Thalia Grace

Was she dead? Or wasn't she? Either way, she didn't understand why it had to hurt so badly. Her whole body felt like it was made of acid. Something Leo had described to her while riding on Festus: Illogical pain.

Whether she was dead or not, she was able to see something. Thalia wasn't sure if it was a dream or her re-watching memories and visions. Dreams were always bad, but down in Tartarus... they were beyond horrific. Shattering, even.

It seemed like something was doing this to her, but she couldn't figure out what, due to her focusing on the events unfolding in front of her.

Thalia went past by her usual fragments of memories: The time her mother had sacrificed Jason to Zeus. The time she decided to run away from her mother out of anger. Then she saw the time she had heard about her mother's death, the dread she felt, the sadness. That was then when she learned the reality of her life: she was alone. All alone in the cold world. Everyone was a monster to her. Literally.

Then she'd finally found her solace in life, something she could look forward to. She found Luke Castellan, and together, they survived for a long time, and eventually they fell in love. Unfortunately, it came to an abrupt end for her as she'd sacrificed herself to a cyclops in order to save Annabeth and her one meaning in life left.

Then she was given a chance again. A new chance at life, to finally rebuild and find her happiness again. That was only when she found out that Luke had betrayed everyone, which left her feeling empty and unable to know what love was again...she didn't even get to say goodbye. That was then when she thought, "What else can I do?"

Thalia panicked and decided to run from her pain, and gave up on finding love. She says she gave up, but in truth, she was really just scared. Scared, and afraid to trust anyone, afraid to love again...even though it was what she wanted most.

Thalia knew who she was and she loved herself, her life was already complete and she pretty much had no purpose. That purpose was Luke, but now he was gone. And so was her heart. She was just another broken soul, drifting along endlessly with a pack, hoping for a miracle.

Dwelling on these thoughts made her chest ache, so she decided to just run away from these thoughts.

The scene shifted to reality in Tartarus. She could see herself laying down, beaten and battered on the ground, unconscious. Nico's eyes were restored to their original abyssal-black color.

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Thalia could see the whole thing... but she was a little bit confused.

Nico was bounded by the arms and legs by snares made of black liquid: poison.

The goddess Misery was grinning at Nico, looking him in the eyes as tears fell down his face. He seemed to be in a trance. Misery just laughed and wiped the tears off of his face, and flicked it into her aura of poison, making it grow larger.

"Too much for you? Too much for the son of Hades? Eh?" Misery cackled. "Are you having a relapse of your suffering? Do you want to die yet? Just say the word, and I'll let you kill yourself, then...she will be recovered instantly."

"No...you don't scare me. I've been through more than you can imagine...so go ahead...make me suffer. Suffering is my friend." Nico glared at her with anger and sadness in his eyes.

Thalia put two and two together and figured out what was going on now:

Misery was making Nico relive his most painful memories, to fuel her power source: pain and suffering of course; misery. In exchange for his suffering, Misery healed Thalia's unconscious body little by little.

Misery waved her hands and morphed her poison into a mirror-like shape facing Nico. "Remember this?" She grinned at him with satisfaction as his eyes widened with despair.

Nico seemed to be in a trance again, as if he was reliving every little painful memory he'd had. He began to cry again, panting heavily as Misery cackled.

A wound on Thalia's back slowly disappeared, and she could notice her vision getting clearer as she watched the scene.

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It was a heartbreaking sight to Thalia, because she had promised him that he would never have to suffer again. And yet, here he was, suffering through relapses just to save her useless butt. She had failed someone she loved yet again.

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This time however, instead of pain building in her chest, it seemed to be anger.

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Misery fed another painful memory to Nico's mind, making his sobs more violent. It only fueled the anger and adrenaline in Thalia's body, as she felt another wound heal.

'Soon.' Thalia thought. As soon as she was fully healed she would use the element of surprise to destroy this monster.

Credits Song: The Walking Dead- In the Water (Clementine Mix)

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Author's Note: Not much to say, about my REALLY LONG abscence, hope you're still there. I stopped believing in love so it became harder for me to write about ships, thus this short chapter.