Bonus Chapter (Part 2)
You can definitely hate Luke. Even if you don't, he hates himself. I mean, after using your childhood friend for petty revenge, seems pathetic, right?
What revenge you ask?
When Luke was ten, his mother had a bad case of Schizophrenia, where we used to believe she was a prophet, and used to whisper crazy prophecies in his ear at midnight. She used to always imagine that Luke was his five-year-old self and baked cookies and pack juice boxes for him till he turned sixteen. Or at least he hopes she stopped. He hasn't visited her, not after Thalia died.
Since his dad was mostly over-seas, busy with his company, Luke was left to deal with his crazy mother. Even after he called him, his dad refused to leave his job. He yelled at Luke instead, telling him that he could at least show that he was a good son by taking care of his mother.
It's not a huge surprise that Luke ran away from home he was eleven. He took for the road, buying different clothes with the credit card his dad left him. No one really bothered to check it, so Luke took that and packed his clothes and hit the road. He started running, out of the locality and into an alley, where he met Thalia for the first time.
Thalia was …. unique. When Luke stumbled upon her, her hair was tangled up, and her shirt was slightly ripped in multiple places. She had scratches and dirt covering her face and arms. Yet she totally looked cool to Luke. In her black skinny jeans and green-day band tee, she looked so dominating and god-like, that if he wasn't holding on the wall, Luke would've probably fallen.
"What do you want?", was her first sentence to him.
"Umm, I'm running away from home. You?"
She turned her head away from him and started running. So, Luke began to chase after her. Naturally.
"Where are you going? What's your name? Why are you out and how did you get injured?"
Without a word his direction, the spiky black-haired kid continued to run till they arrived at a park. Once they reached the nearby bench, Thalia collapsed on it. Luke wasn't too far behind. After catching his breath, he asked to at least mention her name.
"Thalia. No last name. If you ask, I'm going to punch you. I'm also running away from home, and I got these injuries from trying to pet a stray cat, and accidently tumbled into pile of burnt wood."
Luke raised his eyebrow. "I never imagined someone could do that, but somehow it doesn't seem unnatural for it to be happening to you."
"Well, I'm no ordinary girl."
"Never crossed my mind. I'm Luke by the way, just Luke. Even I hate to be pegged down by unnecessary last-names."
"Nice to meet you Luke."
That was probably the first and last time Luke actually trusted someone and thought of them as his equal. The first and last time.
OoooO
After that incident, they hung out in the park, till someone came to collect Thalia. He came to know that she was indeed the Thalia Grace who had been through her parent's bad divorce, and was left in her alcoholic and drug-addict mother's care when her father refused to take her up. But only after hearing the man who came to pick her up, call her by her full name.
(It was also when he realized the full power behind names for celebrities).
Once the eight-year old girl, who he had come to enjoy the presence of, vanished out of sight, he trudged back. His mind kept replaying this one conversation they had.
"So, why'd you run away?", Thalia didn't hesitate to ask.
"My mom is diagnosed with Schizophrenia. She keeps repeating weird prophecies to me in the middle of the night. It's creepy. Plus, my dad refuses to be bothered by it. We have a helper, but she refuses to get too involved with our family. Makes sense", Luke laughed, "Avoid other's problems to reduce your own problems. I'd probably be like that lady."
"Don't Luke", Thalia's voice sounded alarmed. "Don't be like this. I ran away because my mom was getting on my nerves. She gets drunk or high and keeps repeating my brother's name. Keeps reminding me of how I lost him, of her divorce, how I'm not worth taking care of. But I made a promise to my brother to not give up on hope or faith. I'm not going to. I just ran away for just a day to get some space. Someone will come and get me eventually, but I'm still glad I made this attempt."
At that moment, Luke couldn't think of anything except for his gratitude to this ten-year old kid. She was his light in his darkness, and he wanted to be the same for her.
"Let's promise Thalia. I won't give up on my family, and try my best to make my life worth living. You promise not to give up on your brother or mom. Next time we meet, life will be ten times better. Let's be each other's family."
Thalia visibly brightened. "I promise", she smiled.
Somehow, Luke felt that he would've made that promise to her irrespective of their situation. She made him want to be better, which was rare for someone like him.
Once he returned, his mom continued to act the same, loading him with juice boxes and burnt cookies. But despite the bitter taste of dough, he still felt optimistic about his life. A few months later, his dad returned. He introduced Luke to the world of marketing, and tried to get Luke into advertisements for their products. It wasn't long before he got his first offer for a role.
He accepted.
OoooO
A few years after that, Luke was getting comfortable with his life as a budding actor, when he got a role to star in a film with an actress making her debut. Annabeth Minerva Chase, age seven, daughter of Athena Minerva Chase was someone everyone had high hopes from. She came to the set, properly dressed and greeted everyone sweetly. Her sickly honey sweetness made everyone fall in love with her. Everyone, including Thalia Grace, who came to observe the film.
Thalia would not stop gushing about how adorable Annabeth was. She was killing him! Luke absolutely hated his co-star. She appeared so superficial to him, it made him want to retch rainbows and candy-canes.
But because he didn't want to ruin his friendship with Thalia, he asked the blonde to spend time with them. Slowly but steadily, Annabeth grew on him too. She opened up about her family issues, and her irritation towards her mother as well, and eventually the three of them became somewhat of a parental-issue trio.
To be honest, Luke never saw her as anything but a sister, but Thalia refused to get any closer to him. She would always stick around Annabeth like glue. So, Luke endured Annabeth a bit more.
When he was sixteen, Thalia had just turned fifteen. By then, Luke was sure of his romantic feelings towards the black-haired teen. He wanted to confess to her, but Thalia had always ignored him, and refused to get any closer to Luke, calling him a 'brother' or a 'friend'. So, Luke was pushed to the edge.
In didn't help matters that his mother was admitted to a mental asylum, and his dad blamed it all on him. He cracked, and called Thalia under the fake pretense of meeting Annabeth and him. Once she arrived, Luke confessed and asked her to date him. However, Thalia refused. So, without thinking, Luke tried to make advances on her, and roughly held her. Thalia attacked back and ran away; however, she took a wrong cab (the driver was clearly drunk), and met with an accident that took her life with it.
Luke always blames himself for it. If only he thought things through. If he listened or stopped her from entering the cab. But she didn't trust him, and if she didn't trust him, how could he trust himself.
With Thalia gone, their promise broke and Luke succumbed to the darkness within himself. He also came to know that she had finally reunited with her brother and started staying with her dad.
But then he wondered what his stupid actions bought. He hated himself for the answer.
OoooO
After that, irrespective of what anyone said or did, Luke never saw anyone differently. In his eyes, there was a huge cross in front of everyone's face. He started blaming Annabeth for Thalia's death, just to ease his guilt a little. If only she didn't steal Thalia from him, maybe things would've been different today.
So, he decided to make her pay. He pretended to be close to her, just so she would let her guard down in front of him. That was the easiest, because he knew Annabeth had a crush on him. With this information in mind, he convinced Annabeth that she only had him, and soon she fell for him bad. They began dating, and since Luke was wealthy and influential, Annabeth's mother supported their relationship. Soon, people started speculating about their relationship (like how they should marry, etc.), and that's when Luke decided to attack. He knew Annabeth couldn't tell people about how her best-friend and super-sweet lover hurt her. Plus, her mother loved him, which was an added bonus.
He used her physically, all the while thinking of Thalia. He hurt her, thinking about he was punishing her about what she did to Thalia. But he didn't understand.
Why didn't he feel better afterwards? He got his revenge, but why was his heart not satisfied?
OoooO
After a few more years of dating, both of them were reaching their limits. Luke couldn't care less if Annabeth was alive or dead. He was consumed with guilt and pain. He developed a split personality disorder, where he could feel his two different natures whisper to him.
Annabeth in turn sought out comfort from her best-friend Piper. When he thought nothing could affect him, Annabeth used her stupid smart-ass and started retaliating in a manner that made her seem like the victim. People obviously supported her. That was when Luke ran away. His situation drastically worsened, and his one personality made him hate himself so much that he had unbearable days where he felt low and depressed.
He went back to old house (but not home-you aren't afraid of your home). He would just sit around somedays, other days he would roam around aimlessly. His dad stopped interacting with him once he was legally an adult, and Luke couldn't give two shits about it. He was lonely, and along with his split personality disorder, he started seeing Thalia at times.
He was seriously screwed.
However, that was when he met another beautiful soul like Thalia. Reyna was his second savior. She was a doctor specializing in Psychology. She met him in a bar near his house, and immediately found out about his condition. She said, and I quote- "How long do you want to be in pain. Side with the one who gives you most pain. That way you'll get your punishment and your suffering will stop."
After receiving small treatments from her, he found out that Reyna was the reason why Thalia couldn't love Luke. She was Thalia's classmate, and they began dating when she was fifteen. However, where Luke had to suffer through so much, Reyna didn't hold any grudge towards anyone as such. She was just grateful to have met a lively soul like Thalia when she was in the dumps.
That was the point where Luke couldn't live with himself. He felt betrayed by Reyna for stealing Thalia from him, betrayed that Thalia didn't tell him. He just wanted to feel powerful like he did when he was with Annabeth. To see her whimper and cry in front of him gave him a mental satisfaction, if nothing and he'd take that over his constant suffering. It is said after all, that 'something is better than nothing'.
So, he contacted Zeus, asked for a role. Due to his influential position, and wealth, Zeus couldn't turn him down.
That's him so far. A man suffering and seeking out a place to receive some peace.
In his mind, and his mind only, a last chance at reprieve.
So, I know this story turned dark real fast, but I truly feel that this turn explains Luke mentality perfectly (in this story). After all, every Villain turns bad due to a particular situation. What better situation here than a rejected and broken heart.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter. This story will probably end after another five to six more chapters. If you liked this story, please check out my other works.
Thanks,
PercabethRox2435
