This is very OOC, for sure. Very AU, too. Wow. My fanfictions are getting very crappy. Probably because I have Bad Romance stuck in my head at the moment. Remember: Read & Review!

Disclaimer: I'm working on it. Owning Percy Jackson and the Olympians/Heroes of Olympus, I mean. One day, you'll all bow down to me as the creator of Percy! Mwahahahahaha! [Says in stage whisper: Anybody got the contract?]

Minute to Doomsday

"You're not Luke. I don't know you anymore."
—Thalia Grace, The Titan's Curse

"Don't even give a damn about it." Luke sneers at me. "Olympus is dead within the hour!"

I shot to my feet. "I don't think so. What makes you so sure, anyways?"

Luke laughs in my face. "Hey, Jake? I think that she's got a certain son of Poseidon to take care of. Get her."

Annabeth stifles a scream as the throne room doors swing open, revealing Jake. Besides him is Thalia, her eyes completely glazed all over. She doesn't look like she's in her right mind. Her spear and shield are gripped loosely in her right and left hands.

"I'll give you one more chance, Lord Zeus," Luke threatens. "Surrender, or I'll use force. You don't want that, do you?" He chuckles softly and snaps his fingers. Thalia takes a step forwards, and Annabeth buries her head in her arms.

Zeus stands up so fast that his throne skids back ten feet. "What have you done to her?"

Thalia stirs at his voice, her pale hands gripping her weapons tighter. She looks uneasy. "He promised," she said, her voice hollow. "He promised that I would see him again."

"Who?" Zeus roared, glaring at his daughter. "Tell me!" Thalia doesn't flinch, and the glazed look is immediately wiped off her eyes as it is replaced with pure, undiluted hatred. "You didn't do anything to save him!" Her voice is trembling with fury. "You just left him to die!"

Luke pleasantly smiles. "I'll give you one minute, Zeus, or else, the downfall of Olympus begins by force." He smirks at Thalia, who completely ignores the look, still glaring at her father. "Your daughter is turning sixteen in an hour, you know?"

Zeus shifts uncomfortably. "Just who are you talking about?"

"YOU KNOW WHO I'M TALKING ABOUT!" Thalia shouts, her hold on the spear increasing. "DEAD! GONE TO HADES! WHY DIDN'T YOU LEAVE ME TO DIE?"

A flash of understanding crosses Zeus's face as he glances nervously at Hera. Possibly for the first time in his immortal life, Zeus stutters: "Um…"

Annabeth swallows and says in a small voice, "Thalia…"

"Don't try it!" Thalia turns on Annabeth, who flinches under the withering glare that Thalia is giving her. "Don't try reasoning with me! I'm sick of all of this!" She slams the butt of her spear on the ground in frustration.

"I couldn't do anything," Zeus says. "It is against the Ancient Laws…"

"To hell with them!" Thalia answers. "Listen, Zeus, I haven't seen Ja—him for at least a decade! I want him back." She jerks her head towards a smugly smiling Luke. "And it isn't because of you!" Luke looks taken aback, like he has just been slapped in the face.

"He's not dead!" Zeus blurts out. "Jason is not dead!"

"I DON'T TAKE YOUR WORD FOR IT!" Thalia screams, her eyes wild and desperate. "I need him back!"

I hug Annabeth and know that time is ticking away to Thalia's sixteenth birthday. I let go of Annabeth. "Thalia, I don't know who this Jason is, but why are you willing to cross over to the Titans because of him?"

Instantly, I know that I have said something wrong. Thalia's eyes take on a dangerous glow to them. She looks like she would like nothing better than to take my head off. "He's my BROTHER!" she yells, her face stark white. "He got killed at the Wolf House! How did you think I felt after that, Jackson? Happy that he was gone? Are you insane?" Thalia is now trembling with fury so concentrated that I could almost feel and see it emitting from her in waves.

Annabeth and Grover both let out squeaks in two-part harmony. Zeus stood up. "Hera, dear…" He starts muttering to the queen of the gods, who humphs and crosses her arms. "Your daughter is about to slaughter you!" she sniffs.

"Too right I am!" Thalia snarls, her face a twisted mask of rage. I stared at the expression on her face, having never seen it before. It was absolutely terrifying. It wasn't her father's fault that this Jason has disappeared…wasn't it?

"See some sense, please!" I beg. "J-Jason's gone…you can't get him back!"

I really do seem to have a talent for pissing Thalia off. She's breathing hard. "I'll show you that you can't get him back!"

Hera huffs and disappears as Thalia lunges towards me. She's spitting out English profanity and Ancient Greek curses, mixing into a soup of cussing as I hastily block her swing with Riptide. Luke leans back, enjoying the show.

Thalia has this vicious, almost feral look on her face when she attacks blindly, her hits only landing because of her anger directed like an arrow towards me. She must really love Jason to join Luke.

"I'm—done—with—you—Perseus—Jackson!" Thalia screeches, her rage-fueled blows sending me stumbling back a couple of paces at each attack until we're dueling next to the wall. "You—don't—know—how—much—I've—gone—through! You don't even know an eighth of it!"

"Sure I do!" I splutter. "You turned into a frickin' pine tree!"

Thalia's expression sours even more, if that's possible. "Don't even remind me of that!"

Riptide spins out of my hands, my last comment causing my separation from Riptide. I nervously sneak a peek at my watch and cursed inwardly. Fifteen minutes until midnight.

"Thalia, please!"

Luke smirks and heads over. Thalia glares at him and unexpectedly, sends him tumbling to the base of Hermes' throne. Well, then…it seemed like she had abandoned any pretense of a word known as "control". It was like she was turning insane.

"Zeus!" Athena says. "Control your daughter!"

"I can't!" Zeus sounds anguished. "Not even we can defy the Fates!"

Meanwhile Thalia's full, undivided attention had returned to me. I wasn't sure whether or not that was a good thing. I decided to go with "bad", judging by the look in Thalia's eyes. It was insanity. I wasn't sure how much of the past Thalia was left, but her sorrow for Jason had completely taken over.

Right when she seemed like she was about to impale me with her spear, Hera shimmered back into the room with a confused-looking blond boy. "There, Jupiter!" she says, annoyed. "You've got your wish!" She turns to Thalia, whose spear tip is still hovering over my heart. "Well, girl?"

Thalia's head jerks sharply towards the blond boy, who is staring at her with his mouth slightly agape. "Th-Thalia…? Is that you?"

I yelp in pain as Thalia drops her spear and shield right onto my face, bashing my nose in. Luke is nastily glaring at him, and disappears, nobody else noticing that the son of Hermes had vanished.

Thalia tackles Jason with a hug, and they both roll onto the floor. Thalia looks like she is sobbing in Jason's shirt. I smile and intertwine my fingers with Annabeth's as I show her the time. It's one minute to midnight when Thalia is with her brother again, and made a Hunter of Artemis. One minute until midnight, I will never be able to thank Jason as much as I would like to.