Short Percy Jackson Fanfic: Luke Learns About Annabeth

These are two selections from a very short story about Luke Castellan and others in Elysium  I was planning to write but haven't gotten around to.  The first one is the beginning, from right after The Last Olympian, and the other would be closer to the end of the short story, after The Mark of Athena.

 

Zoe sat near the edge of the Blessed River, listening to her sisters tell her about all that had happened since she’d died.  It had been over a year they said.  Strange, it seemed longer than that, and yet shorter at the same time.  There had been a battle for Olympus not days ago, and that was what had sent so many of them here.  She found that she wasn’t sad that so many of the huntresses had died.  They had died well, in defense of their lady and her home, and the Lady Artemis had seen to it that they had all been sent to Elysium.  Now, they were reunited, and all she could think of was how glad she was to have them here with her. 

There were many demigods arriving in Elysium as well.  They were gathered not far from where the former huntresses sat, those that had previously died, meeting those that had only just come.  It was a happy gathering, and even though they were demigods, Zoe couldn’t help but smile watching them.

Then her smile faltered.  She recognized the one that had just come.  Tall, well built, and, she had to admit, handsome, with a scar on the left side of his face.  He had been there when she died.  He was the one who had helped the Titans imprison Artemis.  He hung back from the other demigods, looking somewhat like a whipped dog that expected its master to return any moment.  When the other demigods noticed him, they all stopped speaking and a heavy silence fell.  Some turned away, walking farther into Elysium, several ignored him, and a few approached him, and spoke to him in tones too low for Zoe to hear what was said.  He looked confused, as if he couldn’t believe he was here, and wasn’t sure he’d stay.  One of the demigods seemed to be trying to convince him to go further into the realm with him.  The scarred boy refused.  Then, with all the new arrivals in, the crowd of demigods broke up, leaving only the hesitant one.

He is right to be hesitant, Zoe thought.  After what he did to the lady Artemis.  She’d heard a lot of other things he’d been doing since then as well.  Had the gods made a mistake in sending him here? 

She stood, and strode up to him.  “How, by Olympus, did you get here?”

 

“You tell him.”

“Oh no, I’m not telling him.”

“Well somebody needs to.  He’d want us to tell him.”

“Well I don’t want to be the one that has to do it.”

“Cease your bickering,” Zoe snapped, standing.  “I will tell him.”

No one said anything else as she left the building.  No one was sure how the news had come to them.  In Elysium, they only received news from the outside from newly dead souls, and they never heard anything from the other realms of the dead.  But this was big enough that somehow it had rippled through the entire underworld and gotten to them.  She wasn’t sure who had heard it first; she had learned of it from Jodi, a girl who had been a daughter of Hermes and Cabin Councilor at Camp Half-Blood before she was killed by a Cyclops.  She was the one who had called this meeting.

Zoe walked through the streets of Elysium city and out into the surrounding country.  She wasn’t sure where she would find him, but she half hoped it would take some time.  Unfortunately, it did not.  The first place she decided to look was in the large meadow, just outside of the orchard, where many of Elysium’s residents enjoyed spending time.  And there he was, sprawled in the grass under a tree, relaxing in its shade. 

Zoe took a breath and looked around.  There was no one else nearby, none that she could see at all. 

I suppose that is best, she thought, smoothing out her shirt while she tried to think of how she would begin. 

But then he saw her.  He sat up on his elbows and flashed her a grin that cut into her.  That grin that had annoyed her at first, then intrigued her, and now could melt her, and make her often solemn face return the smile.  But not this time. 

He’s happy now.  Will that make this worse or easier to bear?   She decided that it didn’t matter, this was going to be incredibly difficult either way.  You have to tell him.

She squared her shoulders and walked over to him.

“Hey,” he said, “what’s up?”  He reached up and took hold of her arm, trying to pull her down to sit next to him. 

She resisted, jerking her arm away and taking a step back. 

His expression clouded and he sat up the rest of the way.  “What’s wrong?”

Zoe took a breath, finding that she couldn’t look him in the face.  “Luke, something has happened.”

He stood, now concerned.  “What is it?”

“Annabeth,” she started, then made herself look him in the eye, trying to make her voice a little firmer.  “Annabeth fell into Tartarus.”

“What?”

“They were on a quest, and somehow she fell in through the upper world.”

He look away, his breath starting to come rapidly, and shook his head. 

Zoe took a step towards him, searching her mind for anything she could possibly say to him, anything to make this easier for him.

Then, suddenly, he turned and started to run.  Somehow, she knew what he was thinking.

“Luke no,” she said, starting to sprint after him.  “Luke, you can’t.  They won’t let you leave.”

If he heard, he wasn’t listening; he just kept running, but Zoe was a huntress, and she soon caught up to him.  She put her arms around his shoulders, across his chest, trying to hold him back.

“No, Zoe!” he said, struggling against her. “Let me go!  Let me go to her.  It should be me down there.  Not her.  Let me go.”

 His struggling weakened and he let himself fall to his knees.  Zoe tightened her arms around him as she let herself down as well, resting her cheek on his shoulder blade. 

“Let me go,” he said his voice breaking, but she could tell this time he didn’t mean it.   He went to his hands and knees, digging his fingers into the dirt, as the tears came.  Deep, gut wrenching sobs that wracked his entire body. 

Zoe found tears misting her own eyes, as she knelt there with her arms around him, shaking as he shook, her own heart breaking over his pain.  She knew how much he loved Annabeth, how much guilt he still had for the promise to her he had broken.  She wished with everything in her that there was something, anything she could say that would help him.  But she could not, so she simple remained there with him, hoping that at least her presence might be some comfort, so that at least he didn’t have to be alone in his grief.