Note to self: Stop writing Percy Jackson fan-fictions.

Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Rick Riordan the evil genius does.

Luke approached the house with hesitation.

He hadn't seen Annabeth since she had tried to stop Thalia from killing him. He figured, since she had screamed his name out, he must hate him less than Thalia did. It made him guilty to think of Annabeth and Thalia, now. He had been convinced that Thalia, at least, would be on his side, against the Olympians. She would support him and maybe even convince Annabeth to join Kronos. After all, what had the gods ever done for either of them?

Nothing. That's what. Not a measly blessing or bit of help sent their way from the gods. Luke and Thalia had spent days together, before Annabeth joined them, cursing the gods. Luke had been serious. Turned out that Thalia still wanted her father's approval. It didn't matter that he didn't care about her. Not to her.

Luke studied the white house in front of him. It suited Annabeth. White, plain, spacious and practical. Everything a daughter of Athena could want, all in one home. Except a loving family, of course. How had Annabeth let herself move back into her father's house, after all that had happened between the two of them? Luke knew the answer of course. Percy fucking Jackson had happened.

Luke had never liked the boy, finding him too trusting, too powerful, too loyal, too unpredictable and just too everything. He hadn't liked how Grover and Annabeth seemed to like him better than they had ever liked Luke. Which was too much for Luke because well, they were his friends first.

Luke mentally punched himself for thinking something so childish.

Luke still cared about his friends. Annabeth, Thalia, and Grover. It was still a reflex to protect the three of them. Just as it had been from the moment they met.

So he didn't know how protecting those three wasn't his thing to do, but it was Percy Jackson's thing. Luke's job was to hurt them and betray them further and convince them that the Luke they used to know was gone.

Maybe that's why he wanted to talk to Annabeth. To convince her that he was still there. The old Luke. The one that could get her to blush and not know what to say. He had always known about her crush on him. He'd always assumed that it would go away- that their relationship was platonic. He'd never realized that he like the attention from her, even if he didn't feel the same way(she was seven years younger than him and Thalia...). But now, it seemed characteristic for Annabeth Chase to blush around Percy Jackson, give him attention, get jealous of other girls over him but she would glare at Luke.

Of course Luke had noticed it. He wasn't blind or oblivious. He could see Annabeth's crush on the sea spawn. Everyone could. Even Silena had mentioned it to him. And by the way Percy tagged onto a quest that he wasn't supposed to be on in the first place, just to help save Annabeth, he was pretty sure he returned Annabeth's feelings.

Something Luke had never done. Maybe that was the difference between what Luke had done for her, and what Percy was doing for her. Luke had promised everything and given her nothing permanent. Percy had promised nothing but given her everything anyways.

Percy seemed to better than Luke at everything concerning those three. He gave Annabeth a life with her real family (not to mention someone to crush on). He gave Grover a best friend and someone who would encourage him. He gave Thalia a good sparring partner and more importantly, someone who understood being a child of the Big Three.

Percy wasn't anything like Luke. But he took Luke's place anyways and did Luke's job better than Luke. It pissed Luke off.

All that was going through Luke's mind just before he knocked on Annabeth's door.

He heard loud screams in the house. They came from two blond twin boys who couldn't be more than ten years old. They seemed to be playing a very intense game of soccer. With a stuffed soccer ball. Kids. So innocent.

And then, he heard Annabeth's voice.

"Be quiet! I'm trying to concentrate. Bobby! Matthew!" she exclaimed.

"Sorry, Annabeth."

"Can't you concentrate in your room? We're playing here, sis!"

The fact that Annabeth's half-brothers felt comfortable enough to call her 'sis' somehow pissed Luke off enough to give him the courage to ring the doorbell.

It's not that Luke wanted Annabeth to be miserable but... wait, that's exactly what he wanted. He wanted his family with her and Thalia to be better than this family with her father, stepmom, and half-brothers. He wanted her to hate it here. She might listen to him, forgive him, and come with him if she hated her family.

A pretty, Asian middle-aged woman with red highlighted hair tied in a bun opened the door. Not exactly how he had imagined Annabeth's stepmom to look like, but he figured this was better than the monster he'd pictured.

"Hello," Annabeth's stepmom said with a smile. "Can I help you?"

Luke tried not to scowl. He remembered all of the nasty words Annabeth had used to describe her evil step-mom. He tried to not spit out a string of insults and keep his calm demeanor intact. He had business here. He needed to get in and out of this conversation without majorly screwing things up. The past couple of years had been one major screw up after another, though, so Luke wasn't too sure this conversation would go well.

"Could I please see Annabeth?" he said in a forced polite tone.

"Of course, I'll call her," she said. She called into the house.

"Annabeth! There's someone here to see you!"

"Yeah, I'm coming mom."

To say Luke was shocked would be a complete understatement. 'Mom'? Annabeth called her stepmom 'mom' now? What had happened the two years that he was gone from her life? What had happened to that angry little girl who had spat out insults towards her family? The girl who said she'd never forgive them? The girl who said that they weren't her family anymore?

"I'm sorry, I didn't get your name." Annabeth's stepmom's words interrupted his angry thought line.

"It's Luke," he said in a tight voice. "Luke Castellan."

He normally didn't mention his last name. Feeling the connection to his mortal, insane mother. He supposed that when she wasn't raving about his fate, she was a good mom. Nice, paid attention to him and loved him unconditionally. He tried not to think about that though. He felt gulty for leaving when he thought about that.

Annabeth's stepmom nodded, smiling and entered her house. Annabeth appeared at the door. She was wearing a gray sweatshirt and blue jeans, with her hair tied back. She looked so normal, ordinary. You would have never guessed that she was the demigod daughter of Athena.

"Carrie, you could have just- Luke?"

"Hey, Annabeth," he said with a forced smile.

She stared blankly at him, "What are you doing here?" Her voice was hesitant, cautious. She was tense, prepared for a fight. He could tell she wanted to get straight to the point and not beat around the bush.

Luke had other things he wanted to talk about, though, before they got down to business.

"Who's Carrie?"

She looked startled, "That's none of your-"

"A mortal friend, I guess. Who would have thought, Annabeth Chase, make friends with mortals? She seems to have changed as much as I have."

"Luke-"

"And calling her stepmom 'mom'. Anyone told me that a few years ago, I would have thought them insane."

Annabeth pursed her lips, "I've made up with her. She felt bad for what happened, and things have gotten a lot better Luke. I'm glad I came back."

"But, Annabeth-"

"I'm happy here," she continued. "You always told me never to forgive them, that I didn't need to because I had you. But I don't anymore Luke. But I have them. Who turned out to be a better family? Not you."

Luke stopped. She was right. He had no right to hate Annabeth's family for what they did to her when he had done something worse.

"That's not why I'm here."

She shrugged, "You brought it up."

Luke wondered when Annabeth Chase stopped being the scared little girl from the alley and started being this confident and smart demigod. He wondered what happened to change her so much. Just growing up, he guessed. But the change unsettled him. Perhaps that's why he kept messing up and letting them win. He kept thinking about the way the old Annabeth would react and what the old Thalia would do and how the old Grover wouldn't have the guts to do a lot of the things he did recently.

"I came to ask you to run away with me. It'll be just like the old days. You and me- and maybe you can convince Thalia to join us too."

She looked shocked. Her guard went up and she closed herself off. She looked at him up and down, suspiciously, as if checking if he had any weapons on him.

"I'm not armed. I can't hurt you, Annabeth," he said. And I wouldn't want to, he thought.

"Run away- with you? No, Luke. Last time I left, it because I didn't have anything worth staying for. Now? I have a lot worth staying for. I'm not running."

All he felt was betrayal, which was stupid, he hadn't expected her to come with him anyways.

"Please, Annabeth. Kronos is using me, like- like a stepping stone. He's going to use me to become more powerful, next week, his plan will start. Annabeth, I can't- I can't do it."

She looked at him pityingly, "I'm sorry, Luke. I don't see why I should help you. You betrayed me. I don't need you anymore."

He couldn't control his temper any longer. Annabeth was basically telling him that he was worth nothing to her. When she had once looked at him as if he was her whole world.

"Yeah," he snarled. "You have Jackson to do everything I once did."

Her hand went to her belt where no doubt was the dagger he had given her so long ago. She said, "He's not- He does more than you ever did, Luke. Goodbye."

She closed the door. Luke felt like kicking it in frustration but he doubted it would make Annabeth happier.

Luke heard Annabeth's stepmom approach her and ask, "Who was that, dear?"

"No one important," Annabeth replied, a bit weakly.

She had called him no one important. It was official. She hated him.

But she definitely loved Percy fucking Jackson.

Luke stomped away. He had never felt such remorse for his actions. He just wanted to get that cold, untrusting look off of Annabeth's face and have things go back to the way they were before. Before that stupid Percy Jackson came into their lives with his big heart and unpredictability.

Luke never thought he'd be jealous of anyone, but at that moment he felt jealous of Percy Jackson, the boy who had made himself such a big part of Annabeth, Grover, and Thalia's hearts that there was no more room left for Luke in their hearts.

He felt bitter and replaced. They didn't need him. They had left him too. They deserved to die.

He went back to Kronos. Kronos dumped him in the river Styx.

He had no one.

Aww. I feel bad for Luke. But I can't blame Annabeth, either. Or Percy.

-Always One Reader