The Child of Hera

Chapter 46-Luke

 The two walked into the dining pavilion, to see a crowd of people gathered around one table. Upon coming closer, they saw a man standing on that table, wearing jeans and a redish gold Letterman jacket. He appeared to be telling a story.  Had they seen him from the other side, they would've realized that he was incredibly muscled.  As it was, from the back, they could see that he was enormous.  

Luke looked at Birdie in confusion.  Her eyes were wide with excitement!  She was staring at the man like she wanted to shout for joy!

"Herc?!" she shouted.

The man turned around.  Luke had to admit, he was insanely hansom.  He had coppery skin, and close cropped black hair.  He had a scruffy beard, but not like he was trying.  An over sized baseball bat hung from his belt, and he wore a purple T-shirt that clung to his figure.

"Little Cuckoo?!" he said, once he had turned around.

The two ran towards each other and embraced, laughing as they did so.  Luke also had to admit he was jealous.  Who was this guy?

"Hey, Princess?  Who's this?" he asked hesitantly.

"I'm surprised you haven't figured it out!" she said with laughter in her eyes.  

Luke scowled at her.  "Well, unlike you, I can't read minds, so do you mind explaining?"

"Lighten up, Luke," she said, "This is Hercules!  Renowned as a hero in his mortal days!  Now the defender to the gates of Olympus!  My big brother!  Sort of."

Luke smiled, holding out a hand.  "Nice to meet you!"

Hercules raised an eyebrow, sneering, almost as if shaking hand with mortals was below him.  Which for most gods it was.  But when Birdie spoke of him with such reverence, Luke always assumed that he was a heroic big brother.  Honest, and kind...then again, kind wasn't exactly a word you would use to describe the gods.

"We have to talk!" said Birdie to Hercules.

Luke followed the two as they walked towards the woods, skipping breakfast.  He ran to the table and grabbed some fruit, just in case.  Birdie had won capture the flag with a banana.  More or less.

"What?  It's been two years since we last saw each other?" Birdie jabbered.  "Honestly I was a little nervous about seeing you again.  You know, I've read a few minds, and seen some pretty confusing things.  You were covered in ham and pineapples?  And what was with sending them off to face Tiberinus?"

Luke had never seen her talk so much at once.

"Yeah, well I was sort of having a bad day," said Hercules, "and, well, it's a long story..."

Luke scowled.  He knew he shouldn't judge, but he felt like this guy was a weasel.  So much for renowned hero.

Birdie fell for it.  "Oh!  I understand!  I'm sure the others were just being dramatic or something!"

She was so naive.  Poor princess.

She talked so much as they went towards the woods, that Luke wondered what she had been like when she was little.  Before all of the hurt.  Was she a talkative little girl, comfortable with sharing what was on her mind?  He wanted to see that side of her...without Hercules there.

Eventually, they reached the edge of the woods, with Birdie talking about every little thing that had happened since she got to camp half blood.  Except their relationship.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," said Hercules.

"Yes Herc?"

"I told you not to call me Herc," he mumbled, but then said, louder, "Slow down.  Stop talking!"

Luke wanted to slap this guy!  But he thought against it.

"Of course Herc!"

He looked ticked at this nickname.  Luke had a very strong urge to throw this guy off the highest mountain he could find, but still, had to restrain himself.  He didn't want to hurt someone that Birdie loved.   

"Look," said Hercules, "There's a reason I came."

Birdie looked confused.

"The gods...gee the gods.  How do I explain this?"  He looked extremely uncomfortable.  "You see, the gods don't like that Hera had a child.  And with a demigod no less.  Well...she broke a few oaths, and their sorta blaming you..."

Now she was frowning.  "But you're a god too.  Do you blame me for being born at the wrong time, by the wrong mother?"

"As long as you don't get to powerful, I'm cool with it."

Birdie scowled.  "Too powerful?" she said, dangerously quiet.

"Well yeah.  We wouldn't want you overthrowing Olympus, now would we?  Not like this idiot," he said nonchalantly, jabbing a finger at Luke.

There was a fire in Birdie's eyes that Luke had only seen when Drew had made her mad.  This was pure anger, that under normal circumstances, she was able to keep down.  How did he know that?

"So," Hercules continued (he should have shut up), "The gods want to see you.  As in see you on Olympus to be judged on whether or not you should be killed and what not.  You know, the usual."

"The usual?" she asked, almost inaudible.

"Yeah, this happens all the time.  Here you go," he said, handing her a white envelope with a stamp with laurels on it.  "That has the details, and so on.  Hermes would have delivered it, but he didn't want to come, for obvious reasons *cough* this idiot *cough.*  So I volunteered."

"You volunteered?" she said, in an unbelieving voice.

"Yep!  Respectable god and older brother at your service!"

She stared daggers at him.  Luke couldn't stand it anymore.

"How dare you treat her like that?!" he shouted at the god.  "How dare you say you're her brother and send her to a hearing, that could result in her death, in the same breath?!  If you really cared about her all that much, you would never let her go to a thing like that!  You would fight for her, and if that didn't work, you would hide her!  You wouldn't ever make her do something so...so awful!"

"You done?" he asked.

"Not yet!  How dare you treat any human being the way you do her?!  Don't you remember what you had to go through?!  You were an overly powerful demigod!  You were legend!  Now I see what you really are!  You're a pig.  A pig who gets what he wants and throws it away to please someone more powerful than you!  Now I'm done!"

Hercules tilted his head to both sides, popping his neck.  "How I dare I?" he said dangerously low.  "How dare you would be a better question.  How dare you forsake your father and try to overthrow Olympus?  How dare you kill thousands of innocent people?  How dare you side with our enemies?  How dare yo-"

"STOP!" Birdie yelled. 

Both boys looked at her.  

"Herc...Hercules.  I always looked up to you!  I dismissed any sign that you might be a bad person!  I was ready to follow you, my big brother, to the ends of the earth!  But no.  Anyone who treats my hero like that, will be no part of me.  I'll go to this stupid hearing.  But not because of you.  I'll go so that if I die, you will know that it is at your hands.  And if I live, you shall forever have to bare the guilt of forsaking the only person that actually cared about you.  Go.  Don't ever talk to me again.  Tell the gods that I'm bringing Luke."

Hercules's eyes widened in shock.  Luke imagined that he didn't know Birdie could speak with such acid on her tongue.  

"Leave," Birdie said.

He didn't move.

"Leave!" she repeated with more force, and Hercules dispersed in a cloud of sparkly gold smoke.

I know.  I'm mean.  I haven't posted in forever.  Oh well.  Let's cut to the chase.  I got a new cover!  Thanks to Pretty_in_ink76 for making it for me!  Love you guys! Don't kill me please!