Disclaimer: I do not own The Hobbit or Lord of the Rings. They belong to J. R. R. Tolkien. Any Quotes seen in this are taken from the Peter Jackson movies and I do not own them either. I also do not own anything Charmed related either and anything related to the Camp Half-Blood chronicles belong to Rick Riordan.
Sequel to An Unexpected Journey, you may wish to read that one first before reading this one.
Chapter One: Birthday Party.
"Uncle Percy," a little girl with long blonde hair squealed darting forward to greet her uncle and his fiancée as they walked through the front door; a large smile formed on his face as he crouched down to pick her up. It had been a while since he had seen he had last visited and Percy Jackson hadn't been able to resist coming to visit his sister on such a special day.
He could still remember the day that he had first met his older half-sister and he could understand why Poseidon had sent her to Camp Half-Blood, she had needed to be around people that would keep her mind off what had happened. Thalia had been pregnant at the time and it had been nearly a year after they had met that she finally opened up about what had happened.
"How is my favourite niece?" Percy asked taking in the house filled with children, his sister had to be crazy to have them all in her house and he had no idea how she was dealing with it. Samara Hunter giggled and smiled up at her uncle, it was so rare that she got to see him since he lived in New York while she lived in California with her mother and twin brother.
Annabeth Chase smiled at her fiancé, she liked seeing this side of him and she was sure that he would be the same when they had a baby together.
"Uncle Percy," Theseus called rushing to greet his uncle, he was followed by his mother who smiled at the sight of brother; she was surprised that he was actually here. Thalia wanted nothing more than to enjoy the twins sixth birthday and she wanted it to be perfect for them since they were starting to ask her questions about why they didn't have a father.
"Hey Shortie," Percy said setting down Samara and moving to hug Thalia, he couldn't keep the smile from his face when she scowled at him. The nickname had stuck for the last six years and Percy found it amusing that even at thirty-two, there was no sign of his sister changing; he was happy that she had been able to recover after what had happened to her.
"I am not short," Thalia insisted hugging her brother, she had no idea what she would have done without him in the first year after losing Thorin. It still hurt sometimes when she thought about him and what might have been if she hadn't failed in saving his life; Thalia doubted that she would ever forgive herself for not making this right.
There was no escaping how much Theseus looked like his father and Thalia was sure that he and his sister would have been the apple of their father's eye if he had ever gotten to meet them.
"You're five-foot-tall… you are short," Percy teased letting go of Thalia, he looked down at her knowing that at nearly an entire foot taller than her it was always amusing that he was the one that was younger. Thalia rolled her eyes, it was not her fault that she was so short and she had even been shorter than Thorin; she guessed that she was not meant to grow any taller than she had.
Annabeth chuckled amused, she had to admit that she was also surprised how short Thalia was but she guessed that it didn't take away from anything; the blonde was a force to be recommend with when she gave her a sword.
"Did you bring us any presents?" Theseus asked innocently, his blue eyes watching his uncle hoping that he had brought presents; he had already opened all the presents that everyone else had given them. Samara turned and looked at Percy hopefully, she wanted presents too and she was sure that her uncle had gotten the dolly that she had wanted; she had been asking for it for months.
"Thank you for being here," Thalia said once the twins had been put to bed, it had been a long day and she was sure that they were tired after all the excitement that they had been through. Sitting down across from her brother, Thalia leant back on her chair pleased with how the birthday party had gone down; she was exhausted and a nice hot bath was in order right now.
Percy was silent, he knew that the last few years hadn't been easy on Thalia but she couldn't run from the past forever and one day she was going to have to move on with her life.
"Have you told them anything about him?" Percy asked looking at her, the last time that he had seen Thalia they'd had a fight over her refusal to tell the twins anything about their father. It was bad enough that Thalia didn't have a picture or anything that they could have that would link them to the father that they would never get to meet.
"A little," Thalia admitted softly, it was still hard for her to speak about Thorin and she knew that the twins deserved to know where they came from. They were part dwarf and Thalia could already tell that it would have some baring on the rest of their lives; the twins seemed so normal right now and she couldn't help but hope it would stay that way.
"Lia…" Percy murmured with a shake of his head, he didn't want her shutting herself away when she had people depending on her; he was sure that the twins' father would want her to be happy. She hadn't dated in year and Percy feared that his sister was going to end up old and alone after what she had been through.
"It's just so hard to speak about him knowing that they'll never be able to meet him," Thalia mumbled not wanting to speak about this anymore, she had no idea what the future would hold right now but she was going to focus on the twins that needed her so much.
"Are you sure about this?" Lord Elrond asked watching Gandalf, his cold eyes watching him knowing that he could not ignore this any longer; they had to do something if they were going to make this right. It had come to their attention that the darkness had returned and they needed some way to defeat it; they had to do something and Gandalf had a plan even if it was rescue.
"I am sure," Gandalf insisted making Elrond nod his head, he had seen what his old friend had done and they needed to do something that would change things in their favour. However, there would be consequences for what Gandalf planned to do and he feared that he was about to come face to face with the one person that he had wronged so greatly.
He stared down at the book remembering the first time that he had done this, Thalia Graceful Hunter had been far from pleased and he doubted that she would be happy when he did it again.
"Then you better be prepared to tell her the truth," Elrond stated before turning around and walking away, the last sixty years had greatly changed things and he doubted that Thalia would be happy when she learned that Gandalf had lied to her. The wizard had tricked her into returning home and it had created great consequences between him and Thorin; who had been promptly told that he had sent Thalia back by Bofur.
Elrond could only think of how angry Thalia would be when she was returned to complete her mission; they would need her help if they were going to unite Middle Earth against the forces of Sauron and Isengard. Everything was hanging in the balance and they were going to need all the help that they could get to make this right.
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