Hello, everybody. This chapter is much longer than normal, so I guess you're welcome??? Also, according to my two very brief google searches, Alastor is one name for the concept of justice, retribution, and family feuds in Greek mythology. He's usually associated with Zeus or viewed as a masculine name for Nemesis. Just in case you were wondering where that came from. (You'll see in the chapter)

Good luck, dear readers. See you on the other side. And also once in the middle of the chapter bc I was stupid. Enjoy!

"You're going down, McLean."
*****

Percy was an absolute wreck. He'd been pacing the hall outside the courtroom for at least ten minutes, trying to prepare himself for the trial. Thankfully, he wouldn't have to listen to his mother's testimony, as the witnesses were to be sent out of the courtroom beforehand. He wasn't sure if he had the self-control to listen to Sally talk about the things Gabe had done to her and have no reaction to it.

About fifteen minutes before the trial was supposed to begin, the courtroom door creaked open. Percy hoped it was just his mother, coming to comfort him before the whole ordeal went down, but he got Sally's straight-laced, emotionless lawyer instead.

"Perseus," the lanky man ignored Percy's frown at his full name, "there are some things you and I need to talk about. If only you'd been there while I spoke with your mother all last weekend."

Percy already didn't like the guy, but he was the boy's only chance at living a somewhat normal life. He supposed he could deal with the man for a short while.

"I've discussed with the judge and the defense attorney," the man continued speaking, "we've decided that it's best for you to write your responses. A translator will be there to read them for the attorneys, judge, and whoever else decides they have nothing better to do with their lives than be here. You have to write your testimony out on the stand, though. They don't want you fabricating stories beforehand or anything like that. Stop writing when you finish a specific account and we'll submit the correlating photo as evidence for each one. Got it?"

Percy thought that was it, but when he nodded, the lawyer just kept on talking to him, "If the defense decides to cross-examine you, be as brief as possible. Straight to the point. Their goal is to change your story and make you look like a liar, kid. Don't let them. Any questions?"

The green-eyed boy could think of at least ten questions just off the top of his head, but he had no desire to continue the conversation with the man. He shook his head, sighing in relief when the lawyer bid him goodbye and made his way back into the courtroom.

Instead of returning to his pacing, Percy sat down on one of the benches lining the hallway. He rested his elbows on his knees and leaned his head down, running an anxious hand through his hair. His mother suggested that he style it for the day to look more professional, but he'd decided that the dark button-down currently strangling him was professional enough for him.

"Well, somebody looks like they forgot they were friends with Leo Valdez," Percy heard a voice call out from a few feet away.

Confused and a little shocked, Percy lifted his head to see the aforementioned Latino boy standing nearby in the hall. He heard faint chattering come closer until Piper and Jason also appeared in Percy's line of sight. Percy smiled softly at the three, forcing himself to his feet and walking over to greet them.

"Hey, Perce," Jason said, reaching out to fix Percy's hair that he'd just messed up, "these two insisted that they come with me. Hope you don't mind."

Percy shook his head before nodding kind hello's at Piper and Leo. Piper added, "I'll make sure Leo doesn't act like an idiot while important things are happening."

"Hey," Leo protested, "I am a serious, responsible young man."

Piper rolled her eyes. "In what world?"

"Now, you listen here McLean—"

"Perseus," the lawyer interrupted Leo's argument from the doorway. As Percy turned his head to face the man, he heard confused whisperings from Piper and Leo about his name. "Trial begins in five minutes. I suggest you come in and, ah, get your friends settled."

The man's expression showed distaste and slight disapproval towards Percy's friends, erasing the small smile that was previously on the green-eyed boy's face. Regardless, Percy gestured for the other three to follow him into the courtroom before leading them towards the front. About halfway up the aisle, Sally spotted the group and left the table she was sitting at.

"Jason, Piper, Leo," she addressed the three individually, offering brief hugs to all of them, "surprised to see you here."

"We're the moral support, Sally," Jason smiled at her, nodding his head in Percy's direction.

Sally grinned at the blonde. Percy was always ecstatic that Jason and his mother got along so well. "Of course. Thank you, dears. Percy, did Mr. Alastor come talk to you?"

Assuming that was the name of their lawyer, Percy nodded and tried to resist the very strong urge to roll his eyes. Judging by Jason's slight smirk that he was obviously trying to hide, though, Percy didn't do a good job at it.

Deciding she didn't need any other information, she frowned at Percy's three guests as a new thought crossed her mind. "Percy, honey, can I talk to you for a second?"

Percy was wary of what the conversation would hold, but he followed his mother as they traveled out of earshot of the other three.

"Are they sure they want to be here and listen to everything that's happened to you and me?" Sally asked her son quietly. "I know they want to support you, but it can be hard for some people to take it all in. You know?"

Looking a bit more grim than he had before, Percy nodded. This was all too much for him to take in, and he'd known about it since he was a child. His eyes shifted towards his friends. He'd almost forgotten that he'd have to testify in front of them. Percy was confident they wouldn't treat him differently upon hearing Percy's most notable stories about Gabe, but having them know the specifics of his home life and past made him uneasy.

He could do it, though. He was sure of it.

Seemingly deciding to let Percy make the choice on his own, Sally smiled gently at her son before going back to meet Mr. Alastor at the front table, covered in folders of what Percy knew were pictures and an empty note page. (Y'all I really typed "covered in folders of what Percy knew were folders" the first time)

Percy rejoined his friends, who had since sat down on one of the spectator benches. He joined them, sitting on Jason's right. The other two, on Jason's left, immersed themselves in their own conversation as the blonde turned to look at Percy.

"You doing okay?" He asked.

Percy shrugged, although the pit in his stomach had a different answer. Jason noticed the boy's nervousness, wrapping a gentle arm around Percy's waist and pulling him into his side. The green-eyed boy sighed contently, laying his head on Jason's shoulder and glancing around to make sure no wandering eyes were looking at them.

Jason ran his hand up and down Percy's side comfortingly. "Everything will be alright, Perce. You're gonna do great, and I'm right here if you need any encouragement."

Percy nodded, feeling some of his anxiety wash away from Jason's words and actions. After a couple minutes, Percy noticed Mr. Alastor's frown in his direction and separated himself from the blonde. Jason briefly look confused before matching Percy's gaze to the displeased attorney and immediately shifting his eyes to the floor.

A door opened in the back corner, and in walked Gabe Ugliano with a man and woman escorting him in. A second man followed, holding some things tucked under his arm, and took the seat next to Gabe. Percy refused to look at his stepfather, even though he felt the man's searing glare focused on him. Jason placed a kind hand on Percy's knee, but the look he was throwing in Gabe's direction showed he wasn't exactly feeling too kind at the moment. Piper and Leo also looked rather displeased by the man on the other side of the room.

"He looks so easy to slap," Piper muttered under her breath, earning the slightest of smiles from Percy. He couldn't muster up much more happiness after seeing Gabe, though.

There was no doubt that the man had it out for Percy. If it weren't for him, Thalia would've never known to call the cops, they wouldn't have thought anyone was home when they showed up at the apartment, and Gabe wouldn't be sitting there on trial for domestic violence.

Percy ruined the man's life.

Before any of his friends could say anything else, the bailiff entered at the front of the room, asking everyone to rise and introducing the presiding judge before returning to his post. They called for all witnesses to be removed from the room until further notice, which was only Percy and their next door neighbor. Sally and Percy never interacted much with the woman, but she was more than willing to help the two press charges against Gabe when Sally told her what he'd done.

Reluctantly, Percy followed some man in a suit to an empty conference room and was immediately left alone with the vague threat that they had security cameras. He sat down in one of the chairs, resting his head in his arms on the table. He was, in no way, ready to tell the strangers in the other room about Gabe. The fear he'd felt when the man almost strangled him, the scar on his right shoulder from the first time Gabe hit him with a bottle when he was eleven, the bruises left along his rib cage whenever he was within range. They were all just reminders of the hell he'd gone through. They were proof of his vulnerability and fragility.

Percy was tired of feeling fragile.

He'd always wondered why his mother insisted on taking photos after particularly brutal injuries appeared on Percy's body. Sally seemed disappointed and guilty every time she did it. Percy never really understood why, especially as a young child, but he never doubted his mother for a second. It turned out that he was right, since the lawyer in the other room had an entire folder of photos he could use.

Percy wasn't sure how much time passed—he would've guessed about half an hour—before the same suited man from earlier came to retrieve him. He felt jittery and, quite frankly, a little sick as he was led back to the courtroom and sent up to the witness stand. He had to swear in via signature before he was allowed to sit down. A woman stood nearby, presumably the translator who'd be reading his responses.

He looked out into the crowd, noticing that Piper was now missing. His mother sat next to her lawyer, looking rather deflated. She managed to smile encouragingly at her son, regardless of how miserable she truly looked. Leo looked fairly uncomfortable, fidgeting with something Percy couldn't see. Jason, although he looked a bit stressed, nodded at Percy confidently.

By gods, if Jason still had faith in Percy after all this time, Percy could get through this.

Alastor asked Percy very basic questions, like what his relationship to Gabe was, how much time he spent around the man, etc. Then, he left Percy to his own devices to testify. Percy strongly disliked feeling the multiple pairs on him as he wrote down some of the more horrific accounts about Gabe. They were all fairly recent, as he'd been told by multiple people to focus on the times he could clearly remember. Honestly, Percy wasn't sure how he could forget what Gabe had done, but he decided to just listen to the professionals.

Percy mentally noted that Jason looked fairly troubled at a couple of the anecdotes, obviously not realizing the full extent of the abuse, but the blonde was obviously trying to stay strong. Alastor nodded along whenever the woman read his statements aloud, occasionally jotting something down. Percy hoped that meant he wasn't ruining everything up there.

Eventually, he wrapped it up with the last encounter he had with Gabe, where the man nearly killed him for trying to let help into the apartment. He noticed a very subtle thumbs-up from Alastor, but the lawyer frowned when Gabe's attorney very quickly asked to ask Percy some of his own questions.

The judge approved the request, having absolutely no reason to do otherwise, and Gabe's attorney rose from his seat and turned towards Percy.

"So, Perseus," the man started, tapping his pen against the paper in front of him, "would you say your relationship with your stepfather has always been unpleasant?"

Percy frowned. Maybe the first couple of months, Gabe was tolerable, but it turned sour very quickly after the man moved in. He wrote down, We were okay with each other very briefly. Other than that, we never got along.

He had to focus extra intently to work against his dyslexia, desperate not to make himself look like an idiot in front of everybody.

"And what time frame are you at school during the average week?"

About 7:30 to 3:00, Percy answered, already upset by where he knew this conversation was headed.

The lawyer nodded. "Would you consider that a majority of your day?"

With Percy's simple yes as an answer, he continued, "How is school for you, Perseus? Socially, that is."

It's okay, Percy supplied, I have a small group of friends that I spend most of my time with at school.

"Do you find yourself facing any kind of bullying or harassment?" Gabe's attorney questioned with raised eyebrows.

Percy sighed defeatedly. That's what he was afraid of. Yes, sir.

"Do any of these interactions ever become physical, Perseus?"

The green-eyed boy glanced at his mother, who had her eyebrows furrowed. Percy never really told her about how Chris and Ethan treated him. He'd mentioned a couple individual incidents, sure, but he had Sally convinced that they weren't a regular occurrence.

Yes, sir, Percy wrote again, gritting his teeth.

The lawyer seemed rather proud of himself. "Has this bullying ever required hospitalization to heal your injuries?"

Percy repeated his previous answer, taking Alastor's advice to avoid elaboration at all costs, especially now that his mother knew he'd been lying to her. Gabe's lawyer took it upon himself to link's Percy response to some of the injuries they'd discussed during Percy's testimony. He compared them to public medical records, pointing out how similar the injuries appeared to be. Percy was bothered that the man was correct, but he knew calling him out was off the table. His eyes shifted to Alastor for any kind of guidance, but he appeared to be flipping through the files spread out before him.

Then, the defense attorney decided to continue asking Percy questions, "Your mother claims that, to her knowledge, you were not physically harmed at school regularly. How often did you share these encounters with her?"

I didn't, Percy wrote, pressing down harder with his pen than usual.

"And why is that?" The man asked with a smile that he shouldn't have been wearing during a domestic abuse trial.

Alastor called out from his seat, "Objection, your honor. This hardly seems relevant."

"Overruled," the judge shook her head, "you may continue, defense."

"Thank you, your honor," Gabe's lawyer nodded at the judge, very obviously pleased with himself. "Perseus, why did you not report this bullying to your mother?"

Percy swallowed, nervously looking in his mother's direction. She seemed more confused than anything, but Percy didn't miss the slight hurt in her eyes. She always thought Percy told her everything.

I didn't want to worry her, Percy wrote down, knowing that his answer wasn't just that. Frankly, he was embarrassed. When two guys acted like slamming Percy into lockers and beating him half to death every once in a while were a casual hobby they enjoyed, it was humiliating that Percy hadn't done anything to stop them. Truthfully, Chris and Ethan weren't extremely larger than Percy. Plus, the two weren't exactly geniuses. They were just two other people telling Percy that he'd never be normal, that he was a freak and deserved the hurt they gave him.

His mother was already so guilt-ridden and concerned about how Gabe treated Percy, though, that the boy could never bring himself to tell his mother. He didn't want to see the hurt or pain in her eyes when she found out her baby didn't even have an escape from the hell they were living in.

The attorney didn't seem to be expecting that answer from Percy, so it took a brief moment for him to carry on, "Well, naturally, all mothers worry for their children. How often was she around when Gabe presumably hit you?"

Percy clenched his fists at the word "presumably", but he felt slightly less stressed as the man seemed to move on from the school thing.

Not very, Percy wrote with a frown, usually she's at work when it happens.

"Then, would you say she's around while you are beaten normally?"

Percy frowned at the man. I guess not.

"But she was aware that you were being abused, correct?" Once Percy confirmed that was true, he kept speaking, "Yet she did nothing about it?"

She takes care of me, Percy fought off his glare. He was not going to give this man the pleasure of bashing his mother in front of the judge.

"Perseus, how would you say she cares for you? So far, it's been shown that she takes no action against your supposed abuse, never noticed the problems you have at school, and isn't around very often," the attorney asked Percy.

The green-eyed boy didn't like this one bit. She loves me. She was scared. I'm sure you would be, too, if you lived with us. It's hard to notice the difference between school and home injuries, especially since I never told her. And she works hard to make sure she can feed the three of us. No help from Mr. Ugliano over there, of course.

Percy received a warning glance from Alastor, reminding him not to get worked up. Staying as calm as possible was best for him.

"What proof can you provide that shows that Mr. Ugliano specifically was the one leaving you with these injuries?"

Percy looked towards Mr. Alastor for any kind of guidance, but a slight panic seemed to have stricken the man. He was sifting through the piles of evidence they had. His mother wore a look of disappointment, and Percy could only hope it wasn't for him.

I can't, Percy replied after much mental struggle.

"So all of these injuries could be a result of whatever is happening at school?"

They're not.

The lawyer sighed. "But they could be?"

Percy looked down defeatedly at the table. Where did he go wrong? I guess so.

"Perseus, forgive me for asking, but has your mother ever done anything that made you feel unsafe?" The man asked with a calm expression.

This time, Percy couldn't help but glare at the man. He ignored the frantic look Alastor was giving him as he looked down at the paper in front of him and answered, My mother has never laid a hand on me, sir. She's the only reason I went home everyday after school. I wouldn't have stuck around if it wasn't for her.

Percy noticed Jason's frown out of the corner of his eye at the implications of that statement, but he resumed writing before the man could ask him anything else, My mother is the kindest woman I've ever met, and if you think for one second that she'd be the one hurting me instead of that man at the table behind you, then you're delusional. He made me feel like I didn't deserve love every day of my life, but I knew it wasn't totally true because she showed it to me no matter what. She has never once made me—

"Percy," Alastor said quietly as the translator read his response. He caught the boy's bright green eyes, ablaze with frustration but still somehow just so tired. He frowned at the boy, shaking his head as a way to tell Percy to stop. Percy knew that was probably against the rules, but he listened to the older man and set his pen down.

"I supposed that's all I have for now, your honor," Gabe's lawyer told the judge confidently, and Percy was sure he'd be forced to talk to the man again later.

When the judge asked Alastor if he had anything else to ask Percy after the cross-examination, the man glanced at the boy on the stand. He obviously had things that he could discuss with Percy, but the stress that was very present on his face and the fact that the young boy looked like he could have a breakdown at any second stopped him. He turned down the opportunity, and the judge called a brief recess to allow everybody (also known as: Percy) to calm down before continuing the trial. As Percy left the witness stand, he nodded a half-hearted thanks at the translator and made his way over to his mother and Alastor with his gaze directed at the floor.

Couldn't he have done just this one thing right?

Y'all I didn't know how to end it whoops

Hope you all enjoyed that mess of a chapter, and I'll see you back soon!