Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Ever since Will Solace was a young siren, he would slip to the surface of the Seas of Apollo in the middle of the night every day. Leaning against his favorite rock, he would look up at the stars glittering against the dark blanket of the night. Using his fingers, he'd trace his favourite constellations so carefully, almost as though he thought they'd fall; using his eyes, he'd try to focus on the iridescent glitter of a faraway planet. Sometimes, he would even take out the metallic tube -- the telescope, he corrected -- and take a peek of the stars that were too shy to shine in the view of the naked eye.

One night, he had just been observing the faraway star (oh, wait. The book said it was a planet called Pluto) when something in the corner of his telescope caught his attention. Alarmed, he set down his telescope on the rock and sank below the surface of the water.

Cupping his ears, he listened carefully to the sounds that grew louder.

A ship.

Just then, his stomach growled, reminding Will that he hadn't had a meal in a few days now. Apparently, humans had started to avoid this area because of nasty rumors being spread. So why was there a ship, not to mention that it was in the dead of the night?

Curious, Will strained his ears slightly to listen more carefully this time. Seven...no, eight. There are eight humans on board the ship.  That was strange. Usually, ships from the royal navy had about 50 to a hundred members on board. Even pirate ships usually had crew with members coming close to twenty. (Well, except for the ship that only had two humans on it. Seriously, they were asking to be eaten.)

Will's stomach growled again as he started to get excited. He already had a plan in mind: he would sing the sailors to their death, and bring back their corpses to his siblings. That'll show them that he was more than ready to hunt alone! Grinning, he quickly swam back to the surface and perched on his rock.

And he began to sing.

Almost immediately, he could make out the silhouette of two sailors -- one with disheveled, jet black hair, the other with closely cropped blond hair that grew out slightly -- as they stumbled to the helm of the ship in an almost trance-like manner.

Smiling serenely, Will swam closer to the ship, capturing the souls of the clueless sailors as he continued to sing. He studied the sailors. Judging from the bright and exotic colors they wore that seemed to come from all over the world, they were probably pirates. Rich ones, too! -- their clothes seemed to be made out of pretty expensive material, as far as Will could tell.

Will almost couldn’t believe his luck when a third joined the hypnotized duo. This one had black eyes and -- oh dear. Very, very heavy eye bags. To further prove that this poor soul was lacking sleep, his skin was deadly pale, contrasting with the curly black bangs that framed his face. Other than that, in Will’s personal opinion, he was actually pretty handsome. (But it isn’t good to play with your food, right? Oh well, what a shame.)

Will rested his shoulders on the side of the ship and looked into the eyes of the nearer two sailors. He reached out to cup their faces and lock them in his spell forever.

When suddenly, the third sailor smacked the duo hard in the back of the head.

Will jerked back, letting out a hiss of surprise. What -- how  did that happen? He was certain that all three sailors were under the spell of his song. Shocked, he shot a glance at the sleep-deprived sailor, who was glaring daggers at his companions.

The sailor with the disheveled hair sputtered in pain, rubbing the back of his head.

“What the hell, di Angelo!?” said the blond, as he looked angrily at the third sailor. Di Angelo.

“Congratulations, you guys almost became fish feed. And this is how you treat someone who saved your ass,” the third sailor said blandly as he fished around in his pockets for something. "Seriously. I even warned you guys to be careful around this place."

The sailor with the disheveled hair looked around in confusion. “Fish? Wha -- oh.” he said, eyes resting on Will.

Panicked, Will quickly started singing again before the humans could do anything to him. However, the pale-skinned sailor swiftly stuffed beeswax into his companions’ ears, looking thoroughly unswayed.

“Nuh-uh,” he stated simply as he started to walk towards the side of the ship. Before Will could process the situation he was in, two hands shot out to grab him by the sides and hurled him onto the ship.

Angry and panicked, Will started to thrash fiercely in the sailor’s strong grip, face morphing into his feral side -- his jaw opened wide, revealing long, sharp fangs. That was enough to startle his captor and loosen his grip slightly. Will jumped at the opportunity to force himself free, despite growing weaker due to being out of the water. Looking around for ways to defend himself, he lunged at his captor’s sword (although he had no idea how to use it). He forcefully jerked it out of its sheath and tightened his wrist around it. Growling, he brandished it at the three humans, daring them to come forward. A look of pure fear was on the third sailor’s face as he frantically waved at the siren.

“Put down that sword now! Put. it. Down!” the sailor said, anxiousness edging his voice. He stumbled towards the siren to retrieve his sword.

Will hissed and tugged the sword closer to himself. His vision was starting to become blurry. Red spots danced before his eyes.

“Come on! ” he vaguely heard the sailor saying. “Give it to me. I mean it!”

He felt dizzy, as though the ground was dissolving beneath his tail. In one final, desperate attempt, he lifted up the weapon he had no idea how to use.

“Don’t touch the blade! DON’T --”

In the direction of the sailor, he pressed his fingers against the blade. Immediately, he felt a sharp stab of pain that traveled swiftly from his fingers to his tail that felt as though it was tearing him apart.

The pain was too much for him to bear. Almost in tears, he dropped the blade weakly and fell to the ground.

The last thing he saw was the sailor’s dark eyes and the blade coming close to his face, before dark blanket of the night swept over him.

Chapter Text

*****

After the pirates left, the freckled siren child picked up the abandoned book and mysterious metallic tube on the floor. Settling on his favourite rock, he inspected the damp book.

As he peeled the pages open, small, clumsy handwriting greeted his eyes. A child’s handwriting, Will thought. Just like me!

The water had caused some of the ink to fade away. Nevertheless, he read the first page aloud, skipping words he couldn’t read:

“I got this notebook for my … day, as well as the metallic tube -- no, the telescope . … told me that I could use the metal telescope to … night sky. All you have to do is to point … become bigger! … so fascinating!

“Using this notebook, I will record all … I can see in the sky. One day, I’ll show this book to … , then I’ll finally … !”

*****

As the first few rays of the sun bled through his eyelids, Will reluctantly stirred awake. He rubbed his eyes and stretched his tail -- thunk!  The siren’s tail snapped back in pain. Will forced his eyes open, expecting see the sunlight through the seawater above him. Instead, he only saw an unfamiliar wooden ceiling. Why was there so little space...wait, was he in a tub?

Panicked, Will flipped his tail straight upwards, resulting in a large, loud splash. Where was he? Where were his siblings? Why was he here? What happened --

“What’s wrong with you?” grunted a voice from the other side of the room.

Will sharply snapped his head around. Beside him was a man with his head on the table, presumably sleeping before Will woke him up. Something about the man’s black hair, severe eyebags, and sickly pale skin stirred up Will’s memory.

Di Angelo.

Oh, and also: Pirates.

Great, Will thought glumly, sinking his head beneath the water.

The man peered over the tub. “So, how’s the weather in there?”

Will remained silent, sulking.

The man snorted. “Hey, I know it’s not an everyday thing for sirens to get kidnapped, but you just gotta deal with it…” he glanced at Will’s golden scales. “...sunshine.”

“My name is Will, not Sunshine,” Will said underwater (resulting in bubbles popping up to the surface). “Will Solace.”

“Nico di Angelo.”

“Yeah, I heard your friends saying the ‘di Angelo’ part. Pleased to make your acquaintance, angel.”

“Ha ha ha.”

Will smirked in satisfaction as the man, Nico, stood up. He settled himself beside Will’s tub, eyes resting on his golden scales.

“Solace, huh. So, you’re one of the sirens skilled in healing?”

Will froze. Had he somehow accidentally revealed his vitakinesis? Maybe he had, considering how badly injured he was yesterday from the extended period of time he was out of water. As he spotted a gash across the back of his right palm, he decided that it was highly possible.

“How’d you know? Did you see me healing yesterday?” Will tested.

Nico raised an eyebrow. “Did you? If you did, I didn’t see you healing.”

Will was just about to challenge that statement when someone came bursting into the room. “Nico, my favourite Death Boy! I heard some loud splashing sounds, so Uncle Leo McShizzle, Bad Boy Supreme, has come to check whether you’re having fun swimming as well!” The pair of dark brown eyes found Will’s. “Oh hey, so the pretty merman is awake!”

A pair of completely befuddled blue eyes stared back, barely registering this bizarre man’s curly black hair and scrawny build. 

Nico sighed. He sounded as though he had to deal with this on a daily basis. (No wonder he looked like a zombie.)

Coughing awkwardly, Will regarded the mischievous sailor. “Sorry, I didn’t catch your name. You’re Leo McShiz...what? Bad boy supreme or something…?”

Nico snorted exceptionally loudly while the other man burst out laughing. Will shifted uncomfortably, not getting the joke.

Sighing again, Nico introduced them to each other. “Leo, this is Will Solace. Will, this is Leo Valdez, not Leo Mcshitty King of Shit or whatever you decide to call yourself.”

Leo burst out again into a fresh peal of laughter as Will’s face went red.

Nico shot an unforgiving glance at Leo. “Valdez, please learn how to knock. Show some respect to your quartermaster. What do you want?”

Leo straightened up and looked at the siren. “Well, for starters, I wanted to look at the human goldfish!”

Nico snickered as Will sunk underneath the water again.

“Also, I’ve brought food. For you both.”

Will nearly fell out of the tub with the eagerness his head shot out of the water at the mention of food. Leo handed him the plate of...was that a burnt piece of meat? Will looked flatly at Leo, unimpressed. “That’s burnt. Don’t think I don’t know.”

Leo laughed again. (Seriously, what was it this time?) “This, my dear aquamarine friend, is called cooking . Cooking means that you burn food with so much love and passion that it becomes delicious. And I, the great Leo, am the loveliest and most passionate person you could ever meet, so of course the food that I make is the best! Not to mention that I --”

“Just eat it,” Nico deadpanned, taking the plate from Leo and handing it to Will. Will, despite having not understood what Leo had said at all, proceeded to swallow the piece of meat whole. While Leo and Nico continued to bicker, Will did find that the piece of meat was the tastiest food he’d eaten before.

Licking his fingers clean, he briefly assessed his situation.

Currently, he was stuck with eight (or possibly more) pirates, who were currently taking care of him to an acceptable extent. However, he couldn’t afford to push his luck, as he knew that sirens could be sold for a lot of money. Even if they didn’t sell him, there was also a fair chance that they’d kill him because of the many uses of various siren parts. The likelihood of something bad happening to him was greatly heightened by the fact that Nico seemed to be a very well-informed man, or on the aspect of sirens at the very least.

There was no better word to put his situation in than: bad.

A sudden question occurred to him. “What’s a quartermaster? I heard you call Nico that just now.”

Nico thought about the question for a while before answering the siren. “Well, the quartermaster is something like a second-in-command in a pirate’s ship. But if you want to learn about the system down here, I should probably start with the captain.”

Will nodded eagerly, so Nico continued.

“The captain is the leader of the ship, and often leads in battle and the navigation of the ship. The captain is usually decided by their skill, bravery, and ability to win loot. Our captain is the guy with the blond hair, Jason Grace -- one of the two doofuses that was hypnotized by you.”

Right, about that! Will was just about to ask why Nico didn’t fall under his spell when the quartermaster raised a hand for silence. “I know what you want to ask, but I’ll answer that later.

“Anyway...where was I? Oh right, the captain. Well, contrary to most other captains, Jason doesn’t decide where we go next, whether we put the ship to port, or whether we engage another ship in battle. He prefers to call for a vote instead. Rather than ruling with an iron fist, Jason’s more like a natural leader.”

“More like a father of a big family!” Leo added. Nico glared at him before continuing.

“The quartermaster, like I said before, is something like a second-in-command. The people aboard our ship don’t believe in all the power resting in a single pair of hands, so as the quartermaster, I decide things such as the distribution of rations, work, prize and punishment. I also decide whether to burn or keep the prize that we find.”

“Why would you want to burn something you find?” Will thought out loud.

Nico smirked evilly. “Sometimes, we don’t have enough storage space so we can’t keep it ourselves. So, we decide to burn them so the ships after us can’t have them.” 

Nico continued to explain that there was actually a second mate for the role of a quartermaster (like a vice-quartermaster), who was Jason’s girlfriend, Piper. As second mate to the quartermaster, Piper settled the quarrels and fights that happened on the ship.

Percy, the other man that Will had hypnotized, was the First Mate to the captain. The First Mate was basically something like a successor of the captain, and ranked right below the captain. Following the First Mate, there was also the Second Mate, which was Nico.

Leo was the carpenter, pilot and boatswain (or “bos’n” for short) of the ship. The carpenter’s job was to make repairs to the boat if needed, and the pilot’s job was to steer the ship. People who were good at both roles were very valuable (although Nico obviously didn’t want to admit that in front of Leo). The bos’n’s job was to keep the ship afloat, as well as rigging, docking etc. Leo was assisted by a Percy’s girlfriend, Annabeth, in his tasks as a bos’n.

Annabeth was the navigator of the ship as well. The navigator was in charge of reading and correcting charts, determining their location, as well as thinking of potential obstacles that the ship could face in her journey such as hidden reefs and dangerously shallow waters. Annabeth was apparently a very skilled pirate in her field, which could be seen from her rare knowledge of determining locations by observing the moon, as well as her ability to predict when a storm was coming.

Frank, the strongest and tallest aboard their ship, was the ship’s gunner. He had talent for using the bow and arrow, so he was also the striker. The gunner operated the ship’s cannons, while the striker was the ship’s hunter. Frank’s girlfriend, Hazel, assisted Annabeth in navigation and Frank in gunning.

By the time Nico finished his explanation, Will’s head was dizzy with names and new information. How did a crew of eight pirates manage to accomplish so many things?

Leo chuckled at Will’s confused expression. “I know what you’re thinking, goldfish. ‘How does the Argo II accomplish so many things with so little people? Whoa, they’re so cool!’ Well, you haven’t heard the coolest of it yet! Did you know that we have the famous Big Three, all aboard this fabulous ship?”

Nico’s face darkened. “Now is not the time, Valdez! Save that for later.”

A large smile spread across Leo’s face. “Aww, look at our Death Boy being so shy and humble! Tell you what’s cool, Willie. Did you know Nico that has a skeleton army?”

Will spat out fresh water in the direction of the door.

“You know that I got that from the ship Hades , Leo, for the love of --” Nico sputtered, promptly interrupted by a grinning Leo.

“Golden Boy Jason, Aquaman Percy and Death Boy Nico are the infamous Big Three, all right! Do you know what rumors surround them?” Leo leaned in eerily, wiggling his fingers. “They say that Jason has the power to summon lightning and strike you down dead where you stand, and that Percy can summon waves to shatter your bones and swallow you whole! And our favourite zombieman Nico, they say…”

Leo’s voice dropped to a bare whisper.

“ That if he unsheathes his blade, all that will be left of you is grey, powdery dust.”

Will gulped, admittedly intimidated by Leo’s words. The temperature had definitely dropped a few degrees just now.

“Is...is that true?” he asked Nico, expecting a scoff or snort in return.

But it never came.

Nico sighed and rubbed his eyes. “Well, it’s not that they aren’t. But all these come at a price , Solace...we’ll never be the same as we were before.”

As Nico looked up, Will saw for the first time just how tired he was. Within the dark eyebags were hidden,dark emotions that never made their way out, despite how hard they tried. He looked like he had lost a piece of himself that he knew for sure would never return, and yet he had to live up to his reputation as a broken masterpiece. Will couldn’t help but feel a twinge of sadness for Nico. Nobody deserved to look so hopeless and so empty and Nico’s age, no matter what they did or how bad they were. He wondered what exactly had happened to Nico that could do such permanent damage on a human...?

His thoughts were interrupted as Leo broke the silence. “But hey, let’s not talk about how awesome Nico is. Let’s talk about how awesome I am for once! Did you know that I am also the ship’s surgeon? Like, the doctor? How cool is that?”

All traces of weariness vanished from Nico’s face as he smirked. “Yeah, the surgeon that can’t actually heal a fractured arm, but can cut it off because you’re the only one with the saw. Fantastic surgeon. I couldn’t ask for a better one.”

Leo puffed up his chest with pride. “Thank you, Death Boy! I’m not, like, a temporary replacement, because with the skill of amputation, I am a surgeon with high qualifications. It’s not like you guys don’t have enough money to hire a proper, loyal surgeon or anything. ”

That was when Will finally put together the pieces of the puzzle.

Money. They needed money for a surgeon.

“Great. So you guys are just gonna sell me so you can have enough money for a surgeon?” Will said glumly. “Good luck, though. It’s probably going to be difficult to convince traders that I’m have a real siren. Yellow scales aren’t exactly their expectations, you know.”

However, instead of earning frustration from the pirates, a smirk played on Nico’s lips. Dark, abyssal eyes bored into clear, sky blue ones.

“No, Sunshine," he said. "You are going to be our new surgeon.”

Chapter Text

*****

(One day ago)

The siren had passed out cold after quite a considerable amount of struggling and thrashing, allowing the pirates to finally put him in the tub. After pushing it to Nico’s cabin, everyone made themselves scarce except Jason and Percy, who hesitated at the door.

“...are you sure you’ll be alright? We can always move it to Jason’s cabin, if you want,” Percy tried.

Nico shook his head. “I’m fine, Jackson, Grace. Go get some sleep.” He sat at his table, signalling that he wanted to end the conversation. Jason and Percy glanced at each other before heading out of the door.

Just before he closed the door, Jason turned around. “You know, if you intend to keep him, you might as well tell him…”

Nico shook his head again and plopped on the table with finality.

With a last worrying glance, Jason pulled the door shut. As Nico closed his eyes, he had his usual nightmares again.

Father, he desperately yelled. Bianca! Don’t leave me alone…

But his dreams would leave him drowning in the seas of bad memories.

*****

“No, Sunshine. You are going to be our new surgeon.”

With quite a lot of difficulty, Nico bit back a wide smirk as the siren’s eyes widened. Holding back peals of laughter proved to be even more difficult when Will sputtered in indignation and confusion.

“What!? Wait -- why would I even agree to -- you know what, you guys are crazy,” Will pouted as he curled up his tail in defiance, golden scales shimmering under the light. (He has a cute face, Nico thought absentmindedly. Maybe the sirens of the Seas of Apollo all have good looks and pretty scales.)

Leo, who was somehow taking out tools that couldn’t possibly fit on a belt out of his belt, answered. “Think about it, fishboy. You get good food and proper treatment. In exchange, all you gotta do is use your hocus pocus. You get the better end of the deal, in my opinion. The quartermaster zombieman was probably feeling lenient about keeping prize yesterday, so you might as well take the opportunity!”

Will knit his brows in confusion. (Hey, that’s cute, too.) “But why wouldn’t you guys sell me instead? Isn’t it a lot better to, like, get a human surgeon? I don’t even know how you humans work, jeez,” he muttered. "Not to mention I could just sing you guys dead anytime."

Nico laughed drily. “Well, first of all, I don’t think we’ll be docking at a port anytime soon. Secondly, our previous surgeons all had some loyalty issues and had to be... dealt with. Thirdly, we kinda know how to deal with your kind,” he said, dangling the packet of beeswax.

“Loyalty issues? What makes you think that I won’t just ditch you someday when I get the chance?"

“I don’t mean deserting when I say ‘loyalty issues’, Solace. I’m talking betrayal and double-crossing. There’s a reason why our ship only has eight members -- well, nine, now that you’re here -- and we have skeletons for the rest of our crew.”

Meanwhile, Leo had been tinkering with the siren’s tub. He patted the base of the tub and stood back to observe his work. “There. All done!” he beamed.

“What’s done? What did you -- aaaargh! ” Will screamed as the tub suddenly slid forward.

Leo grinned proudly at his creation. “Wheels, sunny boy! You just gotta lean in whatever direction you wanna go, and it listens to your command! Just lean back when you want it to stop. It’s stairs-friendly, too! Oh, and don’t even think about rolling out of this ship, I’ve installed a tracking system on your tub so that it can’t cross the boundaries of the ship,” Leo added.

Nico looked on in amusement as Will struggled to keep himself still, his tub sliding back and forth in the cabin. He had always wondered how Leo managed to use those weird plastic wires that gave you a nasty feeling if you touched their insides.

Nico got up from his chair and looked at the siren. “Well, now that you’ve got your own trolley, it’s time to meet the crew.”

*****

A dragon masthead? A dragon masthead! was easily the first thing Nico thought when he first boarded the Argo II . He remembered that the ship was a magnificent sight to behold, easily reaching about 200 feet long with a single mast. He could tell the siren was thinking the same when his eyes shone brightly in fascination as he peered over the bronze hull. Nico never understood how the controls of the ship worked (it was only known to Leo and perhaps Annabeth), but although Will didn’t manage to make any more progress than Nico did, his fingers still hovered over the board, eyes flitting from one button to another.

Leo, being the good man he was, allowed the siren to press any button that he deemed safe (if you could trust Leo’s definition of safe). Will oohed and aahed whenever the crossbows snapped upwards, or the oars turned into spears...although he never pressed the button that made the masthead breathe fire ever again.

Some of the crew came to the control board in interest to observe the siren. “Leo, when did you add in the party popper function?” Annabeth asked as she shuffled over, amused.

“Hmm…? Oh, that. Eh, probably when you weren’t around. That was quite some time ago,” Leo answered halfheartedly, surrounded by sparks from whatever he was doing. “Say hi to Annabeth, fishboy.”

Annabeth turned to smile at Will. “You must the siren, our new surgeon! I’m Annabeth Chase. Pleased to make your acquaintance. Oh, hi, Nico.”

Nico looked expectantly at the siren for him to reply.

“Uh...hi. Will Solace,” he replied, unsure.

Annabeth beamed. “That’s a nice name. Let’s introduce you to the rest of the crew, shall we?” She didn’t wait for Will to reply. “I suppose you already know Nico and Leo. The blond guy at the helm is our captain, Jason Grace. The Cherokee girl next to him is his girlfriend, Piper. Piper has an amazing way with words -- she could probably convince you to kill yourself.”

“Morning, Annabeth, Nico,” Jason called from the helm as Piper waved. “Oh, hi, Will.”

“Good morning,” Annabeth called back. “The tall Asian guy at the quarterdeck is Frank Zhang. He may look scary, but actually he’s pretty shy. That doesn’t mean you should mess with him, though. The girl with the curly cinnamon brown hair is his girlfriend, Hazel. Hazel is a genius with all things money and wealth. Frank, Hazel! Say hi to Will!”

Frank waved back timidly while Hazel beamed widely and waved both her hands.

“And there’s my boyfriend, Percy Jackson. Nico, do you know where he is?” Annabeth asked, squinting at the cabins.

Nico shrugged. “Maybe he’s still asleep.”

Annabeth hissed angrily. “That seaweed brain, he doesn’t even have the manners to welcome our new member. I’m going to hunt him down. Don’t rescue him if he calls for help,” she told Nico.

Nico shot her a thumbs-up.

Annabeth then stomped down the corridor to commit homicide.

Nico looked at the siren, who was curiously looking around the ship like a little child. “You alright?”

Will hummed thoughtfully. “This ship is amazing. Did you guys build it using magic, or something? Can all humans use magic? The abilities of the Big Three all sound like magic to me, at least.”

Nico thought about how to respond. “The ship wasn’t built by magic, and no, not all humans can use magic. The ship just looks like it was built by magic because Leo and Annabeth are probably among the smartest few people in the world. As for us three and magic, it wouldn’t exactly be correct to say that we have magic. Why our abilities seem like magic is because have the three strongest magical artifacts in our possession. The three artifacts are basically the reason we're constantly running away from someone, and why many people think we're worth betraying. Do you know about the artifacts?”

Will shook his head. Looks like there’s going to be a lot for him to learn, Nico thought.

“Ivlivis, Anaklusmos, and the unnamed Stygian Iron sword. They were created for the captains of the ships Zeus, Poseidon and Hades respectively. Ivlivis is a golden coin that can turn into a golden sword on heads, and a golden javelin on tails. It can only have one true owner at a time, and most of the time its true owner remains unknown until he or she dies and the next owner is decided. The true owner of Ivlivis can use it to control air, weather and electricity.

“Anaklusmos, otherwise known as Riptide, is a 3-foot tall double edged sword made out of celestial bronze, a magical material. Riptide is a weapon that was passed down a noble family line of sailors, and only the eldest child of a new generation can wield it. The wielder of Riptide can use it to control any water body. Also, as the captains of Zeus and Poseidon were close friends, Riptide has the ability to deflect lightning summoned by Ivlivis, and Ivlivis has the ability to slice through water summoned by Riptide. Currently, Riptide is probably tucked off somewhere in Percy’s pocket as a ballpoint pen.” Nico smirked at Will’s confusion. “Yeah, it can become anything the owner wants it to be. All Percy has to do is uncap it and you’ll be swimming to your death.

“As for my Stygian Iron sword…” Nico paused, not knowing how to continue. It can cause you to die a very painful death. Yeah, all swords could do that. It’s magical. Wow, what a boner.

Its blade can turn humans into…

Nico decided that the abilities of the sword would have to wait. “Well, you experienced it firsthand. I told you not to touch the blade and you did. Back then I thought maybe you didn’t understand English, but turns out you were just being annoying.”

“It was out of self-defense!” Will protested. “Come on, just tell me what it is!”

“Huh. Maybe you should have thought twice about being stupid, then.”

“I’m not stupid! Tell me what it does!” the siren wailed impatiently. Nico snickered, opting to ignore him.

After a few minutes of trying to tease information out of Nico, a sudden thought struck the siren. “If these magical items are so powerful, why are there only three of them? And wouldn’t humans be all using magic if it was so great?”

Immediately, images flooded into Nico’s mind in large, crashing waves.

Bianca being shot, too shocked to even scream. Father collapsing before him, limp and lifeless. The endless, vast sea that wouldn’t end. Pain. Pain. Pain.

Pain.

Nico didn’t even realize that he had spaced out for almost a minute straight. Will looked at him in confusion, searching his eyes for any signs of response. “Hello? Nico? You alive?”

Nico snapped back to attention. “Oh. Uh...right. What...what did you say again?”

Will rolled his eyes. “I asked why are there only three humans with magical artifacts, sir.”

Nico sighed and leaned over the side of the ship, looking at the horizon. “I told you before, Sunshine. All these come at a price. For humans to use magical artifacts, it comes with a curse.”

Will gulped. “A curse?”

“The curse usually comes in the form of a fatal flaw. Most of the time, it makes people go crazy. Honestly speaking, it’s a miracle none of us has lost our minds yet.”

“...that sounds bad,” Will said.

“It is,” Nico agreed.

The siren seemed to think about something for a while, before he talked after a polite pause. “If you don’t mind me asking, what’s...what’s your curse?”

All the common sense in Nico’s mind told him not to think about that. Still, it was hard. Staring blankly at the horizon, he tried to think of a way to ignore Will’s question in an attempt to distract himself from some very unpleasant thoughts. He chose to focus on a object in the distance that seemed to be making its way to where he was.

Wait.

Squinting harder at the figure, Nico’s heart froze with dread as he recognized the ship. To affirm his fears, Percy came running towards the helm, closely followed by Annabeth. Sweat beaded his face as he yelled in panic.

“Jason, call for a vote to engage the galleon due west right now! The Royal Navy is back! And this time, they're with Octavian!”

Chapter Text

“Jason, call for a vote to engage the galleon (1) due west right now! The Royal Navy is back! And this time, they're with Octavian!”

“Now!?” Will heard the captain shout exasperatedly above the sound of crashing waves.

“Do we even need to call a vote for this?” Hazel yelled from the quarterdeck. Frank had already made his way to the cannons and began cleaning and covering them. Octavian must be pretty formidable, Will thought, noting how Frank chose the larger cannons on the gun deck rather than the lighter ones on the main deck. Leo started to roll up the mainsail and topsails.

Jason sighed. “Alright. Nico, clear the ship for engaging! Hazel, Piper, prepare closed quarters (2)! Percy, fill the tubs! Oh, Annabeth, keep an eye on Will,” he added before running towards the quarterdeck.

Will turned to face Annabeth, who came running over.

“Why can’t I join the battle?” Will asked Annabeth.

Behind him, Nico snorted. “Move an inch, Sunshine, and we’re having grilled fish for dinner.”

Will pouted.

“Well, I’d consider myself lucky, if I were you,” Annabeth grinned, looking at the siren. “First-row seats to the Big Three’s abilities on the second day aboard! Well, actually, I doubt you’d see the full ability of Nico’s sword if we end the battle early today, but you’re still up for a good show for sure,” She gestured towards Percy, the closest to them.  

Will’s jaw dropped to the bottom of his tub.

He couldn’t believe his eyes when the cheap plastic ballpoint pen extended towards the skies as Percy swiftly uncapped it. It grew into a formidable Celestial Bronze sword in a matter of milliseconds, shining under the droplets of water that flew up from the surface of the ocean together with it. Rubbing his eyes, Will watched with shock and wonder as large sheets of water drifted to the sword’s bidding. The large tubs were almost instantly filled to the brim with seawater as thick waves and rushing streams of water followed the sword’s lead, obediently splashing into the numerous tubs.

“That’s not all, Solace. Look to your far right,” Annabeth said.

Will turned his head just in time to see Jason flip his golden coin, flashing in the sunlight. Suddenly, the coin stretched outwards in two different directions, turning into a golden javelin. (At this point of time, Will mentally decided that he’d seen enough weirdness for a lifetime.)

Annabeth hummed thoughtfully as dark clouds formed above the quarterdeck. “He’s probably trying to get things done fast today. I think he’s sending thunderclouds to Octavian’s backup ships to chase them away,” she observed as Jason thrust his javelin forward, the clouds crackling with lightning as they made their way to their destination. Will watched in awe as rain started to pour down from the clouds halfway through their journey with occasional flashes of lightning. Strangely, it didn’t come with ear-splitting thunder.

Almost as if reading his thoughts, Annabeth explained. “The lightning doesn’t come with thunder because it’s not true lightning. It’s just...oh, I think Nico’s getting ready!” Annabeth added, looking behind.

Will turned around to see the quartermaster draw out his Stygian Iron sword in one swift motion.

“Jules-Albert!” he commanded sharply.

It was so absolute that Will nearly traveled straight to his side. Even Annabeth wavered and turned her head around. Almost just like a siren, Will mused. How ironic.

Around them, the water started to wobble and sputter. The ship swayed from side to side unsteadily. Will mentally braced himself for the worst.

A single zombie popped out of the water.

Will stared, dumbstruck, at the sheer lameness of the zombie talking to Nico in comparison to the army he had expected. “Clear the ship for engaging,” he heard Nico tell the zombie, who nodded in response.

Will looked up at Leo, who was grinning widely at him. Man, he was so going to get it later.

Suddenly, the sea behind him shuddered. The sea seemed to split apart as two walls of water rose, exposing an army of countless skeletons.

(Immediately, Will changed his mind about killing Leo in his sleep.)

The skeletons boarded the ship quickly, splitting into neat flanks that made their way to different parts of the boat. Will watched in equal measures of bewilderment and amusement as some skeletons queued outside the armory in one straight file, exiting in an equally orderly fashion while carrying all sorts of weapons.

In the middle of the mass of skeletons stood Nico, striding left and right while sweeping his hand in different directions, carrying an air of authority that no one dared to question. Will watched him as he barked out order after order, his jacket flapping wildly in the strong wind as skeletons scuttled across the deck. Watching the quartermaster’s hair bob along with his brisk steps, Will wondered if he could do the same if he had the sword. Or maybe Nico had some secret technique or hidden magical power?

What a mysterious man he was! Will felt his heartbeat quicken as he stared absentmindedly at Nico’s dark eyes, rapidly forming theories in his head.

Nico suddenly stopped. “What?” he snapped, staring back.

Only then did it occur to Will that he had been staring at Nico for a full minute at the least. He held back the heat flooding to his cheeks.

Instead, he grinned and gave Nico a thumbs-up. “Cool skeleton army.”

Nico snorted softly and turned back around.

*****

The silhouette of Octavian’s ship sharpened as it drew nearer. Will could barely make out the words “ H.M.S. Roman Legacy” painted at the hull. The galleon was easily 2 to 3 times the size of the Argo II , and definitely had a crew size far outnumbering theirs (despite the immense size of the skeleton army).

Jason, who was still at the quarterdeck, hollered in the direction of the galleon. “Octavian! Just give up for today and…” a yawn interrupted his sentence. “Seriously, Octavian! It’s barely past Prime (3)! Why can’t you just cut us both some slack and go away? We can settle this some other day at a better time, ” he reasoned, emphasizing the last two words.

They waited for a while. A muffled response came.

“ Ha! You wish, Grace! The day I surrender is the day Jackson hates blue! How about you surrender instead, and give us the artifacts? Then we’ll call it a truce and I won’t come again.” A pause. “Well, not on behalf of the Queen, at least.”

Jason sighed in frustration and rubbed his temples. “That insufferable loser. You know what? Frank!” he shouted. “Prepare the first shots! Don’t even bother waiting for that idiot. Leo, Annabeth! Try to lay from bow to amidships (4), we don’t want the monsters flooding onto the boat like last time.”

Beside Will, Annabeth straightened up. “Well, I've got to go. If we do manage to lay from bow to amidships, I’d suggest you follow me to the forecastle since it’s safer and easier to keep an eye on you.” With that, Annabeth ran off to the front of the ship. Will followed after her.

After the short exchange of first shots (which Octavian’s ship hadn’t managed to land any on the Argo II ), Will watched as Leo spun the helm of the ship, causing it to swing to its left. Meanwhile, the skeletons tried to shoot down some of the monsters from where they stood. When the monsters were quite clearly visible, the skeletons also started to toss grappling hooks to the other ship.

Jason issued some final instructions. “As per normal, Percy and I will go aboard Octavian’s ship while Nico will stay behind. Nico, the monsters?”

Nico’s eyes swept across the galleon. “Octavian’s brought a pretty decent selection of monsters today; they’re quite evened out in strengths and weaknesses. But from what I can see, most of them seem to be weak against fire and Imperial Gold.”

Is this guy a living monster encyclopedia? Will thought incredulously as hooks from Octavian’s boat gripped on theirs.

Nico turned to face the crew. “So. Valdez, Hazel; you’re with Grace and Jackson. Valdez, bring along your...fire gloves?”

“Flaaaaaame on!” Leo whooped as he grabbed a pair of gloves.

“...right. Hazel, bring along your spatha. The rest, stay on the Argo II. ”

The Argo II slowly settled into its favored position, meters away from bumping into the Roman Legacy. The skeletons threw firebombs, shrouding the galleon in smoke.

Jason narrowed his eyes. “Ready?”

Thump.

“GO!”

*****

Amidst the hectic battle cries and the thick sheet of smoke, it was pretty difficult to tell what was going on at first. Will saw Jason leap into the cover of smoke, closely followed by Percy, then Hazel, then Leo (who was cheering all the way). Quite a large number of skeletons followed after them. Swords clanged against each other and shots of gunfire erupted.

About a minute later, Octavian’s crew made it past the first line of defenses, clambering out of the smoke and onto the Argo II .

Octavian’s crew consisted of mostly unintelligent monsters and almost no humans. While some of the monsters towered over Will and others had the wit to try to sneak past the skeletons, a large portion of the monsters charged into battle mindlessly.

Despite that, the monsters seemed quite tough. Most of them had to be stabbed and cut many times over before they collapsed; even so, some of them would just get up again. Will personally witnessed Piper stab a karpoi three times, turn around to deal with a harpy, then turn back to step on the stirring karpoi’s face.

It wasn’t long before Annabeth decided that it was too dangerous for Will to stay on the upper deck and moved him to the lower deck’s engine room (while kicking aside a few...cow monsters).

Bored, Will swam around in the tub. It would’ve been fun if he could join in, but Nico would make him into fish paste.

Will decided to talk to Annabeth to kill time. “Who’s Octavian? This guy sounds like bad news.”

Annabeth made a sour face. “Octavian’s one of the rats working for the Queen. Using his sweet-talk, he managed to climb to a high position after selling some of his magical prophecies. He’s nothing much to worry about, actually; just like any other sailor from the Royal Navy, he’s a weakling. The thing is that when Octavian leads a ship towards us, it means that he’s bringing monsters like karpoi, harpies, gorgons and empousai, just to name a few.”

Will recalled the run-ins he’d had with some of those monsters. None of them were happy memories.

“I’ll be double-checking that the ship’s working alright,” Annabeth told the siren before fiddling with a glowing glass panel.

As Annabeth immersed herself into her work, he soon got bored again so he listened to the noises above. With his sharp hearing, he was able to get a pretty good grasp of the situation: the monsters and skeletons had dispersed all over the boat, engaging deeply in battle. Piper was all the way at the head of the ship, while Frank stayed around the front half. Nico, who was currently at the quarterdeck, took care of the back half of the ship.

Suddenly, Piper’s footsteps pattered across the deck in the direction of the engine room and down the stairs. She jerked open the door.

“Annabeth, are you using Festus?” she asked.

Annabeth shook her head.

“I thought so. I think there’s some problem with the ship; Festus keeps sputtering fire at nothing. Festus is the dragon masthead, by the way,” Piper added, looking at Will.

Annabeth’s eyebrows creased in thought. “That’s strange,” she muttered. “It didn’t show up in the system. I’ll go check it out. Help me keep an eye on Will for a while.” She ran out of the door.

Piper paced around the room. “I have a bad feeling about this…”

“What’s wrong?” Will asked.

Piper narrowed her eyes at nothing in particular. “The first shots and lying alongside were too easy to do for me to believe. Octavian may be a horrible captain, but he’s not that bad...and then during the battle, we realize that the monsters are stupid, but they’re tough to beat and there’s a lot of them, not to mention the lack of trained sailors in his crew today. None of the backup ships are showing up, either, although they’d usually show up by now. It’s almost as though he’s trying to drag this out, or... distract us from something.”

Will thought hard about it. “That’s true. Also…it seems as though he’s trying to divide your crew, or something?”

Piper raised an eyebrow, intrigued. “How so?”

“Well, it seems to me as though he lured Leo, an important member of your crew because of the number of roles he has, onto his boat with the monsters that were weak against fire. And then, using monsters that were weak against Imperial Gold, he also made Hazel go over. He probably didn’t touch Frank, Annabeth and you otherwise it would seem like an obvious trap, so he let you guys be. But maybe he sent someone to tinker with your bronze dragon to distract Annabeth, the only person on the ship capable of repairwork, so that the Argo II would be missing a good brain. Frank would be left too busy fighting for anything he planned.”

Piper nodded her head, smiling. “You’re a smart one, aren’t you?”

Will beamed back.

Piper tousled his hair, laughing. “Hmm…if that was the case, then what is his purpose for luring us? Is he trying to make us all do something?”

Will knitted his eyebrows. “Well, the last time I checked, you and Frank were both at the front of the ship, and Nico was alone at the back…”

Realization dawned on both of them.

“When Annabeth checks on Festus, she’ll be going to the front of the ship…” Piper breathed anxiously.

“Then Nico would be left alone at the back half of the ship,” Will continued. “allowing backup sailors to easily enter from the back…”

“And Nico has…”

*****

At the back of the Argo II , a single sailor drenched from swimming slipped onto the boat quietly.

Find the man with the black sword, the Queen had said. Take it and give it to me, and your family will be returned to you.

He walked towards the man, threading past crowds of monsters and skeletons until he was right behind him.

He reached out for the sword.

Chapter Text

*****

(7 years ago)

“Psst, Octavian. Pssssst. ”

Octavian stirred awake, but he turned over. He wasn’t ready to start the new day just yet.

“Octavian!” An irritated noise. “Octavian, I’m going to dump you off the SPQR if you don’t wake up.”

Octavian made a surprised noise as his blanket was flung off. “Jeez, Jason! Just give up for today and…” a yawn interrupted his sentence. “Seriously, Grace! It’s barely past Prime! Why can’t you just cut us both some slack and go away? We can settle this some other day at a better time ,” he reasoned, emphasizing the last two words.

Jason huffed impatiently. “It’s not like us cabin boys don’t usually wake up this late, Octavian. Besides, you know that I’m putting my plan into action today . Are you going to follow me or not?”

His last two sentences shook Octavian awake. “You’re really going through with it?”

“Yes, and if we don’t leave now, even Reyna won’t be able to save us. So get up and we’ll set off immediately. Hazel and Frank are already ready.”

Octavian grumbled, but eventually obliged.

The Senatus Populusque Romanus (though everyone just called it the SPQR for short) had recently been put to port just a few days ago. Jason, being the confident social butterfly he was, had taken the first opportunity to talk with the other ship that was at port, Camp Half-Blood . Octavian didn’t know the details but somehow, Jason and his powder monkey friends had decided to desert the SPQR and make a living for themselves as pirates.

Of course, initially, Octavian was against the idea. He was happy enough as he was: a child of noble albeit unknown birth, privileged enough to be a cabin boy aboard the renowned ship SPQR , learning the many aspects of maritime trade, and probably set to become a respected captain in the future. But what piqued his interest was when Jason mentioned Anaklusmos , the powerful, ancient magical artifact. Apparently, the cabin boy of Camp Half-Blood had the precious sword in his possession.

Octavian had always been fascinated by magic. Since young, he had the ability to prophesize. It was a rare ability, apparently, usually only found in those who resided near the Seas of Apollo.

Maybe that was where I was born, he used to wonder, but wondering never gave him an answer. He longed to know where he came from, or who his parents were, but he never told anyone. Anyway, that would never help; nobody knew the answer. And it never mattered.

What mattered was the saying that every magical ability came with a curse. Sometimes, Octavian thought jokingly that the curse was how everyone seemed to think that he had a horrible personality, causing him never to have any friends. (Well, the “horrible personality” part had a certain amount of truth to it, but usually curses weren’t so... petty .)

Most magic-wielding people were less than eager to find out what their curse was, because it usually concerned their painful deaths. But Octavian was used to that already; most of his prophecies were bleak and assured disaster in one way or another. (Huh, maybe that was why nobody wanted to talk to him.) More than that, Octavian wanted to know if it was possible to reverse a curse.

Sure, it sounded crazy, but hey: that’s exactly what he was. Even Jason gave him regular assurance of that statement.

By now, he’d taken Jason’s golden coin and had asked him to flip it head and tails at least a thousand times over, but yet he was unable to find anything. When the name Anaklusmos popped up in the conversation, Octavian felt as though that a whole new world of wonders had opened up to him. Additionally, the chances of finding the third magical artifact increased exponentially when two of three wielders worked together to find the third -- in those history books Octavian used to read, the Big Three always seemed as though they were destined to find one another.

It wasn’t long before Octavian joined the plan for the new ship. Before he knew it, the day that they planned to desert the ship had come.

Jason stood at the door, his two friends waiting outside. “Ready?” he whispered.

Octavian nodded his head decisively.

“Let’s go.”

---

The four navigated through the port, trying to remain unseen. There weren’t many people in the port this early in the morning, and those that were here were mostly slaves. Some guards patrolled the area, but almost none of them looked serious about their job.

Jason, who was taking the lead, motioned for them to follow into an alley. The four lowered their heads quickly turned right.

Only to bump into a patrolling guard.

“Shit,” Jason cursed under his breath. The guard lowered his head, as though he was peering at them curiously.

Suddenly, a second head emerged from behind.

It craned its neck downwards, observing the four carefully as they stood frozen in fear. “Two powder monkeys,” it observed. “and...a legacy . Interesting...

“And the last one is…” it said, staring at Jason intently.

Before it could say anything else, a golden sword emerged in Jason’s hand. He flung it at the creature’s eyes, blinding it. Fresh blood spurted out as the creature’s helmet fell off, revealing the two heads that were screaming in agony.

“It’s the Queen’s gemini ,” Jason explained frantically. “Run! Don’t let them catch you!”

The four quickly ran past the gemini’s side, narrowly avoiding their wild thrashing. “You mustn't leave, Golden Boy,” they wailed. “Queen Gaea would love that sword of yours.”

“Queen Gaea can go burn in Tartarus, or wherever she wants,” Jason yelled.

Provoked, the gemini swiped its claws forward to snatch the sword. They missed their target, grabbing another young boy instead.

“Put me down! You’ve got the wrong person!” Octavian screamed, flailing uselessly. “Jason!”

Jason stared helplessly at him, not knowing what to do as the gemini dragged Octavian away.

“We’ll come back for you!” Octavian vaguely heard, before a punch was roughly thrown against his head. Darkness started to flood into his vision, then he promptly passed out.

---

Octavian found himself kneeling on an expensive marble floor in a wide, spacious hall. The guards left right afterwards. The door clicked shut, reverberating emptily.

Silence ensued.

Nervously, Octavian lifted his head slightly. Before him, endless darkness filled the far end of the hall. Something seemed to stir in the darkness as a shadow reached out to lift his chin upwards.

So, little one. I believe you are the Legacy? she mused, an indefinite voice echoing in his mind.

“Uh, I’m not very sure what you’re talking about...your Majesty,” he added awkwardly. His barely audible voice felt out of place in the dead silence.

The darkness seemed to smile. Well, aren’t you a polite one, she said. You don’t know? Well, that’s no matter. Now you know.

He shifted hesitantly, not knowing how to reply. “Uh...I’m sorry if this may come across as rude, but...what do you plan to do with me?”

Laughter blossomed against the walls. Plans...I like you, little one. Yes, I have plans. I always have plans.

The Queen hummed thoughtfully, leaving him to sweat nervously.

What do you wish for, little one? she asked.

The question startled him. “Uh…?” he said intelligently.

Streams of chuckles trickled over the floor. It is alright, little one. I know what you want, she said. You want power. You want knowledge. And...oh, isn’t this unusual? You want to see your family, don’t you?

Octavian froze. Longing tugged at his heartstrings as emotions flooded into his mind.

Let me tell you a secret, little one. I know your curse.

He sputtered. “Wha -- How did you know that I…?”

Amusement twinkled like stars in the darkness. I know what you want, little one. I know what you want, and I can give it to you -- for a small price.

He couldn’t help but feel a tinge of suspicion at the offer. Still, no harm finding out, right?

“What is it?” he asked, curious.

Soft laughter branched and curled around the pillars. Would you like to be the Captain of the Royal Navy’s galleon, little one?

*****

(5 years ago)

Octavian knelt before the darkness, his head lowered. “Your Majesty. I sent out the Roman Legacy , as you commanded, and I have... interesting news to report.”

In the darkness, she straightened up. You never fail to amaze me, little one. Do tell. What have you found this time?

He nodded sharply. “A few days ago, when I was engaging the Argo II in battle, I realized that they had a new member. He’s apparently the new quartermaster of the ship, although I’m not sure how long he has been aboard. The first thing that grabbed my attention was that...my instincts told me that he wasn’t exactly, or entirely, human.”

The Queen hummed thoughtfully. That is indeed interesting. What else, little one?

He smiled. “In addition to Grace’s Ilivis and Jackson’s Anaklusmos , this new member of the Argo II seems to have a... very precious sword in possession.”

Immediately, the darkness swirled in deep interest. Octavian could almost see her thoughts growing out in the hall, like vines gripping the walls. He smirked proudly, knowing that he’d done a good job this time.

Pleased, warmth reached out from the shadows, lightly tousling his hair. I am proud of you, little one. You have exceeded my expectations. I think...it is time to find your family.

Octavian couldn’t believe his ears. “W-What?” he managed to ask.

Familiar laughter blossomed against the walls. Yes, little one. You deserve a prize. I just need you to do one last thing.

“What is it?” he asked eagerly.

Find the man with the black sword, the Queen said. Take it and give it to me, and your family will be returned to you.

*****

(2 years ago)

An empty-handed Octavian knelt in the hallway.

“I apologise, your Majesty,” he mumbled. “They managed to get away this time. Give me one more chance, and the sword shall be yours.”

The darkness remained silent.

“...your Majesty?” he asked nervously. She never took long to reply.

Now, little one, she said. How long has it been? Three years, hasn’t it?

Two people bound by chains were flung onto the ground.

Octavian’s eyes widened as something at the back of his mind clicked in recognition.

His parents.

Streams of chuckles trickled over the floor. You recognize them, don’t you? she crooned. You wanted to see them, didn’t you?

Flames swallowed his father.

Let me tell a secret, little one, the voice sang. Legacies wield magic with no curse. But you -- you brought a curse upon yourself. Curiosity kills the cat, little one. Don’t you know?

As the chains binding his mother turned into ropes, a little flame nibbled at their ends steadily. Darkness engulfed him, cold and unforgiving.

She has two years. Use your final chance well.

*****

(5 days ago)

Flames licked the floor near the bottom of his mother’s feet.

I’d hurry if I were you, she hummed. Find the man with the black sword. Take it and give it to me, and w̧̩͉̘̖̥̱̗̘̣͉̤̗̥̗̟͙͈͞͞ͅh̶̛̟̥̰͍̟͟͝a͙̠̰̪̲͈̦̝͢͠t̨̨̛̙̼͕̙͝'̶̵̝̰̠͍͇̠͈̲͖͖̖̳̦͔͘͜͠ş̵̴̧̯̬͈͇͍͈͡ ̷͍̯͉̤̩͕̥̱̝̯̫͍̩͍͙́͜͜l̵̙̺̬͎̳̫̖͉̫̕e̷̸̛̛̼̦̬̣̣̰̬͚̘̰̲̭̰̦̥̻͓͜f̵̶̝͉̬̦͎̼̬̗̝̲̞̼̮̭̭͕͔ţ̸̬̞͎̩̭ ͞҉̴̴̤̺̞̦͍̫̭o̧̧̲̠̠̝̻̣͎̦̹̟̠͍͇͟͠f̡̮̳̝̖̳̪͍̳̪̫̺͍̱̝̩̘̻̝́́͝ your family will be returned to you.

Chapter Text

As Nico fought monster after monster, he felt a presence slip onto the back of the Argo II .

Probably a backup sailor, he thought, fending off a clumsy attack. About time they came.

The presence mingled itself into the hectic mess. Yet, it didn’t stop to fight. It flawlessly threaded through seas of skeletons and monsters alike, as though it was searching for something. It was when it suddenly stopped and made a beeline to Nico’s location that it had drawn his attention.

Narrowing his eyes in suspicion, Nico glanced in the direction of the Roman Legacy . Sure enough, Octavian was nowhere to be seen.

Interesting , he mused. Maybe Octavian finally learnt a thing or two about stealthiness. Seriously, his stupidity makes me doubt what Grace used to say about him.

Nico didn’t know much about Octavian, apart from the fact that he and Jason were once the cabin boys aboard the same ship, with Hazel and Frank as the powder monkeys. With what little information he had about Octavian, Nico had started to form his own impression of the man. Usually, the words “idiot” and “doofus” first came to mind.

As Octavian drew nearer, Nico mentally estimated the amount of time Octavian would take to finally make his way to where Nico stood. He intended to turn around just in time to catch Octavian red-handed to give him a little shock just for fun.

Three steps away.

Two steps away. Nico smirked. Octavian’s face was going to be worth remembering.

One step away.

Nico turned, sword in hand to swing a fake attack at him.

Instead, what greeted his eyes was Octavian’s bloody hand, gripping tightly onto the blade of the sword. Red liquid steadily trickled off its tip.

In a matter of seconds, blood dripped copiously onto the floor. “W- What are you doing, you idiot!?” Nico hissed, trying to draw his blade away from Octavian, but he wouldn’t let go. Immediately, pearly white scales blossomed from the deep cut, bursting down his arm and spreading across the right side of his body. The scales glistened beautifully in the sunlight, but Nico knew that the pain wasn’t half as pretty.

Nico desperately tugged away the sword from Octavian’s grip, finally succeeding but leaving a large gash across his palm. What’s with idiots and this sword recently? Nico thought exasperatedly to himself.

In the corner of his eyes, bright golden scales caught his attention.

“Thank goodness,” Nico breathed. “Will! Come here and help me heal this guy!”

Piper’s expression shifted from worried, to confused, to a doubtful are you crazy? No, wait, he’s crazy too. Are you both crazy?

As Will slid over as quickly as he could, Nico looked down at Octavian, who was no doubt shuddering in pain. He sighed. “Dude, if you want something for someone, you gotta ask them nicely, you know? Not that I’ll give it to you, but…” His voice trailed off as he heard something amiss. “...um, are you crying?”

A tear-streaked face looked up at the quartermaster. And Gods, was he mad .

“Nothing that you’d know of, di Angelo!” he shouted, choking. “Give me the sword!”

Nico quickly swung it out of reach, flinching. “Hey --”

“Give it to me!” Octavian yelled, his voice cracking under exertion. “I said, give it to me!”

Nico looked desperately at Will for help, who looked back at him uselessly.

By now, Octavian was positively shrieking and screaming hysterically. All the monsters stopped, looking at their leader curiously.

Nico stood there helplessly, deciding to wait for Octavian to calm down. It didn’t seem as though he was capable of doing anything else, anyway. The three watched Octavian as his screams died down to shouts, and then to sobs.

Nico sighed again as he knelt down to face Octavian. “You know, how about we all stop this fighting and have a nice, long talk?”

*****

Once those aboard the Roman Legacy returned, they tied a shuddering Octavian to the mast ( “for safety purposes,” Jackson had said) while letting Will heal him. The white scales almost entirely covered his right upper body, but with the siren’s healing, the spreading stopped. The members of the Argo II gathered around him.

Nico watched the captain sit before Octavian, setting his golden sword aside. “Care to tell us what’s going on?”

Octavian stayed silent.

Jason sighed, resting his chin on his arm. “It’s been a long time since we got to talk like this, hasn’t it?”

The sound of waves echoed in the silence.

Jason stared at Octavian, confused and a little worried. “Fine, I’ll bite. What happened after we...last saw you?”

Octavian hung his head low, trying to put his memories into words. “I...the Queen took me. Made me part of the Royal Navy.”

Jason tilted his head. “Why did you agree? You could’ve just escaped. We would come for you.”

“No, you wouldn’t,” he hissed. “You never came. It was years after you left that I first set sail to find you. Even then, you’d label me as a traitor, a betrayer. When you were the true betrayer,” he spat bitterly.

Nico realized that some color had drained from the captain’s face. Jason remained silent for a while, searching for an answer.

Octavian laughed hollowly. “I haven’t forgotten, Grace. The first time I came on the Roman Legacy , you didn’t even give me a chance to explain. Straight away, you engaged in battle, even after you recognized my voice. And that’s not even the end of it,” Octavian interrupted as Jason opened his mouth to speak. “After a while, you just couldn’t be bothered with me anymore. You and your crew treated me like a mindless idiot, and every battle we fought was just something you wanted to get done and over with. Don’t you dare think that I can forgive you for that,”

The captain hung his head low, looking away.

“ That was still fine. That was okay. Can you imagine, Grace? What could possibly have happened to me to make that look like a walk in the garden?” Octavian pressed, a maniacal grin splitting across his face. Fear crept across the captain’s face. “I’ll tell you. Five years ago, Gaea promised me that if I could bring the Stygian Iron sword to her, she would return my family to me.”

Jason looked at him, surprised. Octavian continued.

“Two years ago, I finally met my parents. Two years ago, I saw my father being burnt alive. Two years ago, Gaea threatened me that if I didn’t get the stupid black sword by today, I’d see my mother burn alive, too. And probably myself, as well,” he added.

Jason’s mouth hang open, speechless.

He didn’t say anything for a long, long time.

“Look, I’m sorry --” Jason begun, promptly cut off by Octavian’s wild laughter.

“I knew you’d say that, Grace! You’re so, so predictable. But unfortunately, even if you apologized a million times, I wouldn’t be satisfied. Even if you gave me the sword right now, I wouldn’t be satisfied. Even if you killed yourself, I wouldn’t be satisfied ,” he growled, leaving Jason helplessly looking at him, searching for a solution.

Nico felt a tinge of pity for Octavian, but he decided that he’d had enough of Grace’s sorriness. Stepping forward, he addressed the former.

“Look, I know you’re in a difficult situation. Trust me, I understand what it’s like to lose your family. That being said, I can’t just give you this sword for a number of reasons, the first being that you’ll completely turn into a fish if I let you touch it. Secondly, this sword isn’t just something I can give away to anyone, and you know that. There are a whole lot more reasons, but I’d rather not waste the next month listing them all. You get what I mean?”

Piper jumped at the opportunity to chip in. “Exactly! Not only that, we could reason with Gaea for you, if you wanted. All you have to do is just to bring us back to her with you, and then we could sort things out! I’m sure this was just a huge misunderstanding; in fact, all of this started with a small misunderstanding. Even if it boils down to a fight, we’d gladly take your side. You can join us, and we’ll fight her together. Why don’t you consider it?” she tried, hopeful.

Octavian snorted. “If only it were that easy,” he spat. “If it were that easy, I wouldn’t even have bothered leaving the SPQR in the first place. I should have known that I signed myself up for all this. This is it. This is the end of the road for me.”

Before Jason could say anything, Octavian’s hand shot out for the golden sword and flung it outwards at Jason, scratching his upper lip. He put the point of the sword over his chest.

Octavian laughed bitterly. “I hope it hurt.”

Then he plunged the sword into his heart.

Chapter Text

It was a full day after the...incident with Octavian. The mood of the Argo II hadn’t seemed to lighten at all, despite Leo’s numerous attempts to lift everyone’s spirits. Nico stayed cooped up in his cabin, seemingly reading a book (but Will noticed him staring at the same page for an hour straight). Percy leaned against the side of the boat, looking blankly at the horizon while Annabeth buried herself under a pile of books and charts. Frank and Hazel distracted themselves by polishing the cannons (a futile attempt, really), while Leo gave up and made his way to the kitchen. The ship that was usually bustling with activity had quietened down to listen to the waves roll beneath her.

But the most noticeable change was found in Jason. He hardly responded to anything, and only after his name was called three times would he suddenly snap awake. Will even witnessed him continuously pouring liquid into his mug although it was clearly overflowing. He sat alone in the forecastle, absentmindedly flipping his coin over and over again. Sometimes, he would just curl up in a corner. Often, Piper would cast a worried glance at him from the helm.

Nothing was done and there was hardly any activity aboard the Argo II; the ship seemed to sail about aimlessly, without direction. Will didn’t need to understand the full context of the situation to feel that the mood was suffocating.

With no one keeping an eye on him, Will decided that he might as well take the opportunity to explore the ship. Passing by the various rooms, memories of the previous day drifted into his mind.

Apart from the memory of...fatal bleeding, the sight of pearly white scales splaying and crawling up Octavian’s arm stayed vivid and fresh in his mind. They looked like average fish scales, just much, much bigger. So it either belonged to a really huge fish, or...a siren.

And that was strange.

As far as Will knew from his childhood at sea, there was no such fish that had such humongous scales and was pearly white at the same time. Large, white fish did exist; but none of them had scales that glistened as brightly, or had such a pure shade of white.

On the other hand, Will also didn’t know of any siren that had white scales. Those that he’d seen or heard of were blue, green, purple, or even blood red. But he’d never heard of white ones before.

Opening the door to the armory, he wondered what exactly Nico’s sword was capable of. He had personally witnessed some monsters turning into dust, so he could deem that rumor true. But what if Octavian hadn’t let go of the sword? What would’ve happened if Will hadn’t helped him close the wound?

What would have happened to Will himself if he hadn’t healed himself, during their first encounter?

Distractedly, he hovered around the room, picking up weapons up at random to inspect them. If Octavian would turn into a siren by touching the sword, then what would happen to Will? Would he grow an extra layer of white scales? Would his scales turn white instead?

Or maybe I’ll just turn into dust, Will considered, glancing towards the right corner of the armory.

Where he saw a very familiar notebook.

Sliding over, he picked up the notebook and flipped open to the first page. Sure enough, small, clumsy handwriting greeted his eyes.

Before he could show his surprise and delight in an expressive dance, a loud voice blared from above:

“Wazzup, dudes! I bet all of you guys are awake and hoppin’!” A pause. “...well, more like moping. But anyway! I am certain that none of you have consumed breakfast, and this makes resident Chef McShizzle deeply saddened!” Some fake sobs. “Breakfast is an essential meal of the day, people! If you don’t eat, you’ll all be as skinny as Zombieman Nico’s skeleton army!” A shout of protest from Nico’s cabin. “So get your butts to the mess hall and we can stuff ourselves full!”

Click.

“Oh, right, we have fish food too. See you guys there!”

Click.

Will sniggered. Putting the notebook aside for now, he made his way to the mess hall.

*****

It turned out that Will was the first to arrive. As Leo set plates of food on the table, the others started to shuffle in. Nico spotted Will head and snorted, presumably at the siren’s default lack of intelligence.

Will slid onto a ramp that lead to a chair (no doubt Leo’s idea). His eyes drifted from dish to dish, inhaling the fragrance of herbs.

He pointed to a brownish-white lump of soft wheat. “What’s that?” he asked Nico.

Nico craned his neck to inspect said lump. “That’s bread. I’m surprised we have any fresh ones left.”

Will pointed to a yellowish paste. “Mango pickled with sauce and vinegar, with garlic. It’s a sauce called mango chutney,” Nico said. “Surprisingly tasty, despite what it sounds like.”

Will pointed to the husky fruit. “Coconut.”

The green leaves. “Cabbage.”

“Olives.” “Grapes.” “Guava.” “Soy sauce.” “...Leo, what is that?” Nico squinted suspiciously.

Leo tilted his head briefly. “Eh, I dunno.”

Will made a mental note not to touch that dish.

By now, most of the crew had arrived. Leo turned around, setting his final dish of a large plate of colorful, assorted vegetables. “Salmagundi!” Leo announced proudly. “I just call it ‘salad’, though. ‘Salmagundi’ is such a long name.”

He clapped his hands together. “Well, this might be a bit much for breakfast, but good food will lift our moods! Not to mention that we have Mr. Goldfish now.” (Will rolled his eyes.) “Since most of us are here already, let’s tuck in!”

The meal was nothing short of scrumptious. New flavors that Will had never tasted before bloomed pleasantly on his tongue; it was difficult to resist stuffing everything into his mouth at once. Leo even sneaked a plate of meat (cooked!) beside his tub, with sauce drizzled such that it spelt “fish food”. (Not funny.)

Just as Leo had said, the room quickly filled up with warmth as friendly conversation was sparked. Somewhere along the way, things had escalated to a food fight in the middle: Percy, Annabeth, Will and Nico versus Leo, Piper, Frank and Hazel. Food ended up in the weirdest of places, the highlights being on the underside of the table, in Piper’s braid, and balancing atop one of Percy’s disheveled locks. And of course, a lot of food ended up in Will’s tub, giving him the advantage of wet, sloppy food. Suffice to say, the food was quickly depleted in more ways than one, with more than enough set aside for the missing captain.

As Will picked out carrot sticks from his tub, Percy stretched his arms across the table. “Why isn’t Jason down yet? He missed out on the food fight.”

Piper’s brows creased in concern. “He’s been by himself at the forecastle since yesterday, after the galleon left. I don’t even think he went back to his cabin to sleep.”

The room lapsed into silence. Naturally, Jason would’ve been the most heavily affected one, based on what Will knew from yesterday. The aftereffects of the incident would no doubt leave him in a horrible mental state; but the Argo II knew that they couldn’t leave their captain to suffer alone.

“Why don’t we bring the food to him, then?” Leo suggested. “Then we can talk to him, too.”

Everyone nodded their heads in unanimous agreement. Bringing plates of food and some utensils, they headed out of the door.

*****

The crew found Jason leaning against the railings of the forecastle. Even with the crowd of people approaching the forecastle, he didn’t move an inch, staring forward at nothing in particular.

“Hey bro,” Percy tried. “Jason. Jason!”

Jason’s head suddenly snapped around. He processed the existence of eight people standing before him, then he lowered his head. “Hey, guys. Morning.” Then he turned back around.

Piper stepped forward uncertainly. “We brought you food.”

“I’m fine; I’m not hungry.”

The soft splashes of waves could be heard in the silence.

Percy stepped forward decisively and firmly put his hands on Jason’s shoulders, turning him around to face the others. “Look, bro, if there’s anything on your mind -- well, there’s definitely something on your mind -- you can tell us, you know. You can’t just sit there all day and mold.”

Murmurs of agreement arose.

Jason appeared to take strong interest in his shoes.

Piper hesitantly dragged a stool with her and sat down beside Jason. “Well, why don’t you tell us how you feel, first?”

Jason barked out a laugh. “Horrible.”

“Why?” she continued.

He looked distantly to his right. “Well, for starters, I killed my friend.”

Piper’s eyes widened. “Jason, that’s not true! You can’t just say that --”

“What’s not true?” Jason shook himself away from Percy’s grip, distancing himself from the others. “What’s not true? Everything Octavian said was true. I’m a betrayer. I’m a horrible friend. I’m too stupid to recognize who’s friend or foe, and I always jump to conclusions. I’m incapable of defending anyone.”

Will heard Nico sigh. “Grace --”

“You guys shouldn’t even bother with me. I’m a terrible person. You shouldn’t trust me. All of you should have mutinied against me a long time ago. By being your captain, I’m just bringing you all towards a horrible end.”

Nico’s voice grew threatening. “Grace…”

“Choose another captain. Percy, you’re first mate, you should take over. You’re braver and more loyal than me. Or maybe Nico. You’re so much more capable. Heck, I don’t care who you choose! It can even be Festus, as long as it’s not me! I should strand myself in the next island we find. You know what, as captain, I order myself to be stranded at the next island as punishment. There. That’s final,” Jason finished, slumping in the corner of the forecastle.

“What’s final?”

The temperature abruptly plunged. Nico stepped forward.

The quartermaster towered over Jason. Gone was his tired, vaguely irritated facade, replaced by sheer, seething anger. His eyes were glinting in rage like sharp daggers, in stark contrast to his dark hair and eyebags. His furious expression was enough to make anyone feel cornered like a rat caught in a trap. A storm seemed to be brewing in his dark locks of hair. His figure radiated fury and authority as he marched towards Jason, face glowering darkly.

Jason gulped.

Grabbing Jason’s collar, he hissed venomously into Jason’s face. “What’s final, Jason Grace? As far as I know, all punishments go through me for my approval.”

He roughly let go of Jason, snapping his head around. The crew of the Argo II immediately froze.

“How many of you want to let this idiot drown?” His tone seemed to press a cold blade against everyone’s throat, daring them to challenge his statement.

Dead silence ensued.

Nico snorted. “Honestly, I think we should let him drown for his sheer stupidity,” he snapped. “But no. Jason Grace, the punishment is not approved. Take it as an act of mercy, because I’m feeling nice today.”

Yeah, right, Will managed to think while his teeth chattered involuntarily.

“You think that by shouldering all the blame by yourself, you’re doing what’s right. Well, you’re wrong. What you’re doing is that you’re shouldering the blame of whoever’s responsible of Octavian’s predicament, and that’s Gaea. No, shut up. I don’t want to hear your whines,” Nico snarled. “You did whatever you could. The bastard Octavian is lucky to have someone like you to have been his friend. Without you, he would’ve been rotting off in the dumps a long time ago. You gave him the opportunity to explore the world when you could’ve just left him. You defended him whenever you could, and still blamed yourself when you couldn’t possibly have. You chose to treat him as a friend, not as an enemy, when he arrived on the Roman Legacy.

“Don’t get me wrong; I don’t mean to say that you didn’t engage the ship the first time you saw it. What I mean is that you let him off easily. You wouldn’t kill any of his sailors. You wouldn’t let us damage the ship too severely. You wouldn’t let me loot the ship. Every time, you let him go; yet every time, he came back. Still, you did nothing. You never snapped. You never lost your patience. You never, ever changed your mind, letting Octavian attack you over and over again.

“Stand up for yourself, Jason. Don’t take whatever blame that isn’t yours to take. Octavian is gone, that’s for sure; but that’s not the end of the world. We still have more bad times ahead. We have more good times ahead. Without you, Jason, the Argo II isn’t complete. We’ll be missing a leader. We’ll be missing a friend. We’ll be missing a part of us. So don’t you dare say that about yourself ever again.”

Nico grabbed Jason’s hand, tugging him up. Silence enveloped the Argo II.

Until the sound of applause trickled in.

Will shot Nico the widest, silliest grin he could manage while Nico turned around to stare at him. He continued clapping loudly. Soon, the rest of the Argo II joined in.

A red flush crept onto Nico’s face as he sharply turned away. “What the hell, Solace!?” he sputtered. Will thought was endlessly endearing to see him embarrassed.

“Aww,” Will crooned. “No more first names? No Sunshine?”

Nico buried his face in his hands as the rest of the crew guffawed. “I’ll kill you after I kill Grace, I swear!”

Jason sighed good-naturedly. “Thanks, Nico. I really needed that wake-up call,” he smiled. “I wouldn’t have made it through without you.”

Nico glared at him. “And?”

“...and what?” Jason asked, confused. “...oh. Right. Uh…” he scratched his head. “Well, I’m sorry, I guess.”

“You are very sorry. For being very stupid,” Nico hissed. “Apology accepted.”

Will snickered. “Looks like someone is actually quite a softie~” he sing-songed.

Nico’s face turned red again. “Give me a break and shut up, will you?”

Behind him, Leo and Percy lifted their eyebrows conspiratorially. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking, Aquaman?” Leo ‘whispered’. (Everyone could hear him.)

Percy hummed ‘thoughtfully’. “Oh, I’m on the same page as you alright, Leo. But they’re on the same boat.”

They burst into a large peal of laughter as Nico grunted, irritated. “What is it now, Jackson, Valdez?”

Leo grinned. "Well, you see, you don't have nicknames for anyone, apart for him." (Jason, Annabeth and Piper seemed to realize something at this point.)

Nico frowned. "That was because I didn't know his name before."

Percy pretended to think very hard. "Oh, but you see, whenever someone teases you, you just ignore us." (Hazel and Frank's face lit up in understanding.)

Nico narrowed his eyes at the duo. "Get to the point."

They exchanged a knowing look. 

Percy wiggled his eyebrows. “I guess you could say that... he’s your typ--”

His sentence was interrupted by a wild combination of the crew’s maniacal laughter, Nico lifting up a large barrel to murder him, and Will looking confused.

Percy and Leo weren’t going to live a very long life.

Chapter Text

The next few days went by without a hitch (if you didn’t count Percy and Leo narrowly avoiding death as a hitch). Will stayed in Nico’s cabin for many but unspecified reasons, much to Nico’s mild annoyance and Will’s confusion. As a result, the siren was left with the quartermaster, who almost never took the initiative to talk -- and that was when he was in his cabin. For most of the day, Nico would be at various parts of the Argo II, doing his quartermaster-ly business. His absence disappointed Will, who had nothing to do except read the notebook he'd rediscovered at the armory, and fiddle with the things in the cabin left within his reach. (There weren't many things.) 

When Nico did return, however, Will always felt a strong surge of happiness. Which was to be expected, anyway -- for someone who spent his time counting the number of books on Nico's shelf (173 on the bigger one, and 89 on the smaller one). Whether it was just looking at him read or watching his hair bob as he wrote, Nico's presence never failed to make Will's heart beat a little faster. 

"What're you writing?" Will asked out of sheer curiosity (and boredom) one night.

Nico hummed, without looking up from his writing. "Why would I tell you?"

Will pouted. "What, I can't just ask a question?"

Nico chuckled and put down his pen, turning to face the siren. "How about you ask me a question, and I get to ask you one in return. How's that for a deal?" Will nodded enthusiastically. "Alright, then. Shoot away, Sunshine."

"Well, what are you writing?"

"I'm recording information I have about monsters and creatures."

"Why?"

Nico smirked. "My turn, Will." The siren pouted. "How's your family?"

"Well, there's my father, my mother, my brother Austin and my sister Kayla. We're the only family of sirens in the sea of Apollo," Will said, eyes turning distant and longing. "They're all really good at hunting, but I'm horrible at it. That's why they never let me go alone."

"And you shouldn't have," Nico snickered. 

"Well, but I'm better at healing!" Will protested. "My turn! How's your family?"

"Dead."

"...oh," Will said. "...sorry."

Nico waved his hand dismissively, flipping open a fresh page of his book. "It's no matter; that was a long time ago. My turn. Does your family have any other abilities apart from hypnosis and vitakinesis?"

Will knit his eyebrows in thought. "Well, that I'm not sure. But I've been told by my father that we have especially strong hypnotizing and healing abilities, compared to other sirens."

Nico made a indistinct interested noise and scribbled some things down on the book. 

Will briefly considered what question to ask next. "The white scales that Octavian grew last time...they were siren scales, weren't they?"

"Nice observation. Yeah, they are," Nico replied. "They belong to the leukai, meaning 'white', family of sirens at Aptera. Aptera's a part of quite a large cluster of water bodies. But they're not very close to the Seas of Apollo, if I remember correctly. Do you know anything about the leukai sirens?"

"No...I've never heard of them. What about them?"

Nico chuckled. "I wouldn't expect you to have heard of them. They're also a single family of sirens, but they were all killed by the Queen's army some time ago."

"Why would Gaea want to kill a bunch of sirens?" Will wondered aloud.

"The leukai sirens are one of the oldest families of sirens around. As such, they use ancient magic, which is very powerful," Nico explained. "The Queen wanted to get their powerful magic on her side, but the leukai sirens weren't very fond of picking sides. So she just killed the bunch of them."

"That sounds evil," Will commented. 

"It is," Nico agreed. "The reason why the Stygian Iron sword is so powerful is because it was made with leukai magic. Usually, the sword would be with one of the leukai sirens, but somewhere along the way, it ended up with me," he finished vaguely. 

"How?"

Nico smirked. "Now, Sunshine. I've already answered two of your questions without asking any of my own. Besides, it's getting late. You should sleep," he said, ruffling Will's hair.

Will straightened up in protest. "What? But there are so many questions I haven't asked! Just ask me another two more and we can continue!"

The quartermaster snickered. "Goodnight, Will." He turned back to his table and continued writing. 

Will groaned. "I'm bored." Nico ignored him, giving him no choice but to (try to) turn in for the day. Listening to the scratching of pen on paper, he compelled himself to fall asleep. 

The scratching noise abruptly stopped. Will lifted his head to face Nico, who was looking at him.

 "Why don't you sing something for me, then?" Nico said. "Then we'll call it even and you can continue asking me another day."

"Only mother sirens sing for their children, Nico," Will teased. "But sure, I guess. Heck, I don't even know why you aren't affected by these."

Nico looked at him expectantly.

Will sighed. "Fine. I don't know too many songs, though." He picked the first one that came to mind.

Hath any loved you well, down there,

Summer or winter through?

Down there, have you found any fair

Laid in the grave with you?

’s death’s long kiss a richer kiss

Than mine was wont to be–

Or have you gone to some far bliss

And quite forgotten me?

Will paused, looking at Nico. The quartermaster was resting on the table.

What soft enamoring of sleep

Hath you in some soft way?

What charmed death holdeth you with deep

Strange lure by night and day?

A little space below the grass,

Our of the sun and shade;

But worlds away from me, alas,

Down there where you are laid.

By now, Nico was sound asleep, his head buried in his open book. The siren briefly wondered if all humans slept that way. 

Soon, Will found himself drifting off to sleep as the dark blanket of the night swept over him.

Chapter Text

(About 6 years ago)

New Providence: an island that served as a popular stopover for pirates. It was one of the few harbors that provided services for plunderers and marauders alike. As a result, the island was nowhere near lawful -- pirates from all over the globe seemed to splay out directionlessly, with their bases of operations scattered all over the place. It was a infamous island, too; the whispers of names of notorious pirates were quite the often case, and rough customers were a common sight.

It wasn't long before rumors of a ship whose name was familiar to every pirate started to spread in the close-knit network of the harbor. The Argo II is here, they said. And with them they brought the final one. At last, the Big Three have arrived.

The rumors were true. But the Argo II didn't need anyone to find out.

The crew had deliberately chosen a rowdy, messy port so that they could easily blend in with to teach the new member a thing or two about trade. After Leo put the ship quite a far distance away from the port, the crew would take turns to head out.

On the third day, Jason and Percy took the new member, Nico, out to the bustling harbor. It was Nico's first time at a port, and he was doing a pretty poor job of concealing his excitement under a mask of apathy. Even before they'd arrived at the island, he couldn't bear to tear his eyes off the weathered, black-tipped buildings that seemed to compete with each other for height, as well as the huge variety of ships that dotted the circumference of the stopover surrounded in thin waves of azure.

Now that he was here, the buildings seemed to tower over him, taller than ever -- and what a maze of buildings this place was! The streets turned and swerved with no logic whatsoever, yet every inch bursting with activity. The only pattern that played on this island was the identical black-shingled roofs of every building; in the previous two nights, Nico had watched warm, deep glows bounce off the surfaces of the tiles.

Needless to say, it was a beautiful sight to behold. Nico even let it make up for the events of the past few days.

The three set off early after slipping on simple disguises. After looking at Nico's pathetic excuse of clothes, they agreed on going to the tailor for the first stop (to which Percy muttered something about "shopping" and "boring"). The seamstress didn't even bat an eyelid at her new customers as she continued bantering with a regular.

"Typical," Nico heard Percy mutter. "No one here actually bothers about tailored clothes. They just grab whatever they like and if it fits, it fits. End of story."

Nico stood at the door, waiting for the other two to do whatever they wanted to do.

The two stared at Nico, waiting for him to move.

Awkward silence ensued.

"Well," Nico started uncertainly, "are you two going to do anything or not?"

Jason and Percy exchanged a confused glance. "Uh, we're here to get you clothes, y'know," Percy said. "You go and pick what you want."

"Yeah, so --" he stopped abruptly. "Wait, I get to pick what I want?"

Jason laughed at the fair mix of confusion, shock and suspicion on Nico's face. (What's so funny?) "Yes, little bro. Go and get what you want."

Nico barely had time to let out an undignified squawk in response to that stupid nickname before he was playfully shoved into a huge array of fabrics.

Scratching his head, he decided to start with the rack in front of him. On the rack were haphazardly hung pieces of clothing of all sorts of color, types and sizes...it was too much information in a single sight for him to process, but at the same time, too little. How did this piece of clothing work? What purpose did it serve? How was it made? Huge surges of unanswered questions flooded into his mind as he picked up piece after piece with growing intrigue, feeling the subtle difference in each piece of fabric. It was going to be difficult to make a choice. 

After bouts of choosing and picking, Nico settled for something that seemed to compliment his current plain, white shirt fairly well. It was black and had golden buttons in the center, its edges trimmed with gold. The sleeveless garment made his white sleeves puff out in an interesting, humorous way.

He read the label. Vest.

He then went off in search of the other two, whom he quickly found quite close by. "Done choosing what you want?" Jason asked.

Nico held up the black vest. (He'd learnt a new word today!)

"...that's it?"

Nico nodded, confused. Was it too much?

Percy popped out from behind, holding out something maroon. "Hey, Nico! I think this'll suit you. Want to give it a try?"

Nico squinted at the thick long sleeves. "What's that?"

"It's a coat," Percy smiled, handing it to Nico. "You just wear it over whatever you're currently wearing, and it makes you look cool."

...what kind of clothing only served to make you look cool?

"Well, it also keeps you warm," Jason added. That made much more sense.

Nico hesitated. "...so, I'll have to choose one of these?"

Jason laughed again. (Seriously, what was it this time?) "No, Nico! You get all of them. We're not that poor," he said, adding an extra piece of clothing to the pile. "And we'll get you some new pants, too."

As Nico was dragged to the counter, he couldn't quite name the warm feeling washing over his heart.

He also couldn't quite help but smile.

*****

They passed by the next few shops in a similar fashion, picking up all sorts of things for Nico along the way. The three had just exited the bookshop with a stack of books about mythological creatures in Nico's arms when one of the shops caught his eye.

Like any other shop, it had the same black-tiled roof and an unassuming glass windowpane. But behind the window revealed a softly-lit store, with little trinkets and strange items that Nico was sure he'd never discover the use of. The dim, orange lamps in the shop further increased the mysterious aura surrounding it, greatly piquing Nico's interest. 

"Let's go in and take a look?" Percy suggested, noticing Nico's intrigue. Nico nodded and stepped inside.

As soon as the door closed behind them, the shop lapsed into complete silence. Nico looked around for a shopkeeper, but no other soul was in sight.

Despite the stifling and slightly suffocating effect of the stillness, he found a twinge of tranquility and a strange sense of belonging. It prompted him to uncover the secrets laid out before him in the shop, where his eagerness was well-met with a wide array of shiny diamonds and precious metals sparkling under the orange glow, their sparkles seemingly watching him wherever he went. Surprisingly, he recognized quite a lot of them, and even knew how much they were worth. His eyes swept over object after object, some of them looking so fragile and valuable that Nico was pretty sure that he risked breaking them just by looking at them (as well as knowing how much he'd have to pay if he did break them).

"Careful, Percy. You're probably going to break something if you don't watch your step," Jason warned.

"What do these do?" Nico found himself whispering, but he still felt as though he was sticking out like a sore thumb.

Jason shrugged. "Beats me. New Providence always has the strangest things." Nico continued to comb through the store, spotting a shiny white object at the counter, among one of the many things.

When he did a double-take.

"...that's a scale of a leukai siren!" he breathed, inspecting the object intently. Jason curiously peered over. He glanced around briefly for anything that would discourage him from taking the scale before he picked it up gingerly. Turning the scale in his hands, a million questions passed through his mind. Why did the storeowner have this? Where was this from? Was the storeowner related to the siren in any way? He wasn't even sure if things like these had any monetary value, because leukai sirens were pretty much unknown to the vast population of the world. All the more making its presence in a dingy, modest store tucked away in the disorder of a lawless harbor very, very strange.

Perhaps the strangest thing of all was the slight tinge of black spreading up from the bottom of the scale, as though a drop of ink had unfurled in a pond of pure water. It also kicked up certain unpleasant memories that Nico had tried not to think about. 

"What's that?" Percy called from the other side of the room, trying not to knock anything over. 

...emphasis on tried.

Percy froze at the sound of shattering ceramic. "...whoops. I think I might have knocked that down with my elbow," he said, looking down at a broken cup.

Jason sighed loudly and pinched his nosebridge with his fingers. "I told you..."

Percy grinned sheepishly. Jason stared back, frustrated.

Silence.

Then Percy started sweeping the shards underneath the shelf.

"What do you think you're doing!?" Jason hissed, making his way where Percy was as quickly as possible.

"Well, nobody saw a thing! The shopkeeper's not even here, he probably won't even notice that it's gone. Strike when the metal's hot, bro!" Percy whispered, hurriedly sweeping more pieces. 

"Wha -- You can't just break someone's stuff and then leave, Percy! Do you even have any morals!?" Jason snapped.

"Well, for the record, I don't have any morals and that's why I'm a pirate! Besides, what do you suggest we do?" Percy argued, spreading his hands wide.

"We apologize."

The bickering duo turned to face Nico. 

"...uh --" Percy began, interrupted by a piece of paper and a pen thrust in his face. 

"Write an apology note to the shopkeeper. Then sweep the shards back out and put the note on it," Nico said (although to Percy it felt more like an order). "That was made out of very expensive ceramic and probably costs more than your life; if you sold it, you could use it to cover all the expenses of repairing the Argo II. The least we can do is apologize."

Percy stared at Nico, baffled.

Nico stared back expectantly. 

"Ugh, okay. You win," Percy obliged grudgingly, starting on the note. "I'm not even sure how this can even work out or why I'm even listening to you, but fine." (Nico thought he heard Percy mutter something along the lines of "two moms for the price of one", whatever that meant.)

As Nico and Percy argued about signing off on the note ("That's just stupid! We're in hiding, for goodness' sake --"), Jason's face took on a calculating expression. 

"What?" Nico said bluntly in response to Jason's hard stare. 

"...Nico, do you know anything about prize? Like things that pirates would hoard...for example, precious jewels or metals?" Jason asked. 

Nico furrowed his eyebrows in thought. "Well, if you mean things that are like valuables you can find in this shop, I'm pretty familiar with them. I can probably tell you how much everything in this shop is worth," he contemplated. "Probably. What about it?"

Jason beamed.

"Familiar with prize, a natural at keeping order...I think we've found our quartermaster."

Chapter Text

The siren had felt Nico's gaze on him for quite an extended period of time, and it was getting awkward.

"What?" he finally asked.

Nico hummed. "Where'd you get that notebook from?"

(Oh, wait. He wasn't staring at him. Will felt heat crawl up to his cheeks.)

"Ah. Um...this? I found it at a corner of the armory," he said, showing Nico the book. "Thanks for helping me pick it up, by the way."

The quartermaster waved his hand. "No, that's not what I meant. How did you even get it in the first place?"

"Oh." He scratched his head. "I think I picked it up when a ship passing by dropped it? It was only one among many other things I picked up on that day, though. But that was a really long time ago."

Will could practically hear the gears in Nico's head turning in the short silence that followed.

"I don't suppose you know who wrote it, then?" Nico asked.

The siren shook his head. "The author's name had already faded away by the time I got it. Why do you ask?"

Nico absentmindedly took the book from Will's hands, flipping through its contents with an unreadable expression on his face. He seemed to be thinking hard about how to answer. Before he could say anything, however, a familiar voice blared from above:

"What's up, guys! It's Leo McShizzle, just in case you couldn't tell! I'm here to inform all fabulous humans and fish alike, wink wink, aboard the Argo II that we should be arriving at the island quite soon! Now would be a good time to get prepared. If you already are, then I'd recommend taking a look of the breathtaking scenery at the main deck! It has my professional approval. So...see you guys soon! Toodles." Click.

Nico turned to Will with the notebook in his hands, looking at him hesitantly for a moment. Then he cracked a small smile, offering the book to Will.

"Well, since we have nothing to do," he offered, "why don't we take a look at the Leo-approved scenery?"

*****

The island did turn out to be quite the sight to behold. Tall, lanky trees shot vertically upwards, crowned with vibrant yellow flowers. The shrubs circling the island crawled against the forest, gracefully sloping down towards the island's shores like a dress. A ring of mist dutifully surrounded the trees at mid-height, pulsating in tandem with the soft, thin sheets of waves.

As the small crew loaded onto the shores carpeted with golden flowers, Jason gave a short briefing.

"Alright. So we're here to look for natural resources, mostly, but feel free to pick up anything that looks like it's worth selling. Of course, don't pick up anything or go anywhere that's obviously dangerous." He lifted his head, threading his fingers through the light mist. "The mist here feels like normal mist, so it should be safe. We'll have three people keeping watch of the ship, and the rest of us'll go out in pairs."

"We'll stay," Hazel volunteered, gesturing towards herself and Frank.

Jason nodded. "One more?"

"I'll stay!" Leo said immediately.

"I'll stay," Nico said, a tad bit too late. "Damn it, Valdez!"

Leo grinned.

Jason rolled his eyes. "So...I guess I'll go with Piper, Percy goes with Annabeth, and Nico goes with Will...?" he asked, looking at Nico for approval.

Percy snickered. Nico threw a fruit at him.

The captain coughed softly, poorly hiding his amusement. He clapped his hands together. "Alright. Grab a map, and off you go!"

*****

The three pairs split up after a while (although Will had no idea why Percy had told him and Nico to "have fun". He was promptly whacked in the head by Annabeth right after), heading towards equally ominous-looking paths. The quartermaster and the siren waded through a foggy, dark path, save for a few dim rays of sunlight that had made their way to the forest floor. The path was completely silent, making the crunching of dry leaves under Nico's feet and the light sloshing of Will's tub especially audible. It made Will feel like he was an intruder.

"Um...if you don't mind me asking, where exactly are we going?" Will asked, peering at the silhouette of the nearby trees in the mist.

"I'm trying to look for a pond, or a lake...just some sort of water body," Nico answered, squinting in different directions. "There's a rare aquatic plant that grows around this area, and I'm hoping to find it. It should be fairly easy, as long as the Mist doesn't interfere."

"What can a foggy day do to a plant?"

"Not the mist. The Mist. Capital letter 'M'," Nico explained. "The Queen puts it around areas that she doesn't want people walking around in, but strong mythical creatures can control it too. It basically traps your conscience in your mind, and it's usually very difficult to get out of it. Most people just die in there. The Argo II encounters the Mist pretty often, because the Queen'll put it wherever we are if she knows where we are. A real pain in the ass. Especially for me, Grace, and Jackson."

"...so you guys are hoping that she doesn't know you're here?"

"More or less."

"You're all crazy."

"Yeah, we hear that one pretty often."

"How much is this piece of grass worth anyway?"

"It's a flower," he snapped. "And, uh...it's not worth much, because most people don't even know about it."

"What!? Then why are you even trying to find it?"

"It's for my sister!" Nico hissed. "My dead sister. And my dead father. Happy?"

Will instantly decided to shut up.

At the same time, he was reminded of his own family. He remembered the first time he had snuck out at night. He had gone to pick flowers for his family as a little surprise for them, but when he came back, he was immediately showered with his mother and siblings' worry and chastises. It left him feeling a little sad and disappointed. Unappreciated, even.

But he also remembered how in the corner of his eyes, he saw his father secretly winking at him, giving him a wide smile and a small thumbs-up.

A strong pang of sadness and empathy washed over him.

"What does this plant look like?" Will asked suddenly. "I'll help you find it!"

Nico was quite obviously taken back by the sudden enthusiasm. "Huh? Oh, uh...it's this plant with a very long stalk, but the flowers are only about as long as one segment of your finger. Small and purple flowers. Lobelia Dortmanna . Completely submerged in water; an isoetid. Only grows in clear waters, so it's pretty difficult to find."

"It's submerged underwater? Well, that makes it easier for me!" He pointed to the nearby pond, that had just come close enough into his line of vision. "I'll look for it in that pond!"

"What? There's a pond? Where?" Nico looked around. Then his eyes rested in the same direction as Will's.

"Come on, let's go!" Will said, rushing off. "Race you to the pond!"

"Wait, Will!" Nico shouted, taking off after him. "That's --"

Will chuckled. "Of course it's unfair! Who said it was fair?" He looked forward. The pond was clearly in sight now, the clear water glittering before his eyes.

Then he suddenly felt as though he ran straight into a solid wall.

His vision started to slip out of control and his mind no longer felt like it was in his grasp. The ground under him seemed to turn into liquid as tried to focus on the pond before him, but to no avail.

The Mist, he managed to think amidst his dizziness.

The last thing he heard was Nico calling out his name.

Chapter Text

Will didn't know how long he stayed unconscious. Not like it was possible to tell from his surroundings, anyway.

The foggy forest that he had remembered seemed as though it had been drenched in complete darkness; that is, if you ignored the trees. And all the plants, for that matter. They all glowed in dim, pulsating light. Small flecks of light drifted in the air. Once they touched the ground, they promptly blossomed into small, white flowers. 

Will didn't know how to describe this place. Over here, it felt like nighttime forever -- or perhaps it didn't even have a nighttime. Time seemed so frozen, despite the slight swaying of the grass in the soft breeze. It made Will feel as though a single movement from him would be defying the physics of this world, then causing it to shatter into a million pieces. (Perhaps that would be great, but it also had a great chance of Will not making it out alive.)

Nevertheless, he couldn't stay there forever. Some exploring was due. He leaned forward in his tub, towards the trees.

When he realized his tub was gone.

And his tail.

Gone were the gleaming, golden scales, replaced with human legs. He yelped in alarm (and a whole lot of confusion), flinching backwards. He touched his ears. Quite predictably, his ears that used to spread out like fans flat against the sides of his head were replaced by human ears.

"Up already?"

Will jumped. This place sure had a lot of surprises in store for him.

Turning around, he found himself sitting at the edge of the very pond that had drawn him into the Mist. And in the pond was a small boy, resting his arms on the side of the pond. He had disheveled hair that reminded Will of Nico's, just that it was shorter and completely white. Then Will saw the boy's lower half of pearly white scales plating a long tail.

"You're a leukai siren," Will said, though it was more of a question than an answer. Much more, actually. Weren't they...extinct or something?

"Was," the boy corrected. Then as though reading his mind, he said, "Well, technically, I'm from the past. Just an illusion. Leukai don't exist anymore, of course."

The boy flapped his tail playfully, probably contemplating Will's existence. "What's your name?"

"Will Solace. Yours?"

"That's a secret," he winked, holding a finger to his lips. "I'll tell you if you can complete the little task at hand, though."

"Whoa, wait. Slow down," Will said immediately. (If he was going to die, he should at least know how he went down, right?) "First things first. Am I human now?"

The boy peered at Will curiously, like he was a particularly large-sized ant. "Hmm. I don't supposed you know what the Stygian Iron sword can do, then?"

Will shifted uncomfortably. "Uh...it kills people...?"

The boy giggled. "That's true, I guess. The sword can turn any creature into the species of the wielder with its touch, or a non-fatal wound like a scratch. Well, unless the creature is the species of the wielder, in which the creature turns human. Which is your case!" he finished cheerfully.

"Nico isn't a siren," Will pointed out. 

"Maybe he isn't the true wielder of the sword, then."

Will narrowed his eyes. "Wait, you know Nico? Your hair kinda looks like him. Are you his...brother or something? Wait. He only has a sister."

The leukai siren chuckled. "Oh, I know him, alright. I know him pretty well, if I may say so myself. But it's no fun if I tell you why. You'll just have to find out!"

Will growled. This little shit.

The boy pouted at Will's expression. "Well, if I were you, I'd be more thankful. Most people don't even know how to use the sword properly. Remember how I said it only works with a non-fatal wound? Some people think that they have to give up their souls for it. Well, they end up giving their souls for it, because that's too much magic for their puny soul to take. Then they disintegrate into dust. Show some gratitude, yeesh!"

"Thanks for not killing me. I deserve to die for breathing."

The boy snorted. "Whatever. If you want to get out of here, you need to solve the task. And like it or not, you're going to need my help."

"Fantastic," Will muttered. "I love tasks."

The boy ignored him. "See that flower over there?" he said, gesturing to a particularly big white tulip. "Look closer."

Feeling stupid, Will peered at the plant. A face stared back. 

"Aaagh!" Will screamed (while mentally noting down: "Pleasant surprise number 3").

When he looked back again, he noticed that the face looked like a reflection in a mirror rather than a real face. Not that he was complaining, of course.

He also noticed that the face seemed to be staring right through him, as though it was just looking for something. Then it disappeared through the left side of the flower, and reappeared in the neighboring flower. Then he realized that these faces were all around the place, living in everything that he could see. It was almost as though the reflections had a world of their own, wrapped inside the world he was in. 

"These are the reflections of many different people who have existed, or are to exist, in the world at some point of time. Some of them look like what they were in the past, like me. Some of them look almost like what they are now. The rest look like what they will grow up to be," the boy explained. 

It really wasn't helping Will wrap his mind around this concept.

"But there's something special about these reflections," the boy continued. "Over here, one's reflection usually wouldn't be a reflection of oneself. In your reflection, you'll see someone very important or very close to you; quite possibly both. In other words, any of these reflections could be yours."

Will stoned there for nearly 5 minutes, processing the information. At last, he said, "So my task is to find my reflection?"

"Bullseye."

*****

The boy seemed to have the ability to fashion a pond of water that followed him wherever he wanted to go. Will made a mental note to ask Leo to invent something like that later.

Throughout Will's entire journey, the boy stayed by his side. Not saying that Will didn't appreciate his company, though. The dark forest was quite daunting to explore by himself. Sometimes, Will even found the boy a little endearing; but that didn't help the fact that he was mostly an annoying, unhelpful kid. When Will wasn't looking, it was almost as though he wasn't there. He said he was there to help? Will second-guessed that statement too many times to count. 

...well, if you discount the time where he was still getting used to his legs and nearly tripped into the boy's pond, where the boy had hastily stuck the sword in the ground for him to lean on. But that was probably because the boy didn't want Will's stupidity to contaminate his waters.

Just to kill time, Will asked him questions along the way. 

Will: "What's your name?"

Boy: "I already said, I'm not telling you."

Will: "What do you mean by my reflection usually shouldn't be one of myself? You mean it can be a reflection of myself?"

Boy: "Well, yeah. Special cases like Narcissus, where the person that meant the most to him was himself. But you know how that story ended."

Will: "No, I don't. How did it end?"

Boy: "You're an idiot."

Will: "Gee, thanks. You're an asshole."

Boy: "You're welcome. And aww, your insults flatter me!"

[pause]

Will: "What's your name?"

Boy: "Nice try."

Will: "What's Blackbeard's real name?"

Boy: "Edward Teach."

Will: "How many people are there aboard the Argo II?"

Boy: "10, including you and Festus."

Will: "What's the meaning of life?"

Boy: "Not for you to ask me pointless questions."

Will: "Who wrote my notebook?"

Boy: "Me."

Will stopped abruptly, sputtering. "Wait, what?"

The boy raised his eyebrows at him. "You have really bad hearing for a siren. I wrote your notebook -- well, it's mine, actually."

 "Who are you, really?"

"William Shakespeare."

"Wait...that's your name?"

The boy stared at him for 5 seconds full. Will had thought he'd almost gotten it, then the boy burst out laughing.

Will also decided he would never understand why he was so funny.