Young Gods | L. Castellan

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𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍 | Luke's words gives Freyja a cause for concern

THE stars shone brightly against the dark backdrop of the sky as Freyja basked in the glow of the moon, with Luke by her side on the roof of the Poseidon cabin. A colder wind blew in from the North, curling around their forms as Luke brought the blanket tighter around them.

Freyja would have been perfectly content with the wind, but Luke had insisted. He didn't want her to get a cold. Not that Freyja could, of course, with the godly genes keeping her immune system healthy.

The lake looked pitch black from the top of the Poseidon roof and everything seemed slightly eerie but it didn't bother the pair, who were both used to the things that went bump in the night.

"That was a beautiful sunset." Freyja murmured, feeling at ease with the nature as she leant onto Luke's shoulders. He tightened the blankets around them, before pressing a kiss to Freyja's head.

"You're right. We gonna stay up here for a bit longer?"

"Might as well, considering how long it took us to get up." That had been a mess and a half almost resulting in a broken collar bone, but they had made it onto the roof. "The stars are stunning tonight."

"Not as gorgeous as you though, Bubbles," Freyja went bright red as Luke began to snicker quietly. Freyja gave him a shove.

"That was terrible." Luke laughed slightly louder, before hushing himself as he thought of the roaming cleaning harpies that would be onto them if they kept being this loud.

"You love it though," Freyja shook her head, before they began to sit in silence again, watching the scenery.

It had been six months since the pair had started dating, and seven since Luke had arrived at camp. It wasn't that Freyja had been counting the days or anything, not at all. It was just, that's how long she had been lying to her boyfriend.

It weighed heavily on her mind, even for the goddess of secrets and lies, that she was essentially living a fairy tale. She lied about her parents, where she came from and who she was truly related to amongst many other things. She was unhappy but telling the truth when she was on Olympus, and happy but lying when she was with the demigods at Camp. She couldn't win in this situation, and the lies were slowly starting to feel like ash on her lips instead of the usual honey.

"You okay, Bubbles? You seem kind of lost in your thoughts," Shaking her head, Freyja threw herself out of her thoughts and back into the present with Luke.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking."

"What about?" Luke cocked an eyebrow. "You were sort of brooding there."

"Life." It wasn't truly a lie, yet only a half-truth. "Family."

"I understand." And Luke did understand, probably better than anyone. "You know, I never told you when we first met, but I've met my dad."

"What?" Freyja turned to him, her eyebrows furrowed as she took that in. She had thought that gods were not allowed to see their demigod children, not that most wanted to. "When?"

"He's always been around. He's the reason Mum's loopy, and I guess that was eating at him cause he would always sort of hover." Luke's body had gone tense, his jaw set in anger. "When I was younger, I'd thought he'd stay and help with Mum, but he never did and instead I had to deal with her episodes."

"I'm-" Freyja didn't know what to say, her eyes growing sad. She'd never thought about what it might do to a demigod with a parental figure that was absent and the cause for all their pain. She'd grown up with two parents, who doted on her so this whole idea was foreign to her.

"So, that's why I left. I couldn't deal with it anymore." Luke shook his head. "He never even looked for me. Never tried to protect me. I only saw him once after that, when he told me that I shouldn't have come back."

Freyja didn't know this side of Hermes. He'd always been the cool uncle to her, ready to teach her a new prank or take her around the earth when she got bored on Olympus. But this was so different to what she knew.

"I didn't know..." Freyja clutched onto his hand, looking up at him with wide eyes. 

"I never really told anyone before," Luke shrugged, before smiling down at her. "It's been a long time since then."

"No, Luke." Freyja shook her head, becoming more serious as she turned to look at him. She caught his face in her hands, making him look at her as she spoke. "No child should ever have to go through that. You should not have had to go through that. You shouldn't have had to run away. You shouldn't have pretty much lost your mum and you should not have been told not to return to your home. It's not right and it's not fair."

Luke smiled, though it was weak and pulled Freyja into a tight hug.

"Thank you, Bubbles." Freyja tightened her grip on the boy, pressing a kiss to his cheek. 

"I mean it, Ke. Completely."

☾☼☽

A few hours later, Luke was lifting Freyja down from the rooftop as they both began to giggle, trying to keep quiet. The thought of the cleaning harpies made the two teens laugh even more, but they managed to make their way back into the Poseidon cabin with little to no trouble.

"Are you staying tonight?" Freyja asked, watching as Luke nodded and grabbed some of his clothes from underneath another bunk bed. He had stayed over enough times that he kept some of his clothes in one of the chests.

"Layla would kill me if I returned to the Hermes cabin this late in the evening and woke everyone up." Luke emerged from the bathroom, holding a toothbrush in one hand. "I would set off every trap in my haste to get back to my bunk and then I'd wake everyone up and it would be a disaster."

"You'd be pranked every day for months." Freyja deadpanned, pushing him away from the sink so she could brush her teeth quickly. Luke rolled his eye at the girl, hip checking her to the side so he could spit the toothpaste out as she glared.

Freyja followed suit, before pressing a swift kiss to Luke's lips as she threw herself onto her bed. Luke began to chuckle, switching the lights off as he settled down in the bunk he'd claimed.

Luke fell asleep quickly that night but Freyja stayed awake, their conversation from earlier still haunting her. The words replayed over and over again in her head. The hatred that Luke had for his father was clear in his voice, and Freyja didn't know what to do about it. She didn't know if there was anything she could do about it.

Hiya,

So Freyja's being exposed to another side of the gods that she doesn't know about it and is confused. Also, Luke did not have a good time growing up, and Hermes told him he shouldn't have come home, after Luke ran away. All in all, a somewhat angsty chapter.

Question of the day : What's your favorite colour? (Generic, I know)

Let me know what you think,

Love Li xx