Work Text:
I was riding a taxi back towards my mom’s apartment. A word about Sally Jackson before you meet her. She’s the most wonderful woman in the world. Her one lucky break in life was meeting my dad. Having me, on the otherhand, brought her nothing but trouble. I tend to attract it. Literally. For a long time, I thought I was crazy, seeing men with one eye, the occasional blip in reality when someone seemed to almost teleport. I was told it was my ADHD that distracted me, causing me to rationalize whatever I was seeing. Yeah. Right. It was when I was twelve that I discovered, by way of being attacked by one of Hades’ enforcers, that the Greek ‘myths’ were real. Turns out, dad wasn’t drowned at sea, as mom’s explanation of ‘lost at sea’ would imply. Instead, I discovered, after thinking I lost my mother to a Minotaur and healing severe injuries from a hellhound with water, that my dad is the ruler of the sea, the sea god, Poseidon.
Back to my mom. She’s amazing. She has put up with the literal monsters I attract, my trouble staying at a school due to freak ‘accidents,’ and my inability to do well in school. As if being a demigod and attracting monsters wasn’t enough, a common affliction of demigods is dyslexia and ADHD, of which I have both. Annabeth said that those were because demigods were hardwired for reading ancient Greek and battle reflexes, respectively.
Annabeth went on my first quest with me, a mission on the pain of global destruction to retrieve Zeus’ main weapon, the lightning bolt, which was stolen, and prevent a war between Zeus and my innocent, accused father. The fact that I would be the first to die and the quest was to the underworld, where my mother was at the time, convinced me far more than some vague idea that my dad needed me.
Discovering later that ancient laws forbid gods from interfering in mortal affairs to prevent destruction soothed a few doubts. The fact that they could interfere enough to bed mortals and have children, but were then forbidden to interact with said children beyond assigning them dangerous jobs…I still doubt that was the fine print of the ancient laws. I can see why a god stomping around because someone insulted your kid and murdering a whole high school class or more, for example, would be a problem to avoid. However, a simple birthday present, a visit for a talk, or child support with their vast fortunes built over millennia didn’t have to be as destructive as they fear.
The fact that Annabeth and my best friend, Grover, a satyr who befriended me before
I knew about the Greek world and stuck with me through most of the second Titan war, really cementing our bond. The second Titan war was when dear old Grandad, Kronos, decided to create a civil war between demigods who would join him and those who would defend Olympus and Camp halfblood. A lovely prophecy said I would make a choice on my 16th birthday to decide the fate of Olympus, whether to ‘preserve or raze,’ which led to a lot of tension. However, the host of Kronos’...spirit?...Luke Castellen killed himself when Kronos forced him to hurt Annabeth, his little sister figure. My choice was to give him the blade to do it in the small window of opportunity where Luke had control. Luke’s bath in the river Styx, which made his skin invulnerable in all but a single mortal point, which only Luke and Kronos knew, negated my ability to kill him myself.
Of course, five summers of hardship and grief ending in the Battle of Manhattan weren’t enough for the fates. No, next came the second Giant war. Annabeth and I fell into Tartarus and trekked through there for a full month to the Doors of Death, which needed to be closed from both sides. We had befriended a giant that was meant to oppose Ares. However, the opposite of a God of violent war was a peaceful giant. For that and saving a mortal girl, he was thrown into the pit. The giant and our memory-wiped Titan friend, Bob, sacrificed themselves to fight the embodiment of the pit so Annabeth and I could leave alive to fight another day.
Why was I in the taxi?
We had finished the second Giant War, victorious, and I was heading home so my mom could do her customary check over, ensuring I was hiding no wounds and that I was alright after yet another fight for my life.
She was pregnant. I’ll have a little sister in a few months. Thank the gods it wasn’t Gabe’s, the repulsive, abusive alcoholic that she married to protect me from monsters by literally never showering. After my first quest…the lightning bolt one…she had been sent the head of Medusa, whom I had killed on the way to the entrance to the underworld, and she made a poker-playing statue that bore a remarkable resemblance to the man. I’m sure those two events weren’t connected at all. She met a cool history teacher called Paul Blofis. Why do I call a history teacher cool when I am absolutely horrid at school and despise the required reading of history books? The guy picked up a sword and fought monsters in the Battle of Manhattan after an enchanted sleep was cancelled just to help my mom get to me. So, yeah. He’s awesome.
Anyway, I was listening to the music on the taxi’s radio when a weird sensation started spreading through my head and into my body, and suddenly, my fingers started to move as if someone else were controlling them. I instantly fought back against the feeling.
Then I heard a voice. No, not the taxi driver’s voice. It sounded a lot like mine, coming from my head.
Why won’t my body work?! It sounded frustrated.
Uh, dude. This isn’t your body. Why are you trying to control mine?
Great! Just great! When the fates said I could have a second chance at life, I didn’t expect that life to be in the head of…who are you…you look like me, sound like me, feel like my body, though slightly stronger.
Well, what’s your name? I asked, praying I was wrong and just listened to too many of the Hecate kid’s stories of magic.
Percy Jackson. Damnit!
Well, my name is Percy Jackson as well.
Silence. About a minute later, I got a response. The response was the spread of the weird sensation again.
This is my body! Get out!
No can do. I have to go kill the gods that promised me a chance. It’s already too late. Sorry cuz. I’ll just call you cousin, ‘other me’ just feels wrong. Now stop fighting me and give up! You’ll feel better when Olympus is drowning in a golden river of godly blood.
No! Some things aren’t meant to be controlled! Annabeth said that. No controlling blood!
It’s not blood.
Like ichor doesn’t fall under the same category.
My entire body started to seize, and my muscles spasmed as I fought against the messages my twisted twin was trying to send them.
Finally, I shoved down the sensation.
It’s over.
It’s never really over. Not while the blood still flows.
Tides of Fate Lyrics
D = Dark Percy
L = Good Percy
____
D: I'm not impressed with your constant need to defend the gods who let her die in the sand. You think you're a hero. You're just a pawn in their game. I'm here to drown them all in their shame.
L: I'm not defending. I'm defending the camp. And you're not saving anyone.
You're just blowing out the lamp. Annabeth wouldn't want this. She'd call you a fool for thinking that murder is a valid rule.
D: Don't speak her name. You don't have the right. You didn’t hold her body in the Tartarus night. I learned what blood does when you command it to stop. I’ll pop every vein in Olympus like a drop. The water inside you. The sweat on your skin. It’s all just a weapon for me to begin.
L: I walked through hell, too. I fell just like you. But I held on to hope to get both through. You think power is controlling the blood in a vein. Real power is enduring the loss and the pain. You’re poisoning the ocean, you're hurting the fish, just to grant yourself a twisted, selfish wish.
D: I am the blood of the sea, the red tide rising
L: I am the son of the sea on the horizon.
D: I control the heart. I control the flow.
L: I control the current. I won’t let you go.
D & L: Two sons of Poseidon, one broken, one whole, fighting for the fragment of a singular soul.
Raise the hurricane
Let the waters collide
D: I’m drowning the world
L: I’m saving the tide
D: Zeus deserves to suffer. Ares deserves to bleed. I'm just pulling up the garden’s poisonous weeds. Camp Halfblood is a nursery for soldiers to die. I'm ending the cycle. I'm drying it dry. Why fight for a family that uses us? So let the ichor run free. Let the golden river flow.
L: Because Grover is there. Because Tyson is there. Because family isn’t perfect, but it's why we care. You’re becoming the monster we were trained to defeat; Luke Castellan’s anger stuck on repeat.
If you break the world, you break her memory too. Annabeth built things up. She didn’t destroy like you.
D: She told me to leave her. She told me to go, but I couldn't save her.
L: She's not gone. Not here. She's waiting for me back at camp right now. I fought for her. I bled for her. I saved her. And I will let you dishonor the life she's living. You didn't fail because you were weak. You failed because you forgot why we fight. We fight to live, not to destroy.
Now put down the water. Before you drown yourself
D: I am the blood of the sea, the red tide rising.
L: I am the son of the sea on the horizon.
D: I control the heart. I control the flow
L: I control the current. I won't let you go
D & L: Two sons of Poseidon, one broken, one whole, fighting for a fragment of a singular soul.
Raise the hurricane
Let the waters collide
D: I’m drowning the world.
L: I'm saving the tide. It's over.
D: It's never really over. Not while the blood still flows. I'll see you real soon.