#i don't think he wouldn't have considered joining Kronos

[my-pjo-stuff]

I can't go beyond the idea itself so...

Reverse AU, where 14-year-old Annabeth and 12-year-old Thalia find 7-year-old Luke and take him under their wing.

Ok so first off, THANKS for sharing with me. Second off, LET'S GET INTO IT.

So this AU has two ways it can play out. With either Luke being the one to take Annabeth's role (becoming friends with Percy, going on the quest) and Annabeth being the one to betray camp. Or Luke still being the one to betray camp with the ages simply being diffrent. Now I'm not gonna lie I think both versions have MAD potential. My personal favorite is the one where Luke STILL BETRAYS CAMP. (Mostly bc I think that in the other version all would stay the relative same, just with Annabeth and Luke switching roles) Just imagine how much worse the angst would be. Like, just imagine Annabeth. Imagine Annabeth watching Luke grow, trying to take care of him. Imagine Annabeth being the one who Luke came to with all his troubles and issues, promising Luke family. How she would never end up like his own mother or their families. And now imagine Annabeth when Luke leaves camp. Like, let's say Luke went with Percy on the quest instead of Annabeth at 12, but the betrayal still happens at the same time as it did in canon. Think about how she must feel hearing that Luke, at 12 years old, went off and ran from camp to revive Kronos. Just IMAGINE how Annabeth must blame herself. Luke was so, so young still. She promised she'd be his family- yet how come she never noticed this? She knew that Luke had his issues with the gods, but she'd never expected it to get like this. I think that, due to the fact that Luke is SIGNIFICANTLY younger in this AU, we'd lean a lot more into him being manipulated or "brainwashed" by Kronos. Certainly that's also the stories most people at camp and Annabeth would believe- thus instead of "hunting Luke down" being talked about at the very end of TLT it's "rescuing Luke". That only makes it so much worse SOM rolls around and Annabeth will have to inevitably realize that no. Luke isn't brainwashed or manipulated. He is doing this out of his free will. I think Annabeth, being much older, would really take up a sort of caretaker role for Percy. Luke on his end may react pretty badly to it, as he perceives Annabeth as "already having replaced him". He'd also be taken less seriously by other campers due to his age and being less of a caretaker. I think in that case Luke would appeal to many of them as a peer as he plays more on frustration than he already did in canon.

For TLT.....idk how Thalia would react tbh. On one had, she'd probably still see Luke as a traitor. On the other, he's like, 14 in this. And I do think his age would change a lot in terms of him being seen less as evil traitor, and more misguided and used kid. Annabeth would be especially quick to take the sky from him, considering that she's the caretaker of Luke in the AU. Percy may start to resent him though, as he wouldn't have that "oh he's just a kid" mindset with Luke due to their same age. Thalia would probably still join the hunters. The fact that she pushed Luke off the cliff at the end of TCC would probably not paint her in a very good light to Annabeth though (also would be a lot more fucked considering Luke is 14 instead of 21 here.) The only good thing I think could come from this is the fact that Annabeth would probably help Luke should he come to her and ask to run in the time skip between TCC and BotL. I don't think she'd have the heart to drive the kid away she had promised to take care off. Meaning Luke probably wouldn't have gone off and become Kronos' vessel. The gods too might be inclined to mercy at Hermes' urging, considering that Luke in that case would be viewed as a manipulated child. Someone who couldn't know any better and was used by Kronos.

Especially with Luke running away on his own it could work. Should that not happen, and should Luke do end up as a vessel for Kronos...man Annabeth would cry. Because that would mean she failed Luke. She couldn't protect him like she promised. When it get's to the throne room I think Annabeth would apologize. Genuinly apologize for "failing" him. Which is what I think would bring Luke back enough for him to kill himself. At the end of it all having Luke die at 16 would really hammer home the Percy parallel, but it would also hit the 23 year old Annabeth MUCH harder since she sees herself to be directly at fault for what happened.

[lukecastellanshandholder]

Hey guys! I'm back to talk about something that I've been thinking about for a solid week and I'm ready to info dump.

So, I've been thinking about just how much Percy and Luke are the same character. They are so much the same and it's really amazing just how much detail and thought Rick put into making it where Luke and Percy go through so many of the same things and life experiences.

Like, It's something that I had noticed from the beginning, but it wasn't until just recently when I reread some parts from The lightning thief, and the from The diary of Luke short story, that I realized just how similar Luke and Percy are.

Let's start with just the way both of their characters are written. They both have the same underlying anger towards their fathers for leaving their mother's alone to deal with terrible things. In Sally's case, that is Gabe. In May's case it's the curse of Delphi that has driven her insane.

Both Luke and Percy have the same feelings of self doubt. The way they treat and talk to their friends or people they consider important, are very much the same. They act the same towards people who they don't know and don't trust. They have that same underlying snarky humor. It was scary how when I was reading TDoL, that I thought I was just reading something from Percy's pov.

And that's far from all of it! Another thing that I realized that they have in common is that there is a character that represents the promises that they couldn't keep or fullfil. Let me explain.

With Luke, that character is Annabeth. In TDoL, Luke promises Annabeth that Thalia and he would be her family. Did he know how to even be a family given that he had never had one? No. But he was going to try for Annabeth. However, he wasn't able to keep that promise, especially with Kronos brain washing and manipulating him. Breaking that promise is something that he feels guilty for all the way to his death. It was a constant reminder that he had failed those he held dear.

With Percy, that character is Nico. In The Titans Curse, Nico makes Percy promise that he would protect Bianca and make sure that nothing happens to her. Percy says that he's not sure if he could do that. He had no idea he would even be able to protect himself, but that didn't mean that he wouldn't try to keep his promise to Nico. Unfortunately, he's not able to and Bianca dies. He wasn't able to keep his promise and that guilt follows him. And Nico himself was a reminder for sometime of the promise that Percy wasn't able to keep.

So in short, Nico is to Percy what Annabeth was to Luke. A physical manifestation of their inadequacy and failure.

Both Percy's and Luke's stories have so many parallels to them and it's quite clear to see. Which is why I find it a bit funny when others say that, "Percy would've never done what Luke did!" To which I have to say, "are you sure?"

Because really, there would've only needed to be one major change and Percy could've easily ended up in Luke's position. If Sally wouldn't have been a strong pillar for Percy. If she would've ended up like May, it would've been quite easy to get Percy to change sides. Because it's quite evident that Percy loves Sally and would do anything if it meant making her happy and keeping her protected. If Kronos would've went to Percy instead and promised to help Sally and keep her protected, Percy would've joined him. Because let's not forget that Percy's fatal flaw being loyalty gets him into some rough situations if he thinks that he'll be able to help or save a loved one. It would've been easy for Kronos to manipulate him like that.

The only main difference with Percy and Luke, is that if Percy would've been the one that Kronos was able to manipulate into being his vessel? He would've won. With Percy's amazing power and strength combined with the power of Kronos, the gods would've never stood a chance. Not to say that Luke didn't have his strengths. He was cunning and charming. He had a fierce determination to see change. He was able to rally others to his cause.

However, Percy also shows those same attributes in his own journey. There is a reason why everyone else at Camp Half Blood so willingly rallied behind him and trusted him as leader, and it wasn't just because of the amount of times he had saved the world at that point. There was a reason why so many people were drawn to Percy, and not all of it was just Aphrodite playing with his love life.

Long story short, Luke and Percy are basically the same character with just how much they have in common, and I think it's time that we talk about it more 😌💜

(Ps. Sorry I wasn't on here for a good bit. I'm ok, life has just been... Rough. But I'm back to my usual delusional ramblings again 😌👌)

[yonemurishiroku]

Hi, I saw your post about the au in which luke wins and it sent me down a spiral lol. Like what if luke managed to convince the demigods from both sides, especially the big three kids to join his side, not kronos or the gods’ sides, and they manage to stop kronos AND convince the gods that they are wrong as well? And then would luke be seen as the hero, the leader of a new age, hold the gods accountable (as much as they can anyway cuz they’re immortals and literal gods)? Would luke go on to be a therapist/counsellor to demigods so that they can have someone to confide in without judgement? I feel like chiron was supposed to be that but unfortunately i feel like he doesn’t care about them as much as he present himself to be.

On another note, i imagine in this au once luke knows about new rome and camp jupiter he would definitely try to build a similar version for greeks as well, maybe working with annabeth as she designs the architecture while he designs the system?

@blackcat2907 Love come see this^^^^^^

Anon I agree with you a lot but there's a few things i'd like to input for the last part.

I actually think Luke would feel bad for CJ.

I mean. The whole thing about Luke is that he doesn't want demigods to be used as pawns for the gods, demanding a decent normal life for them all. CJ, on the other hand, is a little military camp, built to ensure the gods' prosperity. I don't think Luke would want that lifestyle for CHB, especially considering the Greeks have already been more lax compared to the Romans.

I'm not saying Luke would bombard CJ - ok maybe he would - I'm just saying that Luke wouldn't want that for CHB. If anything maybe he'd open a consulting office/idk-what-the-place-with-therapists-is-called in New Rome for the Roman children.

[the-ghost-king]

wait abt ur tags on my post yes percy and minos broke his trust but even after that hades still tricks him into bringing percy to him in TLO so like nico IS wary of ppl but he’s still always got this natural naïveté to him and i don’t think he realizes it. he’s wary of the wrong people and trusting of the wrong people he thinks percy is out to get him but all these manipulative old dudes are helping him somehow

Hmm, not exactly, I don’t think it’s naïveté so much as Nico is just a trusting person- he gives people the benefit of the doubt (which is good not bad, kindness and naïveté aren't the same) until they hurt him, and then his fatal flaw comes in and he holds an intense grudge.

He was confused by Percy, Percy had hurt him and “lied” to Nico, so he didn’t really know how to trust him again, or necessarily want to do so. On top of that there’s this weird thing internalized homophobia makes you do, which is push away things you like, and unrelated traumas mean you may try to save yourself from a situation by pushing people away. Nico’s constant rejection and turning away from Percy is because Nico likes Percy therefore Percy makes him happy, but all of this makes Nico feel weird- if it’s a crush like feeling, then he probably feels weird and disgusted with himself at that point, if it’s a more casual generally good feeling then he probably feels some form of “I hate him, I won’t forgive him, I can’t forgive him, he lied, I can’t trust him”- which feeds that spiral and the internalized homophobia so it all just keeps building. 

He avoids Annabeth, but he doesn’t react so harshly to her, he is slightly more giving when it comes to her... Which I think says something about his feelings towards her vs. Percy. Nonetheless though, Nico is somewhat avoidant of Annabeth as well, and generally everyone- not just Percy.

I also think sometimes people choose to align themselves with what is familiar and comfortable rather than what is right for them; we don't know Nico's past and older strict (and maybe abusive) male role models may have been his norm. I also don't think he ever went into that whole situation with Minos believing it was a great idea, but Nico was getting something out of it, and he's shown before that he can sort of weasel his way around if he thinks it's worth it. Nico was getting trained by him, and no it definitely wasn't perfect at all, but to him it was better than figuring it out himself.

With Hades Nico did go into it "naively" but who wouldn't? It's likely he hardly knew his father (Lethe) and when he knew him before Hades was probably fairly kind to him when Maria and Bianca were still around- but Nico comes to learn Hades never loved him but both of them. He was thinking "my father will help me out, it will be okay" and his father turned around and told him he loved Bianca more and that he wouldn't help him at all. Eventually Nico learns what Hades is like, and uses this to his advantage to get Hades to do things ("the gods will love/honor you if they win because of you") and they do eventually make steps to fix their relationship some. The whole situation with Hades is far from perfect, but Nico seems to have chosen to take him as he is/make amends, which is his choice in canon text. Nobody can really fault someone for choosing how they want to deal with something/someone, it's his choice.

I think there was 2 key factors in Nico not siding with Kronos, and maybe another.

The first two are his feelings for Percy, which I covered a bit above, but we constantly see Nico attempting to "please" people as an act of love (I would go to the ends of the earth for you, I would let you kill me to make you happy, etc). By siding himself with Percy, this would appeal to Percy, making him have appeal.

But a much bigger equally ever present aspect of Nico, is his want to belong. While obviously there's a chance for that in Kronos' army, there's two reasons he wouldn't take it, the above bit with Percy, and his desire to prove everyone wrong. If Nico were to have joined Kronos's army, he's proving what everyone already "knows"- children of Hades are bad. Nico doesn't want that, he shows time and time again he doesn't like being boiled down into that- he is better than that- it's a matter of convincing everyone else to see it too. (I get into this idea, albeit not perfectly, a bit more here)

The other other reason which is possible but don't have canon evidence because we don't follow Nico around enough in series, is that he could have started having some sort of memories returning from the Lethe. It's possible his amnesia was decreasing at this point, and he grew up during a war, I'm sure he was taught about it.... This could very easily have been another reason if he noticed patterns in the armies, or if he kept thinking something like "what would Mamma do?"

He has a questionable characterization, "bittersweet", and it means that he makes a lot of questionable choices but still comes out looking like a hero figure at the end. Nico's arc points just ever more so to the gods over titans because of his need to please, and his idolization/love for Percy. Nico is stubborn, and if everyone is saying he's x and he knows that's not true, he's going to want to prove them wrong. It could possibly be argued that Nico's hero arc is some form of revenge arc, "I'll show you."