Okay wait, I was blown away by the response for this. This was originally only going to be a few chapters, to give me the space to start on another fic I have planned out; but after receiving so many kind words, I fully outlined this whole thing and now have a solid idea as to where I am headed.

So, uhhhh, Welcome! I'm Lane, I have been involved in general fandom culture for ten years, (Holy shit) and my entire time in each and every fandom that I have been in has been based in angst and/or family bonding material.

I should probably put a warning here that this is planned to get pretty dark, and as an OG Pearl reader, (if you know, you know) that isn't to be taken lightly with me. There will be H/C and well, but oh boy, I hope y'all are ready for some fun :)

This chapter was only read over once after writing it, so lmk if you see any mistakes i just really wanted ti get it out. I wrote this WHOLE ASS THING today

Without further ado, let's get into it.

**TW wounds on forearms (blood letting)**

While Triton's panic at Percy's body's refusal to heal had calmed significantly since they had initially gotten to Atlantis, he was currently doing whatever he could to control his near frenzy. The water around him mirrored his swirling thoughts and emotions as he paced the infirmary, muttering to himself.

The only other sounds in the room were a quiet whimper from Percy and the healer that had remained, who despite her best efforts, could not even get close to the boy for long enough to treat him. As soon as she would get anywhere near the wound, he would jerk and flinch out of her hold, putting strain on the wound.

When Poseidon had first gotten to the infirmary, he had thought that the healer who had retrieved him about there being 'something terribly wrong with the prince' must have been referring to Triton.

So much so in fact that he hadn't even noticed Percy lying on the hospital bed, skin as pale as the sheet where he lay until Triton steered him towards him.

Poseidon's reaction was one of rage and terror. The earth shook, and the seas became treacherous. Whoever had inflicted this pain on the boy was surely now aware of their seeming success.

Noticing in some part of his incandescent mind that the water that he was submerged in was not healing the mutilated body of his son, Poseidon instantly tried to heal him through his own abilities, only to regret it when a barely conscious Percy screamed with raw agony and curled in upon himself.

The despair at inflicting such pain upon his son snapped Poseidon and his out-of-control emotions back to himself in an instant. But being fully present meant that he had to truly acknowledge the horror in front of him. Poseidon did something that was incredibly uncommon for him; he froze, entirely unsure what to do next.

It wasn't until Percy's utter sobs of pain died down into mere whimpers, and his rigid body that had curled into a ball in a hazy, pain-addled attempt at self-defence had relaxed as much as possible, that Poseidon actually began to get a good look at him.

His normally deep tan skin was a sickly white-grey hue and caked in his own blood. His hair had somehow plastered itself to his forehead despite being underwater. The laceration that divided his torso ran from above his shoulder, diagonally across his chest down to his hipbone and around his side and was so deep that Poseidon was sure that he could see bone in spots.

While that was sickening on its own, the wound and his skin were not only caked with dried blood but as well a shining, black ooze; not to mention that travelling across the expanse of ashen skin was a web of raised, pulsating, black veins.

"I haven't a clue who could have possibly inflicted this damage," said Triton suddenly, speaking up for the first time since Poseidon's earlier explosion of emotion and power. Wearing a weary expression, he drifted over to Percy's bedside and sighed, raising one hand to worry his brow, looking over the demigod with distress.

Poseidon did not even try to hide the disbelief on his face at seeing his eldest son express any sort of worry or stress about his youngest's well-being, "I haven't ever seen anything quite like this," he continued, lowering his hand from his head apply a solution to a piece of soft, flexible seaweed that was typically used similar to gauze.

Careful to not disturb Percy, Triton gently dabbed around the torn skin with the seaweed, cleaning his skin of the dried, sticky blood and the pitch-black toxin that still covered him.

"I have not seen anything quite like this either," Poseidon began, watching Triton work to clean the wound.

For a moment, Poseidon's tone shifted to an almost amused one "But tell me, son, when exactly did you become so fon-" Unfortunately any humour that had sparked in the god's voice was quickly extinguished but the simultaneous anguished shouts of both Triton and Percy.

Completely unexpectedly to Triton and Poseidon, even putting an incredibly slight amount of pressure on the wound to clean it had once again exacerbated the delicate balance between the gash not getting worse, but not getting better either.

Now agitated, the toxin spilled freely from the gash. For a split second Triton had thought that the dark liquid had been blood and was quick to cover the wound with both hands in a futile attempt to cease the flow.

He had not even considered for a moment that any part of this could be a mistake, but the second that the dark liquid flowed to cover his hands, it burnt at his skin like acid.

Falling to the ground with a shout of agony, Triton had quickly come to regret his split-second decision. Though he had regretted it all the more when the black liquid continued to gush from the slashed open skin, and Percy let out a tortured shriek.

Somehow, the black fluid did not seem to follow the underwater rules of gravity or of liquid, because it poured out of the wound and pooled on his stomach, then with unbelievable speed, it spilled over the sides of his torso and began collecting on the bed.

If Triton had a violent reaction to the toxin, Percy had a truly vicious one. Everywhere the black fluid touched visibly sizzled and burnt, corroding away at his skin. The gash somehow seemed to grow in size and the black veins travelled further across his body.

Out of stress, pain or something else entirely, Percy began to seize; and it was with that that Poseidon was able to snap out of the frozen state he was in for the second time since coming across his son that day.

He was initially unsure if he could risk moving him out of the growing pile of acid while he was seizing, but had decided that it was most likely be the better plan of the two.

It only took a moment to transfer him to a nearby additional hospital bed and to redirect the flow of the currents around him to keep the blackness from coating his skin and causing any more torment.

At least for the time being.

It had been just over two weeks and Percy was still unconscious. His face had a pallor that if it were not for his sunken eyes flickering rapidly behind his eyelids, one would think he were dead.

Well, if the dead periodically had violent seizures.

It was unclear if the event involving Triton had caused it or not, but Percy continued to have periodic fits and seizures, each more violent than the last. It had gotten to the point where it had become necessary to restrain him for his own safety.

If it had not been hard enough on Poseidon to see his son suffering in such a state, it sure as anything had been to bind him to his bed. Trap him like some animal or criminal.

The worst part, however, was that he had no idea what the toxin could be; and he certainly did not know how to fix it.

From what they could understand thus far, water made it spread further into his body, and actually seemed to make it metabolize into his system, but stalled the progression of the deterioration of the wound itself.

On the other hand, using godly healing, or any other healing method seemed to entirely backfire and instantly increased the severity of the already rapidly deteriorating wound.

As well, as they of course had found out the hard way that putting any amount of pressure on or around the wound would cause it to spew out venom and heighten every aspect of the injury.

All in all, it seemed to be a bit of a trade-off. Did they want the wound worsening or the poison to spread further? Both options seemed to cause Percy intense, immeasurable pain, but at least if they kept the wound in stasis, he seemed to be a bit more stable. He seemed to maybe have a chance to survive

They were still unsure of the full and true effects that the poison had on his body, so it was a risk keeping him underwater, but if it was a choice between Percy not being submerged, causing the wound to worsen on its own, and him feeling the effects of the venom spreading through his veins or just the latter, well the choice was obvious.

Just because the choice was obvious, did not however mean that it was easy. Poseidon was quite frankly terrified, he had never seen anything quite like this. Sure, he had seen his fair share of curses and poisons, but not one of them behaved like the black toxin that was currently working its way through his son's body.

His very fragile human son's body. He had been the one to pass the final judgment and made the tough call to keep him in Atlantis, despite the effects of the poison spreading; but seeing the toll that it was taking on his son was taking one on him as well.

Poseidon's form seemed to shift; sometimes showing nearly every bit of his age, and sometimes showing the vulnerability and fear that he felt for his child in the form of one.

Triton, who had been present for nearly the entirety of the time that Percy had been in Atlantis, watched his Fathers concerned disposition with one of his own.

It was no secret that he not only harboured a general distaste in regards to his father's demigods in the past but particularly so for the one who had been dubbed the 'Saviour of Olympus'.

This, and his tendency to do his part to not get attached to fleeting things is what made his newfound tenderness to the unconscious boy so baffling to him.

What had changed? Honestly, Triton didn't know. He had only gone to him that night to ask a now irrelevant favour which had required a demigod's assistance. Poseidon was so deadset on forcing the two of them to not only spend time together but to get along as well, so he had been ecstatic when he found out about it and had 'suggested' that Triton involved his brother.

Initially, Triton had flat out refused, but of course, his father's suggestion was in all actuality anything but.

However, at that moment, seeing his father appearing more stressed than he would normally ever allow himself to show, and seeing the child lying there, decrepit and with his condition deteriorating every moment; Triton had never been more glad to have followed his father's orders.

If he had not gone into camp to retrieve his brother that night, considering the state that he had been in, Triton was certain that they would not have known that he was in any danger until it had already been too late. The thought evoked long-buried emotion from deep within him.

Of course, the Triton from before surely wouldn't have cared. In fact, he might have even celebrated. His father had been more stressed and distracted in the years that Percy Jackson had been alive than in any of the years that he could remember,

But that brought him right back to his earlier thought; why did he care now? What had changed in that short period of time in the cabin that had shifted how he felt about the boy?

While Triton certainly could not say he particularly liked the demigod, he undoubtedly no longer hated him. In fact, it had become clear to him that he certainly held some level of concern for him and as well a general sense of care for his wellbeing.

It was a far cry from the relationship that he was sure that their father hoped that they would have; but he certainly no longer loathed the boy simply for existing, and who knows, maybe with a little time and effort they could become closer.

After all, while beginning to grow fond of the demigod certainly was not Triton's plan, it would assuredly make their father happy.

Considering the fact that it was starting to seem as though Percy's life force was withering away with him, he very much needed a little happiness. Triton vowed to himself that when Percy woke up and recovered from his injuries, he would put in the effort to get to know him, or at the very least to tolerate him.

He would survive, he just had to. If he didn't… well maybe there was a reason that Triton always made sure to not get attached.

Besides Apollo who was still off who knows where as a mortal, they had reached out to every god and healer that they knew and not one could figure out what was happening to him.

Well, alright, almost every god.

"There is absolutely no way that she will help," Poseidon said with a scoff and a dismissive toss of the hand before resuming the text that he was reading. What he did not expect was for Triton to round on him full of anger. "Have you even asked her?"

Poseidon once again looked up from the text that he was reading to meet his son's narrowed eyes with a pair of his own "I refuse to lower myself to that." he rebutted to his son's growing irritation.

This, however, turned out to be quite the opposite thing that needed to be said at that moment because with more bitterness than Poseidon had heard Triton direct at him he spoke, "You would essentially give his life just so that you don't have to ask for her help?"

Triton thought back to what Percy had said earlier. "No wonder he thinks that he's just a toy to be played with," he said before promptly leaving before his father even had a chance to respond.

It took very little time for Triton to get in contact with Athena. That was not the hard part of this.

Triton took a breath and turned his gaze towards her. "I don't blame you, I never have. I know that you were not at fault for her death. However," he shifted himself to turn to face her fully, "If you know something here, now, and you do nothing about it, then you will be at fault for his."

Athena raised her eyebrows, a smirk on her face "Since when do you care about his demigods?"

Triton sputtered, "I do not!" with darkening cheeks, he spun in a huff to look over the railing he had been leaning on sideways.

"Ah, Mhmm." Athena said nodding, her smirk growing into a small, teasing smile as she leaned over the railing herself, taking in the view.

"I don't!" Triton protested to no one but himself, Athena let out a small laugh. "No, no. Of course not." she gave him a knowing look and he gave her an exasperated one in return "Why then is your father not here asking this of me, it seems a lot more in his interest than yours."

He shot her a small glare and she laughed lightly before quelling her smile into a more serious face, "Very well. From what you have told me, it sounds as if this is at least partially the poison that is born of Polybotes' touch." Triton paled and his eyes widened, cursing "However there undoubtedly is something more at play here. I am unsure if it is another part of the poison or if it is perhaps due to some sort of cursed weapon."

Triton nodded solemnly, "Very well then, what is the antidote, how do we fix this, fix him?"

Athena gave him a pitying look, "There is not one. The only way to cure this is for you to drain the infected area if blood, or if worse comes to worst, remove the area altogether."

Triton went cold."His entire body has become infected." Desperation began to coat his words, "His blood has been fully polluted, and his flesh has begun to decay." His gaze fell to the ground and he felt a hand on his shoulder. "Then I am sorry for your loss. You chose the wrong demigod of his to finally get attached to after all this time."

"I am not-" but she was already gone.

As a messenger, one would think that Triton would be used to delivering bad news, especially to his father, but he had no idea how he was going to tell him that his favourite child was going to wither and decay before his very eyes. Let alone tell him the supposed cause of it.

He approached the door to his father's study and knocked

To be entirely honest, he took it a lot better than Triton was expecting.

That was a problem. There is a reason for the saying 'the calm before the storm' and that reason is Poseidon and his blasted temperament. He had barely reacted when Triton had revealed the information to him, which meant that Triton had to keep a very close eye on him, especially with his mother away or else he may do something utterly unhinged.

On the other hand, his father was sneaky, not that he would ever admit it of course, and as he could be in multiple places at once Triton could also not let Percy be unguarded. He did not think that Poseidon would hurt him, but he did not doubt that he could very well do something… heretical to preserve him.

Percy was suffering, every second of every day; and he was dying, just very slowly, the water around him and the heart of their father's power keeping him from dying more easily. Triton did not want him to die, but at the same time, maybe that would be a kinder fate.

Triton found him standing over Percy's bed. In the time that Triton was gone, not much had changed. He looked basically the same, which is to say terrible, but the same nonetheless.

"Father?" Triton began while approaching the pair. Poseidon did not look up but instead brushed some of Percy's hair off of his face. "I know what you are going to say, and the answer is no."

Triton sighed. "Father -" Poseidon's head snapped up and with a growl, he cut him off. "No, Triton. I will not kill him. I understand that you do not like him, that you have never liked any of them, but I truly believed that I saw some changes, some improvements in your attitude towards him, but I suppose that was just wishful thinking on my part. This is the end of the discussion I will not tolerate any further words or actions towards him and if you should make any moves to end his life, you will sorely regret it." he finished with venom more potent than the black ooze working its way through the boy on the bed between them.

Triton just looked back at him with sad eyes and sighed. "As much as it pains my pride to admit it, I have come to care for him and that is precisely why I say anything at all. He is dying, father, whether you like it or not. But rather than taking mercy on him and ceasing the suffering he is in a constant state of, you instead elect to keep him here, for what? Or more accurately for whom? I think you need to think deeply on whether you are keeping him alive for his sake or for your own." Triton took one last look at the boy, planting a brotherly kiss on his forehead and turning to leave.

"I cannot lose him." Triton stopped in his path, turning back to look at him. "Then what are you going to do about it?" Poseidon opened and closed his mouth, trying to find the words but seemed unable to. His eyes fell to Percy's face. "I don't know."

"Do as you please, father, but remember it is not only you that this affects." with his final declaration, Triton left the pair alone in the infirmary.

There was every possibility for his father to take him and hide him away, but he had felt as though he had gotten through to him, at least on some level. His father still held that barely controlled, pressurized ball of emotions and power right out in front of him. And it was only a matter of time before it burst.

As it turns out it burst the very next day. There was a hustle and bustle around the palace like Triton had not seen in a while, certainly not in the time that the demigod had been there.

Returning to the infirmary Trion was certain that he could not be any more shocked or appalled by something happening in there.

He was, however, sorely mistaken.

An air pocket surrounded Percy, who now lay propped up arms spread as if he was about to be handed something large. Upon further inspection, there were basins on either side of him inscribed with wards and sigils. Realization hit him like a brick.

"Ah, Triton!" Poseidon said in a far too cheery tone considering the situation at hand. Damn him and his moods. Yes, Triron could very much be moody as well but his emotional changes were nothing as compared to his father's. This wasn't a normal emotional change, however, this was the other shoe dropping.

"Blood Letting!? Father, there was a reason that utterly barbaric practice was left in the past."

Poseidon rolled his eyes "We have to remove as much of the toxin as possible, it's converted his blood into itself and it is because of that, that this is more complicated, that is what Athena told you, yes?" Triton was slightly taken aback that not only had his dad actually listened to something that Athena had said but that he was following her advice. Huh, he really had lost it.

"Yes, this is a major risk, but if this is truly his last chance; then we have to try, don't we?" the two gods shared a look and Triton made the most exasperated sound he had ever before, which is saying a lot. "Alright, I'm in." Poseidon grinned. It was incredibly seldom that he could get Triton on board with his... Ideas, but whenever he managed to do so, they, for the most part, were capable of so much.

Poseidon motioned to the basins."It has to have somewhere to go when it exits out of his system. If this toxin spreads and expands in water then we cannot simply let it filter into the atmosphere." Triton nodded in response.

Pulling out a long straight blade, Poseidon went over to Percy's side. "Essentially we need to get everything out, as if there is even a trace left, it will instantly infect him again and this will be for nothing" Triton swallowed thickly

"Once it gets down to it, he will need some amount of blood to keep him alive, we will need to keep a small amount of the poisoned blood isolated around his heart to keep it pumping while we get the transfusion set up. it cannot mix together with the new blood at all, one of us needs to create a barrier around the heart to keep it in while the other drains the rest into the basins."

Triton nodded in understanding, it seemed highly difficult and riskier than he had even thought before. But something had to be done, and if it wasn't, then they would lose him with no doubt.

It was a long difficult process, and while it seemed to be working, as evidenced by the black veins slowly retreating down his arms, it was getting more and more difficult by the second.

"That's enough, it has to be, he won't hold on like this." Triton's desperate voice came, but Poseidon shook his head, "Remember, If we don't take enough it will all be for nothing." they continued their slow, careful process of draining his blood, slowly, but effectively so as to not burst any veins or vessels. Soon enough they had come down to the last amount.

"Ready?" asked the older god, Triton simply nodded in response, making a concentrated ball of the toxic blood surrounding his heart. It was only a few seconds, it would be okay, it would have to be.

In under five seconds and one fluid motion, Poseidon drove just enough blood for Percy to survive into his body and Triton removed the remaining poison, careful to keep a barrier around it to ensure no transference of the contaminants.

The effect was immediate, but not nearly enough. While some of the colours returned to his face, for the most part, his skin remained a pale, sickly shade of gray. The poison being out of his body meant that the cuts down his forearms had already nearly healed.

Letting out a cry of relief Poseidon instantly went into motion setting up the transfusion for the rest of the blood as he had only given him the base amount he needed to make the removal of the toxin as smooth as possible and to prevent any cross-contamination.

After inserting the IV line, an extremely exhausted Poseidon turned to face his eldest son who was looking just about as tired as him. The two wanted nothing more but to rest and regain energy, but they both knew that they would not be able to do so if they did not ensure that Percy was alright and that he was going to stay alright.

So the two gods sat by his bedside for the rest of the night, and night turned into morning and morning into midday.

Seemingly, it had worked, Percy had stopped whimpering and convulsing in his slumber. They had done it. It was over.

Or was it?

So I officially have the full outline set up, and I will most likely be moving a few things around here and there but over all, I am so stoked about what I have planned!

I hope you guys like angst because you're going to be getting some coming up pretty soon!

Lmk what you think!