A Hero's Tears

Coffee?

After breakfast, Luke got a proper wardrobe consisting of jeans, some tee shirts, suspiciously arm-hugging three-quarter tees, a couple sweaters and jackets, and a muscle shirt that he probably wouldn't wear until late spring, at the earliest. Drew, an Asian woman from Aphrodite, helped Luke get clothes that would "suit him best".

Noted at breakfast, since Chrion made the announcement, today was December thirty-first. New Year's Eve. After a slightly embarrassing conversation with one of his siblings, he learned the year. 2015. Although, that would change in a handful of hours, but at least he knows something. Doing calculations, he determined he missed the past six years (and four months) of... everything.

Luke was currently nervously sitting alone in a corner of the cafe. Percy said he'd fill Luke in on the past six years of life. Currently, the only other people in the cafe were the barista, a cheery brunette girl with hazel eyes, and a customer who was sitting in the corner of the cafe, hunched over a notebook. He came in a little after Luke did, sat at his table, and nodded at the barista. Apparently, he's a predictable regular, because she seemed to understand this and soon came over with a light coloured coffee, picking up the drachma the young man left on his table.

Luke decided to check out the menu. He wandered over to the counter, straining his eyes to read it. He could smell the scent of the other guy's coffee. It was extremely sweet.

"Um, excuse me," Luke said nervously to the barista, who was sitting with a vacant expression on her face. Once she heard him, though, she snapped to attention.

"Sorry; slow day. What'll you have?" she asked him, standing up.

"Coffee. Black," Luke stated simply.

"That'll be one drachma," she said.

Luke dug into his pocket, pulling out all the drachmas he had. All two of them. He gave the barista one, and went back to his table to wait.

Ten minutes later, Luke was wide awake. The coffee was really strong, and he was already half way done when Percy walked in. He looked around for Luke, and, upon finding him, walked to his table.

"See you started without me," he said good-naturedly as he sat down.

It seemed the only thing that didn't change was the colour of Percy's eyes. They were still the dark sea green they were when Luke last saw him as, well Luke. Just before he got thrown off a cliff, if you don't count the minute or so before he stabbed himself. Other than that, he's changed a lot.

He had a 'California summer' tan, as he now worked and played in the sun almost non-stop, and his hair was specked with white in the otherwise jet black expanse. The hair, itself, was now combed and styled neatly, versus the wild mess Luke remembered. His shirt was a Camp shirt, but Luke hadn't recognized the design. It was sea-foam green instead of orange, with dark blue letters and a regular horse instead of the pegasus, and he wore faded blue jeans

Percy ordered a mocha something or another, and caught Luke up on the last six years of Camp.

"So, when you... you know... we thought it was done. But then, my... friend, Rachel Dare, took up the mantle of the Oracle, and instantly spewed another Great Prophecy - The Prophecy of the Seven. I don't remember it exactly, but it was basically saying old enemies will unite against a greater threat, and there was the threat of the world ending. Not really fun. But, since the first Great Prophecy took decades to come to, we hoped it would take a bit. Or at least not involve me.

"Long story short, I wasn't so lucky. Hera kidnapped me and threw a Child of Jupiter at this camp, while I went to the camp for Roman demigods. Turns out, we hated each other for... ever. The American Civil War? Roman versus Grecian demigods. But I digress...