San Francisco | December 2007
Percy and Thalia were pretty predictable. There was half a dozen drachaenae, a Titan and the sarcophagus of Kronos himself sitting at the top of Mount.Tam, not to mention an entire ship full of monsters on the way, and still they showed up to save Annabeth. She wasn't even in danger. Sure, her hands were cuffed behind her back, she was gagged and Luke was pointing Backbiter at her throat for show but she wasn't in danger.
They were accompanied by Zoe Nightshade, a protege of Artemis that had a special hatred for Luke even before all of this had started. She didn't pay him much attention, instead rushing to where Artemis was holding up the sky as soon as the three of them made it to the top of Mount Tam.
It had been the first time Luke had seen Thalia since that pine tree coughed her up and he wished it was under better circumstances. She looked furious at him for obvious reasons, while he resented the fact that she sided with Percy so quickly. She hadn't even given him the chance to explain himself and now she looked like she was ready to kill him.
"Luke," she snarled. "Let her go."
"That's the General's decision, Thalia," Luke said, taking the chance to give Thalia a once over. He was unsurprised that she was keeping up with that Hot Topic punk look even now. "But it's nice to see you again."
Thalia spat at him, which just served to piss Luke off even more. In his head she had always been the one person that was supposed to understand him completely and that idea got solidified as the truth when she was a tree and couldn't prove him wrong. Now it felt like he was losing one of the few things about his past that he liked.
Atlas turned his attention away from Zoe and Artemis and onto the demigods. "So these are the best heroes of the age, eh? Not much of a challenge."
"Fight us," Percy said. "And see."
Atlas scoffed. "Have the gods taught you nothing? An immortal does not fight a mere mortal directly. It is beneath our dignity. I will have Luke crush you instead."
"So you're another coward," Percy replied.
Luke held back from facepalming. He had enough to deal with at the moment he didn't need to have to kill this kid because he couldn't keep his damn mouth shut.
Luckily Atlas was more levelheaded than he looked, and moved on to assess Thalia after glaring at Percy for a moment. "As for you, daughter of Zeus, it seems Luke was wrong about you."
"I wasn't wrong," Luke said, sounding put out. "Thalia, you can still join us. Call the Orphiotaurus. It will come to you."
He looked Thalia in the eye and hoped he sounded as sincere as he felt about needing her help. He thought that maybe,if she listened and did as Kronos asked, well....well, maybe he wouldn't have to go into the Styx after all. Even if she had been his prisoner, the time he had been alone with Annabeth these past few days made him realize how much he didn't want to give into this. He'd do just about anything to keep his own body at this point.
Luke waved his hand and a pool of water appeared, big enough to hold the Ophiotaurus if it was called. He glanced over at Percy, briefly wondering if he could pressure him into calling the creature but decided to focus on Thalia instead. "Thalia, call the Ophiotaurus. If you do, you'll be more powerful than the gods."
Thalia shook her head. "Luke, what's happened to you? Free Annabeth. Let her go."
He really wanted to do that, he really did, but it wasn't that easy. He couldn't just let her go with Atlas right there and an army of monsters ready to strike. She should have known that and the fact that she was looking at him like he was a monster was...well, it hurt and it made him angry that she couldn't understand anything he was trying to do.
"If you join me it could be like old times. The three of us together, fighting for a better world," he pleaded, knowing how ridiculous that sounded when he had Annabeth bound and gagged next to him. "Please, Thalia, if you don't agree...it's my last chance. He will use the other way if you don't agree. Please."
He must have sounded pretty freaked out because he could see Thalia hesitating, her expression turning to one of concern.
Percy, of course, had to butt in. "Thalia, no."
"Do not do it, Thalia," Zoe agreed. "We must fight them."
"We will raise Mount Othrys right here," Luke promised, his voice sounding strained as he realized he was losing ground here. "It will be stronger and greater than Olympus once more. Look, Thalia, we're not weak."
He pointed towards the ocean, towards where the Princess Andromeda was docked at the bottom of the mountain. Monsters, half-bloods, hellhounds were all on deck, preparing for the trek up the mountain. He felt a strange surge of pride that Nico had managed to make it that far but of course nobody but him would be able to appreciate it.
The monsters were kind of being a pain in Nico's ass to be honest. Trying not to show off his powers was doing nothing to help him maintain order with the monsters and half-bloods. The hellhounds however loved him and Nico had decided he wasn't about siccing them on the others when they started to get too riled up to charge the mountain.
Now Nico just needed Luke to hurry things up and be ready when his men got to the top. Too bad going with them wasn't an option.
Thalia looked up at Luke and he felt a little stabbing pain when he saw how obviously hurt she was. Even as she leveled her spear at him she looked more hurt than angry. "You're not Luke. I don't know you anymore."
"Yes you do, Thalia," he pleaded, seeing his one chance at freedom slipping away from him quickly. "Please. Don't make me...don't make him hurt you."
He hadn't meant for that slip up, but it was the truth. They were going to be one and the same soon enough anyway. While he thought he could keep Kronos from hurting Annabeth he knew there was no way he'd let a daughter of Zeus walk free.
Before Luke had the chance to think of something else to say to convince Thalia to help him, he heard Percy shout "Now!" and all hell suddenly broke loose. Thalia immediately went to attack him. Luke was quick to raise Backbiter in defense and when the sword met with Thalia's shield a ball of lightning erupted between them, sending yellow tendrils of power flying into the air.
It had been years since he and Thalia had fought one another and some voice in the back of his mind reminded him that he had never won a fight against the daughter of Zeus. He had to be careful not to be too distracted by anything lest he get gutted by Thalia's spear. He caught flashes of what was going on around them inbetween dodging Thalia's attacks and trying not to get fried by the lightning that she kept summoning up. Zoe fighting Atlas. Annabeth trying to get free of her bonds. Thalia nearly sliced Luke's head off when he had to do a double take when he noticed Percy had taken the sky to free Artemis.
Well the gray hair was finally explained at last.
"Yield!" Thalia shouted. "You could never beat me, Luke."
Luke glared and kept on fighting her. "We'll see, my old friend."
He and Thalia kept fighting each other, not realizing it when all the other fighting stopped around them. Luke didn't notice that Atlas had once again been trapped into holding up the sky or that Artemis was tending to a fallen Zoe or that Percy was standing there watching him and Thalia fight. At some point the fight had become less about the present moment and more about the betrayal and anger that both of them felt towards each other. Thalia had tears in her eyes, but that didn't stop her from slicing up Luke's chest with her spear, causing him to bleed everywhere.
Nico had remained on the ship, binoculars trained on where Luke was battling Thalia. It was a nightmare seeing everything unfold just as he'd been told so many years ago. His stomach knotted up, somehow unprepared to see his friends attacking each other so viciously. He could see the first wave of Luke's soldiers just down the mountainside and tried to will Luke to hold on for another sixty seconds. Just one more minute and he'd have backup.
Eventually Thalia had Luke backed against a cliff. The drop had to be at least fifty feet onto some rocks, but Luke ignored the danger and kept fighting. He lunged at Thalia and she slammed him with her shield. Backbiter spun out of his hands and clattered to the rocks and Thalia put her spear point to his throat.
"Well?" Luke asked, his voice cracking slightly. He could see Thalia was trembling with fury and for a second there he thought maybe it'd be better like this. Maybe everybody would be better off if she killed him now.
Annabeth came scrambling towards the two of them, having freed herself from her bonds. "Don't kill him!"
"He's a traitor!" Thalia shouted. "A traitor!"
"We'll bring Luke back," Annabeth pleaded. "To Olympus. He'll...he'll be useful."
Luke gave Annabeth a look, realizing that was the same excuse he had used to protect her earlier. The thing was he didn't want to go to Olympus any more than he wanted to be worn by Kronos. "Is that what you want, Thalia? To go back to Olympus in triumph? To please your dad?"
Thalia hesitated for a moment and Luke made a desperate grab for spear. He misjudged how quick he was and by the time he realized that it was too late. Thalia moved without thinking , kicking Luke away. He lost his balance, stumbled and fell off the edge of the cliff. The last thing he heard before he hit the rocks below was Annabeth screaming his name.
Nico had been surrounded by half of Luke's army as he watched his cousin fall to what appeared to be his death. Rather than show any emotion, Nico had calmly ordered the Andromeda to come about and taken a small lifeboat out into the shallower waters to find Luke's body.
Amazingly the boy was alive and Nico drug him into the boat, his flask of nectar and store of ambrosia at the ready to heal Luke just long enough to get him where they were going.
Luke wasn't quite sure what force was behind him surviving that fall and he wasn't sure he wanted to know either. When he managed to come to he was in so much pain that being alive seemed like more of a curse than a blessing. When he cracked open his eyes everything was all distorted and fuzzy around the edges, but he did recognize that Nico was hovering over him.
He opened his mouth to say something but wasn't really surprised when the only thing that came out was a barely audible and croaked rendition of Nico's name.
"Save your strength, cuz," Nico whispered. "I'm taking you for a swim if you can survive it." If they could both survive it. Nico remembered Percy's swim and that kid had been way more awake and strong for the attempt.
Luke gave a slight nod, understanding what Nico meant. He had been dreading the the Styx before but now it turns out this would be the thing that would save his life. He just had to manage to hold on enough to actually make it to the river first.
"How're we getting down there?" Luke mumbled. He couldn't use his powers at the moment so he hoped Nico could get the two of them there himself.
The good news was that Nico knew he wasn't screwing around with anything big by helping Luke with this part. The bad news was that Nico was gonna have to drag his cousin through the shadows with him and no way was Luke was light as Jason. "I've got it covered," he said, starting to lift Luke over his shoulder. "Just try not to get sick on me." He liked that jacket.
[Preplayed with deaths_demigod and most of this is taken from The Titan's Curse. NFB, NFI but OOC is fine]
They were accompanied by Zoe Nightshade, a protege of Artemis that had a special hatred for Luke even before all of this had started. She didn't pay him much attention, instead rushing to where Artemis was holding up the sky as soon as the three of them made it to the top of Mount Tam.
It had been the first time Luke had seen Thalia since that pine tree coughed her up and he wished it was under better circumstances. She looked furious at him for obvious reasons, while he resented the fact that she sided with Percy so quickly. She hadn't even given him the chance to explain himself and now she looked like she was ready to kill him.
"Luke," she snarled. "Let her go."
"That's the General's decision, Thalia," Luke said, taking the chance to give Thalia a once over. He was unsurprised that she was keeping up with that Hot Topic punk look even now. "But it's nice to see you again."
Thalia spat at him, which just served to piss Luke off even more. In his head she had always been the one person that was supposed to understand him completely and that idea got solidified as the truth when she was a tree and couldn't prove him wrong. Now it felt like he was losing one of the few things about his past that he liked.
Atlas turned his attention away from Zoe and Artemis and onto the demigods. "So these are the best heroes of the age, eh? Not much of a challenge."
"Fight us," Percy said. "And see."
Atlas scoffed. "Have the gods taught you nothing? An immortal does not fight a mere mortal directly. It is beneath our dignity. I will have Luke crush you instead."
"So you're another coward," Percy replied.
Luke held back from facepalming. He had enough to deal with at the moment he didn't need to have to kill this kid because he couldn't keep his damn mouth shut.
Luckily Atlas was more levelheaded than he looked, and moved on to assess Thalia after glaring at Percy for a moment. "As for you, daughter of Zeus, it seems Luke was wrong about you."
"I wasn't wrong," Luke said, sounding put out. "Thalia, you can still join us. Call the Orphiotaurus. It will come to you."
He looked Thalia in the eye and hoped he sounded as sincere as he felt about needing her help. He thought that maybe,if she listened and did as Kronos asked, well....well, maybe he wouldn't have to go into the Styx after all. Even if she had been his prisoner, the time he had been alone with Annabeth these past few days made him realize how much he didn't want to give into this. He'd do just about anything to keep his own body at this point.
Luke waved his hand and a pool of water appeared, big enough to hold the Ophiotaurus if it was called. He glanced over at Percy, briefly wondering if he could pressure him into calling the creature but decided to focus on Thalia instead. "Thalia, call the Ophiotaurus. If you do, you'll be more powerful than the gods."
Thalia shook her head. "Luke, what's happened to you? Free Annabeth. Let her go."
He really wanted to do that, he really did, but it wasn't that easy. He couldn't just let her go with Atlas right there and an army of monsters ready to strike. She should have known that and the fact that she was looking at him like he was a monster was...well, it hurt and it made him angry that she couldn't understand anything he was trying to do.
"If you join me it could be like old times. The three of us together, fighting for a better world," he pleaded, knowing how ridiculous that sounded when he had Annabeth bound and gagged next to him. "Please, Thalia, if you don't agree...it's my last chance. He will use the other way if you don't agree. Please."
He must have sounded pretty freaked out because he could see Thalia hesitating, her expression turning to one of concern.
Percy, of course, had to butt in. "Thalia, no."
"Do not do it, Thalia," Zoe agreed. "We must fight them."
"We will raise Mount Othrys right here," Luke promised, his voice sounding strained as he realized he was losing ground here. "It will be stronger and greater than Olympus once more. Look, Thalia, we're not weak."
He pointed towards the ocean, towards where the Princess Andromeda was docked at the bottom of the mountain. Monsters, half-bloods, hellhounds were all on deck, preparing for the trek up the mountain. He felt a strange surge of pride that Nico had managed to make it that far but of course nobody but him would be able to appreciate it.
The monsters were kind of being a pain in Nico's ass to be honest. Trying not to show off his powers was doing nothing to help him maintain order with the monsters and half-bloods. The hellhounds however loved him and Nico had decided he wasn't about siccing them on the others when they started to get too riled up to charge the mountain.
Now Nico just needed Luke to hurry things up and be ready when his men got to the top. Too bad going with them wasn't an option.
Thalia looked up at Luke and he felt a little stabbing pain when he saw how obviously hurt she was. Even as she leveled her spear at him she looked more hurt than angry. "You're not Luke. I don't know you anymore."
"Yes you do, Thalia," he pleaded, seeing his one chance at freedom slipping away from him quickly. "Please. Don't make me...don't make him hurt you."
He hadn't meant for that slip up, but it was the truth. They were going to be one and the same soon enough anyway. While he thought he could keep Kronos from hurting Annabeth he knew there was no way he'd let a daughter of Zeus walk free.
Before Luke had the chance to think of something else to say to convince Thalia to help him, he heard Percy shout "Now!" and all hell suddenly broke loose. Thalia immediately went to attack him. Luke was quick to raise Backbiter in defense and when the sword met with Thalia's shield a ball of lightning erupted between them, sending yellow tendrils of power flying into the air.
It had been years since he and Thalia had fought one another and some voice in the back of his mind reminded him that he had never won a fight against the daughter of Zeus. He had to be careful not to be too distracted by anything lest he get gutted by Thalia's spear. He caught flashes of what was going on around them inbetween dodging Thalia's attacks and trying not to get fried by the lightning that she kept summoning up. Zoe fighting Atlas. Annabeth trying to get free of her bonds. Thalia nearly sliced Luke's head off when he had to do a double take when he noticed Percy had taken the sky to free Artemis.
Well the gray hair was finally explained at last.
"Yield!" Thalia shouted. "You could never beat me, Luke."
Luke glared and kept on fighting her. "We'll see, my old friend."
He and Thalia kept fighting each other, not realizing it when all the other fighting stopped around them. Luke didn't notice that Atlas had once again been trapped into holding up the sky or that Artemis was tending to a fallen Zoe or that Percy was standing there watching him and Thalia fight. At some point the fight had become less about the present moment and more about the betrayal and anger that both of them felt towards each other. Thalia had tears in her eyes, but that didn't stop her from slicing up Luke's chest with her spear, causing him to bleed everywhere.
Nico had remained on the ship, binoculars trained on where Luke was battling Thalia. It was a nightmare seeing everything unfold just as he'd been told so many years ago. His stomach knotted up, somehow unprepared to see his friends attacking each other so viciously. He could see the first wave of Luke's soldiers just down the mountainside and tried to will Luke to hold on for another sixty seconds. Just one more minute and he'd have backup.
Eventually Thalia had Luke backed against a cliff. The drop had to be at least fifty feet onto some rocks, but Luke ignored the danger and kept fighting. He lunged at Thalia and she slammed him with her shield. Backbiter spun out of his hands and clattered to the rocks and Thalia put her spear point to his throat.
"Well?" Luke asked, his voice cracking slightly. He could see Thalia was trembling with fury and for a second there he thought maybe it'd be better like this. Maybe everybody would be better off if she killed him now.
Annabeth came scrambling towards the two of them, having freed herself from her bonds. "Don't kill him!"
"He's a traitor!" Thalia shouted. "A traitor!"
"We'll bring Luke back," Annabeth pleaded. "To Olympus. He'll...he'll be useful."
Luke gave Annabeth a look, realizing that was the same excuse he had used to protect her earlier. The thing was he didn't want to go to Olympus any more than he wanted to be worn by Kronos. "Is that what you want, Thalia? To go back to Olympus in triumph? To please your dad?"
Thalia hesitated for a moment and Luke made a desperate grab for spear. He misjudged how quick he was and by the time he realized that it was too late. Thalia moved without thinking , kicking Luke away. He lost his balance, stumbled and fell off the edge of the cliff. The last thing he heard before he hit the rocks below was Annabeth screaming his name.
Nico had been surrounded by half of Luke's army as he watched his cousin fall to what appeared to be his death. Rather than show any emotion, Nico had calmly ordered the Andromeda to come about and taken a small lifeboat out into the shallower waters to find Luke's body.
Amazingly the boy was alive and Nico drug him into the boat, his flask of nectar and store of ambrosia at the ready to heal Luke just long enough to get him where they were going.
Luke wasn't quite sure what force was behind him surviving that fall and he wasn't sure he wanted to know either. When he managed to come to he was in so much pain that being alive seemed like more of a curse than a blessing. When he cracked open his eyes everything was all distorted and fuzzy around the edges, but he did recognize that Nico was hovering over him.
He opened his mouth to say something but wasn't really surprised when the only thing that came out was a barely audible and croaked rendition of Nico's name.
"Save your strength, cuz," Nico whispered. "I'm taking you for a swim if you can survive it." If they could both survive it. Nico remembered Percy's swim and that kid had been way more awake and strong for the attempt.
Luke gave a slight nod, understanding what Nico meant. He had been dreading the the Styx before but now it turns out this would be the thing that would save his life. He just had to manage to hold on enough to actually make it to the river first.
"How're we getting down there?" Luke mumbled. He couldn't use his powers at the moment so he hoped Nico could get the two of them there himself.
The good news was that Nico knew he wasn't screwing around with anything big by helping Luke with this part. The bad news was that Nico was gonna have to drag his cousin through the shadows with him and no way was Luke was light as Jason. "I've got it covered," he said, starting to lift Luke over his shoulder. "Just try not to get sick on me." He liked that jacket.
[Preplayed with deaths_demigod and most of this is taken from The Titan's Curse. NFB, NFI but OOC is fine]