_{i would say technically it depends on which iteration of luke we’re talking about, but in all honesty when it comes to the crunch, he would not be able to bring himself to do it. if we look at luke in the titan’s curse, he’s in deep. way deep. But if you look at his interaction with thalia when they meet atlas, you’ll see that sure, he’s put on a tough façade for the most part, but he’s scared. he’s lonely. luke wants nothing more than his family to be whole again : & to him, that consists solely of thalia & annabeth. everyone else is meaningless.} 

_{‘if you join me,’ luke promised, ‘it can be like old times. the three of us together. fighting for a better world. please, thalia, if you don’t agree…’ His voice faltered …} 

_{that falter … we know what it means : if they don’t agree, kronos is going to kill them. they mean nothing to the titan, but everything to the son of hermes.}

_{if he was going to kill annabeth, why hasn’t he already? is he waiting for the ‘right moment’? is he waiting for athena to take notice? His sword is at her throat – so why hasn’t he just killed her? it’s a war, there’s bound to be casualties. after all, he tried to poison thalia, right? he hasn’t killed annabeth because that’s not part of his plan. annabeth is his family. thalia is his family. he only poisioned thalia’s tree because he was betting on the fleece, knowing it would reverse not only the effects of the poision but also of zeus’ … whatever you want to call it.}

 _{luke was betting on the fleece to bring thalia back : a thalia angry at the gods & willing to do whatever it takes to get her revenge. & he thinks annabeth would do the same, if she’d just listen. thalia was her friend too, her family — & thalia was taken from her. athena didn’t seem to care for her daughter … so why is annabeth not fighting alongside him?} 

_{he’s hurt, betrayed even that she’d choose some newcomer over him, & yes, luke takes that feeling out on her physically — but again, that’s a casualty of war. luke understands that hurting annabeth is okay ; it is good in the long run, it helps his cause. but killing her? absolutely not. even when the girls staunchly refuse to join him, you can see the change. kronos takes over, knowing luke’s desire for a family could outweigh his desire to overthrow the current system ; he’s only joined kronos for the sake of his family, after all, & that was after a lengthy mental assault on the boy by the titan.} 

_{luke’s even willing to fight thalia to his supposed death in an attempt to get her to join him, in an attempt to fulfil the only plan he’s ever cared about. so no, luke absolutely could not bring himself to kill annabeth or thalia. he’s too much of a family man. he even went back to see may, after all those years. family’s what brings him to make the ultimate sacrifice, after all. that’s what it all boils down to, in the end.} 

_{luke castellan will do whatever it takes to have his family back, even if he has to hurt them in the process.}