Written for Querencia's Children of the Gods Quest
Identification: Daughter of Hades
Prompt(s): Write about immortality
Immortality's Curse
"Thalia," Artemis announced, her eyes hovering on my frame. "Daughter of Zeus. Will you join the Hunt?"
Silence hovered in the room, the suffocating, drowning silence. I weighed my options and Annabeth squeezed my hand and let go.
"I will."
When I accepted my partial immortality as the lieutenant of the Hunt, I wasn't really thinking. My thoughts were more along the lines of "I refuse to be the prophecy kid!"
I guess that was selfish of me, pushing the prophecy to Percy, who took it willingly in stride. Annabeth later told me that he turned down his own chance to escape the prophecy, refusing to give the responsibility to Nico. I respect him for that. And at first, I only wanted immortality for my means to escape the prophecy. Then after the Titan War, I decided to stay a little longer to clean up the mess. Then the Giant War came around and everything went down again. I had to stay again.
By the time the mess from the Giant War was cleared up, I couldn't bare to leave the Hunt. They were my sisters.
Jason and Piper were the first to go.
They died in a surprise attack while Jason was doing his duties as Pontifex Maximus. Some of the remains of Gaea's forces jumped a surprise attack on them two years after the war.
Though I wouldn't admit it, I cried the night I heard this. I cried for Jason, my long lost baby brother. I cried for Piper, the spunky daughter of Aphrodite that was pretty much one of my sisters too.
I excused myself from the Hunt for some time to go for their funereal. That night in Camp, I couldn't bring myself to sleep in the Zeus cabin, and the Artemis cabin was overly, suffocatingly silent. I slept in the Poseidon cabin with Percy that night.
Reyna, Frank and Hazel were next, not three months after Jason and Piper's deaths.
A strong residual attack on Camp Jupiter brought them down. I never knew them that well, with the exception of Reyna (whom I was growing a crush on her), but heard enough from Percy, Nico, Annabeth and Jason. They were nice people, and didn't deserve all that they'd been put through.
I hoped they'd find solace in Elysium. They died honourable deaths. Deaths of a true Roman (or three).
My heart ached for Reyna in secret.
Leo didn't die as spectacularly.
Another year later, Leo actually died in a mechanical accident. An explosion, and all that was left of him was ashes.
I may not have liked the little Latino much, but I agreed that he wormed his way into everyone's hearts. It didn't help that he used to be Jason's best friend. The aching grew deeper.
Nico died a few weeks after that.
He died to a Hellhound attack.
Percy and I were equally distraught. However, we couldn't compare to Will. The son of Apollo was possibly the most distraught out of everyone.
Nico died with a soft smile on his face, so much that I almost believed he allowed it to happen to him. Almost like a suicide.
Annabeth was next one month later, and this struck hard.
She was basically my little sister. My sister in all but blood. I'd already lost Luke to the Titans. Luke, my older brother. He guided me and everything. He left, and I was left with taking care of Annabeth, who didn't really need help anymore. She was old enough, old enough to take care of herself. (She got kidnapped half a year later though. I'm blaming Percy though.)
The only other person who took this about as hard as me, if not harder, was Percy.
He shut himself into his cabin for a week, not coming out at all. Without Nico, there was no way for anyone to get into his cabin.
The next week, we found his body, limp and bleeding, Riptide in his heart.
A suicide.
Over the century, I learned to harden myself to deaths. Pretty much everyone I used to know from the camps were dead.
Until that one day…
A ten year old boy with shaggy black hair and dark eyes, yet eyes blazing with life and excitement in spite of his heritage.
He was a son of Hades and was about as hyper as Nico was when he was first introduced to the mythological world.
His name was Nikolas.
He was Nico's reincarnation.
An eight year old girl with choppy brown hair and ever-changing eyes. Feathers were braided into her braids expertly.
She was apparently not a new camper, she just hadn't been out as much as she would have liked. She was a legacy of Aphrodite and Iris. Despite her sort-of distant Aphrodite descent, she was powerful beyond her years in those powers, charmspeak flowing from her mouth easily.
Beside her, there would always be a blond boy, with sky blue eyes. There was a round scar on his arm, from when he had tried to stab himself accidentally with a pen.
He was a son of Hermes and legacy of Jupiter. His grin and ever sparkling eyes…
Her name was Pandora and his name was Jayson.
She was Piper's reincarnation and he was Jason's.
A ten year old girl with braided black hair and equally black eyes, smiling softly and politely at me.
She was a legionnaire, a daughter of Bellona who got sent to Camp Jupiter at a young age. I saw her every year, but only then did I realise what I had missed all along.
Her name was Reyes.
She was Reyna's reincarnation.
A nine year old girl with blonde hair and and stormy grey eyes, pouring over a map of New Rome.
She was a new legionnaire. More specifically, she was a daughter of Minerva, the first ever. Her analytical eyes ran over every inch of the map of New Rome. Then, she consulted the current praetors almost instantly, pointing out strategical flaws in every possible part of the city.
A pang hit my heart.
Her name was Anna.
She was Annabeth's reincarnation.
A twelve year old boy with bright sea green eyes and messy black hair grinned at me.
He was a new camper, a son of Poseidon, legacy of Mercury. Then as I looked at him, watched his movement, his personality, I came to an epiphany.
Everything about him was just about too familiar to be true.
His name was Paul.
He was Percy's reincarnation.
The rest came up too.
A son of Hermes, Leon, Leo's reincarnate. A son of Ares, Francis, Frank's reincarnate. A daughter of Hectate, Hailey, Hazel's reincarnate.
Then it happened all over again.
Watching my friends' reincarnates go on deadly quests that were extremely life-threatening, seeing them turn down immortality (again for one), spying on their Great Prophecy, seeing them get together (and me missing out on Reyna again) and dying again.
They say immortality is a blessing, but I call it a curse.
Word Count: 1176 words
(A/N: Written for Querencia's Children of the Gods Quest.
It's Thalia-centric and kinda cliché, I think? I'm rarely sure.
Peace,
Summer)