After what feels like an eternity, they land back in Poseidon's throne room.
Percy's knees buckle almost immediately and Sally sinks to the ground with him. He's breathing heavily and trembling. She just holds him as he begins to sob into her shoulder. She strokes his hair and murmurs softly to him as she waits for him to calm down.
She glances up and meets Poseidon's eyes. It's obvious that he's never seen Percy break down before. She can see in his eyes that seeing his son like this pains him greatly. She's suddenly immensely grateful that Percy has Poseidon as a father and not one of the other gods.
Slowly Percy begins to calm. He finally lifts his head to look at her.
"Mom?" he asks; his voice hoarse.
She smiles and reaches up to wipe away his tears, "I'm here, sweetie." She idly wonders how he can have tears if they're underwater but chalks it up to it all being a dream.
"What… where are we?" he asks, seeming very confused.
She opens her mouth to answer but Poseidon clears his throat behind Percy, drawing their attention.
Percy whips around so quickly that Sally barely registers the movement but she suddenly finds herself pushed behind Percy as he draws his sword, ready to fend off any attack. He relaxes a second later as he recognizes his father.
"Dad." He says, letting out a relieved breath, "It's you."
Poseidon smiles wearily, "Yes, son. You can put your sword away now."
Percy nods and caps riptide. He steps aside to allow Sally to come forward again.
"Sorry." He says.
Poseidon waves a hand dismissively, "It's alright. I'm just glad to see that your reflexes are good. Although I did not mean to startle you."
Percy nods and looks around again, "Uhm, so where are we? What's going on? Why are both of you here? Under the sea? Not that I'm complaining, it's just… weird."
Poseidon smiles at Percy's assessment before explaining everything to him.
Percy doesn't seem surprised to find out that someone's causing his nightmares or that that someone may very well be Tartarus. Rather he seems resigned to accept that this will be part of his life now.
Sally and Poseidon swap worried glances.
Poseidon hands Percy a small trident that fits into the palm of his hand. He tells Percy that as long as he keeps that close to him when he's asleep it should be easier for him to shield Percy from the nightmares and to pull him out of it if need be. He also promises to speak to Hypnos about this problem as soon as he can.
Percy looks like he might cry again; obviously overwhelmed by all that Poseidon is doing for him. Sally can relate.
"Wait," Percy says, "Do you think that Tartarus, or whoever, is messing with Annabeth too?"
Poseidon frowns, "I am not sure. I'll speak to Athena about the issue as well."
The answer seems to satisfy Percy for now.
Poseidon puts a hand on Percy's shoulder and smiles fondly at him.
"I'm proud of you, son." Poseidon tells him, "We didn't get much time to talk in Greece, but you made me immensely proud that day. Always remember that you make me proud."
This time Percy does cry and Poseidon pulls him into a firm embrace.
The sight is enough to bring Sally to tears again.
They pull apart and Poseidon tells Percy to get some rest. Then Percy disappears and it's just Poseidon and Sally again.
"Thank you." Sally says, "For letting me help you."
"Of course." Poseidon answers with a slight incline of the head.
"You will call me when he gets stuck again." It's a command, not a request.
Something about ordering a god to do something is strangely satisfying.
Poseidon chuckles, "Of course, my dear. It was good to see you again. Now, go and be with our son. He needs you now more than you know."
Sally wakes up in her bed. For a moment she's confused, then everything comes rushing back to her.
She carefully disentangles herself from Paul's arms and goes straight to Percy's room.
She finds him sitting on his bed. His feet are on the floor, he's bent over so that his elbows rest on his knees and his head is in his hands.
She sits down next to him and rubs soothing circles on his back.
He turns to her and drops his head on her chest and begins to sob. She just holds him as he lets go of all the emotion she's pretty sure he's been keeping bottled up for a while now.
Eventually he calms down. Slowly he begins to open up about what happened in Tartarus. He doesn't explain everything, most of it is still too difficult for him to talk about, but he explains what was happening in the dream.
Then he tells her that he's scared to tell her everything. He's scared that once she hears about everything that he did she won't look at him the same again.
She pulls him back into a tight hug and she assures him that she is his mother. She promises that no matter what, he will always be her son; she will always be his mother, and she will never ever stop loving him. No one, not even Tartarus himself will ever be able to change that.
Percy responds by reciprocating the tight embrace that she has him in.
Sally knows that he's changed, that he'll probably never be the same again, but it doesn't matter because to her he will always be her little boy. She knows that at the moment he's not fine, not at all, but she's confident that one day he will be again and she will be there for him every step of the way.
She's his mother and she pities anyone who dares to underestimate her power as such.
AN: Thank you all so much for reading this! Especially to those of you who have faved, followed, and reviewed! I just wanted to take this opportunity to let you all know that I have started a tumblr account where I post things as I work on them, so if you would like to read my in progress fics then you can check it out at .com. Love you all and see you with my next story!