A/N: Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter Fifteen
A Child of Two Worlds

Percy was still overwhelmed by the sea's reaction to his absence. He blushed and stammered and managed not to wince every time a merperson or his parents swooped him up in painfully tight hugs that made his ribs creak in protest. He didn't mind that Triton hadn't gotten more than a few steps away from him the entire evening, that Bill had thumped him on the back so many times his shoulders hurt, or that all manner of sea creatures had been bumping against him and nuzzling him the entire evening.

When the celebration was finally over — not that he wasn't thankful, because he was — he slumped in relief. He was tired and just wanted to sleep, but he had a million and a half questions his parents needed to answer first.

As soon as the doors to the throne room swung closed behind the rest of the guests and the seahorse zooming circles around his head had been nudged out the window with assurances that the prince was fine, the royal family just stared at each other for a long moment.

"Papa?" he questioned softly, taking a few steps forward so he could press against his side. "Are you gonna explain what Rhode meant now?"

"As soon as you tell me what happened," Poseidon responded gruffly, crouching before his son and putting hands on his thin shoulders.

Taking a deep breath, Percy recounted the entire tale. He flinched at the memory of Cerberus, of the Furies, and remembered the stark relief of hearing his uncle's raging voice. Poseidon flinched along with him and looked furious for a long moment until he regained his calm. He told of his conversation with his uncle, of their request to Hestia, and finally of ending up in the hearth in Atlantis.

"By the Gods," Poseidon sighed, pulling his son into another hug and rubbing his chin over the top of his head. "I owe Hades for this, for keeping you safe."

"He said it was in his best interests to keep me safe so you were happy, cuz last time you lost your temper you clogged up his lines for a year and all the added noise and construction gave him a massive migraine," Percy informed him solemnly but with a tiny smile.

Poseidon snorted loudly at that, before sighing again and squeezing his son's shoulders. "No more playing with things you do not understand," he ordered firmly, and Percy hastily nodded. "And now, I owe you an explanation of your own." He got to his feet and held his hand out, and his son grasped it trustfully. "Come with me."

Percy obeyed, walking alongside his father. They went to a room in the palace that Percy had never been in before, and he stared around in abject confusion because he had never seen anything that looked like these things. There was a strange-looking crib, a strange chair, a bookcase with multiple books on it, and a bucket full of sea-themed stuffed animals.

It was also completely dry in the room, like his father had willed it to have no water. The sensation was a little strange to Percy; he'd grown accustomed to having the sea humming with energy no less than an inch away from his skin at all times.

"These belonged to your birth mother," Poseidon said solemnly, seated on the edge of a medium sized bed with some kind of book in his hands. "She lived on the surface world."

"Until Uncle Butthead killed her," Percy finished for his father, staring around the room and taking in all the details. When he met his father's eyes, he was a little alarmed by how sad he looked.

"Yes, Percy, until my brother killed her," he confirmed, folding himself downwards until his elbows were on his thighs. "Her name was Sally Jackson, and she was beautiful and wonderful and perfect. And he struck her down with his lightning bolt, right in front of me. Had you not been sitting on her lap in the water, you, too, would be dead."

He took a moment to absorb this new information, inching his body forward until he was standing next to his father's knee.

"Papa, why did she live on the surface world?"

Poseidon inhaled sharply, grimacing as he rasped out, "She was human, Percy."

Percy's entire body jolted with shock. "H — Human?"

"Human," he confirmed in a whisper, holding the photo album out. Percy took it with shaking hands, thumbing through the images of a pretty woman with a dark-haired baby cradled in her arms.

"Is this me?" Percy whispered, tracing his fingers over the image of the black haired, green-eyed baby.

"When you were an infant, yes."

His eyes were staring to sting. "Does that mean Rhode was right? I do not belong here? Am I not a prince? Am I not even one of you," he rasped, shoving the photo album back at his father and tensing to bolt.

Poseidon stopped him by gently grabbing his upper arms. "No, Rhode was not right," he said fiercely, the life coming back to his face. "You are a Demigod, Percy. Half-God, half-human, and as far as I am concerned you have the best of both worlds. I see in you my fierceness, my stubbornness, my power, but I also see your mother's gentleness and smile. She gave birth to you, and she will always be your birth mother, but you are our son and you belong here with us. Never let anyone tell you otherwise."

Percy was shaking, the tears burning his eyes. "She is not my mother," he said fiercely. "She is not. I have never known this lady, papa," he said half-hysterically, poking a finger at the photo album. "She is not my mama, she's not. She's not."

"She's not, not anymore," Poseidon agreed gently, pulling him against his chest. "Amphitrite loves you, Percy. You are hers in every way that matters. It matters not what blood you have in your veins, you are ours and we love you. Sally gave birth to you, and she will always be your blood mother, and she loved you son. She loved you. I like to think that she would have wanted you to be with us here, safe and happy." He exhaled slowly. "We should have told you this years ago, but we could never find the words."

That opened the floodgates, as Percy stood leaning against his father's chest and listening to his heartbeat while Poseidon explained all the circumstances. He listened as his father explained the pact the Big Three had made after the disaster of World War II, how Zeus had broken it first and years ago (typical, he thought vindictively). Tremors shook his frame when Poseidon explained the destruction of the hotel that had housed Hades' lover and children; how his uncle had been forced to hide his children away to protect them from being murdered by Zeus. Listened to him describe Sally Jackson and everything he had loved about her, and in vague detail his memory of the day that she had been brutally murdered. Leaned his forehead against his father's collarbone and absorbed the fact that Sally had loved the color blue, had loved the ocean, had loved visiting a place called Montauk. Zeus had killed his grandparents too, struck their plane out of the sky in a fit of temper.

As his father spoke, he started to realize everything that could have gone wrong — he could have ran to the surface world, could have been tracked down by monsters and killed while searching for more information about his human mother. What if the pearl had put him in the middle of a landmass, miles from water? He would have been completely defenseless and at Zeus's mercy. It sank into his bones, the danger his life was in every moment because his uncle would likely kill him as soon as look at him, would do the same to a child of Hades. He understood now why they had hidden him down here, had concealed the truth from everyone, how Hades only knew because his father had asked for Elysium for his human mother. And his birth mother had tried to protect him, had tried to shield him from Zeus's bolt, which meant that she must have loved him just as much as his mama did.

He held himself stiffly for a long time, trying to get a hold of his raging emotions. Eventually he decided he didn't care, he didn't. His mama was still his mama. They had been trying to protect him, and Rhode had just started a chain reaction of pain and hate. She probably wanted him to hate his parents, so he viciously decided he wouldn't hate them, not ever.

When Poseidon was done explaining, his voice was raw and the boy in his arms was still trembling.

"I am so sorry we kept the truth from you," he murmured, pressing a trail of kisses from Percy's temple to his cheek. "We should not have done that. We only wanted you to be happy, healthy."

Percy was quiet for a few minutes, not pulling away, so Poseidon just let him cuddle while he sorted his ADD-thoughts.

"I am happy, papa," he said quietly after a long silence, pulling himself back far enough to look at Poseidon's face. "I hardly care what Rhode says. Mama is still mama, you are still my papa, and Triton is still my brother. Family."

"We are family, and we are going to stay that way," he confirmed with a shaky laugh, sweeping his thumbs over Percy's cheeks. "I am so very proud of you, son. You are one of the best things that has ever happened to me and I cannot imagine my life without you. I will never regret having you, never. Do you understand?"

A shy smile broke free then, before Percy ducked his head and murmured, "Can I go see mama, now?"

"Of course," he said, releasing his hold on his son. Percy went to move away before he spun back around, planted a sloppy kiss on his cheek, and sprinted from the room.

Poseidon sagged in relief, catching himself before he slid to the floor. He released a shaky breath and laughed humorlessly, staring up at the ceiling. "Gods, but he reminded me of you tonight, Sally," he murmured into the silence.

He could have imagined the gentle caress on his cheek, but it hardly mattered. He heaved himself back to his feet and followed after his energetic offspring, finding him in the throne room clinging to Amphitrite and bawling like a baby, repeating you are my mama over and over again while Triton was crouched beside them rubbing Percy's back soothingly.

Now was not the time for Percy to learn of the Prophesy, of the weight that could potentially be settled on his shoulders. Poseidon refused to think of it, refused to ponder how much danger his son would be in in a few short years. Refused to think of how his brother Zeus would murder his child if he took Percy anywhere near the surface before he turned twelve.

Percy was safe and whole in the protective embrace of Atlantis, deep within the sea and defended with his every breath by the presence of the ocean around him. He would grow to be strong, would probably be one of the most powerful Demigods ever to live. Poseidon would teach him to be strong, to have ironclad control over his power.

Poseidon joined in the family hug and murmured reassurances, joined in rubbing Percy's back and soothing him until Triton cracked a joke and then they were all laughing, piling into the gaming room that he had built years ago for a good old-fashioned game of Monopoly —one of the few modern games that he enjoyed and kept around— and laughing themselves silly when Amphitrite cleaned them out and had them thousands of dollars in debt before the sun rose on a family piled together in a sleepy pile on the pillows from the game room couch.

Everything would be okay.

It had to be.

/

E/N: Hope you liked. Percy is a pretty level-headed kid, and he's been told for pretty much his entire life that Zeus can't know that he exists because it would be dangerous. Now he knows why. He doesn't really want to know about Sally right now, not yet, but he will as he gets a little older. He's seven, people. The world is amazingly simple for seven-year-old minds.

A few people have asked if he will be attending Camp Fish-Blood for a time; if you'll remember this was a part of the wishes of the merpeople, and was mentioned by Amphitrite herself soon after Percy arrived in Atlantis. Do with that information what you will.

Sorry if this seems rushed; I'm drowning in schoolwork but wanted to give you guys something to hold you over. I hope you weren't expecting some huge blowout; now isn't really the time for that and I like to think that this family is strong enough to move past this because it doesn't really matter to Percy. He already has a mother, as far as he's concerned. Anywhoo getting off my soapbox now.

Reviews are loved!