Triton often wondered why his fragile little brother wished to live as a human. The boy was a demigod, mortal with the blood of a god in his veins. And yet, Percy went to college, raised a family, and grew old next to his demigod wife. If someone wanted something, didn't that mean forever? Why did his brother settle for less than that? Olympus would happily grant Percy and Annabeth immortality. Yet they did not ask, any of them.
It all happened so quickly. One moment, he'd hated the very idea of his existence. He was nothing more than a reminder of his father's unfaithfulness, nothing but a foolish child. Then, the next moment the demigod had burrowed his way into Triton's coral-protected heart and made a home there having saved the world more than Triton cared to count. And the last moment, Percy Jackson was smiling, wrinkles lining his aged face, clutching a beautifully crafted cane made by the finest smiths of his Father's forges. Too fast, much too fast.
It was funny how a mortal grew to become the brother of a God. The sea mourned that day, hurricanes and monsoons tore across the oceans as his brother passed into the realm of Hades. Triton's father raged, threatening war with his older brother in order to get Percy back. It was half-hearted at best and Amphrite calmed Posidon down enough for the seas to return to relative peace.
("Would Perseus want you to bring him back, my Lord? You claim to love him. Love him enough to let him go." His mother was always the voice of reason, much to his father's ire.)
Triton didn't know what to do with himself. Mourning was familiar to him. He'd mourned for Pallas every day of his eternal life since she'd faded. Was he continually doomed to grieve for the lives of his family? It was worse for his father. He acutely knew that special heartbreak of outliving your child.
Only after Percy's death did Triton emerge from the depths to wander on land more often. He wasn't sure if a God would ever be able to understand why Percy wanted to live as he did fully. But he was determined to try. It was the least he could do, right? There must've been a reason Percy loved it as much as he did.
So he wandered. He visited aquariums, uncaring of the way mortals would gawk as all of the sealife immediately became fixated on him. He went and bought blue candy if he could find it just to see his strange pink tongue stain its natural color. He became the God that dropped by Camp Half-Blood the most often. Camp Jupiter groveled for nearly an hour when he appeared.
He had a few new brothers and sisters these days. He could see Percy in them, in the way they looked, with that same crooked grin that his father had and sea-green eyes. It wasn't the same, but they gave him some measure of comfort. He didn't hate his half-siblings, he couldn't. Hating them would also mean hating a small part of Percy.
Sometimes he taught them the ways of the trident. His father did not visit anymore and his siblings jumped at the chance, hungry for more interactions with their godly family. Triton could count the fights he had with his father on his hands. He added another one to the tally when he told him to go visit. His father's eyes grew stormy and a hurricane formed in the Atlantic.
"They are not Percy."
"They are still your children."
His immortal family spanned from the most minor of gods to Chaos themself. He had as many family members as stars in the sky. His mortal family had precious few. His father called them constellations. Alone, they would be nothing but another blip on Ouranos' skin, but together, they created something that had meaning.
It was strange to experience it all without his brother's cheeky comments whenever something new occurred. "You've never had pizza?! That hastabe like, a crime or something!" "We're riding that roller coaster Tri. No, it's safe, promise." "My coworkers suck. Don't smite them, it's fine." "My hip hurts. Ah, just old-age, brother. Don't worry about me."
And then, on a curious day wandering the strange surface land, he came across a mortal child. The boy had no godly blood, but he was the blessed few that could see through the Mist. There was something about the boy that made Triton freeze in his tracks. A ghost of familiar jet-black hair and sea-green eyes of his teenage brother lingered on his face. He noticed him staring, so he stared back, something challenging in his eyes.
He swallowed and turned away. He did not flee, because the Divine don't flee. It was a near thing, however. He retreated swiftly back to the seas where his mother took one look at him and smiled in the way all mothers do. He pretended not to see.
Morpheus came to him that night. The God didn't say much, smiling at Triton's narrowed eyes. It irked him. It was one thing to have his mother smile, it was another thing to have another God do it.
"I do not need dreams tonight, Morpheus," he said with a sniff.
"Are you the God of Dreams? I think not," Morpheus hummed sleepily, but he retreated all the same, "Delay if you must. I will deliver when ready, Lord Triton."
Triton crossed his arms, fins bristling at the subtle threat. But the God of Dreams smirked, eyes closing as he vanished back to his realm. Triton stayed away from the cesspool of filth called Los Angeles. He told himself it was because of the sheer amount of pollution and not because he didn't want to come across that child that made his nonexistent heart feel as if it were being crushed.
He wasn't so much of a coward to stop visiting the surface entirely. He was many things and would willfully admit he was a coward at times. He was proud to say not many Gods and Goddesses could do it. He still visited tourist locations and checked on his siblings at Camp.
A few years passed and he slowly lost that edge of anxiety he had when venturing about. Perhaps if he hadn't grown comfortable he could've avoided coming across the child again. He wasn't much of a child anymore. He was all long gangly limbs and blemished skin, glaring definitely at him like there was some personal slight he'd committed.
"You. I remember you. I've seen you once, somewhere."
"Have you?" Triton asked mildly, stretching his senses around for an escape. It was too much. The angular face, the sharp eyes, and the surf-swept hair. The mortal wasn't exactly like his late brother, but enough like him for his heart to pang with grief.
"I don't meet blue people with fish fins every day," the boy scoffed, "That's too real to be cosplay."
Triton raised his eye ridges. What was a cosplay?
"I must be going. My father calls," Triton said instead.
The teenager made a face, "Aren't you an adult?"
He snorted, morphing into sea mist without answering. He hadn't quite left when the boy murmured, "I feel like I should call you, Brother, but I don't know why."
The Divine don't flee, but Triton definitely committed to a tactical retreat this time. He wished his daughter were here with him. She was always good at parsing emotions and stupid mortal stuff like this. It was not possible. He wouldn't even entertain the thought. The Fates were mocking him. Perseus Jackson was dead.
Morpheus appeared before him again that night, smiling more gently than last time. Triton sent him away again, irritable at the interruption to his nightly routine.
"Dreams find all eventually, Lord Triton."
"Indeed," he responded tightly, "Eventually is not now."
The fading impish grin gave the God-Prince of the Sea goosebumps.
The next time he came across his brother's ghost, it was he that found him.
"You're a hard person to track down, Fish Guy." The mortal was grown. At first glance, Triton saw Percy dressed in sweatpants and a hoodie, young and whole again. He blinked and it was the boy, all grown up, and Percy's spitting image.
Triton waved away the tropical fish in the tank, turning to face his not-brother. The aquarium lights cast a shadow down the boy's face. It was all the same, from the way his eyebrow quirked down to the shape of his nose. Triton looked away.
"I might be crazy, but I think I know your name."
Wordlessly, Triton tilted his head, urging him to finish his sentence.
"Poseidon?"
Triton couldn't help himself. He threw his head back and laughed even as something reached into his chest and squeezed. "I am glad to be mistaken for my father, young one."
Not-Percy scowled, just like he used to do, "Triton then." The lack of formalities and utter disregard for the rest of the Gods hidden under those words was jarring. This one did not know and probably wouldn't care. "You always look sad when you see me." And yet this boy was just as perceptive as his ghost.
"Yes, I suppose I do," Triton acknowledged, waving another fish away from the glass.
"Why?" His tone told Triton he already knew the answer, so the God remained silently staring into the aquarium glass.
"Brother." Triton nearly overbalanced, cursing not for the first time the strange grounding feel of the land. "That's what you were to me, at some point. Right? I feel crazy saying that out loud."
"I must go," he rushed out, already preparing to teleport. Too much. Way too much at once.
"Wait!" The God hesitated. "Will I see you again, Triton?"
The words remained locked in his throat as the air sped around him and he was gone. Perhaps, he wanted to say, I want to. The only time the Divine got what they wanted was through force. That was something that could be spared, surely. So he left, unwilling to harm, unwilling to open his heart once more.
A part of him died when his daughter was lost. Another part vanished down to the Underworld with Percy. He did not have enough of himself to give away anymore. Sea-green eyes and jet-black hair, so much like Father; so much like him.
Triton did not visit the surface for a long time after that. He stayed at the palace, drilling the guards and polishing his already perfect trident. Morpheus visited one last time and Triton could only sigh and sit back on his bed of kelp.
"Not sent away this time, my Lord?" The God of Dreams smiled, eyes closed in slumber, "No, you know it's time. Sleep well, Lord Triton."
"Safe journey to you, Morpheus," Triton smiled tiredly. "It is time."
For the first time in a long time, Triton dreamed. He dreamt of laughter, of someone long gone, and of sea-green eyes.
"Good afternoon," Triton said conversationally, causing the boy to spin around.
The apartment was clean, something Percy struggled with. Coffee splattered the tiles on the ground as Not-Percy whirled around and gasped, "How'd you get in here?!"
Triton hummed, seating himself on the kitchen table chairs, "Did we not establish I am a God the last we spoke?"
Not-Brother put his coffee on the table and made a face at him, "You're a weird God then. Gods don't really visit us puny humans and yet here you are."
He huffed a laugh, "Perceptive boy. You've dreamt, haven't you?"
"They aren't real," the boy immediately fired back. He grew more hesitant at Triton's amusement, "Right?"
"Telling or asking, Brother?"
"A-Asking…"
Triton smiled, "Let me ask something in turn. What is your name?"
"Marin."
How fitting. Star of the Sea indeed. The God-Prince thought of his constellation. His smile grew at the addition of another star.
