Chapter Text
Poseidon moved swiftly through the cramped apartment building halls—trying desperately to block out the sound of whispering on-lookers and police radio chatter.
On the surface level, he could understand why humans were so innately drawn to the more dark and macabre side of mortal life. When tomorrow is never promised, it’s understandable why one would have such a grisly fascination with the afterlife. While some of these people may have a vague assumption of where they might go after death, none of them could be completely certain. Not like Poseidon could. Even if he became a mortal tomorrow, he would know exactly what awaited him after death.
He shuddered to think about what Hades would do with his soul if he was ever to face a mortal end, and continued down the hall.
As he moved towards the end of the hallway, where a large group of police officers had gathered outside of an open apartment door, a myriad of eyes followed in his path. A few curious neighbors who talked quietly amongst themselves gave him quizzical, or possibly even pitiful glances, but none moved to speak to him. Maybe they were too intimated by his subtle, yet other-worldly appearance to approach him. Maybe, none of them were brave enough to tell him what had happened here today.
Not that Poseidon needed them to. The tides had inexplicitly shifted the moment the tragic news had reached his ears, a weather event he was sure the mortals would be baffled by for years to come. He could not, however, bring himself to worry about the implications of his outburst right now. Instead, he had to put on a neutral face, and deal with the situation which mattered most at the moment.
“Sir,” one of the officers approached him. “I’m sorry this is a crime scene. You can’t come any closer.”
Poseidon generally hated taking on the form of a mortal. Even with the obvious loss of power and authority that came with it, there was a stiffness to his movements that Poseidon was never quite able to shake. Every word or sentence he spoke in this form felt forced, like an actor reading off a poorly written script. He ended almost all mortal interactions, no matter how short, with the same feeling as if he had just lost a battle. As if somehow, despite his power and godhood, a few simple sentences had rendered him into nothing but dust.
It was a feeling he quite disliked, and because of that, avoided taking on his mortal form as little as possible.
Except during situations like this one, where it simply could not be avoided.
“I- um, this is Sally Jackson’s apartment, right?” he asked, his voice quiet. “I heard… I heard that something had happened to her.”
The police officer's face shifted into a look of pity, before it returned to neutral. “I’m afraid so, sir,” he responded. “Did you know her?”
Did he know her? The question felt like a cruel joke. Does the earth know the sun? Does the soul know the body it is forever intertwined with? Does the mortal know their limbs? Their many fingers and toes?
He didn’t just know Sally Jackson, he had loved her.
“Yes, I know… knew her,” he responded, his voice shaky. “I, I was- I am- ”
Before he could keep talking, a gurney rolled out of the quiet apartment. The body was encased in a dark bag, but—dead or not, Poseidon would be able to recognize the feeling of being near Sally Jackson anyway. It was the same infectious energy that had drawn him to her in the first place, not all that long ago. The same energy that had once made the sky seem brighter, and ocean seem bluer. Only now it was muted, darker and cold, and as the gurney wheeled down the hallways past gaping onlookers, she was gone.
He had never met anyone, no other mortal or god, in his entire eternal existence that had made him feel the same way that Sally Jackson did. While in the past Poseidon may have toyed in the mortal realm, it had never mattered all that much to him. But once all his demigod children had passed, and the agreement had been made to no longer father any more offspring, he had lost interest entirely.
That was until that fateful day on the beach. That was until he had met Sally Jackson.
In reality, Poseidon had only truly known of Sally Jackson for less than two years. In the eyes of a God, that is a period of time no longer than the intake of a single human breath. Still, from the second he had laid eyes on her, he knew she was special. He knew she was worth risking the entire fate of the world for.
Poseidon could live for the rest of eternity—and he probably would, and all that time would still feel shorter than his few, fleeting moments with Sally Jackson.
So then why did it still not feel long enough?
This was not how their story was supposed to end. She was supposed to be his queen, not another cold body in the morgue.
Poseidon hadn’t realized how deeply he was breathing, his mortal body acting before his thoughts could. Storm clouds began to gather above the apartment building.
“Sir, you need to calm down,” the officer said, putting an arm on his shoulder. “How did you know Miss Jackson? Were you dating? Married?”
Poseidon took a deep breath. He didn’t have a mortal heartbeat, but he was sure that if he did, it would be pounding through his chest right now. There was only one gurney, only one body taken from the apartment.
“She had a baby, a son,” he responded. “Where is he? Is he ok?”
The police officer looked stunned for a moment, obviously not expecting Poseidon’s words. “Yes, a baby was taken from the scene. I believe he’s with one of our officers back at the station right now. They’re searching for any other family or next of kin that Miss Jackson may have had-”
“Let me see him,” Poseidon interjected, his voice growing desperate. “Please I need to see him. I need to make sure he’s ok.”
“I’m sorry sir, but unless you are a part of his or Miss Jackson’s immediate family, I cannot allow you to-”
Lightning cracked across the cloudy sky outside, officially sulling the beautiful spring day New York City had been experiencing. It seemed fitting for the situation, as how could any sun dare to shine on a world in which Sally Jackson no longer existed? With the heavy downpour of rain now pouring outside, there was truly no longer any warmth in this dark, desolate city.
Poseidon may have lost his queen today, but he refused to lose anything else.
“I’m his father,” Poseidon finally told him. “His name is Percy, and he is my son. Now please, tell me where he is.”
It wasn’t all too hard to get to Percy after that. After all, mortals are incredibly susceptible to the mist. A few blank documents and a falsified ID later, a tired-looking police officer was placing a small, sleeping baby into Poseidon's arms.
“It took us a long time to get him to sleep,” she admitted to Poseidon. “He was a little malnourished and dirty when we found him, but completely unharmed. The EMTs on the scene said he wasn’t in need of any immediate medical attention, but he should probably be taken to the pediatrician in the next few days… just in case.”
Poseidon’s head was swimming with all of the new information he was being told. Percy was found…unharmed? When Poseidon had first heard of the news, he had assumed the pair had been attacked by a monster. Even as an infant, the smell of a demigod child, especially one of the Big Three, was incredibly potent. But if it was a monster, then why would Sally have been the only one killed? Wouldn’t they have been going after Percy as well?
This whole situation wasn’t making any sense.
“How did she die,” Poseidon asked, his voice hushed as to not wake Percy.
The woman pursed her lips, obviously debating what to tell him. “Stabbed, we believe,” she admitted. “But there was no murder weapon found, and none of the neighbors heard anything. The police were called by one of the neighbors for a welfare check, as the baby wouldn’t stop crying and nobody had seen Sally for a few days.”
Poseidon perked up at that comment. “A few days?” he asked. “I thought you said when you found Percy he was in an ok condition. Wouldn’t he be in much worse shape if he was left alone for that long?”
All the officer could do was shrug. “We’ll know for certain exactly how long Miss Jackson had been dead for once we get the autopsy report but… that's all we know for now. Until then everything we say is merely guesswork.”
Her words alone were enough to convince Poseidon that whatever had occurred in that apartment was definitely not of the mortal world, but it still didn’t provide him with any answers. He still didn’t know how, or why.
But he did know that he had gotten everything he would from the police. Before Poseidon could even think about what he was doing, words were coming out of his mouth.
“You will let me walk out of this police station with my son,” he started, calling upon the mist. The officer looked at him confused for a second, before the mist rolled over her and her face became slack.
Poseidon continued. “There was no baby found at the crime scene today. Sally Jackson lived alone, and she did not have a son. You never saw Percy.”
Once the final words left his mouth, a part of Poseidon seemed to die with them. As the mist took hold and concealed exactly what he had done, the police officer looked around confused for a moment, before standing up and going back to work. He had become completely invisible to her, and by extension, so had Percy.
As far as the universe was concerned now, Sally had lived by herself. She had become the unfortunate victim of a random break-in, and was murdered alone in her apartment. She had no family, no boyfriend or husband, and no son. She was completely, and utterly, alone in the world.
And now, so was Percy.
With only a few words, Poseidon had completely removed every piece of Sally Jackson from Percy’s very being. He had erased her love, he had erased her motherhood. He had erased every memory of her, no matter how small or fleeting, out of Percy’s young mind. Even if he wanted to, he would never be able to remember even a sliver of his mother.
Still, he knew it was for the better. He couldn’t leave Percy here, knowing that in the custody of the police, he would probably end up in some orphanage or foster home. He would probably be placed with a family who would have no idea of his true heritage, and they would not be able to protect him from the dangers to come. Poseidon had already lost Sally, and now he refused to lose his last remaining demigod child as well.
There was an empty baby bottle sitting on one of the counters in the room, and Poseidon quickly grabbed it and put it in his coat pocket before leaving the police station. Nobody stopped them, not a single person even gave them a passing glance, as the pair made their way out onto the bustling streets of New York City.
Poseidon knew that what he was doing was rash and stupid—that his actions were more closely mimicking that of an impulsive mortal as opposed to a God, but he had already made up his mind. The issue with meddling so little in the modern human world, was that he quickly realized there was not a single person on the entire planet who he would have trusted enough to care for his son. There was nobody strong enough to protect Percy from the dangers that he knew were still to come.
Nobody… except himself.
He wondered how long he could be absent from Olympus before anyone noticed.
Percy squirmed in his arms and let out a small cry. Poseidon stole a quick glance down at his son, only to find his own eyes staring back up at him. Those deep green eyes that so many children of Poseidon had carried before him.
Just like that, his choice was made. Even if he had to move heaven and hell, Poseidon would stay with his son. He would not leave him to die alone in an orphanage somewhere. He would not abandon him, like had had Sally. He would never leave him again, so long as he could help it.
It seemed he would be stuck in his mortal form for far longer than he had originally intended.