[insert eye-catching title here]
wish
meulins | luke/percy
PG-13 ~1492 w
a few days ago, if someone had asked him if he was excited for his birthday, he would've said that he had no time to even think about it. seeing as there was a war he... they had to conquer. he didn't even know if he was going to enjoy his life once he turned sixteen because, according to the great prophecy, a child of the eldest gods, obviously a child of the big three, was going to turn sixteen, and that's when the trouble starts. apparently, the hero's soul will be destroyed by a cursed blade. now, it's not that he was bragging or anything but who else was turning sixteen during the titan war? surely no one else but him. so he had the world on his shoulders just thinking about having to sacrifice his life for the greater good. hopefully his mom would understand. she always did. she even gave him her blessing for the whole river styx thing, saying that he was grown up and she had to let go. now, if the world hadn't been at stake that time, he would have felt touched, maybe even cried a little, but all that filled his head were thoughts of his life ending, the fates cutting a piece of string before his very eyes, and a cursed blade.
he thought of his friends, annabeth chase, daughter of athena, with her blond hair and storm gray eyes, he was going to miss their friendly banters, he would miss the times they worked together. he thought of grover underwood, his satyr best bro. he and grover had been friends even before he found out that he was a demigod. grover protected him, and he was thankful for that. hopefully, the empathy link they had wasn't going to kill grover once his life ended, grover deserved more. he and juniper deserved more. he thought of chiron, who he always thought was mr. brunner. chiron had always thought highly of him. saying he was his best student. he didn't deserve to be called that, especially not once his life ended by a cursed blade. his other friends passed his mind fleetingly, as if he were watching a film on fast-forward. nico di angelo, son of hades, who he hadn't trusted for a long time, but now, he treated him like a little brother. clarisse la rue, daughter of ares, they weren't on friendly terms when they first met, but he still considered her one of his friends. he remembered rachel elizabeth dare, a mortal who could see through the mist. she had helped him a lot. silena beauregard, who was not only a beautiful daughter of aphrodite, but also one of the greatest fighters he had ever met. charles beckendorf, silena's boyfriend. he had sacrificed his life to destroy the princess andromeda. lost his life to an explosion of greek fire. the stoll brothers, troublesome brothers, those two. they were the greatest counselors the hermes cabin ever had. hermes... luke castellan, the previous head counselor of the hermes cabin. he welcomed percy to the cabin, to camp. he taught him how to use a sword, he taught him how to fight, to defend himself. luke castellan, the person who he considered a cool person, who he thought was a great hero. luke castellan, a person who betrayed him, all of them, he joined the titan's side. luke. oh, how foolish he was. he wished he never trusted him so much, wished he never looked up to him. if he didn't do any of this, he wouldn't have began to like him. but, just like a lot of things that happened to percy's life ever since camp half-blood, it was too late. always too late.
luke had, within him, the soul of the titan lord, kronos. it was a no-brainer that he had to stop him. luke was being corrupted by the soul of the titan lord. he wanted to save olympus, his friends, even the gods and luke. he didn't want anyone else dying. too many people were lost in the battle of the labyrinth. he didn't want that same mistake to happen. no, not this time. but even though those thoughts ran in his head, he knew for a fact that some lives had to be taken. first one down, like he said, was charles. and then silena, who had admitted to being the traitor. and then luke. percy had thought that he himself was the hero of the prophecy. but when rachel told him that he, in fact, wasn't, he wanted to protect whoever the hero was. but of course, it had to be luke. the cursed blade, the single choice. it made sense once luke had annabeth's blade in his hands. it was crystal clear once he stabbed himself on his achilles' heel. he couldn't see anything, but he could hear kronos' screams. and then luke castellan lay on the ground, bleeding to his death. he pleaded for percy not to let something like this happen again, and then he slumped into percy's arms, dead to the world.
now, it was the dawn of his birthday. the titan war was over. he should've been happy, really. everyone celebrated. the gods offered percy the chance to be a god, but he couldn't accept it. not when the price of saving olympus and everyone else cost the life of a loved one. instead, he asked the gods to not leave their children alone, they deserved to be claimed. again, he should've been happy for the campers who were going to be claimed, but in all honesty... he was not in the mood to celebrate. once he went back to camp, everyone greeted him, a blue tiered birthday cake waited for him in his cabin. he tried to look happy, but he was sure he wasn't fooling anyone. grover and annabeth knew not to disturb him whenever he was having his moments. so they left him for the rest of the day.
in the afternoon, percy stayed by the sea. he looked at the vast expanse of salt water, maybe he should visit his father? but then again, he really wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone. he stayed there until dusk. once it was time to eat dinner, everyone gathered around merrily. their plates filled with plenty. everyone just looked so happy, percy didn't want to ruin their moods. he sat alone, because of course, the son of poseidon had no half-blood siblings. tyson was in the underwater palace with their father and the rest of the other cyclopes. so much for a great birthday. he offered part of his meal, since he didn't have an appetite at all.
as night time came, everyone settled into their cabins, although a bit reluctant to. percy looked at the huge cabin he was in, and sighed. he just wasn't feeling it at all. he didn't feel like it was his birthday, he wasn't happy at all.
'smile a bit. it's good for you, kid,' luke's words rang in his head. he really hated the son of hermes right now. leaving him like that, without even saying a proper goodbye. the asshole.
"i wish you were still alive, so i could punch you in the face for being an insufferable asshole." percy muttered to himself. he hadn't even noticed that his eyes were tearing up. he was shaken to the core, and too tired to comprehend anything. he slumped onto his bed, face hidden in his pillow.
the dream was weird. he seemed to be somewhere in the underworld. which, again, was weird. he'd only been to the place twice or thrice, so what was he doing here? surely he didn't want to be here... or did he? luke was in elysium after all. but he wasn't in front of the golden gates of paradise, heck he wasn't even near the damned place!
his thoughts were broken when he heard someone sobbing. he looked around a found a man, he looked to be in his mid-twenties? percy wasn't sure... he had that sort of timeless look that the gods and goddesses had. was this man a god? then he noticed that the man's neck was bloody, it was leaking with mortal blood. so he wasn't a god. so, why was he bleeding? and why was he crying in this unknown part of the underworld?
"i was foolish, so foolish. forgive me, eurydice. all i wanted was to see your beautiful face once more." the name rang a few bells in percy's head. he tried to remember where he heard it.
of course. the story of orpheus and his descent to the underworld, to retrieve eurydice's soul. just as he realized that, orpheus began to glow, and then he was flickering. after that, he just disappeared, in a flash of light.
was it possible that he could do the same for luke? he didn't want to get his hopes up.