The irony of seeing things in hindsight was that it was usually too late to fix your mistakes, that it was something that came around and bit you in the ass, and you were to remain bitterly searching for a way out. 

For demigods, there were many things that they came to regret in their actions, many moments that they wish they could have changed, little things that they would have done differently, whether it be to prevent death, an injury, a scar, or to prevent a moment from existing altogether. 

Kassandra regrets many things in her debatably short life (debatable because she was a demigod and where she exist, another could take her place, fill her role in the world with the amount of them wondering around that were and weren't claimed, child of the twelve Olympians or not; she was expendable, replaceable, and forgettable) but letting that cyclops live was turning out to be one of the worst not because she was afraid or in danger, but because she was so tired of his shit that could have been over with if Percy hadn't pleaded with sad eyes. 

(There were moments of stupidity as well, times of sheer, utter stupidity, that had her make one wrong choice, one misstep that had saved her life, sure, but had cost her the life of another, a friend that had taken the attack clean through with no hope of healing no matter how much she had prayed and sung over the body. 

Ariel was the daughter of one of the muses, Thalia, and had been thrilled to actually join RNYAPA in the dance track. She was a dancer excelling in ballet and tap, and while Kassandra had been wary at first of having two demigods so close in the same school, the girl had talked her down enough for them to become friends. The best of friends. 

Hindsight would show that how fickle it was, how you couldn't change the simple mistakes that came upon you.

 As they had been cornered in an alley and while Kassandra had jumped to defend them, Ariel couldn't all that well. She had no special powers that could help her apart from her ADHD. The sole Scythian dracaena had proven too much for her at twelve. 

She had learnt a valuable lesson that day about hindsight.) 

And so that was maybe why an arrow was strung before he had taken more than five steps towards them with his stupid rocks raised into the air -- she did not forget the way that one had smashed above her head, how the pieces had showered onto her and scratched her skin to bits leaving her thankful for the ambrosia that she had taken to ease the ache that her body, specifically her head from being beaten by ridiculously large hands, had been left with. 

"Not another step, ugly," she spits, looking him over. "I should have kicked you in the head. Maybe you would have stayed down longer." 

Percy lays a hand on her arm, urging her silently to ease her grip and draw back the arrow as he held out his sword before him.

"Get to the boat," he tells them, stepping out before her. "We'll take care of this and meet you there." 

"Percy..." she says cautiously, glancing to Clarisse as she took to the water with Annabeth on her back and the cyclops that had his attention pinned fiercely on Tyson. 

He grips her arm a little tighter as silent reassurance. "Do you trust me?" 

Breathing deeply, she drops her ready position of the bow and arrow, backing up. "Yes," she answers honestly. "I trust you." 

He steps forward, swinging his sword as he stands next to his brother, facing Polyphemus head-on. 

Shaking her head, Kassandra shoves the arrow back into the quiver and her bow around her shoulders as she takes to the sea, diving beneath the cold waves that send a shock of awareness down her spine like jumping into a cold shower first thing in the morning or an ice bath after a hard workout. 

While she wasn't the strongest swimmer, she was good enough as she pushed herself forward steadily, covering the distance to the still approaching ship. 

Ahead of her Grover swam in a doggy paddle and Clarisse swam as smoothly as she could while Annabeth pushed water weakly atop her back with the fleece weighing them down. 

Maybe that was why she got the ship just a bit before them, landing on the deck with a sigh of relief before bending over the side and reaching out a hand to the next person. Grover came up first and she hoisted him over with a huff, automatically reaching for Annabeth as she came trailing behind, Clarisse nearly on top of the girl as they climbed together. 

She took over Annabeth as she got onto the deck, leading her to sit somewhere comfortable as he tested how quickly her ribs were mending -- pleased to 

"Yeah, Jackson! In your face, Cyclops!" Clarisse shouted, punching a fist into the air. 

Shaking her head, she went back to silently tending to the girl. "Does it still hurt to breathe in?" she asks. 

"No, I'm mostly fine now, Kass," Annabeth tells her, the white-lie doing nothing to convince her. 

All she does is hum in acknowledgement, putting a bit of pressure onto a few more spots before checking her pupils. "I'm very bad at telling when people have a concussion, so you're just going to have to be careful until the fleece heals you fully or we get back to Camp for one of my siblings to heal you." 

Annabeth nods, grey eyes soft pools as she looks at her closer. "I think you have a concussion, too. I saw you smash your head back when you got hit." 

She grimaces at the thought, touching the back of her head to the tender spot that continued to gently throb. "I've had worse," she answers honestly, moving around the truth of it. "You looked like you might've been dead, Annabeth, you shouldn't be worrying about me." 

The girl scoffs like her suggestion is preposterous. "I can be hurt and worry about others being hurt." 

A crash rocked them, the crunch of wood breaking, and the ship started to go down, sinking. Gasping, she dragged Annabeth to her feet, helping her to the side of the ship. Clarisse was grabbing at Grover, tossing him as far overboard that she could, following after him soon after. 

"Time to jump," she says supporting her weight as she rises onto the rail. "Don't let go of the fleece she adds before the girl goes over. 

With the ship going down fast, she whirled around and grabbed her bow from the floor where she left it. Then she took a running leap over the side. 

She cut through the water feet first, landing with a small splash as she sunk a little before kicking toward the surface, there was a moment where she could only look up at the light the glittered atop the water, beaming down at her, calling. 

Gasping a breath, she looked for Annabeth, grabbing her hand to pull her as she struggled under the weight of the fleece. It was heavy for something that was supposed to be wool, but it made sense for a magical item that held the power of healing as it did.

(There was poetry she could write about the beauty of the sun on the water, sonnets, concertos -- but she would never, ever, allow such a thing to be done in honour of her father, even as she spotted the way blonde hair glinted in the glow, shining beautifully with rays cut across her face as though the sun framed her with the divine.)

Knowing the girl was still hurt, she pulled her arm around her neck as they both struggled away from the whirlpool that the sinking ship was becoming, threatening to draw them under into the mess that would bury us in the graveyard and final resting place of the Queen Anne. 

She sputtered as they were sucked further down, sucking in a quick breath as they ducked under the water, Annabeth losing her grasp on swimming as her energy waned. 

The blonde's eyes dropped tiredly, bringing Kass to panic for a moment before she managed to drag them back up. 

Shimmering movement swirled around them, Annabeth happily reaching out for the thing with a happy sigh of the hippocampus, and that was enough for the grab on. The friendly monsters whipped around the wreckage, gathering them up until they were free of the pull and back with Percy and Tyson. 

Slumping forward on the hippocampus, she muttered a small thank you, laughing quietly to herself as she felt like jelly and numb all at once. 

Behind them, she could hear Polyphemus roaring in triumph, "I did it! I finally sank Nobody!"

Her laughter came harder, shaking her shoulders as she tried to muffle the sound lest the cyclops come swimming after them or some other crazy thing. 

"Is this what it's like to be on a quest with you guys?" she asks, shaking her head in disbelief. 

Annabeth let out a quiet snort from beside her. "Did it," she muttered in exhaustion. "We did it." 

The words send a shiver through her. They had done. All of this, they had done it, saved Camp, saved their friend and family. Her heart hammered in her chest, tears pricking at the corners of her eyes. 

"Yeah, we did it," she whispers back to the girl, shifting so that she could pull her fully onto the back of the hippocampus, readjusting the fleece so that it was trapped over her. She shook her head at the tired blonde, looking to Percy. "You should ride with her. I'm too tired to hold on for both of us." 

He looked at her, startled into noticing the way she couldn't seem to fully keep herself afloat. "They'll hold the three of us up. Besides, you could use help from the fleece too," he says, reaching out a hand in the water to keep her steady. 

"Is that a good idea?" she asks. "There's one that doesn't really have anyone on it." 

Percy shoots her a dry look. "You literally just said that you were too tired to hold on." 

Twisting her lips into a pout, she nods, a little reluctant, and lets him help her get situated in front of Percy -- her bow still in hand and quiver banging against her thigh and hip in the water. 

"I- don't lose my bow," she grumbles, handing it over for him to sling across his back.

Very carefully, with the care that such a weapon deserves, he puts it across him. 

"And try not to squish me," she adds, grabbing hold of the main with tight fingers and wrapping her arms around its neck. 

He snorts as he shifts a sleeping Annabeth to lean against her, directing the girl's arms to wrap around her waist, moving the fleece a bit so that it touched her shoulder. 

"Just don't try to fall off on purpose," Percy quips back. 

Kassandra snorts, letting her head fall to rest against the hippocampus main. "Don't worry, I think I might have accidentally made a few promises to the gods on the way here that I have to make good on." 

"Oh yeah? Like what?" she can hear the humour in his voice. 

"I might have promised your dad to make you give me swimming lessons in exchange for not drowning or something," she mentions. "I'm sort of foggy on the details right now." 

Had Kassandra been awake long enough to hear a response, she might have heard something witty disguising the promise of lessons, but as it was, she was asleep far before he could think of a response. 

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 this chapter is a little shorter than usual, but it's a very short scene in the book and it didnt' go with the previous chapter so it is what it is

unedited

written: 2021-01-25

posted: 2021-03-03