*Credits to @Opheliac_ for coming up with the main idea of this chappie*

--In the dreamworld--

"Dr.?"

A man turned around, a wide smile on his face. He had kind seagreen eyes and a messy mop of brown hair.

"How are you liking the aquarium so far?"

"I'm loving it," the man hummed, looking into one of the tanks, "quite fascinating for such a remote location."

"Well, we try our best,"

"I can tell,"

The woman smiled, "Would you like to see our special creature now?"

"Hmm... sure, why not? You know by the way you speak of this animal you make it sound as if it's a kraken of some sort."

"Well, Dr-"

"Please, call me Percy."

"Well, Percy, this beautiful creature is far from a kraken. It's graceful yet powerful, and quite a sight to behold."
"Can't wait,"

The two shared matching grins and the woman led Percy through their aquarium. It seemed they only settled for the best and most breathtaking creatures, and they were really good at picking their animals. In a smaller tank Percy was pretty sure he saw the famous and adorable sea bunny.

He saw a Discus, potbellied seahorses, guinea fowl puffer fish, and millions of other great species.

The woman led Percy into a back room which read 'OFF-LIMITS, EMPLOYEES ONLY.'

Percy's mind started to wander. What kind of creature would be so amazing that everyone who's ever talked to him about it always spoke with the same awe-stricken voice? Was it a new undiscovered species? Or was it just a really rare creature? Maybe it was a creature thought to be extinct.

"You'll love this creature," the woman said, "I promise you."

"If you break your promise you owe me."

"Deal."

They arrived at yet another door and the woman beamed at him, "Here she is." she swung open the door.

Percy's eyes widened.

The creature was... It was...

Magnificent!

Breath-taking!

Impossible!

Her tail was long and beautiful, her scales shining in the light. She had gorgeous locks of golden hair and storm grey eyes.

"I... is this real?" he breathed.

"No not at all," she said, "I'm an illusion this aquarium set up, a hologram if you will. I'm talking to you right now because you're hearing it all in your head."

"She hasn't learned how to be polite yet." the woman murmured.

"I KNOW HOW TO BE POLITE YOU ARSE!" she snapped, "JUST BECAUSE I LIVED UNDER THE OCEAN DOES NOT MEAN I HAVE TO LEARN BASIC BEHAVIOR SKILLS!"

"Lower the volume if you could, please."

"HOW WOULD YOU FEEL IF SOME FREAKY WEIRDO KIDNAPPED YOU AND BROUGHT YOU INTO A POOL WHERE YOU ARE FORCED TO EAT SARDINES!"

Percy stared at the woman, "You.. feed her sardines?"

"Yes, well, she is part fish," the woman said.

"That's... not..." Percy sighed, "nevermind. Can you leave for a moment so I can speak with the mermaid in private?"

The mermaid crossed her arms, turning away from them, smashing her tail against the water.

"Of course Dr.-"

"I told you. It's Percy."

"Right, right, right. Percy." the woman nodded before walking out of the room, closing the door behind her.

Percy took in a deep breath. Man, some scientists...

"So, mermaid." he kneeled down by the pool where she was.

"What?" she asked, not turning to look at him.

"I... never thought I'd see the day."

"We're good at hiding ourselves," she murmured, "but I screwed it all up. I got too close to shore, ended up getting trapped."

"We're? You mean there's more?"

"...no."

"Oh come on, you can trust me."

"A scientist-like guy who only cares about discoveries and press, oh yeah I can trust you."

"I... that's not me."

"Sure it isn't." she finally turned to face him.

"Every scientist I have met so far just wanted to expose me so they could get credit and money. Why would you be any different?"

"Because I don't care about getting my name on TV, nor do I care about how much money I earn. It appears you don't understand the greed in people's hearts, and I don't either. Yes, having a lot of things could be nice, but at the end of the day does a person really need a sports car made completely out of gold?"

"Well I have a chariot made completely out of gold,"

"So what I should really be worrying about is mermaid greed,"

The mermaid laughed a little. He actually made her laugh. But the moment she realized she was laughing she forced herself to stop, giving him a five star poker face.

"Aww, we were almost friendly!" Percy huffed.

"I'm supposed to hate you, don't make me laugh or I'll hate you even more."

"Okay, okay," he puts his hands up. "hey Mermaid-"

"I have a name, you know."

"Okay Mermaid, what's your name?"

"I... it's..." she looked around, "It's Annabeth."

"That's a beautiful name for a beautiful mermaid." he hummed.

"A bit of a charmer you are, aye Dr. Percy?" she smirked.

"Just a little. And though I know your name, I'm still calling you Mermaid."

"Alright alright, fine."

Before they could say anything else the scientist from before burst into the room.

Mermaid dove under the water, swimming away from Percy and the woman.

Percy slowly turned to the woman, "Yes?"

"So, what do you think? A great specimen, huh?"

"Keep an open mind," Percy said, "she may just be half fish to you, but she's definitely more then a specimen."

"You give a great point, Percy. She's half fish. Humans don't talk to fish, do they? They don't get friendly with fish, do they?"

"Well I frankly love to talk to the fish in some aquariums," Percy hummed, "the best conversation ever, Rainbow the seahorse. Or as my brother likes to call him, a fish pony."

Annabeth snickered quietly, though neither Percy or the woman seemed to hear.

"Wonderful story Mr. Percy, is your brother 7?"

"No, he's two years younger then me."

The woman blinked, staring at him.

"You don't have to be seven to have an active imagination and an open mind. Which you, Dr. Hera, could really use." Percy walked out of the room.
Annabeth dove back underwater to cover more of her snickering. Maybe Dr. Percy wasn't as bad as she thought.

-

Every day after that Dr. Percy would come to visit Mermaid, and they would talk for as long as the universe would allow. The perks of his visits, Annabeth thought anyway, would be the food he'd bring along with him. At first he brought sushi because he couldn't find anything else, and she had decided to tease him by saying that eating sushi was like eating her own siblings.

He had gotten so flustered he had dropped the sushi, and he had been quick to utter an apology. But soon he found it was all just a joke, and that, despite Annabeth hung out with a lot of fish under the sea, she did enjoy sushi from time to time.

Before either of them knew it a month had gone by them, and they knew more about each other then they thought they ever would, and Percy learned millions of things about the sea that he never would've known if not for Mermaid.

-

Annabeth laughed, drinking a small spoonful of her soup.

"No no no it's totally true!" Percy insisted. "I was in the middle of the ocean, and suddenly a whale popped out of the waves, telling me that my dad was the great god Poseidon!"
"You sure it wasn't just a dream?" Annabeth giggled, "The 'great god Poseidon' hasn't been seen in years."

"No no no no, it was totally real!"

"Sure sure sure,"

"A whale. Coming out. Of the ocean."

"No no no no, he just popped his head out of the waves like 'hi hi hi I'm here!'"

"Sure..."

"Oh no, wait, maybe it was a dolphin..."

Annabeth chuckled, "Okay, when you can figure out what type of creature it was that told you that I'll consider considering that your story might be real."

"You shall feel the wrath of me dad!"

"You're a stupid scientist, you know that?" Mermaid laughed.

"Excuse me Missy I had a grade point average of 5.0 and I never tell a lie!"

"You lying about not telling a lie?"

"Yep."

"And about your grade point average?"

"Yep."

"Knew it,"
"Well if your so smart how come you haven't found a way to get out of here by using your mermaid powers?"

"Because I am in a pool, and to get to the ocean I'd have to flop up a flight of stairs, through a very large aquarium, I'd have to open a door, and continue to flop around until I found the sea."

"Right, right."

"I'm the mermaid but you seem to be the one with seaweed in your brain."

"Hey!"

"It's the truth. I can not tell a lie."

"Are you lying about-"

"You are not pulling that one on me," Annabeth put her hand up, covering his mouth. "I refuse."

Just then Hera stormed into the room, "DR-"

"I told you, it's Percy." Percy said, though his voice was muffled by Mermaid's hand.

He clears his throat, slowly lifting Mermaid's hand off of his mouth and standing up, turning to face Hera.

"I told you, it's Percy." he repeated.

"All the employees have reported you getting very friendly with our special creature. What did I tell you about talking to fish?"

"Well I mean I talk to you, so why can't I talk to a fish?"

"Ahhh I have trained you well my pupil." Annabeth laughed.

"YOU SHUT IT!" Hera glared at Annabeth.

"HOW ABOUT YOU DRAG YOUR FAT ARSE OVER HERE AND MAKE ME?!"

Hera grinded her teeth and looked back at Percy.

"You realize we will have to start our tests and experiments on her soon?"

"You.. you're going to experiment on her?"

"Why of course!"

"But..." Percy frowned, "will it be painful?"

"Here's hoping!"

"You can't experiment on her though!" Percy exclaimed, "How would you feel if someone experimented on you!?"

"Oh hon, no one would ever try. I'm a normal human being. Nothing to study on that."

"But..."

"Percy, you stick to your work, I'll stick to mine. Your welcome to come for the first experiment. Though it may be a bit bloody... we'll have to cut off a part of her tail."

"WHAT!? But... that's like cutting off a person's legs!"

"Oh she'll be fine." Hera snorted.
Percy glanced back at Annabeth.

"I'll find a way out for you Mermaid." he murmured.

A small smile flickered onto her face, "You better..."

Hera grabbed Percy's arm and started to drag him out of the room.

"WAIT! What's your last name?" Annabeth called.
"IT'S-"

The door slammed closed before he could reply.

Annabeth slowly sunk down into the pool of water.

-

"Look I understand why your upset but this is something that we have to do."

Percy sighed, "Fine."

"Good."

The two slowly walked into a special room, a large chair in the middle of it. And strapped to the chair? It was Mermaid.

Her tail, arms, torso, and forehead were all strapped to the chair so she couldn't do anything.

"So I'd figure we'd start with the fins first," Hera said, walking over to the table. "I want to see if there's any trace of human skin in them."

Mermaid's eyes widened, "You... you wouldn't dare! My-" Hera covered Mermaid's mouth, so her words were just sounded like muffled screams.

"You know usually this isn't my-"

"I know."

Percy walked over to the table, looking down at Mermaid. Other scientists filed into the room, and the moment they did Percy grabbed a pair of scissors from the tray of, what he liked to call, 'Sharp experimental things' and threw them at Hera.

She screamed, ducking down to avoid the scissors.

Grabbing another pair Percy managed to cut two straps before the other scientists were on top of him.

Of course they just had their bare hands and Percy had scissors.

"If any of you take one more step closer I'll find a reason to experiment on you!" he grabbed a scalpel, snapping the scissors at a person.

"Oh no Dr. Percy, please, take your time. I'll just lay here losing feeling in my tail." Annabeth muttered.

Percy spun around, snipping her arms free, shoving the scissors into her hands before charging at the scientists.

He ended up losing his scalpel and, without even knowing how, he was seen pinned up against the wall, the scalpel pressing against the back of his neck.

"I hate you all," Percy growled softly, "but you're probably okay with that."

"GET AWAY FROM ME YOU CRAZY B'TCH!" Annabeth screeched, stabbing Hera in the shoulder with the scissors.

Hera screamed in pain, ripping the scissors out and falling back onto the floor.

Percy elbowed the person pinning him to the wall, reading behind him and grabbing the scalpel. He spun around, kicking the other scientist back and onto the ground.

He then proceeded to run over him as he headed over to Mermaid. She had freed herself, but there was no water around, and she'd be more vulnerable flopping on the ground.

"You two..." Hera growled, slowly standing up, "I hate you... so much."

"And I think your a crazy psychopath who needs to get herself some therapy." Mermaid snapped.

"Think of all the money I could get!" Hera exclaimed. "All the publicity and credit!"

"Human greed." Annabeth mutters.

Percy smirked, nudging her, "Mermaid greed."

"Kill Dr.-"

"I told you! It's Percy!"

"Fine." Hera snapped, "Kill Percy, restrain the mermaid. We can't lose her." the other scientists from before getting up and grabbing Percy, one other one heading over to Annabeth.

Annabeth looked in between all of them.

She bit her lip.

"Well, you're gonna lose me, and your proof." Annabeth closed her eyes, muttering what Percy could identify as Latin.

Her tail and body were soon surrounded by a cloud of steam, preventing Hera and the other person from getting to her.

The steam started to fill the room, blinding everyone. So Percy took the chance to escape, kicking and elbowing the guys restraining him. He then ran off into the steam, praying he wouldn't run into anything.
Sadly he did, and it was a person.

The two went tumbling to the ground, the other person shouting at him.

Once they stopped rolling Percy was on top of the mystery person, and he was quick to pin them down.

But something was weird. Something was different.

The person wasn't a scientist, and it wasn't Hera. She had long blonde hair and grey eyes.
Percy's eyes widened and he looked back at where Mermaid's tail usually would be. But there was no tail. Only legs.

"Seriously?" he looked back at her. "You could've turned into a human this whole time?"

"We're put into extreme danger if we turn into a human, and there's an 80% chance we'll die a day after."

"I see why you chose to wait."

"Yeah." she muttered. She smiled, "But hey. Now we can get out safely."

"Yeah but you might die now."

"Worth it."

"I'm gonna need a new nickname for you..." he glanced at her feet again.

Annabeth chuckles, "Yeah, you will."

Suddenly Annabeth's eyes went wide, her body going rigid with fear. "Percy!"

"What? Why do you look so-"

Annabeth screamed as the point of a blade poked itself out of Percy's stomach. His blood dripped onto her. A trickle at first, and soon that trickle turned into a stream.

Hera stood over the two, her hair plastered to her forehead from the steam.

"Kill Percy. Restrain the mermaid." she repeated her orders from earlier, her eyes flashing.

"You... you..." Annabeth's eye twitched, "YOU KILLED HIM!"

Percy's body fell back next to her, blood trickling from his mouth, yet he still had the decency to smile at her.

"Not dead yet, Mermaid," He rasped, "just injured..."

"You know I never found out your last name, Percy." she said softly.

"That's right... but first... smile."

"How can I?" she whispered. Tears were falling from her eyes, and she hadn't even noticed.

"You just..." Percy weakly reached a hand forward, placing a finger on the corner of her mouth and lifting it up. His hand moved to her cup her face. It was shaking, and Annabeth could feel it.

Annabeth leaned into his hand, gently stroking it.

Then, the smallest of smiles appeared on her face.

"There you go," Percy muttered, "that wasn't so hard, was it?"

Annabeth shook her head, her lip quivering.

"Now... your last name."

Percy nodded. He then coughed, even more blood spilling from his mouth. It seemed like Hera and the other scientists had just disappeared, and Percy and Annabeth were the only two people there.

"It's..." he coughed again, laying his head down on the ground. "It..."

His hand stopped trembling and his coughing stopped, and for a moment Annabeth thought fate had given her a freebie and healed him. But sadly...

She let go of his hand.

Percy's hand hit the blood covered ground, lifeless as ever.

"Percy? No Percy, come on. Stay with me. Stay awake. PERCY!" she sat up, grabbing his shoulders. "Percy come on please. Please..."

She got no response.

"Percy..."