Remembering Her (Luke Castellan and OC)

XIII

We returned to my apartment in the city. The ride all the way there was silent and I felt tense. I couldn't help but feel uneasy about what was about to unfold. I could be spending my last moments with Luke, but this could also be a new beginning. He was still holding my hand when we arrived at the apartment building. I lived in one of the nice skyscraper type buildings in the center of the city. It was close enough that I could get to Olympus if I had too.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" I asked him as we walked in through the doors and made our way to the elevators.

"Yes I'm sure. I wouldn't have come this far if I wasn't," he responded.

"Why though? Why are you you willing to risk your life? Are you not happy with the way things are, with the way that we are?" I asked. The elevator doors had opened and we stepped in.

"Asmith," he said and looked at me. "It's that I'm not happy with you or with my life. I just need to know that all of my past. I've messed up and lost so much. I have a chance to get something back. I can have you back and everything will be okay," he said.

"Luke you have me already. Why do you think getting some childhood memories of us will make any difference?" I asked.

He didn't say anything. Instead he brought his arms around me and held me tight. I wrapped my arms around him as he laid his chin on top of my head. "It's not just the memories. It's you. I don't know what we were like as kids and even though I know you can tell me I want to know for myself. I know you're scared Asmith and so am I. I trust you with my life and that's why I'm doing this."

"And if you die?" I asked him still not letting go.

He let go and looked at me. He leaned down to kiss me and this time it was a real quick. Slow and sweet, but under all of that I felt a sense of urgency. He knew that this could be our last moments together and I knew that as well. We broke apart and let out foreheads still be touching.

"I'm not going to die. I'm going to make it through it, not just for me, but for you too."

At this point the elevator dinged and the doors opened to my apartment. It was more of a penthouse than an apartment. It had large ceilings with floor length windows in the living room. I had several couches that stood empty. I never had guest over because I didn't care for people because they were either dad, or forgot me.

I had a nice place but never used it. I guided Luke to my bedroom and sat down with him on the edge of the bed. He held my hand and gave it a slight squeeze. I looked at him and saw fear in his eyes. He was afraid of dying here, but was willing to take the risk to remember who he was. I wasn't sure if that was brave of him or if he was being an idiot about this.

"If I die, don't come find me in the underworld. It would be too much for me to handle," he said.

"Don't think like that. You're not going to die," I said to him. I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him. I hated being touched by anymore but for him I never wanted to let go. I felt like I could lose him at any moment.

"Let's just do this," he said. We let go and grabbed my bag that I had left on my feet. I reached in and grabbed a small bottle filled with a dark liquid. I handed it to him, fighting to keep my hand from shaking.

"Here, take it all. Lay done first, I don't want to have to carry you if you pass out." He did as he was told. He slipped off his jacket and laid there in his jeans and shirt.

"Bottoms up," he said with one last sly grin and drank the liquid.

His eyes rolled back in his hand and he fell back on the bed. He was still and I didn't know if it was better or worse than moving around. I sat next to him mostly because I didn't know what else to do other than wait. All of a sudden he start twitching. It was slight, only in his hands but he had a pained look on his face. This was going to get bad real quick.
Three Nights Later

The next three days were the longest of my life. Luke would go through periods of being completely still so thrashing around and screaming in absolute pain. The only thing I could do was pin him down and stop him before he could hurt himself. I barely got any sleep because I didn't want to leave him. I was okay without sleeping for long periods but this was starting to drain me.

I sat on the chair next to my bed and was nodding off again. I heard a sharp intake of breath and snapped awake and looked at Luke. He was breathing rapidly and erratically. I didn't know what to do because I didn't know what was wrong. I scooted closer to him and grabbed his hand. He was burning up so I went to the bathroom and grabbed a wash cloth and put some water on it. I laid it on his forehead in an attempt to cool him down and make him relax. He started to move around a bit and I knew that this was going to get bad in a few minutes.

As if in cue he started thrashing around. I did as I had been doing the last three days and jumped on top if him. I straddled him and pushed his forearms against the bed with my own hands. All of a sudden his eyes snapped open. It wasn't him looking at me though, his eyes were golden yellow like he was Kronos. He stopped thrashing but I held him there still.

A cracked smile came upon his lips. "You really think that your precious Luke could get rid of me?" His voice sounded cruel and cut deep into me like a razor. My stomach twisted in knots.

"No," I said, my voice sounding weak.

"Oh yes," he said, his face contorting to a cruel grin. "He's dead Asmith. He was never back. He never loved you. It was always me."

"No," I said. I reached back quickly to grab my knife but he was too quick. He threw me off and I landed against the wall. He walked towards me, slowly as if he was stalking prey. He grabbed my fallen knife and twirled it in his fingers.

"You're doing to die. I'm going to make sure if it. It makes it so much better that this body is the one I use to kill you." He knelt down in front in front of me and held the knife in front of my face.

"I hope you don't have any last words." He smiled at me and it looked evil. Before I could say anything else I say him pull back and stab it in my chest.

I jolted awake breathing hard, and a cold sweat covering me. I felt my chest and realized that I didn't have a knife or wound in me. It was just a horrible night mare. I looked at Luke and saw that he seemed to be waking up. He started to moan and groan and slowly started to move around. I sat by him on the bed.

He opened his eyes slowly. They were blue, the same beautiful blue that I had loved. "Hey," I said.

"Hey," he said back.

"Do you remember?" I asked.

He looked at me for a moment as if picking his next words carefully. "So you've had a couple rough days kid?" He said smiling. He was back. When we first met I told him about all the trouble I had being a child of hades. I told him of all the mistakes i made and the monsters I faced.

"Try years," I said. It was the same response I gave him all those years ago.

"I'm back Asmith," he said. He sat up and I couldn't stop myself from hugging him as tight as I could.

"You are not ever leaving me again. I swear I will drag you the underworld myself if you do something stupid like that again," I said my voice cracking a bit.

"Fine by me. I'm not leaving you ever again Asmith." For once I believed it.