For PV via the Drabble Game Challenge (Thaluke, in a different life)


"It's about time you got here."

Thalia realizes that she isn't prepared for that familiar voice. It's been centuries since she heard it last, and yet it still causes her heart to flutter. A smile on her lips, the Hunter turns. "Hello, Luke."

He returns her smile. "How long has it been?" he asks. "Time works differently here, but I know I saw Annabeth and Percy long ago."

"Nearly four hundred years," she answers. "I thought for sure that you would try for rebirth."

Luke approaches her, brushing her hair behind her ear. "I was waiting for you."

She doesn't know why she didn't expect as much. When he was alive, Nico would tell her that Luke was there still, that he said he had no interest in reincarnation yet. She suspected his reasons, but she never dared to believe it. Whenever her heart whispered that it was because of her, she was certain that he'd grow tired after the first century.

"You've waited this whole time?" she whispers.

Luke grins. It's amazing that even in the afterlife that simple quirk of his lips makes her melt. "You were worth the wait."

"You're an idiot. A sentimental idiot," Thalia teases, shaking her head.

Silence hangs between them. Centuries have separated them, and yet here they are, talking like old times, as though nothing ever changed between them.

"I'm sorry," he whispers. "For Kronos, for hurting you. For everything."

She almost laughs. "You defied him in the end. It was obviously enough."

"You've forgiven me?" he asks, and there's no denying the gentle hopefulness in his words.

"Yeah. Nearly four hundred years ago. You didn't have to wait just to apologize."

Luke swallows dryly, nodding. He takes her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. "That wasn't the only reason. I waited for you. We can be reborn together. Maybe we'll find each other again. Maybe, in a different life, we can get things right."

"Or we could stay here," she says, gesturing toward the expanse of Elysium that surrounds them. "We can spend our afterlife together since we missed the chance to be together in life."

Her own words surprise her. All that time, fighting by Artemis' side and guiding the Hunters, she's thought about her inevitable death. She always imagined she would try for rebirth the moment she reached the fields. Now, however, she isn't so sure. Now, Luke is by her side, and all the time spent fighting feels so meaningless.

"Death has made you soft. What happened to the Thalia Grace who had fire in her heart?" Luke asks, releasing her hand.

He's right. She can still hear Artemis' whispers, even in the Underworld. There will always be battles to fight.

"Artemis calls to me. I will answer in my next life because it's all that I know."

"Then we will meet here again one day. And again. I will wait for you every time."

She laughs. "Sentiment idiot. You'll learn eventually," she tells him.

Luke shakes his head. "I don't think I will. Are you coming?"

Thalia takes a deep breath. It doesn't seem fair. She's only just found Luke again, and now rebirth will separate them.

"Not yet," she whispers, gripping his hand tightly, so afraid that he'll move on without her, that she'll be left with nothing.

"Thalia."

"Not yet," she repeats. "I didn't say no. Just… Let me have this for a little longer. We don't know what the Fates will hold for us in the next life, if we'll even find each other. Stay with me. Just for a moment."

"A moment might feel like forever here."

"If I can spend it with you, I don't mind one bit."