Okay my darlings, I'm back. Again. For the third time. You get the point. Now, I'm not going to let only three reviews discourage me. I'll right more, with high hopes of new reviewers. Please remember that reviews are appreciated greatly. Now I had one more thing I had to say, um… I swear I remembered just like, two seconds ago. Uhhhhhhh, oh, yeah, this chapter is from are dear huntress Thalia point of view. Oh, but she'll have a ten times more badass personality than I do.
Disclaimer: You know the drill, it's not mine. Period.
Thalia (After the Titan's Curse, but before the Battle of the Labyrinth)
Thalia had one word, or rather two words, that she used to describe herself: emotionally constipated.
Yup, she had some real series issues. LIke her temper. And her mood swings. And the fact that she had been a pine tree. That couldn't be normal.
And as another whistled through the air, embedding itself a couple inches off the center of the target, she traced one source to pretty much all of her current problems. Her dad. Now, most teenage girls Thalia's age would go on and complain to their dad about not getting to use the car, or not getting to date a bad boy with a motorcycle, she had a slightly a bit of a problem there, too. Because her dad wasn't just the kind of dad you wanted to get pissed off. Nope. Her dad was a big man, very high up there. In other words, her dad was a god. And not just any god, the king of the gods. Zeus, the god of skies.
Ironically, she was deathly afraid of heights. And flying sun chariots for that matter. But that was a different story.
Yeah, she couldn't just storm over to the 600th floor of the Empire State Building(aka Olympus) and demand that her father buy her a car. Not by a long shot anyway. Her father had to rule over the other gods, settle disputes, and try to keep the minor gods in order. Oh, and squeeze in a bit of time to add some dramatic entrances. It was a pretty full time job. And Thalia` hated it. Another arrow whistled throughout the air, splitting the first one in half, but still not on the center of the target.
The demigod through her quiver down in her frustration and was about to snap her bow in half(Artemis wouldn't like that very much), when a small, timid voice squeaked, "Lady Thalia?" Thalia whirled around, and was just about to tell the other person to piss off, that she was busy venting out all of her life frustrations on her poor bow and arrows when she saw who had called her name and her eyes softened, a little. She was a newbie, and had just joined the Hunt last week. Not even ten years old yet. But, her father had apparently been killed the Minotaur and she had run away unscathed. The fact that she was a daughter of Hecate might have contributed to that. With her scraggly golden hair and her unnerving, impossibly wide violet eyes, talked about as much as a rock. Thalia supposed having your father brutally ripped apart by a creature that wasn't supposed to exist did that to you. Alanzia. That had been her name.
Well, it was certainly colorful.
"What?" she asked, trying to sound as annoyed and badass as possible. After all, she had a reputation to maintain and she couldn't be going soft. Alanzia's eyes, if at all possible, widened even more than their already normal wideness.
"L..Lady… A..A…Artemis w…wishes to s…s..see you." she stammered, and after that, she raced away in terror. Score one for the badass-ness she thought as she made her way over to the main tent where Lady Artemis usually resided. Although she did feel a bit bad about scaring off her like that.
She waved and said brief 'hullos' to her fellow hunters as she walked. When she pulled open the tent flap, she found the Head of the Hunt just swiping her hand through an Iris Message, scrambling up the face of someone who Thalia had not been quick enough to identify as the remains of the rainbow slowly faded.
"M'lady?" she queried uncertainly, for she had never seen the Goddess of Hunt in this deep thought before. Artemis looked up and beckoned her in to the tent.
"Thalia. I assume our dear Alanzia has informed you that I wished to speak with you." Thalia vaguely wondered why gods could never go and just flat out ask or tell you something. But no, everything had to be in riddles and rhymes, and it took you ten times longer to figure out the real meaning of what they were trying to say to you. And by that time, it was almost always too late. She went ahead and answered the hidden question anyway.
"Well, she kinda stuttered that you wanted to speak to me. Maybe my face or my voice scared her or something 'cause she raced away two seconds later." She could practically see Artemis mentally face palm. Well, she'd tried, anyway.
"Was there anything else?" Thalia inquired, itching to go back to beating up her target with arrows. Artemis seemed in deep thought for a minute before she began to speak.
"Dear, I am afraid you are wanted on Olympus. Lord Zeus wishes to see you." Well damn.
"Why? I don't think I screwed anything up yet." Artemis shook her head vehemently.
"Oh, no! Not at all are you in trouble. At least to my knowledge," she added the last part and Thalia spirits plummeted. But she managed to keep a straight, bored face.
"How am I supposed to get there?" The goddess thought for a moment before answering.
"I will flash you as far the entrance to the Empire State Building. You know how to get to Olympus from there. But I warn you, you must keep your eyes closed while you flash alongside me, or you shall be killed." Well, that was just lovely. She was already at the risk of dying and she hadn't even made it to New York yet. Artemis abruptly stood up and beckoned her to follow. Once they both stood in the middle of the huntresses camp, she called, "Phoebe," Exactly three and a half seconds later, the other huntress raced into the clearing.
"You called, my lady?" She asked, nodding to Thalia. Thalia gave her a quick smile then turned her short attention span back to the goddess. "Yes, dear. I must go and take Thalia to Olympus. Then I am afraid I have some, business to attend to. I may not be back for some time. I am putting you in charge in our absence." Phoebe nodded, pleasure written all over her face to be given the roll of head of the hunt, even if it was only for like, a day. What a kiss up Thalia thought, but then she realized something.
"How am I supposed to get back from Olympus?" she asked. Artemis response less than pleased her.
"I'm sorry, but I am afraid you must find your own means of travel to get back to the hunters. It should not be that hard, for hunters are to be resourceful, and I am sure that you can do it."
"But…" any response she had died away from the look the head of the hunt sent her way. Thalia sighed and said, "Yes, M'lady." Phoebe smirked at her and Thalia was pretty sure she had grumbled something along the lines of Damn you to an eternal life of pain in Tartarus. Greek demigods have weird ways of swearing.
She turned around and found Artemis waiting for her.
"Hold my arm," she commanded and Thalia awkwardly complied. "Now close your eyes, and do not open them until I tell you." Once again, the huntress obliged, screwing her shut so tightly, she doubted she'd be able to open them if she tried. "Brace yourself," were the last word she heard before she exploded.
Thalia had only done the whole godly-teleporting thing once, and she already hated, even more than she hated heights. At first, when you least expected it, it felt like you were exploding. Like all of the molecules that made up your body were being ripped apart. Then you started spinning, faster and faster until you could barely even see yourself. And on top of that, it felt like your windpipe was made out of jello, which, in fact, was not a very good feeling. When they finally landed at the entrance of the Empire State Building, Thalia landed on her butt. Hard. She let out a few choice colorful word as she scrambled on her hands and knees to the nearest trashcan so she could puke her guts out.
When she was finished, she saw that Artemis had left already.
"Stupid gods," she muttered under the breath and she could have sworn she heard thunder rumble in the sky. She stormed into the building, and straight to the front desk. "600th floor," she said impatiently and the bald man at the desk said, "Sorry kid, no 600th floor here." Thalia was definitely not in the mood to argue with the man so she hissed, "I'm a pissed off daughter of Zeus so you're gonna press that button and let me get on that elevator or else." That seemed to work, for the man gulped and pressed the security buzzer. Thalia tossed him a drachma then stomped on to the elevator.
When the doors dinged open at the top, she raced out, thanking the gods that she could escape the horrid music. Then she started walking towards the throne room, only letting the beautiful city of Olympus take her breath away for a moment. When she arrived at the throne room, she saw that the doors were already wide open, but the throne room himself was empty.
"You have got to be kidding me," she screeched, and her voice echoed throughout the ginormous room. Just then, their was a loud rumbling noise, and a crackle of static, kinda like a broken radio. Lightning flashed and storm clouds appeared, and with a final earsplitting crack, the King of the Gods himself appeared. Thalia, whose hair was literally standing straight up, was fuming, but she kneeled anyway.
"Father," she spat, trying to smooth her electrified hair down.
"Thalia," he rumbled as he sat down on his throne, sparing her a small glance. He watched, somewhat amused as his daughter tried to smooth her hair. With a snap of his finger, her hair was perfect, straight and silky rippling down her back in long jet-black tresses.
"Thanks, Aphrodite." she muttered sarcastically as she straightened her tiara, the symbol of the lieutenant of Artemis. Zeus's eyes flashed dangerously, but surprisingly, he kept his calm.
"What do you want, anyway? I've got things to do, and hunters to keep in line." Thalia continued, absentmindedly playing with a stray strand of hair. The King of the Gods eyes flickered, with an emotion hat his daughter was not quick enough to catch.
"I just wanted to make sure that you knew your role that you had to play in this war, and as Artemis's lieutenant. Also, that you are not the child of the prophecy." he said this all in a way that practically screamed, 'I have no idea what I'm saying here'. This made Thalia want to smirk, but obviously, she didn't. Instead, she spoke.
"I'm not stupid. And I know that I have to fight in this war against a bunch of billion year old ancient greek creeps that are only supposed to exist in the demolished piles of rock in Greece. And in nightmares." She had wanted to add in the heads of delusional people, but she refrained from doing so, knowing that if she did, her dad would get mad. And when gods got mad, they tended to blow up stuff. And people. Yeah, and Thalia was not in the mood to be blown up.
"I am hoping you know the true meaning of my words," was all the god had to say. Let's just say Thalia was not a happy huntress.
"I know damn well what you're trying to say, and here's my response." she paused to take a dramatic breath, a trait she had obviously inherited from her father.
"Why the hell do you care?!" she screeched, and Zeus almost winced. Almost. Because the king of the gods doesn't wince. His lack of response infuriated Thalia further.
"Huh? C'mon, answer me! I want to know why do you care, now of all times! Where were you when I needed you? When mother slapped me and Jason? Where were you when he was killed? When-"
"SILENCE!" Zeus thundered, and the rest of Thalia's rant died away. But if looks could kill, let's just say the immortal king of the gods would not be so immortal anymore. But he continued anyway.
"You must understand, there were all reasons for these things. I must abide by the ancient laws. But, I always did have your best interests at heart. I saved your life when I transformed you into a pine tree on Half-Blood Hill. The Furies would have killed you." Thalia laughed, an insane laugh and she had a wild look in her eyes.
"That's cute. You expect me to be grateful to you, for turning me into a pine tree? That's just hilarious. Don't throw any of that shit at me. Don't you understand? You ruined my life! And my mother's! You gave her everything, an then you just left, right out of the blue. It corrupted her! And she took it out on us. Me and Jason!" her withering gaze fell, and her voice lowered considerably, "My poor brother. He's dead because of you! How much will it take to get that through your thick head? Jason's dead. And, it's. All. Your. Fault." Her chest was heaving now, but her eyes had lost some of their insane glint. The lord of the skies on the other hand, had a pained look on his face. As if he knew something. Something important. He sighed, and she swore she heard a small, pathetic rumble of thunder.
"I know Jason is dead. " He had that pained look on his face again. "But hear this. He is not as 'dead' as he seems. You will learn more in due time, if the Fates will have it. " There was a lardge, earsplitting crack of lightning and this time Zeus actually winced, and Thalia's eyes softened.
"There are many forces we are dealing with here, some that you may never understand. Your mother caught my eye, which is almost impossible to do. And together, we had you. Thalia," Thalia gazed softened further at the use of her first name, "you have much potential, and you will do, great things one day. But we must deal with this war as required first. And war mean casualties. And though I cannot control how many deaths there are, we can try to prevent as many as we can." He looked at his mortal daughter, almost, almost pleadingly. And one would have to be heartless not to forgive.
"Alright, alright. No need to get all sentimental on me. I forgive you, at least a little bit. Now, I've got hunters to train, and Artemis can't take me back to our camp, so… I need a ride." But her father seemed not to have heard the last part, as his composure returned fully, and he even let a ghost of a smile momentarily pass his lips before his straight, down-to-buisness face came on.
"You have a bright future, even if there are many obstacles you must first overcome." Thalia choose to ignore the second not-so-great part of that statement, and just went with 'you have a bright future'.
"So… about that ride-" she didn't even get a chance to finish before she exploded, again. The gods really do need a better method of getting places.
After she went through the whole being ripped apart sensation and spun 'til she was glad she'd had a light breakfast, she landed with an ungraceful 'oomph' in the middle of a clearing. As she picked herself off the ground, an arrow whizzed passed her head. She was about to beat the person to shreds, until she realized that the unfortunate archer had been Alanzia. Thalia glanced from the other girl, who was frozen in terror, to the arrow, which had lodged itself a foot off target.
"Great shot, for a first timer!" she exclaimed all to merrily, and Alanzia's terrified face morphed into one of confusion, then into one of hesitant pleasure. So the older girl decided to continue.
"Yeah, I mean you've probably heard of my my idiot cousin, Percy Jackson. He couldn't shot an arrow to save his life. In fact, most of the time he almost ends his life with archery." Now Thalia really, really, really hoped that this would get a better reaction than fleeing. And, surprisingly, her prayers were answered, and Alanzia giggled. It was truly a beautiful sound.
"Thanks," she whispered shyly, and Thalia felt a huge grin split across her face. Sadly, they were interrupted,
The other huntresses raced into the clearing, with either a bow drawn or a knife in a defensive position. And leading them was Phoebe.
"At ease, girls. It's me, Thalia. Back from Olympus. Not some demented monster who's stealing my swagger." At this, most lowered their weapons and Phoebe came forward.
"I trust everything went well," she said, albeit a little warily. The smaller girl nodded.
"Yeah, pretty much. Now I'm in hare while Artemis is gone, and I think we should probably leave this campsite by the day after tomorrow, otherwise we're fresh meat for way to many monsters. So-" Phoebe rudely interrupted.
"Lady Artemis never said I had to stop being in charge when you came back. You can't just leave, come back and start handing out orders. " The little smartass Thalia thought, as she racked her brain for an idea that wouldn't involve to much bloodshed. WHen she finally stumbled across one, the daughter of Zeus made no hesitation in saying it out loud.
"Let's have a shooting contest. Whoever shoots the best is lieutenant 'til Lady Artemis gets back." Phoebe smirked, and Thalia felt dread creep into her veins. There was no better archer than Phoebe. Maybe this hadn't been the best idea.
The others stared at he, mouth agape, and she snapped, "You'll catch flies," and their mouths immediately snapped shut. Someone cleared all the arrows from a target, and Phoebe took her position. She looked at the target with her utmost concentration, and Thalia knew automatically that there was no way she could possibly beat her. She stole a glance at the huntresses, and what met her haze was rather strange. Alanzia was staring at Phoebe's arrow unblinkingly, and she seemed to be thing hard. And when they heard the resounding thud of the arrow being released, the daughter of Hecate's eyes followed it. Then she whispered something, quickly and quietly, but Thalia tore her gaze away to the target. And the arrow. And then Phoebe. And then the arrow again. The arrow, which had found its place three inches off the center. Thalia couldn't help it, her jaw dropped all the way down to the Underworld.
Phoebe was fuming, and she shot Thalia a withering glare, but the lieutenant of Artemis didn't falter. She position herself , and closed her left eye. Her right eye only saw one thing. The center of the target. An arrow was notched, and the bowstring was pulled taut. She inhaled, and she exhaled. And she let the arrow fly.
The arrow hit the target with so much force, it had fallen backwards. Alanzia race over to where it and fallen, and called out, "Bullseye!". And Thalia couldn't tell who was more shocked, her or Phoebe. The latter looked like she had swallowed a particularly sour lemon, and her eyes were wide. Thalia snapped out of her daze.
"What are you looking at? Carry on," and the other hunters scrambled to obey. But Phoebe walked over to her.
"Good job. I suppose you truly are worthy of being the lieutenant of Artemis," she said as she held a hand out. The daughter of Zeus shook it and then swiveled around to look at Alanzia.
"You didn't…"
"Didn't what?" she asked all to sweetly, and Thalia laughed.
"C'mere kid. I'm gonna teach you how a pro shoots an arrow…"
Yes, Thalia Grace has real issues.
A/N I personally cannot believe I did that. Thalia is one of the hardest characters to write for me, and so is Zeus. And Artemis, for that matter. Oh, and Phoebe. Also, Alanzia is my own OC who I made up in about five seconds. And I hinted a bit of Jason in their for all of you HoO fans. I hope Zeus didn't go to soft though, but I had to make him kind of sad. Yeah. Anyway, thank you so much for reason, and reviewing! The button's right down their. Cheers!
-Dancing With The Clouds