Kara bit her lip anxiously, she shouldn't be here. Shouldn't be doing this. She had, after all, given Diana her word that she wouldn't go prying, but she couldn't help herself. It had been nearly a month since she'd surprised Percy for his birthday, and she had officially returned to Metropolis and started her sophomore year. But not even the weekly churn of classes and her increasing duties with the League were enough to distract her.
She was still forever haunted by the damage to Percy's body that day weeks previously.
She had scanned his body, had invaded his privacy and seen the true extent of the damage. The bruising along his ribs was only a hint to the real damage that had been done. Two of his ribs had the tell-tale signs of recovering fractures. His lungs also showed the signs of recovery from recent puncture, and his feet were badly bruised and blistered.
Diana had been right, Percy was slowly killing himself with his work.
She still didn't know the exact nature of his work, but Kara was well aware that he was still working. Now that she was aware of his activities, she alarmingly aware of just how frequently Percy was hurt, how frequently he was spending all night working. A day didn't go by where he wasn't recovering from one injury or another, and yet he managed to hide his pain and discomfort well.
Had Kara not known, she would have been entirely unaware that anything was wrong.
She'd been meaning to follow him, had been trying to do it for weeks now, but every time Percy slunk off to some dark corner to disappear to wherever it was that he went, something or another requiring her own attention would spring up, and she was forced to wait.
Until tonight.
Blessedly, by Rao's blessing, nothing had happened that night, and she'd been able to follow him. He'd leapt up suddenly that evening, ending their work at their library abrputly, saying that he was being called in to work and that he'd see her the next day. Kara had let him go, had watched him hurriedly depart from the library, his heart hammering in his chest. But Kara had followed, had trailed him high above the clouds as he made his way to the harbor. To her surprise, Percy had leapt directly into the lake, before rocketing off through the waves nearly as fast as she could fly. It had been all she could do to keep with him.
She'd followed him here, to the northern shores of Nova Scotia. She still hadn't quite been able to determine what it was that he was doing, but judging by the way he was acting, she could have sworn that he was hunting something. Following strange looking tracks in the earth, a strange looking pen clutched tightly in his hand.
He'd changed, somewhere along the way, donning a large golden-fleece jacket, that looked warm and comfortable in the cool winds of the northern Canadian shores.
She watched curiously, as Percy followed the tracks deeper into the wilderness. He walked carefully, with the purpose of a man who knew his trade well, avoiding stepping on piles of fallen leaves or groups of twigs. He moved slowly and deliberately, every step measured and calculated. Kara lost track of the time, but she was sure that some several hours passed them by, as she simply watched entranced, as Percy picked his way slowly through the dense foliage.
Then, abruptly, he stopped. Kneeling deep into the dirt and crouching behind a thick set of leaves. Kara followed his gaze and her jaw dropped. There, in a clearing just on the other side of the foliage, were a group of creatures. She would swear that they were wolves, but they were far larger than any wolf that Kara had ever seen before. Nearly the size of small bears, there had to be nearly five in all. They had thick, wide heads, and toes that spread out angularly, almost like a humans. Their fur was a deep snow-white, and so long that it looked like the creatures were wearing cloaks over their fur. The monsters were all surrounding something, a prone figure limp on the ground. Kara realized, as her stomach suddenly clenched in revulsion, that it was a person, and the monsters were tearing into the flesh. The ripped, tore, and snapped their wide and large teeth into the flesh of some poor human that had been unfortunate enough to cross their path.
They were unaware of Percy, who drew his pen closer to him, and then, to Kara's surprise, the pen disappeared. Percy flicked the cap of the pen off the head, and in his hand materialized a beautiful bronze sword. He waved his hand casually, and then suddenly, as though summoned, a deep and penetrating fog descended upon the clearing. Kara tried to look through the fog, but found that she couldn't. She tried again, but with the same result. Kara was flummoxed for a moment, unable to comprehend how or why she would be unable to see through the fog, until the realization hit her.
Magic.
One of the few true weaknesses of her kind, the arcane blocked the physiological enhancements that Kara's natural biology provided her. Her heart hammered in her chest, fear flooding through her as she strained her ears. Being unable to watch the events unfold, she had to settle for simply listening. She tried to focus on Percy, listening to the way he crept forward, before he suddenly leapt. She heard him soar through the air, wind whistling through his jacket, before the tell-tale sound of steel passing through flesh.
There was a squelching sound, followed by a wailing yelp from one of the monsters, decidedly dog-like and yet monstrous and unnatural all the same. A brief scene of utter chaos followed, the sound of Percy jumping, dodging, grunting, and thrusting, fighting for his life amongst the blinded and disoriented monsters, and all the while Kara was unable to see any of it. Trapped as she was, completely cut off from seeing the action.
She listened as Percy cut a bloody path through the monsters, before he grunted and yelped in pain, and Kara's throat clenched up as she heard flesh tear.
"You stupid bastard," Percy snarled, and then there was a yelp of pain and a loud thud as something heavy landed on the forest floor. There was another sound of something sharp meeting flesh, and Percy howled in pain and misery. The attacks must have caused him to lose concentration on whatever spell he'd been using to summon the fog, because it suddenly dispersed, and Kara could finally see the battle playing out below her.
Two of the monsters were missing, but Kara could see a strange golden dust littering the forest floor. The three remaining wolves were circling him, their maws contorted in sinister snarls, as blood and viscera dibbled from the rows of the razor-sharp fangs. Percy bled from a pair of wounds, his life's essence spilling profusely from a row of jagged bite marks in his side as he carried his weight on his left side, trying to keep pressure from the badly scratched and clawed mess that had become his right leg.
One of the wolves darted forward with a speed that startled even Kara, but Percy stood strong, whirling to the side as the beast charged forward, and bringing his sword down in a blaze of bronze. There was a meaty 'THUNK' and the head of the beast separated from its body. The monster convulsed on the ground, twitching and writhing for a moment before exploding in a shower of fine golden dust.
One of the other titans howled in fury and pounced, Percy was unable to dodge this second attack and he was tackled to the ground. He raised a fist into the air, just managing to get it in the way of the maw of the beast as its large jaw clamped down on him. He screamed in pain and agony, blood pooling and flowing from the mangled mess of his arm. The other wolf had darted forward as well, gripping Percy's good leg tightly in its razor sharp teeth, pulling and tearing at his leg. He raised his sword into the air and jammed it into the neck of the wolf, which let out a pitiful howl, before exploding in dust. He then yanked his leg back towards him, dragging the other beast with him and at the same time thrust his sword forward, ramming it into the wolf's eye. It shuddered once more, before exploding into golden dust.
Percy collapsed to the ground, panting, and bleeding. Kara raced through the air, slamming into the ground beside him far faster and harder than she'd intended, denting the earth with the force of her impact and throwing dirt and debris into the air, not that she cared at the moment. Her only concern in the world was the bleeding mess that was Percy. A lump formed in her throat, and tears welled up in her eyes as she shakily reached out, cupping one of his cheeks tenderly. His face had been scratched badly during the attack, and blood was dribbling from a mess of scratches along the bridge of his nose and down to his lips.
"Percy," She whispered. She felt cold, shock threatening to overwhelm her.
No.
No.
No.
This wasn't happening.
This couldn't be happening.
She tried to move but her body refused to cooperate. She was frozen in place, staring down at the man who was dying slowly on the forest floor. His eyes were glassy, and cold, blood pooling up from his lips and dribbling down his chin. And as she looked at him, realization hit her with the weight of an asteroid.
She loved him.
She loved him dearly, and deeply.
She loved him, and he was dying.
Bleeding out, in her arms, and she'd done nothing to stop it. Did nothing to help him. Had watched from afar, frozen in fear, unable to intervene out of a sense of morbid curiosity and horror.
And now she was going to lose him.
She was going to lose him before she'd ever even really had him.
"L-Linda?" He asked, his mangled hand reaching up to her, "Linda?"
That singular word was enough to jolt Kara out of her shock. Reaching down, gently as she could, she collected Percy into her arms, and soared high into the air.
"It's okay," She whispered, "it's okay Percy, I've got you,"
"Lin-da?" Percy gasped out again.
"I'm here," She reassured. "I'm here, it's me, I'm not going anywhere."
With Percy tucked carefully against her, she pulled out her phone and called a familiar number.
"Kara?" Diana asked, after only a few rings. "What's going on, it sounds like you're flying. Is everything oka-"
"It's Percy!" She choked out, "He's hurt, I need your help!"
"I'm on my way."
BREAK
He felt strange, almost as though he were dreaming, but at the same time he were awake. He was strangely aware of sight and sound, seeing much but completely unable to make any sense of it. His ears caught snippets of conversation, but he heard none of it.
While he could remember seeing much, there was only one constant in all his visions. A collection of golden locks, and bright-blue eyes. But who was it? He tried to remember, but he couldn't. Couldn't remember who this beautiful stranger was, how he knew her.
He couldn't remember where he was either. He had faint flashes of something, a fight maybe? Large white beasts, teeth as large as daggers and sharper still.
He'd-he'd been hunting them, had been on a hunt for Kent. And-and he'd been overwhelmed.
Gods, he'd been so tired. So very tired. He hadn't slept in days, and he still hadn't fully recovered from his previous hunts, but he'd taken the job all the same.
He'd been a fool.
He'd been sloppy, his thoughts and reactions fogged by lack of sleep and nagging injuries. He'd been too slow to dodge blows that otherwise would have posed little or no harm to him, had been too slow-witted to think of a better strategy than a simple bum-rush.
He'd been mauled, he remembered that much. The beasts had torn at him, but he'd been successful all the same, had won, but at a cost. He remembered vividly, lying on the ground, feeling the blood pooling around him. He could have tried to stem the bleeding, could have tried to save himself, but he couldn't bring himself to do it.
Couldn't bring himself to fight to live.
But then…what happened?
He had been so certain he would die. Had been so certain that he would be going wherever lost souls in this new world went when they met their end.
Perhaps that's where he was. Perhaps this was this new world's version purgatory, of the realm between life and death. It would explain, perhaps, his inability to process sight and sound. But…something about that didn't seem true. Things were too vivid, even if he couldn't truly understand where he was.
But it was getting clearer. His vision was no longer as spotty, and though the noises and sounds coming from somewhere above him were muted, distorted as though being spoken through a veil, Percy was certain that someone was speaking. He could see two figures, one dark and one light, though he couldn't make out the shapes better.
His eyes felt weary, and his lids heavy. His eyes closed, and darkness enveloped him.
When he awoke the world was far clearer. He still knew not where he was, but he was certain now that he was most certainly alive. He was also distinctly aware that he was submerged in water. With tremendous effort, he rose to the surface, breaching the surface of the cooling water with a spluttering breath.
He was in a bathtub, a familiar bathtub. His bathtub. Looking down, he could see freshly wrapped bandages around his torso and legs, and his arm wrapped in a neat sling. He was sore, and his side stung like the devil but, he felt overall as refreshed as possible. That changed, as he clambered slowly out of the tub, for as soon as he was out of the water's comforting embrace, he felt his strength suddenly leave him and he collapsed to the floor with a mighty crash.
Cursing and hissing in pain, as his arm and legs throbbed painfully, the door to the bathroom was thrown open,
"Percy!" A familiar voice gasped out, and strong, yet soft hands wrapped around his un-injured arm and lifted him gently into the air.
"Linda?" Percy choked out, fear and apprehension flooding him at seeing his best friend.
She looked a sight, her eyes tired and baggy, as though it had been some time since she'd last slept, and upon closer inspection, Percy realized with mounting horror that they were red and puffy as well.
She'd been crying.
"I got you," She whispered, wrapping Percy's arm around her shoulder and leading him from the room.
"What-what are you…you shouldn't….Linda" He stammered, trying to explain. It was too soon, he couldn't tell her now, he wanted-no he needed-more time. He couldn't tell her, he couldn't be alone again, because she would most certainly leave him. He wasn't strong enough for that, not now, to when he was just beginning to feel semi-human again.
"I can explain," Percy tried to say, as she deposited him gently on the couch in his living room, he tried to stand but Linda shoved him forcefully back into the leather.
"No!" She all but shouted, tears welling up in her eyes, and Percy felt his heart sink, "Enough of the lies! You can lie to our teachers, you can lie to our friends, you can even lie to my family, but don't you dare, don't you dare continue lying to me! Now when I-Not when I had to carry you here, not when I was sitting over your body as you-you were almost-I can't-" She broke down, tears streaming down her cheeks as her shoulders shook with the force of her sobs.
Percy's mouth opened, then closed, then opened again, and he collapsed back into the couch. All fight left him, and he closed his eyes, fighting his own tears as he prepared himself for what he was going to need to do.
"All right," He croaked, his voice coming out raspy and cracked, "All right, no more lies. No more half-truths. I'll tell you everything." Linda looked up, her own watery eyes meeting Percy's.
"My name is Percy Jackson, my mother really was Sally Jackson, and I really am from New York. I never lied to you about that, I've never pretended to be anything to you but myself, and I've never pretended to be anything but myself around you, I just…I need you to know that."
Linda nodded, clearly not able to trust her own voice at the moment.
"The truth is…I'm not from this earth, not exactly," Linda's eyes widened at the words, and Percy ran a shaky hand through his hair, "I guess I should start from the beginning."
He adjusted himself in the couch, and his fingers danced anxiously around his neck, his fingers unconsciously finding the small bead that Linda had even him for his birthday.
"My father was not lost at sea, not exactly anyways. My father was the Greek God, Poseidon," His eyes darted upward of their own accord, subconsciously expecting a crack of thunder at the use of the name, only to remember coldly that the gods that remained her, were wildly different from those of his own.
"He met my mom, they fell in love, and she had me. It's a long story, and I'll tell you about it later if you still want to hear, but the long and the short of it, is that I'm what we call a half-blood. I have my mom's mortal blood, but also my dad's ichor flowing in my veins. I'm half-god." Feeling that the woman needed proof, he reached out a hand, and summoned a small vortex of water in his palm. Linda watched, her eyes wide and her mouth agape.
"I spent my childhood with those of my kind, half-bloods where I'm from, we're hunted. The monsters of our world can smell our parent's blood in us, and hunt us and try and kill and eat us. We have few safe havens, and I spent the majority of my youth in such a place." His eyes glazed over, and he became momentarily lost in memories.
"We were happy there, it was a hard life but we had each other, and life was pretty okay for a while. But all good things have to come to an end right? We fought two wars when i was sixteen and seventeen. Long story involving amnesia, long lost twins, and other bullshit that comes right out an afternoon soap opera." His fingers clenched white, as he came closer to the end of his story,
"We were at war with the Giants, and with Mother Earth herself. To beat her, required us closing what are called the Doors of Death, Gaia, Mother Earth, had taken control of the doors and they needed to be closed, so me and my best friend traveled down to the pits of tartarus to close the doors. But the doors couldn't be closed from both sides, the could only be closed from one side, and the escape from the pit required one of us to stay behind, and I…volunteered." He trailed off, his mind trailing back, glued to the expression of shock and hurt on Annabeth's face as Percy shoved her into the elevator, pressing his hand on the elevator to raise her back to the surface.
"What happened?" Linda asked, her voice little more than a whisper, and Percy couldn't help but wonder if she truly believed his story. It would have sounded insane to him if he were in her position.
"I died," Percy said simply, "Or…I suppose I would have. Tartarus himself formed and tried to stop me, but me, and a few giants I'd made friends with managed to fight him off long enough to get the doors closed. I would have died in the midst of the fight had it not been for Janus."
"Janus?" Kara asked, confused,
"Roman god of doors," Percy explained, "Obscure god so I'm not surprised you've never heard of him. But he's a hell of a lot more powerful than people believe. He offered me a choice, he told me that he I could stay in Tartarus, and spend all of eternity fighting for my life in the hopes of one day managing to escape, or take the doorway he opened, and start anew. Start fresh…" He closed his eyes, tears streaming down his cheeks.
"You took the offer," Linda said, and Percy nodded, hardly able to speak.
"When I arrived, I washed up on the shore of Themyscira, and were it not for Diana's interference, I probably would have been killed on arrival. I was questioned, and she took me under her wing." He gestured around him at the apartment, "She got me set up with this apartment, even got me into Met. U. I owe her everything."
"That explains a few things," Linda mused under her breath, "And this job of yours?" She questioned, and Percy sighed. Well, considering she hadn't run screaming from the room yet, he took that as a decent enough sign, though he refused to allow himself to hope for anything.
"I'd been here a year," He explained, "Before I was approached by an old man, he knew what I was and made me an offer. Told me that he'd pay me for taking care of some things."
"Things like the wolves?" She asked, and again, Percy was reminded that she was somehow there when he was wounded, and had even said she'd been the one to take him back, but he wasn't going to suss that out, not at the moment anyways.
"Among other things," He nodded, "There's an awful lot of nasty things that your Justice League doesn't notice, not that I really blame 'em. Most of the things I've killed don't exactly turn up on satellite imagining I'd imagine."
He sighed, "Anyways, I did a job for him, and he paid well for it. I was bored and just kind of…drifting. The job kept me busy, kept my head off of…other things. I liked the distraction, the pay was good, and I don't do well with just sitting busy."
"So that's where you've been disappearing to, off to fight these…these monster?"
"Yeah," Percy nodded, his throat catching up to his throat, "So-so there you have it. That's the truth. All of it. I-I didn't want to lie to you-it killed me to do it, you have to know that but it just, it sounds so-"
"Insane?" Linda offered, and he felt any hopes of keeping this woman in his life fall to the wayside.
"Yeah," He said uncomfortably, shifting slightly on the sofa, as the pair fell of into silence.
"Would you stop?" Linda asked abruptly, after a few minutes of utter silence, "Would you stop fighting? Would you stop going after…going after these things, if I asked you?"
"You believe me?" Percy said, barely able to handle these constant swings from hope to despair and back again,
"I do," She said gently, "But answer the question Percy. If I asked you to stop, would you." She knelt down so that she was in front of him, her hands going up and cupping his cheeks. Their foreheads were all but touching, and Percy found it increasingly difficult to breath, in a way that had absolutely nothing to do with his injuries.
"I would," He said, and to his surprise, he meant it, "If you ask me to stop. I'll stop."
"I'm asking-begging." She clarified, "I never want to see you like that…I thought," Her eyes closed, and her forehead fell forward and bumping against his own, as tears trickled from the corners of her eyes.
Percy wanted to say something consoling, to reassure her, but he was finally overwhelmed with the question that had been burning inside of him for the past several minutes.
"You keep saying that…but I was in Nova Scotia…how did you get there? And for that matter," He looked around the room, "How did I get back here?"
Linda didn't respond, she just tightened her grip and her face squished in pain.
"Linda," Percy said again, feeling a fair bit more distressed, "Linda please, talk to me, what's going on,"
"Kara," She said abruptly, and Percy blinked, taken aback,
"I'm sorry?" He asked,
"My name…my real name…it's Kara."
Linda, or rather Kara, flinched, and then sighed, pulling away from Percy. "No more lies," She said, though to Percy it sounded more like she was talking to herself, than to him.
She looked at him, worrying her lip in trepidation, as though she were coming to some monumental decision. Then, before Percy had even time to think, there was blast of air and Percy was thrown violently back into the sofa, and Percy blinked. Linda was gone, she had disappeared entirely from the room, but before Percy even had the time to register what had happened there was another blast of air, and there was a new figure in the room. A woman, floating a few inches off the floor, a very familiar woman.
She wore a navy blue top, similar to armor but a bit more form-fitting. Draped across her shoulders, was a blood-red cape, flapping somewhat in the breeze of the now open window, and dancing with the golden curls of the woman that had suddenly appeared. Over her hips and draping down to near her knees was a skirt, the same shade of red as the cape with yellow trim, and a pair of strange red boots. On the woman's chest, was a very familiar symbol.
Percy slowly got to his feet, somewhat unsteadily, his mouth agape in abject shock.
The woman had Linda's flowing golden locks, her same high cheekbones, and those same piercing and beautiful blue eyes. But…it couldn't be…could it?
"My name is not really Linda Lang," She said "That is the earth name I gave myself, in order to…blend in. My real name is Kara Zor-El,"
Kara floated down, so that her booted feet touched down on the wooden floor,
"I spent the first sixteen years of my life, I lived in Argo City, the capital of Kypton, the same planet Kal-El, Superman, my cousin came from. On the day Krypton was destroyed, my parents put me in a pod similar to my cousins, and saved me from earth, I was meant to join Kal-El, on earth, help raise him on this planet. But something went wrong, and my pod was sucked in a wormhole, I only appeared on this planet three years ago, and for the past two years, I've been wearing this." She tugged self-consciously at the blue costume, "Calling myself Supergirl."
Kara finally met Percy's eyes, the deep blue orbs swimming with emotion, with hope, and despair equal. Hope that Percy would accept her, and despair that he would reject her.
Percy collapsed back into the sofa, his breath leaving his lungs. He didn't know what to think, didn't know what to say. The woman that he'd thought he'd known, for over a year, had actually been one of the most powerful beings on the entire planet, hell, in the entire galaxy maybe.
He did the only thing that made sense.
He laughed. He tilted his head back, and laughed. A deep, full-bellied, almost maniacal laugh. Tears, whether of relief, joy, or mirth, streamed down his cheeks and his stomach hurt as he was utterly lost to his fit.
The entire time, Kara simply stood there, staring at him, horror and misery painting her fine features.
After a minute, Percy managed to collect himself, and he got unsteadily to his feet, and hobbled over to the wary woman. To her clear surprise, Percy wrapped her up in a hard and close embrace.
"We are a pair," He said, into her ear,
"You're not mad?" Kara asked, incredulous, "I-I've been lying to you, I've hiding this from since the day we met, I even lied to you about my name."
"You say that like I haven't been doing the same thing." Percy said, tightening his embrace, and to his relief, he felt Kara wrap her own arms around him. Pulling her back with him, Percy collapsed onto the sofa, pulling Kara up onto the couch with him. Shifting for a moment so that she was perched a little more comfortably, while still clinging to Percy, Kara looked up at him, eyes searching.
"I'm so sorry," Percy said, looking down at her, "I'm sorry for lying to you, I'm sorry for leaving you worried, "I'm sorry for-for all of this,"
"I'm sorry too," She apologized, nuzzling her head a little deeper into his chest, "We're a pair…aren't we?"
"Yeah," He said, laughing a little desperately. He wasn't entirely sure that he hadn't completely cracked, that all of this wasn't some fiction brought about by a fractured mind, but even if it was, he didn't think he cared.
"What do we do now?" She asked, and Percy pondered the question for a moment,
"Nothing," He said simply after a moment, looking down and meeting her fearful eyes,
"Nothing?" She asked, perplexed,
"Nothing," He said again, "As far as I'm concerned, this changes nothing. You're still you, and I'm still me. We understand each other a little better, and we promise each other that we don't keep secrets like this from one another again, but I don't think this changes anything."
Kara watched him carefully for a moment, scrutinizing him closely, before that beautiful smile that he loved so much finally appeared on her face. She nodded, before closing her eyes and snuggling a little closer into him.
"I like the sound of that."
AN: AND IT HAPPENS! Percy and Kara know the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help them the gods. I hope the reveal made sense to everyone, and I hope you enjoyed what I put together for it. I wanted Percy to be run down, tired, exhausted, and sloppy. I wanted him to get so caught up in his head that he slipped up and it nearly cost him. I hope you guys enjoyed how it played out because I really enjoyed writing it. As always shoutout to Double0Sxvxn for being an awesome Beta and dealing with my bullshit and as always if you enjoyed this but haven't checked out my other work, give them a try you never know you might find something else you like. I'm also on discord now, where I and a bunch of other writers hang out, chat and brainstorm ideas, you just have to copy the link that's in my profile bio if you want to come and hang out with us. Stay safe, stay healthy and have an awesome week.
All My Love and see you next week,
LilDB