AN: Hiiii tbh I think the quality of this story is super questionable but I really liked writing this and rereading the books to figure out just what happened to Luke in his life! It was super fun trying to make a timeline of the events that happened along the journey, so I hope you enjoy!

Because the gods never gave a fuck.

That was his answer to all the questions when he appeared at camp to recruit new members of his revolution. New members of his Golden Age, where the gods would suffer for centuries of neglect towards their demigod children. Worthless because they were half-breeds, bastards, results of careless and hasty one-night stands, of broken promises and broken hearts. Worthless, because they were going to die anyway.

From the very start, he knew all this, just how worthless demigods and mortals alike were, in the eyes of the immortal beings upon Olympus's thrones. From the moment his mother started having maniacal fits, her eyes a blank green as she screamed about fate, he knew he could never forgive his father.

I never meant for this to happen, Hermes had begged during one of his irregular visits. She wanted this position, and I couldn't deny her anything.

You're a god, you could have done something, anything, he had screamed back. And he took a final glance at the burned cookies and kool aids, and left, promising himself never to return unless he had to.

He hated Hermes with his entire being, fueled by his bitterness about his mother's condition and the years on the streets, not being accepted. But then he met the daughter of Zeus with striking blue eyes, and gods he would fucking throw himself in Tartarus if she asked. For her sake, he tried not to blame the gods for their fate. Tried to give offerings and pray for help and give thanks for every day of survival.

Thalia believed in the goodness of the gods. Sure, she cursed her father out once every while, but Luke knew that deep inside, she had hope that her father would love her if she just proved her worth. I just need to do an act of courage to get his attention, and then he'll deem me worthy of his recognition, she had insisted in one of their arguments about where their loyalties lay. I'm sure he cares about me, but I need to prove that I'm worthy of his love.

But what was love, if you had to go through hell just to earn it?

Thalia chased Amaltheia, Zeus's sacred cow, across a few states just for a chance of recognition. The prize when they caught up? A fucking cursed mansion.

If he were entirely honest, at that point he only hated Hermes, and held a mild dislike of the rest of Olympus. But after encountering Halcyon Green, he vowed to make the gods pay. Because punishing a demigod for merely wanting to save an innocent girl? The gods were not only cruel, but completely incorrigible.

And as much as it pained him to admit, he did know what Hal was talking about when he said Luke was going to betray his friends.

They met Annabeth Chase when they accidentally stumbled upon her hideout. Luke wasn't all for letting a seven-year-old girl join their group, when monsters constantly attacked them, but he had to respect Annabeth's courage. Running away from shitty parents? Just like them. To have the nerve to attack him with a hammer? Fabulous.

And so the three of them journeyed together, wandering around Virginia and trying to survive the hordes of monsters that seemed to come more and more frequently. It troubled Luke to no end, but at least Annabeth and Thalia were happy with their current situation.

And when they met the Hunters of Artemis, who offered to heal them after a nasty fight, he felt a fear never felt before.

And he never forgot the relief he felt when Thalia told them that she denied the offer from the Hunters of Artemis. When she told him that they healed her regardless, and told them that their offer would forever stand.

Luke was determined not to let them meet any harm again, so when Grover approached them to escort the three of them to a camp for demigods just like them, they agreed without any hesitation.

But of course, everything went wrong. The cyclops that dangled them from the ceiling, the Furies that chased them to camp, the hordes of monsters sent by Hades.

Thalia sacrificing herself so they could live.

He was a hollow shell weeks after her death. No matter how Chiron tried to comfort him, he couldn't bring himself to face the reality. Just when he found his family, the gods stripped him of it again. Zeus couldn't even step in to save his only demigod daughter.

Life was nothing without Thalia.

She haunted his every nightmare, plaguing his sleep every night. But for her sake, again and again, he tried to forgive the gods, to cheer up, to appreciate the safe camp and the amazing food.

Annabeth, bless her soul, tried to keep things positive, but she would never understand just how important Thalia was to him.

But when he did move on, and explore the camp, he realized how badly they were treated. The unclaimed, the unwanted, and the children of minor gods all stuffed into the Hermes cabin. Just how little did the gods care, if they wouldn't even recognize their own children as theirs?

When he was seventeen, Hermes came with an offer of a quest to steal an apple of immortality from the Garden of Hesperides. He was honoured, since no quest had happened since his arrival, and he knew Thalia would have wanted him to do this.

So he went on the quest, even if he was aware that this quest had already been done, and his father hadn't even thought of anything original.

The shame never left him after his failed quest where he returned as the only surviving member. Nobody would look him in the eye when he passed by, and he resisted the urge to scream, blame the gods for this, not me!

Because Camp Half-Blood was just a gathering place of demigods, where the gods would know everything going on with their children. Chiron tried to convince him otherwise, but Luke knew the truth. They were nothing more than glorified mercenaries, bound by a contract formed before birth, of unwavering loyalty, or death. They were of no worth, not until they'd successfully done a god's bidding. And even then, their life would be completely expendable.

So when Kronos approached him with an offer he couldn't refuse, he laughed hollowly, and accepted it without any hesitation.

And so he packed up his few belongings, and set out on his journey to establish a new golden age, where the gods would suffer from all the things they never did for them. He said goodbye to Thalia's tree, sitting sorrowfully on the borders of camp, and left, not looking back.

Because fuck everything if he couldn't have her.