starshine- luke castellan x oc

deja vu

Tonight was just about the only night I was looking forward to of the summer- capture the flag. 

Normally if the hunters visit camp, it's hunters versus the campers, but since we were here on business and we were only half the members of the hunt, we got to pick our own teams. Everyone was going crazy, trying to recruit hunters to be on their team. A young girl, Annabeth, asked me to be on hers, and I agreed; which led to me being on watch duty with Luke. 

Either this was fate, or my mother had suddenly taken some sort of an interest in me once again. 

I hoped it was the second one. 

"How good are you with a sword?" Luke asked, noticing my bow and arrows were the only weapons I had on me. 

"Not very. I'm better with a bow." 

He shook his head, "What if you get in a fight up close, one on one? You need to be comfortable with a sword." 

"We don't get into fights, we hunt monsters. Monsters don't have weapons." I rolled my eyes. 

Luke thought for a moment before asking, "Don't you guys go on, like, quests and stuff?" 

"I don't. I track and hunt monsters, and protect demi-gods on the run." I told him. 

It was true, I didn't usually get picked to go on "godly business" with Artemis. It had been four hundred years, but she still held a bit of a grudge against me for being a child of the goddess of love. I didn't get to go on high stake trips. 

He softened, "Why did you join the hunt? I don't mean this how it sounds, but a daughter of the goddess of love swearing off men forever doesn't make much sense to me." 

I sighed at his words.

"Gabrielle, Chiron wants you in the Big House. I'm not supposed to know this, but I think you're getting a quest."  A girl from my cabin, Laura, called to me. 

A quest? Me? I was overjoyed. The last time a child from cabin ten had gone on a quest was when Faith had been asked to accompany her boyfriend on his two years ago. She didn't make it back and it had kind of put a stop to any of us getting asked to go on quests with people. 

I made my way to the Big House, almost shaking with excitement. The past two years had been rough. I liked my sisters well enough, but I always felt like an outsider with them. I had been alone for so long that I wasn't thrilled at the idea of being in love. Emotions scared me, and the children of Aphrodite fueled themselves on emotions. 

Once I had been claimed, people stopped letting me be on their teams for capture the flag, forcing me to be on the sidelines with my sisters handing out waters. It was like I had been reduced to nothing after spending ten years proving myself. 

Maybe this quest would be my chance to be taken seriously once more 

"I didn't think much about it when I joined, I was offered a spot and it was kind of a time sensitive question." I laughed, "I had a rough year, and I was running away from it." 

"Do you regret it?" Luke asked, leaning on his sword. 

I thought about the question carefully. I loved being apart of the hunt, most days anyway. I loved the sisterhood it gave me, when they weren't talking about me behind my back. I often did think about what my life would have been if I hadn't joined, but I knew that I'd be unhappier if I had lived that life than I was with the life I chose for myself. 

"Not usually, no." I finally answered. 

***

We won capture the flag, which was something I'd hold over Abby for the next hundred years. 

The game ended with Percy being claimed by his dad- Poseiden. He was then immediately given a quest. I tried to push down the jealousy and be happy for the boy, but it was hard. 

It got a little easier when I saw him sitting at his table by himself. 

Sighing, I got up to sit with him. 

"Hey, big day for you, huh?" 

Percy looked up at me, "Yeah." 

I felt bad for him, I didn't know what his quest was, but I had a pretty good guess seeing who his dad turned out to be. 

I had only heard rumors spread between girls in the hunt, but I knew that the master bolt had been stolen. Artemis had been sent to look for it when it happened. I didn't get picked to go with and help. 

"If you need any help, let me know." I got up to leave, figuring he wanted to be left alone. 

"Wait, Gabrielle." 

"Yeah?" I turned back. 

"Uh... Chiron said you were good at making sense of prophecies. I'm kinda having some trouble with mine." 

I sat back down. 

"I can try, but I don't know how much help I'll be." 

Luke came over to join us, probably sensing that Percy needed advice for his quest. Luke had a big brother protectiveness about him that seemed to kick in double around Percy. 

"What's going on?" He sat down beside me. 

"Percy wants me to listen to his prophecy, its confusing him." I filled him in. 

"Well it's just the last bit, "You shall go west, and face the god who has turned. You shall find what was stolen, and see it safely returned. You shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend.  And you shall fail to save what matters most, in the end." Percy started to explain the parts he knew, but I stopped listening once he spoke the third line. 

I walked carefully up the steps to the attic. I was scared, I heard that some kids fainted after seeing the oracle. That wouldn't help me build my reputation back up. 

"Uh... hi. I'm Gabrielle. How does this work exactly? Is there a password or?" 

A slow green mist came from the oracle, taking the form of Keith. 

"Oh come on." I groaned. 

"Daughter of beauty and of grace, who feels so ever out of place. You shall go West and return with care, of the one you call a friend you must beware. All seems cloudy but the skies will be made clear; turn to the skies for the answers on the eve of your twentith year." 

I furrowed my eyebrows at the words, that wasn't really giving me a quest. Go West? Why? For what? And why would I need to beware of a friend if I was going on this quest alone? I was only sixteen, would this quest last two years? 

I didn't have any answers, and that made me furious. 

"Gab?" Luke spoke, snapping me back to the present. 

"Sorry, uh, look Percy, sometimes quests don't have a set timeline. "The end" could mean a lot of things. And you get to bring two others with you, it could be what matters most to them that you can't save. It doesn't mean you'll fail to save your mom." I told him, trying to comfort him. 

I got up to leave, "Don't overthink it, you'll be fine." 

I started to walk away before either of them could ask me anything else. I needed to be alone, I needed to think. 

There was no possible way our prophecies were related. I mean I had been given mine four hundred years before, what were the odds? 

Turns out the odds were pretty good.