Fem. Percy Meets Young Justice Ultimate Collab

26

My arms stung as I blocked punch after punch. I ducked under one and dug my elbow into Kaldur's back. He reacted quickly, not giving me a chance to block. His own elbow dug into the small of my back. 

I gasped, collapsing to the ground as pain surged through my body. While I had lost the invulnerability from the curse, any contact on my former mortal point hurt like seeing Hades in his workout clothes. I curled up on the ground, begging for the pain to end quickly.

"Are you okay?" Canary rushed over. She rested her hand on my back, on the same place where Kaldur struck. I gritted my teeth and managed to choke back a cry. 

"Please remove your hand from my back," I said. Canary didn't argue and the last of the pain burned away. I sighed and sat up. My own fingers pressed against the spot. "You are so lucky I don't have the Curse anymore. You'd have to explain to Tyson why you killed his sister."

"I did not-"

"I call bullshit." I got my legs back under me. "I told you about it the one time I saw you before I got kidnapped, mainly because Annabeth told me I needed someone else to watch out for me. I believe her exact words were, 'I can't always be there to take a knife for you, Seaweed Brain.' And wouldn't you know it, she was right." I sighed and shook my head. "Let's just get this over with."

"Who's Annabeth?" Artemis asked. "Another of your child-hero hating buddies?"

I whipped around and glared at her, trying my best to keep my powers under check. "She was my best friend. And yeah, she felt the exact same way as me. Do you know why? We never got a chance to be normal. You guys do. Do you have any idea what I would trade to go to school and not have to worry about getting killed? What I would do to bring back all of the kids I've seen die?! Or what I would've done to die instead of my friends? You want to know why I hate the idea of kids being heroes so much-"

"Percy," Kaldur warned.

I took a deep, shuddering breath and scrubbed at my eyes. "Forget it. You've never been called a hero when its your fault your friends are dead. Kaldur, if you need me you know where to find me."

"I don't feel like looking all over the world."

"Dee-Dee's apartment. If you decide to swing by, bring food. She doesn't know how to cook for anything."

Ignoring the cacophony, and wouldn't Annabeth be proud of that word, of shouts, I walked to the Zeta Tube and punched in coordinates. Once I arrived on the streets near Diana's Manhattan apartment, something she rents for when her dad wants her to do something in the States, it wasn't hard to get there. Perks of growing up in the city, plus having memorized map after map during the battle. The building she lived in wasn't very fancy, but it wasn't trashy either. The perfect mix where people wouldn't think to break in to steal valuables and where people wouldn't think she got killed in a drug deal gone wrong if she were gone for too long.

When I stepped inside, I didn't expect anyone to be home, and I definitely didn't expect Diana to be sprawled out on her couch eating Lucky Charms straight out of the bag. She lifted a hand and waved. I snorted.

"Pinnacle of defending mankind, Dee." 

"It's my day off."

"Oh, well. This won't be assaulting a hero then." 

"Wha-Oof!" I laughed and hugged Diana, tucking my head against her shoulder and using one hand to remove the bag of cereal from between us. She rested her arms around me. "As much as I enjoy surprise visits, you know I'm not usually here. So what's on your mind, Kelp Head?"

"I'm getting really tired of watching them put their lives at risk. It's one thing for me and Kaldur to do it, he's a soldier and I, well, you know I don't have a choice. We can only ever be heroes or villains, we don't get to be normal. To see people throwing away their safety when they're not even adults?" I sighed. "And they act like I'm stupid for not liking that idea."

"Welcome to my world."

"Next time you have a League meeting, can you get Orin to try to agree with you? Say something about the guilt you'd have to carry if something happened to the kids or something. I know why Dick does it, but still- He put the guy who killed his parents away. That should've been enough. He shouldn't keep doing this. Conner has the chance to be normal, to not be the weapon he was designed to be. Do you know how much I wish I could do that?"

"Sh, it's okay. It's okay." Diana patted my head. "I know. They're stupid. They don't know how bad demigods have it. They think being a hero is fun. That you get to save people, and sure that's part of it, but fighting battles you realistically can't win... It's the core of being a demigod."

"I know. I mean, you-" I cut off, not wanting to voice the thought. During the Battle of Manhattan, she nearly got killed. She was trying to stall the Lydian Drakon, but since she wasn't a child of Ares she couldn't do any serious damage to it.

"Hey, no crying about that. I'm fine."

"I just-"

BOOM!

"One day! That's all I ask!" I yelled at the ceiling.

"Oh, please. Like they'll ever you a break. Mind grabbing my lasso? I have a feeling I'll need it."

Right now I'm leaving it vague as to whether or not the memories were erased because i want to point something out

The reason Percy suggested it to Kaldur was so only the memories of their engagement would be gone. They'd still know each other, and Percy didn't want any of their relationship to have been fakes however subconsciously it might've been. Their engagement would still stand, just off into the future.

This not only gives me more breathing room, it also allows for fluff while the other one would be awkward dates because it's like backtracking.

So... ideas?

See yah