyes softened at her expression. She looked like she was still fighting to stay awake. His heart finally settled from the desperation of getting her safe. He realized that even after being the most injured person, she was still...looking out for him.

"Just a bit tired," he muttered smiling.

"Tyson?" she asked.

"He's okay."

"I'll heal you, I promise." She slumped against the neck of the hippocampus. Percy didn't know how far the hippocampi could take them. He didn't know where they were going. He just propped up Y/N so she wouldn't fall off, his hands holding her waist almost protectively. It was a natural reaction, and from the excessive exhaustion he didn't realize what he was in fact doing. He snuggled his face close to her back as a sigh of relief escaped his lips.

"Percy?" he heard her soft voice.

"Hm?"

"Back near the siren island, did you..." she gulped as her cheeks reddened from blushing. She was afraid to ask. It felt too real. If it wasn't and she decided to ask him about...the kiss...it would taint their friendship, right? He would know what she saw back when she saw the sirens. Y/N felt his grip tighten on her waist. Besides, he was in a relationship with Annabeth. Deciding, that it might just be her imagination, she muttered "nothing."

"What...did you want to ask?" he asked. Did she by chance remember the incident? He didn't know what he was thinking that moment. Why would he do that? As he was still waiting for her answer, his ears caught the sound of soft snores. Y/N finally gave in and fell asleep from the exhaustion. He covered her in the Golden Fleece properly that they'd been through so much to get, and said a silent prayer of thanks.

Which reminded him ... he still owed the gods a debt.

"You're a genius," he told Y/N quietly.

Then he put his head against the Fleece on her back, and dropped off to sleep.

[ TIME SKIP ]

"Percy, wake up."

Salt water splashed on Percy's face. Y/N was clutching onto his hand which were on her waist. "Feeling better?" she asked.

"Uh...yeah," he sheepishly removed his hands from her waist and held her shoulders instead. "I guess you kept your promise while I was asleep?"

"Yeah..where are we?"

In the distance, the sun was setting behind a city skyline. They could see a beachside highway lined with palm trees, storefronts glowing with red and blue neon, a harbor filled with sailboats and cruise ships.

"Miami, I think," Annabeth said from their left. "But the hippocampi are acting funny."

Sure enough, their fishy friends had slowed down and were whinnying and swimming in circles, sniffing the water. They didn't look happy. One of them sneezed. Percy could tell what they were thinking.

"This is as far as they'll take us," he said. "Too many humans. Too much pollution. We'll have to swim to shore on our own."

None of them were very psyched about that, but they thanked Rainbow and his friends for the ride. Tyson cried a little. He unfastened the makeshift saddle pack he'd made, which contained his tool kit and a couple of other things he'd salvaged from the Birmingham wreck. He hugged Rainbow around the neck, gave him a soggy mango he'd picked up on the island, and said good-bye.

Once the hippocampi's white manes disappeared into the sea, they swam for shore. The waves pushed them forward, and in no time they were back in the mortal world. They wandered along the cruise line docks, pushing through crowds of people arriving for vacations. Porters bustled around with carts of luggage. Taxi drivers yelled at each other in Spanish and tried to cut in line for customers. If anybody noticed them-five kids dripping wet and looking like they'd just had a fight with a monster-they didn't let on.

Now that they were back among mortals, Tyson's single eye had blurred from the Mist. Grover had put on his cap and sneakers. Even the Fleece had transformed from a sheepskin to a red-and-gold high school letter jacket with a large glittery Omega on the pocket.

Annabeth ran to the nearest newspaper box and checked the date on the Miami Herald. She cursed. "June eighteenth! We've been away from camp ten days!"

"That's impossible!" Clarisse said.

"At this point, I think everything is possible," Y/N muttered.

But Percy knew it wasn't impossible. Time traveled differently in monstrous places.

"Thalia's tree must be almost dead," Grover wailed. "We have to get the Fleece back tonight."

Clarisse slumped down on the pavement. "How are we supposed to do that?" Her voice trembled. "We're hundreds of miles away. No money. No ride. This is just like the Oracle said. It's your fault, Jackson! If you hadn't interfered-"

"You would've been served on a plate-" Y/N sneered at her.

"Percy's fault?!" Annabeth exploded. "Clarisse, how can you say that? You are the biggest-"

"Stop it!" Percy said.

Clarisse put her head in hands. Annabeth stomped her foot in frustration.

The thing was: Everyone almost forgot that this quest was supposed to be Clarisse's.

Percy thought about what he'd overheard in the boiler room of the CSS Birmingham-Ares yelling at Clarisse, warning her that she'd better not fail. Ares couldn't care less about the camp, but if Clarisse made him look bad... "Clarisse," he said, "what did the Oracle tell you exactly?"

She looked up. Percy thought she was going to tell him off, but instead she took a deep breath and recited her prophecy:

"You shall sail the iron ship with warriors of bone,

You shall find what you seek and make it your own,

But despair for your life entombed within stone,

And fail without friends, to fly home alone."

"Ouch," Grover mumbled.

"No," Percy said. "No...wait a minute. I've got it."

He searched his pockets for money, and found nothing but a golden drachma.

"Does anybody have any cash?"

Annabeth and Grover shook their heads morosely. Clarisse pulled a wet Confederate dollar from her pocket and sighed.

"Cash?" Tyson asked hesitantly. "Like ... green paper?"

Percy looked at him. "Yeah."

"Like the kind in duffel bags?"

"Yeah, but we lost those bags days a-g-g-" Percy stuttered to a halt as Tyson rummaged in his saddle pack and pulled out the Ziploc bag full of cash that Hermes had included in their supplies.

"Tyson!" he said. "How did you-"

"Thought it was a feed bag for Rainbow," he said. "Found it floating in sea, but only paper inside. Sorry."

He handed Percy the cash. Fives and tens, at least three hundred dollars.

He ran to the curb and grabbed a taxi that was just letting out a family of cruise passengers. "Clarisse," he yelled. "Come on. You're going to the airport. Y/N, give her the Fleece."

He took the Fleece letter jacket from Y/N, tucked the cash into its pocket, and put it in Clarisse's arms.

Clarisse said, "You'd let me-"

"It's your quest," he said. "We only have enough money for one flight. Besides, I can't travel by air. Zeus would blast me into a million pieces. That's what the prophecy meant: you'd fail without friends, meaning you'd need our help, but you'd have to fly home alone. You have to get the Fleece back safely."

He could see her mind working-suspicious at first, wondering what trick he was playing, then finally deciding that he meant what he said.

She jumped in the cab. "You can count on me. I won't fail."

"Not failing would be good."

The cab peeled out in a cloud of exhaust. The Fleece was on its way.

"Percy," Annabeth said, "that was so-"

"Generous?" Grover offered.

"Insane," Annabeth corrected. "You're betting the lives of everybody at camp that Clarisse will get the Fleece safely back by tonight?"

"She might be an ass but she cares about the camp, whether you admit it or not," Y/N sighed.

"Yeah, it's her quest," Percy said. "She deserves a chance."

"You too?!" Annabeth asked Y/N in an accusatory tone.

"Percy is nice," Tyson said.

"Percy is too nice," Annabeth grumbled, her eyes moving back and forth between him and Y/N, which he was quick to catch on. He knows how smart she is and a lot happened on this quest. She might not have an idea about what went on in the ship, but he was more than aware that some of his actions - even the recent one of his arms around Y/N's waist - didn't go unnoticed. He felt ashamed and guilty for doing this, but every one of those happened during dangerous situations. And the only thing he was worried about in all this was that Annabeth might misunderstand Y/N for it too.

"Come on," Percy told, "Let's find another way home."

That's when he turned and found a sword's point at his throat.

"Hey, cuz," said Luke. "Welcome back to the States."