Please note: I do not own Percy Jackson or related characters. This story is just an opportunity for me to play around with these characters and my creativity. I love getting feedback and you all deserve the best stories, so feel free to review so I can be the best storyteller I can be! Thank you!
Thalia
Thalia felt like she was lifting out of her body as she fell off Mount Olympus. She couldn't stop herself from screaming her lungs out as they fell through the air.
They fell towards the sparse clouds. Despite him not having any free hands, Thalia saw Percy put out his Ophiotaurus hand towards the clouds. He closed his eyes, but it seemed like they were falling too quickly for anything to happen. They fell through the clouds, which felt like going through a wall of moisture and cold. Thalia saw the stone walkway rush past them as they fell towards the hazy Manhattan below.
Despite the last fifteen minutes, she was currently glad he was here with her. She didn't wake up today thinking that she'd be tumbling off Olympus. Now that she was, though, she didn't know if she'd want to be falling with anyone else. She knew that Olympus was not directly over Manhattan- if you dropped an orange off Mount Olympus, it wouldn't eventually splatter on the New York streets. No one quite knew where Mount Olympus was in the universe- some Hunters theorized that it was in a plane by itself, in some other dimension parallel to their own.
Thalia guessed she'd find out soon enough. Her voice became lost to her as she continued to fall. She had heard stories about what it was like to free-fall, but nothing could quite prepare Thalia for this. Her organs blended together and she could feel the sensation of falling in every part of her body. She couldn't even think straight at the moment.
The image of Manhattan beneath them began to ripple, like a stone hit a pond. The reality around them started to stretch, thin, and warp around them. Mount Olympus was no longer visible, as everything began to flatten.
Thalia felt Percy's hand tighten around her. Under different circumstances, she would've punched him for that. Now, though, she was relieved that he did so; she could return the gesture without feeling bad. The two of passed by a barrier of pure energy, as they began to move at speeds that Thalia didn't think was possible to access. Not even Artemis' chariot or Apollo's sun-car moved a fraction of how fast they were moving. She even suspected that wind travel was not as fast as they were going.
The reality around them had bent and flattened so much that their surroundings were mostly black, save for a white dot in the distance. Weird noises, sensations, and feelings ignited around Thalia as she and Percy fell towards the white glimmer. The white dot slowly expanded and sucked the two of them in. She was materializing and dissolving, being torn apart and put back together. There was so much going on, that the only thing she focused on was the warmth of Percy's hand.
She gripped it for dear life. She didn't know if these were her last moments.
Annabeth's face flashed through her mind. Her ethereal image from the Pond in New York, specifically.
Thalia, please.
I'm sorry, Annabeth. She would've said it out loud, but she was incapable of thinking.
Suddenly, a bang and a flash of colors rushed through Thalia's vision. The images around her slowed and expanded until they were to proportion. Thalia blinked a few time, and saw that they were falling towards the top of a mountain. They were about two hundred feet, and they were falling fast. If they didn't do something, they would be puddles on the mountain. Thalia reached out to the air around them, and closed her eyes.
She needed to save Annabeth. She needed to save Percy. She needed to save herself.
Thalia couldn't tell what happened next, but the next thing she knew, a huge air pocket had formed under the two of them. Their rapid fall gradually slowed to a casual float, and they landed softly on the top of the mountain, thousands of feet from the ground. Percy had the Ophiotaurus cage tucked under his arm like a large football.
Once they landed, Percy and Thalia quickly let go of each other's hands. Thalia wasn't sure if it was her or Percy, but beads of sweat clung to both their hands. They both wiped their hands on their pants.
Percy exhaled. "Let's not do that again," he said, smiling at Thalia.
Thalia couldn't smile back. Instead, she looked around her. She didn't know where they were- all she could see were snow-tipped mountains and large valleys. Green grass clung to the sides of the other mountains. The valleys were starting to look green and yellow. The mountains themselves ranged in color, from light brown to dark. As the landscape proceeded, the mountains started to look blue in color, blending into the midnight blue of the evening sky. A crescent moon hung above them in a twisted smile. The moonlight reflected off the now to illuminate the surroundings around them.
It was somehow both humid and freezing up on top of the mountain they were on. The winds were sharp and unforgiving- Thalia suspected that those winds were different winds than the ones that saved them. Luckily, the chlamys and the leather armor kept her from freezing. Already, though, her ears were starting to get cold and her throat was starting to get scratchy. It was a weird feeling- Hunters didn't usually catch colds, so Thalia figured that tomorrow (if there was a tomorrow) would be the first time she'd be feeling sick for the first time since she was fourteen.
Thalia looked at Percy. "Where are we?" Instantly, she kicked herself for asking. Percy had just gone through the same experience Thalia did, and somehow he'd know where they were?
Percy closed his eyes. "We're by a sea, I think. I'm getting…39.0192° N, 25.2686° E? It may have been a little better if it we were on the ocean."
Thalia's mouth dropped as she looked out. "That's east. That's…way east. And it's by the sea…"
She looked at Percy. "And…we fell off Mount Olympus? Guess where we are."
Percy swallowed nervously. "Mount Olympus?"
Thalia nodded. "The original one. The one in Greece."
Percy looked around, and ran his free hand through his hair. "Greece, huh? I guess I won't make it home for movie night then."
"It must've taken us back to where Olympus used to be, the formal focal point of its power."
Percy turned around, looking at the view around them. Thalia's eyes fell from him to the Ophiotaurus. Once the Ophiotaurus saw Thalia's stare, it shrunk away, mooing softly. Percy must have heard it, because he turned around to look at Thalia.
He frowned. "Hey…we're cool, right? Like, you're relaxed now?"
"Relaxed?"
"Yeah. I mean, we're-" Percy gestured around him. "-in Greece. We'd have to work together to find our way home."
Thalia felt bad disappointing him, but she had to. He looked so pleading, like he was praying she'd say yes. But she was here for Annabeth- not to give up everything she had worked for. Percy was literally holding the only thing she needed to make her visions come true.
"Percy, I need that cage."
Percy shifted the cage so his body was between it and Thalia. "Don't do this, Thalia."
"What are you really fighting for here, Percy?" Thalia asked. "Are you fighting for the gods right now?"
Percy looked trapped, like he didn't know how to answer that question. "I'm trying to stop you from making a bigger mess out of this than Athena already did."
Thalia blinked. She didn't know why that caught her off guard so much. "So, all this is you trying to save me? Or stop me?"
Percy didn't answer, or otherwise react. He just looked at her, with a slightly sad expression. The wind howled around them, blowing his hair around.
"And I'm trying to save Annabeth," Thalia said softly. "Don't you see? That's all this is. You're trying to save me, and I'm trying to save Annabeth. You can save me by helping me with this. You help me, we bring Annabeth back. And, just as you said, we fight for our lives once the gods come for us. You, me, and Annabeth. Just like old times."
"We'd just be missing Grover," Percy said distractedly, searching her eyes. His face looked forlorn, like he was slowly losing hope.
Thalia needed to act fast, before this escalated. "We could be unstoppable together. Even Nico admitted that."
Percy closed his eyes. "So, that was you who did that to Nico?"
Thalia didn't know how Percy knew about that- it wasn't like he and Nico were best friends.
"Hazel said he had injuries that looked like ropes of fire went through him."
Oh.
"Is he okay?" Thalia asked. She felt like an asshole asking the question, but she needed to know.
"He's fine," Percy said, irritation laden in his voice. "He healed up, so I think he's okay. But, Thalia, this isn't what Annabeth would've wanted. I mean, hurting friends?"
"You keep saying that," Thalia said, feeling her voice raise. "But I knew her better than you ever did. Luke and I practically raised her."
Percy narrowed his eyes. "Then you'd know that she'd think this is ridiculous. All those arguments you made? About Annabeth searching for me and not giving up? She probably did that because she knew that if there was any chance that I was alive, she was going to try and find me."
"You know she would've tried to bring you back too? She loved you too much," Thalia said, thinking back to how committed Annabeth was to finding Percy a few years ago. She had given a particularly rousing speech to Artemis and the Hunters, trying to motivate them to put their all into finding Percy.
"So? That doesn't make it right, Thalia. I'd be doing this same thing if Annabeth was trying to bring you back."
"You know I saw Annabeth?" Thalia said. She was going to keep it to herself, as she knew that it was a sensitive topic. But, Percy wasn't understanding, and she had to get through to him. "I saw her. When I was with Nico, I saw her ghost."
Percy went white in the face. "You what?"
"I saw her. Clear as day, not reincarnated quite yet. She looked sad, Percy. She even said-"
"What did she say?" Percy jumped in, moving closer to her. There was a desperation in his eyes that almost made her back away from him.
"She said, 'Thalia, please.' That's what she said. According to Nico, she knew what I was going to do. And the first words out of her mouth are those two words? She wants me to save her, Percy. And I'm going to. If I give up now, nothing would change. All this would have been for nothing. I've gone through quite a few people to get here. If you stand in my way-"
Thalia took out her spear and unleashed Aegis. She saw the shield's effect take control- the wind even blew against Percy, and he took a few steps back. "-I'll go through you too."
Percy looked like he was blinking back tears. The cut on his lip from her spear attack on Olympus looked particularly deep and painful. "Please don't make me do this."
Thalia felt like punching the side of the mountain. She didn't ever think it would come to this.
But, here they both were.
Two stubborn souls that refused to budge.
She pointed the spear towards him. She had to make this fast- Percy was one of those fighters that only got stronger as he got angrier. He was actually pretty clever too, so the more time he had to get familiar with his surroundings, the more formidable he would be. Basically, the more time she lingered around, the harder it would be to get past him. He wouldn't go down without a fight, and if she wanted to maximize her chance of bringing him down, she had to do it early and soon.
The wind felt like needles on her face. She could see her breath. "Give me the cage, Percy."
Percy dropped the cage behind him, reached into his pocket, and took out a pen. Thalia just realized that he didn't have Riptide out when they were falling off Mount Olympus- yet it was here, in his hand. It must've did that thing where it reappeared in his pocket. Thalia tried not to think about how cool that was.
Percy uncapped the pen and raised his golden-bronze blade towards the air. His breastplate refracted the moonlight off it to make it glow. His face turned steely determined, and his eyes turned defiant. "Come get it."
Thalia felt a growl escape her as she charged him. She just needed to get to the Ophiotaurus, not kill him. She tried for a swipe at his torso, where he had swiped at her, but he sidestepped. The cage attached itself to his back, which must have taken concentration on his part.
She needed to break that concentration if she wanted the cage.
Thalia swung once more, and Percy parried it. Sparks flew from the impact.
She swung again, and he swiped it away. It unsettled her how he watched her without blinking, like he was analyzing her moves just as Annabeth used to do. Thalia knew she needed to catch him off guard, like how she did on Olympus. Any moves she used up there wouldn't work twice, though- he was probably looking for it now.
Thalia rushed him, feigning like she would run him through with her spear. As Percy moved Riptide to parry, she pivoted, slid, and used Aegis to ram it in to his knee. Percy's knee buckled, and the Ophiotaurus cage fell off his back, rattling behind him. Thalia twirled her spear with her right hand and hit him with the blunt part of it like a baton.
Percy stumbled, and Thalia tried to make a break for the cage. Right when she was about to grab it, it zoomed out of reach and right back into Percy's hands. He palmed the Ophiotaurus cage like it was a basketball. He gave slow and steady breaths as he looked at her.
"You're not getting to him," Percy breathed.
"Move," Thalia said.
The tension between them became charged. Clouds began to form, and the already potent humidity only got stronger. The wind screamed with Thalia as she charged him. She opened her arms like she was going for a running hug, but then tried for a swing from the right with her spear and from the left with Aegis. Percy dodged the spear swing, and parried the Aegis swing with Riptide. Percy then kicked her in the shin, knocking her off-balance. Percy took advantage; he jumped up straight in the air and kicked her in the chest, prompting her to stumble back a few feet.
Thalia glowered with anger. She charged her spear with electricity and used it to channel a blast towards Percy. However, Percy blocked it with his sword. The glowing sword took on a blue/purple tint to it momentarily as it absorbed the energy, before returning to its original color. Percy then charged her, in a rare offensive move. Thalia shot at him again, trying to aim for his chest. However, Percy read her movements easily, blocking the blast with his sword. Thalia kept the electricity coming, though. She hoped that his sword had some kind of limit and would shatter.
However, Percy kept pushing forward slowly, using Riptide as a makeshift shield. He then spun away from the blast and leapt towards her at an angle. He brought the sword down on her, but Thalia just barely got Aegis up to block the sword strike. A huge clang erupted from the impact.
Thalia took the opportunity to stab her spear towards his breastplate. He turned his body so as to avoid the stab. Thalia was about to follow up with a roundhouse swing from Aegis when Percy grabbed her arm from the missed stab attempt. Even with her at full weight (between her armor, her shield, and her spear), Percy turned and used his momentum to flip her over his shoulder. Thalia landed hard on the rock, and pain shot up her back. The landing knocked her spear out of her hand, just out of reach.
Thalia knew Percy would be expecting her to lay there and lick her wounds, so she needed to counter quickly. Thalia swept Percy's leg from under him, prompting him to fall as well. While on the ground, though, Percy flipped Riptide in his hand like a knife and tried to pierce Thalia's shoulder. Thalia couldn't get Aegis over to that side in time, so she had to take the stab if she wanted her counterattack to be successful. His blade sunk through her armor, and Thalia winced.
It was a risky play- if the sword went to deep, Thalia's arm would be not be too useful. Luckily, it was only a flesh wound, and Thalia could bounce back. She needed to get the upper hand now. Thalia propped up and picked up Aegis. The edge of the shield scraped against the rock as she held it above her head. Her arms almost buckled against the weight of Aegis, but she maintained it. Thalia then swung the shield down like she was swinging a pillow in a pillow fight.
Percy put Riptide up to block, but the tiny sword couldn't block the entire impact. Thalia watched her shield slam onto Percy's arms and body. The impact seemed to shake his bones and his very core. His arms give out, and he seemed dazed. Before he could come to, Thalia lifted her foot and slammed it into his manhood. A squeak came out of Percy, and tears formed in his eyes. He wheezed as Thalia hopped off him and sprinted to the Ophiotaurus.
She was five feet away when she heard a familiar slicking noise. Suddenly, something grabbed both of her wrists and pulled them towards Percy. She looked to see that they were water tendrils; makeshift ropes meant to constrain her movement. The water was exceptionally cold. Thalia theorized it was probably from the snow on the mountains.
Percy had gotten better since the last time she had seen him fight.
Thalia strained against the water tendrils, but Percy strained right back. Neither one gave any ground. The two seemed locked in a standstill, unable to get the upper hand.
She couldn't let Percy Jackson, of all people, beat her though.
Irritation blew through the air as Thalia shouted, "Let. Me. GO!"
On GO! a large clap of thunder sounded not only in the sky, but also in the space between Thalia and Percy. A huge blast of force pushed them both back, severing the water chains. Thalia then created sparks under her feet and combined it with a gust of wind to move towards Percy as quickly as possible. She whisked towards Percy in the blink of eye, and delivered a roundhouse punch in the chin. Electricity sparked through her fists and a small explosion of force came through the hit. The punch drew blood, and Percy's head snapped to the side. His body crumpled to the ground.
"Stay down," Thalia yelled. She stomped towards the Ophiotaurus.
She stopped when she felt raindrops on her skin. She looked up to see rain falling from the storm clouds that had developed just a few minutes ago. The drops weren't just coming from the sky, though- the snow underneath her feet was starting to rise in droplets of water, like the spiders coming through the sand in Montauk. The water then began to move around her, encircling her and Percy in a huge cyclone of water. It was like he had created an arena made out of his own element. The cyclone raged around the top of Mount Olympus.
Percy slowly got up. Blood was spattered on his face. He didn't even try to dry himself off from the rain. His hair was slicked downwards, and the water slowly washed away the blood. He pointed Riptide towards her, and she couldn't help but gawk. His expression scared her- it was like the expression she saw at Montauk. It was a mixture of anger and even hunger.
"Don't get any closer to him," Percy growled. Somehow, over the rushing water encircling them, Thalia was able to hear him crisply.
Thalia opened her hand, and a gust of wind blew the spear into her hand. "Fine."
Thalia put the spear to the sky, and felt heat, power, and ozone flow from her into the sky. The clouds came together, and a bolt of white-hot lightning struck the spear and flowed into her body. For a minute, Thalia held the lightning inside her, acting like a human conduit. She then yelled and shot the lightning bolt through the spear at Percy. He compromised some of the water cyclone to create a wall of water in front of him. The lightning harmlessly hit the water.
Percy immediately countered with blasts of water that came at her from every direction. Thalia reached to the winds, and felt them raging.
Listen to me.
They continued blowing. Their alignment seemed chaotic, like they had no purpose but to torment.
"Listen to me!" Thalia said, pouring belief into her words. The winds stopped, and Thalia felt herself take control. She made a circle with her arms and watched as the winds began to blow once more, but in her image. The winds formed into mini-twisters that met the several blasts of water. The twisters consumed the water, blowing it so hard and so much that it turned into harmless sea spray.
"Let's do this," Thalia whispered. As she did so, several more air twisters formed. Some combined into a larger tornado. The tornado grew until it raged throughout the top of Mount Olympus. Percy tried to thrust his sword into the mountaintop to steady himself, but he didn't get the chance to. The wind picked him up and brought him into its chaos.
Percy screamed Thalia's name as he got pulled into the tornado.
Thalia willed one of the smaller twisters to her feet, and felt it carry her up towards the biggest tornado. She entered the gray twister, but saw and heard nothing but raging winds. She used her influence to keep herself from being overtaken by the tornado herself. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a golden glint. Thalia put up her spear just in time to bat away Percy's air strike. She watched as Percy got carried away from her, doing another round of his circular path in the tornado.
Percy came around again, yelling and swinging his sword once more. Thalia blocked it with Aegis this time, and watched as he got carried away to do another round.
Thalia ground her teeth. This was annoying to say the least- she, somehow, was on defense in her own tornado. Thalia willed the winds under her to carry her through the large vortex of wind, towards Percy. She must have caught him off guard, because his eyes were closed when she got close enough to see him. She pushed the winds a little bit further and closed the distance between the two of them.
Once she was a few feet away, Percy opened his eyes. His eyes widened as he saw Thalia right in his space. She caught him in the throat with her hand. He started to struggle and thrash, but she focused and channeled electricity through him. His body shook as the electricity cascaded through his body.
Then, his body went limp.
Thalia stopped shocking him immediately. "Percy?"
Her heart beat as she dispelled the winds save for an air pocket to take them safely to the ground. She carried Percy's body Superman-style, and set him down softly on the ground. Her tornadoes were no more, as well as the water cyclone. It was just the two of them.
Thalia tossed Aegis aside to free her hand up. Leftover water flowed under her feet, draining down the mountain. She bent down and checked his pulse.
Then, three things happened.
Thalia felt an extremely strong pulse throb from Percy's neck.
Shit. He tricked me, she thought, as the water beneath her began to encase her. It formed almost a form-fitting suit around her.
Percy stood and put his hand on the water. "Sorry, Thals," he said, before closing his eyes. Thalia felt nothing but frost and cold as the water hugging her body began to freeze onto her skin. Her bottom half of the body quickly fell still, followed by most of the top half. The frost was creeping towards her neck when Percy moved out of view. She heard him move towards the Ophiotaurus cage. She tried to run after him, but her body was unresponsive. It was like she was literally frozen in a block of ice.
The cold spread over her mouth. If she wasn't sick yet, she would be now.
More importantly, she couldn't shake the thought that she was going to lose.
Fight, Thalia, Jason's voice said in her heart.
Fight, Thalia, Annabeth's voice said in her mind.
Fight, Thalia, her mother's voice admonished, along with the deeper voice that belonged to the real entity behind it.
Even though her body was frozen, her will wasn't.
Her heart wasn't.
Her mind wasn't.
Her spirit was still very much on fire.
She forced herself to think of heat, ozone, and static. She kept thinking those things until she began to feel it. She kept chanting it.
She kept chanting it.
She kept chanting it.
She felt herself turn into an electrical opening. Then, the skies opened up in a blast of lightning struck her directly, singing off the frost. Thalia immediately turned and screamed at Percy, redirecting the lightning in arcs through her outstretched hand. Percy scooped up Aegis and held it in front of him, crouching behind it until he was no longer visible. The arcs of lightning hit Aegis, and kept striking it. Part of Thalia wished that the shield itself would break so she could reach Percy.
Aegis' integrity maintained, though. Percy continued to block himself and the Ophiotaurus using her shield. It was weird to see Medusa's decorated head screaming at her.
"Thalia, stop!" Percy yelled. "Please, stop this!"
Thalia tuned him out. Sentiment would only result in distraction.
She had an idea.
She continued to shoot Percy with electrical energy from her own hands, but willed the lightning falling from the sky to move towards Percy. As such, Thalia created two sources of attack; one from her own power reserves, and another from the sky. Sure enough, the lightning from the sky quickly moved over Aegis and struck Percy right in his body. Percy's grip on Aegis released, and Thalia's blast of electricity hit him as well. At this point, two strikes of lightning were singing Percy.
Thalia moved towards him, maintaining the blasts on both ends. She couldn't risk him getting up this time. Percy's unconscious body convulsed as the electricity surged into his body. Thalia reached him and willed both blasts to stop.
"Tha-" Percy whispered weakly.
Thalia then rose her spear and stabbed Percy in the chest, funneling as much electricity through him as he could. Her spear went through the breastplate, and pierced his chest.
The life left Percy's eyes. Percy's head lolled to the side. His body jerked intermittently as the occasional spark of electricity ran through his body.
"STOP GETTING UP," Thalia screamed at him with all her might. A thunderclap accompanied her scream. Thalia took Aegis and, in the rain, stormed towards the Ophiotaurus' cage. She raised her arms and stabbed the spear through the cage. Her strike, however, glanced off the surface of the clear cage.
She stabbed it again, letting out a guttural yell with each strike. She did so again, and again, each time prompting another memory of Annabeth to flash through her head. With the memory of Annabeth's death, Thalia pulsed electricity through her attack. With the combination of the repeated strikes and the energy that came through from her electricity, her spear cracked the cage. It was only the tip of her spear that was able to get through, but it was enough to scare the Ophiotaurus. It mooed desperately at Thalia, as if pleading with her to stop this.
"Please don't make this harder for me," Thalia said, as she continued to attack the cage. She could have shot electricity from the tip of the spear, but the Ophiotaurus had already ducked to the other side of the container, under the water. It trembled as it watched Thalia, mooing repeatedly.
She felt horrible. The rain washed away her tears as she continued her assault on the cage.
She apologized to the Ophiotaurus. She apologized to Reyna. She apologized to Artemis. She apologized to the Hunters. She apologized to Jason. She apologized to her mother, to Percy, and even to Annabeth for failing all of them in some kind of way. Her failure usually resulted in catastrophe. Reyna and Percy's mortal injuries, the Hunters fallen in battle, her brother's death, and Annabeth's murder were all because of her.
But she'd make it right. She had to.
She was so focused on the cage that she almost didn't realize the rain stopped falling. She looked up and away from the cage, with difficulty, to see that the rain didn't actually stop. It only changed directions, blowing all towards Percy's unresponsive body. Some of the rain blew in unnatural directions, curving wildly in the air. The water and snow from the mountain slicked up from the bottom to the top, like it was being pulled by a magnet. The rain blew towards Percy and hit him brutally, like it was trying to drown him. However, Thalia watched as the water encased him in a diamond-shaped cage. Thalia looked around as the fog in the air also began to condense and float towards him in drops.
She even felt herself get pulled towards Percy a little, but a strong two-handed thrust of her spear into mountaintop helped solidify her position. With her arms preoccupied, she could only watch as the Ophiotaurus' cage rolled over towards Percy as well. Percy rose in the air slowly, as the diamond grew thicker and thicker with water. Thalia saw his stab wound heal slowly, but steadily. After a little bit, it looked completely healed from behind the hole made in his breastplate. Percy's eyes then opened, glowing green.
"Percy?" Thalia heard herself say. She didn't like how conflicted she felt- relieved that he was alive, but annoyed that he somehow still had the energy to face her. Thalia tried to push down the swelling fear in her. She could have liked water. Now, because of Percy, she dreaded it.
The water continued to climb towards Percy. The Ophiotaurus cage flew to his hand. Thalia watched water fill the hole made in the cage, and watched it freeze over to make the cage closed once more.
"That's just not fair," Thalia muttered. Her body felt exhausted, like she could take a sixteen hour nap at any point in time. Her stomach still burned from Percy's sword swing. Her back ached, and her head pounded. Yet, here Percy was, leveling up.
Percy looked down at the Ophiotaurus and watched it do a triumphant flip. Percy's eyes flashed up to Thalia. He didn't even have to say anything for Thalia to know what he was communicating- this was the Percy she saw at Montauk. This was the Percy who tried to take on Athena. The Percy who was the true son of the sea god.
Thalia took out her spear, swung it and pointed to Percy. The rain, snow, and water had stopped flowing to Percy- now, it formed a funnel of water around him.
As powerful as Percy was, he was fighting to stop her from saving Annabeth.
And she could not let that happen.
Thalia pushed herself and controlled the winds once more. Ropes of wind formed around her, matching Percy's water funnel.
Thalia and Percy met one another's eyes.
Thalia made a promise to herself- she wouldn't lose. She couldn't lose, not if she was going to bring Annabeth back.
"Help me, Mom," Thalia whispered. She knew the force she was calling out to was not her mom. Rather, it was Chaos, the first and oldest primordial deity. The Hunters had heard stories about the entity Chaos, but only bedtime stories. Thalia had never encountered it until recently. Even if she was didn't trust it, she couldn't afford to lose this fight. She didn't even know if it would result in her getting her family back, but she knew she was fighting for Annabeth. And that was more than enough.
Thalia's tornado started to tilt, and floating her up on the top of the mouth of the rope of wind. Percy mirrored her movements- the waterspout carried him up into the air as well. Their trajectories foresaw them meeting in the middle. She no longer felt cold on the top of the mountain.
The moon smiled and the thunderstorm raged on as the two flew towards one another.