(For Annabeth) All About Luke

[percy_jackson]

After walking Mrs. O'Leary (who demanded to be walked and, besides, deserve it. She hadn't brought Luke to the Island, after all. Besides, have you ever turned down a hellhound who demanded anything? At all?), I left my hut and made a beeline for Annabeth's place. I'd had enough of this awkwardness. We needed to talk -- moreso than ever, now that

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[fatalpride]

Annabeth had a strange feeling that she knew what this was all about. She had just needed time to think about everything. About Percy kissing her, about Luke...especially about Luke. And without the ever-looming threat of attack hanging over their heads, she actually could think. But even all of her contemplation hadn't prepared her for the exact moment Percy showed up at her door.

In fact, she had been so engrossed in a blueprint she'd been working on that it took her a while to respond to Percy, tucking the pencil behind her ear as she took a breath. "Hi to you, too, Seaweed Brain." she said, suppressing the temptation to roll her eyes. "About what?"

[percy_jackson]

I took a deep breath to say something, then stopped when I realized I didn't what to say first. I felt angry. I felt betrayed. And I knew, instinctively, that it would be unwise to start a conversation with your best friend this way. It didn't help that a part of me kept asking if I had a right to feel betrayed? Or angry.

So, I ratcheted down my temper a couple of notches, and said, as an opening volley, "Luke's here."

[fatalpride]

Annabeth is fully able to give as much as she gets, and so she reflects Percy's anger (however reigned in it might be) with a stiffly chilly stare of her own. As a defensive gesture, she crosses her arms across her chest, legs slightly apart in her slightly defensive body language.

"I know. I saw him." she keeps her tone light, trying not to betray how much this had affected her.

[percy_jackson]

"I see," I said. "I figured you might. Thalia ran off to warn you. At least, that's what she said she was doing when she left me on my own with him." Bitterness wasn't helping, but I couldn't keep it out of my voice.

"I need to know," I went on. "Thalia said that you and he met -- I guess it's sometime after I left Camp Half Blood, gods curse this addled timeline stuff. I need to know what's going on with him. I need to know everything."

I'd leave the recriminations for later. I needed something, anything, to make me feel like I was on an even keel again, and that Luke didn't have the advantage. The truth was, I was scared.

[fatalpride]

"I'm glad she did." Annabeth countered, not exactly liking Percy's tone - mostly because she could understand what Thalia was going through on some level, and Percy couldn't. He never would be able to. Annabeth had kept secrets all her life, even from those she loved the most - and now was no exception. "I can't tell you. You wouldn't understand."

[percy_jackson]

I closed my eyes a moment and clenched my teeth. Then I said, "I am sick of people telling me what I will and won't understand. I've have been out of the world for over a year, Annabeth. I know I'm still there, but right here, it feels like the fight's going on without me. You were in Manhattan. Thalia came here from Olympus! Mount Olympus! Kronos's forces had backed us up that far. And Luke was right in the thick of it. How can you expect me to live with that information and not know what had happened in the interim? He's here, now. I need to know what he knows, so he doesn't use it against me."

[fatalpride]

"He can't use it against you because it's not about you, Percy!" Annabeth cried, growing just a little bit agitated with Percy's insistence. "I thought of that already." and the truth remained that she just wasn't ready for this. To really confront her feelings about Luke, something she had avoided doing for so very long.

Percy of all people should know how stubborn Annabeth could get when she really wanted to be.

[percy_jackson]

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "It was about Kronos, wasn't it?" I said, trying to keep myself calm. Even so, I couldn't keep out all of the sarcasm. "The great titan that's sworn to destroy us all? Maybe it's not just about me, but it involves something that I'm heavily involved in." I took a deep breath, then let it go. Then I looked up at her, serious. If she wanted me to beg, I would.

"Please tell me, Annabeth. What happened in the year I was away? What did I do? What were we facing? What was Luke about to do?"

[fatalpride]

"Luke..." Annabeth squeezed her eyes shut for a second. The eerie voice of the Oracle rang through her head. And to lose a love to worse than death. She already had. Perhaps Luke didn't have golden eyes here, but it was only a matter of time. "Luke dipped himself in the Styx and let Kronos posess him." she finally says, after a moment - opening her eyes to fixate them intensely on Percy's face.

"And so did you. I didn't want to tell you because knowing too much about your future is never a good thing."

[percy_jackson]

I stood there a long moment, staring, taking this in. It made sense. Luke would have to be immortal in order to possess a titan. And if I knew that Luke was immortal, I'd dip in the river Stix as well to fight him. But two immortals facing off against each other for a final battle? I shuddered.

"Thank you for telling me," I said, quietly. Though I didn't feel particularly thankful. And I kind of suspected she didn't want to be thanked.

[fatalpride]

"Why did you back off? Why didn't you-" the last idea dies on her lips. She isn't quite so sure that Percy would be any more capable of doing it than her, when it came down to it. "What are you going to do?"

[percy_jackson]

Was she referring to why I didn't attack Luke when he emerged from the cave? Or was she referring to her and me? If the first thing, it was because Thalia had bolted, and not out of cowardice, either. Call Thalia anything else you like, but call her a coward, and you deserved to be zapped by Zeus's master bolt. No, she'd run for another reason... and suddenly the whole world had gotten a lot more complicated.

If the second thing... well, yeah. Complicated.

"I don't know," I said. And the answer tore me up inside. "I have a feeling that things were a lot simpler on Mount Olympus."

[fatalpride]

"They were - on the outside." she replies, needing time to sort out how she really feels about all this. Although Annabeth's mind could move at a million thoughts per second when it came to fancy math or battle tactics, it took a bit longer to process emotions. "I have to go. And work." she stands with her half-hearted excuse before turning on her heel and running quickly away, not caring that all of her supplies were in the hut. The point was to be fast enough so that Percy couldn't see her rapid blinking, although she got the feeling that he did anyways.