Epilogue

One year later…

Annabeth forgot how to use legs honestly. She's spent so many months as a mermaid she was actually adjusting to it but Percy thought it was a good idea that maybe she could visit her family on the surface world for a few days. She didn't know why Percy had the sudden interest that she should have a reunion. Maybe it was because he feared that Annabeth might turn out like Sally, having no connection with her family for years. But honestly, she felt nostalgic from being away from Percy. They just got married a few months ago after Percy regained most of his health back but there were points where he still was in intense pain from the wound. Annabeth worried he might be in pain right now while she's being carefree on the surface world.

"So, Annabeth there is something I would like to talk about." Her mother's voice rose Annabeth out of her thinking state. The whole family was eating dinner. Annabeth looked at the setting sun over the ocean, she wondered if Percy was eating alone tonight.

"Yes, mother?" Annabeth looked at her mother who looked more relaxed than ever before. It was quite settling to know her mother had some major boulders off her back ever since the treaty.

"When can we expect grandchildren?" Her father smiled pleasantly.

Annabeth choked on her sweet potatoes "What?"

Athena rolled her eyes "Ignore him."

"I would… like to see some guppies before… I go…" Fredrick coughed.

"Percy and I have only been married for a few months, father." Annabeth said calmly without blushing too hard. "We are still—"

"That's what honeymoons are for, my dear!" Her father said excitedly to Annabeth's embarrassment.

"Fredrick, please." Athena rubbed her temple. "Anyways, Annabeth I wanted to talk about who is going to be the heir if—"

"You two don't try for grandchildren!" The old king interrupted. "Merpeople do live much, much longer than humans but they are not immortal."

Annabeth wasn't hungry anymore "Dad, please I don't think—"

"What? That your husband doesn't want to raise a family?" Fredrick pressed.

"Fredrick!" Athena snapped and Fredrick mumbled something. "I just want to ask. Do you think I should let Jason rule Athens?"

"Jason?" Annabeth was surprised. "But I thought he was the oldest son of Zeus."

"Not the first born though." Athena corrected. "His sister, Thalia is inheriting the crown when she marries Prince Castellan."

"I guess giving the throne to Jason could be seen as a peace offering." Annabeth smiled. Jason knew the people of Athens well better than Annabeth since she wasn't allowed out of the castle most of the time. He would be an ideal ruler.

"That is what I thought but then there's Hades. I do not know what I could offer the Underworld…" Athena rubbed her chin.

"Maybe you could offer full control of mining here in Athens to the Underworld." Annabeth suggested. "I think Hazel is staying in Athens this week, you can ask her."

Athena smiled proudly "You are making to be a fine queen."

"But when can I expect grandchildren?" Fredrick asked again.

"FREDRICK!" Athena snapped.

—

"Places everyone!" Percy shouted hectically in the ballroom the day after. "Grover! If you drop that, I swear on the River of Styx—!"

"Yeah, yeah." Grover mumbled, carrying a large clam holding a very precious pearl in it. If Grover let his tiny fins slip the clam would probably swim away. From all the searching Percy did for it, he had to deal with an ornery clam who wanted to be anywhere but here.

"Milord, why are you doing this?" Hudson asked next to him.

"Because Hudson, it's my wife's birthday today!" Percy said like it was obvious.

"But we still need to see to the Treaty between clownfish and blue crabs, then there's been an alarming report of jellyfish stings in the Nile, then there's—"

"Oh, Hudson you're always no fun." Percy frowned. "If you want, you can represent me in those affairs while the rest of the kingdom parties—"

"I can?" Hudson's eyes lit up. "King Poseidon never trusts me to do something like that before."

Percy blinked in utter shock "Sure, you can do that Hudson…"

Hudson shook Percy's hand wildly while Percy swam there in surprise "Thank you, my king! I'll get onto it right away!" Hudson swam away furiously. Percy shrugged. Maybe he should do that more often, Hudson always overworks him to the point of exhaustion so having Hudson take a load off for him seemed like a great idea. Percy scanned the room. Servants were buzzing around the room putting up decorations from tropical flowers, flowing water that reflected different colors when sunlight hit it, putting up a corner where citizens can put gifts if they want to, and fixing the food that would be served.

"Calypso!" Percy pointed his trident at a corner of the room. "Stop snogging your boyfriend and help Rachel fix up the magic whatever thingy!"

Calypso stomped forward, her face completely red "I-I was not—!"

"Suuuurrrrrrreeeee…" Percy rolled his eyes. "I guess that's why Leo's over there smiling like an intoxicated walrus."

Calypso stomped over where Rachel was unhappily, mumbling something about sushi. Percy shrugged and continued his inspection. Everything seemed to be in order. There was food. There was the magic whatever thingy. There was entertainment. There were decorations. What was missing…?

"Um… Percy…" Grover squeaked as he tapped the king's shoulder lightly with his fin; afraid it was going to explode or something.

"Is something wrong?" Percy turned to his friend.

Grover twisted his fins "Um… you could say that…"

"Wait…" Percy's eyes widened. Grover was carrying something very, very, very important before he got distracted.

"Please don't get mad…" Grover whimpered. "It bit me." He showed a swollen bite mark on her front fin. Percy admitted it looked painful. However, Percy did feel like screaming at him.

"No, no, no! Ah, gods no!" He ran his fingers through his hair.

"Can't you use the trident to trap the clam?" Grover asked.

Percy felt like a total idiot at that point "Right, I knew that all along." He chuckled nervously.

"Did you make me lug a crabby biting clam, three-sizes bigger than me here because you forgot you were THE KING OF THE FISHIN' SEA?!" Grover looked like he was about to explode. He fins were folded. His bulgy eyes were well, bulging, out of their sockets. And a vein appeared popping out of his body. Percy would admit; he had a hard time not to break out laughing at Grover's pathetic attempt to look mad. He looked like one of those squishy toys from the human world that dogs play with.

"Hey, my powers only have been fully restored three months ago without me passing out from pain or not being able to move at all. I'm used to Annabeth doing everything around here for me, okay?" Percy argued. He still couldn't believe he was king. A few months ago sometimes he woke up, paralyzed in pain, being forced to let Annabeth do the diplomatic errands. It made him feel horrible, letting his fiancée who was still adjusting to living in a whole new world do everything for him. But to his defense, Annabeth refused to let him help—even from his bedside when Hudson offered to bring paperwork to Percy to do—she always did it. It made Percy feel a little less sure of himself and a burden to Annabeth. This time he wanted to show Annabeth he could at least do something for himself.

"Yeah, I bet you couldn't find your way out of a fish net without Annabeth. Wait, you DID need help getting out of a fish net, you NEEDED Scuttles's help. Scuttles, of all birds." Grover laughed.

"Hey, I bet you would need help getting out of a fish net, fish." Percy scoffed.

"Touche." Grover nodded.

Percy rolled his eyes "For the zillionth time, it's pronounced tou-chÉ."

There was an awkward silence where Grover was trying to come up with a comeback but finally he gave up: "Don't you have a clam to catch?"

"Oh, right." Percy pointed his trident to the outside waters. Concentrating hard, trying to envision the object he was trying the capture at hand like his father showed him. That was one thing Percy missed, his father. Ever since Sally was released from Athena's custody, Poseidon stuck around for a little while Percy was still recuperating to show Annabeth the ropes when Percy physically couldn't. Probably another reason was Sally refused to leave her son's side while he was recovering and in uncomfortable pain. There was actually a few times where Percy was swimming around perfectly and suddenly he entire being ached from the pain and Annabeth would embrace him and tend to him but she would be literally and unfortunately—for Percy—shoved to the side by his mother so she could attend to her 'baby'.

Poseidon made fun of him for that a lot but at least his father was there when Percy needed him to be. But after the wedding, Poseidon decided to fully pass the torch to Percy and finally live in retirement with Sally. Poseidon said they would be living in a cove near Hawaii. Percy had no idea where this Hawaii was so he could never contact his father which it was probably Poseidon's whole idea.

—

"Annabeth!" Someone tackled the princess to the ground. "Don't go! I-I don't know h-how to be a queen."

"Piper," Annabeth tried to be calm but her hair and clothes were now messed up by the dirt they crashed into. "You'll be fine. Jason and my parents would never let you do something without some guidance."

Piper released her friend from her grip "B-but I've never even been royalty before. Well, I don't know, does living in France with your godly mother count as royalty?"

"Think of it as you are the goddess this time." Annabeth reassured her.

"So, I have to pair two unsuspecting souls and create tragic love stories?" The appalled look on Piper's face indicated she wasn't kidding.

Annabeth shook her head "No, more of politics and being a figurehead. You're not playing matchmaker."

Piper sighed in relief "Well, that's good."

"Shouldn't you get back to Jason? He kind of looked as stunned as you when we told him."

"Yeah, I should, shouldn't I?" Piper hugged her friend goodbye and ran through the village to the castle. Annabeth smiled and shook her head, fixing herself up before reaching the beach. Before Annabeth left, Athena scheduled a meeting with King Zeus and Jason to tell them that they were offering Jason to be king of Athens as a peace offering since their heir was married under the sea and couldn't quite exactly rule underwater. The look on Jason's face was the most emotion Annabeth has ever seen out of him. He probably even swallowed a bug from his mouth being so wide open for so long. Annabeth should tell Percy that, he'll get a kick out of that.

Annabeth reached the shoreline the bordered the outskirts of the village and the sea. She waited there patiently. The first time Annabeth left the human world for an undersea world, all she could think about was Percy but because of her visit, she had a second time she had to do this. This time, she saw how much at home she felt being with her parents again (despite the constant nagging from her father about grandchildren), the nostalgia feeling she felt on two feet again, and the pure serenity of it. No unfamiliar world filled with unfamiliar creatures, no struggling getting around with a fin, and no endless work shoved at her from Hudson. But her visit to the human world felt incomplete. The constant struggle fitting into an undersea society made it worth it because of him.

"Jeez, I know you're just going to change forms anyway but it would be nice if you tried to be a little presentable." A peculiar voice smartly remarked, bringing Annabeth out of her brooding. The reason swam right in front of her now. Annabeth felt her heart skip. She spent days without seeing his face or hearing his cheerful voice. Although he was slightly annoying and dense (gods, painfully dense) he was a part Annabeth could not live without now.

"Let's just say Piper REALLY didn't want me to leave." Annabeth joked.

"Cool, a chick fight. I haven't seen one of those since Calypso thought a swordfish was flirting with Leo." Percy awed, as he leaned casually against his trident. That made Annabeth jump a little, every time he leaned against the trident meant he was in pain.

"A-Are you okay?" Annabeth asked worriedly, rushing into the water where Percy was swimming.

Percy felt his face get hot as Annabeth touched his forehead "Y-yeah, is there something on my face?" He gave Annabeth a reassuring smile.

"Just seaweed in your hair, Seaweed Brain." Annabeth smiled back and shook her head.

"Oh? Really?" Percy cupped her cheek so they stared at each other. Annabeth could spend forever looking into his handsome sea-green eyes. Percy leaned forward, just a little, so Annabeth could feel his warm breath fueling her red cheeks. She placed her hands on his chest, drawing even closer as Percy took his hand off her cheek and fastened it around her waist.

"Watch where you're touching, Perce." Annabeth glared as she felt Percy's hand creep up again, in defeat.

"Can I at least kiss my wife?" Percy whined.

"You can, my husband." Annabeth giggled as Percy pressed his lips against hers. Oh, Annabeth missed this. They never had time alone together not even after Poseidon and Sally left for this Hawaii. Hudson gave them both so much work to do they at night they just crashed onto the bed and slept (well, they cuddled but Annabeth soon had to move away because she didn't feel like losing her hearing from Percy's snoring.) But like everything else, their sweet moment came to a crashing end.

"GRANDCHLIDREN!" she heard a crackly old man's voice scream from the shore. It shocked Percy so bad that he immediately let go of Annabeth and put his hand up like he was caught or something in the act.

"FATHER!" Annabeth roared, turning in the direction of the old king. "I swear if you are not off this beach in three seconds—"

"Just remember, my daughter. I'm not getting any younger!" Fredrick quickly said his peace and hobbled to a carriage waiting for him at the edge of town.

Annabeth folded her arms "My father is…" she mumbled every curse she could think of.

She was soon interrupted by Percy's laughter "What's so amusing?"

"Nothing, let's go home." Percy smiled sweetly, holding out his hand to Annabeth. Annabeth took it, relieved to be with her husband once again. They both dived underwater to home. Despite what Annabeth thought was the best birthday gift ever, being able to be at Percy's side returning to their home. She was in for a very big surprise from all her friends.

I leave it to you guys to imagine the party (since Rick Riordan too likes giving some holes for the reader to imagine up)! I had so much fun writing this fanficition! You guys are the best! I hope you guys enjoying this as much as I did! Check out my new Cinderella fanfic but I'm still writing the Tangled AU. Tell me in the comments if you want me to still write a Tangled AU starring Percy X Annabeth or just want me to focus on the Cinderella one for right now. Thanks once again to everyone who supported this series!