Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson

A/N: Wow… it's been a long time.

βήτα—Beta

The rest of the week passed relatively uneventfully as Percy started getting into a usual Camp Half-Blood routine, Chiron and the head counselors giving up on trying to figure out who his godly parent was.

Then Friday night came and Luke prepared himself for that night. This was going to get the ball rolling and would change the history of the world forever. It was time to take down the gods and have a new age begin.

As usual, the air was buzzing with excitement for the coming game. And once everyone had finished eating the plates were cleared from the tables, and everyone stood as Annabeth, along with two of her siblings came running out form one side of the pavilion holding the long silver, silk banner adorned with a barn owl and an olive branch hovering above it. From the other side came the Clarisse and her siblings with a same length banner in a blinding red with a boar's head and bloody spear.

"Those are the flags?" Percy asked Luke over the roar of the other campers.

"Yeah." he answered curtly.

"Ares and Athena always lead the teams?" Percy continued.

"Not always, but often."

"So, if another cabin captures one, what do you do—repaint the flag?"

Luke couldn't help the smile that stretched across his face at that question, thinking of Annabeth's plan. "You'll see. First we have to get one."

"Whose side are we on?"

Luke looked at Percy, clueless to how Annabeth was going to use him tonight… how Luke was going to use him tonight. "We've made a temporary alliance with Athena. Tonight, we get the flag from Ares. And you are going to help." he told Percy mysteriously. If only he knew….

After the campers settled down, they announced the teams; who was allied with whom. Along with the Hermes cabin, Apollo also joined Athena's brigade. Which left Ares with the rest of camp: Dionysus, Demeter, Aphrodite, and Hephaestus. Luke knew, though, from years at camp that it was mainly the Ares, Hephaestus, and possibly Dionysus cabins that they needed to worry about.

Once done announcing the teams, Chiron stomped his hoof on the marble floors of the pavilion.

"Heroes!" His voice rang out. "You know the rules." he started, as he always did, to remind older campers and inform newcomers. Luke felt he knew it by heart. "The creek is the boundary line. The entire forest if fair game. All magic items are allowed. The banner must be prominently displayed, and have no more than two guards. Prisoners may be disarmed, but may not be bound or gagged. No killing or maiming is allowed. I will serve as a referee and battle field medic. Arm yourselves!"

Chiron spread his arms and all sorts of weapons and armor appeared before them. Luke chuckled seeing Percy's wide eyes and open mouth.

"Whoa," he breathed. "We're really supposed to use these?"

Luke shook his head, looking at him. Was he being serious right now? He couldn't be that blind, could he? "Unless you want to get skewered by your friends in cabin five. Here—Chiron thought these would fit." He handed Percy his sword, shield, and helmet. "You'll be on border patrol." he informed Percy, remembered Annabeth's plan.

Annabeth wasted no time calling the blue team, once everyone had finished armoring themselves.

"Blue team, forward!" she shouted.

While everyone cheered and shouted and started to follow Annabeth toward the south part of the woods, Luke quickly slipped away to call forth the hellhound. It wouldn't take long and everyone was so caught up with their excitement for the game that no one would notice his brief absence.

Making sure no one had followed him or was around, Luke quickly summoned the hellhound which formed from the shadows surrounding Luke in the fading light of day. Its lava eyes glowed and it pulled back its lips, revealing razor sharp teeth, dripping with drool, but it did not attack.

Luke met its eyes for a moment, then, it gave a short, low growl, and seemingly turned back into a shadow, waiting for its time. Just as well too, because Luke heard footsteps coming his way. It was Annabeth along with a few other Hermes and Apollo campers.

"Ready." she asked just as the conch horn sounded in the distance.

Luke smiled and nodded. "Ready." he confirmed. "Let's go capture a flag, hm?"

Annabeth smiled and put on her invisibility cap, disappearing. Luke looked at his small crew Annabeth had gathered for him.

He instructed some to forge ahead, going ahead a few minutes apart so as to not raise suspicion. Percy, was, after all, standing right at the border. He then led the remaining campers up to the creek, meeting barely any resistance on their way, sounds of sword meeting sword and arrows flying through the air. He paused, lying in the wait, looking for Clarisse and her buddies.

It wasn't hard to hear them coming and as soon as they hit the creek, making noise and catching Percy's attention, Luke ordered his crew forward into enemy territory. Everything was going exactly according to plan, as it usually did when the Athena cabin led the team. They met up with the campers Luke had sent ahead and scouted on, keeping an eye out for the flag.

As they moved further into the woods, the resistance they met became thicker and this was a good sign: that meant the flag was close. Just because the rules said only two people could stand guard for the flag, didn't mean that they couldn't put a bunch of protection spanning around the flag. And Luke was guessing that was exactly what the Ares cabin had decided to do.

But because there were at least five or six Ares campers already beating up Percy, that left the rest of the Ares cabin, the four from the Hephaestus cabin, and the two from the Dionysus cabin. Though they were a good defense, there weren't a lot of them and it was fairly easy to overwhelm them with so many campers from the Hermes, Athena, and Apollo cabins.

With everyone busy trying to defend themselves, Luke easily slipped in, grabbed the flag and then made a mad dash back toward the creek. It seemed almost unfair that Luke have the advantage of knowing the woods like the back of his hand. Sure the tree nymphs liked to move around, but that's why you learned rock landmarks, that were always in the same place and not moving around constantly.

By the time the red team realized what had happened, Luke was yards away. They tried to follow, but with some of the Hermes campers flanking Luke, and some Apollo keeping the Hephaestus kids occupied, it was in no time at all that Luke saw the creek.

Cheering broke out before he even reached the creek, and when he finally did, the cheering reached a new high. Smiling with gratification, Luke looked at the flag as it shimmered and turned silver, adorned with the mark of Hermes: a caduceus. Luke felt himself being lifted up by the blue team, who screamed and cheered and pumped their fists. Victory was never so sweet. There were a few more seconds of this when suddenly a menacing howl ripped right through the cheers, silencing them almost simultaneously. Luke was slowly lowered down to the ground as Chiron called for his bow in Ancient Greek and the campers looked for what had caused such a spine-chilling noise.

Luke searched expectantly for the hound… there! On a large rock outcropping, staring down, directly at Percy with its glowing red, lava eyes, its lips pulled back in a snarl. Luke made his way through the crowd to get a closer look.

Annabeth drew her sword and ordered, "Percy, run!" trying to step in front of him, but the hellhound merely jumped over her, as silent as a shadow, but solid enough to knock Percy to the ground, right before it tore through his breastplate. His blood flowing from his open wounds. But just as soon as it had knocked Percy over, 40 or so arrows flew into the hound's neck and it froze.

Luke couldn't help the small smile, pulling at the edge of his lips. Things were yet again, going exactly according to plan. He quickly wiped the smile off his face, replacing it with a stricken look, as Chiron came forward, toward Percy.

"Di immortales!" Annabeth muttered. "That's a hellhound from the Fields of Punishment. They don't… they're not supposed to…"

"Someone summoned it." Chiron announced, Luke walking forward a little more. "Someone inside the camp."

"It's all Percy's fault!" Clarisse wailed. "Percy summoned it!"

"Be quiet, child," Chiron told her in a very serious tone even Clarisse had to listen to it.

Chiron turned his eyes onto the hellhound, on its side, dead. Everyone else followed his gaze as it shrunk in on itself; shrunk into nothingness.

"You're wounded," Annabeth said bringing attention back to Percy, "quick, Percy, get in the water."

Luke waited, watching with a curious sparkle in his eyes.

"I'm okay." Percy objected.

"No, you're not," she rebutted. "Chiron, watch this."

Not feeling like arguing, Percy sluggishly stepped back into the creek. The change in Percy was immediate and very noteworthy. Especially as his life-threatening wounds healed and all but disappeared. All the campers gasped, like a sigh in the wind.

Percy looked, of all things, embarrassed. "Look, I-I don't know why—" He looked down. "I'm sorry…." he apologized. Luke couldn't help but roll his eyes as his apology. Almost like that time he apologized for disarming Luke. Another smile spread across Luke's face as a glowing green, spinning trident lit up the creek and the surround forest, showing the awed faces of all the campers.

"Your father," Annabeth murmured as the trident slowly faded and everything became dark once again. "This is really not good."

"It is determined." Chiron announced.

Luke, though not exactly wanting to, kneeled in respect, the rest of the campers doing the same. This motion followed by Percy's miffed voice asking, "My father?"

Chiron answered with, "Poseidon, Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Father of Horses. Hail, Perseus Jackson, Son of the Sea God." his voice echoing throughout the forest.

The days that followed were long, as Luke waited for Chiron to grant a quest for Percy, but the repercussions to Percy's attack on the Ares campers during the game, and the hellhound attack was kind of to Luke's advantage. Everyone in camp seemed to avoid him purposefully, and Luke walked in on one too many conversations about the son of the Sea God. The Hermes cabin refused to train with him in swordsmanship, so, to gain the young demi-gods trust, Luke decided to train him one-on-one. And just because they were probably going to become mortal enemies, didn't mean Luke had to hold back on his training.

"You're going to need all the training you can get." Luke told him one day, while they were working with swords and flaming torches. "Now let's try that viper-beheading strike again. Fifty more repetitions."

It continued like that until Percy was finally sent up to the Oracle. The next day he was on his way, playing right into Kronos' trap. All Luke had to do next was make sure that he got the enchanted shoes and he'd be golden. When he spotted Percy along with Grover, Annabeth, and Chiron at the top of the hill, he grabbed his basketball sneakers and quickly ran from the cabins and up to the hill before they left.

"Hey!" he called, grabbing their attention. "Glad I caught you." He made it to the top and quickly caught his breath. "Just wanted to say good luck," He smiled. "And I thought… um, maybe you could use these." He handed Percy the sneakers. Percy looked at them a little confused. "Maia!" Luke shouted, to show Percy what the shoes did, besides just being sneakers.

The wings sprouted out from the shoes and Percy dropped them, startled. The wings flapped uselessly, the shoes not making it off the ground, before they folded up and disappeared.

"Awesome!" Grover exclaimed, looking at the shoes with wide eyes.

"Those served me well when I was on my quest. Gift from Dad. Of course, I don't use them much these days…." Luke trailed off thinking how he had failed miserably at his quest and had no use for those shoes anymore now that Chiron barely let anyone out of the camper borders during summer.

"Hey, man," Percy started, turning red. "Thanks."

"Listen, Percy…" How was he going to say this? "A lot of hopes are riding on you." Just not exactly the hopes that he thinks. "So just… kill some monsters for me, okay?"

Luke stuck his hand out for Percy and they shook. Then Luke went over and patted Grover on the head before turning to Annabeth and pulling her into a hug. She wasn't the small, seven-year-old who needed protection anymore. There was just so much Luke wished he could tell her, but now wasn't the time.

Luke pulled away and gave them all one last wave before he jogged back down the hill and headed to his first activity of the day. It was—for the most part—out of his hands now. Now he just had to pray that everything would work out. Besides, Kronos hadn't given him any other instructions since he told him that Percy was coming to camp, so it's not like he could've done anything more anyway.

The days past without any word from the trio, and Luke may have let it slip of what was going on between the gods; going on between Zeus and Poseidon. It was funny but annoying at the same time how loyal that the campers seemed to their parents. And Luke wasn't even sure if it was just the gods' auras that were affecting them because of the fact that they were, more or less, genetically related to their parents or just because they were loyal.

Once the word got out, the campers started getting into more fights with each other. You couldn't put one cabin on Poseidon's side with a cabin on Zeus' side or you were just begging for trouble. Still, they found ways to get into fights. How Chiron got them to eat in the same place at the same time without fighting breaking out was a miracle.

A few days later, Luke was standing on the porch of the Big House, staring down at the meadows and strawberry fields, thinking about how long it was taking Percy. It's not like Luke expected him to finish his quest in a day, but it'd been several days already and it just seemed like they'd travel faster than that. Then again, monsters anywhere within a ten mile radius probably caught Percy's scent and that would most certainly hold them up—

"Luke!" someone called from behind.

Startled, Luke turned to see Percy… well Percy through an Iris-Message at least, but those messages had really good quality if you had a steady stream of mist.

"Percy!" Luke exclaimed, a smile breaking across his face. Had to keep the act up, right? Then he noticed Annabeth standing next to him. "Is that Annabeth, too? Thank the gods! Are you guys okay?"

"We're… uh… fine," Annabeth stuttered, Luke not failing to see as she straightened her shirt and brushed stray stands of hair out of her face. "We thought—Chiron—I mean—" Annabeth continued, not being able to figure out what to say next.

Luke's smile faded, thinking about all the fights and what was going on at camp, how things got worse and worse every single day. "He's down at the cabins." he finally answered. "We're… having some issues with the campers. Listen, is everything cool with you?" Luke asked quickly changing the subject, thinking now was a good time to see how they were doing on getting to the Underworld. "Is Grover all right?"

Grover came into view. "I'm right here. What kind of issues?" he asked going back to the previous conversation. Almost as soon as he finished speaking, though, there was blasting music, like the bass from a car, or something.

"Chiron had to—what's the noise?" Luke asked, his eyebrows furrowing.

"I'll take care of it." Annabeth volunteered. "Grover, come on!"

Grover looked confused. "What? But—"

Annabeth interrupted him, "Give Percy the nozzle and come on!" She started pulling him away, forcing him to hand the nozzle over to Percy, who readjusted it so he could still see Luke.

"Chiron had to break up a fight," Luke explained still yelling. "Things are pretty tense here, Percy. Word leaked about the Zeus-Poseidon standoff. We're still not sure how—probably the same scumbag who summoned the hellhound. Now the campers are taking sides. It's shaping up like the Trojan War all over again. Aphrodite, Ares, and Apollo are backing Poseidon, more or less. Athena is backing Zeus."

The music finally quieted, much to Luke's relief.

"So what's your status?" he continued, in a normal tone now. "Chiron will be sorry he missed you."

Percy didn't hold back, telling Luke about everything that had happened and Luke could understand why they'd been held up for so long. He also told Luke about the dreams from Kronos. When Percy finished up, there was beeping on his end of the IM.

"I wish I could be there," Luke sympathized just as Kronos' orders blew through his head. "We can't help much from here, I'm afraid, but listen… it had to be Hades who took the master bolt. He was there at Olympus at the winter solstice. I was chaperoning a field trip and we saw him."

"But Chiron said the gods can't take each other's magic items directly." Percy objected. And here came becoming Percy's friend and getting him to trust Luke came into play.

"That's true," Luke paused for a moment looking deep in thought. "Still… Hades has the helm of darkness. How could anyone else sneak into the throne room and steal the master bolt? You'd have to be invisible."

There was silence for a moment before Luke realized what he'd just said.

"Oh, hey," he protested quickly, not even believing that he'd just hinted at Annabeth stealing the bold. "I didn't mean Annabeth. She and I have known each other forever. She would never… I mean, she's like a little sister to me." Luke assured Percy.

Suddenly there was yet another noise. First it was silent, no music. Then screams, the slamming of car doors, and the screech of, what sounded like, tires burning rubber on asphalt.

"You'd better go see what that was," Luke suggested. "Listen, are you wearing those flying shoes?" He just had to be sure that when they got to the Underworld they'd pull Percy into the pit. "I'll feel better if I know they've done you some good."

"Oh…! Uh, yeah!" Percy exclaimed. "Yeah, they've come in handy."

"Really?" Luke asked, eager at the news. "They fit and everything?"

There was a loud click and the mist started to disappear.

"Well, take care of yourself out there in Denver," Luke started to add quickly. "And tell Grover it'll be better this time! Nobody will get turned into a pine tree if he just—" He broke off, unable to finish his sentence as the mist completely disappeared and the connection was severed.

You know how school works! I apologize for such a long wait. I'll try to update more frequently, but as I have learned from my other stories, making promises on when exactly I'll post is not a good idea. So no promise, just an assurance I'm back and I'll be posting soon.

Hope you enjoyed!

thank-you-for-everything

~ See you at Camp Half-Blood!