A/N: This is the one that was intended for a couple of days ago but, obviously, I changed my mind. Hopefully this one has a lighter tone than that one, although I'm not sure if it can be classed as happy exactly.

ABC-123-ZYX-987: I cannot thank you enough for all the reviews you gave me. Sorry for making you cry a couple of times although that's kind of the point... I'm glad you love the story and thought some of the chapters were cute and adorable and your review to chapter 5 really made my day. As an answer to your question: I ship both. Solangelo is my OTP. They are so cute together I adore them. But I also really like shipping Reyna and Nico, even though I find it doubtful that either of them are straight. Oh well.

For the eighth day of FanFiction, I give to you...

Family

The monsters had come for her. Annabeth gripped her hammer tight in her tiny fist and curled into as small a ball as possible. The aluminium sheet she hid under quivered and clanked for, despite her best efforts to quell it, she trembled with cold and fear. There was nothing she could do to prevent the monsters from finding her although they didn't look like any other monsters she'd seen. They looked like her. Annabeth didn't have time to ponder this, however, before her protection was yanked sharply away from her.

Annabeth launched herself towards them, flailing her hammer wildly. The tall blond one seized her wrist and her makeshift weapon fell away across the stone. She struggled in his grasp but he was much stronger than she. Annabeth quivered in fear for the black-haired girl held a monstrous weapon.

"Put it away Thalia. You're scaring her."

The head vanished into a bracelet and Annabeth released a breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding. The boy released her wrist and crouched down to her height. He told her that his name was Luke and the girl was called Thalia. He told her how smart she must be and handed her a beautiful bronze knife. He said that it was much more effective than a hammer and how it was only for the quickest and smartest of all fighters. She beamed at his praise and made him promise that he wouldn't take her back to her family. He laughed.

"We'll be your family now, Annabeth. I promise."

Annabeth felt seven again, but this time the roles were reversed. This time it was Luke who she was talking to and reassuring. This time she was the one with the cursed dagger and he was the one taking it. She still felt the same fear she had when she had thought Thalia and Luke were monsters but, this time, it was fear for Luke and not for herself.

The others thought that Luke was actually a monster trapped in a human's body, but she knew different. She knew that the real Luke was still in there somewhere, that he just needed reminding of who he was. Which is why, with gasping breaths, Annabeth called out to the human inside of the monster.

"Family, Luke. You promised."

The dagger was gone. Annabeth could sense it even before she checked. Her last promise of family, washed away by the dark despair of the a Cocytus.

She wanted to sit on the shore and howl with rage and anguish, but she knew that wasn't an option. She just wished that there had been some way for her to keep it. It may have been a reminder of a broken promise and all that had happened since, but it was still family.

Annabeth looked up and saw Percy standing over her. His eyes were dark with sadness and he looked weary to the core. He slumped down next to her and lay his head on her shoulder. She smiled. He had come all this way into Tartarus to stay with her. Maybe she had found a new family in Percy.

Still, Annabeth afforded one last glance down the Cocytus to mourn the family she had lost before turning to confront her new one.

On the shores of the Styx, a young man with blond sandy hair wondered. He had made it into Elysium but still he felt lost and alone. He sat down to brace himself against the flood of memories when he saw a glint of bronze in the water.

Luke watched its progress down the river with mild interest until it was washed onto the sand. He felt a strange pang of sadness inside him as he beheld the object done got up and wandered to where it lay. He picked it up and only needed a glance at its familiar shape to know what it was. Just like the waters before him, the memories rushed in to him.

A tiny girl with blonde hair.

An older girl with black hair.

The three of them together, laughing, joking, running, fighting.

A blade of bronze.

A promise of family.

Luke staggerd backwards, almost dropping the knife into the swift river. He cradled it tightly in his hands and held it close to his no longer bearings heart. It meant so much to him to have it back again, but it also made him sad. Annabeth must have dropped it somewhere or cast it away; maybe she no longer wanted to be reminded of him and what he had done. But, no, that wasn't something Annabeth would do.

He decided he would keep it safe, until he could one day return it to her and fix the promise of family he had broken so long ago.

A/N: How was it? Sorry it was late and I won't be able to do the next one until tomorrow either. Oops. The next one will be another new story based on The Hunger Games. Thank you all so much for reading this, please review, and I will (probably) update soon. Bye!