𝒍𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒂𝒛𝒆 - pjo x hp [₂]

xlix. santa's sleigh of stags

𝐑𝐀𝐘𝐀 𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐋𝐔𝐊𝐄. With her sword raised and her Magic flickering around her, the dragon-women dropped the coffin and fled in a panic. Raya was pretty sure she could hear a raspy voice saying, "Ow." But that may just have been her hearing things.

Despite his sickly appearance, Luke was still quick with a sword. He met her blade, attack for attack, blocking each of her hits with practiced ease but never going on the offense.

Raya wasn't stupid enough to give him the chance.

She might've trained Luke with a sword, but she knew he was better than her. She knew that he could get her down if she was tired enough, if he tried hard enough. He wasn't trying.

"Why won't you fucking try?" Raya muttered through clenched teeth, swinging her sword at his legs. He jumped, dodging the blade easily.

"Maybe because I don't want to," Luke retorted, blocking another attack. His voice came out strained, from the effort of holding back. "Is it so hard to believe I don't want you dead?"

Raya huffed as he parried away her blade. "If only I could say the same."

That made Luke stumble. A slight misstep, but he recovered too quickly for Raya to take advantage. 

Raya remembered Annabeth's message — the constant looking between Raya and Luke's blade. Annabeth had seen something over the last few days, and she wanted Raya to understand what it was. Raya had understood, but she didn't quite believe it. Not until now.

Luke still cared for Raya, he still believed he loved her.

That made Raya angry again, and she swung her blade faster, with more intent. Whatever Luke was feeling towards Raya wasn't love, it couldn't be. It was some misjudged emotion, the comfort of falling back onto something familiar. 

They may have loved each other once, but they couldn't anymore.

Raya was vaguely aware of Percy going after Atlas, and Zoe cursing as she and Thalia ran to help him. Regulus fought against the two dragon-women, using his knives and nonverbal and wandless magic with ease. Despite being locked up for so long, his Magic was as strong as always. Kayse was there with him, backing him up, even though the two of them were fighting to try to get towards Raya.

"You don't mean that," Luke muttered angrily, swinging his own blade with more intent. Raya cursed internally as she was forced to go on the defense.

Not good.

"You could never stand to put a scratch on anyone, definitely not me," Luke reminded her. It might've been true once upon a time, but Raya wasn't sure anymore.

"It's a good thing I don't have any such hesitations," Kayse said, arriving on Raya's right. He held a knife in his hands, one of Regulus' — who had just performed the slug-vomiting charm on the second draconae. 

Yeah, he was handling himself just fine.

Luke frowned at the interruption, but he continued attacking both of them. Raya parried his blade away, careful to keep him at a distance from Kayse. That was her first mistake in the fight.

Luke knew her moves the same way she knew his.

"Neither do I when it comes to you," Luke narrowed his eyes as he turned to attack Kayse. He was smart enough to put two and two together, to realize Kayse meant something to Raya. He knew they were together. Luke had the advantage of more skill and a better weapon, advancing on Kayse easily and leaving Raya behind.

Kayse met him each time, parrying away his blade with the smaller knife he held. Raya came in to try to bring Luke's attention back, but he threw her blade away by looping it through the grip — a move Raya had taught him — and then turned his attention back to Kayse.