Luke (sequel to 'Say You'll Remember Me')

Chapter 3 Annabeth

She had been so young when they found her. The small girl with the stormy grey eyes and bright blonde hair surely couldn't have been much older than seven. Not that they would know, it took them nearly 3 weeks to learn her name. Annabeth. It seemed like a name more suited for a much older woman, but it fit the child just fine.

The other two members of the newly-formed trio, Luke and a rather rough looking girl named Thalia, didn't question why such a young girl was away from home with a knife. It's not like they could judge; their stories weren't that different.

Despite her severe lack of social skills, the young girl quickly proved to be a valuable asset to the team. She was capable of defending herself from minor attacks -a skill that greatly impressed Thalia- and was much better at begging than the two lanky preteens.

Eventually they got her to start talking, but even then, conversation was limited to one or two sentences. What little they got out of her taught then so much about her. The girl was a genius. Annabeth was equal to, or more advanced than both of her older companions.

It was evident that she preferred Luke to Thalia, always following him around, helping him set up camps, and volunteering to go on missions with him -a request that always denied to the girl. He grew to love her like a sister, and that might have been what made it all so hard.

He had been so scared in the building, so afraid that the cyclops was going to get her, that he was going to have to hear the sound as he killed the small, innocent child. He had been wrong then, that small child was the one who actually saved the day, but he wasn't wrong in the end. He had to hear it eventually.

He thought that they had gotten away, and for about a week they did. All of them were amazed by the scene Grover had painted for them. A place where they could live and be safe, a. place filled with kids like them. He had been more excited for Annabeth than for himself. He supposed that she had been cared for pretty well by Thalia and himself, but it wasn't enough, they had no business essentially raising a child, not when they were only children themselves. At the camp he was describing, she would be properly fed and watched over. Once they got there, he wouldn't have to worry about protecting her every second of the day, they could finally be safe. If only she had gotten to see it.

It was the cruelest thing he could have imagined happening. They had only been 10 miles away from camp when they realized they were being tracked,and they had been less than a mile away when they saw what was after them. It was the cyclops that Annabeth had defeated. He hadn't realized it at the time -his thoughts had probably been shrouded by fear- but it had been set up.

He had to have been chasing them since they left his warehouse, knowing exactly where they were heading. He wanted her to suffer, he wanted them all to suffer. And because of this spiteful plan, he almost lost it all; they were close, gods they were so close to making it to camp. Grover's sacrifice almost bought them enough time, but in the end it didn't matter. He saw the expression on the monster's face, the gleam in its hideous eye as he grabbed that girl, Luke heard it's evil laugh. The beast wanted her to see the camp, he wanted her get that sense of safety and freedom. The thing didn't want to see terror in her eyes, he wanted to see the futility and defeat. And he did.

That night, the cyclops won, and Luke lost. It was a loss Luke never got over, not even all those years later when he saw Annabeth again. That wasn't the Annabeth he had known. Yes, the cyclops really had won.