On the Fringe // Chapter Three
I cannot apologize enough for the wait on the update. I blame school and four-day weekends with no internet.
Title: On the Fringe
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: EventualLuke/Percy, past!Percy/Annabeth. Also some OC pairings, but those are very minor.
Warnings: AU, slash (m/m and f/f). Spoilers for The Last Olympian. Also, there's a handful of OCs, but most of them are camp counselors with minor roles.
Author's Note: I'm planning for this to be a relatively short fic, maybe six chapters tops, but we'll just have to see. This fic completely changes Luke's fate in The Last Olympian and will otherwise have spoilers. And if you bothered to look at the pairings and warnings, there will be slash, both with boys and girls, so if you don't like it, use your handy little back button right now. If you're still reading this, enjoy the fic.
Disclaimer: All recognizable characters are copyright to Rick Riordan and if he had any idea what I'm doing with his characters, I'm sure he'd be out for my foolish mortal blood. I do, however, own the OCs.
Chapter Three
Chiron had called for a meeting of the cabin counselors as soon as Percy had told him what had happened. He'd taken precautions to call in only those who knew of Luke's past, so as not to get the newer campers involved with the difficulties of the secret held tightly in the camp. Percy sat at the large table in the Big House, surrounded by other cabin counselors. Amongst them were familiar faces -- Malcolm, head of the Athena cabin, Jereth, who was the current head of the Apollo cabin (Will Solace, the guy who'd been in charge last year, was taking the summer off in favor of touring Europe).
Nico was there, being the only one in the Hades cabin. He'd been busy the last couple of weeks, trying to get himself settled in, so this was the first time Percy had actually seen him since coming to camp. Percy was surprised to see Tayen there, as well; Jereth explained that the Barbadian girl had fought on her mother's side at the beginning of the battle, only to have a change of heart later.
Clarisse and Chris were seated on the other end of the table, away from the others. Clarisse was never well accepted by the other campers, but as the head of the Ares cabin, she needed to be there. Chris was there as support for her. The Stoll brothers were there, in place of Loki, since the current Hermes leader had no idea of Luke's past. Amber, who had taken Silena's place as counselor of the Aphrodite cabin, now sat next to Jereth. Other counselors were there, half-bloods whose names Percy did not know, but recognized vaguely from previous summers.
Chiron and Dionysus both sat at the end of the table. While Chiron wore an expression of grave worry, Dionysus was paying almost no attention to the gathered camp counselors; he sat in his chair, flipping through a food and wine magazine. Percy inwardly wondered why Mr. D had bothered even coming to the meeting in the first place. This wasn't the first time that this had been the case.
"We have a situation, as you all have likely gathered," Chiron announced as soon as all the counselors had settled. "All who sit here today will remember the oath we took at the end of last summer."
All around the table, counselors nodded or made begrudging acknowledgment of Chiron's words. They knew exactly what oath the centaur was speaking about, of course. With the exception of Clarisse, Chris and Amber, they all had the same solemn expression on their faces. There was no hard guess what the meeting had been called for.
"Luke Castellan, as you know, was redeemed by his last actions during the final battle against Kronos," Chiron continued. "He was brought back to Camp Half-Blood at the request of his father, on the condition that his memories were wiped clean and an oath taken to keep him from knowing the truth. Unfortunately, despite the efforts made, he has begun questioning."
"And this means what, exactly?" Amber asked from her seat. She nervously fiddled with a silver ring on her right hand. "Even if he's asking, none of us can tell him anything."
"What it means," Jereth spoke up, "is he knows something's up. That alone is something to worry about."
"He may not need us to tell him," Tayen added from her seat. She was leaning back in her chair, one leg crossed over the other. Her right arm was propped up on her knee as she toyed with one of her long necklaces. "Many of the minor gods who sided with the Titan lord may yet speak to him."
"Your mother included," Amber pointed out, earning herself a dark glower from the daughter of Hecate. "She still doesn't completely side with the Olympian gods, despite her recognition here."
"Neither does my father," Nico said from where he sat next to Percy. "The fact that they do not 'fully side with the Olympians' doesn't mean they would tell Luke anything. It wasn't just the campers who swore upon the Styx."
"Exactly," Chiron told Nico. "Several of the minor gods are under the same oath. Others could not be bothered to get involved with Luke again."
Amongst those who had sworn the oath had been Eris, the goddess of Discord; she had not been particularly pleased with having taken the oath, of course. She would have much rather had the chance to use Luke's past against him to cause trouble. There were gods that had not taken the oath because they had not been involved in the fight, preferring to remain neutral until the last minute.
As Percy thought about this, about the oath and its aftermath, he began to see things from Luke’s perspective. Luke had said something about the way everyone looked at him -- like he was to be pitied. Only now, after the fact, had Percy really understood what the older half-blood had meant. Everyone here, with the exception of a few, avoided Luke, shunned him, and, yes, pitied him. With his memories gone, there was no way for Luke to understand why things were like this.
Luke was right; camp had changed, especially for him. He'd once been one of the most admired campers and, as far as he knew, things were just suddenly different. Suddenly, Percy was the most admired and Luke was the camp outcast.
It was little wonder why Luke had started asking questions.
"So, what are going to do about it?" Tayen asked, bringing Percy back into the conversation.
Jereth spoke up. "At this point, I’m not sure what we can do about it."
Chiron crossed his arms over his chest. "Jereth is right. As things stand now, there is nothing we can do."
"What about Mr. D?" Amber inquired. She looked at the wine god. "Can't you do something about him? Minds are your specialty, aren’t they?"
Dionysus gave a derisive snort. "My dear, madness is my specialty. And in Mr. Castellan's case, there is no madness, only confusion." He turned back to his magazine, casually flipping through the pages. "Besides, I didn't want him back here in the first place. Why should I help him?"
Thunder rolled outside and Dionysus rolled his eyes, grumbling under his breath. "Yes, yes, I was out-voted."
The room fell silent, with most of the group trying to come up with some way to help Luke. Percy fidgeted in his seat; he hated sitting still, particularly sitting still in silence. He wasn't the only one, either. Tayen was fiddling with her necklace again, running her pendant along the silver chain. Jereth was tapping a beat on the table's surface with his fingers. Amber toyed with a compact, flipping it open and closed.
"We've just been ignoring the issue," she said. "Can’t we just do that again?"
Now Percy spoke up. "Haven't you been paying attention?" he asked, a hint of anger in his voice. "That's the problem! The reason why Luke's looking into things is because we've all been avoiding him!"
"Percy has a point," Nico agreed. "I know what it's like to be on the outside, looking in. That's how Luke feels. Our ignoring him is not helping him in any way."
"This still doesn't give us any options for what to do," Travis Stoll pointed out. "We can't tell him anything, we can't ignore him. So what do we do?"
"I don't know," Percy admitted, sinking down in his chair.
"I think we should send him away from camp," Clarisse finally spoke from where she sat. Her voice was bitter and angry, as Percy expected. "It would solve a lot of our problems!"
"Nobody asked you!" Amber snapped at her.
Clarisse glared at the daughter of Aphrodite. "This meeting was to address the head counselors who were there! I'm amongst those, whether you like it or not! I'm allowed to have my opinion!"
"Not when that opinion's only going to cause more problems!"
Clarisse rose from her seat, looking all the world like she was going to throttle the blonde girl. Chris quickly stood up to hold her back. He knew Clarisse's temper was short and the way Amber acted was not helping at all. He looked apologetically towards Chiron.
"Excuse us," he said before turning to Clarisse and speaking to her softly. He then led her out of the room.
Amber gave a huff and flipped her blonde curls over her shoulders. "Well!"
"Don't act so heartless," Tayen told her. "You know she's angry at Luke for what happened to Silena."
Amber glared at her, a scathing look that nearly matched Clarisse's. "Don't talk to me about Silena! She was a traitor!"
"She was your sister and a hero!" Tayen countered. "She sacrificed her life to get the Ares cabin in the battle! I was there, I saw it!"
"She was a spy for Kronos' army! I don't care what anyone says about her, she betrayed us!"
"STOP IT!" Percy shouted, effectively silencing the argument between the two girls. "This is not why we're here! We're here to decide what to do about Luke, not fight against each other!"
The group was silent, no one daring to speak for a long moment. Percy settled back, anger coursing through his blood. Camp had started out so well this summer and now things were spiraling out of control. First Clarisse had arrived with her grudge against Luke, then Luke had started delving into his past and now there were fights going on over the alignments in a battle that had ended a year ago.
Dionysus gave a mock sigh and closed his magazine. "I see this meeting is going nowhere," he said. He shifted and stood up. "If no one minds, I'm going to leave before all you brats give me a headache."
With that, the wine god left, to Zeus knew where -- possibly to wrangle up some pinochle opponents to waste the afternoon. Silence continued for a minute longer after the departure of the camp director. No one was quite sure what to do or say; Dionysus had been right about the meeting going nowhere.
Finally, Jereth spoke up. "I move that we slowly start bringing Luke back into the camp circle."
"Easy for you to say," Conner said. "You’ve already befriended him."
Jereth gave a shrug. "Apollo and Hermes have been friends for centuries. It's only natural for a son of Apollo to get along with a son of Hermes. I'm more worried that you two," -- here, he indicated both Stoll brothers -- "have been so bitter against your own half-brother."
"We have our reasons," Travis told him. "It's none of your business."
Tayen cleared her throat to cut off any argument that might start up. "I second Jereth's motion. If we can get the campers to accept Luke, even slowly, he might settle. He may still wonder what's happening, what he's missing, but it may slow his inquiries."
There were nods around the table, from Jereth, Percy, Nico and Malcolm, as well as a few others who had remained silent throughout the meeting. Chiron raised his right hand.
"Those in favor?"
* * * * *
Percy did not see Luke at dinner that night. Alima, still upset with him from earlier, sat at the opposite end of the table, turned so that she could speak with one of her friends from the Demeter table behind her. Percy picked at his food, unable to eat. He eventually dropped his fork onto his plate and pushed his food away. While he couldn't leave before Dionysus released the campers to go to the campfire, he could at least prop his arms on the table to look around himself.
With the tables rearranged, closer together and no longer the Olympian 'u' shape, it was easier to get a full view of the number of campers. The Olympian tables were still in the order they'd been in, but where they had once been arranged in a 'u' shape, they were now neat rows. Hades' table, occupied alone by Nico, had been moved up, next to Poseidon's table, so that the tables of the Big Three were together, making Hades and his children seem accepted into the Olympian circle.
Percy looked across the pavilion, looking at the new tables. He could see Tayen at the Hecate table with her sisters. At the Hebe table, he could see a few of the newer campers enjoying their dinner. He saw Emma and Ella at the Aura table, their backs to him as they chatted with their siblings. Their pinkies were hooked behind them, Emma's left and Ella's right. No one at the table seemed to mind; it was probably just a twin thing.
There were too many tables to look at all of them. Many of them were hidden from Percy's sight, lost in the crowd. The dining pavilion had been rebuilt in order to fit them all, but many of the tables were sparsely populated. Some of the children of the minor gods had been at camp the whole time Percy had been, living with the Hermes cabin until the decree that all gods had to claim their children. After that, over half the Hermes cabin had been sorted into the various new cabins. Percy could recognize some of them from the time he’d spent in the Hermes cabin several years ago.
Looking around him now, Percy realized just how much camp had really and truly changed. Again, he was trying to see things from Luke's perspective. It was probably daunting for the older half-blood. As far as Luke knew, he'd left when there were but twelve tables, not all of them filled. Now, there were twice as many, at least. For someone who was returning to camp after all the changes, it would definitely be sort of intimidating.
Percy realized, too, how it affected Luke to see so many of his friends from before and not have any connection to them anymore. Even with the newer campers that admired Luke now, to lose the respect of half the camp, it would be lonely, confusing and, above all else, frustrating, especially when Luke didn't remember anything to tell him why.
Luke doesn't need us avoiding him right now, Percy thought, as his revelation echoed through his mind. He doesn't need pity or isolation. He needs someone to help him.
He'd been selfish, Percy realized. By avoiding Luke, he was thinking of himself, looking out for himself. He hadn't thought of how Luke would feel. Putting himself into Luke's shoes, so to speak, he could see just how unfair everyone had been treating the recovered son of Hermes. Admittedly, he thought before that Luke didn't deserve the second chance he'd been given, but now he saw that, too, had been selfish of him. Again, he'd been thinking of himself, what he'd lost or nearly lost.
Maybe I should give Luke another chance, he mused. He thought about how much he'd liked Luke when the two of them had first met. True, Luke had been planning the whole time to get him killed, start a war against the Olympians, but Percy hadn't known that then.
Percy remembered thinking of how cool Luke was then. How much Luke made Percy feel like he belonged, like he had found another family to care for him until he could get his mother back. Luke had been so good to him, teaching him how to handle a sword, showing him things around the camp. Just hanging out with Luke then had been fun. Deep down, Percy missed those days, before Luke betrayed them all.
Thinking about then and how Luke was now, Percy decided, despite the fact that Luke had been so threatening towards him earlier, that it was high time to let the past be the past. It was time to give Luke that second chance that he’d earned in the gods' eyes. He wasn't sure it was the brightest idea, all considering his recent...dream, but he had to stop thinking of himself.
When Dionysus released the campers to head for the campfire, Percy hung back at the table for a minute, letting everyone go before him. When the last of the campers had filed towards the campfire, Percy, instead, headed for the cabins. He hurried across the grounds, zigzagging through the numerous cabins until he spotted Cabin Eleven, the Hermes cabin. Hoping that Luke was there and not out somewhere else, Percy hurried up the steps to the door and knocked loudly.
"Luke?" he called after a minute of no response.
From inside the cabin, Percy heard movement, a shuffling and then the sound of steady footsteps. A moment later, the door opened and Luke appeared. The older half-blood looked exhausted, ruffled, as if he'd just crawled out of bed. His blue and gold eyes were half-lidded and his hair was tousled.
"Oh. Percy," he greeted, sounding nonchalant, like their encounter that afternoon hadn't happened at all. "Hey, come in."
Percy nodded and took a cautious step into the cabin. When it didn't appear that Luke was going to attack him or anything, Percy turned to him, ready to speak. However, the other beat him to the punch.
"Hey, sorry about this afternoon," Luke said. "I hope I didn't freak you out or anything. I've just been having a bad week."
"Y-yeah," Percy replied. "Actually, I wanted to talk you about this afternoon."
Luke didn't even flinch. Instead, he gestured for Percy to follow him, which the teen did. Luke led Percy through the cabin, which was so much cleaner and roomier now that the Hermes cabin had been properly sorted, over to his bed.
"Feel free to sit," Luke told him. "Don't mind the clutter."
Percy noted Luke's armor and other possessions thrown over the surface of the bed. He shifted a few things aside so he could seat himself without sitting on something. Luke crouched down and rummaged around under the bed for a moment before pulling out a couple cans of Coca Cola. Knowing that Luke was a son of Hermes, Percy didn't doubt that the older half-blood had snuck out of camp to retrieve it and probably had a full stash of similar mortal goodies tucked under his bed.
Luke handed Percy one of the Cokes before popping his own open and taking a long, slow drink. After he did that, he casually sat next to Percy.
"So, you wanted to talk?"
Percy held his Coke can in his hands, trying to think of the best way to explain his thinking to Luke. "I was thinking about what you said earlier. About everyone, about me, treating you differently." He looked up at the older half-blood. "I'm sorry."
Luke paused to study Percy. For a moment, it didn't look as if Luke were going to accept any apology that Percy offered. His duo-tone eyes focused on the younger half-blood, their piercing gaze searching him for something, perhaps a sign that Percy was hesitant or false in his apology. Percy was still, holding in his breath and trying to force down the nagging voice in his mind that whispered about the dreams he'd been having.
It was almost a full minute before Luke spoke again. "Apology accepted."
Percy blinked. Really? Just like that? He let go of the breath he'd been holding. "You're not mad, still?"
Luke gave a shrug. "Yeah, I am, but you're at least making an effort to fix things. That's why you're really here, isn't it?"
"Well, kinda," Percy replied, giving a nod. "Yeah."
"Then that's a step forward." Luke leaned back, propping himself up with one arm. He flashed Percy a grin. "I still have a question for you."
Percy stared at him. Depending on the question, he wasn't sure how he'd respond. He was still under oath and couldn't speak of Luke's past. Coming here had been a step towards mending things between the two of them, but even then, there were lines he couldn't cross.
"Shoot," he said, hoping for the best.
Luke looked back at him. Once again, their eyes met and, this time, Percy felt a sharp, warm feeling in his gut. The feeling wasn't unlike the sensation he felt when he summoned the waters, but it was deeper than that. He noticed, a little worriedly, that his breath had hitched and his heart skipped a beat. He froze, taking a moment to force down the blush that he could feel trying to take over his face.
What is wrong with me? Percy questioned himself. Why am I acting like I'm attracted to Luke?
"Percy? Did you hear me?"
Percy looked up at Luke and realized that he'd been so preoccupied with his thoughts that he’d completely missed whatever Luke had asked. "S-sorry," he stammered, feeling the blush spread over his face in embarrassment. "What did you say?"
"I asked you why you chose now to say this to me," Luke told him.
Percy scrunched his nose in confusion. "Why now?" he repeated. He paused for a moment, then gave a shrug. "Why not now?"
Luke gave a frown, obviously not quite satisfied with the circumnavigated answer Percy had given him. He seemed to let it go, though, lifting his drink to his lips again. Percy took the opportunity to pop his own Coke open and drink from it, relishing in the cool taste, the feel of the carbon bubbles on his tongue and the rush of sugar in his mouth.
"So," Percy said after a long moment of silence. "How come you weren't at dinner?"
Luke finished off his Coke and tossed the can into a bin a couple feet away from his bed. "Slept right through it," he replied. "I've been having trouble sleeping lately. I keep having these weird dreams."
Percy paused. "Dreams?"
The older half-blood gave a nod. "Yeah. In them, I'm walking through camp, but there's nobody there. Not until I get to...well, it changes; the lake, the beach, the arena. There's someone else there when I reach wherever the dream takes me. I always ask the same question: who am I?"
"And?"
Percy already knew what Luke was going to say next. The dreams were too familiar, too much like the ones he'd been having. He just wanted to hear Luke tell him what happened next. Luke looked straight at him, his eyes once again that unsettling gold-flecked blue.
"You never say anything."
* * * * *
After confirming that Luke was having the same dreams as he was, Percy excused himself from the Hermes cabin to retire to his own cabin. By the time he'd left and gotten to Cabin Three, campfire was over and the rest of the campers were heading for the cabins. Percy paused long enough to apologize to Alima for that morning before changing for bed. Alima crawled into bed as Percy went to switch the lights off. She almost instantly nodded off from a long day, but when Percy got into bed, he stayed awake.
Admittedly, he wasn't sure he wanted to go to sleep at all. He was a little wary of having more dreams. Though Percy had decided to give Luke another chance, he was definitely not ready to have any deep connection to the son of Hermes, especially any connection that led to a relationship. He'd just broken up with Annabeth a few months ago and had every intention of getting back together with her once the rebuilding of Olympus was finished, or at least getting close to being finished.
Still, even as he thought of this now, Percy also thought of how his body had reacted earlier, when he was near Luke. That had definitely been more than an unsettling feeling; he'd actually been turned on by the way Luke had looked at him. He wasn't sure if that had been because of the recent dreams or something else. Whichever it was, Percy wasn't sure he was comfortable with it. He wasn't attracted to Luke, not in the slightest. In fact, he'd hated Luke for the last few years.
Then why was he having such suggestive dreams about the older half-blood?
What about Luke? Why was Luke having dreams that mirrored Percy’s own? On the one hand, Percy could sort of understand; Luke was looking for answers and he had those answers. On the other hand, Percy wasn't sure just how closely Luke's dreams reflected his own. There were certain things you just didn't ask someone and whether they were having wet dreams of you was probably up there in the top five.
Percy sat up after a while, looking towards the fountain in the corner. It had been repaired some time ago and once again ran, lit from within and providing an endless source of mist that Percy could use to summon Iris in order to send a message to anyone he needed to speak to. Right now, Percy needed to speak to someone about what had been happening.
Getting out of bed, the son of Poseidon grabbed a golden drachma from the bedside table where he kept a small stash of coins, just for this sort of use. He crossed the cabin quietly, so as not to wake Alima. It wasn't really necessary to keep quiet; Alima was a pretty heavy sleeper for a young girl. However, Percy had learned firsthand a few days ago how much the girl didn't like being woken up.
Percy stood in front of the fountain for a long minute, running his thumb over the drachma in his palm. He wanted to talk to someone, but who could he talk to? He really wanted to talk about Luke and how things were with him and there were only so many people who would understand. There was no way Percy could talk to Annabeth about the new developments with Luke -- she would take things the wrong way for sure. Calling Thalia was out of the question; it would be the same with her as it would be with Annabeth. He couldn't call his mother because, though he trusted her with just about anything else, this was something he didn't really want to talk to his mother about.
He thought briefly of calling his father, but he wasn't sure that was much different from calling his mother. Besides, Poseidon was probably still busy with the rebuilding of his own kingdom; the Storm Bringer's kingdom had been severely damaged in the battle a year ago and it would be a long time before Poseidon had it back up to par. Calling Tyson wouldn't be much help either, since Percy didn't want to have to deal with the confusion his half-brother would certainly feel and, frankly, Tyson wouldn't be his first or last choice to talk in depth with about Luke or the dreams the two of them had been having.
Percy sat down in front of the fountain, staring at the water that fell from the sprout. He was out of options. There was no one he could talk to about this. He propped his elbow on his knee and let his chin fall into his hand as he watched the fountain, absently.
A soft knocking at the cabin door caught his attention a few minutes later. Percy jerked and scrambled to stand up. He briefly wondered who could possibly be at the door so late -- it had to be nearing midnight by now, maybe past; lights were usually out by eleven and Percy had been awake for a while since then. Stepping over to the door, Percy opened it and was a little surprised to see Grover standing outside.
"You know, if you need to talk, you can always call for me," the satyr told him, giving Percy a hurt look.
"I didn't think this was something you'd want to talk about," Percy admitted.
"Perrrrcy," Grover bleated softly in exasperation. "You're my best friend; if something's bothering you, I'm always there to talk."
Percy nodded and gestured for Grover to come into the cabin. If they were going to talk, it would be better for both of them to be inside. Grover stepped into the cabin and headed for one of the empty bunks close to the door. Percy sat on the bunk next to it so he could face Grover.
"So, how much do you know already?" Percy asked. "I bet that empathy link between us has given you an idea."
Grover gave a snort. "A little more than an 'idea', Percy. But, you know, being a Lord of the Wild has its perks; I'm stronger now, so I can control the link."
Percy flinched at the implications in what his friend had just said. "So you saw?"
"Let's not talk about that part right now," Grover said hurriedly. Percy could see a blush crawl over Grover's face, which was enough of an answer for him. "You've been thinking about Luke all day. For the last couple of days."
"Yeah, it's kind of hard not to," Percy told him. "Between the dreams and him cornering me for answers, you know. I just need someone to talk to about things."
"So talk."
Percy told him everything; at least, the things he thought were important. He told Grover about the encounter at Thalia's tree, about the meeting and Percy's realizations at dinner. He made sure to tell him about going to see Luke after dinner and the fact that Luke was also having dreams that echoed Percy's. He finished the conversation off by mentioning that he was trying now to be Luke's friend.
"You sure that's a good idea?" Grover asked. "I mean, with your past with him. He's tried to kill you dozens of times, remember?"
"He doesn't remember that," Percy pointed out. "He doesn't remember anything that happened. Asclepius made sure of that. I don't know about anyone else, but I think it's worth trying."
"Percy, I'm not sure of that. What if just by being his friend, you start reminding him of things from before?"
"It's not like I'm going to tell him anything," Percy said. "The oath on the Styx, remember?"
Grover shook his head. "You can't say anything, but what you do might bring back memories. Asclepius anointed him with water from the Lethe, but that doesn't have the full effect of the river of Forgetfulness, which might be why Luke knows something's up."
"So you're saying we need to just go on ignoring Luke?"
"I'm saying you need to be careful, Percy," Grover corrected him. "Luke knows you're the key to unlocking his memories. He might try to force you to tell him."
Percy thought about that. It was probably dangerous for both him and Luke for them to be friends, but as Percy thought about it, he knew that it was a risk he was willing to take. Whether anyone else would agree with him or not, it didn't matter to him. He wanted to give Luke a second chance and, maybe, get things back to how they used to be.
"Maybe I'll get lucky," Percy said. "If the campers accept Luke again, maybe he won't need to know his past. I'm willing to take a chance."
Grover gave a sigh. "If you're sure. I can't stop you. But one last thing, Percy."
Percy looked at him. "What?"
"These dreams you two have been having? They could be a warning against a friendship between you two."
"I know," Percy nodded. "But again, I'm willing to take the chance."
Grover gave a nod in return, then let the topic drop. He bade goodnight to Percy and headed back out of the cabin. After the conversation with Grover, Percy did feel better and decided to go to back to bed. Though he was a bit wary of his dreams, he remembered something Apollo had told him; there was no need to be afraid of dreams.
As Percy crawled into bed, he let his eyes slip shut and curled up under the blankets. He'd let the dreams come.
Author's Note: Final word count for this chapter reached 5,365. I'm doing well. Though, I seriously need to stop writing this so late at night. It messes with my dreams and makes me want to write smutty side fics. Anyways, I hope this chapter didn't disappoint; admittedly, most of it was filler, but I got a couple key scenes in. As always, reviews make me write more, so share your thoughts!
Title: On the Fringe
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: EventualLuke/Percy, past!Percy/Annabeth. Also some OC pairings, but those are very minor.
Warnings: AU, slash (m/m and f/f). Spoilers for The Last Olympian. Also, there's a handful of OCs, but most of them are camp counselors with minor roles.
Author's Note: I'm planning for this to be a relatively short fic, maybe six chapters tops, but we'll just have to see. This fic completely changes Luke's fate in The Last Olympian and will otherwise have spoilers. And if you bothered to look at the pairings and warnings, there will be slash, both with boys and girls, so if you don't like it, use your handy little back button right now. If you're still reading this, enjoy the fic.
Disclaimer: All recognizable characters are copyright to Rick Riordan and if he had any idea what I'm doing with his characters, I'm sure he'd be out for my foolish mortal blood. I do, however, own the OCs.
Chapter Three
Chiron had called for a meeting of the cabin counselors as soon as Percy had told him what had happened. He'd taken precautions to call in only those who knew of Luke's past, so as not to get the newer campers involved with the difficulties of the secret held tightly in the camp. Percy sat at the large table in the Big House, surrounded by other cabin counselors. Amongst them were familiar faces -- Malcolm, head of the Athena cabin, Jereth, who was the current head of the Apollo cabin (Will Solace, the guy who'd been in charge last year, was taking the summer off in favor of touring Europe).
Nico was there, being the only one in the Hades cabin. He'd been busy the last couple of weeks, trying to get himself settled in, so this was the first time Percy had actually seen him since coming to camp. Percy was surprised to see Tayen there, as well; Jereth explained that the Barbadian girl had fought on her mother's side at the beginning of the battle, only to have a change of heart later.
Clarisse and Chris were seated on the other end of the table, away from the others. Clarisse was never well accepted by the other campers, but as the head of the Ares cabin, she needed to be there. Chris was there as support for her. The Stoll brothers were there, in place of Loki, since the current Hermes leader had no idea of Luke's past. Amber, who had taken Silena's place as counselor of the Aphrodite cabin, now sat next to Jereth. Other counselors were there, half-bloods whose names Percy did not know, but recognized vaguely from previous summers.
Chiron and Dionysus both sat at the end of the table. While Chiron wore an expression of grave worry, Dionysus was paying almost no attention to the gathered camp counselors; he sat in his chair, flipping through a food and wine magazine. Percy inwardly wondered why Mr. D had bothered even coming to the meeting in the first place. This wasn't the first time that this had been the case.
"We have a situation, as you all have likely gathered," Chiron announced as soon as all the counselors had settled. "All who sit here today will remember the oath we took at the end of last summer."
All around the table, counselors nodded or made begrudging acknowledgment of Chiron's words. They knew exactly what oath the centaur was speaking about, of course. With the exception of Clarisse, Chris and Amber, they all had the same solemn expression on their faces. There was no hard guess what the meeting had been called for.
"Luke Castellan, as you know, was redeemed by his last actions during the final battle against Kronos," Chiron continued. "He was brought back to Camp Half-Blood at the request of his father, on the condition that his memories were wiped clean and an oath taken to keep him from knowing the truth. Unfortunately, despite the efforts made, he has begun questioning."
"And this means what, exactly?" Amber asked from her seat. She nervously fiddled with a silver ring on her right hand. "Even if he's asking, none of us can tell him anything."
"What it means," Jereth spoke up, "is he knows something's up. That alone is something to worry about."
"He may not need us to tell him," Tayen added from her seat. She was leaning back in her chair, one leg crossed over the other. Her right arm was propped up on her knee as she toyed with one of her long necklaces. "Many of the minor gods who sided with the Titan lord may yet speak to him."
"Your mother included," Amber pointed out, earning herself a dark glower from the daughter of Hecate. "She still doesn't completely side with the Olympian gods, despite her recognition here."
"Neither does my father," Nico said from where he sat next to Percy. "The fact that they do not 'fully side with the Olympians' doesn't mean they would tell Luke anything. It wasn't just the campers who swore upon the Styx."
"Exactly," Chiron told Nico. "Several of the minor gods are under the same oath. Others could not be bothered to get involved with Luke again."
Amongst those who had sworn the oath had been Eris, the goddess of Discord; she had not been particularly pleased with having taken the oath, of course. She would have much rather had the chance to use Luke's past against him to cause trouble. There were gods that had not taken the oath because they had not been involved in the fight, preferring to remain neutral until the last minute.
As Percy thought about this, about the oath and its aftermath, he began to see things from Luke’s perspective. Luke had said something about the way everyone looked at him -- like he was to be pitied. Only now, after the fact, had Percy really understood what the older half-blood had meant. Everyone here, with the exception of a few, avoided Luke, shunned him, and, yes, pitied him. With his memories gone, there was no way for Luke to understand why things were like this.
Luke was right; camp had changed, especially for him. He'd once been one of the most admired campers and, as far as he knew, things were just suddenly different. Suddenly, Percy was the most admired and Luke was the camp outcast.
It was little wonder why Luke had started asking questions.
"So, what are going to do about it?" Tayen asked, bringing Percy back into the conversation.
Jereth spoke up. "At this point, I’m not sure what we can do about it."
Chiron crossed his arms over his chest. "Jereth is right. As things stand now, there is nothing we can do."
"What about Mr. D?" Amber inquired. She looked at the wine god. "Can't you do something about him? Minds are your specialty, aren’t they?"
Dionysus gave a derisive snort. "My dear, madness is my specialty. And in Mr. Castellan's case, there is no madness, only confusion." He turned back to his magazine, casually flipping through the pages. "Besides, I didn't want him back here in the first place. Why should I help him?"
Thunder rolled outside and Dionysus rolled his eyes, grumbling under his breath. "Yes, yes, I was out-voted."
The room fell silent, with most of the group trying to come up with some way to help Luke. Percy fidgeted in his seat; he hated sitting still, particularly sitting still in silence. He wasn't the only one, either. Tayen was fiddling with her necklace again, running her pendant along the silver chain. Jereth was tapping a beat on the table's surface with his fingers. Amber toyed with a compact, flipping it open and closed.
"We've just been ignoring the issue," she said. "Can’t we just do that again?"
Now Percy spoke up. "Haven't you been paying attention?" he asked, a hint of anger in his voice. "That's the problem! The reason why Luke's looking into things is because we've all been avoiding him!"
"Percy has a point," Nico agreed. "I know what it's like to be on the outside, looking in. That's how Luke feels. Our ignoring him is not helping him in any way."
"This still doesn't give us any options for what to do," Travis Stoll pointed out. "We can't tell him anything, we can't ignore him. So what do we do?"
"I don't know," Percy admitted, sinking down in his chair.
"I think we should send him away from camp," Clarisse finally spoke from where she sat. Her voice was bitter and angry, as Percy expected. "It would solve a lot of our problems!"
"Nobody asked you!" Amber snapped at her.
Clarisse glared at the daughter of Aphrodite. "This meeting was to address the head counselors who were there! I'm amongst those, whether you like it or not! I'm allowed to have my opinion!"
"Not when that opinion's only going to cause more problems!"
Clarisse rose from her seat, looking all the world like she was going to throttle the blonde girl. Chris quickly stood up to hold her back. He knew Clarisse's temper was short and the way Amber acted was not helping at all. He looked apologetically towards Chiron.
"Excuse us," he said before turning to Clarisse and speaking to her softly. He then led her out of the room.
Amber gave a huff and flipped her blonde curls over her shoulders. "Well!"
"Don't act so heartless," Tayen told her. "You know she's angry at Luke for what happened to Silena."
Amber glared at her, a scathing look that nearly matched Clarisse's. "Don't talk to me about Silena! She was a traitor!"
"She was your sister and a hero!" Tayen countered. "She sacrificed her life to get the Ares cabin in the battle! I was there, I saw it!"
"She was a spy for Kronos' army! I don't care what anyone says about her, she betrayed us!"
"STOP IT!" Percy shouted, effectively silencing the argument between the two girls. "This is not why we're here! We're here to decide what to do about Luke, not fight against each other!"
The group was silent, no one daring to speak for a long moment. Percy settled back, anger coursing through his blood. Camp had started out so well this summer and now things were spiraling out of control. First Clarisse had arrived with her grudge against Luke, then Luke had started delving into his past and now there were fights going on over the alignments in a battle that had ended a year ago.
Dionysus gave a mock sigh and closed his magazine. "I see this meeting is going nowhere," he said. He shifted and stood up. "If no one minds, I'm going to leave before all you brats give me a headache."
With that, the wine god left, to Zeus knew where -- possibly to wrangle up some pinochle opponents to waste the afternoon. Silence continued for a minute longer after the departure of the camp director. No one was quite sure what to do or say; Dionysus had been right about the meeting going nowhere.
Finally, Jereth spoke up. "I move that we slowly start bringing Luke back into the camp circle."
"Easy for you to say," Conner said. "You’ve already befriended him."
Jereth gave a shrug. "Apollo and Hermes have been friends for centuries. It's only natural for a son of Apollo to get along with a son of Hermes. I'm more worried that you two," -- here, he indicated both Stoll brothers -- "have been so bitter against your own half-brother."
"We have our reasons," Travis told him. "It's none of your business."
Tayen cleared her throat to cut off any argument that might start up. "I second Jereth's motion. If we can get the campers to accept Luke, even slowly, he might settle. He may still wonder what's happening, what he's missing, but it may slow his inquiries."
There were nods around the table, from Jereth, Percy, Nico and Malcolm, as well as a few others who had remained silent throughout the meeting. Chiron raised his right hand.
"Those in favor?"
* * * * *
Percy did not see Luke at dinner that night. Alima, still upset with him from earlier, sat at the opposite end of the table, turned so that she could speak with one of her friends from the Demeter table behind her. Percy picked at his food, unable to eat. He eventually dropped his fork onto his plate and pushed his food away. While he couldn't leave before Dionysus released the campers to go to the campfire, he could at least prop his arms on the table to look around himself.
With the tables rearranged, closer together and no longer the Olympian 'u' shape, it was easier to get a full view of the number of campers. The Olympian tables were still in the order they'd been in, but where they had once been arranged in a 'u' shape, they were now neat rows. Hades' table, occupied alone by Nico, had been moved up, next to Poseidon's table, so that the tables of the Big Three were together, making Hades and his children seem accepted into the Olympian circle.
Percy looked across the pavilion, looking at the new tables. He could see Tayen at the Hecate table with her sisters. At the Hebe table, he could see a few of the newer campers enjoying their dinner. He saw Emma and Ella at the Aura table, their backs to him as they chatted with their siblings. Their pinkies were hooked behind them, Emma's left and Ella's right. No one at the table seemed to mind; it was probably just a twin thing.
There were too many tables to look at all of them. Many of them were hidden from Percy's sight, lost in the crowd. The dining pavilion had been rebuilt in order to fit them all, but many of the tables were sparsely populated. Some of the children of the minor gods had been at camp the whole time Percy had been, living with the Hermes cabin until the decree that all gods had to claim their children. After that, over half the Hermes cabin had been sorted into the various new cabins. Percy could recognize some of them from the time he’d spent in the Hermes cabin several years ago.
Looking around him now, Percy realized just how much camp had really and truly changed. Again, he was trying to see things from Luke's perspective. It was probably daunting for the older half-blood. As far as Luke knew, he'd left when there were but twelve tables, not all of them filled. Now, there were twice as many, at least. For someone who was returning to camp after all the changes, it would definitely be sort of intimidating.
Percy realized, too, how it affected Luke to see so many of his friends from before and not have any connection to them anymore. Even with the newer campers that admired Luke now, to lose the respect of half the camp, it would be lonely, confusing and, above all else, frustrating, especially when Luke didn't remember anything to tell him why.
Luke doesn't need us avoiding him right now, Percy thought, as his revelation echoed through his mind. He doesn't need pity or isolation. He needs someone to help him.
He'd been selfish, Percy realized. By avoiding Luke, he was thinking of himself, looking out for himself. He hadn't thought of how Luke would feel. Putting himself into Luke's shoes, so to speak, he could see just how unfair everyone had been treating the recovered son of Hermes. Admittedly, he thought before that Luke didn't deserve the second chance he'd been given, but now he saw that, too, had been selfish of him. Again, he'd been thinking of himself, what he'd lost or nearly lost.
Maybe I should give Luke another chance, he mused. He thought about how much he'd liked Luke when the two of them had first met. True, Luke had been planning the whole time to get him killed, start a war against the Olympians, but Percy hadn't known that then.
Percy remembered thinking of how cool Luke was then. How much Luke made Percy feel like he belonged, like he had found another family to care for him until he could get his mother back. Luke had been so good to him, teaching him how to handle a sword, showing him things around the camp. Just hanging out with Luke then had been fun. Deep down, Percy missed those days, before Luke betrayed them all.
Thinking about then and how Luke was now, Percy decided, despite the fact that Luke had been so threatening towards him earlier, that it was high time to let the past be the past. It was time to give Luke that second chance that he’d earned in the gods' eyes. He wasn't sure it was the brightest idea, all considering his recent...dream, but he had to stop thinking of himself.
When Dionysus released the campers to head for the campfire, Percy hung back at the table for a minute, letting everyone go before him. When the last of the campers had filed towards the campfire, Percy, instead, headed for the cabins. He hurried across the grounds, zigzagging through the numerous cabins until he spotted Cabin Eleven, the Hermes cabin. Hoping that Luke was there and not out somewhere else, Percy hurried up the steps to the door and knocked loudly.
"Luke?" he called after a minute of no response.
From inside the cabin, Percy heard movement, a shuffling and then the sound of steady footsteps. A moment later, the door opened and Luke appeared. The older half-blood looked exhausted, ruffled, as if he'd just crawled out of bed. His blue and gold eyes were half-lidded and his hair was tousled.
"Oh. Percy," he greeted, sounding nonchalant, like their encounter that afternoon hadn't happened at all. "Hey, come in."
Percy nodded and took a cautious step into the cabin. When it didn't appear that Luke was going to attack him or anything, Percy turned to him, ready to speak. However, the other beat him to the punch.
"Hey, sorry about this afternoon," Luke said. "I hope I didn't freak you out or anything. I've just been having a bad week."
"Y-yeah," Percy replied. "Actually, I wanted to talk you about this afternoon."
Luke didn't even flinch. Instead, he gestured for Percy to follow him, which the teen did. Luke led Percy through the cabin, which was so much cleaner and roomier now that the Hermes cabin had been properly sorted, over to his bed.
"Feel free to sit," Luke told him. "Don't mind the clutter."
Percy noted Luke's armor and other possessions thrown over the surface of the bed. He shifted a few things aside so he could seat himself without sitting on something. Luke crouched down and rummaged around under the bed for a moment before pulling out a couple cans of Coca Cola. Knowing that Luke was a son of Hermes, Percy didn't doubt that the older half-blood had snuck out of camp to retrieve it and probably had a full stash of similar mortal goodies tucked under his bed.
Luke handed Percy one of the Cokes before popping his own open and taking a long, slow drink. After he did that, he casually sat next to Percy.
"So, you wanted to talk?"
Percy held his Coke can in his hands, trying to think of the best way to explain his thinking to Luke. "I was thinking about what you said earlier. About everyone, about me, treating you differently." He looked up at the older half-blood. "I'm sorry."
Luke paused to study Percy. For a moment, it didn't look as if Luke were going to accept any apology that Percy offered. His duo-tone eyes focused on the younger half-blood, their piercing gaze searching him for something, perhaps a sign that Percy was hesitant or false in his apology. Percy was still, holding in his breath and trying to force down the nagging voice in his mind that whispered about the dreams he'd been having.
It was almost a full minute before Luke spoke again. "Apology accepted."
Percy blinked. Really? Just like that? He let go of the breath he'd been holding. "You're not mad, still?"
Luke gave a shrug. "Yeah, I am, but you're at least making an effort to fix things. That's why you're really here, isn't it?"
"Well, kinda," Percy replied, giving a nod. "Yeah."
"Then that's a step forward." Luke leaned back, propping himself up with one arm. He flashed Percy a grin. "I still have a question for you."
Percy stared at him. Depending on the question, he wasn't sure how he'd respond. He was still under oath and couldn't speak of Luke's past. Coming here had been a step towards mending things between the two of them, but even then, there were lines he couldn't cross.
"Shoot," he said, hoping for the best.
Luke looked back at him. Once again, their eyes met and, this time, Percy felt a sharp, warm feeling in his gut. The feeling wasn't unlike the sensation he felt when he summoned the waters, but it was deeper than that. He noticed, a little worriedly, that his breath had hitched and his heart skipped a beat. He froze, taking a moment to force down the blush that he could feel trying to take over his face.
What is wrong with me? Percy questioned himself. Why am I acting like I'm attracted to Luke?
"Percy? Did you hear me?"
Percy looked up at Luke and realized that he'd been so preoccupied with his thoughts that he’d completely missed whatever Luke had asked. "S-sorry," he stammered, feeling the blush spread over his face in embarrassment. "What did you say?"
"I asked you why you chose now to say this to me," Luke told him.
Percy scrunched his nose in confusion. "Why now?" he repeated. He paused for a moment, then gave a shrug. "Why not now?"
Luke gave a frown, obviously not quite satisfied with the circumnavigated answer Percy had given him. He seemed to let it go, though, lifting his drink to his lips again. Percy took the opportunity to pop his own Coke open and drink from it, relishing in the cool taste, the feel of the carbon bubbles on his tongue and the rush of sugar in his mouth.
"So," Percy said after a long moment of silence. "How come you weren't at dinner?"
Luke finished off his Coke and tossed the can into a bin a couple feet away from his bed. "Slept right through it," he replied. "I've been having trouble sleeping lately. I keep having these weird dreams."
Percy paused. "Dreams?"
The older half-blood gave a nod. "Yeah. In them, I'm walking through camp, but there's nobody there. Not until I get to...well, it changes; the lake, the beach, the arena. There's someone else there when I reach wherever the dream takes me. I always ask the same question: who am I?"
"And?"
Percy already knew what Luke was going to say next. The dreams were too familiar, too much like the ones he'd been having. He just wanted to hear Luke tell him what happened next. Luke looked straight at him, his eyes once again that unsettling gold-flecked blue.
"You never say anything."
* * * * *
After confirming that Luke was having the same dreams as he was, Percy excused himself from the Hermes cabin to retire to his own cabin. By the time he'd left and gotten to Cabin Three, campfire was over and the rest of the campers were heading for the cabins. Percy paused long enough to apologize to Alima for that morning before changing for bed. Alima crawled into bed as Percy went to switch the lights off. She almost instantly nodded off from a long day, but when Percy got into bed, he stayed awake.
Admittedly, he wasn't sure he wanted to go to sleep at all. He was a little wary of having more dreams. Though Percy had decided to give Luke another chance, he was definitely not ready to have any deep connection to the son of Hermes, especially any connection that led to a relationship. He'd just broken up with Annabeth a few months ago and had every intention of getting back together with her once the rebuilding of Olympus was finished, or at least getting close to being finished.
Still, even as he thought of this now, Percy also thought of how his body had reacted earlier, when he was near Luke. That had definitely been more than an unsettling feeling; he'd actually been turned on by the way Luke had looked at him. He wasn't sure if that had been because of the recent dreams or something else. Whichever it was, Percy wasn't sure he was comfortable with it. He wasn't attracted to Luke, not in the slightest. In fact, he'd hated Luke for the last few years.
Then why was he having such suggestive dreams about the older half-blood?
What about Luke? Why was Luke having dreams that mirrored Percy’s own? On the one hand, Percy could sort of understand; Luke was looking for answers and he had those answers. On the other hand, Percy wasn't sure just how closely Luke's dreams reflected his own. There were certain things you just didn't ask someone and whether they were having wet dreams of you was probably up there in the top five.
Percy sat up after a while, looking towards the fountain in the corner. It had been repaired some time ago and once again ran, lit from within and providing an endless source of mist that Percy could use to summon Iris in order to send a message to anyone he needed to speak to. Right now, Percy needed to speak to someone about what had been happening.
Getting out of bed, the son of Poseidon grabbed a golden drachma from the bedside table where he kept a small stash of coins, just for this sort of use. He crossed the cabin quietly, so as not to wake Alima. It wasn't really necessary to keep quiet; Alima was a pretty heavy sleeper for a young girl. However, Percy had learned firsthand a few days ago how much the girl didn't like being woken up.
Percy stood in front of the fountain for a long minute, running his thumb over the drachma in his palm. He wanted to talk to someone, but who could he talk to? He really wanted to talk about Luke and how things were with him and there were only so many people who would understand. There was no way Percy could talk to Annabeth about the new developments with Luke -- she would take things the wrong way for sure. Calling Thalia was out of the question; it would be the same with her as it would be with Annabeth. He couldn't call his mother because, though he trusted her with just about anything else, this was something he didn't really want to talk to his mother about.
He thought briefly of calling his father, but he wasn't sure that was much different from calling his mother. Besides, Poseidon was probably still busy with the rebuilding of his own kingdom; the Storm Bringer's kingdom had been severely damaged in the battle a year ago and it would be a long time before Poseidon had it back up to par. Calling Tyson wouldn't be much help either, since Percy didn't want to have to deal with the confusion his half-brother would certainly feel and, frankly, Tyson wouldn't be his first or last choice to talk in depth with about Luke or the dreams the two of them had been having.
Percy sat down in front of the fountain, staring at the water that fell from the sprout. He was out of options. There was no one he could talk to about this. He propped his elbow on his knee and let his chin fall into his hand as he watched the fountain, absently.
A soft knocking at the cabin door caught his attention a few minutes later. Percy jerked and scrambled to stand up. He briefly wondered who could possibly be at the door so late -- it had to be nearing midnight by now, maybe past; lights were usually out by eleven and Percy had been awake for a while since then. Stepping over to the door, Percy opened it and was a little surprised to see Grover standing outside.
"You know, if you need to talk, you can always call for me," the satyr told him, giving Percy a hurt look.
"I didn't think this was something you'd want to talk about," Percy admitted.
"Perrrrcy," Grover bleated softly in exasperation. "You're my best friend; if something's bothering you, I'm always there to talk."
Percy nodded and gestured for Grover to come into the cabin. If they were going to talk, it would be better for both of them to be inside. Grover stepped into the cabin and headed for one of the empty bunks close to the door. Percy sat on the bunk next to it so he could face Grover.
"So, how much do you know already?" Percy asked. "I bet that empathy link between us has given you an idea."
Grover gave a snort. "A little more than an 'idea', Percy. But, you know, being a Lord of the Wild has its perks; I'm stronger now, so I can control the link."
Percy flinched at the implications in what his friend had just said. "So you saw?"
"Let's not talk about that part right now," Grover said hurriedly. Percy could see a blush crawl over Grover's face, which was enough of an answer for him. "You've been thinking about Luke all day. For the last couple of days."
"Yeah, it's kind of hard not to," Percy told him. "Between the dreams and him cornering me for answers, you know. I just need someone to talk to about things."
"So talk."
Percy told him everything; at least, the things he thought were important. He told Grover about the encounter at Thalia's tree, about the meeting and Percy's realizations at dinner. He made sure to tell him about going to see Luke after dinner and the fact that Luke was also having dreams that echoed Percy's. He finished the conversation off by mentioning that he was trying now to be Luke's friend.
"You sure that's a good idea?" Grover asked. "I mean, with your past with him. He's tried to kill you dozens of times, remember?"
"He doesn't remember that," Percy pointed out. "He doesn't remember anything that happened. Asclepius made sure of that. I don't know about anyone else, but I think it's worth trying."
"Percy, I'm not sure of that. What if just by being his friend, you start reminding him of things from before?"
"It's not like I'm going to tell him anything," Percy said. "The oath on the Styx, remember?"
Grover shook his head. "You can't say anything, but what you do might bring back memories. Asclepius anointed him with water from the Lethe, but that doesn't have the full effect of the river of Forgetfulness, which might be why Luke knows something's up."
"So you're saying we need to just go on ignoring Luke?"
"I'm saying you need to be careful, Percy," Grover corrected him. "Luke knows you're the key to unlocking his memories. He might try to force you to tell him."
Percy thought about that. It was probably dangerous for both him and Luke for them to be friends, but as Percy thought about it, he knew that it was a risk he was willing to take. Whether anyone else would agree with him or not, it didn't matter to him. He wanted to give Luke a second chance and, maybe, get things back to how they used to be.
"Maybe I'll get lucky," Percy said. "If the campers accept Luke again, maybe he won't need to know his past. I'm willing to take a chance."
Grover gave a sigh. "If you're sure. I can't stop you. But one last thing, Percy."
Percy looked at him. "What?"
"These dreams you two have been having? They could be a warning against a friendship between you two."
"I know," Percy nodded. "But again, I'm willing to take the chance."
Grover gave a nod in return, then let the topic drop. He bade goodnight to Percy and headed back out of the cabin. After the conversation with Grover, Percy did feel better and decided to go to back to bed. Though he was a bit wary of his dreams, he remembered something Apollo had told him; there was no need to be afraid of dreams.
As Percy crawled into bed, he let his eyes slip shut and curled up under the blankets. He'd let the dreams come.
Author's Note: Final word count for this chapter reached 5,365. I'm doing well. Though, I seriously need to stop writing this so late at night. It messes with my dreams and makes me want to write smutty side fics. Anyways, I hope this chapter didn't disappoint; admittedly, most of it was filler, but I got a couple key scenes in. As always, reviews make me write more, so share your thoughts!