I did this story before, but I decided to re-do it. If you wanna read the old one, it's still up on my page, but it's not as angst-y.

TRIGGER WARNING: not to spoil, but it does include a bit of stuff that if you are easily triggered, please don't read if you can't take it. I love you guys, I don't want to accidentally hurt you.

Reviews are greatly appreciated!

Jason sped through the halls of the empty castle, racing plastic planes in each hand. As he 'flew' past a frosted window, he noticed the tell-tale signs of flurries drifting down onto the cement sidewalks and leafy green bushes. He gasped, his bright blue eyes sparkling with child-like wonder and hope.

Dropping his planes, he sprinted to his sister's room, knocking their special three-note knock.

"Thalia?

Do you wanna build a snowman?

C'mon let's go and play!

I never see you anymore,

Come out the door,

It's like you've gone away!

We used to be best buddies,

And now we're not.

I wish you would tell me why!

Do you wanna build a snowman?

It doesn't have to be a snowman."

"Go away, Jason!" Came Thalia's reply through the locked door.

"Okay, bye." Jason frowned at the beautiful cravings in the door before trudging off. How could his sister not want to play with him? It was snowing! Why wouldn't she ever come out of her room anymore? He left, hopeless and confused.

Thalia held her breath until she was sure her beloved brother had departed, and then sobbed again. Thalia never cried. But it hurts when your father beats you and your mother essentially disowns you.

I have to protect you, Jason. She thought through her tears. As little contact as possible. As long as they hate me, they'll never hurt you.

Seven Years Later

Jason had barely seen Thalia leave her room once over the last three years. Servants brought her food and water, and mother and father visited her occasionally until father left. Then it was just mother who saw her. Jason never knew why they came to her room, but they always left angry. He had barely seen his sister over the past years. She had cut herself off from the world.

Jason rode his bike from room to room, exploring yet again the vast halls. The windows were bright with the pure whiteness of snow. As Jason cycled down another hall, he recognized his sister's intricately carved door. He decided to stop once more, just to see if she would come out.

He knocked the special three-note knock.

"Do you wanna build a snowman?

Or ride our bikes around the hall?

I think some company is overdue,

I've started talking to the pictures on the wall!" Jason glanced at the stern portrait of Jupiter on the wall. "Thanks for leaving, Dad."

"It gets a little lonely,

All these empty rooms,

Just watching the hours tick by!"

Meanwhile, Thalia was talking to the pictures in her own room. One was of a blond boy with sky blue eyes and a painful scar raked down his left cheek. Just a few weeks earlier, he had been full of life, sneaking past the guards and stealing minutes for her. With her.

"Luke, did you really love me?

I know you said you did.

But then you turned around and stabbed my back,

Oh how could you attack

Me you were just a kid!

I mean, I know we both were,

But now we're not.

I wish I could turn back time."

Thalia grit her teeth in despair, dropping the photo of her recently deceased lover. He was a secret, until he decided to meet her dad. In a rage, her father had ordered his disposal. It wasn't until the local newspaper had depicted him lying with glazed eyes in a trench that she knew.

It was too late.

Luke was dead.

Five Years Later

Thalia had finally caved in. She gave up what her mother had to say about her and she gave up mourning the life she never had and she gave up protecting her brother whilst staying beside him. She knew that it would never work out, that she would one day lose him. She had joined a gang two years prior, but now she had to come back to 'grieve' her mother's death. She only came back to clean her room of everything before cutting all ties with the house and the servants and what was left of her family. Oh, how she would miss Jason. But he probably resented her now that she had left him. She abandoned him as a child, and she could never forgive herself for that.

Jason noticed the change in the door. Something was different. After Thalia had left, it seemed dimmer. Now…

There was light shining through the crack.

He tentatively knocked the three-note knock.

"Thalia?" He took a shaky breath.

"I know you're in there.

People have been asking where you've been." Thalia was the only one who seemed to know Beryl Grace that wasn't at the funeral.

"They say have courage,

And I'm trying to,

I'm right out here for you,

Just let me in." Even though Jason wasn't necessarily close with his mother, she was the only thing he had left. Now, it was just Thalia and him.

"We only have each other,

It's just you and me.

What are we gonna do?" Jason leaned up against the door, sliding down to the ground. A soft thud told him that Thalia had done the same.

"Do you wanna build a snowman?" His voice broke on the last word, and tears leaked out of his eyes, pinging against the marble floors. They were cold. The door was cold.

Thalia leaned her head against where she knew Jason's was, crying silently. She had just found out that not only had her mother died, but her best friend and cousin, Annabeth Chase and Percy Jackson, had perished in a drunk driving accident. A man had hit their car, totaling both it and the couple inside of it.

Everyone in her life was gone.

Everyone she had ever cared about was gone.

Except for one, sole, person, that she would give her life for over and over again gladly.

Jason.

Thalia leaned against the door and wept.

Ten Years Later

Thalia shivered, drawing the sleeves of her sweatshirt closer. It was frosty outside and below freezing. Her jeans were nearly soaked with the mist alone. Central Park was not her friend.

She had just quit the gang, and knew that she was going to die soon. No way would they ever let her leave, even if she was already twenty-nine. She was aging quickly, realizing that even though her life hadn't been great, this was only making it worse. Of course, she would have to leave the gang before anything could happen.

So she did.

And her gang didn't especially agree with her when their legendary and ferocious leader decided to cut ties.

Before she was ultimately killed by them, she decided that there was only one thing left to do.

Thalia knew that it had been years. Too many. She didn't even know if she would recognize him anymore, or vice versa. But it had to be done.

She had memorized the apartment number years before. She just hoped against hope that he hadn't moved.

She climbed the stairs. 12B. The number and letter resonated again and again in her head. Finally, she approached the door.

She knocked the three-note knock, and took a breath.

It was a dead ten seconds before Thalia began her brother's song.

"Jason?

I know you're all but grown up,

And hate me for leaving you.

But I just couldn't take it anymore.

Open the door.

I know you haven't got a clue!

I understand I left you,

Just when you needed me the most,

I shouldn't have let you go!

Please just say something,

Anything,

Anything at all!

What I wouldn't give

Just to hear your voice,

The sound of it once more.

Do you wanna build a snowman?" Thalia's voice faded on the last word, and she knew that any other word she might say would break her.

After what seemed like the longest two minutes of her life, a lovely native-american woman answered. A small child, a boy, peered at Thalia from behind his mother's leg. His bright blue eyes and curious face reminded Thalia so much of Jason that it hurt.

"Hi." The woman smiled, a bit confused.

Thalia tore her eyes away from the child that was most definitely her brother's. "H-hello. I'm Thalia. I-is Jason Grace here?"

"Yes. One second." She turned to call him, but Jason had already appeared.

His face was so surprised that it took him a moment to speak. "One minute, Pipes." He managed, and 'Pipes' stepped out of the doorway, lifting their son into her arms.

"Thalia." Jason whispered.

"Jason." Thalia's breath shook unevenly. Her electric eyes swelled with unfallen tears.

She stepped forward, embracing him in a hug that was centuries late.

"I love you. I'm sorry." She whispered in his ear. He was much taller than her now, and she grieved over the lost years.

"I know." He murmured back.

Thalia let go, caressing his cheek one last time.

She left.

She walked.

And walked.

And walked.

She took a plane to L.A. for some unknown reason.

Thalia was in a daze, hardly in control of herself.

Before long, she found herself at the gate of her old mansion. Her parents' legacy.

She entered, following the old beaten and abandoned road to her front door. Up the stairs. Across the halls.

Her door. So intricate. So beautifully designed. So terrible. So ugly.

She twisted the handle to find old photographs scattered everywhere. A draft blew through the open window.

She had forgotten to close the window. How stupid of her. All these years, and she had forgotten to close the window before she left.

Thalia picked up the first photograph. It was an old one of her mother and her, sitting formally as the family photographer snapped a picture. Her mother's last words to her flashed through her mind: You'll never amount to anything! You worthless brat! You're dead to me, and dead to the family!

Still holding that picture, she grabbed the next. Her father and her. This one was taken before the abuse, before the backhands and the punches. Before the bruises and scrapes and welts and excuses. Before the accidents and stair-falls that weren't real. His last words echoed throughout her mind, his stern face glaring disapprovingly at her. Get out. It's time I deal with your mess again.

In a complete daze, she reached for the third picture. This was of her and Luke. Him at the sill of her window, her right next to him. He had taken the picture, kissing her cheek right as he clicked the button. Images of his older, scarred face on his mangled dead body darted through her brain, and she felt a tear drop onto her thirteen-year-old face. Don't worry. I'll fix it, okay? I'll fix everything. I love you.

Thalia picked up the last photograph. This one was of her third-wheeling with her two best friends: Annabeth and Percy. They were all laughing. It seemed to be at a carnival of some sort, probably when she had snuck away to see them. They were about sixteen in the picture, taken a year before she had joined the gang. They were happy and carefree. Thalia missed those days. Any of those days. Happiness and leisure were not familiar feelings with her anymore. She remembered the last thing that Annabeth had said to her. I'll see you soon! Little did she know that it would be an eternity before the two met again. And Percy…What's wrong? She was off that day, and he had noticed. He always noticed. He was too caring, too forgiving, too loving of them all. Thalia envied him for it.

Thalia was out of pictures. Out of memories. When were the happy days? Too long ago. And there seemed to be none in the future.

But she wouldn't let them win. She couldn't let anybody beat her.

Not anymore.

Not anymore.

She held the pictures tightly, walking as if in a dream towards the special cabinet.

The special cabinet.

Never touch it, she had forewarned Jason. Never go in there.

Thalia was the worst hypocrite.

She approached the cabinet, photographs clenched in her fist. Slowly, she pulled out the gun. A pistol. Perfect.

Thalia guided herself back to her room, cradling the silver mechanism carefully.

She sank onto her bed, the gun in one hand, the photographs in another.

A glint of a reflective picture stopped her. Thalia leaned forward, scooping it off of the ground quickly. It was a really old picture of her and Jason. His baby blond hair was feathery and soft. Next to him, young Thalia was smiling. Actually smiling. She couldn't remember the last time that she had smiled. Her white teeth glinted at the photographer, her electric eyes filled with joy.

Joy.

The absence of this feeling was replaced with a heavy weight on her. She scrambled for a pen, successfully finding an ultra-fine tip Sharpie. With it, she scribbled a note on the back of the photograph.

Satisfaction.

It filled her, completed her.

It was over.

A deafening crack.

Blood splattered over the photographs of those she loved.

Finally, she would get to see them again.

It was over.


HEY, HEY YOU.

I JUST WANT YOU TO KNOW:

This story paints suicide in a good light. I want you to know that I do not think that suicide is the answer to anything. If you are thinking about it, please stop. Get some help. Please. Talk to some friends, it will make you realize that YOU are worth it, and even if you can't think that of yourself, then THEY are worth it. Think about how your actions can affect others. I understand that sometimes you don't think that you're worthy. You think that you're not good enough, that maybe you won't ever amount to anything, that you can't see a future for yourself. That's okay. It's okay to feel like that sometimes. It's okay to feel down, even really down.

In this day and age, I would even call it normal.

But I need you to realize that suicide is the end.

No take-backs.

No embarrassing moment that takes you a long time to forget but everyone else forgets within a day.

It is final.

And I don't want any of you to ever resort to that.

I understand that sometimes, it's overwhelming. Maybe even a lot of the time.

But the teenage years are always rocky and misleading and yeah, you get stabbed in the back by your so-called friend. Yeah, you get dumped by the guy or girl you love. Yeah, you have to hide who you really are because you think that nobody will understand.

But those are just the teenage years.

Think about yourself when you were five. It seems like yesterday and thirty years ago, all at once. I think those are the times where you realize that you can't. That you think about the what-ifs and the could-bes and the I-should-haves.

I also think that those are the times that we think of the future.

And I want you to know that the future is unpredictable. It's big and it's scary and it's coming fast.

And you definitely have a big part in it.

You have a definite, secured place in it.

And I want you to fulfill that position.

You can do this.

I believe in you.

You can do this.

I know you can.

It doesn't have to be done right here, right now, when you're in pain, or anytime soon.

You've still got a few years to think everything over.

And even if you don't figure it out, that's completely okay.

I love you.

I believe in you.

You can do this.