Dissociation

"You're an idiot."

"So I've been told."

"You're a bastard."

"Yup, and in multiple ways too."

"And you're literally drowning in your own mind."

A smile spread across his face as he leaned forward in his seat, "So what's your point? Or were you just intrigued by the reading of my file that you had to confirm it all?"

He watched as her familiar gray eyes searched his face for something more, for the piece of him that wasn't there anymore. Finally she sighed and set the folder she had been reading down,

"I just want to know what happened to you Luke," she said quietly. "And I want to know what you did to Thalia."

Luke leaned back still smiling and he heard as his cuffs clanged against the metal table, "Who said I did anything to her?"

"You did," Annabeth told him flipping the file to a picture of Luke's mugshot taken hours before- but really it felt like days. The version of him in the mugshot was covered in blood, his eyes were cold and cruel.

"You told us right before we took this," Annabeth continued. "You told us we needed to save Thalia Grace before she died. But you didn't tell us anything else after that. Don't you remember?"

Luke shrugged nonchalantly, "It's all haze. It's always a haze when I'm not at the fore front. You'd have to talk to Krony if you want some answers." Luke told her with a small laugh. "But it's not like he talks!"

"Could I speak to him?" Annabeth asked gently.

"Why?" Luke asked her standing up and grabbing her shoulder with uncuffed hands, "I thought we were having fun?"

~~~~

Annabeth bolted from the interrogation room and straight toward the trash can as she dry heaved. After a moment she felt as someone rubbed her back.

"Annabeth?"

Annabeth took a few deep breaths before standing up straight and looking over at the Captain, "I'm sorry Brunner, I just need a moment I-"

"Maybe I should take you off this case," Captain Brunner responded.

"No," Annabeth said sternly, "Look I don't know who did that to him, but that's not the Luke I grew up with. But I know he's in there suppressed by the other personalities. I can find him. I can talk to him. I am the only one who knows the things which can draw that Luke out. I may be close to him, and I know this is against protocol, but if we want to find Thalia alive you can't take me off this case."

The squad room was silent for a moment before the Captain nodded, "Get yourself some coffee then. It's gonna be a long and rough night."

"Morning you mean," Piper chimed unwinding her arm from Annabeth, "It's already two."

The Captain sighed, "Then we're gonna need a lot more coffee."

~~~~

"Would you like something to drink?" Annabeth asked him as she walked in. "I have water here but I can get you something else if you want."

He shook his head as he smiled, "Do you wanna hand cuff me again detective?"

Annabeth gave him a small practiced smile as she sat, "As long as you don't try to hurt anyone or thing I think we can leave them off. Is that okay with you?"

He nodded and leaned back in his chair as he crossed his arms watching her.

"So can you tell me anything about what happened, Luke?" She asked him. "You said everything's a haze? Can you pick anything out?"

He frowned then, and Annabeth watched as he slowly sat down properly and crossed his arms over his chest in a way which could be interpreted as guarded or annoyed way. Based on the crazed glint in his eye he hadn't switched to another, he was annoyed. Her suspicions were proved correct when he said,

"Why? That's boring, I want to be entertained!"

Annabeth paused in thought, "Why don't we make a deal?"

The smile returned to his face almost immediately, "What kind of  deal?"

"Each time you tell me something you remember about what happened then, you can ask me any question you like and I'll answer it. How's that sound?"

His eyes didn't change as he smiled at her drumming his fingers, the only way she could tell he was deep in thought.

"Alright!" He said cheerfully after a moment. "But I wanna change up the rules a bit!"

Annabeth hesitated, "How so?"

He leaned forward glad he had caught her attention, "I'm going to tell you thing and you have to guess if it's true. And if you guess right you get what you want. And if your wrong I get to ask questions. It's more fun than a boring trade."

Annabeth nodded slowly, "Alright, go ahead."

He smiled again, but this time not as wide, not as giddy. There was something- someone else underneath, someone else would be telling the truths. He closed his eyes and mouth and tapped his fingers on his chin as he shifted his chair back and forth.

"Lets start easy!" He said cheerfully cracking open one blue eye, not enough to give her the information she needed, "True or False: I was at that club to buy drugs!"

Annabeth searched his face, but he caught on.

"No cheating!" He shouted suddenly covering his face with his hands.

She bit back a curse and tried to think out the answer. The Luke she had known drank and smoked heavily, but she knew he didn't drugs at that time. But she also knew that when the personalities began he would drink to suppress them, and he had admitted he might need something harder to do the trick. And she knew narcotics had done a large bust not far from the club Luke liked to frequent.

"Tick tock," He called out.

"False," she answered finally.

Luke lowered his hands and he gave her a smile, "Correct! Next question-"

"Wait," Annabeth interrupted. "How do we know when to stop? How does one of us win this game?"

He gave her a look which wasn't his own, and a tone that wasn't either. His eyes looked cold and he sat up straight in his seat and stared her down with a smug look, "Its quite simple really," he started. "The game is over when you find Thalia or when the Luke you so desperately hope to find dies."

"What do you mean by-"

"Two lives hang in the balance detective," he continued picking up the cup of water still left on the table and holding it up as if offering a toast before putting it to his lips. "Both are yours to save. But you can only save one, so choose wisely."

Annabeth gave a hard swallow and watched as he calmly drank his water then set the cup down with more force than necessary, causing water to slosh and some landed on the table.

"So," Luke asked her in that cheery voice. "are you ready for the next one?"