Disclaimer: I'm not Rick Riordan, I don't own Percy Jackson.
Luke
I found Annabeth in the same place. The same place she always was on this day. The anniversary of Thalia's death. "Hey, Luke," she said wearily. I could hear a quiver in her voice, as if she was about to cry.
"Hey."
"I was just telling Thals about everything that's happening at Camp. Just training, training, training," she sighed, her voice laced with bitterness.
"At least you didn't have to go on a quest," I said, trying to make her feel better.
Instead, she just seemed worse, "Yeah. I'm just going to keep training until college and then I'll meet my first monster, totally unprepared and just die. Unremembered. Unknown."
"Don't talk like that Annie," I reprimanded.
"You're lucky, you know. You've met your dad. You've gone on a real quest. You've actually fought monsters." I didn't see how any of that made me lucky, but she continued. "I wonder what she's like. My mom. I've never met her, never even seen her. All I know about her is from books." For some reason, that struck a chord with me. With what Kronos was saying. Annabeth was so young. So young, yet she was thrust into this world at an even younger age. How was that fair? This needs to change.
That night, he came into my dreams again, but before he could speak, I said, "I agree with you now. Tell me your plan."
I could almost see him smile, "I am glad you have finally seen sense young one. Now, listen carefully..."
Everyone was asleep. Good. That was exactly what I needed. Quietly putting on my clothes, I checked that no one was watching. Lord Kronos had ensured that everyone would be asleep, but you can never be too careful. Finally, I pulled on my black hoodie. Ready to go.
After months of planning and obsessing over every past detail, tonight was the night. I could almost hear my lord's voice egging me on. This was everything I ever wanted. Revenge on the gods. Glory for half-bloods. A better life for me and Annabeth. We could finally live without being hunted all the time. Kronos was cleverer and stronger than the gods. With the demigods on our side we would surely win. There was no doubt about that so why was I hesitating? Because there was another voice, one much more like Thalia, telling me to stop. To think about what I'm doing. Was revenge on the gods worth doing something bad? Would this really bring a glory to half-bloods? Was starting a war going to be better for Annabeth? Kronos might be using me just like the gods. The two voices argued back and forth, back and forth until I was sick of it. "Just shut up!" I mentally told them. "I'm doing this." For what could be the last time, I looked around at the sleeping demigods in the room. Friends, family that may die in this war. It's for the good of all of us, pulsed through me like a mantra. That was the only thing that was keeping me going with this plan. When my eyes landed on Annabeth, I paused.
"I have to do this Annie. I hope you'll understand. This is for you and I'm sorry if - if anything goes wrong," I whispered, needing to say that even if she couldn't hear me. No more delays now. It was time to go.
Slowly, I crept through the long halls of Olympus to the throne room. Lord Kronos has used all of the power he could muster to mask me from their defences. I took one small step inside. Nothing happened. I wasn't blasted by lightning, or turned into a giant peacock or anything else. Assured that Kronos' spell had worked, I ventured further into the throne room and picked up the helm from the pathetic little chair the gods had deigned to give Hades. Of course, a pathetic little chair by godly standards was still vaster than anything I had seen off Olympus. Once I had picked up the helm, which sent tremors of darkness through me so strong that I almost dropped it, I advanced further towards the very end of the throne room I knew that the room itself was massive, but it felt even longer as I flinched at every noise lest someone come to see what I was doing. Kronos had promised me that everybody would be fast asleep, but my thieving instincts reminded me to always be careful nevertheless. I reached down towards the long cylinder and as soon as I touched the bolt a wave of energy coursed through me. The game had begun and we'd just moved the first piece.
