Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson
A/N: This chapter will probably be really confusing (like, way, way, way AU for the last 2/3 of the chapter), but if you'll just read through until the end hopefully it'll make more sense. I'm adding this because I think it's crucial to the story. Hope you enjoy!
βήτα—Beta
Luke found himself standing in a very dark cavern. So dark he couldn't make much out, except for the slight outline of blobs, which he assumed were rocks. Silver mist, the only thing with actual color in here, swirled around Luke. They tugged at his orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt and were whispering something, but they were just incomprehensible noises.
Before him was a chasm. The only reason he could tell was that the darkness in the pit was darker than the darkness surrounding him in the cavern… if that even made any sense.
Without conscious command, Luke stepped forward, closer to the blackest pit he'd ever seen in his entire life and probably would ever see; so black it probably scared the light away from it; so black, it just seemed to stretch on and on into the depths of time and deep space. It made him lightheaded and nauseated just looking into it.
From the abyss floated a voice, ancient, icy, heavy even. It pressed against Luke, making it harder to breathe. The ghostly mist receded.
So, the young godling wants vengeance, the voice stated sounding amused.
What is this? Who are you? Where am I? Luke responded. He wasn't exactly scared, per se, but he wanted to know what was going on.
The thing in the pit laughed, the sound cold and like nails on a chalk board.
You've hit the books, why don't you take a guess, the voice thundered, its tone mocking now. But Luke didn't answer. He didn't know. Even after all the studying he had done in preparation for his quest—
Anger broiled inside Luke at the thought of his quest.
It wasn't fair, the voice said. You trained hard for three years and this is how you're rewarded? A pathetic quest to retrieve a golden apple. Something the gods don't need or even care about. You'd like to show them, wouldn't you? To teach them a lesson. To have your revenge.
They don't care about us, Luke spat. My father never cared about me. They don't deserve the thrones they sit on. It sickens me how they use their children for their own personal gain.
The thing in the pit chuckled at his anger. Then why don't you help me? Help me rise from this wretched pit that the gods have banished me to. And see the gods' sources of power destroyed. You will have your wish of ripping Mount Olympus down stone by stone.
This caught Luke's attention and so did the little piece of information that had been said in the previous sentences.
You're Kronos, Lord of Time, Luke guessed feeling stupid that he hadn't realized it sooner.
What do you say, Luke Castellan, son of Hermes, the Lord of Time asked. Help me rise from Tartarus and watch the gods fall and a new age begin.
"Luke!" an outside voice called. "Luke, wake up!" And just like that he was opening his eyes, in his bunk back in the Hermes cabin at Camp Half-Blood.
"What, what, is something wrong?" Luke asked sitting up and looking around, blinking as his eyes adjusted to the summer sunlight streaming through the windows, compared to the cavern he'd been in not a moment ago.
Chris Rodriguez, also a son of Hermes, shook his head. "No, but I thought I should wake you up." He shrugged.
"Oh, uh, thanks, I guess." Luke muttered his mind mostly on practically meeting Kronos. There was no way that was just a dream. But there was no way that a Titan was asking Luke for help. It just seemed so surreal. He was a powerful Titan, even after being chopped up into a million pieces with his own scythe. Luke shuddered at the thought of his true power when fully assembled.
"It was nothing, man," Chris said breaking Luke out of his musings. "Besides you're the head of our cabin. If you missed breakfast, technically, we'd all miss breakfast and I'm starved this morning."
Luke rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, yeah," And with that, Luke tried to push that meeting with the Titan to the backburner and focus on getting through another day at camp.
"Hey, Luke," Thalia greeted, her blue eyes lighting up as she smiled.
"Hey," Luke breathed, happy as well to see the gorgeous daughter of Aphrodite. Luke had had a crush on her for a while now… pretty much ever since she'd shown up at Camp Half-Blood, actually.
"Can I… can I talk to you?" she asked hesitantly. "In private." she added looking around at all the other campers from the Hermes and Apollo cabins. They were in the training area, practicing sword fighting, and Thalia had finally managed to build enough courage to go talk to him about something really important she'd been thinking about for almost a year now.
They'd grown close these past two years here at camp. They were practically brother and sister—well in Thalia's mind anyway, Luke had other ideas—and they could talk to each other about anything knowing that their secrets and desires would be kept safe with each other.
Luke sheathed his sword. "Yeah, sure…. Uh, why don't we go out onto the canoe lake and talk there? Is that private enough?"
"Um… if there aren't many people out there." Thalia mumbled the smile dropping. Luke could now see just how distraught she was on the inside.
"Hey, are… are you all right?" Luke asked, leading her toward the exit.
"I'm fine," Thalia mumbled. "I just…" She took a deep breath. "I just need to talk to you about something really important."
They walked in silence toward the lake. It only took a few minutes for Luke and Thalia to get the canoe set up and paddle to about the middle. There, they sat the sun beating down on them. The strawberry fields in full bloom, their sweet smell wafting toward them. A cool summer breeze blew through the valley, relieving the campers of the incessant heat.
"So, what did you want to talk about?" Luke prompted after a few minutes of silence.
Thalia sighed heavily, looking down at her lap and twiddling her thumbs. "I've been thinking for a while now, about this. And before we continue, I want you to know that it's taken me a really, really long time to get up the nerve to come talk to you about this."
Luke reached over and squeezed Thalia's knee. "You can talk to me about anything, Thalia." he told her. "You know that right? I'll always be there for you. So, what is this thing you want to talk to me about?"
Thalia looked up and smiled at him but it didn't match her eyes. They were sad and afraid but also determined.
Thalia took another deep breath and averted her eyes from Luke's penetrating wintery blue. "I've been thinking about… about…" Thalia bit her lip. When she spoke again her voice had lowered tremendously. "About joining the Hunters." she finally said.
Luke was silent for so long that Thalia finally gave in and looked up at him. His blue eyes were torn.
He didn't know what to say. He cared for her. He loved her. But if she chose to join the Hunters they could never be together like he'd always pictured.
"Why? What made you decide this?" Luke finally asked, trying to see it from her point of view.
"Last year, our trip to Mount Olympus during the winter solstice," Thalia began feeling a bit more relieved that he hadn't totally gone berserk on her about what she was still contemplating. Nothing was set in stone, and Thalia had given herself until this year's winter solstice to decide if she really wanted to join the Hunt. "I had a falling out with my mom." Thalia grimaced. "She wasn't very happy with me—"
"Wait, so are you just running away from your mom?" Luke interrupted.
Thalia's eyes widened. "No! No, I'm not—"
"But that just doesn't make any sense. Your mother is the goddess of love. Shouldn't you be in love with the falling in love?" he cut her off again.
Thalia let out a growl. "I hate it when people say that!" Thalia stood up, rocking the canoe so much Luke almost fell out; she didn't seem to notice. "So what if she's the goddess of love! She's not around for me. She hasn't been a very good mother for me. So I think I can make my own decisions without her consent. It's my life! I want to live it the way I want to, not the way my mother's shadow says I have to!" She sat down heavily. "I should've never talked to you about this. I knew you'd freak out." she muttered crossing her arms.
Luke sighed feeling guilty now. "Thalia," he said gently reaching over to put a hand on her shoulder. She jerked away and glared down at some naiads in the lake. Luke pulled his hand away. "Thalia, I'm sorry, okay? I didn't mean to upset you. It's just…" Luke trailed off. He'd never really told Thalia about his feelings before. He was kind of afraid to.
When you have a relationship like theirs, being best friends for so long, it's hard to get out of the best friend zone. Luke truly loved and cared about Thalia, but if he said he did what would Thalia say to that? Would she scoff? Would she laugh? Would she still just want to be friends?
Then again, if he told her now, there was a chance that Thalia did love him too and was only joining the Hunters because she thought that he didn't love her and was just trying to find relief from heartbreak…. That was a possibility right? So, if he told her now, would it change her mind about joining the Hunt?
"It's just—" Luke tried again.
Thalia's eyes snapped up to look up at him. "Just what, Luke?"
Luke put his hands on Thalia's. "I… I love you, Thalia." He paused but lost the nerve. "I love you like a sister, and… and I don't want to lose you."
"You won't be losing me, though, Luke. I… I just probably won't see you every day. But, I think I can still try and visit you sometimes." Thalia said quietly.
"Isn't that against what Artemis stands for though?" Luke asked pulling back.
"I'm not supposed to have a relationship with boys, but a friend, a brother, I think is different." More silence formed between them. "It's… it's not like it's set in stone, Luke." Thalia said to comfort him, seeing clearly just how much this bothered him. "I still have several months to think more about this. But I am swaying toward joining them. I just thought I'd let you know ahead of time. I didn't want this to be a huge shock."
Luke took a deep breath. Maybe, just maybe, there was still hope.
"Okay, thank you for telling me. I'm sorry I upset you." he mumbled. The conch horn sounded in the distance. Luke looked around and realized that the sun was starting to set, turning the sky an array of summer colors, from orange, to yellow, to lilac, even. "Dinner time." he said taking hold of the paddles and started rowing them back to shore.
Roughly five months later, the year-rounders were in one of Camp Half-Blood's vans heading toward the Empire State building for their trip to Mount Olympus.
Thalia was feeling queasy. After months of contemplating and debating and talking with Luke once in a while she had finally come to a decision: she was going to join the Hunt. She felt she didn't belong at Camp Half-Blood. She felt she just couldn't find a niche there. She didn't really have a specialty and felt like an outcast. Just because most of the boys at camp had a thing for her didn't mean she was happy. Was it love or was it just attraction?
That had always bothered Thalia, that boys only complimented and wanted to go out with her because she was just a pretty face in their eyes. They didn't want to go beyond the surface and get to know the real her.
She hoped that Luke was ultimately ready and okay with her decision. He was probably the only guy who had gotten to know the real her. Who cared about the person she was and not the looks she had. It devastated her that she was leaving him, it really did, but she felt this was her path, this was her destiny. Even though she felt sick about this upcoming ultimatum, she felt it was the right choice. She finally felt she'd be something, someone.
Hopefully Artemis would be there. Of course, they'd have a meeting—well, Thalia was speculating—but she really wanted it to be in private. Only Chiron and Luke really knew of Thalia's plans.
It was later that night did Thalia get a chance to talk to Artemis in the throne room. The other campers were asleep. Chiron had come along and Artemis's lieutenant, Zoë Nightshade stood at her mistress's side. A low fire burned, lighting half the room, casting an eerie glow, making everything around them seem darker. Like there was a force field protecting the group from the pressing, consuming darkness.
Chiron looked wary about this, but he led Thalia inside and gave her a gentle, encouraging push toward Artemis, who was regular-sized as a young girl with auburn hair and silvery-yellow eyes. He then stood back a few feet to observe quietly.
"Chiron tells me you would like to join the Hunt, young Thalia Grace." Artemis said as Thalia came forward.
Thalia nodded timidly, never having been this close to a god/goddess before (not even when she'd fought with her mother). "Y-yes, m-my lady." she stuttered out kneeling respectfully, her heart pounding in her chest.
"You do realize what this means," Artemis's lieutenant, Zoë Nightshade, spoke. Thalia stood, determination clear in her eyes, and nodded.
"Yes, I do. And I accept them." she said with a surprisingly stead voice.
Zoë Nightshade was quiet for a moment as she looked at Thalia. "Repeat after me," she finally said. "'I pledge myself to the goddess, Artemis.'"
Thalia took a deep breath and repeated, "I pledge myself to the goddess, Artemis."
"'I turn my back on the company of men, accept eternal maidenhood, and join the Hunt.'"
Thalia repeated her voice staying steady the whole time. Zoë Nightshade looked over at Artemis, Thalia following her example.
"I accept the pledge," Artemis said with a nod of her head. The fire in the hearth burned brighter for a moment, the glow around them becoming silver in light. Thalia felt new life being breathed into her. She stood taller and she took a deep breath, like she had just stepped out of a sauna into the cold night air. It was refreshing and felt wonderful.
She felt the power that had been cooped up inside of her rushing through her veins, all the potential she had wasn't just potential anymore: it was real. She wasn't just some pretty Aphrodite girl—not that all of them were—she was a part of the Hunt.
Zoë Nightshade looked back at Thalia with an expression with what looked like the verge of a smile and said, "Welcome sister,"
Thalia smiled brightly back.
Artemis looked at Thalia sternly. "Remember the pledge, it is now your life." she reminded.
Thalia nodded.
Not only a second later did the throne room illuminate in a godly glow. Thalia quickly averted her eyes, her hand coming up to cover her eyes instinctively, not sure that even though she was technically immortal now, she'd still be vaporized if she saw a god's true form.
"No daughter of mine will be a Hunter!" the voice of Aphrodite thundered before her form took shape into a ten-foot tall, gorgeous woman dressed in a red satin dress, her hair had been curled into a waterfall of ringlets. But her expression was that of animosity. She was like a model in a magazine for women serial killers: beautiful and dangerous.
Thalia lowered her hand and looked up at her mother bravely, tapping into that newfound confidence that had been smothered by a demigod's life, by her unsupportive parent, by her missing father, by the insecurities she had of trying to live up to what everyone saw she was.
"This is my life," she told Aphrodite calmly. "I can make my own decisions without your consent."
Aphrodite's eyes flashed dangerously, her hands balling into fists.
"How dare you defy me!" she spat. "My own daughter! I'm ashamed in you, disappointed! You had so much promising features and threw them all away by joining the Hunters! Shunning love like it's nothing, like it's not a feeling that applies to you."
"Promising features? For what?" Thalia asked incredulously. "Mom, I felt like a nobody at camp, and now, I don't feel like a robot, just going through the motions of everyday life. I'm not just some pretty girl. I finally feel people will respect me for who I am, not for what I look like."
Aphrodite shrunk down to human size and walked toward her daughter. "But you were someone to Luke." she said quietly her eyes softening, ignoring that she'd just insulted Aphrodite's looks.
Thalia jerked back in surprise. "Luke?" she questioned, confused.
"Luke Castellan, son of Hermes. He loves you, Thalia. How can you be so blind?" Aphrodite informed.
"He does?" Thalia murmured. Then she remembered the oath she'd just made and shook her head. "It's too late for that. I've already joined the Hunters. There's no going back. I know my place is with the Hunters."
Aphrodite's eyes filled with disgust. "So you're just going to ignore the love that Luke is giving you?" she hissed.
"I don't love him in that way." Thalia answered quietly. "You've never been a real mother to me, and whether you like it or not, I've joined the Hunters and I plan to be the best huntress this decade has ever seen."
Thalia turned away from a fuming Aphrodite and started for the exit. Zoë Nightshade was waiting at the door. Chiron and Artemis were nowhere to be seen. As Thalia neared, she turned and said, "Follow thee."
Even though she'd just been dubbed a Hunter, Thalia got to rest where the Hunters rested on Mount Olympus, and it was nice. It was enthralling, really. They all welcomed her like she had been a Hunter for years now and was coming back from a long trip. It was an amazing feeling. And they said nothing about her demigod origins or the fact that Aphrodite, the goddess of love, was her mother.
Thalia had finally found her place in this world.
It was only a few years later did the Hunters of Artemis have to stay at Camp Half-Blood. Aphrodite had been lying in the wait, waiting patiently for the opportune moment of action and her patience was rewarded. They would be staying for only a few days, but that was enough.
With a single wave of her hand she multiplied Luke's undying love for Thalia by tenfold, almost to the point he was obsessing. Thalia was all he could think about, all he cared about. He would do or be anything she needed him to be. He'd stay faithfully at her side and protect her from any harm. Now that she had arrived back at camp, it was his chance to win her heart back and make her renounce her ties with the Hunters for good.
It was all up to Luke now. All Aphrodite had to do was sit back and watch this romantic tragedy play out before her.
Okay so, I meant to get the weird AU thing over in this chapter but decided to stretch it on into the next chapter. I hope it wasn't too confusing….
Anyhow, I would like to thank sugarcoatedslashersmile for letting me use the concept of one of her stories for my story.
thank-you-for-everything
~ See you at Camp Half-Blood!
