Say You'll Remember Me (Lukercy)

Chapter 8

Luke had no idea how he ended up cuddled next to a sleeping Percy in a grain car on train, with a blind, homeless Canadian man sleeping 10 feet away.

Of course, that's no way to begin a story.

~

They had been trudging through the woods for two hours after the bus dropped them off at the bus-stop outside of Schenectady. It was a hot day, and what should have been a pleasant nature walk had drained the little bit of good mood left in the daughter of Ares.

"I don't understand why the fuck I had to come with you two, they could've sent another Ares kid," she shouts from behind the two boys. "This isn't even a real fucking quest, we're just rescuing fucking Cupid! I am a warrior, I could be doing anything and it would be more important, but here I am, stuck babysitting the two of you."

"I mean, if you want to he specific, we're Greek, so it's Eros," Luke snaps at her.

Percy leans over to Luke and whispers, "I wonder if the betrayal is me cutting her tongue out to get her to shut up."

"I fucking heard that Jacks-" instead of the last syllable, there was a scream.

They both whip around, but the angry girl was gone.

"Clarisse!" Luke shouts, drawing his sword, "come out this isn't funny."

Percy noticed the ground beginning to crack under the blonde's feet. "Luke, watch out!" He shouts before diving at Luke, pushing him out of the way just in time to see an elephant-sized Tarantula spring out of the ground. "What the fuck is that thing?" Percy shouts, drawing his sword as well.

"It's a servant of Arachne, stay very still, its sight isn't that great and it relies on sound." The beast was exactly the same as a tarantula, just 1,000 times the size. It's eight red eyes, all the size of dinner plates, swiveled wildly, but apparently not seeing the boys. The chirps and hisses coming from the spider raised the hair on their necks. Luke had never thought about the sounds spiders make, he'd always been too large to hear such minute noises; he could have gone his whole life without the knowledge.

Of course Percy just had to sneeze.

The only thing was, it wasn't the first spider that attacked, a second one -this one a giant black widow- lunged from the tree behind Percy. He barely managed to avoid losing his head. A black widow was menacing enough when it was the size of a nickel; words couldn't describe the fear in Percy's heart when face to face with one the size of a central park carriage horse.

Luke looked up and saw two more arachnids in a large web, one of them preparing to bite into the daughter of Ares. The girl screamed and began writhing in agony. "Luke!" She cried, "Luke, get the spear. Please, help me. Make it stop." The spider sank its fangs into her stomach a second time

Luke spotted her spear lying on the ground. There was only one thing he could do. He turned back to make sure Percy wasn't paying attention, he was squarely focused on the behemoth's in front of him. Luke thanked the gods, the boy didn't need to see this. He turned his attention back to Clarisse. She looked at him, with tears streaming down her face, and nodded. The spear hit its final mark, she didn't suffer for long. The gift from her father had served one last time. The Shock from it killed the two spiders. Ares would be proud, knowing that even in death, she took them out with her.

~

They gave her a warrior's funeral. Percy made her a bed of flowers, she lay shrouded in shield, sword, and spear.

Luke built a fire and got on his knees, "lord Ares," he prayed, hoping that the god would listen, "we humbly beg that you honor your daughter Clarisse La'Rue. She died a warriors death, please don't leave her like this."