Disclaimer: If I owned Percy Jackson and the Olympians then... well... I'd have better things to do then write fanfictions, wouldn't I? And these characters would be canon. Yes.
Surely there were more interesting things for me to do in my free time than spy on Summer Thomas try desperately to strike up a conversation with Luke. It was a pretty sad attempt on her part. Of course, Summer didn't know she was doing anything wrong by questioning Luke on how he liked the field trip but she should have considering how "emotionally connected" the two of them were.
It was tragic.
Luke's walk was mechanical, staring unblinkingly ahead of him while he ignored all of Summer's questions and comments. A traitor really should know how to act like everything was all right, but I suppose everyone loses their cool a little with the most powerful weapon in the world in their backpack. Why the hell was Luke even here? He should have ran last night, but no. He decided to wait and head back with a god, a centaur, and a small army of demigods. That's not stupid or anything.
Shall we call it brave, maybe?
... I'll just stick with stupid, then.
I know a little something about bravery, and I can't really tell you if Luke has it or not. In a fight he's the most courageous person you will ever meet, but other than that it depends on your definition of bravery. Luke would never risk his personal well-being for another human unless he got something out of it.
That shows tremendous cowardice, even I help people in need. It's just so I can show off how much more talented I am than all of the other stupid stupids at this camp, but it's helping none-the-less. I'm like a superhero, really. A superhero that works for the Titans and kills people.
You know children would just love to read about me in comic books and stuff. And damn what Joe might say, I look hot in spandex and capes. I don't really like that red, white and blue color scheme most superheroes go for, alas. Maybe more of a dark green and black. Yes. That's it.
On second thought, I'm pretty sure that'd look gross. Ah well, when I'm a hero I can pay people to come up with a color scheme for me. If heroes do get paid. If I was a hero and I went out in public I'd want people to throw money at me. Except not coins. I've had that happen before and it's not actually has pleasant as one might think. Don't get me wrong, I like having a drachma give me a black eye. It looked badass. But it also starts rumors among the Aphrodite chicks that I get beat up by coins.
By now you're probably wondering who is awesome enough to become a superhero at the tender (... I hate that word) age of fourteen? It also doesn't matter that I'm not a superhero, Ares is my father, dammit! Ares is definitely a superhero, in his own special way.
Okay, Ares is the villain. But I'm proud to be his daughter, even if I'm not proud to be one of the Olympians. He's given me useful talents, and at least he beats Demeter or Aphrodite as a parent. Their children are so weak they don't even need to stay at camp year-round. That might be useful on quests, but it's not like I can't kill anything that comes my way.
Anyway, I got side-tracked again. You'll find that happens a lot. My attention span is horrible, I have ADHD like most demigods. It's totally not my fault. I'm Cynthia Wood, known around camp as... "Oh, that boy from the Ares cabin that always tries to beat random campers up during lunch period?"
... I don't try, assholes. I do beat them up. Because I can.
And I'm proud to be called a boy on a regular basis. Despite my epic hotness (okay, I look like a pre-pubescent male that grew his hair out to brush his shoulder blades) people seem to think that boys make better warriors. I guess I have Luke to blame for that stereotype continuing at camp, but none of the women in the Greek myths were ever as famous as the men were.
The men were always stupid stupids that somehow got to be respected and awe-inspiring around camp. Even the girls wish they were more like Heracles, Theseus, Perseus, all of them. I can't really understand why. Yes, I want to be the best fighter this camp has even seen but that title doesn't come with not thinking and then using the most obvious attack methods available. Come on, fire will kill the hydra. It's not new news, yet boys always think they're being smart by doing the same thing as Heracles when they should be trying new attack methods. That's the problem with the muscular jockheads at this camp (yeah, I'm one of them, but shut up. I'm cooler than they are, because I lack a Y Chromosome. You know it makes me better.) they think that killing the beast is enough.
It's never enough to just "win" the fight if you don't win it. Winning is not a matter of who comes out on top, winning is a matter of who can improvise and do things that no one here has ever seen. Trying to do that often ends up with my sword flying out of my hand, but at least it gave me a reputation. Not a good one, mind you, but that's not what I was going for.
Let's look at this a way you'll understand.
I support the Titans, and because of that we all know that they'll win, but say they don't? If it just turns out exactly like the first Titanomachy then it's not much of a victory. If the Olympians got the same warriors, did the same techniques, and tricked the Titans the same way then it's partly the Titans fault for falling for it again but the Olympians really should be more original than that. Now, if the Olympians assembled a whole new army that no one had ever seen before and did all these awesome battle strategies that would surprise the Titans then at least we could know that we lost to a good opponent instead of a fight-repeater. And no one likes a fight-repeater.
Woah, see how side-tracked I get? Uncool. Let's start back where all the trouble really began, even though I know you could listen to me talk about myself all day.
... I'd like to point out that a healthy ego does not make me like the Greek males. I'm still better than them.
---
"What the hell are you playing at, Luke?" I hissed in the traitor's ear after he finally drove Summer away with his lack of responses. "You shouldn't be here, you're totally gonna piss the Crooked One off-"
Luke raised an eyebrow, still looking directly ahead. I had to crane my neck to even see his facial expressions, he could at least tilt his head a little in my direction but Luke was not known for worrying about the shorter guy. "It's really quite sweet that you use phrases like "pissed off" to describe your master," he murmured sarcastically. I guess Luke was trying to make it look like we weren't talking, but I'm so used to my own screaming that whispers are kind of hard to hear.
"I also use "PMSing", think he'd prefer that one? But I actually use that on you mostly. For instance 'When you ignore Summer people will either think you're PMSing or a total bastard' and do you remember the last time I told people you were PMSing?"
"Yes, you tried to set me up on a blind date with Joe..." Luke rolled his eyes, again just assuming that I could see whatever he did.
I flashed him a grin, "So, yes, I assume there's some master Luke Castellan Plan behind walking among tons of demigods with-"
Luke cut me off, finally glancing down long enough to shot me a warning glare. "By all means, Cyn, go tell everyone here exactly what I'm doing."
"People don't listen to anything I say." It was the truth, sadly. You accidentally help the Hunters burn down all the cabins in Camp Half-Blood one time and suddenly you're an idiot. Gods.
"But mix a rumor with the knowledge everyone soon will have that a weapon of mass destruction is missing and someone must be able to piece it together." Luke growled slightly, and I resisted the urge to giggle at him. He got a lot less frightening if you had learned not to ever take anything seriously. Everyone knew the only thing we should be scared of was bunnies, yet people still worried about trivial matters like war and death and pollution. Stupid stupids.
I scoffed, "Stop being smart, kay? ... Smart smarts just doesn't sound good, Luke. It's really a crappy insult when you think about it."
"Oh, Gods forbid I take away your most immature insult."
"You're a butt."
"... Maybe that's your most immature insult."
"Damn straight."
Luke's lip twitched up slightly in a half-smile, "Do you have a purpose talking to me, Cynthia, or do you just want to display your awesome insults?"
"... Your face." I said lamely. I could formulate insults that actually made sense, but that wasn't nearly as much fun. And when you tried to provoke Luke you either ended up losing more blood than a regular human really should or got everything you said laughed off. With me he usually laughed it off, but I didn't like awesome insults getting overlooked.
He sighed, shaking his head slightly. "Go away, Cyn. I have real things to do."
"No! NO! I have a purpose, I do!" I paused, waiting for some brilliant reason for my annoying of Luke. Nothing was really coming to me, though. Which meant I got to show off my awesome improvisation powers. "I am here.. because... Joseph Jordan wants me to... ask you out for him?"
Oh hell yeah.
Luke stopped walking and turned to face me. His eyebrow was arched aristocratically, it really was a good look for him. Normal teenager meets stuck up snob. "Cynthia. Real reason."
I whined, "That is my reason reason!" I squirmed a little under his stare, "Sort of." Luke nodded faux-encouragingly, signaling that he wasn't buying any of my excuses. "Okay, really, what are you planning to do with it?"
"I don't know, Cynthia." Luke groaned. "It has to get down to Tar-"
"Oh, that's so not happening," I said bluntly. "Luke. Think about this for realsies. You want to go down to-"
"You get to cut me off, I get to cut you off. That's how it goes." Luke grinned at me, "And you really need to pick better places to talk about this, kay? Go bother Summer or something, people are gonna start talking soon."
I rolled my eyes at him in what I hoped was a "Better Than Thou" way. "See you around, Luke. If you die I'm coming for you."
"That made sense." Luke's eye roll was far more impressive than mine was. I guess he had experience with looking down at people, but all I really did was look at the ceiling and then look down at the floor. Occasionally I looked left and right out of the corner of my eyes but Luke could actually roll his eyes. It was cool.
"Thank you."
I didn't really stop to think about exactly how impossible this would be for him. I pulled insane stunts all the time and no one worried about me, why would I do the same for someone else? Anyway, Luke was basically promising me a super-intense war.
I would enjoy that.