Chapter Text
Percy had been begging her for weeks. “ Please , mom.”
Sally had said no so far because she was fairly certain that was the correct answer. She— she had to say no, didn’t she? But his eyes were wide and pleading and so much had been taken from him, so how could she keep denying him this?
“Am I… Percy, am I even allowed to go to camp?”
“I mean, technically no, but I’m in charge of the magic barrier now so I feel like that means I get to make exceptions. And I want to show you Camp. Please , mom?”
There had been a change in how Percy spoke about Camp Half-Blood. Camp had always been a safe space for Percy, whose demigod life was always doomed to be fraught with danger, but she’d also heard stories about how camp annoyed him, how it could be weird and otherworldly, how staying there too long made him forget what the real world was.
How long into his immortality until he forgets what the real world is like?
But recently, when he spoke of camp— either camp—Percy spoke with reverence. These places were holy to him and it reminded her of days on the beach with his father before Percy had been born, listening to the most beautiful man she had ever met tell her about the majesty of the ocean. Poseidon had wanted to show her his domain too.
And when it came down to it, Sally was more loyal to Percy than she ever had been to Poseidon, which is why two days later Sally stood on a familiar hill, looking out at what appeared to be nothing but a regular strawberry farm.
“Percy…” Sally said uncertainty.
Percy had just grinned, grabbed her arm, and pulled her in.
Camp was… everything Percy had ever described. He pulled her around, eagerly showing her the canoe lake, his cabin, all the cabins especially the new ones built in the wake of the Titan War. They spent time at the arena so Percy could show off how they practiced with mannequins (when there wasn’t someone to spar with). They moved quickly past the archery range, Sally laughing at how little enthusiasm Percy had for the skill. Other campers stared as they walked by and Sally couldn’t decide if they were more confused by the adult mortal walking among them or their resident god bouncing along happily like an average golden retriever.
Finally, Percy took her to the Big House and Sally was able to meet Chiron. She couldn’t help tearing up as she met the man who she knew looked after Percy as much as anyone could. “Percy, would you mind if I talk with Chiron alone, please?”
Percy looked between the two of them suspiciously, but nodded slowly. “I’ll uh… I’ll go find Annabeth and we’ll meet you at the dining pavilion for dinner in a bit? You remember the way?” he asked.
“I’m sure Chiron will help me if needed.”
Chiron guided Sally into the office at the back of the Big House. “What can I help you with, Ms. Jackson?”
“Sally,” she corrected on instinct. “I’m— Well, I’d actually like to ask you for a favor,” she said, her voice already tight. “I need you to look after my boy. You see, I understand that children are meant to outlive their parents, that’s natural. But children are not meant to outlive every family member and loved one they have. There may come a time when Percy is… unmoored, and without the very loved ones he exists for, and should that time come, I need him to not be alone. I need him to have someone looking after him as I have looked after him. Immortal or not, that boy needs family. He needs you to look after him. Will you do that for me? Will you care for my boy— when I no longer can?” By the end of her speech, Sally was wiping tears from her eyes and unable to hide her wet sniffs.
For a moment, Chiron didn’t speak. Then, “Ms. J— Sally. Has Percy told you how my longevity works?”
“He says that you’ve been training heroes for millenia.”
“Yes. Because I am needed. I have lived an exceptionally long life, but I am not immortal. There may come a time, especially as Percy comes into his full power and responsibility, that… I may no longer be needed.”
Sally shook her head. “No. No, because my son— My son is immortal. And he will need you. I don’t know what Annabeth will do, but even if she’s immortal too, then they will both need you. Do you understand? As long as my baby exists, you are needed. By him. By me. By everyone who has loved that boy enough to never want him to experience being properly alone. Do you understand?”
Sally didn’t bother wiping the tears anymore. For years, it felt like Sally had been holding back all of her relief and confusion and anger and grief. She would never deny the utter relief she felt as she realized she would never have to lose her son. Percy dying had always lingered in her mind like an inevitability. Children are meant to outlive their parents but demigods so very rarely outlive theirs. And to have that fear taken away from her…. It felt like Sally could breathe for the first time since she learned she was pregnant and what having a child of the sea meant for its future.
But oh… She had been angry with Poseidon before, but never had Sally felt such wrath. She could be selfishly glad for herself that Percy was still there, but that didn’t stop her from being furious that her baby boy’s choice had been taken away, that this fate that he had never wanted had been thrust upon him without his consent. That after winning two wars for the gods, they still wouldn’t simply leave him alone to live, or even die, how the boy wanted.
Like Percy, Sally refused to engage with Annabeth when it came to her deciding whether or not she wanted to be immortal. That had to be Annabeth’s decision alone, even if it pained Sally. Even if Sally wanted nothing more than to beg the girl to stay by her boy’s side, that wouldn’t be right or fair and Percy had made it very clear that no one was to encourage Annabeth to seek immortality. They didn’t have to dissuade her either, but they couldn’t try to convince her. Or Percy would never forgive them.
But in Sally’s most grief stricken nights, she thought of Percy one hundred years from now. Two hundred years. When her bones had long since turned to dust. Maybe if Percy stayed at camp, maybe he would simply make new friends each generation. Maybe being at camp meant he would never be alone.
But maybe he would always be distant, other. Maybe as everyone he knew and loved died, as everyone Percy was loyal to left him, maybe Percy wouldn’t be as quick to bond with mortals. Maybe Percy would keep himself at arms length, caring for them, yes. Protecting them and healing them and answering their prayers. But no longer considering them his kind. His people. A deity with too much humanity for gods and yet too godlike for demigods.
And it broke her heart. She couldn’t fathom a worse fate for her son.
But here was her salvation. Percy’s mentor. A man Percy might well already consider family . A man who had the capability of following Percy into eternity.
Desperation replacing her anger, Sally begged one last time. “ Please . Please watch out for my son.”
Chiron was very good at concealing his emotions, but even he couldn’t keep the watery shine from his eyes now the slight waver in his voice. “Sally Jackson, I assure you that as long as the Fates permit me to, I will look after your son. I swear—”
“Wait,” Sally stopped him with a watery smile. “We don’t do those in our household anymore. We put our faith into a different kind of promise.” And she held out her pinky. Chiron raised his eyebrow. “It’s a pinky promise, you wrap your pinky around mine as you make your promise. Percy started it. Well, he didn’t invent the idea, but we’ve been using them as our new most solemn vow. Pinky promise me that you will watch over my son for as long as he exists and then the fates will have to keep you alive as long as he is.”
Something crossed Chiron’s expression and briefly Sally worried she was cursing this man who maybe wanted to rest and not be needed, but before Sally could ponder her morality further—did she care what she was doing to Chiron if it meant assuring her son wasn’t alone?—Chiron leaned forward to wrap his pinky around Sally’s. “I pinky promise that I will watch over your son as long as I am able, as long as the Fates let me, to the best of your ability. I will never voluntarily leave your son alone, Sally.”
Sally pulled away just so that she could throw her arms around her torso. He was much taller than her so it was a bit awkward, but Chiron patted Sally’s shoulder and wept, thanks and apologies spilling out of her in equal measure.
That night she had dinner at Camp Half-Blood for the first and final time. Percy and Ananbeth sat across from her, both of them laughing at some story Annabeth had been telling that Sally forgot to pay attention to. Sally drank in the sights of Camp Half-Blood, of Percy’s home and his domain.
She had heard of what her son had been doing the past few years, the way he had already been able to use his godly abilities to help campers get to camp, get claimed, get healed, and more. Last year, the first quest post Gaea had been sent out and Percy had blessed the trio before they departed. Annabeth had quietly told Sally that she hadn’t seen Percy so agitated in years until all three demigods had made it back safely.
Sally was still furious over what had been done to her boy and she never would let go of that. It wasn’t right and it wasn’t fair, everything that Percy had been through and would go through, for all eternity.
But she was also quite certain that Percy was actively making his corner of the world safer and better. He was protecting those he cared about and she had no doubt that even five hundred years from now, a thousand years from now, Percy would still defend mortal demigods like no other god before him. He would not be an absent and negligent god.
Percy as a god might just be the best thing for the world. And yes, it was unfair and cruel that the best thing for everyone once again cam at his expense and none of this was okay but—
Percy Jackson was the best of divinity and the best of humanity, all in one. And the world was indeed better for it.