Notes: This is going to be a Thalico fic. *sighs* No, I haven't gone over to the dark side. I'm just dipping my feet into murky waters.

Everything has to be explored, right?

All credit for anything you might like in this chapter goes to PaperSky95, my astoundingly competent beta. If I knew getting one was going to be like this, I would have gone Beta-Hunting ages ago. Any mistakes you may spot are, needless to say, entirely mine.

Warnings: Language. I've used the F-word once. It's an expressive word. :-/

Also, this is slow-building (as slow as I can possibly make it in a three-chapter story) and there will likely be little to no fluff. You have been warned.

Second Chances

Part 1: Resignation

Click. Whirr…

"Testing."

Click. Whirr.

"Recording Transcript on May twenty-sixth, first session with Thalia Grace-"

"Hold on. First? I thought we already-"

"That was just an introductory session, Miss Grace."

"We talked for half an hour!"

"Yes, and hopefully, we will manage twice as much today-"

"An hour?This is bullshit. I don't have time for-"

"Miss Grace, I am not going to hold you here against your will. You admitted you'd like to talk to someone, and I promised not to judge."

"… Fine"

"Whenever you're ready, then."

"Is everything all right?"

"Hmm?" Thalia glanced back, "Why wouldn't it be?"

Celeste had started out as a thirteen year old British noblewoman from the 1780s, and hadn't aged a day since. She had to keep reminding herself that the girl was a few centuries older than she was. She had to keep reminding herself of it with practically everyone, actually. The Hunters were frozen in body, not time. There was a significant difference between the two, and most of them gave the impression of being wise old women out for a stroll in their granddaughter's bodies.

It made being the one in charge feel a little weird, but hey. She'd never liked taking orders, so she might as well be the one giving them.

"You seem a little… preoccupied," Celeste said, "Something's bothering you."

It was a statement, not a question; but Thalia shook her head and denied it anyway.

She'd been sixteen (technically fifteen, but closer to sixteen) when she had first joined the hunt, and at that moment, it had been the perfect way out of all her problems. Post-tree, there was nothing in the world she actually recognized. Annabeth was taller than she was and had an almost-boyfriend she barely knew. Grover was a little less prone to panic attacks than she remembered. And Luke-

The mess with Luke had driven her over the edge and into Hunterdom. It had been… hard to think straight that day. She'd had a strong sensation of relapsing into treehood.

Not that she regretted joining the Hunters or anything, not really. It was just that sometimes-

Well. Just… sometimes.

"We need to move," Thalia ordered, "Check if the rest of the team are in position, and attack five minutes from now."

Celeste shrugged and bounded away to relay orders, and while Thalia experimentally notched her bow. In her seven years with the Hunters, she'd developed a new appreciation for ranged weapons. They didn't give you quite the adrenaline rush you got when you slammed things in the head with a Gorgon-enhanced shield, but you could kill more things with less injuries. Anything to increase the monster body count.

The mission was simple enough. There were man-eating giants and a bunch of middle school kids involved in a hostage situation. Or was that a prisoner situation? Either way, those kids were running out of tapestry thread, and the hunters were their best, or only, hope right now.

Somewhere, a clarion call sounded, and Thalia took a deep breath. Showtime.

"So, this cult you were part of-"

"They were not a cult!"

"..."

"They're not a cult, okay? They just… have priorities."

"…" A sigh.

"Very well, Miss Grace. Not a cult. Please, continue."

"I cannot fucking believe you people!"

She was furious. She couldn't remember ever being this furious, except that time on Mount Othrys where her heart was ripped out and stomped on. But even back then, she hadn't been spitting static into the air and making things three feet away from her vibrate.

One of the oldest hunters, a once-Persian Princess named Siham, turned to her in full-glower mode.

"Stop this nonsense. You're scaring them."

Huddled into a miserable bunch in the dingiest corner they could think of were a bunch of terrified twelve-year old girls. And at the moment, Thalia couldn't care less if she scarred them for life, not after witnessing the splatters of blood lining the entirety of the boys dormitories.

"You left them," her voice was shaking, "All of them. What, just because they're born with a Y-chromosome?"

"Left them? We tried to help them! We didn't know they would kill them!" Celeste snapped, moving to stand between her and the girls, "We couldn't save them both at the same time!"

"We could have done something! Split the gang into two! Tried to save both of them at the same time!"

"There are five of us, Thalia. And twenty of them! It would have been suicide!"

"We could have tried!"

"Enough," Siham snapped, stepping towards her, "For all your so-called experience, you are still a child. Do you think we have not seen something like this before? We know war. We have been close acquaintances with it for centuries, and how Lady Artemis expects us to blindly follow a demigod barely out of her teens-"

Thalia released a bolt of lightning, and she flew back to hit the nearest wall. In their corner, the girls huddled closer, and for a moment, she just wanted to hurt them so bad…

"Siham. Thalia."

Instant obedience was ingrained into the voice. As far as Thalia could figure, it wasn't extra mojo. It was just Artemis.

"My Lady," Siham said, a little stiffly. Artemis raised an eyebrow at her.

"Thalia?"

"The boys are dead," she told her, eyes narrowed.

"It is regrettable," Artemis acknowledged, "But we could not have, in all probability, saved every single one of them."

"But-"

"Thalia. I will not have my Hunters die along with the children. If we can save some of them, it's what we will try to do."

"But-"

"No arguments, Thalia."

Thalia shut up, but she couldn't really see straight till she had incinerated a few chairs.

"You didn't agree with them?"

"On some things? No."

"And then?"

"…"

"I can't help you if you refuse to tell me things."

"I left them."

"Ah."

"I quit. Just… packed up my things and walked away."

"I assume they weren't happy about that?'

"Gods, you have no idea."

Drop. Crouch. Pray-

Oh gods, no. Scratch that last bit. The last things she needed to do was lead them to her.

She knew that quitting the hunt was a big thing and that Artemis did not really tolerate such things. But it was one thing to hear stories of Hunters being punished for quitting. It was quite another to be hunted down like she was a rabid boar.

She had managed to escape the woods, which had been the hardest part. Almost all the Hunters had more experience tracking through the wild than she did.

But cities were another thing. She knew cities. She and Luke had scoured so many of them back in the early days that she'd lost count. And more importantly, Hunters avoided civilization like the plague, which meant that they had no idea how to handle themselves in concrete jungles.

Slipping through alleyways and side streets, always hidden by shadows. Making sure the silver-themed Hunter costume was stashed somewhere far away from her vicinity and replacing it with the dullest, darkest, most camouflaging clothes she could find. Never staying in the same place for too long, and using different types of transportation at random-

Swish.

On the other hand, the Hunters were fast learners.

Thalia caught a glimpse of silver on one of the broken-down buildings she was crouching next to, cursed, and dodged the next arrow by what she was sure was sheer luck before sprinting out of her alley.

This, was just perfect. Make one slightly misinformed decision aged sixteen and she was branded for life. It just was not fair.

A flash of long hair and silver caught the corner of her eye, and she dived to the ground just as another arrow struck about a foot from her. Thalia growled, jangled her bracelets, and caught the next two on the Aegis.

They wanted a fight? She'd give them a fight.

"They… sort of left me alone after that. For a couple of days, anyway."

"Why?"

"I may have made sure they couldn't walk properly for a couple of days."

"…"

"What? I'm tougher than I look, okay?"

"… I'll take your word for it. So what happened after a couple of days?"

"I called in my markers."

"Oh?"

"I went to my Dad."

"Father, you sent for me?"

Thalia didn't quite manage to hide her flinch at the familiar voice. It wasn't very surprising, considering she'd jumped at it for most of a decade. Artemis, on the other hand, coolly ignored her presence. Possibly her existence.

"Artemis, dear daughter," Zeus met her eyes from his throne, "I must make a request of you."

"My lord?"

Zeus, (her Father, but she'd always had trouble thinking of him that way) glanced at her for a moment. She kept her eyes down.

It had taken everything she could summon up to get till here. Hell, it had taken a plan worthy of Odysseus (and ergo, help from Annabeth) to sneak into Olympus in the first place. Then she'd found her Father and pulled every card she possibly could to get out of her mess.

Zeus had not been happy. The Hunters, at least, mostly fell into the category of women he tried to keep away from. He'd agreed to take her side, but she had a feeling demanding help from Daddy dearest in the near future would result in her getting burnt to a crisp.

She had considered apologizing and rejoining the Huntres, but then she kept seeing the blood-splattered dormitories. And the look of sheer betrayal on Celeste's face when she'd brained her with the aegis. In all probability, even the Hunters who had liked her wanted to kill her now.

So her options were either a short life followed by a violent death, or an eternity with people who hated her. It didn't look good.

And so it was a relief when Zeus, Lord of the Sky and King of the Gods, let out a rumbling breath and said, "Let your sister be."

Artemis stood in front of her father, ramrod straight and still in the guise of a normal-sized human girl. The rage in her eyes, on the other hand, was definitely inhuman.

"Father, you can't-"

"No," Zeus rumbled, "The girl has earned the right. You will stop pursuing her."

"But-"

"Do you disobey me, daughter?" Ozone crackled in the air.

Artemis paled, but her eyes only grew harder.

"She is one of my Hunters," she spat, "My Lieutenant. She betrayed me."

"Even the gods make mistakes."

"It's personal, my lord."

"For me, as well," Zeus narrowed his eyes, "She is my daughter, same as you. I will not have my kin fighting one another."

"She is not my kin!" Golden light began to gather around the goddess, pooling into her eyes, "She is a traitor. She-"

"Enough," Zeus' voice cut through Artemis's anger like thunder, "You will let the girl be. Now."

Artemis didn't move.

"Now, Artemis. That's an order."

"Very well. One girl who does not want to be a Hunter is no great loss to me. There are many who would join, given the chance."

Zeus inclined his head, Artemis raised hers just the tiniest bit and turned to go-

"Wait. Not just me," Thalia heard herself say, "You must promise not to hurt anyone else because of me, or to take revenge upon me."

Artemis paused. Her lips might have twitched, just a little.

"Smart," she acknowledged, "Very well. I will not harm you or yours. I swear my oath on the Styx."

Thalia let go of her breath. She hadn't realized she was holding it.

"You understand, of course, that you will not have my blessing either."

"I know."

"I had high hopes for you," Artemis said, her voice slightly quieter, "You were to be my next Zoe."

"I know. I'm sor-"

"No," Artemis held up a hand, "Do not apologize. I may be prevented from hunting you, but be certain that I will never forgive you."

Well, that hurt a little, but she supposed she'd asked for it.

"Stay away from forests, Daughter of Zeus," Artemis walked out of the throne room without looking back, "You will have no friends there."

"Your Father seems… quite influential."

"He is. Can we not talk about this? You're still getting the same fees."

"I never meant it that way."

"Whatever. Look, can I go now? My ride's probably here already. He gets cranky."

"Maybe just a little more-"

"…"

"Very well, Miss Grace. Same time next week?"

"Whatever."

Notes: The next chapter... will be up when it's up. XD

*sucks at updating*