Princesses, Punks, and One Problem.

Ow...

He came to with a thudding headache, eyes closed against the dull pain. The back of his skull throbbed; he bit out a curse and moved his hand to inspect the damage – except that it didn't move. Something was restraining his arms. His legs, too, were immobilized, as he noticed when he tried to move... So he was tied to something. A pole, maybe? The violent hum of electricity streaking through the air assaulted his battered head, calling forth a grimace of agony. A steady dripping echoed all around him, but it seemed to come from a single source.

A runny tap, or a leak in the roof.

How long had he been out cold? His lips were parched and hunger growled in his stomach. He cracked open his eyes to better percieve how deep in he was. Blackness continued to engulf him. A tremor of panic vibrated in his core. He was blind, sightless, motionless, restrained. 

  A squeak from rusty hinges; someone was coming in - he realized. 

"Good morning, Percy," Luke. He was singing his words too, like this was fun. 

Percy groaned, the room too dark to see anything. 

"You've probably got Annabeth pretty worried Percy, she's left you a grand total of thirty-four messages!" he tut-tutted. "Should we call her? You've been gone for a whole day, no news of you either."

Percy glared where he thought Luke's voice came from, a few choice curses being thrown at his... Kidnapper? 

"I think we should call her, let her know what fun we're having!" He could hear the dings as Luke dialed what he could only bet was Annabeth's number. 

He hit speaker, and Percy listened to the rings, that abruptly ended to give way to Annabeth's frantic voice. "Percy?! PERCY JACKSON WHERE IN THE HELL ARE YOU I'VE BEEN WORRIED SICK!!" 

She was worried. That made Percy smile weakly, though a thin strip of fabric tied tightly around his mouth kept him from replying. 

Percy felt Luke walk close, a shining blade glinting in the darkness. "Hey Annabeth, how are you doing?" Luke asked sweetly, pressing the tip of the knife against Percy's cheek. 

"Luke?! Where's Percy?!" 

Luke laughed. "Oh he's here. You wanna say hi to Annie, Percy?" 

Percy didn't reply, only glaring at Luke. Luke smiled in return, pulling out the gag, and driving in the knife. He could feel the blood welling, and recognized a scream torn from his throat. 

"Percy!" Annabeth yelled. He could hear a tremble in her voice. He wanted nothing more than to be by her side to comfort her. He was only vaguely aware of the sharp explosive pain in his left cheek. 

Luke grinned sadistically, replacing the gag and sliding the knife down his collar, shoulder, and to his lower arm. "We'll talk later Percy," he winked, "Annabeth and I have some things to discuss." 

He heard the footsteps of Luke walking away, clicking against the cement. Percy's head hurt so bad, that he didn't call out, afraid the noise in his throat would make his head hurt even more. Whatever Luke had done to him to get him here was not a pleasant journey. 

But his own safety was the least of his concerns now. He was worried about Annabeth. What would Luke make her do for him? And more concerning... What would she do for him? Despite having so recently connected with her, he knew he'd give his life for hers in a heartbeat. And he had a bad feeling she'd do the same for him. 

Luke was smirking into the phone, safely back in his suite, reclined on one of the many plush couches he'd had custom made to fit the room.

"So, Annie darling, is there an arrangement we could come to?"

"Fine! Just don't touch Percy!"

Luke laughed. "Of course not. I'll meet you at Newport Beach tonight at eight then. And Annie? If you tell anyone about our arrangement, you can bet I'll have my hands all over Percy!" 

No, he wouldn't touch Percy. But a knife or some electrically unstable cord touching Percy really wasn't Luke touching him! Yes, he was going to play technicalities. 

He stood up, brushing nonexistent dirt off his button down, producing a large ring from his pocket. He had won. His requirements for releasing Percy (after some fun, duh!)? Annabeth was going to marry him. The sooner the wedding, the sooner the punk could walk away. 

He could finally have Annabeth recognized as a demigod, and have monsters to serve her as they did him. Once she was sufficiently corrupted in his ways, of course. Then, as the final step, Rhea would take over Annabeth, as Kronos had Luke. 

They'd be a doubly happy couple. 

Luke made himself a cocktail before taking the long elevator ride down to the basement, the golden key he'd had custom created gleaming as he pocketed it. 

"Percy, I have some bad news." 

The shorter boy grunted in reply, sounding entirely unamused. 

"You're single again. Anna is mine, as I always knew she would be." Luke knelt down next to Percy, sending chills down his spine. 

The knife was once again tracing over Percy's arm, until it broke his skin. And then Luke was carving, carving letters, making Percy throw back his head in agony, sweat tracing his forehead. But he refused to scream, not giving Luke the satisfaction of knowing just how much agony he was able to put him in. He'd tried to control the leaking water, but for some reason the chains repelled magic. 

Luke dropped the red stained knife to the floor, standing up. "When I get bored and decide to let you go, you'll get the light to read that." 

There was no humor in his smile. Only ideas. Awful ideas floating in his icy eyes, like cut glass. Amazing, but dangerous. 

AUTHOR'S NOTE: WOW DOUBLE UPDATE! Well I had access to a computer so it was world's easier... but also.... ACK! PERCABETH NOOO! Ha...Ha....Ha... I'm so mean to you guys...... Here's an excerpt from the  next chapter though: 

"Luke, open this dam door it's been a minute!" Luke laughed heartily, grinning, he opened the wooden slab separating him from one of his best friends, Thalia Grace. Annabeth and her were really close too. How convenient. 

Thalia was dressed in a silver parka despite the weather. She'd joined a program that allowed her to travel across the nation as if she were a real hunter from the older times, where there were no phones nor television. The program was called "Hunters of Artemis Reborn". 

It was cool, but annoying. Meant you had to use a freaking hawk to send her messages! 

"Thalia... I'm going to ask Annabeth to marry me!" 

His friend blanched. "What?!"