Below the Tide

Chapter Two

I don't own anything, not the characters and barely the plot.

War was a sore subject for Percy, now more than ever. When she'd been 12, she was already involved. Who would put the weight of saving the world by preventing old and powerful deities warring against each other, wreaking havoc on the very surface where innocents lived, on a 12 year old girl, who was confused and untrained, nonetheless. The gods, that's who. The gods, old, immortal and powerful deities who had close to no respect for mortals and their short lives, how vulnerable they were. They weren't able to magically heal themselves or any other, well... most mortals couldn't. When Percy has started a new life in Atlantis, she'd hoped that the gods would know better than to bother her again with some quest, some prophecy or some war, and she still hoped that, but now she was here, saving people and such out of free will. How was this different from the quests she'd gone on, the wars she'd fought in, the prophesies she was a key point in? Now she was respected, not some pawn the gods could just throw away or kill, if they liked. No, now she could decided on her own, she got to chose if she wanted it or not, a choice she never had with the gods. Now, she was her own hero, one who made her own decisions. If only Annabeth and the others could see me now, she thought. A sharp pain bit at her heart and her eyes started to slightly burn. She blinked and a wet tear fell down her cheek. The burning sensation in her eyes only lessened and the tears just kept flowing. She chucked herself into her bed, her head landing on her pillow. The soft pillow muffled her sobs and noise she made. She thought about all the good times she'd had with the seven, with her cousins, with Grover and everybody else. She missed it all, and it felt like she would give anything to get it back. If the chance, the opportunity came, would she take it? Lose all of her new friends, the team, Kaldur and her life in Atlantis to gain her old friends? Honestly, she didn't know.

When the tears finally stopped flowing she looked up from the pillow, everything looked blurry from all the tears still trapped in her eyes. She blinked a few times and rubbed her eyes to get rid of the tears and clear her sight.

She sighed and dried her face with her blankets before heading out into the living room of the mountain. There she found Kaldur reading, and a sudden thought crossed her mind. Would she have liked reading if she wasn't dyslexic? Maybe she would've loved it! Reading, another thing the gods took from her. It was their fault, and the ancient greeks that her mind was hardwired for ancient greek. Percy took a deep breath and sat down on one of the couches. She saw that, aside from Kaldur, Superboy was
there, watched static.

"Is this all you do? Watch static?" Percy asked.

"Isn't that what the TVs for? Watching stuff?" Superboy asked.

"Yeah, but not that. Static's something that comes when the TVs having technical difficulties, aka tv problems. Pass me the remote and I can put on some actual tv show," Percy explained.

Superboy said nothing and passed the remote and she got it and started flipping through the channels, and landed on a baking show.

"Megan! Come here! We're watching a baking show! I think you'll like it!" Percy yelled.

A moment later Megan came in, floating and sat down beside Percy. During the show she would make small inputs, they all did. Percy's consisted of noting some cool techniques, some wowing if something cool was displayed and made. Megan's consisted noting the things on the show she wanted to try, wondering how someone did something and such, while Superboy only made random ones, like why someone did something, voicing his thoughts.

When the show ended a conversation sparked between the demigoddess and Martian.

"Have you ever tried baking?" Megan asked, something glinting in her brown eyes.

"Yeah, I have."

"Hello, Megan!" Megan said, doing her signature face palm. "Of course you have!"

"My mom made these amazing blue chocolate chip cookies and sometimes I helped," Percy said.

"Do you think you could make them sometime?" Superboy asked. "I'm just curious, I don't even know what an unburnt chocolate chip cookie tasted like, and definitely not how a blue chocolate chip cookie looks like."

Megan grinned sheepishly at him and murmured an apology, he heard it and smiled at her.

"Sure," Percy said.

-

Kaldur and Percy sat at the beach, staring into the mesmerizing waves as they hit the shore. They sat close enough to the ocean so the waves would touch their toes, bringing a cool, and relaxing sensation.

Percy sighed and stared up at the sunset. The sky was painted pink and orange, in summary... it was absolutely gorgeous. They'd been sitting there since the sun started going down, and now that only one fourth of the sun was showing, it was so worth it. She leaned against the atlantean, her skin made contact with his cool one and sighed. Earlier that day they'd been bathing in the ocean, Percy in her black and green swim suit and Kaldur in his swimming trunks. After they were finished bathing and playing in the water they'd gone and sat down on the beach, not bothering to change clothing.

"It's beautiful, isn't it? The sunset," Percy said.

"Yes, a truly beautiful sight," Kaldur said.

"I've been in Atlantis I'd almost forgotten how these types of sunsets were like, if you know what I mean," Percy said.

"Do you ever wonder how it would have gone if you did not come to Atlantis?" Kaldur asked.

"Yes, but every time I think about it, I come to the conclusion that... Atlantis was the right choice. Not just because I got a new start, but I met you," she said.