𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐲-𝐭𝐰𝐨 ─── screams

Mount Olympus, 18th August 2009

"𝔓ercy! Pass me the dagger!" Luke shouted above the noise of the room collapsing around him. "I know where to get him. Please. Trust me!"

Percy faltered, his eyes narrowing, before reluctantly he slid the dagger across to the older man. Luke snatched it from the floor, jumping rocks and bodies of other demigods until he could reach Kronos. The Titan was stuck in another eighteen year old's body, one that Luke had known and grown up with, but his golden eyes narrowed as he watched Luke.

This wasn't Benji. This wasn't the son of Apollo that Luke had known, and the likelihood was, Benji was long dead.

"Remember what's on the line, boy." Kronos' voice was gravelly, pained already. Behind him, Luke could see Ethan pulling himself to his feet, a dagger in hand. 

His eyepatch had long since gone, revealing a scarred eyelid, and despite the cracks in the floor, Ethan dropped into a fighting stance as Luke did the same.

"That's exactly why I'm doing this." Luke muttered. "I don't care whether I live or die. Only that they do. Ethan, now!"

Both men lunged forward, working to pin Kronos down to the floor, quickly finding the spot on the body's hips that was his weak spot from dipping in the River Styx. Ethan struggled to hold onto the Titan's arms, as Luke plunged the dagger down as hard as he could, grinning as golden ichor started to drip from the body.

"That's for Ellie." Ethan hissed, as Krono screamed like a wounded animal. His eyes turned molten, before he let out a blast of energy. Ethan and Luke got the worst of it, being the closest to the Titan.

Luke felt himself being flung across the room, slamming into a throne as pain erupted across his body. He couldn't see when he opened his eyes, stars and darkness marring his vision. A deep cry of horror and fear sounded from somewhere off to his right, and Luke turned, searching for the one person that it could belong to.

"Ethan?" His voice scratched against his throat and he tried to stand, but his legs weren't working. Why weren't they working? "Ethan!"

"Luke. Please!" Ethan's voice was terrified. "Please, I'm slipping! Luke, please!"

"Ethan!" Luke rubbed at his eyes, flipping onto his front as his vision came back to him once more. When he managed to get past the blurriness, his eyes connected with Ethan's. The man was scrabbling for a hold, clutched onto the ground with bloody nails. 

Luke tried once more to get to him, but he couldn't move his legs. Pain echoed through his body, and Luke only needed to take one look at the blood pooling around him to realise that he wasn't going to be able to save Ethan. 

He wasn't going to be able to save his brother.

"Ethan!" Luke turned, catching eyes with Ethan again, and Luke saw a look of understanding flash through the boy's eyes. He wasn't going to reach him, and in that moment, Ethan Nakamura resigned himself to death.

"Tell Ellie I was right." Ethan muttered, as his fingers started to slip. Luke shook his head, tasting blood on his tongue, as Ethan scrabbled for a hold. "I'll see you down there."

"Ethan! No!" Luke felt tears well in his eyes, watching as Ethan's hand gave way and the boy slipped through the cracks of the throne room. "No!"

Ethan Nakamura, the boy who was scared of heights, had died, falling as he always dreamed he would.

Luke Castellan let his head slam back into the tiles, tears welling in his eyes and slipping down his face, no matter how hard he tried to stop it. He needed one of them to get home to Ellie, one of them had to get back to her and Alabaster, but now he didn't think either of them were going to.

"Luke!" He opened his eyes blearily, the adrenaline from the fight wearing off as he turned to look up at Annabeth. "Luke, wake up!"

Annabeth's face was pale, her hands covered in blood as she patted his cheek, trying to keep him awake.

"Hey, you're alright." Annabeth was trying to reassure him now, but by the look on her face and the lack of feeling in most of his lower body, Luke knew that it was false hope.

"Good blade..." The words scratched at his throat as the last had done. He tried to scrabble for the blade, but his hands were slowly going numb. Everything felt cold. The three younger children were scrabbling for ambrosia and nectar, but Luke didn't pay them any attention, mustering up the rest of his energy to reach up and yank the key from around his neck. "Hey..."

He broke off into a coughing fit as the trio stopped to look at him. Fumbling, Luke found Annabeth's hand and pressed the key into it. 

"Container...16..." Luke choked out, trying to keep himself awake for them to get the message. "Please."

"Of course, Luke." Annabeth nodded. "We're just trying to find ambrosia. You're gonna be alright."

"You never...never were good at lying." He laughed, though it pained his ribs. "Ethan...Me...All the unclaimed. Don't let it...don't let it happen again..."

Percy nodded.

"I won't. I promise." Luke smiled at the sentiment, though he feared it would be in vain, and let his eyes flutter closed as more black spots danced around his vision. Memories of Ellie, Beans, Ethan and Alabaster danced through his mind; from their wedding, to Beans' birth, moving houses, Christmas' and New Years', eating ice cream in the snow, walks in Central Park...

Despite everything, Luke truly had managed to live a good life.

He took another heaving breath, though his lungs hurt more, and Ellie swam into his mind. Luke smiled as he thought of her laugh and her grin when they watched her favourite movie, the way her eyes lit up whenever the kids did something, her and Ethan's constant singing and bickering, just her in general. She'd be safe now, with Kronos dead, and Luke was at least happy that he'd made sure of that.

Even if it had cost his and Ethan's life in the process.

Faintly, he could hear Annabeth's voice calling for him, though it felt like he was underwater. She was shaking him now, begging him to wake up, but Luke focused on Ellie.

He just wanted his last thought to be of Ellie and only Ellie.

∘☽༓☾∘

New York, 18th August 2009

Ellie folded clothes slowly, putting Luke's away into his side of the wardrobe as she waited for a sign, or something.

It had been two days since Ethan and Luke had stood in the middle of the night and left, and she hadn't heard anything from either of them. Her nerves were becoming frayed. The baby monitor went off in her pocket, and Ellie put her basket down, before stepping into the nursery and grabbing onto Alex. The little boy whimpered, burying his head into his mother's neck as she hummed and rocked him.

"You miss your daddy, huh?" The baby stopped crying at his mother's voice, leaning into her shoulder. "I miss him too. But he'll be back soon. He promised he would be."

A knock echoed through the house, and she heard the door open. Alabaster had most likely gone to get it, and Ellie took that time to soothe her boy and set him back in his crib.

"Al, who is it?" She got no response, so she hurried down the stairs. As she turned the corner, Ellie came to a halt. Alabaster was standing, eyes wide, staring at Hermes in shock. The older god looked up at the sound of her feet, his eyes rimmed red. He was holding something in his hands and Ellie began to tremble at the sight of the handle of a sword, her head shaking.

This couldn't be happening.

"Ellie." Hermes sighed, and Ellie let out a scream of agony, knowing that all her worst fears were true. Faintly, she could register her knees slamming into the tile floor, but all she could focus on was the pain in her heart, knowing that Hermes was here to tell her that Luke was dead.

"No, please, no!" Ellie cried, feeling Hermes clutch onto her tightly, his shoulders also shuddering. "Please, tell me that you're lying. I'm begging you Hermes. Tell me that you're lying!"

"Ellie, I'm not..." Hermes' voice was choked as Ellie cried even harder. Alabaster brushed past the pair, in a trance like state, heading for the kitchen, and when he came back, he was holding a celestial bronze dagger in his hand, eyes unfocused. "Alabaster!"

He paid the god no heed.

"Al..." Ellie turned, catching onto her eldest son and tugging him back into her as the boy began to struggle.

"No! No!" Alabaster tried to wriggle out of her grip, but Ellie held on tighter, pulling her son into her body as she took the knife from him. "No, Mum, please. Let me go! Let me go! I have to go and avenge them, please!"

"No more death, Al." Ellie cried, shaking her head. "Please, no more death. I can't take that."

"But..." Tears finally began to fall from Alabaster's eyes. "They said they'd come back. They promised that they would come back!"

"I know, baby." Ellie muttered, pulling her son closer to her and running her hand over his close cropped hair. "I know."

"I came to tell you two as soon as I could." More tears slipped down Ellie's face, but she stayed clutching onto Alabaster, who was crying into her chest. Heaving sobs racked his shoulders as Ellie clutched onto him, pressing kisses to his head in comfort. "I've got to give you these."

He placed Luke's sword, the one that had always intrigued Ellie, and Ethan's eyepatch, beside her as Cai came over to investigate what the sound was about. He was whining, pawing at his owner's leg, but Ellie could barely move enough to bring her dog into the hug.

Disbelief was still running through Ellie. She couldn't believe that they were dead. Not her boys. This was all just a mistake and at any second, they'd come walking through the front door, grinning and saying that this was all some form of cruel joke.

"Please..."

But Luke and Ethan didn't walk through the front door.

Their laughter wouldn't echo in the hallways. They wouldn't be playing with Beans or Cai. They wouldn't be cooking in the kitchen or annoying her. Luke wouldn't be sleeping next to her. Ethan wouldn't be making witty comments at her. 

Her boys weren't coming back.

"Is there someone I can call?" Hermes asked, slowly. "I don't think I can leave you two alone like this."

"Iris." Ellie whispered, needing her older cousin with her. She needed the woman to help her out. To help her take care of Beans and of Alabaster. "Iris and Ava."

Hermes nodded, standing from his seat beside Ellie and pulling his phone out. Moments later, he had the pair on the phone, but Ellie was too numb to hear most of it. Her heart was still in too much pain, trying to comprehend that Luke was dead.

A thought came to her head, as Ellie's tears grew once more. Neither of them ever got to see Beans' first birthday.

∘☽༓☾∘

Hiya,

I'm crying. Luke's dead. Ethan's dead. Ellie's heartbroken. Beans lost their dad, who never lived long enough to see their first birthday or hear them say their first word, Alabaster lost his older brother and father figure. Also, Luke's last thought before he died was of Ellie and that's got me sad so I'm gonna go read earlier chapters, where everyone was happy and alive together.

Let me know what you think,

Love Li xx