Celebration of Triumph
Thalia couldn't believe her luck. It was incredible.
It was over. The Titan War was finally over. Gone in the wind like it was some bad dream. All their strife, all their pain, all their desperation. Vanished into the horizon with the setting sun.
She was elated, ecstatic even. A smile surfaced on her face, even if it would disappear the next time she checked a mirror. The Hunter walked with a lightness in her step she couldn't remember having before. It was as though she'd lost half her body weight to some unknown cause.
For years, she'd been nothing but a tree. Or a half formed being that was trapped in memories, memories no longer relevant in reality. Or a trampled rag doll, stomped on by outside betrayal or her own selfishness. Not anymore. Never again.
She'd forgiven herself for that, though. After all, she'd faced her judgement in battle. If she'd been truly despicable, the Fates would've ensured her demise. Instead, she had been spared, to live and fight another day. Her life had yet to conclude. And who was she to question their decision?
They had survived! Thalia, Annabeth, Percy, Grover, Chiron. Camp Half-Blood lived where the Titan Army hadn't. Where Kronos hadn't. Where Luke hadn't.
True, the good had perished too. But that was when they became heroes. Their entire life had led up to that final moment. The moment where they're worth was measured, where all was laid bare. The moment Thalia encountered a thousand times over.
The heroes would be mourned. But not tonight.
Tomorrow was a day for the dead. Tonight was for the living.
They made their way back to camp as one. Hunters, campers, satyrs, nymphs, and centaurs, all walking side by side. Some stood numb, lost in the memory of what no longer was. Others were still trying to comprehend what had happened, and had yet to come to terms. But there were others, such as Thalia, who moved weightlessly through the crowd, grins to outshine the sun and laughter to carry all the way to Mount Olympus. Maybe the gods would hear it. Or maybe they were busy with their own celebration, dancing about the ruins of their city.
At some point in time, they all reached Camp Half Blood. How long it took, she didn't know. It could have been a second, it could have been a century. All that matters was their moment hadn't passed.
She was sitting at a table, between Annabeth and Illana, one of her Hunters. Percy sat across from her, telling a story that everyone could laugh at. All around, creatures danced to the Apollo kids' music. The music was lovely, the fire was divine, the stars were bright, and the cake was to die for.
Speaking of cake...
Thalia leaned down to down another bite. But the cake had disappeared!
Percy laughed at Thalia, looking around for her missing cake. He could hardly believe she hadn't seen him steal it.
Slowly, he passed the plate to Grover from under the table. Tha satyr looked down to see what it was, then grinned.
He caught Annabeth's stare from her place beside Thalia. She gave him a questioning look, to which he replied with a smile. His greatest, most dashing, trouble-maker smile. It took seconds for her to break down laughing.
Percy couldn't tell whether it was her or Thalia who kicked him in the shins after that. He figured it was Thalia, but she didn't look nearly as serious as she usually did when kicking him. She even laughed.
Percy laughed back. Laughed at the leg pain. Laughed at the fulfilled prophecy. Laughed at the whole world.
He couldn't believe it. Had Percy really been a demigod for four years? It seemed like yesterday, but at the same time, it felt like eternity. Percy hadn't ever seen a time when the demigod world was at peace. All this time, it'd been one event after another, all leading up to this one war he'd been predestined to fight.
Those times had been dark. Despite Percy's optimism, there were still times he'd almost known he wouldn't make it. That's because he was wandering through it half blind. Most of the time, he'd only found his way through luck. Or just because his friends were there. Even in that final battle, he wasn't the one who defeated Kronos. That'd been all Luke and Annabeth.
Yet for some reason, he was the hero.
Grover cracked some joke, and everyone in the table was in a cackling fit. Percy made sure he laughed too. But all of the sudden, he wasn't really feeling it anymore.
Sure, he was happy the Titan War was over, He no longer had this huge prophecy hanging over his head, and that was a pretty sweet bonus. But at the same time, how could he be celebrating when everyone had lost so much?
His thoughts turned to Beckendorf, which caused him to feel a surge of regret. They'd been in the same boat that day (literally). How was it fair for him to die and not Percy? Was it because of the prophecy?
What about Bianca? Why did she have to die that day? Just so Nico could leave Camp Half-Blood? So he could learn about the invincibility trick and tell Percy?
He hadn't been ready to accept it before, but it was obvious now; Percy would never have succeeded unless they had been sacrificed. That's why they'd had to die.
How was that right? It wasn't their fault he wasn't competent enough to be the hero they all seemed to think he was.
No. Instead, a bunch of good people had to die, and others to do the heavy lifting, for Percy to even stumble into a questionable success.
It made Percy sick.
The demigod looked down at his food (well, cake). Looked around at his merry friends. For the first time, he saw the others. The ones that weren't celebrating. They must've been too swallowed in their grief to enjoy themselves. To be honest, Percy didn't blame them.
Another wave of sickness passed through him. Percy stared back down at his food, no longer willing to eat.
Without speaking, Percy stood from the table and walked off into the forest. He knew someone might've seen him, but he doubted it.
Thalia watched as Percy stood from the table. She turned to see if anyone else had noticed. But Annabeth was too busy laughing along with the Athena kid next to her, and Grover was being persuaded by a nymph to dance, which he eventually agreed to. No one seemed to care that Percy had wandered off.
Which meant no one would care if she got up, either. She thought about staying at the party, but decided against it. Before the Hunter knew it, she was trudging her way through the partying masses, occasionally catching the eye of a few who weren't partying. Eyes clouded, they sat alone, doing nothing to acknowledge her presence. Thalia shivered.
The celebration had been continuing for hours on end, and Thalia was actually starting to get tired. Somehow, the thought sobered her. Enough to realize Percy was probably just feeling the same way, anyway.
Where was Percy? She could've sworn he'd gone off this way. But everyone else was all flitting about, distracting her.
There! She saw him disappear into the forest.
Thalia stumbled after him, trying to avoid the lumps of people as she made her way into pursuit. By the time she reached the treeline, Percy was nowhere to be seen. With the only light source coming from behind her, Thalia wouldn't be benefited by simply looking for him
Ah well. She was a hunter for a reason. She find as one would search for prey. Using techniques the others had taught her, Thalia continued her chase, listening for anything that sounded out of the ordinary. If only the music wasn't so loud...
It didn't take her long. She found Percy sitting by the water, facing away from her.
"Hey Percy."
His shadowy form began to move, turning to see who it was. "Hey Thalia."
"Why aren't you at the party? Annabeth's looking for you."
"I dunno. Guess I just got tired." he shrugged.
She came down to sit next to him. "If you're so tired, why not just go back to your cabin?"
Percy stared at her, expression unreadable in the lack of light. "Couldn't you hear? It's so loud, I couldn't fall asleep if Hypnos forced me to."
"What do you want peace for?"
"I'm exhausted. Everyone gets exhausted after a battle, remember? I don't understand how anyone has energy after that"
"I think the better question is how could you not;" Thalia tried to laugh. When she noticed it wasn't catching on, she continued speaking. "The war's over! The thought could put anyone in a partying mood."
"Not everyone."
She assumed he was talking about himself. "Why not? You completed the decades-old prophecy. You're a hero now."
"I don't feel like one," Percy shifted his position to get more comfortable. "It's not like I killed Kronos or anything."
Thalia snorted. "That's it? That's what you're upset over? Didn't get the glory of striking the 'killing blow'?"
"It's not that. It's... I don't know," he sounded frustrated. "I just can't look at it as a win snymore. Not when everyone's lost so much."
"There's always going to be loss, Percy. Without loss, there can be no reward. We won, don't forget that."
"But what if it wasn't worth it? So many dead, all because I took too long to turn sixteen."
"There's nothing you could've done about that," Thalia argued. "You can't age faster than time passes."
"But even when I'm sixteen, it still happens."
"That's not true! Kronos would've won without you."
"How do you know that?" he replied, voice starting to waver. "What if-"
"Don't give me that!" Thalia snapped, heat rushing to her cheeks. "What's done is done. Asking that is pointless."
"Thalia-"
"Do you have any idea how much I doubted myself? I swear, every day it was some new thing: What if I could've done something to stop Luke from joining Kronos? What if I was the one meant to fulfill the prophecy, and just ruined everything by joining the Hunters? What if I was a coward when I did that? What if I'm not suited to lead the Hunters? The list goes on and on! For years now, I've been worried that my actions would doom everyone, and now that I finally have my answer that it won't, you start? Why would you start? You won, you idiot! Why can't you just be happy it wasn't a complete disater and leave it at that? Just be happy, and stop acting like a Kelp-Brain!"
Thalia sat back down, panting. She had no idea where any of that had come from.
Percy didn't respond right away, so she turned her gaze skyward. The tree cover was broken by the water shore, so she was able to see the full moon above. Right along the horizon, the edges were turning grey, an indication that dawn was near.
"Thalia?"
She didn't look down. "Yeah, Kelp-Brain?"
Thalia heard movement. She brought her eyes down, watching Percy as he leaned in close. "Thanks. I really needed to hear that."
"Whatever."
"No seriously, thanks." She couldn't see very well, but Thalia could've sworn he was smiling. "You're a good friend."
Thalia inhaled, sharply realizing she was close enough to smell his bresth."Okay. Hey, do you wanna head back to the party?"
"In a minute," he paused. "I wasn't lying when I said I was tired."
She could've sworn he was inching closer. Thalia didn't know what to do.
Suddenly, she felt his arms around her. It was a friendly hug, she swore it.
Yeah right. Tell that to her pounding heart.
Just before she could pull away, a new voice came into the conversation.
"Percy?"
A/Ns: Sorry, I had to do that. After four (five, if you count the one I deleted) rounds of writing Perlia, I guess it was bound to happen.
Anyhow, this was a lot of fun, even if I'm kinda glad it's over. I really feel like I grew as a writer. And I learned how to write Thalia (always a bonus). There wasn't a specific prompt this time, but I wanted to do something with a finale feel to it, so I decided to rework the ending of TLO. Not that I don't love TLO's ending. I just wanted to try something different. That's why this one's a bit different with the style than the others.
I hope everyone's enjoyed the competition. Thank you Lizzie, for creating such a great challenge. Hope you all will review, and I'll see you on the far side!
Edit: I just realized this fic was twenty-three words away from being an entry to the Word Count Challenge, so I added twenty three words, making the story (not including title and A/Ns) 2,100 words long. Whoo! One more challenge on my endless to-do list done!