Tangled in Thorns | A Luke Castellan Story

Chapter 4 - A Moment of Peace

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The first thing I hear is the beeping, then when I crack open my eyes a stream of bright light, then the sliver of vision I do have is blocked out my someones face. A face that just has worry painted across it. "Luke?" My voice is barely a whisper and can barely be made out.

I can hear his breath catch, "Oh, thank the gods she's alive. Rose, Rosalynne can you hear me?"

I groan and try and sit up, "Oh no, no, Rosalynne you must stay laying down do not sit up." Lee, son of Apollo is rushing to the bed and pressing on my non wounded shoulder to keep me down.

"What the fuck happened?" My head isn't pounding anymore and my eyes are almost completely open and I look around. I'm in the infirmary, Silena, Piper, Luke, and Lee are all by my bedside. Lee tending to my left shoulder which when I turn my head to look at it, is mangled. 

I gasp and start panicking before Luke takes my other hand into his, "Shhh, it's okay Rose... Please stay calm, you're going to be okay... It'll make it worse if you panic."

My breathing slows at his touch and I look at him and nod, "Okay... What the fuck happened?"

He takes a deep breath but Silena answers first, "Someone summoned a Hellhound. Chiron's trying to work out who it was."

"I think it was Clarisse." Piper looks at me, just stating that as a matter of fact.

I raise an eyebrow, "I don't think Clarisse would do that. She's aggressive, but she's not one to let a Hellhound into camp."

Piper shrugs, "You never know." She turns on her heel and leaves, Silena following.

I sigh and sit up, Lee doesn't stop me this time, "You okay? No dizzyness?" I shake my head and Lee nods, stopping work on my shoulder and going to get a bandage.

"Luke what actually happened?" I look at him but he won't meet my gaze, "Luke..."

He looks at me, but his head is still lowered a bit, "We were on a walk, and you sprained your ankle. I was helping you walk and we turned around to go back to camp but then the Hellhound kind of just..." He trails off and looks away again, "Appeared behind us. It jumped on you, bit your shoulder and scratched at your thighs and your collarbone. Luckily some camper left their sword in the woods from Capture the Flag and I managed to grab it and stab the thing before it well..."

"Killed me?" His head snaps up and his eyes meet mine at my blutness. I smile, in contrast to the pain I was feeling, "Thank you Luke. I-" He looks at me expectantly, I love you. That's what I wanted to say, "Thank you." But I couldn't bring myself to.

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The next day I'm discharged from the infirmary, finally allowed to go back into my cabin. But as I'm walking there Luke runs up to me and hugs me as tight as he can, "Fuck I am so glad you're okay Rose I don't know what... Oh my gods..."

"Luke..." I choke out, "I- can't- breathe-" 

He lets go and I take in a big breath, "I'm sorry Rose I just... I'm so glad you're okay."

I smile, "Thank you Luke... Yeah Lee did a good job, my ankles fine, my shoulder jsut has some bandages on it and my thighs and collarbone are just going to be scarred but, overall I'm okay."

He hugs me again, lighter but still quite tight, "Fucking hell Rose. I was so scared." 

I rub my hands up and down his back in a soothing manner. "Wanna go to the lake? I wanna go swimming."

He nods and I smile, taking his hand and running to the lake with him trailing behind me. Feeling his hand in mine sparks something in me, it feels warm, it feels right. As I reach the beach I trip and fall onto the gravel, pulling Luke with me. He falls on top of me and we both laugh, after a second I'm suddenly aware of the fact that our noses are touching with less than an inch between our lips. I blush and he rolls off me, just laying next to each other for a bit, staring at the blue sky.

"Hey lovebirds!" I hear Chris' voice echo behind us and I sit up and turn around to meet his smirk.

Luke turns around too, supporting himself on his elbow and raising an eyebrow, "What do you want Chris?" My eyes widen, he didn't say anything about Chris calling us 'lovebirds'... does that mean something?

Chris just shrugs and sits down next to Luke, "Nothing, just got bored at lunch so I decided to come and bother you." He punches his brother lightly on the shoulder before turning to look at the lake.

I cock my head slightly, looking at the cliff on the side of the water, "Who wants to jump off that cliff with me?"

Luke and Chris' heads both turn simultaneously but Luke speaks first, "Rose... What?"

I shrug, "I don't know, just suddenly have an impulse to jump into the water. Sounds sort of fun I guess." I look at Luke expectantly, "Will you come with me?"

"Ugh fine." He rolls his eyes and stands up, offering out a hand to help me. I take it and we walk up the cloff together.

Chris yells after us, "DON'T DIE YOU TWO." We both laugh and coninue up the cliff.

As we reach the top I stand there for a second, letting the wind blow through my hair and I smile. I walk up to the edge and look down, suddenly feeling a bit scared.

Luke walks up next to me and puts a hand on my shoulder and raises an eyebrow and I nod. He takes my hand and counts down, "Three, two, one..." We jump at the same time, his hand still in mine as we feel the air rush past us.

Next thing I know I'm submerged under the lake and let myself relax in the feeling of the water. I come up and slide my hands over my head, smoothing out my hair while taking a breath. I open my eyes and and see Luke staring at me. His curls are wet and clinging to his forehead, his skin wet but his eyes staring into mine. He looks angelic, he looks... so... fucking... hot...

"Have fun?" He flashes me a smile that makes my stomach do a somersault and my cheeks flush red.

I nod and look down, "Yeah, thanks for doing it with me." I notice that we're floating towards each other and we're less than a foot away from each other. "I really appreciate it, no one's ever done anything that insane for me before."

The gap between us is closing slowly as his brow furrows, "I find that hard to belive. I mean you're..." He trails off. I raise an eyebrow and he sighs, "You're like the sweetest person ever, I can't believe that no ones willing to go to the ends of the Earth for you."

I blush harder, trying to conceal it by looking down at the water. I see my reflection and shit I am red, even in the blue reflection in the water I am red as fuck. 

When I look back up, he's right there, looking at my eyes with a look of... Something I can't place. We just float there for a bit, looking at each other with big goofy grins on our faces. He looks like he's about to kiss me, and I think I might let him.

He looks at my lips and back at my eyes and I nod slightly, enough to let him know but not enough to tell him anything if that isn't what he meant. But he places a hand on the side of my neck and our lips are mere millimeters from touching.

"HEY!" Someone screams from shore and both of our heads snap in that direction, his hand dropping from my face. I already miss his touch, the way he was looking at me, "CHIRON WANTS TO SEE ALL COUNSELORS!" It's Chris, obviously being oblivious to what was happening but we both swim to shore anyways.

We each wrap ourselves in a towel and walk to Chiron's office, in complete and utter silence...

.・゜゜・　　・゜゜・．

A/N: Hehe, what do you think Chiron wants?