Her Beautiful Grey Eyes
The first time Luke ever saw her cry, she was only eight.
She cried in pain, and Luke held her tight. Her salty tears wet his shirt, but he didn't care. If anything, he had been hurt more than she had. The pain of seeing his little Annabeth cry was more than he could have ever imagined.
He told himself that it was because he was like a dad to her, that he hated seeing his baby girl in pain.
But there was something more there.
It was an ache in his heart that he felt when Thalia got hurt. Well, it was that kind of pain, but it was so much stronger.
"It's okay," Luke kept whispering as he rocked Annabeth, and he ran a hand through her curly blonde hair. It was her birthday yesterday, or maybe it wasn't midnight yet.
They had tried to celebrate, but the monsters found them. They fought them off, but a claw had gotten a horrible cut on little Annabeth's leg.
When they got back to their camp, Thalia fell asleep to sleep off her pain, and Luke had tried to sooth Annabeth into sleep. But nothing would coax the little girl to sleep. She was so afraid, and she hated being afraid.
She felt safe around Luke.
There was something about his big beautiful blue eyes that calmed her. Annabeth often found herself trying to figure out the exact color of blue his eyes were, but the shimmered to different shades in the light, like the ocean.
Luke didn't mind though. He loved looking into her intelligent grey eyes. For some odd reason, it gave him hope. He often wondered what this little girl would grow up to be, but he knew it was important. And he promised himself that he would be there to see it.
"He tried to kill me, Luke," her voice was soft, and Luke kissed the top of her golden hair.
"But he didn't kill you, Annabeth."
"I don't like all of these monsters," Annabeth dug her face into his shoulder, and he kept rocking her.
"I don't either, Kiddo. But I would never let anything happen to you, Annabeth. You know that, right?"
Annabeth moved to look him in the eyes.
"Luke, what if something happens to you?"
Luke froze.
"Or Thalia? You're my family. Those monsters are after me. You need to be safe."
"Don't you ever say anything like that again," Luke's voice came out sterner that he meant, but he couldn't bear the thought of losing his baby Annabeth.
Annabeth stared up at him, her beautiful grey eyes red from crying.
"Those monsters are after all of us, and we would be no where without our little smarty pants," Luke smiled as he poked her shoulder, "And you're our family, too. We love you, and I wish I could find you a safe place. Somewhere where you don't have to be scared."
Luke meant it, he honestly did.
"I'm not scared with you," Annabeth curled up around him, and she gently drifted into sleep.
Luke was lucky to not have to see tears-real tears- come out of Annabeth's beautiful grey eyes for a while. But his lucky streak didn't last forever…
This time, though, he couldn't be the strong one for her.
"W-where's Thalia?" Annabeth asked Luke, her beautiful grey eyes staring up at him, and a tear fell down Luke's cheek.
He couldn't tell her.
He just couldn't…
"Luke, where's Thalia?" Annabeth's voice was hysteric.
She was covered in blood and dirt, and her eyes were wild.
The other kids were afraid of her as they watched the two of them, but Luke saw the person on the inside.
The little girl who had just lost the closest thing she had ever had to a mother…
"I am so sorry, Annabeth," Luke's tears began to fall from his bright blue eyes, and, if it was possible, that hurt Annabeth even more.
She had never seen Luke cry.
His eyes had always been a beacon of hope for her.
They made her calm. They dried her tears. They reminded her that she would always have him.
They were strong.
And now they were crying…
"No, no, no!" Annabeth screamed, "She-she can't be! She's Thalia! She survives everything! Everything, okay? Now where is she?"
"She's gone, Annabeth," it pained him to tell her this. While it hurt to hear it, Luke knew that he had it a million times worse.
"She can't be," Annabeth felt her legs falter her, and she collapsed into the grass. Luke sat down beside her, and he scooped her up in a hug to rock her.
Annabeth thought it was to soothe her, but it was to sooth him.
"She made things safe, Annabeth. We don't have to be afraid anymore," Luke tried, pushing her blonde hair out of her eyes.
"I want to be afraid. I want to be afraid with Thalia."
In his entire life, Luke had never felt as much pain as what he felt when he heard Annabeth say that…
And maybe it hurt because it was true.
He wanted Thalia back, too.
He wanted them to be a family again.
Luke began to hate that tree, even if it was keeping them alive. He would rather have Thalia than that stupid pine tree…
"I'll never let anything happen to you, Annabeth," Luke whispered, "I love you, Annabeth. We're a family."
And Annabeth believed it.
So did Luke.
He didn't know that he would become the worst pain for her.
How could he ever think that?
This was his baby Annabeth.
He would die for her. Annabeth was the only thing he really had left, and he refused to lose her.
But that promise to keep her safe fueled his anger against the gods, and that anger hurt her more than he could ever know.
Luke kept his promise for a few years. He did everything he could for her, and she loved him for it. But, along the way, she stopped being baby Annabeth and became Annabeth.
Suddenly, he found himself staring into her beautiful grey eyes and feeling his heart speed up instead of melting like it used to. He found himself brushing through her blonde hair, not to calm her, but to calm himself. Luke found that he was falling in love with the little girl with big beautiful grey eyes…
And Annabeth found that she was falling in love with him, too.
But she accepted it.
She was alright with loving him.
If anything, Luke felt guilty about it.
How could he love Annabeth when he had loved Thalia so much?
My heart belongs to Thalia, only Thalia, he told himself repeatedly, She's just baby Annabeth, with the beautiful grey eyes…
But she wasn't just baby Annabeth anymore.
Through his confusion, he was able to decide on one thing.
He wanted to protect her.
He refused to lose her like he lost Thalia.
Luke had reasons to be interested in the offer from Kronos, but it was the thought of a new world for Annabeth that made him accept.
When Percy came along, things were going to plan.
But then, one day, Annabeth stopped hating him.
Suddenly she was talking about getting back in touch with her family. But Luke was her family!
Luke felt a bitter jealousy consume him, and it had been a blessing when Kronos ordered him to kill the prophecy child. But then he saw how Annabeth looked at him…
And maybe he was jealous, but he couldn't hurt her like that.
He just couldn't….
But he had already accepted the mission.
The night before he was about to do it, he knew that there was only thing that he would miss from Camp, Annabeth's beautiful grey eyes.
He couldn't get her to come to his side yet, he would need time to show her that he was the good guy.
He would miss her so much until then…
Luke suddenly knew that there was only one person he wanted to spend his last night with.
Annabeth…
"Are you alright, Luke?" Annabeth asked, her eyebrows knit in confusion.
He had just been staring at her watching the lake for a long time, and Annabeth was beginning to worry.
"Yeah, just thinking," Luke lied.
Annabeth knew he was lying, but there wasn't much she could do about it.
If he didn't want to tell her, she wouldn't pry.
She knew it was probably about Thalia.
Was it wrong that she was jealous of her dead best friend?
She would give anything to have her back right now, but she wanted Luke to love her.
"It's been a long summer," Annabeth nodded.
She smiled to herself as she thought about Percy.
Seaweed Brain.
He was so ridiculous. So ignorant. So oblivious. So reckless!
Percy was everything that she wasn't and that she didn't like.
But she liked him.
And she worried that she liked liked him.
Her heart belonged to Luke, she knew she did.
But, if she really did, could there really be room in her heart for Percy?
"You finally got your quest," Luke nudged her. He knew how much it had meant to her.
"I finally got my quest," Annabeth smiled, and Luke felt his heart skip a beat.
Annabeth looked down and hesitated.
"Luke, there is something I want to talk about."
He had been dreading this.
"I've been talking to my dad…" Annabeth closed her eyes as she tried to figure out how to tell him, "I'm going to stay with him this year. To try to work things out…."
Luke had seen the letter with his name on it, and he had seen this coming.
But that didn't stop the horrible ache it left in his heart.
Her dad failed on her, just like his did.
So, why was she giving him another chance?
Luke was her family!
Why did she keep calling those people her family? They just shared her DNA. Luke shared her memories, her life.
"What?" Luke tried not to sound as hurt as he was, but it was hard.
"He's my dad, Luke. I've got to try…"
No, you don't, Luke thought, but he didn't say that.
"But you hate him."
"I'm trying again, Luke. There's not a problem with that."
"He just let you go!"
"I ran away!"
"But he didn't find you! He didn't try to comfort you before! He didn't remind you that he loved you, even if it meant all those monsters!"
"Luke," Annabeth looked down, "I'm going. And I want you to be happy for me, that I'm brave enough to try again. This hurts, Luke. I'm scared, too. And I just- I just want to know that, if things don't work out and I come back, that you'll be here for me."
That hit Luke hardest.
He wouldn't be here for her.
"I just don't want you to get hurt," Luke squeezed her hand, and she felt the blood rush to her cheeks.
"I know. And I promise that, if I do, I'll come home and you can say you were right. But… I just don't think you are."
Luke opened his mouth to say something but his watch went off that he needed to be back in the cabin.
"We've got to get back," Luke hesitated.
There was so much he wanted to tell her before he left.
But none of it came to him.
"Good night, Luke," Annabeth smiled as she stood, and she got that awkward feeling when she couldn't decide if she should just leave or hug him goodnight.
But Luke ignored her awkwardness.
He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her as tightly as she would allow without her bringing out her dagger, and he tried not to cry. He mentally told her goodbye.
In his head, he explained why he was doing what he was doing. He told her how much he loved her and how much it hurt her to leave her.
But, in reality, it was just a hug.
Before she left to go be teased by Malcolm for her crush on Luke, Luke took one last look into her beautiful grey eyes.
Why did it hurt so much? Luke asked himself, but he wasn't going to back down.
"Luke, what's wrong?" Annabeth asked as Luke let her go, and he let out a weak smile.
"I'm just going to miss you, Annie."
"Don't call me, Annie," she let a gentle smile loose, and that made Luke grin.
"Alright, Annie."
When Annabeth woke up the next day, she found that Luke had tried to kill Percy and ran away.
First she felt anger, a horrible loathing for Luke.
But then she felt pain.
She couldn't believe that her best friend of all time, the boy she loved more than anything, would ever do that to her.
As time went on, she got closer to Percy.
They became friends.
Best friends.
And, one day, she started feeling something.
Something weird.
Like when she blushed every time he touched her. Or how her heart melted when he smiled. And how she suddenly found his stupid antics adorable instead of annoying.
"What is wrong with me?" Annabeth would often ask herself.
And, after what felt like forever, she finally put it together that it wasn't just friendship.
And she put it together that she had been wrong, that there was room in her heart for Percy…
This made Annabeth frustrated. She didn't want to be feeling this!
It wasn't logical. It was insane.
This was Percy!
No, this was Seaweed Brain.
It drove Annabeth crazy to no end.
Especially since she still remembered how she felt when she last saw Luke.
How even though she hated him, she had still felt that calm bliss she felt everytime she looked into his ocean blue eyes…
Annabeth was thinking about that as she sat in her room, absent-mindedly doodling in her notebook as she thought about the last time she had talked to Percy, when they were talking about the annoyances of their schools through an iris message.
If she closes his eyes, she could almost see him.
His bright sea green eyes. Those high cheek bones….
"Hey, Annie."
Annabeth gasped.
She looked back from her desk, and she froze.
He looked just as perfect as he always did.
Maybe even better…
"Luke," her voice wa small.
Luke smiled as he looked on her bookshelf, where she had a group of pictures.
There weren't any pictures of him anymore.
Only of that Seaweed Brain.
Luke took a long good look at a picture of the two of them smiling together, and he felt the little green monster called jealousy sneak into him as he saw how real her smile was.
That was the smile she used to have with me, Luke thought.
Annabeth stared at him.
She knew that she should grab her dagger, but she could see that he was harmless.
He honestly was. He just wanted to see her…
"You and the Seaweed Brain, huh?" Luke tried to laugh, "Definitely didn't see that coming."
"What do you want Luke?" she stood, keeping a close eye on him.
"I just came to see you, Annabeth," Luke sat down on her bed, smirking as he looked at another picture of Annabeth and Grover.
But then he saw the picture on her dresser.
His face fell.
Luke felt like his feet were lead as he walked towards the black dresser and set his hand on the strip from a photo booth, his eyes watering.
"This is new."
It was new.
All of them.
There were pictures of Annabeth and Thalia from the time she had come back to life to last week, when Thalia was in California and stopped by to get Chinese with Annabeth. Thalia had been teasing Annabeth about Percy when Annabeth saw a photo booth and pulled her in to get her off the subject of Percy.
Luke had known about Thalia. And he had seen her, too.
But something felt different about this.
He knew Thalia hated him. And he knew that he still loved her in some way…
Luke hated knowing that Hal been right though. But he had done the right thing, he had become a hero by being the body that Kronos would go into…
Thalia didn't understand though.
He thought that, maybe even if Annabeth didn't Thalia would understand.
This was for her!
They all just let her die!
And what did they do?
Gave a magical tree as if that made up for everything!
"Get out, Luke," Annabeth's voice was soft.
"Annabeth, it's me. It's Luke! Your family."
"This is my family."
"Where were they when you needed them? Raising those two little brats while you were on your own at seven!"
"Luke, it wasn't like that!"
"Yes, it was! You're lying to yourself! I was there, Annabeth. I protected you. I held you when you cried. Not your dad!"
"I ran away from him! Not the other way around!"
"Annabeth, you ran away because he wasn't there! Because he was too busy with those precious little babies to think about you! You know, too! Stop lying to yourself!"
"I'm not lying to myself! I was wrong then! I was just a kid."
"I'm doing this for you, Annabeth. For us. For Thalia," Luke felt his eyes water, "Don't you understand? This is for everything they did to us. For not caring. They don't deserve their power. And we get a chance to take it away, Annabeth. We can start a new world, a better world."
"Luke, he isn't going to give us that-"
"Yes, he will, Annabeth! Just join me! We're going to win! We will start over! We will make a better future!"
"Kronos is lying to you."
"Annabeth, please," Luke blue eye's watered, and that still hurt Annabeth, though she couldn't understand why, "Join me. We can do this together. This could be our world, Annabeth."
It was so tempting.
So tempting.
But she couldn't understand why.
She knew that, even though she didn't like the gods per say, they kept the world in balance. There were twelve, each with their own thing to fight for. And, with each of them making a decision, things were alright.
Kronos didn't want that.
He wanted power, complete control.
But Annabeth wanted just what Luke was talking about, even though she knew that they would never get it.
"Get out, Luke," it pained her to say it, but it hurt even more for Luke to hear.
"Annabeth-"
"Get. Out," Annabeth picked up her dagger from the table, and Luke felt a new ache in the pit of his stomach.
Had he ever felt such horrible pain?
No, this was new.
And horrible…
"Goodbye, Annabeth."
Luke felt a lump in his throat form as he started towards the window he crawled through to get in here, but he couldn't help it.
He looked back, just to see her beautiful grey eyes one last time.
And, when he left, he really left.
He tried to forget about Annabeth and her beautiful grey eyes.
But he couldn't.
Even when Kronos controlled his body, he thought about her. He missed her. And he began to realize that she was right.
When everything went down, he began to wish that he had listened to her.
That he had trusted her when she told him to stay, and he wished that he had stayed with her in California.
Maybe this wouldn't have happened.
Maybe she would be his…
So, as he knew that this would be one of his last moments alive, he only wanted to talk to her.
"Good…blade," Luke croaked, wanting to laugh.
Annabeth limped over to him, her eyes watering.
Tears were beginning to fall down her cheeks, and Luke hated seeing tears in her beautiful grey eyes.
"You knew. I almost killed you, but you knew…" Luke looked at Annabeth.
"Shh," her voice trembled, trying to be strong, "You were a hero at the end, Luke. You'll go to Elysium."
He shook his head, a weak smile on his perfect lips.
She never got to kiss those lips.
She always wanted to…
"Think… rebirth. Try for three times. Isles of the Blest."
"You always pushed yourself too hard," Annabeth sniffled.
She wanted him to stay.
She loved him so much…
He held up his hand, and Annabeth touched his fingertips.
They could talk about anything.
She could tell him that she would forever think of him as a hero, that she would name her child after him.
He could tell her that he still remembered everything about her. That he wished he hadn't betrayed her. He could her everything that he had been keeping inside.
But he only had one thing that he really wanted to know.
"Did you…" Luke coughed, and his lips turned red from the blood, "Did you love me?"
Annabeth cried harder, but she wiped her tears away for him.
She did love him.
She loved him so much.
But…not that way.
She would have though.
If this hadn't happened, she would have.
Annabeth would have been completely in love with him. She would have married him even. She would have had his child, stayed with him forever.
But it did happen…
"There was a time when I thought… well, I thought…" Annabeth looked at Percy, taking in the happiness that he was there. He was alive…
Everything was going wrong, and she noticed that he was alive…
That gave her the confirmation.
"You were like a brother to me, Luke," Annabeth told him softly, "but I didn't love you."
Luke nodded.
He knew.
Somewhere deep inside, he knew.
He knew that Annabeth's heart belonged to that Seaweed Brain. And he also knew that his heart really belonged to Thalia…
He did love Annabeth.
He would have been with her forever if this all hadn't happened. He would have married Annabeth and spent his entire life looking into those big beautiful grey eyes. And they would have kids…
Another little Annabeth, who they would name Thalia, and a little Luke, too.
Luke still wanted that… to have something normal. Something normal with Annabeth.
But Annabeth was his baby Annabeth.
He had always thought there was more, but, honestly, there wasn't…
Luke winced in pain, and Annabeth's heart broke.
"We can get ambrosia," Grover tried, "We can-"
"Grover," Luke gulped, "You're the bravest satyr I ever knew. But no. There's no healing…"
Luke coughed again.
Luke looked to Percy, and his hand gripped onto Percy's sleeve.
"Ethan. Me. All the unclaimed. Don't let it…. Don't let it happen again."
Luke's eyes were angry but pleading.
He knew he couldn't fix what he had done, but he never wanted it to happen again.
"I won't," Percy told him, "I promise."
Luke nodded, and he looked back to Annabeth.
When you have a life like Luke did, you find small things to latch on to.
Like when he looked at his favorite star in the sky. Or when he used to clean his sword every night. Or even the same smell of strawberries every morning at camp.
But Luke had one thing he loved most.
Looking into Annabeth's beautiful grey eyes.
They calmed her.
He wasn't sure why, but they did.
And her eyes were the last things he wanted to see.
Suddenly, he thought back to the first night he saw her cry so long ago. He wished he could go back to that time. Everything was okay back then.
He had Thalia. He had his baby Annabeth. And he didn't have to worry about all this.
Annabeth stared into his eyes, and she noticed that they were the same.
His blue eyes couldn't decide on a color.
They shimmered like the ocean…
She felt the same wave of comfort consume her, and she silently whispered that she would see him one day.
For now though, she had to say goodbye.
She hadn't anticipated how hard it would be…
Luke kept drifting farther and farther into his memories until he came to the day that Thalia died.
But, before, he completely drifted away, he looked back to Annabeth one last time.
He took in every detail of her, but, more importantly, he took in every detail of her eyes.
How pained they were. How they silently told him that she would see him one day. How, even though everything, her eyes were intelligent and curious. But he took in how emotional her eyes were.
They had always shown her true emotions, but only Luke had been able to find them.
There was only one thing left that he wanted to tell Annabeth.
He tried to speak, but he couldn't.
But he didn't know that.
"Your eyes are the last things I want to look at before I die…"
And then Luke's hand went slack.
"You finally got your quest," Luke nudged her. He knew how much it had meant to her.
"I finally got my quest," Annabeth smiled, and Luke felt his heart skip a beat.
Annabeth looked down and hesitated.
"Luke, there is something I want to talk about."
He had been dreading this.
"I've been talking to my dad…" Annabeth closed her eyes as she tried to figure out how to tell him, "I'm going to stay with him this year. To try to work things out…."
Luke had seen the letter with his name on it, and he had seen this coming.
But that didn't stop the horrible ache it left in his heart.
Her dad failed on her, just like his did.
So, why was she giving him another chance?
Luke was her family!
Why did she keep calling those people her family? They just shared her DNA. Luke shared her memories, her life.
"What?" Luke tried not to sound as hurt as he was, but it was hard.
"He's my dad, Luke. I've got to try…"
No, you don't, Luke thought, but he didn't say that.
"But you hate him."
"I'm trying again, Luke. There's not a problem with that."
"He just let you go!"
"I ran away!"
"But he didn't find you! He didn't try to comfort you before! He didn't remind you that he loved you, even if it meant all those monsters!"
"Luke," Annabeth looked down, "I'm going. And I want you to be happy for me, that I'm brave enough to try again. This hurts, Luke. I'm scared, too. And I just- I just want to know that, if things don't work out and I come back, that you'll be here for me."
That hit Luke hardest.
He wouldn't be here for her.
"I just don't want you to get hurt," Luke squeezed her hand, and she felt the blood rush to her cheeks.
"I know. And I promise that, if I do, I'll come home and you can say you were right. But… I just don't think you are."
Luke opened his mouth to say something but his watch went off that he needed to be back in the cabin.
"We've got to get back," Luke hesitated.
There was so much he wanted to tell her before he left.
But none of it came to him.
"Good night, Luke," Annabeth smiled as she stood, and she got that awkward feeling when she couldn't decide if she should just leave or hug him goodnight.
But Luke ignored her awkwardness.
He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her as tightly as she would allow without her bringing out her dagger, and he tried not to cry. He mentally told her goodbye.
In his head, he explained why he was doing what he was doing. He told her how much he loved her and how much it hurt her to leave her.
But, in reality, it was just a hug.
Before she left to go be teased by Malcolm for her crush on Luke, Luke took one last look into her beautiful grey eyes…
What did you think?
I know I said I would focus on finishing Once An Alpha, Always an Alpha. But this came into my mind, and I just had to get it out…
Anyway, I hope you liked it!
:-D