Waiting for the stars
Disclaimer: I wish.
A/N: One-shot about Zoë Nightshade. :) Hope you like.
When she'd first joined the Hunters, Zoë could always see those stars. The shinning, twinkling little lights in the sky that made pictures and images and created thoughts, provoked imagination, and brightened minds. Her soul and eyes danced brightly, reflecting their light, as she looked up toward them. Her mind connected the dots and she retold the stories over and over in her mind, always adding a little adventure to them, a little more here and bit more there, just so that the stars could do their work and coarse through her mind.
I can see you watching me
Over the years, new constellations were added, new stories for the book in her mind. Hercules was added, and she led his story to be cursed, her bitter mind and thoughts echoing and reflecting her in the story she worked through her head. But she kept looking up on those clear, relaxing, crystal lights, her mind wrapping around each story with warmth. Some times she saw the big and bright ones, which Artemis explained to her were the special lights, the ones that were brighter and bigger and far more important than the stars; Zoë had yet to believe her about that. The stars were always important, no matter how bright they were.
But you're slowly fading
She became bitter, even further throughout the years, and she rarely looked up through the looking glass sky. She would grip that bow with a hardened glare and get ready to point it at any male creature, shooting an arrow straight through his heart. But sometimes, and just sometimes, she'd lean over some blue waters and stare into the night, watching the lights blink and twinkle overhead. Her mind still connected those old dots, still forming those old stories in her mind. She would wrap herself, forgetting her bitter mind and her mournful life and sit there and wish to see the stars.
-o-
"May I take a rest, Lady Artemis? I wish to retreat to the lake," Zoë asked, her voice hard as she turned to the maiden goddess.
The goddess didn't seem to be older than twelve years old but she feigned power and control. Her brown eyes held just a lick of silver and the grey and silver moonlight-like tunics shone brightly, reflecting the moon. The goddess has a bow strapped to her back, along with a leather quiver. Her mouth was set in a thin line and her shoulders, her entire stance truly, held an Amazonian power.
"Who am I do deny a maiden the night? Go and be back by dawn," Artemis replied, waving her hand in a dismissive gesture. The hunter nodded and leapt out of the ring to glide through the forest. She came to a stop at the lake, her bare feet barely inching the water. She suddenly curled into a ball, pulling herself to sit just at the cold lake water. A mist settled over the lake, curling in through the moonlight.
But Zoë looked up and gasped, because the stars were still shining through that fog. Her mind suddenly fled her body and she closed her eyes, letting her limbs fall to her side so she could take in all the energy.
-o-
Years passed and she was still with the hunters, watching them come and go, dying or betraying the ways they had promised to retain. She never got close to them, but she took the years in as lives. There wasn't many, but there had been enough girls for her to realize time had passed. They told her life with the hunters was good, it was nice, it was without any fault and Zoë would just laugh bitterly when they told her their stories.
She watched the mortals progress and she watched Greece fall. It broke her heart to see her home go to ruins, just because their far-distant relatives, the so called "Romans" burn it all because they thought they were better. She watched the Greek gods take on new, forced, personifications. Artemis hated it and she pitied the Romans because they thought they could change her. She watched them destroy and kill and raze the land with their military, calling out against their enemies and the Greeks, she still felt horrible for Carthage*, but that soon left her mind.
Zoë watched a new people came to Rome, people who claimed to be different. Artemis told her it was something they shouldn't, couldn't deal with and they should stay away. It spread, though, and the Greek (Roman) gods were forced into a sort of hiding. And that passed, though it was still there, and she watched Da Vinci and the Renaissance pass by, the art and the beauty of it all reminding her of the stars, which she hadn't seen in years.
Why did you leave?
And still, the they hunted and added and watched as they died and still moved through the years. Her mind morphed into a haunting bitterness, which nagged at her mind day in and day out. She's shoot the deer, and the animals, ripping their life from them just as her's had been taken from her just because of a boy, a boy and she knew she couldn't try again because, of course, Artemis was right. It was men in general, all men. Everywhere. So years passed, lives where lost and the sky grew fainter. They moved around a lot, following Western civilization. Germany had been her favorite and then the Romans had to follow, of course. And still they moved with the people, with the years and with everything else.
I'm waiting for you now
The sky grew fainter and fainter every day, but she never noticed because she didn't look up. She kept trudging along, wallowing in her misery, blaming her supposed "significant other" for the mess. Eventually, they moved to the new country, America. The sky was so clear and she looked up again and felt those old stories burst through her mind. And then the cities grew, the people moved, the weapons got betters and people died. They destroyed, gained freedom and then destroyed again. It was the Romans all over again. Wars racked the earth but still she trudged along. Eventually the sky was gone almost altogether, being pulled back by a thicket of smoke and smog. But she didn't notice, or, at least, not enough.
The waiting isn't even there, I feel a numbness inside me
Time went on and soon they had a solid group, a good heart-strengthened solid group. And they tired to expand, but others were so lost, wrong, they couldn't be helped.
-o-
"Thou is a fool, Thalia Grace," Zoë inclined, pulling at the newest clothing the hunters had acquired; silver parkas.
The girl snorted and then crossed her arms across her chest. "Me? A fool? First, don't you ever call me Thalia Grace again, it's just Thalia. And second, I'm not the one with a hardened heart."
Zoë's hands curled into fists and she knew the hunters, and Artemis, were watching her. "Thee is in love," she threw out curtly, "and it's useless, he will leave thee. And thou will die alone. And I do not have a hardened heart, my heart is perfectly clean."
Thalia, despite Zoë's biting tone, looked amused. She pushed back the little girl, Annabeth, behind her and quickly whispered to the male to take Annabeth to the shop down the road. As soon as they left and had disappeared into the shop, Thalia turned on Zoë.
"You don't have a hardened heart? Zoë, you think that just because one man betrayed you or whatever, means that all men are going to betray you! That's called stereotyping and this is modern America, we don't do that!" Thalia snapped, clenching her fists and pulling her chin up in defiance. Her black eye-lined had smeared and her eyes looked teary.
Zoë turned away and then said, her eyes closed, "I pity you, Thalia Grace, because he will leave you and you are a fool to not join us. You will die alone, and when you come begging for us when he leaves you, do not expect me to welcome you."
-o-
The sky was almost gone now, but still she did not see. Life rolled along, pulling in her bitterness in exchange for strength and anger. She was too far in, she couldn't back away. He heart was hardened, shielding itself from any thought that may change her mind.
No one would understand, she told herself, because no one felt the way she did, because no one tried to help anyway.
Why have you gone and left me with these people?
And then there they were, trudging along to Camp Half-Blood with Thalia Grace, a satyr, and a boy, Perseus Jackson. He was only thirteen, and a son of Poseidon. But Zoë turned the other way, expecting him to sneer and laugh. Now they were on this quest, and he was challenging her to no end; he defied her authority, he was impulsive and he fought ruthlessly. He was just like every other boy, except he cared, he wanted to make her happy (though he didn't see it) and he tried his hardest not to make her mad.
I'm waiting for you
It was at the end, when she lay dying in Artemis's arms, that she realized she hadn't been able to see the stars and that she had been wrong all those years. Percy, who she now took in as a good friend, changed her mind and now her heart was open and she could see the stars. The wind gathered up her hair and she looked up with bright eyes toward the sky, where the overhead wonders of the night fell upon her vision, and she realized she could finally see the stars again, connect those dots and make those glorious stories. She had waited for them, but they hadn't come, hadn't burst through the dark fog of her life. She was done waiting, she was done trudging and she was done blaming.
And then she closed her eyes, now satisfied, that she could see the stars.
To come home to me
Carthage: a civilization in Northern Africa (they did have colonies in Spain), I believe (my knowledge on this is highly uneducated), that was completely destroyed by the Romans. They were wiped out completely, some people can trace their roots all the way back, but it's highly unlikely.
Review, and I hope you enjoyed.