THIS IS ME TRYING

12: Death Makes You Soft

THE GROUP hurried Luna inside quickly, as Echidna approached them slowly, knowing her monsters were doing all of the work. The sanctuary didn't feel as safe as Annabeth had promised them, and the group was starting to realise that coming here wasn't the best idea.

The three gathered in a small elevator, the kids all catching a glimpse of a shadow as the door slid shut. Grover's eyes widened, "Was that the Chimera?"

"Did you guys hear that?" Annabeth asked curiously.

"Hear what?" Percy replied in concern, "What did you hear?"

"Chimera?" Luna repeated weakly, "I thought you said we were safe, Annabeth?"

"How did the Chimera even get inside here?" Grover questioned in panic, "We're in a sanctuary. Athena would've have had to let her in, but why would she do that?"

"Annabeth." Percy repeated, "Annabeth! What did you hear?"

"Echidna said my impertinent wounded my mother's pride." The girl explained sadly, "And that will be my doom."

"Impertinence? What kind of..." Percy's facial expressions softened in realisation, "Medusa's head."

"I embarrassed my mother." Annabeth said, a frown of sadness appeared on her face as she avoided eye contact.

"But I was the one who sent the head to Olympus." Percy reasoned, "I signed the note."

"And I went along with it!" Annabeth shot back, "I embarrassed her, and now she's angry. She isn't gonna help us when we get to the top and ask to save Luna."

"I'm gonna be okay. I think the bigger issue is the Chimera." Luna replied, as Grover and Percy helped her out of the elevator and the group walked to the top.

"If my mom doesn't want to help us, we're gonna have to fight our way out of here." Annabeth explained, "You two have to help Luna back down-"

"What? No, no, no. We're not splitting up!" Grover protested, "We're gonna make it out of here together."

Luna struggled to breathe let alone speak, "Annabeth, stop. Let's think logically-"

"We won't make it." Annabeth shot back, as she rushed the three out of the door to the stair-well, "The Chimerabis the demigod-killer! Someone has to buy us some time."

Percy refused, "Annabeth, we're not leaving-"

"Take Luna back down." Annabeth ordered, "Call camp. Call for help. Okay? Go!"

Just as Annabeth was about to shut the door, Percy stopped her by reaching out his sword- riptide. He offered it to her in desperation, though as Annabeth took it, Percy pulled the girl towards him to take her place. Before anyone could stop him, the boy bolted the door shut behind him, listening to the three shout at him.

"No!" Luna spluttered weakly, as Grover still gripped onto her tightly, "Percy! No, no, no."

"Percy!" Annabeth shouted, "Open the door! They'll kill you!"

"Percy, please!" Grover banged on the door with his free hand, "Percy!"

"You can't do this on your own!" Luna shouted, as she banged on the door with all the strength she had left. Her screams turned into sobs, "You're all I have."

"I'm sorry." Percy's voice broke on the other side of the door.

"We have no choice but to go back down." Grover insisted, as the two struggled to get Luna to stand on her feet, "We can call Chiron. Ask for his help-"

"Percy needs our help." Luna protested, but the two kids were much stronger than her now and managed to pull her downstairs, "We can't just leave him!"

"He knows what he's doing." Annabeth reassured, though doubt and sadness laced her voice.

The three reached the bottom of the sanctuary, looking up at highest point of the building and just hoping that Percy was okay. Luna's head lowered to the floor as she cried, though she didn't have the strength to lift it anyway. Her breath had become raspy, as she broke free of her friends grasp and had fallen onto the concrete ground.

"Luna!" Grover panicked.

She coughed, as Grover and Annabeth tried to lift her up- they knew it wouldn't work. Luna rolled onto her back, her eyes travelling away from the two panicked kids above her as they spoke quickly about something involving 'calling Chiron' and 'camp.' Either way, the girl knew that help couldn't help her now. It was too late.

Luna spluttered, as she gasped for breath, "You were right, Annabeth."

"What?" Annabeth had tears swelling in her eyes, as she held her hand tightly. Her grip got tighter and tighter.

"The sacred rule of three." Luna smiled slightly despite the pain she was in, "You'll... You'll be safer, now I'm gone."

"No, no, no." Annabeth disagreed emotionally, "No! Percy needs you. We all need you on this quest."

"Just stay with us a little longer, okay?" Grover panicked, as he rummaged around in his pockets to try and find a drachma to offer for an Iris Message back to camp.

Annabeth cried, "Hurry, Grover!"

She accepted her fate, her blue eyes looking at the tall sanctuary directly above her. A part of her relaxed, knowing Percy would be okay because he was the bravest person she ever knew. He sacrificed himself for his friends- Luna would never be able to repay him. She couldn't live on to repay him.

Tears rolled down her pale cheek, as Annabeth grabbed her hand tightly. Luna couldn't hear what they were telling her, due to her hearing sounding like she was underwater. Every noise was muffled and distorted, leaving Luna in peace to watch the clouds travelling across the blue sky.

Luna's last thoughts were of the memories she had made at camp already: surviving on Percy's blue food, praying to the Gods, speaking to the owl in the forest, finding out Sally was alive, finding something she was good at, creating a family, protecting her brother from Clarisse. Though in this moment, Clarisse didn't seem too bad of a person. Maybe death made you softer? The girl thought. Maybe she recognised that bullies were just people too?

Luna's last thoughts were of her brother and the life he would achieve in his future she wished to be a part of.

a/n:
the end x
(IM JOKING PLS DONT HATE ME)
it will all make sense soon!