Hey pplz! This is my first fanfic, so go easy on me, please. Btw, this is Quintus here.

Disclaimer : I do not, in any way, own Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Rick Riordan does. If I did…. Well I don't exactly know what would happen if I did…. But I don't. O well.

I felt that there weren't enough Thuke fanfics from Luke's point of view, and thus, this fluffy little plot hath cometh forth!! XD

Enjoy!!


Luke shuffled up and down the dark alleyway noiselessly. His nerves couldn't take it anymore. He had absolutely no idea where to go. What to do. What to eat. How to survive. All he knew was that he couldn't stay in that death pit of a house any longer. Just the thought of his mother, in her possessed, demented form made him shiver. Not exactly the best place to live for a growing 13 year old.

At the far end of the street, Luke spotted a middle-aged man, already balding, wearing a sharp-looking black suit with a black tie and pointed, expensive Italian shoes. He was carrying a leather briefcase, and from the angle he was positioned at, Luke could tell there was a bundle of something bulging out the side pocket. Money. Definitely money.

Watching the man, and carefully observing his footfall pattern, Luke waited behind the corner of an old antiques shop. He had never stolen anything in his life. But desperate times called for desperate measures. He was the son of Hermes, after all. It shouldn't have been too hard. Yeah, it was nothing. He was sure that Hermes did it all the time. So what problem was there in him stealing a couple of bills that old geyser probably didn't even need?

Who was he kidding. Luke Castellan may have grown up without the care of a proper mother, but he had learned his necessary life lessons. He had seen people do all manners of idiotic things. Stealing, drinking, harassment, drugs, you name it. But Luke Castellan was no idiot. He knew this one act would haunt him for the rest of his natural life, pounding into the back of his head like a jackhammer. But these were not thoughts he needed to be thinking right now. Not when this was so vital for his survival.

As the shadow of the man passed over the alleyway, Luke leaned slightly to the side and stretched out his arm and fingertips towards the side of the briefcase. If only he could reach that one pocket…

Looking back at it during later years, Luke had absolutely no idea what happened during the next few seconds. All he could remember was falling backwards onto the cement with such force he thought his head was going to explode. He cried out, the sound of his agony ringing through his vocal cords, but a hand clamping itself down over his mouth muffled the cry.

Truth be told, Luke was terrified. He had no idea who … or what had attacked him. He was almost positive it was a what. With the rate at which those monsters hoarded him, the idea seemed inevitable.

And within a second it was gone. The pressure on his chest he had not even realised was there, and the hand which had been previously clamped over his mouth. Luke didn't want to open his eyes. He decided that if he lay perfectly still, whatever was there would eventually lose interest and walk away. Possibly decide against killing him. That's why it came as somewhat a surprise, when a young voice called down to him.

"You can open your eyes now. I've decided it wouldn't be worth my time to kill you."

Luke could trace out the slight drawl of sarcasm in the person's voice. At least it was a 'who' and not a 'what' He cautiously fluttered his eyes open.

Looming over him, stood the strangest sight he had ever seen. There was a young girl, possibly 10 or 11, her hands on her hips, her lips turned down in a slight frown, staring down at him. But that wasn't what he found uncanny. It was the fact that she was dressed from head to toe in black. She sported a grey and black 'The Beatles' t-shirt, under a tattered old black leather jacket, with a pair of black jeans, ripped at both knees, and a pair of grimy old Chuck Taylor's. Her hair was a mess of black that reached an inch below her jaw line, and she had a couple of freckles scattered over her nose. But her eyes were what sent shock coursing through his body. Her eyes were electric blue, and Luke could feel them boring down into his soul as she continued waiting for him to say something. I mean, wouldn't you be paralysed if the first things you saw when you opened your eyes were a pair of deep, electrical blue ones, stone hard, and ice cold?

Luke had probably looked quite amusing, staring at the young girl with an obsolete blank look on his face. Or maybe it was the fact that someone her size had almost caused someone of his demeanour a concussion. Whatever it was, the girl started laughing. Well, it started out as giggles. But soon enough, she was hysteric. Her laugh was high pitched and loud. Not unpleasant. This continued till she was gasping for air. On the ground clutching her stomach, all the while attempting to wipe away the tears of mirth that now stained her cheeks.

But Luke remained silent. He preferred to observe her. The fascinating way her eyes went from dense and icy to bright and full of glee. Was she really laughing at him? Because he was never known to be amazingly funny. Maybe it was from the pain he had been caused….

His thoughts were interrupted when the girl sat up on her knees and used her hands to scoot over and plop down beside his head.

"You were scared of me." She stated quite flatly. Luke's eyes widened as realization dawned on him.

"You tackled me!!!!" he practically shrieked, sitting bolt upright, and once again hitting his head on the brick wall. He really had to stop doing that. The girl, in reply, simply rolled her eyes.

"Gee, genius. What was you first clue? The fact that I was standing over you the moment your eyes flew open or the fact that there was no one else around?" she implied. She pulled her legs out from underneath her and crossed them, placing her hands neatly in her lap. This chic was turning out quite to be one for sarcasm.

Luke ran his fingers through his locks, rubbing the spot on the side of his skull he had hit. It was probably bruised now. He would have to check that out in a mirror or something later. But for now, he would have to settle with finding out who this girl was and exactly what the hell she wanted. Not that he minded having someone to talk to after all these weeks, but she was kind of starting to get on his nerves. Luke scrutinized her face for a few seconds, while she stared back at him, eyebrows arched, a light smile playing on her lips.

"Why did you tackle me?" Luke chose to ask. It was better than nothing. The girl's smile turned into a deep-etched frown, and her eyebrows burrowed together. She seemed to be contemplating what to say.

"That man. He was… not normal. Different. Bad. I…. it's… it's complicated. I saw you trying to steal his money. There's no way he wouldn't have noticed."

"Wait, wait, wait. Backup. You were watching me?"

The girl took on a sheepish feature at the proposition. As if she was guilty of committing a crime. She began to fiddle with the zipper in her jacket.

"Well, I've kind of been watching you for a couple of days now."

Luke cut her off.

"Oh, well that's just great. So you're a stalker. Amazing. I was attacked by a midget sized stalker."

Her eyes went wide at the accusation.

"No, no, no!" she cried while flailing her arms in front of her to emphasize the point, "I'm not! Really! I just saw you walking down the street by yourself a couple days ago. I had nothing better to do, so I decided to follow you. It's as simple as that."

Luke took this into consideration.

"Then I realized you lived on your own." She continued, "You seemed so sure of everything you did. I decided to approach you a couple days ago, but never really found the right time. But now that I'm here, I have a proposition to make."

Luke stared at the girl, his back against the wall, his legs stretched out in front of him. She took this as a sign to continue.

"I want to join you."

And that was it. This girl was delusional. First she laughs at him, then she dishes out her sarcasm, then she admits to being a stalker, and now she expects him to let her tag along wherever he went. Crazy. Mad. Completely bonkers. And she was so young. People her age should be going to school, chatting with friends, mixing with family… family? Wait, where was hers? She said that she had been following him for a few days, so what bout them?

Luke stood up, dug his hands into the pockets of his hoodie, and began to walk towards the other end of the alley, laughing all the way. A cold, dark laugh.

"Go home. Enjoy your life. Spend time with your family while you've still got one." He called over his shoulder.

Luke had never had a family. He highly doubted that a demented mother counts. He had gone to school and hated it, never had many friends. So why should he let this kid screw up her life just because he had decided to screw up his? It didn't make sense. But to this girl, it clearly did.

"I – I can't." she called back, her voice soft.

Luke was floored. He stopped dead in his tracks. She couldn't? What? Why couldn't she? So … she was like him? A runaway? O gods, what had he done.

He turned back around to see the girl on the floor, clutching her legs to her chest, her face buried in her knees. Luke ran back and kneeled down beside her. She was sobbing. Oh great. Amazing. Just what he needed. He didn't even know how to deal, with girls let alone crying ones. He placed a hand on her back.

"I'm sorry." He told her simply.

The two of them sat like that for a while longer, until the girl's sobs began to die down. She sniffed a couple of times, and looked up at Luke with, distressed, watery eyes. Luke gave her a warm smile.

"Come on. I plan on reaching Virginia by tomorrow."

The girl sniffed once more and did something Luke never thought would happen to him ever again. She gave him a hug. It felt foreign to him, and at first, he was shocked. He had no idea what to do. But as his limbs regained the memory of hugging, he gave her a light squeeze back. She let go and smiled a giant cheeky smile at him.

"So I guess this means you've forgiven me for randomly attacking you?"

Luke smiled back at her.

"What's your name, kid?"

She seemed to have to think about it before replying.

"Thalia. Thalia… Grace."

Thalia.

Sarcastic, moody, and tough as a ton of bricks. The girl had a name.

And I'm done!! Wow, that took forever. Now that I read it over, it completely sucks. But I promised myself that I would get my first story up. I completely rushed the ending. *sigh* o well. I'll post a better version of this later if I don't get lazy.

Please review!!!

Peace

~Quitnus