Chapter 4: Luke

Luke woke up with a huge sigh.

"Today... I get Hades from my fellow campers", he muttered as he stretched as he got out of bed. He heard a light knock on his door. He opened it to find a nervous Chiron standing there.

"All right... so... Annabeth and I have called a meeting with the counselors of all the cabins... we will first give them the news of Percy-".

"No, I want to tell them, its my fault, I should be the one to explain-".

"But Luke-".

"I know it will start an uproar, but it has to be me. It's my fault that Kronos was even here in the first place, my fault that the Second Titan started and was the cause of Gaea to awaken, and my fault that Percy is now Possessed by Kronos. I need to take full responsibility. And I will need to face the campers' wrath myself".

Chiron sighed but nodded, "very well, Luke. I have to admit... I'm impressed. Though everyone knows that you eventually destroyed Kronos by sacrificing yourself, there are many who still mistrust you. Many who hate you. They might forgive you, but you will need to work to gain their trust again. You understand that right?"

Luke nodded, as he closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths. When he opened his eyes, he saw Chiron smiling kindly at him, "then let's meet your fellow campers".

When they entered, all conversation ended.

Katie Gardner's jaw dropped as she stared at Luke. Connor and Travis Stoll glared and whispered into eachother's ears. Sherman Yang yelped as he reached for his sword that wasn't even there. Annabeth Chase stared calmly, already knowing what is going to happen due to Chiron pulling her aside. Leo Valdez continued to glare at Luke, playing with the fire in his hands as if telling Luke, that McShizzle supreme is still waiting. Will Solace glanced nervously at Nico Di Angelo who grasped Will's hand reassuringly. Piper McLean glanced at Annabeth who nodded which caused her to pale. Pollux made a thumb across his his neck motion as he glared at Luke. A familiar blond haired boy that he had never got the name of when he was watching over the Argo II stared at Luke blankly, obviously not knowing who he is. Butch Walker sipped his water as he glared down at his drink. Clovis was sleeping. Laurel and Holly Victor were having a staring contest with eachother to see who can stare at Luke the longest before blinking. Finally, Lou Ellen Blackstone stared everywhere but Luke's eyes.

This is going to be fun... Luke thought sarcastically as he took a deep breath.

"Hi", he started awkwardly as he shifted his feet, "so... most of you know me, but for those of you who don't-", he said glancing at Piper and blondy, "I am Luke Castellan".

Blondy's eyes widened with recognition as he said, "wait, like the Luke? The one who befriended my sister and Annabeth then betrayed them?"

Luke swallowed hard as he saw the small scar on the blod haired boy's lip. He remembered Thalia mentioning that once, only once. But Luke never forgot the story she told of when her little brother tried to eat a stapler.

"Jason?" He asked dumbly.

He was met by a glare which caused Luke to quickly change the subject.

"So, um... I have bad news.... very bad news-".

"Yah-", started Connor

"-Your alive", finished Travis as they glared at Luke.

"Eh, worse than tha-".

"What can be worse?" Pollux seethed.

"How about Percy being possessed by Kronos?" Luke offered. Everyone in the room gasped.

"He lies!" Piper yelled then glanced over to Chiron then Annabeth.

"Sorry Pipes", Leo said with a mournful look, "he tells the truth. Chiron and Annabeth believe him".

Said people nod to back Leo up. Piper glared at Luke and screams, "it's all your fault!" She accidentally used charmspeak in her words which caused the entire council to erupt in accusations towards Luke. The only people who were unaffected where Leo and Annabeth, who were holding Pollux back as he was screaming that he wanted to strangle Luke, Jason who was trying to calm Piper down, Nico and Will who were trying to quite everyone else down, and Chiron who gave Luke an, I told you so, look.

"Quite!" Chiron yelled which caused everyone to shut up, "quite, settle down everyone". When everyone was quite enough, Chiron nodded towards Luke, indicating that he could continue.

He took a deep breath before he continued, "Listen, all of you. I don't expect any of you to forgive me, or trust me. But I ask you to please give me a chance to explain...", he glanced at Annabeth who immediately knew where he was going.

"Luke-".

"I was blinded, blinded by the pain and hatred that I have suffered through my childhood. My mother, turned crazy and blind due to a failed attempt at becoming the camp's next Oracle. Spouting out random future glimpse while green mist spewed from her mouth-". Everyone was silent, amazed that Luke was spewing his life story to everyone, "- my father, who left her alone. No. Left me alone with her. I blamed him for how horrible my life was as a demigod, and I was furious by the quest I was given-", he touched his scar subconsciously before he continued, "so I was angery, and unfortunately, Kronos used my anger to turn me to his side. So, I was... easily manipulated. I really owe everything to Percy, he gave me a chance to be the Hero in the end.

"And how do I repay him? By allowing his damn-", he smashed his fist into the table, causing everyone to jump, "fatal flaw to get him possessed and hunted like an animal!" He choked the last part, his fist clenched again as tears started to streak down his face. His body started to rack as he let out silent sobs.

Everyone quieted as they watched Luke let his emotions go. Everyone felt guilty for treating him so horribly, though no one would admit it. Even Pollux, who was staring down at his hands.

"I'm... sorry...", Luke gasped at a near whisper, yet his voice seemed to echo throughout the room. He buried his face into his arms as his sobs continued.

Suddenly, a hand clasped onto his shoulder which caused him to jump and whip around. Connor and Travis Stoll were smiling kindly for once in their lives and handed Luke a tissue.

"We are sorry Luke", Travis started.

"Yah, so very sorry", Connor added.

Then they whole room started to quietly apologize but faltered when they saw Luke shake his head.

"No", he said, "I- I should be the one whose sorry. Not any of you. I deserved your hatred-".

"No Luke", Piper said, "we should be sorry about how we took you. We didn't know, so we didn't here you out. We are sorry for how we treated you, but we know that that doesn't mean we trust you".

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"I don't want your trust, I just want you to help Percy-".

"What can we do? How can we-".

"You can help him by beliving in him", Luke said, cutting Lou off. "Believe that he can overcome Kronos, if you see him in dreams, give him some encouragement. Don't speak about him being possessed by Kronos, speak about the positive things like how he saved Olympus, or something that he has done individually to you that has made you happy. Kronos can be suppressed with positive feelings. The feelings that keeps Percy in control of his own body. If he starts getting even the smallest doubts... bye bye Percy, hello cannibalistic Titan Lord of Time".

Everyone was silent. Luke wondered if they understood what he ment or not. He glanced at Chiron who gave him a small smile that said, good job.

Then, starting with Pollux, everyone started agreeing and even speaking to eachother of their own experiences with Percy. Laughing, talking, and just sharing positive stories big and small. 
Luke sighed in relief and muttered with a smile, "Percy, I hope your hearing this".

After the council, Zeus summoned Chiron to Mt. Olympus to, most likely speak about Percy and Luke, though everyone was shocked to hear that Luke didn't need to go as well. He was shown to his old bed and was even offered his old position as counselor, which he declined much to some people's relief. He trained demigods in sword play just as he had before. After a few days, Chiron came back. He called for Luke and Annabeth, as well as Piper, Jason, Nico and Leo to the big house.

"What is it Chiron?" Luke asked nervously.

"Well, good news, the gods have unanimously decided to give you another chance", Chiron said to Luke with a fake, upbeat tone.

"And... the bad news?" He asked, already knowing what it was.

"The bad knews-", Chiron rubbed his face as he stared each and everyone who stoid before him, "- the gods want to hunt Percy down and kill him-".

Everyone gasped and started to cry, but Chiron wasn't done.

"They have sent gods to look for him, the Hunters are looking for him and they also assigned a special demigod force to look for him as well..."

"Um... Chiron? And um... exactly who is in this special force?" Annabeth asked, despite everyone already knowing the answer.

"You guys. Along with Frank and Hazel", Chiron said in a mournful tone.

That's when everyone erupted into chaos.

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