Open The Floodgates

~Four~

"It was never real," Annabeth said, her grey eyes staring him down. "You knew that, didn't you? None of it was real. We needed you, and so we used you,"

Grover was there too, almost appearing out of the shadows of the broken throne room at Olympus. "Our 'friendship'? That never existed,"

"We never cared about you, I thought you knew that. Since when would gods ever care about their children?" Posiedon came out, walking forward with a demented gleam in his eye.

Then came Luke. Luke shouldn't have hurt the most, yet somehow just by seeing him there, Percy felt his heart shatter. He looked up at Luke hopelessly. "Luke? Please tell me you actually care,"

"Oh I've always cared." Luke walked forward and moved Percys chin to where they were looking at each other. "Just not about you,"

~{•}~

Percy awoke with a start, his breathing loud and labored, tears running down his face. It was just a dream, it was just a dream, it was just a dream.

"Hey Perce, you okay?" Luke walked in, opening the door to the black room Percy had gone back to. "I thought I heard something and wanted to make sure you were okay and—oh my gods, you're crying. What's wrong?"

Luke rushed forward immediately, crouching down next to Percy. Percy just shook his head. "It's nothing. I'm fine,"

"You're not fine," Luke said. "What happened?"

"Just nightmares. Nothing important. You can go back to sleep, I'm sorry I even woke you up," Percy mumbled.

"Come on, let's go to my room. I can't just leave you in here alone. Not until you let me help you,"

Luke grabbed Percys arm, and Percy let himself be dragged into another room, sitting down on Luke's bed and letting the older one sit next to him. Luke wrapped his arm around Percy, who leaned into his embrace.

"What happened?" Luke asked.

Percy just gave a small shrug, not saying much. "It's nothing,"

"Percy, you are not nothing. If something happened, tell me. I care about you, I don't want you to get hurt," Luke looked at Percys firmly, which caused the younger one to sigh.

"I had a dream. Just a nightmare, nothing much," Percy said. Luke gave him a look and he continued a moment later. "It's just, everything you said. They said they never cared about me. I saw Annabeth, and Grover, and my dad, and—" Percy hesitated, the next two words leaving his mouth quieter than the last ones. "And you,"

"Me?" Luke was taken back. "Percy, I'm here. I'm always going to be here for you. We're family, I won't abandon you the way they did,"

"Isn't that what you promised Thalia and Annabeth?"

"That was different," Luke's voice hardened. "I was younger then, there was no war then. They're on the wrong side, and I'd do anything for them to be with me on this,"

"Like inject them with drugs?" Percy asked. He tried to keep his eyes open, but he was becoming sleepier and the world swam in front of him. "L—Luke? What's happening?"

Luke just held up an empty syringe, a sorry look on his face. "It was wearing off. I couldn't afford to lose you, not again,"

"Luke—" Percy was leaning into him, having a hard time keeping his eyes open. He only saw black, and Luke's face was fading. "Luke why?"

"I'm sorry, Percy. But as much as I care about you, I'm loyal to Kronos. You won't remember it, you'll just believe the lie I'll tell you like you have before,"

Percy was fading to sleep, knowing soon he'd be out. But as he looked at Luke's eyes, he realized why he had been so mesmerized by the blond in the first place, the same reason he always would be.

Percy was always caught in a storm, and he always would be. But just like you could stand staring at lightning crackling in the sky, watching as it lit up the sky even during the rain, he could watch Luke.

Luke was his lightning, he lit up the darkness for a moment, but was the reason the thunder rumbled.