Miami, Florida | June 2006 (A Few Days Later)
If you've never had the chance to completely sneak up on a person while having a moment of glory and completely ruin it for them, Luke felt sorry for you because it felt pretty damn good. Really, the timing had been perfect. Percy had just finished looking all pleased and saying "Let's find a way home" like he had saved the day for everyone, getting the Fleece and everything, and when he turned around--boom--Backbiter was against his throat.
It certainly helped that he, Annabeth, Grover and Tyson were easy targets on the beach and Luke had been waiting for them. The timing of the sentence was completely coincidental and awesome.
"Hey, cuz," Luke smiled. "Welcome back to the states."
Orieus grabbed Annabeth and Grover by the collar of their shirts and lifted them into the air. Agrius had tried to grab Tyson but ended up getting knocked into the sand.
"Percy," Luke said calmly. "tell your giant to back down or I'll have Orieus bash your friends' heads together."
That was an obvious lie and Percy seemed to know it 'cause all he did was glare at Luke. "What do you want, Luke?"
"I want to extend my hospitality, of course." Luke smiled and nodded over to where the Princess Andromeda was docked. From the look on his face Percy hadn't noticed the ship even though it was the biggest thing in the dock. Typical.
Luke had Percy, Annabeth, Tyson and Grover herded onto the Princess Andromeda, to the aft deck where a swimming pool was. Luke would have been at a disadvantage in there if it hadn't been for the dozen monsters and loyal demigods he had waiting there.
"So, the Fleece. Where is it?" Luke prodded at Percy's chest with Backbiter before poking at Grover's legs.
"Hey!" Grover yelled. "That's real goat fur under there!"
"Sorry, old friend," Luke said. "Just give me the Fleece and I'll leave you to your little, ah, nature quest."
Grover bleeted. "Some old friend!"
"Maybe you didn't hear me," Luke said calmly. "Where. Is. The. Fleece?"
"Not here," Percy said, looking smug. "We sent it ahead of us. You messed up."
"You're lying. You couldn't have--" Luke stopped short when a horrible possibly dawned on him. "Clarisse."
Percy nodded.
Luke felt his face get red and his fingers gripped Backbiter so hard that his knuckles were turning white. "Agrius!"
The giant bear-man flinched. "Y-yes?"
"Go below and prepare the pegasus. Bring it to the deck," Luke said. "I need to get to Miami Airport, fast."
"But boss--"
"Do it or I'll feed you to the drakon!" Luke yelled, feeling himself getting more unhinged by the second. He didn't often lose his temper but he was so pissed that this kid had fucked things up for him again. Which was exactly what his own Percy said he'd do. Fuck everything. Luke didn't even realize that he was pacing the pool, cursing in ancient Greek under his breath.
"You've been toying with us all along," Percy said, breaking Luke's concentration. "You wanted us to bring the fleece to you and save you the trouble of getting it."
"Of course, you idiot!" Luke yelled. "And now you've messed everything up!"
For some weird ass reason Percy then threw a golden drachma at Luke's head, which he dodged easily, the coin falling into the pool. Luke couldn't believe he dated such an idiot.
"You tricked all of us!" Percy yelled. "Even Dionysus at Camp Half Blood!"
Luke rolled his eyes. "This is no time for heroics, Percy. Drop your sword or I'll have you killed sooner rather than later."
"Who poisoned Thalia's tree, Luke?"
"I already told you I did it, dumbass," Luke said, shaking his head. "Used elder python venom from Tartarus."
"Chiron had nothing to do with it?" Percy asked.
"Come on, you know he'd never do it," Luke said. "Even if he wanted to, he wouldn't have the guts."
"You call it guts? Betraying your friends?" Percy asked. "Endangering the whole camp?"
Luke frowned and raised Backbiter. "You don't understand the half of it. I was going to let you have the Fleece...once I was done with that."
That, at least, made Percy hesitate for a moment. "You were going to heal Kronos."
"Yes! The Fleece's magic would have sped up the process tenfold," Luke explained. "But you haven't stopped us, Percy. You've only slowed us down a little."
"And so you poisoned the tree, you betrayed Thalia, you set us up--all to help Kronos destroy the gods?"
Luke groaned. "Yes! You know that! Why do you keep asking me?"
Percy smirked. "Because I wanted our audience to hear."
"What audi--" Luke turned around and to his horror he saw Mr. D and the rest of Camp Half Blood staring back at him. Percy had used the coin he threw at Luke to make an Iris message. Well. Looked like it was Percy that had been dating the idiot.
Seriously, fuck everything.
"Well," Dionysus said dryly. "Some unexpected dinner entertainment."
Luke slashed his sword through the mist, dissolving the message, but the damage was done. Sure, having Chiron miserable was only a pleasant side effect of what Luke had done but what really pissed him off was that he had been outsmarted by Percy of all people.
"Kronos was right," Luke said, trying to keep his temper as best he could. When he lost his temper he made mistakes, the Iris message proved that. "You're an unreliable weapon, Percy. You need to be replaced. You're not gonna leave this ship alive."
One of Luke's demigods blew a whistle and the deck doors flew open. A dozen more warriors filtered in and made a circle around the room.
"One on one," Percy challenged. "What are you afraid of?"
Luke used to be afraid of killing someone that had the face of someone he cared about, but not anymore. This Percy had done more than enough to make Luke hate him, but Luke had other, more important things to deal with. "I told you last summer, Percy. You can't bait me into a fight."
"And you keep avoiding me," Percy noticed. "Scared your warriors will see you get whipped?"
Luke looked around at his men and he saw that Percy had trapped him. If he backed down, he'd look weak. If he fought Percy he would lose time catching Clarisse. Luke knew Kronos would give him hell if he lost the Fleece but his ego and his need to have respect weren't going to let him walk away from this fight. Besides, Percy needed to be taken care of and after today Luke saw that it had to be sooner rather than later.
Luke whistled at one of his men, who tossed him a shield. He then raised Backbiter up towards Percy. "I'll kill you quickly."
"Luke," Annabeth said. He had almost forgotten she was there. "At least let him have a shield."
"Sorry Annabeth," Luke told her. "You bring your own equipment to this party."
Luke lunged at Percy and got him on the first try. Backbiter went under his arm and slashed through his shirt. Luke could see blood start to run from his ribs. Percy tried to counter with Riptide but Luke batted the sword away with his shield easily.
"My, Percy," Luke chided. "You're out of practice."
Luke came at Percy again, swiping Backbiter towards the other boy's head. Percy parried and returned with a thrust that Luke sidestepped easily. When Luke lunged towards Percy again, Percy stepped into the pool which was too bad for Luke, 'cause Percy immediately created a funnel with the water and knocked Luke off his feet, sputtering out water and momentarily blinded.
Luckily Luke made it back to his feet before Percy could strike again. Percy attacked and sliced of the edge of Luke's shield but it didn't even faze him. Luke dropped down to a crouch and stabbed at Percy's legs. Backbiter dug into Percy's thigh so hard that it caused him to collapse.
Somehow seeing that blood running from Percy's leg made Luke feel good rather than horrified. Funny how a few months ago the thought of hurting even a fake version of Percy made him feel sick, but now he hated this kid so much that he wanted nothing more than to see him dead. If it hadn't been for him Luke could have kept on lying to Percy and they would have still been together. He didn't care if that was a horrible thing to have in a relationship; he just wanted to have Percy back.
Luke hacked downward but Percy ended up rolling behind a deck chair. He brought Backbiter down again quickly, slicing the chair in half, metal pipes and all. Percy started clawing towards the swimming pool but Luke knew he'd never make it. Luke advanced slowly, hating having to do this in front of Annabeth, but it needed to be done.
He had his sword raised in the air, ready to bring it down against Percy's neck, when Luke felt something whizz by his ear and then heard somebody scream. Luke turned to see Orieus with an arrow sticking out of his throat. He was too stunned to do anything as he watched Orieus dissolve into gold dust, leaving Annabeth and Grover free.
Luke heard the sound of cheering and hooves clopping against metal. From somewhere behind him he heard Tyson shout, "Ponies!"
He wasn't quite right. They weren't ponies; they were centaurs. Dozens of centaurs, and Chiron in the middle of the crowd. They all looked ridiculous, wearing pink shirts that said PARTY PONIES written on them and some of them were wearing beer can hats and waving foam fingers around.
For a second Luke just stood there, completely shocked. It only lasted a second, though, since soon he was shouting at his troops to attack them. All hell broke loose after that since, while the centaurs looked absolutely ridiculous, they could fight. The battle went fast and it was hard to tell what was going on and who was winning. Luke was lucky he managed to jump in the pool in order to dodge an arrow through the neck.
When he emerged he could see that that Chiron was heading out the door with Percy, Annabeth, Grover and Tyson in tow.
"Withdraw, brethren!" Chiron shouted.
Before Luke knew it he was alone in the pool with more than a few monsters dead and some hurt and confused demigods looking at him for guidance. And the Fleece was long gone.
Kronos was gonna kill him.
[This portion hacked and condensed to my liking from Sea of Monsters and it's still tl;dr imo. NFB, NFI, OOC comments are fine]
It certainly helped that he, Annabeth, Grover and Tyson were easy targets on the beach and Luke had been waiting for them. The timing of the sentence was completely coincidental and awesome.
"Hey, cuz," Luke smiled. "Welcome back to the states."
Orieus grabbed Annabeth and Grover by the collar of their shirts and lifted them into the air. Agrius had tried to grab Tyson but ended up getting knocked into the sand.
"Percy," Luke said calmly. "tell your giant to back down or I'll have Orieus bash your friends' heads together."
That was an obvious lie and Percy seemed to know it 'cause all he did was glare at Luke. "What do you want, Luke?"
"I want to extend my hospitality, of course." Luke smiled and nodded over to where the Princess Andromeda was docked. From the look on his face Percy hadn't noticed the ship even though it was the biggest thing in the dock. Typical.
Luke had Percy, Annabeth, Tyson and Grover herded onto the Princess Andromeda, to the aft deck where a swimming pool was. Luke would have been at a disadvantage in there if it hadn't been for the dozen monsters and loyal demigods he had waiting there.
"So, the Fleece. Where is it?" Luke prodded at Percy's chest with Backbiter before poking at Grover's legs.
"Hey!" Grover yelled. "That's real goat fur under there!"
"Sorry, old friend," Luke said. "Just give me the Fleece and I'll leave you to your little, ah, nature quest."
Grover bleeted. "Some old friend!"
"Maybe you didn't hear me," Luke said calmly. "Where. Is. The. Fleece?"
"Not here," Percy said, looking smug. "We sent it ahead of us. You messed up."
"You're lying. You couldn't have--" Luke stopped short when a horrible possibly dawned on him. "Clarisse."
Percy nodded.
Luke felt his face get red and his fingers gripped Backbiter so hard that his knuckles were turning white. "Agrius!"
The giant bear-man flinched. "Y-yes?"
"Go below and prepare the pegasus. Bring it to the deck," Luke said. "I need to get to Miami Airport, fast."
"But boss--"
"Do it or I'll feed you to the drakon!" Luke yelled, feeling himself getting more unhinged by the second. He didn't often lose his temper but he was so pissed that this kid had fucked things up for him again. Which was exactly what his own Percy said he'd do. Fuck everything. Luke didn't even realize that he was pacing the pool, cursing in ancient Greek under his breath.
"You've been toying with us all along," Percy said, breaking Luke's concentration. "You wanted us to bring the fleece to you and save you the trouble of getting it."
"Of course, you idiot!" Luke yelled. "And now you've messed everything up!"
For some weird ass reason Percy then threw a golden drachma at Luke's head, which he dodged easily, the coin falling into the pool. Luke couldn't believe he dated such an idiot.
"You tricked all of us!" Percy yelled. "Even Dionysus at Camp Half Blood!"
Luke rolled his eyes. "This is no time for heroics, Percy. Drop your sword or I'll have you killed sooner rather than later."
"Who poisoned Thalia's tree, Luke?"
"I already told you I did it, dumbass," Luke said, shaking his head. "Used elder python venom from Tartarus."
"Chiron had nothing to do with it?" Percy asked.
"Come on, you know he'd never do it," Luke said. "Even if he wanted to, he wouldn't have the guts."
"You call it guts? Betraying your friends?" Percy asked. "Endangering the whole camp?"
Luke frowned and raised Backbiter. "You don't understand the half of it. I was going to let you have the Fleece...once I was done with that."
That, at least, made Percy hesitate for a moment. "You were going to heal Kronos."
"Yes! The Fleece's magic would have sped up the process tenfold," Luke explained. "But you haven't stopped us, Percy. You've only slowed us down a little."
"And so you poisoned the tree, you betrayed Thalia, you set us up--all to help Kronos destroy the gods?"
Luke groaned. "Yes! You know that! Why do you keep asking me?"
Percy smirked. "Because I wanted our audience to hear."
"What audi--" Luke turned around and to his horror he saw Mr. D and the rest of Camp Half Blood staring back at him. Percy had used the coin he threw at Luke to make an Iris message. Well. Looked like it was Percy that had been dating the idiot.
Seriously, fuck everything.
"Well," Dionysus said dryly. "Some unexpected dinner entertainment."
Luke slashed his sword through the mist, dissolving the message, but the damage was done. Sure, having Chiron miserable was only a pleasant side effect of what Luke had done but what really pissed him off was that he had been outsmarted by Percy of all people.
"Kronos was right," Luke said, trying to keep his temper as best he could. When he lost his temper he made mistakes, the Iris message proved that. "You're an unreliable weapon, Percy. You need to be replaced. You're not gonna leave this ship alive."
One of Luke's demigods blew a whistle and the deck doors flew open. A dozen more warriors filtered in and made a circle around the room.
"One on one," Percy challenged. "What are you afraid of?"
Luke used to be afraid of killing someone that had the face of someone he cared about, but not anymore. This Percy had done more than enough to make Luke hate him, but Luke had other, more important things to deal with. "I told you last summer, Percy. You can't bait me into a fight."
"And you keep avoiding me," Percy noticed. "Scared your warriors will see you get whipped?"
Luke looked around at his men and he saw that Percy had trapped him. If he backed down, he'd look weak. If he fought Percy he would lose time catching Clarisse. Luke knew Kronos would give him hell if he lost the Fleece but his ego and his need to have respect weren't going to let him walk away from this fight. Besides, Percy needed to be taken care of and after today Luke saw that it had to be sooner rather than later.
Luke whistled at one of his men, who tossed him a shield. He then raised Backbiter up towards Percy. "I'll kill you quickly."
"Luke," Annabeth said. He had almost forgotten she was there. "At least let him have a shield."
"Sorry Annabeth," Luke told her. "You bring your own equipment to this party."
Luke lunged at Percy and got him on the first try. Backbiter went under his arm and slashed through his shirt. Luke could see blood start to run from his ribs. Percy tried to counter with Riptide but Luke batted the sword away with his shield easily.
"My, Percy," Luke chided. "You're out of practice."
Luke came at Percy again, swiping Backbiter towards the other boy's head. Percy parried and returned with a thrust that Luke sidestepped easily. When Luke lunged towards Percy again, Percy stepped into the pool which was too bad for Luke, 'cause Percy immediately created a funnel with the water and knocked Luke off his feet, sputtering out water and momentarily blinded.
Luckily Luke made it back to his feet before Percy could strike again. Percy attacked and sliced of the edge of Luke's shield but it didn't even faze him. Luke dropped down to a crouch and stabbed at Percy's legs. Backbiter dug into Percy's thigh so hard that it caused him to collapse.
Somehow seeing that blood running from Percy's leg made Luke feel good rather than horrified. Funny how a few months ago the thought of hurting even a fake version of Percy made him feel sick, but now he hated this kid so much that he wanted nothing more than to see him dead. If it hadn't been for him Luke could have kept on lying to Percy and they would have still been together. He didn't care if that was a horrible thing to have in a relationship; he just wanted to have Percy back.
Luke hacked downward but Percy ended up rolling behind a deck chair. He brought Backbiter down again quickly, slicing the chair in half, metal pipes and all. Percy started clawing towards the swimming pool but Luke knew he'd never make it. Luke advanced slowly, hating having to do this in front of Annabeth, but it needed to be done.
He had his sword raised in the air, ready to bring it down against Percy's neck, when Luke felt something whizz by his ear and then heard somebody scream. Luke turned to see Orieus with an arrow sticking out of his throat. He was too stunned to do anything as he watched Orieus dissolve into gold dust, leaving Annabeth and Grover free.
Luke heard the sound of cheering and hooves clopping against metal. From somewhere behind him he heard Tyson shout, "Ponies!"
He wasn't quite right. They weren't ponies; they were centaurs. Dozens of centaurs, and Chiron in the middle of the crowd. They all looked ridiculous, wearing pink shirts that said PARTY PONIES written on them and some of them were wearing beer can hats and waving foam fingers around.
For a second Luke just stood there, completely shocked. It only lasted a second, though, since soon he was shouting at his troops to attack them. All hell broke loose after that since, while the centaurs looked absolutely ridiculous, they could fight. The battle went fast and it was hard to tell what was going on and who was winning. Luke was lucky he managed to jump in the pool in order to dodge an arrow through the neck.
When he emerged he could see that that Chiron was heading out the door with Percy, Annabeth, Grover and Tyson in tow.
"Withdraw, brethren!" Chiron shouted.
Before Luke knew it he was alone in the pool with more than a few monsters dead and some hurt and confused demigods looking at him for guidance. And the Fleece was long gone.
Kronos was gonna kill him.
[This portion hacked and condensed to my liking from Sea of Monsters and it's still tl;dr imo. NFB, NFI, OOC comments are fine]