Many who followed her chose to forget.
Forget everything before they were saved. Before Artemis offered them a choice. Before they considered themselves free.
Thalia did not.
For forgetting would be the greatest dishonor to those would helped her get to this point in her life. Besides one could not forget the friends she had.
Had being the key word.
Before time took them. She couldn't really say she was surprised now could she? She knew from the beginning her choices meant dealing with the eventual deaths of those around her as she stood unmarked by time. Physically unmarked that is.
Time touched even the immortals.
It was something no woman or even man could escape. Time changed all, no doubt about it. She watched Annabeth grow from a brave young girl, to a battle smart teen and eventually into a confident young woman mother of two. Percy changed as well she guessed. He changed from a some-what annoying dolt into a somewhat loveable annoying dolt with two children who loved him more than the gods themselves.
Around her everyone grew into adult lives and Camp Half Blood eventually grew to accept a new batch of heroes. No longer were Annabeth and Percy on call to rescue the world; new names such as Micheal, Jason, Sara, Kara and so forth now were the heroes of Olympus. Which suited the older generation just fine. Every once and a while she would pop in to see her friends but life began to overload them. Movie dates with the girls turned into baby showers along the way. Soon enough she became an auntie to a little boy with bright green eyes and little wisps of blond curls. Years later a little girl by the name of Sally with dark grey eyes and curly black hair followed. She remained on the hunt and eventually time began to mean less and less to her. She no longer could keep track of the year it seemed. Meetings with Annabeth began to happen less frequently. Her two young children, Charlie and Sally eventually went on to camp themselves. People grew older and moved on with their lives.
Time however was drawing to an end for her friends.
Still, she never thought Clarisse would be the first to go.
In all fairness she never was close to the girl but from what she had seen it seemed her death was almost impossible. She was a warrior, not someone who would let a simple illness late in life take her. It seemed almost anti-climatic in some sense. She was the one would would want to die amiss a battle; not in a bed surrounded by loved ones.
Soon after it seemed like more and more of former friends began to pass away peacefully. It was truly a miracle so many managed into old age she supposed. But still...
How much time had passed since she accepted her position?
Without a doubt it was Annabeth's death that hit her the hardest.
Following months of tracking a beast underground claimed to have been building armies to rise against the gods, Thalia was met with a very frantic Iris Message. A grandchild of Annabeth and Percy named Ashley had called her and demanded she come to Camp Half-Blood on the double. Ashley was the one that told her of Annabeth's fate. She passed away after a nasty fall down the stairs which resulted in her simply not being able to get back up. She managed to roll and hit every single stair on her way down, breaking an already brittle rib which punctured her lung.
The doctors claim that she died quickly and felt no pain.
She had been buried months ago. Ashley told her that her father Charlie had tried to find her to invite her to the funeral. Frantically doing everything in his power from tracking spells from the satyrs to non-stop iris messages but revieced no response.
Thalia's body was much too cold to process the information.
Ashley looked scared for her favorite aunt. It was much too weird to call her great aunt for appearance wise she was much older than her. Thalia just stared into her green eyes.
She had her Percy's eyes.
But that's all she could find in this girl of either of her grandparents. She must have taken after her mother with her long straight (Annabeth's hair could never be straight in her wildest dreams) brown (not black-it didn't fit) hair, a tiny button nose (both their noses were long) and tiny brown freckles (where the Hades did she get those?) made her appear very cute and nonthreatening.
She didn't carry the look of a warrior like her grandparents before her.
"I'm sorry, I should go."
Their little meeting had been held in the big house, a place she remembered fondly. It remained untouched by time while the camp itself had changed in many ways. Following a Roman example, Annabeth began construction on a town for demi-gods. A town she build side by side with her mother Athena and her daughter Sally.
It was by no means fully done, building would go into the city well into the future she guessed. Transforming the old backwoods into a feat to stand the test of time was by no means a small one. Through the brush and trees that lay far off before her though, she could see the lights however. The small home surrounded and protected by the forest around them. It was something of a feat that she could have never imagined 100 years ago.
How much time had past?
She was no longer sure. Charlie and Sally were no longer babies but now senior citizens with an adult children all of his own. Hades, Ashley herself looked to be about her mid 30s herself.
How could this had happen?
How could so much time have passed?
How didn't she notice it at all?
"HEY YOU COMING!" a voice, a young boy's by the sound of it, shouted. Looking down from the steps she saw a pair of brothers running towards camp. They were dressed in the same shirt she once wore when she came here. One of them shouted once more.
"Girlie, come on the camp-fire is starting up!"
He took off after his brother. They looked so much alike those two, perhaps they were the twins she heard about? Without realizing it her body took off to the one of the few familiar areas of camp. Chiron led the songs, the same ones she sang during her visits to the camp back when she still knew everyone who went to Camp-Half Blood.
For a second she takes in the faces of those surrounding the fire.
They all seemed to be talking amongst themselves and creating trouble in a few areas. Scattered among them a few satyrs sat, roasting marshmallows among friends. However nothing looked familiar to her. No one at first glance looked like someone she once knew. Features were either misplaced or just plain off. A boy that vaguely reminded her of Nico had blond hair for Pete's sake. They look nothing like the ones that came before them. Still reckless, still nuts and still warriors in their own rights.
But not the same.
Thalia looks up at Chiron and wonders if he is thinking the same thing she is. He's been around much longer than she could even fathom and he's seen so many heroes come and go. He's seen children die, conquer, and become legends. He divided his camp during the Civil War to save them in the end. He stood during the Titan War next to his own students unafraid. He dealt with the rejoining of camps and ideals and another war and so many deaths of loved students.
"How do you do it?" she asked, unaware that the question even passed her lips. The words were so soft, so much unlike her that she couldn't believe them herself.
"By remembering them; that's the only way one can truly live forever."
The answer took her by surprise. By remembering them she kept them alive. She looked out at the campers once more but this time she looked closer. Little things though reminds her of the relationships they all shared. The upturned and tricky stares of the children of Hermes. The quick hands, always building something or breaking it apart appeal of the children of Hephaestus. A son of Poseidon picks a fight with a son of Zeus over who is the strongest and challenges him during the next capture the flag game. A small red haired fourth generation child of Hades, sat a bit father off than the others drawing pictures of skulls in the dirt. Little things that remind her of siblings these children don't even know they have; ones who have now all since passed away.
And with that she smiles.
"Alright campers, time for the main event, who wants to tell a tale tonight."
The campers all begin raising their hands and shouting to be called upon, but it is Thalia that rises. Many of the campers lower their hands and stare at her. Very few know her and the ones that do know her simply as the leader of the hunters that sometimes passes through camp.
"If you don't mind Chiron, I would like to tell a story." The centaur just nods and smiles at her.
"What of!?" A child of Hermes calls out.
"One of a hero that helped make this camp the way it is. A story of bravery, courage and a bit of dumb luck if you suppose." Thalia smiled. The campers seemed interested and they all leaned into the fire. The two brother, she know recognized them as twins of Hermes Chiron once told her about, leaned so close that one almost burned his nose. A son of Athena peaked up from behind a book in his hands and seemed to be listening. The child of Poseidon and the son of Zeus playfully shoved each other before putting their marshmallows back into the fire for extra roasting.
Their story is now nothing but history and one day it will be nothing more than a myth. A myth of warriors that helped make this generation possible only to be forgotten somewhere down the line. But for now, she will remember. She will honor them and kept them alive.
"There once was a boy named Percy Jackson who lived long ago..."