A/N: ZJeM asked me to write a drabble for Thaluke shipping week, but it turned out to be 1,500 words, eh. Anyway. I'm not a shipper but I understand the tragic history between those two... So I hope I haven't messed up a lot. And try not to read it when you're very depressed, unless feeling sad makes you feel better (as it's in my case c:).
Prompt: The song by New Years Day (ft Chris Motionless): Angel Eyes
Her fingers slid down the trunk, mentally scarring her troubled soul. That was her, that was her just a few months ago. Silent, still and barely alive. Even then, when freed of those confines, no longer just a protector of the Camp, she felt bound to that place. A duty she hoped to forget within Artemis' hunters corps.
The proximity of her own pine tree forced her mind to work, to proceed through the memories she wanted to leave behind. Just like she did with the life before. He was just a part of her family, not the family itself, and yet losing him when he was still alive messed everything up, along with her and Annabeth's relationship. The other's face, instead of being soothing, reminded them of the one they left on the road. The one that ran away from them.
She stood still, inhaling the magic of the moment. Moon shone brightly in front of her eyes, barely blocked by the dying branches. Autumn changed the way the world looked. It is not a coincidence that Halloween is celebrated in October, as with nature falling into a winter-long sleep the borders between the dead and the alive are crossed. She smiled, but it didn't help the growing bitterness of her thoughts. Trying to calm oneself down didn't always help, up until the point of leaving what was bugging you in the first place. That was the moment.
The dark-haired girl turned around slowly. She had no weapons on herself, as she was hoping to get to her new family in a matter of minutes.
"Thalia"
Somebody uttered her name in the darkness and she froze. Could it be just a mishearing from her side? She looked around, already starting to regret leaving her spear behind.
"Hey… It's me"
The blood seemed to turn into gel in her veins. Her hands quickly covered in sticky sweat, her lungs started screaming for air she forgot to provide, her knees nearly gave up. She knew what that reaction was.
She wanted to run for life.
The dark-haired hunter turned around, disobeying the panic clouding her senses. There, just behind the trunk, stood a boy around his twenties. A large scar marred the left side of his face, making his looks older. The frown he wore added him age, too. She scanned the surroundings for any signs of passer-bys, and upon seeing none she clenched her fists, thinking This is the only time I ask for your help, dad. Storm clouds covered the sky as sparks danced on her body.
"What are you doing here?" she asked, eyes hardened and something wild hiding in them. He didn't reply right away, instead smirking at her.
"What a nice performance you've put on" he laughed, but she sensed the laughter wasn't honest. The blond returned to frowning.
"How are you?" he asked, as if nothing weird happened, as if she hadn't thrown him down a damn cliff a few days before. Thalia remained silent, crouching down a bit to prepare for any unexpected movements from his side.
"You see, it's been really unfortunate, our meeting I mean…" he started again, running a hand through his messy, dirty-blond hair.
"You were supposed to be dead" she interrupted, eyes narrowing and voice thickening up. He glanced at her, his features unreadable.
"It's not so easy to kill me" something similar to smugness resounded in his voice.
"Give me a reason I shouldn't try it right now" she scoffed, surprised that she still had the guts to face him. Her old friend, companion, and, as she wished, someone more… But that was long forgotten in the past. In the past that wasn't scarred by her death.
"Thalia" she shivered. His voice softened up as he approached her slowly, carefully, like he was coming up to a wounded animal. There was trust in his movements, as she realized he didn't wield any weapons either.
"Did you really cross me out? Is there… Is there no chance?" that undeniably felt really weird to hear. After all, Luke was never a man of poetic words. She straightened her back, a thunder startling the blond. That was his first warning.
Luke" his name felt bitter on her tongue. "I cannot stand on your side if you are out of your mind" she stated, her voice hard as steel. Luke scoffed, smiling at her.
"You know my motives, right? You know that I do this because they hurt us, am I right? Can't you see it?" he said, hands tightened into fists. His eyes shone but it wasn't from excitement.
The glow was undeniably gold.
"You are not yourself" she started, anxiousness growing at the pit of her stomach. This wasn't the boy she used to know. This wasn't Luke, it was his body but what sat in his mind was somebody different. Somebody older, a lot older, somebody eaten up by hatred and revenge.
And yet, when she glanced at these hair, at the gruesome scar and into the blue-gold eyes… the blue of them brutally forced her to him. It was as if a hook was pierced through her heart, and with every step he took, she wanted to make two other forward. Suddenly, a lightning bolt enlightened the scene, taking away the magic of the moon, of the night, of the damned pine tree and of his words.
What was left was the corpse of Luke Castellan, an empty vessel he's become.
"I…" her throat tightened and despite her resolve not to cry, she felt hot tears smearing up her makeup.
"I can't do this. You are not Luke. You killed him" she said, her voice croaking. The blond smiled sadly.
"I am alive, Thals" she shook her head at the nickname. Nobody should be allowed to use it but him.
"I am here, with you" she shook her head again, taking a step backward as he got closer. She wouldn't let him manipulate her. This wasn't Luke, this wasn't the dork she learnt to cherish…
Learnt to love…
She realized that he was now holding her, burying his nose in her dark strands. It was too intense, the contradiction in her mind. It was Luke but it wasn't him, those were Luke's resolves but… She couldn't comprehend them, she was on the other side when he'd made them after all.
She had never realized how much she meant to him up until that moment, up until she understood the desperation with which he chose to follow the dark path.
But there was also one thing Kronos didn't know.
That he meant far too much to her to just let him fall.
The next thing she knew, she was laying on the ground. The grass that was supposed to be there disappeared, turning into little bits of still fuming coal. The moon shone too brightly for her tired eyes, now dry but remembering the salty tears from minutes ago. She carefully sat up.
"It was very brave of you" a voice startled her, a voice of somebody burdened by centuries of wars and misunderstandings. Of someone who maintained the balance in the universe.
"Zeus" she uttered, looking her father in the eye. The god glanced at her, his hand placed on the trunk of her pine tree.
"So you've seen my warning, I think…" he muttered. She shook her head, trying to get rid of the dizziness.
"It wasn't brave. Hitting yourself with your own lighting isn't brave. It's plain stupidity" she chuckled sadly. Zeus turned around, finally looking at her.
"It was" he simply said, hands in the pockets of very un-godly jeans.
"Why… Why did you interfere- I could've…" her voice gave out but she lost the motivation to speak, anyway.
It was all pointless. The world was in the state of war, and the one to fight against was somebody she thought she knew. How desperate the assumption was…
"It could've just ended!" she shouted, feeling as though the single act took away all of her vital energy. She slumped down, trying not to suffocate as breathing became harder and harder with every thought crossing her mind.
She knew she couldn't save him. It was up to him to get away of the darkness, but with that act, she hoped to shake him up. Hearing her scream in the dark was supposed to wake him up. To show him how it felt to see him changing that much, to show him how much she wished past turned out differently…
She felt a hand on her shoulder and with unseeing eyes, she looked up at the crouching god. Zeus wasn't smiling, and she didn't even suspect he would. The gods of Olympus have seen far too much to ever smile freely.
"All you can do now is stop the one that took Luke away from you" he said, his words hollow. It would never stop the ache and Zeus knew it. The god was the one that faced such aches every single day.
After all, the children of the Great Three weren't meant to get through life easily.