【  𝓢𝓐𝓛𝓣 & 𝓣𝓗𝓔 𝓢𝓔𝓐  】

. . . . . ⌗ 017! ───── TRUTHFUL NIGHTMARES! 𖤐 ‧₊˚

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... 𝐏ercy had been commanding the Queen Anne's Revenge to sail to where he wished all day. Soon, that day blended into night. The surrounding ocean became an orange expansion, reflecting off the setting sun. The scene was truly beautiful, despite them being in the middle of the sea with no land in sight. This was proof that there was beauty in everything, no matter how small or large, no matter how terrifying or scaring; beauty was never a long distance away, it was always in front of you, you just had to look in the right places.

Annabeth disappeared below deck after a while, as the sickness she felt from the motion of the waves caught up to her, and her face went pale with a tint of green.

Pandora stayed.

She stood with her hands on the railings, peering down into the ocean and watching the most gorgeous and gracious creatures dance around in their habitat. She giggled and waved at the Nereids as they swam alongside the boat.

"Percy, look!" Pandora gasped, pointing at the ladies of the sea.

Just as he turned to look, they disappeared into the depths, leaving him to only catch a glimpse of their prettiness.

"Oh, they're beautiful!" She gushed, still eyeing the water in case they made a return.

"Yeah." Percy mumbled, staring at Pandora's side profile, observing the glistening adoration in her eyes.

Pandora always felt quite comfortable at sea. Despite how vast and empty it technically was, and there was chances of being stranded forever, it never really occurred to her whilst sailing along it. It was as if the physical presence of it washed away the negative thoughts of 'what if' and 'but'.

Perhaps it was because Aphrodite came of seafoam, that it blessed her children to feel safe and protected by salty settlement. Or maybe it was because of the boy beside her. The boy who, himself alone, could control the waves and bring upon their calm or their wrath.

It was a question that would most likely never be answered.

The sun had set completely after half an hour, and there was nothing but darkness ahead of them, and Pandora felt the cold, fresh breeze of the sea, spraying up the side of the boat. Percy could see the goose bumps in her skin and shrugged his jacket off, wordlessly draping it over her shoulders and wrapping it around her front, doing the top button up under her chin so it would stay in place.

"Thanks." Pandora smiled softly, her cheeks glowing and bringing a shiver of warmth to her.

"No problem." Percy grinned back goofily. "The stars look nice."

"Yeah." Pandora whispered, staring up at the gas, shining collections in the sky.

Her eyes fell on a particular group and she pointed, "Look there."

"Where?" Percy frowned, trying to follow her finger, but it was difficult considering she was pointing to an endless dark void — so he decided to tease her. He pointed to another part of the sky, "Here?"

"No." Pandora rolled her eyes playfully.

"Here?" Percy did it again, pointing a little further up than where Pandora was.

"No!" She giggled, grabbing his hand and moving it so that they were pointing at the same spot.

Percy was standing behind her, his eyes finally looking at the right constellation.

"Cygnus." Pandora breathed out, "The swan. It's also called the Northern Cross."

She then moved his finger, drawing a triangle line around it, "And that's the Summer Triangle."

"How do you know all of this?" Percy whispered, though he wasn't sure why. It just seemed like the most reasonable thing to do, considering the only noise was coming from the waves below them.

"My step mom. She really likes stars." Pandora said, dropping both of their hands and turning around to face him.

"Is she nice?" Percy asked, looking across at her.

He wasn't tall enough for them to have a significant height difference. Not yet.

Pandora nodded, "Yes. She gets me out of trouble and she makes my dad really happy."

"You? Pandora Lamansoff, getting into trouble? No way." Percy smirked as they joked around.

It was silent for a while, and the daughter of Aphrodite thought that now would be an appropriate time to apologise for how she had behaved at the beginning of summer. Just as she opened her mouth, Annabeth abruptly appeared and spoke:

"One of the forges of Hephaestus, where he makes his metal monsters."

The pair were so fixated on their own conversation and staring at each others perfectly constructed faces, that they hadn't even noticed they were just passing a smoking volcano island. The sea bubbled and steamed around the shore.

"Like the bronze bulls?" Percy asked.

Annabeth nodded and advised that Percy made the boat go around the island whilst keeping a cautious distance. He obeyed and did as she said. The island disappeared from their view, becoming a glowing red splotch in the background.

Percy looked at Annabeth. "The reason you hate Cyclopes so much. . . the story about how Thalia really died. What happened?"

"I guess you deserve to know," she said finally. "The night Grover was escorting us to camp, he got confused, took some wrong turns. You remember he told you that once?"

Percy nodded stiffly.

"Well, the worst wrong turn was into a Cyclops's lair in Brooklyn."

"They've got Cyclopes in Brooklyn?" He asked.

"You wouldn't believe how many, but that's not the point. This Cyclops, he tricked us. He managed to split us up inside this maze of corridors in an old house in Flatbush. And he could sound like anyone, Percy. Just the way Tyson did aboard the Princess Andromeda. He lured us, one at a time. Thalia thought she was running to save Luke. Luke thought he heard me scream for help. And me. . . I was alone in the dark. I was seven years old. I couldn't even find the exit."

Pandora had heard this story thrice before. Once from Annabeth, once from Luke and once from Grover, so she sat back and let the blonde girl speak.

"I remember finding the main room. There were bones all over the floor. And there were Thalia and Luke and Grover, tied up and gagged, hanging from the ceiling like smoked hams. The Cyclops was starting a fire in the middle of the floor. I drew my knife, but he heard me. He turned and smiled. He spoke, and somehow he knew my dad's voice. I guess he just plucked it out of my mind. He said, 'Now, Annabeth, don't you worry. I love you. You can stay here with me. You can stay forever.'"

Percy seemed to be deep in thought about this whole story, "What did you do?"

"I stabbed him in the foot." Annabeth shrugged bluntly.

He stared at her. "Are you kidding? You were seven years old and you stabbed a grown Cyclops in the foot?"

"Oh, he would've killed me. But I surprised him. It gave me just enough time to run to Thalia and cut the ropes on her hands. She took it from there."

"Yeah, but still. . . that was pretty brave, Annabeth."

She shook her head. "We barely got out alive. I still have nightmares, Percy. The way that Cyclops talked in my father's voice. It was his fault we took so long getting to camp. All the monsters who'd been chasing us had time to catch up. That's really why Thalia died. If it hadn't been for that Cyclops, she'd still be alive today."

"It wasn't your fault." Pandora reminded her softly as they sat on the deck, watching constellations rise.

"Go below," Annabeth told them at last. "You need some rest."

Percy wasted no time in arguing, immediately standing and leaving to the hammocks below deck.

"You too." Annabeth muttered to Pandora, taking note of the jacket around her shoulders. "Did you apologise to him then?"

"Not yet." Pandora answered, toying with the gold bangles on her wrists.

"You should." Annabeth continued, watching the girl wit a sharp eye.

"I know. . . I just don't know when." The brunette huffed, "I also don't really know how to explain. . . why."

"Because you were insecure." Annabeth said bluntly. "And you were scared that he would look at you different now because you have a few scars. But he wouldn't. I know he wouldn't."

"What, did he, like, tell you?" Pandora snorted, thinking the girl was joking.

"Yeah." Annabeth watched the way Pandora's eyes momentarily left the deck of the ship and glanced her way, urging her to continue, "He was. . . really annoying about it, actually. He wanted me to try and talk to you, figure out why you were being so hostile. I told him I wouldn't do it."

"Why?" Pandora frowned, feeling the tension in the eye contact they shared.

"I don't know."

Once again, the ship went dead silent. The only noise was the ocean crashing against the side of the boat and the occasional swish of a sea monster.

"You have to tell him, 'Dora. You have to tell him everything." Annabeth spoke up after a while. "Everything you've kept a secret, everything you've lied to him about to cover up your past. If you don't tell him, you're going to lose him."

"I don't really think there's much to lose anymore." Pandora shrugged, thinking about how there had consistently been a hint of tension in the air this year.

"What are you scared of?" Annabeth suddenly asked.

"Uhm. . . what?"

"What are you scared of?" She repeated. "Why do you refuse to tell anybody anything?"

"I guess. . . I'm scared of people realising the truth. Realising that. . ." Pandora sighed. "I don't have it all together as I make out I do. There is so much wrong in my life, so much that I wish I could change — so I do. When I tell people stuff about myself, it's all stuff I wish was true."

Annabeth was quiet for a while, taking the time to soak in her friends words, ". . . Does anybody know about your uncle?"

"No." Pandora said quickly and sternly.

"Okay."

And that was that.

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... 𝐀nnabeth was the one to wake Percy that morning. When the girls had awoken, they found themselves nearing land, and Annabeth was quick to recognise where they were. Pandora stared at the blurred darkness of the island approaching and she couldn't tear her eyes away from it.

When Annabeth explained what island it was, Pandora was curious. What was the song like? Where they really all so beautiful and entrancing? Could she really see her deepest, darkest desires?

That's all that ran through her mind, and she didn't hear Annabeth telling Percy that she wanted to stay on the boat. She didn't hear Annabeth having the exact same thoughts as herself.

"Pandora, you go with Percy." The blonde spoke, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"What? Why?" Pandora frowned.

"I want to hear the siren song." Annabeth explained. "And it's not safe for you two to be around."

"I want to as well!" Pandora exclaimed, eyes widening in desperation.

"Pandora, it's too dangerous—"

Percy was cut off by the girl defending herself. "I'm not weak. You don't need to protect me every time we encounter something dangerous." She scoffed.

"Okay, sorry." Percy mumbled, a saddened tug on his lips.

"Tie us to the mast." Annabeth ordered, handing the rope to Percy whilst she and Pandora stood back to back on opposite sides of the pole. "Don't untie us. No matter how much we plead or beg or else we'll try to drown ourselves."

Percy blew out a puff of air as he tied the rope securely. "Okay."

Then, he stuffed his ears with wax and nodded at them.

It was perfectly okay for a while, and then the song started to come in. It was majestic and harmonious in all the right ways, almost like Circe's was. The song did nothing after a while, but then Pandora's world went dark before bursting with colour again.

She was at her dad's apartment again. He was there and so was— Nicole? No, there was no Nicole and there was no Anthony. Lasagne was there though, and a blonde woman stood besides John. Her skin was perfect and her eyes were the most beautiful shade of blue.

All the pictures that decorated the walls were full of the three of them; John, Pandora, and this blonde woman.

Two boys were in the living room, one was tall and built with sandy blond hair (undoubtedly being Elio) and the other had soft, pale green eyes and peanut brown hair. Pandora wasted no time in realising who this was.

A soft sob wracked through her as she stared at a grown and aged Theodore Evania. This was a sight she never thought she would get to see. Theo looked to be around sixteen now, and Elio was seemed to be in his early twenties. Clearly, this was a few years into the future.

Pandora was so in her daze that she didn't have time to process the casual, normal kiss that Theo placed on her lips. When she turned to look into the mirror, her face was perfect gain, flawless and smooth.

But she couldn't help but feel intense guilt at the scene. Where was Percy? Where was Nicole? Where was Anthony? Was this really how she wanted her life to be? No, she wasn't quite sure she liked this image.

"Get me out!" She screamed loudly. "Get out of my head!"

Theo embraced her from behind and the blonde woman fed her a slice of soft, vanilla cake.

"'Dite, can I have the chocolate one?" Theo asked, kissing Pandora on the cheek after.

'Dite? As in. . . No. There was no way. Pandora wanted nothing to do with that woman. Not when she was the reason that the brunette had so much resentment and so much boiling jealousy and insecurity in her blood.

"Of course you can!" Aphrodite cheered, "Help yourself, you're part of the family, remember?"

"Yeah, can't wait for you two to finally get married." Elio laughed, taking a sip of his Pepsi.

"What?" Pandora mumbled in confusion, now thrashing against the ropes. "I don't like it anymore."

Pandora hadn't even realised she'd escaped the binding fabric. She felt the coldness of water and the salty burn of water in her eyes. She felt the burning in her lungs as she sunk herself under the water, desperate to mute the siren song.

This was the life she could've lived. This was the life she might still get to live, if only Theodore Evania was still alive. This was the life she was born into, that she was supposed to grow and flourish in. It had been her dream since she was only young. She had her mind set on marrying Theo since she was seven years old, and it was only now that she was realising that this fantasy had never disappeared.

But she could've sworn that she didn't want this anymore. She could've sworn that someone else was supposed to be her permanent lover. She could've sworn that she was perfectly contempt with Nicole being a part of her life.

Perhaps Pandora had been lying to everyone so much that she had started to believe those lies herself.

The siren song was muted. It was muted and it was gone and Pandora felt like she could finally breathe again. Although she couldn't. The current of the water was so strong that she was being pushed around, despite being well beneath the surface.

But then something grabbed her arm and dragged her up, and she was screaming and crying again. Her legs kicked and her arms flailed and the visions were back. The visions of her perfect family.

And then they were gone again. The depths of the water had swallowed her whole and she found herself fighting against them as the pressure made her head hazy and she couldn't breathe.

Someone was gripping her waist, pulling her deeper and deeper until she cried out. But the pain was only short lived as a bubble appeared around them.

It muted everything except for the voice of Percy. It protected her against the deadly water and the merciless sirens. She felt safe. She coughed and spluttered as the air returned to her lungs.

"Are you okay?" Percy rushed out, holding her face in his hands. "Pandora, are— Dear, Zeus! Are you okay?!"

Pandora said nothing. She only let out a broken, gut-wrenching sob, burying her head into the crook of Percy's neck and holding onto him tightly, as if he was a lifebuoy and she was drowning. He too returned the display of security and affection, encasing her in his arms and cradling the back of her head.

Percy had seen everything. A small part of him was offended and jealous and had no idea who her lover was, but right now, nothing was more important to him than making sure she was okay.

"I've got you." He mumbled as her hoarse cries and heartbroken sobs echoed around the bubble.

Her shoulders jolted and her chest heaved as distraught noises and tears of despair wracked through her.

But Percy never stopped holding her. He never loosened his grip. He never let go. He never stopped whispering reassurances and words of comfort into her ear. He was there.

He was there and she was okay.

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... 𝐏andora didn't know when she'd returned to the ship. She had no recollection of anything besides Percy holding her so tightly, as if she was the world. But here she was, sat on the deck of the ship with a blanket wrapped securely around her, one that Annabeth had gathered for her.

"It was hard, right?" The generous blonde began, "To fight against it."

"I couldn't do it." Pandora's voice was weak and tired from her sobbing and screaming, "I feel so. . . weak."

Annabeth's response was immediate: "You're not."

"The fact that you can even stand up and say 'I walked away alive from a horde of sirens' tells me and everybody else that you are not weak."

"So why could you do it?" Pandora looked across at Annabeth, asking an unanswerable query.

The girl in question sighed and shrugged, only offering her shoulder for the exhausted girl to rest on, which she did.

"I saw it." Percy spoke up, sitting on the other side of her, holding her right hand in his left. "What you dreamed of."

Pandora blushed and eyed him awkwardly, opening her mouth to apologise.

"Who was the boy?"

"Percy—" Annabeth said in a scolding manner.

"No, it's fine. He deserves to know." Pandora sat up, clearing her throat. "His name was Theo. He was my best friend."

"Was he a demigod?"

"Yes. But we never found out who his mother was. He died on the way to camp. It was a few years after Luke and Annabeth arrived. I was with Elio and Theo and Grover joined halfway through to help us. We were fighting off one of Hades' furies. I was ten and I froze because of how scared I was—"

"It wasn't your fault." Annabeth reminded her.

"Theo jumped in the way." Pandora said quickly, wanting it to be over and done with. "I-It wasn't supposed to happen like that. We were supposed to grow old together. It sounds so stupid when I say this but. . . I was nine and I was one hundred percent sure that he was the boy I was going to marry when I was older."

Percy frowned and looked down at their intertwined fingers, squeezing her as a form of silent comfort. He had no idea what to say. He'd never met anyone with a story as tragic as Pandora's. He'd never met anyone who had to go through so much grief at such a little age. For once in his life, Percy was speechless.

"My fatal flaw is compulsive lying." Pandora sighed, swallowing thickly as if she was trying to accept the truth, "I lie about everything. It makes me feel better about all the things in my life I'm unhappy with. The siren song showed me what my life would look like if everything I said was true."

"You don't have to lie to me." Percy ran his thumb over her knuckles. "I couldn't care less about how imperfect your life is. You're my best friend. . . I wouldn't want you to change for the world."

Pandora let those words fully sink into her brain. She soaked up the words he spoke, the words that were filled with nothing but honesty and raw truth, and her body and mind absorbed them like a sponge would water.

Pandora felt content and soft at Percy's words of validation and affirmation. She felt complete and whole, as if this was the feeling she'd been searching for her entire life.

The blinding jealousy and rage that she felt upon seeing Percy so close with Annabeth, had finally settled in her stomach. The envious monster that was bound to re-erupt at some point, had finally calmed.

And during this time of self reflection, Annabeth had explained to Percy the importance of fatal flaws and how they can ultimately be someone's reason for success or their reason for downfall.

They'd also neared another island. A golden, sandy dune of an island. The home of the Cyclops.

Shit was about to go down.

— 𝒋𝒂𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒌𝒔

THE CHAPTER WE'VE ALL
BEEN WAITING FOR FROM
SEA OF MONSTERS‼️‼️

i hope i did it justice yall✊🏼

this felt simultaneously
longer and shorter than the
rest of my chapters but idk
why.