Hey guys, this is the next one-shot.
Sorry for the delay I was suffering from writers block.
INNOCENT:
'I guess you really did it this time,
Left yourself in your warpath,
Lost your balance on a tightrope,
Lost your mind trying to get it back.
Wasn't it easier in your lunchbox days?
Always a bigger bed to crawl into,
Wasn't it beautiful when you believed in everything?
And everybody believed in you.
It's alright
Just wait and see your
Strings of lights are still bright to me oh
Who you are is not where you've been
You're still an innocent.'
He did it, he finally did it. He let his obsessive quest of revenge against the gods and more importantly his own Father take over him.
He hurt the people he called his family.
Somewhere along the way he had let himself go. He had lost himself.
She had never believed it. She had never wanted to believe it.
Her friends had tried to convince her but she had stubbornly held on. After a while all they did was shake their heads.
What did believing and clinging on to the one false hope that he was still the Luke Annabeth knew brought her?
Almost dying by being crushed with the weight of the world.
She saw what he had become for herself. She had pleaded, begged him to help her until she didn't have the energy anymore.
And what had he done?
Stared at her with his cold, unfeeling and unflinching eyes.
Whenever she closed her eyes she saw that face which was once warm and full of affection for her.
Once…
It was easier once, at the very most the worst thing you did was lose a game of capture the flag.
You could always crawl into your soft bed and let the warmth and safety lull you to sleep where everything would be alright and no one could hurt you.
It was true, you had lost most of your naivety when you found who you were and what was out there but there was a very small and miniscule part that still thought that you could still trust and believe in the people you shared your home and your life with.
It was beautiful that in a way that after all that we had been through we were still naïve enough to trust blindly.
Now everybody was suspicious of each other and the strong bonds we had created were being tarnished by seeds of mistrust and betrayal.
And it was all because of him.
He had changed, it was true but where he had been and what he had done didn't make him who he was.
He was still an innocent.
The campers that were once friendly and united were now wary, scattered and distrustful of each other.
However one thing bound them together.
Their hatred for the one responsible.
Luke.
But she didn't believe that, he had been manipulated and used in a way that had brainwashed him.
He was stubborn and it would take something drastic for him to realize that but it would be too little too late.
'Did some things you can't speak of,
And at night you live it all again.
You wouldn't be shattered on the floor now.
If only you had seen what you know now then.
Wasn't it easier in your firefly catching days?
Everything out of reach, someone bigger brought down to you
Wasn't it beautiful running wild till you fell asleep?
Before the monsters caught up to you.'
Annabeth went home that summer; her family was warming up to her and that itself felt like an achievement.
She spent most of her time in her room, pouring over designs for battle chariots and weapons.
She immersed herself into her plans and battle strategies; she knew what was coming and wanted to be prepared.
Her parents were wondering what was happening but didn't question her.
She would have to tell them soon enough.
The next time she leaves she might not come back.
She finally broke it to them.
There was silence from her father and a bout of tears from her stepmother.
They accepted it eventually and let her go.
He showed up one day.
He was looking a bit better but his eyes were the same, Cold and indifferent.
He began by telling her that Kronos was going to use him to get to Olympus and that he was afraid.
He wanted her to come with him and they would run away together.
She had almost believed it. But things were different now.
She bit her lip and steeled herself to say no.
She watched his face fall and his only hope being crushed.
He shook his head sadly and walked away and out of her life.
"Bye Luke" she whispered, "I'm sorry."
The only response was the whistling of the wind.
They were here, they were finally here.
They were at the end of the road.
The point where there would be only one side that would walk out alive.
She saw his face, twisted into an evil smirk with his eyes a glinting gold.
Blood was thundering in her ears and suddenly she knew what to do.
She took off and it was all over in a matter of minutes.
She lay there bleeding with him hovering over her, his eyes back to their beautiful blue.
In another matter of minutes he was the one lying there broken and shattered.
He had finally realized what had happened, it wouldn't have come to this if he had known sooner.
If he had known sooner he would have come back to her and none of this would have happened.
She was reminded of another time.
Luke scooped her up in his arms chasing a beautiful firefly with Thalia. It was luminescent in the evening sky, bobbing up and down as they chased it. A happy and content memory of their childhood with each other to escape the harsh reality of their lives. Running away together in the pursuit of the firefly they forgot their difficulties and it was almost magical in a sense.
A slight growl to the right alerted them and just like that the moment was over and they drew their weapons to face the threat.
She thought back to those times and came to a decision that those were the moments that defined him as a person and she wouldn't have had him any other way.
'It's alright
Just wait and see your
Strings of lights are still bright to me oh
Who you are is not where you have been
You're still an innocent.'