Embrace the Shadows

Ch 23

-Percy-

Standing on the prow of Chrysaor's ship, Medusa and Circe on his arms, he smiled as he stared at the approaching shore of Camp Half-Blood, some of the Dolphin Crew on this ship and others, the more humanoid ones, manning the submarine to get used to it. "We'll be landing soon," Chrysaor said as the Golden Sword approached them, a look of peace on the son of Medusa's face as the wind blew through the man's hair "and my crew's curse will be lifted from them like you lifted mine.".

"It's a good think you broke them of their fear of Uncle D," he said with a snort "while it was amusing as Hell the first time we saw them panic it quickly lost that and just became sad.".

"Try dealing with that for a few thousand years,' Chrysaor said with a groan "one time we raided the ship of a son of Dionysus and it took me three months to find them all again after they scattered.".

"They are rather jumpy," he said with a chuckle "good thing Circe used a barrier spell to keep them from getting too far away when we pulled our little prank on them.".

-Flashback-

"So Percy," Chrysaor said to him as they were loading some supplies onto the ship and the automaton submarine, making sure the entire Dolphin crew was within hearing range "how has your Uncle been?".

"Oh Dionysus has been great," he said with a grin as every one of the Dolphin men froze in their tracks before turning to him with wide panicked eyes "he's looking forward to seeing us when we get back.".

The moment those words left his mouth the Dolphins let out a chattering scream before dropping whatever supplies they held and dove into the water, trying to get as far away as they could, several leaving yellow trails behind on both land and sea causing Chrysaor to sigh in exasperation. "I hate you Percy," the Golden Sword deadpanned, the immortal's eye twitching in irritation causing him to smirk and hold out his palm "gods damn it! Fine, here's your gold." Before tossing over a few Drachma which made his smirk widen.

"You made a bet didn't you?" Medusa asked her son with a raised eyebrow causing Chrysaor to slump in on himself.

"Don't remind me," the golden sword grumbled "I never thought they would react that badly to just being told that Dionysus was your Uncle.".

"Well to be fair I also said he was looking forward to seeing us." He piped up with a shrug, calmly counting his winnings "And just be glad we didn't play poker or you wouldn't have any gold left.".

"I have six million dollars' worth of gold on that ship," Chrysaor retorted with a smirk "And another thirty here on the island.".

"Huh," he said in surprise "I thought you had more." Which caused Chrysaor to gape at him before a giggling Circe stepped in.

"His luck is unbeatable when it comes to bets," the magic goddess explained "we think Tyche gave him her blessing as a way of buttering him up for a possible date.".

"Most of the goddesses and other female immortals working for Lord Chaos have," Medusa added in with a snort "they all want to be with the Prince of Chaos.".

Shaking his head he wrapped an arm around each of the girls' waists and pulled them against him before kissing them both soundly "You two don't have to worry," he said with a small smile as they both blushed brightly at the affection "even when the third girl is revealed I won't love either of you any less than I do now.".

Before either of the girls could respond a blushing Chrysaor coughed and drew their attention, "Two requests here," Chrysaor pleaded "one…can you three not do that when I'm watching… and two can you please bring my crew back.".

Turning to Circe he gave her a nod as she cast a spell to begin pulling the dolphin warriors back in before he turned to Chrysaor and smirked "Now, now son," he said while said 'son' glared and Medusa giggled "you'll have to get used to your mother and I kissing because I love her and I enjoy being able to kiss her a great deal…like so." Before he swooped down and captured her lips with his own in an energetic kiss, ignoring Chrysaor's rant about not being his son.

-End Flashback-

"I'm still not calling you father though." Chrysaor said firmly, the twitch in his ally's eye showing that the Golden Sword was remembering what had happened as well.

"Is that Blackbeard on the shore along with Dionysus?" Circe asked before he could continue to piss of Chrysaor.

Squinting he looked where she was pointing and responded "I think it is Circe. He's probably here to give me a report about how things are going in the sea of monsters.".

"So he's going to be my co-commander of your Navy?" Chrysaor asked intrigued "I look forward to seeing how strong he is.".

"Just don't go overboard," he warned "I don't want to have to patch you two up if you guys take things too far. Also you'll have to ignore his 'battle cry' that he picked up during his time as Circe's pet hamster.".

Said goddess blushed brightly before protesting "It was an accident!" As Chrysaor looked at them in confusion.

"What Battle Cry?" the Golden Sword asked only for a loud yell to cut them off.

Turning to the shore they saw Blackbeard kicking Paris off the docks screaming out "Celery!" at the top of his lungs causing him to sigh.

"He spent a few centuries as a hamster and he is now obsessed with Celery." he explained while Circe looked sheepish "But I don't know what's worse, the fact that he has that battle cry or the fact that it's actually affective in a fight.".

"How, in the name of the gods, is shouting 'celery' affective?" Chrysaor asked, a disturbed look on the pirate's face.

"Instead of filling people to the brim with a fear that makes them want to run away like your crew used to at the name of Dionysus," he explained, studiously ignoring said crew's, and their captain's, scowl "it feels people to the brim with a feeling of 'what the hell have I been smoking' as they get cut down while they're still too confused to react.".

"Lord Perseus," the Celery chewing Pirate said as their ship pulled up to the pier "it is good to see you again.".

"It's good to see you as well Teach," he said with a nod as he clasped arms with the first pirate commander of his army, the partial-immortal refusing to allow anyone to call him 'Edward' or any variant thereof "I'd like you to meet Chrysaor who will be your co-commander of the Navy.".

"Ah," Teach said in understanding, walking over to inspect the disembarking son of the sea "the Pirate King. It's an honor to meet the man who inspired me to set down upon the path I did.".

"I look forward to working with you Blackbeard." Chrysaor said with a nod, shaking hands with Blackbeard in greeting.

"Are your crew Ready Chrysaor?" Dionysus asked as the Dolphin men began disembarking the two vessels quickly and nervously approached the wine god. "I'll take that as a 'yes'." Dionysus said in amusement before the god held his hands up in the direction of the cursed crew and began muttering a counter curse, dark violet light flowing from the gods' fingers while the smell of freshly made wine filled the air. The light seemed to be building up along with the pace of Dionysus' muttering, the arcs of magic moving through the air faster and faster until, with a bright flash of light that lit the sky, the spell ended and in the place of the half-dolphins he had grown used to he saw several unshaven men in worn clothes who were laughing in joy, hugging their comrades and cheering in celebration.

Smiling at the happy crew he pulled Medusa and Circe back against him while Chrysaor leaned against a post on the dock, all of them amused at the celebration before them. "So," he asked as his loves, his uncle, and his allies turned towards him "what Athena curse should I lift next?"