❝ Does being a Child of Hermes automatically make you good at flirting? Or was that just a skill you picked up? ❞
Andromeda Jackson knew she was not cut out for the demigod life, and that was before she heard about her death from the creepy oracle i...
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"𝖂hy are you out here?" Luke poked his head out of the window, leaning on the sill as I turned to face him. I was sitting with a blanket wrapped around me on the fire escape of the new apartment, sipping on a hot chocolate. "I thought you went to bed an hour ago."
Luke had been up completing his homework for his GED and I, miraculously, had finished all of my work for my degree already so had gone to bed early. But, at the moment, sleep wasn't really coming easy to me this autumn.
Luke pulled himself up, clambering out of the window to sit by my side on the cold metal of the fire escape. I offered up part of the blanket, letting him wrap an arm around my shoulder as I set my head on his chest, finding that it was more comfy than the brick wall I was previously leant on.
"Andi, darling, why are you up?" Luke questioned as we stared out across the city together. Lights were glimmering in the towers, the sound of cars and people was still drifting up to reach my ears and I sighed. Whenever we were at camp, I missed the city. Sure, I enjoyed being able to properly star gaze without light pollution and all, but I missed my city and the sound of it all. It was easier to get to sleep listening to this.
Luke called my name again as I tried to find words to quite illustrate how scary I found my mind now.
"Every time I close my eyes, all I can see are those sickly gold ones." I explained gently as Luke paled and grew silent. "They're in my dreams, just watching me and waiting for me to make a mistake, for me to do something stupid or fail and make things worse."
"You're not going to fail."
"We don't know that." I shook my head, stopping him. "Then, I get onto thinking that if I hadn't of come to camp and you hadn't chosen to stay, that would have been you. You would have been the one with golden eyes, the one that I had to fight. That could have been you. What would have happened then? Would I still have been able to fight you?"
Luke went quiet again, as I shook my head. I knew the answer already in my head. If Luke had been the one to host Kronos, no matter how much I cared about him, I wouldn't have a choice. Either he would have to die, or I would.
"I just keep thinking that he's waiting around the corner. That he's going to kill me before I reach twenty-one so that none of this goes ahead or so that he has more time to manipulate Nico or Thalia, I don't know." I sighed, before leaning back. It wasn't just my own death that was weighing on me, it was everyone else's; the ones who were already dead and the ones who would die to keep me alive. "I don't know, it's all mad. I mean, I'm only twenty and I'm having to think about the fact I could die at any time. Do you think I need to write a will? I don't have a lot to my name, but I suppose I better had to and that means finding a lawyer or something."
"Andi-"
"But do I have to pick a casket to be buried in or will I be burned in my shroud?"
"Andi-"
"I haven't even finished my degree ye-"
"Andromeda!" Luke cut me off, using my full name, something he never used, especially when he was talking to me. I stopped, turning to look at my boyfriend's pale face and shaking hands, having not noticed that he was getting just as distraught as I was. "Please, don't talk like that, please."
"I have to think about it."
"I know you do, but that's what makes it all the more worse, all the more real." Luke found my hand again, pulling me into his side as he tightened his grip, his fingers pressed to where he could feel the pulse in my wrist as if checking I was still alive. "I'm so sorry."
"Why? You haven't done anything."
"I gave Kronos the foothold to do this in our world, to find and latch onto Puck. That's my fault." Luke replied. "The knock on effects of it all now mean that you're in this position. That's my fault. You're only twenty, you shouldn't be thinking of this. You shouldn't be thinking that you might die and it's my fault."
"Luke, it's prophecies and destiny and whatever that bullshit is, this isn't your fault. I admit, you made some pretty shoddy life choices but then you met me..."
"This is supposed to be serious." Luke muttered, pulling back slightly as I began to chuckle. "I know you use humour as your coping mechanism, but come on, serious conversation."
"Okay, can I play You Belong With Me at my funeral by Taylor Swift?" He cocked an eyebrow. "Serious conversation and all."
"I thought you'd have Fearless."
"It was a long, difficult conversation with myself but then I realised that I'd want to be sent off to the bridge of You Belong With Me so I could scream it on the way down to the Underworld." Luke snorted with laughter, as I finally began to giggle, the stress and sadness that had been all over me, wearing off a bit, "and I don't want anyone in black. I don't want it to be depressing, I want people to laugh as they remember the stupid shit that I spent my time doing."
He laughed again as I leant back into him. The difficult part of that conversation (admitting that we had to start thinking of funeral plans) was over so instead, we began to point out stars quietly to each other, reminiscing over our first date and the fact we were coming up to our two year anniversary.
If you had asked thirteen year old me where she had seen herself, this would not have been in the place. I thought I'd be in the army, or in a prison cell somewhere. But, here I was at twenty years old, in an apartment with my boyfriend, attending college to get a degree in biology with hopes to go into conservation or marine biology. Yes, I was supposed to die next year, but I think my thirteen year old self had expected to die about five years prior.
I was doing well by her standards.
"I love you." Luke muttered and I stopped naming stars to turn to him. This wasn't uncommon for him to say, but it was a little out of the blue. "All that cheesy shit included."
"I love you too." I beamed back gently. "Ditto to the cheesy things."
He laughed, kissing me again and I thought, in that moment, his eyes looked even more beautiful than any star I had ever seen.
∘☽༓☾∘
Hiya,
So, we're at the end of Act 4 and moving onto the 5th and final act! I'm super excited for the next part, and for the final bonus chapter. This was kind of soppy and a bit sad, but you know, vibes and all.
