Hi guys! This is my first fanfic in a while and my first Thaluke story, so pleas bear with me. For some odd reason, I just started shipping them really hard after reading The House of Hades, which makes no sense whatsoever, I know. If you haven't read the Heroes of Olympus, that's okee since this story takes place after the Last Olympian and in this fic, the events of HOO have never occurred (huhu, no Leo D:) But anyway, I hope you guys enjoy, if you have any complaints, if the description is too long or not long enough or if you guys wants more angst, etc. make sure to review and I'll work on it ;)

Prologue

The ice cold air of New York City still had yet to grown on Luke. He had lived most of his life in the comforts of Camp-Half Blood, where the temperature was always adequate with the help of Thalia's tree. Though he couldn't complain, he only had himself to blame. He had wanted this. He had asked for his independence.

His ears were now red from the chilly atmosphere and he cursed under his breath once again for forgetting his gloves back at his brothers' cabin.

The busy streets of Queens were a hassle to get by every day but as time went on, Luke had slowly grown accustom to it. He walked against the rest of the crowd, bumping to a different stranger every few seconds. Luke stopped in front of a taco truck and decided he had a few dollars to spare for dinner. He ordered three soft shell beef tacos. After placing his order, the 40 year old man stared at him, probably wondering what Luke was going to do with three giant tacos. Though it was impossible to blame the demigod, he had been working the whole day trying to get new kids form the Aphrodite cabin to shoot a bow and arrow correctly. Luke hadn't eaten since breakfast.

After he got his order, Luke continued on his way back home. It had been a long day and he was looking forward to crashing on the couch and watch Arrow, his most recent obsession. He let out a sigh of relief when he turned on his street.

He entered his apartment on the second floor of his building and triple locked the front door of his place. He wiggled out of his coat and threw the keys on the counter. Luke poured himself a glass of water before heading for the couch and switching on the TV. Arrow had aired hours ago but fortunately for him, it was saved on his DVR (in normal circumstances, Luke wouldn't have been able to afford it but it had been a gift from his father on his last birthday).

He had finally relaxed on the lumpy piece of furniture. Because of his exhausting last few hours, he was starting to drift off fifteen minutes into the new episode.

"Nice place you got here."

Luke's eyes flew open and he was on his feet before he knew it. The voice was a bit hoarse and rough yet still had a touch of gentleness to it—it was all too familiar. He looked to the window where Thalia was sitting on the steps of the fire escape. "So this is what a real home looks like."

"In the name of Hades, Thalia what are you doing here?" Luke said; he was suddenly very awake. He got up and made his way to the windowpane.

The window was open and Luke leaned against the frame, thankful he still had his sweater on. From where he stood, he could already feel the cool puff of air brush against his skin.

Thalia swung her legs over the window casually, as if she'd been to the place a hundred times beforehand. Luke expected her to hop off and make a graceful landing, but she stayed put. Her eyes looked at Luke's cheap apartment, staring at it in awe.

"How did you where I live?" Luke asked, looking at her white face. This was the palest he'd seen her skin. The only sign of color on her was the tip of her nose and cheeks, which were bright red. Her electric blue eyes turned from left to right, analyzing the half furnished flat. "And there's this thing called a front door. Maybe you could knock next time."

Her attention snapped back towards Luke and smiled. "Well what's the fun in that? I followed you by the way, I hope you don't mind."

Luke raised an eyebrow. "Why are you here, Thalia? Shouldn't you be bending bows and shooting arrows or something?"

Thalia licked her lips and only then did Luke realize how close their faces were together. At some point, he was able to smell her hair. She smelled sweet and reminded him on honey, which was ironic since Thalia was known for being a badass. But Luke didn't back away.

"To be honest, I'm not sure myself," she replied flatly.

"Well shouldn't you be with your... I don't know, Hunters?"

Thalia looked back down at her feet as they swung. "I'm taking a break. A leave of absence, I guess."

Luke's eyebrows pulled together. "Wait, you can do that? No that's not the point—Thalia, what are you talking about? In the last four years since you became Artemis's lieutenant, you've never taken a vacation."

She squeezed her chapped lips together. "I'm just trying to figure some stuff out."

The television was still on but in that moment, the voices and the background music were tucked into the deeps ends of Luke's head.

"And I guess that I need somebody to talk to..."

He was stunned. This was the longest one-on-one chat they'd had since the Battle of Manhattan over three years ago—no, since Thalia had been turned into a plant. That is, unless you didn't include the countless of times he'd laid flowers on Thalia's tree, as if it was her tombstone. He really thought it was.

And even before that, the years he'd known the daughter of Zeus, she had never shown many emotions. Whenever she did, she would usually talk about it with Annabeth.

Now, looking at Thalia's lonely face, he asked her why she hadn't gone to Athena's cabin instead.

"Oh well you know Annabeth," Thalia said. "I love her and all but she's too busy putting the finishing touches on Olympus's reconstruction. Plus she'll most likely go talk about it to Percy as well and I really don't feel like letting other people know about this. And if I go talking to her about this, she's going to be all logical and reasonable and be what Athena's kids usually do." She paused. "And I don't want to listen to any reason, I've been trying to be tactical and reasonable my whole life. I guess I came to you because I knew you'd tell me what I want to hear."

Thalia wrapped her arms around herself, though probably not from the cold since she was immortal. Luke noticed how she had let her hair grown out a smidge. It now barely swept over her shoulders. Her bangs were longer too and almost covered her bright eyes. Luke had the sudden urge to tug the loose strands behind her ear.

"Alright. And what is this exactly?"

"I think..." She hesitated and looked away from his eyes. "Oh gods this is going to sound ridiculous. Just never mind."

"Well I'll never know if you never tell me," he commented, shuddering slightly from the cold. "Plus you're the one who came to me, remember?"

Thalia glared, but only for a second. Her eyes softened, her brows pulled together and she looked away in shame. "I don't think I want to be a Hunter anymore."

I know that there are a lot of questions, why does Luke have his own apartment, what happened after the Battle of Manhattan? Don't worry! All your questions will be answered throughout this fic! I'm already starting on Chapter 2 (yes I mean chapter 2, not chapter 1, that's a long story...) but I hope you like this vague beginning and hopefully, the plot sounds good enough for you guys to stay! Please tell me what you think in the reviews!