Work Text:
Amphitrite knew her husband had strayed - he had come to her for permission to bed his newest attraction- and she knew from that union that Poseidon had brought an unfortunate fate upon the child.
Amphitrite had no desire to see the child; the young were precious in the ocean and Amphitrite had no intention of becoming attached to one who would die so young. Her heart would not be able to bear it.
She found herself standing upon the shores as her husband sent waves to lap at her feet when she felt a tug on her shirts.
She looked down and she would have sworn it was Triton had the child not shown her a smile full of human baby teeth and not the sharp triangular teeth Atlanteans had.
“Mama!” The boy had her skirts in one hand and held up a small fist with the other.
Amphitrite smiled, amused at the gullibility of children.
“Mama!” The boy said again and opened his fist, showing a collection of beautiful shells the child had scavenged.
Amphitrite took the shells. “They are very beautiful, pup.”
The child grinned at her.
His eyes sparked like the sun off the water.
His laugh was like the chitter of dolphins.
He was no doubt Poseidon’s son.
The boy ran back to the water, giggling when the waves came to his bare feet and splashing his hair as he dipped to gather more shells.
The young child returned once more to Amphitrite’s side, hands full of shells, and giggled as he put them into the kelp bag Amphitrite held open for him.
“What are you doing, little seal pup?” Amphitrite asked.
“Finding the best shells for you.” The boy said with all the seriousness he could muster on a face so cute; Amphitrite determined that this was the best sacrifice she has ever received.
“Very well. In that case, we must look extra hard.” Amphitrite held out her hand and trusting blindly that this was his mother, the boy took her hand without hesitation.
Amphitrite led him closer to where the sea kissed the shore; holding back the waves as she did, leading the boy further and further from the land.
The boy hadn’t noticed he was under the surface, in a safe cocoon of air with gentle waves tickling his toes; he was too focused on finding sea shells.
Schools of fish swam by, excited by the appearance of their Queen but hushed when Amphitrite pressed a finger to her lips.
Sea turtles passed curiously.
Sharks circled protectively out of the corner of Amphitrite’s eye.
Each handful of shells endeared her to the child.
Each innocent title of “Mama” was more powerful than any enchantment cast by Circe.
Slowly, she began to engulf herself in the water.
In the deep, in her kingdom, she’d be larger than her whales, she’d have the patterns of her beloved whale sharks along her tail and body. In the shallows, she took on the form modern humans described mermaids to be as; a scaled tail with dorsal fins and flukes that shimmered as the sunlight filtered through the surface, shimmering silver scales covering her chest, her crab claw diadem atop her head as her hair floated about her head and strands escaped her braid.
She watched the child as he picked up shell after shell and waited for the inevitable.
When the child tired and saw her, in partial queenly glory, his eyes went wide and ran to her side.
He handed her more shells and said so sweetly, “You’re so pretty, mama.”
Amphitrite held out her hand.
“Do you trust me, seal pup?”
The boy nodded and took her hand.
Amphitrite pulled the boy into her arms and let the ocean engulf them both.
Much like sea otters and their young, Amphitrite held the boy in her arms as she leisurely swam on her back.
She hummed a lullaby she had once sang for Triton, to Rhodes, to Kymopoleia, to Benthesikyme, and now she sang for this boy.
Amphitrite could feel Poseidon’s anguish of not being able to see his son, to hold him close and kiss his brow, to not keep him safe from the machinations of fate; Amphitrite held the boy for him as Poseidon rocked them gently from afar.
The boy slept against her breast as the sharks circled in their quiet vigilance.
When the cove began to darken and her eyes began to reflect the little light left, Amphitrite decided to be merciful and return the pup to his mother.
When Amphitrite returned to the heart of her kingdom, she didn’t return to her husband’s side; the forge and the company of the Cyclopes was where her husband found her.
“My dearest,” Poseidon began but saw the shells that the eldest and most skilled Clyclops was fashioning into a diadem.
“I received a most wondrous sacrifice while upon the surface today.” Amphitrite smiled as she watched the shells be treated with the utmost care and reverence. “A little boy saw me and ran to my side.”
Poseidon’s face didn’t change as Amphitrite spoke.
Though the Sea knew of the youngest son of their King, they didn’t dare acknowledge him out of fear of the Thunder Bringer.
“Oh?” Poseidon tried to say nonchalantly but Amphitrite knew the currents underneath.
“He gave me only the most beautiful shells he could find. He worked so hard to find them for me, how could I not honor him by turning his offering into a new diadem?” Amphitrite said fondly, her arms crossing to hold herself in lieu of holding her stepson.
“He sounds like a wonderful child.” Poseidon said, looking down.
“Indeed. It was bittersweet holding a child so young again; I shall miss the moments I had with my son when he is grown.” Amphitrite declared.
A silent conversation happened as husband and wife gazed into each other's eyes.
You would claim him?
I would, for he has claimed me.
I owe you a debt I cannot repay.
You owe me nothing, my love.
Amphitrite wore her new diadem with pride.
She wore it when she made her appearance amongst the other gods on Olympus when she could not avoid the politics.
She wore it when she watched from the breaker waves during the times her youngest played in the sands of Montauk; always by his mortal mother’s side, always looking towards the sea in search of her.
Her sisters watched over her youngest when Amphitrite could not escape court and returned with stories of how Psamathe turned into a little girl and built a sandcastle with the young prince or Eudora cooing over how he loved the shell she sent to the shore as a gift for him.
Her seals and sea lions barked and played more when her youngest pup returned each time to the sea.
Sea otters chittered and brought many smiles and laughter to her ears.
Fish spoke in soft hushes of the prince who loved the color blue and who always looked out to the sea, who didn’t freak out when they swam around his human feet.
The dolphins spoke of the brief glimpses they stole of him.
There were a couple of summers when her son did not return to the sea and Amphitrite grew concerned.
The fish in the rivers surrounding Manhattan and the naiads assured the Queen and King of the seas that the young prince was fine, that he was safe, that no monster had come for him, but he still had not returned to her.
It was the blink of an eye when her son did eventually return to the sea.
Oh, her son, he was so handsome and so like his brother and father but the softness around his eyes, the care in which he acted around the sea creatures was all his mothers’.
Amphitrite knew of the increasing stress Poseidon was under with the theft of the Master Bolt and she feared more than ever for the safety of her young pup.
As Zeus and Poseidon fought, the more volatile the seas became.
Amphitrite tried to calm the waves around Montauk but the satyr had come to take her pup to Camp.
She could not see him, did not know he was safe until Poseidon returned from Mount Olympus, furious with his brother and spoke in pyrrhic relief that Percy had made it to camp and he had defeated the Minotaur but now Zeus had eyes on the boy.
“He will stop at nothing and will see Perseus punished for a theft he didn’t commit, all because Perseus is my son.” Poseidon buried his face in his hands.
“Then it is a very good thing that I will be claiming my son and not you.” Amphitrite said.
She watched her son’s first week at camp in the disguise of a naiad.
She watched as the demigods had no idea what to make of him.
He was too soft for Ares, he was not skilled like his Cyclopses brothers or the Hephaestus children, he was not “alluring” enough for Aphrodite but her son was a twelve year old child; he would grow into a handsome young man in his own time.
Amphitrite lounged underneath the dock as the naiads of the lake told her of her son’s first sword lesson and made a mental note to commission a sword worthy of her pup when she returned to the depths later that day.
A sword, gleaming and shimmering and made for her pup, was in her hands as she returned to the camp.
The naiads of the lake bowed in fear upon her return.
“There was a hellhound-” they began but Amphitrite sprinted up the creek that emptied into the lake before they could finish.
She saw her son, standing in the creek with back to her, shirt drenched in blood and torn but nothing marred his skin.
Chiron was the first to notice her and he bowed in reverence and fear.
The children were the next to follow though they had no idea who she was.
“I’m sorry! I don’t understand!” Her son tried to apologize to the others but Amphitrite placed a hand upon his shoulder.
Percy was gasping in the creek as his wounds closed.
Campers were looking at him in fear.
Chiron was kneeling.
Clarisse looked like she was torn between attacking him again or sucking a lemon.
Annabeth looked pale as she looked at him.
He didn’t understand.
He didn’t understand any of this!
“I’m sorry! I don’t understand!” Percy tried to explain but he felt a hand upon his shoulder and turned to see-
“Mama?!” Percy felt his heart clench in his chest and tears well up in his eyes.
Standing beside him was a tall and the most beautiful woman he had ever seen; eyes a brilliant shade of blue-green waters that reflected the torchlight like creatures of the deep, hair of dark curls pinned back in a net of pearls and silk with rebellious curls framing her face and a tiara made of shells held in place with crab claws.
She radiated protectiveness that grounded him in the wake of the hellhound.
Her smile was kind as she looked down on him.
She had brilliant blue grey denticles speckling her cheekbones and collarbones which matched with the blue grey gown she had on, its patterns like a whale shark. She held a sword loosely in her other hand.
“This is Perseus Jackson, my youngest son and Prince of the Sea.” The woman sounded calm but Percy could sense the anger and fury underneath her voice; like a riptide, he thought. “One of you summoned a hellhound to kill my son. When I find out who, death will be too good for you. I will drag you down to the depths of the sea and keep you alive.”
Percy could feel the stares of the others on him but he only had eyes for the woman next to him.
“As my son, as a prince, it is his right to use my husband’s cabin.” The woman leveled a look with Chiron and Dionysus that was so similar to his mother’s before turning fully to Percy and gifting him the sword she held. “When you are older, I shall give you a trident.”
She bent and pressed her lips to his forehead.
“I love you, little pup.” She whispered before disappearing in a sea breeze.
Something glowed above his head and Percy looked up.
A glowing trident with a dolphin and a seal on either side.
“So it is determined.” Chiron’s voice sounded grave as he spoke. “Dark Blue-Eyed, Sea Born, She of the Golden Spindle, Agastonus, Nereid; hail Perseus Jackson, son of Amphitrite, Queen of the Seas, wife of Poseidon.”
Percy didn’t hear him though, he was too busy lost in a memory where he was rocked to sleep in the waves.