[ of all the people annabeth might have expected to find in this world, luke castellan had not been one of them. it isn't because she doesn't think about him - she does, fleetingly, but mostly it still hurts so she tries not to. and between the giants and tartarus and percy missing for months, she'd had to tuck luke away because otherwise everything would simply have been too much. ]
[ she doesn't process it's him at first, too stunned and wondering if her mind is playing tricks on her, because it does that lately. if tartarus haunts her, why wouldn't luke? but she watches him hover in the doorway like he doesn't want to be seen, and just as he moves like he's going to leave does it sink in that he is very much real in front of her. ]
[ there is anger at him, a fury that no matter how much she clung to him always lingered, because like everyone else he left her too. it still lingers, alongside the heartbreak, but right now the shock of seeing him again takes the forefront and annabeth lets it, because she'd rather be surprised than anything else. she doesn't want to deal with anything else, not when she already feels like a mess. ]
[ but she doesn't want him to leave just yet either. ]
Luke. [ firm, questioning, angry, upset, somehow all at once. how can she think about the titan war when she's still in the middle of the giant one? ]
[ why is she so deeply entrenched in two wars so close together? luke's presence makes her think it, but if isn't lying to herself, it's not a new thought either. ]
im sobbing
[ she doesn't process it's him at first, too stunned and wondering if her mind is playing tricks on her, because it does that lately. if tartarus haunts her, why wouldn't luke? but she watches him hover in the doorway like he doesn't want to be seen, and just as he moves like he's going to leave does it sink in that he is very much real in front of her. ]
[ there is anger at him, a fury that no matter how much she clung to him always lingered, because like everyone else he left her too. it still lingers, alongside the heartbreak, but right now the shock of seeing him again takes the forefront and annabeth lets it, because she'd rather be surprised than anything else. she doesn't want to deal with anything else, not when she already feels like a mess. ]
[ but she doesn't want him to leave just yet either. ]
Luke. [ firm, questioning, angry, upset, somehow all at once. how can she think about the titan war when she's still in the middle of the giant one? ]
[ why is she so deeply entrenched in two wars so close together? luke's presence makes her think it, but if isn't lying to herself, it's not a new thought either. ]