MAELSTROM [femPercy x DC]

Chapter 14 - "A box of memories"

"Hello? Yes, it's me. It's about Percy. We all need to talk. Face to face."

-

"Perseus. What is this? You are far too old to be going through these... phases. Lady Shiva called me up yesterday and told me you seemed very... off, that we needed to talk. And that you might enjoy a little outing. What's going on? I simply do not have any time for dilly dallying."

When Percy woke up the next morning, she had around five missed calls from Talia. And as Talia's niece, and a member of the league, she had to call back. However... the conversation didn't go as she expected, entirely, at least. Talia was much kinder that Percy had expected her to be.

Percy sighed.

"Talia... I reconnected with Annabeth."

"...oh? And, what happened?"

"Leo's alive. Calypso is free. Apollo became mortal. And Godly again. Jason died."

Talia paused. She was aware of who exactly Jason was, and had even met him, once, in Camp Jupiter. Under an alias, of course. Nobody was to know who she truly was. 

"The son of Jupiter is dead?" she asked, surprised, "well... that is... unexpected. A pity. He was strong. You two were close, yes?"

"Yeah... we- we were. He died two years ago. After I left camp for good. He died helping Apollo, because I didn't. Since I wasn't there to help Apollo, he went to Jason, and Jason-" 

"Percy. What have I taught you. When you know life is like this, where your family, your loved ones could die any moment, it is best not to get too attached. Grieve, and move on. Do not let your emotions get the better of you. Keep a box, a box of feelings, a box of memories. Hide the emotions away, in the box. And in that box, remember every moment you spent with them. Cherish your memories, and do not regret. It will get you nowhere. Lock that box, and hide it in the back of your mind. Open it, only when you feel hopeless. Only when you need some light to banish the darkness."

"Is that what you do, then?" Percy asked, sniffling slightly.

"Yes. I am a part of a greater cause. I- One day, it might come to be that I must kill Damian. If necessary, I pray not, if he is in the way of the cause, I will have to do it. I am his mother, Percy, I can not do it. So... I choose to picture another face. I choose to forget, I choose to hide away anything that might make me a liability. Anything that might make me weak to what I am supposed to do. What I am expected to do. The cause always comes first. The greater good always comes first. Do you understand? If you were to fight, your thoughts of Jason must not cloud your mind. It is better to get done and accept the truth, and move on in life."

"Right. Ok. I'll- I'll do that. Put the feelings, the memories, the emotions all in a box. Lock it in the back of your mind. And live another day of life as if nothing happened. Alright. I-I can try..."

"Ah Percy- emotions is your weakness, if not loyalty. Your feelings are too strong. Perhaps, as you mature you will learn... Either ways, today, you do not have work, do you?"

"I do... ugh. I'm going to have to do chores all day."

 "Well.. after you finish your chores, you can tell me about Damian. I'll be in Gotham City by five o'clock, so finish your work by then. We're going to go on a criminal hunting spree. Does that sound fun?"

"We have different ideas of fun. But yeah, going out in the getup would be nice. You're coming all the way to Gotham?"

"Yes. I shall go and assassinate of the targets I have been thinking about a lot recently, and of course, check up on you. And Damian."

"Right. Of course. It will be nice to see you though. I miss you Auntie Tee!"

"Please, do not call me that. It is... degrading."

"Oh alright, Talia. I've got to go for work now, okay?"

"Goodbye, Perseus."

Percy sat on the sofa, as she pulled on her shoes, staring at the phone. Talia was coming to Gotham? The fact that just part of the reason was to check up on her itself was huge. Talia was one who never really cared about anybody. Or so it had seemed... It was nice to know Talia cared. It was really nice to know she cared.

Gods. Percy could only wait for the day to be over.

- 

A/N: Ok, so I've been having a very non-organized updating pattern. I totally disappeared for a while [sorry!], but I came back, and am updating at least once every two days, and sometimes even twice a day [like today]. I want to inform you guys that this is still like... not official. I will be updating whenever I have something to update. Which means that I write every single chapter I update after  the previous chapter is updated. So... if that schedule goes a bit wonky again, sorry. I'm super grateful that you guys are not pressuring me or anything- y'all are AWESOME. That's all I guess. I added a bit of a nicer side to Talia in the story, and it starts showing in this chapter. I also gave some reasoning to her weird habit of not grieving very much [about her dad. Or the fact that she she killed Heretic in Batman: Bad Blood.]. Just to make her a bit more human, I think. It's OOC, I know, but that's how I want it to be, so...yeah. Sorry it's short. Hope you like it!