Thalia Grace
Thalia wasn't sure what to think of the night before, but she was certainly glad to have met him, even if she probably won't see him after all this is over. When she had finally calmed down and came back into focus, she helped Nico find some old rags and some food behind the altar. They had practically made themselves a mini picnic, which ironically seemed peaceful despite the dim red light shining in through the windows of Hermes' shrine.
Nico laid down on one side of the rag, already munching on some pizza. He looked like such a frail boy, but he sure had an appetite. She could see in his eyes that he wasn't always a fan of food due to his near-skeletal frame. Someone must have given him a sign not to be afraid: Reyna obviously. Normally she would feel a little jealous of the girl and think 'maybe he's closer with her, he'll never choose me'. But Nico had always looked at Reyna as an older sister and at Thalia, with awe. It was as if he didn't think he would have a chance. And she shared thought the same about him. If only he could know that she didn't care if she was too good for him.
Thalia should've given up on love due to the bad and inconvenient circumstances she and Nico would have together, but something about him in particular told him that even she; a broken heart can find love again.
Thalia picked up a burger and began to pig out. She didn't realize how hungry she was until she started eating again. They sat there for a while eating all sorts of things: Pizza, burgers, fries, rice, chicken nuggets, chili, and even managed to drink some coke that someone had sacrificed. How exactly someone was able to burn coke for tribute? She had no idea. Sounds like something Leo would only manage to do.
"Didn't know you loved burgers so much." Nico stated.
"Well, there's a lot of food I love. What about you, is there anything you love?"
What were they doing exactly? Why were they sitting around just talking when they were practically in hell? Well, maybe even the worst things have a happy place.
"Um...I already told you." He shifted nervously a little bit. Was that a twinge of red on his cheek? "...oh, you meant food. Right..."
Thalia just remembered that he'd had a crush on her for a bit. She wondered if he still felt that way.
"What does that word mean anyway?" Thalia interrupted. "Love? What does it even feel like? Do you know? I mean yeah yeah yeah, you're the ghost king, 'you're dark and alone and have no feelings.' But everyone has to have loved something before."
"Um... Can we not talk about that word? It's just not exactly my favorite word."
"Right...sorry."
They continued eating in awkward silence again, which made her feel extremely uncomfortable. Once they'd finally finished they went back to staring at nothing as they sat on the rags.
"Um...what about you? What do you think that word means?" Nico wasn't normally one to break silence, but if he did, it probably meant something.
Thalia sighed sadly.
"Well... it's something I can't really have anymore. I don't feel like there is anyone out there for me after being betrayed like..." Her gaze dropped to the floor. "Like that."
"Oh...I see." Nico said understandingly. "Sorry I said anything like...that earlier. Besides, you're a hunter." He looked down sadly.
Thalia vaguely remembered Nico admitting his crush on her again. It had to have meant something. Almost as if some divine being were showing her a sign.
"What? Why are you sorry? It's okay to have feelings. You said yourself."
"Right." Nico smiled.
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"You still didn't answer my question though. What is it?" He gazed into her eyes and she could tell that he really didn't know what it was, and he wanted to know. Thalia took pity on him but at the same time envied him for not having to have experienced something so painful.
"It's...it's nothing really. It's just painful, and filled with betrayal. You only experience it once before you realize whether you'll find it or not." Her hunter instinct always spoke for her when she was asked that question, but she never really meant it. In fact, she didn't know if she was telling the truth or not. Maybe...she wanted someone to show her what it was. And that someone just wasn't Luke.
"Maybe it doesn't have to be painful. I mean, why does it have to be only once?" Nico said, still gazing with his abyssal-black eyes. They gave her that same warmth and comfort, which told her it would be okay. She leaned her head closer to his.
"Yeah...yeah...I guess it IS okay to have feelings." She gazed back at him, feeling tornadoes electrifying inside her. Maybe she didn't have to be a cold hunter anymore. Maybe she didn't have to suppress her heartbreak anymore. Maybe she could finally allow herself to...love someone.
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A sudden burst of fire drew both their attention towards the altar. The fire waved around like a flame thrower until it finally extinguished, revealing a napkin with something written on it.
"There's something-" Nico started.
"Yeah yeah. I got it." Thalia stood up and brought the note back to Nico. They both looked at the note:
Heyyyyyy! It's LEOOOO...I hope I didn't interrupt anything romantic. ;P
Just kidding, that was EXACTLY what I was hoping for actually. Anyways...Hi!
That's all I have to say. Bye again.
Nico stared at it, clearly unamused. "That's it? THAT'S ALL he sent this note for?"
Thalia interrupted. "Wait...there's more on the back."
JUST KIDDING! I wanted to annoy Nico.
Anyway, I'm on the way and I'm gathering all seven of the demigods from the prophecy to help me out. There's going to be a lot of chaos guarding the entrance on the mortal side so I'm gathering as much help as I can. I won't let you down again.
I also got some info from Chiron. Well...in short, he says that Both of you are MEANT to fall into Tartarus, and it wasn't just my fault.
The hunter, the child of death. It was clearly you two, that's confirmed. There's no one else that fits that description and it makes total sense why they sent you guys. You ARE the ones filled with void... Not sure what that means.
I mean I found out that the fates planned for this long ago to ensure that Gaea doesn't wake up again. You know...after I killed her and all. :P #Supersized Mcchosen one
But just know that I AM coming, and sorry I'm useless. But I AM coming though, and so is everyone else so be ready. There's some supplies to send an Iris-message under the plates, but there's only enough for one message, sorry about that. We're still low on budget after the last war, but hey, I got you guys a buffet of food. Annabeth told me that you guys would go here so i figured why not. That's all.
THIS NAPKIN WILL SELF DESTRUCT ONCE YOU FINISH READING.
Just kidding. Hopefully Nico got a funny reaction. -Leo
Nico didn't have any reaction.
"Leo!" Thalia shouted excitedly.
"So what does this mean?" He asked.
"Hang on, I should probably grab those supplies." Thalia leaned real quickly and lifted the plates next to their rags, revealing the iris-message materials. She quickly stuffed them in the inside pockets of her leather jacket.
"Wait...the ones filled with void? I think it's referencing us. I mean maybe they're saying we're the ones who've lost the most: The broken ones." Thalia continued.
"So then it's clear then, we're practically all the lines of the prophecy." Nico said grimly. He looked as if he'd just lost his last heart string. "Even the second to last line." He hung his head down.
Thalia understood his haunting expression now after vaguely remembering the line: Without the sacrifice of death or sky. That meant that only one of them was going to make it through.
"No. It won't end like that. I won't let it, I promise you that." She tried to reassure him, but she wasn't too sure, herself. "I mean, it doesn't have to happen only once right?"
Nico lifted his head up again. He looked at her in awe, completely speechless and amazed at her sudden strength. Heck, Thalia herself didn't know where her sudden optimism was coming from either. But she knew one thing for sure: We make our OWN destiny
"But the fates-" Nico hesitated.
"Forget them. I mean come on, look at that last prophecy. Everyone survived, even Leo. There's ALWAYS a way."
Nico drew his sword and stood. "You're dead right."
"That's more like it, now let's find some way to the doors of death. We can do this." She smiled at him.
"We can. Let's turn this tide." He smiled creepily, but out of enthusiasm. "Can't be so hard. I mean, you're a versatile hunter, and I'm a boy of the underworld: a perfect team for a place like this. I know a short-cut but it'll be tricky."
Nico's enthusiasm to make it out of Tartarus gave Thalia a sign that they'd both found something to fight for: each other.
"What is it? Where exactly are we going?" She asked.
"The forest of curses. It's a place I know in here and going straight through it will give us a clear path straight through and save us from having to go through the trouble of having to fight through endless waves of monsters along the river. I mean we COULD keep following the river, but it'll be way more dangerous than a bunch of flying curses right?"
"Yeah...Flying curses or endless waves of other dangerous monsters. I don't like either. But hey, flying birds? No match for a bow and arrow."
"Oh that might actually work. Shooting them isn't direct contact, so we won't be affected by any of the curses." He smiled with ambition. "This is going to be easy."
Suddenly, Tartarus didn't seem like such a bad place to Thalia anymore. More like another forest that she could easily adapt to.
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Thalia and Nico stood on opposite sides of the exit of the shrine. "Think those flying things are gone?" Nico asked.
"I know they're gone. We've waited for a while." She nodded at him as if to gesture that she was ready. "Ready? Three. Two. One."
The duo charged through the door, ready for anything. Fortunately, there was nothing around them and the flying chuckie-like creatures had given up. Nothing but red skies now. They quickly used this opportunity to charge all the way across the river and into the forest of curses. Hopefully if they could sprint fast enough, then they would be able to make it through towards the safer side of Tartarus. The emptier side.
A trio of stray Keres blocked their way as they ran through the river. Thalia easily slashed down two of them, using her spear to impale one, then parry the other and slash the second one in the guts.
Nico ran upwards and slashed downwards at the last one successfully bisecting it like nothing was there.
So far so good.
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The second they charged into the forest, chaos spread almost instantly.
Through the dark forest was endless black trees and branches bunched up almost endlessly. They were sharp and shaped like tentacles covering the small gaps along the pathways.
Thalia had to use her agile reflexes in order to be able to jump over the endless logs blocking their ways as they ran. Unfortunately Nico wasn't doing as well as her, due to not being trained in the hunters. He was much faster and swift with his vaults over the tree stumps, but he seemed to be running out of energy faster. He was in no way conditioned for this. Then the most inconvenient thing happened: The curses that Nico had warned her about, had shown up.
"Keep going! WE HAVE TO!" Thalia shouted out.
"I-I can't! I-!" He stuttered hysterically.
"Nico! Please! We can't do this right now." She begged.
He continued running behind her, to her relief. They jumped over more and more branches but they just seemed to be getting larger and more dis-morphed.
You killed me. A giant flying bird-like monster swooped down, barely being dodged by Thalia.
You killed me.
This is for Dr. Thorn! One of the creatures screeched.
"Nico! What are these things?!" She yelled before jumping along the side of another tree branch. The flying thing barely missed her and completely annihilated the root of the tree.
"Ara! Don't attack them!" Nico warned her just as she pulled out her spear. "Just shoot them! Any direct contact is dangerous remember?!"
"I-I can't see them! The trees are in the way!" Thalia shouted, training her bow at endless movements above the leaf-less trees. Something pulled her upwards with such force that she dropped her bow and arrow. She was suddenly flying in mid-air under the claws of one of the ara. She screamed hysterically at the height.
"Thalia!" Nico cried out. He immediately shadow-phased into a tree and launched himself into the air to slice down the flying thing. The Ara instantly dissolved into dust and through the sharp branches of trees they fell.
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Thalia began to feel a surge of panic growing inside her. She looked all around her and found no sign of Nico anywhere. They must have fell in complete opposite sides. She decided to gamble and rustle through the endless blockades of branches trying to estimate his fall distance.
Dozens of screeches from above her pierced her ears, saying things like:
You destroyed my eyes. Now I will destroy yours.
You slashed my stomach open. Now you will see how it feels!
Thalia dug through the branches furiously hoping to rip open a passage way. One of the Ara slashed the stump of a tree, rolling it in Thalia's direction, barely missing her.
"NICO! WHERE ARE YOU?!" She cried out.
The Ara swooped down to claw her, but she managed to kicked it back into a tree, stalling it and giving her time to run away.
She kept running and running, hoping to lose the monsters, until she eventually hid behind a tree, covering herself in the black dirt of Tartarus. Suddenly she heard faint whispers somewhere near her.
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"No...Not again! I can't be here again!" Nico's voice shouted. He stumbled out from behind the her tree and dropped to his knees. "Make it stop! The nightmares! The suffering!" Nico screamed hysterically, grabbing his head.
Thalia ran towards him and grabbed him by the shoulders. She turned him around only to have her heart drop: his eyes were plain white.
"Thalia! You left me?!" Tears ran down his white eyes. "Thalia?! Why'd you leave me again?!"
"Nico! Nico! It's okay! I'm right here!" She kept yelling and begging him to wake up, but it did no good. He just stared into nothingness.
Yes! Do you feel it?! The pain again? The misery? A voice laughed sinisterly behind Thalia. She turned around only to see a pair of bloody eyes peering at her through the gaps in between the trees.
"Who are you?! Show yourself!" She yelled out.
Oh but I am only but a thing that lives in YOU. Therefore you've already seen it. The raspy voice replied. I am Misery. Beg for me. Tell me you need me, and I will save you, at the cost of more pain and suffering from the one you care most for.
Thalia wished she could summon all the lightning in the world right now. This THING dares to threaten him? A boy who she bonded with...a boy she...loved?
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She understood now: this feeling she had always felt for him was called love. And she had found it this entire time.
But now it was going to be crushed by this...demon. She made a promise to herself that she wouldn't ever let this boy suffer anymore than he had. And she was sure on the stix that she was going to keep it.
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"No!" Thalia said sternly. "I. Won't. Beg."
Thalia throw her shield like a deadly flying saucer at the bloody eyes. The eyes instantly disappeared as the shield bisected the trees.
She ran to Nico and shook him desperately. "Nico! Please! I need you!" She begged over and over until she finally started sobbing.
"Nico...I'm sorry. I never should've kept it from you. I never should've left you. I never should've left Bianca..." She bit bag another sob. She shook him even more but he just kept staring at nothing with his white eyes, fear stuck in his expression.
"Nico! Please! I love you! Don't Leave me!" Thalia finally admitted. She gave up on him. No, she was fighting for him. And she was going to do it, even if it killed her. Thalia summoned wind, rumbling the entire vicinity and destroying hundreds of trees in the process until it made a clear open space.
Above her and Nico, the dozens of Ara circled above them as if ready to attack their prey.
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Thalia drew her spear and charged at the flying things head on as they swooped down. She stabbed one through the heart, and suddenly she felt sharp pain in her chest.
"Agh!" She screamed. The pain was unbearable but she didn't care.
Thalia lifted the spear and spun it around like a windmill slashing three more Ara all in one motion. They all turned to dust as she felt burns of electricity flow through her body. Burns suddenly appeared on her arms. She ignored the pain.
Thalia spun her spear again and slashed down several more, as claw marks appeared on her back, sending a searing pain throughout her body. Her ears began to ring.
"For ORION!" One Ara screamed as it slashed her back.
"Agh!" She yelped. Almost instantly, her spear was already inside the base of its skull, crumbling it to dust. She felt even worse burning all around her body and a vision of Orion being buried in greek fire by her hunters flashed through her eyes. She could almost feel the intense burning of the Greek fire. It was as if her skin was sizzling as she fought.
She screamed in agony, over and over as she slashed endlessly at more Ara, getting even more curses in the process.
Thalia hacked and slashed and destroyed everything that moved, but it was no use. Dozens more swarmed above her as she fell to her knees from the pain.
She breathed heavily, still feeling the burns. She felt her knees buckle and was only able to stand back up by using her spear as a cane.
Do you give up yet? Don't you need me? I'm the only way out remember? 'There's always a way...' Misery reminded her. The demon(not goddess) stood a distance away from her.
Thalia was practically almost dead, but she wasn't going to give in while Nico was alive. While her lover was alive. Never.
"I. won't. give. up." Thalia snarled. "I'll MAKE my own way. I'll make my OWN destiny."
Foolish daughter of Zeus! Such insolence will only get you killed! Misery snarled back.
"Just watch. I'm..." Thalia coughed out blood."I'm STRONGER than you!"
She knew it was her fatal flaw to have a need to be powerful, but at this point it didn't matter. She didn't want to give up. She didn't want to fail him.
"Come on! I'll. Kill. ALL OF YOU!" Thalia roared. She charged again at all the endless waves of Ara, ignoring any pain she felt.
She slashed at all of them with super reflexes, slashing all of them again and again, as they tried to pile on her.
She then yelled out a battle cry as she charged even faster at Misery. She charged with such inhuman speed that the demon flinched and immediately teleported.
Thalia missed, but she didn't care, she was filled with pure rage and will power now. Five more Ara swarmed her but she slashed them all like they were flies.
"I don't care how many curses you put on me! You are NOT getting between me or him." She cried out.
She spun her spear like a helicopter propeller, slashing more and more and more nonstop.
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The curses eventually overwhelmed her and she could no longer stand the pain. She felt as if she was breathing poison and that her body was made of fire. The cuts all around her stung badly like acid was being poured all over her. The worst part was that the slashes she'd inflicted on monsters during her hunts, weren't even close to being inflicted on her yet. So there was more pain to come.
Thalia fell to the floor, no longer able to fight.
You understand now don't you? I told you. You've lost. Misery chided as she began to laugh.
"Help...I...I need you." She pleaded hopelessly. She didn't know who she was pleading to anymore, she just wanted the pain to stop and Nico to be safe.
The searing pain made an intense ringing in her ears, and she couldn't speak. She crawled over to the lifeless looking Nico who had already fallen to the floor by now. His eyes were still open and white.
She wanted to say: I'm sorry Nico. I'm sorry. I love you.
They'd reached as far as they could in Tartarus. But at least they died trying. Misery stood over them in triumph with her disgusting evil grin on her face.
It was the end. It's over. Her hand felt cold as everything turned black.
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Credit Song: Cold- Jorge Mendez
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Author's note: FINALLY! I FINISHED IT. Anyway, I'll be releasing another chapter soon this week in order to make up for all this time. If it doesn't make up for it, well at least I made myself feel better. LOVE YOU RANDOMER AND BOOKSANDSUNSETS AND ALL MY OTHER WONDERFUL SUPPORTERS. (Ie: Guests #?)