Author's Note: Sorry, guys, I know it's been a couple days but this chapter took a lot of thought to write. I hope I did a good job! ^^ Thanks to everybody who bothered to review!
"Annabeth?"
Annabeth turned around, her hair being buffeted by the summer wind and blocking her vision for a second. She could just make out a male figure, and when her face was cleared of her long, curly blonde hair, she saw eyes that she thought she would never see again.
They were electric blue, completely alive, and perhaps brighter than the sun itself. They were crinkled by the sweet smile that was playing on their owner's face. The face itself was framed by locks of blonde hair that fell attractively into those eyes.
Oh Gods, that hair, that face, that smile…those eyes. .
"Luke." His name leapt from her tongue, her tone poisoned with shock. Annabeth's heart stopped, breath caught in her throat. This wasn't possible, it just wasn't. There was no way this was Luke. It was a cruel trick of the eyes, it had to be. Luke wasn't here, he couldn't be. There wasn't any way in the world that he could be here, standing in front of her, smiling his familiar smile that reached his beautiful eyes.
"Annabeth?" He said her name like a question, concerned, seeing the tears of confusion and panic welling up in her eyes.
Hearing her name coming out of his mouth pushed Annabeth over the edge. It had been so long, so many tears, that she had almost forgotten Luke's face, his eyes, his mouth. Her memory of his had been reduced and faded away to a blur, erased by the hundreds, perhaps thousands, of salty tears. This man, this stranger, had brought it all back too suddenly, much too suddenly. Her eyes frantic, she searched his face one last time, wanting to imprint this stranger's face into her memory forever, so she could, at least, have new trace of 'Luke's' face.
And with that look, she turned away, and quickly began to walk away from him, her eyes flooded with hot, confused tears that were streaking down her face.
"Annabeth!" The man shouted after her, and Annabeth could hear his footsteps following her. She quickened her pace, almost running. "It's me, Annabeth. It's Luke."
It had also been years since someone else had mentioned his name. His name – it sent a tremor through her, causing her to halt mid-step, and almost falter and fall.
"Annabeth." The man was breathless, catching up to her at last.
Who was this man? Who was this man who dared to speak her name so many times, who dared to even think of falsely calling himself Luke to cruelly tempt her with the unlikely possibility of a life that included him?
"Who are you?" Annabeth screamed, drawing attention from passersby, who went out of their way to avoid the scene. Annabeth flipped around, and unfortunately, she found herself with Luke's hurt eyes, that made her knees go weak. "Who are you?" She whispered again, her lip trembling, her eyes blinking tears away.
"It's me. It's Luke." He said softly, like the statement was completely ordinary.
Annabeth shook her head frantically, still looking into the depths of the blue that were his eyes. "No, no, it's not."
"It's me. I swear." He put a hand on her arm, smiling at her. Annabeth threw his hand off, and stepped back hastily. The very touch of his hand, to feel his skin touch hers for the first time in years made Annabeth shiver and shrink back.
"No, don't touch me."
"Annabeth." Luke said angrily. "It's me, I swear."
"No, no, it's not you. It can't be you." Annabeth said, her voice gradually getting louder. "You aren't Luke. How dare you touch me? How dare you even talk to me? How dare you call yourself Luke? Luke is dead!" She cried, turning several heads in alarm.
"Annabeth, calm down." He grabbed her by the arms, and held her still firmly. "It's me. I swear."
"No…no…" Annabeth's voice faltered off, her body still shaking from the shock and confusion of it all.
"It's me, it's me. It's Luke."
And suddenly, she found herself enveloped in the strongest grasp she had ever felt. Her face was pressed against his chest, into the softness of his shirt that smelled like…Luke. Annabeth let herself relax against him, her tears being absorbed by the shirt's cloth. Her arms wrapped around him, hugging him tightly as he did the same.
It felt as if the world was gone, and it was just them – here, together again. How? She didn't know…she didn't care anymore. He was here. That was a miracle enough. She had been long taught not to question miracles.
"It is you." Annabeth said into his chest, her voice muffled.
Luke shushed her, his hand stroking her hair, comforting and relaxing her. Annabeth closed her eyes, and obeyed him. As more tears slipped, she smiled into the fabric of his shirt.
They stood there, swaying to the wind that couldn't seem to find a proper direction today. It was acting crazy, changing ways every other second, perhaps excited by the reunion by two lost souls, one quite literally and the other…just lost in the world.
It was quiet. Well, quiet as it could be in a restaurant. But it was quiet in Annabeth's world. But it was a nice quiet that she cherished with all of her heart. It was a quiet that let her stare into Luke's eyes, without it being awkward or strange, smiling widely as humanly possible. Today…today was the day that would change her life forever.
He grinned back at her, a smile that made Annabeth's heart leap hopefully. Gods, it had been too long. The lack of seeing Luke's smile was making all of the feelings she once had rush back again, too quickly. Much too quickly.
They had gone to a restaurant to talk, to catch up, to smile at each other again, and to just be together.
Luke had explained why he was back, why he was given the amazing opportunity to revive his life. Hades had made a deal with him, saying that Luke could come back to life as long he would agree to be aged as much as he would have if he hadn't died that day, so many years ago. He agreed, of course. There was still another catch – the next time he died, he would be sent to Tartarus to spend the rest of his eternity.
At this point, Annabeth had gasped, and hugged him tighter than she had before, and cried a little bit more. The tears were cleaned up by Luke's gentle fingers against her pale face.
"Why?" Annabeth cried out. "Why would you do that?
"To see you. To be with you again." He said softly.
All Annabeth wanted to do then was to embrace him as tightly as possible, to feel every crevice of his body against hers. But, no – that would be inappropriate.
So, she bit her lip and asked him another question to distract herself from the hypnotizing effects of his blue sky eyes. "Why did Hades…?"
"He thought I deserved another chance." Luke said softly, looking off into a distance, past Annabeth. "Apparently the gods on Olympus had been talking about it for a while. They didn't think it was my time to…you know, die then…they thought that I was capable to doing more in this world."
Annabeth had never loved the gods, even Hades, more.
"Well," Annabeth muttered, sliding one hand into his across the table. He looked at it for a second, and then grinned, squeezing it comfortingly. "I'm glad you're back."
"I was hoping that you would be."
Three hours later, on the top of the Statue of Liberty, the euphoria of finding Luke so unexpectedly still hadn't worn off of Annabeth. She continued to beam at him, her gaze never leaving his, even though the entirety of New York City in all of its glory was laid out before her. But the beauty of the city was nothing, nothing, compared to his.
They hadn't stopped holding hands since they had left the restaurant. They had walked, talked, laughed, and cried. And somewhere in the middle of all this, Annabeth felt flutters of a new love.
Percy had been lying on his bed for the past two hours. Sleep was avoiding him with its greatest effort, escaping him at every turn, even when he thought he had nearly caught it.
The room was dark, filled with a thick silence that crept into his ears and seemed to block out all noise from the outside world. Percy's eyes had adjusted so well to the pitch black darkness by now that he could see nearly everything in the room in perfect detail, with the help, of course, of the moonlight creeping in through the windows.
He had told Grover at around 8:30 that he was tired, and wished to go to sleep. Grover, accommodating to his friend's recent moods, simply shrugged and left the room with a sincere smile. He had gone to study with another friend.
Now Percy was alone. It was easier to brood about things.
He had sent the letter today, and they had told him that she probably wouldn't receive it until tomorrow or the day after. That just gave him more time to sulk about her, and worry about why she wasn't responding.
One reason he couldn't sleep was that he kept seeing her every time he shut his eyes. She was all he could think about. She just stood there, looking at him, kind of sadly, but the corners of her mouth still turned up into a small smile.
That was how she looked the last time he had seen her.
Percy sighed loudly, and turned over in his bed, now staring at the wall instead of the ceiling. He tucked one hand under the pillow, and closed his eyes once more.
Yes, she appeared. But he found if he ignored her for a while, she faded away. He also found that he longed for her to come back when she finally evaporated. Percy swallowed, and shut his eyes tighter. Finally, at 10:30, after two achingly slow hours, sleep came, dousing him in dreams, and a much-needed revitalization.
Immediately, Percy slipped into a dream, that didn't seem like a dream. It was too real. He could feel the cold wind of the air, seeing the thousands of lights that he immediately recognized as New York City – where Annabeth was. He was somewhere up high, on a large balcony of some kind. It took him a few seconds to realize that he was standing on a balcony of the Statue of Liberty. Percy furrowed his eyebrows, confused – why was he here?
He walked a little way, around the balcony. There was nobody here and –
But wait…a giggle, a deep laugh. Percy briskly turned another circular bend, and found that he was staring at the back of Annabeth's blonde hair.
She was laughing loudly, the lights of the city bouncing off of her gleaming hair. She turned her head for the slightest second, as if she had sensed his presence. Percy caught a glimpse of her eyes, bright and happier than he had ever seen her.
But why was she so happy?
Percy's gaze traveled downwards, and realized that her hand was entwined tightly in another's, someone he hadn't noticed yet. His eyes followed that same hand as it caressed Annabeth's face gently, as Percy had once done. It tucked a soft golden lock behind her ear, and then ran down her arms, tickling them like the wind.
Percy watched, motionless, expressionless as Annabeth willingly leaned forward, smiling, to touch her lips to Luke's.