Luke didn't come back that night, which meant this time social workers and police officers were all over the house, and that Percy was roused from his sleep a lot earlier than he'd planned. They'd spent about an hour-ish, if not less, talking to the kids trying to get any information on where Luke had gone or why he'd disappeared.

Percy wasn't sure how cooperative the other kids would be, and he didn't want to be labeled a snitch, so he gave the officer talking to him the most nonchalant truthful answers he could. Not that anything else he could have given would have made much of a difference, he really had no knowledge on where his roommate could have been.

After a while it was confirmed that yes, Luke had run away, and that it was for personal reasons, not from any mistreatment from the house. Percy wondered if Luke knew what he'd put the other kids through, making them have to deal with cops and social workers early in the morning. He wondered if the older boy would even care.

"Alright everyone. That was an eventful start to our morning wasn't it?" Chiron asked as Argus walked the last of the workers out and shut the door. None of the kids responded, staring at Chiron with varying unimpressed expressions. "Nevermind it, I'm positive Luke will return in his own time. He always has. Though I fear lack of repercussions has allowed him to get away with it for so long.

Ever one to stay on schedule, Chiron was quick to announce that the rest of their day off of school would continue as planned, with the promised trip to the mall. They'd all been encouraged to come, with pointed reminders to Leo and Piper who'd always giggled in response.

Personally, Percy couldn't think of anything worse than being forced to stand around for hours while sucky music blasted from speakers for too long while he got reminded to stop touching things. He'd work out what to do for Christmas gifts on a day he didn't have planned to spend in his bed.

All of the other kids had already decided to go, minus Jason who'd been doped up on cough syrup to get him through the bug he'd picked up at school, something none of the other kids seemed surprised at.

"Jason's like, a breeding ground for every illness Percy. It's not unusual for him this time of year." Annabeth paid him no mind as he sat outside the bathroom door waiting for her to finish her elaborate curl routine. She'd even forced him to join in a couple of times and while the efforts had deliberately made his hair look better he just wasn't trying to put that much effort into his hair on the daily.

"I dunno, I just don't think someone should be that pale." Percy argued. Jason's state had rapidly worsened overnight. Percy couldn't help but feel like part of it was his fault for letting their outdoor basketball game last for so long after the weather had gotten chillier. "And he throws up…a lot."

During the night Percy had been sure that the chaos from Jason rushing to the bathroom would have been enough to alert the night staff that nobody was in their assigned bedroom. Instead all worries about getting caught had been chased away by the horror of listening to Jason hurl for 25 uninterrupted minus. Annabeth huffed, turning off the mirror light and hollering down the hallway for Piper to hurry up.

"Jason's a growing boy. He eats a lot." When Percy's grossed out face didn't change Annabeth just laughed. "And if you think this is bad you should have seen what happened when we found out he was allergic to nuts."

Percy followed her to the edge of the steps, knowing that if he went downstairs he'd likely be scolded for still having on his pajamas.

"Don't be worried about Jason unless Thalia's worried about Jason. Other than that, just try not to catch his germs." Annabeth offered. As if on cue, Leo walked out of his shared bedroom fully dressed with his shirt dramatically pulled over his face.

"Jason's got the plague again man. I'm sleeping on the couch tonight. No way am I catching that again." The younger boy hopped on the stair railing and slid down, wobbling on his butt.

"What's your excuse for not coming again?" Annabeth asked, having to raise her voice a bit to be heard over Coach Hedge's reaction to seeing Leo's preferred method of transportation.

"I can think of a million things I'd rather do than stand in lines and crowds all day. And that music." He pulled a dramatic face, just to make sure Annabeth would have a reason to roll her eyes or even laugh. His heart weirdly fluttered a bit when she did both.

"Whatever Percy. Just hope your Christmas shopping won't be as last minute as your Halloween costume." She didn't spare him another look, chasing down to join the rest of the chaos of the kids preparing to leave.

Hey! My idea wasn't even that bad. And I've got plenty of time. All this Christmas talk is skipping over Thanksgiving."

As expected, Annabeth didn't dignify his response with a retort, giving him a wave over her shoulder as the majority of the group headed outside. The last participant, Thalia, shoulder checked him from behind on her way out.

"Dork. Keep an eye on Jason for me."

Percy talked himself into only being slightly annoyed with her and gave himself a moment to enjoy the peace the almost empty house offered. He'd grown up an only child, and with his mom spending most of her time working her butt off and Gabe being Gabe, most of his time at home had been spent alone. Sure at times it had gotten lonely, but the constant stimulation of other people got a bit overwhelming at times.

He gave himself a couple of moments to think about the best way to monopolize his free time. Back before his mom's accident, when he still lived in the apartment he'd use this time to raid the kitchen however he wanted. It probably wasn't possible to do the same damage here, but just imagining a big bowl of all the different kinds of cereal downstairs combined was enough to pull Percy from his spot glued on the staircase and into his room to get dressed.

"Don't make a mess Perky, no one else is here to take the fall." Mr. D said as Percy raced into the kitchen.

"Jason's upstairs dying. Shouldn't you go be worried about that?" When the other kids were around, they all found the pot bellied man's nonchalance humorous. Percy couldn't extend the same courtesy. Nothing about the man's bad attitude was funny to him, and he was tired of pretending it was. Mr. D left the kitchen with a wave of his hand and a warning for Percy to watch his mouth before moving upstairs. Good, Percy thought, At least he can do his job about something.

A big blue bowl mixed with equal parts captain crunch, fruit loops, and honey nut cheerios was Percy's holy grail as he settled at the table to dig in. If he had been home at his apartment he'd pair his creation with morning cartoons if Gabe wasn't hogging the TV. But Delphu had strict rules about eating outside the kitchen, and Percy wasn't willing to risk it with just Mr. D in the house. The man was probably just waiting for an excuse to keep him in his room all day.

Without any other distractions Percy let his thoughts wander to everything going on inside his head. He was scheduled to see his mom again on Tuesday. Chiron had kept to his word about ensuring that Percy saw his mom more regularly. Which has been greatly appreciated. If the nurse from last time had been telling the truth Percy had a high chance of catching her awake.

As for paternal figures, Percy had yet to experience another Gabe sighting since Halloween. He had been sure to stay on the lookout for any sign of the stinking man and had even been given the support in his awareness by the other kids of Delphi. But nothing had turned up and Percy was back to doubting himself, wondering if somehow, Gabe had just been a hallucination.

On the other hand, Poseidon had been very adamant to staying in touch with Percy. He wouldn't see the man until the weekend again, where Poseidon had promised to let Percy pick the outing. But the man had made an effort to speak to Percy every day by phone call for a minimum of 10 minutes.

It was strange. The man Percy had spent his entire life thinking had abandoned him was now putting in so much effort to speak to him Percy almost found it…dorky. He just wasn't ready to admit it was kind of nice at the same time.

Percy had quickly devoured his mega bowl of cereal, and made sure to clean up after himself so that Mr. D wouldn't get in his way for TV control. He moved to make himself comfortable on the couch when the staff member came down the stairs.

"You know you aren't supposed to be watching TV until all of your homeworks done." Mr. D said. Percy found the urge to roll his eyes. Of course he knew that, and his homework was definitely not done but there was no realistic way for him to force himself through it without Annabeth's prodding.

"Yea I know."

"So if I check your homework it'd all be completed?" Mr. D stood with his hands on his hips, his bright ugly Hawaiian shirt giving Percy more of a headache than his attitude.

"I'm watching TV aren't I?"

The older man studied Percy for a couple extra seconds, long enough that Percy was considering cutting his losses and actually doing his homework, just for Mr. D to leave him alone.

"Whatever. Your grade, not mine. I'm going out back. If you need me, try figuring it out yourself." With another flippant wave of his hand the man turned around and stalked out to the yard. He'd let Percy off the hook, so he made a special effort to keep quiet on what he thought the first letter in the man's name really stood for.

The channels on a monday morning didn't hold much interesting content. He found the superhero cartoon that he and a couple other of the Delphi kids had taken to watching together, but he knew they'd freak if they found out that he'd watched without him. Instead he settled on a cop show his mom liked to binge when she got the chance to, a show he usually pretended he hated.

He got a few episodes in, and had gained a million new reasons to be wary of the subway by the time he was finally interrupted. A large thump sounded, followed by some dragging. Percy's immediate thought went to Jason, who must've woken up and been struggling. He quickly jumped off the couch and raced upstairs, not trying to give Thalia an excuse to kick his ass later.

"Jace? Are you good?" Percy ventured up the landing, walking quietly to hear where the other boy could have possibly been.

The noise got louder, and Percy quickly realized that it was coming from behind his bedroom door and shoved his way inside.

"Dude, what are you doing-"

Instead of a sickly Jason, Like stood on his own side of the room, standing in the chaos of a shattered window pane.

"Just couldn't let things go easy, could you Jackson?" Percy couldn't say he was too surprised to see his roommate back in the room with cold air from the window wafting in. "Everythings so difficult with you around."

"Not like I want to be here." Percy retorted. He listened for a couple of seconds longer to confirm that it was like making noise and not a delirious Jason before inching his way into the mess that was his room.

Luke just scoffed at his statement, and went back to whatever it was that he was doing. Now that Percy had a better view he could see the worn duffel bag Luke had been stuffing his clothes into.

"You and your weak ass beliefs man. I already told you the truth about everyone. Everything. None of those adults that promise you anything mean it. They all just-"

"You running away or something?" Percy wasn't interested to hear Luke's tired spiel of how nobody in their lives cared about them. And with the added history of Luke's money making habits and how the group had ended up at Delphi, it wasn't hard to figure out what the older boy was planning.

Luke didn't dignify Percy with a response, continuing to pack and mumble to himself.

"Yea, well that's cool man. I really don't care. Just gonna head back downstairs. Finish my show…or something." He took a couple careful steps around the mess Luke had created and moved to leave the room.

Before he could get any closer, Luke was lunging forward and slamming the door the rest of the way shut.

"Sit down."

Percy couldn't help the flinch his body reacted with, and Luke didn't seem to care, breathing heavily and starring Percy with a dead look in his eyes. He opted to respond with sarcasm, hoping that Luke would see he really meant no threat.

"Dude, I'm the last person that cares about you running away." He made to push past Luke again and hoped the other boy would take it as a sign that he wasn't afraid of him and leave him alone.

"I won't tell you again Jackson." Luke still hadn't moved to touch him, but the craziness in his eyes was enough to make Percy listen for now. His roommate watched as Percy trekked back to sit on his messily made bed before going back to packing.

"Everything happens for a reason. Everything has led up to this moment and sooner or later it'll all make sense. It'll all make sense." Before long, Luke seemed to have forgotten Percy was in the room as he talked to himself, packing and repacking his bag.

"Mr. D's gonna be looking for me sooner or later man. I left the tv downstairs, you know he hates that." Realistically, Percy hoped that his reminder would let Luke realize that there was no purpose to Percy staying upstairs with his crazy ass. Maybe he'd let him go before Mr. D came back inside. The guy really was annoying about leaving lights and the tv on. Luke stiffened up for a moment, and Percy hoped the boy had seen his logic.

"No, he won't bother us." Was all Like said before going back to his weird behavior. Percy blew out a breath and tried to force himself to settle down.

Percy watched the older boy fold and refold the same shirt over and over before balling it up and stuffing the bad anyway. He'd never really noticed exactly how much stuff Luke had acclimated over the years. Straining his ears he caught a couple more words of Luke's quiet mantra.

"Nobody cares. Nobody really cares. Gotta make a difference. I gotta do better."

"You're leaving without saying goodbye. Or even a good reason. Doesn't that make you just as bad as everyone else?" Percy couldn't help himself from the button in.

Truthfully Percy hadn't even meant for the words to slip out. He hadn't even realized he was listening to Like talk. BUt the more he thought about Luke's behavior the angrier he got.

"No, seriously. You're just as bad as everyone else. You're always talking about being together, and then you just want to try and take your stuff and sneak away without facing anyone. So what Thalia and Jason are mad at you, if they're supposed to be your family you shouldn't be leaving them. And how do you think Annabeth's gonna feel when she finds out?"

"Shut up Jackson."

"Jason is sick down the hallway. But I guess you wouldn't care about that. Y'know, since you're just like the parents you keep trying to warn us about." Percy figured he had run his mouth too much when Luke whirled around, knocking over his duffel bag in the process.

"I said shut up! You don't know half the shit I've gone through for this family. To keep everyone safe. Only for everyone to just stop listening and do what they want-"

"Well maybe they don't like their families to run like a dictatorship."

Luke dropped his head back and laughed. The same insane laugh he'd done a couple of weeks ago, that made Percy truly realize that Luke was far more dangerous than he realized. This time, the anger coursing through Percy's blood kept him from getting disturbed.

In the midst of his laughing, Luke's ill fitted hoodie had begun to slip, revealing dark red specs splattered all over his shirt. All of Percy's anger drained from his body as he scooted back taking in Like's appearance with his bruised knuckles and swaying stance.

"Good Percy. You don't know anything do you?" Luke cut himself off with another bout of insane laughter. "You're so caught up in your little world where mommy loves you."

Percy didn't hear much of what Luke said next, too busy noticing how his roommate's pupils were blown wide. He thought back to the smell that had chased Piper out of the room when Luke had first disappeared, and how angry Jason had been, mentioning Luke getting caught up in illegal things when they were on the run. But still, the most prominent thing Percy could notice were the splotches of red all over Luke's t-shirt.

"Luke…" Percy asked. He inched closer to the edge of the bed, ready to react however he needed to. "What's that on your shirt?"

Luke stopped laughing and looked down at the mess on his clothes. For a moment he looked horrified, stretching the t-shirt to get a better look at the stains like he didn't know where the stains came from. He took a deep breath in and Luke raised his gaze from the stains to Percy, dropping the horrified expression.

"You weren't supposed to see that Percy." was all Like said before he let a deep breath and charged.

Later on, when this was all over and done with, and Percy was able to safely look back on his entire time at Delphi, Percy would realize that by him even halfway egging Jason on to step to Luke he'd massively set the other boy up.

Even high out of his mind Luke was deadly. He tackled Percy to the bed immediately and used his weight to keep him pinned as he wrapped his hands around Percy's throat. He choked and tried not to panic, using one hand to try and push Luke off and the other to reach around for anything he could find.

He felt his hand wrap around something large and spherical, and without thinking about it brought it up to smash it against Luke's face. He was aiming for the older boy's temple, hoping to knock him out like he'd seen in the movies but the older boy must've seen it coming and moved slightly enough that the sphere cracked against Luke's jaw.

The glass from Percy's sea globe, the only thing he'd ever had from his father minus the skateboard now, shattered upon impact. Percy would mourn it later, and ignored Luke's cursing as he jumped up to make a run for it.

He didn't get very far before he felt Luke's hands clumsily reaching for his t-shirt and channeled all the fear inside him into an elbow thrown back. He felt it connect but turned around to be sure, slipping and falling from the mess of Luke's clothes.

"Fuck." Luke was hunched over, holding his nose as blood gushed through his fingers. Percy gathered himself up, getting ready to run. He didn't know who the blood on Luke's shirt belonged to but he didn't want his to join it.

Luke straightened up, dropping the hand he was using to pinch the blood coming out of his nose and charged again. This time his bloody hands tightened around Percy's neckline enough that he could lift the boy's body weight and use it to slam Percy into the wall.

The first slam was enough to cloud Percy's vision. The next one made everything move slow.

I'm screwed

Another slam

I'm gonna die in this stupid foster home because of my stupid roommate.

Slam

My moms gonna be all alone

Slam

He did his best to raise his arms up to grapple Luke back but his arms were too sluggish to even do that right. He settled for collecting the spit that had started to collect in his mouth and launched it at Luke.

Luke dropped him from the wall, either in disgust or seeing that Percy really had no other chance.

"This wasn't part of the plan. This wasn't part of the plan. I have to go. I'm sorry Percy I am." The rest of Luke's words were cut off by the fuzz in Percy's ears and the bedroom door slamming open.

"Percy? What's going on- oh god. Luke? What did you do? God Luke, What did you do?"

Luke whirled around and Percy could only watch from the floor in horror as Luke charged after Jason too. He put up a good fight, from what Percy could focus his eyes to see, but it wasn't long before Jason was hunched over too, heaving and trying to protect himself from Luke's onslaught attack.

"Mmph" was all Percy was able to get out as he tried to yell at Luke to stop. His roommate paid the noise no mind and landed a nasty hit on the back of Jason's head. There was nothing Percy could do but watch as Jason crumpled to the floor.

Luke stopped for a minute, maybe looking around the room and seeing the monster he'd become. That's what Percy would have liked to imagine, but he knew that his roommate's drug induced haze was probably blocking Luke's common sense.

"This wasn't part of the plan. Jason man, you were supposed to be a part of it. Jason why couldn't you just listen man." It wasn't long before Percy watched Like get mad all over again, bring his foot back, and kick Jason, hard.

Percy knew that was bad. Even through the fog that was making putting thoughts together hard he knew Jason hadn't moved since he'd been dropped to the ground.

"He's gonna kill me Jason. Don't you understand. We were-" Luke's foot connected with Jason's unmoving form again.

Jason's head lolled to the side and Percy felt himself get sick. He knew that he had to do something, he couldn't just watch it happen. Unnoticed in Like's frenzy he used whatever strength he had left to inch his struggling body closer to where his friend lay.

Sally Jackson was a wonderful woman. She gave great hugs, could understand anything, and had a great smile that could melt away Percy's worst days. On Saturdays she'd get up before work and make Percy blue chocolate chip pancakes. Percy tried to focus on the memories of the taste as Luke's shoe connected with his face.

He wasn't fully sure what happened next. He might've heard a loud boom and the noise of a girl screaming his name over and over but he couldn't open his eyes to see.

A light overhead was insanely bright and the pain thrumming through Percy's body was worse than anything he'd ever experienced. He might've been able to make out a voice, maybe someone talking to him, but he just couldn't force himself to decipher what was being said.

The next thing he could actually tell was happening, was him jerking out of his sleep in less pain than he expected, with the driest mouth he'd ever experienced. A figure next to his bed moved to stand when they noticed him away.

"Percy? Percy, can you hear me?" He moved his mouth to respond but all that came out was a dry strangled noise. A straw found its way to his lips and Percy put all his focus onto the cool liquid sliding down his throat. The figure over him chuckled.

"They have you on the good stuff don't they?" He realized he kind of recognized the voice and dragged his eyes to the source of it to confirm who it was, ignoring how weird he felt.

"Poesidon? You're here?" Even his words sounded weird, weirder than his father standing vigil over his bed.

"Your social worker called me after what happened. I met you guys here." Poseidon paused to chuckle at Percy who had gone back to loudly slurping the rest of the water.

"What happened…Luke's a dick. And Jason was there. Is he okay?" Poesidon's pause was a little longer this time before he responded.

"I'm sure your friend will end up just fine."

"Mm. Okay." Poseidon looked like there was something else he wanted to say but wouldn't. Any other day that would have had Percy's nerves all over the place but the loopy feeling in his head kept his mind from running. "Hey Poseidon?"

"Yes?"

"I feel weird. It's really weird."

"You're high on pain medication, son."

"That makes sense." He felt his eyes getting heavy and a hand carding through his hair.

"Get some rest Percy." It sounded like a good idea to him, and Percy let the sleep take him.

~~~~~A/N~~~~

IN another universe...this chapter was posted in October. Y'all know i like to yap in my authors notes, but I'll try to keep this one short:

1. The next chapter will be less of a "chapter" and more of a epilogue to this part. I'll talk more about what's happening for part 2 there

2. I love how nobody mentioned the fact that I didn't delete one of the little notes I write to myself while writing was still in this published chapter! I was rereading the last chap to cut down on continuity errors and boom. That's embarrassing (i'm lazy and still haven't removed it)

Anyway, next chapter should be up before Christmas. I am a college student so during the academic year I am busting my ass at school, last semester more than others because I was taking two writing classes and procrastinated on a 30 pg assignment. But whatever. Be safe and I hope you enjoyed!