"People stared, at the makeup on his face, laughed at his long black hair, his animal grace".
- Lady Stardust | David Bowie
9 MONTHS LATER
August 6th | 8:42 am | 1995
Manhattan, NY.
The next 9 months were a nightmare for the young demigod, it seemed that all he did was cry until it felt as though he had no more tears left to shed. He saw the horrors of the previous events every time he closed his eyes and even when he was perfectly awake. His PTSD worsened considerably, he would find himself reliving the incidents over and over again. Sometimes it even last for days.
He just wanted it all to end, he wished nothing more than anything to join his family in Elysium but it would never happen. That was the worst part, he was forced to live many lifetimes even though one was far too much.
After multiple attempts of killing himself he realised it was useless, he would never get to see them again.
He had been trying for the last couple months to actually make an effort, if he can't die he might as well make life more bearable, he had built up somewhat of a routine. It was going well until this specific day, he had drank a lot the night before and got into a fight with some guys at the bar.
He wasn't even sure how he was allowed in the bar, he guessed it was because the bartender took pity on him. He knew his mother and Paul, they were friends, he knew what happened to them and how Percy was now alone in this cruel world.
He was still in the clothes he wore yesterday which seemed to smell a lot of blood and puke, gods he really drank a lot.
After a few moments of procrastinating he decided it was time he got up to take a shower.
So there he was, stood under the water, blood and dirt ran down his body into the drain. It was hard to not notice the many fresher scars that littered his body, they had mostly healed over the months but they were more visible than his previous scars. Then there were newer ones that littered his side... it pains me to say that they were not from a monster or another attacker, but himself.
After his shower, he changed into fresh clothes and sat down on the couch staring at the black tv. Memories flashed through this head and he tried desperately to push them away, before he fell too far into the trance a knock at the door interrupted his thoughts.
He stood up mindlessly and made his way to the door, opening it just enough so the person on the other side could see him.
"I'm looking for Sally Jackson" a man said and Percy looked up at him. He was tall-ish, with messy long dark hair and grey eyes. He wore strange looking clothes and Percy immediately knew he was most likely a wizard. He found it strange a wizard would be looking for his mother who had not been in the wizarding world since she was 11. What was weirder however, was the weird sense of slight recognition he got as he looked at him.
"She isn't here" Percy said, he was about to close the door when the man spoke.
"Are you sure? Can you tell me where she is?" The man asked.
"St Patrick's cemetery, row F plot 12" Percy replied and the man's face fell.
"Are... are you sure?" He asked, his voice breaking slightly as he looked at the boy with a frown.
"I think I would know where my mother was buried" Percy replied, growing slightly frustrated with the man.
"I didn't know Sally had a son..." he said looking at Percy with wide eyes, "what's your name?" He added.
Percy looked up at him with slight curiosity, "Percy... who are you anyway? How did you know her?" He asked.
"My name is Sirius, she was my sister, I've been trying to find her for years..." the man replied with a slight sadness in his voice, Percy's eyes widened slightly in recognition of the name.
His mother used to tell him stories of her brothers, Sirius and Regulus, how they never treated her like the rest of her family. How kind they were, they always looked up at her seeing as she was their older sister. She was closer to Sirius however, she always felt the need to protect him from Walburga and Orion. That was until she was casted out the family by their parents when she was 11.
He met Regulus on multiple occasions when he was a boy, he used to visit every week for a couple of years until one day he stopped coming.
"She told me about you... you can come in if you want, I'm sure you wanna hear about her" Percy said, his voice softer than before and Sirius nodded with a small smile.
The boy stepped aside to let the man in and closed the door behind the two of them.
They each sat across from each other in the living room, it was silent for the first few minutes until Sirius decided to speak.
"Is your father here?" He asked, he had looked around, noticing how eerily quiet and empty the small apartment was.
"No, my dad left before I was born, it was just me and my mother, I've had two stepdads... both dead" Percy replied and Sirius looked at the boy sorrowfully.
"I'm sorry Percy" the man said and Percy looked down at his hands.
"She told me stories about you when I was younger you know" Percy said and Sirius looked up at the boy with a smile, a look in his eyes of unexpectedness.
"She used to always say how much alike we were, she really looked up to you" he said, looking up at his uncle who smiled sadly.
"What was she like?" He asked and the ghost of a smile found its way to Percy's face.
"She was the kindest woman to ever walk the earth, she put up with so much bullshit but always found a way to smile at the end of the day" Perch explained as tears began to fill his eyes.
"How did she pass?" Sirius asked.
"It was my fault, if I had been here I could've saved her... she was killed along with her husband, Paul" Percy replied as he looked over at the blood stained floor, Sirius followed his gaze and his breath hitched slightly once he saw it.
He knew it must've been somewhat recent, he also knew it wasn't his nephews fault no matter how much the boy seemed to believe so.
"Percy... it wasn't your fault" Sirius said with a saddened frown. It pained him to think that Percy had been alone in that tiny little compartment, truly thinking he was the reason for his mothers death.
"No it was, the only reason she's dead is because they wanted to get to me, I knew something was wrong, I felt it but I didn't do anything" Percy said, his voice held a certain raw brokenness to it that anyone who heard it would be able to identify it.
"You know who killed her?" Sirius asked, he knew that something else was going on.
Percy knew he couldn't tell the man about his godly heritage, though he also knew the man was a wizard and so was Percy. American wizards knew of Gaia, she was well known, she tried to conquer the wizarding world as her own but they fought back.
"She went by the name Gaia, she's very well known in the American wizarding world, she could've put Voldemort to shame. I made enemies with her, she decided to start a war, one that could've wiped out just about everyone in existence. When the war broke out, many people fought and many died, she was destroyed in the end, though it came with a great price, most people died" Percy explained and Sirius listened in shock.
"You fought in this war?" Sirius asked, thinking his nephew couldn't be any older than 18, Percy nodded numbly in response.
"Have you been living here alone?" He asked and Percy nodded once again.
"Percy... what age are you?" Sirius asked and Percy looked up at the man, he supposed he did look young but he felt so much older.
"16, in a month" he replied, his uncle frowned slightly, no 16 year old should have to live alone, especially after losing their mother and going through a whole war.
"I know you don't know me all that well, but I'm still your uncle, you can come live with me if you like, in London, you can even go to Hogwarts, my godson goes, he'll be joining 5th year in September" Sirius said and Percy looked up at the man with slightly confusion. He was willing to take him in? Even after finding out how death follows him, even after seeing how broken he is?
Percy was perplexed, he figured maybe British people were just unnaturally kind. He considered the man's offer, he desperately wanted to leave this apartment, everything just reminded him of his mother, but then again he didn't want his bad luck to end up killing his uncle. Though Gaia was gone, she couldn't hurt anyone he cared about anymore.
With that in mind he looked up at the man and gave a hesitant nod, to which Sirius smiled at.
---
Hehehe Sirius is here lads, from here on, there will be a lot of Sirius content n stuff so strap in, it's going to be a bumpy ride
Word Count: 1600
- M.L.B.