Disclaimer: I only own the plot and my OCs. Anything you recognize as not mine belongs to Rick Riordan, Greco-Roman mythology, and/or their otherwise respective owners.

Author's Notes: Hello, everyone! Welcome back! I have a feeling this chapter is gonna be a little, uh...well, I won't spoil it. ;)

As always, I hope you enjoy. Until the next chapter,

~TGWSI/Selene Borealis

~The Finding Home Saga~

~Finding Home~

~Chapter 77: Like An Empire Of The Sun Song Pt. 3~

The rest of the weekend pretty much passed by in the same way. Luke ordered us take-out for a late lunch and an even later dinner on Saturday and the same for Sunday, and we went at it like rabbits. I wound up even sorer than I had been on Saturday morning, but I didn't mind. With a nice shower or bath rejuvenating my body because of my powers, I was pretty much ready to go for another round immediately afterwards. But Luke still insisted that we take a break here and there anyways.

And it was all great. Unbelievably great.

And yet...

The weekend also felt too short for me. I mean, I'd known going in that just a single weekend was short, not even ninety-six hours even with the additional time on Friday and Saturday. And of course, a lot of that time was taken up by us sleeping, a requirement for the mortal body.

But as we got closer and closer to Monday, a sense of melancholy hit me.

I didn't want this to be over. I didn't want, as Aphrodite had implied and I'd been able to pick up on, for this to be perhaps the one and only time that Luke and I ever got to spend time together in this way. I don't necessarily mean sex by that like she'd said, either: more so just spending time together like we were living together. Like we were just two ordinary people, not demigods who had quite literally had the weight of the sky on our shoulders at one point.

I also wasn't alone in thinking this. I could see the same knowledge weighing on Luke, especially on Sunday night. We both got a little desperate there in terms of sex, I'll admit it. The rounds we had that night were a lot more hurried than the ones before, which is probably saying a lot.

But most of all, I saw it on Monday morning.

I woke up early on Monday morning, only about thirty or so minutes after dawn. The sun's rays had barely entered the room yet. At first, I didn't know why. It wasn't like me to wake up this early in the morning, not of my own accord. Even during the school year, my body just wasn't wired to wake up this early without some sort of alarm.

Then, however, I became aware of a body shaking beside me.

My eyes snapped open. Abruptly, I was wide awake.

Luke was laying next to me still, but his back was turned. Even so, I could see what I felt: he was definitely shaking.

My first and immediate concern was that he was having a nightmare, or a demigod dream. I'd never really seen him have either one of those before, but it wasn't like they were uncommon among demigods.

Sitting up and fighting back the urge to yawn, I grabbed his shoulder and shook it gently. Gently, because I didn't want to startle him awake if he was having a nightmare. Because I'd never seen him have a nightmare before, I'd never seen how he reacted when he was waking up from one, either. But he'd told me once or twice before that he'd accidentally gotten violent back at camp when he'd been woken up from a nightmare, right after Alan had died. I wanted to make sure that I was careful.

"Luke," I whispered.

To my surprise, he rolled over almost immediately. He must've not been asleep after all.

Luke was crying. In the light of the early morning, I could see the tear tracks running down his cheeks. I wondered why he hadn't woken me up if things were this bad, because he rarely ever cried.

Then I remembered that not everyone was an audible crier. That there were many, many reasons for why he wouldn't be.

My heart felt like it was about to shatter. "Luke, what's wrong?" I asked him. "Bad dream?"

Slowly, he shook his head.

I started rubbing my hand on his shoulder. "It's okay," I said quietly. "Whatever it is, it's okay. You can tell me if you want to."

He didn't answer me right away. Luke sat up, removing my hand from his shoulder that he could hold both of mine in both of his. The pad of his right thumb circled over the top of my left hand. I waited for him to speak. Technically, we had almost the entire day for him to – until my doppelgänger vanished from existence and I would have to take his place, myplace, once more.

Naturally, though, I didn't have to wait that long. "I don't..." Luke started to say. He hesitated, before finishing his confession: "I don't want this weekend to end."

...Oh.

Yep, there went my heart. It metaphorically shattered into a million pieces.

Once Luke started, it was hard for him to stop. It all came tumbling out. "It's not fair," he said. His expression darkened. "It's not fair that we can't just exist like this, Percy. We should be able to do what we want without having to worry about the gods or what they want or what anybody else wants. We shouldn't have to hide this. They shouldn't have any right to interfere."

My throat tightened. "I know, Luke."

"And I don't just mean them, either," he continued. I didn't need to ask who he was referring to there: he was talking about the Olympians. Our parents. "I mean him, too."

It took a second for what he was saying to register in my brain. I couldn't believe this.

"Are – are you serious?" I breathed.

A self-depreciating smile played at his features. "More serious than I've ever been in my life," Luke admitted. "I thought...I thought that what he wanted was all that I would ever want, too. But then I met you, and that's...what I want has slowly been changing ever since." He drew away one of his hands so that he could wipe at the tears on his face. "It's – it's not that simple, though."

"Nothing ever is," I said sadly.

He laughed bitterly. "Oh, you have no idea about that. I've – he's forced me to make promises, like they have you." I was caught between bristling and flinching back at that. The result was that I basically remained frozen in place. "There's little to no way I can get out of this now."

"'Little to no way?'" I quoted, not sure of what else I could do.

Luke ducked his head, refusing to look at me anymore. "You won't want to do it, I know you won't."

"Luke..."

Silence fell over us. I fidgeted nervously.

What would I need to do in order to get him out from Kronos? Whatever it was, I'd be just about willing to do anything. I'd never even heard of Luke doubting Kronos before, much less talking about wanting to leave his side altogether. Hell, if it was murder that we needed to do, a human sacrifice, I'd be willing to do that. As long as he could...not come back to the gods, I wasn't naïve enough to believe that with how much he hated them, but at least remain neu –

"We could go to Alaska, or Canada, or...actually, maybe even Iceland would work," Luke said, musing the last part out loud as his expression became pensive. "Iceland's a little too south, I'd have to double-check, but – it doesn't matter. We just need to get far enough north. Far enough that we get into Hyperborea."

"Hyperborea?"

I vaguely remembered reading about the place in my Ancient Greek lessons with Annabeth. The Hyperboreans were a mythical tribe of people who lived in the most northern part of the world. It was so far north, even, that the Ancient Greek mortals thought that the temperature eventually balanced out, becoming temperate again, and the land was one of perpetual sunshine.

At least they'd gotten one of those things correct...partially.

"The land beyond the realm of the gods," Luke told me with a glint in his eye. "None of the gods except the primordials have power there...and you know that they don't want anything to do with their descendants' affairs. They won't bother us. We could be together just like we have been this past weekend, Percy: we could live together. I mean, we probably couldn't get an apartment like this," he acknowledged, "but we could get an apartment...or a house. We could find a home that would be suitable for us, or build one if we want to. And you could bring Bob: I'm sure she'd love the colder climate since she is a saber-toothed tiger. Money wouldn't be a problem: I've already got that figured out. But I'd probably get a job anyways, just to keep up a charade and make sure we don't look too suspicious."

Before I could even think about what to say to this, because I was even more shocked than I had been before, too shocked to even think at all, Luke's demeanor changed yet again. His excitement was gone just as soon as it had come, replaced by the return of the self-depreciating smile. "But all of that would require one thing, and it's the on thing that I know you won't do: you'd have to leave your mom and Callie behind. You'd have to let her or one of the di Angelos become the child of the Great Prophecy," he finished.

"Luke – " I started to protest.

But he was right. I couldn't do that. He was the love of my life, but just the thought of leaving Callie, Bianca, or Nico to suffer the fate of the Great Prophecy had my insides twisting. I'd never forgive myself if something happened to them because of me, if one of them died because of me. As I've said many times before, this wasn't an option.

Yet, I couldn't lose Luke like that, either. This weekend had taught me very well that I couldn't be without him. I needed him like a flower needs the sun. I needed him like a fish needs water.

I needed him more than anything or anyone else in the world.

"You could go up to Alaska or wherever without me," I suggested weakly – weakly for one very particular reason. "Once this war is over and don with, I'd follow after you. Like you said, if the gods really have no power up there, they won't be able to punish you or me. I know...I know that it would hurt my mom for me to leave like that – " and that was an understatement of the century " – but I'd be willing to do it."

As I'd expected, Luke smiled bittersweetly. "I know you would, Percy." He went back to rubbing his thumb on my hand. "But I can't do that. If I'm here, I can make sure that you survive. He won't be all that willing to kill you because he knows how much you mean to me, and he thinks that he'll be able to use that to finally sway you over to his side in the end. But if I leave...that's gone. But even if it doesn't somehow go away, the person that takes my place won't have the same inclination that I do. If they fight you, they will try to kill you. The fight just won't be for show."

I felt the tips of my ears redden with indignation. "I don't need you to protect me, Luke."

He chuckled. "I know you don't. But, I'm not changing my mind. Either we both go to Hyperborea, or neither of us do. That's the deal."

My lips thinning, I tried to find the willpower within me to say something like: "Fine, then. We'll go." After a few seconds, I even opened my mouth to follow through.

But I couldn't get the words to come out of my mouth.

"So where does this leave us?" was what came out instead.

Luke's eyes were shining again with tears. "'Think there's only one thing that we can do: just keep on doing what we're doing," he said. "Giving everybody the show that they want, at least until the war is over. If the gods win, maybe..." His voice faltered. I could see that he had no faith whatsoever in what he had been about to tell me.

I adjusted our hands so that I was the one holding his. "I won't let them do anything to you if we win," I promised him. Granted, I had no idea how I was going to keep such a promise when the gods were so much powerful than us, but it was one that I believed with all of my heart. Maybe I could ask Demeter to make him one of her champions like she had with me. And if not her, then there were a few other gods I had in mind who I thought I could potentially ask, Aphrodite first and foremost. "No matter what, if we win, you'll be safe."

"And I promise I'll do the same for you, if we win," Luke replied with a twitch of his lips.

My mouth was dry. I had to wet my lips once more. "You have to promise me one other thing, too," I spoke. "That you'll stay alive. I know that you said you've been protecting me, but you've got to protect yourself too, Luke. I can't...I can't lose you."

"I promise, Percy," he answered without missing a beat.

(. . .

. . .

It wasn't until later that I realized he hadn't made the promise on the River Styx – which didn't necessarily mean anything, since it was the highest oath to make of all time, but still.)

At two o'clock, it was time for me to leave the penthouse.

I had everything ready: I hadn't actually worn any of the changes of clothes that I'd packed for myself this entire weekend, so I had a fresh set to change into that I hadn't been wearing on Friday (that set had gotten washed) so as to arouse as little suspicion as possible. The one set of pajamas that Luke had gotten me was tucked into my bag. Obviously, I knew that I probably shouldn't have taken them, but I couldn't help myself.

Luke walked me out of the building. He looked like he wanted to walk me further than that, however we both knew that probably wouldn't be a good idea. "I love you," he said, before he cupped my cheeks in his hands and pulled me in for a quick kiss, right there in broad daylight and on the sidewalk. Like our last time with PDA, this didn't cause any noticeable backlash. "I'll try to take you out again as soon as I can."

"I love you too. And okay – but you've got to be safe." The latter part, I made sure of to say with as firm of a look in my eyes as I could muster.

"I told you earlier that I would," he pointed out.

I hit him on the arm lightly. "You promised me that you wouldn't die. That's different."

He shrugged. "If you say so."

Gods, that made me want to do several things –

– None of which I did. We were out of time now.

Standing up on my tiptoes, I kissed him on the cheek. "See you later, Luke."

"'Bye, Percy."

It took me a little longer getting back to Goode High School than the opposite had on Friday, because I made sure to take my time. After all, it probably wouldn't be a good idea for me to show up when school was still in session or had enough people in it for people to see double of me. That'd be a headache to deal with.

Thankfully, by the time that I got there, neither of these things happened. I snuck into the building through one of the entrances that was still open from the outside (since the school had some automatic lock mechanisms in place) and then to that one restroom where Alabaster and I had done the ritual for my doppelgänger.

My lookalike was there, standing a little to stiff to look humanlike, although maybe that was just because the magic was just about to wear out and he was going to cease to exist, and –

– He wasn't alone.

"Alabaster?" I cried. "What are you doing here?"

The son of Hecate was a little indignant. "I had to make sure that you were gonna come back," he stated. "I didn't want to be blamed for a fuck-up if one happened."

Given what Luke and I had talked about earlier, that made me suspicious. I narrowed my eyes. "Why? What do you know?"

"Nothing," Alabaster retorted. "Just – " he waved a hand " – call it a hunch."

I knew that it wasn't him doing it, that it was merely the magic running out at the perfect moment, but at the same time that he waved his hand, my doppelgänger let out a small gasp before his form faded into non-existence.

Aw, drat. I'd wanted to come just a little bit earlier so that I could've asked him some questions about what this weekend had been like – to make sure that I would have my story straight. If he'd even still been able to answer my questions, that is.

Eyeing the spot where he'd just been, I resolved myself to asking Alabaster in his place. "Did everything go okay with him?"

"Just fine, according to Silena. She said that your mom didn't tell your dad that she noticed anything off."

"Did she actually interact with the other me herself?"

"...No."

A sigh fell from my lips. Great.

Well, there was nothing that I'd be able to do about it now.

When I looked back over at Alabaster, he was seemingly scrutinizing me. "What?" I demanded.

"Nothing," he answered back immediately. But he didn't leave it there like that implied he would. "There's just something...different about you."

I ogled him. "Do you mean like, now that I've had sex? Because – "

"No!" he practically shouted. The quickness and scandalized nature of it almost made me snicker. "Gods, no, not that. It's just...you know what, never mind. Forget I said anything."

"More than happy to," I went cheerily, before adding, "But seriously, thanks for doing this, Alabaster. And however you want to cash in the favor I owe you now, just let me know and I'll do it."

His eyes twinkled. "I might have a few ideas in mind for that."

I debated asking him what he meant by that, but then I decided right now, the less I knew, the better. "Alrighty then. I should probably get back home before my mom does."

We said our goodbyes and then I left for home. When I got there and unlocked the door, I called out gently, "Bob?"

My mom wasn't home yet. But my cat, of course, was.

Against my expectations, my cat wasn't in the living room. She wasn't in my room, either. After placing my bag in my bedroom, I eventually found her in my mom's bedroom, hiding underneath my mom's bed. When she saw me, she gazed at me distrustfully. Huh. She must've sensed that my doppelgänger wasn't actually me or something like that.

"Bob," I laughed quietly. I reached a hand towards her gently, aware of the fact that if I wasn't careful, I could end up being clawed. "It's okay, that other guy is gone. It's me."

Bob sniffed at me cautiously at first. Once she realized I was who I said I was, however, that I was the real Percy, she became much more complacent. She crawled out from underneath my mom's bed and into my lap, before she started to purr as a demand for cuddles. I was still laughing as I scooped her up into my arms and carried her back into the living room. "Yeah, I know. I missed you, too."

The real test, naturally, came later. My ears pricked at the sounds of my mom coming home. "Percy?"

"Right here," I told her. I was cuddling on the couch with Bob still while the TV was on, playing a movie.

"Oh, thats cute. I still don't understand why she was so skittish with you this past weekend," my mom said as she came over, her eyes crinkling at the edges. I did my best not to tense; I could tell simply by the expression on her face that she had no idea that the "me" she and Bob had been dealing with this weekend hadn't really been me, meaning that the test had passed, but that wasn't to say that I couldn't do something weird to make her begin to doubt that in a heartbeat. "How was school today?"

I grinned – I couldn't help myself. "School was great."

"Really? That's good," she hummed. "I was thinking about ordering pizza for dinner tonight. Is that fine with you?"

"Pizza sounds alright to me," I agreed.

When I went to bed that night, Bob curled up against me as she continued to be insistent on me being as close as possible, or at least not leaving her sight, it was with a sense of melancholy. My bed felt too small in comparison to the one at the penthouse, too empty. It didn't help that that sensation in my stomach I'd noticed on Saturday was still there; without Luke and all the sex we'd been having, it was all that much more noticeable, impossible to ignore.

I should've been brave enough, selfish enough, to say "yes" to Luke. We should've been well on our way to Alaska or wherever else in Hyperborea that we wanted to go by now, Bob with us while a note would've been left on the counter to explain to my mom what I was doing. It would've been cowardly in that regard to come out to my mom and explain my relationship with Luke like that, but it would've been easier than eventually (maybe) telling her the truth face-to-face. I wouldn't have had to worry about her reaction that way.

I wouldn't have ever had to worry about anybody's reaction besides Luke's at all anymore.

But, that's not how the world works. As I've said many times before, including earlier in this chapter, but I just want to reiterate again in case you're thinking that I'm crazy (although, let's be real, you've probably already thought that a dozen times already), I have a duty. A responsibility. And to quote Spider-Man, "with great power comes great responsibility."

With all of my heart and soul, I just hoped – I prayed, to Ananke herself – that I didn't come to regret taking on this responsibility after all in the end and making this decision.

I'd never doubted myself before, but it seemed like as good of a time as ever to begin doing that now.

Word Count: 3,854

Next Chapter Title: The Stomach Flu To Beat All Stomach Flus