Chapter Text
Luke had really wanted it to be Thalia. In fact, he had done everything in his power to ensure it would be Thalia. He had stolen the golden fleece to ensure it would be Thalia. He had literally brought her back to life, and yet... Luke paced the interior cabin on the Princess Andromeda, the cruise ship that was one of many resources provided to him to assist him in overthrowing Olympus once and for all. Hatred filled Luke's chest as he wore a trail in the plush carpet under his feet. All that worked foiled by one lousy goddess. Thalia, daughter of Zues, was the demigod of the great prophecy, which said that a halfblood of the eldest three gods would save or destroy Olympus at age sixteen. Or she was the subject of the prophecy, until she had cheated. Just before her 16th birthday, Thalia had run off the join the Hunters of Artemis, a band of angry, man-hating girls who were good with a bow. Angry, Immortal, man-hating girls. Thalia would never turn sixteen. Luke knew Thalia. They had trusted each other, once. probably more than they had ever trusted anyone since. She was his family. Images flashed through his mind of them living on the streets, fighting their way through new cities, always on the move. He remembered how they used to laugh while bandaging each others' wounds, trying to score every scrape and bruise to decide who had "won" that day, by being in the worse condition. Luke would have given up out there if he had been alone, but suffering together made it a little less like suffering. Luke would have gotten through to her, he knew it. Thalia was headstrong, but Luke also knew that she had a strong sense of justice, she would have come to understand why what he was doing was nescessary. Artemis was the first on his list to kill once Kronos's army captured Olympus. She deserved to suffer after taking Thalia away. She had been the perfect cadidate, and Luke would have followed her into battle any day.
But now Luke had to shift his focus to Percy Jackson, son of Posiden, and Thalia's succesor. He rubbed his eyes in the dim light of the windowless room, forcing himself to sit and focus on the barely noticable rock of the ocean waves. Percy was a good kid. That was the problem. He loved his mom and his stupid freaky half brother. Barely a teenager and already being hailed as a hero. But Luke had glimpsed other sides of the guy. Luke and Percy had trained together at Camp Half-Blood. Percy was a fast learner and a good sport, but he was also a ferocious fighter. He had a temper, and it ran deeper than the instinctual will to survive during a duel. He was angry about the life he had been given. They could use that. That was the lot the gods had given Percy. If Luke could convince him of that, he might be able to get Percy to see the Titan Lord's vision. Percy was fourteen, and had only known the truth of his birth for a few years. You still have time. But it was running short. Every second that ticked past was another second wasted. Luke had to convince Percy to join him, because if he didn't... his stomach soured every time the thought came. Kronos needed a host body, and it was Luke's job to provide one, one way or another.
Cabin three was empty and silent aside from Percy and the gentle trickle of the glowing fountain across the room. Percy sat on the cold floor, leaning against his bed. He stared numbly across the room at all the dark, empty bunks that had never been, and never would be, filled. His eyes stung and his chest felt heavy. He had spent the last hour crying in solitude: the only place he knew how to cry. His bedding lay in heaps on the floor around him where he had scattered it in his rage. Now, all his energy had drained away and his limbs felt impossibly heavy. Why me? He thought he had escaped it. Thalia was back, in her world, back to take on the responsability that was always meant for her. For a moment Percy had thought that maybe he had a chance at a normal life. Growing up. But then she had... cheated. Percy understood her reasoning for joining the Hunters of Artemis, and had offered no push back or complaint publically. Chiron said this was a good thing, it gave them more time to prepare for war. By taking Thalia out of the equation, they delayed the Great Prophecy, giving Camp Half-Blood and it's allies an upper hand. But Percy wasn't part of an equation. He wasn't a chess piece to be traded. they weren't swapping queens. He was a person. He was a life, that had been given a heavy meaning he never asked for. And no one had ever asked him.
The sun must have dipped below the horizen. The low light made Percy's empty cabin appear greyscale. Sometimes at night, he could hear laughter from the cabins across the green as campers got ready for lights out. The only other person who ever bunked in cabin three was Tyson, Percy's half brother who also happened to be a cyclops. Tyson was great, but he didn't offer much in the way of conversation, and generally fell asleep as soon as he lay down, snoring loudly. So mostly, Percy was alone. His newfound title of "Chosen One" was just one more thing that would isolate him from his peers. But who has time for friends anyway if you have to save the world? Right? Tears would have begun welling again if there was any water left in Percy's body. A dehydrated son of Poseiden. It was almost funny.
Percy pressed his palms into the cool stone floor, trying to "ground himself". Katie Gardner was always going on about meditation and using grounding methods to release anxiety. Percy honestly didn't know what she meant. Maybe it was a Demeter thing? But with his consciousness spiraling out of his body, "grounded" seemed like a good way to stop himself from floating away.
"Knock Knock?" a voice said through the door.
Percy would recognize that voice anywhere.
"Knock knock!" it called again.
Percy solemnly debated whether to open the door, but the decision was soon made for him.
"Ok, I'm coming in."
The door swung open and Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena and Percy's best friend, stepped into the cabin, her curly hair tangled around her shoulder. Annabeth said nothing as she surveyed the scene before her, eyes coming to rest on an unmoving Percy. She made a silent decison, closing the door and stepping further into the room.
"What are you doing?" She asked
"Trying to be grounded."
"Geez, I would have thought you'd had enough of that by now, but there's a camera in the Big House, we can take a photo of..." she glanced at the torn apart bedding and Percy's crumpled frame "...This and send it to your mom of you want. How long do you want? One week? Two? School dance you're trying to get out of?"
Percy stared blankly at her stormy grey eyes and then, surprising both of them, laughed.
"Not a school dance," Percy said, "But there is something I'm trying to get out of."
Annabeth crossed the room and settled herself on the floor beside Percy, in a nest of duvet.
"I don't think being grounded will get you out of a world altering prophecy, but we can ask Delphi."
Percy's heart sank again. World altering. He had to alter the world. There was silence for a moment and when Annabeth spoke again, her tone was soft and serious.
"That was a lot to spring on you suddenly."
He knew she was talking about Thalia. But there was an underlying acknowledgment of all the losses they had suffered to get to this point. Percy was already laden with guilt.
"I don't know if I can do it." He admitted quietly.
Annabeth tried for a smile. She was being really nice. It was odd.
"Think of everything you've already survived."
She meant it as a positive, but Percy could only think of all the things he almost didn't survive. Now he was going to be up against a being hundreds of times more powerful than any monster he had faced. If a scorpian and a minotaur had almost killed him, how many seconds would it take Kronos?
"Hey," Annabeth said, sensing his discomfort "you have the gods on your side. We're going to do this."
Percy appreciated her confidence, but didn't share it. Were the gods ever really on anyone's side? The gods were on their own sides. Olympus cares about Olympus. Percy was supposed to care about planet earth. Or at least New York. In another life, Percy saw himself skateboarding on weekends, making the highschool swim team, getting kicked off the the swim team because of his grades. All the normal teenager stuff. But he had to leave that behind. His life wasn't for him anymore. It was for the people around him. It was for Annabeth beside him. For his mom and Paul. For Chiron and Grover and Tyson and every unclaimed demigod who was about to be exposed to a world of horror. He couldn't force the weight to leave his limbs or the rock to leave his throat. His fear bubbled up with every second closer to his sixteenth birthday they got. He couldn't shake those, but he could learn to live with them. Just like he had learned to live with the empty hole where his father should have been. The gods weren't on his side, and Percy wasn't on theirs. He was on the side of the people, and regardless of his own feelings, he was going to do whatever he saw fit in order to protect as many innocents as possible, no matter what it took.