Chapter Text
After Tartarus, after the second war, Percy felt exhausted. He couldn’t sleep. He clung too hard to Annabeth and saw he was bringing her down. She wanted to distract herself from what happened. She couldn’t do that with Percy there. She was leaving, returning to her father and her family to spend the rest of the last few weeks of summer with them.
Percy wanted to laugh. He hadn’t even turned 17 yet. Kidnapped and then taken on a wild ride to defeat Gaia all within a year, he still couldn’t believe it.
“Maybe you should try going home too.” Annabeth held his hands. “Go back to Gotham. You convinced me to give my father another chance. You could try to reconnect with your mortal uncle.” An uncle he hadn't spoken with once over the past four years. One who had never even told Percy that he was Batman, despite living with him, Nightwing, and Jason’s Robin for four years. Not once did they say anything.
“And that article said that Jason, your Jason, was alive.” The miraculous return of Jason Todd-Wayne. Alive. That impossible request he made when he was twelve. The one that Hades had never answered. He was strict about his mother’s case, but Jason’s? No response. Just return the helm or give him the lightning bolt, and then an army of skeletons appear. Percy fought Ares, returned the Helm, and returned the Lightning Bolt. His only reward? Not dying.
“Percy. Both Monsters and Gods avoid Gotham. It should be safe for you there.”
Annabeth was right. But- “The last time I was in Gotham, I got blown up.” Percy stared down at their hands. The boats, that horrible laughter, and the knowledge that no one was coming. Did he want to return to that place? Just for Jason, he was tempted. How long had Jason been alive? How long had Jason thought Percy was dead? What would Jason say to him now? “But you’re right. I want to see Jason. Now that we are officially retired. I could go try living a mortal life again. Go back to school-”
“You’ll be a junior starting this year. Just two years, and then we can go to university in New Rome.” Annabeth still thought it funny that Percy got mixed up on his age.
“Ugh.” If Percy was honest with himself, he wanted to go. But how could he return to the Manor? To the lies that cast shadows on every interaction of his childhood. Bruce Wayne was Batman. Bruce Wayne blamed him for Jason’s death. Bruce Wayne had shipped him back off to Yancy’s. “I don’t even know where he lives. If it’s the manor or-”
“You could always ask someone to investigate for you. Any of us would help you in a heartbeat.”
“You’re right. I’ll ask Hestia. She’s just the best.” He’d find Jason, and if he had moved out of the manor, then Percy would live with him and go to a nearby school.
During dinner that night, he offered Hestia (and his father, just in case Poseidon knew) the best slice of brisket for answers. In return, he found a slip of paper with an address for Jason Todd (not the manor) under his plate.
That night, he dreamt of Atlantis.
“Percy.” Poseidon placed his hands on Percy’s shoulders. Then he leaned his forehead against his, taking a moment before embracing Percy.
“Dad.” Percy returned the hug. It was the first time they had spoken since the second war began.
“You survived where even gods fear to tread.” His father whispered, holding him tighter. “That place, before you, Nico and Annabeth, a demigod had never gone.”
“Dad.” Percy wasn’t going to lie. It wasn’t nothing. Will had forced both him and Annabeth to get a check-up. Their lungs were damaged from the air of Tartarus. They had sustained on the Phlegethon alone, which kept them alive, but lacking food or water still did a number on them. They, along with Nico, were all underweight.
“Take this chance to rest,” Poseidon pulled back, cupping Percy’s face. “If you wish, you are welcome in Atlantis, to call the place home.”
“Are Amphitrite and Triton okay with that?” Percy liked his underwater relatives; he did, but he was worried about how they would react to a stay that might be longer than a month. Triton already got that look whenever Poseidon visibly favored Percy. Not to mention the commotion that Zeus would raise if Percy started to ‘over-step’.
“Of course, they would have you stay forever.” Poseidon smiled.
And that was the problem. Percy knew, just as he knew, something fractured within the pit, that he wouldn’t be able to leave Atlantis if he went. Sally Jackson had wanted him to have a happy life, a mortal life, to know what it meant to be human. This world that he helped to save. Percy barely even knew it.
“I want to go to high school.” Percy shook his head. “I want to get my driver's license. I want to understand my mother better. Why did she choose for my uncle to take me in? I still have a mortal family, and I barely know them.”
“Heroes in their own right. Is that what you also want to fight more battles, mortal battles?”
“No.” Percy shook his head. “No. I’m done. I’m done with the fighting, Greek or mortal. But, Dad, they are my family too. And Gotham’s got nothing on what I’ve been through.”
“I suppose you can handle yourself now.” Poseidon hummed, carding fingers through Percy’s hair. “But Celestial Bronze does not protect you from mortals, even dangerous ones. I’ll speak to Tyson. In the meantime, if anyone, and I mean anyone, gives you trouble, call for me. I could not act in the past, not with that prophecy. But they won’t stop me now.” His father’s eyes swirled, and Percy could almost see the fleeting image of hundreds of crashed ships and the ocean’s rage. He also vividly remembered the first time he dreamt of his father and what happened right before. His last few seconds in Gotham. Joker’s horrible rendition of a game of battleship. It was a game that Batman had lost. And Percy had paid the cost.
“Dad,” Percy recalled all those stories about Poseidon’s wrath. What restraint he must have shown when Percy was twelve, nearly blown apart by a mortal? To know that Poseidon wouldn’t hold back anymore. It did make him feel better, even if he would rather not have Gotham as collateral for Poseidon’s rage. “I’ll still fight to protect myself.”
“And those you love. I am not unaware of your reasons for fighting. I couldn’t be prouder to have you for a son.” Poseidon smiled at him, so full of warmth and affection that Percy could feel his father’s affection wrapping around him. “Percy, if you do not wish to fight, I will protect you. You deserve peace, my son.” Poseidon kissed Percy’s forehead. “Of all my children, I wish for your happiness the most. You are my favorite child.”
“Why?” Percy still couldn’t understand his father and his insistence on favorites. He felt bad for Triton, Rhodes, and Kym. Especially since Poseidon had said as much to Percy in Triton’s hearing. Triton just told him not to worry when Percy apologized.
“Because, despite all your hardships, at the heart of you, you are still clever, powerful, and most of all kind. And the latter, that is all your mother’s influence. I’ve never had a child such as you before.”
Percy’s cheeks heated.
“Just try to stay out of the mortal hero business as much as possible.” Poseidon reiterated, “I’ve no qualms with you protecting your family-”
“Believe me. I’m not interested in anything like a quest. I want a break from fighting. I’ll be attending school and reconnecting with my mortal family.”
“Then go with my blessing. And know that you will always have a home in Atlantis.”
Percy paced in front of the door. He could hear the heartbeat of the person on the other side. There was also the faint suggestion of something else—something reminiscence of the river Styx, but Percy must be imagining it. He had spent too long down there. This was Jason. Jason, who was alive. Jason, who was on the other side of that door. Jason, who Percy had tried so desperately to save when he was twelve, had hoped against hope that the prophecy was wrong. The words echoed in his head over the years more than any of the other quests he had gone on.
‘You shall fail to save what matters most in the end.’
And Percy had. Whatever miracle brought Jason back wasn’t by Percy’s hand. And if something happened to Jason because Percy hadn’t returned home. Percy had failed. But that didn’t matter now. Jason was back. Percy wanted to see him. All he had to do was knock.
He held his hand above the door, frozen before even coming down.
What if Jason was glad that he was gone? What if he had been annoyed by Percy all those years ago? Had Jason been brought back after his first quest? What if he was angry with Percy for not coming back? He asked Hades for Jason’s life. But when he hadn’t heard anything-
“Would you just knock already!” The door swung open. Jason stared at him. Mouth opened. Percy stared back, lowering his hand.
His heartbeat, once, twice, and it felt like time just stretched between the two of them. Percy stared at Jason, at the white streak in his hair, at how much Jason had grown, not just in height but in physique as well, with broad shoulders and arms that were more muscular than in the past—blue eyes with a hint of green scanning him up and down. Still alive, so very alive.
Jason had changed. But Percy had as well. Vastly different than he was at twelve, scrawny and shorter than Annabeth. Would Jason even-
“Perce?” Jason whispered, completely still. Well, there went Percy’s worry that Jason wouldn’t recognize him.
“Hey, Jay.” Percy gave a slight grin as he stepped inside, invading Jason’s space without touching him, and closed the door behind him. “Thought I might join the whole Surprise!-Not Dead thing you got going on.” Percy spread his hands in a ta-da motion.
“Percy. Perseus.” A shaking hand reached out, softly cradling his cheek. Jason went oddly silent again, staring at him.
“Yeah,” Percy scratched the back of his head, struggling for words. Not daring to move out of range, he could practically hear the blood singing in Jason’s veins, reminding Percy of something he hadn’t believed the first time he struggled to read that article. Alive. Alive. Alive. “I saw in the paper that you were alive, and I-”
“Percy!” Arms embraced him in a firm hug that Percy hadn’t felt in years.
“Jason.” Percy returned the hug. Even if he had time to adjust to Jason being alive, it still felt impossible. The words echoing in his head, ‘You shall fail to save what matters most in the end.’
If Jason had come back, then how had Percy failed?
His heart clenched.