Found Family (HoO, Mortal AU)

ANNABETH CHASE

Sally and Paul postponed their wedding until mid October. Luke's things were left in apartment 13. Thalia rang Annabeth on a Sunday morning.
"Hi, Thalia," Annabeth answered the phone.
"He's been caught. Luke's been caught."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Yeah, he's been caught."
"Oh. Good," she expected to feel happier, but Jason was still dead. Luke was still alive.
"You'll need to talk to the cops. Leo, Piper and Percy too. Maybe Shel, since she's the one who called the cops. Is that okay?"
"Will I have to see Luke?"

Thalia took a minute to answer. "Maybe. I can go, too. I want to kill him."
"You can't do that. But okay. I'll talk to the cops."
"Okay. See you later."
"Bye."

"Was that Thalia?" Percy asked, sitting beside Annabeth.
"Yeah. Luke was caught."
He showed her his phone, that had an article posted three minutes ago. "I know."
"Jesus. These news articles are really fast."

Murderer of Goode Highschool former student caught by police.

It was a really shitty article. The same as the others. Talking about how everyone loved Jason and his amazing achievements. It was depressing. He should be alive. If Annabeth hadn't have asked to stay at Piper's house, Jason would be alive. If she had've let Luke shoot her, Jason would be alive. If she hadn't have run away at 7 years old, he'd be alive. If she had never been born, he'd be alive.

• • •

She got a phone call, asking to go to the police station. Piper drove her, Percy, Leo and Shel there.
No one spoke. Annabeth was getting used to everything being constantly silent.

They arrived and Annabeth felt instant chills. Luke was in this building. Would she have to see him again? Could she handle that?

"Who wants to talk first?" A cop asked. She seemed quite nice, but Annabeth never really trusted cops. They chased her for a whole year when she ran away.
"We have to go alone?" Leo asked.
"It's just to talk."
Nobody seemed keen to be the first. Thankfully, Percy offered.

Waiting was worse. Eventually, Percy walked back over to them.
"Annabeth, they want you next."
She stood up. "Okay. Was it okay?"
"Yeah. Yeah, just tell them everything. It's gonna be okay."

Annabeth walked to the room. A police officer closed the door behind her. She couldn't hear anything apart from her breathing and the other two cops.
"Take a seat, Miss Chase."
She sat down.
"Thank you for coming to talk to us today. We believe that you were present the night Jason Grace was killed. Is this true?"
"Yes."
"And we were told that you knew the supposed killer, Luke Castellan, in your childhood."
"Supposed? He killed Jason."
"Did you know Luke Castellan, Miss Chase?"

Annabeth leaned back in her chair. "Yes. I ran away when I was seven. I'm sure you know that already. I formed an alliance with Luke and Jason's older sister, Thalia. Thalia and I ran away when Luke started showing violence."
"And you knew that Luke Castellan was moving into Mr Gardner's apartment complex, correct?"
"I mean-" she stuttered. "I found out a day or two before he moved in, yeah."
"And you chose to not tell anyone about your past with Luke?"
"I didn't think it was necessary. I didn't think he'd try to kill me."

"Tell us, Miss Chase, what happened that night?"
Annabeth hated these questions. She didn't want to relive the moment she watched a close friend die because of her. "Uhm, well, Percy and I- we decided to stay at Piper and Leo's house. Cause I was worried about Luke. Jason was there, too. He spent a lot of time there-" she started pulling her sleeve, leg shaking. "We went to bed. Everything was normal. Then I heard the glass shattering. Percy was with me, he woke up, too. I just knew. I had an awful feeling. We got up and ran, Piper, Leo and Jason just behind us-" she started stuttering, tripping over her own words.
"It's okay, take your time."

"Uhm- we ran out to the back garden, Luke right behind us. He started shouting. He had the gun pointed at me. He said he wanted revenge on Thalia, though. He didn't seem mad at me. Just Thalia. He was going to shoot me when Jason stopped him. He told Luke that he was Thalia's brother. Piper was texting Shel behind her back- Shel was her most recent text, so texting her was easiest. Shel called 911. They were too late, though. Luke pulled the trigger and disappeared."
The policewoman just nodded. "Thank you for your time, Miss Chase."
"I can go?"
"Yes."

She was glad to leave that room and get back to her friends. Leo had to go in next. He looked terrified, clearly not wanting to leave Piper's side. He didn't have a choice, though. Piper went in next. Thalia arrived while Shel was talking to the cops. Eventually a policeman walked over to them.
"Thank you all for your time-"
"What's going to happen to him?" Thalia interrupted. "Luke?"
"Well- as of right now, there is not hard evidence. Thanks to your cooperation, we have witnesses sides of the story. However, Mr Castellan is denying-"

Leo stood up. "He did it. Obviously he's going to deny it but-"
Piper grabbed Leo's hand and pulled him back down.
The cop continued talking. "As of right now, Luke refuses to talk. We'll let you know-"
"Is he here?" Thalia asked.
"He is."
"He'll talk to us," Annabeth said. "Me and Thalia. I know he will."
"Uhm-" The cop paused. "Well-"
"Let us see him," Thalia demanded.

• • •

Annabeth realised she didn't want to talk to him. He was in an interrogation room- one of the ones with a one way mirror. She stood, looking through the mirror, knowing he couldn't see her back. He just sat there, staring at the table. He didn't really look sad. In a way, he looked normal. He wasn't, though. Leo looked like he was about to punch the glass when he saw Luke, but he just took a step back.

"Are you sure you want to go in there?" The same policeman from earlier asked.
"No," Annabeth replied. "But it's for the best."
He opened the door, walking in with Annabeth and Thalia. Luke didn't look up. He continued to stare at the table. Thankfully, Thalia was holding Annabeth's hand. If she wasn't, Annabeth was 100% sure she would attack him.

"You-" Thalia said.
Luke looked up quickly. "Tha-"
"Don't," she snapped. "Don't think that you can talk to me."
He just smirked. "Good to see you again."
"You bas-"
"Ma'am," the cop coughed. "Take a seat."
Thalia sat down across from Luke, as did Annabeth. He just kept smirking.

"Why'd you do it?" Annabeth asked. "He didn't do anything wrong. None of us did."
"So she would suffer," Luke nodded towards Thalia, his hands cuffed to the table. "You were a kid, Annie. You didn't know any better. She did, though."
"Don't call me that. Jason was a kid, too! And I knew what I was doing when Thalia and I ran from you. I knew that you were a prick and leaving was the best thing we could've done-"
"Maybe I should've killed you too," Luke laughed, an annoying, harsh sound. "I forgot how irritating you were. Did you?" He looked at Thalia, who just glared.

"So you admit to killing Jason Grace?" The cop asked.
"Yeah, I killed him. I don't regret it. Lock me up. I don't really care. At the end of the day, I'm alive. Your brother isn't."
"Fuck you!" Thalia shouted in his face.
"Ladies," the cop said. "You two can leave. Thank you-"
"I HATE YOU-" Thalia kept shouting, before reaching over the table and slapping him across the face.
"Ma'am-"
"I'm going," Thalia snapped at the policeman, before storming out of the room. Annabeth stared at Luke one last time before following her.

Annabeth hugged Percy when she walked out. Everyone else joined the hug. He'd been caught. Yeah, Jason was still dead, but at least he got a bit of justice. Maybe not the amount he deserved, but some was better than none.

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Word Count: 1377

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A/N: genuinely have no recollection of writing this

BUT MY EXAMS ARE OVER! ITS FINALLY SUMMER!!