A Returned Hero

         PART OF HER — a very strong part of her wanted to run to him. wanted to tackle him and throw her arms around him, and welcome him home. the rest of her? she wanted to kill him. she wanted to tackle him and beat him until her hands were covered in his blood. she wanted to do things so dark, that she scared herself thinking such awful things.           she wasn’t sure which part would take over when she was standing in front of him. one of many reasons she’s been avoiding him.            she almost turns around and says ‘no. i don’t think that’s a good idea.’    but she stood her ground and turned to face him.           “ okay. ” was all that she said.

    In truth, Luke felt like his heart was in his throat. He didn’t know what to expect from Annabeth, he knew full well that he’d betrayed her trust and the ideal of family that he’d clung to for so long. It didn’t matter why he’d done what he did, it had still been the wrong thing to do, and he knew that now. All he wanted was to apologize to the people he’d hurt the most. “I know it won’t matter that I say it, but I’m sorry, Annabeth. What I did wasn’t the right way to do things, and I know I hurt you.”

An enthusiastic nod precedes her next words. “Exactly! I knew you’d understand!” So that may be a lie, but she’s turning and walking before she can dwell on it. Or, at least, she was…until, in such a typical ‘airhead blonde’ way that it makes her cringe, Eris runs right into the wall. “…Um, don’t mind me, sorry.” and she’s going to ignore that the hand she raised to her head has come away red, thank you very much.

   Luke stared at her for a moment, wincing as she came in contact with the wall. After a moment, he stood and made his way over to Eris to make sure that she was indeed alright, a light sigh escaping him. Blue eyes spotted the dark color on her hand, “Go get that checked out, don’t need you to have a head injury.”

Percy was in fact caught off guard. “Well it doesn’t seem she is here”He said slowly. He simply could not look away from Luke. “How?”He asked simply. “How are you back….”

   The question was understandable, but Luke didn’t really know how to explain it. One moment he’d been in the Underworld, and the next he’d found himself back in camp with Hero. “Your sister would be better at explaining it, best I can do is, she accidentally brought me back.”

“Thank you, Luke. I appreciate it, really, I do.” So what if she has a bright pink blush covering her cheeks, for the simple fact that he’s allowed her this minor thing? It’s not at all a sign of the kind of ridiculous crush she has on him, definitely not.

   A brow raised at the dusting of color across her cheeks, but beyond that, he was quick to ignore it. “It’s fine. I get it, have to walk around on land at some point. Don’t need anyone getting sick when we’ve got a job to do.” 

“I’ve just been feeling a bit…um, seasick, I guess? And I was hoping we could stop at the next port, or something.”

   He looked up at Eris for a moment, then gave a nod. “That’s fine. I’m sure I can come up with something for us to stop for. Get more supplies.”

“I’d prefer it if you were a little curious, yes. Concern would be a bit too much, I assume, but we still need to talk.”

   “What is going on?”

Starter Call

Kritter. 

“I can’t go back there, I can’t…”