Disclaimer: I do not own anything.
Warnings: Violence. Language.
Chasing Yesterday
Chapter Six
Lucia crouched before the dying pine tree. Her fingers trailed the gnarled roots, dry and pasty grey with disease. Anguish was etched onto her face unlike in another life and time, where Annabeth had been the one wearing the expression and Lucia, with a sneer on her pretty face.
Percy placed a hand on her shoulder. "We'll save Thalia."
Lucia smiled back hesitantly. "I hope so," she said, voice thick. Then in a low whisper, she said, "This is all my fault. Because I was selfish and weak."
Percy eyed her critically. "It's too late to turn back now. What's done is done, Annabeth is lost and we need to save Thalia. She comes first."
Lucia didn't ask which girl he meant.
"Percy, aren't you worried?" she finally asked, wondering why there was no panic in his features.
They had returned to Camp a few days ago, unable to do anything as the tree started to wilt. The gods weren't doing anything and Chiron was busy trying to concoct a medicine to bother with the campers. Mr. D was being useless as usual.
"No," he said. "There's always a way for those wise enough to find it."
Lucia glanced back at the son of Poseidon incredulously. "You sound like Athena."
"I'll take that as a compliment," he said cheekily. "Though I do feel a little insulted you didn't think I was capable of being wise."
The daughter of Hermes blushed. "Well..."
"Let me guess," The son of Poseidon said. "rumors said that sons of Poseidon aren't that bright." He didn't need her to nod to know that he was right, she was already blushing at being caught thinking lowly of someone else. He shrugged. "Guess there's a first for everything." He glanced up at the darkening sky. "Come on, it's time for campfire."
Lucia had been stripped off her position as cabin counselor, as the gods were still doubtful of her intentions and the positions had been passed off to her half-brothers, Connor and Travis. Despite this however, the cabins still treated her with respect and not a little fear—she was still the strongest swordsman after/before Percy.
"I told Mr. D my idea," Lucia said, displeased. "and he shot it down."
"He'd come around," Percy said. His nonchalance and calmness irked Lucia a little. She felt like a kid next to him, stumbling about blindly.
Percy stared quizzically after Lucia who blew past him. So much for experience and wisdom; girls were still confusing no matter how many times he interacted with those delicate creatures.
"Luce, wait up!"
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"Go, Percy!" Lucia cheered.
"Yeah, go for it!" Grover yelled, his hooves trotting in rhythmic beats. "I've got 50 drachmas on you!"
Lucia offered the satyr a playful smirk. "You're learning."
"I figured it was time to come out of the closet that I'm a freaking addict on gambling," Grover admitted. After gaining his horns on the last quest, he had gotten bolder, taller and older. Lucia felt like a dwarf between her two best friends. She was five feet four but it didn't seem like much when the son of Poseidon had a growth spurt and was towering over her with five foot six. Grover was a few inches shorter than the demigod.
"Come on," Lucia said, running through the stands to where Percy was climbing the poles. "You can do it!"
Percy turned, offered her a small smile before he somersaulted upwards the Obstacle Tower.
"He's close!" Grover cheered.
"Help!"
Lucia blinked, snickering. "Chiron better still had that wheelchair of his. That kid's going to need it." She frowned when she saw Percy hesitate, glancing at the kid in trouble then at the prize. She sighed at the predictability of he heroic son of Poseidon. She glanced at Grover with a wry smile. "You better be ready to lose fifty drachmas."
"Thank you!" The kid yelled as Percy crashed to the ground, groaning in pain. The son of Poseidon sighed when he glanced up, seeing Clarisse wave her trophy in the air.
Lucia ran forward, pulling Percy to his feet, smirking at him. "Seaweed Brain," she said fondly.
"Hey," Percy said, grinning, not seeming upset about his loss to Clarisse. "heroes got to sacrifice things for the greater good."
Lucia studied him curiously. "I never used to believe that," she said. "but now, I find that you're quite right."
Did Percy mention how beautiful she was when she smiled like that?
"Hey, Jackson!" The daughter of Ares rudely elbowed her way into the conversation, ruining the perfect moment though Percy was too relieved to see all of his old friends alive to care about how mean they were. "I've been meaning to ask, about the first quest. It's just beginner's luck, right?"
Lucia crossed her arms over her chest, smirking. "Not really, but I guess you'll need it on your first quest, huh?"
Clarisse grounded her teeth as she whirled to face the daughter of Hermes. "Better than needing a traitor to help, huh?"
Had one of them been a child of Zeus, Percy could've claimed sparks were really flying. "Listen, you," Lucia snapped, jabbing a finger in Clarisse's face. "Just because your father—"
"Enough!" A portly man cut in, pushing both girls away from one another. "If you want to have a catfight, go to the arena. Thank you very much. Now, Perry Johanson." The son of Poseidon blinked up at Mr. D, feeling the sudden nostalgic urge to tackle him into a hug even though the god barely knew him now,
"Yeah?" Percy glanced worriedly as Grover trotted after the daughter of Hermes and daughter of Ares, both girls still glaring at one another.
"I have an important task to entrust you with," Mr. D said, handing a wooden stick; Percy leaned back when he saw the raker.
"You can't be serious," The son of Poseidon blurted out before thinking carefully.
"Oh, I am. Can I trust you with it? Not a speck, thank you very much." And he strode off before Percy could protest. Sighing, the son of Poseidon decided to suck it up and get to work, grumbling all the way.
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When they were reunited after the campfire, Lucia was even more pissed. Percy had never seen her this angry. In their past life, in another old universe, he had felt her deep-seated hatred and anger, but this was a full-blown anger from an argument instead of the terrible treatment she got from her dad.
"What happened?" Percy asked Grover in a low whisper as Lucia had ignored him multiple times.
"Clarisse happened," The satyr whisper back, wincing as Lucia kicked a chair out of her way. "Poor thing."
"Who? Lucia?"
"The chair."
Percy shot his best friend an amused look. "You're hopeless," he said. Before Grover could retort, a camper strode into the Poseidon shed. "Is there something I can help you with?"
"Since when did you become so sophisticated?" Grover asked, gaping at his friend.
"Mr. D wants to see you, Percy." The child of Hermes shot his half-sister a terrified and questioning look, seeing the fallen chair before her, but he scurried out of the shed when he saw Lucia's glare. It was a half-hearted one, but still scary enough to send people running.
Percy wasn't intimidated by it. He had seen her death glares and they were even more terrifying than this one. "You guys coming?" he asked. "I don't feel like dying myself."
Grover snickered. "We'll bury you by the beach, man."
Lucia snorted. "No one would be swimming then, for fear of ghosts."
"Don't worry, I won't haunt you guys," The son of Poseidon said. "It's nice knowing you all though."
"Dead camper, guys!" Grover called, snickering. "Dead camper walking here!"
Lucia rolled her eyes, huffing a laugh of amusement. Percy shot his friends a wry look. "Thanks, guys. This is friendship. I see," he drawled sarcastically.
The daughter of Hermes laughed softly, momentarily forgetting her anger at Clarisse. "No worries, man. It's just Mr. D, if it's Chiron... oh..." she trailed off when she saw the centaur in the middle of the yard, his horse-half trotting restlessly. "You're massively screwed."
Percy would like to say that he knew what happened next, but after his last, life-changing decision—stay at camp year-round instead of leaving to stay at home with his mother like he did in his last life—he really had no idea what was going to happen anymore. Silently, he wondered how he was going to meet his half-brother, Tyson. He'd voiced to his dad about his insecurities, hoping that Poseidon would respond and send Tyson.
Heaving a sigh of resignation, Percy approached Chiron, trying not to pout at his friends who already said their goodbyes to him.
"Whatever it is you think I did, I didn't do it."
"Really," Lucia added quickly, backing Percy up. "we were with him all the time and he did nothing wrong."
"He even cleaned the entire coliseum," Grover agreed.
Chiron looked at the trio thoughtfully. "We've been led to believe that Poseidon has only one half-blood heir, apparently..." he studied their expressions for any clue as to what they were thinking. "...our belief was wrong."
"You mean..." Percy's eyes widened. "I have a brother? Show me!" he said excitedly; Tyson was here! Against all odds, thank Poseidon!
Percy jogged into the Big House, but Chiron snagged his collar and pull him back. "Hold it, I need to tell you that your half-brother is only half-god, not half-human."
"True," Lucia said. "Half-blood doesn't mean demigod. It means a mixed-race."
"Just show me."
"Wait here, you two." Lucia and Grover let out simultaneous groans at being denied access to the mysterious new child of Poseidon but Chiron was firm and slammed the door shut in their faces.
"I have a feeling Chiron has lost his trust in me," Lucia muttered. "If you guys keep hanging out with me, you'll lose his trust too."
"You were brave to admit your mistakes and backtrack, Lu," Grover said, patting her shoulder. "Not everyone can do that—oh, gods on Olympus."
Lucia stared at him quizzically, but then she turned to see what had Grover gaping in horror. A taller guy was standing by Percy's side, laughing and moving his hands dramatically as he described something. His hair was long and shaggy, his clothes ragged and dull. She could see no problem until he turned.
She jerked back in shock. "Cyclops," she hissed the name as if it was a curse.
As if hearing her, the Cyclopes turned fully to face her; the sole eye disgusted the daughter of Hermes. "Percy," she said, voice hard. "Who is this?"
"My half-brother," Percy responded, smiling. "Tyson, meet Lucia, daughter of Hermes and he's Grover, satyr protector."
Tyson grinned at them. "Hello," he turned to Lucia. "You're pretty." He reached out to touch Lucia's blonde hair but she leaned back, slapping his hand away.
"Be nice," Percy said.
"What on earth is he doing within Camp Borders?" Lucia glared non-too-subtly at the monster. "How did he cross camp borders without any permission?"
"He's a god-spawn and only one of us can enter." Percy arched his brows. "No?"
Lucia closed her eyes, trying to calm herself before she lose. "Whatever," she settled for saying, storming off.
"Hey, Lu, where're you going?"
Lucia didn't turn back to answer. "Lunchtime!"
Percy wanted to catch up and talk to the daughter of Hermes—she may be PMSing though, with how quick her moods changed these days—and ask her what her problem was with Tyson. He suspected that her reason was pretty much the same as Annabeth's: that Tyson's kind had killed Thalia.
By the time they reached the pavilion, the daughter of Hermes had already settled herself down by her own cabin table with her siblings—who had been quick to accept her and forgive her, unlike the rest of the campers from other cabins. She pointedly ignore Percy and his brother as they brushed past her table to settle down at Poseidon's table.
Percy wondered if Poseidon was going to claim Tyson again like he did in his past life. He promised himself that this time around, he won't be ashamed of his little brother.
Surprisingly, Grover settled himself down by Percy, throwing the Cyclops a wry glance who was devouring his lunch in greedy gulps. As if noticing people staring at him, Tyson glanced up, then he glanced back at Percy. "Are you going eat it?"
"Uh, no, go ahead." The son of Poseidon didn't have time to blink before his lunch was gone.
"Is he messing with you?" Grover asked, leaning into Percy so that Tyson won't hear him.
"He's just hungry, man," Percy said, brushing his hand away. "Nothing's wrong with that."
"Have you seen his eye?" Grover demanded incredulously.
"I believe that the politically correct term is 'ocularly impaired', Grover."
"Are you sure you haven't been cursed by Athena?" Grover asked, unable to believe his goofy friend had turned smart overnight. "Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed or something? Since when did you become so smart?"
Percy sighed, picking up an apple and examining it critically. "Having a half-brother is better than having none."
"I like having a brother!" Tyson interjected, grinning widely, crumbs falling from his lips but before the other two could respond, Clarisse—and unwelcome menace—approached their table, still decked out in her light leather armor. Her smile was cruel and vicious.
"Aw, the new son of Poseidon," The daughter of Ares chuckled darkly. "and he's got his daddy's eyes." Percy tried to swallow the lump of anger in his throat, placing the apple down before he used it as a throwing projectile. "Oh. Eye." She snickered. "You really should get him some sprayable Mist. Your girlfriend can get you one, daughter of the god of thieves and all."
"Lucia will rip your throat out if she hears this," Percy responded calmly.
Clarisse sneered. "I know Princess can fight."
"Bull."
Clarisse shot Tyson an annoyed glare. "Excuse me?"
"Smells like bull," The Cyclops said, sniffing the air cautiously.
"Are you saying I smell?" The daughter of Ares snarled.
Percy rose to his feet, nearly stumbling when the ground shook; the shelves and items on it shook, falling onto the ground. His glass of orange juice spilled onto his jeans but quickly dried when he willed it to. "You never smell nice, Clarisse." Turning to the other campers, he raised his voice and said, "Border action! Come on!"
Dimly, Percy wondered how he'd be facing Annabeth.
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Question: Should I continue this story to Heroes of Olympus series?
