Once You Were a Hero
Summary: Luke thought that he was looking over the brink of insanity... until he is sentenced to Asphodel. / Luke and his fading sanity. AU.
Luke already thought that he was looking over the brink of insanity before he came to Asphodel. Then he discovered that insanity was much worse.
Each move in Asphodel seemed to be either sluggish, or fast. Time in the fields was unsteady, like the sea itself. The sea would roll, or seem perfectly still, and Luke would feel as if he were in a trap, like a bug stuck in hardening amber, or a motorcycle rider who just discovered that his break didn't work while on a highway that was sloping downhill.
Sometimes, he would hear a whisper. A simple, soft whisper of the wind saying hello. Then a rumbling and a mumbling, and Luke would sprint through the field, hoping to find a riot, or even a party, for Olympus's sake.
Then he would stop and realize that there was nothing. No talk, no chattering teeth, no silly cricket sound. No other voice besides his own desperate scream to fill the empty void.
He was alone.
Luke realized that the fields of Asphodel were worse than the Fields of Punishment. There was no-one that could hear him. Every step towards Hades's palace was a lie- a lie that pained him, a lie that would sew his hope together and tear it apart again, repeating like a drum's steady rhythm.
Once you were a hero.
Luke stopped in his tracks. Was Annabeth here? Her voice sounded real (It had to be, it must be real, He thought) and bittersweet. She didn't deserve to be in the field, she deserved Elysium.
Luke, The voice said, luring him closer to the center poplar tree. Luke, once, you were a hero.
"Annie..." He mumbled, using the nickname she 'hated'. "Annabeth. Annabeth!"
Luke. The voice was different. How did Thalia join Annabeth so quickly? She couldn't have died so quickly, unless-
Luke, you were once a hero. He sprinted closer to the tree, but look at where that got you.
He looked around wildly, eyes searching for a familiar face. His lips curved into a frown.
It was an illusion.
Luke touched the tree, Thalia and Annabeth's voices still engraved in his mind. He touched the rugged bark with his right hand, and he looked up the tree. A perched bat look down on him, raining down sorrow in fake voices and Luke's humiliation.
You were once a hero, Luke. The bat seemed to say in an intertwined voice that mocked Luke. Luke, heroes are forgotten. They serve the worst fate.
Luke, Luke, why didn't you save us? Luke, once you were a hero, and look at where that got you.
You're a ghost.
He was driven mad.
. . .
fin.
Title credit goes to Summer Leigh Wind. One of her fics RotG, It's Gold and it's Glowing with all the Life you have Left, inspired me to write this.