Broken people can fix each other

'Broken people can't be fixed huh.' thought Christina once she woke up. The nightmare she had last night was unlike the ones she usually has, instead of waking up scared or screaming, she woke up feeling... empty.

She already knew her memories were gone, lost with the passage of time, the lack of sleep, and the constant stress. She knew she was loosing them each day that passed, but yesterday... yesterday she realised how much it broke her, how empty she was without them. Loosing herself without being able to do anything about it.

"You are up." heard Christina. Turning her head to where the voice came from she saw Luke, cutting some wood and feeding it to the bonfire. "Anything on your mind?" he asked, focusing his attention on her.

"No... I just feel..." Christina began to say, however she couldn't quite explain herself. How can you tell someone that you lost your memories and feel empty because of it?

"Sad?" he asked.

"Yes, I guess that is the best way to describe it." replied Christina while standing up and moving closer to the bonfire.

"It happens sometimes." he said. "I too feel sad, missing those who left me or those I left." continued Luke with a slightly nostalgic expression.

"Hmm." hummed Christina while thinking about her mother. She didn't regret leaving her behind, but she missed her.

"Thalia told me a bit about the conversation you two had." said Luke while looking at Christina.

"Not so much a conversation as her consoling my childish cries." replied Christina with a small and hollow chuckle.

"Hahaha... I guess so." said Luke while slightly laughing as well, though his laugh was an amused one. "I remember when I first met Thalia you know? It had already been a while since I ran away and no matter where I went, it was always just me, well me and the monsters that hunted me." he began narrating while looking back at the fire.

"I used to make friends with normal people, trying to get part of what I left behind I guess... it never worked out of course, they didn't take my worries seriously and I could never stay in one place for long. Eventually trying to make new friends got harder and harder, until it became simply... unnecessary. They were just a reminder of all I couldn't have, I would see them with their happy families, their peaceful lives... and I would get jealous. One day I went to a cave and there she was." continued Luke, this time her expression turning from nostalgic to joyful, his eyes gaining a spark of happiness.

"She was in there, in the cave of a dragon... hahahaha, what a crazy girl to actually enter a monster's nest out of her own will." said Luke while laughing, making Christina's expression turn a bit awkward for a moment.

"She was the first demigod I ever met... the first person who was like me." said Luke with a small smile on his face. "We kicked it off pretty well and decided to just stick together to survive, but eventually... I guess I realised how much I needed someone in my life, how important it was to have someone to help you, to support you, to simply... be with you.

I really felt like we were everything in the world, no one else could understand us except each other. And then we found you two kids, running away from a group of cyclops that were originally tracking us." saying this, Luke turned in Christina's direction while taking his dagger out.

"We... the four of us, we are family." said Luke while giving his dagger to Christina. "Consider this a symbol of this promise if you want... I promise you, we will always be a family. We will always be there for each other, we will always protect each other, and we will never leave each other behind."

Small tears formed on Christina's eyes while a smile blossomed on her face, it felt like her emptiness was just filled, like the broken pieces that made her up were all placed back together. "I promise too then!" she replied while taking the dagger.

Luke went to ruffle her hair with a smile, but Christina got up and launched herself at him, hugging him as tightly as she could. "Thanks..." she muttered.

"Of course." replied Luke.

"Well well, I hope you are not excluding us from that promise." said Thalia, who had waken up a bit before Christina but remained on her bed until it was her turn to take watch duty.

"Umuu." said Annabeth while nodding her head. She had been listening since Luke began telling his story, it was more of a reflex at this point to wake up as soon as a sound was heard, regardless of how low it was.

"Well get in here then." said Luke while opening his arms widely.

Annabeth rushed forwards and placed herself between Luke and Christina, who covered her with her arm. Thalia went there as well and completed the hug.

Christina knew in this life she had never felt as happy as right now, having people who are like her, who supported her, who encouraged her... having a family. She started wondering while still in their embrace... maybe broken people can fix each other.

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Author note:

I felt my heart break a little writing this chapter. Actually form here until the end of this 'arc' was pure heartbreak. It was genuinely hard to read.