A Pirate's Life For Me

Reunited At Last

"Authority looks good on you..."

Reyna smiled softly, feeling Percy's arms around her waist. "Oh shut up. You scared the absolute Hades out of me, you... what's that phrase Piper's always using?"

"Wannabe corsair?" Percy suggested with a crooked smile.

"Exactly." She kissed him again.

Leo whooped, then stumbled as Frank shoved him. "Shut up and let them have their moment."

The crew dropped to the sand one by one. Percy finally broke away to smile at the rest of them, though his arm never left Reyna's waist.

"Frank and Leo said you were having some memory issues... is that still a problem, Cap'n?" Piper asked.

"You know..." He smiled and glanced at Reyna. "I think for the most part, it cleared up. Any particular reason you careened my ship, Miss Reyna?"

"She's been missing her captain." Reyna smiled. "And she needs a hull scrubbing."

He nodded. "Fair enough."

"So that's it then?"

They all turned to look to the woman standing to the side.

"What do you mean, Sunshine?" Leo asked.

"Don't call me that." She looked upset.

Percy frowned. "Calypso, what-"

"Never mind!" She stormed off.

He looked at Frank and Leo, confused.

Frank sighed and ran after the goddess.

"Calypso. The goddess?" Reyna asked.

Percy nodded, sighing. "I think I know why she's upset. Apparently Frank does too."

Piper shook her head. "The poor girl. She's been stuck here so long, I can't imagine how awful it must be."

Percy nodded. "I've promised already to try and get her out of here. I don't know how extensive her curse is though."

"We'll figure it out." Reyna sighed. "For now... would you like to take your crew back?"

"You know something, I think I'd like a few more hours of rest." He chuckled.

"You just want to watch me yell at them." Reyna teased.

"Whatever do you mean? You used to do that all the time." Percy grinned at her. "Although it is very attractive."

"I'll allow that once." She murmured, stealing another kiss.

He laughed as she turned to start giving the crew orders.

"Sherman, Leo, Ethan, I want enough supplies off the ship to feed us for three days. That's about how long it should take to scrub the hull. Piper. Clothes for the captain. Gwen, you take whoever you can get and let the prisoners have a walk. They'll get sick if they don't have fresh air for too long."

Reyna turned back to Percy and raised her eyebrows. "Wipe that smirk off your face.... Captain."

Percy laughed, throwing his head back. "Gods, I missed you."

Two more sets of boots hit the sand as the crew that Reyna had given climbed back up into the ship. 

Percy turned to face Nico and Thalia and raised his eyebrows in surprise. "I didn't expect to see you two. Well. Nico at least."

"I'm here by choice." Nico shrugged. "And Reyna's request."

 He nodded slowly. "Well thank you then."

Nico nodded and Thalia grunted, looking around.

"I'm going for a walk." The daughter of Zeus announced acidly, walking off without waiting for an answer.

"Gods, how did you stand her being on the ship all the time?" Percy looked at Reyna.

"It was certainly not fun." She sighed and shook her head.

------------------

Reyna woke up in the middle of the night. Needing to stretch her legs, she gently removed Percy's arms from her waist and got up. After weaving between her sleeping crewmates and nodding to Frank (they didn't need a guard, but they had posted one anyway. Old habits die hard).

She walked down the beach until she couldn't see the smoldering fire, then sat down, looking up at the stars.

For a long time, the only sounds were the waves on the sand and wind through the trees behind her.

"I know the deal you made, daughter of Enyo."

Reyna leapt to her feet, drawing the dagger in her boot.

Nico sidestepped calmly.

She took a deep breath and resheathed the dagger. "Don't do that again. Ever."

He grunted and sat in the sand. Reyna sat down next to him.

"You know they will try to cheat you." He said quietly after a few moments.

"I know."

"Are you going to spend the rest of your life looking over your shoulder?"

She shrugged. "Not exactly. They made the mistake of giving me an indicator of when they will come to collect."

"So you'll be focused on that indicator for the rest of your life." Nico amended.

"I will." Reyna sighed and looked up again.

"Was it worth it?"

She looked at him. "Have you ever been in love, Nico?"

"Not in the sense you speak of, with Percy." He drew a line in the sand with his fingertip. "But I only recently lost my sister. You, of course, know that."

Reyna nodded. "Then you know why I would have done anything to get him back."

"I do." Nico sighed. "Foolish as it seems."

Reyna chuckled and stood up. "Cheer up, son of Hades. Sometimes fools live the longest... besides, I just thought of something."

"Relating to?"

"Percy promised Calypso she would get off this island. I think I made my deal just vague enough that I can do something about that."