A/N: After thinking about it I realized Triton probably wasn't being mean directly towards Percy in the Last Olympian but more likely towards Poseidon, so I got this idea in my head. This is a one-shot about how Triton yearns for his fathers love but it is always given to Poseidon's "favorite child".
Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson or any recognizable characters.
In years past I didn't care about the demigod children of my father, I had no feelings for or against them, they were just there, they didn't matter. Sure there had been some demigods that gained my father's attention, but he didn't love them as much as he did his real family. Perseus Jackson changed that. When my father began to see that mortal, Sally Jackson, he spent more time above the sea instead of in Atlantis with me and my mother. After the second day my mother began to get suspicious and confronted my father about it. That night I had heard my parents shouting at each other, or more like my mom shouting at my father while he just tried to pacify her. This went on all summer long.
Once I decided to follow him to see where he went to. He went to some cabin at a beach to meet Sally Jackson. I had never seen my father so happy, not when he was with my mother, not when he was with me. This made my anger grow in the pit of my stomach, for I realized then that my father loved Sally Jackson more than his actual wife. This wasn't the mortals faulty, I did not blame her for liking my father, he was a god after all, I blamed him. I left as they began to kiss each other, sinking into the sea and transporting to Atlantis.
When that summer was over my father stopped seeing Sally Jackson. I was the only one who knew why: Sally Jackson was pregnant with my fathers illegitimate child. He could no longer see them, could never see his "son". To begin with I thought that maybe everything could go back to normal, but it didn't. My father became depressed with the notion that he couldn't see his child and lover, refused to spend time with me or my mother, and this caused my mother's anger to boil over. For the next couple months I was shunned by my father and at the receiving end of my mother's anger. I never tried to leave or stop any of this, my existence was entirely my father's choosing, if he wished so he could make me fade away from being, so I stayed.
After a year my father began to return back to normal and spent time with us. My mother's anger dissipated and she became happy, loving the attention she was now getting from her husband. And my father paid attention to me once again, trained me with new fighting skills, and taught me even more water tricks(there was always something new to learn). For awhile I had my father's love again and was content, my father actually cared about me for those eleven years.
Then Zeus' master bolt went missing and he blamed my father, saying he had a demigod child and that he told him to steal the Bolt. When that realization reached the ears of my mother she was furious and for months after only yelled in anger at my father for having another affair with a mortal. My father claimed that demigod and sent him on a quest, personally protecting him and giving him a way out of the Underworld. And when Perseus Jackson went to Olympus he got a private conversation with him, he should have considered that a blessing, even I didn't get alone moments with my father, but instead he practically told him off.
For months after that my father became obsessed with making sure his "precious child" was safe from harm, along with his mother. So when Perseus got attacked at his school my father nearly pulled out his hair in fear. My father's anxiety just continued to swell as Perseus continued on his quest for the golden fleece. When he got turned into a hamster by Circe the ocean became agitated, storms brewing and waves crashing against each other. When Perseus finally got back to Camp Half-blood alive it was like a weight was lifted from my father's shoulders and he suddenly was beaming all around Atlantis, much to my mother's chagrin.
This went on once again the next year with the same emotions and the same sea anomalies. But the year after it became even worse, the year that Perseus Jackson and his friends went into the Labyrinth. When the explosion at Mt Saint Helens happened somehow my father immediately knew that it was Perseus Jackson. The sea becoming a war zone, with tsunamis hitting nearly every coast line, ships getting thrown around like toys, waves crashing down on everything, and storms starting around every beach and coast. It was horrible seeing my father like that, so sad and defeated. But my father's emotions changed immediately when it was discovered that the demigod wasn't dead, he had been on Ogygia with Calypso.
And then came around Perseus' fifteenth birthday, one year from becoming the demigod of the prophecy. I had been shocked when I learned that he was leaving, a war had begun in Atlantis and we needed many early wins if we were to beat Oceanus' forces. Worst yet was when my father told him that he was his favorite son. Not demigod, not mortal, not monster and mortal, not illegitimate child, son, which included me. My whole life I had just been trying to get my approval, thousand of years of work, yet this illegitimate child got father's praise after only four years of knowing who his father was, and he wasn't even trying to impress father. It had been like a sucker punch to my gut knowing that father cared more about Perseus Jackson then he did of me.
I pushed aside my emotions though to fight against Oceanus' armies, to protect my home. We were losing horribly, more sea creatures joining Oceanus every day, father growing older everyday, more and more of my allies dying on the battlefield. I was doing a very good job of being civil towards my father until Perseus Jackson came down to Atlantis. I knew that what I was saying was wrong, Perseus had never asked to be a demigod, never asked for father's favor, never asked to be part of the Great Prophecy. But he was the only one with whom I could act out my feeling, my mother would just say how it was a hundred times worse for her and my father, we, it was obvious why I couldn't talk to him about this, it was his fault. So I took out my anger at Perseus, I was willing to have my father's glares directed at me if it meant I could finally let out at least a part of the emotions locked inside of me.
Then my father told us that we were letting Atlantis fall, because Perseus told him to, and stopping Typhon, we were letting our home fall. I stayed quiet and didn't voice any of my anger or fear, keeping it locked inside seemed to work much better like that. We stopped Typhon, but our home was destroyed, turned into shambles, ruins of what used to be a great and magnificent city. All of my father's army went to Olympus, including me, but I did not stay long. When it was told that my father wanted to make Perseus Jackson into a god and make him his lieutenant I could feel something inside me break, even though Perseus declined the offer. Father was willing to make Perseus his lieutenant, in turn replacing me, most likely making me fade without use anymore.
Four months after father's "favorite son" disappeared and he became more distant then ever, worrying about his "precious child". By this time I had given up. I had no more illusions that I would ever matter to my father now, all that mattered to him was Perseus Jackson, the Savior of Olympus. By this time I was also being shunned by both parents. My mother had became very distant after the war, realizing that her husband still had feeling for that mortal female, most of the time she was locked up in her private room. Perseus Jackson had torn apart my whole family. No. It wasn't him it was my father, the one whose praise I yielded for. It was the thing that I wanted most, I would willingly give up my immortality if I could get my father's praise.
But by then I had realized one thing: no matter how hard I tried, no matter how hard I fought, I would always be second best to Perseus Jackson,.
Knowing this, I gave up, I stopped fighting for my father's love. It was just fact that I was only second best.