Characters: Luke Castellan and Thalia Grace When: Tuesday Evening Location: Corridors, into the parlor car Warnings/Rating: Mentions of blood? Summary: Luke is about to die. His ex-BFF finds him. Status: Closed, Completed
He should have been dead. Luke had expected to be at the River Styx, ready to plead his case for another chance. It was a worth a shot, at least, even if he knew that his odds weren't very good. The battle had been exhausting and all he had known was that he needed to defeat Kronos, and the daggar to his Achilles heel was the only way to win. He would die, but it would save Thalia and Annabeth-- and that made it all worth it in the end. He only hoped that they might remember him well, though a nasty little part of him knew that he didn't deserve it at all, not after everything he'd done. Sure, he was under the influence of a Titan god, but it didn't make any difference. He'd allowed it to happen, no matter how he (or anybody else, for that matter) tried to justify it.
The pain was sharp, and Luke only saw black as he lost consciousness. There was a light, a single point far off into the distance and he knew that he wanted to go to it, pass through it. He felt light, pain free, and..well, normal. He wasn't in his body anymore, until suddenly he felt his soul fly back into his form, a sharp pain in his side as he gasped for breath and came to himself. His eyes widened- he didn't recognize this room. It was a room, wasn't it? Well. A corridor. There were doors on either side of him and it seemed to be moving- his vision was blurry and it hurt to breathe. His side was wet and the dagger he held slipped through his grasp and landed on the floor with a clatter as he tried to sit up. Where in the hell was he?
That was when Thalia came across him.
She’d been wandering down the corridors, trying to see what other entertainment the train offered, but mostly to get out of her room. She hadn’t moved in with Artemis yet – there was something intimidating about the idea of being roomies with a goddess – and her own room was quiet and empty with no one else in the compartment.
Thalia wasn’t really the type to be alone for long; she liked company.
…but that didn’t mean she wanted this particular company.
She froze in mid-step as soon as she saw the man on the ground. She hadn’t caught a glimpse of his face yet, but she’d know him anywhere. Luke Castellan: her best friend; her family; and traitor to the gods. The last time she’d seen him, he was asking her to join him and the Titans to destroy the gods. Her answer had been to kick him off a cliff.
It hadn’t killed him, though (which was a relief; for all that Thalia loathed the idea of bringing down the gods, she hadn’t wanted him to--). But he had been killed, eventually. By his own hand, from all accounts. So what was he doing here, bleeding in the corridor? Thalia didn’t know whether to go for a first aid kit or for her knives.
“Luke?”
Luke hadn't been paying much attention to anybody around him as he tried to gather his wits about him. At the sound of the voice he winced, looking up at the familiar voice.
"Thalia." His voice was lower than usual, gritty and harsh. Was he dead? He didn't think so. But where was he, and what on earth was Thalia doing here? His breathing was uneven and he managed to prop himself up against the wall, a hand at his side to try and staunch the blood. "I thought I died..." I thought you did too, Thalia was about to say, but then she saw the extent of his injuries. He might’ve been a traitor and he might still be evil, but he was Luke, and before she even had a chance to think about the wisdom of the action, she was rushing to his side.
“Oh my gods, Castellan, lie down before you hurt yourself even more.” Di Immortales, the wound was even worse closer up. She’d thought she’d come to terms with his death months ago, but the sight of him like this brought out an intense fear and worry that she didn’t think she was capable of anymore. “Hang on, I have some ambrosia somewhere...” Gods, where was it? Was she even carrying it on her?
"That would be perfect," he admitted, his head falling back as he closed his eyes. Geeze, that hurt. "I was supposed to die. But this sure as Hades doesn't look like any Underworld I've heard of."
A cough racked his frame and he groaned. "Please say you have it, Thalia. Else leave me to die in peace, would you?"
“You don’t deserve peace,” Thalia muttered. Not after what he’d done. But she frantically searched her pockets anyway, because if there were even the slightest chance that this wasn’t crazy, demigod-killing Luke...
Ah! There it was. She only had a tiny piece on her, and it wouldn’t heal him up completely, but at least it would help him not bleed to death for the time being. But first...
“Okay, I say ‘Overthrow the gods’, you say...?” Yeah, not the greatest litmus test of evil, and certainly not for a practiced liar like a Son of Hermes, but there wasn’t really time for a full morality exam.
"I can hear you, you know." Luke glared up at her as she searched her pockets. Watching her pull out a piece, he sighed. "I've learned my lesson. I'm not trying that one again, no matter who tries to convince me." Another cough and he felt his world begin to sway as his vision blurred. "I know you don't trust me. But can you help me so I can explain or just leave me to Hades?"
It was more the attitude than the words that got her to thinking that this may not be Evil!Luke. Evil!Luke hadn’t had much of a sense of humour. That didn’t mean she was going to make it easy for him, though.
With a glare of her own, she thrust the tiny piece of ambrosia at him and let him feed himself. In the meantime, she took the bloody dagger from his side and pointed it at him. Just in case.
"Thanks," he said, fumbling with the ambrosia as she tossed it to him. He brought it up to his mouth, breathing a sigh as it began to work-- it didn't heal him completely, but he could feel the wound closing up enough to stop the blood loss. Still exhausted, he leaned back against the wall, held up both of his hands, both empty, as she picked up the dagger. "I'm not armed, Thalia. It's over. I'm done."
She threw the dagger at him, hard enough for it to stick to the panelling just inches beside his left ear. “You can’t just say that,” she hissed, her hands clenching. “You can’t just get a bunch of demigods killed because of your Daddy issues and then say you’re done. Do you know how many people died because of your stupid war? Beckendorff. Selina. Bianca. Ethan. Zoe. Do you even care?”
Luke simply sighed, closing his eyes as the dagger came flying past his head. "Of course I care. Don't think I don't feel guilty for what happened, okay? I know what I did was wrong. Not all of it was me, but I-" He broke off, a sharp pain in his side. "I don't remember all of it. But I hate what I do remember. I know I can't fix it, but I want to try."
He hadn’t even tried to dodge it. Did he really think she wouldn’t drive a knife in his face?
Well. Maybe he’d be right.
Still, Thalia couldn’t forgive him that easily. “Yeah, it’s a little too late for that, unless you can talk Hades into releasing their souls.” And there was more than that too, wasn’t there? There was the fact that she’d come back to having her own body, able to interact with the world again, and he’d gone off and turned traitor. She hadn’t thought him capable of it. Anger at the gods, yes, but to bring innocent demigods into it? It was as if she’d never known him at all.
His twinge of pain did get her attention though. “And really, you’re not going to fix anything while you’re like this.”
Luke knew full well that if Thalia had truly wished to harm him, the dagger would have actually hit him. And he would deserve it. But it hadn't hit him and he was just..tired. Tired of everything. Why was he even still here? "I know," he said quietly, closing his eyes in an attempt to stave off a wave of nausea. "I didn't think it would go that far. I was weak, and I know it."
He smiled feebly at her words. "No, I won't. But I probably don't deserve healing either, do I?"
Suddenly Thalia was struck by a memory, years back, when Luke would get sick and act all woebegone and sick so Annabeth (and little old ladies on the street) would fuss all over him. This moment, right now, was so classic Luke that Thalia ached for the days when it was so much simpler, when it was just the three of them, and occasionally he would look at her like...
Well. Those days were past now. He was, well, whatever he was, and she was a Hunter. No more looks like that for her.
She could still roll her eyes at his pity party, though. “Oh my gods, Castellan,” she said, aggravated. “Stop being such a big baby. How’re you supposed to redeem yourself or whatnot when you’re sitting around feeling sorry for yourself? C’mon, there’s an infirmary somewhere here.” She moved over to him, taking care to take the knife back first, then bent down to help him up, supporting his weight with her shoulders.
Oof, he’d gotten way heavier since the last time she’d seen him. More muscular, too. She could feel his body under his thin, bloodied t-shirt. Her breath caught, briefly.
"Who said I was feeling sorry for myself?" he retorted, rolling his eyes. "'s truth, and you know it." Luke watched as she stood and then pushed himself up, trying to hold up most of his own weight. "Infirmary would be great. But then, how on earth do I explain that I tried to kill myself?" He paused for a moment as the world spun and then seemed to settle into place. "I'm never trying that again. By the gods, it hurts."
She seemed smaller than he remembered, but then again- she'd been fifteen for how long now? But he knew better than to underestimate her; she'd always packed a punch, and it was one of the things he'd liked best about her. There was strength in her slim frame, and he had no doubt that she of all people would be able to help him.
“You could always try the old ‘I ran into a knife’ explanation,” Thalia said absently. She was mostly concentrating on helping him along without hurting him too much. It was weird; of all the things she thought she’d be doing on the train, trying to keep her dead best friend-turned-traitor from dying really wasn’t one of them, no matter how strange everything else in this place was. “Anyway, I have a suspicion that these people are used to not asking questions.”
"Maybe," he agreed, following her along the corridor. He wondered if they were leaving a trail of blood, but the thought was quickly ignored as they moved into the next car. "So what is this place? It's a train of some sort, yeah?" Luke looked back to her- he knew they would need to talk, but it wasn't going to be easy at all. Especially with how stubborn he knew they both could be, and how they'd probably butt heads.
“Yeah, I’m still trying to figure it out,” Thalia said. Okay, how far away was the infirmary again? She was still trying to remember the layout. “I’ve only been here for a few days. But as far as I can tell, it’s some sort of interdimensional train that can travel through space and time, and it grabs people from different worlds as it goes. There are a bunch of empousas here, but they call themselves vampires, and apparently they really like our blood, so watch out.”
He’d probably like that though, Thalia figured darkly. They were all curvy and seductive and stuff, and he would probably just love being sucked on.
"There are?" he asked, groaning softly as he closed his eyes for a moment. Geeze, just what he needed. "I'd have been happy to never see one again." He nearly tripped over his own two feet and it took him a moment to regain his balance. "Sorry," he muttered, trying to straighten.
Okay, so maybe he didn’t want to be sucked on. Whatever. It wasn’t any of Thalia’s business.
His near-trip almost brought Thalia down. She stumbled as well, but managed to right herself quicker to act as support for him to straighten - or try to, anyway.
“Okay,” she finally said as she made an attempt to keep him up, “this isn’t working. Here, sit back down; I’ll see if I can find a doctor for you.” At this rate, he might just expire before she got him to the infirmary.
"Sorry, sorry," he muttered, a hand steadying himself against the wall as they paused in their tracks. "Yeah. Um. Please." Luke leaned against the wall, then slid down, paying little attention to any mess he might have made. He landed on the floor with a dull thump, closing his eyes. "I'll just- you know. Be here."
Trying to ignore the way her heart clenched at the sight of him so defeated and injured, Thalia ran back to her room to grab her phone. Trying to run into a doctor on the train, with all its compartments, was going to take too long; better to send out a general message and hope somebody saw it.
Then it was back to Luke with phone in hand, hoping that he was still all right. “Okay,” she said, a little breathless from the running. “Someone’s coming.”
Luke was barely aware of how quickly time was passing. He heard Thalia's footsteps down the hall, but then everything was quiet. He kept his eyes closed, trying to bite back a sudden wave of nausea and he simply tried to remain upright- albeit seated.
"Thanks," he said as she returned, opening his eyes to look back to her. "'m glad you're here. I've missed you." The room tilted again and he closed his eyes. "I want you to know I'm sorry, though. I know that's- that it's not enough. But if something happens and I don't- if I don't- I just want you to know it."
“No, nothing’s gonna happen,” Thalia said fiercely as she knelt down beside him once more. Tears stung at the back of her eyes. Damnit! She thought she’d stopped caring about Luke Castellan a long time ago.”I swear to the gods, if you die right now, I’m gonna go down to the depths of Tartarus so I can drag you back and kill you myself.”
Luke half-opened his eyes, looking back to Thalia as she knelt beside him. "Always did like your spirit," he whispered with a half smile, the smile fading as he closed his eyes again. "'m not worth it, Thalia. Never was worth you."
“Hey. Hey!” Thalia grasped his face in her hands, as if she could transfer her energy to him. His scar felt hard and cold against her palm. When had he gotten it? No, she can’t be distracted right now. “Stay with me, or...or...I’m gonna hunt down Backbiter and melt it into a bunch of nails.”
"Backbiter's gone," he replied, having to think about every breath. Luke opened his eyes again just barely as her hands moved to his face. "'m trying, Thalia, but it just- maybe it's- what if I don't make it? Just- maybe it's best if you just forgot about me..."
“Been there, done that,” Thalia told him. Her tears belied her words. “And you’ve already died once, and it’s really boring to repeat the same act, so just don’t do it, okay?”
She glanced down at her device and released him to tap out some quick replies. “Someone’s on their way. Just hold on, or I’m gonna kick your ass so bad....”
"You'll kick my ass if I didn't die, too," he replied with a faint smile. Luke pulled from her touch as he coughed again, nearly doubling over. "Hope your help is here soon. I don't know if I can last much longer-"
As Thalia settled down to wrap her arms around him in an attempt to keep him up, she hoped so too.