DISCLAIMER: Everything is the sole property of Rick Riordan. No profits is or will ever be made from this down-right, poorly-written, horrible fanfiction.

THE SEA'S TRANQUILITY

In the land of gods and monsters, I was an angel living in the garden of evil

Screwed up, scared, doing anything that I needed, shining like a fiery beacon

No one's gonna take my soul away, I'm living like Jim Morrison, headed towards a fucked up holiday

Motel sprees sprees and I'm singing

Fuck yeah, give it to me, this is heaven, what I truly want

It's innocence lost

Innocence lost

RATING

T (Might go up to M due to language, violence, and some mature scenes)

1. Born at Dawn

Since as long as she could remember, Sally Jackson had known that the world she lived in was a dangerous, unfamiliar place.

Even as merely a child, not even having had her first step, she'd seen the things for what they truly were, and usually, those things stared right back at her. She couldn't quite put her finger on when it had started; when everything had gotten so perfectly clear that she wondered why other people couldn't see. To be completely honest, there hadn't even been a moment of discovery to begin with. It just … was. She'd always been able to see what was hidden. It was so obvious. It was right under all their noses.

When she'd first started to talk about it to her parents, Jim and Laura Jackson, they immediately worried about the state of her mentality. Sally was only ten years old at that moment and her parents didn't make it obvious, but she'd always been a smart girl. She saw it in the way her father looked at her over the edge of the newspapers, she saw it in the way her mother started reading books about parenting, obviously worried about the fact that she'd done something wrong. But Sally knew there was nothing off about her, she was still an ordinary girl on the edge of pre-puberty. She had enjoyed a safe, happy childhood with loving parents and she even had a cat that she'd named Tinker Bell. At school, there were no complaints from teachers or other student's parents. She had good grades, did her homework, and had some nice friends she liked to spend her pastime with. It all reached its peak, however, when her parents send her to a child therapist, expecting her to talk to him about the things she was seeing so that the man behind the desk could help her. Of course, Sally wouldn't have it that way. She wasn't some crazy retard, for heaven's sake. She was a completely sane person, the fact that she saw things beyond other's imagination didn't make her any less normal than them. After that scenario and a huge fight with her parents, Sally never, ever mentioned it to someone again.

The older she got, time passing as she got accepted into high-school, the more she got used to the things she was able to see. She'd never said it aloud but there was only one word suitable enough to describe those things.

Monsters.

She saw monsters. Dogs the size of cars, completely inhuman looking creatures, people with distorted facial features, and so much more. They never did something to her, though. As a child, she'd never been afraid of monsters because of exactly that. It was hard to fear them when you saw them every day in the streets. So it was no surprise for Sally as, one day, she discovered that she had learned to live with her ability.

Time passed quickly across the land. She grew up, leaving high school and entering college as she got the certificate that she, Miss Sally Jackson, had earned her scholarship, getting accepted into NYU. She'd been so happy and excited about it. The fight with her parents several years ago, when they had taken her to a therapist, faded into obscurity as things went back to normal. Since discovering the magic which was books, Sally had been wanting to become a writer, dreaming about the books she'd publish someday. She enrolled at some creative writing courses at the college and for quite some time, things looked absolutely amazing. College was hard and time-consuming, but it was fun nonetheless and she found friends almost immediately. Her time at college was supposed to be awesome, something Sally would look back at with fondness and laughter in her eyes.

One day, however, changed the entire course of her life.

It was the 22 of September, the day she turned twenty, as she and some of her friends drove to Montauk where they intended to spend the weekend in order to celebrate her birthday. They'd rented a small cabin nearby the beach and everyone was looking forward to it, especially so Sally.

Late in the evening, after they'd made themselves comfortable in the cabin, Sally headed toward the beach, her head slightly spinning due to the few beers she'd already had. Her gaze resting on the calm sea before her, she wandered along the sea's edge, her feet bare as she was holding her shoes in her hands, her dark-brown hair piled into a messy knot at the top of her head. It was this moment when she met him. She actually kind of stumbled upon him, seeing him sitting on some rocks all by himself, his eyes fixed on the waves crashing softly against the shore. He was extremely handsome, she couldn't deny that. His facial features were all kinds of sharp and angular, his jaw was chiseled, those strong, muscular arms of his tanned and scarred. His jet-black hair matched his neatly trimmed beard. Sally knew, just by observing him from afar, that he was the most stunning man she'd ever seen.

She had no idea who he was, where he came from, or what profession he had, but she learned that his name was Poseidon which was funny considering the fact that Sally liked Greek Mythology. He explained to her that his parents were really digging those ancient Greek names. And she also learned that she liked his eyes. A lot. They were a beautiful shade of sea green, deep and piercing, the expression in them old, however, and maybe a little bit sad, framed by thick, long lashes she was secretly totally envious at. He had the kind of lashes a girl would murder for. She also knew that he was older than her, older than her mere twenty years of life, but she didn't dare to ask about his age. Anyway, she doubted that she would see him again so it wasn't an important matter to delve into.

After talking with him for about two hours, Sally realized how late it already was and said goodbye to him, somehow feeling a little disappointed that she wouldn't see him again. As she walked back to the cabin where she could hear loud music blasting from, she couldn't help but think about Poseidon, the handsome stranger at the beach.

Two weeks later and Sally found herself at Montauk again. There was something about the beach that drew her, awakened her curiosity, and it wasn't until she met Poseidon there that she understood the reason for it. She sat down beside him again, talking with him about everything and nothing while they stared out at the sea, the seagulls screeching above them and flying close to the water's surface. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but somehow she just knew that Poseidon had a special connection to the sea. He didn't talk often about himself but listened to her ramble on about college, her books, and her friends. Sally had the weird feeling that he knew more of her than she did of him. Though she supposed that it was just his personality, rather listening than talking, and she didn't mind.

Those encounters continued happening. They never happened anywhere else but Montauk, though, and that was something Sally liked. Maybe it gave her the feeling that the breakable bond she shared with Poseidon was special, something that was only reserved for her. As she kept meeting him at the beach, she found out that he was thirty-eight years old. It shocked the hell out of her at first, but upon seeing that Poseidon didn't seem to care much about her age, she dismissed her worries. Screw it, she thought without shame or fear. She was legal and she had the right to meet whoever she wanted, everyone else who tried to argument that be damned.

It all changed when they started to go to the cabin, no longer staying only at the shore. Sally noticed that he started to open himself up to her more, telling her about his brothers and sisters, and his nephews and nieces, and she listened to him with a smile on her face, her fingers absently running over his forearms. He was strong and intimidating, all man and experienced, nothing like the college boys she usually hung around with, but he was also gentle. He had a kindness inside him that she'd never found in anyone else before, and his smile that had deep wrinkles appearing at the corners of his eyes always left her breathless. Things became more intense, more heated, and when they kissed for the first time, it felt as though she was trapped in the middle of a storm, the world around them disappearing as they lost themselves in each other over and over again.

He made love to her, night after night, his strong hands moving across her pale, softly curved body, his lips tracing every single freckle on her cheeks, her shoulders, and her chest. Whispering sweet nothings against her skin, he moved deep within her as she raked her nails across his back, leaving her mark on him. He caressed her breasts and the curve of her hips while she took every kiss and every deep thrust to herself, shuddering as he came deep inside her, taking her with him over the edge of ecstasy.

Sally knew.

She'd fallen in love with Poseidon.

But she also knew that something was off about him. Whenever he was truly angry, she could almost feel that heaviness in the room. His eyes would flash in fury, the air around him practically smelling like a furious, roaring ocean. He became a stormy sea, aggressive and lethal, and it would feel like standing in a hurricane, struggling for air. It would feel absolutely terrifying to other people, but to Sally, it felt like being set free. There was a hidden power beneath his skin – something dangerous and unimaginable – that made him appear bigger than life, bigger than anything else on earth.

So when he told her about who he really was, she wondered silently if she should've been surprised, because she'd already seen it coming. She'd seen monsters, the real deal, all her life long. It wasn't that much of a shock when Poseidon told her that he really was Poseidon, the Greek God of the sea, of everything connected to water, of storms, hurricanes, and earthquakes. The ruler of the underwater world, creator of horses. Sally felt dumbfounded, of course, astonished and amazed, but at the same time that revelation opened her eyes to a world she'd seen only a fraction of. It didn't just consist of monsters. Mount Olympus still existed, as did the Olympians and thousands of other gods. Every Greek creature or legend she'd ever heard of walked among the planet, and the gods still visited the mortal world to mingle with the humans, siring demi-gods. Knowing all that alone made Sally's head spin, her mind not really capable of grasping that reality.

And finally, she also found out what exactly her ability was. She was a clear-sighted mortal, as Poseidon explained to her, one of the few rare humans that were gifted with the ability to see through the mist that clouded the mortals' eyes, preventing them from seeing the other world like Sally did. It was both amazing and frightening.

As time went on, months passing by and snow covering New York, Sally made a surprising discovery. A few weeks after New Year's Eve, she sat down on her bed in her room, staring down at the test she was holding between her fingers, the two lines telling her one truth – she was pregnant.

Pregnant.

With Poseidon's child at that.

It was hard to take that in; Sally hadn't planned on becoming pregnant in her early twenties, after all. She didn't know what to think of that, what she should tell her parents and her friends, and more importantly … what she should tell Poseidon. She wasn't stupid. She knew in an instant that the child wouldn't be fully human. It would be a demi-god – part human, part god. The lump in her throat tightened as Sally thought about all those ancient stories of Hercules, Theseus, Perseus, and many others. Each one of them had been the child of a god, had been forced to face horrible trials only to find an awful death at the end.

Sally was scared, she couldn't deny that. She didn't want such a life for her child, because as much of a shock the pregnancy was to her, she wasn't going to get rid of the baby.

When she told Poseidon about it, he was both the happiest and saddest she'd ever seen him as he explained to her how – after the Second World War – he and his brothers, Zeus and Hades, had made an oath on the river Styx, swearing that they no longer would sire any demi-god children since they were more powerful than other demi-gods. It was then that Sally realized in how much danger the baby truly would be. Hunted by both gods and monsters, living on the edge of two worlds.

With that also came another truth that left her breathless in pain.

Poseidon wouldn't stay forever.

He had a wife and other children, it was forbidden for him to raise his mortal offspring, the Ancient Laws telling that gods weren't allowed to interfere with the lives of demi-gods. He had a kingdom to rule and their lives were as different as it could be. She was a mortal woman and he was a God. The both of them weren't supposed to be together forever.

All of that and much more led to the moment where Sally gave birth to a baby girl after nine months of uncertainty and fear. She stared at the baby in her arms, surprised that it was a girl because they had anticipated a boy. The doctor had even told her that she awaiting a son, not a daughter. But upon looking at the squirming baby in her arms that was blinking at her tiredly, a tuft of dark hair on its head, her heart practically spilled over with love. Smiling in amazement, Sally grabbed her daughter's tiny hand, bringing it up to her lips to place a gentle kiss on it. The girl's eyes were almost fully closed, her small mouth faintly forming a silent O, but Sally still saw that her daughter's eyes were her father's eye color. A deep sea green with tiny turquoise and black speckles around the pupils, the color of an endless sea full of mysteries and treasures.

It was unusual that she didn't have the normal baby blue eye color, but Sally supposed that was something every demi-god child shared.

"How are you going to name her?" The doctor asked.

Sally smiled, not once lifting her gaze from her daughter who was now fully asleep in her arms, her tiny face pressed against the warmth of her chest. "Perseia," she said lovingly, her index finger softly stroking the baby's cheek. "Her name is Perseia Nyx Jackson."

... TST ...

One week after giving birth to Perseia, Sally could go home. She had decided to stay in her own apartment that was close to her parent's house. Thanks to all gods, her parents and her friends were helping her, so that she could balance college and raising her daughter at the same time. They didn't know anything about Poseidon. Sally had never told them anything about him and she intended to keep it that way. Their relationship was coming to an end, she was aware of that, and she didn't want the people around her sticking their nose into that matter, only making it worse by constantly asking her questions.

It was late in the evening when he knocked at her door.

She was busy breastfeeding her daughter, softly whispering loving words to the baby girl who listened to her attentively. Perseia was a quiet baby. She didn't cry a lot, was always constant by being near her mother or just lying in her white crib. But when she did cry, she almost awakened the whole house and it took Sally hours to calm her. But no matter what, she wouldn't trade the happiness that was her daughter for anything in the world.

"There you go, baby girl," Sally muttered softly, putting her down into the crib. Her daughter stared back at her with huge eyes which reminded her so much of Poseidon that sometimes it was almost painful to look at her. Her tiny body was in a pink romper suit that had a sleeping bear and smiling stars on it. Sally pulled her robe tighter around her body, brushing a brunette strand of hair behind her ear as she played with her daughter's small hands. It was in that moment that she heard the knock on the front door.

Furrowing her brow in confusion, Sally looked at her daughter who was busy trying to fit her tiny fist into her mouth and left the nursery. When she opened the door, her jaw almost dropped in surprise as she stared at Poseidon with confusion clearly written in her eyes. He smiled at her, taking her in with his eyes, causing her to pull her robe tighter around herself as her cheeks reddened slightly.

"Sally," he breathed softly.

"P-Poseidon …" she said breathlessly. "What are you doing here?"

He seemed hesitant, almost awkward as he stared into her hazel-blue eyes that he'd fallen in love with in the first place. "I came to see you, Sally. And our son, of course. I would like to meet him if that's fine by you."

She took a sharp intake of breath, running a hand through her long hair. Poseidon didn't know that he had a daughter. He still believed that it was a boy. Sally stepped aside, gesturing for him to come in. "Yes, sure. Please come in."

"I'm sorry if the time is not good," he sighed as he stepped into her apartment, his sea-green eyes looking down at her with a silent apology inside them. Sally smiled weakly. He still had the ability to make her go weak in the knees with just one look. His voice sounded strangely nonchalant, but she knew him too well to know that he tried to cover his longing and worry as much as he could. "I must've completely thrown you off with my visit."

"No, it's okay," she whispered in sadness. "You're always welcome here, please don't doubt that. I just thought … that it was too dangerous for you to visit."

"It is," Poseidon admitted after clearing his throat, his eyes wandering across the room, taking in the tasteful decorations and furnishing. "I took care of everything to make it less dangerous, but I still can't be here for too long, otherwise my presence will attract unwanted attention. The child's scent will become stronger if I'm around him for more than an hour."

Sally flinched slightly when her daughter chose that time to let out a tired whine. She watched as Poseidon's head snapped into the direction the sound had come from and she could see the widening of his eyes. Leading him into the nursery, she leaned over the crib, grabbing her daughter who was softly whining and turned toward Poseidon with the baby girl in her arms.

"Time to meet your daddy, princess," she whispered against the forehead of the baby before gazing at Poseidon who looked like he'd been slapped across the face. "Poseidon, meet our daughter, Perseia Nyx Jackson."

The first thing Poseidon saw was a pair of beautiful sea-green eyes that stared at him curiously. His first thought was that the girl had inherited his eye and hair color. She was pouting cutely while looking at him, and he was pretty convinced that she could even wrap Hades around her little finger with that pout and those eyes.

His eyes snapped back to Sally as he whispered her name in disbelief.

"I know," she said with a small chuckle. "It surprised me, too. It thought right until the end that it was a boy, but then the doctor put this beautiful girl into my arms."

"A daughter," he breathed, taking a deep, shaky breath. "I've never had a daughter before."

"I know," Sally said again. She had to admit, she was surprised when she saw an emotion in his eyes that she'd never seen before there – fear. "But as the saying goes – there's a first time for everything, right?"

"I just –" Poseidon shook his head as though not believing his own eyes. Gods, he had a daughter. A little girl. What the Tartarus was he supposed to do with a daughter? He'd always had boys, he never even thought about the possibility of someday having a daughter. As he stared back at the baby who drooled all over its tiny fist, those big eyes still staring at him silently, he knew that he was blessed with something beautiful. "Can I … can I hold her?"

Sally smiled. "Of course."

As she handed him his daughter, he closed his arms around her small body, staring down at the huge eyes that reminded him so much of his own. Then, slowly, becoming familiar with the arms she was suddenly put into, his daughter gave him a toothless grin, and Sally could practically see how he melted into a puddle.

"She's beautiful," he muttered in awe, knowing that he had to prepare his army of Cyclopes for when she was older – just in case some mortal or, even worse, a god might get the idea of wooing his precious baby girl. When he took her small hand into his large one, her tiny fist immediately closed around his index finger with a strength he didn't know an infant could possess. "You do remember everything I told you about Camp Half-Blood, Sally?"

"Yes, I do," she nodded tiredly. "But to be completely honest, I don't to send her to that place at all. I don't want my daughter to be raised by strangers."

Poseidon sighed softly. "It wouldn't be that way, my love. She doesn't have to go all year-long, she could only go for the summer. And when she's strong enough to deal with the monsters on her own, she could come back to you and not go at all anymore. You have to be rational about that. I'm sorry for doing this to you both, but closing your eyes and ignoring the monsters won't do any good. Our daughter has to be trained at Camp, so she can learn how to fight and how to survive. She's a hero, Sally. They normally don't tend to lead safe lives."

"I know." Sally's voice sounded thin.

"My offer still stands, Sally," Poseidon said as he stared at his former lover he still felt deeply for. "I love you, Sally, and I would give everything to be with you and our daughter. My brothers would kill you and our child without hesitation, but you and Perseia can go into my domain. You could live there. You'd be safe there, both of you. I promise that I won't do anything to make you regret that if you take that offer. I would make sure that you have everything you want and ever wished for."

Sally stared at him, not having expected his words. Her heart warmed upon hearing him say that, but she knew that his plan wasn't really realistic, even though he seemed to believe that. She didn't want to go into hiding, leaving everything behind and robbing her daughter of choice. She wanted her daughter to live her life to her fullest, to make her own experiences and choices. She didn't want her to live under the sea, not having the chance to see the beauty of the world and meet other people, go to school, fall in love, build her own life.

"Poseidon, we've been over this again and again," she whispered, exhausting creeping up her bones. "Things aren't that simple. You have a wife and your other children there. I still love you so much, I'll never stop, but I'm a mortal woman, and you're a god. We're just not destined. I can't expect of you the things that I want because you're not human, my love. We have to accept that before it's going to hurt us both even more."

The look on his face was heartbreaking. "Sally, please just …" He sounded so desperate. "I won't give up. I have already built our house in the sea. I'm only waiting for the day I can bring you and our daughter home."

Sally was silent, not knowing what to say. She was almost glad when the baby girl in Poseidon's arms let out a soft whine, looking at both her parents who shifted their attention to her. Perseia looked like she was about to cry, as though she understood every word her parents had shared.

"My beautiful daughter," Poseidon whispered in Ancient Greek, trying to soothe her. "I know you won't remember me when you're older, but I still want you to know that I love you so much. Never doubt that. You're so loved, and I just know that some of your aunts and uncles that do not care about the oath would love to get to know you if they learn about your existence. I know that life won't be easy on you, and I hate that I can't be a visible presence in your life, watching you grow up into the strong, beautiful woman you're meant to become, but I will help you any way I can." His daughter babbled something to him as she lifted her tiny hand to pat his cheek, giggling at the feel of his beard. He smiled as he placed a loving kiss on her palm. "I'm so sorry for the burden you will bear and the obstacles you'll encounter as my child, but don't ever doubt my love for you, my daughter. I'm already so proud of you."

Upon placing a kiss on her forehead, he gave her his blessing. Sally felt his power flare briefly, leaving the fresh smell of an ocean's breeze. As he put his daughter down into her crib, the baby girl fell asleep watching her parents leave the room, saying goodbye to each other with the knowledge that this was probably the last time they would see each other for a long time.

AN: So, that's it. I hope you all like it and so on, and I'm, frankly, a review-whore so leave some behind, haha. To those who only read stories because they get off on flaming them, I politely suggest to fuck off. I love constructive and respectful criticism, but I can't stand it when authors get nothing but empty, nasty words.

Before I leave and say 'See you on the next update', I'm going to say some words first. The first thing that inspired me to write this story is a lot of other Fem!Percy stories on here and, especially, the song 'Gods and Monsters' by Lana Del Rey. The quote at the very beginning are some verses from that song. I love genderbend stories, because they can have so much potential when well written, and I wanted to try my hand on one of them. I hope I didn't screw up royally. And because it's a Fem!Percy, there are some things that I need to point out:

1) As the story progresses, Percy getting older, she will take a darker turn. She won't go all evil and bad or something like that, but she'll grow darker at the core, because the things she'll have to face … honestly, you can't stay good and light after that. And because that's Greek Gods we are talking and writing about, the series in itself will be much darker. I know, the books were written for children and I love them, but sometimes I just wished that they'd be more mature and gritty. Considering all the stuff the gods have done and the myths and legends, I'm excited to delve deeper into the darker aspects of it all seeing how it opens much more doors for character development and angst.

2) I've aged Percy up. But just a little bit. When The Lightning Thief starts, she's going to be fourteen. Which means that she'll be eighteen at the time the Great Prophecy comes true.

3) There are a lot of good Fem!Percy stories around here. But honestly, there are just as much of completely ridiculous and bad ones. My Percy won't be a carbon copy of Riordon's Percy, because – for starters – everything's going to be darker. I love reading about a strong leading female protagonist, and when writing about Percy, I think about women like Buffy and Faith, Natasha Romanoff, Santanico Pandemonium, Danaerys, Cersei, and Mrs Jane Smith, because they are strong female leads and they inspire me a lot.

4) Don't expect of me that I follow the books entirely. I'm going to divert from canon as the story progresses, so basically it'll become AU at some point.

5) I have a website, yay. Check it out for visuals, portrayals, and some information. The link is on my profile.

I suppose that's all I wanted to say. I hope I haven't forgotten anything.

See you on the next update, kiddos! xx