DISCLAIMER: I do not own Percy Jackson & the Olympians.

LAND & SEA

Chapter One: ANNABETH

This was the worst and awkwardest dinner Annabeth Chase had to endure through her whole life and she had countless awkward dinners. Having awkward dinners comes with the package of being the Princess of Athens, but this one was so awkward that she wished that a hole would swallow her in right now.

Annabeth's mother, Athena, the Queen of Athens, had invited all her advisers, friends, family, and Percy to dinner tonight. Her mother never liked nor approved of Percy and Annabeth's friendship. Annabeth thought it was because Percy wasn't of a higher status and was a lowly servant who worked in the castle. Regardless of what her mother thought, Annabeth insisted on being Percy's friend. Now they were best friends. They even had a clay necklace to represent their friendship. Needless to say, it just made her mother despise Percy even more.

Earlier in the day, Athena called her daughter to the throne room to discuss something. Namely, the awkward dinner that was happening right now. Apparently, the queen wanted to get to know her daughter's best friend and hosting an awkward dinner was the best way to get to know him. Wonderful idea, isn't it?

Once Annabeth told Percy the news, he had backed out immediately. But you can't exactly ignore something from the queen, even if you hate the queen, so here they were: eating a dinner in awkward silence.

Annabeth felt a poke at the side of her stomach and she looked at Percy. He gestured toward her unused napkin that was sitting next to her glass plate. At first she thought that he wanted to use her napkin, but he mouthed, "Turn it over."

Reaching out, she picked up her napkin, pretending that she had to wipe her mouth. In his recognizable, messy handwriting, it wrote: I thought your mother wanted to "get to know me"?

Quickly, she brought the napkin to her lips, hiding an amused smile. Looking at Percy from the corner of her eye, she shrugged subtlety. A small smile danced across Percy's lips.

Having a sharp eye, Annabeth's mother wasn't oblivious to what just happened. Her gray eyes narrowed at Percy and she looked at Annabeth with disapproval written all over her face. Since there were people here, she couldn't call them out.

However, Frederick Chase, the King of Athens, was oblivious to it all. Unlike his wife, he didn't show any form of dislike to Percy, the servant. In fact, he rather liked him and admired his sword fighting skills. Having always wanted to talk to the boy about it, he cleared his throat.

All eyes turned to him, startled from the noise that disrupted the silence. Annabeth smiled gratefully at her father. He smiled back kindly.

"So, Percy," he started, not completely sure how to start the conversation from across the table.

"Yes, your Majesty?" Percy replied politely. He looked panicked, even if Annabeth assured him that her father liked him a while ago.

"Your sword fighting skills are quite extraodinary for a young man like you," Frederick smiled.

"Um, thank you, your Majesty," Percy blushed, not sure how to take a compliment from the king. Annabeth smirked at him.

All eyes were on the conversation, darting back and forth from the king to Percy. Did these people have no excitement in their life? thought Annabeth. Mother really ought to get new advisers.

"Where did you learn to fight like that?" the King asked curiously. His wife shot him a look, but he ignored it. This might be his only chance to ask and he wasn't going to let the opportunity slip away from him.

"I'm not sure, your Majesty," Percy said. "I guess I taught myself."

"Yourself?" he asked surprised. That boy has some skill. Why was he still a servant? he thought.

Percy nodded, looking down at his glass plate. He wasn't used to eating with everything that was made with glass. He was afraid that once he touched it, everything would break. Nobody in this room except for Annabeth and Frederick Chase had ever seen Percy fight with a sword, so nobody was amazed except for the king.

"That's impressive! Are you considering to be a soldier when you reach of age?" Frederick asked hopefully. With the boy in the army, there will be a greater chance of them winning the Spartans if they ever came to war.

For some reason, Annabeth's face fell. He shot her a look and a smile appeared on her face again.

"I–I'm not sure, your Highness," Percy finally answered.

The King's face fell and Percy immediately felt guilty, but the guilt was forgotten once a cold voice spoke up.

The Queen.

Annabeth's eyes widened and she shrank down in her chair. Percy shot her a Help me! look. She did nothing.

"Thanks for the help," he muttered to her.

She gave him an apologetic smile and quickly gestured for him to look at her mother. Her mother hated it when people didn't look at her when she talked. Annabeth overheard her mother complaining about it once.

"Are you planning to stay a servant here for the rest of your life?" Athena asked, raising a slender eyebrow at him.

Annabeth watched his Adam's apple bob nervously. She wanted to tell him to calm down even if she was nervous and her mother wasn't even speaking to her! Judging from past experience, it never turned out pretty whenever her mother wanted to speak with Percy. It usually ended up being a shouting match. One thing that confused Annabeth was that if anybody shouted at her mother, they would be exiled, but Percy was still here (Not that she wanted Percy to be exiled!).

"Maybe not," Percy said.

"No?" Athena questioned. "Then what are you planning to be, Perseus?" Her eyes flickered out toward the sea that was seen through the window. Percy's sea-green eyes narrowed at her as if challenging her.

Annabeth's mother always called Percy his full name. It amused Annabeth and infuriated Percy to no end.

Percy laughed nervously, but it sounded like he was coughing fakely. "It's...ah, a bit too young to think about it, isn't it?"

A few people cracked a smile, but Athena didn't find it very funny. She gave him a calculating stare and Percy would've peed his pants if he was standing up.

"Nonsense. It's never too young to be thinking about your career," Athena said. "My daughter here, already has many plans once she's queen."

"Mother, please," Annabeth said, trying to stop her mother.

A cold breeze flitted in through the opened windows. Percy's eyes darted toward the sunset and he started tapping his feet impatiently.

"In a hurry to go somewhere, Perseus?" The corner of the queen's mouth lifted slightly. Her daughter didn't find this amusing. She still couldn't figure out what kind of game her mother was playing. There could be a chance that there was no game, but that was a very slim chance.

Trying not to shoot the queen a glare, Percy took a deep breath and exhaled, "No, not at all, your Majesty."

But his eyes looked at the shining sunset again. It was slowly disappearing down the sea. In less than 10 minutes, it would be completely down.

Suddenly, the sound of someone getting up was heard. He looked up and saw Athena smoothing her gown down. "It's been a great dinner and it's been fabulous talking to all of you. Thank you all for coming for this extravagant dinner. I hope it was to your liking," Athena smiled politely.

Fabulous talking to all of you? Annabeth thought, rolling her eyes. But feeling suspicious, Annabeth spoke up, "But we haven't had dessert yet, Mother."

"The chef had some problems, dear," Athena responded, her smile stiff.

Annabeth's eyebrows furrowed together in confusion, but she didn't question her mother.

One of the queen's many advisers stood up and he bowed to the royal family. "Thank you for the kind invitation of inviting me. This was a wonderful meal," he said. Then he left and just like that, everybody started offering their compliments about the meal and said their good-byes.

Finally, Annabeth thought.

She turned around to speak with her best friend, but as she looked around, Percy was no where to be seen. Did he leave without even saying good-bye? Was this dinner that awful for him?

"Mother, did you see where Percy went?" Annabeth asked.

"No, dear. Did he leave just like that?" Athena raised an eyebrow. "How rude!"

Luckily, Annabeth's father piped in too, "I think I saw the boy leave that way." He pointed to a back door of the dining room. Weird. Why did he go all the way over there to leave?

"That way?" Annabeth repeated. "Are you sure?"

Her mother had a deep frown on her face and she had a worried look on her face. Was her mother worried about Percy? That's weird. "Yes, Frederick, are you sure? That's an odd way to exit."

"I'm sure. Black hair and green eyes?" Frederick nodded.

"Sea-green," Annabeth automatically corrected, staring at the back door.

"Excuse me?" the King's eyebrows rose, with a small grin playing on his lips.

"His eyes," she blushed as she realized what she said. "They're sea-green."

Her parents exchanged a glance. Athena shook her head while Frederick looked amused.

"I'm going to find Percy," Annabeth said, her cheeks as red as a tomato now. "I'll be back soon."

"It's quite late, darling," Athena said, trying to stop her from going after Percy.

"The sun is still up, Mother." Annabeth pointed at the sun. "I won't take long."

Taking a chance and knowing that her mother will scold her when she came back, she broke to a run toward the back door.

"Annabeth!" her mother yelled sternly.

"Let her go, Athena," Annabeth heard her father say. She sent a silent thank you to him. The only person her mother never yelled at was her father. At least, Annabeth never heard her and Annabeth was quiet observant. Sometimes she thought that she would be better off as an architecture or a spy than a princess. Preferably an architecture.

There were so much flaws in this old castle. She just felt that she could make this the best castle and it'll stand forever through earthquakes or any natural disasters.

As she walked out the back door, she saw the beach not too far away. Immediately, she knew that Percy was there. Percy was in love with water and sometimes, Annabeth thought that Percy was half-fish. One time, Annabeth bought Percy a pet fish and when he thought she wasn't looking, he set the fish go in the sea. He was kinda considered a vegetarian, but not really. He eats almost anything, but seafood. It was like the sea creatures were his family and eating seafood would be considered cannibalism to Percy.

Finally reaching the beach, she hugged her chest, trying to keep warm. I should've brought a cloak! she scolded herself. It was freezing and her body felt stiff.

"Percy?" she called.

Not wanting to get her silky rose-colored gown dirty, she lifted it up. A black silhouette sat on an uneven rock near the water. Seaweed surrounded the rock and a memory flashed in Annabeth's head. When they were younger, Annabeth always called Percy a nickname. It was a stupid nickname: Seaweed Brain, but hey, they were young! Percy gave Annabeth a nickname too: Wise Girl.

When they grew older, their nicknames disappeared. But Annabeth didn't really mind even if she kind of missed the adorable, embarrassing nicknames. She would never admit that out loud though.

"Percy," she greeted, hoping he wasn't upset. Dinner went better than she thought, even if it was extremely, awkwardly quiet.

The beach got darker and darker and the wind blew harder, making her teeth chatter. The sun would be down in a few seconds.

She heard a sharp gasp and watched as Percy slowly slid off the rock, his toes now in the water. Annabeth imagined the water to be as cold as absolute zero. "Go back to the castle, Annabeth!" he shouted over the wind.

Well, that wasn't the response she expected.

"You're coming too! You're going to catch a cold," Annabeth reprimanded. "And what are you doing in the water? It's freezing!"

"No! I–I can't," his voice broke slightly. "I'll be back in the morning," he promised. "Just go, Annabeth."

"Look, what's going on? Dinner wasn't even that bad!" she yelled, the wind muffling her voice.

"It wasn't," Percy agreed, a hint of surprise was detected in his voice. The sea water filled his nostrils and he took another step into the sea.

10 seconds until the sun sets.

"Then what are you doing?! With this wind, no matter how good a swimmer you are, you can drown!" Annabeth shouted.

5 more seconds.

Another step. What was he doing? Annabeth lifted her gown and started walking to Percy. She noticed that he had a frantic expression on his face and he took faster and bigger steps into the sea.

2 more seconds.

"Don't come in!" He made a stop motion with his hands.

"Percy...?" Annabeth asked uncertainly.

"Stop! Don't look and turn around! Go back! Now!" he screamed. His face was pale and the wind made his hair messier than ever. It scared Annabeth and she rarely got scared.

1 second.

He ventured in deeper into the water. Annabeth followed, placing one foot into the cold water. She almost jumped out of the murky water, but she couldn't abandon Percy. Plus, she had to know what was going on with Percy. One thing that Annabeth Chase hated was not knowing something.

The sun fell and the wind blew harder.

She saw Percy's body waver and he fell into the water. His arms shot upwards and she screamed.

Not caring about her dress or the coldness, she ran straight toward Percy. Annabeth reached her arm out. "Hold on!" she yelled.

Percy's eyes widened and for some reason, he backed up deeper into the water. Now, only his head was showing, but his hair blended in with the water, so it was hard to see him. "No, no!" He shook his head, panic and fear shown in his sea-green eyes. "No! I–I don't need it! Go away! Go back!"

"What are you talking about? You're going to drown!" Annabeth shouted, her chest heaving up and down from worry. "Just hold my hand and I'll help!"

"No, you don't understand!"

"What do you mean? You can't swim in this weather, you idiot!"

As if on cue, the sky rumbled and rain started pouring down on the two of them. Annabeth shuddered and sneezed, but Percy seemed perfectly fine and not cold at all. It was like he didn't feel the coldness, but how could he not?

Percy looked up and held her frantic gaze. He shook his head sadly and that was when Annabeth took a big leap. Usually, Annabeth thought and analyzed about everything before she acted, but this time, she acted without a second thought.

Carefully, without tumbling into the deep waters, she grabbed onto one of Percy's arms and dragged him toward the shore. He resisted and tried to get away, but she didn't know why. Percy wasn't the type of guy to end his life and if he wasn't, he has to know that no sane person could swim in this pouring weather. Nobody can be that stupid.

"Get away!" he yelled, trying to pry her hand away from his arm.

Being the good best friend she was, she ignored him. After all, she was saving his life here, wasn't she? She was. Right?

After much struggle (The sword-fighting lessons Percy gave her sometimes helped), Annabeth finally threw Percy on the shore. Her eyes were closed and she tasted salty water on her tongue. Her entire body was obviously wet and pieces of seaweed clung onto her hair somehow. She wondered what would her mother's reaction to be like if she saw Annabeth like this.

She heard heavy breathing coming from beside her and then a huge coughing fit. A loud gasp followed after that.

Her eyes opened and...she closed them again. The rain is making me see things, she told herself. But when she opened her eyes again, her jaw fell to the ground. Unable to form a complete sentence, she stammered and pointed, but she didn't move away.

"You–you–tail!" she choked out, her gray eyes widened and were filled with surprise.

Her gaze fell on his flickering sea-green tail. The only thought she could process right now was that: her best friend was a fish.

A/N: I was having a bit of a hard time writing I Am Percy Jackson when this cool-ish idea popped out and I couldn't let it slip away from me, so here it is! Well, some of this was inspired by a GIF, too, haha.

For those who are wondering when the next chapter for I Am Percy Jackson is coming out, it should be around next month. And if this sounds promising, would you guys want the next chapter for this story or chapter six for I Am Percy Jackson first?

Anyway, tell me your thoughts! Review, please! :D (This story will be written like The Heroes of Olympus for the POV's.)