Embers of Olympus: Rise of the Prophecy[BL]

Half-Brother

Apollo wakes up later than usual. His side feeling cold, he looks over to where his lover should lay. To his surprise, Luca was missing. Apollo got up and left his cabin to look for Luca, being cautious about his surroundings. He heads down to the cafeteria to find Luca sitting at one of the tables staring at a bunch of letters with Persephone at his side.

Apollo walks up to them and asks where the letters came from. Luca says he doesn't know, however Persephone butts in and says the handwriting is similar to Hercules's handwriting. Apollo's eyes shoot up at her, looking away from the notes on the table. Persephone glares at him and says that the situation is serious. Luca looks at them both as he feels the tension rise. Apollo looks away from Persephone and asks Luca what the notes say. Luca grabs one and reads it out loud.

The note says "You look pretty today. I don't know your name but your blonde hair and blue eyes are beautiful. I wish to meet you someday, hopefully soon". Everyone's eyes are wide as they realize the notes are for Luca. Apollo, a little angered, clenches his fist and takes a deep breath before speaking.

Persephone looks at Apollo worriedly, her eyes still a little wide. Luca looks at Apollo as well and asks if he knew who wrote the notes. Apollo nods his head and Luca asks him who. Apollo takes another deep breath before saying that it was his half brother, Hercules. Persephone places a hand on Luca's shoulder and tells him Hercules is Apollos' rival, therefore he's being targeted. Luca looks at Apollo and stands up, he walks to him and hugs him tightly. Apollo freezes for a second but hugs him back tightly. Persephone smiles softly at the sight but quickly becomes serious as she grabs the notes and folds them together. Apollo doesn't care and continues hugging Luca tightly. Luca doesn't mind but wonders what Persephone is doing with the notes.

Just then, Artemis walks down the hill towards the cafeteria and spots the two hugging. She walks down and greets them as well as Persephone after spotting her in the kitchen. The two girls smile at each other softly and start making lunch.

After a few minutes of Luca and Apollo hugging, they let go of eachother. Apollo enters the kitchen and grabs the letter Persephone had taken from the table. He sits at the table nearest to the kitchen entrance and starts reading them in order of the time stamps in the letters corners.

Luca sits next to Apollo, curious about what he was doing with them. Apollo starts reading the first letter. The letter says, "Hey, you're really pretty. I don't know your name but all I can say is the sun may compliment you in the brightest way but it'll never compare to what I say.". Apollo could feel his blood begin to boil, knowing the note referenced him being the sun. Luca could see the anger in Apollo's expression and hugs him on the side. Apollo calms a little and hugs him back.

Persephone and Artemis on the other hand, were observing from inside the kitchen while finishing lunch. Artemis leans over to Persephone and asks her where the letters came from. Persephone leans over as well and quietly explains the situation. Artemis could feel her blood boiling after Perseohone told her.

Luca happened to glance behind him to see if lunch was done but saw an angry goddess who looked like she was about to commit murder. Luce looked back to the letters on the table and sat up after letting go of Apollo. He leaves the table and goes into the kitchen. He rested his hand on Artemis's shoulder the best he could and asked her to sit next to Apollo to read the letter with him. Artemis gladly nodded and left to go sit next to Apollo.

Persephone looks at Luca with a confused face. Luca just smiles and finishes making lunch for everyone. After lunch was done, Luca and Persephone delivered food to the kids, wherever they were on camp grounds. They return to the cafeteria and eat with Apollo and Artemis.

A couple hours later, Luca decided to go on a walk by himself to clear his head. He walks on some trails on camp grounds but some time after walking, he accidentally trailed off and left campgrounds. By the time he turned around to head back, he knew he was lost.

Meanwhile, everyone else was looking for him. The stress worse than ever with Hercules stalking Luca and sending letters to the camp. Apollo is stressed the most and is running all over camp trying to find him.

Persephone is walking every trail on the outskirts of camp, looking out for a sign of Luca. Only a few hours of looking and all they found was footprints leaving camp. They gathered the kids in the cafeteria and told them what was happening. The twins were devastated but most of all, Angelia and Mayven were broke. The two girls had loved Luca a lot and had grown close to him after he helped them get through their recent traumas. The Poseidon children didn't know him well but knew he was a great guy in general.

They all didn't want to eat dinner but did anyway, knowing Luca would chew them out if they didn't. They all chuckled at the thought but the scene quickly got depressing. The kids went to bed first while the adults stayed up, reading the rest of the notes in hope of any clues. They were open to any possibilities, including the one of Hercules kidnapping Luca.

With Luca. It was dark, like he was blindfolded and the lights had been turned off. He tried moving but failed, he could feel his hands were tied up. He squirmed a little, just to be slapped by an unknown entity. He winced at the pain in his cheek. Just then, the blindfold came off and the lights turned on. After a few seconds his eyes adjusted to the bright light and looked around. He spotted two figures, one looked like Apollo and Artemis, the other looked as if half human, half god.

Luca then came to the realization the two people were no other than Zeus and Hercules. He glared at Hercules, who happened to be the one to slap him earlier and was standing in front of him. Hercules decided to speak first, saying who he was. Luca gritted his teeth at the man's voice, it was scratchy and over all trimake you mine, even if it kills you." He leaned down to face Luca better. Luca looked him in the eye, a thought of mischief crossing his mind as he answered with a grin. "...Now, your brother wouldn't be too fond of that. Would he, Hercules." Luca said while shooting daggers at him, his face serious with a hint of mischief, covering his fear and pain from ropeburn and the slap from earlier.

Hercules scowled at Luca's response. He slapped him again and before walking off, he knocked Luca out. Luca now sits in a chair, his hands tied together and unconscious. Hercules walks up to Zeus and they return to forming their plan to disable humans for a while, or so Hercules thought that was the plan. Little did Hercules know, he was being used as a pawn in Zeus's little game to destroy humankind.

A/N: 1258 words, praying the next one will be longer.