STRENGTH
━━ act two, chapter twelve.

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷

NABI HADN'T SEEN LUKE FOR A WHILE, BUT SOMETHING HAD CHANGED. Maybe he was always so unnerving, hiding it behind a façade, or maybe his past self had been morphed and shaped into a perfect puppet for Kronos. She didn't really know... but there were parts of him she still recognised. They were there, but at the same time, not really.

   He had two thugs on either side of him that were bears — no, genuinely, giant grizzly bears that could walk and talk and everything — one of them grabbed Annabeth and Grover by their shirt collars.

   The other tried to grab Nabi and Tyson, but Tyson knocked him into a pile of luggage and roared at Luke.

   "Percy," Luke said calmly, "tell your giant to back down or I'll have Oreius bash your friends' heads together."

Oreius, one of the bears, grinned and raised Annabeth and Grover off the ground as they kicked and thrashed.

"What do you want, Luke?" Percy growled.

Luke smiled, the scar rippling on the side of his face. He gestured toward the end of the dock, and Nabi noticed a gigantic yacht in the port labelled: the Princess Andromeda.

"Why, Percy," Luke had a look in his eyes, menacing and smug, "I want to extend my hospitality, of course."

【 🦋 】

THE BEAR THUGS ROUNDED THEM UP ABOARD THE PRINCESS ANDROMEDA. They threw Nabi and her friends down on the aft deck in front of a swimming pool, with sparkling fountains that sprayed into the air. A dozen of Luke's assorted goons — snake people, Laistrygonians, demigods in battle armour — had gathered to watch the so called 'hospitality.'

"And so, the Fleece," Luke mused, "where is it?"

He looked over to them, prodding Percy's shirt with the tip of his weapon, then poking Grover's jeans.

"Hey!" Grover yelled, "That's real goat fur under there!"

"Sorry, old friend." Luke smiled, "Just give me the Fleece and I'll leave you to return to your... little nature quest."

"Blaaahh!" Grover protested, "Some old friend!"

"Maybe you didn't hear me..." Luke's voice was dangerously calm, his gaze piercing, "Where—is—the—Fleece?"

"Not here." Percy said, and Nabi could hear a hint of smugness in his tone, "We sent it on ahead of us. You messed up."

  "You're lying. You couldn't have..." His eyes narrowed. Then he paused, his face contorting in rage as it dawned on him. "Clarisse?"

"That's right." Nabi nodded, glaring at him.

"You trusted..." Luke was infuriated, gritting his teeth as he turned to Percy, "You gave..."

"Yeah." Percy smirked.

   Luke bellowed, "Agrius!"

   The other bear flinched, and stuttered, "Y—yes?"

   "Get below and prepare my steed. Bring it to the deck," Luke said, "I need to fly to the Miami Airport, fast."

   "But, boss—"

   "Do it," Luke screamed, "or I'll feed you to the drakon!"

   Luke paced in front of the swimming pool, cursing in Ancient Greek, gripping his sword so tight that his knuckles turned white. Agrius gulped and was about to head down the stairs...

   Until Nabi summoned her sword and went for him.

   She wasn't going to let Luke destroy their chances of saving the camp, or even touch Clarisse, for that matter. If they allowed Luke to leave... who knew what would happen?

   Nabi was quick to slash Agrius in the back, and he roared. The rest of Luke's crew dashed into action, all of them hurdling toward Nabi. She parried and jabbed — a few of the monsters turning to dust. A dracaena was sent tumbling off the ship with a sweep of her sword; a Laistrygonian stabbed straight in the chest.

"Stop!" Luke snarled, "Or Oreius'll rip your friends to shreds, Nabi."

   Nabi paused. Oreius chuckled lowly, swinging Annabeth and Grover like they were simple toys.

She hesitated for a second, before complying. Nabi knew they couldn't exactly do much to render her immobile like Annabeth or Grover. Even if they took away her sword, she had her shadows to make up for it.

   Luke hummed. "So, you really have improved... I guess it's less work for us, huh?"

   What did he mean by that?

"You've been toying with us all along," Percy scowled, "You wanted us to bring you the Fleece and save you the trouble of getting it."

Luke snarled back, "Of course, you idiot! And you've messed everything up!"

"Traitor!" Percy cried, throwing a gold drachma out of his pocket at Luke.

Of course, Luke simply dodged it.

   "You tricked all of us!" Percy loudly exclaimed, "Even DIONYSUS at CAMP HALF-BLOOD!"

   Luke just sneered, languidly rolling his wrist to twist his sword, "This is no time for heroics, Percy. Drop your puny little sword, or I'll have you killed sooner rather than later."

   "Who poisoned Thalia's tree, Luke?" Percy asked.

   "I did, of course," He scoffed, "I already told you that. I used elder python venom — straight from the depths of Tartarus."

   "Chiron had nothing to do with it?"

   "Ha! You know he would never do that. The old fool wouldn't have the guts."

   "You call it guts? Betraying your friends? Endangering the whole camp?"

   Luke raised his sword. "You don't understand the half of it. I was going to let you take the Fleece... once I was done with it."

   Percy seemed to hesitate, mulling over his words. He muttered, "You were going to heal Kronos."

   "Yes! The Fleece's magic would've sped his mending process by tenfold. But you haven't stopped us, Percy. You've only slowed us down a little."

   "And so you poisoned the tree, you betrayed Thalia, you set us up — all to help Kronos destroy the camp's borders."

   Luke gritted his teeth. "You know that! Why do you keep asking me?"

   "Because I want everybody in the audience to hear you."

   "What audience?"

   Then his eyes narrowed. Nabi looked behind him, and gasped.

   He gave her a confused look, before both him and his goons did the same. They all had the same reaction as she had — above the pool, shimmering in the rainbow mist, was an Iris-message vision of Dionysus, Tantalus, and the whole camp in the dining pavilion.

   They sat in stunned silence, watching the entire fiasco play out right before their very eyes.

   "Well," Dionysus said, dryly, "some... unplanned dinner entertainment."

   "Mr. D, you heard him," Percy said, "You all heard Luke. The poisoning of the tree wasn't Chiron's fault."

   Mr. D sighed, nodding. "I suppose not."

   "The Iris-message could be a trick!" Tantalus suggested, but his attention was mostly on his cheeseburger, which he was trying to corner with both hands.

   "I fear not." Mr. D said, looking with distaste at Tantalus. "It appears I shall have to reinstate Chiron as activities director. I suppose I do miss the old horse's pinochle games."

Tantalus grabbed the cheeseburger. It didn't bolt away from him. He lifted it from the plate and stared at it in amazement, as if it were the largest diamond in the world.

"I got it!" He cackled.

"We are no longer in need of your services, Tantalus." Mr. D announced.

Tantalus looked stunned. "What? But—"

"You may return to the Underworld." Dionysus waved his hand. "You are dismissed."

"No! But— NOOOOOOOOOO!"

As he dissolved into mist, his fingers clutched at the cheeseburger, trying to bring it to his mouth — it was too late. He vanished into thin air and the cheeseburger fell back onto the plate. The campers exploded into cheering.

Luke bellowed with rage. He slashed his sword through the fountain and the Iris-message dissolved, but the performance had been for all to see; the deed was done.

"Kronos was right, Percy. You're an unreliable weapon. You need to be replaced." Luke gave him a murderous look, until he turned to Nabi, "But you? No... we'll be needing you. Secure the Lord's angel."

Nabi didn't understand. But Kronos' words echoed in her mind:

    "When Thanatos falls by his own daughter's hand, who better to take his place? A new angel of death, one that works not for Hades, nor any of the gods... but for me."

   The Titan Lord had a plan. And with how insistent Luke was with capturing her? It wasn't something he could give up.

   "No, Luke!" Annabeth was furiously trying to get Oreius to let go of her, a panicked look in her eyes.

   Nabi paused, and the realisation kicked in. Annabeth knew something that she didn't.

   Luke's lackeys circled around her, and she couldn't waste time just standing there in shock. Nabi got ready to fight. Tyson, being the only other one who hadn't been apprehended, got to her side. Percy yelled, "No!"

   One of Luke's men blew a brass whistle, and the deck doors flew open. A dozen more of his warriors poured out, and the rest of them circled Percy and Luke, with the brass tips of their spears bristling.

   Luke smiled, grimly. "You'll never leave this boat alive."

   "Leave all of them out of this. One on one," Percy challenged him, his eyes narrowed, "what are you afraid of?"

   Luke curled his lip. The soldiers who were about to kill all of them wavered, waiting for his orders. Agrius, the bear dude, burst onto the deck with a black pegasus, bucking and whinnying uncontrollably. It wasn't very friendly with Agrius, attempting to slam a hoof against his face as he barely dodged it. "Sir! Your steed is ready!"

   Luke kept his eyes on Percy. "You can't bait me into a fight."

"And you keep avoiding one." Percy jeered, "Scared your warriors will see you get whipped?"

Luke glanced at his men with apprehensive eyes, his jaw clenched. If he backed down now, he would look weak... but if he fought Percy, he'd lose valuable time chasing after Clarisse.

Nabi held her breath. Luke's sword fighting skills were next level. Percy seemed to remember that too, with the way his grip on Riptide tightened. Luke took one last look at the crowd, before deciding, "I'll kill you quickly."

He raised his weapon.

Backbiter was a foot longer than Percy's sword; a blade of both human steel and celestial bronze melded together that glinted malevolently in the light. Just looking at it sent shivers down Nabi's spine. She could sense the death that emanated from the weapon — someone had died whilst making it.

Luke whistled, and one of his goons threw a shield over to him. He turned to Percy with a wicked grin.

"Luke," Annabeth's face was laced with an evident fear as she begged, "at least give him a shield."

He merely shrugged and sneered, "Sorry, Annabeth. You bring your own equipment to this party."

   Luke lunged and almost killed Percy on the first try. His sword went under Percy's arm, slashing his shirt and grazing his ribs; blood seeped through.

   "My, Percy," Luke chastised mockingly, "you're out of practice."

   He swung again with a brutal force, but Percy managed to parry and attempted to strike back with a slash of his own — Luke sidestepped easily. When Luke lunged again, Nabi watched as Percy jumped backward into the swimming pool.

   That was his opportunity.

   The son of Poseidon spun underwater, creating a funnel cloud, and blasted out of the deep end straight at Luke's face. The force of the water knocked him down, spluttering and blinded for a moment. But Luke had managed to roll aside and get to his feet, narrowly dodging an attack from Percy.

   It was all happening so fast — Nabi's eyes flitted to each movement, each jab and slice, until suddenly, Percy cried out in pain. Luke had slashed into his leg.

   "Perrrrrcy!" Grover bleated.

   With a few more relentless attacks, Percy was down. He clawed toward the swimming pool, looking like he was about to pass out.

Nabi took a single step forward, but the enemies that surrounded her pointed their weapons at her.

Luke knew he had won. He advanced slowly, smiling. The edge of his sword was tinged with a sickening red.

"There's one thing that I want you to watch before you die, Percy..." He turned to Oreius, who was still holding Annabeth and Grover by the necks. "You can eat your dinner now, Oreius. Bon appetit... oh, and Agrius? Why don't you do something about the other two?"

Oreius lifted Annabeth and Grover, baring his teeth. Agrius parted through the crowd of monsters, snarling with his claws held high; a sinister look aimed at Tyson and Nabi.

That was when all Hades broke loose.

   An arrow was shot straight into Oreius' mouth. With a dumbstruck look on his ferocious face, he crumpled to the deck.

"Brother!" Agrius wailed.

He let the pegasus' reins go slack just long enough for the black steed to kick him in the head. It neighed furiously, then flew away over Miami Bay — free at last.

   For a split second, Luke's guards were too stunned to do anything except watch the bear twins' bodies dissolve into smoke.

   Then, there was a wild chorus of war cries and hooves thundering against metal. Nabi's jaw went slack in shock... a dozen centaurs charged out of the main stairwell.

   "Ponies!" Tyson cried with delight.

   Nabi couldn't even process what was going on. Chiron was among the crowd, but his relatives were almost nothing like him.

   There were centaurs of all different bodies — gold palamino coats, orange and white spots like calico cats, those completely black — armed with so many different weapons it was hard to make sense of it all. There were bows, baseball bats, paintball guns... some of them had baseball caps or googly-eyed glasses, and wore horrendously bright coloured shirts that said PARTY PONIES: SOUTH FLORIDA CHAPTER.

   Huh, all the craziest things really did come from Florida... no offense, Floridians.

  They exploded onto the deck with such ferocity and color that even Luke was stunned. Nabi couldn't tell whether they had come to celebrate or attack.

   Apparently both.

   As Luke was raising his sword to rally his troops, a centaur shot a custom-made arrow with a leather boxing glove on the end. It smacked Luke in the face and sent him crashing into the swimming pool.

   His warriors scattered. Nabi couldn't blame them. A battalion of goofy centaurs was even more terrifying than the Stoll brothers on cooking duty...

   "Come get some!" A party pony yelled.

   They let loose with their paintball guns. A wave of blue and yellow exploded against Luke's warriors, blinding them and splattering them from head to toe. They tried to run, only to slip and fall.

   "They're distracted!" Nabi said, "Quick, Tyson!"

   Tyson nodded. He began punching and slamming into Luke's troops left and right as Nabi slashed enemy after enemy; they made a pretty good team. He threw a snake woman into the air, and Nabi flew up to cut her to pieces — gold dust rained from the sky. Tyson threw an enemy into his comrades like a bowling ball knocking over a bunch of pins.

   As she flew down and went for another monster, someone blocked her sword. Her eyes widened.

"Chris."

Chris shook his head, swallowing a lump in his throat. "I'm sorry, Nabi. You've got to come with us."

   "No..." Nabi stepped back. "No! Why'd you join them? Kronos—"

   "I know." Chris cried, "But when have the gods done anything at all for us? They only ever do anything to benefit them. I'd been at camp for years... I'd never even been claimed. But guess what? I found out who my dad was — right before I left. He only claimed me to try and change my mind."

His voice wavered, and Nabi's grip on her sword slackened. She couldn't hurt him... especially when he was already hurting.

"Hermes." Chris spat out, the name coated with venom, the rest of his words dressed in nothing but misery, "I lived in his cabin for fucking years, Nabi. And not once did he ever think to acknowledge me. All it would've taken was a snap of his fingers, and I would've known... but no. He never cared. They never care."

"Chris..." Nabi took a step forward.

"They never care. But Luke does. He promised that Kronos could do something about it." Chris begged, desperately, "Please, just join us. I don't want another half-blood to ever feel the same way."

Nabi's stomach churned. He was right about that — no demigod should ever feel that way. Yet, with just one glance around her, there was proof of so many of them fighting for a chance to feel anything other than that way.

   "Kronos'll do worse." Nabi said, "It isn't too late to come back to camp with us."

   Chris shook his head. "I already pledged my allegiance. I can't."

"I can't join you." Nabi said, "I won't join you."

"Then, I'm sorry."

He swung his sword, and their blades clashed. They parried and slashed — he aimed for her chest as she dodged to send a strike his way. Chris ducked and lunged forward. Maybe he'd underestimated her, not used to her new skills, because Nabi was able to use his momentum and slam her sword hilt against his back.

He fell to the floor, clutching his sword tightly.

Nabi stood over him, and the look in his eyes pained her. Chris was someone that she looked up to; someone that always cheered people on and held their heads up high for them.

She held her hand out. "Please, come back. It doesn't matter if you already pledged to Kronos."

Chris stared at her outstretched hand, shaking. He hesitated, but with tears streaming down his face, he murmured, "It wasn't him I swore loyalty to. I swore loyalty to Luke."

He slashed at the hand she'd held out for him.

Somewhere down below deck, a large alarm bell thrummed — it overlapped Nabi's sharp cry of pain. A large gash dripped with blood across her palm, and it caught her so off guard that she dropped her sword to clutch her hand.

   The bell had alerted the rest of the ship. More monsters were on their way. Luke's warriors were getting over the surprise from the centaurs, and Nabi could tell that it was hard keeping them at bay.

   "Withdraw, brethren!" Chiron bellowed.

Chris seemed horrified. He scrambled up, and Nabi retrieved her sword from the ground hurriedly. He stuttered, "It's— I just thought..."

   "Tyson, Nabi!" Percy yelled, on top of a centaur, "Come on!"

   They had to go.

Nabi took one more glance at Chris' expression, one struck with guilt, before summoning her wings and flying up. He grabbed her wrist. "Nabi—"

   She pulled her hand free from his grip, and summoned her wings to fly away.

Nabi dodged the whizzing arrows and reckless spears, over monsters and centaurs in the heat of battle. Tyson dropped the two warriors he was about to tie into a knot and followed. He jumped on the centaur that was also carrying Percy. Nabi got on one of the others.

   Luke's warriors were organizing themselves into a phalanx formation. But by the time they were ready to advance, the centaurs had galloped to the edge of the deck and fearlessly jumped the guardrail — Nabi was afraid that this was how she'd die — yet the centaurs hit the asphalt with hardly a jolt and galloped off, whooping and yelling as they raced into the streets of Miami.

Before long, as Nabi clutched her bleeding hand seared with a bitter coating of betrayal, THEY'D ESCAPED THE PRINCESS ANDROMEDA AND WERE ON THEIR WAY HOME.
 

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

𝗥𝗜𝗞𝗔'𝗦 𝗡𝗢𝗧𝗘𝗦!

જ⁀➴ oohhh let's go guys !!!1!1 chris and nabi this chapter was js a lil touch ,, i feel that he's such a criminally underrated character .. him trusting luke more than kronos' promises kills me, and knowing each other for so long in the same cabin ?? ofc they're gna be hurt seeing each other 😔

   i changed the moodboards at the beginning of strength ,, lowk been procrastinating studying by making cute lil aesthetics but ermm whhaaatt 🧐 we're so close to finishing this act i'm so excited for the next one u don't understand... and i've also decided on how i'm gna end this one so yippee !!

   that's all this time around, but as always thank u for reading this chapter ! i mean it when i say all the support u guys gives me keeps me going 🫡 anyways see u in the next chapter my lovelies <33 byee !!