Teacher, Not Hero (femPercy Jackson X YJ)

Four: Teacher, Not Hero

2 months later

Percy P.O.V:

I love ice cream. I had actually forgotten how much I love it. In my opinion, ice cream is depressingly under appreciated. I think my new favorite flavor is rocky road.

When I came home two months ago, it had been a bit of a culture shock. I had forgotten things. Important things. Little, but important. Things like how to turn on the vacuum cleaner, what the channel number was for TLC, where the switch for the garbage disposal was, where my mother put the bandages, etc. Little things. Things that you know off the top of your head but if someone were to ask you you wouldn't be able to tell them from the tip of your tongue. These were the things I forgot about. The little things. The things that reminded me just how long I was gone. It made me heartbroken to think about how much I missed. So yes, I was currently sitting on my couch, watching anime-Naruto season 4 of the original series to be exact- while eating rocky road ice cream.

Just as the show cut to the theme song, the doorbell rang. I tensed ready for a fight. I briefly considered turning the sound up on the TV so my fight would be soundtracked but the season 4 Naruto theme so that I would feel like a badass but then I realized that my sister was asleep. Then I realized that if I was going to have a fight in my living room, the TV volume would be the least of my worries. Then I realized that a monster wouldn't ring my doorbell...I sighed and accepted the fact that I was more stupid than badass and wasn't worthy of fighting to the Naruto season 4 theme song. In short, I answered the door.

Diana P.O.V:

I wrung my hands out nervously as I awaited someone to answer the door. It had been years since I had seen my cousin. She had been 13 the last time we stood face to face. I wasn't fully up to speed on what had happened in the past few years but I know that there had been some terrible battles and war or two if I was correct. I also knew that Percy had suffered greatly during them. How greatly, I had yet to find out. As the door creaked open no more than an inch, held shut by a chain lock, a bright green eye looked out at me.

"Diana?" Asked a voice from behind the door.

"Yes," I replied, "I, um, I'm looking for Percy Jackson?" The door shut and I heard the sliding of metal and a faint click. The door swung open to reveal a young woman dressed in black leggings and a dark blue sweater. Her onyx black hair was cut very short, more of a crew cut than a bob. Her skin was fairly pale and her eyes were stunning sea green. It took me a moment to realize the young woman standing before me was Percy.

"Hello, Diana. It is good to see you." Percy's voice was soft and a little bit cracked. As if she hadn't spoken more than a few words in a long time, which wasn't like Percy at all. Usually, you couldn't shut her up.

"It has been a while. Come in." Percy opened her door wide and I nodded to her as I stepped into her apartment. Well, Sally's apartment but you know what I mean.

I sat down at the kitchen table, still scared of what I had to ask. Percy sat across from me, moving slow and even as if to not cause herself any pain. Had Percy been hurt during battle recently? If so, it was only going to make asking this of her that much harder.

"So what brings you here, Diana?" Percy asked, her voice steady and bored. I looked down and braced myself for what I was about to ask. Gods help me if she said no.

"I came to ask you for a favor, Percy." I told her, not meeting her eyes.

"No." Her voice hard and a little angry. I looked up at her, her eyes looked straight through me. I swallowed and tried again.

"You don't even know what the favor is yet,"  I told her, pleading to her.

"I don't care. My answer is no. Thank you for the visit Diana, but I think that it is best you leave." Percy got up and began walking to the door to walk me out. I had one more shot.

"You don't have to fight anybody!" I called after her. She froze at this. She didn't turn, but I had her attention.

"I don't need you to be a hero, Percy. You won't ever have to see battle if you choose not to. I just need you to be a teacher." I pleaded with her. If I lost her attention again, I don't think that I could get it back. She turned slightly.

"A teacher? How so?" Her voice was spiked with a hint of curiosity. I was so close...

"There is a team of heroes. The proteges of the Justice League. We recently had a powerful villain take control of us, the League, and our younger members were forced to react." I told her, feeling more confident with every word.

"And what is it you want me to do, Diana? Wave a magic wand and make everyone work together?" I winced slightly at her words, considering we had a few magic wand members.

"No, actually. I want you to train the Young Justice team separate from the League. This way, if something like this were to happen again, they would have the skills to react quickly and take us down before we did any damage." I continued. That was really only half the reason I wanted her to teach them, but I didn't need to push all of that onto her right now. She turned to me.

"You want me to teach your kiddie team things the League doesn't know so that if any of you went rouge, they could handle you without only using the techniques you taught them. The techniques you know how to counteract. Tell me, how did they beat you the first time?"

"They barely did. They weren't really able to beat us. Not with fighting. All they could do was hold us off while someone else destroyed the chips that were controlling us. They did it, but it took far too long for them to even realize something was wrong. A few Leauegers lost 16 hours and caused destruction in another world. But just destroying some chip won't work if we are under a spell or mind control. They need to take us down completely." I told her this, remembering the fight and the 16 hours I lost. I couldn't help but feel ashamed. I looked up to see Percy studying me.

"You just want me to teach them? No fighting? No hero stuff?" She asked me, studying my eyes to calculate the truth in my next answer.

"I want you to teach them, Percy. No fighting. No hero work, unless you want to butt in, but no one will force you to. All you have to do is teach them, Percy. Teacher, not hero." She sighed and shook her head.

"It's always something..." she said under her breath. She looked up at me. "Fine. I'll do it. I want half-day Fridays and I want weekends off. I'll stay wherever you want me full time from 9 am Monday to 12 pm on Friday. I will teach your little kiddie group. I will teach them so they don't end up fighting a pointless battle like last time. You will not tell them about my history or my demigod side. Tell them I am an old friend. Nothing more. I also expect Wi-Fi and rocky road ice cream. I will see you Monday morning Diana." I looked at her with a fond smile.

"Of course, Percy. See you on Monday." And with that, I walked out the door excited to tell the team that they would be receiving a new instructor in 4 days.

Percy P.O.V:

How the Hell am I going to break this to mom!?