#Pax is immediately going to piss off Alabaster
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jflashandclash · 6 months ago
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This was one of the few rooms where Pax didn’t feel like he had to smile. Or hold himself together.
Which of course meant he smiled and held himself together while entering.
                The entrance had to be elaborate. He had set up acrobat swings, smoke machines, laser lights, and a disco ball. There were, in fact, projectors that could be used to create a whole line of backup dancers along either wall. They were on remote-controlled swivels, in the event he wanted the dancers on the ceiling or floor.
                Today, he went with a basic powerslide into the room.
                When he fell several feet short of Joey’s statue, Pax scooted forward with as much dignity and honor as he could muster. Firelord Zuko would be proud.  Once he reached her, Pax crawled up beside her and leaned back against her legs.
                Pax had spent a long time brainstorming something that would…
Annoy her
Give her human contact, if she could still feel it
Not be creepy. They’re Greek demigods. They don’t need more creep.
Pax had vetted different options with Euna, Axel, and Alabaster. They all agreed on using her legs as a back rest.
                “Joey, may I say your makeup looks like it came from an exceptionally well aimed canon today?” Pax asked.
                Her makeup looked fantastic. He and Lou Ellen spent a long time painting her face to Joey’s exact makeup preference. Pax dusted her bangs with a different color each week—this one was Flamingo Fuchsia. Now, her bangs matched his tie and sock line up for the week, so they could be twinsies. After each makeover session, Pax would take a Polaroid of her face and hold it up for her as it developed. That way, she could never accuse him of painting her like a clown without her consent.
                When they got her changed back, he was definitely going to do a clown makeup night.
Pax slipped out a CD—yes a CD, Euna said Joey preferred it old school—from his vest. He leaned to plop it into Joey’s equally old-school CD player. They’d taken it, her bookcase of CDs, her band posters, and her dresser from her house, after explaining to Mr. Song “Sorry, pertrification is an occupational hazard. No, Camp Half-Blood doesn’t offer worker’s comp.”
Through this, Pax thought that they had the perfect new business model: Statuary Storage: Better than Medusa. Axel and Alabaster seemed unfortunately underwhelmed by such promise.
Pax hit play, engulfing the room in upbeat playfulness. “Girl’s Generation released a new alllbuuummm,” he said, “And I found something for you.”
He fished it out of his vest as well. It was another Polaroid and had become Pax’s favorite photo. Well, he also loved his beach photos of Alabaster and Kally. And the photo of that play he directed where they reenacted Pax repeatedly kicking Jason in the balls. THAT was great.
“Do you remember when we took this, your Songness?” Pax asked, holding up the photo of them posing for the camera in Camp Half-Blood shirts. “I do remember us comparing eye liners. And discussing the best black nail polish. And—”
“Ajax.”
Pax shrieked and scrambled to his feet, clutching the Polaroid to his chest.
                Alabaster stood in the doorway, raising an eyebrow at him. He held a massive chunk of... white rock. He looked ready to flop onto his side from the weight, cartoon-style.
                Pax threw his arms around Joey’s legs. “This is my Joey time, Ala. You get your cool witch time with her tomorrow. And I do not appreciate that you’re trying to upstage my gift of Girl’s Generation with a rock.”
                “Girls--?” Alabaster started to ask, shook his head, and staggered into the room. “Ajax, I’ve been looking for this since you showed me Ms. Song. This is a piece of Pygmalion’s statue.” He was near panting as he plopped it onto the ground beside them. Unfortunately, not sweaty enough to want to take off his shirt. Or the rest of his clothing. Thalia and Reyna didn’t know how easy they had it with Axel’s shirts’ propensity for wandering. “And don’t call me Ala.”
“You spent months looking for a pig’s statue?” Pax sighed. “Ala—”
“Don’t—”
“I know you didn’t know Joey very well.”
“She was dead when we became reacquainted.” Alabaster straightened and flipped notebook from his jacket pocket.
“So was Jack, and that doesn’t stop you from asking his swine preferences. That doesn’t even look like a pig.”
“Suid preference,” Alabaster absently corrected, “Ajax, Pygmalion was the statue that was turned into a human. This is part of the base. I think I can use it as a channeling base to create resonance between Ms. Song and something inclined to become animate. Transfiguration has never been my specialty, but—”
Pax perked up. “Your pig stone can change Joey back?!” He hugged her tighter, heart thudding.
Alabaster’s severe expression cracked to a confident smirk. “I enjoy challenges. I think I can handle one from the Queen of the Gods. Let us prepare for some witchcraft.”
Pax glanced at the photo of Joey with her tongue stuck out, looking so happy. She had added sparkles and a note. Pax couldn’t wait to tease her about it and make her pin it into their van.
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I LOVE THIS!
Jace's art is always incredible, and I keep wanting to post little shorts as a thank you. <3 I hope you like this one!
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SUCH WONDERFUL FANART!!! PAX AND JOEY ARE SO HONORED!
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Souvenirs for when it's over
Characters from @jflashandclash 's series: The Traitors of Olympus
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jflashandclash · 5 years ago
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Tales From Mount Othrys
Luke: Big Boy Conversations II
           They couldn’t meet up until the sun was setting. As usual, things around camp got in the way: settling fights that broke out, making sure the mortal cleaning staff didn’t go on strike with all the monster ooze, getting Helios and Morpheus to stop playing matchmaker. This last one was particularly difficult. The former sun driver believed he could still see all things and knew what was best for people and Morpheus could subliminally message potential matches in their dreams.
         Very annoying.
         By the time the centaurs dropped Axel, Luke, and Jack on the cliff’s edge with a cooler full of drinks and snacks, the stars had risen into the sky.
         Luke handed the centaurs a six-pack of low-alcohol beer to appease them and make sure they didn’t get too drunk. Riding with an intoxicated mount? A terrible idea. As soon as the centaurs found out that half-bloods could buy alcohol for them, Luke and Jack had to set regulations about RWI. Riding While Intoxicated.
         Axel wasted no time. He took a water bottle from the cooler, sat down on the edge of the cliff, criss-crossed his legs, and closed his eyes.
         Jack twitched. As happy as he was that Luke agreed to work on his mental health with Axel’s help, Jack couldn’t sit still for meditation. To keep himself from distracting his friends, he would hum, sing, or play an instrument. Tonight, he’d brought a sitar.
         Luke was disappointed to see Axel immediately go into meditation mode. He wanted to talk to these two about something. “I’m not going to be able to focus today,” Luke decided.
         Axel cracked an eye open. Up here, he never looked at Luke with fear or suspicion. Probably because he could shove me over the cliff faster than I could say, “Zeus sucks.”
         “Your life would be a lot easier if you could get along with Alabaster,” Axel said, as always, a little too on the mark. “Though, his hatred does have some merit. Keeps you on your toes during training.”
         Jack snorted, strumming a calming tune on his sitar.
         That was why Luke started meditation in the first place. Luke had hit Alabaster. Not during training and not at a time that Alabaster felt he could hit back. Luke hadn’t meant to. He hadn’t remembered doing it until he saw the welt forming on Alabaster’s cheek a day later.
         Luke wondered how many of his troops he’d hit in a blind rage. When Luke expressed this to Jack, scared he’d hit Jack, Jack had suggested talking to Axel. Apparently, Axel’s biological father thought Axel had anger management issues. Despite Axel’s resentment when discussing his father, it was obvious he liked the meditation.
         “I’m tired of him saying my plan won’t work. He doesn’t know Thalia and he doesn’t know Annabeth. Neither of them will fail us,” Luke said. Instead of joining Axel in his criss-crossed stance, Luke picked two beers out of the cooler. He offered one to Axel.
         Axel shook his head. He stretched his legs out in front of him and dangled them over the edge. After a moment of fishing around in his pockets, he withdrew a cigarette and lighter. “I don’t drink,” said the fifteen-year-old as he cupped his hand over the cigarette to light it.
         Jack paused his strumming. He held the sitar by the neck so he could fold his arms. “Where did you get those and who started you on them?” He reached to grab the cigarette from Axel’s lips.
         Axel swatted his hand away, a dangerous game so close to the edge. “The convenience store. Santiago. Buzz off.”
         Santiago was Axel’s blood father. That ended the conversation. Jack withdrew his hand and returned to strumming. Now, the tune was sadder. ‘Think of what those will do to your vocal cords,” Jack said.
         “Didn’t you want me to be the raspy background singer?” Axel said. He glared at his “dad” and blew a puff of smoke straight at him. The wind whipped it up the coast, twisting the swirls away before they reached the son of Apollo.
         Luke frowned, thinking of what little he knew of Axel and Pax’s biological father. A month ago, when the boys were joking around in the upstairs pools, someone—Matthias?—commented how cool it was that Axel and Pax already had tattoos: Mayan hieroglyphs that peaked out at their hips. When asked how their parents had been cool with it, Axel left without a word.
         Twenty minutes later, Alabaster and Pax ran to grab Jack, saying Axel had peeled off his tattooed skin with a hunting knife. Jack had panicked to Luke that one of his boys had hurt himself. When asked, Pax would only say that the tattoo reminded Axel of his biological father.
         Luke shook off the memory, focusing on the conversation at hand.
         Once Axel was sure that Jack wouldn’t comment on the cigarettes again, Axel turned his attention back to Luke. “It’s good to have people that are willing to point out potential problems in a plan,” Axel said with a shrug. The Witch Boy. Right.
         Luke downed half his bottle. He sat beside Axel on the ledge, scowling off. He admired the fact that Alabaster was willing to criticize anyone, including the Titan Lord. That pissed him off even more. “It’s not hard for Alabaster to be ballsy about it. A third of the army is related to him. And that trust-fund bastard owns half the ship. He knows he’s untouchable.”
         Meanwhile, Luke had… what? Friends who didn’t believe he was doing this to help them? That didn’t know what was the best for them? A mother driven to insanity by his asshole of a father, neither of which could or would do anything for him. His mother had barely been able to give him a blessing for… for what he had to do.
         Besides, with his money and his relation, it didn’t matter how Alabaster acted. He could be the creep that lurks in the lab and no one would notice or care. Monsters, gods, and demigods alike were watching Luke, looking for a weakness, for something to mark him as unworthy.
         You are unworthy.
         Luke shuddered.
         Then, why didn’t Kronos pick someone else?
         He shook off the thought, trying to keep calm. He took another long swing, tossed his beer bottle to the side, and grabbed the one he’d pulled for Axel. They would get to that, to what he really wanted to talk to them about. For now, he wanted to pretend they were just hanging out. Had he ever had that with friends? Been able to hang out when he wasn’t on the run for his life?
         Or sanity, that voice cooed.
         “And then he talks about Thalia like he knows her,” Luke said, remembering where they’d left off. Alabaster being an asshole. Right.
         Luke’s hesitation hadn’t gone unnoticed. Axel narrowed his golden eyes. Jack played a few tense cords. “He thinks the plan with Thalia will fail,” Luke continued, like he didn’t sense their concern. “But, Thalia, she’s strong. After all her Dad put her through—put us through—she’ll see the way. I’ll bet she’s just biding her time to convince Annabeth. Annabeth was fed their lies for years, so she’ll need some persuading. She’s so stubborn.”
         He laughed, thinking about the bounce of her curls. As Axel tapped some ashes into the whipping wind, Luke shoved Axel’s shoulder. “What about you? What girl is keeping you from exploring the beauties we have here?”
         Jack had been whining for weeks that Axel didn’t have interest in anyone. Although Pax was silent around Luke, apparently the little brother was the opposite, babbling about the awesome and gorgeous demigods and creatures aboard the ship.
         Axel shrugged and frowned slightly. His gold eyes drifted off to the distance. Out on the water, they could see the bright lights of their cruise ship, docked offshore.
         “You spend a lot of time with Mercedes,” Jack said lightly behind him.
         Axel cracked his neck. His expression went blank. “The only mistress Mercedes has time for is her spymaster project. Her eyes are only on Ajax and me because we’re useful.”
         Jack made an indignant snort over the sound of his sitar. “That’s not enough for my boy—”
         Luke reached backwards to slap Jack’s foot. If Jack wanted the Pax brothers to open up to him as a friend, he had to stop the dad talks.
         “I doubt that,” Luke said. “Though, hard to say with that girl. She’s such a stiff.”
         Axel covered a smile by taking a drag on his cigarette.
         Despite the number of times Pax swore to others that Mercedes was a prankster with an evil sense of humor, Luke had only seen her strict, curt, dry, and tense. She’d spent the last few months rubbing it in Luke’s face how badly they needed a spy unit in New Rome and how shitty their defenses were against enemy spies. Humor or no, she was proving her worth. Though, Flynn would be livid if Axel became a spy instead of a member of the Assault and Battery Unit. Assuming Axel had time to be part of anything with Jack’s crazy projects keeping him busy.
         Luke blinked, realizing how popular this kid had become.  
         “Come on, man. You’re really good with the girls. Even Ethel likes you. And that prickly Echinda doesn’t like anyone,” Luke said.
         The smile vanished from Axel’s face. “It’s because I meet her on her terms. You can’t rush her. She’s… she’s still recovering. You gotta let her decide how close she wants to stand and you gotta remember not to block her exit from the room.” Axel pulled his knees up and leaned his chin against them. “That miscarriage was insult to injury for her. And don’t even get me started on separating her from Charlie. Child of the Big Three or not, Charlie is five.  The kid should keep using the Hyperborean giants as a jungle gym, not being prepped to replace Thalia and Percy if they fail.”
         Luke gritted his teeth. He didn’t know Charlie, the daughter of Zeus, had been told she could be the child of the prophecy. He wondered if that was Alabaster’s work or one of the other Titans.
         “You seem to know a lot about how to work with people like Ethel,” Luke said carefully.
         Axel puffed up his cheeks and popped them. The smoldering on his cigarette had burned down to the filter. Casually, as though he was going to press the butt into the ground, he lowered his hand, then pressed the hot tip under his shirt, into his hip and the scar tissue of the former tattoo.
         Axel didn’t even flinch.
         Between Jack and Axel, Luke wondered what it said about him if he preferred to befriend crazy people.
         Jack must not have noticed Axel’s movement. He continued to play his sitar, adding a soft hum into the breeze.
         Axel released the cigarette and hugged his legs tightly. “It’s hard for me to accept that the women around me aren’t being paid or threatened to enjoy my company, or that they don’t want something from me,” he muttered, “I don’t like to talk about it.”
         The music stopped again.
         Luke frowned. Why can’t we have a normal talk about hot chicks? He didn’t even want to think about what had happened to Axel and Pax to give Axel that impression.
         Jack hopped down beside Axel, keeping his legs as far from the cliff’s edge as possible while also sitting beside him. He slipped an arm around Axel’s shoulders in a comforting gesture. Luke expected him to say some meaningless dad cliché. Instead, Jack said, “Luke, you should show him that picture Silena gave you of Thalia and Annabeth.”
         A grin twitched back onto Luke’s lips. He could tell Jack the same stories about Thalia and Annabeth every night for a month and Jack’s eyes would still light up with delight. That’s what they often did at the Monster Mash bar, to the point where the bartender, Dean, got tired of them and would kick them out.
         Luke fumbled for the photo he’d kept in his wallet for the last few months, since Thalia returned to camp. He had to make a copy to keep in his room, because this one’s edges were so crumbled.
         The picture was at Camp Half-Blood, outside Cabin One. Thalia looked confused at the photographer. She still wasn’t used to the idea of a camera phone. Annabeth looked so happy.
         “It’s weird to see Thalia look so young,” Luke said, grinning, “I kept thinking she’d come back looking older. She’s actually nineteen, I think.”
         For a panicked moment, Luke couldn’t remember how many years had passed. The times he’d displeased Kronos, when the Titan Lord showed him centuries of pain during moments of sleep, time stopped having meaning.
         “She’s cute,” Axel admitted, staring down at the picture. His brow furrowed. “She’s my age. And Annabeth…”
“She’s growing into a beautiful girl. Give her a few years.” Luke couldn’t wait to tease her about it, imagining the way she’d scrunch up her face, all annoyed and adorable and fierce. “We just need to remind her that the world needs to be rebuilt, and she can rebuild it to fit her wildest dreams. We’re going to be in high demand for a good architect. Then, she’ll be happy. That’s all I want.”
Axel’s tone was careful when he said, “She looks closer to Ajax’s age.”
         “She’s older than Pax,” Luke said. He struggled to remember their ages. Pax looked so young and Annabeth looked older than she was.
         “By what, a year?” Axel snorted.
         “She’s mature for her age,” Luke snapped. Why did Luke feel so defensive? Awhile ago, he’d stopped referring to Annabeth as a little sister, but she was still young, right?
“Annabeth is Luke’s little sister,” Jack chided Axel, like he’d read Luke’s mind. Jack ruffled Axel’s hair.
Axel slapped away Jack’s hand.
         She was like a little sister, right? Luke just wanted to make a world that she would like and to protect her. He could never think of Annabeth like that with Thalia around. Weirdly, he guessed it was how Flynn felt with the Pax brothers. She may have had whomever she wanted, but, with Jack around, she would never want or need to think of Axel and Pax as anything more than their obnoxious children.
         “I’ll bet Thalia and Annabeth wouldn’t approve of how you’re getting information from Silena,” Axel said.
         Luke shrugged, folding up the photograph. “We need a spy. It’s hard to trust her though. I mean, she’s a daughter of Aphrodite. She must know I’m not in love with her. I’ve never said I was. And she’s beautiful and a camp counselor; she can’t be that deprived of attention that she needs it from me.”
         Luke frowned, remembering how Silena was thrilled with the dove broach Beckendorf had made her. She had unabashed talked about it when he’d found it fumbling with her clothing.
Luke refused to feel guilty. He wasn’t the one cheating a new crush. He wasn’t the one cheating his camp. All he could assume was that Silena really wanted the Olympians to burn, but she didn’t have the heart to leave the camp. She’d heard the stories about him poisoning Percy and about poisoning Thalia’s tree. He’d never denied them. She was the one choosing to ignore them.
         Axel stretched out his legs, straightening them completely over the cliff’s edge to show off the animalistic arch to his calves. He cracked his neck to one side. “Hey… Luke, Jack.”
         Both boys perked up.
         The wind whipped Luke’s face harshly. He thought he could hear someone shouting aboard the boat, their voices carried up with the breeze. Axel waited long enough that Luke could count enough stars in Centaur constellation to get angry at Chiron.
         “Someone who slays the Ophiotaurus… if they have the power to destroy the gods, wouldn’t they have the power to take out the Titans too?” Axel asked slowly.
         That was a dangerous question.
         They remained silent as they inhaled the salty air. Luke tossed his empty bottle to the other one. He fished into the cooler for a third, wondering if it would be unwise to speculate.  
         Axel couldn’t pledge his soul to Kronos. He wasn’t Greek. That made Kronos think he was untrustworthy. It made Axel one of the few people Luke felt like he could trust. But, what if Kronos mucked through Luke’s memories? Could he? How pathetic was Luke if he feared speaking against Kronos when Kronos wasn’t around?
         Luke bit his lip. He wondered if he could have handled criticism from other people, like Alabaster, before Kronos poisoned his thoughts. He’d handled criticism fine from Thalia and Annabeth and even Chiron before all of this. Was that pride his? Or Kronos’?
         Queasiness warned him not to take another sip of his beer. I’ve only had two, he scolded himself. The sense of helplessness made him gulp until his head felt light.
         “Luke?” Jack asked slowly.
         Axel and Jack were waiting for an answer, like Luke knew everything about the universe. He didn’t. He didn’t know anything without Kronos. He was just some pawn piece abandoned by his father and his friends. Kronos’ puppet, Alabaster had said, only worthy of Hermes’ attention when you’ve become a threat during your temper tantrum.
         Thalia will join, he told himself to shake off the nausea. She’ll join, and she’ll help you remember who you are. We can fight this war together, even if that means fighting the Titans later.
         “Hey… guys…” Luke said. It was something that had been on his mind, lurking in the background when Kronos wasn’t around, something he’d wanted to bring up but... he’d been too scared. With the light buzz in his head and the way his chin wanted to droop, he found some courage. “If Kronos erases me, if I try to hurt Thalia or Annabeth, will you kill what’s left of me so I can’t hurt them?”
         “Luke!” Jack squeaked. His voice sounded near tears. “You—you saved me. You gave me a world where I wasn’t just confused—”
         Luke was about to force a laugh, to change the subject like he’d been joking. His lip began to bleed where he bit it. He should have known Jack was too soft to handle the thought, let alone the action.
         A hand clamped over Luke’s shoulder. He glanced into Axel’s golden eyes. Axel’s other hand had clamped over Jack’s mouth, shutting him up.
         “I will,” Axel said. His gaze was steady. “I would hope you’d do the same for me if I ever hurt my family.” He swallowed. “The family I choose.”
         This time, it was Jack’s turn to slap Axel’s hand away. “Axel Jackson Pax!”
         That wasn’t Axel’s real middle name, or Luke certainly hoped it wasn’t. When the Pax brothers refused to give their middle names, Mercedes had supplied them with that, her face stern as usual. Luke wondered if that was a custom in… where was she from? Morocco? To take the father’s name as the middle?
         Whatever it was, Jack loved it and decided the two Hispanic boys really had the middle name of Jackson.
         “You lay a finger on Luke and you’ll have the worst case of chicken po—”
         Luke was happy Jack’s shrieks would cover his response. He gripped the hand Axel had on his shoulder. “Thank you,” Luke said.
         Axel nodded and released him, looking uncomfortable with the display of gratitude. Luke could guess why. He had just said thank you for offering to kill him. Probably not a common topic amongst friends.[1]
         “And you won’t be able to walk with the spinal meningitis—”
         “Jack, you could never intentionally make someone sick,” Axel teased. “You’re always panicking about doing it on accident.”
         Those words silenced Jack. Luke wondered if Axel thought it was a rumor that Jack had killed his whole family with a song.
         Luke stretched so he could casually lean forward to check on his friend. The redhead toyed with his bracelet: a braided electric base string. His brilliant eyes held that distant glint, the one he got when he forgot to take his medicine. Flynn and Phil had been pretending Jack didn’t need his medicine anymore. Luke struggled with the fact that they were lying to him.
         Jack wasn’t like his mom. The medicine did help, right?
         Pushing the old anxiety out of his head—he didn’t need to worry about Jack on his day off—Luke leaned back, taking another swig of his bottle. He couldn’t really taste it. Since Kronos had infiltrated his thoughts, simple pleasures like eating and drinking seemed to deteriorate. One day, there will be nothing left.
         “What did you really bring us out to talk about?” Axel asked, folding his legs criss-cross style again. “Since you’re clearly so interested in breathing exercises.”
         Luke wanted to say it was girls: Thalia, Annabeth, Flynn, and whomever had stolen Axel’s heart. It wasn’t.
         His heart rebelled against his mouth. They needed to have this talk. Somehow, it was harder than asking them to kill him. He took another gulp of beer, feel the carbonation fuzz against his tongue.
         “In order to…” his words failed him. He didn’t want to think about what would happen if Thalia failed them or if they couldn’t capture the Ophiotaurus. He didn’t want to admit that this was one more thing Kronos was making him do, another thing he had no control over. “I need to get the Curse of Achilles,” he said finally.
         Neither boy spoke, waiting for Luke to elaborate.
         When Luke took his time to inhale the dulled scent of salt water, Jack whispered, “Aren’t curses usually to be avoided?”
         Luke wanted to laugh hysterically, but knew that would worry Jack. “To get it, I need to go to Hades,” he said in response.
         “I hear you’re not exactly popular there,” Axel said.
         Luke nodded. “And I need to bath in the River Styx. I want people I can trust to go down with me, some of the best fighters and best healers. However, I need Flynn here. She’s one of the only ones that can keep order. The Titans respect her.” Luke bit his lip, tasting the slight twang of blood. Sometimes, she’s respected more than me.
         Axel puffed up his cheeks and popped them. “I’ll have to find a way to convince Ajax to stay here.”
         Luke knew that would be a complication. The littlest Pax would die on a trip below. Jack pointed out the bigger problem.
         “I won’t be able to convince Flynn to let me go. And none of us can lie to her.” The redhead frowned. Jack couldn’t lie to Flynn by choice. The rest of them would have the truth forced out of them under her melodious wrath. If Luke really wanted Jack along, they would need to kidnap Jack without prepping him, claim it was Kronos’ idea, and accept any punishment she’d unleash upon them after they returned.
         “How soon do we need to go?” Jack asked.
         Luke forced himself to stop biting his lip. “Before I take Atlas’ burden.”
         What if they say no? Luke trembled at the thought. He could order them, but he wanted them to come of their own volition. They were his friends, right? Or are they only your friends because you’re Kronos’ puppet?
         Axel laughed.
         Luke balked, glaring.
         The youngest of the three clutched his stomach. “Alright, alright, right, Jack?”
         Jack joined in on the crazed revelry. “What else are legendary heroes for? And you’ll definitely need a bard to lighten the soul when you go somewhere so gloomy.”
         Luke wondered, for a second, if this was a surprise attack from children of Dionysus. They were agreeing to go through laughter?
         Axel patted Luke’s back again. “You’re a demanding guy. It’s not every day I have a friend ask me to kill them, then follow that by asking me to go to Hell and back for them.”
         A bitter smile slid onto Luke’s lips. “It’s good to keep my troops on their toes. Prepares you for anything.”
         All of them laughed.
         “I have one request,” Jack said. His voice shook with repressed chuckles.
         The other two settled down to listen.
         “Next time we come up here, let’s just talk about girls. We can invent a really hot one for Axel to fancy. It’ll make Lou Ellen and the other girls all jealous when the rumors spread.”
         Luke loved that idea: not just that they could torment the girls crushing on Axel, but that he’d be himself again soon, able to differentiate Kronos’ thoughts from his own. That these days won’t become less and less frequent. That what makes me me won’t dissolve. He tried to force the worry out of his head as he, Jack, and Axel flopped back onto the ground to stargaze.  
Thalia will join, Luke thought. She and Annabeth will see that it’s better to start the world anew, to make a beautiful place where we can all be happy without living under the massive shadow of Olympus.
         Staring out into the brilliant constellations, Luke thought, My friends won’t abandon me again and together we’ll make an unstoppable team.
 ***
Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed! Stay tuned in two weeks for a little novella where Pax and Lou Ellen show why you can’t leave younger siblings unattended.
(Sorry for all the breaks between shorts! Thank you for all of your support throughout my pauses. <3 It really helps to keep me going!)
  [1] False. Author Jack and friends had frequent conversations about who would be willing to murder whom in the event of a zombie apocalypse or entrapped starvation. Author Jack is gangly and would not be good pickings for cannibalism, but would also likely starve first, so frequently oscillates in line for cannibalistic choices.  
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