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Had someone told Triton a year ago, that he would one day be sitting in a chair in a mortal hospital's waiting room, looking suitably pathetic for having escaped a terrible car crash for his half-brother to wake; he would have dismissed them for being one of Dionysus'. One of the insane. He would have laughed it off, delighted in it even, the thought of his demigod half-brother being at the doors of death, on the cusp of getting out of their hair. The revered saviour of Olympus being relegated to another mere footnote in their long history, where if he was lucky, to be passed on as a legend amongst other land-dwelling demigods. The thought of him, the heir of Poseidon, crown prince of Atlantis would ever approve of the bastard child of his father to the point of worrying over him, was merely inconceivable for the Triton of years past.
Yet, there he was in one of the mortal hospitals on land, awaiting news on his younger brother. The limp form unnerving to see for someone who could hardly sit still even when he had been injured in battle. To think he had fought the god of war at the tender age of 12 and emerged relatively unscathed and victorious be reduced to the small crumpled form in the cramped hospital bed, too small, too still, too pale.
The thought of losing his brother to something as mortal as a car accident, of forever having the one demigod child of their father's slip through his - no, their fingers like that, too painful to bear. The thought of never having Atlantis' people delight in the childish joy of his saviour brother, to bask in his laughter was something foreign. Sitting in the waiting room of the mortal hospital, helpless, and facing the painful possibility of experiencing the loss of his brother.
This was like Pallas all over again. Were all the people he loved doomed to die?
Just a couple of hours ago, Percy had been bouncing around, dragging him around an amusement park, happy to spend time with him. But all that changed while they had been driving back to Percy's Apartment for the night, a car came out of nowhere and rammed straight into the car they had been in.
Triton could still feel the sticky warmth of mortality that clung to the crimson blood of his baby brother. The sticky feeling of blood as it flowed down his hands, as the paramedics whisked Percy away, sirens blaring.
He ignores how his instincts scream at how wrong it felt to see the blood of mortals’ flow from his brother instead of golden ichor.
They had been driving down the intersections of a busy road near where the entrance of New Rome lay, Percy had been laughing at a story that Triton was telling, about the shenanigans that he used to get up to with Kymopoleia back during the ancient times. Driving their father up the walls of the palace with their antics, lamenting the day he let them meet Hermes and Apollo. All for nought as their father's eyes shone with amusement clear as Apollo's Sun for all to see.
A car comes barrelling down the hill from an adjacent road despite lit red lights of the appropriate signal light, the police hot on its trail. Time slowed for Triton as he saw the car his mouth opening to warn of the incoming car. Percy had seen it too, his eyes widening as he does his best to get out of the way of the incoming traffic. Just a moment too late, as their car wasn't able to get out of the way in time.
Triton lunged for his baby brother, attempting to shield him from the colliding car and the ensuing crash.
A weak laugh was heard as they flew through the air in their car, which landed on its roof. They had been engulfed in the airbag that had triggered the collision.
Neither had been prepared for another car to be added to that was their initial crash, blindsided.
If only…
The crash was of epic proportions. The ingrained morbid curiosity of the passers-by kept them from looking away, rubbernecking they called it. Someone had been flung from the secondary car, its open roof allowing for the ejection of whichever poor soul had been unfortunate enough to have been in the car with the driver.
The police were quick to react, stopping their vehicles in time to avoid adding to the accident.
If only Triton had succeeded in convincing Percy to leave the car where it was for the night and allowed him to summon the car to Percy's regular parking spot in the parking complex of his apartment in New Rome.
Then, he won't have to put up with the mortals fussing over him and his 'injuries'. A snap of his fingers had made the mist give him minor scrapes and a cover story for how he got out relatively unscathed from the horrific crash. Where he broke his shoulder and collarbone, or so he was told by the doctors that had looked him over.
Apollo would never have to be called by their father for a favour, to ensure the survival of the mortal sea prince.
Then, he won't be here, sitting in the uncomfortable plastic chair of the hospital waiting room with an arm in a similarly uncomfortable sling. All while their father paced as they waited for Apollo to work his magic and domains on his baby brother on the other side of the plain white walls.
It wasn't until hours later that Apollo came out to meet the father-son duo, who have been joined by the rest of Percy's immortal family. He'd been subdued as he relayed the news that he had done his best, but the fates were set in their ways. Percy is alive, but far from well.
It took months of waiting, of anticipation and schemes, for his baby brother to regain any semblance of consciousness again.
It started as small twitches of Percy's fingers, initially having been dismissed as just muscle spasms. Which when suggested by Apollo after his weekly check on the youngest sea prince, had elicited an attempt to squeeze Triton's hand. The shock of suddenly having his hand be squeezed by his previously comatose brother got Triton to let out a squeak of surprise which those present would forever hold over his head.
It only got better from there, the gentle hand squeezes slowly evolved to become eye movements. The opening of Percy's eyes after 4 months of the remaining closed, was immediately followed by the reclosing of his eyes. To finally see the green eyes shared by most members of the oceanic family brought Sally and his mother to tears. Chuckles were had over Percy's reaction to light, as the lights of the room were dimmed.
"What happened?" were the first things that the demigod prince of the sea uttered as soon as he could speak again. Or at least, he tried to ask, what ended up coming out was a jumble of sounds that could barely be understood.
“I can’t feel my legs, why can’t I move my legs?”
The distraught cries from the baby of the family tugged at the false heartstrings of the oceanic family.
Apollo by the wayside looked uncomfortable as he stepped forward to break the devastating news.
That Percy would never be able to walk on his own nor would he be able to compete in the swim team again, paralysed from the waist down.
They had tried their best to distract Percy from the reality he can never walk on his own again, bringing him to the sea, to allow him the freedom of mobility through his powers.
The sea gods scattered across the open water by the secluded beach of the Montauk, none dared to help Percy for fear that he would take their concern as pity. All of them within reach of the mortal prince of the sea, but far enough away to not crowd into his space.
The inability of not being able to move freely on his own without the confines of the wheelchair on land was taking a toll on Percy. Everyone could see it, the childish mirth in his eyes extinguished and replaced by bone-deep exhaustion.
He talks of being a burden, for requiring Sally to obtain additional help, and adding to the financial burden of the small family.
Sally had begged for Percy to accept their father’s offer, for she could see how much it affected him despite him trying his hardest to not show it.
How much it hurt him to have to depend so much on others around him to help him complete simple tasks.
"Do you accept?" Their father’s voice rumbled.
"I accept." His answer echoed throughout the oceans, commencing the sea's celebration.
Light engulfs Percy's legs from where they had been submerged in water in the ocean held afloat by their father, turning the pair of legs that had confined him to the wheelchair, and twisting them into a tail. A tail of iridescent blue, dark like the darkest depths of their shared domains. The hold their father had on the waters around Percy loosened, upon which saw the youngest among them begin sinking.
Panic had overtaken Percy's face as he was struck with the realization he did not know how to move with a tail. Upon seeing this, Triton dipped down, grabbing hold of his hands. Guiding him on how to flick his tailed to propel himself forward without the use of his powers.
The smile that lit up the youngest prince of the sea rivalled that of Apollo’s when he saw he could move independently again. The smile had not been seen since the crushing news of his paralysis had been delivered by the sun god during his recovery. That he would remain confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life, that was until their father offered him the chance to move freely on his own again.
To be a merman, after having denied the offer of godhood when offered once again by their father. The offer of godhood while enticing with its promise of being pain-free for the rest of eternity and the freedom of mobility again, was too much. Percy had told them time and time again that he did not want eternity. He wanted to be with his mother again when the time came for him to leave this mortal plane behind, to be reunited in the eternal bliss of Elysium.
He is glad as he recognizes the ascension of a god, his baby brother. The pain of the mortality being burnt from Percy’s veins is explained away in the change in his physique that comes with being turned into a Mer. Normally, Triton would be outraged at his father for even offering to turn a symbol of his infidelity to his mother into an immortal reminder. But this time, he is selfishly glad. He is glad that the protective urge that their father no doubt feels manifested in their father's darker aspects, Poseidon Enosigaios rather than Poseidon Asphaleios. The earthshaker instead of the averter of earthquakes.
Poseidon Enosigaios has chosen to express his possessive protectiveness through the turning of his baby brother. However, unknowing his brother may be of the ascension that had taken place under the guise of his transformation into a merman. The seas would soon be celebrating the birth and official coronation of the youngest prince of the sea, the first in aeons after his birth.
Was it so bad to be selfish this once? To protect those, he loved from the grasp of death. To prevent another Pallas.
Triton could still remember the day that started all of this, the blood that had coated his human form. But all that didn't matter now, Perseus won't be slipping through their fingers ever again.