Hey guys!
So, an idea has miraculously come to mind and as a result, the final chapter of Chronicles of a Huntress is here!
You may have noticed that in each chapter, I described how Zoë's life was affected by a male but also, it was also implied how she affected the lives of the females around her. I knew I wanted to go back to that in the last chapter, I just didn't know how. Until now.
So, we're going back to every woman who featured this story, starting with Thalia and Annabeth. This is a sneak peek because I wanted you guys to have at least some of the story before the year ends but I'm finishing the other scenes (six of them, to be precise), so stay tuned for update is coming shortly!
As this is the last chapter, nevertheless, I wanted to thank you for the support and encouragement I've received while writing this story. This began as a submission for Gazing Into The Mist forum but the response it got is amazing and I'm forever humbled by it. Thank you all so so so much.
Special thanks to AlEmily360! Girl, you gave me this small prompt, yet it made this story that I'm so incredibly proud of. Thank you and this chapter is for you!
Disclaimer: Do not own this guys!
Please fav, follow and review. And Happy New Year! Hope y'all have an awesome 2021!
Chapter 8. "A Force Of Nature."
There was a sort of peaceful sadness that came with saying goodbye to someone, one that Annabeth would never be used to, yet one she had learned not to fear.
Zoë Nightshade had been a force of nature. She had been a true Queen, in some ways worthy of even more recognition than the one granted to the Gods.
So large had her shadow been, so big had her influence been on those around her that though she'd never met her, not truly, Annabeth found that her life was changed due to the leader of the Hunters, in an irrevocable way.
After the group made it back to Camp Half Blood, Percy and Thalia had to face the excruciating task of recounting the fall of the heroine. Excruciating because, for the honour of having to tell them of Zoë's quest, it did not make up for the grieve of describing her demise.
Still, they did. They had to. Their sisters needed to know what had happened.
They talked for hours. The hunters listened, withholding their grief until they were done. The campers gathered around the returning group, their heads hung because while they hadn't interacted with the huntress, her story was too legendary for them to be nothing but sorrowful. Even Chiron gathered with the group, his eyes burdened, as if he had known of her fate all along.
That night, a funeral was held. A funeral worthy of a heroine such as Zoë Nightshade. A funeral honoured by the presence of Lady Artemis and Lord Apollo. A funeral held at night because it was a Huntress the one honoured, a huntress who deserved every star shining for her.
And above them, the constellation of The Huntress never stopped shining.
Annabeth should have been exhausted but somehow, her mind wouldn't stop reeling, not even for a second. So, taking the opportunity of having no harpies patrolling the Camp grounds - as Chiron had ordered a night with no curfew, for the night was the time for those who wanted to honour Zoë- Annabeth wandered over to the lake.
And there she sat, with no company but the one of the stars.
Until she wasn't on her own anymore.
"I should have known you'd be here," Thalia commented as she plopped down besides the daughter of Athena. "Your mind knows better than to grant you any rest."
Annabeth cracked a small smile but her arms remained tightly around her bent legs. Her gaze was fixed on the starry sky above her. "And I should have known you would follow. You tend to disrupt my every attempt to seek peace."
"Disrupt? Annie, who even speaks like that?" Thalia snorted, quickly sobering up when Annabeth only rolled her eyes. "Annabeth, seriously. What is it?"
"I can't forget about Zoë," Annabeth replied, her voice softening as her mind wandered away. "Everything she's been through, everything she's sacrificed, gods, even the fate she was ready to accept. All because she was sure of the mission she had to accomplish in this world. I cannot comprehend the amount of willpower that must have taken."
"Willpower or mere stubbornness," Thalia grumbled, raising her hands in surrender when Annabeth turned to glare at her. "What? Yes, Zoë Nightshade was a heroine and the world will be a darker place without her but I won't say the woman was perfect just because I'm sad."
"So you will talk poorly about her?" Annabeth demanded, her gray eyes stormy as they ran over Thalia's features. "You will favour an ancient grudge over the fact that she sacrificed her life for us?"
Thalia rolled her eyes as she lay back on the sand. "She only wanted to save Artemis. She cared about nothing else and you know it."
"You can't believe that," Annabeth scoffed. "You know what she fought for. You've heard the stories, just like I have. Regardless of her denying romantic love, she still loved her sisters and all women. She did everything to save -no, that isn't what she did. What she did was help us gain enough resources so we women could save ourselves! How can you say anything negative about her!"
It seemed as if Annabeth's accusation snapped something inside of Thalia. The daughter of Zeus jolted upright, turning towards Annabeth with her arms crossed tightly across her chest. Above them, the stars were obscured by the upcoming storm.
"I can because I knew her, Annabeth! I didn't spend an eternity with her, like Phoebe or the others did, but I was the one who witnessed as she accepted her own death." Thalia declared, her voice hard with anger and something else, something Annabeth was struggling to recognize. The daughter of Athena was almost sure it was guilt but she couldn't comprehend why Zoë's death would bring such a feeling upon her friend. "Zoë talked mostly to Percy on our journey to save you and Artemis but Kelp Head has always been too blind to recognize what's in front of him. I, on the other hand, could see. I saw as Zoë understood the implications of her own quest, I saw as she accepted her own death, I saw how she readied herself to face her own father. I stood there, and I saw, and I did nothing!"
"What could you have done?" Annabeth asked, her own anger having dissipated as she heard the brokenness in Thalia's voice. "'And One Shall Perish By A Parent's Hand.' Now we know it was talking about Zoë. It was in the prophecy. The fates decided for Zoë. What could you have possibly done against the Fates' will?"
"Because I care about the Fates?" Thalia asked, her hands moving wildly as she walked before Annabeth, stalking for a few paces in a direction before abruptly turning towards the opposite. "Zoë Nightshade, I didn't like her for most of the time I knew her. But she was a legend. She lived her life for others, never for herself. Not because she was a martyr or because she wanted the appreciation of those she helped, but because she found her calling. She wanted to help the women in need, she wanted for women to never feel what she had to feel when her own family betrayed her. Can you imagine any god, hell, can you imagine my father doing that? Caring enough about mortals? Actually doing something to help them?"
Above them, lightning struck across the sky, letting the demigods know the King of the Gods was listening.
"Thalia, not I don't agree but-," Annabeth began, her eyes scouring the sky with apprehension.
Thalia merely shook her head, still walking in agitation. "I will not be silenced again. I was turned into a damn tree because of the gods, I was asleep for years, because of the gods! My father was not here while my mother continued to screw with my life as she please, he was not here while I was killed, he was not here while our Luke grew tired of the indifference of our gods and yet, he has the nerve to eavesdrop as I speak of a woman, a huntress, who had twice the balls he does! I dare him to strike me with lightning, I dare him to kill me! Let's see what the Fates have to say about it!"
"Thalia," Annabeth cut her off, standing up as quickly as she could when it became clear her friend was not about to calm down. She intersected Thalia as she turned towards her and grabbed her arms tightly. "Thals, I know that Luke's betrayal is-."
"It will wound our hearts forever," Thalia retaliated, her eyes wide with outrage as they settled on Annabeth. Again, it was as if they were back to when they met, when Annabeth was a little girl and Thalia was an angry teenager, both of them aching for a family. "But can you blame him? Can you blame him for leaving?"
Annabeth gulped, the pain of Luke's actions breaking her heart yet again. She couldn't help but wonder whether her little family would recover from this. If herself and Thalia, her sister in every way that counted, would ever heal from his departure.
"He's another example of how the Gods and the Fates have no remorse in interfering with our lives," Thalia continued bitterly as she stepped away from Annabeth's hold. Clad in her black leather jacket and her combat boots, she looked every bit like the revolutionist avenger that she was. "And Zoë...gods, to be forced to face her own trauma, to have her life twisted in such a cruel way, all because the Gods cannot live on without making enemies along way...it's so twisted, it's so fucking unfair. She deserved better, and so did Luke, and so did everyone who ever lived and died for the Gods."
"I thought you didn't agree with her work," Annabeth commented with hesitation, her eyes flickering upwards as she felt silver light falling on them again. With surprise, she realized the storm had passed, and that the stars were back.
Maybe Zeus felt sorry for Zoë's death. Maybe Artemis had convinced him to let Thalia's offense pass. Maybe Hera was planning on making her revenge on the two demigods later on.
Out of spite, Annabeth felt inclined to assume it was the third one.
"I didn't," Thalia replied. "Until I understood. She once told me that our quest was bigger than any of us. That our needs didn't matter when in comparison to the mission we had to fulfil. I didn't understand why she said that. Now I do."
"I remember you saying Zoë had a grudge against men and that her hate was not valid," Annabeth recalled, her eyes glazed over as she remembered the time during her childhood when they encountered the Hunters.
"I said that. Because I didn't understand how she was so devoted to a god, even if it was Artemis." Thalia rubbed her temples tensely before placing her hands on her hips. "Now I understand it wasn't devotion for a goddess. It was devotion for a cause. She made her life all about the progress she could enable in the world. In an ever changing world, she became a constant through taking in new sisters and making sure that those who didn't want to join the Hunt would have a brighter future. When she said our quest was bigger than any of us, she meant our journey to save you and Artemis, but she also meant the quest she had prioritized for thousands of years. She knew her time had come and she was okay with it, because she knew her sisters would carry the work she began on."
At that, Annabeth couldn't help but smile.
"You are joining the Hunt, aren't you?" she asked, snorting when Thalia raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Give me some credit, Thals. You might have been a tree for a long time but I think I still know my sister's mind."
"Always so full of yourself," Thalia smirked, even though her eyes betrayed how nervous she truly was.
"Of course," Annabeth rolled her eyes drily before smiling proudly. "If it helps, I'm happy for you. As careless as you are, I know you thought this through."
"I don't know if I did," Thalia admitted with a small chuckle. "But I need to make sure Zoë's legacy is carried. I need to be part of that change and I cannot do that if I stay here at the mercy of the Gods. Annie, I...I don't want to leave you but I find pride and accomplishment in doing this. I can't feel it if I stay here, wondering whether I'll be part of yet another prophecy. Does that make sense? I don't even understand myself."
"I do," Annabeth nodded. "Thals, you're my sister. No matter where we might be, we're family. And I get what you say about feeling proud of what we do because I thought about joining the Hunt too."
"Why don't you?" Thalia insisted, her gaze brightening with hope. "Annie it would be so fun! Can you imagine, watching Kelp Head grow old while we stay young and awesome?"
Annabeth tried to laugh along but the idea of being away from Percy's life wounded her more than she would care to admit. Of course, she had no interest in analyzing the nature of those feelings so insisted, she punched Thalia in the arm. "It won't be fun if you continue to call me Annie."
"Dude, that hurt!"
"You will heal," Annabeth deadpanned before sobering up. "But to answer your question, I...I've been thinking about Zoë's legacy. She even asked me to join in, when I saw her right before I was kidnapped, so I've been thinking about what she saw in me. Was it skill? Or did she truly see the Hunt as my calling? But Thals, I need to know what she stood for, what she fought for her entire life, I need to know that there are people outside of the Hunt who are fighting for the same thing. I need to know that you don't need to be immortal or even a demigod to want to change the world for the better."
Thalia nodded in understanding. "And if you can't find her legacy in the world you know?"
"Then I will carry it on myself," Annabeth replied with a decision before smiling. "Whatever the case, even if we don't see each other as often, we will still be sisters under the same cause."
And as the sisters hugged, the constellation of The Huntress shone even brighter, as if encouraging the young women to carry on a legacy, yet making it their own.