Chapter Text
Percy had had to makeup some of his final exams from when he was “out sick” with the aftereffects of the radiation, but he did manage to complete his finals and pass all of his classes. He’d ended up missing the Track & Field Patriot League Championships, but he wasn’t too worried about it; he was less passionate about Track & Field compared to Swimming. Plus, he had already individually qualified for nationals in the events he was competing and their school’s track and field team was not fully staffed and thus would struggle to perform well at conference championships regardless.
With the semester of school concluded, Percy turned his attention to something else he had to do: complete the statue to serve as an offering to Artemis and Apollo for their help in protecting the children from the radiation during the Calamity of Bludhaven. Bruce had obtained the large pieces of white marble Percy had requested and they were in a side room in the batcave for Percy to work with.
He instinctively knew how to use his powers to shape the marble; he was unsure how much came from knowledge from his Zagreus aspect and perhaps him as a son of the underworld having power over the earth, versus how much of it was due to water’s power over erosion and possibly something he might’ve done in his time as a god which he still did not fully remember.
He had two large chunks of white marble, one to form the central statue portion and one for the basin of the fountain. He had previously consulted with Tim for the engineering side of how to hook up the fountain to water, in order to leave space for any pipes. Percy figured it would be too conspicuous if he made the fountain magically spring water. He had told the others not to disturb him as he worked. He wielded water as a tool to erode the marble, seamlessly chiseling the material to create the image he saw in his mind. The work was meditative as he utilized his powers.
First, he utilized the more vertical rectangle of marble to make the statues. He made a central pillar with two tiers of basins at the top with a crescent moon symbol at the top of the pillar. The crescent moon had a silver streak in it that had been in the marble. Beneath the basin were the life-sized statues of Artemis and Apollo. He started with vague outlines of what he wanted before adding more detail.
The basins had a clamshell styled design to them with the top basin smaller than the bottom one. From the moon at the top, he had it set up to spew water down into the fountain, down through the basins. He took a long time on the statues themselves. He depicted both Artemis and Apollo as teenagers, since it was their aspect as protectors of youth whom he had called upon. They were both in authentic Greek-style clothes, Artemis in a plain dress and Apollo in a toga. Both of them were holding bows and arrows which were pointed up and outwards. He designed the notched arrows to release a small stream of water into the fountain.
He spent a long time on the facial features, making it authentic to how the gods had appeared to him, though making Apollo look somewhat younger, more 14-15 rather than the 18-20 he typically appeared as. He added laurel leaves to Apollo’s hair and gave them both jewelry with symbols on it representing them. He ensured they were perfectly proportionate, giving both of them but especially Apollo authentic musculature. At the round base of the statue beneath the feet of the two statues, he wrote their names in Greek letters: Ἀπόλλων and Ἄρταμις.
With the second piece of marble, he carved out the structural basin of the fountain, making it perfectly round. Somehow, he did not need to measure it at all in order to make it the perfect shape. The lip on the edge of the fountain was 18 inches tall and 8 inches thick. The base at the bottom was a bit over 3 inches thick, with a slight gradient to ensure the water drained properly as it circulated to keep the water fresh. He made all of the holes for the proper plumbing to be inserted. There would be a metal pipe inserted in the main center section. The arrows would not have pipes inserted, instead the water would follow the natural curved path he’d inserted into the marble.
He had obtained other supplies in addition to the marble, after doing some research on how best to work with marble and then ensure it was long lasting. He’d gotten a mix for making mortar so he could fix the two marble pieces together and he’d also gotten the proper metal pipes for the water to flow through. He’d also gotten a sealant to waterproof the marble so it would last longer. He used his powers to manipulate the sealant to cover all surfaces of the marble, including the interior surfaces like the channels feeding water into the arrows. He firmly applied his powers with it to fix the shape of things in place and ensure that sealant would not degrade, that marble would not be further eroded by water.
He inserted the pipes properly and then spread the mortar on the base basin before moving the central statue perfectly in place over top of it. There would be a metal plaque installed on the edge of the fountain but that was something they were ordering, not something he was making. He analyzed the fountain, trying to see what was missing, making sure the shape of everything was perfectly how he envisioned it. Looking into the fountain and the central basin, he found it appeared too plain, it would look better tiled with something. As he thought of it, an image came to him of a fountain tiled with sea glass.
That made sense, he needed something from the ocean to complete the project. With single-minded focus on his project, he went into the water, vapor-teleporting out into Gotham Harbor. Sea Glass was glass that had been weathered by the ocean over time to gain a frosted appearance. He carefully did not breathe the polluted water as he swam around Gotham harbor, collecting glass that had been tossed into the harbor over the years. He found a lot of glass from the cars which had fallen from the bridge earlier that year; this glass had not yet been weathered into sea glass, but he could change that.
After collecting enough glass from the polluted waters, he swam out to cleaner ocean waters. He had a mix of green sea glass and clear glass that had not yet been properly processed. First, he ensured all of the glass was cleansed of pollutants or harmful bacteria, purifying them. Then he created a sphere of water with his powers and pushed the glass into the sphere of water. The sea-glass creating process which normally took decades he was able to do in dozens of minutes. He pictured how he wanted it to look, mostly blue with some tinges of green and light purple, a mosaic of beautiful cool colors.
As he worked, his mind wandered to his sadness about the pollution of the ocean, but at least with this, he could create beauty from it. They had plans in place for how to make tangible action to improve the environment and reduce pollution; he hoped they were able to see it through, to preserve the beautiful world on which they lived and the life-giving oceans as well.
He lost track of time before suddenly jolting back to reality, beholding the beautiful sea glass in many shades of blues, greens, and some purples he had created. All of the glass was now smoothed properly as sea glass was with the distinct frosted appearance to it. He carefully collected all the glass, realizing he had forgotten to actually bring a container for it at all. He sealed the glass into a container of ice he formed, making it easier to transport before he teleported back with it.
He opened up the ice container he’d made and gently spread the sea glass out in the basin of the fountain. He did not realize the other presence at first until the sound broke through.
“Percy!” Tim repeated himself louder, “Where were you? We were worried. Wow, your eyes are glowing.”
Perseus centered himself, blinking slowly, then Percy spoke, “They do that, my eyes, when I use my powers. I realized something was missing, I was collecting sea glass.” Collecting sea glass sounded much more normal than making sea glass.
“Okay,” Tim said, “I know sometimes you leave for genuine emergencies, but when it isn’t an emergency, can you please tell someone before you randomly leave? So we know where you are and know not to worry?” Tim said this as he typed something on his phone, likely telling the others it was a false alarm.
“I’ll try to remember that and communicate better in the future,” Percy replied, while Perseus thought it was silly that they would be concerned, the sea was a perfectly natural place for him to be, he could go wherever he pleased.
Tim peered over at the fountain basin now containing the sea glass, “Oh, that sea glass is pretty, nice work, how did you even find so much of it, in such pretty colors, too?”
“Magic,” Percy replied simply, doing jazz hands for sarcastic emphasis.
“Right,” Tim said, “Anyways, statue looks great, I was coming to see if you needed help with the engineering and plumbing side of things, but it looks like you’re good. Also, Alfie said it was almost time for dinner, so we should go up for that.”
Percy frowned, “I need to finish first, while I still have the focus. Will eat later.”
Tim gave him an assessing look before going to elsewhere in the Batcave and grabbing one of the high calorie granola bars. “At least eat this now, yeah? Don’t want you passing out from using your powers too much without eating,” Tim cautioned. Percy obliged, quickly eating the snack before returning his focus to the fountain. Tim hesitated before leaving, clearly understanding Percy wasn’t in the mood for more chit-chat.
Perseus focused on the sea glass, spreading it out to get a better look at it, then starting to arrange the pieces to fit together to form a beautiful abstract mosaic. Once he was satisfied with the layout, he mixed up more mortar to fix all of the pieces properly into place. Once all the pieces were properly cemented in and it was dry, he then spread a thick layer of clear sealant over it so that it was a singular smooth surface for the basin of the fountain, with no crevasses for bacteria to hide in. As he completed his work, he issued a small blessing for the water in the fountain to remain pure and safe for consumption. While it was not intended for people to drink from the fountain, Perseus felt it would be somewhat blasphemous for a fountain created as an act of worship and divinity to have anything less than pure and clean water.
Alas, he was satisfied the fountain was complete and Percy left the trance he’d been in while using his powers. Right, dinner. He made his way upstairs, quietly eating a lot to replenish the energy he’d used before going to his room and instantly falling asleep.
They’d decided to install the fountain on June 1st, exactly 1 month after the Calamity of Bludhaven had occurred. They were also having a mass memorial service for the lives lost in the disaster. Most of the bodies had never been recovered so no funerals had been held. But funerals were for more than just the dead and the afterlife, they were for the living, to help people move on.
At noon, they had the fountain dedication and memorial service. They’d had a brass plaque made for the fountain and installed on the base of it. The plaque read as follows: “In Memoriam of the lives lost in the Calamity of Bludhaven, and in thanks to the ones who saved the Children of Bludhaven.” Percy had talked to Dick about what to put on the plaque.
Percy knew it was important to include the “thanks” to the Artemis and Apollo in some form, making it clear enough for the dedication to go through while being vague enough that it wouldn’t prompt too many questions. Dick emphasized the need for it to be a symbol in Memoriam, knowing that the dead would not necessarily receive graves and wanting there to be somewhere the mourners could go to feel close to their loved ones. There were vague plans for a more thorough memorial to be built for the lives lost by the event, but that would take more time.
Bruce gave a speech for the Fountain, since officially it was a donation from him or one of the Wayne Foundations. It was important that no one else knew that Percy had been the one to build it, that would attract too much attention and too many questions. Bruce’s speech included information on the ongoing work their foundations were doing to help those affected by the incident. Then Dick gave a speech remembering the many lives lost from the disaster and giving information on the memorial services being held later.
The churches and other religious organizations or funeral parlors of Gotham had divvied out the list of people assumed dead from the Bludhaven incident. There were some 20,000 dead and they had about 100 locations doing 200 people each. They were doing mass memorial services saying the names of all of the dead. Apparently, they would also have photo walls of all of the lost. They’d separated people out as best they could based on their known religious beliefs and they had the religious people doing the spiritual rights to help people pass on.
Perseus-Zagreus had initially done his own prayers to help people pass on to the afterlife, but some were a bit slower to pass on and were still meandering on this side of the veil. With the force of the memorial services being conducted, he would amplify them with another blessing to ensure the dead passed on properly to their chosen afterlife. While others left to the memorial services, Percy stayed behind. He prayed near the fountain, for the dead to pass on, for the injured and afflicted to heal, for the children to be safe as they found their new homes. He also prayed in thanks to Artemis and Apollo.
After a while, he opened his eyes, seeing a faint golden-silver shimmer on the moon part of the fountain statue and he knew the gods were pleased with the sacrifice. He felt a strong sense of peace as he sat near the fountain. As his mind drifted, Perseus realized the Fountain was not merely dedicated to two gods, it was dedicated to three. Artemis and Apollo were clearly depicted in the statue but he, Perseus-Zagreus, was represented in the water itself and the sea glass that filled the basin. He was one of the gods who had protected the children.