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Percy Jackson knew it was a mistake to get closer to Kronos, but there was no other option. He needed to stop the Titan before Kronos blew through Luke's body. He fought against Kronos' time magic, the feeling like moving through molasses.
Kronos' attention snapped from Annabeth to Percy and he grinned, showing off all of his teeth. His golden eyes were full of a glittering, manic madness. "I know you're going to miss this body when it's gone, Little Fish." Kronos' grin widened cruelly.
Little Fish was what Luke used to call Percy and it made Percy sick to hear Kronos using the nickname. He was going to kill Kronos for everything this monster put him - and Luke - through.
"So let me leave with you a reminder. Here's to all of your failures!" Kronos swung the scythe with absolute precision and control. The blade licked up the right side of Percy's face, splitting the skin from Percy's jaw to his eye. Greedily the scythe tore away and consumed part of Percy's soul.
Percy screamed as fiery pain exploded in his face. He dropped to his knees in slow motion, hand slowly coming up to cup his injured face. Blood poured out of the wound, ran between Percy's fingers and down his arm. The pain was incredible, worse than the time Luke cut his knee with Backbiter. He had a scar on his knee from that incident and in his heart, Percy knew he'd forever bear a scar on his face that matched the one on Luke's.
For a split second Kronos' face showed nothing but horror, Luke's feelings strong enough that he was able to wrestle control from Kronos. Then the regret and shame and terror morphed back into a manic delight. Kronos threw Luke's head back to laugh. It was a spine-chilling sound.
While Luke was in charge of his body, Kronos' time magic stopped affecting Percy. Percy's mouth was full of blood. He spit and the motion hurt so bad he saw black spots.
Annabeth stole Kronos' attention again. She pleaded for Luke to remember that they were a family.
That seemed to do the trick because Luke turned to Percy and said, "Give me the knife. If…if you try to kill Kronos he'll stop you. But I can do it. Please, Percy. Let me end this."
Percy totally forgot about the dagger. He gripped it in between bloody fingers and stood. Percy thought about stabbing Luke himself, but instead handed Luke the dagger and watched Luke kill himself. Percy felt so much all at once that it circled back to nothingness, to emptiness. He wondered if it was the missing pieces of his soul that caused numbness to spread.
Luke lay on the floor of the throne room, lifeblood spilling out from his Achilles Heel. Every beat of his heart pumped out more blood, killing him faster.
Percy dropped to his knees, folding down beside Luke. His tears burned the cut.
"I'm so sorry, Little Fish," Luke apologized, voice wet with emotion. His eyes were blue again, but hazy like he wasn't really there.
Percy flinched. He couldn't help it. Ever since Luke abandoned him at Camp Half-Blood, the nickname was a sore spot for Percy. But it had been like pressing on a bruise. Now it was like being cut open. And Percy had plenty of experience with what that was like. He felt like he was bleeding out with Luke.
Luke winced too. "I'm sorry, Percy. I never wanted to hurt you. I loved you so much."
"I loved you too, Luke," Percy confessed in a whisper. It hurt.
After the battle, Annabeth wouldn't meet Percy's eyes. She was so obviously not looking at him that it would have been comical if the circumstances were different. "I can't stand to look at you," she confessed. "You remind me too much of Luke."
It wasn't really a surprise but it still sucked. Was everyone going to react like this now that he wore Luke's scar?
"Yeah, well, that won't be a problem," Percy said dully.
Just the way that everyone so far had reacted to his face - even though the wound was still an unhealed raw and bloody gash cutting his face open because Backbiter was resistant to nectar - told Percy that they'd never be able to separate him from Luke. And neither would he. It was bad enough when Percy heard Luke's voice in his head and now he had to see Luke every time he looked in the mirror.
Percy rode Blackjack back to the mortal world. He enjoyed the free fall, the feeling of the world rushing up at him, even though the wind was hell on his face. If Blackjack wasn't there, Percy would have hoped to hit the ground like Ethan Nakamura had. "I'm going to say goodbye to Mom and Paul," Percy said. "And then I want to leave."
"Where are we going, boss?" Blackjack asked.
Percy took a deep breath. He needed time to heal; both his face and his broken heart. Luke was his first love and Percy felt a countdown within him, felt the numbness within was going to fade back into terrible feelings. Percy wanted to be alone when he finally broke down and he didn't want anyone to judge him for mourning Luke's death. "Somewhere no one knows me. Somewhere no one will follow me. Maybe Alaska."
"I've heard Alaska is nice this time of year," Blackjack said agreeably.