Work Text:
"Tim? What are you doing here?"
"Cassie, I thought you said this was a Kronos base operation? Or some kind of safe house for them?"
Tim stops, smiles wryly to himself at the familiar voices.
He finally calls back "They finally called in help, huh? Removed the mist from your eyes?"
There is no answer but alter a moment, the same voice rings out
"Tim?"
The voice is pleading, almost desperate to disbelieve their own eyes. Tim feels a blush of something like shame spread across his cheeks and ears. He stamps the feeling down with impunity. He has nothing to be ashamed of.
"You're on their side?" Cassie asks again, voice filled with dread.
Tim stays silent. He doesn't answer
"You're on Kronos' side?" she clarifies
Tim snaps out before he can stop himself, emotions clogging his throat "No! Not Kronos' side. But I refuse to support the Olympians any further"
His thoughts flit back to a silent, an empty house. A mausoleum. Parents always too busy. Always busy with something more important. More important than their own child.
Then, a satyr. Promise of another family. Of a parent who exists out there. A parent that might care. Even if they aren't allowed to interact, neccisarily.
That hope didn't last long.
Tim traded one uncaring family for another.
Jack and Janet may have neglected Tim, but at least they never put him in active danger. Never sent him out into Gotham on his own. No, he decided on those excursions himself.
But his new family. The Olympians. Quests. Monsters. Children who never reach camp. Siblings he will never get to meet. Siblings who's shrouds they burn with no memories.
Tim may not stand with Kronos. But he will stand with the family that he loves. That he trusts. Luke is his brother. Luke is the brother who cared for him when he arrived. Who showed him around camp and told him stories of all the great things Demigods have done.
And now, Luke's on Kronos' side.
Tim doesn't care for Kronos. His reign doesn't sound any better than the Olympians'. So he stands aside. Doesn't stop Luke from crossing his path. Doesn't stop Annabeth either, despite the way she eyes him like he's going to snap her neck. He stays out of this. As best he can, anyway.
He knows that, in the Olympians' eyes, this makes him just as bad as Luke. That refusing to fight was as good as fighting with the enemy.
But Tim refuses to fight the only person he'd ever called family with relief. Who'd never neglected him, who was never too busy for his younger siblings.
"I'm staying out of this one, Cassie" Tim declares into the silence, staring out into the street. Unmoving.
"Kronos is evil" Cassie says, but it's small, hesitant.
Tim huffs a breath and shakes his head. "I know that. But is he any worse than the Olympians now?
How many siblings have I lost to monsters, Cassie? How many will I never even know about?
How many died during their trip to camp, whom only the Satyrs really know?
How many died before reaching the boundary? Who's bodies I personally picked up from the grass and covered with a generic shroud because our parents" he emphasizes "Don't want to claim a dead hero?"
When Cassie doesn't speak, her blue eyes wide, the support behind her faltering.
"How many have I seen dead in camp, where we're supposed to be safe? Training exercises. Kids running off on their own. Exploring the woods. Sneaking out for some junk food.
Those. Are normal. Teenage. Things.
And I have lost so many"
Tim's voice is choked by now, his hard composure cracking.
"So the gods aren't great" Percy Jackson steps forward. "I get where you're coming from. I do. But this war has killed many of your siblings too"
Tim almost laughs in his face "You think I don't know that?" He asks, his voice wrecked. "Who do you think shrouds the dead on both sides right now?" He asks. "Greeks don't leave uncovered bodies on fields so what do you think happens with the aftermath of all the battles? After all, Dad is a psychosomatic, guide of the dead. Seems fitting" He smirks bitterly.
"Who do you think buried Charles?" He whispers, and watches the devastation it wreaks shows on Percy's face.
"Kronos isn't great. Neither are the Olympians. The grass is greener on the other side but better the devil you know" Tim taunts. He sniffs, wiping a hand across his face as he takes a shaky breath "I cannot maintain the status quo. That isn't moral. And I cannot support Kronos either.
But what I can do, is support my friends. My siblings" Tim reaches out his hands to both sides, gesturing around him to the safe house. Stocked with everything a traveling demigod needs.
"Ask me for sanctuary. I will give it. Ask me to bury the dead. I will make haste there. But do not ask me to fight my own siblings. Do not ask me to fight for a higher power that I have learned through experience to despise"
"You will find water, food and shelter here. But you will not find a warrior. Not anymore"