Sally in DC Atlantis
It had been a few months already since Sally ended up in this new world with her son.
And Sally Jackson still wasn’t sure how to feel about the Atlanteans. They were proud, cold, and deeply suspicious of surface dwellers. Yet, she could not deny that they had cared for Percy better than she ever could have imagined, being a half-surface dweller.Her son, who had once struggled to fit in at school, now swam with the Atlanteans, trained with tridents and blades, and laughed among the children of the sea.
And Orm Marius—Ocean Master, Prince of Atlantis—was the most surprising of all.
When she first arrived in this strange world, displaced from her New York apartment into the sprawling kingdoms beneath the sea, Sally had been terrified. Her son’s divine heritage was dangerous enough in her own world, but here, it was amplified. Atlanteans whispered of their God, as if they were half-forgotten ancestors, and when Poseidon’s name was spoken, it was always with a mixture of awe and fear.
Orm had not wanted her here. His scowl when Poseidon ordered him to guard “the mortal woman and the boy” had been sharp enough to cut steel. He had called Percy a half-breed and had muttered about impurities in the royal bloodline of Atlantis.
But he had not raised a hand against them. Sally quickly learned why.
Orm was no fool. He had seen what happened to those who crossed the Lord of the Seas. Black Manta, for instance, had mistaken Sally for Aquaman’s human lover and thought her an easy target. The supervillain had come with his blades and his fury at Aquaman—only to discover Poseidon’s wrath was neither slow nor merciful.
Now, Black Manta swam in circles in a crystal bowl, gills pumping in panic, his body reduced to the fragile form of a pygmy goby. Sally had watched in horrified silence as Poseidon, without holding back, had consigned him to that fate.This fish’s lifespan was pitifully short—three weeks at most. The god had not even granted him the curse of becoming a monster, only a creature destined to die unnoticed. And taken then by Hades, as his very soul has become a fish, slowly losing himself to being a fish.
It was a reminder. Poseidon protected his own. And Sally, bewildered as she was, had been claimed by that protection.
Orm had taken the warning to heart.
At first, he kept his distance, curt and formal, only speaking when necessary. But something shifted as days turned into weeks. He began to watch Percy with a quiet intensity, studying the boy’s strokes as he swam, correcting his grip when he fumbled a trident. Percy’s laughter—unguarded, warm, and so unlike the icy world of Atlantean politics—wore down the hardness in Orm’s cold nature.
One evening, when Percy fell asleep after a long training session, Orm lingered nearby. Sally noticed the way he looked at her son, almost wistful.
“He reminds me of someone,” Orm said at last, his tone softer than she had ever heard. “My ancestor, Arion. He was half-god, too.”
Sally tilted her head. “And you think Percy will be like him?”
Orm gave a small shrug, but there was no mockery in it. “Perhaps. Arion saved Atlantis more times than history cares to count. If your boy has even a fraction of that strength… Atlantis would have a true hero for its people then.” He trailed off. But he didn't truly mean for Percy to be a hero, it seems.
She understood, then, that something had changed. This was no longer a duty forced upon him by Poseidon’s command. Orm had begun to see himself as something Percy had never had before: a brother.
To her surprise, she found herself grateful for it.
Because Orm, for all his bitterness and rivalry with Arthur, carried himself with a seriousness that Percy desperately needed. He was strict where Sally was gentle, relentless where she was forgiving. He corrected Percy’s recklessness with the sharpness of a soldier, but when Percy stumbled, he was there to catch him.
It was strange, surreal even, to see her son bond with a man who had once tried to overthrow the throne of Atlantis. Stranger still to realize that she trusted him.
Sometimes, late at night, she wondered what this world’s Poseidon’s true intention had been. Was this merely protection for his new mortal lover, or was it something more? She would, when he isn't in Olympus, spend time with him and Percy. Atlantis seems to be overjoyed to see Poseidon with them again. Even if it was to meet Sally.The god had seen fit to tie her fate and her son’s to Atlantis, a kingdom that had little reason to welcome them. Yet here, in this unlikely brotherhood between Orm and Percy, perhaps Poseidon had glimpsed something Sally could not yet see.
Orm himself seemed bewildered by it. He had once cursed the gods for meddling in godly and Atlantean affairs, but now he found himself laughing alongside a boy who should have been a reminder of everything he despised. And Sally… Sally, with her steady kindness and quiet strength, unsettled him in ways he could not admit aloud.
He caught himself thinking, more than once, that he understood why Poseidon had chosen her as his lover. Truly a queen of surface dwellers.
The thought was dangerous, and Orm buried it quickly, yet it lingered nonetheless.
For now, he told himself, he was only following orders. He was the descendant of Arion, sworn to guard Atlantis, and if Poseidon demanded that, it meant protecting Perseus Jackson as well.
But when he saw Percy’s grin after mastering a new strike, or when he caught Sally’s tired smile of relief, he realized it had become something more.
He was no longer protecting them because Poseidon commanded it. He was protecting them now because, against all odds, even if he didn't think it would happen. They had become his family.
And perhaps, Orm thought grimly, he preferred them to his own he has.
