October 11th, 2011

New York

02:33EDT

A sudden flash of blue light in an isolated place used to be a cause for concern in the past. But in the age of aliens, gods and superheroes in tights, the few citizens present didn't pay any attention to it. But they did when they saw the blue flash turn into a small, dense fog and then cleared to leave a tall woman and shorter kid. The woman in particular garnered a lot of attention being the one and only Princess of the Amazons. They had all seen her on TV but many didn't get the opportunity to meet her in person. She was tall, extraordinarily so. One of the onlookers casually estimated her to be at about six-seven or six-eight. The shorter kid next to her was not short by normal standards. He stood at an impressive six-two. But next to her, he was dwarfed.

Diana's mouth was still hanging. She collected herself and then spoke, "That is new. Since when can you... teleport?" He smirked that infuriating way which she had learned to identify in the past. "Don't tell me. You could before as well?" Her voice rising a pitch when she asked. He simply nodded continuing to smirk. She sighed. "One of these days Perseus, I am going to lasso you and get a full grasp on all your powers, abilities and skills."

He continued smirking, "As far as I remember, since μητέρα adopted me, your lasso can no longer force me to speak my secrets unless she willed it. So I think your plan needs some adjustment." His smirk widened when he saw her glare slightly at him.

"But it still doesn't obey your will like mine and so I could persuade you to reveal them to me while keeping you bound. I am willing to bet that my sisters will help with it as well, considering the amount of grief you caused me." At that his smirk dropped.

"Um... Why don't we get something while I spill the beans on a few things?"

Diana smiled and said, "Let's make it quick. I do have early shifts in the Watchtower tomorrow and later meet an Indian delegation for enhancing cooperation with Themiscyra. Did you know, the Indian civilization was the one other civilization besides the Egyptians and Persians that Amazons envied? In fact, in what is now modern day Pakistan, a lot of Ancient Greek texts, art and other decorative items were found buried. They are the last remaining Amazonian pieces of heritage from the era before Heracles... damaged us."

Percy smiled. She had changed a lot. He knew that but it was only now that the scope of change dawned on him. His previous stint had been mainly one of battling monsters and training. They bonded over family, shared ideals and basically her naivete. Now however, she no longer itches for a battle. She has become a true warrior, one with so much skill, finesse, power and more importantly the responsibility to keep violence as the last medium or option for progress and change. It had taken him nearly three centuries to try and agree to come to a negotiated peace with the monsters in the pit. It took his so long to realize that perhaps battle isn't the only way to survive. A diplomatic approach with a healthy paranoia would suffice.

"Interesting Diana. I am sure you will manage... to... find an amicable arrangement with them. What would you like to have?" They had entered a small cafe that she found out from New York Cops to be among the best in Manhattan. Their Iced Mocha was absolutely mind-blowing. If she knew for a fact that it wasn't nectar, she would definitely have had trouble distinguishing it. Also when she found the cafe, it intrigued her slightly. After all, they were the only bakery and cafe to offer blue-coloured foodstuff and the name read, "Sally's Cafe." It just hit her then. "Perseus... Do you own this bakery?"

Percy shifted and shuffled a bit and didn't meet her eyes. Then he exhaled as if trying to build the courage to her. He finally met her eyes and said, "Yes."

Her expression went from inquisitively curious to silently shooting embers from her eyes. "I have visited this establishment numerous times."

Percy swallowed. "I know."

She almost blew a gasket at his short reply. But he cut her off. "And we can talk about this once we have what we want." He paused. Then he pointed to a room in the back of the cafe. "Just go through the door and make yourself comfortable in the third room on the left. I will join you in five minutes."

She knew she could control herself for a bit more time. But he was seriously pushing her levels of tolerance.


Percy came into his office holding two cups of iced mocha and a caramel infused cold coffee. There, he found a highly agitated Diana sitting tensely as if preparing to viciously knock him out but do it in a slow, calculated and painful way.

He decided to start with the cafe. "I'm guessing you already put it together regarding the cafe and cookies?" She nodded stiffly. "μητέρα helped me with the starting funds. From here I was able to establish a network of cafe's around the American Continents and am planning to push it to Europe soon. They are popular because they have been spruced up with her magic and energy. Makes it feel more welcoming and homely."

Diana took a deep breath. "She knew and didn't tell me?" He just stayed silent. "Who else?"

"They all know."

"Including the bitch who tried to turn you into a critter?" He winced. Her face was agonised. "Why Perce? Why would I be the only one not to know this. What did I do to hurt you this bad? I thought you enjoyed our dynamic. I thought you cherished our bond just as deeply as I have. And to learn that you could just stay away for nearly half a century?" As he seemed to start responding, she noticed he was nearly in tears. "I am not finished. If I don't mean anything to you Perseus just let me know. After these two months of probation, I won't ever bother you again. After all, maybe Batman was right. You may have returned, but you might not even be the one that had gone in the first place."

Percy shed just one tear. "I know I said I had no reason to stay away from you. And believe me I truly have none. But, I was insecure and justified it with things like I would be changing events or not accomplishing my duty to the restoration of the time stream. And I didn't return immediately... I reappeared fourty years ago onto this plane and you had gone back to an island where I am forbidden from entering and cannot reach. I tried seeking an audience from the gods and hoped to rejoin you, but She blocked the vote and as a patron of the Amazons, she had veto on this matter. It was thirty three years later I saw you when you came back from Themiscyra to fight off that invasion. At first I tried my best to get in touch with you... But you were constantly surrounded in media attention and league work with Batman being so paranoid that I couldn't meet your discreetly.

And then a few months later, I was unfortunately exposed to a concentrated version of the fear gas from Gotham. It made me see things and among them, one of them was being discarded and I... I... didn't want to chance that in real life. I had so many disappointments and so much happen that didn't go my way, and I wanted my memories of our journey to be more positive. They are all I have now.

So I avoided you... Please don't think I hate you. I couldn't. Not after everything we have been through. Not after everything you have done for me. I owe you more than my life. I am truly sorry for having broken my promise, Di. I know I screwed up and I can't change the past... but please give me one more chance. I will make this right."

Diana searched his eyes and saw only remorse and truth. She smiled a sad smile and pulled him into a hug. She whispered. "I have been known to have a forgiving nature. And I am glad you are here. I guess even ageless idiots tend to get irrational at times."

And then she tightened her hug. If not for his constitution and unique abilities he was sure she would have been able to squeeze the pulp out of an elephant. "However hard this ordeal has been on me, I know it must be excruciating for you as well. Should this happen again, I don't know what I would do... I need you to understand this Perce, while I may be coming off as a bit protective, the last two male charges I had, have both perished, in part due to my inability to stop the responsible party. But that turned out not quite true in your case. It crushed me to have caused your abrupt demise... So please." She pulled back and looked into his eyes with all the hurt and anguish she felt in the past, "Never do that to me again. If something does happen, promise me you won't intentionally stay away."

"I promise."

Diana smiled and released her hold on him. "Good. And there's something else you need to know... Your blood still runs through me. My... nature seems to have converted it and assimilated it."

Percy frowned... "I thought you were now one among those high headed assholes, being heir and all."

Diana laughed. "Remember when I took offense at you insulting them before? Well... I completely understand why you do so. Anyway... I am not of their kind. I am one of the new ones. You know... those that arose from the old."

"So no gold and shiny?" He asked smiling. "No gold and shiny." She replied laughing.

He had a mischievous glint, "Well that explains why you don't have a litter of halflings running around. They did tend to be a lot more aggressive in their pursuits. If you really had been of their kind imagine the horror your partner might have felt, bedding a five-thousand year old."

She gaped at his crass teasing. "The idea of bringing my sisters over really is beginning to sound appealing right now. I never thought you would stoop so low, with one you consider a sibling."

He smirked. "You maybe my sister, but you are not beyond being teased or ribbed by me. Infact I believe it gives me exclusive rights to do just that. And... siblings really? With our family? It didn't stop them."

She winced. Deciding to shift course, "How did you come back? Because I distinctly remember you being a mortal. Ageless, but mortal."

He grimaced. "That's a long story. I am not sure we would be able to do this and still make your shift. You must be tired. Why don't we continue this later?"

She deadpanned and gave him the flatest look so far. "Perseus... We just had this discussion. You are telling me everything. Besides, I can go long periods without sleep." She smirked. "For all the responsibilities and and other burdens, this is certainly a perk. So, spill."

He sighed, took a sip from his mug and started. "I am an aberration. On my world, people of my kind are enhanced and brilliantly capable. But they are no where close to those on this world. If I were to guess, it is because the magic of my world was constantly controlled and sapped, by the various hegemons and rulers, while here, it overflows. The moment I came here, everything about me strengthened manifold. On a straight up match, without my powers, I know I can hold my own with about hundred of the best Amazonian and Atlantean fighters at the same time. Of course, this is not considering... you. On my world, without my powers, I could not take on more than five of each separately. And... it is because of my ability to absorb, convert and integrate any form of celestial energy into a skill.

"And that's what makes me a unique aberration as celestial energy of another that we don't descend from should... kill us. In the past, I didn't know a lot of the details. In recent years, a... friend... helped me understand." She interrupted him. "Who told you? And how do you know if you can believe them?"

"I'll get to that later. You know why I was stuck for a millenium in the Pit. And the part of how I survived, it was mystery to me and so to them too. I remember Wisdom and Sun practically cutting me open for examination at one point to understand me... They never did.

"Now, I do. My untimely... physical deconstruction happened when the crystal that was fused to my back, containing all my inherited and acquired power and abilities, broke. And the resurgence of all that energy into my frail mortal body, for a lack of a better work, caused a nuclear bomb type chain reaction explosion to happen. As you know, my adoptive Father helped contain it by burying me in the depths of a mountain in Crete. I had all but accepted my time had come and was looking forward for the sweet release of death after a millennium in hell. Perhaps even meeting my love.

"However, I didn't get that. My spirit was whisked away to this ethereal plane while my physical form slowly reconstructed itself, reconstituting and repurposing the energy that had been blocked a release, by that infernal crystal. There I met... my soulmate. The one who clarified everything."

Diana's eyes were as wide as he had ever seen while her jaw muscles lost any of their ability to move. She was stunned. Amazons strived to not only achieve their eternal love but binding their souls to each other through their most sacred ritual. Only two Amazons with completely pure intent can ever attempt to mate their souls, as if they aren't pure of soul, they would be banished immediately into the void. And no Amazon had this privilege since their encounter with... "A soulmate? Tha- That's impossible. It cannot be."

His eyes were slightly downcast. "It is probably not the soulmate kind your familiar with. I can't really categorize the relationship we had.

"Anyway, continuing forward. My reaction was far more theatrical and upending. But here's the short and dry version. There is so much happening in the multiverse. The problem is because it is not uniform or homogenous in the distribution of elements of everything living and dead, there is a lot of randomness generated in its underlying foundations. It seems to alleviate this pressure, by pushing all that randomness into something, either living or dead, and making an aberration in that universe. In general it is very rare to find these aberrations to be living. And even when living they tend to just have exceptionally good or bad luck when they go through their natural course of life. It is incredibly rare for this randomness to coalesce into actors of significant impact on events and more, as those who oversee destiny tend to divert it elsewhere. But I believe I am what is a once in a multiversal occurrence.

"My parents weren't just the Sea and Sally Jackson. It was the Seas and Sally Jackson. As in-" He suddenly stopped and not even looking at Diana's once again astonished face but rather looking at her boots where he felt a small crackle of circuitry. He heard Diana's deep breath which indicated she was just about to lose it. He indicated to her to stop and she did. He slowly reached into her boot and pulled out a bat-shaped electronic bug that started buzzing louder and louder as it got closer. He held it his hand while his mind was going crazy trying to figure out why Bruce would risk it this badly when he knew Diana had warned him not to violate his or her privacy. There was something that he was missing as he knew Batman, Bruce Wayne was a great detective and far more subtle than this. However, Diana picked it up from his hand and crushed it between her fingers. "I am going to kill him. He is going to regret not heeding my words. Just you wait little brother, after this breach of trust and bugging me after he explicitly gave me reassurances of not breaching my privacy..." She took a few breaths. "He will learn the hard way."

He put a hand on her shoulder., "Don't sweat it, Di. Just make him understand. He is a necessary evil and an absolutely essential part of the Justice League. He is an important factor who makes sure that the league is far more competent on the field than it ever should be with so many big egos in that ragtag group of mostly superpowered individuals. Besides, he does have a point. For someone like him, knowledge is his only power. With information he has saved the league, including you, many times. After all, even New Gods die. So just be reasonable when trying to get your point across. No violence."

She had considerably calmed down with his explanation but was angry enough to grit out... "Fine. I will make him understand without any major injuries." At his look, "Okay... no physical injuries of any sort."

"Good."

But she suddenly latched onto him being the son of the Seas. "What do you mean by being the son of the Seas and Sally Jackson? And why didn't you tell me before."

"You know, my trainer always said that prophecies have many meanings and can result in far more outcomes than one. I am the son of the ELDER GODS. And amongst all of the gods, the only ones in marriage, elder in their combined age than Love and Forges, are the King and Queen of the Seas. It seems my mother didn't mention that she was polyamorous, in a relationship with both father and his wife. It now makes a lot of sense why father would even considering sanctioning for a castle to be built for her under the sea. And the Queen never bothered to claim me as her child and never even acknowledged my existence. I don't even know what my godly mother truly thought of me." He was a bit sad as he finished that part of the ridiculous story. But before she tried to peel back the layers of this seemingly endless onion, she comforted him by hugging him with a hand.

He smiled at her and said, "Thanks. Anyhow I am sure your question on how two gods would be able to sire a single demigod with a mortal. Well, father had taken an oath on the Styx to not have any more mortal children. The loophole was that he could have a mortal child if it wasn't only his. And he never thought he would ever exercise that loophole. After the death of his children in WWII, he threw himself into the sea full-time. And it seems his marriage with his wife had revitalized so much so that when she said she had fallen in love with a mortal, he was completely bewildered and intrigued. He wanted to see the mortal that had captured the heart of his wife, and he fell in love with the same mortal too. Since the Sea Queen had long decided that even though her husband may stray from time to time, she never would. And while she hadn't held that up completely, she had so few halflings and so far apart that they basically didn't exist. They loved mom so much and wanted to consummate their relationship by giving gift to this mortal. But mom refused everything. So, for the one who captured their hearts and they decided to do a similar ritual like Sky and Marriage did for you. They combined their energies and infused it into the womb of Sally Jackson.

"And that should have been that. However, two similar and yet distinct celestial energies should not be combined to give a mortal. So, the randomness of the multiverse latched onto the ball of energy as it was infusing with an egg and outside of the fates' control, it attached with that living aberration, not one but two souls. Two souls which would have been bound forever. However, it wasn't perfect. My soul ended up being much stronger and took most of the limelight. It seems this body was far more acclimated to my soul than his and I stayed in control for most part.

"However he told me that while at the starting he was a bit resentful, he grew to consider me his true soulmate and gave up on any resentment instead focussed on being my constant invisible companion. There were so many things that were completely unique to me and it can all be contributed to him. Majorly however, the ability of mine to absorb celestial energy was because of my body having two souls. While my soul stayed in control, he grew far more skilled and powerful with all the celestial energy and helped me battle impossible things like Gods, Titans and Primordials.

"But it was also him that helped me endure the malady of Chaos and come out of the coma that should have killed anyone except a true-immortal. He helped me save my two greatest loves, Annabeth and Calypso. He helped me defend Olympus and influenced my decision in believing Luke to help defeat Kronos and inevitably get the wish to release Calypso from her eternal torment. It was also his influence that gave me the idea of a blood offering to Wisdom to help save her daughter, my love and best friend, from her primordial coma."

Diana sat shellshocked. "Y- Y- You did a blood offering?" She immediately started hitting him lightly. "You idiotic imbecilic barbarian. Blood offerings were forbidden in the early days after Father of Man deceived Sky to give mankind their fire and humans offered a part of their meals through braziers. A blood offering, Percy is declaring yourself a heretic. It brings out the more powerful side, the far more savage side of the old gods. And you offered it to one of the Olympians? I am surprised you are not some cosmic dust already."

Diane was freaking out. He had done something so idiotic that despite done in noble intentions, if it was done in her universe, the other gods would have struck before he could have even blinked. Even the more benevolent ones like Hearth would show their violent primal side.

"That's not how it happened in my world. Blood offerings were never banned. But they were suppressed as it gave Gods a burst of unbelieveable power. A blood offering on my world bound a God to the one who offered the blood for two things, a boon and a curse. Unless these two parts are completed, the God cannot perform his or her duty. That's why it is discouraged. As much as Gods love power, they treasure their freedom more. And I offered it to Wisdom as she was the only one who could boot out Hell's Malady from her daughter's divine nature. On my world, the Gods took on aspects of the civilization they helped shape. So they had numerous aspects, Greek, Roman, French, Germanic, Spanish, British and finally American. However, they major aspects were Roman and Greek. The rest sort of fizzled or became part fo their modern persona which itself combined with their older aspects to form a modern Greek or modern Roman aspect for each. As we were fighting each other than, the blood offering was the only way I could force Wisdom to come in her Greek aspect and force her to intervene to save her daughter's life. You already know the ancient laws preventing interference of Gods with their mortal children. So this was needed and had to be done.

"The boon I sought was she remove the Malady or dispel it. And she did. But she did it quite literally. The boon is sought by the offeree while the curse is chosen by the God. My blood being special in being the child of both the Seas restored Wisdom's connection with the Sea and granted her power which she only had at the heights of Athenian conquests. So she was able to remove the Malady from her daughter, by removing the conflicting essence of Chaos from her body... which should not have been possible for her but she could due to the blood offering. However, she couldn't dispel it as its signature was completely corroding her divine reserves. So she chose to infuse me with it instead as the energy was trying to go back to Annabeth. Thay was my curse. However, she altered the energy to give me two years of time to get everything ready.

"I guess that day was the first time the Seas and their adopted granddaughter finally made peace and I was happy that my best friend and love would be safe and I get two more years with her. The energy that was reinserted into me would blow me up in two years, completely disintegrating me and my soul, unless I return to the Pit where it would safely return to the void while I would be forever banished from every other dimension on my world."

She was so sad at the heartbreaking tale. And she knew this didn't even scratch the surface. "Anyway, given that the Malady of Chaos was the consequence of a curse from Misery and our interactions with Night and Chaos, there wasn't really an option where both of us would get the happily ever after we had envisioned and I..., I would never allow Annabeth's dream to be dashed if I could help it. So as part of the curse, I forced Wisdom to help me get everyone to forget me ever surviving the second Titan War and replace me with another fictional hero to have taken my place in the quest, and successfully completed the trials against Earth.

"She didn't want to but it was part of my boon and it would help her daughter move ahead without crushing guilt, once I am gone. Only the Olympians and my parents would ever know the truth. And unexpectedly, she crushed me with a hug, kind of rivalling Tyson and your hugs. I mean she had been on record after Theseus that she would never even help another son of the Sea ever again." He somehow managed a smirk in between and said, "I guess, I just have that effect on immortal daughters of Sky." It managed to make her break into a small smile, before he continued. "Yet, with so many things that happened that day, for everything good there needed to be a pitfall. And my permanent banishment to the Pit was it.

"As I stayed in the Pit, my ability to absorb energy didn't diminish in the slightest. Infact it seemed to get enhanced. I had been in the presence of so many divine beings and their children. It seemed even the smallest traces of their energy was further multiplied by the nature of the dimension I was in. It helped heal divines and due to my many interactions with so many celestial beings like Time, King of the fallen, Mortality, Rivers of the Underworld, Wisdom, Sun, Travel, Night, Misery, Light, the Kings and the Queens of all domains, and so many more, I inadvertently absorbed their energies. Then I started gaining abilities which were partly theirs. Like time manipulation, aerokenisis, manipulating light and dark, and so much more. But it was like being in a constant energy incubator and the energy was nearly killing me. It started turning all my mortal blood into ichor. It was a slow process but my mortal body would have blown apart if not for the intervention of my soulmate. In my millennium long stay in Tartarus, he revealed himself to me and help me gain control over my evergrowing abilities. However, what he neglected to inform me was that he was slowly dying or his soul was getting destroyed from the excesses of the celestial energies in my body.

"If there is one thing I can say for sure, it is that he loved me unconditionally. He sacrificed so much for me and he wasn't even bitter about how much of a downturn our life had taken and how unlike a life he had lived. Imagine it Diana, you live a life no one knows. You have aspirations and dreams and you cannot do a single thing to achieve them as the body you were attached with, you cannot control. The only thing you can do is sit back and watch some one else control you the whole time and make choices of life and death while you protect them all the time from the consequences of their choices. If it was me, I would have been bitter and sought for an early death so that I could get another chance to have control. But he, he let me be in the spotlight while he stayed in the shadows. He protected me. He nourished me and... and... he gave his soul to the void so that I would get a new chance.

"As his soul was almost cracking, he finally took control for the second time in our life and made a deal with Chaos. A deal offering his soul in return for removing all the conflicting energies from our body and a new chance for me. A soul offering to the creator cannot be made to anyone, even the Creator. It was a law Chaos created for herself. However, she heard my soulmate and made another deal instead. We would act as her agent in a universe where outside forces were tampeing with fate and in return she would grant him his request of freedom, separating his soul from our body and giving me a new chance at life. But for this to work, he would eternally become a part of the void. Not a soul offering but a soul sacrifice. An- And... And he didn't hesistate.

"She went about her task of eliminating all immortal essences in our body. Yet when she tried separating our souls, she found a problem. We were so intertwined that the only way to separate it was for me to become completely mortal and die. But that would violate her deal. But being her, she came up with a loophole, the souls can be separated when I die but I can be granted immortality the instant of my death forcing my body to reconstitue and keeping her deal.

"The twenty years I spent after I walked into this universe was for the first time in a millenium that I didn't feel his presence or hear his voice in my head. I thought the portal had sucked his soul out of me and was grieivng. It wasn't until I died did I see him and I got to know everything. It was also only then where I made peace with everything in my former life as I had been granted a new life, as the agent of the creator to help keep the destiny of this universe intact. And I would do anything to protect the new family I acquired in the twenty years since my stay in the Pit.

"I also learnt then, the energy of the daughter of Endurance, bonded with me. I am now effectively immortal and I will pass if and only if Chaos deems my mission done or I can pass on this mission to a candidate worthy of this mantle."

Saying she was stunned or shocked would be understating it by quite a bit. She didn't know what to feel or how to think just then. The story was so ludicrous that if it was anyone but Percy told her, she was sure she would have imprisoned them in the most inaccessible areas to humankind. The story he just gave her would be considered heresy to most of her own sisters. But he cut her thinking short with an oath. Another one, but this time, it was so much more potent and powerful... "I swear on my immortality that whatever I have said is what I know to be true."

The thunder that struck could have been heard throughout the eastern seaboard of the North American Continent. And he started glowing golden before it dimmed down signifying the oath to be true.

Silence enevloped them and the tense air slowly diepelled. She got up and went around to his side and hugged him. "I am sorry. I am so sorry."

And he broke down for everything he lost and all the emotions he had bottled up since the day he vaporized his Algebra teacher. For her part, she was both sad and happy. Sad that her brother had gone through far too much, was basically the multiverse's plaything and happy that at the end of it all, he atleast had one steadfast and staunch supporter in her and she in him.