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captainsophiestark · 11 months

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Happy Ending

Luke Castellan x Reader

Masterlist - Join My Taglist!

Written for Fictober 2023!

Fandom: Percy Jackson

Day 22 Prompt: "Who takes care of you?"

Summary: What if Luke had come by to see Y/N, his pre-betrayal best friend and SO, instead of Annabeth between books 3 and 4?

Word Count: 4,189

Category: Angst, Fluff

A/N: I really loved the vibes of this post by @m4gp13 so this is very loosely inspired by it, even though the main body of the story doesn't have much to do with it lol

Putting work into an AI program without permission is illegal. You do not have my permission. Do not do it.

I sighed, staring at the piles of boxes on the floor of my dorm room. The spring semester of my second year of college was just coming to a close, and I still had a lot to do to be ready for everything after it finished. I was moving into my own apartment for the summer, and needed to move from the dorm room to my new apartment. As soon as that was over, I'd planned a visit to Camp Half-Blood, the training camp for heroes I kept going back to, even though I was technically an adult.

I needed to pack everything in my dorm, move it to my apartment, and then be able to unpack everything I'd need for a few weeks visiting camp. This packing job would need to be strategically worthy of Athena.

I'd just barely managed to psych myself up to get started when a knock came at my door. I huffed a sigh, but I really didn't mind the distraction all that much.

"Coming!" I called. I glanced out the peep hole, then froze solid when I saw Luke Castellan staring back at me.

My heart stopped dead in my chest. I looked again and saw he had no monsters with him, at least not visibly, but I couldn't understand why he would come here without them.

Luke had been one of my closest friends in the world since we met as kids, on the run together from our mutually shitty families. We'd met first, then found Thalia and Annabeth after. Luke and I were the same age, and we'd been thick as thieves since day one, Hermes pun intended. As we'd gotten older, a small crush I'd had on Luke had grown massive, and luckily for me he'd returned my feelings. We'd been happily dating and in love ever since, until two summers ago, when he'd betrayed me and every single one of our friends and joined Kronos.

I'd barely talked to him since. We only had contact once and a while, and every time, it went the same way. I was hurt, he was apologetic but not willing to change any of his decisions. Me and the rest of Camp fought him and his monsters, and I tried not to fall apart at the loss of the love of my life.

The distraction provided by college had been a serious, serious relief.

But now, Luke was here. In the middle of space where I very intentionally avoided thinking about him, on my doorstep for whatever reason. And I had no idea what to do.

"Y/N? I know you're in there. I'm here under a flag of truce. I just want to talk."

Just like that, any desire to duck and hide crumbled. The rational part of my brain screamed at me that he could be lying, that this might just be a trap, but I ignored it. After everything we'd been through, if Luke said he wanted to talk, I wanted to hear him out.

I opened the door, and Luke's shoulders sagged with relief when he saw me. I wanted to dart forward and wrap him in a hug, something I hadn't been able to do in two years, but I held myself back. Luke shifted a little from foot to foot, looking incredibly awkward, so after a second's hesitation I stepped to the side.

"Would you like to come in?"

He gave me a suspicious look, like he thought it was a trap or a trick or something. My heart shattered in my chest. How had things gone this wrong, that we stood on opposite sides of the door as basically strangers?

"My house is a mess, because I'm in the middle of packing up to move, but... if you want to talk, Luke, I feel like the hallway isn't gonna be the best place to do it."

He gave me a curt nod, not quite meeting my eyes as he walked past me into my apartment. I glanced down the hallway, taking one last look to make sure we didn't have any lingering monsters, but things were deserted. I sighed and went back into my apartment, closing the door behind me.

I found Luke hovering in the space between the kitchen and the living room, surveying things with a strange look on his face. I moved toward him carefully, not getting too close in case I spooked him.

"Do you want some tea or something? I haven't packed my electric kettle yet-"

"I think tea might take longer than the five minutes I promised."

I turned to look at Luke, raising one eyebrow in challenge, a little bit of our old rapport back. He shifted his weight around and glanced towards the door, then met my eyes again.

"Luke... is some giant monster going to burst through my door in five minutes? Or an army of small monsters, or anything under that general monster-army umbrella?"

"What? No, no, there's... no. I'm here under a flag of truce. There's nothing coming to hurt you, and when I leave... I'll leave."

"Okay then," I said, deciding not to comment on just how shaken and pale Luke looked, at least not right now. "Then I'm giving you a pass on the five minutes. And electric kettles take like two seconds anyway, seriously. They're magical."

Luke huffed, shaking his head as an incredulous smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. My heart squeezed, but I made myself move towards the kitchen and act like things were normal.

"Take a seat, Luke. Or come pick your tea."

Luke took the second option, and my heart doubled its speed when I felt him hovering behind me, closer than we'd been in a long time if you didn't count combat. He leaned over my shoulder to point to the bag of black tea on my counter, and I nodded as I poured the hot water into our cups. I dropped two teabags in each of our drinks, then turned to Luke with a smile.

He stood a little more than a foot from me, and he took the cup from my hands carefully, like he didn't want this bubble of peace and normalcy to burst either. I stared into his beautiful, bright blue eyes, a smile growing on my face again despite myself. I'd missed this. A lot.

The moment lasted another few seconds, and then Luke cleared his throat and looked away. He took a tentative sip of his tea, then looked at me again, his face deadly serious.

"I don't know how to say this. I... I learned some things recently, about some plans I wasn't aware of before."

He paused and took another sip of his tea, and his hand shook a little as he brought the mug away from his lips. Shock coursed through my body as I realized Luke was scared.

"Kronos, he- he's going to use me. He's going to use me to take over the world. This summer... he's going to use me like a stepping stone, until he gets so much power he's unstoppable."

"Luke... what are you saying?"

His eyes had wandered to stare holes in the wall of my kitchen while he'd talked, but now they snapped back to me, wide and full of urgency.

"I'm saying I want to run away. I want us to run away, like the old days. Before... before he gets the chance to carry out his plan."

I stared at Luke for a few minutes, then shook my head, scoffing and pushing past him into the living room of my house. I paced a little, trying to make sense of what he'd just told me. What he'd just asked of me.

"Luke... I don't know what to say!" I finally admitted, completely honest as I turned back to him. He watched me, his expression guarded. "I don't... I don't think I can just run away. Not from the life I've managed to build, not from our friends still here and risking their lives!"

"So that's it, then?" he asked, taking a few steps forward, his tone angry. "Your answer's no?"

I huffed a laugh, staring at anything in the room except for Luke and trying to think. My brain was working a million miles an hour, but I still needed a little bit of time to think things through. But I wasn't sure I had time.

"Okay, Luke, can we sit down for a minute? Actually talk about this?" I said, taking slow steps towards him. I set my mug down on the nearest table, then reached out to gently rest my hands on his. A storm of emotions raged behind his eyes, but he didn't stop me or pull away. "This is a lot to take in all at once. Can we work through this together?"

His jaw worked like he was holding back some retort, but he let me pull him along towards the couch. Slowly, together, we sank down onto the cushions. I only pulled one hand back, and made sure our knees rested against each other, hoping it would do something to help keep Luke grounded.

"I don't want to run," I said simply, meeting his eyes. He opened his mouth, looking ready with an outburst again, but I continued before he could. "But Luke, think about it. Where are we gonna go that he doesn't find you, especially if he wants to? Monsters can sniff us out. We'd never, ever be able to live another day without looking over our shoulders."

Luke's shoulders sagged, and he shook his head miserably as he stared at the half-full mug in his hand.

"Then there's no hope."

"That's not what I said. And it's also not true." Luke scoffed, shooting me a look out of the corner of his eye. I looked right back. "If you don't want to follow through on what Kronos is asking of you, why not just come back with me? To Camp, to my somewhat normal life. I have an apartment with space for two. You could even enroll with me next semester, if you wanted to."

Luke shook his head. He pursed his lips as he raised his head to meet my eyes again.

"And let the Olympians continue exploiting us? Let them keep destroying people and lives because we don't matter to them?"

I huffed a sigh. "Look, I'm not their biggest fan either, but right now it seems like it's 'let Kronos kill you' or 'stop fighting the Olympians'."

Luke shook his head again, more energized this time, more angry. He stared at the wall ahead of us, the same hurt and bitterness I'd seen from him over the years burning in his eyes.

"It's just not right. There should be something we can do. Something that isn't Kronos, but isn't letting the Olympians win."

And just like that, a lightbulb went off in my head.

"Luke... what if there was a way we could do that?"

****************

That night, Luke and I stayed up until almost two in the morning brainstorming and working out the details of my plan. When we finally decided to get some sleep, he stayed with me, and curling up in the same tiny twin bed, falling asleep to the sound of his heartbeat, had me more at peace and ease than I had been in a long, long time.

The next morning, we finalized a few things over breakfast. Then, there was nothing left to do but put our plan into action.

Luke stayed in the apartment, tasked with keeping his head down and finishing packing for me, since I had other places I had to be. Namely, Camp Half-Blood. A little earlier than I'd talked about with Chiron, and hopefully, before the place was crawling with campers for the summer.

Thankfully, it didn't take me too long to get to Camp. I arrived a little after lunch and found the place expectedly deserted. From the top of the hill, I could see some of the year-rounders moving around the lake. I tried to keep them from noticing me as I headed straight for the Big House.

I paused just outside the front door to steel my nerves one last time, then marched inside. I found Chiron and Mr. D sitting together, apparently deep in conference. They both looked up when they noticed me, matching looks of surprise on their faces (although Chiron's had a noticeably happier edge to it).

"Y/N! We weren't expecting you for another few weeks-"

"I'm not staying for long. Something just came up that I needed to talk to you about right away. To both of you, actually, especially Mr. D."

He raised a bored eyebrow in my direction but otherwise didn't move. Chiron motioned to a chair at the table.

"By all means, please."

"That's alright, I think I'll stand," I said. I took a deep breath, squaring my shoulders and straightening my spine. I would not back down, wouldn't leave until I'd succeeded. Luke and I's future depended on it.

I took a moment to make very intentional, determined eye contact with Mr. D. His other eyebrow raised.

"I'm here to bargain for a pardon for Luke Castellan."

Silence. Both Chiron and Mr. D just stared at me for a few long moments, then turned to look at each other. Chiron looked concerned, but Mr. D burst out laughing.

"He's a traitor and an enemy of Olympus! This has all been very boring and ridiculous, and a waste of our time. Get out."

Mr. D's last word had a firey threat behind it, but I didn't flinch.

"You and the rest of the Olympians are perfectly aware what a threat Kronos presents. Everybody's getting scared, and they should be. He's got a plan for returning to his Titan form, the one he had before he was defeated the first time, before Zeus cut him apart and cast him into Tartarus. And it's a plan that he can definitely make succeed.

"Luke knows all about this plan. Obviously. And he's willing to defect and tell you all about it, so we can stop it before it happens. But you have to give him a complete pardon, sworn on the River Styx by Zeus."

Mr. D snorted again, this time raising from his chair and taking a few threatening steps towards me. I still didn't back down.

"Y/N, listen," Chiron interrupted, shuffling forward a little bit to stand partially in between me and Mr. D. "If you have information that could save Olympus and the camp-"

"Oh, I have some. Just like Chris Rodriguez had some. But Luke has all of it. And you're not getting any of it without giving him a pardon first."

"Or we could force it out of you before finding your little boyfriend and doing the same to him," said Mr. D, his tone light but his eyes blazing. Chiron started to step in again, but I spoke up before he got the chance.

"You haven't been able to find him this long, you won't be able to find him now. And anybody who knows anything about interrogations knows that torture just plain and simple doesn't work for getting information." Mr. D grunted, but we both knew I had him there. "Besides, if Luke gets his pardon, that means more than just getting all the information from Kronos' former right hand man. It also means that Kronos loses said right hand man, who's been organizing and leading a lot of the work so far."

Chiron and Mr. D shared a look, and I tried not to let it show just how much my heart was racing. For the first time since I'd walked in here, I actually felt a glimmer of hope that my plan might succeed. Chiron turned back to me, the worried look still on his face.

"Y/N... what makes you so confident that Luke wants to defect?"

"He sought me out," I answered simply, trying to dance around his location at least a bit. "He's realizing quickly just how bad Kronos would and could be, and he's scared. Terrified. He wants a way out, so when he found me, he asked me to run away with him. I suggested trying this plan first, mostly so I don't have to leave behind everyone else I love. But also because, this way, you might stand a chance against Kronos that you wouldn't have if we'd left without offering information."

The conversation continued for almost another hour, centered mostly around Mr. D making threats and, when I didn't back down, reminding me that I was trying to demand something of Zeus. He made plenty of good points, but I'd thought through all the ways this plan could go terribly, painfully wrong with Luke before I'd come here. I wasn't going to give in, for anything.

Finally, after restating my points and my argument a few times, Mr. D agreed to bring my request to Mount Olympus. I waited anxiously in the Big House with Chiron, whose brow remained deeply creased the entire time. I didn't engage, intentionally avoiding the conversation he looked like he wanted to have, but I saw him watching me out of the corner of my eye.

I started to get worried as the evening came, but finally, Mr. D reappeared. The first time he'd delivered his news, I honestly hadn't believed him. I asked him to repeat himself, which he rolled his eyes over, but the words were the same. Somehow, by some miracle, I'd managed to succeed.

Zeus was willing to give Luke his pardon in exchange for information and defecting.

I wasn't a complete idiot, so made sure the terms were clear when Mr. D brought me to Olympus to witness the oath. The words covered any retaliation, punishment, or harm that might come to Luke, and completely prevented it. Zeus spoke the words and the sky rumbled with lightning. I tried not to shake in relief or from the adrenaline dump as I bowed and promised he wouldn't regret his decision. Hermes shot me a grateful look on my way out, and I returned his nod. He'd been awful to Luke, but we were aligned in not wanting to see him dead, and I got the feeling Hermes had been helpful in pleading my case.

When we returned to the Big House, I headed for the door as quickly as possible, promising to bring Luke back with me in a week when I'd been planning to return anyway. I still had to move out and then move in to a new place again, and Luke had assured me that week of time wouldn't cost the war.

I raced back home, breaking almost every traffic law in the process, but I didn't care at all. I called out to Luke from the hallway, so he wouldn't be scared when I flung the door open, then rushed to wrap him in a giant hug. We sank to the floor together, crying in relief, and stayed like that for a long, long time.

The next week felt like a dream. Luke and I finished packing up my old apartment, then moved together into the new one, which we'd started calling 'ours'. We had to duck monsters a few times, and Luke was still in significant danger, but this time we were on the same side. As we settled into our new place on the last night before we were supposed to head back to camp, I quite literally couldn't have been happier.

It was a little strange returning to camp with Luke, but I quickly got over my own concerns when I saw how tense he was. I held his hand the whole way in, and thankfully, we'd still managed to get here before most of the summer campers. Luke and I sat shoulder to shoulder in the Big House while he told Mr. D and Chiron everything about Kronos and his operation. It took hours, and I could tell Luke struggled to get a lot of it out. But he did.

It had taken long enough that we decided to stay the night, even though I could see Luke clearly didn't want to. We stayed in the Big House, and the next morning, we finished the last of the intel-sharing before heading back home.

Chiron stopped Luke on the way out the door with a hand on his shoulder and said he was so happy to have Luke back. Luke just nodded, but I squeezed his hands as I noticed a single tear making its way down his cheek as we left.

"You know..." I said as we climbed in the car. I was driving, and Luke stared determinedly out the window. "Chiron's probably not the only one who'd be happy to have you back. There might be some apology tour type-stuff, but for the most part... I think you'd get a warm welcome home."

Luke just gave a noncommittal grunt, and I let it go. That was a bridge we could cross later.

For now, we still had one final part of our plan to put into action.

The reason Luke had joined Kronos in the first place was because he'd been neglected by his Olympic parent, especially since his mortal parent had been in such a bad place. He'd discovered the hard way that Kronos was no better alternative, but the fact remained that the gods used their mortal children at best, and at worst completely ignored them for their entire lives.

We needed to find a third option, some middle ground way to make things better. So, we decided to be the change we wanted to see.

As legal adults with a newly moved-in apartment that had a decent amount of space, we had the power to make our home a space for demigods who had nowhere else to go. If their immortal parents were neglecting them and things weren't good with their mortal parent either, they could come to us. For a little while, or to stay for good. We made our own little sanctuary, then shared it with all the kids like us who'd needed it.

Over time, the operation expanded, and we moved into a bigger apartment with more space. Thanks in part to Luke and I, Camp Half-Blood won the war, and we were able to do even more once Kronos stopped being a threat. What had started as not much more than a dream of doing good had turned into a loud, busy, happy house with people constantly coming and going.

Which is how we'd ended up in an alleyway talking to a scared teenager, after helping defeat a monster who'd been bearing down on him.

"Who takes care of you?" asked Luke, a sympathetic and understanding frown on his face as we stood a little ways from the kid. We didn't want to make him uncomfortable, but we'd gotten good at spotting the signs of a young Half-Blood in distress and helping them.

"I take care of myself," the kid spit. I tried not to glance at Luke.

"We used to do that, too," I said, moving a little closer to Luke. "We both ran away from home, survived on the streets, although I guess we really took care of each other."

"Now, we take care of people like you," Luke continued, right where I'd left off. "Do you know what you are?"

The kid hesitated, then half shook his head. He at least had some idea, then.

"You're a Half-Blood," I said. "Half mortal, half immortal Olympian god."

"...What?"

"Look, I know it's a lot to process," said Luke. "But the longer the three of us sit in this alley, the more likely it is another monster's gonna come and pick a fight."

We managed to get the kid up and moving, heading back for our apartment. On the way, we explained more about the Olympians, and told him about Camp Half-Blood.

"It's a good place to get training, and to meet other Half-Bloods like you," I said. "A place for heroes."

"It's only one option, though," Luke added. The kid nodded, looking a little overwhelmed but excited as we stopped outside our apartment door.

"And... what's the other option?"

Luke and I shared a smile, then he pushed open the door to our apartment.

Inside, we were immediately greeted with a wave of noise and excitement. We'd left Ethan Nakamura, one of the Half-Bloods Luke had met away from camp, in charge, and he'd been leading the rest of our group in basic combat lessons.

"What... what is this place?"

"A place for normal kids who need somebody to take care of them," Luke answered. "You'll still get training, since monsters will always be trying to kill you."

"But we won't ever ask anything of you, other than to do your own damn dishes," I said. "No dangerous quests, no tribute to the gods. Just our own little makeshift family going through life together."

Luke put his arm around me, pulling me into his side and kissing my temple as Ethan noticed our newcomer and waved him over to join in the fun. Luke and I stayed where we were, watching the bubble of happiness we'd made together with smiles on our faces. We'd gone through hell and back to get here, but as far as I was concerned, every moment of pain had been worth it for Luke and I's happy ending.

****************

Everything Taglist: @rosecentury

Percy Jackson Taglist: @valkyriepirate

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catihere · 2 months

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A fic where Alabaster, Chris and Ethan sneak a bunch of cats and dogs on the board of Princess Andromeda. That’s literally all that happens.

@spitsonyou1 motivated me to finally finish it, so thanks for that. The AU where this would supposedly take place is @everythingwasalreadypicked ‘s. Oh, and about the code names detail at the start, I think I stole that from a fic by @m4gp13 . That’s all. Enjoy my nonsense, I guess.

#alabaster torrington #chris rodriguez #ethan nakamura #titan army #pjo #riordanverse #pjo fic #fanfiction

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icarusignite · 8 months

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Divine Retribution (Luke Castellan x Daughter of Nemesis! OC)

A/N: Percy Jackson was a huge part of my childhood, so its only fair I do a fic for this universe. As a kid, I was obvi obsessed with Percy himself and the "good guys" but having grown up I think there's some really cool themes and nuances to explore with the Titan Army kids and their storylines/relationships with each other. Would love it if you checked it out <3

Ao3 | Wattpad

Summary

A monster is not such a terrible thing to be. From the Latin root monstrum, a divine messenger of catastrophe, then adapted by Old French to mean an animal of myriad origins: centaur, gryphon, satyr.

To be a monster is to be a hybrid signal, a lighthouse: both shelter and warning at once.

To be a demigod is not much different.

Rin Nakamura is more like her mother than she thinks. She enjoys tearing down the proud and powerful, and there is no one who deserves tearing down like the very goddess she descended from. They say that the children of Nemesis, even when unclaimed, are deadly when they have a grudge to settle, and no one has a greater grudge against the gods than Rin herself. When the primordial god of time extends an invitation, offering Rin the power to confront the Olympians in a war that transcends the mortal realm, she seizes the chance to finally balance the scales.

Luke Castellan is a charming visionary with something to prove. Disillusioned by the gods, whom he perceives as indifferent and ungrateful towards their demigod children, his driving force is a desire to overthrow them and create a world where demigods are free from the shackles of divine manipulation.

Ethan Nakamura is a boy who cannot stop wanting, even when the price is too high. He wants his mother's approval; he wants recognition for the minor gods; he wants victory for the Titan Army, the members of which have become his family. Most of all, he wants his sister to stop being so angry all the time, but she is all he has left and for her, he is willing to make the ultimate sacrifice.

#percy jackson #luke castellan x you #luke castellan x reader #percy jackon and the olympians #luke castellan #ethan nakamura #percy and annabeth #pjo series #pjo tv show #titan army #alabaster torrington #percy jackson fanfiction #luke castellan fanfic

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lixzey · 4 months

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𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐒

CALLIOPE GRACE, daughter of zeus

JASON GRACE, son of jupiter

THALIA GRACE, daughter of zeus, hunter of artemis

AREIA NIKTA KONSTANTINOS, daughter of nyx

ETHAN NAKAMURA, son of nemesis

SILAS OPHELIUS FLEMING, son of thanatos

PIPER MCLEAN, daughter of aphrodite

LEO VALDEZ, son of hephaestus

ANNABETH CHASE, daughter of athena

PERCY JACKSON, son of poseidon

taglist:

@mxtokko

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franciswasteland · 5 months

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MASTERLIST‿⋆﹒

Requests are open!

My masterlist part 2; the remake because i genuinely have no idea what happened to my old masterlist??

Percy Jackson

-Coming soon…

Annabeth Chase

-Coming soon…

Grover Underwood

-Coming soon…

Jason Grace

-Jason Grace X Naiad!Reader

Piper Mclean

-Coming soon…

Leo Valdez

-Tech!Leo X Theater kid!Reader

Frank Zhang

-Confession in another language (Frank X GN!Reader)

-Movie night (Frank X GN!Reader)

Hazel Levesque

-Coming soon…

Nico di Angelo

-Coming soon…

Luke Castellan

-Coming soon…

Others

-Coming soon…

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yonemurishiroku · 7 months

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Dropping this in because I love pain and Ethabaster. I blamed @phoenix--flying and @everythingwasalreadypicked for their child of Akhlys Ethan au and my headcanon that child of Akhlys have a rite of passage where they have to poison someone they love and experience true misery in order to been seen as her (Akhlys') child. Anyways, ENJOY! Ethan watched as the life drained Alabaster's body, the purple veins slowly growing up his neck. Ethan had no power to stop it. Nothing he could do could save his love. Alabaster sagged against Ethan, smiling softly. "Thank you," he whispered, coughing up blood. "For what?" Ethan fought back tears. "I'm killing you. You have nothing to thank me for." Alabaster smiled as brightly as he could. "For bringing me to my mother's temple. The stars a beautiful tonight." He didn't have the strength to lift his hand to hold Ethan's hand. "For staying with me." "I don't want to die alone." "You're not alone," Ethan let a tear fall. "I promised I'd never leave."

*screaming into the pillows*

#ouch that hurts #isn't ethanbaster enough painful for you smh #ethan nakamura #alabaster torrington #alabaster c torrington #ethabaster #fanfiction #pjo fic rec #pjo fanfic

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marsconer · 9 months

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݁⠀⠀༉ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ̽ THE TITAN ARMY — do you hear the people sing ?

“ This barricade is made neither of paving stones, nor of timbers, nor of iron; it is made of two mounds, a mound of ideas and a mound of sorrows. Here misery encounters the ideal. Here the day embraces the night, and says: I will die with you and you will be born again with me ” — victor hugo, les miserables

#oc fanfiction #percy jackson spoilers #titan army #percy jackon and the olympians #percy jackson #percy jackson and the olympians #oc: sofia allende #luke castellan #chris rodriguez #ethan nakamura #silena beauregard #alabaster torrington #fic ideas #fic: do you hear the demigods sing ?

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artemx746 · 1 year

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So glad the first pjo fic I read was of Sally Jackson adopting Ethan Nakamura

#pjo #ethan nakamura #sally jackson #botl #fanfiction #paul blofis #percy jackson #annabeth chase

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tsarisfanfiction · 2 days

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Truth Comes Out of His Well (Chapter 5)

Fandom: Percy Jackson and the Olympians Rating: Teen Genre: Hurt/Comfort/Family Characters: Lee Fletcher, Kronos, Apollo, Apollo Cabin (and many more) As always, @stereden is responsible for the accompanying podfic! << Chapter 4 Listen to chapter 5 on AO3

It repeated.

Lee lost track of how many times Kronos came in, a group of demigods in tow, and tried to force him into playing his twisted version of two truths and a lie, ending with the finale of a cacophony of lies so intense that he was left a trembling, sobbing wreck. It was usually the same demigods – some faces came and went, but Reuben, Aquila and Claudia were staples, and Lee suspected that they would continue to be first in line for anything that involved tormenting him for as long as Kronos allowed.

Given that Lee had, somehow, yet to break and answer Kronos – not that he knew how he was still holding out, when he was reaching the point that he was having to fight off panic the moment a group descended on him – he was pretty certain the titan would keep letting them.

They were the worst for feeding him; Lee dreaded seeing any of the trio walk in with food, because they all but forced him to eat it. If it was Kronos, he tended to release Lee’s wrists and let him feed himself in peace, which had the added benefit of being able to cradle his aching, constantly in pain, wrists and murmur a hymn to relieve their suffering even a little.

It was a dichotomy of kindness against the torture he orchestrated the rest of the time.

If there was a regular schedule to any of the visits – food, torture, being shoved into a little bathroom adjoining the room to use the toilet and sometimes clean up some of the ever-building cave grime, too – then Lee couldn’t track it. He hadn’t seen the sun since the battle, couldn’t even feel the faintest hint of his father’s warmth, and that left him utterly disorientated when it came to time. He was under no illusions that Kronos wasn’t doing it on purpose – the titan of time would have intimate knowledge in how to ruin timekeeping, if he wasn’t just simply manipulating time to further disorient Lee.

When he wasn’t being tortured, either by Kronos or by the overzealous hatred Marcus’ friends threw at him, though, Lee somehow found himself being bored. He couldn’t do anything, spending almost all his time firmly secured to the cave wall, and it felt like he was left to stew in his own company with no distractions for hours on end. It felt ridiculous, to be suffering from boredom in his situation.

Could he even call it suffering when it was the alternative to personal attention from a titan determined to break him, and getting closer and closer with every session, if Lee was honest? He didn’t know how he’d held on so long already; he had no idea how he was going to keep holding on, just the knowledge that he had to, no matter how impossible a task it was starting to feel like.

He hadn’t known it was possible to be simultaneously bored and scared.

The door stayed open the whole time. Lee had seen it shift once, when a demigod had leaned against it, so he knew it could close, but Kronos had never bothered to shut him in. Given that Lee was still no closer to finding his way out of the manacles than he had been when he’d first woken up, it was obvious why.

He still couldn’t see much of the corridor, though, and the foot traffic passing his room – he wanted to call it a cell but did it really count as one when the door never shut? – had increased, so it was difficult to tell when someone was coming in to see him rather than just walking past to whatever it was they did when they weren’t tormenting him.

Movement out of the corner of his eyes drew his attention to his newest visitor, striding in through the open doorway. The torches hadn’t been changed in a while and were starting to burn low, enough to cast their face in shadow until they got close enough.

It was an Asian looking guy, similar in age to Lee at a guess, with an eyepatch covering his left eye. His face was familiar, although Lee didn’t remember the eye patch and couldn’t place him.

“Hello, Lee,” he said. He wasn’t carrying any food, and while so far the physical torture had been mostly incidental – Lee’s wrists were taking the brunt of that – Lee was also relieved to note that the sword stayed in its sheath as the demigod sat cross-legged on the floor in front of him.

He was also confused, because normally demigods only came in without Kronos if it was feeding time.

“Remember me?” the other demigod continued. “I was at camp, for a few summers.”

That explained the familiarity, and Lee wracked his brain. It had to have been someone that had left a few years ago – the eyepatch was definitely a new addition, but he was pretty sure he’d recognise them regardless if it had been recent. He studied the rest of his face, taking in the clear Asian heritage and racing through all the Asian kids at camp that had not come back one year.

“Ethan?” he asked, hesitantly, and the boy’s face twisted into some sort of a smile, although it wasn’t a happy one.

“That’s me,” he confirmed. “The eyepatch throw you off?”

“It didn’t help,” Lee admitted, trying to remember what else he knew about Ethan. He’d left camp before the war had even started, before Luke’s betrayal, even, another case of an unclaimed kid deciding they’d had enough of being unwanted even in the camp that was supposed to be a home to them and leaving. Lee had always understood it, if only theoretically. He’d not got far enough into the foster system to ever feel that way personally.

He could also begrudgingly understand why an unclaimed, resentful kid would join Kronos. Chris had been another one, perhaps worse because everyone had known he was a Hermes kid – he had the same looks, the same skills – and he’d lived in his parent’s cabin and still was never claimed. The final straw for him had clearly been when he’d been passed over for head counsellor in favour of the younger, less experienced Stolls purely because they’d been claimed and he hadn’t been. Lee didn’t think he would’ve been able to say no to helping the other boy even if he hadn’t understood that, but it had certainly helped him throw himself whole-heartedly into trying to help Clarisse restore his sanity.

He’d always been able to see why someone that hadn’t been helped by a system would be drawn to the possibility of change. That made sense, a case of grass looking greener on the other side even though Lee fully believed that Kronos would be no better for them than the current system. It was the others he didn’t understand at all, Luke, Alana and the others who had been claimed and raised as a child of their particular godly parent. How could they turn their backs and think joining Kronos was better?

“Was it treated properly?” he asked Ethan, eyes fixed on the patch. Eye trauma was nasty, he’d seen it before, in nasty camp accidents.

Ethan shrugged. “Nothing left to treat,” he said dismissively. “My mother took it.”

“Your mother?” Lee asked, and his voice came out a little strangled. He didn’t remember Ethan’s mortal parental situation – it had to have been good enough for him to only live at camp during the summer – but the way he said it, like his eye had just vanished, sounded a lot like…

“Yeah,” Ethan said, a little bitterly. “She claimed me in the end. Told me I would rebalance the world, and took my eye in exchange. An eye for an eye and all that.”

“Nemesis?” Lee asked hoarsely. It sounded like the sort of thing the goddess of vengeance would do or say – but to her own child?

Maybe he understood why Ethan was still on Kronos’ side.

“Nemesis,” Ethan confirmed. “I don’t understand you, Lee.”

Lee blinked, confused at the sudden declaration. “What don’t you understand?” he asked.

The son of Nemesis gestured at their surroundings. “This,” he said. “You could be comfortable. You have something Kronos wants. All you need to do is give it to him and you’d be out of here and at his right hand. It’s a position many of us would kill for, but you’re refusing at every turn. Are you that loyal to the gods? Why?”

“Why shouldn’t I be?” Lee asked. “I don’t understand how Kronos winning would be better than what we have at the moment.”

The laugh that Ethan let out was dark and humourless. “Of course you don’t,” he said. “Perfect child of Apollo, claimed the moment you enter camp and lavished with praise and love from everyone. Why wouldn’t you want to keep things that way?” His remaining eye sent a look st Lee that went right through him, serious and even a little pitying, underneath the dismissiveness. “You’re living a pretty little lie, Lee. At least my mother was upfront about it.”

“Upfront about what?” Lee asked, confused. The resentment for Apollo kids also made some sort of sense – Lee knew they had the best relationship with their godly parent barring only, possibly, Dionysus’ kids, whose father actually lived in camp with them – but the thing about living a lie? That didn’t. Lee had been a camper for ten years, he could sense lies and he’d never sensed he was living a lie.

“The cost of being a demigod,” Ethan told him bluntly. He gestured at his eye. “There’s always a price to pay, Lee. Look at yourself. Apollo gave you a power – one that’s powerful, too, no wonder you always hid it – but what’s that done for you? Chained up in a cave, regularly driven over the brink of panic because it’s so easily turned against you.” He scoffed. “Apollo hurts his children, punishes them for the things he gave them, but over and over again, you all fall for it until it’s too late.”

“Apollo doesn’t,” Lee snapped.

“Doesn’t he?” Ethan challenged. “Did Luke ever tell you about Hal?”

The name was wholly unfamiliar. “Who’s Hal?” he asked, cautiously.

Ethan shifted in place, looking for all the world like he was sitting back around the campfire at camp, ready to tell a story. The faint flickering of the torchlight played with the shadows on his face, making them eat up the black eyepatch whole. “Evidence of Apollo’s cruelty to his own children,” he said. “Luke met him, once. He’s told the story several times since this war began, because camp has always held your father up as the pinnacle of parental godhood. We all know you Apollo kids think you have it good, that he’s a reason why the gods should be allowed to continue with their pathetic attempts at using and abusing mortals under the guise of parenting. He’s not.”

A story. Luke had come up with some sort of story to demonise Apollo. It shouldn’t have felt like a betrayal – in the grand scheme of all the things his former friend had done, it logically ranked low – but somehow it did.

“Hal was a son of Apollo that could see the future,” Ethan continued. “But he wasn’t allowed to act on it, no matter what he saw. He saved a girl’s life, because what monster asks someone to stand aside and do nothing when someone is going to die? Apollo cursed him for it, for using the same power that he had given him in the first place. Hal lost his voice, was imprisoned in a house surrounded by monsters that killed anyone that came near and spoke his own thoughts out loud to him, and was left there to suffer until he died. Luke and Thalia tried to save him and almost got killed in the process – and they failed, too. Hal still died, thanks to the curse his own father put on him.”

His eye glittered in the torchlight.

“I know you know I’m telling the truth,” he said, and he was right – there hadn’t been a single hint of a lie. “If he did that to one son with a powerful ability he gave, what will he do to you, Lee?”

Ethan wasn’t lying, but it didn’t work like that. Ethan believed what Luke told him, but that didn’t mean Luke hadn’t lied to Ethan. It was a lie wrapped up like a truth, the way retold stories could be, but Lee hadn’t let on that part of how his ability worked to Luke, so Kronos didn’t know, which meant Ethan and the other demigods didn’t know, either.

They just knew that if they said something true, Lee would know, and didn’t realise how personal truth could be.

Lee wasn’t about to give that clarifier away, though, even if it meant letting Ethan continue operating under such an awful view of his own father. Apollo would never do that to them. Lee had never even met an Apollo kid that had inherited any serious degree of prophecy, or even much beyond occasional dreams – and they all knew that the dreams came from Apollo, anyway.

“I’m not a prophet,” he said, instead. “Or an oracle."

Ethan shot him a look that was part disgusted, part cloying pity.

“You’re blind, is what you are,” he replied. “I might be down an eye but you’re the one that can’t see.” He shook his head. “Are you really going to keep torturing yourself for the gods? They don’t care, Lee. Apollo doesn’t even need to step in with you, you’re doing his job for him, sitting down here and not taking all the chances you’re being given to save yourself. You could be free of all of this, Lee.”

“I’d be free if you got me out of these chains,” Lee muttered, before looking Ethan in the eye. “I’m not giving in,” he told him. “Kronos can keep trying and maybe he will break me, eventually, but I’m not giving in. I won’t give in. I can’t.”

“Why?” Ethan pushed, and he sounded almost a little despairing. He hadn’t been a cruel boy, Lee remembered. Quiet and a little sullen, fed up of being ignored by his godly parent, but not cruel. He was trying to help Lee; Lee wasn’t blind enough to miss it, but the help he was offering wasn’t help at all. Not for Lee. “Why are you putting yourself through this, Lee? The gods aren’t worth it, and I can’t believe you don’t know that, somewhere inside. You’ve seen me, the other unclaimed kids at camp. I never pegged you as someone cruel enough to think that what we’re going through is good, even if you’re too blind to see what your own father is doing. Why?”

That was the easiest question Lee had been asked since he’d arrived.

“Because I have people to protect,” he said. “This isn’t about me, Ethan. It was never about me.”

“You can protect them better if you’re at Kronos’ side!” Ethan exclaimed. “How is this protecting them?”

“Because Kronos doesn’t protect anyone,” Lee said firmly. He could see Chris, babbling and insensate and flinching away from even the most gentle of healing touches. “What you see in Apollo, I see in Kronos, Ethan. I won’t join him. Not willingly. Not ever.”

Ethan sighed. “You’re delusional, Lee,” he said, but he pulled himself to his feet again. “He’ll break you, you know. You should forget about other people and think about yourself. No-one would blame you for protecting yourself.”

Lee gave him a small, tired, smile. “I would.”

The torchlight had all but faded away, burning down to embers, and now that Ethan had stood up, his face was impossible to see. He left without another word, leaving Lee alone as the torches sputtered and died out.

tbc...

#riordanverse #riordanverse fanfic #percy jackson and the olympians #percy jackson fanfiction #tsari writes fanfiction #stereden #lee fletcher #ethan nakamura #pjo kronos #pjo apollo #halcyon green #luke castellan #truth comes out of his well

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theslay3d · 2 years

Note

Percy Jackson x reader in which the reader is part of the Titan's army and betrays Percy

Percy Jackson x Any camper!reader

Gender:Gender neutral

Warnings: um death? i think thats all yes

Word count:824

A/N hehehe we love the angst i hope you enjoy this. Sorry its taking me so long to do requests the holidays have made me tired lol ALSO this is probably not canon as i haven’t read this book in awhile

The battle was here and you had to choose. You didn't want to hurt camp but Luke has been manipulating you from the start. Ever since you got to camp. Every quest you were on. You always heard him in your head. Telling you that you could change the world and finally be noticed by your parent and you believed him.

So you fed him information you tried to give fake information once but apparently he had another spy who told him differently so you learned to not give anything fake. Only some half truths which eventually turned into full truths.

You did like Percy and didn't want to hurt him. He was the only one there for you besides Annabeth and Luke but in the prophecy if it's about him he was gonna die anyway. So if the only person that was there for you was gonna die why even try?.

You were at camp when Percy contacted Chiron to bring all the campers to where he was. You knew the battle was gonna start soon. You all got there and a few hours later it began.

You snuck off in the middle of all the chaos and went to contact Luke who merged with Kronos. You knew it was now Kronos but something about his mannerisms still seemed like Luke to you. You thought maybe he was still in there.

“What are their plans” Luke/Kronos demanded as soon as the iris message came through.

You told him everything you knew and he nodded.

“Good job. When i get there i want you to come to me i want to see the shock on Jackson's face”

Your eyes widened “W-what?”

Kronos smirked “What? You thought you wouldn't fight in battle against your camp with me?”

You swallowed it was much easier to believe this was Kronos then Luke right now.

He continued his sentence. “That's too bad Y/n you will be joining my side when i get there” He reached out and swiped through the message.

You sat in the room alone now. A tear escaped your eye before you could stop it. Suddenly the door opened.

“Y/n! We've been looking for you it's time to go”

It was Percy with his messy black hair and sea green eyes.

You weakly smiled “Sorry i just i needed a minute”

He walked forward to stand next to you. You were shocked when he reached out to hug you. “If we make it out of this i need to tell you something Y/n”

You broke from the hug and stared at him. “Alright Percy i'll remind you we both know that you will forget”

He laughed along with you. Why couldn't this moment last forever?

You were now on the bridge with Kronos coming toward you on his horse. At that moment you knew it was time to make the choice. You knew he would call you forward and ask you to join him by his side. What you didn't know was if you could not accept and fight next to Percy.

You turned your head to Percy. This might be the last time you'll see him from the same side.

Finally Kronos made it there. You Percy, and Annabeth all stared him down.

He smirked just like Luke used to do. “Oh Y/n you know what time it is” He taunted.

Percy and Annabeth’s heads snapped towards yours “What's he talking about Y/n?” Percy asked, his head tilted.

You held in your tears as you whispered to them “I'm sorry” and walked forward to join Kronos’s side. Both Percys and Annabeths moths parted in shock. The look in their eyes made your heart break.

Kronos let out a laugh “You should see your faces right now it's amusing really” He let out another laugh and continued “What Jackson do you think they actually cared for you? No they were on my side the whole time”

Before anyone could say anything Annabeth broke forward “You TRAITOR I TRUSTED YOU” She pointed at you as tears escaped both of your eyes.

“I'm sorry” You repeated over and over.

Finally Percy did something. He reached forward and grabbed Annabeth's hand and pulled her back. “Don't” you could hear him mutter to her.

His eyes met yours. Instead of seeing the usual care that he had in his eyes he had hurt and disappointment in them. “How could you Y/n? W-we loved you. You were our friend”

You winced at the past tense words he used but before you could say anything Kronos broke in “This is getting tiring ive already seen the broken look in little Jackson's eyes its time to fight”

That was the last time you saw Percy besides from where you fell with Ethan. You apologized again and let go from where you held on to.

Percy screamed as he watched you fall, unable to do anything.

#percy jackson fanfiction #percy jackson x you #percy jackson x reader #percy jackson #percy jackson angst #percy jackson and the olympians fan fiction #the last olympian #annabeth chase #ethan nakamura #luke castellan

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captainsophiestark · 6 months

Text

Flickering Firelight

Luke Castellan x Reader

Masterlist - Join My Taglist!

Written for my personal fic writing challenge for 2024, Sophie's Year of Fic! Featuring a new fic being posted every Friday, all year long :)

Fandom: Percy Jackson

Summary: Three snapshots of a relationship with Luke Castellan, before during and after the things he does for Kronos.

Word Count: 1,258

Category: Angst, Fluff

Putting work into an AI program without permission is illegal. You do not have my permission. Do not do it.

I sighed, leaning my head against my boyfriend's shoulder, both of us illuminated by the flickering light of the campfire we'd made on the beach. Everything had been so busy over the last week, and it was nice to finally have a moment just for us.

"Lotta new campers this summer," mused Luke, my best-friend-turned-boyfriend as of a few months ago. "We're gonna have a hell of a time with them in the Hermes cabin."

"Yeah. Hopefully it won't take too long for them to get claimed. Some of them have been pretty good about it, lately."

Luke just grunted, not really giving me a full response. I knew exactly how he felt about the Olympians and the things they did, so I let it drop.

"I have to say, it's nice to have everybody back, though," I said, gently changing the subject. I took Luke's hand in mine, gently tracing lines with my thumb. "The whole place just feels more alive with the summer campers here."

"True. And I'd be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to getting them all back into shape in the sword arena, since I just know almost none of them practiced while they were gone."

"Now that is a show that I'd like to watch."

Luke huffed a laugh, and I pulled back just enough to look him in the eyes. The corner of his mouth quirked up in a smirk that I absolutely adored, and which made my heart race.

"I've got a good feeling about this summer," I said, moving a little closer to Luke as I spoke. The smirk faded from his lips, replaced with a more thoughtful expression I couldn't totally read.

"Yeah. So do I."

****************

I hadn't seen the love of my life in a long time, and now we stood on opposite sides of a battlefield. And he wasn't really my Luke.

The flickering firelight of the burning city around me reflected off of gold armor, in the gold eyes I didn't recognize.

"Luke..." My voice broke on his name, turning into a hoarse whisper I hardly recognized. "Please..."

The only indication the man I loved was still in there was the slightest twitch of his eye. Time slowed as the monster that had brought him into this mess smiled at me, nothing like the mischievous grin I knew and loved.

"Nice try, little hero. But he's gone. And so are you."

I tried to raise my sword as Kronos advanced on me, but my arms were like lead. I was among the last defenders of Olympus, further out from the final ring my friends had made. I wanted to make a meaningful stand to try to stop this here and now, but as the seconds inched by, it became more and more clear that wouldn't be possible.

The last thing I saw was Luke's stupid sword Backbiter, with its bronze and steel blade, flashing through the air towards me, held by a monster using someone I loved as a mask.

****************

I sighed as I put my feet up on the stone ring of the firepit before me, leaning back in an extra-comfy lounge chair. The sun shone down on me, warming my skin despite being Olympus knew how far underground. Here, it didn't matter. I'd found paradise.

Based on the fact that Elysium still existed at all, I knew my friends had managed to succeed. It hadn't been too long after I'd first arrived here that someone brought news that confirmed it: Kronos and his Titans had been defeated. Olympus had won the day.

Sadly, I wasn't down here by myself. Too many friends were here with me, all of us dying in the fight and at least making it here together, as a small silver lining. We'd taken over a whole section of the place as our own secondary Camp Half-Blood, enjoying the peace here together while we could.

Some of us had even tried for rebirth, and more were headed that way. But I couldn't bring myself to leave. At least, not yet.

I kept waiting for what I was almost confident wouldn't happen, but I refused to move on all the same. Silena had made it down here, after all, despite being a spy for the Titans. She'd realized her error and made a change, helping our cause and redeeming herself enough for Elysium. Based on other accounts from above, Luke had done something similar. He'd also done much worse than Silena, but I still couldn't make myself give up hope of seeing him here too.

"Hey."

I looked up to find Ethan Nakamura, one of Luke's lieutenants who'd defected at the very, very end, looking at me from a few feet away. I raised an eyebrow at him, and he blew out a breath.

"Somebody's here to see you."

I frowned, then shot up straight in my seat as a familiar face stepped out from behind one of the residences of Elysium. Luke, looking more sheepish and unsure than I'd ever seen him in either of our lives, struggled to meet my eyes. I froze, hardly believing what I was seeing. It was him. Like he'd been before all this shit with the Titans.

He finally looked up, and his eyes were his own, all trace of that horrible gold gone.

Tears flooded down my face as I rushed forward, wrapping him in a bone-crushing hug. I sobbed into his chest as I held him, my Luke, somehow here with me after death when I never thought I'd see him again.

He breathed my name like he didn't believe I was real, his arms finally coming around me and holding me tight. We stayed like that for a long time, holding each other, hearts pressed against each other. Finally, it started to sink in that he was really here with me, after everything we'd been through. I pulled back just a bit, so I could look him in the eyes again. Those beautiful eyes that I loved met mine.

"Luke..." I breathed, a smile lighting up my face. Slowly, a beaming smile spread on his own, mirroring mine.

"I- I didn't think you'd be happy to see me."

My heart ached at his words, and I leaned in to give him a soft kiss on the cheek before meeting his eyes again.

"I wasn't happy with the choice you made, Luke, and a lot of bad things came from it. But you came back to me in the end. If what I've been hearing is right, you helped save the world, at the cost of your own life. And even at the worst moments, I never stopped loving you."

"I never stopped loving you, either. If I could go back, if I could do things differently-"

I put one finger to his lips, gently cutting him off before he could get too far down that path.

"I know, Luke. But you can't. None of us can do anything to change the past. So we might as well enjoy where we are now."

He nodded, a soft smile gracing his lips. I leaned up to press mine gently against his own, the kiss soft and sweet and everything I'd been missing since that last summer we'd had together. I let myself enjoy the moment, Luke's hands tightening on my waist, then pulled away.

"Come on," I said, trailing my hand down from his shoulder to take his hand. "Let me show you around, and then we can get some marshmallows and hang out by the fire."

Luke beamed. "I can't think of anything in the world that I'd rather do."

****************

Everything Taglist: @rosecentury @kmc1989

Percy Jackson Taglist: @valkyriepirate

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ineedibuprofen · 1 year

Note

Percy Jackson + 137?

Percy doesn't even see it coming.

His instincts and reflexes are something he's always been able to rely on and that was only confirmed as the River Styx's curse protected him. Achilles' mark was unpredictable and dangerous there was no doubt, but Percy found it a whole lot easier to focus on the fight when he wasn't worrying about being killed. For the most part.

He finds himself on the other side of Manhattan, crossed paths with a demigod on the opposite side of the war – a child of Hermes, ironically enough, and Percy would be lying if his familiar sandy blonde hair didn't cause equal parts hesitance and resentment to stir up inside him. He doesn't know his name, doesn't recognize him from if he went to camp before, but that wasn't all that surprising. Most of the demigods on the other side Percy didn't recognize.

He's a good sword fighter. Percy knows he's good himself, taught by Luke, the best swordsmen in hundreds of years – he swallows down the hesitance and resentment that rises once again at the reminder – but this kid's been able to hold his own for a good while now. Kid, not just because it was Percy's default nickname to call other people, but also because he really was a kid. He looked maybe fifteen, if he was stretching it, but probably younger. Definitely younger than Percy.

It's a bitter reminder of where they are. In the center of Manhattan, Percy stresses about disarming this kid so he can run and get back to the main fight. Everything is stock still frozen, a time capsule city, and it still feels unreal. It was easy to get lost in the illusion that none of this was actually happening.

"Give it up," the kid grits out as Percy loses his footing.

He slips back a bit and the son of Hermes brings his sword back up. Percy does the same and they meet with a clang that echoes in the silent landscape. There's no one and nothing around, aside from a smashed car that's on fire. It's a few feet away, not close enough to be of help if Percy loses Riptide, but not far enough to be a completely useless asset. Percy uses his other hand as leverage as he places at the other end of his blade and pushes. His foot catches on a rock and it helps him gain traction.

"No," he says, and the kid falls back.

He lands on his backside, taking breath after breath. There's soot and smoke surrounding them and it tastes like fire, like Mt. St. Helens, like scars in his skin that reappeared after Calypso's magic wore off, like he was fourteen then and didn't know how to control his powers and now he's sixteen and destined to die and about to kill a kid a year younger than him. His eyes are brown and round and he's staring at him with the look of a wild animal.

Percy lifts Riptide and points at his throat, feeling the way it trembles in his hands. The blade meets the kid's skin and he closes his eyes, preparing for what he believes is the inevitable. He almost looks like Nico di Angelo. Like Ethan Nakamura. Like Luke Castellan. Like any other camper who was scared shitless and rightfully angry at the Gods. Like Percy.

He swallows down the regret of this whole situation. He swallows down the nausea in his gut. He swallows down his dwindling will to live and the none of this would've happened if you'd never been born. Take a look at the damage around you, Luke has taunted in his dream, how much of it would still be here if you didn't exist? How much of it would go away if you just died?

Percy's eyes unexpectedly sting. He tries to become apathetic, but – this isn't the first demigod he's killed, even if he tries to avoid it like nothing else. It was inevitable, or so he told himself. That was his excuse. But it felt weak now, in the middle of a war with no end in sight.

No end in sight, except for this demigod who was about to die. By Percy's hands.

One breath. Two breaths. Three breaths.

He can't do it.

His eyes squeeze shut and he pulls Riptide back towards himself. He caps it. He puts it back in his pocket. The kid's eyes open. There's a strange look on his face, a combination of terror and confusion and relief.

"Go." Percy says, voice tense. He takes a step back in a weak white flag and looks to the side, "I didn't see you. Just go."

He stares at him for another second in presumably shock before he splutters and nods. He mutters as he scrambles up, a series of okays and oh Gods and other relieved words Percy doesn't catch. When he's found his balance, he frowns at Percy.

"Why would you –,"

He doesn't get to finish the sentence.

Percy doesn't even see it coming.

There's a loud noise, a noise of a deep, familiar noise. It's exponentially loud, so, so loud, and Percy's ears are ringing before he hits the concrete. He's weightless as his body flies. After half a second and forty years, he slams his head against the pavement as he hits the road a few feet from where he's been standing. His ears are ringing and he doesn't know the logistics of the Achilles' heel, but his head is pounding like a motherfucker and when he touches his ear, his fingers come back bleeding.

What the fuck. What the fuck just happened? What – an explosion. The familiar noise. Charles Beckendorf's final salute. The Princess Andromeda. The Titan War. It was all the same, it was – where was he? There was an explosion. What caused it? Bomb. Bomb? No, that – where did bombs come from? What was happening – definitely bomb. But no. Fire. Car. The car. Oh, shit. No, no, no. The car had been on fire.

Damnit.

He lets out a groan and curls in on himself. He's not in pain, physically, but he's off put and his ears aren't recovered yet and –

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

The kid.

There was a kid, wasn't there? A son of Hermes. Luke? No. Was it – or maybe Ethan? No, no. God – focus. Son of Hermes. Details unknown. He has to find him.

Percy, ignoring his brain's protests, manages to roll over and get to his feet. His ears are still ringing, but it's low and quieter, and he can hear the crackling of a fire nearby. He stumbles as he takes a step forward, mind not quite registering the damage.

The car is no longer there, replaced by bits of metal and rubber and other bad smelling shit that burns in the air. There's little fires scattered around them, and then a bigger one where the car originally was. The air is hot and the atmosphere is like he's in a bubble with no air. It hurts to breathe and he must've inhaled some smoke or something because everytime he breathes too much, he coughs. It's hard and forceful, rattles his lungs, and he hasn't coughed like this since he was ten and Gabe was chain-smoking in the living room while he had bronchitis.

He can hear shouting in the distance, war cries and battle calls, and as the ringing finally fades, Percy remembers he's in the middle of a war. There are people to help and monsters to fight and when did he get sperated from Annabeth? He doesn't know. He doesn't know and it doesn't matter and he needs to focus because there's a kid that needs him.

He scans the rest of the horizon, ignores the way his mind tells him he's abandoning his post. He's abandoning his post for someone on the enemy's side and what kind of leader was he, standing in the middle of wreckage looking for someone most likely saveless to save.

He sees him, across the street from the crime scene. He's on his side, his back facing Percy, his clothes smouldering. He's not moving, except for a very faint rise and fall of his chest. This time, Percy doesn't hesitate.

He runs to the other side of him, crashes into the ground so hard he can feel the skin on his knees break. He turns him over carefully, so his face is towards the sky. His skin is covered in soot and there's burn holes in his shirt and he's bleeding in more than one place.

"Hey, hey," Percy murmurs, "get up, kid. Are you okay – you're okay. You're okay. C'mon, kid."

He doesn't say anything. Percy, feeling his panic rise and take over his instincts, rips open the guy's shirt. He assesses the injuries and takes stock of the supplies he doesn't have. He has a gash on his forehead that's bleeding, red crimson running down the side of his face. His ankle is twisted the wrong direction. Minor cuts and burns cover the bigger half of his body.

Percy has nothing. No ambrosia, no nectar, no first aid. He searches the kid's pockets, desperate for a solution, but the only thing he finds is half a square of crushed ambrosia. He shoved it in the kid's mouth, who remains unresponsive. He moves his jaw and hits him in the throat so he chews and swallow it, and then he's left to his own devices.

The only helpful thing he has is own t-shirt and a piece of sturdy wood and arm's length away. He grabs it, rips the end of his shirt off and then rips it in half and creates a makeshift splint for the ankle. He takes the other half piece and wraps his head best he can, but it doesn't even go in a full circle and he doesn't have any tape to hold it in place.

Kronos has risen and he's forever away from any kind of medical equipment and this kid still hasn't fucking moved. His chest isn't moving. Percy flicks around for his wrist, holds his breathe as he checks for a pulse.

Nothing.

No. No, no. He just had him, Percy just had him. He just – he was alive. What the hell happened? The explosion wasn't that bad, he's not bleeding that bad anywhere.

Percy reels back on his heels and let's himself sit on the floor. He stares at the body of a son of Hermes he never knew the name of. He wonders if anyone knew his name.

People die. People have died. People are dying. People will die. Percy's been at the other end of the sword more than once. That doesn't change the guilt that grows into a parasite and eats his insides. That doesn't change the tears still burning in his eyes. It doesn't change the prophecy, the hero's sould cursed blade shall reap. It doesn't change Annabeth taking a knife for him.

It feels like a cruel, cosmic joke. Like his whole life, everything he's suffered through and sacrificed, all the shit others have suffered through and sacrificed, has been leading up to the fact that he and his friends and the only safe place for people like them was going to be destroyed.

There's nothing left, at the end of the world, except for Kronos and his goons.

If there was any justice in the world, Percy thinks – he leans over and closes the kid's eyes, crosses his arms over his chest, and makes sure he'll tell others to make him a shroud – Gods hope that they've put their trust in the right people.

If there's any justice in the world, this war will not end in chaos. This war will not cater to those who started it for their own benefit.

#prompt btw was “are you okay?”#hope u like!! ty for the prompt heart heart #f: pjo #my writing #pjo #pjo ao3 #percy jackson and the olympians #luke castellan #percy jackson #ethan nakamura #pjo oneshot #pjo canon #pjo drabble #pjo fanfiction #pjo fanfic #pjo fandom #pjo fic #pjo hoo toa #pjo kronos

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jflashandclash · 4 months

Text

Axel: Into the Lion’s Maw VII

The rest of the walk back was, admittedly, a little awkward. Axel didn’t mean to make Ethan go so pale or shut up so abruptly.

However, if he said he wasn’t proud of the Leonis Caput’s charm, he would be lying.

He and Ethan stepped through an archway of gold. The room on the other side was still illuminated with turquoise fire.

A cheer erupted. “It’s the Lion!” someone shouted.

“They didn’t leave us!”

From a glance over, Axel saw anger replace Ethan’s fear. His scowl returned. Someone, Axel suspected, didn’t like being rescued.

After their heart-to-heart, Axel wasn’t going to let Ethan out of his sight. Nor was he going to waste a moment where another hostile deity could appear. He was impressed Ailiseu had kept everyone corralled within his turquoise flames. These soldiers didn’t need to discover that the flames were nothing more than light tricks that Uncle Frasco had taught him to use in the circus.

“Get in two lines, side-by-side,” Axel said, pacing back and forth in front of them to establish the start of the lines. Like herding his siblings. “Everyone hold onto the person in front of you. Keep your weapon in your other hand. No one goes off alone—is that clear?” There were nods of understanding as the troop scrambled to obey. “If you hear Mary, do not engage.”

Axel pivot turned to face the golden-arched doorway. “And Mary,” he called, in the event the goddess had perked back up, “You are not to approach my troops without explicit permission.”[1]

“Kronos’ troops,” Ethan growled.

Axel glared. “Once we rejoin.” Then, they would be Kronos’ troops again. Until then, Axel pointed beside him. “You’re leading the second column.” To the others, “Protect your side of the column!”

He glanced around the floor for a dim glow. Not through the golden archway. Not through the silver one. This was going to make him look really stupid if he got them all organized to play Guess Which Way Leads to Death. He did have—what had Ethan called it? Clear vision? Right?

Something touched his neck—or hadn’t yet?—he saw a flicker of finger movement, felt the caress moments after, and saw the echo of the hand before it vanished. Three transparent white gloves that blurred into one: Hecate.

Always here to give a third option, the helm mused.

Axel couldn’t respond. His knees had gone weak, but he couldn’t reveal that in front of the other demigods.

Hecate had trace up to his chin, tilting his head up.

There, above them, the roof was glowing with a Greek D.

Axel shook off the phantom sensation, unsure if it had been real. “Excuse me,” he said to Ailiseu, borrowing their pilum. He tapped the symbol.

A retractable ladder popped out of the ceiling, joints groaning as it extended. Demigods exclaimed and ooed. He used the pilum to tug it down within reach, thinking, no matter how badly he wanted to, it might look undignified to jump for the bottom rung. As though constructed by the Fates, the ladder was wide enough to accommodate two people at once. He just hoped it was strong enough.

He felt a hand touch his shoulder. This time, it wasn’t a crazed goddess or his friend’s godly mother. It was Ailiseu, nodding their head gravely. He handed them back the pilum. “Thank you.”

Behind them and behind Ethan, the demigod soldiers had lined up appropriately. They had expressions of scared hopefulness.

Was that a good attitude to take into battle?

Say something.

At times like this, Axel wished they had a better name for themselves. Camp Half-Blood had “campers” or “Greeks.” Camp Jupiter had “legionaries” or “Romans.” Kronians sounded too much like cronies. When Pax had suggested “Tambourines” for Mount Tam, Axel stopped the conversation before it caught on. They were a blend of nationalities and godly ancestry. Axel wasn’t even a demigod: the one thing the rest of them shared. What brought them together?

He cleared his throat, tilted up his chin, and projected the way Uncle Frasco had taught him.

“We were forgotten. We were abandoned. Neglected. Abused,” he glanced down the two columns, hoping each soldier felt seen. “Camp Half-Blood worships our abusers. They pay tribute at every meal to those who tormented us or left us to torment.”

One of the newer demigods raised his sword and shouted, “Fuck those guys!”

There came a cheer.

Axel grinned fiercely. He raised his own sword in salute. “We fight for Camp Othrys! We fight for freedom from tyranny!” Cheers continued between each sentence. “We will defeat those that defend the practice of dictators!” Axel remembered Pax telling him how boring it got when he speechified about tyranny and oppression and how he should keep it simple unless he was speaking with Witch Boy.

So, to finish off, he shouted, “Let’s go kick their asses!”

The tunnel echoed with a roar of approval and agreement.

As Axel and Ethan each placed a foot on the ladder, relieved to find it held their weight and that of the demigods behind them, the Leonis caput added, “I will lead us into battle!”

***

*Jack crawls from the grave to set this as a tiny offering to its followers’ shrine before crawling back into its grave to seek out a juicier offering for next time*

Thank you for reading! I hope all of you enjoyed! Hopefully, in two weeks, I’ll have the next installment in this segment for Into the Lion’s Maw. Thank all of you so much for your comments, artwork, support and patience! I keep thinking things are going to settle down and they might be soon!

***

Footnotes:

[1] Original draft, for those of you interested: “Everyone hold hands. I don’t want ANYONE going off on their own. Is that clear? I do not want anyone to listen to Mary here without first okaying it with me. Mary, you’re going to be integral in us getting out of here. Can you hold onto my hand.”

Axel offered her the severed bone hand.

She gleefully clenched it, immediately snapping a finger off.

#percy jackson and the olympians #pjo #fanfiction #hoo #traitors of olympus #axel #writing #tales from mount othrys #tfmo #ethan nakamura #Dear gods I'm exhausted guys #BUT GSDI I WILL FINISH THIS FANFICTION FOR YOU #thank all of you for your patience <3

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