Chapter Text
Being dead did nothing for Luke’s temper.
He thinks he was patient, once upon a time, when he had to manipulate and lie and bid his time to get his way. To be fair, he still has to manipulate and lie in the Underworld. Threats of death don’t work well when you’re already dead. Sometimes, though, it did help that no one was permanently kill-able.
Like now, for example. Luke can pull out Antinous’s tongue without feeling too bad.
Violence is not the answer, he tells his twitching hand.
Stabbing is bad. Frowned upon.
“Did you fuck him?" Antinous asks crudely.
Antinous is one of the more… unsavoury members of the Underworld. His time in Penelope’s palace made him judgemental, mean, harsh — or he was born this way, who knows. The Underworld has a way of magnifying your worst qualities.
Antinous is a great sparring partner but a horrible conversationalist. Luke could have a century brainstorming Antinous’s pleasant qualities and he’d still be left with only “good with a sword” on the list.
“He was 14,” Luke replies through gritted teeth, praying to the gods for patience. Not that any of the gods are known for their patience. “It’s illegal and immoral.”
Antinous shrugs. “Back in my day, the younger the better. Besides, I think raising a Titan’s probably more immoral than fucking a kid.”
Luke growls.
Antinous leers at Percy through the veil, licking his lips. “More for me, then.”
Okay, that’s going too far.
Questioning Luke about Percy is fine, but lusting over Percy’s objectively incredibly handsome face?
Not cool.
Luke shuts the veil, barely holding back his anger.
“You fucking dare—
“Relax,” Antinous rolls his eyes, jeering. “Just messing around with you.”
What did Luke’s therapist say? Something about counting.
Antinous has ten fingers. He’s about to lose them one by one.
“I prefer them older anyways,” Antinous continues, either oblivious or uncaring. “Not that I wouldn’t like to see little Jackson cry and whimper around my cock, but if I spank him in a few years from now, he’s more likely to moan and say ‘harder’.”
Luke pulls out Backbiter and takes Antinous’s head off.
“Oooh, did that touch a nerve, Castellan?” Antinous’s dismembered head smirks. “C’mon, I can see you getting turned on. Don’t act like you’re a saint, you’re just too chicken to—
Luke throws his head across the Styx.
Antinous is delusional.
Luke does not have feelings for Percy.
Nope. He’s just concerned, that’s all. Percy’s sweet, loyal and too kind for his own good, and if Luke isn’t there to watch over him, who will? It’s not like Poseidon has the time.
But hearing Percy say his name… watching him fight with the form and strategies Luke taught him…
He doesn’t have his memories, Luke reminds himself. If he remembered, he’d be cursing your name.
That clears his head.
Luke opens the veil again. Percy and his two new friends — the daughter of Pluto and the Chinese-American baby face — were demolishing their opponents. The daughter of Pluto had charged into battle on the back of an elephant, swiftly securing their victory.
Luke smiles as Percy salutes Octavian’s knocked-out body. This guy… seems like memory loss didn’t affect his stupid sense of humour.
Then, Percy discovers the Roman girl — Gwen, Luke hears, since Percy’s whispering her name — bleeding out, and Luke has to watch as Percy’s smile fades into one of grief and panic.
Luke goes to see if the girl’s arrived in the Underworld. He can cordially invite her to join the Percy Jackson watch party. Any friend of Percy’s is a friend of his, even though he’s not a friend of Percy. Meh. This Gwen will probably be better company than Antinous.
Luke was about to close the veil, but at that moment, Gwen gasped.
Luke freezes.
Inside the scene, everyone steps back to reveal Gwen’s body. She had opened her eyes. The colour was coming back to her face.
Luke’s eyes widen. Interesting.
So this is why he hasn’t seen Hades in a while. Something was seriously wrong with the Underworld.
Luke watches on.
“Thanatos has been chained,” Mars announced to the Romans.
(Percy refused to kneel at first, bless his soul, but it gave Luke a scare — he didn’t want to see Percy get smite on the spot. He’ll have to organise the Third Titanomachy if that happened, and it’s a little hard to kill a god when you’re dead.)
“The Doors of Death have been forced open, and no one is policing them.”
Huh, Luke thinks.
He could always…
No. This is a horrible idea. Luke is the manifestation of everything horrible in Percy’s life. Luke is the reason why Percy suffered through so much, so no, Luke, shut the fuck up, you don’t get to waltz back into his life again. This isn’t about you. You don’t get a redo just because Percy never gave up on you, even after you sent that hellhound after him and that pit scorpion and— just because he always pleaded for you to come back, just because he said It’s never too late doesn’t mean it’s actually never too late—
“Therapy.” Luke decides. “Therapy is good. Murder is bad.”
Yes, therapy. Don’t run away from your problems, Luke, forgetting them doesn’t mean they’re solved. Reincarnation is not the answer. Decapitation is not the answer. Resurrection is not the answer.
Gods, being dead is so overrated.
-
Resurrection could be the answer.
This must be Hera’s fucked up way of punishing Luke for trying to kill her family, because gods is Luke tempted.
Percy has the self-preservation skills of a brick and Luke couldn’t just— just let him die.
Luke’s blood had turned to ice when he watched, helpless from the shadows of the Underworld, as Percy downed a vial of Gorgon blood.
His heart trembled when Percy started screaming— but gods, when Percy started whispering his name— he couldn’t help but feel a deep sense of satisfaction despite himself.
It was just— Percy said his name. In what Percy thought were his last moments, his thoughts were on Luke.
It just felt right.
(Of course, Luke plans to conveniently ignore the fact that Percy doesn’t remember anyone else and would definitely hate Luke if actually remembers what Luke did.)
And now Juno shows up in Luke’s dreams, telling him that Percy needs him, asking Luke to leave the Underworld…
He knows this is wrong.
Luke could lie and say that the quiet, grim pleasure he felt was from having Juno come to him for a favour, because of course he likes it when the gods put down their pride, but truthfully—
It’s because Percy needs him. Needs him.
He really shouldn’t.
Could Juno be lying? Possibly. Does Luke care? Not really.
This is the perfect opportunity.
If Hades gets mad at Luke for leaving, Luke can just blame it on Juno. If Percy gets mad at Luke for asserting himself into Percy’s life, he could say it was Juno who tricked him into coming back.
Luke will be the first to admit that he's not the best person - probably even worse, now that he's dead. Hanging out with ghosts that have Ancient Greece morals definitely didn't help.
But still... should he?
Stalking is bad. His therapist said that stalking a living person as a ghost doesn't make it better.
But his therapist died in the '80s, so her ancient sensibilities are probably the issue here.
Besides, it's not like Luke has feelings for Percy. If it were Annabeth doing this in his place, it would be creepy, but Luke's just... concerned. For Percy's well-being. So it's fine.
Concern for others is good. Empathy is good. Murder is bad. Killing dead people is still murder.
Hm.
He could always just kill himself again if Percy doesn't want him there.
"Alright, it's settled!" Luke stands up cheerfully.
Now where are those doors?