"LITTLE NEICE, I HAVE BIG PLANS FOR YOU." THE GOLDEN MASKED-MAN SAID. He (kindly) removed his sword from her throat and re-sheathed it. Dawn racked her brain for stories she'd learned at home to try and figure out who her captor was. At least then, she'd have some idea of what she was up against. Masks, dolphins, boats... 

An old story resurfaced, like a whale coming to the surface for air. A masked pirate who roamed the Mediterranean, a thief in search of riches and renown. She recalled how her grandfather, Posiden, would look bashful when the thief had been brought up in conversation, how he had always immediately shifted the topic to one of his other sons, like Tridon or Percy. If this man was a son of Poseidon, he wasn't one that the god was particularly proud of. 

"Chrysaor!" She exclaimed, feeling much too proud of herself. A child of Posiden and the gorgon, Medusa, she remembered. She hoped she'd remembered right, but the man was unreadable behind that terrifying mask. Finally, he spoke. 

"Seems you do know me, little niece." His voice was still smooth and taunting, but Dawn thought she detected a little bit of pride in there, too. Chrysaor was a prideful man, she remembered her father saying to her once. Prideful and vain, two things which her sensible father had no place for. 

"Of course, I know you!" She exclaimed, grinning, trying to seem at least a little more sure of herself than she really was. "You're, like, famous in the ocean world! Coolest pirate ever!"

"Well, I suppose I am quite renowned in these parts." Dawn could hear him smiling as she spoke, and she grinned back. "My crew and I have been robbing and looting ships for centuries,"

"Ooh," Dawn winced, "I'm afraid I'm not going to be much good for you, then. I was actually just on my way home, so I really don't have anything too valuable on board. I might have some strawberries from camp, though, if you want to try some!"

Chrysaor looked like he was at least considering the offer, but he eventually shook his head. He slowly made his way over to her, stalking, sword glinting at his side. He crouched down next to her and she could feel his hot breath on her cheek through his mask. As much as she hated the suspense, she did appreciate the showmanship. He lowered his voice when he spoke in a way that made her want to lean in, to catch every word of what he was saying. Damn pirates and their theatricality!

"I have big plans for you, little Dawn. We've been watching you, on land, watching as you faced the Titans and fought for the Gods. We've seen the way that the demigods respect you, the way that they underestimate you."

Dawn blushed. "Well, I wouldn't go that far." She muttered. 

"For years, we've been robbing, pillaging, looting ships," Chrysaor continued without indicating that he'd heard her,  "and very successfully, too. As you've mentioned, I'm much renowned in the underwater kingdom."

Dawn nodded, trying to look very convincing. "Yes, yes, much renowned, much renowned."

"But on land; not as much as I deserve to be. As much as it pains me to admit - and be sure, it pains me quite - demigods do not cower at my name in the way they used to! Mortals do not shake in terror when they see my ship! And that needs to change."

Dawn could almost imagine the devilish snarl of his mask turning into a cold smile. She felt her heart drop, wondering where on earth she came into all this. Regardless, she did feel her heart soften, just a little. Sure, she didn't appreciate the kidnapping, and she would've liked to be sent home but, to her, it seemed that Chrysaor just needed a bit of validation. He hadn't killed her yet, at least. 

"Look, you are very feared and renowned! And I'm sure that any demigods who have faced you have been terrified of you forever afterward, Uncle Chysaor. I was certainly pretty scared when the dolphin guys showed up before; like the dolphins and the ship and the scary mask - it is pretty terrifying."

There was silence for a bit. Chrysaor nodded, considering her words.

"I am quite terrifying I suppose. Regardless, something needs to change. And that's where you come in, young niece."

Dawn furrowed her brow. Chrysaor stood from his crouched position next to her to lean against the door, a casual stance that confused her a little. She'd ascertained that she wasn't in immediate danger, and even though this guy might be a little evil she still would be happy to help him out with a little ego boost, maybe promise to tell everyone about how scary he was when she got home. Home. It made her ache, being so close to Atlantis while it still felt so eternally unreachable. She couldn't fight her way out of this situation; from what she knew, Chrysaor was one of the best swordsmen of his time, and his dolphin-pirate crew were no novices either. Her control over the water was still being suppressed, and Dawn felt as useless and stranded as if she were on land. 

"With a daughter of Tridon at my side, we'll be practically unstoppable. The time has come to move past the basic model of robbing boats. It's been overdone for centuries, and I am many things but overdone is not one of them. I need to do something that will live me in infamy forever, and you, young niece, will help me to achieve that. Together, we will lure unsuspecting sea voyagers in, trap them, steal their riches. Together, we'll be infamous."

Dawn took a moment to consider, then spoke as gently as she could.

"Look, while I really do appreciate the offer and respect the innovation, of course, I really just want to get home."

She'd lived in Atlantis until she was twelve years old, and she missed it like a limb. She missed not feeling awkward and clumsy and eternally out of place. In Atlantis, she knew where she was meant to fit, knew how the world was meant to go. The people of Atlantis were nothing if not resilient, forward-thinking, and happy, but Dawn sometimes felt like the longer she spent away from her home, the more difficult she found it to stick to those qualities that fundamentally defined her. She shook her head. Her father would hate her getting all philosophical. The people of Atlantis were also rather literal. 

"My father's probably getting worried, too." She sighed. "Sorry, I really hate to do this, but I think it's time I'd be leaving."

Chrysaor laughed quite cruelly, Dawn thought, pointedly moving his head to look down at her tied feet and hands. 

"I don't think you'll be hearing from your father anytime soon."

"That sounds ominous."

"I have it on good authority that the Gods are done meddling in earthly affairs for time being," Chrysaor said, teasing, but certain. Dawn frowned. The Gods had never been dependable, but she didn't want to believe that her father would leave her completely alone. He simply wouldn't leave her. Maybe it was silly, but Dawn liked to practise what she called unrelenting and sometimes oblivious optimism. She liked to believe the best until she was given a reason not to, and, so far, this had worked out for her rather well. 

 "Poor Tridon, it seems, is taking an indefinite holiday to Mount Olympus."

"You could still let me go," Dawn suggested hopefully. Chrysaor laughed again. 

"You will stay on this ship, little niece. By choice or not; the water will not respond to you when I have control, and my crew won't willingly let you leave. You could risk the water, sure, but while you're in my domain with no Gods to help you, the odds are most certainly not in your favor. You could take your chances at Circe's island, but I hear it's been taken by pirates even more brutal than I. It's swim with the sharks or live with the dolphins, little girl."

Dawn hesitated for a moment, then flashed her most charming grin at her uncle. "You wouldn't have a cabin I can stay in, would you?"

•••

November and December passed relatively quickly for Dawn. Her Uncle was a little strange and flamboyant and possibly evil, but she had been given a sleeping cabin and a few clean changes of clothes and that was enough for her. She didn't like what he'd said about the Gods being unreachable, but he'd unfortunately been proven right. Normally her dreams were full - sometimes terrifying - of monsters and ghosts and gods, but since almost the first night on the ship, they'd been silent. She'd prayed to her father, but nothing came back in response. She was almost completely isolated from people she knew on the ship; her Iris messages never quite worked, and she was yet to work out another way to communicate that would be subtle enough to get past Chrysaor and his crew. 

It was horrible, to be so close to the water without the familiar tug in her gut that let her control it, to feel like she was staring at her home through an unbreakable looking glass that she could never hope to move through, but she managed. She'd spent enough time on land in the last year, she told herself, and at least now she was closer to the ocean. 

To their credit, Chrysaor and the pirates were nothing if not accomodating hosts. Despite the minor fact that they were keeping her without her consent, they'd shown nothing but kindness to her, and Dawn had even picked up on some of the strange English-Dolphin dialect that the crew spoke in. Chrysaor turned out to be alright, too - a little power-hungry, sure, but Dawn was convinced that it was all coming from a place of insecurity, and she couldn't help but feel a little bad for him. Luckily for her, they hadn't run into any ships yet either and she resolved to try and help her uncle see reason. Give him an ego boost, she thought. Surely, if he was confident in his abilities as a pirate, he would let her go and then she'd be able to return home (or at least, back to camp). 

She was hopeful, at least, going into the new year. She and Chrysaor sat down together and split some diet Dr. Pepper (which, weirdly enough was Chrysaor's drink of choice) and Chrysaor regaled her with 101 tales of his pirating excellence. 

Dawn resolved to be hopeful going into the new year. To take each day as it came and to enjoy to adventure, even if she longed to be home. After all, the people of Atlantis were nothing if not hopeful. 

a/n just thought i'd lay out a brief structure of the timelines! so basically, the second titan war ends in august (end of the last olympian) and dawn stayed a couple months at camp half-blood, finally setting off at the very end of october. she was asleep for a couple days after being captured (long enough for them to get the boat out into the proper ocean) so the main conversation happens a few days into novermber in canon, zeus shuts off communication between gods and mortals in november, so for the purpose of this story that happens right at the start of november. throughout november, dawn is on the ship as they travel around, and percy disappears from chb mid december. this makes annabeth try to contact dawn, but when she can't reach her the folks at chb are like oh no two seakids have disappeared rip. this chapter ends at new years,

also i promise chrysaor is gonna get eviller to be more align with the guy we see in the mark of athena, i've got some tricks up my sleeve in writing that :)) 

hope yall enjoyed the chapter!