Disclaimer: Percy Jackson and the Olympians belongs to Rick Riordan. Nothing much to say here.
Enjoy!
Being the parent of a demigod was never easy. The constant worrying, the notion that they could be dead; Are they all right? Will they come home? It was exhausting, to say the least.
And then there was Sally Jackson.
Exhausting was an understatement; it was definitely hard, being the mother of a boy who seemed to attract trouble like a magnet. Danger lurked at every corner, and it clung to him ever since he was old enough to walk. She loved him more than anyone on the entire planet; what if she were to lose him? What if he left one day and never came home? The "what-ifs" could drive her insane.
But after sixteen August eighteenths, Sally figured that she might as well get used to it.
His first birthday was one of the most memorable ones. She remembered him stumbling across dull apartment carpet, his small, unpracticed feet tripping over each other. She cooed his name and he giggled, reaching out toward her.
"Come here, Percy! Come to Mommy, sweetheart!"
He latched onto her fingers with his smaller ones, falling into her lap. She laughed as his hands tangled into curls of her hair, wiping away a smudge of blue icing on his cheek with her thumb. Wisps of raven hair curled over his forehead, and green eyes a shade of brilliant emerald blinked up at her; a shade she had only ever seen on one other person.
It had only been the two of them that year. Sally knew that it would be that way for a long time, if not the rest of his childhood. It worried her.
It was Sally and Percy Jackson against the world.
The next few years passed quickly; as each August eighteenth passed, Sally began to realize just how powerful of a scent Percy had developed. Small monsters prowled outside the building from time to time. A miniature, stray hellhound lurking in an alleyway a few blocks from their apartment, and so on.
And then came the sixth August eighteenth.
By the time he reached his sixth birthday, Percy had encountered a considerable amount of horrid people in his life. This was something Sally knew very well. From teachers that hissed at him when he walked by, to bullies who teased his newly diagnosed dyslexia; she learned fairly quickly her son's life wasn't always going to be very pleasant. But it wasn't until she married Gabe Ugliano did she realize just how unpleasant his life could get.
Needless to say, Percy's first birthday as a stepson isn't one of Sally's fondest memories.
Granted, she didn't marry Gabe because she loved him. She didn't even like him; he was the epitome of worthless. But if marrying the foulest human being on the planet would mask Percy's demigod scent, then so be it.
The day had started out as any birthday should; happy. She remembered waking Percy up with the smell of chocolate chip waffles. His small form stumbled into the kitchen, a giant smile plastered on his face. He was still in his pajamas and she picked him up, ruffling his hair with a laugh.
Large, heavy footsteps echoed from down the hallway, until a giant mass of beer belly, chips, and failure materialized at the entrance to the kitchen.
It was then the day began to go down hill.
Sally still wonders why Gabe chose that specific day, out of all days, to get out of bed before one in the afternoon.
It began with casual small talk. Then it became an argument, Sally's tone bordering on annoyance. This argument escalated into anger on Sally's behalf, yelling and swearing filth on Gabe's behalf, and finally, soft crying from behind the locked door of Percy's room.
He didn't come out of his room for a while. Gabe left, furious slamming and splintering the wood of the apartment door.
She eventually coaxed Percy out of his room, her heart breaking at the sight of his large, watery eyes, tears leaving tracks down his cheeks. The day ended with a promise of ice cream and a trip to the arcade, his eyes lighting up at the suggestion. After tucking Percy into bed, Sally retired to her room.
She collapsed on her bed, breaking to painful, exhausted sobs.
Percy's next few birthdays passed in another blur. His scent grew even stronger, and he started questioning the very things that Sally tried so hard to keep away from him. He didn't pry, but every now and then he would ask something about his past, or why he was seeing things like men with only one eye. They left Sally speechless, and her pathetic explanations would have to do.
Such was the case on his twelfth birthday.
"Mom?"
Sally looked up from her paperwork with a start, her concentration shattering. Filling out job applications wasn't something she wanted to do on her son's birthday; she wanted to do more than just take him out for pizza and ice cream, but she didn't have a choice at this point. She couldn't count on Gabe to even get off their old, beer-stained sofa, much less go to work at the mega mart. It was up to her.
Sally gave her son a weak smile, "What is it, sweetie?"
Percy lingered on the other side of the kitchen counter awkwardly, a doubtful look etched onto his face. Strands of uncombed, messy hair fell into his eyes and he swiped it away absently, only to have it fall into the same position again.
"Are you… are you okay?" He asked, his voice faltering slightly. He scratched the back of his head, looking at her with an expression of apprehension.
Sally sighed, setting her pen down on the counter. She was expecting this question to come up eventually. The truth was she wasn't all right. With Percy's twelfth birthday, he would be that much closer to being whisked away and thrown into a world of monsters, gods, and a life of pain and loss; something she never wanted him to have.
Now that he was twelve, monsters she couldn't even dream of would be after him, and the idea of not being able to protect her son, the only light in her life, terrified Sally. She had tried everything; boarding school, hiding his parentage, marrying Gabe. Still, his scent was becoming stronger every day.
Eventually, she was able to string together an explanation; how she needed to make ends meet, and so on. Percy wandered back to his room after awhile, still seeming confused. He didn't bring up the subject much after that, but it was obvious at this point he suspected something. Sally picked up her pen, attempting to take her mind off the subject. As long as Percy was safe, that was all that mattered.
Eleven months later, Percy Jackson was journeying to the Underworld to talk to the lord of the dead, rescue his mother, and save the world in a span of a week.
So much for safe.
Percy's thirteenth and fourteenth birthdays were the first time he had ever been truly happy. He helped save the world, Camp Half-Blood, and had friends he could truly count on. Naturally, now that Percy was fully aware of his parentage and potential destiny, there was always a lingering danger that hung over his head. The occasional monster stopped by, confusing dreams that made no sense kept him up from time to time, the quests that he always put himself right in the middle of. But, for the time being, the mythological world wasn't on the brink of destruction.
Until, of course, his fifteenth birthday.
Sally noticed immediately that something was wrong. Percy seemed to be more distant than he usually was. His shoulders slumped. His smiles came out more like winces. She knew something was waiting for him; something he had never handled before, and the weight of it seemed to crush him.
Not to mention his feelings for a certain blonde haired girl that were becoming more and more apparent. Percy and Annabeth had been friend ever since he was twelve, but as he grew older their relationship was changing. He didn't talk about her as much, and now just her name could make his cheeks redden. Something had happened between them over the summer. Sally didn't bring it up much for Percy's sake, but every time she did she got the same, aforementioned reaction.
The party had been nice enough. It was just Sally, Percy, Tyson, and Paul. The sight of Poseidon at their door made her knees go weak; she hadn't seen him in so long, and his sudden appearance startled her half to death. He steered Percy away from the rest of them, and when Percy reappeared, he seemed even more nervous than he was before.
The rest of that school year seemed to pass by too quickly. As the days went by Percy seemed more nervous, jumping at just the sound of his name. Sally remembered walking into his room one night to see him in a fitful sleep, his eyebrows furrowing. His hand was clenched painfully around his pen-come-sword, Riptide.
Sally sighed, leaning down and brushing a few strands of hair away from his eyes. With his sixteenth birthday rapidly approaching, something dark lurked just around the corner; something he had never faced before.
Over the years, Sally had learned to swallow her fears and hope for the best. She repeated the same phrases over and over in her head, like a broken record: he's not dead, he's going to come home, and he'll be all right.
He's going to live past his sixteenth birthday, just wait and see.
Firing shot guns, watching Paul gut monsters with Shakespearian swordplay, and seeing the world collapse in front of her eyes wasn't how Sally pictured spending her son's sixteenth birthday.
Arguing with a security guard in the Empire State Building wasn't something on the top of her to-do list either.
"I'm telling you," she yelled, "we have to go up! My son-"
Percy appeared in her line of vision, for the first time in what seemed like an eternity. She vaguely remembered squeezing the life out of him with a bone-crushing hug, and then doing the same with Annabeth. She felt herself sag with relief at the sight of them; covered with dirt, exhausted, and a mysterious burn on the front of Percy's shirt, but alive.
Just as she was beginning to feel like the danger was over, Nico di Angelo materialized, pulling them away for yet another mythological disaster.
As the three run off, Sally stands with Paul, unable to feel anything but amusement. She knew she should be exhausted, or worried about her son. And yet, there she stood, under the ruble of the divine council of gods, suppressing a smile.
There would always be time for worrying. More dangerous quests, more dangerous monsters, and more gods he had somehow managed to anger with a sarcastic comment.
She knew it sounded crazy. But maybe, just maybe, he would be okay.
AN: This is a sixteenth birthday present for my friend and fellow fanfiction writer Nerdius. Her birthday was on the fourteenth of August, and I know this is late, and I feel horrid about it. But I've spent a lot of time on this, and been through three drafts. So hopefully it was worthwhile. And, since it was Percy's birthday yesterday, I felt something on sixteen years of Percy Jackson would be appropriate for this.
But anyway, let me know what you think in a review! :) You can find this on my Tumblr and Deviantart; I'm under the same name there! :3