Percy let a genuine smile grace his face as he slumped onto his couch.

It had been a good day despite the unsteady start his dreams brought him. He had spent the majority of the daylight hours engaged in polite conversations with the kids, probing surface-level thoughts from them and having conversations like one would have at a get-together with a distant friend's family. The conversations were light in meaning and significance but there to fill the silence of moving about the tower as he was given a proper tour and not just an elevator speech. Starfire had been all too happy to explain the comings and goings of each floor.

By the time the tour ended, they were in the gym playing an impromptu game of two-on-two basketball. Starfire had opted to sit out in favor of checking upon Raven, the missing Titan. Back on the court, Percy and Cassie dealt with trying to outscore Cyborg, who clearly had some more official experience with basketball than the pick-up games Percy had around camp when he was younger. It had been lighthearted fun, even when Cyborg and Beast Boy took to calling him "Gramps" when they got past him. He took it on the cheek and proceeded to dunk on them. As one does in that situation.

From there, time blurred as the games continued, and before the sun could completely hide away, they called the games at the sound of Beast Boy's stomach growling like a lion. The group of them quickly found themselves in like minds as Cyborg fast-tracked an order of pizzas for everyone.

With how Cyborg told the person on the other side that they wanted the regular, Percy had a sneaking suspicion that pizza made up more of their diet than the average person. Percy made a note to change that. As much as pizza was good, he wasn't going to miss giving these kids some home-cooked meals. Food always tastes better when you don't have to see the receipt for the delivery fee.

Plus, he had to teach Cyborg how to grill some time.

It was only after he filled his stomach and Apollo gave way to Artemis's turn into the sky did Percy bid his farewell to the kids and Starfire. He did not want to encroach on both their day and night.

The walk back to his apartment was more sedated than his venture earlier in the day. He took the time to let himself soak in the new town.

He was quick to find that Jump City did not lack a nightlife. Upon the main strip of the city that spanned from his apartment to the coast where the Titans resided, life pulsated into the night.

Neon lights hung from brick building fronts, the signs flickering and flashing like restless spirits as they advertised the bar or club beneath it. If the lights didn't grab his attention, then the sounds from the doors that had been left open sure did as the thumping bass of music spilled out onto the street. A mix of modern-day Pop and good ole Rock 'n Roll mingled with the laughter and chatter of the bustling bars. It was as if he was at multiple concerts all at once.

And the party didn't stop inside the bars either as people waited in lines that wrapped around the block, waiting for their turn to hit the club for the night and get lost in revelry. They whooped and cheered at each other, laughing and catcalling people walking by who were too drunk to even walk a straight line. Not one person wasn't intoxicated upon the main strip.

Even Percy felt the atmosphere start to affect him. Granted, it was in a different way than those with drinks in hand, but he felt it all the same. The thrum of the night, the heartbeat that drove the conversations and mimicked the rhythm of the music, was a shot of caffeine to his bloodstream that coffee could never amount to.

He could feel his god-given scar call to him, begging him to give in and revel in the night. To give in.

Yet, despite it, Percy forced himself onwards to his quieter apartment. He already had his excitement for the day earlier, and he did not feel like dancing in the dark and surrendering even more to the goddess of the night. She had already left him with so little to call his own.

By the time Percy found his way home, he called his day completed and collapsed face first into his couch and let his mind blank and his heart still while he procrastinated taking a shower. There was a simplicity in doing nothing but existing in the silence of his apartment.

Ring! Ring! Ring!

Percy blindly reached into his pocket and sluggishly fished out his phone as it continued to demand his attention. Not many people called him, and even less did at this hour. Hopefully, they didn't plan to ruin it.

Percy read the name across the top before accepting the call and placing it on speaker.

"Hello, Piper," he mumbled, burying his head back into the cushions.

"Percy," the daughter of Aphrodite returned with a surprising heat as if he had kicked her child. "Where are you, mister?"

"On my couch, trying not to doze off in the world's softest cushions."

"Uh huh, and is there any reason you are leaving me outside your apartment knocking?"

"Uhhh…." Percy begrudgingly pushed himself off his couch and moved towards his door. He cracked the door open a smidge and glanced into the empty hall. "No one is at my door, Piper."

"I am!" she hissed back. "I've been knocking for five minutes now, doofus."

"Ohh…." Percy realized, facepalming. "I forgot to tell you guys. I moved."

"You moved? When?" she hissed, and he couldn't help but wince.

Biting the bullet, he replied, "Earlier this week. Yeah, Nico helped me."

"What? Where are you now, Percy?" she demanded, and he could feel her hand shaking at her side in restrained anger. "Jason, the kiddo, and I wanted to surprise you with dinner tonight. You better be down the street or around the block."

Percy winced, feeling the hole being dug deeper, "No. Not even close. I'm on the West Coast now, near San Fran. I'm living in Jump City."

"Jump City?" he heard her recoil through the phone. "Why did you move there?"

"Work."

"Work?" she let out a chuckle in disbelief. "What coffee shop promotion requires you to move across the nation?"

"Uh, the superhero kind," he sighed, taking a seat back on his couch.

"The superhero kind?" she repeated tersely.

"It's a long story…." he threw his legs up onto the couch.

"I'm sure it is, Percy," she sighed. "Look, how about you send me and the rest of us your new address? Just because you are living a bachelor's life nowadays doesn't mean you can leave your friends out of the loop. Next time we are in New Rome, we will be stopping by to hear the full, and I do mean full story."

Percy rolled his eyes, "Of course, mother. I'll make sure to turn on my location for you as well. Some woman might try to kidnap me the next time I'm hitting the town."

"Oh! Are you dating again?" Piper perked up, the bite lost from her voice at the idea of romance. Once a daughter of Aphrodite, always a daughter of Aphrodite.

"What? No," Percy verbally backpedaled, watching as the fan spun above his head, creaking with each and every other rotation. "That's now what I was trying to say. It was supposed to be a joke. Plus, I don't think there is ever going to be a woman on this planet who could ever deal with the baggage I've got," he laughed. "Could you imagine me trying to explain to some girl why I drink liquid fire? That I have to take it like medicine because I traveled through hell."

"I think you underestimate things, Percy," Piper tutted. "You could try superheroes. I'm sure they have wacky stories. I mean, Hawkgirl? Talk about a hall pass."

"Down girl." Percy rolled his eyes. "Hawkgirl? Wings do it for you? Wait. Nevermind. That's…. You came to surprise me with dinner, did you?"

"What can I say, I love someone who can sweep me off my feet," Piper's melodic laugh came through the speaker. "But, yes, we did. If I had known, you didn't live in the state anymore though…. Well, I'm sure it doesn't need to be said."

"Sorry. It only happened a few days ago. I'm still unpacking."

"Don't apologize to me. Apologize to Jason. He's the one sitting in traffic right now picking up dinner with Daphne."

"Sounds like you should hang up and call him to tell him that the plan has changed, then."

"You are probably right," Piper sighed. "We'll just have to find the time to come out there to you, then. I think Jason wanted to visit Frank here soon, so maybe we'll do it all in one swoop. Maybe all of us could get together for a night, and you can tell us the 'long story'."

"Sure. Sounds fun."

"Cool. Well, I'm going to call Jason now. Thanks for not telling me about you moving out."

"You're welcome, Piper. You guys stay safe and take it easy."

"You too, Percy."

Percy watched as the call ended, and the phone went dark. His reflection stared back at him.

Not caring to see himself anymore, he tossed the phone onto his coffee table next to the manilla folder with the Titans' information inside. After a shower, he would read through them, or rather, he would read through Raven's file. She was something more than the others if Mother Night cared about her. Plus his own curiosity had to be satisfied.

With that in mind, the aged demigod set about taking his second shower of the day. The sweat and grime of hours of basketball and walking about the city went down the drain as he let the warm water cascade down his back. The soothing sensation contrasted with the rough skin his right hand traced across the black scar on his stomach.

Her mark.

Percy had died down there, in Tartarus. He knew he did. One doesn't watch as their abdomen was gutted open and live to tell the tale. One doesn't just walk away after holding their innards in so they don't become outards. Well, one doesn't unless they make a fool's deal with a deity all too eager to capitalize.

Percy could still hear his wheezing breath as he begged Nyx to save Annabeth and get her out of Tartarus safely. And when she asked for something in return, he had sacrificed his world for Annabeth. He had pledged one word to the primordial being, thinking it was his last breath: Anything.

Was that what Athena had in mind when she told him of his fatal flaw? When she said he would damn the world for the ones he cared for…?

Percy could still recall watching as darkness descended upon his gaze and the waiting light of the afterlife called to him. He could smell the stale air of DOA Records' waiting room. He could hear Charon calling for the next in line, but he never saw past the light before he woke up being carried in the goddess' arms.

Pulled against her as she carried him, he could only limply surrender to her grasp as life flooded back into his body like frost spreading across a lake. His blood had run cold, starting at where his body had been torn open. His limbs had turned to ice as they dangled helplessly in her arms.

The Hero of Olympus was entirely at her mercy, and he had been so since he foolishly gave himself to her.

Nyx had brought him back from the dead. He wouldn't deny it. She had claimed his soul in exchange for seeing Annabeth free from Tartarus.

Yet, he would do it a thousand times over again as long as it meant Annabeth got out. He would've torn the gods asunder in her name.

And despite that all, he still couldn't face picking up the phone when her name lit up the screen.

Why was it so much easier to sell his soul than to listen? Why was he such a coward?

Percy turned the water off and stepped out of the shower, flicking the water down the drain and letting his mind go with it. Today had turned into a good day despite the rough morning. He didn't need to end the day the same way it started: in the past.

In a t-shirt and underwear, Percy once more fell onto his couch. He reached for the manilla folder and quickly turned to the section marked Raven.

The teen girl had seemingly sensed Nyx. She also apparently had the ability to summon portals to other dimensions and phase through the floor. He had to know how. That was beyond even being a demigod.

As he read the first few words, he had to restart from the beginning, dumbfounded.

"Daughter of Trigon the Terrible, a pagan demonic deity that manifested as the spawn of hate and evil," he reread aloud, hoping the words would settle better upon his ears than his mind. "Age fourteen…."

Being the son of a god was one thing. His father was the ruler of the seas and earthquakes. Percy could handle that. Nature and natural parts of the earth were things people wouldn't blink twice at. But to be the daughter of hate and evil? That was a whole different perception of life.

It only made him wonder more about why he was set upon her course. What did Nyx intend by leading him to her? What was Percy to do for a daughter of Hate and Evil? Show her the light of happiness and rainbows?

Percy's eyes skimmed further down the page to what he was curious to know next.

"Astral projection, dimensional travel, empathy, flight, telekinesis, magic, energy projection, enhanced physique, healing, and limited precognition." Percy blinked, setting the folder back down. Where did he even begin with all of that? Fighting a Greek Titan felt simpler than what a Teen Titan could apparently do.

Was this why the League wanted him to overlook the group? Did they, too, need to keep an eye on the young girl? She was a powerhouse that could upend the world in an hour.

Percy needed fresh air.

Standing, he forced himself across the room and away from what he had just learned.

He knew powerful beings existed. He had lived in Metropolis under Superman's cape and was a son of a god himself, but Raven…. She was more than he ever was, and she was twenty years younger than him.

"You understand now?"

Percy didn't even turn to look at her. Instead, he continued to walk to his balcony. The city lights sprawled out before him, polluting the night sky and hiding away the stars, leaving only the black expanse above. Yet, the air outside felt lighter than the stuffiness of his overcrowded apartment.

"The daughter of The Demon is one of the most crucial pieces of the puzzle, my sweet."

Percy shivered, feeling her hands wrap around his sides before they laced over each other upon his chest. He hated the way she was so frigid. Her touch graced with the absence of the sun's warmth.

"Why?" he mumbled, ignoring the way she burrowed into his back as if he were a warm blanket fresh from the dryer. Perhaps that was why she did.

"Her father, The Demon himself." She pulled him into her, forcing him into her body.

She was so cold….

"And where do I fall into all of this?" Percy demanded, shifting beneath her ironclad clutch.

"You are the beginning, the middle, and the end of it all," she purred, her lips nipping at his earlobe.

"Enough of your games, Nyx." He ignored the way she preened at her name. "Tell me straight," Percy demanded, pushing out of the deity's arms and turning on her. He gazed upon her primal form. The black fog of night misted around her, occluding the black void of her being—the same black void that hung in the sky above.

Her eyebrow twitched as she fought away a frown, "You are not ready for such information, my sweet. You will not understand. Not until you can manage your rage and understand what it means to be Perseus, the destroyer. It is only when you awake, bathed in blood, will you begin to understand the scope of why it was you I picked."

"What if I don't want to be 'bathed in blood'? What if I refuse?"

Nyx laughed, a barking noise as she held a hand to her chest.

Percy's heart jumped into his throat in response. Immortals laughing rarely ever favored the mortal.

She settled herself, a knowing smirk adorning her dark visage, "I've seen the path you must walk, Perseus Jackson. When the earth breaks like burnt skin and the heavens open up for you, it will be a blood sport."

That's not something I want, Percy frowned.

"Don't fear it." She stepped forward, her arm reaching for his cheek, but he leaned away, turning back towards the city. Her tone hardened, "Don't mistake my words for promises of wrath and fury, Perseus. You will know love and kindness. I have seen it. Let me give you the wings to fly to your destiny. Accept me once and for all. It will make this journey easier if you do."

He clamped his mouth shut.

Once more, he felt her bury herself into his back, the mist of her wings cocooning around him until they hardened into frigid black wings. He was but prey caught in the clutches of a predator.

"You are mine, my sweet. If you give me everything. I will give you the very wings to fly past the heavens, or" –she licked along his neck, trailing upwards to his jaw– "I can take you there myself."

Percy woke alone in his bed, for once thankful for the lack of company. Daylight once more streamed in through his window, blinding him upon his first sight. He quickly rolled over in bed and blinked away the spots in his eyes in the safety of his shadow.

As he did, the conversation with Mother Night lingered at the forefront of his mind. Her confusing words of foretelling were as good as nothing to him, but they still lingered upon his mind like a vulture over a carcass.

He was to wake, covered in blood, but the heroes he now worked with would never allow such a thing to happen. Unless it could mean he stood opposite of them… but then why make him a part of their team?

Percy didn't understand Nyx.

It was like playing poker, but he never got to look at his cards while she was the dealer who could see every card in play. She knew what she was gambling on and had all the chips to play to force him all in.

If only he knew why she was doing all this. Maybe then he would be more adjustable to the ideas she had planted in his brain. If behind her cryptid words lay a reality of peace and happiness, would he be the villain to deny it? Would he be the hero who killed for it?

Feeling his eyes adjust to the light, Percy sat up and got out of bed.

After spending the majority of the day with the Titans yesterday, Percy decided not to visit them today. He didn't want to overbear them after all with his presence. They had just met. They deserved a whole day to gather their initial thoughts on him, and he wouldn't mind having a day to relax. A day of watching television and skimming through the rest of the files didn't sound like a terrible way to manage his Saturday.

He really just didn't want to be an adult today. He could already tell it would be a horrible day if he stepped foot out of his apartment. No, thank you. He is very much content on his couch.

Ring! Ring! Ring!

"By the gods," Percy groaned and snagged his phone off of his nightstand. "Unknown caller. What scam do you have for me?" he mumbled before accepting the call. "Hello?"

"It's Cyborg."

Percy suppressed another groan at the violation of his privacy, "Was my phone number in my file?"

"Stole your contact information the moment I opened the door for you, sorry."

Percy sighed, "Alright, Mr. NSA, I'm going to act like you didn't hack into my phone the moment you opened that door, and I'm going to say we exchanged numbers instead. Now, with that memory in place, you called to tell me what?"

"Well, we are currently on our way to some crime in town. The H.I.V.E Five are trying to rob a bank. Wasn't sure if you wanted to come or not?"

Percy grimaced as the sunlight stabbed at his eyes as if Apollo himself were winking at him, hinting at him to run along. "The Hive Five? Are you about to go punch some bees or something?"

"Man, I wish," the teen laughed on the other side of the call. "No. They are five idiots who are funded by a shadow organization called H.I.V.E, and that is spelled as an acronym. From our understanding, they don't need money from a bank, but crime is a crime. So, are you coming along?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess I'll be in there on the sidelines if you need me. I'm not too sure how Capes actually do their business. Send me the address, and I'll meet you there."

"Sure thing, Gramps. See you there."

"Hey—" Percy listened as the phone call ended, and he pulled the phone from his ear in time to hear it ding with a new text message. "Kids these days."

Percy quickly snagged an outfit with a hood and ran out the front door.

He didn't really have a plan on what to do beyond standing there in case of emergency, but Percy figured that was better than not being there. He was always good at improvising.

Plus, the Teen Titans were a superhero team. They would not need him. They had been together for a few months now under the tutelage of Starfire and Nightwing, who left recently for some reason Percy had yet to discover. It was similar to when he had learned just enough with even less time when he was twelve and given his first quest. That turned out great in the end… for the most part.

The Titans wouldn't need him. He was sure of it….

That said, he did make an effort to sprint a little quicker than what most people would accept from a random man passing by. He didn't need Kid-NSA or Ladiesman217 getting hurt.

AN: Join Discord link in bio! Follow, Favorite, Review!

(Revised Sept. 24th, 2024)

Hope all is well.

-Manke