#And the way luke immediately slashed his sword

[helpallthenamesaretakenblog]

moral of the story: dont mention percys mom and lukes dad while youre about to fight/fighting them

[keerysfreckles]

idk if you write angst of stuff but if possible could you write a angst -> fluff fic with Luke castellan where they get into a huge argument right before a quest, on the quest someone gets super injured and then it’s just a bunch of fluff and apologies as the other one tries to help the one who’s injured

not strong enough — luke castellan

pairing: luke castellan x fem!reader

warnings: use of y/n and she/her pronouns, blood and injuries mentioned, angst, rushed ending but shhhh

a/n: once again.. luke castellan brainrot.

꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱

y/n was confused. she wasn't sure why luke asked her to go on this stupid quest with him. less than thirty-four minutes ago the pair got into a ridiculous argument about luke being too overprotective of y/n.

why she agreed to even go with him? well, y/n didn't know how to answer that.

so here she was, not even five minutes away from camp half-blood, already regretting her decision.

"did chiron even tell you why we're going on this quest?" y/n asked luke. he was in front of her in the path, and she wasn't looking at him as she kept her focus on the bumpy dirt road beneath her feet.

"cool, don't answer me," she responds to herself, sarcasm very heavy in her words.

less than a minute passes before y/n speaks up again. "i don't even know why you're so angry."

luke stops and turns to face the girl, "all i want to do is protect you!"

"and i don't need protecting!" y/n yells the same way he does, only resulting in a grumble from luke, as the two continue down the path in the forest.

luke stops again, causing y/n to bump into his back from her being too busy looking where she was stepping.

"okay silent treatment and being stubborn? luke really you-"

luke turned slightly and quickly placed his hand over y/n's mouth. her eyebrows furrowed for a moment before her eyes traveled to the reason luke stopped walking.

less then twenty feet away from the duo was a sleeping minotaur. y/n looked to luke in concern, not knowing how to get around it.

they weren't truly surprised a minotaur was there, considering they were out of range from the camp, it could be possible that a hundred different creatures were out in the woods.

"i think he's in a deep enough sleep," luke whispered, "if we're quiet enough we can go around him."

the two commence with luke's plan. it went smoothly. too smoothly.

luke led the way, y/n almost copied his every step in order for the minotaur to not hear them. just as they were about to get around the giant animal, y/n's foot slipped and cracked a branch.

"shit," luke cursed. the two teens turned to see the minotaur rising. "run!" luke yelled, before grabbing y/n's hand to make sure she was still behind him.

moments pass and the minotaur is still chasing after the two.

"luke!" y/n catches his attention while they were still running south, "we can't outrun him! he's a freaking bull!"

luke would hate to admit it, but he knew the girl was right. the bull behind them was plowing down tree after tree, trying his best to get the two campers for his late lunch.

y/n stopped running, and drew her knife from the holster around her waist.

"y/n!" luke called, realizing she had stopped. "what on earth are you doing?" his voice was filled with panic.

"i'm going to kill him the only way we know how to!"

with her words still ringing in luke's ears, y/n runs towards the minotaur. she propels herself off of a large rock, getting on the right side of him. she slashed her knife through his skin, making the animal cry out harshly. he immediately went after her.

luke knew he couldn't just sick back and watch. he ran towards the minotaur just like y/n had done, and his sword was drawn.

thirteen minutes pass. luke and y/n have barely made any progress with the angry animal, and were now both running out of energy.

luke was in the process of trying to slice the bull's head off, however his focus drifted. y/n was running once again towards the animal. luke watched as she jumped right into the minotaur's grasp. she tried cutting his hand off with her own weapon, however the animal only threw her onto the hard ground. y/n felt all the air leaving her lungs, and the last thing she saw was the minotaur's hand coming down at her.

luke could've sworn his heart stopped. y/n was laying lifeless on the forest ground.

"no!" his voice echoed through the green trees. somehow, maybe just by pure luck, by luke's loud scream the minotaur whimpered before running away. luke looked over at the animal, and threw his sword with every last bit of strength. the sword speard the minotaur's head. luke couldn't care about his sword at this moment, while y/n was bleeding out in front of him.

as luke got closer to the girl, he couldn't help it as tears started to spill onto his cheeks. he kneeled down, not hesitating to pick y/n up into his lap. he rubbed her shoulder with one hand while the other was caressing the side of her face.

luke scanned over her body. she had three large gashes going across her stomach, the blood was staining her shirt, and now luke's from holding her close to him. there was dirt and small scratches littering her face, but luke thought she was still the most beautiful girl at camp.

"y/n," luke's voice was soft, his tears spilling over much more heavily than before.

"y/n, baby, you have to wake up now," he cried.

"the minotaur's gone, you can wake up now," he reassured.

luke shook the girl once, then twice, then repeatedly.

"y/n! you have to wake up now! please!" his voice was failing him. he became to choked up with tears.

"someone help!" luke wailed, echoing in the forest, "please! help! someone help!"

luke only choked on more cries, before looking back down at y/n. he brushed the hair out of her face, and continued to rub his thumb over her cheek.

"you're gonna be okay," he whispered. he wasn't sure if it was ressure y/n, or himself.

꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱

luke hasn't left his cabin in four days. he hasn't seen y/n in four days.

annabeth was starting to worry about luke. she saw the condition he was in when chiron brought both him and y/n back to camp. he was an absolute mess.

today was no different as annabeth knocked on the hermes cabin door. all of the campers were busy making their canoes for the yearly canoe race, but luke was no where to be found.

however, the only difference from today and the other three days she visited luke, the girl had news for him.

"luke," annabeth called, earning a mutter from the boy.

"luke sit up," she ordered.

annabeth sighed as she didn't get any sort of response from luke. she walked to his bed and pulled the blanket off his body.

"y/n is awake!" she got straight to the point.

luke turned as quickly as humanly possible. "are you serious?"

annabeth nodded fast, and laughed as luke practically lept out of his bed and was running towards the infirmary. he didn't care at the possible stares he was getting from the campers. y/n was awake.

luke walked into the infirmary, out of breath but hopeful as ever.

y/n was in the far right bed, with chiron and one of the camp nurses beside her. luke and y/n made eye contact, and luke wasn't sure if he could cry or scream.

chiron motioned himself and the other nurses out of the door, after muttering to them about giving the couple privacy.

luke instantly went to y/n, and couldn't help but let a few tears spill.

"i can't believe you're okay," he admitted. "how are you feeling?"

y/n took ahold of his shaking hand, "oh you know, as good as someone who got attacked by minotaur can be," she joked, which definitely lightened the mood in the dim infirmary.

y/n moved the blanket down and lifted her shirt to show luke her stomach, which was now cleaned, stitched and bandaged.

"looks like you'll have a cool scar now," luke chuckled.

"yeah, but now as cool as yours," y/n simply leaned forward and kissed luke's cheek, specifically where his scar was, causing a blush to cover his cheeks.

[slaybestieslay946]

Luke Castellan and Persephone!Child (I know she doesn’t canonically have Demi-god kids but I feel like it fits well) with a story similar to Eurydice and Orpheus’s sad tale.

thank you so much for your request, it acc ties in really well to a fic idea ive had for a while, so i was so excited to see this in my inbox!!

Circle

MASTERLIST

word count: 1800

pairing: luke castellan x persephone!reader

warnings: death, minor depictions of violence, angst

a/n: partly inspired by the request, partly by mitski's song 'circle' honestly i think it made this extra gut-wrenching. hope you all enjoy!

'Nobody knows my lover, is buried underground.'

When Luke Castellan received his quest, everyone knew who he would pick to take with him. 

Immediately, he turned to you, flashing you a bright grin, and beckoning you towards him. You laughed, wading through the crowd to your lover, smiling brightly all the way. 

The rest of camp half blood rolled their eyes fondly at the pair of you, and just how disgustingly in love you were. 

It had been like this ever since you arrived at camp half blood, mere months after Luke himself. 

You’d been escorted to the Hermes cabin by one of the older campers, and sat down on a bunk bed. You had looked around the place, lost, confused, and homesick. 

And then a boy stepped up to you, asking how you were, what your name was. And gods, even at the age of 14, you knew he was the most beautiful person you’d ever seen. Luke thought the same about you. 

He was so drawn to you, he couldn’t stay away. 

Now, even 4 years later, nothing had changed. 

He was openly enraptured by you, just as Hades was with your mother. He was never seen without you by his side, so of course he’d pick you to bring on his first quest.

A few days later, you set off, Luke’s half-brother, Chris Rodriguez in tow. Everything started off well, you’d managed to locate someone to tell you where the Garden of Hesperides was, in order to retrieve the golden apple that you had been sent for. 

On the way there, you hardly encountered any monsters. You lived comfortably, even if you slept in motels every night, and dined on gas station food. 

It all went downhill when you finally reached the garden. 

You and Chris stood guard whilst Luke stepped towards the tree, no sword in his hand. You kept your spear gripped tightly in your hand, should he awake the dragon sleeping at his feet. 

He eventually reached the foot of the tree, taking a deep breath before reaching up into the branches, and trying to snag one of the apples. Meanwhile, you didn’t take your eyes off the dragon, watching it for any sign of movement. 

And when it finally opened its dark eye, looking up at Luke, you ran forward, sprinting towards it with your spear outstretched to stab it. 

But you weren’t fast enough, and it turned, slashing a talon across your chest, and sending you collapsing onto the ground, blood soaking into your shirt. 

Luke darted towards you and in his rush, he wasn’t able to avoid the sharp tail of the dragon whipping across his face, leaving a fine cut all the way down it. 

He ignored the biting pain, barely able to register it when all he could see was you, lying on the floor, a pool of blood encircling you. 

“Hey, Y/N.” He whispered, patting your cheek gently, cradling your body to his chest, “You’re gonna be alright, yeah? Just open your eyes for me baby.” 

You struggled to do as he asked, looking up at your lover with confused eyes. 

“You-” You coughed, “You have to go. It’s over for me. Gonna go see mom.”

“No, no. Gotta stay with me. We can get through this.” He cried, brushing his thumbs across your face.

“I- I- I love y-you. W-we’ll s-see each other ag-gain.” You did your best to smile, and while all you wanted to do was reach up and hold his face, you found you didn’t have the strength to do so. 

He continued to cry and beg you to come back, but it was all for nothing, you’d gone silent, and your eyes were all still. 

And then vines began to wrap around your body, pulling you into the earth, down towards Persephone, your mother. 

Luke kept crying as they took you away from him, leaving nothing but your camp necklace behind. 

“Hey, man, we gotta go.” He heard Chris call, and he whipped his head around to berate him, until he saw his half-brother was currently in combat with the dragon that had killed you. 

He was right, they had to go. 

He scooped your camp necklace off of the ground, and ran towards his brother, who detached from his fight with the dragon to run away from the garden. Luke followed after him, tears streaming down his face the whole way. 

*

When Luke got back to camp, he was different. Numb. 

Annabeth ran up to him when they descended the hill, a bright smile on her face at her older brother's return. It faded slightly when she saw you weren’t right beside him. 

“Where’s Y/N?” She asked, looking around as if you’d pop out from nowhere.

“Gone.” Was all Luke could manage to say, pulling his little sister in for a hug he so desperately needed, confirmation that at least she was still here. 

For the next few months, he barely left the Hermes cabin, only ever going down to the amphitheatre in the early hours of the morning, where he could be seen slashing recklessly at wooden dummies left right and centre. 

He didn’t know how to live without you. He always thought you’d be with him forever. He had this vision that together you would grow old, and would die while sitting on some front porch, holding hands as you went at the same moment. 

Now he realised that it was a pipedream. You were demigods, it was never going to work out like that. 

But he couldn’t go on living like this. He didn’t want to wake up in the morning if you weren’t beside him. So he formed his plan, to go down to the underworld and retrieve you himself. 

His father was the god of travellers, and your mother was the queen of the underworld. It could work. 

So he travelled to the entrance to the underworld, your camp necklace in his hands, and prayed. First to your mother, asking for an audience, and second to his father, asking for use of his access to the underworld. It was the first time he had ever asked Hermes for anything, and if this worked, it would probably be the last. He’d never want for anything again if it meant you were with him again. 

And it did work. The gate opened to him, a long staircase down into the darkness. Luke descended quickly; he didn’t want to keep Persephone, or you for that matter, waiting.

He soon found himself pushing through crowds of lost souls, keeping a look out for you, but you were nowhere in sight. He then turned his attention back to reaching Persephone’s throne, breathing a sigh of relief as he finally found himself at the foot of it, looking up at the goddess herself. 

“You requested an audience with me, Mr Castellan. I hope this is not about my daughter.” Persephone said sternly, looking down at the demigod, her fears confirmed when she saw the string of beads clutched in his hands. 

“It is, but-”

“There’s no buts. I can’t do anything about your predicament. It is not within my jurisdiction.” She declared, her voice growing regretful, “My daughter is in Elysium, and that’s where she must stay.” 

“My lady, I understand that this is difficult for you. But we both know Y/N… died before her time. She would want to come back. She deserves to have a life.” 

“And you would give that to her?” 

“Yes.” 

“And you would protect her, better than I can?”

Luke gulped, “Just as well.” 

The goddess sighed, and muttered, almost to herself, “We have had this problem before, persuasive mortals and their tales of love. Let’s see if you can fare any better, Luke Castellan.” 

“I will release my only daughter from the underworld, on one condition. As you lead her back into the world of the living, you mustn’t look back at her. She will be following you, trust me on that, demigod.” 

“And if I do? Look back?” 

“Then you will never see her again. Not in your world, nor mine,” She looked down at him once again, a sad look in her eyes, “Now go, exit through the fields of asphodel, she will follow you from there.” 

Luke nodded firmly, and turned back around, returning the way he came, smiling more brightly than he had in months. 

He was going to see his Y/N again, all he had to do was not look back at her, how difficult could that be?

He pushed his way back through the fields of asphodel, keeping a tight hold of her camp beads. As soon as they reached the surface, he would string them around her neck again. He’d be able to hold her face in his palms, to kiss her, to hug her. Everything would be alright again. 

As he returned to the staircase, he felt a rush of wind behind him. It had to be her. Then, to confirm his suspicions, he heard soft footsteps on the stone staircase. Luke smiled to himself once again, wishing so desperately that he could greet her, but not wanting to break Persephone’s rules. 

He continued up the staircase for what felt like hours, it was definitely taking him a lot longer this time. The thing that kept him going was your footsteps behind him, a reminder that you were still there, following after him. 

Until they stopped, right as he became able to see the light coming from the living world above him. 

He paused for a moment, listening out for you. But he couldn’t hear anything besides his panting breaths and the odd screech of a harpy. 

Luke began to grow worried, a pit forming in his stomach, but he kept climbing the stairs. Persephone told him you’d be following, she wouldn’t lie, would she?

Or maybe it was all some elaborate joke. Fortune hadn’t been on his side recently. 

Maybe he should check. Just a peek, it couldn’t hurt, could it? What was so wrong about him looking back anyway, why shouldn’t he want to see his lover, the girl he would do anything for?

So he did. He turned, to look over his shoulder. 

And of course, you were right behind him, just like your mother said you would. 

At first you looked joyful to see him, and then your face fell in horror as you realised what he had done. You reached out to touch him, to hold on, but you couldn’t quite reach. And then you felt yourself being pulled back, away from him. 

Luke watched on in horror as you fell back into the abyss.

[thisisourlovestory]

It’s Nice to Have a Friend

part 2- the chronicles of a stargirl and her sun masterlist

Luke Castellan x reader

Summary- the first full day at camp where slight drama unfolds and you make a new friend

Word count- 5.4k

Notes- thank you @imaginingmoonlight again for the vibe (I don’t know what else to call it) and I’d also like to say that I was actually inspired to write this series by @tangledinlove because the killerverse is amazing and I love it so also thanks to her otherwise I wouldn’t have done this.

Taglist:

@abbersreads @tenshis-cake

“We've just got to find out what you're good at first.” Annabeth explained as you walked beside her. “It might be that you are just really bad at using weapons but don't feel bad. You barely nicked him and he was standing in the wrong place so it was technically his own fault.” You winced.

“I didn't mean to, I swear, it just kinda slipped out of my hand before I was ready.” Annabeth grinned.

“At least you know to never try to throw a javelin when we do sports unless you want to skewer someone.” You glared at her.

“I'm glad someone is enjoying my embarrassment. I could have killed him! And then what would happen? Besides, I don't think that helped my prospects of making any friends here other than you.” She waved a dismissive hand.

“You'll make friends. It's just that you're new and the circumstances were interesting to say the least. Also it is spring so there are way less people here than there will be in summer.” You sent her an unimpressed look.

“You can't talk. Everyone loves you. I'll bet even Mr D doesn't hate you as much as the rest of us.”

“That is a lie. Plenty of campers don't like me.”

“Oh really? Name one.” You crossed your arms over your chest as she struggled to answer. “Didn't think so.” You said smugly as she stuck her tongue out.

“We've got to get to the armoury. It's time to try out sword fighting.” You paled.

“Can we not skip it?”

“Not a chance.”

Annabeth rummaged through a pile of swords. Occasionally picking one up to show to you and immediately putting it back down at your face. You wandered around the armoury, glancing every once in a while at Annabeth to check she hadn't cut herself accidentally. Finally she emerged from the pile, holding a sword triumphantly above her head.

“This one is perfect.” She held it out and you gingerly took it. The bronze blade was sharp and shining, the smooth metal cold to the touch.

“I don't see why I can't just use my knife.” She sighed.

“Because it's not made of celestial bronze so it won't kill monsters. Now get out there, I'll be out in a moment to teach you some stuff.” You trudged out and took your place on the sawdust, swinging the sword from side to side, letting the tip brush the floor lightly. Annabeth followed out quickly and got into position.

“Just try and land a hit on me.” You gaped at her.

“You want me to try and hit you?” She shrugged.

“It's a good way to test if you have a natural ability for sword fighting” Without warning she swung her sword forward and you lifted your own to block the blow.

“Not bad.” She swung again and you stumbled back slightly to avoid the hit.

“So I just kinda,” You swept the sword in front of you and Annabeth jumped back to avoid it, “Actually I think that works.” Annabeth slashed her blade through the air and you ducked, sweeping your own out in a wide arc, hitting her ankles with the flat side of the blade. She hissed at the sting and narrowed her eyes as you rose up and smiled. She rained down a flurry of blows on you and you blocked each one as well as you could, ending up with a multitude of tiny nicks on your arms. You rolled onto the floor to dodge a particularly well aimed stab headed straight for your neck and twirled the sword in the air before thrusting it forward to just under her chin. Annabeth’s eyes widened in shock before a grin took over her face.

“Not bad, but-” She grabbed the hilt of your sword and twisted, forcing you to let go and allowing her to poke you lightly in the stomach. “I win.” She handed you back the sword and you stabbed it into the ground. “Rule number one is never let up your guard, always be expecting an attack. It’s what keeps you alive. But for your first time you did pretty good. Better than most, and with a little training you’ll be able to beat me.” You hummed.

“Maybe. But the sword feels…wrong in my hands. Like I shouldn’t be holding it.” Annabeth frowned.

“We do still need to try out some other weapons. You might like them more.” She turned and walked back to the armoury, gesturing for you to follow her. “You’re doing archery later but for now grab some knives or daggers and try to throw them at those targets over there.” You did as she instructed and gathered a collection of bronze knives, carrying them over to a bench and dumping them on it with a clatter. You squinted at a target, judging how far the distance was and picked up one of the knives.

“Wait for me before you throw them.” Annabeth started but you had already tossed it up into the air allowing it to spin and then caught it and threw it full speed across the room. In a blur it hit dead centre. Annabeth looked at you surprised. “I guess you can throw.” You were already throwing more knives at the other targets, each one making a dull thudding as they hit home in the bullseye. You huffed and pushed your hair out of your eyes as you finished, sweat dripping from your brow, eyes sparkling with exhilaration.

“That. Was. Amazing!.” You exclaimed and twirled on the spot. “Did you see that? It was so cool.” She nodded, calculating, but you didn't notice. Too caught up in your own achievement.

“Yeah those throws were scary accurate for a beginner.”

“I think we've found what I'm good at.” She laughed.

“Not so fast, you've still gotta try out archery. And Luke is helping with that. He couldn't help now cause he had to supervise the climbing wall. Make sure nobody gets burned alive that kind of stuff. But he's taking you for your first archery lesson later, responsibilities that come with being head counsellor of the Hermes cabin. That and none of the current Apollo kids stay year round yet.” She rambled and you watched with an amused smile. “Anyway we have to get going for lunch, since it's not summer and there's not so many people we don't have to sit at designated tables like usual, if we did most people would literally just be sitting by themselves and that's just sad.” Your stomach rumbled and you glared down at it before looking up at her sheepishly.

“I'm apparently incredibly hungry so please lead the way.” She rolled her eyes and discarded her sword in a pile, kicked open the door and began the fairly long walk to the mess hall. You both trudged past the cabins where all the other campers were also starting to walk to the mess hall. There weren't many at all, about twenty across all twelve cabins, chattering happily to one another as they walked in a clump. Everyone sat down on random benches, presumably with their friends, and piled the food that appeared on the tables onto their plates in mountains.

There was a varied selection of food, all stacked in heaps so they filled up all the available space, there was something for everyone. Breads, cheeses and cuts of meat spread out for a buffet style meal, pots of soup, bowls with all kinds of pasta, rice and meat coated in sticky sweet sauces. There were even baskets stacked with fresh fruit surrounded by tiny bite sized sweets covered in sugar. Annabeth grabbed some food for herself and picked up some meat from a pile that stained her fingers red.

“Try this it's good, It's beef marinated in some random sauce and then cooked on the barbecue. Nobody actually knows what's in the sauce but it's kinda spicy.” She paused thoughtfully. “And it has garlic in it. I think.” She licked her fingers, getting rid of the red stain as you followed her advice and plated some of the beef along with rice and a warm bread roll dripping with butter. Annabeth immediately made her way over to the fire and dropped some food into it, you snatched up a bunch of grapes and followed suit. As the grapes fell into the flames you shut your eyes and bent your neck slightly.

“Hi, it's me, again. I don't know who you are but could you maybe send a sign or something. It couldn't hurt. Could it?” You mumbled and straightened up as smoke rose into the air smelling like every kind of food you could ever imagine.

“I really can see why they like burnt food.” You stated as you sat down next to Annabeth at a table. “It smells annoyingly good.” You took a bite of food. “And that's delicious as well.” She smiled, taking a bite of her own food.

“Told you so.” You both ate in silence, too occupied with savouring every bite that you forgot to ask any questions. All too soon the lunch break was over and Annabeth was directing you to the archery field.

“So you basically just follow the path past the Big House and he said he'd be waiting for you there and if you got lost he'd go and find you.” She turned around as someone called her name and yelled back. “Give me a minute.” She looked back at you. “Have fun and I'll see you later at dinner.” She spun on her heel and ran off as you did the same and walked in the opposite direction.

You hummed quietly to yourself as you walked through the woods, the trees shading you from the sun. Dust from the path floated in the air as you kicked the stones from it and into the grass, other campers passed you once or twice, attempting to whisper to each other about you and failing as their voices rang out like foghorns through the otherwise silent trees. You passed the Big House and caught Chiron watching. You waved slightly and continued without waiting to see if he responded. After a few more minutes of walking you arrived at the archery field to see the targets lined up and a selection of bows laid on the grass ready for use. You looked around and saw nobody. Not a single soul in sight. He's probably just running late, you thought, Annabeth said he was head of the Hermes cabin though so he must be busy taking care of something. So you waited. You sat down on the damp floor and fiddled around, picking blades of grass and twisting them around your fingers as tightly as possible before they snapped, plucking daisies, weaving them into a crown and placing it on your head. You even resorted to picking up one of the bows, subsequently snapping the string across your hand and leaving a raised red line across the palm of it. Then you settled back down, made yourself comfortable and placed your chin in your hand. You hadn't meant to fall asleep but the night before had been almost sleepless, tossing and turning in an unfamiliar bed with unfamiliar people in some of the other bunks. So you somehow ended up drifting off with the warm heat of the sun on your back and a cool breeze blowing across your face.

You woke up just as suddenly as you had fallen asleep, an owl hooted softly and you realised it was growing dark. The sun almost completely set in the horizon, only a thin sliver of light peeking out from behind the trees. You got to your feet and began the march up to the cabins. It was most definitely too late for dinner but you remembered Annabeth mentioning there was a campfire tonight. You followed the smoke rising in the distance and the faint glow of the flames, tripping over the occasional dip in the ground and sliding over the grass. Shortly, you arrived at the campfire and Annabeth spotted you almost immediately, jumping to her feet and running over.

“Where were you?” She asked, an accusatory tone to her voice and a frown on her face. “I couldn't find you anywhere. And what is that in your hair?”

“I don't want to talk about it.” You mumbled, sitting down and reaching out for a stick; shoving a marshmallow onto it then holding it above the fire to toast.

“Did you suck at archery?” You laughed half heartedly at her question.

“I wouldn't know yet Annabeth.” She tilted her head and studied you puzzled before a look of understanding passed over her face.

“He didn't teach you any archery.”

“He didn't even bother to show up.” You corrected, pulling the marshmallow out of reach from the fire and blowing on it slightly as you grabbed two chocolate covered biscuits with the other hand and mashed the marshmallow between them. The chocolate melted, mixing with the gooey melted mess of marshmallow. You lifted it to your mouth and took a bite.

“And I don’t care at the moment. I just want to eat my smore. I forgot how good they were, do you want one?”

“No I already had some. I’ve been meaning to ask you, where did you get that hoodie from?”

“Oh it was waiting for me yesterday when I woke up. Probably just a spare one from lost and found since my clothes were ruined.”

“Right, lost and found.” Annabeth sat still for a second then grabbed your hand and dragged you around the campfire to the opposite side despite your protests.

“Why are you so freakishly strong?”

“I am not freakishly strong! And that hoodie, not from lost and found.” She stopped in her tracks as you looked at her confused.

“Huh.”

“Never mind, it’s just a hoodie. Now I have to have a little chat with Luke.” She continued to drag you until you both stood directly in front of him.

“Hey Annabeth.” Luke greeted her with a grin as he stopped talking to the people sitting around him. “What's up?”

“What's up?” She seethed. “What's up is I asked you to help earlier and you didn't want to so I pretty much begged until you said yes because I had something important on.” She took a deep breath and tears filled her eyes. “And then you didn't even do what you said you would.”

“Annabeth…”

“No don't,” She interrupted, “I don't know what exactly your problem is with Y/N since you seemed fine with her last night when she woke up but you're going to sort it out right now.” She punctuated her sentence by pushing you down next to him.

“Can we have a minute.” Luke said to the others and they all obliged, walking over to other people laughing and sneaking peeks back. “Annabeth, seriously why would you think I have a problem with Y/N?”

“You didn't want to help her, you made up fake excuses to get out of it and then you agreed but didn't follow through. So you have some kind of problem otherwise you wouldn't have done any of that.” She crossed her arms and you spoke up.

“Annabeth it's fine, really it's fine. I don't mind if Luke doesn't like me. It's not a big deal.”

“It's a big deal to me! I want you to be friends. And you'll be really good friends I swear. So can you sort out whatever is wrong and get along please. Ask each other some questions, get to know each other better. Say twenty each?” With that she ran back to the other side of the campfire to her siblings leaving you both staring after her in shock. After a moment Luke broke the silence.

“Where did you come here from?” You blinked and answered slowly.

“I lived in the UK until I was eight then moved to the USA because my parents got a job offer.” His eyes sharpened.

“Parents?”

“Yeah. I was adopted, I don't know who my real parents were. Suppose I might find out who one of them is someday though. How about you?”

“Grew up in Connecticut, ran away when I was nine.” You stared at him vaguely shocked. From everything you had heard from Annabeth, Luke was the golden boy and he had run away from home. It was hard to believe but the bitter look in his eyes quickly changed your mind.

“When you were nine. So you were homeless for how long?” He shrugged.

“Five years. But I'm here now, and I've got Annabeth and my half siblings.” You hummed and shuffled around on the log, crossing your legs and leaning forward on your hands facing him.

“How did you meet Annabeth?”

“Just before we arrived at camp, we were walking down an alley and she jumps out and almost knocks my head in with a hammer.” He laughed slightly. “We took her in and then we got here.” You tilted your head.

“We?” His expression changed immediately. “Don't want to talk about it. Got it.” He looked at you.

“Annabeth is my little sister. Not by blood but by choice. We’re family and it seems she wants you to be part of our family.”

“You are very close to each other having known each other for so little time.” He smiled slightly.

“I would say she’s easy to like but that’s not entirely true.”

“Yes she can be quite intense at times. And I’ve only known her a day, can’t imagine what she must be like once you’ve known her a bit longer than that.” You grinned at him and tilted your head. “Must be unbearable.”

“You get used to it. Annabeth is Annabeth, she’s smarter than everyone, always six steps ahead of everyone else, she’s an incredible fighter and along with that she’s stubborn as a mule. But I wouldn’t change anything about her because then she wouldn’t be Annabeth.” He sighed and rested his elbows on his knees, holding his clasped hands in front of him.

“I am sorry I missed your archery lesson. I didn’t mean to I just got caught up practising.” You raised an eyebrow.

“Practising what?”

“Sword fighting. I’m supposed to be the best swordsman in three hundred years and I need to practise if I ever want to go on a quest.” You hummed noncommittally.

“I suppose that makes sense.”

You turned to look at the fire. The flames a bright yellow, dancing up into the sky, twisting and turning, bright against the darkness of the night. Your eyes followed the smoke, whispers of grey spiralling up, up, up into the atmosphere.

“I can give you the lesson now if you’d like.” Your eyes widened in surprise as you turned to face him.

“You would?”

“It’s the least I can do to make up for skipping out on you earlier.” He quickly stood up and held out his hand. “Coming?” You smiled brightly and grabbed his hand.

“Lead the way Castellan.”

“Remind me why we're in the armoury again.”

“You need a good bow before you can shoot right. So here we are.” He raised his hands and turned in a circle. “Take your pick.” You rummaged through the bows, picking one up occasionally to inspect it. There were so many different styles, some smaller, some larger, some metal, some wooden, some decorated and ornate; others as plain as could be. The difference between being inconspicuous and wanting to show off. You stepped over to a crate and pushed off the lid, letting it fall on the ground with a bang. You shuffled through the few bows stored in the crate, disgust filling your face at the ostentatious designs.

“Do people just use these to look cool?”

“Some of the Apollo kids definitely do. But they can shoot with any bow and make the shot so it doesn’t really matter to them.” He picked one up and held it out. “This one looks like it’d fit you.” You scrunched your nose.

“It’s too…much. Yeah, it’s too much.” You slid over to another rack and pulled some off.

“I’m not sure if I’ll ever find…” Your voice trailed off as you picked one up from the very back, pulling it out of the pile that it was buried under. The bow was a smooth crescent, dipping in the middle, covered with strips of leather, with slightly curved ends, pointed and dipped in silver. The wood was engraved with miniature flowers and vines, each petal painted delicately with faded colours of red, blue and purple, the vines thin lines of green weaving through them. Your fingers floated over them, tracing each petal's outline with a look of wonderment on your face.

“Well how about this one?” You snapped your head up quickly, holding the bow close to your body, Luke raised his eyebrows. “You good?” You cleared your throat.

“This one. This is the one.”

“Are you sure? This one,” He waved the one in his hand in the air,”Is particularly nice and actually new, made only a couple of days ago.” You regarded the one he was holding with disdain. It was plain, nothing that made it stand out. It could not have been more unlike the one you held tightly in one hand, fingers flexing around the leather grip.

“No. This is the one, it’s perfect.” He sighed.

“Alright then, I’m not going to argue with you. Follow me.” He walked outside with you behind and stood in front of a target, illuminated by the dim light from torches lit up around the edge of the field. He steadied an arrow. “You pull back, straighten your aim and release.” He let go and the arrow landed just outside the bullseye. “Your turn.” You fiddled with the bow, stroking the leather nervously and tapping the sharp silver capped ends. He smirked teasingly. “Come on then. Or are you scared you won’t be good enough at it.” You scoffed and stomped over to him, grabbing an arrow and nocking it, pulling the string taut to your cheek and narrowing your eyes at the target.

“First of all, you’ll never hit the target like that. Lift your elbow. And widen your stance.” You shuffled your feet. “No, not quite. May I?” You nodded. “You need to just,” He moved behind you and placed one hand on your waist, the other on your arm and kicked one of your feet to the side, “That’s better. Now,” He lifted your elbow up. “Fire.” He whispered in your ear, his warm breath grazing your skin. You sucked in a deep breath and let the arrow fly. You squeezed your eyes shut as it shot through the air and hit the target with a dull thud.

“Well look at that.” Luke murmured behind you.

“What is it Castellan?”

“Why don’t you open your eyes and see for yourself.” You hesitantly opened them and looked disbelievingly at the target, the arrow sitting in the middle of the bullseye. You took a double take, looking back at Luke and then back to the target.

“I did that? Me?” You whispered and Luke chucked quietly.

“Yeah you did but let’s try again. This time by yourself. Make sure it wasn’t just my expert skills that made you shoot like that on your first try.” He nodded to the target and you nocked another arrow, pulling back the string to your cheek with ease and letting it loose quickly, sending the arrow flying and splitting the wood of the previous one as it lodged just between the feathers.

“Not just your expert skills apparently.” His lips twitched upwards.

“Perhaps not, but I will need more proof.”

“Then I will give you some.” With that you fired a volley of arrows, each one landing so they formed a star when you finished. You stared proudly at your work. “How’s that for your proof?”

“That's pretty hard proof. You must be a natural at archery and my teachings clearly have nothing to do with it.”

“Your teachings have something to do with it. You got me that first shot. I’m just a quick learner, and lobbing things at targets is apparently my thing now.” You dropped the bow down carefully in the grass and turned around to look at him and added as an afterthought. “Except for spears. That did not go well.”

“I heard.” You winced and twiddled your thumbs.

“Yeah. Anyway thank you for this, you really didn’t have to.” He shrugged.

“Like I said, I wanted to make up for this afternoon and giving you a late lesson seemed the best way to do it.” You rolled your eyes at his words and threw yourself down on the ground, unbothered by the damp soil. Your hands rested on your stomach and the longer pieces of grass ticked your ears as you gazed up at the sky, the stars twinkled above, shining brightly like miniature diamonds. They decorated the night, small pockets of light in the deep blue sky, soon to give way to pure blackness but the stars would still be there.

You felt Luke lay down next to you and heard him ask you a question.

“What’s your favourite colour?”

“What?” You asked back, turning to look at him.

“Your favourite colour. Annabeth said we should get to know each other so what’s your favourite colour?” You stared at him for a second and found nothing but truth in his eyes.

“I’m not sure,” You paused for a moment, “I like green a lot though. It’s pretty and there are so many different shades of it, some are more blue like the sea and others are more the colour of the trees. But you can find traces of green everywhere and I think that’s why I like it, it's not just some obscure colour that you can only find in clothes. It’s all around us, you’ve just got to look for it” You stopped, slightly out of breath. “Sorry, you weren’t really looking for that kind of long winded explanation were you.”

“No I don’t mind, it was interesting. Besides, I've heard longer explanations from Annabeth about why she had nutella on her toast in the morning rather than her usual jam.” You tipped your head to the side and laughed.

“And what was the reason for that exactly?”

“The first time she did it I believe she spouted some nonsense about it being high in fibre as well as having iron and calcium in it and also would give her more energy to deal with, as she put it, incompetent fools. However every other time she's done it she just gives me a look as if I'm completely stupid.” You muffled a snort at his indignant tone.

“She sounds like a middle aged woman called Susan or something. And for the record you are stupid.”

“I always thought she was more of a Theresa but each to their own and I’m not stupid at all thank you very much.” You snorted again and quickly covered it with a cough, composing yourself as he smiled smugly at the reaction he managed to pull out of you.

“So anyway, what’s your favourite colour?” You asked, shifting slightly to look at him better.

“Blue, a really clear bright blue, like the sky in summer, electric blue almost.” He answered decisively and you tapped your fingers together in thought.

“And how old are you?”

“Fifteen, you?”

“Fourteen. Why do you want to go on a quest so badly?”

“I need to prove that I'm a hero. And going on a quest is the only way I can do that.”

“Is it?” He faced you with a look of disbelief.

“Yes, if I go on a quest I'm a hero because I get glory from it, you don't get glory from sitting around at camp doing nothing. You have to fight for it so I need to go on a quest.”

“Right, sorry.” You murmured and looked back up at the sky, head resting on your crossed arms. “The stars are beautiful aren’t they.” You muttered. “I find it hard to believe they can only be found in such distant planes of the universe when we can see them right there in front of us.” You lifted a hand and traced a kind of w shape in the sky. “That’s Cassiopeia, the Queen, you probably already know this but she was the mother of Andromeda and was forced to sacrifice her to a sea monster due to her own pride when she boasted her beauty was greater than that of the sea nymphs.” You pointed to another cluster of stars. “And that’s Ursa Major,” You moved your finger again, “And that’s Virgo, the Maiden.”

“How do you know those constellations?” Luke asked quietly.

“My dad.” You smiled. “He taught me all the constellations and we would go stargazing together in the country whenever he had a free night. The first time he took me was when I was three and he said I asked for food every two minutes, after that he would always bring a picnic, sandwiches, carrot sticks, biscuits and little slices of cake with tea or hot chocolate in a thermos so I would never get hungry. And we would lie on a blanket and watch the stars, pointing out all the constellations we saw and naming whatever stars we could. On special occasions he would bring his telescope and let me use it so that I could see everything that was happening as closely as possible.”

“He sounds nice.”

“Yeah he is,” You whispered, “He really is.” You both went silent for a while, simply gazing up at the stars in peace and quiet, comfortable in each other's company.

After a while Luke stood up.

“We should get going, everyone will already be sleeping by now and we can tidy this all up first thing tomorrow.” You sat up and took his offered hand, allowing him to pull you to your feet.

“Thanks.” You leant down to scoop up your new bow. “I can take this back can't I?”

“It's yours.” He answered simply as he started to walk to the cabins with you hurrying to walk next to him.

“Thanks again for, y’know.” He glanced down at you.

“You don't need to keep thanking me, it was my fault for not showing up earlier. I was just making good on my promise to Annabeth.”

“Yeah but still, I appreciate it. Other people wouldn't have done what you just did.” You reached the semicircle of cabins and took a step into the Hermes one before you realised Luke wasn't following. You turned your head back to look at him only to find him looking at you with an unreadable expression on his face.

“What is it? Do I have something on my face?” You slapped your cheek lightly.

“No you just-” He stepped forwards and righted something on your head, brushing the hair back from your face in the process. “Your flowers were falling off stargirl.”

“Oh.” You breathed out, a hand rising to feel the flowers. “Thank you, I forgot I had them, I thought they would've fallen off earlier.” You furrowed your eyebrows. “Stargirl?” He shrugged and offered a simple explanation before walking past you into the cabin.

“It suits you.” You smiled and made your way to your bed, quickly grabbing a top and pair of pyjama shorts before running to change into them behind the private screen set up in the corner of the cabin and then bouncing into bed. You lay there for a minute, staring up at the wooden ceiling, before you turned to face the empty bed next to you.

“Hey Castellan.” You whispered loudly and from the other side of the room he answered.

“What is it stargirl?”

“Are we friends now?”

“Nah, we're best friends stargirl, I don’t just teach anyone archery in the middle of the night. and don't think you can get out of this easily, best friends are for life.” You smiled into the darkness at the joking tone in his voice and answered with a hint of laughter.

“Wouldn't dream of it. I gotta say, it's nice to have a friend.” You hurriedly added, “Other than Annabeth and Maisie,” And turned over to the other side, “Goodnight Castellan.” You said and burrowed deep into the duvet. The last thing you heard was a soft laugh and Luke's voice saying.

“Goodnight stargirl, sleep well.”

Light pink sky up on the roof Sun sinks down, no curfew Twenty questions, we tell the truth You've been stressed out lately? Yeah me too

[lafleshlumpeater]

Heyy could I maybe request something of Luke Castellan x child of posideon!reader? Maybe like reader was watching Luke train and was like “oh shit thats hot” and is just completely flustered because of their boyfriend and it just gets steamy from there- if you catch my drift. Possibly could reader be gender neutral and afab? And maybe reader has a bit of a thing for choking and Luke finds out? Thats a lot sorry for that lol

ty for the request x

not proofread

Warning: Mentions of weapons, r calls luke daddy towards the end, choking, sub/dom themes- lmk if I missed any

Requests are always open <3

luke castellan masterlist

Luke was training. Normally, this would prove to be entertaining as his training sessions were filled with banter and a lot of laughter (since he swordfought with Percy a lot, and something about watching your boyfriend and brother taunting each other was hilarious) but this time he was focused on violently slashing up dummies. And due to the lack of intimacy you two had suffered from lately since either one of you always had some important task to do, you found this incredibly, incredibly hot.

As you stood there holding his ice- cold water bottle, you shuffled awkwardly from foot to foot. How could you not find the view attractive? 

Sweat plastered his platinum blond hair to his head, and small rivulets of sweat lazily trickled down his muscular arms and forehead. He was wearing a thin, white vest which didn’t help matters, as this meant you could clearly see the outline of his abs and pecs. As his hands- oh, his beautiful, beautiful hands, with their long veins and rough skin- drove his sword into the dummies again and again, slaughtering them into shreds, you suddenly felt a lot hotter than you had been ten minutes ago… and it had nothing to do with the outside temperatures.

As the last dummy was sacrificed and sword sheathed again, Luke sauntered his way over to where you were standing somewhat awkwardly.

“Darling,” he greeted, before accepting the water bottle you offered him before chugging at it eagerly, unaware of the impact the nickname had on you. After he was done, he looked at you; taking in the lip biting and the anxious squirming.

“Babe?”, he questioned, “Are you okay?”

You nodded, but he was not satisfied.

“Look at me.”

Tilting your chin to him so it was impossible for you to evade eye contact any longer, he took in your mottled pink cheeks and lust- blown eyes. His mouth rounded in a silent ‘oh’, and cupped your chin.

“Oh, baby,” he cooed.

You squirmed even more, his subtle dominating behaviour sending an even more powerful wave of heat to your core. “Don’t.”

He smirked, and whispered into your ear. “Or what, dolly?”

Shuddering, you meekly attempted to push him away.

“Luke.”

You had thought it would come out to sound like a warning, but if anything it was closer to a desperate moan, or even a whine. Although he was playing it cool, it turned Luke on more than anything that the sight of him just training was enough to make you needy for him. It was with this thought that he stopped teasing, and smashed his lips onto yours.

You parted your lips immediately, allowing access for his tongue to slip inside; you moaned, and you thanked all gods that it was muffled by Luke’s hot mouth. You didn’t even try to fight for dominance this time- you had already entered into your subspace due to the multiple nicknames he had addressed you with, and you were too far in to pull yourself out. His lips left yours, and your boyfriend began to trail wet, scraping kisses down your jaw and down your jugular, at which you cursed yourself for allowing a pitiful, whiny sound to leave your mouth.

“Hush, pretty,” he muttered, now smattering quick pecks into the hollow of your collarbone, leaving you gasping. He reached his hand up to your throat, squeezing slightly- not enough to hurt, but enough to cut your oxygen supply off.

You gasped desperately, and were now turned on to the point where you were willing to fuck him there and then, in the arena. You let out a strangled whined, not even trying to disguise it now, and rocked your hips desperately into nothing, conscious of the fact that your panties were now so wet they were ruined beyond the point of return. Just when your head was becoming fuzzier and fuzzier (both from slipping further into your subspace and from the lack of oxygen), Luke stopped his assault at your collarbone and released your throat. 

“Luke, please.”

He gulped, and you looked down to see a raging boner straining against the fabric of his pants. You looked back at him to see his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down and his usual icy eyes now dark and stormy.

Grasping you firmly by your neck again, he whispered huskily into your ear:

“Fucking gods, I’m going to fucking destroy you.”

You gulped against his hand and let out a small, breathy moan. “Please, daddy.”

He constricted your throat tighter in his grasp, grunting- it was safe to say you were both in for a long night.

thanks so much if you read til the end xx feel free to request any time <3

READ: this account stands with palestine, and so— i require everyone who interacts to educate themselves, and support/donate. READ THESE; 1 and 2, HELP HERE, BOYCOTT. silence is complicity, do not scroll past this.

[kaciebello]

Sibling rivals, sibling allies

Masterlist

Nico Di Angelo x Hades! reader (platonic) Summary: Nico was aware his sibling loved him, to the point that lectures were inevitable. Warning: Angst, Siblings written by an only child, no use of y/n Author note: English is not my first language so I am sorry for any mistakes beforehand. I am not very good at angst so I hope I did this some justice. I also tried to make it gender-neutral as the request did not specify, however, this is my first time writing like that so I am sorry if I missed anything. All right to the artist of the fanart, I could not find them, but if you do, let me know and I will tag them.  Proofread by me and me only (Ｔ▽Ｔ) request: Yes word count: 1,3k Song: Lean on - Major Lazer ( ft. MØ, DJ Snake )

 Sibling rivalry was something everyone expected when having more than one child. And who especially expected it were the Greek gods. They even encouraged it. Sadly, for Hades, his children got along and refused to fight each other.

Usually, Nico would play mythomagic with them or just lazily exist in the camp. Only a few people would talk to him. But he is used to it now. That's why he was confused when they ran into the Hades cabin and suggested training with said two. He agreed nonetheless, not wanting to disappoint his last older sibling, and he also thought Percy was okay-ish.

That is why he was standing in the area, watching them absolutely beat Percy's ass. Annabeth was standing beside him but did not look very happy about what was happening. He can't blame her, he would not be either if the roles were reversed. Also, the Hades children weren't really known for their good temper, so it made sense.

So when Percy tapped out, he wasn't surprised. However, the girl next to him made her way to help her friend up.

“Close your mouth, flies gonna take it as an invite.” They said, slightly tapping his chin to close it. Nico glared at them but did not argue. they were covered in sweat and breathing heavily. Nico was sure it was from the sun, not the fight, as he dubs Percy would give it much. If anything they more likely only tickled each other with swords. Although he was warned, that activity can cause accidental stab wounds and immediate visit to the infirmary.

The other two campers joined them. Percy bleeding from his scratches and Annabeth frowns on her face. He knew it was his turn now. That's what they agreed on. He did not think putting him, a child of one of the 3, against Annabeth was fair. Granted, were it a few months back when he thought he had a crush on her, before releasing he had a crush on Percy, it would have been harder to fight her.

“Come on whip, it's our turn.” Says Annabeth and gestures her knives at him. Nico can only tighten his hold on the sword he was holding. He takes a few steps to face her.

“Annabeth.” Sounds behind him warningly. The girl in question just huffs before charging at him. He moved out of the way, but it was like she already knew his steps before him and stuck him in the leg.

He winced but kept on his feet. She charges again, but this time he manages to avoid and block her from sighting him. Annabeth did not like that. Not only she was a fast thinker, but Nico would also forget she had been trained by Luke, one of the best swordsmen in the last couple of hundred years. Annabeth strikes again and Nico has no time to even register what is going on. She slashes his Achilles. Nico yelps and falls, having no strength to put weight on his leg. Annabeth manages to get hold of his sword. She was not standing above him with the tip of his sword at his throat.

“Get up,” she says with a sinister smile. He won't admit it but he was scared for a moment. That was before Annabeth got slammed by his sibling and rolled away. Percy yelped in surprise and went to help Annabeth while the siblings helped each other. 

“What the fuck was that for?” Argued Annabeth once she regained her composure.

“You immobilized him! What the fuck do you mean get up!” His sibling yelled still kneeling next to him. Nico has sat up now, trying to move his leg but when pain shot up he decided against it.

“Monsters are not gonna hold back just because he can't stand!” Annabeth was now making her way to them. Percy was trying to stop her but was very unsuccessful.

“Monster my ass Annabeth. You knew very well what-” A roar cuts her off. All of them freeze in their spots. A rustling in the trees got their attention. A distant yell is what got them moving. Nico felt four arms lifting him.

His sibling and Annabeth were trying their best to get his limping ass away from whatever there was. Percy was surveying the area when he saw it.

“Fuck.” Was all that left him. there stood, an automatic bull, as big as the house. All of their eyes widened as they tried to hurry up. unfortunately, the bull has seen them and charged at them. Nico could feel his weight bearing but only on Annabeth as his sibling went to aid Percy in trying to distract the beast. He wanted to stop them, but he was no use at the moment.

Annabeth stops and props Nico on a tree.

“What are you doing?” He hisses and she just rolls her eyes.

“I'm going to help them.” She says making sure Nico is comfortable.

“You can't leave me here.” Nico could see that she took that as a challenge. before she could leave him however they both heard Percy yell. turning their attention to him they can see a giant boulder heading their way. Nico makes eye contact with his sibling before he feels something tackling him on the ground.

“NICO” Was all he heard before the world became black.

 When Nico came to his senses, he thought that perhaps, Dad pulled him aside, that maybe travelledow travelled. And Brehabs a small hope of seeing Bianca was there. However, when he heard his sibling absolutely destroying their vocal cords from the yelling, he knew he was mistaken.

Opening his eyes, above him stood a well-known Apollo kid, his name was Will or something like that. The light from his hands makes Nico turn his face away and to the side. Only to be faced with a comic view. Annabeth sitting on a bed having her hand looked after by a different Apollo kid. Percy is next to her, holding her other hand. And his sibling, going off on both of them, mostly Annabeth by the looks of it.  Annabeth's head was hung low, it was apparent that she got an earful from Percy beforehand.

Nico is enjoying the situation. Not only is he not getting reprimanded, but he is also getting taken care of by a cute guy. His freedom is shored, however, as Percy nudges the other Hades kid and points to him.

His sibling turns to him at lightning speed, when they see he's awake, they rush to him kneeling by the bed. He can see they are worried even when all of them are out of immediate danger. When they saw he was okay they jumped in for a hug. Will jumped back startled and Nico could only groan in pain. Letting him go just as quickly as they hugged him

“Sorry, I just. I just thought I would have to bargain with Dad.” They say with a smile on their face. Although tears were streaming down their faces making them look a little bit hysterical.

Nico smiled at them.

“I'm fine, I did not even see Dad.” He says, trying to reassure them that he in fact did not die and came back. They just chuckled and nodded.

They all sat in silence for a few minutes before Annabeth with Percy walked up to his bed.

“I'm sorry.” She says. Nico expected her to continue but she didn't. So Nico just nodded, taking in that they were all still startled by what happened.

Next to him, his sibling stood up. It was like a switch turned in in them. Manually they made both Percy and Annabeth sit down at the end of his bed. They took a deep breath before starting.

“I am lost for words!...”

And despite being lost for words, they continue to yell at them for the next 45 minutes. Nico would not want it any other way.

Tag: thefallensacrifice

[roz-aphroditesdaughter]

The End (Stars Always Seem To Fade)

Luke Castellan x gn!reader

Word Count: 1.16k

WARNINGS: MAJOR PJO SPOILERS (especially The Last Olympian), death, stabbing, slight mention of sex, mentions of betrayal, some swearing, violence, cringe, pure sadness, ANGST, unhappy ending.

A/N: Hey, y'all I'm new here. I'm just gonna drop this fic and run, but just wanted to let y'all know that I did take some quotes directly from the book and I do not claim those words as mine. What's mine is mine and what is Rick Riordan's is Rick Riordan's. Also, I based this a bit on the song "The End (Stars Always Seem to Fade) by The Warning.

You sobbed on the elevator floor as it made its way up to Olympus, as slowly as possible, it seemed to you. Luke was the only thought that ran through your mind.

Memories of his friendship when you first arrived at Camp all those years ago. Of him teaching you to fight with a sword. Of your first kiss with him, of your first time with him. He had been your first everything; he had been your everything.

You never forgave him for betraying you. He would never forgive you for betraying him, for being Percy's spy.

You knew that it was all going to end today. No matter how it ended, though, you needed to see him. Even if he wasn't Luke anymore and it was only Kronos inside him.

The elevator dinged, signaling that you were now on Olympus. You pulled yourself and your sword off the floor and as soon as the door opened, you ran. You ran as fast as you could to the throne room, praying to whoever would listen that you would get there on time before everything went down.

You burst into the throne room to find Luke -- or, Kronos -- disarming Percy with Backbiter.

"STOP!" you yelled, catching Kronos's attention. He made his way toward you, slashing with Backbiter, but you blocked the hit with your own sword. "Luke, it's not too late to stop this. This is going to end one way or another."

Kronos roared. "Luke Castellan is dead! His body will burn away as I assume my true form!"

You smirked. "We both know Luke isn't dead. I've been around you for the past few months. Luke's fighting and I'm sure you've noticed that he's one stubborn bastard."

Kronos pushed against your sword but you stood your ground.

"Luke, please," you whispered. "I know you're scared but I need you to fight. Fight him." You let out a soft sob. "And I need you to know that despite everything, despite the betrayal, the lies, the blood on our hands, I am still in love with you. And I know that love is hopeless now, but my love for you never died. So fight, Luke!"

"I will crush you, child!" Kronos screamed as he continued pushing against you.

"No, you won't. Keep fighting. You're still holding Kronos back even now."

"LIES!" When Kronos pushed again, you lost your balance and he struck your face, blood trickling from the corner of your mouth as you fell to the ground.

You took a quick look around you, Annabeth, Percy, and Grover were all watching, Annabeth was crying, but they were as safe as they could be in this situation.

Kronos loomed above you with Backbiter raised. "To the farthest star and back..." you said. You laughed. "Our stupid little saying."

Kronos stared at the sword in your hand and he staggered. His eyes snapped to the blood on your chin. "The farthest star."

He gasped. "Y/N," he whispered, but it wasn't Kronos's voice. It was Luke's. He stumbled forward as you stood up. "You're bleeding...."

Immediately, you grabbed Backbiter from him, throwing it to the side and allowing it to spin into the hearth.

"Y/N!" Annabeth shouted. You turned and he slid her dagger to you, the dagger Luke had given her so many years ago. You picked it up and nodded your thanks to her.

Kronos growled. "Stupid girl." His whole body appeared to be glowing and turning gold, just as his eyes were.

He gasped once again. Luke's voice pleaded with you, "He's changing. Help. He's... he's almost ready. He won't need my body anymore. Please--"

"NO!" Knronos bellowed. He stumbled toward Backbiter in the hearth. You were frozen where you were, just watching as Kronos grabbed the sword from the hearth before screaming in pain and dropping it.

Luke turned back to you and he fell onto his knees. You carefully went to him. "Please, Y/N."

You kneeled in front of him. Tears fell from his eyes. You wiped them away. You took a moment there to memorize him. His dark curls you loved to run your fingers through as you lay on his chest. His ears you loved to whisper dirty jokes and sweet nothings into. His eyes you loved to get lost in. His scar, nose, and jawline you loved to place kisses on. His lips you loved to make out with.

"Can you control him?" you asked.

Luke nodded as he moved one of his charred hands to cup your face. You moved closer to him, and then you kissed him. You kissed him knowing it would be the last time.

When you pulled away, you rested your forehead against his. "Show me where it is," you whispered.

He unlatched the side straps of his armor to expose some skin under his left arm. He took gentle hold of your hand holding Annabeth's dagger. He never once broke your gaze.

"I love you," he said before you both stabbed the dagger into his Achilles Heel.

Luke screamed, his eyes glowed. The throne room shook as an aura of energy surrounded Luke, glowing so bright you had to shut your eyes and remove your hands from him to cover your face.

It went silent.

When you opened your eyes, you found Luke lying by the hearth. Around him was a circle of ash. His left side was bloody. His eyes -- his beautiful brown eyes -- were open.

You pulled his head into your lap and pulled the knife from him. "Hi," you said, not knowing what else to say.

He smiled up at you despite the pain. "Hi."

Percy, Annabeth, and Grover came closer to you and Luke. Annabeth had tears in her eyes.

Luke gazed at her. "I'm so sorry."

"You were a hero in the end, Luke. You'll go to Elysium," Annabeth promised.

Luke weakly shook his head. "Think... rebirth. Try for three times. Isles of the Blest."

"Overachiever," you chuckled.

He smiled again up at you. "Y/N, I've loved you ever since you stepped foot into Camp Half-Blood and I never stopped loving you. Through all of it. I'll never stop loving you. To the farthest star and back."

Tears flowed down your face. "We really should have come up with a better saying. That was horrible."

"What? What could be better than a saying we came up with as cringey and stupid sixteen-year-olds?" He laughed then winced.

"We can get ambrosia," Grover said. "We can--"

"Grover," Luke interrupted. "You're the bravest satyr I ever knew. But no. There's no healing..." He coughed.

He gripped Percy's sleeve. "Ethan. Me. All the unclaimed. Don't let it... Don't let it happen again."

"I won't," Percy replied. "I promise."

Luke nodded then looked back at you. "I love you... to the farthest--" he coughed, "--to the farthest star and back, Y/N."

His eyes closed and his body went slack.

A sob tore through you.

[luvendiary]

Spoils of War

Percy Jackson x Hecate!Reader

a/n: i think this is my longest work so far. honestly, I even forgot I had this in my drafts. i hope you like it, and as always let me know what you think.

summary: percy is not as willing as you to make certain sacrifices.

Manhattan was burning and you were in the middle of it. Even though the entire city was under a sleeping spell, the streets had never been louder and rowdier. The magic that covered the whole island was palpable, as the Titans made no effort to hide it. The gods were also putting in their fair share of magic in order to help their children to defeat the Titans. Your mother, for example, seemed to have sent a message to the mortals on the outsides of Manhattan, since no one appeared to be entering the city.

You were currently fighting side by side with Percy and the Hermes cabin on the Manhattan Bridge. Your stamina was getting low now, however, you didn’t allow yourself to stop even if your lungs were pleading you to, and your limbs were aching to the point that you felt they were going to fall off.

You heard Percy grunting behind you, and you turned to face him as he was fighting off several Empousai. You raised your silver sword and helped him fight them off, not without one of them oh so kindly giving you a big slash across your stomach which caused you to hiss in pain.

Percy turned to you once he had finished with his share of the Empousai and his worried gaze traveled your body as he checked to make sure you were okay…well, as okay as you can be in a situation like this.

“I’m fine,” you said between a painful hiss as you glanced down at your now maroon shirt. “It was shallow.”

Percy nodded, admittedly still worried, but he knew he couldn’t exactly do anything to help you right now. His eyes suddenly froze in fear, and you looked up to see that he was not looking at you, but rather something behind you. As you were about to ask what’s wrong he shoved you out of the way and raised his sword.

You immediately tumbled to the ground and your eyes snapped towards Percy, but instead of seeing him in action he was frozen in place, his sword still mid-swing and still in a running position. You came to the sudden realization that the Brooklyn Bridge had gone awfully quiet, and as you looked around, the entirety of the Hermes cabin was frozen in time, just like Percy.

“My dear Y/N, it’s nice to see you again.”

You tensed at the sound of the voice. Your hairs stood on their and and a lump formed in your throat.

“Of course, I would have loved for it to be under different circumstances. But that’s alright, I’ll take what I can get,” Luke -or rather Kronos- said as he walked towards you with a nonchalant attitude, swinging his sword around as if he was back at camp teaching the younger campers some new tricks.

You remained silent, partially because of the paralysing fear you felt as he approached you, as well as the fact that you didn’t know what you were supposed to say. Would Luke hear you? Was there anything left of him down there? Or was it just Kronos now?

“Oh come on, I now you, you were never the type to stay quiet. Talk to me darling.” His sweet tone made you feel sick to your stomach, as if he didn’t care for all the suffering that he has caused, as if he didn’t see his brothers and sisters frozen in time, fighting for their lives. All because of him.

“You don’t know shit about me,” you replied as you glared daggers at him, bitterness laced your voice.

He let out a humorous huff as his golden eye seemed to pierce into you for a second before his attention moved to Percy. “I can’t believe you chose him…” he said with disdain as he inspected his sword.

You couldn’t believe him. How could he think you were the one in the wrong here? Had Kronos really corrupted his mind that much? “I chose him? Luke, you chose Kronos!”

He looked at the ground and grinned before looking up at you. “It needed to be done Y/N. I did it for us! For you!” He said in voice that may have sounded comforting in any other situation, his smile spreading wickedly across his face, making you cower in your stance.

“I never wanted this! This is not right!” you yelled. “Don’t blame this on me, you betrayed us! You betrayed me!”

His mad calmness unsettled you, your rage seemed to do nothing to move him or even provoke a reaction, instead he tilted his head backwards, as if this was a boring conversation for him. As if he had had this conversation a million times before and what you’re saying is just pure nonsense. With a sigh he lowered his head once again and stared at you blankly, “I loved you, you know? I would've torn the earth apart for you."

Your breath hitched. The truth was, you had also loved Luke, a part of you still did. He was your first friend, and he was your fist crush. He was the first thing that came to mind whenever you thought of comfort when you were younger, and you couldn’t tell were everything had gone wrong.

“This is not love Luke…” you said as you lowered your sword. “Look around you, these are your brothers and sisters you’re fighting agains. We’re just kids, we’re not supposed to be at war.”

“I loved you,” he repeated again, his tone deadly calm, seemingly disregarding what you just had said “but you chose him!”

You carefully took a small step towards Percy, in fear that Kronos might do something.

He raised his sword and aimed it at Percy’s throat. “You chose him, so now I’ll tear the world apart. And I’ll give you one last choice, you either come with me, or I’ll make sure to get rid of him right here,” his tone was sharp, and the bitterness in it was palpable.

“Luke…please.”

“Choose Y/N,” he said with a wicked smile. “Although I suppose we do have time on our side.”

You clenched your fist and bit down on your lip. You wanted to scream and cry. You couldn’t believe this is what it had all come down to. You softened the hold on your sword and allowed it to fall to the ground without much grace.

“I’ll come with you,” you said, anger lacing your voice. “Now lower your sword.”

He laughed softly, seemingly amused by your fierceness, but he obeyed nonetheless. “It wasn’t that hard now, was it?”

“Unfreeze them Luke,” you said simply.

“I guess I can do that now. Just remember that if you try to make any clever move, I can just do this all again. I have the advantage here Y/N, you better remember that.”

Your jaw clenched and your breath became heavier, you couldn’t believe this was happening, never in a million years you thought that the prophecy would eventually lead to you fighting who used to be your best friend. You watched as with a wave of his hand the battle resumed, although not really. As soon as everyone was back, silence overtook the Manhattan Bridge once again. You heard Percy groan and growl with rage as he attacked Luke, the blonde didn’t even flinch and just moved as he dodged his attack.

“Percy!” you yelled, you tried to put up a strong front at least for him and your fellow campers.

Percy halted and looked at you pleadingly, “You can’t- I won’t let you.”

You offered him a sad smile as you approached him, however Luke cleared his throat. You looked back at him and with anger in your eyes said, “Just a minute, I’ve already given you what you want. Let me say goodbye.”

Without waiting for his permission, you went to hug Percy and tried with all your might to hold back your tears. You felt as he wrapped his arms around you, holding on as if you were to vanish any instance.

“Don’t go Y/N, we’ll find another way.”

“As long as you’re here, we have a chance,” you replied.

“Please don’t-”

“If you keeping your life means I have to sacrifice my freedom, I’ll do it,” you whispered as you tightened your grip on him before letting go.

Percy stared at you, worry plagued his eyes and you could see what seemed to be the hint of anger hidden behind his features. He searched your gaze, for any sort of message telling him that this was just a sick joke. That maybe he was just having a terrible nightmare and that Rachel had probably knocked him out with that blue hairbrush of hers. But he found nothing.

You just smiled one last time as you looked at him, your eyes glistened because of the tears that wanted to escape them, but you didn’t allow them to. You stepped away from Percy then, and you felt as Luke placed a hand on your shoulder, his grip was hard and his fingers dug into your skin.

A slight tinge of comfort made its way through your body as you saw how Connor placed his hand on Percy’s shoulder and the rest of the Hermes cabin stood behind him. Anger sadness and frustration was all reflected in their eyes as they stared Luke down.

“Thanks to our brave Y/N, and her oh so brilliant sacrifice,” Luke snarled. “I will tell my troops to retreat until midnight. And don’t confuse my kindness as sympathy to the gods, I’m just merely giving you time to re-evaluate your choices, or exchange goodbyes perhaps. You choose.”

Silence reigned. The air was tense with conflicting feelings.

“Goodbye Luke,” a voice said amongst the crowd. It was Connor, his usually carefree attitude long gone.

Luke glanced at him and laughed softly, “Goodbye, bother.”

And just like that, he turned around, dragging you with him. An army of giants and titans followed suit.

‧˚₊꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒦꒷‧₊˚⊹

Luke was weak. Using his power to stop the battle had drained them. So while he was resting, you sat on the edge of an ambulance as Ethan Nakamura took care of your wounds.

Ethan sighed as he finished wrapping the bandages around your torso, “I know you really don’t want to hear anything from me right now, but it’s good to see you Y/N.”

You raised your eyebrows in a dismissing way and gave him a little hum of acknowledgement.

“I understand you’re mad, but he’s trying to do something good.”

You groaned and rolled your eyes in frustration, “How the fuck is any of this good Ethan?! You guys are all absolutely deranged here!”

“The gods don’t give a shit about us.”

“And you think titans will be any different? They’re using you!”

“Y/N/N-”

“Don’t call me that.”

A moment of silence passed between the two of you. He looked to the floor with a heavy sigh before turning his back on you and walking away.

The world seemed to be submerged in calm chaos, a cold war waiting to explode. And as you sat in that ambulance by yourself, you allowed yourself to cry.

‧˚₊꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒦꒷‧₊˚⊹

Percy walked into their base with a heavy aura of anger pulsating through him. Your sisters immediately looked up as they felt him walking into the building, Lou Ellen sensing what had happened as she saw the boy’s aura, and you nowhere to be found.

He intended to walk undisturbed up to the roof to at least clear his head, however as he was walking the lobby of the building, Annabeth stepped in, worry plagued her features.

“Percy? What happened?”

“I don’t want to talk about it Annabeth,” he replied.

Annabeth didn’t need to be told, she was the daughter of wisdom herself after all, however disbelief spared no one. She saw Connor Stoll by the door and he just gave her a solemn nod. She was gone.

“Percy…I’m so sorry, I know what she meant to-”

Percy dropped his pen and his knees buckled, however Annabeth caught him in time and held him close. She carefully slid them both onto the floor and allowed the son of Poseidon to cry. The sobs racked his body, and her shirt was starting to get wet. A few tears made their way out of her own eyes and she buried her head on his shoulders. Y/N was family to Annabeth, she had been the one to never underestimate her, she had been her best friend as soon as they had find her with Luke and Thalia, she had been the one she could turn to whenever she missed Thalia a little too much.

Silence filled the lobby, amongst the chaos the demigods had seemed to find a small pocket of time to honor their fallen brothers and sisters.

“She’s not gone,” Annabeth heard a voice speak up. “She’s not dead.” It was Lou Ellen, another daughter of Hecate. Her eyes were tinted red since she had just recently been mourning the loss of one of her sisters. The daughters of Hecate seemed to agree.

Percy raised his head from Annabeth’s shoulders.

“We can feel it, whenever our magic disappears. Hers is weak, but it’s still there.”

“Kronos took her Lou,” Percy spoke up. “She went willingly, to protect me.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“Didn’t you hear me? She was taken because of me!” Percy said coldly.

“And I said it wasn’t your fault.”

“Yes it is Lou!”

“It’s not, you stubborn fish-head!” Lou said, raising her voice.

“She knew Kronos was going to try something. It was either going to be her, Annabeth or Thalia,” another one of your sisters said. “She said her goodbyes to us beforehand, just in case.”

“Why didn’t she say anything?” Annabeth asked.

“She made sure it was her, she thought she would be more useful that way. With all of you fighting,” Lou Ellen explained. “We tried to stop her, but she had already taunted Luke. He was going to find her wherever she was.”

Percy stood up, “We have to get her back. She’s smart, she knew he was not going to harm her, did she?” Lou Ellen nodded, as Percy retrieved Riptide.

“Kronos said he would retreat his troops until midnight, that gives us time to regroup and make a plan,” Percy said.

Annabeth stood up next to him and whipped her tears away, “I’ll get to Thalia and the hunters, tell them what’s going on, they can spread the word.”

“No need to,” another voice said from the entrance. It was Thalia, the dark-haired girl strutted in the lobby with the rest of he hunters, she was bloodied and bruised, her shield had not been drawn back yet. “We supposed something had happened when the cyclops we were fighting just turned their backs on us and walked away.”

“Luke took Y/N,” Annabeth said. Thalia’s eyes went wide.

“Maybe we could try and send her and Iris message,” one of the Hermes campers said.

“The Iris children are not anywhere nearby, and we can’t possibly make a rainbow at this time of night,” Annabeth explained.

“We should rest,” said Lou Ellen. They all turned to look at her as if she were crazy, however she was quick to explain. “She knew this would happen, and she wanted us to focus on the battle. If not her sacrifice would be in vain, I’m sure she’ll find her way to us, she is resourceful.”

Percy said nothing as he stared at your sister, he knew she was right, but he couldn’t just ignore the fact that you were taken, he wanted to know you were safe. He clenched his jaw and walked into the elevator before making his way up to the roof.

He was going to get you back, even if the world burned down and he burned along with it.

‧˚₊꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒦꒷‧₊˚⊹

Manhattan was on fire. The stroke of midnight appeared to add gasoline to an already raging flame.

You watched with horror as all kinds of monsters prepared themselves to bring war to the people you loved.

Kronos stood next to you, a confident smile on his face. He looked ahead, admiring his army, he then turned to look at you and offered you the same smile. You glared at him, hoping that everything you were feeling was somehow transmitted to him.

“Don’t worry dear, you wont miss out. You will make yourself useful,” the blonde said.

“Over my dead body,” you replied.

He chuckled, and shook his head.

“Is this amusing to you?”

“Very much,” he said. “I’m afraid you don’t have an option here, Y/N. Dolos agreed to make sure of it,” Luke explained. His grin grew as realization dawned on you. You shook your head and tried taking a step backward, but two strong arms stopped you. Dolos was the titan of manipulation and mind control, meaning that your free will was about to be stripped away.

“Let me go!” you shrieked, as you trashed in the arms of whoever it was holding you.

“Don’t resist, it will be less painful,” the person pinning you down whispered. You gasped as you heard it, the voice belonged to Ethan Nakamura. Desperation settled in and you started kicking and screaming, tears violently flowed down your cheeks.

“Take care of her Nakamura,” Luke said.

And before you know it, something along the lines of “I’m sorry,” was whispered in your ear before you felt a sharp pain on your head, followed by darkness.

‧˚₊꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒦꒷‧₊˚⊹

The battle had started, despite their opportunity to regroup and the new plans that had been put into motion, the demigods were tired. True, they seemed to have an advantage over the titans, as their spirit was fueled with rage and a hunger for revenge. They honored every fallen sibling and friend with every arrow fired and every swing of their swords and daggers.

Percy had the Empire State building in his line of sight. Annabeth, Thalia and Chiron stood next to him. However, before he could take another step a deafening blast was thrown their way, throwing Chiron to the side of a building, the wall collapsing on top of him. Annabeth and Thalia immediately went to help him, while Percy drew his sword. From the cloud of dust, a figure emerged, it was none other than Kronos.

“Luke!” Annabeth growled, her voice filled with rage. She took out her dagger and launched on to Luke, however his skin was apparently immune to it, since as soon as her knife touched it it bounced right off, dislocating her already injured shoulder.

Percy rushed to help Annabeth up, and supported her by putting her arm around his shoulder.

“Don’t be rash, Annie,” Luke said with humor.

“Go to hell!” she said.

“I’ve just returned, do you want to send me back already?”

Thalia stood up as soon as Chiron was free. He had been knocked out, but there was no major injury present. “Where is she Luke?” she asked coldly.

Luke appeared to be amused, this was just one big game to him, “Thalia! It’s great to see you again. I’m afraid though, that I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You sick son of a bitch, tell me where Y/N is right now,” she repeated.

“You don’t need to scream Thals, she heard you just fine.”

The three demigods face contorted to reflect the confusion they were feeling. You were here?

“You can come out now Y/N/N,” Kronos said as he looked to his side.

Amongst all of the chaos, a set of footsteps could be heard, and sure enough you could be seen joining Kronos’ side. Your eyes, instead of their usual color where glazed over with a white mist, and you seemed to have a vacant expression.

“Wha-? Y-Y/N-?” Annabeth said, she was convinced the pain in her arms was making her hallucinate.

“She’s been so helpful, not a word out of her,” he said with a small laugh, as if he was sharing an inside joke with you.

Percy was in disbelief, he ached to go to you and make sure you were as far away as possible as the blond maniac. On the other hand he was completely and utterly confused, what were you doing? He must’ve find a way to bribe you, right?

Something in Annabeth’s head seemed to click, “Oh my gods, Percy, she’s being controlled. It’s Dolos, he is in her head!”

“What the fuck is a dollop?!” Percy screamed, slightly panicked.

Luke moved his hand in a motion that pointed towards them, immediately your hand light up with your magic and you started advancing towards them.

“Percy! Run!” the blonde yelled as she started to step backwards.

Percy turned and started running down 305 Fifth Avenue as you tracked him down, your blank eys now glowing red. In a split moment, he turned to 33rd street in hopes that you would follow him instead of Annabeth and Thalia. It seemed to work, since not a moment later your figure appeared.

“Y/N! I really don’t want to hurt you!’ he screamed from mid-street.

You said nothing, instead your lips contorted into and unnatural smile. Your hand moved as the concentration of magic on it grew, and before he knew it, you threw it at him. Percy dodged it, as he threw himself to the ground and rolled away.

You fired attack after attack, leaving Percy breathless. He knew Luke was getting away, he knew that by know he was already inside the Empire State Building, and he knew he had to do something to get past you. What he didn’t know was how. he couldn’t hurt you. He wouldn’t.

His pleas fell on deaf ears, as you slowly approached him, still nor ceasing to attack. He frantically looked around, looking for something -anything- that might help him escape. As you were about to deliver, what appeared to be your final blow, a hand shot out of the darkness, holding on to your wrist tightly, making your eyes snap to whatever was holding you back from ending your best friend.

Nico DiAngelo stepped out of the shadows, Mrs. O’Leary following suit. In a flash, he took out a black-obsidian sword and with it’s hilt stroke you in the head, making your eyes roll to the back of your head and going limp. Percy scrambled to catch you, which he successfully did as he propped your head onto his lap.

“You should get going,” Nico said.

Percy knew he was right, despite him wanting to stay and make sure you were alright.

“Mrs. O’Leary and I will take care of her,” Nico said as if reading his mind.

‧˚₊꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒦꒷‧₊˚⊹

When you woke up, the familiar scent of herbs and incense woke you up. You were back at camp, in your cabin. A mild headache was nagging you, and your body felt sore to no avail. You groaned softly as you sat up, rubbing your eyes, getting them accustomed to the light.

The door suddenly opened, and Will Solace walked in, he didn’t appear to notice you at first since he was looking down at a clipboard.

“H-How long?” you mumbled.

Will’s head snapped up, his golden curl catching the sun beaming from the outside. He looked like a true child of Apollo. His eyes widened in disbelief as he rushed towards you.

“Oh gods,” he stuttered as he took a look at you. “You’re awake!” he said with a breath of disbelief.

“You’re screaming,” you said as you massaged your temple.

He took out a small flashlight and inspected your eyes, “I’m barely raising my voice, he would barge in if he heard the slightest commotion. But don’t worry, I suppose it’s normal.”

“How long was I out?” you asked once again.

“About three days,” he replied, checking on the bandages wrapped around your body. “Here, eat this,” he said as he shoved an ambrosia square down your throat. “We’ve had to heal them without any nectar or ambrosia, we were afraid your body was too weak to properly digest them.”

You choked, and your eyes went wide. “Th-three days?!”

“Percy made the gods promise that you were going to be alright, and your mother forced them to promise that it would take at most a week, but I guess they were feeling extra kind,” Will explained. “He almost lost it when Zeus talked about your sacrifice, as Dolos’ victims or whatver. They don’t really live to tell the tale. He rejected the offer to immortality and so…here you are.”

Your head was spinning. You had won the war. You had lost sisters. Kronos was gone. Luke was gone. Perseus Jackson had done it. Perseus Jackson, had rejected immortality for you.

It was all a mixture of bittersweet happiness and grief, and despite still not being on your full senses, you could feel it.

“W-Will. I-I…” you could barely get out coherent sentences as you stood up from your bed in a slight stupor. “I really need to go”.

“No, wait, you’re still weak!” he called out for you as you were halfway to the door. You ignored him as you bolted through the door. The light from the sun disoriented you slightly, but you wouldn’t stop, not until you found him.

Your feet instinctively took you to the north woods, were you were sure he might be. Sure enough, the black-haired boy stood there, next to the river in which he had been claimed. Riptide was out in full display, as he trained. His groans of frustration could be heard, as you approached him slowly. You could see him sigh in defeat after he lowered his sword and ran a hand through his hair.

“Percy?” you whispered softly.

His figure stiffened, and he dared not to turn around.

“Percy?” you repeated.

He slowly turned around, and his features showed fear and disbelief. He feared his mind was playing tricks on him again, that you would turn around and that you wouldn’t be there. But you were, and that was enough for him. He dropped his sword and just stared at you. You could see the tears that were threatening to spill over. You took a small step forward, and that was all he needed to meet you halfway. His arms wrapped aroud your frame as he took you in.

Your mind was going at a thousand miles per hour.

“I missed your birthday,” you whispered. It was the only thing that you thought of, despite it sounding ridiculous to you.

He chuckled tearily, “I’m sure you’ll find a way to make it up to me,” he whispered back. He dug his head in your hair, taking in your scent, and basking in the fact that you were actually there.

For the first time in a long while, you felt safe again.

[kybercvnt]

Saber Training

Pairing - Din Djarin x Jedi!GN!Reader

Summary - After reuniting with your favourite Mandalorian and realising how incompetent he is at holding the Darksaber, you decide to help him out.

Word Count - 2124

A/N ��� Since Bar Fight is my most popular fic, I decided as my birthday present to you (🥳🎉), I would gift you another Din Djarin fluff piece.

Din was utterly pathetic at wielding the Darksaber. Every time he would wield the blade, he struggled to hold it upright, and most of the time it was too heavy so it was dragged behind him. No matter how many times The Armourer would tell him “you are fighting the blade” and he couldn’t for the life of him figure out how to mitigate this issue.

It pained you, a trained Jedi, to watch him resist the blade every time he held it. In battle, you would swing the blades like they were dancing across your fingertips, Din always admired the way they moved so fluidly in motion, sometimes he would get jealous when you would jump and slash through enemies with ease, while he was left with the bells and whistles attached to his armour.

So when he realised after defeating Gideon that he was the new rightful owner of the Darksaber, a part of him was awfully optimistic at the opportunity to be your equal at owning such an overpowered weapon.

When Luke arrived to collect Grogu, he urged you not to join him because of Grogu’s attachment to you, despite you being a Jedi. So you stayed with Din for a while longer, helping him with more bounties while grimacing at his sword fighting skills. Until Ahsoka had managed to contact you and urged you to travel to Ossus to use the attachment Grogu had for his own benefit in becoming a Jedi. You hesitantly accepted and made your final goodbyes to Din before reluctantly leaving him.

When you saw him again on Ossus, you ran into him with a warm embrace.

“What are you doing here?” You whispered into his shoulder. He shivered at the quiet words being said close to his ear. It had been a while since you had seen each other, and your voice brought back all the memories of your adventures together.

“I wanted to give Grogu this…” He said, and he pulled away from the embrace to reveal a neatly tied-up cloth from his pocket. You smiled at the shape. “...And I wanted to see you.” You looked up at the T-shaped visor as he said that, a warmth flooding your cheeks. Then you remembered his face from Gideon’s ship, his facial hair, his scruffy helmet hair, and the sadness in his eyes. You wondered what they looked like when he wasn’t so pained by the attachment he had grown on both you and Grogu.

You walked with him along a trail in the thick bamboo forest nearby, catching up on what you both had done in the span of time since you last saw each other. He continued his bounty hunting, and you helped Luke train Grogu while enjoying the tranquillity of the planet while not having to worry about war for once.

As you both walked deeper into the forest, you reached a large circular clearing. You broke from his side and ran towards the centre, where you pulled your lightsaber hilt from your belt and held it out in front of you.

“Let’s see if you’ve improved.” You requested a duel, and the blade expanded from the hilt, covering you in your lightsaber’s glow. You had at least hoped he had improved somewhat, maybe you could bestow your Jedi knowledge onto him.

He copied your actions and removed the hilt from his belt and held it out in front of him, but when he went to ignite the blade, his stance immediately faltered and the blade fell downwards. Just as you expected, he had barely made any improvements, yet you still wanted to see if he could prove you wrong.

You spun your blade around before charging towards him, lunging and swinging your sword down to greet him. He could block most of your attacks where they were predictable to the average person, but it was the speed he was raising his blade to meet yours was where he looked like he was struggling.

By the time he was able to raise the lightsaber to shoulder-length, it was far too heavy to swing to attack you. While he could barely lift the weapon, here you were, dancing around with such grace and mobility, managing to fit in so many spins and tricks with your lightsaber before you would land another blow to his weapon.

Finally, Din could no longer keep up with the fight and succumbed to the weight of the blade and your lightsaber met his beskar with sparks. His weapon hung loosely at his hips, resting the end of it on the ground as the dirt became charred. You sighed and stepped back, retracted your blade and put it away. He did the same.

“You need to learn how to control your weapon.” You said to him. His heavy breathing was being picked up by his vocoder, you had worn him out. You walked up to him and rested your hand on his arm. The heavy breathing had begun to slow, and you tried searching for those eyes you saw long ago, but they were hidden behind his Mandalorian identity.

You gently tugged him to follow you, and he did so diligently. You stopped him at the very centre of the duelling circle, and you slowly walked behind him, not leaving your hand on his arm.

“Hold the weapon.” There was that sweet whispering he loved so much. Maybe you could read his mind, one of those many Jedi tricks you would spring out of nowhere when it would benefit you both, he would be okay with it if that were the case.

He headed your words and removed the hilt from his belt once more and held it out in front of him. Your hand dragged itself down his arm, touching his wrist. He couldn’t feel it through all the beskar and fabric, but stars did his imagination go wild.

“Breathe.” You whispered again. “Let it be a part of you.” He listened, and he drew in a long and deep breath. Either he was doing it for you or because of you, he couldn’t tell. You were very distracting from the teaching you were trying to inflict on him.

He ignited the blade, and almost immediately the blade became too heavy for him and his arm dropped. He began to grow a little frustrated at not being able to master holding the weapon, let alone using it. Your arm, still fitted on his wrist, slunk itself to the other side and underneath, and you began to raise his arm for him. Just like that, it almost seemed like he was holding it like it was a feather.

“Let it be a part of you,” you repeated, “an extension of yourself.” He breathed in deeply once again, but you could still feel the stress and strain his muscles were feeling in preparation to hold it by himself. “Everybody has the force within them,” you said to him,  needing to get him in the right mindset to be able to understand the significance of using such a weapon, “it is up to them to embrace it. 

“I am no Jedi.” He responded. You took a moment before speaking, letting only the sound of silence and the whirring of the blade’s energy be heard in that time.

“No, you are not.” It was the truth that he wanted to hear, but did he really doubt himself this much? He had admired your swordsmanship, but now that he felt like a child, he knew he could never be on the same skill level as you. “But it does not mean you can’t be one with the force. Close your eyes.” You commanded him

You couldn’t prove if he had his eyes closed, but he did so anyway. “Feel it around you. Feel the life that lives beyond our control, feel the wind in the leaves, and the water flowing in the river. Feel me.” You were making him meditate, he realised this now, and it all felt a little silly to him. He was a damn bounty hunter and he had forgotten that all this Jedi business was an entire religion for you. Yet he wanted to understand how to control the Darksaber, he was doing this for you.

When you said the last part, his mind went straight back to all the times he had cherished you on your adventures together. When he would see you curled up asleep with the kid, or when he would watch you dance with your enemies and your lightsaber gliding through their bodies. He admired you and enjoyed your presence, so he knew what energy he was aiming to feel.

“Clear your mind.” You told him. You had sensed all of the thoughts racing through his head, distracting him from what he was supposed to be focusing on. Feel me. Feel me. Feel me. Your words kept repeating in his mind. This entire time without you and the kid, he felt lonely. He felt as though he was just filling in time until he could see you next. Now that he was finally reunited with you, he could reflect on this growing attachment to you. But now was not the time. You were trying to help him because you cared, so he paused those thoughts for the meantime, and focused on you, and only you.

“Breathe through the blade. Let it be an extension of your hand, it is a part of you now.” You said and he felt peaceful for once. This was the first time in a long while that he wasn’t thinking about his next bounty, or worrying about you and the kid. He felt the movement of your hand graze the fabric of his glove, and he felt the support of your experienced Jedi hands remove itself from him. Your hand still hovered underneath, in case he faltered, but it surprised both you and him when he continued to hold it out in front of him.

He opened his eyes, bewildered at the sight of his own hands being able to hold it properly for once. The strange sensation of your support lingered, so he twisted his wrist to see if it would stay. The weapon felt like nothing to him. There was a perfect distribution of weight along the blade and it was perfectly balanced.

He retracted the blade and turned to you. He watched you smile, the perfect, soft smile he loved. You were proud of him. He reattached the hilt to his belt before he began to reach for the sides of his helmet. Your smile quickly faded. From the surge of positive emotions like satisfaction and being proud of him to the hesitance of watching him leave his identity rendered you frozen.

In a blink of an eye, you saw that face you had remembered from long ago. It was different from how you remembered it. It was thankfully not as sad as you recalled from that time, but you were so close to him that you read his face easily. You ended up taking a small step back at the shock of such an intimate action. In return, he took a step towards you.

“I can’t pretend I don’t miss you anymore.” He admitted. Your heart swelled at his affection, but it popped soon after when you realised how screwed you were. You could say the same to him as well. There wasn’t a day that went by where you weren’t thinking about him one way or another. His face, or what you thought he was up to, or reminiscing on those times you would study his behaviour while he sat piloting the Razor Crest.

You knew you were screwed when you felt the same attachment to him. It was a foolish thing, and you knew Luke would be highly disappointed in you. Grogu, you knew he would forgive because he was still only a child, but you were a trained Jedi. Maybe it was all that built-up trust you had in one another for keeping to his creed, or all the times you saved each other and realised how dead you both would have been without each other’s support.

Now you were the one clouded in your own racing thoughts. Now you were the one whose face was easy to read. So in your state of realisation, he leant down and placed a kiss on your lips. At first, his intent was only a light peck to test the waters. He knew how much your Jedi code meant to you, but he figured that if he had the opportunity, he would take it. Luckily, you pressed your lips into his, perfectly interlocked with each other.

[childotkw]

I'd like to offer this humble little thing for your ruination au,

The second lukes eyes lock with aemonds he's on him in a heartbeat, slashing his sword at him like a madman with nothing on his mind except to kill the man in front of him. Aemonds eyes narrow and his heartbeat quickens; the last time he's seen that kind of feral behaviour from his nephew is when he took out his eye.

Eventually their swords lock, and neither of them find any give in the other's defence. With their swords still locked and them stuck in their positions Aemond deems his position safe enough to take a good look at his nephew and see how much he's changed.

He tilts his head up arrogantly to taunt him that now the world knows him as the batshit crazy fucker that he always known him to be. BUT, before he can do that he notices the crazed glint in lucerys's eyes along with something else that he can't identify....

And before Aemond can even narrow his eyes, lucerys tilts his face to the side, opens his jaw wide, and bites his neck.

Protective mama! Vhagar comes to the rescue, closely followed by cannibal. Shit happens and they both go their separate ways.

Later in the week aemond is in front of his mirror, putting healing salve on the new scar his nephew gave him. He chuckled dryly and muttered under his breath "well, Mark me down as scared and horny."

(2/2) I just know that now lucerys is a random biter...He bites affectionately, bites when he's frustrated, bites the random knights at dragonstone when he spars with them.

I think the first time he tries to bite daemon while sword training, daemon is bewildered for a few seconds before he starts encouraging it.

Later in the day when rhaenyra asks her husband about yet another concerning report about her sweetest boy's new behaviour he immediately goes, " when I saw luke trying to bite me, as his father, I wanted to kill him. But as his manager......"

--- -- --- -- ---

Lucerys would absolutely get so swept up in a fight with his uncle that he'd bite. The rage and grief he feels over Arrax's death cannot be separated from Aemond - so seeing Aemond brings Lucerys right back to that tiny islet and the animalistic instincts would roar forth, backed by Cannibal's own wants.

Above them, Vhagar and Cannibal are clashing, tearing, bellowing; and below Lucerys mimics his dragon in a way that catches Aemond off-balance.

The feeling of teeth catching into his arm, his hand, scraping over his chin when Lucerys manages to slip under his guard…it terrifies and excites him.

It mirrors other desires they might have indulged in, if fate had been kinder.

And after the battle is done, Aemond finds himself tracing the indent of teeth on his flesh with curiosity and a burning sensation deep in his gut.

(The first time Lucerys tries to bite Daemon in their training, he gets smacked on the back of the head and told to point his teeth towards his actual enemies. He's chagrinned because he hadn't really meant to, and he's just lucky Daemon found it more amusing than concerning.)

[in-a-nook-with-a-notebook]

Capture The Flag | Anything For You

Masterlist

Franchise: Percy Jackson

Pairing: Luke Castellan x Nick Oliver (original character, pronouns are he/him/his)

Word Count: 2k

Warnings: canon violence, angst if you squint, swearing, making out, idk horny demigods, sleepy Luke

Series Summary: Nick Oliver was on track to figure out his life after high school. One day in a bookstore, and suddenly, post-high school plans were the farthest thing from his mind. One day in a bookstore, he met Luke Castellan.

Chapter Summary: Nick's first game of capture the flag, featuring Nick trying to talk Luke out of running away.

A/N: Did not thing it would take me this long to get around to uploading a new chapter, I checked when I put out the last part and dear gods it's been a hot minute. Enjoy! Hopefully I'll be posting a little more often now

It’s been two weeks now since Nick has been claimed. He spends his nights in the Big House, because Hades doesn’t have a cabin at the camp. Luke always visits him, and Mr. D seems to have taken a liking to the son of Hades.

One afternoon, Nick is in the middle of his first game of demigod capture the flag, and he has a plan. Well, part of one. A girl from Athena cabin, Annabeth Chase, had thought of it. When Nick had mentioned to her that he had a tendency to blend in with the shadows, she had immediately started devising a strategy before the game started. 

Presently, Nick stands silently in the shadows of the trees surrounding his team’s flag. Right in cue, Luke sneaks into Nick’s line of sight. He’s sweating and he has a cut on his bicep. He looks relieved when he sees the flag, but his expression changes once Nick noiselessly slips out of the shadows and holds his sword to Luke’s neck from behind. 

“Surprise, Castellan,” Nick says jokingly. 

“Should’ve known,” he murmurs. “Didn’t see you out in battle, and I fought just about everyone on your team but you.” 

“Well, that’s almost true.” 

A cheer roars from the other side of the woods and Luke takes the opportunity to slip away, pointing his sword at Nick’s throat. 

“My team already got your flag, thanks to Beckendorf,” Nick says, grinning. “What’s the point of you coming for ours now?” 

“Camp is nothing but training and more training, right?” Luke counters. 

Then, they were locked in one of the most intense capture the flag battles in Camp Half-Blood history. The two teens fought from one flag to the other, through almost the entirety of the woods, over the river, past Zeus’s fist, until they reach the sheltered clearing of Luke’s team’s flag. Other campers leap out of the way of them, but neither Nick nor Luke are aware of people in their surroundings. 

Nick ducks under Luke’s slash, disappears into a shadow and reappears behind the blond, sweeping his legs out from under him. He plants his foot on Luke’s chest plate and points his sword at Luke’s neck. 

“Give up yet?” Nick taunts playfully. 

Luke stares up at him for a moment. Finally, he drops his sword and slowly holds his hands up in surrender. 

A mix of whispers and congratulations erupt from the crowd. Campers on Nick’s team congratulate him for beating Luke, who’s one of the best swordsmen in the camp, while Luke’s team is mumbling to each other about Luke’s surrender. Even Nick finds the blond’s loss surprising, though he doesn’t show it. Luke never surrenders… 

Nick offers his hand and helps Luke to his feet. Luke leans towards Nick’s ear. “Meet me in the dining pavilion after everyone’s gone to bed,” he mutters. He smiles when he pulls away, clapping Nick on the shoulder. Nick watches him walk away until Annabeth and the son of Poseidon, Percy Jackson, drag Nick along to the victory party.

It’s been two weeks now since Nick has been claimed. He spends his nights in the Big House, because Hades doesn’t have a cabin at the camp. Luke always visits him, and Mr. D seems to have taken a liking to the son of Hades.

One afternoon, Nick is in the middle of his first game of demigod capture the flag, and he has a plan. Well, part of one. A girl from Athena cabin, Annabeth Chase, had thought of it. When Nick had mentioned to her that he had a tendency to blend in with the shadows, she had immediately started devising a strategy before the game started. 

Presently, Nick stands silently in the shadows of the trees surrounding his team’s flag. Right in cue, Luke sneaks into Nick’s line of sight. He’s sweating and he has a cut on his bicep. He looks relieved when he sees the flag, but his expression changes once Nick noiselessly slips out of the shadows and holds his sword to Luke’s neck from behind. 

“Surprise, Castellan,” Nick says jokingly. 

“Should’ve known,” he murmurs. “Didn’t see you out in battle, and I fought just about everyone on your team but you.” 

“Well, that’s almost true.” 

A cheer roars from the other side of the woods and Luke takes the opportunity to slip away, pointing his sword at Nick’s throat. 

“My team already got your flag, thanks to Beckendorf,” Nick says, grinning. “What’s the point of you coming for ours now?” 

“Camp is nothing but training and more training, right?” Luke counters. 

Then, they were locked in one of the most intense capture the flag battles in Camp Half-Blood history. The two teens fought from one flag to the other, through almost the entirety of the woods, over the river, past Zeus’s fist, until they reach the sheltered clearing of Luke’s team’s flag. Other campers leap out of the way of them, but neither Nick nor Luke are aware of people in their surroundings. 

Nick ducks under Luke’s slash, disappears into a shadow and reappears behind the blond, sweeping his legs out from under him. He plants his foot on Luke’s chest plate and points his sword at Luke’s neck. 

“Give up yet?” Nick taunts playfully. 

Luke stares up at him for a moment. Finally, he drops his sword and slowly holds his hands up in surrender. 

A mix of whispers and congratulations erupt from the crowd. Campers on Nick’s team congratulate him for beating Luke, who’s one of the best swordsmen in the camp, while Luke’s team is mumbling to each other about Luke’s surrender. Even Nick finds the blond’s loss surprising, though he doesn’t show it. Luke never surrenders… 

Nick offers his hand and helps Luke to his feet. Luke leans towards Nick’s ear. “Meet me in the dining pavilion after everyone’s gone to bed,” he mutters. He smiles when he pulls away, clapping Nick on the shoulder. Nick watches him walk away until Annabeth and the son of Poseidon, Percy Jackson, drag Nick along to the victory party.

————————

As Nick leaves the Big House, he pulls on a jacket. It’s surprisingly cold outside for a summer night. He strolls through the damp grass, making his way through the camp. He finds Luke waiting for him at the pavilion, leaning against one of the columns. 

“Hey,” Nick says quietly, but loud enough for Luke to hear. Luke jumps a little, looking for the source of the voice. He relaxes when he notices Nick. 

“Don’t sneak up on me like that,” Luke jokes. 

“Sorry. I can’t always control the whole shadow thing.” 

“It’s fine.” Luke shoots him a grin. “Guess I just have to get used to it.” 

Nick nods, leaning against the column next to Luke’s. “So… what’s up?” 

The son of Hermes stays silent for a moment. “Do you ever feel like… I dunno, running away?” He says finally. Nick frowns at the ground. 

“I’ve been running my whole life, Luke. Before I met you, I had no idea where I’d end up next. Hell, I was planning for university, but that feels like it’s out the window after finding out all this. Now, I’ve finally found a safe place, a place that feels like home, here with you. I’m kinda getting tired of running.”

“We’re almost adults, Nick, we could leave if we wanted.” 

“Why do you want to?” 

Luke sighs, staring up at the stars. “The gods. They don’t care about us.” 

“Luke…” 

“Do you know why my cabin’s always so crowded?” He asks. Nick shrugs. “It’s not only children of Hermes in there. All of the unclaimed demigods get stuck there, too, because the gods won’t take a moment to acknowledge the existence of their own children. If the cabin wasn’t so full, we’d have you in there as well. The gods don’t help us, they don’t talk to us. Why should we obey them?” 

Nick chews on his lip, thinking of how to respond. “I can see your reasoning,” he says after a minute of silence. “The gods give us life, then they leave with no contact whatsoever. I’m not always their biggest fan, at this point.” Nick turns his gaze on the blond. “Luke, I know I probably can’t change your mind on this, but sometimes, I think they left us down here for a reason, for our best chance at a normal life before we get thrown into all…” Nick gestures to the camp, “this. Maybe they left to protect us.” 

“Well, you’re right about one thing,” Luke says. Nick raises an eyebrow. “You can’t change my mind.” Luke smirks when Nick chuckles softly. Luke looks back towards the sky. 

“Your eyes are really pretty in the moonlight,” Nick says without thinking. His eyes widen and Luke blushes red, visible even in the darkness. “Sorry. Um. That was weird, wasn’t it? I’m sorry, I shouldn’t ha-” 

Before Nick can finish his sentence, Luke pushes off his pillar, cradles Nick’s face in his hands and gently presses his lips to those of the son of Hades. It takes Nick almost too long to realize what’s happening. Just before Luke pulls away, Nick wraps his arms around Luke’s neck, keeping Luke where he is. He feels the blond smile into the kiss.

Finally, they both pull away to breathe.

“I’ve been wanting to do that since the bookstore,” Luke confesses shyly. 

“Glad I’m not the only one,” Nick murmurs. 

Luke slips his hand into Nick’s. “Are you alright?” He asks. “I mean, in general? You… I dunno, you don’t seem like yourself, other than during capture the flag.” 

Nick clears his throat. “‘Course I’m fine.” 

Luke tilts Nick’s head up to look at him. “Are you sure? You can tell me anything, you know.” Nick sighs, rubbing the back of his neck. 

“I dunno,” he says honestly. “I mean, I feel a lot safer here at camp, and a lot more comfortable than I did our there with the normal mortals, but…” 

“But?” Luke prompts. 

“Campers talk,” Nick states quietly. 

“Wanna walk and talk?” 

Nick nods and allows Luke to lead him over the grounds as he talks. 

“They watch me like I’m some kinda ticking time bomb,” Nick explains. “Like I’ll snap and kill everyone or something. They whisper about me when I pass as though I won’t notice, they leave me out of things on purpose, and they avoid me like the plague if they can help it. There’s like, a handful of people here who treat me like a normal person. Well, as normal as one can be with this life. You, Percy, Annabeth, Will, and Beckendorf.” 

“Nick…” 

“I’m not an idiot,” Nick says bitterly. “I’ve developed a Hades-kid rep by now, I know that no one thinks I’m good news because of who my dad is, but I was judged enough out in the fucking normal world. I thought it would be different here, you know?” 

“Hey, look at me,” Luke says. “You belong here, Nick. Here with me, and all the other campers, regardless of parentage. If anyone tells you otherwise, I will personally kick their fucking kólos on your behalf.” 

“That’s incredibly reassuring, Mr. Master Swordsman,” Nick says sarcastically.

“I’m serious,” Luke says. “If they mess with you, they can answer to me.”

Nick blushes red. “That means a lot, coming from you.” Luke grins, slipping his hand into Nick’s. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

Nick shrugs. “Just… everything. I mean, I’ve found myself here. With you. All thanks to a bookstore in Brooklyn Heights.”

Luke laughs, and the sound of it stirs up butterflies in Nick’s stomach.

“Well, I’m eternally grateful that I met you, Nick Oliver,” Luke says in a soft voice. The butterflies in Nick’s stomach are doing acrobatics. Luke squeezes Nick’s hand as he leans down to press a kiss to Nick’s cheek.

Nick stops the blond in his tracks, wrapping his arms around Luke’s neck again for another kiss. Luke’s arms automatically snake around Nick’s waist, pulling the son of Hades flush against him. Their lips move against each other in perfect harmony. Nick’s fingers thread into Luke’s hair, tugging lightly. Luke groans into the kiss and Nick pulls away, catching his breath with a grin.

“You like that?”

“From you, I’ll take anything,” Luke mutters almost hungrily, dipping his head to press kisses to Nick’s neck.

“Luke,” Nick gasps. Luke hums against Nick’s skin, pressing his soft lips to Nick’s jawline. “Fuck…”

Nick’s vision is obscured in black momentarily. Suddenly, the two boys are in the corner of Nick’s temporary bedroom in the Big House.

“Holy shit, what just happened,” Luke says in one amazed breath.

“I… I think I can travel through shadows?” Nick says, though it comes out as more of a question than a statement. “Like teleportation? Shadow travel. Huh.” Nick stares at the wall for a second before remembering what was happening before the shadow travelling.

“So, where were we?”

Luke blinks twice before properly returning to Nick. “I believe I was right about here.” Luke continues where he left off, kissing along Nick’s jaw. Nick hums, tugging at Luke’s hair the way he had done before.

The boys slowly make their way to Nick’s bed, where they lay down and make out for a surprising few hours, not that either of them were paying attention. They were a little preoccupied with each other to notice the passage of time.

Sometime later, the two fall asleep in each other’s arms. Luke’s arm is wrapped tightly around Nick’s waist while they sleep. Little do they know that Chiron had seen them like that in the ungodly hours of the night (no pun intended). He said nothing and didn’t interrupt, since they looked so peaceful and happy with each other. Chiron hadn’t seen Luke so at ease in a long time, so he figured it best not to disturb.

————————

Needless to say, it was quite awkward when Chiron woke them the next morning.

Nick wakes first, tensing in Luke’s arms at the sight of the activities director standing in full centaur form over Nick’s bed.

“M-Morning,” Nick says.

“Good morning, Mr. Oliver.”

“Luke,” Nick whispers. The blond shifts, but doesn’t wake. “Oh my gods. Luke!” Nick gives him a little shove.

Luke groans tiredly. “Don’t wanna get up. Too warm.”

“Luke,” Nick hisses, shoving him again.

“Nicky…”

Luke’s eyes slowly blink open. He finally realizes that Chiron is right there. The blond jumps so high in surprise that he falls off the bed with a yelp.

“Good morning, Luke.”

“Morning, Chiron,” Luke groans from the floor, holding his head. “We can explain.”

“I asked him to stay,” Nick says quickly. “I’ve been having really bad nightmares and having him around makes it better. I’m sorry, I never mentioned it.”

“No need to apologize, child,” Chiron says. “Whatever helps you sleep at night. Though, Luke, I suspect you may wish to return to your cabin before your siblings interrogate you on your whereabouts.”

“Oh, that would be a nightmare.”

Luke drags himself off the floor, rubbing the back of his head. “Training later?” He asks Nick. The son of Hades nods. “Great. See you then, Nick. Chiron.” Luke nods to the centaur before hastily exiting the bedroom.

Chiron regards Nick with a twinkle in his eye. Nick’s face heats up.

“Nothing happened.”

“I didn’t say a word,” Chiron says with a shrug. “Though, if something did… well, that’s the most content I’ve seen Luke Castellan in years.” He sighs. “I’ll see you for archery in a few hours.” He then leaves with no further comment.

Nick lays down again, staring at the ceiling. A smile creeps over his face, and he can’t stop the happy little giggle that escapes him.

A/N: send help I graduate in less than two months

[via-rant]

Obrumbratio Scintillae

Chapter 3 -

"Hey darling. What's the matter?" Faith said walking in on Luke laying on his bed, staring at the ceiling. She sat on the edge of it and grabbed his hand.

"I don't know. I've done this before. They're powerful, we need them to defeat the Gods. But it also feels... wrong."

"It didn't for the others?" Faith asked and he shrugged. It was difficult to understand for him too. It was easier to side with them, to betray Annabeth and Thalia and Percy. But he was doing the right thing... right? But the way Kronos talked about the two. They wouldn't just use them. At least he wouldn't. He doesn't even know Kronos. He did eat his own kids. He shook his head.

"No. We can trust him." Faith smiled and layed with him, kissing his cheek.

"Of course we can."

---------

It's been a few days since Leo and Nico arrived. They got a tour and were introduced to some of their trainers and got their schedules, both a little upset they had different ones. Training with other people and monsters. It was weird at first but they got used to it pretty quickly, loving the adrenaline and energy they use up so they could actually sleep at night.

Nico talked about mythomagic and Leo about his machines during lunch and dinner as everyone gave them weird looks.

Leo kept a close eye on Nico to make sure he was warm enough and asked his trainers to do the same. He hoped he wouldn't have to use his fire again. Leo was glad Nico didn't remember that. Or thought he didn't. Nico didn't want to bring it up if it wasn't necessary knowing how hesitant he is around any kind of fire. The same way he was about his dad. So they didn't talk about it.

They talked about their loved ones. Leo talked about his mom and Nico his and his sister. Leo mentions he had a sister too. But that was it. Which was fine. They never really talked about how they died. Just that they did before changing the subject.

None of the other kids really liked them. They sometimes catch one of them glaring at them. If it weren't for Lukes and Faiths protection then they'd be hurt pretty bad by now. Probably knocked out. But one of the kids went too far while sparring with Leo. He smiled his usual smile, throwing his wooden knives with impeccable aim and making jokes along the way but it wasn't enough. The gorgon got too angry and slashed his back with her tail, giving him a big gash. Everyone stood there with smirks just watching him struggle to get up. Luke immediately ran to him and gave him some ambrosia.

"Why are you all standing there?! Get some bandages!! Get some water!!" He yelled looking around at all the monsters.

"The kid needs to learn something!"

"Learn?! He's hurt!"

"He's weak! If he can't handle this then he shouldn't be here!"

"He's losing blood!"

"Luke. It's... it's okay. I... can..." Leo shook with effort to stand but he just passed out. Luke groaned and picked him up himself, running to the infirmary. He fixed him up, not questioning the scars on his back. He didn't focus on that. He sat on the side of his bed in concern and confusion.

Do that a few more times, he'll get over it. Luke's face twisted in disgust.

"Do you have any idea how the human body works?"

Maybe not. But we train humans too. Like you. That happens all the time. They're all the same. The door opened suddenly and Nico came running in.

"Is he okay?!"

"He's fine. Just unconscious." He visibly relaxed but still looked worried. He looked at them and smiled at the relationship they had.

"He'll be fine. I'll talk to them about being more gentle. Okay?" Nico nodded and sat next to him. Luke was about to leave when he heard people coming from the other side of the tent. He turned around and he didn't know how to feel at the sight of the Jackson kid. In an enemy tent. Pointing his sword at him, Nicos at Percy.

---------

Yeah the other post kinda just boosted my motivation!! Like times a thousand I finished this so fast!!

@moa-broke-me @yonemurishiroku @pjo-hoo-toa-freakazoid @potatoman-taterdude @the-demigod-slytherclaw @im-always-lost-in-a-book @stillcarmine @art-randomness @cryptic-ember

So it doesn't show anything for @/unidentifiedimp if you find this please let me know you changed it or something! I'd love to continue tagging you, if you're still interested! If anyone else knows about them, let me know please!

[moonflower1605]

Chapter - 30

(Percy's POV)

“One on one,” I challenged Luke. “What are you afraid of?”

Luke curled his lip. The soldiers who were about to kill us hesitated, waiting for his order.

Before he could say anything, Agrius, the bear-man, burst onto the deck leading a flying horse.

It was the first pure-black pegasus I’d ever seen, with giant raven like wings.

The pegasus mare bucked & whinnied. I could understand her thoughts. She was calling Agrius & Luke some names so bad Chiron would’ve washed her muzzle out with saddle soap.

“Sir!” Agrius called, dodging a pegasus hoof. “Your steed is ready!”

Luke kept his eyes on me.

“I told you last summer, Percy,” he said. “You can’t bait me into a fight.”

“You keep avoiding one,” I noticed. “Scared your warriors will see you get whipped?”

Luke glanced at his men, & he saw I’d trapped him. If he backed down now, he would look weak. If he fought me, he’d lose valuable time chasing after Clarisse.

For my part, the best I could hope for was to distract him, giving my friends a chance to escape. If anybody could think of a plan to get them out of there, Annabeth could. On the downside, I knew how good Luke was at sword- fighting.

“I’ll kill you quickly,” he decided, & raised his weapon. Backbiter was a foot longer than my own sword.

Its blade glinted with an evil gray & gold light where the human steel had been melded with celestial bronze. I could almost feel the blade fight against itself, like two opposite magnets bound together.

I didn’t know how the blade had been made, but I sensed a tragedy. Someone had died in the process. Luke whistled to one of his men, who threw him a round leather-&-bronze shield.

He grinned at me wickedly.

“Luke,” Annabeth said, “at least give him a shield.”

“Sorry, Annabeth,” he said. “You bring your own equipment to this party.”

The shield was a problem. Fighting two-handed with just a sword gives you more power, but fighting one-handed with a shield gives you better defense & versatility. There are more moves, more options, more ways to kill.

I thought back to Chiron, who’d told me to stay at camp no matter what, & learn to fight. Now I was going to pay for not listening to him.

Luke lunged & almost killed me on the first try. His sword went under my arm, slashing through my shirt & grazing my ribs.

I jumped back, then counterattacked with Riptide, but Luke slammed my blade away with his shield.

“My, Percy,” Luke chided. “You’re out of practice.”

He came at me again with a swipe to the head. I parried, returned with a thrust.

He sidestepped easily.

The cut on my ribs stung. My heart was racing. When Luke lunged again, I jumped backward into the swimming pool & felt a surge of strength. I spun underwater, creating a funnel cloud, & blasted out of the deep end, straight at Luke’s face.

The force of the water knocked him down, spluttering & blinded.

But before I could strike, he rolled aside & was on his feet.

I attacked & sliced off the edge of his shield, but that didn’t even faze him.

He dropped to a crouch & jabbed at my legs. Suddenly my thigh was on fire, with a pain so intense I collapsed.

My jeans were ripped above the knee. I was hurt. I didn’t know how badly.

Luke hacked downward but his sword was immediately intercepted by a silver one. Nora..

I rolled aside as she began fighting him.

Unlike me she was in better shape as she fought him with ease, almost like she knew all of his moves better than he did.

As Nora fought him I saw Luke hesitate. His attacks slowed down almost like he didn't want to hurt her.

Nora stepped forward to strike but slipped on a puddle of water which caused Luke’s sword to make a good sized cut on her right arm. She winced & held her wounded arm.

"Nora!" I yelled.

Luke wanted to go help her but he held himself back.

“There's one thing that I'd like you two to watch.” He said looking at the bear-man Oreius, who was still holding Annabeth & Grover by the necks. “You can eat your dinner now, Oreius. Bon appetit.”

“He-he! He-he!” The bear-man lifted my friends & bared his teeth.

That’s when all Hades broke loose.

Whish!

A red-feathered arrow sprouted from Oreius’s mouth. With a surprised look on his hairy face, he crumpled to the deck.

“Brother!” Agrius wailed. He let the pegasus’s reins go slack just long enough for the black steed to kick him in the head & fly away free over Miami Bay.

For a split second, Luke’s guards were too stunned to do anything except watch the bear twins’ bodies dissolve into smoke.

Then there was a wild chorus of war cries & hooves thundering against metal. A dozen centaurs charged out of the main stairwell.

“Ponies!” Tyson cried with delight.

My mind had trouble in processing everything I saw. Chiron was among the crowd, but his relatives were almost nothing like him.

There were centaurs with black Arabian stallion bodies, others with gold palomino coats, others with orange-&-white spots like paint horses. Some wore brightly colored T-shirts with Day-Glo letters that said PARTY PONIES: SOUTH FLORIDA CHAPTER.

Some were armed with bows, some with baseball bats, some with paintball guns. One had his face painted like a Comanche warrior. Another was bare-chested & painted green. A third had googly eye glasses with the eyeballs bouncing around on Slinky coils, & a baseball cap with a soda can & straw attachments on two sides.

They exploded onto the deck with such ferocity & color that for a moment even Luke was stunned. I couldn’t tell whether they'd come to celebrate or attack.

Apparently both.

As Luke was raising his sword to rally his troops, a centaur shot a custom made arrow with a leather boxing glove on the end. It smacked Luke in the face & sent him crashing into the swimming pool.

His warriors scattered. I couldn’t blame them. Facing the hooves of a rearing stallion is scary enough, but when it’s a centaur, armed with a bow & whooping it up in a soda-drinking hat, even the bravest warrior would retreat.

“Come get some!” yelled one of the party ponies.

They let loose with their paintball guns.

A wave of blue & yellow;exploded against Luke’s warriors, blinding them, splattering them from head to toe. They tried to run, only to slip & fall.

Chiron galloped toward Annabeth & Grover, neatly plucked them off the deck, & deposited them on his back.

I looked around for Nora but I couldn't see her anywhere in sight.

I tried to get up, but my wounded leg still felt like it was on fire.

Luke was crawling out of the pool.

“Attack, you fools.’” he ordered his troops. Somewhere down below deck, a large alarm bell thrummed.

I knew that any second we'd be swamped by Luke’s reinforcements. His warriors were getting over their surprise, coming at the centaurs with swords & spears drawn.

Tyson slapped half a dozen of them aside, knocking them over the guardrail into Miami Bay. But more warriors were coming up the stairs.

“Withdraw, brethren!” Chiron said.

“You won’t get away with this, horse man!” Luke shouted. He raised his sword, but got smacked in the face with another boxing glove arrow, & sat down in a deck chair.

A palomino centaur hoisted me onto his back. “Dude, get your big friend!”

“Tyson!” I yelled. “Come on!”

Tyson dropped the two warriors he was about to tie into a knot & jogged after us. He jumped on the centaur’s back.

“Dude!” the centaur groaned, buckling under Tyson’s weight. “Do the words ‘low-carb diet’ mean anything to you?”

Luke’s warriors organized themselves into a phalanx. But by the time they were ready to advance, the centaurs had galloped to the edge of the deck & fearlessly jumped the guardrail, as if it were a steeplechase & not ten stories above the ground.

I was sure we were going to die.

We plummeted toward the docks, but the centaurs hit the asphalt with hardly a jolt and galloped off, whooping & yelling taunts at the Princess Andromeda as we raced into the streets of downtown Miami.

Hope you enjoy..😉

Link to the next chapter is here.

Link to the prev chapter is here.

Comment, like & share.

Take care my lovely readers.❤️

Alice signing off.

XOXO.

[jdgo51]

The Warrior King

Today's inspiration comes from:

Bright Hope for Tomorrow

by Chris Davis

Longing for the Warrior King

"The salvation Jesus brings is multifaceted."

"'Jesus saves us from the spiritual powers of sin, Satan, and eternal death through His crucifixion. He saves us from the deterioration of our bodies and minds through His resurrection, giving us healing in this life and raising us with a body like His in the life to come. And Jesus saves His people from persecution. Like healing, sometimes He brings this about in this life, and sometimes He calls His own to follow Him all the way to death. But His final rescue is sure, and His people can cry out, “Lord Jesus, save me!” because

Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him. — Hebrews 9:28

While we can see this holistic salvation now, at the time of Jesus’ first appearing, those languishing under Roman oppression were not so sure. John the Baptist, who prepared the way for Jesus’ public ministry, sent messengers from prison to ask,

Are you the One who is to come, or shall we look for another? — Luke 7:19

John had pronounced in Jesus the coming of “the salvation of God” that would include wrath, fire, and an axe laid to the root (Luke 3:4–9). Now John was in prison, decidedly unrescued, and wondered whether he had identified the wrong one as Messiah. From James and John requesting to sit on thrones flanking Jesus “in your glory” (Mark 10:37) to Peter rebuking Jesus’ insinuation of crucifixion and slashing his sword at the soldiers arresting his Master, this question of Jesus’ relationship to the Roman and Jewish power structures of His day sits tensely in the backdrop of all the gospel narratives.

We anticipate Jesus’ second coming in a similar way to how John the Baptist and others anticipated his first. He will return not as the sacrificial lamb or the suffering servant but as the Warrior King. We share their ancient hope of rescue: His real promise to deal with the real aggressors who harm us. While we will focus on the immediate context of persecution for the faith, I believe the imagery of deliverance could help you who have suffered abuse, discrimination, or harassment. These are tragically prevalent in our day, and if they are part of your story, I pray you will find hope in beholding this aspect of Jesus.

Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him.

— Hebrews 9:28

The Thlipsis of the Thessalonians

The apostle Paul ministered under constant persecution, receiving the same dogged aggression from Jewish religious leaders that he once carried out against Jesus’ followers. This was not hidden in the fine print of his conversion. Days after Paul’s blinding Damascus road encounter, Jesus sent word to him by a messenger:

I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of My name. — Acts 9:16

Paul spoke openly of this expectation of persecution for Jesus’ sake wherever he shared the gospel. One of the places where new converts faced fierce, immediate opposition was in Thessalonica. Indeed, because of public outcry Paul was able to proclaim the news about Jesus for only three weeks before he was forced out of the city (Acts 17:1–9). Not long after, he wrote to the brand-new church about the persecution they continued to face.

In both of his letters, Paul speaks often about their “afflictions” (thlipsis in the Greek) because of their allegiance to Christ. When they first believed, the Thessalonians “received the word in much affliction” (1 Thessalonians 1:6). After his expulsion from the city, Paul sent Timothy back to exhort the new, persecuted believers “that no one be moved by these afflictions” (1 Thessalonians 3:3). He rejoiced upon learning from Timothy that “you are standing fast in the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 3:8).

Whatever time passed between Paul’s first and second letters to the Thessalonians, the afflictions did not abate. The young church had persevered so admirably that Paul wrote,

We ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring. — 2 Thess. 1:4

Apparently, the church misunderstood Paul’s teaching on Jesus’ return — a confusion complicated by a letter, falsely attributed to Paul, teaching that “the day of the Lord has come” (2:2). So Paul merges the issues of their afflictions and the day of the Lord to explain exactly what will happen when their Savior appears. He holds out to them the hope of rescue.

The Warrior King

We do not know the precise nature of the Thessalonians’ persecution. Acts 17:5 records an attack on the house of Jason during Paul’s ministry in Thessalonica that sounds similar to what our sister in India endured — physical beating and the destruction of property by an angry mob. Their experience of thlipsis likely also included social and economic ostracization and an unwillingness of the government to protect them from acts of aggression.

The larger story of these afflictions is the story of powerlessness. Abuse survivors have tasted it. Victims of workplace discrimination know it. Anyone who has been on the wrong end of the misuse of power has felt helplessness to stop what is being done or to find justice when the aggressor is protected. Having no voice, no recourse, no traction with your account of what happened is one of the most horrific and dehumanizing experiences in this fallen world.

With that taste of powerlessness in your mouth, consider the hope you would feel when you beheld this vision of Jesus:

God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from Heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. — 2 Thessalonians 1:6–8

Let’s use our sanctified imagination to develop this portrait of Jesus’ appearing as Warrior King. I’m going to suggest a thought experiment that will be immediately applicable for some and something to file away for others. If you are facing affliction, my guess is that the person or group that is making you miserable looms large over your life, haunting your thoughts. I wish there were a way to erase their image from the canvas of your mind. I’m not sure there is. But there is a way to paint something around that image that will put the terrible afflictions you face now into a larger context.

Paul says that Jesus will come “with His mighty angels.” This is not the first reference connecting Jesus with an army of angels. On the night of his betrayal, Jesus commanded Peter to put his sword away because, had Jesus needed military backup, He could call on His Father and “He will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels” (Matthew 26:53). A Roman legion consisted of six thousand soldiers. Whether Jesus meant exactly 72,000 angels or simply an innumerable host, the point is that they serve to fight at His command. Of course, He doesn’t need them, being God the Son, almighty and eternal. But the optics give a stunning visual for those overwhelmed by persecution.

So on the canvas of your mind, where you see the menacing face of the one antagonizing you, imagine behind them the risen Christ. Surrounding Him are thousands of angels. If you’re trying to mentally populate the space, imagine a line of thirty-six angel warriors on either side of Jesus, backfilled a thousand warriors deep, as far as your eye can see.

But don’t forget the fire. Jesus is portrayed “in flaming fire,” a common theme in most visions of the risen Jesus and a symbol of judgment and purification throughout the Bible. So, however you were envisioning Jesus before on your mental canvas, this one is not cuddling a lamb or smiling serenely toward Heaven. This Jesus is on the move, forward marching, sword in hand, blazing with the fiery judgment of God, coming to bring relief to you and to inflict vengeance on those who torment you.

Help is on the way."'

Excerpted with permission from Bright Hope for Tomorrow by Chris Davis, copyright Chris Davis.

[pjoseries]

angst for percabeth with a “where have you been?” line please 😈

this was supposed to be rly short but alas here i am. i’m so sorry ily grace ty for enabling me (posted on ao3 too bc why not)

(THG AU)

══════════════════

The synthetic moonlight slashes the rough cityscape terrain, hardening it until it looks cold and unforgiving, its dismal gray blackened by soot, the ground rusted with blood from one of the other tributes. The Cornucopia shines a sickly silver from where Annabeth looks at it, from an angle through the window. She’s trembling, the pain in her shoulder screaming at her, but she needs to look for Percy. She needs to. Annabeth knows better than to show her face, but it’s the only way to look outside without exposing herself to the Careers. It’s funny, how things have changed since training, since she met Percy. Without him, she would’ve been down there, right next to the Careers, sharpening a blade beside Luke like she’s done for years in the past.

But then she met Percy—insufferably humble, Percy Jackson from District 4, who volunteered in place of his best friend Grover, managed to score a neat eleven on his pre-gaming score, and denounced anything to do with the Careers—and Annabeth took one look at the Careers, at Luke, and ran from them to Percy. Faintly, Annabeth still wonders what he did to piss them off enough to get him a score that would paint him as the target.

No cannons have sounded off in the past three hours since Percy left to go and steal from the Cornucopia. It was probably the dumbest idea she’s had, but she’s willing to argue that being stabbed in the shoulder is not the best for working brain power. Annabeth knows any prospects of getting sponsors died the moment she left Luke’s side and the risk of infection is becoming more and more of a problem, so she offhandedly suggested stealing from the Careers. All the medicine she could ever need is tucked in their greedy hands. 

It was a suicide mission, but she was already dying anyway. 

But then Percy said simply, “Okay, I’ll go.”

Annabeth gaped at him and she struggled to get up, but he gently pressed her down against the blanket. She just gripped his shirt instead, holding on so tightly her knuckles whitened. 

“Percy, no. I’ll do it.” She bite back the, I’m dying as we speak, trapped in her throat. She didn’t want him to worry any more than he had been. 

“You can barely stand up without my help,” he argued and there was that righteousness in his tone that almost made her roll her eyes. 

“I don’t want to lose you, Percy,” she snapped. “I-I can’t.”

Percy loosened Annabeth’s grip and held her hand with both of his. He brought it up to his lips and placed a gentle kiss on her knuckles. She closed her eyes, but she still felt the tears streaming from her face. “Then you know why I have to do this, Annabeth.” He placed her hand back to her side and gave it a gentle squeeze before he stood up, grabbing his sword. “I can’t lose you too.”

It sounded like a declaration, like something more. Annabeth thinks it was. 

And then he left and he’s been gone for hours and she can admit that she’s maybe half an hour away from a panic attack. She manages to stand up after an unbearably long time, but she can’t spot Percy anywhere. 

Then, she hears footsteps and it’s almost embarrassing how she doesn’t slide into a defensive stance. How is it she knows Percy’s footsteps after spending so little time with him? Time doesn’t feel real here. Logically, she knows it’s been nine days since the Games started. But, God, it feels like it’s been a lifetime and a half. It’s still not enough, though. Not unless they both live till the ripe age of eighty, it won’t be enough. One of them won’t even make it past sixteen and, going by her odds, it’s definitely and unfortunately ever in her favor. 

Percy opens the door, carrying a canteen in his hand, a little worse for wear, but he’s alive. He startles a little when he sees her standing and immediately goes to help her. “What are you—”

She clenches her jaw and says, “Where have you been?” 

He gets her down to a seated position and shakes the canteen in front of her. She bites out, “What is water gonna do to help?”

Percy rolls his eyes and gently unwraps her wound. She hisses and grips at his arm. He’s murmuring I’m sorry underneath his breath when he places down the bloodied gauze next to them. He says, “Just… look.”

He opens the canteen and slowly dribbles the water over her fresh wound. She has to scramble and grip at the floor because goddammit that hurts, but then the pain slowly dulls into an ache and she opens her eyes, blearily taking in her shoulder. The wound is stitching itself up right before her eyes. 

“The water has healing properties,” he explains, hands gentle as they clean away the dried blood. “I was gonna go to the Cornucopia, you know. But then I remembered on the first day, I scraped my palms on the concrete. I ran away and found a water source. I drank from it—yeah, I know, a little stupid, but it looked fine—and I put my hand in it and it healed everything. I almost forgot about it after… well, after everything that’s happened, because I didn’t even notice I was really hurt that day, but… yeah.”

Annabeth just gazes up at him, a small smile on her face. 

“It’s an hour away and I figured I’d have a better chance getting it than fighting all the Careers.” He throws her a soft look. “I knew I needed to come back. To you.”

Percy looks frazzled and relieved and all she can do is throw her arms around him and hold him tightly. She buries her face into the crook of his shoulder and whispers, “Thank you, Percy.” His arms wrap around her waist, holding her steady. 

“No problem,” he says easily. Her shoulder is a little sore, but she clings onto Percy like a lifeline. But he holds her just as tightly. Maybe they’re each other’s lifeline in this hellhole. 

Annabeth takes in a deep, shuddering breath. 

As long as they’re together, they’ll figure something out. They have to. 

[bright-eyes-strawberry-lies]

The Life Of Luke Castellan

This is a timeline of Luke’s entire life, written because a lot of you have really really bad takes on who he was, what he wanted, and what he actually did. Everything written here is a fact taken directly from the books. 

Luke was with a mother who inadequately took care of him from the age of one year old onward. Hermes left May and Luke shortly after May tried to host the oracle and went insane. 

May Castellan scared Luke so much that he hid in closets so that she wouldn’t find him.

When he was nine years old, Luke ran away from home.

Luke spent two years of homelessness alone. 

Luke taught himself to fight monsters and survive on the streets.

Luke tried to share his godly heritage with mortals but they didn’t understand why being a demigod was bad and Luke eventually moved on. 

Luke was in a dragon’s cave when he found Thalia (it had been Thalia’s first night of homelessness). 

Thalia held back a lot of information from Luke (her family, the goat, etc…) 

Luke is easily manipulated by affection and compliments. He will immediately do whatever someone wants him to if they praise him. 

Luke and Thalia are homeless together for three years. 

Luke and Thalia meet Halcyon Green when they’re 14 and 12 respectively by running into a trap. They’ve never met an old demigod. Hal kills himself so that they can escape the trap. 

That very same night, Luke and Thalia meet Annabeth (who has been homeless for a couple of months and looked after by Athena). Luke is the one who senses another demigod nearby. Luke loves Annabeth immediately and decides that he’s going to be her dad. They make safe houses everywhere with emergency supplies. 

A short while later, Thalia is injured and they go to May Castellan’s house for refuge, where Luke meets his father, Hermes, for the first time. 

Hermes tells Luke that he should not have come home and that he’s getting too old to be on the run without help. He says that he will arrange a quest for Luke so that Luke can do one great thing before his life turns sour. 

Hermes points Luke, Thalia, and Annabeth in the direction of Camp Half-Blood. 

They leave May Castellan’s house that same night. Luke is angry and upset. He’s convinced that his dad doesn’t love him. 

Sometime after this, they meet Grover, who has been sent to escort ONLY Thalia to Camp Half-Blood. Grover and Thalia didn’t want to leave Annabeth and Luke behind. 

Luke challenges every monster they come across. 

However, they’re being hunted down by a lot more monsters than usual because Hades is sending monsters after Thalia. Hades is doing this because Zeus killed Maria Di Angelo, a mortal whom Hades loved and had two kids with. 

Grover got nervous and got lost, they took a wrong turn and wound up in a Cyclops lair. The cyclops used his voice mimicry to confuse Thalia, Luke, and Grover, and then tied them up. Annabeth untied Thalia and Thalia saved them. But that gave the monsters enough time to catch up to them. 

There’s a final confrontation between Luke, Thalia, Annabeth, Grover, and the monsters on Half-Blood Hill just outside of Camp’s boundaries. Thalia stays to hold off the monsters and is slain. 

Zeus appears and turns Thalia into a pine tree as she’s dying. To prevent this from happening again, he decides to erect a magical border at the Camp, which will protect the demigods inside. 

Luke moves into the Hermes Cabin, which is overcrowded with the unclaimed demigods and the children of minor gods. 

When Luke turns 17, he’s given a quest by Hermes to seek a golden apple from the Garden of Hesperides. He’s honored until he realizes that his quest isn’t important and has already been done before. While he fails to get the golden apple and is physically scarred from the ordeal, Luke does manage to take one of Landon’s claws as a trophy. 

The campers treated Luke with pity after he failed his quest. Luke’s anger and bitterness grew. Annabeth notes that he was never the same. 

Shortly after this, Kronos began to appear in Luke’s dreams and persuaded Luke to join his cause in bringing down the Gods. 

During the winter solstice, when Luke is 18 or 19, the year-rounders go on a field trip to Olympus. Luke steals the master bolt and the helm of darkness from the throne room.  Luke is caught by Ares because he got overconfident. Kronos was the one who gave Luke the words to say to convince Ares not to kill him and to start a war between the gods. 

After being caught by Ares, Kronos punishes Luke with nightmares. He eventually tells Luke that a hero who can be easily tricked will arrive at Camp and they’ll be able to deliver the bolt and helm to Tartarus for Kronos. 

When Luke is 19 years old, Percy Jackson, 12-year-old son of Poseidon, comes to Camp Half-Blood. Luke is kind to Percy and takes him under his wing. 

During Capture The Flag, Luke summoned a Hellhound to make Chiron think that Hades was after Percy and that the Camp wasn’t safe for Percy. 

Luke wins Capture The Flag (this win is later revealed to be something Annabeth set up).

After the hellhound attack, Luke teaches Percy sword-fighting one-on-one. None of the other campers want to be around Percy. 

Percy, Annabeth, and Grover are set to go on a Quest. Luke almost misses them leaving, but just catches them to give Percy a pair of winged sneakers. 

Luke hugged Annabeth goodbye, patted Grover on the head, and shook Percy’s hand. 

While the three are gone on their Quest, Luke is at Camp and asks about Grover and Annabeth. He says that the Campers are dividing and breaking out into fights. He calls the person who summoned the hellhound a scumbag (he’s calling himself a scumbag) and says that they leaked information which started the fights. Luke plants seeds of doubt in Percy’s head about Annabeth stealing the Master Bolt. He calls Annabeth his little sister. 

During the summer, Kronos gifts Luke with Backbiter, a sword that can dismember Gods and Titans. Luke is the one who named it Backbiter because he’s biting back against the gods. 

After the Quest, Luke announces the bead for the summer and gifts Percy with his leather necklace. 

Two months after that, Luke hacks the training dummies to pieces. He lures Percy into the woods with the promise of coca-cola and asks him if he missed being out in the real world. 

Luke admits that he feels like his Quest was for nothing, that his dad doesn’t care about him now that his one Quest failed, and that if he can’t have a normal life, then he doesn’t want to be left in obscurity. Luke is tired of being a pawn of the gods, who are only able to hold on to power because of their demigod children. He says that he brought Percy down to say goodbye and summons a pit scorpion. He admits that he wants to explain to Percy but he doesn’t have time to. 

Luke tells Percy that Kronos seduced him via flattery and sympathy and talked him into stealing something worthwhile to show off what a good thief he is.

Luke tells Percy that things will be set right and Percy will be killed. He also says that he isn’t as easily baited as Ares. Luke slashes the air with Backbiter and disappears into a ripple of darkness. 

During the winter, Luke has been convincing demigods to join their cause and has been training them.

Kronos convinces Luke to poison Thalia’s tree to get the Gods to send the campers on a quest for the Golden Fleece. Kronos needs the Golden Fleece to reform quicker. He promises Luke that after Kronos has been reformed, Luke can use the Fleece to heal Thalia’s tree. So Luke poisoned the tree.

Luke bought a yacht called the Princess Andromeda. He’s cleaned up his appearance and is enjoying the luxury of the cruise ship. He can now use telekinesis though it’s unclear if this is a power he had before or if he gained it from Kronos. 

Luke knew that Percy, Annabeth, and Tyson spent the night on his ship and left them alone until they went snooping. When he does catch them, Luke calls Annabeth and Percy his favorite cousins. He tries and fails to convince them that they’re on the wrong side of the war. 

When they refuse to join him, Luke sends them away with the incompetent giant brother, Oreius (rather than the more competent giant brother, Agrius) to be fed to the drakon. Doing this makes him nervous enough to glance at the golden casket that holds Kronos’ body. Later, Percy and Annabeth agree that he let them get away. 

Luke and his army have been tailing Percy and co. He captures them and brings them aboard the Princess Andromeda to question them about the Golden Fleece. He’s genuinely upset when he realizes that they don’t have it. 

Luke and Percy fight but despite having many chances to kill him, Luke only grazes Percy. The only serious wound Percy gets is a cut on his leg. Before striking a killing blow, Luke stops and tells Oreius that he can eat the others. Because of this pause, the party ponies bust in and Percy, Tyson, Annabeth, and Grover are able to escape. 

Sometime after this, Luke is no longer in charge of Kronos’ army. He’s been demoted and Atlas takes over. 

Luke holds up the sky to free Atlas. His face is scratched, his clothes are in tatters. 

Thorn brings Annabeth to him and Luke begs her for help. He tells Annabeth that she shouldn’t trust him because he’s been terrible to her, but he’s going to die if she doesn’t help him. It is later revealed that Annabeth wasn’t supposed to be the one brought to him (it was supposed to be a child of the Big Three) but Luke came up with a plan to make it work out anyway. 

Annabeth takes the weight of the sky. Luke thanks her, then tells her that her help is on the way and to try not to die in the meantime. 

It’s sometime later that Luke returns to Annabeth and sees that she’s in bad shape. He urges them to hurry the plan along because Annabeth is going to die soon. Artemis takes Annabeth’s place. Luke does not want to kill Annabeth, making excuses to keep her alive. Luke carries Annabeth away to take care of her injuries. 

Luke looks like he’s aged ten years. His skin is pale and his hair is gray. The scar on his face had been reopened. He seems to be able to sense when Percy is near, as he’s looking straight at the spot Percy is hiding and he says it’s Percy Jackson who is interrupting. 

Luke tries to get assigned to taking out the Hunters and Thalia. His request is denied. 

Luke doesn’t like that Atlas calls his army on the Princess Andromeda insignificant. Atlas admits that they’ll make a good Honor Guard for Kronos and brings up that Luke will become Kronos’ host. Luke is scared of becoming Kronos’ host. 

Luke is trying to get Thalia to join their side. He is terribly weak and speaks as though every word is painful. Luke is trying to get Thalia to agree because he wants his family together and also because if Luke fails at persuading her, Kronos will use Luke’s body as his host (which will kill Luke). 

Thalia immediately attacks Luke. Despite how fragile he is, he can still hold his own against her. The shield Thalia wields scares him and this annoys Luke. Luke has a bloody slash across his chest from Thalia. Thalia disarms Luke and wants to kill him.

Luke is afraid that she’s going to kill him. Thalia kicks Luke over the edge of a cliff. He’s afraid when he goes over the edge of the cliff. Until that very moment, Luke truly believed in his friends. Afterwards, he realizes that there’s no one he can count on. 

It is unknown if Luke died and was resurrected or if he lived through the fall. 

During the winter, Luke goes to visit Annabeth under a flag of truce. He told her that Kronos was going to use him to take over the world and he wanted to run away, like the old days. He was very scared and when she refused to run away, Luke tells her that she had better fight (kill) him right there because it would be the last chance anyone would get. 

Luke is forced by Kronos to bathe in the River Styx. It is said that Luke had to be pressured in many ways before he would do it. Before he does, he visits May one more time to get her blessing. It’s been 7 years since he last saw her. 

Between then, and the next summer, Luke turns 21. He starts paying good money for demigods. Geryon is helping to get him demigods. 

Luke no longer has Backbiter with him. The sword is being remade into a scythe. 

There is a plan to attack Camp Half-Blood. Luke is reluctant to do it. He is still afraid of becoming Kronos’ host but he shows no weaknesses in front of his army. 

It is heavily implied that he and Kelli, an empousa, are having sex. 

Luke finds Quintus (Daedalus) and they speak several times. Luke tries to persuade him to join Kronos. Luke asks him how to get through the Labyrinth. Quintus tells him that a mortal with clear sight can do it. Luke doesn’t like that answer and tries to find other ways. 

Luke sends solo explorers through the Labyrinth because the larger the group, the easier it is to get lost. As far as we can tell, none of them returned. Luke has a map but it isn’t working. He goes to Quintus and gets the String of Ariadne to help navigate the Labyrinth. 

Although Luke was previously buying demigods and accepting defects before that, they must now fight to join the army. 

When Percy, Annabeth, and Rachel stumble upon Luke in the Labyrinth, Luke is so busy staring at Percy that he doesn’t notice Annabeth until she shouts his name. 

Luke arranges it so that Percy and Antaeus fight to the death. He knows that Percy will win, killing Antaeus and allowing his army free passage through the territory.

Luke orders his monsters to kill everyone (quickly) except Annabeth. He wants to speak to her before the upcoming battle. He doesn’t even rise from his seat to relay the order and Kelli is thrown into his lap when Mrs. O’Leary is summoned by Percy. 

Annabeth notes that Luke looked nervous. 

Luke turns on Quintus, sending Minos directly to him. 

One day after the fight in the Labyrinth, Luke becomes the host for Kronos. Percy finds him lying in the golden coffin, looking very dead. There’s a hole in his chest, black and right where his heart should have been. 

Kronos awakens in Luke’s body. His chest is mended and his eyes are gold. He says that Luke feared Percy, that his jealousy and hatred have kept Luke obedient. 

When Rachel Elizabeth Dare threw a hairbrush at Kronos/Luke, it was Luke’s voice that said ow. 

Kronos/Luke do not lead the attack against Camp Half-Blood. 

Luke continuously fights against Kronos in his body. It’s noted by Ethan Nakamura that Kronos should be fully settled into Luke’s body by the following summer. 

Kronos leads the first wave against the demigods in Manhattan. Luke is not mentioned. 

At the bottom of the Empire State Building, Kronos leads his army. Chiron and Kronos/Luke fight. Chiron says that Luke was a good hero before Kronos corrupted him. Kronos says that Chiron filled Luke’s head with empty promises and then Luke broke through and said “you said the gods cared about me!” 

Annabeth attacks Kronos and says that she hates him. Kronos admires Annabeth’s spirit and says he sees why Luke wanted to spare her. 

Kronos destroys Olympus with the scythe Backbiter as he travels to the throne room. He does this because he promised Luke that he would tear down Olympus brick by brick. 

Kronos looks just like Luke, offering up the same sweet smile to Percy and Annabeth that he did while welcoming Percy to Camp. 

Kronos doesn’t hesitate to fight Percy. He touches Zeus’ throne and gets electrocuted, face covered in burns and hair smoldering. 

Kronos opens a fissure in the ground and Ethan falls through the sky. 

Kronos announces that Luke Castellan is dead and his body will burn away as Kronos assumes his true form. Annabeth knows that Luke has been fighting Kronos the entire time. Kronos/Luke is disarmed and Backbiter falls into the hearth fire.

When Luke sees the blood on Annabeth’s face, he regains control of his body. Kronos is ready to shed Luke’s body like a chrysalis but Luke pleads for Percy to give him Annabeth’s dagger and so that he can kill himself. Kronos burns his hands trying to pick up Backbiter. 

Luke begs until Percy gives him Annabeth’s dagger. He stabs himself in the armpit, which is where his mortal spot is. Kronos is banished from Luke’s body.

Luke’s entire left side is bloody. His eyes are blue again. He’s dying. Luke is in a lot of pain. He tells them that he’s going to go for rebirth and try for Elysium three times so that he can reach the Isles of the Blest.

Luke asks Annabeth if she loved him. She says like a brother. Luke is satisfied with this answer. He tells Grover that he’s the bravest Satyr ever. Luke grasps Percy with a hand still hot and burnt and begs him not to let it happen again. Percy promises that he won’t let this happen again.

At age 22, Luke Castellan dies.