Previously in Half Blood High

"Hello? Her voice was all scratchy.

"Annabeth! It's Thalia. I'm at the hospital. I found Luke. Come. Now." And then the line went dead.

"Oh my gods. Thalia! What happened?" Annabeth skidded to a stop. Thalia was pacing nervously with a tear-streaked face, in front of a giant door that probably led to an emergency surgery room. Her mascara made her look like a scary raccoon. Normally, Annabeth would've teased her.

"Thank the gods you're here! OMFG." Thalia put her hands on her face, breathing fast.

"What's wrong? Tell me Thalia!" Annabeth almost shouted.

Thalia looked sadly at Annabeth.

"Let's sit down first." Thalia almost whispered.

"Thals… you're scaring me. Just say it."

"So after you told me that Luke was missing, I was all like 'ah he's probably just on one of his dumb getaways'. But then when he was gone for 7 days, I was pretty nervous too. So I needed to find him." Thalia took a deep breath. "Luke used to tell me a lot of things back when we were closer. Things he couldn't tell you because you were younger than us."

Annabeth gave her a small encouraging nod, trying to process.

"You know how he and his dad fought right?"

"Yeah. He told me that his dad was leaving him and his mom for another woman."

"Well. That wasn't the whole story." Thalia closed her eyes. "Hermes left them because Aunt May was driven into insanity." Annabeth's eyes widened. "Luke never found out why, but one day, he came home and his mother thought he was 5 again and spoke in an eerie voice, always talking about his future. Hermes bailed on them because apparently it was too much to handle or something. And that broke Luke."

Annabeth looked up at Thalia, with tears in her eyes too. "What?"

"Luke was 10 when that happened. He was freaked out and basically an orphan. He had to take care of his mentally unstable mother and worry about paying taxes. At 10 years old. Can you imagine that? So Luke told me that after 8th grade, he started finding ways to escape from his harsh reality." Thalia wiped a tear with the back of her hand. "He would run away from home and stuff. And once I confronted him about it. It took years, but he finally told me that he was involved with these gangs and stuff. Drug dealing and that sort of thing. He needed something to provide for his insurance of living. But then he was sent to more dangerous jobs and then… And then today… he… he…"

The girls stared at each other. Then Thalia finished "He was slashed by someone in the gangs."

"AND YOU DIDN'T TELL ME ANYTHING ABOUT HIS PAST? YOU KNEW? AND YOU LET ME THINK HE WAS CHEATING ON ME?" Annabeth shouted, blinking the tears. "Poor Luke! He was just stressed and afraid and abused and taken advantage of. Oh my gods. Why didn't I ever try to find out? Omg." Annabeth slumped over in her seat. "Sorry. I'm not mad at you. I'm just upset and scared…"

"I know. I'm sorry too." Thalia held Annabeth tightly against her small frame. "And I actually understand Luke. Why he would do these things. My situation was similar, but at least I had my brother and dad." She pulled away. "Annabeth, when I found him laying in the middle of an Alleyway in New York, I was horrified. I don't know how I found him exactly, but when I saw him, he was all cut up and bloody and almost disfigured… I guess this is how he got his eye scar. Oh my gods. Poor Luke."

"And when I found him and waited for the ambulance next to him, I asked him about the cheating thing… Apparently, that night, when you called, he was in the middle of a suicide attempt. The groans you heard was probably from his wounds. He was cutting himself. I saw the slashes on his arms. Annabeth, they were horrible! Luke cut, tried to drug himself and the police even found rope where he tried to hang himself."

Thalia burst into tears.

And Annabeth felt like shiz.

•

Thalia had gone to sleep, and Luke was still in surgery. Annabeth was sitting there, eyes swollen, thinking.

Looks certainly are deceiving. On the outside, Luke looked like a strong kid. He was popular, athletic, smart, charming… but no one knew he was hurting so much inside.

Annabeth choked back the tears again.

He even tried to kill himself.

Annabeth gave up. She let her tears fall like waterfalls.

Ever so often, her thoughts drifted her over to Percy. She needed him. Especially now.

So she called him.

"Annabeth!"

"Percy." Her voice quivered.

"I heard about Luke." Percy's voice said quietly.

"Please come. I need you here, Percy. I'm sorry! I'm sorry for the way I snapped at you today. I didn't mean it. I didn't mean it. I'm sorry. Forgive me. Please! I need you Percy." She let out a huge sob.

"It's okay, Annabeth. I'm so sorry too. I'll come right away."

Annabeth sobbed. She was a horrible person. She accused Luke wrongly, was rude and snapped at Percy, called him names, stormed off, freaked out on him, ignored his feelings… and yet, Percy was still willing to come to her rescue in the middle of the night. For two people who were the cause to his pain.

•

Annabeth had fallen asleep for a couple minutes, but she heard footsteps. Lot's of footsteps. She snapped her head up and saw the entire gang. Grover, Katie, Juniper, Silena, Beckondorf, and the Stoll brothers were all here. But the only person Annabeth really saw was Percy. She bolted up and ran straight into him, hugging him tight, letting her tears flow again.

He squeezed her body softly and buried his face into her hair, and that was all Annabeth needed from Percy.

•

"… in surgery." Thalia had woken up and filled them in with the story again. Percy closed his eyes.

"Gods, that's horrible." Beckondorf said forlornly. "I can't believe I ever called him a douche. I feel like crap now."

"Sh… honey, you didn't know. None of us really knew." Silena took his hand gently.

"When do we get to see him?" Connor asked quietly.

"I don't know…" Annabeth whispered. Percy held her tightly, making Annabeth feel safer.

"I'm so sorry this happened." Percy murmured and tucked a strand of hair behind Annabeth's ear.

•

-Hours later-

"Excuse me. Castellan Party?"

The group shot up together.

"I have some very unfortunate news for you." The doctor looked straight into their eyes. "Even though the patient—"

"The patient has a name you know." Thalia snapped, clearly, upset and tired from the lack of sleep and the crying.

"Even though Mr. Catellan finished surgery 3 hours ago, Mr. Castellan is very unstable, even after the surgery. He will not make it. These will be his last hours. His injuries were too severe, including all the abuse he has given to his own body, wearing his systems down. I have been informed that he has no family members, so I suggest when you visit him—"

But before he could finish, the 10 kids pushed past and entered Luke's room.

All Percy could hear was the slow beeps from the heart rate moniter next to….Luke. Percy was almost afraid to look at Luke again. His face was all cut up and bruised. His breath caught in his throat and he felt Annabeth squeeze his hand.

"Luke." Annabeth was the first to speak.

His eyelids opened weakly. "Annie." Annabeth sobbed. "I'm sorry. I've been a jerk to you—"

"Shhhh. No. Luke it's alright. You are an amazing person. And you're loved. By all of us." She took his hand and showed him the people in the room. Luke's dry lips cracked into a weak smile.

"'Sup guys."

"Hey." Beckondorf said. Taking Luke's other hand. "I'm so sorry dude."

"Shut up guys. Don't treat me like a freaking dead person. I'm not dead yet." Luke managed to joke.

"You're an idiot."

"Great, your last words to me shall be that Thals." Luke said weakly.

"I love you, Luke." Thalia whispered. Luke sighed.

"Annabeth."

"Yeah?"

"Do you… do you love me?"

Annabeth looked at Percy. Percy nodded and herded the people out of the room, to give Luke and Annabeth some space.

After they had shut the door, Annabeth leaned closer to Luke. "I love you Luke. I love you so much. But I realized that our love is a sibling love. Luke, you were like a brother to me. Thank you for always being there for me."

"Wow. Friend zoned on my deathbed. " Luke joked again. Annabeth teared up again and kissed his hand, feeling his cuts on his wrist.

"I'm sorry." She whispered.

"But I know you're in good hands. With… with Percy." Luke breathed out. "Annabeth. Take care."

He closed his eyes and Annabeth heard the monitor beep faster. And faster.

And then it stopped.

I hope I brought someone to tears not just Thalia and Annabeth!

I bet NONE OF YOU SAW THIS COMING HEHEHEEEEE MHMMMMM YAHHHHHH ADMIT IT!

TBH guys, I don't hate Luke. I'm sorry if some of yall are all voodoo wall boohoo on him but he was turned evil because of something else. Luke died an honorable, loving friend.

And now, PERCABETH may commence! RIP Luke