This goes out to my new friend: BoredWayWardDragon: for keeping me from quitting.
"So, question of the day!" Perseus declared, lowering his sunglasses as he looked up at the boorish brick building in front of his newly acquired motorcycle. "Why are all of my kids in hospitals?! Why can't I pop into a random high school and pick one of you up like you're normal?!" He pleaded, his whining voice grating on Thalia's ears.
Thalia briefly considered responding, but decided against it and simply slid off the bike, squinting hard at a sign nearby, as if willing the letters to stop making figure eights and drawing gentlemen's-sausages in the air. "What does that sign even say?"
"Uncle Lucifer's Mortuary and Sanitarium." Perseus lied straight-faced. Thalia stared up at him in disbelief until he replied with a challenging look of his own. She quickly looked back at the sign and squinted even harder until Perseus laughed once, mussed up her hair and corrected himself. "St. Jonathan's mental institute."
"Phew! I'd hate to think that you had an uncle named Lucifer." Thalia playfully jibed. Perseus smiled and lead her inside, their clothes suddenly becoming monkey-suits, and holsters and radios appearing at their belts. Thalia gulped and squirmed slightly, not used to a pantsuit, but Perseus simply ushered her in, giving her a comforting smile. "Thank you, agent Mulder."
"Of course Scully." He replied and quickly traipsed to the desk, his shoulders squared, yet his gait relaxed. "Hello, I'm here to see one of your patients, a Mr..." Here he pulled out a slip of paper and scanned it quickly. "Perseus Jackson?"
"I'm afraid visitation hours are over, Perseu-" As soon as the forked tongue slid from between her lips, and her voice began to change, Thalia began to feel the full effect of this new life settle upon her Fuck. Monsters too, really dude?. However, at that exact moment, Perseus had also gone quick-draw-McGraw on the snake lady and shot her in the face.
"Thank you, but I'm family." He replied, his grin marred only by the golden sparkly stuff that coated his head. "Well, Scully, it looks like the truth isn't just out there, but also in here! Stay close to me, and if anything moves, shoot it once while screaming loudly."
Thalia managed a squeak in reply as Perseus shook his head like a wet dog and tried to clean the monster dust off of himself. After rinsing his head a few times in a random sink, Perseus lead Thalia down a long and winding hallway, every few minutes another snake lady would pop into their path before getting shot down by either Perseus' calculating Baretta, or Thalia's shaking Luger.
"So, a parishioner and a doctor are coming down the road toward my house because we were supposed to have one of those high society get-togethers, where we talk about boring stuff, but instead, I decided that I'd come out and invite them in. With a flintlock. Dressed as a mugger." A voice seeped through the walls, getting louder as Perseus and Thalia crept closer to the only occupied rubber room. "Stand and Deliver! I yelled that twice and they both were off like rockets!"
Thalia peeked around the final corner as her eyes widened and she barely gulped down the bile rising in her throat. Percy was standing in the middle of the hall, covered in...something. It was gray, and it bubbled, occasionally a large droplet would slide down his arm as he dragged his nails along the chest of another of the snake ladies. His smile was Indescribable. He truly appeared happy, beyond the gray goop and the repeated assault of the snake lady, one might think he was just having a nice conversation, it wasn't the smile of a madman, or of a psycho, but the scariest part was the ease with which he shoved his hand into the trunk of the snake lady again and again, relentlessly hacking at her organs. It was enough to unsettle even Perseus as he fired a bullet through the temples of the tormented demon nurse. A tattered candy-striper uniform fell to the floor.
"That was for Nancy, you demonic bitch." The gray-stained boy spat, looking between the uniform on the floor and the two new occupants of the hall. "Are you guys supposed to be some kind of demon hunters?"
"No, we're your family."
"Well, the two aren't mutually exclusive." Percy responded to Perseus' assertion with a coy smirk at Thalia. Thalia smiled, reminded of one of her street gang friends, always up to prove someone wrong, or just have the last word. "So, how are we related? Are you like my third cousin twice removed in my mother's father's brother's side?"
"Perseus, let me talk to him?" Thalia pleaded as Percy stepped back into his cell and closed the door behind him. Perseus smiled at her and nodded. "Why don't you make sure the building's cleared?"
"Got it boss!"
Perseus drew his gun and continued down the hallway as Thalia stepped up to Percy's door, looking in the barred window. "Can I come in?"
"No, my only company is death." Percy whispered hauntingly. Thalia shrugged and stepped into the cell anyway.
"Sounds like my kind of party." Thalia said, smirking mischievously, causing Percy to smile as well. "I'm Thalia, the guy you just met is Perseus."
"So I heard." He paused. The silence lay pregnant with anticipation. "I'm Percy..." The silence began to go from pregnant to awkward. "Hell, you should friend me on Facebook."
"Nobody uses Facebook anymore. How long have you been in here, and while we're playing getting to know you, why?" Thalia asked, already fearing the answer.
"Let me show you." He held out his hand and she took it without hesitation, and saw the room. It was blank, and not sanitarium blank, not even rubber room blank, there weren't even shadows, it was just a blank white cube...
...Filled to the brim with people...very dead people. Marie Antoinette, holding her chignon laden head tenderly in her right arm, rubbing shoulders with George Washington, flirting shamelessly, and Adolf Hitler patting his hair down around the gaping hole in the top of his head. There was a man wearing a neatly tailored suit, surgical gear and carrying a briefcase. There was a young man wearing a Greek Chiton, his right arm was severed (he was holding it in his left hand) and his chest had a gaping hole in it. His entire face was a mess of scars and bruises. There were more, and they milled about like a ocean of faces, each laughing, or talking, chatting away and overall being very not dead. Nobody was showing any signs of anger, fear or some macabre death howl, and it scared Thalia. Why were these dead people so alive?
Death was something that Thalia was pretty used to, she had grown up in a place where someone could decompose for days on end in a dark alley before some meth head, looking for a place to peddle his buick(a euphemism for vomit). Gunshots and police sirens intermingled to form a grim cacophony in Thalia's backyard, but the death in this...box was so pungent that it enveloped all the senses.
"Do you understand now?" Perseus asked her, turning slowly so that she could see the extent of the room. The longer she stood there, the more historical faces she began to see, Genghis Khan, General Farragut, Napoleon Bonaparte, and there seemed to be no end in sight. "This is what you see in my head, but even when I'm awake, they're there. Four or five of them will slip through the cracks, and I'll see their face instead of someone else's face, and sometimes...sometimes one of them will take over. They're always here. They don't go away. I killed people because of them, and I can't take that back. I killed my mother and my step-father...I don't regret him so much...but I got used to the blood, and I honestly think that sickens me the most."
"Percy...you just went serious zen deep shit on me there." Thalia said, letting go of Percy's hand and running her hand through her hair. "But that doesn't matter."
Thalia took a deep breath and looked at the door, making sure that Perseus wasn't back yet. "Two days ago, every bone in my body was broken. I didn't have lungs. I had a snowball's chance in hell of surviving, but then along came Perseus, he said some crazy rhyme, showed me some thirty foot tall gods or something, and two hours later, I was healed. I didn't know him and he didn't know me, but I looked into his eyes, and...I didn't feel the pain anymore. I had a sort of...hope, I guess? I don't know what it was, but in two hours, he managed to turn from a crazy stranger to the only real father I've had. I don't know what you believe in, but I just went from atheist to child of a god in those two hours, so maybe, just maybe, Perseus can work some miraculous crap with you too."
Percy just smiled and looked down, his eyes looked almost comically doey and his eyebrows were knitted like a homemade sweater. "I've lived my whole life followed by ghosts, I don't think gods are too big of a stretch."
"Hot damn Thalia, you almost made me cry." Perseus whistled, he looked between the two and smiled. "Thalia, you've been like a daughter to me, and Perseus, you're the son I wish I had had."
"Thanks pops, I feel the love bro." Thalia said jokingly. Perseus stuck his tongue out and approached the duo, sitting across from them with his legs crossed.
Both Percy and Thalia laughed looking at him strangely, Percy at Perseus' mention of wanting a son, and Thalia at Perseus' opening statement. "So, can you help me?" Percy asked without looking back at Perseus.
"I can, and I will, but first I need to show you something." Perseus said and he sat beside Perseus, opposite Thalia. "Take my hand and close your eyes. Smile and wait for your big surprise."
There weren't as many people as last time. That wasn't just a fact, it was an understatement. There was only one person in the room. Percy's mother.
"What happened to them?" Percy asked, looking around the room for Jack the Ripper, Julius Caesar, and Jonathan Hornblower. "Where are all the dead people?"
"I redecorated." Perseus responded, a smile plastered on his face. "Have you not noticed the doors, the couches, there's even a coffee table and a chaise, but noo! All you notice is that it''s not so crowded!"
"I personally couldn't give a damn about this place. It's not like I'm sticking around for tea and crumpets, so why should I care about the coffee table?" Percy asked. Perseus sighed and shook his head, grabbing Percy's hand and dragging him forward toward the woman. "Why am I going where I am going?"
"You're going to be sociable because I told you to, and you are coming with me for the sole purpose of showing you that you can. Now shut up and say hello!" Perseus said, smiling kindly at the people in the room. "Sally, this is your son when he turns twelve, Percy, this is your mother and she loves you very much."
"Hi...mom…" Percy said, smiling madly as tears streamed down his face. Sally smiled too, brushing her hand down the side of her son's face as she began to inaudibly whisper 'I love you', over and over. "I missed you so much. I'm so sorry, I never meant to hurt you. I love you so much."
"Percy! My sweet Percy, it was never your fault. I never blamed you." Sally began to sob, her eyes dusky with tears. Percy and Perseus both nodded, Percy sniffled as he was hugged both his mother and his new father. "Perseus? Will you take care of my Percy?"
"I will help him in ways that you can barely imagine." Perseus said quietly, looking mournfully at Sally, his eyes weak for the first time in his immortal life. "Now, Percy, we need to leave, there's work to be done, and it's time for us to make a little girl's day."
Percy opened his eyes and let go of Perseus' hand, wiping his eyes as Thalia sighed in relief. Perseus chuckled at Thalia's reaction before hugging both of his children to his chest. "Family isn't bound by blood...or some other deep quote." He leaned back and smirked. "Who wants burgers?"
"God no!" Percy yelled, crossing himself. Thalia looked at him, aghast, as did Perseus. "Do you know what McDonald's puts in those burgers?! I do! I'm not ever eating a burger again!"
"I don't eat at McDonald's, so I don't care." Thalia retorted, but she still looked a little green at the thought.
"Whoa whoa whoa!" Perseus interrupted, stepping between the two. "Alright, let's go somewhere with variety then. Somewhere where you can get a burger, and Percy, you can get something else."
"Fine." They both said at the same time, examining each other.
"Dang, you guys are so alike." Perseus noted, and they both rolled their eyes simultaneously. "Anyway, we can grab something to eat on our way to Virginia, I have a niece that I think you guys might like to meet, let's go break her out of prison, eh?"
"Who says 'dang' anymore?" Thalia asked offhandedly. "Seriously dad?"
Perseus smiled to himself, shrugging innocently, but inside he was ecstatic, she had called him dad.