Beyond blood ties (luke,annabeth and thalia)

Half past broken

( 1 year later)
It was just a few months since Luke and Annabeth reached camp half blood, but it felt just like yesterday to him that the three of them tried to escape the clutches of the Cyclops. It felt like it was yesterday that he watched his best friend dying and then turned into a pine tree.
Luke had loved Thalia much more than one would love a sibling and there were times when he thought that if they managed to survive it all, maybe he might take their relationship a step further. It had been absolutely heart wrenching for him to watch her sacrifice himself for them and he'd spent days after, depressed and lonely.
Soon he realized that he still had another half of his family, Annabeth to take care of. Sure their family mightn't be the same again, due to Thalia's absence, but he still loved Annabeth a lot, she was like the sister he never had and he knew she always looked up to him with admiration no matter what he did.
It was Christmas again and Luke and Annabeth had visited the gods for the first time at Mt Olympus on Empire State building along with the other campers to witness the winter council a couple of days ago.
He was woken up from his sleep by a very excited Annabeth screaming " wake up Luke, wake up!! It's Christmas please wake up!! ".
" Woah! Calm down Annabeth! Merry Christmas to you too", he said yawning and reaching over to give her a hug.
" Now off you go to your cabin, I'll meet you after breakfast and we'll have fun, Kay? Now scoot" he said, tickling her.
"Bye Luke " Annabeth waved as she exited cabin.

...

After breakfast Luke and Annabeth sat by the canoe lake as promised. Luke then gave Annabeth a big present which looked very much like a book.
" I know we don't exactly have to celebrate Christmas now, but this is going to be our little tradition Kay? It's to remember the times we enjoyed with Thalia. Now quit sniffling, and open up your present ".
The present turned out to be a book and not just any book, but a slightly old edition of the Illiad and Odyssey, both compiled into a single book written in ancient Greek.
Annabeth squealed with happiness and gave Luke a big tight hug thanking him over and over again. Luke knew she would like it. He vaguely remembered her mentioning her desire to read both Illiad and Odyssey.
They spent the rest of the morning reading the book together and practicing sword fighting. In the evening they went for a stroll along the beach enjoying the weather as they talked about anything and everything.
That evening, instead of eating dinner at the pavilion, they grabbed all their stuff and walked up half blood hill. They set up camp under Thalia's tree and started to eat dinner.
Annabeth spoke to Thalia telling her about their lives and shed a few tears while telling her how much they missed her there.
Luke wondered how Annabeth managed to say so much whereas every time he prepared himself to speak, his throat would feel dry and he knew he would break down the moment he started talking. So until then, he'd managed to hold himself up for Annabeth's sake.
Finally, just as they were about to leave, he said, " Thalia, you must know how much I miss you. I hate it here, I hate it so much. I feel so lonely here, no one understands me as much as you did. I'm here only for Annabeth's sake. I hope you come back Thalia because without you, my already broken heart has broken further. It is now half past broken and only you can heal it".
A lone tear escaped his eyes as they somehow mumbled merry Christmas to Thalia and promises to visit in the future.
That night as he prepared himself to sleep, Luke promised himself that someday he would avenge Thalia's fate and no matter what he did in the future, his family would come first.
And Luke stuck to his promise till he breathed his last.

Author's note: I would like to thank WordsWorth1998 for all her help and support. This book is dedicated to her, deepika0301 and sizzyforever99 for being themselves <3.