Disclaimer: I am not Rick Riordan who likes to bully his fans and torture them with painful cliffhangers. I do not own any of characters.
UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN
By: ShadowsLivesOn
The warrior's silver bow slipped off her shoulder as she fell on her knees, covering her mouth as silent tears slid from her electric blue eyes. She stared, shocked, at the young blond boy grinning at his mother, those familiar blue eyes that she once loved twinkling.
The boy, who couldn't be older than five, frowned in her direction.
"Are you okay?" he asked with concern etched into his small face.
A choked sob escaped her throat as she tried to form words, but her tongue had decided to disable itself. She could only stare at the mischief that sparkled in those beautiful blue eyes. Her lips trembled as she kept on crying, the stone walls around her heart collapsing and obliterating into infinite pieces. The memories she blocked out for years were suddenly as clear as day, the feelings she denied hit her like a full-blown tornado, and the whispers in her mind that she ignored for so long suddenly grew sharp and loud.
All the painful experiences in her sad life surfaced to the top, and she suddenly flashed back to a night when she was twelve and a boy crashed into her at the mouth of a dragon cave. Another night in an old mansion where the same boy presented her with a silver bracelet. She tried to push away the memories she kept at bay for all this time, but images kept washing over her like waves of unstoppable pain.
And then she watched herself, lying on a grassy hill, slowly lose consciousness. She remembered the shattering hope, the vengeful hatred for this unfair world, and the belief that she saved her friends. The silver-cladded huntress clutched her warm jacket, suffocating in the flickering emotions and experiences brought by a single grin from a so very familiar face.
And finally, she remembered the reason she joined the Hunt, the same boy that once looked at her like she was the most beautiful thing had looked at her and tried to make her betray her family.
The huntress sobbed.
The boy continued to frown at her. His straw-like blond hair fell into his sky blue eyes as he peered at the strange, dark-haired girl who suddenly broke into tears. Something about her felt safe and familiar, but it was as if something was preventing him from remembering who exactly this girl was. The five-year-old suddenly felt something hurting, as if something was piercing his chest. He wanted to cry, but he had no idea why. Something about this girl made him feel sorry and guilty, hurt but hopeful.
He had the strangest urge to protect this girl ten years older than him.
"Liam, what are you doing? Come on, we need to get home." The boy's mother tugged his sleeve. He glanced at the teenage girl again before he reluctantly followed his mother. After a few steps, Liam looked over his shoulder to find the girl standing up and wiping her face, and then picking up a strange, silver object that he couldn't quite make out. He saw her friends, teenage girls dressed in silver and each holding a silver object, pounder her with questions, asking her if she was alright and pointing at him. Liam saw the strange girl hold up a hand and say something, and her friends stopped but continued to glance at him and the strange girl.
Then he turned around.
"Thalia, what happened back there?" Phoebe demanded.
"Nothing. The boy simply reminded me of an old friend, someone who died," Thalia answered.
"But–"
"Let's forget about that." She raised her hand to silence her companion, not wanting to think about the mysterious boy any further.
"Besides," she continued, "Lady Artemis should be just north of that mountain. We should meet up with her as soon as possible, so let's forget about what happened."
The huntress nodded reluctantly.
In less than two minutes, the Hunters of Artemis were on their way to meet the goddess of the moon.
Thalia followed her hunters to the edge of the forest before she stopped and looked at the small town where she met the boy. She stared at it for a moment, thinking about her extraordinary encounter, and then stepped into the darkness of the woods.
Until we meet again, Luke.