Luke's Hatred

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Annabeth was perusing over a small booklet near the back of the ship when Luke and Chion walked towards her, stormy grey eyes shifting back and forth over its contents. Even from where he stood, the white-haired youth could tell it was something akin to an instruction manual, a large picture of the SS Overland, the name Hephaestus had given the vessel, drawn on the front of it.

"You wanted to see us?" Chion asked, closing the newly dubbed Sparrows Compass and shoving it into the pocket of his hoodie. "Do we have a heading?"

The blonde girl glanced up from her reading, her scrunched up eyes zeroing in on the two males. Chion wondered briefly why Annabeth was making such an expression until, upon closer inspection, he realized that the instruction manual was written in Greek. Paired with her dyslexia, it was probably an immense struggle for her to decipher the text, hence why she looked like she was struggling to swallow something bitter. Closing the booklet slightly, Annabeth moved towards the steering wheel and began fiddling with a number of buttons, momentarily ignoring Chion's question. After a moment, the SS Overland roared to life.

"We need to get moving." The daughter of Athena looked towards the Chion. "You have a way to get there, right? I'm assuming from Hephaestus?"

"Nope." Chion immediately took the compass out of his pocket and slapped it into Annabeths hand. "Your mother. Heading should already be set. Unless it changes based on the person, but I doubt it."

Annabeth frowned slightly as she looked over the compass.

"Athena gave you the compass?" Luke questioned, curiosity in his voice.

"No. She gave me the bag that HAD stuff in it. Multiple items were gifted." Chion briefly explained that several of the gods had taken the time to give him some help in the forms of gifts. "Athena gave me a bag. Hestia gave me questions. Hephaestus gave me the Festus ticket. Artemis gave me a dagger. Many of the reasons I'm still alive or know certain things are because the gods have stepped in. At the same time, they're the ones who took my memories from me soo....."

"Why would they-"

"Trust me, if you thought of the question, I've thought of it as well." Chion cut Luke off mid-sentence. "I'm still trying to figure all of that out. Point is, this compass can guide us through the Sea Of Monsters."

"It's better than nothing I guess," Luke replied with a shrug. "You driving Annabeth?"

"I mostly understand what it's saying." The blonde haired girl gently pushed up on a lever beside the steering wheel. The boat immediately began moving forward, pushing out of the Bay. "I might need some time to get accustomed but we should be okay."

"That's a daughter of Athena for you," Luke said, sounding like a proud parent. "We're on our way."

"Mind if I give the manual a look?" Chion queried as they increased in speed. "I just wanna see why we're working with."

As the youth did with everything else, he needed as much information as possible, especially regarding everything that was happening around him. The Sea Of Monsters and the SS Overland being the first things. In order to have the upper hand in all situations, one must first know all of the cards available to play within the given scenarios. If someone were to be injured and he needed to pick up the slack, knowing how to operate the Overland would be a must.

"Here." Annabeth slapped the book into Chions palm. "Maybe you'll do better on that than with the Golden Fleece."

"Not gonna let that go huh?"

"When we get back, I'm gonna drill the knowledge into your skull." The blonde turned back to the wheel, steering towards the open sea whilst constantly checking Sparrows Compass. "You aren't getting out of it, Brain Freeze. Even if you're dead, I'll drag you from the pits of Tartarus."

(("Over ONE bit of missed information?")) Chion grumbled internally as he opened up the booklet. (("Such a slave driver."))

Letting the thought go, the white-haired youth immersed himself into the booklet, scouring it from top to bottom. Though he had only been learning the language for about a week, his brain seemed naturally hardwired for ancient Greek, making it supernaturally easy to learn. He hadn't told Annabeth due to her pride as a child of Athena and her tendency to view things a competition, but he had managed to master Greek within two or three weeks of studying.

It was probably one of the only perks of being a demigod. Truthfully, he could definitely do without the rest of his talent and powers.

Or being a demigod in general.

That aside, the SS Overland was actually quite a unit in terms of a sea faring vessel. So much so that if used in war, it could probably rival a fully equipped US battleship. Completely armored on the outside, a light but sturdy sheet of Celestial Bronze coating the hull, sea to air missiles, a built-in mini gun, a submarine mode that allowed it to dive underwater, and torpedoes caring an unreal amount of Greek Fire. It had a max speed of 300km/hr, an engine that could run for days on a few gallons of diesel, and even a button that could summon some drinks with just a touch. If they ever ran into any sort of monsters via the sea, Chion was almost inclined to feel sorry for the monsters. It was almost overkill. Such was the invention of a literal god. Kinda felt like cheating.

Still, even after he read and reread the text, he went around the boat and memorized the buttons and various levers and what each of their functions were. He tested the one that summoned drinks....just to make sure it was working properly.

Then, with a newly obtained can of ice cold Coke in hand, he tried his best to learn more about the Sea Of Monsters, poking the brains of his demigod companions, even if one of them became slightly irritated in the process.

By this time, they were speeding out of the area and riding down the coast, with the land a good distance away from them but still just barely visible. According to the paper map Chion had managed to snag from Chiron, the Sea Of Monsters was directly East from Miami Florida, quite a bit of a distance away from where they were now. It would take them maybe around eight hours at the rate they were going, much sooner if they reached the Overlands maximum speed. So, in order to pass the time whilst gathering information, Chion engaged Luke in a game of War, a card game relying solely on lucky hands.

"So. Tell me about yourself Luke." Chion slapped down an Ace, taking the blondes King Of Clubs. "I don't think I ever asked you about your history before."

"Damn!!" Luke looked pleasantly annoyed at the loss of his King and shook his head. "Got lucky with that Ace. But what do you want to know? I'm pretty sure you could've asked around at camp and learned about me just fine. Why the sudden interest?"

"Maybe cause I won't get another chance, I guess." Chion placed down a 3, which was immediately taken by a 10 of Hearts.

"One friend lost. One friend saved." Luke seemed to be on the same track as the white-haired youth, filling in what the young man hadn't said aloud. "You have a point. But let's make a trade. As soon as you get your memories back, you tell me what they were all about. In exchange, I'll tell you my story."

Chion slapped down an Ace. "Deal."

Luke pulled out a card as well, throwing it atop the youths. It was also an Ace. "Very well."

In tandem. "I. De. Clare. War."

"Huh, a Joker." Chion mused over the situation since he had sworn he jad taken out all of the Jokers.

"I guess that's my win?" Luke questioned, placing his Ace over the youths card. "Jokers aren't worth much in this game. Wildcards usually don't have much meaning."

"Sure."

After the challenge, Luke thought for a second, placing down another card. "I guess it starts when I ran away from home."

"Like Annabeth."

Luke smiled bitterly, as if recalling something both pleasant and painful, a mixture thay just didn't sit well on his scarred face. It gave him such a menacing look it was almost scary. "Yeah, like Annabeth. I assume she told you her story already?"

Chion nodded.

"I won't bore you with the details then. I ran away from home when I was nine years old because of.....familial issues, and stayed on the run for years, surviving alone. It was tough for sure, and to stave off the loneliness, I tried to make some mortal friends. Those didn't last too long for obvious reasons, however, and I was forced to keep pushing." Luke placed down a Jack of Hearts to contest Chions 4 of Spades. "I met a demigod named Thalia Grace on my journey, and we ended up partnering together in order to stay alive. And boy, was that a blessing because she could kick some ass. Can't even count how many times she saved my tush in the timespan of traveling together. If I hadn't met her, I probably wouldn't even be here."

"She sounds like one hell of a girl." Chion placed down a card, saw it won, and immediately snagged them. "Saving you even with all of your experience."

"She was." Luke's voice grew heavy, the atmosphere becoming thick with emotion. "She definitely was."

There was a momentary silence as they kept playing, putting down cards and challenging each other for their higher tier ones. Chion kept silent, letting Luke decide if he wanted to continue telling the story or not. He was pretty much aware of how the story went after that, so if the older teen didn't want to say, he was totally fine with it.

Luke eventually continued after a minute or two.

"We eventually ran into Annabeth after a while, and she joined us. You probably know the story from there. Running into Grover, then the Cyclopes, the battle on HalfBlood Hill." Luke slapped down another card. "How Thalia went down, hunted down like a dog, with no help from the gods. As they watched her die, only stepping in after it was all said and do-"

As an immense anger took over the blonde haired teens voice and expression, a hand touched Luke's shoulder, immediately stopping his rant. Looking up, his eyes met with Annabeths and locked in. Slowly but steadily, the teen visibly relaxed, rose to his feet, and excused himself heading to the front to steer the Overland while Annabeth took the teens spot.