Princesses, Punks, and One Problem.

S.O.S

Percy held himself together just long enough to see Luke smirk as he rose from his crouch, and stroll away. 

Then Percy broke down. His tears turned to violent sobs, and he allowed his feet to be drawn beneath the stormy grey waters. Sinking beneath the waves, Percy's tears blended with the ocean. 

He allowed the card to be smothered in liquid, the fine paper turning soggy and fragile between his fingers. He didn't bother to read the date. Percy knew in the remnants of his shattered heart that he wouldn't be there. History seemed doomed to repeat itself, and to deny Percy a happy ending. 

This had happened before with a high school sweetheart, Rachel Elizabeth Dare. They had been dating for three years, mind you, nothing as deep as what Percy and Annabeth had in their short time together, and then all of a sudden Rachel fell for some blonde preppy boy. 

The boy had long since been one of Percy's many rivals. Octavian. Always tattling to the teachers about every fun instance Percy tried to have back in high school. How the Hades had Rachel gone from loving the bad boy to falling for the preppy prune? 

Percy tangled his hands, littered with the remnants of the invite, in his dark waving hair. As he sank deeper, into the darker depths of the ocean, he closed his eyes. His biological father had once offered him a place in his kingdom down below. The real version of Atlantis. Percy could have been a dam prince! But no. 

He had chosen Rachel over peace and safety. Look where that got him. Losing yet another person he had actually loved, and just in time for him to go meet Paul again. 

Tomorrow. Because today was Friday. 

He wouldn't even be here to fix things with Annabeth, nor to even try. Instead he'd be off being neglected and used with Paul. 

Percy's life really was great. 

What if he never left the sea? What if he continued to gradually sink until he hit the bottom, and just stayed down there? With the silt and the murk, with the fish and the fronds? 

It would be safer, and less painful to simply pine away versus the alternative of blaming himself if Annabeth was unhappy. 

Or if she was happy. 

He opened his eyes, to find the sea a violent shade of clashing blue and black. He'd dropped further than he thought. 

Not that it mattered. 

He brought his hands down, staring at the fine white lines that cris-crossed his wrists, and the bruises on his knuckles. Would it really be so dam hard for the gods to stop all his pain and suffering? 

Clearly. 

Percy was content to stay there forever, until his phone rang. Thank the gods that he could pick and choose what got wet. But how the Hades was there service? 

He pulled out the phone, only to find the call dropped. The name attached to the missed call sign? Sally. 

Percy sighed. He couldn't just abandon his mother, even if she had married someone who might compete with Kronos for the amount of pain they had caused Percy. 

He shot up, moving faster than he could think. No turning back. Water surged past him, forming an underwater wake below. 

As he surfaced, he grabbed hold of the mossy dock pillar right below where he had first dropped in. Lifting the phone to his ear he called his mother back. 

"Percy?" Her voice came as worried and desperate through the speakers.

"Mom?" He replied. 

"Oh, thank Gods. Paul's here, he decided to come a day early, isn't that sweet?" 

Sally Jackson was a good person. She was. She'd used a shotgun on somebody for Percy once. But right now she was under the worst kind of spell. The spell of love. It blinded you, unallowing of the truth to be heard. 

"Uh, I'm kinda busy tonight. I didn't plan for Paul." He excused himself. 

"Yeah, yeah, I know, off partying. But I just wanted to let you know he's staying the night and in the morning he'll take you over to his place." 

Sally had once tried to police Percy's partying. That was before they'd fought a lot. Now she had sort of given in and accepted that Percy wasn't her little kid anymore, and there would be no going back to that face. She still liked to baby him a whole lot though. Not much he could do about that. He didn't really like arguing with Sally after all. It wasn't her fault Aphrodite had a personal grudge against Percy. 

"Uh, cool. But I can drive myself. I don't need a ride from Paul. Tell him thanks for offering though." 

He was in college after all. Percy would just flat out say no, but doing this and maintaining a 'healthy' (according to Sally) relationship meant a lot to his mom. He owed her that much after all the crap he'd put her through just by parenting him. 

So call him a mama's boy. Whatever. But it was true. 

He wasn't really listening to his mom's reply though. His mind was off in the distant realms where Paul hadn't been drunk and abusive. When he'd been a teacher at one of Percy's three high schools. 

The guy had actually been sort of likable. Not a replacement for Poseidon, no, but a definite upgrade from Gabe. Not anymore. Percy would have vastly preferred to continue dealing with the behemoth of a man who had plundered the teen's money and wasted his life on gambling, beer, and bean dip than deal with Paul. Because even Sally had hated Gabe. She'd married him for Percy. 

Paul? She loved Paul. 

Percy shook his head, and ended the call. It didn't matter. 

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I need help! So I'm writing this book, mkay? Mkay. And I need a MxF pairing for Nico OTHER than Reyna. Cause she doesn't fit the bill for my character! I don't know who to do though. Please help me... I'm excited for the story too :/