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greenconversesTitle: The Three Lives of Luke Castellan
Rating: PG-13
Characters/Pairings: Thalia/Luke
Spoilers: All books, including The Last Olympian.
Summary: Thalia Grace encounters Luke Castellan's soul trice over five hundred years. She thinks it's a conspiracy, but, as they say, death cannot stop true love. All it can do is delay it a little while. Futurefic.
The Three Lives of Luke Castellan
Three - Liam
Seventeen years earlier
If there is one thing the goddess Artemis does not like, it is when the other gods decide to interfere with her business. Most of them have learned to stay out of the way by now, especially in matters concerning her Hunters, but her brother and father always like being the exception to the rule.
“No,” Artemis says resolutely, crossing her arms over her chest. “Absolutely not.”
Apollo and Zeus exchange glances; it’s not like they should be surprised by this. They’ve only known her for over three millennia, after all.
The Olympian throne room is empty except for the three of them, as it usually is when there are no pressing matters to attend to and the winter solstice is months away. Artemis is somewhat surprised Hera isn’t there, hovering over Zeus’s shoulder. There’s nothing she delights in more than making Zeus’s children – including Artemis and Apollo, on occasion – miserable with her scheming.
“Be reasonable, Artemis,” Apollo says at last, making eye contact with her again. “It’s not good for mortals to live this long and you’ve had her for almost five hundred years. Don’t you start to let go of them around this point anyway?”
“I dismiss my Hunters at the point of my own choosing, not yours, brother,” the goddess spat, narrowing her eyes. “Our sister has shown no signs of weakening, and I will not dismiss her for the sake of some man who…” How did the mortals say it nowadays? “...who screwed her over centuries ago and is now realizing his mistake.”
“It’s his third reincarnation! He doesn’t – they don’t have any more chances after this!”
“Would you be so concerned about my Hunter if the boy in question hadn’t been reincarnated as your son?” Apollo flushes at her words and Artemis feels a momentary flash of satisfaction. “And how do we even know he is the right reincarnation?”
“That kid of Hades’s…Rico, or whatever his name is, has been judging the dead for the last century and can personally account for seeing that boy’s soul pass though. He was even allowed to retain most of his memories,” Apollo replies. Artemis arches an eyebrow, still not convinced, and her brother flushes a deeper red. “Besides…the kid has Hermes’s eyes.”
“Are you sure that isn’t because your paramour of the month has been unfaithful?”
Apollo’s eyes flash dangerously and he begins to rise from his throne, but Zeus puts a hand on his shoulder and forces him back down.
“Apollo,” Zeus says warningly, fixing them both with glares. “Artemis.”
Chided, Artemis sinks back into her own throne. When her father’s gaze turns away, she juvenilely sticks her tongue out at her brother. Apollo has no right to criticize her Hunters and if he cannot handle any criticism she dishes out in return, then it’s not her concern.
“Artemis, I will not tell you what to do in this situation. You alone are sovereign over your Hunters and although the girl in question is my daughter, I will not have a hand in this,” their father continues. “But I would ask you to at least consider what your brother and I proposed today… and to consider what you would do if you had a second chance with the hunter, Orion.”
The goddess’s eyes widen in shock as mixture of emotions she hasn’t felt in ages rise in her chest. The mention of Orion was always a low blow and something she certainly hadn’t expected here today.
“Father, I don’t see how that is relevant to – ”
“If that hunter came back a second time, repentant in all his ways and still loyal to you, would you give your friendship with him another chance?”
Orion was the one black mark on Artemis’s otherwise white record in terms of romantic relationships. He had been her best friend, her favorite… the only man she could’ve ever loved. If he had chosen rebirth instead of immortalization in the stars, and she had encountered him again, what would she have done?
Wouldn’t she at least want the option of a second chance?
*
The morning of her five hundredth anniversary of her entry to the service to the goddess, Artemis calls Thalia to her tent for a performance review of sorts. She’s had a few of them over the centuries and she never stops being nervous, even though they’ve only ever been positive sessions.
Artemis is seated in her golden folding chair, glancing at a Hermes Messenger handheld with the latest notes from Olympus when Thalia enters. The goddess is in her adult form, as she usually is when she and Thalia meet alone. She only looks a few years older – maybe nineteen or twenty – and her hair is much longer than it is in her child form. It’s a sign of how much she trusts Thalia to meet with her when she’s like this; very few of the other girls have had this honor. Thalia bows before her and waits to be acknowledged.
“Dear sister, rise and sit beside your lady,” Artemis says with a warm smile. She waves her hand and a silver chair appears beside her. When Thalia is seated, Artemis sets down her handheld and continues, “You have been my lieutenant for five hundred years Thalia, Daughter of Zeus, and you have served me faithfully for every year. The ranks of my hunters have swelled and been maintained. Our hunts and battles have brought me great honor among the gods. Except for a few scattered incidents, I have been nothing but pleased by you.”
Thalia glows from the compliment. They’re rare and when she receives one from any Olympian, she treasures it beyond all measure.
“Thank you, my lady.”
“But I believe you and I have reached the end of our journey together.”
The warm feeling from Artemis’s compliment goes icy cold and Thalia feels her stomach drop to her feet.
“What? Lady Artemis, I don’t understand,” she asks, confused. Surely, she had simply misheard. Surely Artemis couldn’t mean what she was saying because that would mean…
“It is nothing you have done my dear,” Artemis replies, placing a hand on top of Thalia’s. Physical contact with the goddess is even rarer and it startles the other girl completely. “We have simply arrived at a crossroads in our very long lives together. Our father Zeus has recently brought something to my attention which I believe will test your resolution to your oath – ”
Thalia gasps, wrenching her hand from Artemis’s and bolting out of her chair.
“My lady, I would never – !”
Artemis raises a hand and gives her a hard look. Thalia’s protest withers and dies in her throat, and she sinks back miserably into her chair. This can’t be happening. She has to be dreaming. There’s no way this can be real.
“Thalia, you and I both know your reasons for joining my Hunt were not the right ones. Nevertheless, you have served me beyond any doubt and I shall never forget that,” the goddess’s eyes look old for a second and she looks away. “I am beginning to see the same exhaustion in you that I saw in my previous lieutenant, and I would not wish for you to become resentful of your service to me. Sometimes we gods forget what a burden immortal is for those who are not strong enough to shoulder it.
Thalia’s torn between feeling insulted, miserable, and fucking pissed the hell off. She’s given the last five hundred years of her life to goddess, sacrificed friends, family, a normal, mortal life, only to be told in the end, she wasn’t strong enough and that she was too old?
What is she supposed to do? Everything and everyone she ever knew has turned to dust with the ages. She has no support, money, no identification…she has nothing except the Hunters. Thalia is nothing but a Hunter.
“My lady,” Thalia says, gulping back the sobs of desperation that are threatening to tear their way out of her chest. “Is there anything I can do to change your mind? I don’t think this is the right choice.”
Artemis looks at her with sad eyes. Thalia knows the answer and she absolutely hates it. This isn’t fair.
“I can explain no more than I already have,” Artemis says with a tone of finality. “I can only suggest that you look at this as a blessing rather than a curse.”
A blessing?
A blessing? She’s being thrown from her home away from her family and friends, and she’s supposed to think of it as a blessing? Yeah, not happening any time soon.
“Where…where will I go?”
“You shall lead the Hunters to Camp Half-Blood while I attend the winter solstice, and you will remain there until Chiron and your father can sort something out for you,” Artemis says. “You will always have a home in my cabin, Thalia, even when we are not there.”
Thalia nods robotically, the shock setting in and forcing all other feelings out of her body.
“Am I dismissed?”
Artemis nods and makes a motion as if she wants to hug her, but thinks better of it and sits back in her golden chair. Thalia rises and moves towards the door flap.
“Would you send in Coraline? I wish to speak with her,” Artemis calls. “And Thalia? You will find what you’re looking for at Camp Half-Blood. I know it.”
*
The Hunters know something is up before they leave for Camp Half-Blood, if the pitying looks and comforting pats on the back they’re giving to Thalia are indication, but they’re kind enough not to say anything, even the bratty ones who don’t like her. It’s always a sad day when one of their own leaves their numbers, even though none of them – even Thalia – really know why.
When they arrive at the Camp, Chiron is waiting for them outside the Big House. Thalia’s heart tugs at the sight up him and she has to resist the urge to cry when he bends down to give her a hug.
“Welcome back, Hunters of Artemis,” he says to the entire group. “Your cabin has been prepared for you, and you’re welcome to join as for dinner, as always. The Aphrodite Cabin asks that you do not try to provoke them, and the Hermes Cabin has promised to keep their hands to themselves this time.” Then, turning to her, he says, “Thalia, the senior counselors would like to speak to you as soon as you have the time.”
“Now is fine,” Thalia replies, stepping away from the Hunters.
Coraline, her chosen successor, begins to herd the girls to the cabins. She pauses for one last miserable look before scampering after them.
Thalia sighs as Chiron’s hand settles on her shoulder.
“I’m sorry you must return to camp under these circumstances, Thalia. We’ll try to make the transition as easy as possible for you,” he says as they walk into the Big House. “You’ll be the senior counselor of the Zeus cabin while you’re here. We haven’t had any of your siblings through in a few years, so it’ll just be you for now.”
In a way, Thalia’s glad she has no siblings because it will make everything substantially less awkward. She knows the other campers are going to be curious enough the way it is. But at the same time, she would’ve liked to have someone she could relate to…and not in the literal sense.
“Thank you, Chiron,” she replies, inclining her head. “I appreciate it.”
He guides her into a room at the end of the hallway that hadn’t been there during her initial stay at Camp Half-Blood. It’s very similar to a corporate boardroom with a long, oak table and cushy leather chairs, and screens on the walls displaying schedules and updates from Olympus. There are only a handful of campers in the boardroom at the moment, standing around a screen displaying Hephaestus TV, and all talking stops when Chiron and Thalia enter.
“Senior counselors,” Chiron says, drawing their attention away from the screen. “I’d like you to meet our newest camper, Thalia Grace, daughter of Zeus.”
The senior counselors all bow to her, like all demigods do when they learn who her father is. It’s constantly embarrassing, to say the least. Chiron goes around and lists them off for her benefit: there’s Bud Pierski from Ares, Ashley Burleson from Aphrodite, Caylee Rose of Demeter, Sora Quickly of Hermes, Liam Solburn of Apollo, Amir Wasif from Athena, and George Harrison from Hephaestus. None of the minor cabins are represented, but Chiron assures her that’s just because of the dwindled camp numbers during the winter.
“I’ll leave you to get to know one another,” Chiron says, tromping out of the room.
“Um…hi,” Thalia says awkwardly, trying to avoid looking anyone in the eye. She hates being put in the spotlight like this. “Nice to meet you…I guess?”
“You’re wearing the circlet of Artemis,” Amir says, pushing his glasses up his nose. He’s definitely the youngest of the bunch. “Are you a Hunter?”
“I was,” she replies softly, even though it’s not quite true. She’s still has the blessing of Artemis and immortality; she won’t stop being a Hunter until midnight tonight when she’ll finally turn sixteen.
“Why the change of mind? Finally decided to see what you’re missing?” Bud, the Ares kid, says, making a lewd gesture with his hands. Thalia narrows her eyes. “’Cause baby, I’ll certainly show you – ”
One of the taller boys reaches over and whacks Bud across the back of the head. Thalia hadn’t really noticed him when Chiron had been making introductions because everything had been a little overwhelming, but she’s almost positive he must be the Apollo kid: Liam.
“Knock it off,” he says, his voice holding the faintest hint of Texan accent. He has sandy blond, almost brown hair that curls at the nape of his neck and into his eyes. He’s busy glaring at Bud, so she doesn’t get a good look at his face. “Her reasons for leaving the Hunters are her own, and if I catch you giving her shit, I’m going to kick your ass even more often than I do now.”
Bud’s face turns red as the other campers laugh, and he starts to protest Liam’s assertion, but the other boy turns away and meets Thalia’s gaze for the first time.
For a moment, she feels as though time has stopped. Liam has deep blue eyes, eyes that look as sad and old as hers do sometimes, and something in her gut tells her she knows these eyes, but that isn’t possible because she just met this kid five minutes ago. She racks her memory, trying to find the reference to this feeling, and comes up with nothing except a distant, faded image of a blond boy on a street corner with those same eyes.
The feeling is gone as soon as it came, and Thalia suddenly finds herself surrounded by the three other girls in the room.
“So, like, how old are you?” Ashley asks, grabbing at Thalia’s braid and examining it. “Because you have got to tell me how you managed to look so fab this long.”
“Were you around when the Internet was first invented?” Sora says eagerly. “I’m studying communications and I would love to get your perspective about how things have changed since then – ”
As the girls babble over her and drag her out the door, Thalia looks back at Liam very briefly. She’s not quite sure why she does; it has to be that stupid feeling of hers. His shoulders are slumped, and his eyes are crinkled with sadness…like he had expected something more from her than what he got.
*
Later that night, long after curfew, Thalia leaves the Hunters for the last time and treks up the snow covered Half-Blood Hill to her old tree so she can think. And maybe cry a bit if she wants to be totally truthful, because Zeus knows she wouldn’t be able to do any of that with all the campers stopping by her cabin to say hello or her Hunters coming in to sob to her about how much they’ll miss her.
Each time she comes back to Camp Half-Blood, she surprised by how much the tree has changed and how much she hasn’t. From the slim pine it started out as, it has grown into a thick, gnarled gargantuan that’s now the definitive landmark of the camp. It reflects all the years she has and ages in the way she couldn’t. Besides Chiron, this is the last physical connection she has to her mortal life, the only home she has left.
She wonders, if she prayed very nicely, if her father could put her back inside until she died for good this time.
Thalia swallows the lump in her throat as she presses her hand on the trunk of the tree. The life inside hums a pleased greeting and, even after all this time, it amazes her that she hasn’t lost her connection to it and that it can give her comfort when nothing else can.
“Hello,” she replies. “Nice to see you again.”
Before she can truly get comfortable, she hears snow crunch in the distance, the sign of someone finding their way up the hill. It can’t be any of her Hunters, since she told them to leave her be, so it must be some camper off on their own. Thalia debates leaving, but this is her tree, after all. She shouldn’t have to leave.
“Oh, sorry,” it’s a boy’s voice, deep and with the faintest hint of a Texan accent. Liam’s voice. “I didn’t realize anyone else was up here.”
Out of all the people in the camp who wanted to risk getting eaten by the Harpies, it had to be Liam. It isn’t that she doesn’t like the guy – Bud had earned that with his constant harassment of her – but she feels weird around him. Out of place, like she should recognize something about him.
“You’re fine,” Thalia calls, glancing over her shoulder at him. “I was just admiring the tree.”
Liam’s feet shuffle in the snow and he moves closer to her, until he’s standing by her side. She wonders if he followed her up to the top of hill or if he usually came up here on his own. If he came all this way to flirt, he was going to be sadly disappointed.
“You know the story behind the Immortal Tree, don’t you?”
There’s definitely a bit of flirtation in his voice and Thalia rolls her eyes skyward. He has to know he’s talking to the girl who caused the creation of the “Immortal Tree,” right?
She decides to humor him instead of zapping him, though. She’s a few hundred years out of practice with flirting with the opposite sex and if she’s really going to be let go from the Hunters, she might want to remember how to talk to boys without looking at them like they’re diseased.
Although, she thinks she looked at them that way before she became a Hunter…
“You know, I don’t think so,” she says with a fair amount of sarcasm. “Why don’t you tell me?”
If he picked up on her sarcasm, he doesn’t let it affect his eagerness to tell the story. He really must be clueless about the tree’s history.
“Well, they say almost a half a millennia ago, a half-blood sacrificed herself on this very spot to save her friends from certain death,” Liam says reverently, as if this is his favorite myth. It’s kind of weird to think of herself as a myth. “Their quartet – three half-bloods and a satyr – were being chased by monsters that were out for their blood. Not much different from the usual half-blood story, I suppose, but there were too many monsters and there was no way they would make it to the magical borders alive.”
Thalia closes her eyes, letting his words wash over her and the memories from that day coming flooding back. They’re old memories, out of focus, monochrome, and garbled, and…and they’re not matching up with Liam’s story.
“The eldest girl decided to make herself a target, even though was the most important one out of the three. She and the older boy argued about it because the boy thought he should be the one to do it because it was his fault the monsters were after them and he was the oldest, after all. Before he can do anything though, the girl left and charged into battle,” Liam’s voice goes soft, and while Thalia remembers that part of the fight, she doesn’t remember the argument.
In fact, she doesn’t remember any boy besides Grover being around at all. She knows myths can change and twist throughout time, but something tells her that his story isn’t wrong – her memories are.
“She fought bravely, but the monsters were too much for her. Before they could kill her, her father interfered and transformed her into that very tree so she wouldn’t suffer. The other three made it safely to camp, and she protected the camp from that point on.”
“Sad story,” Thalia murmurs, rubbing her hand over the bark of the tree. Her voice doesn’t reflect any sadness because she’s fighting with her memories, trying to bring up the right ones to match his story.
Thalia’s usually not one to trust her feelings, but when her memories have betrayed her, she has to have something to hold on to.
“It gets sadder,” Liam continues, and she can feel him watching her. “’Cause you see, the boy blamed himself for killing his friend, and there wasn’t a day that didn’t pass where he didn’t think of her. He mourned over her for years, until his grief turned into bitterness and resentment, and he did the unthinkable – he betrayed Olympus and poisoned the tree, belittling the sacrifice his friend had made.”
“What else can you expect from boys?” Thalia replies weakly, and her heart is pounding in her chest. Something is nudging at the edge of her awareness, something she knows, something important, yet she can’t quite grasp what it is.
The boy laughs, warm and friendly. It reminds her of someone from a very long time ago, but who? The boy from the story?
“I see your lady has trained you right, but this boy’s problem wasn’t that he was born male. He was born with a terrible destiny and he was far too eager to go out and find it. He did a lot of nasty things and lucky for everyone else, there were other heroes willing to step up and save them. These other heroes cured the tree with the Golden Fleece,” his heavy winter coat swishes as he indicates said magical item still hanging from the branches, “And then a miracle happened. The girl was released from the tree, a little bit younger than she should be, but safe and whole nonetheless.”
Thalia’s growing annoyed, not with him, but with her head. She keeps seeing Percy’s face when she tries to think of the other boy, and she knows that isn’t right. Percy was the hero and besides, the other boy didn’t have dark hair and green eyes. He had light hair with... with…
She clenches her fists. Why can’t she remember? It shouldn’t be this hard!
“I’m sure she wasn’t happy when she found out what her friend had done,” Thalia prompts, hoping more of the story will fill in the gaps in her memory. “I’d be furious.”
She had been furious, she knows that, but the fury had faded over time as her emotional wounds healed and she’d matured. Her heart tells her that she forgave that boy centuries ago, and that, impossibly, Liam knows that too.
“I think she probably was, yet she didn’t let her anger rule her like the boy had. She always the strongest of the two and constantly did what was right, even when it was hardest. They went their separate ways for good this time, but the boy never stopped loving the girl even though she couldn’t love him back. When it came down to it, it was the boy’s love for the girl that saved everyone else and the boy followed her example, sacrificing himself for his friends.”
This isn’t just some story from a flirtatious demigod trying to impress a new camper anymore. Liam knows things, things he shouldn’t because, she thinks, he was there. He was the boy in the story, just like she was the girl, and he’s been aware of that since she walked into the boardroom that afternoon.
Thalia doesn’t know when she started crying, but she’s startled to find tears coursing down her cheeks. She reaches up to wipe them away, but a larger hand with cold, rough fingertips beats her to it. Startled, she glances up and meets Liam’s eyes – his blue eyes.
She knows those eyes, knows the person behind them, and she’s so damn positive of this fact it almost hurts.
“I – I don’t remember,” she says, her voice breaking. “I know you were important to me, I just don’t – ”
Liam moves his hand to the back of her neck, leans forward, and presses his lips against hers.
For a moment, Thalia feels nothing except an excited tremble in her limbs. But then Liam presses harder, moving his mouth against hers just right, and then…
Then it all comes back. She gasps against his lips, and she has to shove him away as memories and emotions pour into her boy. She leans against the tree for support, gasping for breath and trying to hold onto herself.
This is what’s been missing from her for the last three hundred years. This is why she always felt alone and broken. This is what she had been looking for, and –
This is why Artemis let her go, she realizes with flutter of her heart. Not because she was too old or too weak, but because the goddess wanted her to have a second chance.
“Thalia?” Liam prompts after a moment. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…it’s just, you know that story? That really wasn’t the end either. You see, that boy loved that girl so much that he was willing to be reborn so he could be with her again. It took him three tries and five hundred years, but he finally found her, like she told him to. And he’s wondering…if the girl still loves him like he still loves her.”
Thalia sobs and suddenly, she finds herself wrapped up in his arms. They feel different – they should, considering this is an entirely new body for him – but there’s nothing different about the way he holds her, like she’s the most precious thing in the world.
“You came back,” she cries against his winter coat, her tears soaking the material. “You came back.”
“Of course I did. I promised, didn’t I?” he murmurs into her hair. “You’re the only thing that kept me going, Thalia Grace.”
Thalia pulls her head away from his chest and looks up at him, really looking at him this time. He’s not quite Luke or Adam or Jake or any combination of the three; he’s just Liam, the boy who’d wait for her until the end of time.
As she stands on her tiptoes to kiss him again, Thalia thinks she hears a distant clock chiming midnight. As Liam’s arms wrap around her waist, she feels the blessing of Artemis beginning to slide away and her coat of immortality fading away in the night.
When she finally pulls away from Liam, she’s no longer lonely Thalia Grace, the five hundred year old Hunter of Artemis.
She’s just Thalia, a sixteen year old demigod finally ready to start living her life the way it was always meant to be.
Epilogue
Rating: PG-13
Characters/Pairings: Thalia/Luke
Spoilers: All books, including The Last Olympian.
Summary: Thalia Grace encounters Luke Castellan's soul trice over five hundred years. She thinks it's a conspiracy, but, as they say, death cannot stop true love. All it can do is delay it a little while. Futurefic.
Three - Liam
Seventeen years earlier
If there is one thing the goddess Artemis does not like, it is when the other gods decide to interfere with her business. Most of them have learned to stay out of the way by now, especially in matters concerning her Hunters, but her brother and father always like being the exception to the rule.
“No,” Artemis says resolutely, crossing her arms over her chest. “Absolutely not.”
Apollo and Zeus exchange glances; it’s not like they should be surprised by this. They’ve only known her for over three millennia, after all.
The Olympian throne room is empty except for the three of them, as it usually is when there are no pressing matters to attend to and the winter solstice is months away. Artemis is somewhat surprised Hera isn’t there, hovering over Zeus’s shoulder. There’s nothing she delights in more than making Zeus’s children – including Artemis and Apollo, on occasion – miserable with her scheming.
“Be reasonable, Artemis,” Apollo says at last, making eye contact with her again. “It’s not good for mortals to live this long and you’ve had her for almost five hundred years. Don’t you start to let go of them around this point anyway?”
“I dismiss my Hunters at the point of my own choosing, not yours, brother,” the goddess spat, narrowing her eyes. “Our sister has shown no signs of weakening, and I will not dismiss her for the sake of some man who…” How did the mortals say it nowadays? “...who screwed her over centuries ago and is now realizing his mistake.”
“It’s his third reincarnation! He doesn’t – they don’t have any more chances after this!”
“Would you be so concerned about my Hunter if the boy in question hadn’t been reincarnated as your son?” Apollo flushes at her words and Artemis feels a momentary flash of satisfaction. “And how do we even know he is the right reincarnation?”
“That kid of Hades’s…Rico, or whatever his name is, has been judging the dead for the last century and can personally account for seeing that boy’s soul pass though. He was even allowed to retain most of his memories,” Apollo replies. Artemis arches an eyebrow, still not convinced, and her brother flushes a deeper red. “Besides…the kid has Hermes’s eyes.”
“Are you sure that isn’t because your paramour of the month has been unfaithful?”
Apollo’s eyes flash dangerously and he begins to rise from his throne, but Zeus puts a hand on his shoulder and forces him back down.
“Apollo,” Zeus says warningly, fixing them both with glares. “Artemis.”
Chided, Artemis sinks back into her own throne. When her father’s gaze turns away, she juvenilely sticks her tongue out at her brother. Apollo has no right to criticize her Hunters and if he cannot handle any criticism she dishes out in return, then it’s not her concern.
“Artemis, I will not tell you what to do in this situation. You alone are sovereign over your Hunters and although the girl in question is my daughter, I will not have a hand in this,” their father continues. “But I would ask you to at least consider what your brother and I proposed today… and to consider what you would do if you had a second chance with the hunter, Orion.”
The goddess’s eyes widen in shock as mixture of emotions she hasn’t felt in ages rise in her chest. The mention of Orion was always a low blow and something she certainly hadn’t expected here today.
“Father, I don’t see how that is relevant to – ”
“If that hunter came back a second time, repentant in all his ways and still loyal to you, would you give your friendship with him another chance?”
Orion was the one black mark on Artemis’s otherwise white record in terms of romantic relationships. He had been her best friend, her favorite… the only man she could’ve ever loved. If he had chosen rebirth instead of immortalization in the stars, and she had encountered him again, what would she have done?
Wouldn’t she at least want the option of a second chance?
*
The morning of her five hundredth anniversary of her entry to the service to the goddess, Artemis calls Thalia to her tent for a performance review of sorts. She’s had a few of them over the centuries and she never stops being nervous, even though they’ve only ever been positive sessions.
Artemis is seated in her golden folding chair, glancing at a Hermes Messenger handheld with the latest notes from Olympus when Thalia enters. The goddess is in her adult form, as she usually is when she and Thalia meet alone. She only looks a few years older – maybe nineteen or twenty – and her hair is much longer than it is in her child form. It’s a sign of how much she trusts Thalia to meet with her when she’s like this; very few of the other girls have had this honor. Thalia bows before her and waits to be acknowledged.
“Dear sister, rise and sit beside your lady,” Artemis says with a warm smile. She waves her hand and a silver chair appears beside her. When Thalia is seated, Artemis sets down her handheld and continues, “You have been my lieutenant for five hundred years Thalia, Daughter of Zeus, and you have served me faithfully for every year. The ranks of my hunters have swelled and been maintained. Our hunts and battles have brought me great honor among the gods. Except for a few scattered incidents, I have been nothing but pleased by you.”
Thalia glows from the compliment. They’re rare and when she receives one from any Olympian, she treasures it beyond all measure.
“Thank you, my lady.”
“But I believe you and I have reached the end of our journey together.”
The warm feeling from Artemis’s compliment goes icy cold and Thalia feels her stomach drop to her feet.
“What? Lady Artemis, I don’t understand,” she asks, confused. Surely, she had simply misheard. Surely Artemis couldn’t mean what she was saying because that would mean…
“It is nothing you have done my dear,” Artemis replies, placing a hand on top of Thalia’s. Physical contact with the goddess is even rarer and it startles the other girl completely. “We have simply arrived at a crossroads in our very long lives together. Our father Zeus has recently brought something to my attention which I believe will test your resolution to your oath – ”
Thalia gasps, wrenching her hand from Artemis’s and bolting out of her chair.
“My lady, I would never – !”
Artemis raises a hand and gives her a hard look. Thalia’s protest withers and dies in her throat, and she sinks back miserably into her chair. This can’t be happening. She has to be dreaming. There’s no way this can be real.
“Thalia, you and I both know your reasons for joining my Hunt were not the right ones. Nevertheless, you have served me beyond any doubt and I shall never forget that,” the goddess’s eyes look old for a second and she looks away. “I am beginning to see the same exhaustion in you that I saw in my previous lieutenant, and I would not wish for you to become resentful of your service to me. Sometimes we gods forget what a burden immortal is for those who are not strong enough to shoulder it.
Thalia’s torn between feeling insulted, miserable, and fucking pissed the hell off. She’s given the last five hundred years of her life to goddess, sacrificed friends, family, a normal, mortal life, only to be told in the end, she wasn’t strong enough and that she was too old?
What is she supposed to do? Everything and everyone she ever knew has turned to dust with the ages. She has no support, money, no identification…she has nothing except the Hunters. Thalia is nothing but a Hunter.
“My lady,” Thalia says, gulping back the sobs of desperation that are threatening to tear their way out of her chest. “Is there anything I can do to change your mind? I don’t think this is the right choice.”
Artemis looks at her with sad eyes. Thalia knows the answer and she absolutely hates it. This isn’t fair.
“I can explain no more than I already have,” Artemis says with a tone of finality. “I can only suggest that you look at this as a blessing rather than a curse.”
A blessing?
A blessing? She’s being thrown from her home away from her family and friends, and she’s supposed to think of it as a blessing? Yeah, not happening any time soon.
“Where…where will I go?”
“You shall lead the Hunters to Camp Half-Blood while I attend the winter solstice, and you will remain there until Chiron and your father can sort something out for you,” Artemis says. “You will always have a home in my cabin, Thalia, even when we are not there.”
Thalia nods robotically, the shock setting in and forcing all other feelings out of her body.
“Am I dismissed?”
Artemis nods and makes a motion as if she wants to hug her, but thinks better of it and sits back in her golden chair. Thalia rises and moves towards the door flap.
“Would you send in Coraline? I wish to speak with her,” Artemis calls. “And Thalia? You will find what you’re looking for at Camp Half-Blood. I know it.”
*
The Hunters know something is up before they leave for Camp Half-Blood, if the pitying looks and comforting pats on the back they’re giving to Thalia are indication, but they’re kind enough not to say anything, even the bratty ones who don’t like her. It’s always a sad day when one of their own leaves their numbers, even though none of them – even Thalia – really know why.
When they arrive at the Camp, Chiron is waiting for them outside the Big House. Thalia’s heart tugs at the sight up him and she has to resist the urge to cry when he bends down to give her a hug.
“Welcome back, Hunters of Artemis,” he says to the entire group. “Your cabin has been prepared for you, and you’re welcome to join as for dinner, as always. The Aphrodite Cabin asks that you do not try to provoke them, and the Hermes Cabin has promised to keep their hands to themselves this time.” Then, turning to her, he says, “Thalia, the senior counselors would like to speak to you as soon as you have the time.”
“Now is fine,” Thalia replies, stepping away from the Hunters.
Coraline, her chosen successor, begins to herd the girls to the cabins. She pauses for one last miserable look before scampering after them.
Thalia sighs as Chiron’s hand settles on her shoulder.
“I’m sorry you must return to camp under these circumstances, Thalia. We’ll try to make the transition as easy as possible for you,” he says as they walk into the Big House. “You’ll be the senior counselor of the Zeus cabin while you’re here. We haven’t had any of your siblings through in a few years, so it’ll just be you for now.”
In a way, Thalia’s glad she has no siblings because it will make everything substantially less awkward. She knows the other campers are going to be curious enough the way it is. But at the same time, she would’ve liked to have someone she could relate to…and not in the literal sense.
“Thank you, Chiron,” she replies, inclining her head. “I appreciate it.”
He guides her into a room at the end of the hallway that hadn’t been there during her initial stay at Camp Half-Blood. It’s very similar to a corporate boardroom with a long, oak table and cushy leather chairs, and screens on the walls displaying schedules and updates from Olympus. There are only a handful of campers in the boardroom at the moment, standing around a screen displaying Hephaestus TV, and all talking stops when Chiron and Thalia enter.
“Senior counselors,” Chiron says, drawing their attention away from the screen. “I’d like you to meet our newest camper, Thalia Grace, daughter of Zeus.”
The senior counselors all bow to her, like all demigods do when they learn who her father is. It’s constantly embarrassing, to say the least. Chiron goes around and lists them off for her benefit: there’s Bud Pierski from Ares, Ashley Burleson from Aphrodite, Caylee Rose of Demeter, Sora Quickly of Hermes, Liam Solburn of Apollo, Amir Wasif from Athena, and George Harrison from Hephaestus. None of the minor cabins are represented, but Chiron assures her that’s just because of the dwindled camp numbers during the winter.
“I’ll leave you to get to know one another,” Chiron says, tromping out of the room.
“Um…hi,” Thalia says awkwardly, trying to avoid looking anyone in the eye. She hates being put in the spotlight like this. “Nice to meet you…I guess?”
“You’re wearing the circlet of Artemis,” Amir says, pushing his glasses up his nose. He’s definitely the youngest of the bunch. “Are you a Hunter?”
“I was,” she replies softly, even though it’s not quite true. She’s still has the blessing of Artemis and immortality; she won’t stop being a Hunter until midnight tonight when she’ll finally turn sixteen.
“Why the change of mind? Finally decided to see what you’re missing?” Bud, the Ares kid, says, making a lewd gesture with his hands. Thalia narrows her eyes. “’Cause baby, I’ll certainly show you – ”
One of the taller boys reaches over and whacks Bud across the back of the head. Thalia hadn’t really noticed him when Chiron had been making introductions because everything had been a little overwhelming, but she’s almost positive he must be the Apollo kid: Liam.
“Knock it off,” he says, his voice holding the faintest hint of Texan accent. He has sandy blond, almost brown hair that curls at the nape of his neck and into his eyes. He’s busy glaring at Bud, so she doesn’t get a good look at his face. “Her reasons for leaving the Hunters are her own, and if I catch you giving her shit, I’m going to kick your ass even more often than I do now.”
Bud’s face turns red as the other campers laugh, and he starts to protest Liam’s assertion, but the other boy turns away and meets Thalia’s gaze for the first time.
For a moment, she feels as though time has stopped. Liam has deep blue eyes, eyes that look as sad and old as hers do sometimes, and something in her gut tells her she knows these eyes, but that isn’t possible because she just met this kid five minutes ago. She racks her memory, trying to find the reference to this feeling, and comes up with nothing except a distant, faded image of a blond boy on a street corner with those same eyes.
The feeling is gone as soon as it came, and Thalia suddenly finds herself surrounded by the three other girls in the room.
“So, like, how old are you?” Ashley asks, grabbing at Thalia’s braid and examining it. “Because you have got to tell me how you managed to look so fab this long.”
“Were you around when the Internet was first invented?” Sora says eagerly. “I’m studying communications and I would love to get your perspective about how things have changed since then – ”
As the girls babble over her and drag her out the door, Thalia looks back at Liam very briefly. She’s not quite sure why she does; it has to be that stupid feeling of hers. His shoulders are slumped, and his eyes are crinkled with sadness…like he had expected something more from her than what he got.
*
Later that night, long after curfew, Thalia leaves the Hunters for the last time and treks up the snow covered Half-Blood Hill to her old tree so she can think. And maybe cry a bit if she wants to be totally truthful, because Zeus knows she wouldn’t be able to do any of that with all the campers stopping by her cabin to say hello or her Hunters coming in to sob to her about how much they’ll miss her.
Each time she comes back to Camp Half-Blood, she surprised by how much the tree has changed and how much she hasn’t. From the slim pine it started out as, it has grown into a thick, gnarled gargantuan that’s now the definitive landmark of the camp. It reflects all the years she has and ages in the way she couldn’t. Besides Chiron, this is the last physical connection she has to her mortal life, the only home she has left.
She wonders, if she prayed very nicely, if her father could put her back inside until she died for good this time.
Thalia swallows the lump in her throat as she presses her hand on the trunk of the tree. The life inside hums a pleased greeting and, even after all this time, it amazes her that she hasn’t lost her connection to it and that it can give her comfort when nothing else can.
“Hello,” she replies. “Nice to see you again.”
Before she can truly get comfortable, she hears snow crunch in the distance, the sign of someone finding their way up the hill. It can’t be any of her Hunters, since she told them to leave her be, so it must be some camper off on their own. Thalia debates leaving, but this is her tree, after all. She shouldn’t have to leave.
“Oh, sorry,” it’s a boy’s voice, deep and with the faintest hint of a Texan accent. Liam’s voice. “I didn’t realize anyone else was up here.”
Out of all the people in the camp who wanted to risk getting eaten by the Harpies, it had to be Liam. It isn’t that she doesn’t like the guy – Bud had earned that with his constant harassment of her – but she feels weird around him. Out of place, like she should recognize something about him.
“You’re fine,” Thalia calls, glancing over her shoulder at him. “I was just admiring the tree.”
Liam’s feet shuffle in the snow and he moves closer to her, until he’s standing by her side. She wonders if he followed her up to the top of hill or if he usually came up here on his own. If he came all this way to flirt, he was going to be sadly disappointed.
“You know the story behind the Immortal Tree, don’t you?”
There’s definitely a bit of flirtation in his voice and Thalia rolls her eyes skyward. He has to know he’s talking to the girl who caused the creation of the “Immortal Tree,” right?
She decides to humor him instead of zapping him, though. She’s a few hundred years out of practice with flirting with the opposite sex and if she’s really going to be let go from the Hunters, she might want to remember how to talk to boys without looking at them like they’re diseased.
Although, she thinks she looked at them that way before she became a Hunter…
“You know, I don’t think so,” she says with a fair amount of sarcasm. “Why don’t you tell me?”
If he picked up on her sarcasm, he doesn’t let it affect his eagerness to tell the story. He really must be clueless about the tree’s history.
“Well, they say almost a half a millennia ago, a half-blood sacrificed herself on this very spot to save her friends from certain death,” Liam says reverently, as if this is his favorite myth. It’s kind of weird to think of herself as a myth. “Their quartet – three half-bloods and a satyr – were being chased by monsters that were out for their blood. Not much different from the usual half-blood story, I suppose, but there were too many monsters and there was no way they would make it to the magical borders alive.”
Thalia closes her eyes, letting his words wash over her and the memories from that day coming flooding back. They’re old memories, out of focus, monochrome, and garbled, and…and they’re not matching up with Liam’s story.
“The eldest girl decided to make herself a target, even though was the most important one out of the three. She and the older boy argued about it because the boy thought he should be the one to do it because it was his fault the monsters were after them and he was the oldest, after all. Before he can do anything though, the girl left and charged into battle,” Liam’s voice goes soft, and while Thalia remembers that part of the fight, she doesn’t remember the argument.
In fact, she doesn’t remember any boy besides Grover being around at all. She knows myths can change and twist throughout time, but something tells her that his story isn’t wrong – her memories are.
“She fought bravely, but the monsters were too much for her. Before they could kill her, her father interfered and transformed her into that very tree so she wouldn’t suffer. The other three made it safely to camp, and she protected the camp from that point on.”
“Sad story,” Thalia murmurs, rubbing her hand over the bark of the tree. Her voice doesn’t reflect any sadness because she’s fighting with her memories, trying to bring up the right ones to match his story.
Thalia’s usually not one to trust her feelings, but when her memories have betrayed her, she has to have something to hold on to.
“It gets sadder,” Liam continues, and she can feel him watching her. “’Cause you see, the boy blamed himself for killing his friend, and there wasn’t a day that didn’t pass where he didn’t think of her. He mourned over her for years, until his grief turned into bitterness and resentment, and he did the unthinkable – he betrayed Olympus and poisoned the tree, belittling the sacrifice his friend had made.”
“What else can you expect from boys?” Thalia replies weakly, and her heart is pounding in her chest. Something is nudging at the edge of her awareness, something she knows, something important, yet she can’t quite grasp what it is.
The boy laughs, warm and friendly. It reminds her of someone from a very long time ago, but who? The boy from the story?
“I see your lady has trained you right, but this boy’s problem wasn’t that he was born male. He was born with a terrible destiny and he was far too eager to go out and find it. He did a lot of nasty things and lucky for everyone else, there were other heroes willing to step up and save them. These other heroes cured the tree with the Golden Fleece,” his heavy winter coat swishes as he indicates said magical item still hanging from the branches, “And then a miracle happened. The girl was released from the tree, a little bit younger than she should be, but safe and whole nonetheless.”
Thalia’s growing annoyed, not with him, but with her head. She keeps seeing Percy’s face when she tries to think of the other boy, and she knows that isn’t right. Percy was the hero and besides, the other boy didn’t have dark hair and green eyes. He had light hair with... with…
She clenches her fists. Why can’t she remember? It shouldn’t be this hard!
“I’m sure she wasn’t happy when she found out what her friend had done,” Thalia prompts, hoping more of the story will fill in the gaps in her memory. “I’d be furious.”
She had been furious, she knows that, but the fury had faded over time as her emotional wounds healed and she’d matured. Her heart tells her that she forgave that boy centuries ago, and that, impossibly, Liam knows that too.
“I think she probably was, yet she didn’t let her anger rule her like the boy had. She always the strongest of the two and constantly did what was right, even when it was hardest. They went their separate ways for good this time, but the boy never stopped loving the girl even though she couldn’t love him back. When it came down to it, it was the boy’s love for the girl that saved everyone else and the boy followed her example, sacrificing himself for his friends.”
This isn’t just some story from a flirtatious demigod trying to impress a new camper anymore. Liam knows things, things he shouldn’t because, she thinks, he was there. He was the boy in the story, just like she was the girl, and he’s been aware of that since she walked into the boardroom that afternoon.
Thalia doesn’t know when she started crying, but she’s startled to find tears coursing down her cheeks. She reaches up to wipe them away, but a larger hand with cold, rough fingertips beats her to it. Startled, she glances up and meets Liam’s eyes – his blue eyes.
She knows those eyes, knows the person behind them, and she’s so damn positive of this fact it almost hurts.
“I – I don’t remember,” she says, her voice breaking. “I know you were important to me, I just don’t – ”
Liam moves his hand to the back of her neck, leans forward, and presses his lips against hers.
For a moment, Thalia feels nothing except an excited tremble in her limbs. But then Liam presses harder, moving his mouth against hers just right, and then…
Then it all comes back. She gasps against his lips, and she has to shove him away as memories and emotions pour into her boy. She leans against the tree for support, gasping for breath and trying to hold onto herself.
This is what’s been missing from her for the last three hundred years. This is why she always felt alone and broken. This is what she had been looking for, and –
This is why Artemis let her go, she realizes with flutter of her heart. Not because she was too old or too weak, but because the goddess wanted her to have a second chance.
“Thalia?” Liam prompts after a moment. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…it’s just, you know that story? That really wasn’t the end either. You see, that boy loved that girl so much that he was willing to be reborn so he could be with her again. It took him three tries and five hundred years, but he finally found her, like she told him to. And he’s wondering…if the girl still loves him like he still loves her.”
Thalia sobs and suddenly, she finds herself wrapped up in his arms. They feel different – they should, considering this is an entirely new body for him – but there’s nothing different about the way he holds her, like she’s the most precious thing in the world.
“You came back,” she cries against his winter coat, her tears soaking the material. “You came back.”
“Of course I did. I promised, didn’t I?” he murmurs into her hair. “You’re the only thing that kept me going, Thalia Grace.”
Thalia pulls her head away from his chest and looks up at him, really looking at him this time. He’s not quite Luke or Adam or Jake or any combination of the three; he’s just Liam, the boy who’d wait for her until the end of time.
As she stands on her tiptoes to kiss him again, Thalia thinks she hears a distant clock chiming midnight. As Liam’s arms wrap around her waist, she feels the blessing of Artemis beginning to slide away and her coat of immortality fading away in the night.
When she finally pulls away from Liam, she’s no longer lonely Thalia Grace, the five hundred year old Hunter of Artemis.
She’s just Thalia, a sixteen year old demigod finally ready to start living her life the way it was always meant to be.
Epilogue
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-06-15 04:49 pm (UTC)EEPP.
Is the 5ht part the epilouge?
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Date: 2009-06-15 05:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-16 03:12 am (UTC)I was browsing fanfiction.net looking for Percy fics, and I stumbled upon this. After reading it (and loving it, I ship Luke/Thalia almost as much as Percabeth!) I had to see who the author was-- seeing as good fic is rare at the Pit-- and was stoked to find out it was you! So let me just say that I love your PJATO fics. <3
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Date: 2009-06-16 02:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-11 04:34 pm (UTC)Aww, I am so use to sad ending Thalia/Luke fanfics, this caught me off guard.
no subject
Date: 2009-10-11 08:23 pm (UTC)