Chapter Text
Laura Estelle Shine meets James Jackson when she accidentally butts his head with the handle of her sword. But, in her defence, he was the one who snuck up on her after she had literally just won a sparring match, so her instincts were still in battle-mode.
She had of course apologised profusely, to which he merely smiled and admitted that approaching her at that moment had been a little silly.
“But, if you’d like to hear about far sillier things I’ve done, we could discuss it over dinner tonight?”
Laura looked at James’ impish grin, a common feature for children of Mercury. A slight bruise had already started to form on his temple but some ambrosia or nectar would fully heal it. Laura’s heart flutter like a trapped butterfly. “Sure,” she smiled, making sure to add a touch extra dazzle than usual. “I’ll be ready for 8 o’clock.”
Laura (tried to) discretely rush home in order to prepare herself properly. The time was 4 o’clock and to most people that would be sufficient but for a daughter of Venus that was cutting it fine! Laura made a checklist in her head: shower, outfits, makeup, an offering to her mother to ensure a successful date…
Looking back on it, Laura would say that that day was fated. In that moment though, the only thought in her mind was making sure she looked so breathtakingly gorgeous that James would damn himself to Orcus for not asking her on a date sooner.
Their relationship grew strong and deep, both finding in the other a partner to lean on when times were tough and to laugh with when times were better. Laura’s father had died protecting her from a monster when she was a child, and Jim had been passed around from foster home to foster home as a child due to his mother’s imprisonment. Camp Jupiter had been a safe haven for them both, although they had to first prove their worthiness for living there under the harsh tutelage of Lupa, the she-wolf protectress of New Rome.
But after all the hardship, the fighting for survival, proving their ability and strength and dedication, Laura and Jim had come to see Camp Jupiter and New Rome as their home. They thought they’d move to New Rome and raise their family there - it seemed the only logical conclusion once they retired from the New Roman army. Yet, Jim had received a secret visit from his godly father, warning him to not have children since that child’s birth could lead to the possible ruin of the gods.
It was a thoughtful gesture, Laura and Jim generously granted, had Laura not already been pregnant.
The two of them decided to move out of New Rome and back into the mortal world. It tore at their souls to be separated from their home, but their child’s well-being came first. One of Jim’s brothers, Richard (although he preferred to go by Rich), insisted on joining them. He had been his brother’s best man at the wedding and he was also going to be the godfather of their child - Rich absolutely refused to abandon the people he saw as his only family.
A few years later, little Sally Jackson arrived. She had her father’s impish grin although it was softened by her mother’s gentleness, and she had her mother’s gift of colour changing eyes although she usually settled it into a blueish colour similar to that of her father’s. Laura had long done the same after realising she wanted to build a life with him. After all, Venus was the goddess of love, so it was only natural that Laura’s and Sally’s eyes would match the colour of those they loved.
For a time, their small family was happy. Yes they moved around from place to place, never staying too long somewhere for heed of Mercury’s warning, but the four of them supported each other and knew that together they could face the world.
It was the best period of their lives, which of course meant it was over far too quickly.
Jim and Laura Jackson died in a plane-crash one stormy afternoon. Rich would forever be weighed down by guilt, for he was the one who sneakily got the plane tickets for a weekend getaway, wanting to give his brother and sister-in-law an anniversary present, something to make them relax and let all the worries of gods and demigods and legacies fade away for a day or two.
Rich’s knees had buckled when he turned on the telly and listened as the news reported the sudden storm and the plane being brought down by lightning. A freak coincidence, a terrible tragedy, the news-reporter said.
The wrath of the King of the Gods, Rich instinctively knew. Had Jupiter known what Mercury had warned Jim about? Had Jupiter known the two had brought a child into the world?
No, Rich assured himself. No, because then Sally and I would have been smote too.
Rich buried his head in his hands. Why had Jupiter decided to act now? Did he only find out about whatever it was Mercury had tried to prevent? Was it because the two of them had been in his domain? Was it because Rich had handed the god this opportunity on a silver platter?
Tears burned in Rich’s eyes. How am I to tell Sally I killed her parents?
Rich made the decision to follow Jim and Laura’s wishes of not revealing Sally’s divine heritage to her. Originally he had vehemently opposed the idea, lashing out that abandoning their home wasn’t enough, oh no, Jim and Laura also wanted to abandon their culture and deny Sally a part of who she was - either to be left feeling that something was missing or to be left wondering if her mind was playing tricks on her when she saw things others couldn’t, to be called a freak or an outcast, just like Rich and Jim and Laura and everyone else had been before they made it to Camp Jupiter.
But, after Jim and Laura’s deaths, after it being by the hands of the Lord of Lightning himself, Rich knew there was no other way to keep Sally safe.
So he kept everything from her despite the betrayal it left in his soul. Whenever she gazed at him with worried but trusting eyes, revealing to him the creatures she saw, he would sternly tell her such things were imaginary and that she should take her medicine. When she started being drawn to stories about Roman and Greek gods and goddess, Rich would make comments about the uselessness and morbidity of such things, causing Sally to blush in embarrassment and self-consciousness.
Eventually, Sally stopped confiding in him about the creatures she saw and the myths which interested her. Rich could only hope he had dissuaded her enough to never touch such things again so that the divine world would drift away from her and never spot her with its harmful gaze.
I’m doing it to protect you, Rich would think as he sadly gazed at Sally doing her mortal homework from her mortal school. I’m sorry, he’d desperately tell her in his mind. Please forgive, I’m so sorry.
Sally is eighteen years old when she becomes all alone in the world. Her uncle, the last person left who loves and cares for her, passes away from a horrid form of cancer. He never stopped smiling when she was around, always asking about her school and friends. That was when Sally found it she was rather good at lying.
“Yes, my grades are doing well.” Sally would say despite having dropped out of school and working multiple jobs to bring in money to help with Rich’s medical bills and the household bills in general.
“This money is from my after school job, uncle. My friend and I work there together so it’s fun!” Sally would grin as she fluffed his pillow before reading passages to him from his favourite book.
If her uncle was in good health, or even if he was just a little better like he promised he was, he would have noticed the discrepancies in Sally’s words. Growing up, her uncle could smell a lie, could just look at someone and tell if they spoke true or not. But now, whether from the illness itself or the medication, her uncle’s sharp mind had been dulled, his shining gaze losing its splendour with each passing day. Rich had been the one to really teach her maths (she never understood it from the teachers), he had been a wiz with numbers, moving them up, down, and around like the rules didn’t apply to him. He made it fun for her, like a magic trick almost. And before that, when she was even younger, she remembered him weaving fantastical stories for her bedtime despite her parents’ disapproving frowns - that all changed after their deaths.
Sally gazed at her uncle on his bed. His snores quiet, his once lean body now frail and withering, his brilliant and calculating mind going with each approaching day.
This is worse than hearing the news of my parents, Sally decided as she gently pulled his blanket higher when she noticed his goosebumps. I remember my parents as they were, laughing and kissing me and each other, happy and loving and full of life. Yet here you are, uncle, as I watch you whither away, almost unrecognisable.
Sally quietly rose from her chair and wiped the tears from her eyes. Oh uncle, why are you being punished so?
Sally is nineteen when she meets Poseidon, King of the Seas. He teaches her about the Mist and Greek legends. He teaches her about love again. He teaches her about even greater pain when she’s left all alone again with a baby on the way.
Poseidon had warned her that their union would produce a child (a union with the divine always did). The god had warned her of a demigod’s fate and the especially hard fate that awaited a child of his.
She had carried on anyway. She wanted to be selfish for once. She thought she could handle the difficulties that would come to her child.
(She didn’t want to be alone anymore. She wanted someone who wouldn’t leave. She wouldn’t let her child come to harm. She would protect them and be there for them unlike everyone else who left her-)
She thought she was being smart when she refused Poseidon’s offer to build her a castle beneath the sea. She thought that by her cutting the relationship of then, instead of Poseidon cutting it off in the future, that at least this way she’d be free and not tied to him anymore than she already was when their relationship ended. She knew he had a wife and a family and a whole different life in the sea, and she selfishly didn’t want to share him with others. This way, on this beach, he was hers alone, he was her lover and the father of her child.
It wasn’t until Percy was born, when she looked at his wild dark hair and his sea green eyes so unlike any mortal’s, that she knew she made a truly selfish decision to have her son. He was going to know sorrow and pain just like her, all because she couldn’t stand being lonely.
Sally knew, yet still she refused to regret it.
“Your eyes are like mine, mummy!” Percy giggled as he touched her cheeks.
“Oh?” Sally smiled indulgently and fondly brushed some of his dark hair out of his bright eyes.
“They swish and swirl!” Percy continued giggling before he tightened his cuddle around her neck.
“Percy, honey, we talked about mummy’s neck,” she patted his back.
Percy immediately loosened his hold and sat back guiltily. His lips puckered in an adorable pout. “Sorry, mummy.”
“It’s alright, baby,” Sally smiled and ruffled his hair. “Now, how about a bedtime story?”
“Yay!” Percy clapped, his baby round face full of happiness and love as he gazed up at her.
Sally bundled him up in her arms under the covers and regaled him with the stories Sally hazily recalled from the old memories of her uncle.
It wasn’t until Percy was softly snoring that Sally extracted herself from the bed and tiptoed to the bathroom mirror. She gazed into her eyes, remembering how Poseidon had similarly commented on her changeable eyes and how they had begun matching the colour of the sea whenever she neared it. Sally ignored it most of the time, something telling her it was best that way, but Percy’s words kept playing in her mind.
Your eyes are like mine, mummy!
Percy’s eyes were clearly abnormal. No one had eyes like his, bright and wild and green as the sea. Percy’s eyes showcased his ties to divinity.
If Sally acknowledged her own, she’d see how they never truly settled on a singular colour. Mostly blueish, sometimes a green like her son’s but softer mixed with it. The fact they took on the colour of the sea the closer she got to it…
Sally closed her eyes and sighed.
Best not think about it.
Percy is fated to die at sixteen, either in preserving or razing Olympus.
He beats the odds and lives. He rejects godhood and makes the Greek gods swear on the Styx to claim all their children, to acknowledge their fellow gods with cabins at Camp Half-Blood, to give thrones to Hestia and Hades.
Olympus’ fate had rested on Perseus Jackson, son of Poseidon, son of Sally.
Although largely sympathising with the rebellious demigods, Percy chose to save the gods instead, despite having the capacity to destroy them.
Estelle Blofis is born a normal, mortal girl. She has ten fingers and ten toes, the common baby blue eyes and barely any hair. Estelle is - and Sally hates herself a little for being relieved about it - perfectly ordinary.
At least that’s what everyone thinks.
It’s mere weeks later when Estelle’s appearance changes. Her baby blues take on the bright, deep, sea green of Percy’s. Her hair darkens to the near same shade of Paul’s salt-and-pepper, although the curls are all Sally’s.
When it first happens, Sally looks at Paul. Paul looks at Sally. Percy drops his cup when he comes in after looking up at Estelle’s gurgle.
The look in Percy’s eyes is like nothing Sally has ever seen before. It’s hard, cold, cruel almost. He leaves without a word despite Estelle’s cries and grabbing hands, marching straight into the bathroom and proceeding to yell at someone in Ancient Greek for about an hour.
When Percy finally emerges and there’s no broken pipes or water damage, Sally is fairly certain something has been averted. Percy had looked ready to go to war earlier, to tear down those who crossed him, but now he is her baby boy again, all smiles and wide eyes as he helps her with the dishes.
She has a feeling he called (interrogated) Poseidon. She has a feeling Poseidon persuaded Percy of his innocence.
Sally breathes a little easier knowing that Estelle is Paul’s daughter. That she is a mortal with no ties to the divine world except through her brother.
“Mum, I think it’s best if you sit down.” Percy said later that evening.
Sally sat, nerves bubbling in the pit of her stomach. Was he preparing her for another of his quests? Another war? Would he disappear again? Would he even return to her this time?
“So, dad explained to me why Estelle may look like this,” Percy nodded to his little sister being cradled in Paul’s arms.
Sally’s heart beat faster. “Oh?” She tried to sound casual but it sounded like the word had been punched from her chest.
Percy nodded, gazing at her with those divine eyes of his that perceived more than she would ever know. “He said he couldn’t reveal it before ‘cause of the whole keeping the Greeks and Romans separate thing,” Percy shrugged like he wasn’t sure whether this was really a good enough reason but he’d accept it as one from his father. “He said you’re a legacy of Venus on your mother’s side and a legacy of Mercury on your father’s. They left New Rome and kept your birth a secret ‘cause of a prophecy that you might give birth to a child who could destroy Olympus.” Percy pointed to himself with a what-can-you-do? look. “Anyway, dad says since the Greeks and Romans know about each other again, it’s all cool to let you know. He thinks Estelle is changing her appearance to match those she loves.”
Sally’s heart was bursting with pride, shock, indignation, and fear.
“Estelle shouldn’t be able to change her appearance that much though, right?”
Percy shrugged but his face portrayed his own reservations. “Not usually, no. Dad didn’t really have an answer for that.”
Sally sighed and pinched her upper nose. She felt a migraine coming on.
Percy glanced at her. “Are you worried by this?” he asked. “You’ve been through it with a demigod kid. Now you’ve got a particularly strong legacy.”
“And you?” Sally asked instead, glancing back at her son. “Your sister is fully part of your world. How does that make you feel?”
Percy shifted slightly. It might not have seemed like a big deal to others, but Sally spotted her son’s guilty signs. She wasn’t blind to the sorrow and pain her son went though, nor the way he jealously hoarded the things he treasured because of it. Both Sally and Paul had been nervous over Percy’s possible reaction upon telling him of her pregnancy, worried he felt like he was being pushed out to make room for a normal child and family-life. Sally both hated that he thought it and hated herself for comparing Percy’s and Estelle’s childhoods herself. Demigod versus mortal. Having Paul as a loving husband instead of surviving Gabe to cover up Percy’s strong scent.
You didn’t have to put up with Gabe, a treacherous voice accused her. You could have sent Percy to camp earlier, where he’d be safe, like his father wanted. You chose not to. You chose to endure Gabe and endanger your son because you were selfish. Then you went and had another kid as soon as the older one was meant to leave and start his own life, and you were happy this new one was normal-
Shut up, Sally ordered herself. Just shut up.
“I love you, you know,” Sally told her son. “I love you with all my being, with everything I have. No one could ever replace you.”
“I love you too, mum,” Percy told her just as desperately. “I’d fight anyone who hurt you. I’d protect you with everything I have and am. I’d scour the earth and sky and underworld if you or Estelle went missing.”
Sally reached out her hands and Percy grasped them tightly. “I know, my sweet boy.” She squeezed his hands back. After all, her son had offered to petrify Gabe for her before she said she wanted to kill him herself.
Thinking this, perhaps a normal mortal life was never in the cards for her, with either of her children.