Grover Underwood

After being trapped in a cyclopes lair for weeks, it was extremely alarming to hear a female's voice.

Sure, I knew that Clarisse was given a solo quest for the Fleece, and I knew Annabeth was with Percy so I knew that eventually, I should expect it.

It didn't change the fact that I didn't recognize the voice initially, without a face to go off of.

"You know, I'm just so weak," the voice said from the other end of the cave. "and you don't want a little lady dying to Nobody, do you? That would be a horrendous fate to give to a helpless girl."

Who is that?

I knew them, obviously, but I couldn't place who it was.

"No, that would be really bad," Polyphemus agreed. "I hate Nobody! Here, let me let you into my cave. You can talk with my bride! We're getting married tomorrow! I'm protecting her."

Grabbing my bag, I walked closer to the cave entrance, hoping that I understood what the plan was right now.

"Oh, of course. I'll make sure to introduce myself. Don't let Nobody get to you, okay? You're a strong cyclopes."

"I am! Look!"

Polyphemus for the cave door/rock half way open before I heard somebody else yell.

"POLYPHEMUS! IT IS I, NOBODY. I'M BACK TO SETTLE A SCORE WITH YOU."

It was Annabeth.

"Wh— NO! GET OUT OF HERE, NOBODY!"

And just like that, my captor marched towards the sound of Annabeth's voice.

"NEVER! YOU'VE TAKEN WHAT WAS RIGHTFULLY MINE, POLYPHEMUS! AND NOW I, NOBODY, AM HERE TO TAKE IT BACK!"

"Wh—" I tried to figure out what was happening as I realized who stood in front of me now. "Silena, oh my gods, hi. What... Are you doing here?"

"Making sure you make it back on board," she insisted, motioning to a ship docked on the far end of the island— across the rope bridge that I really didn't want to have to cross. "Come on, the bridge isn't as bad as it looks. The others are getting the Fleece."

"Wh— the others? Who exactly? Are you here with Clarisse?" I asked, following her out of the cave, staying out of sight from Polyphemus.

"Hm? I mean, yeah, technically, Clarisse and I are on a quest." She confirmed for me as we stopped for a moment behind a large boulder to map out the route back to the ship. "Clarisse was given a solo quest, but over my dead body was she going alone so..."

I smiled, sending the pool of warmth that inhabitated Silena when she talked about the daughter of Ares.

"Aw, how sweet," I said, genuinely. "Have you told her yet?"

"Have I...?" The question confused her at first, but after a few seconds, Silena got the meaning. "oh, yeah, I did. I'm sure you get it, being a satyr and all, but it's hard to tell when other people are aware of their own feelings since I can just sense them so I waited for her to figure it out herself. It's only been a few days, but it's been nice. Clarisse is my girlfriend now. If you want, I can tell you more later, but here's the plan."

Pointing to some blind spots, Silena mapped out the plan from here to the ship for me. In the distance, I could see Clarisse, Percy, and a... Baby cyclopes trying to manage the sheep quietly enough to get the Golden Fleece. The baby cyclopes was able to distract most of them, but Percy was having to fend off a couple of them while Clarisse got the glittering hide of gold from the tree it'd been placed on.

"Where are—" Polyphemus began as he turned and saw the herding show happening by the Fleece. "MY SHEEP! WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MY SHEEP!?"

Silena grabbed my arm.

"That's our cue," she insisted. "Let's get out of here."

And off the two of us went— around the field, across the bridge, and up the ladder to the ship.

I've never climbed a ladder that fast before.

Or run, for that matter.

"Oh, hey, you got him b—" but on deck stood two girls that I for sure had never met before, and I was worried that we somehow got on the wrong boat.

They both paused.

"Back," the younger of the girls finished. "Were you always half goat?"

"Was... Yes, I'm a satyr," I answered. "Can I ask who you two would be? I don't believe we've ever met."

"Your beliefs are correct," the older girl confirmed. "I'm Hylla, this is my sister Reyna. Your friends found us on an island, we'd been working for a sorceress with no means of escape. They offered us refuge, implying that we are half god. You guys have quite the crew— a satyr, a cyclopes, and some demigods."

"Yeah..." I agreed, looking at Silena. "What's the cyclopes bit about? Last I checked, Annabeth still hated them. They freak me out."

Silena just smiled.

"Well this one is uh... Different," she promised. "A child, actually. Maybe like 7 in terms of human development? I don't know how he got to camp really, but he's technically a son of Poseidon so... He's Percy's brother. He'll probably tell you—"

"GRAB THE MEDIC KIT!" We heard the others yell as they started to cross the hanging bridge— Percy and Tyson carrying Clarisse between them as Annabeth ran behind them, still keeping Polyphemus at a distance.

"We'll lower the ramp so it's easier," Reyna told Silena and I. "go grab a pillow and blanket for her as well— it looks like she might have to lay down."

Not having any other direction, Silena told me she'd grab the medic kit and told me that all of the sleeping supplies were below deck.

Running down, I grabbed the first pillow and blanket I could before going back up. Hearing footsteps on the now lowered ramp, I made it back just in time to provide Clarisse was a place to very slowly lay down.

She winced a lot in the process.

"What happened?" Silena asked as she rushed back over. "Are you okay, Clarisse? What hurts?"

"It... It's fine," Clarisse insisted, going for a smile that she seemed to be hoping would melt Silenas fears away, but it didn't quite do the job. "it's just a couple ribs, I swear. They'll heal— but I might not be able to do for the rest of the quest. Not alone, at least."

"Are you sure? We obviously have ambrosia and nectar and we'll get you some, but if you need anything else—"

Clarisse put a hand on her girlfriend's arm.

"Sil, I'll be alright," she promised. "just help me get belowdeck and then I promise to have as much ambrosia and nectar as my body will take. We have to get going."

The daughter of Ares looked at Percy.

"Oh, yeah! On it!" He insisted, closing his eyes as some of the sails and gears on the ship started to move, sailing us away the beach we'd been docked at.

"Come on, Tyson," Annaberh said to the baby cyclopes (he's so much smaller than any other cyclopes I've encountered). "Let's go see if there's any peanut butter in the kitchen. We can get this bad boy stored away, too."

Peanut butter?

"Oooh! Peanut butter! Tyson likes peanut butter," but I guess the idea worked. As Hylla and Reyna helped Silena get Clarisse downstairs, Annabeth and Tyson (did I forget that he was a cyclopes? Percy definitely mentioned Tyson to me before) made their way below deck in front of the group as I'm sure that's where all the food was. They also had the Golden Fleece with them, carefully folded up in Annabeths arms.

That left Percy and I.

After a moment, he opened his eyes, the ship probably on course, and I couldn't help but smile.

"Hi." I said.

The son of Poseidon blinked, definitely processing the fact that I was on the ship.

After a count of three, I was tackled onto my back by my best friend who was hugging me tighter than I've ever been hugged before.

I missed him so much.

He's here he's here he's here he's here oh my gods he's actually here, he's—

"I'm here," I responded out loud as the two of us sat up, though not moving far from one another. "How does it feel to have crashed your best friend's wedding?"

Percy laughed, because yeah: I was still in a wedding dress.

"I think you look wonderful in that dress," he respond, his might running at a million miles an hour, but with happy thoughts. "It's a shame I don't have a suit with me."

It was nice to know he was happy. That didn't happen a lot last year.

I smiled again.

"We could've made fake wedding invites," I joked, putting my hands out because it just... Felt like a natural thing to do. "Instead of saying just got married or engaged or whatever, it could say just avoided marriage."

He laughed, and I realized how long it had been since I'd heard him laugh.

It's not like I've never heard him laugh— we're best friends and we lived together for an entire year after all.

But it wasn't something I came by often.

As I'd sensed in Silena earlier, I could feel a warm pool start to flood in my stomach, spreading throughout the rest of my body. As it rose, it threatened to drown me as the pool filled my lungs, but I was okay with that.

It was a nice feeling.

Scary, but nice.

I'm pretty sure this is what love is supposed to feel like.

"You're too much, Grover," Percy insisted, taking my hand as he leaned towards me. "in all of the best way possibles. I missed you so much."

"I missed you, too, Perce," I responded, feeling the pool rise around my heart— causing it to speed up. "thank you for coming to save me. I'm sorry that I was gone so long— it definitely wasn't the plan."

I caught him glancing down before looking me in the eyes again.

"I'd do it a million times again if I had to," he told me, which... Sounded a little fruity, if you ask me. I could see him searching for something as he looked at me, though I couldn't tell you what it was he was trying to find. "you were following a really big lead— you'll find him next time."

Looking down, I realized that that was going to have to be a discussion with Mr. D.

"If they give me a next time."

"Hey," Percy said, rubbing his thumb along my cheek, which was both a wonderful and terrifying thing for him to do at the present. "they'd be idiotic not to, okay? You've recruited some of the most powerful demigods ever and you survived being trapped by a cyclopes."

"You had to come save me."

He rolled his eyes.

"You could've dug your way out if I wasn't able to come," my best friend figured, which was true. "You still went multiple weeks without getting injured at all— that's huge, right? You should be proud."

Percy paused, allowing time for that idea to set in.

"Plus," he added on. "if they don't let you go, you can always just sneak out. What are they going to do? Stop you? You're already gone."

I chuckled at the idea, knowing that that's something he'd totally do.

Or, technically, it's something he did do. He wasn't granted a quest from Mr. D.

"You have a point, though I don't know if I'm very good at sneaking out," I reminded him, tilting my head into his hand because I enjoyed the feeling of it there. "I tried to be slick about it once at Goods and you overheard me talking to Chiron, remember?"

"It's okay, I'd help." Percy promised me, still searching for something in my expression. "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"The mental link," he said, which is a topic I knew we'd have to talk about because it's a... Very personal thing to have with another person. "You created it, right? Like, on purpose?"

I nodded my head, telling him that I'd created it between us seeing as I had no other way to contact him since I had no way to IM.

"Okay, that makes sense," Percy figured out loud. "But why... It can't be severed, right? It's like, a lifetime thing, isn't it?"

Again, I nodded.

"There's no way to get rid of it that I know of," I confirmed. "sorry, I know it's a lot and I should've asked beforehand. Our souls are kind of intertwined now. But I'm sure we can ask the other satyrs if they know—"

"Wh— what? Oh, no, that's not my question, Grover." My best friend reassured me, which stopped me from rambling vert effectively. "I think the mental link is nice."

"O... Okay. What's the... Question then?"

Percy looked down and closed his eyes for a moment before returning his gaze towards me.

"Why did you make a mental link with me?" He questioned in a tone that was much calmer and more curious than I'd expected from what would eventually happen with this subject. "if you knew that I was more than likely going to be dead in two years?"

"If you were..."

I lost my voice, our hands dropping together from my face back down near the floor.

Did he hear the prophecy?

"Who told you that?"

He gave me a saddened smile.

"I... Sort of figured out that there was something about me a while ago," Percy explained as I cupped his face in my right hand. He smiled not as sadly, but only briefly. "That why I asked you about the kids last summer, but I figured nobody would say anything. Travis mentioned a prophecy, but he didn't know anything outside of the fact that one existed. At the start of the quest I was able to get the info from Annabeth, Luke, Clarisse, and Silena. And obviously, I might not be the hero that dies because those are two different lines apparently, but there's still like... A higher than normal chance."

He paused.

"So why?" He asked again. "you've heard the prophecy, Grover, right? Why would you basically give yourself a death sentence by making a mental link between us?"

"Because," I insisted, turning the reasoning around on him. "I've heard the prophecy, Percy— and as depressed and as careless as you can be, I'm not going to let myself mourn you until you actually die. I'd be a really bad best friend if I treated you like a walking corpse. Plus, Thalia did have a younger brother— we don't know how old he is. So you may not even be the prophecy child. And even if your birthday is the one that unravels the prophecy, Percy, I'll be there with you the whole day."

"And if it kills you?"

I smiled.

"Then I'll spend my entire next life looking for you again. It wouldn't be worth living or without you."

Percy looked like he couldn't decide if he wanted to cry or laugh when I said that.

It's okay though, because I was trying to decide the same thing for myself.

"That is... The gayest response could've possibly had," my best friend told me as a tear or two might've come out because big feelings sometimes pull that out of you— even if it's not necessarily sad. "I can't believe you right now."

Taking a breath, Percy seemed to steady himself.

"Do you remember at the end of last summer," he recalled. "When we were saying goodbye, you gave me a kiss? On the top of my head."

I may have turned a bit pink at the memory.

That had definitely surprised both of us, but I couldn't tell how Percy felt about it beyond the surprised factor so I just... Never brought it up.

"It's hard to forget. I was mortified and very surprised. Why?"

"I think about it a lot," he admitted, and I was pretty sure I knew what he meant by that, but I didn't feel safe to assume anything right now. "It also surprised me, but not in a... Bad way, I guess you would say? I wasn't really out, though, so I get why you might've been kind of anxious. It was an interesting time, that's for sure. I don't really know..."

Stopping, Percy took a breath.

"I don't know how any of this stuff actually works," Percy confessed, placing his open hand over the one I'd been using to cup his face. "I don't know how to bring it up nonchalantly after that— can I please just give you a kiss?"

I couldn't help but smile, squeezing his hand.

"Only if I can give you a million of them afterwards."

He smiled back at me.

"I think I can work with that."

•••
I'm gonna be so tired at work tomorrow but it's going to be so worth it I hope u guys enjoyed this

Anyways here's the photoshoot (I will not having a drawing EVERY chapter, these two chapters have just,,, worked out well):