Meant to get this out last night. Whoops.

Ryan: No, Thalia won't be joining Luke.

ThatCat413: Sorry, but Percy and Thalia aren't going to be friends. Daughter of Zeus and champion of Hades? That's a recipe for disaster before you even account for their personal histories with the respective gods involved.

SpartanBoi: I have too much free time and I'm very good at procrastinating. Writing is second nature, at this point, even if it isn't always perfect because I don't edit before posting (like an idiot).

BookOwl19: You are an absolute genius.

AvydReedr: This story will mostly follow canon plot because it's setting up some stuff afterwards (and I need an excuse to throw Percy into Tartarus other than 'He wanted to').

I do NOT own Percy Jackson or its universe. Those rights belong to Rick Riordan and his publisher.

ENJOY!

It took a few days for Thalia to recover enough that she could leave the sick room. Annabeth hadn't left her side for her anything, not even her lessons, and she had taken all of her meals in the room with Thalia.

Percy knew that Annabeth was updating the daughter of Zeus on everything that had happened over the last six years since she had become a pine tree, which he didn't think was something she should do while Thalia was confined to a bed and unable do anything about her frustration, but he knew Annabeth was too stubborn to do anything that would take time away from visiting her sister-figure.

All of Camp Half-Blood was buzzing with Thalia's "resurrection". Percy couldn't go anywhere without hearing about the daughter of Zeus.

It was frustrating.

Percy spent most of his time in the combat arena with Reyna and Hylla, pushing them as hard as he could for hours on end. Being daughters of a war deity, they quickly improved. They were still far from matching Percy's level, but he was willing to bet that they could take him on fair ground by Christmas.

On the fourth day after Thalia's escape from the pine tree, she was finally declared healthy enough to get out of bed and walk around. Annabeth volunteered to give her a tour of camp.

Percy ran into them by the cabins.

"Hey, Percy," Annabeth said brightly. It seemed as if she hadn't stopped smiling since Thalia was returned. "Thalia, this is Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon."

Percy barely withheld a flinch, forcing a fake smile on his face.

"I've heard a lot about you," he told Thalia, shaking her hand.

The daughter of Zeus nodded stiffly.

"Well," Percy said awkwardly. "I was about to take Blackjack out for a ride, so I'll just…" He gestured helplessly over his shoulder.

"Blackjack?" Thalia questioned. "You have a horse?"

"Pegasus, actually."

Thalia's face paled. Percy saw a flash of fear in her eyes –– it had taken less a second, but he was positive it was there. He didn't know what would have caused that reaction and assumed it was bad experience with pegasi.

"See you later," Percy said.

Annabeth looked a little disappointed. Percy knew that she wanted him to get along with Thalia, but things were just a little too awkward, given his history with her father and her history with trusting the wrong people. Annabeth was really the only person Thalia had anymore, with Luke's betrayal, so Percy wasn't surprised she was so distant.

It made things easier, in Percy's opinion. He wasn't sure whether he wanted to befriend Zeus' daughter or not.

They next couple weeks were strange. Thalia slowly started to adjust to life six years later when she remembered it, although it was obvious she was struggling with the fact that little Annabeth was almost as old as her.

That was another problem –– no one knew how old Thalia was.

Technically speaking, she should have been about eighteen years old, but she didn't look like it. She looked closer to sixteen, perhaps a little younger, which meant that she was the most likely subject for the Great Prophecy instead of Percy, who had essentially been forgotten by Camp Half-Blood in that time.

It was nice, if Percy was honest with himself. He enjoyed being able to walk around without feeling like he was in a spotlight, sparring with Reyna and Hylla in peace, occasionally joined by Clarisse (who seemed to have accepted that Percy wasn't all that bad since their quest), and taking a daily flight on Blackjack without everyone gawking at the uniquely-colored pegasus.

Those flights were always more enjoyable when Reyna joined him, flying on her own pegasus, Skippy.

Percy ducked under the blade Reyna swung at his head and bat aside Hylla's spear before it could trip him. He rolled forward and spun around. His heel met one of the girls' jaws, but he didn't know which. Whoever it was fell backwards with a surprised grunt as the other lunged.

Reyna's sword nearly caught Percy's side, but he twisted ever so slightly to avoid the thrust. Percy grabbed her wrist and pulled Reyna towards him, throwing his elbow into her stomach. She dropped her sword and clutched her stomach with a sharp gasp.

Percy took advantage of her disorientation to knock her to the ground and put her out of the fight.

Hylla charged him with her spear. She twirled it like a staff in an attempt to swipe his legs out from beneath him, but Percy hopped over it and launched onto the offensive, raining strikes with Anaklusmos down upon his remaining opponent.

It was all Hylla could do to defend herself from Percy's merciless attacks, her spear a blur in her grasp as it deflected and blocked his blows.

She had improved a lot over the month since Percy had started training the two sisters aboard the Queen Anne's Revenge.

That didn't mean she was on his level yet, though.

Percy spotted an opening and thrust his sword. Hylla was forced to use her spear to bat aside the blade, but Percy used the momentum to spin around behind the daughter of Bellona and slam the pommel of his sword into the small of her back.

Hylla stumbled from the force. Percy gripped the butt of her spear and pulled in the opposite direction, spinning Hylla around, before knocking her to the ground and leveling Riptide at her chest.

"You did better that time," he praised, helping her up. "You lasted ten minutes."

Hylla scowled slightly. "I hope that doesn't continue. It's embarrassing losing to someone half a decade younger than me."

Reyna snorted, still holding her stomach.

"Did you really have to hit so hard, Percy?" she asked. "I won't be surprised if that leaves a bruise."

With a demigod's level of endurance, that was saying something.

"Up for another round?" asked a new voice.

Thalia was approaching them, but she wasn't holding a weapon. She was dressed in the same tattered black jeans and leather jacket she had been wearing when she came out of the tree, which confused Percy. It was late July, but she was in all black clothing made for colder weather.

By comparison, Percy was shirtless with only a pair of shorts, his muscled body covered in sweat from sparring. His hair was matted to his forehead, which made Percy glad he had gotten it cut so it didn't hang in his eyes.

"Sure." Percy shrugged. "If you think you can do it."

He wasn't sure how well she had recovered, even though it had been about three weeks. He had never seen her fight before, so he was curious to see what the daughter of Zeus was capable of.

"I spent two years on the streets," Thalia said, taking off her jacket so her movement would be less restricted, "I'll be fine in a little spar."

So she has her father's ego, Percy thought.

"If you say so," was all he said. He gestured to the weapons rack. "Take your pick. I'll just use this." He raised Riptide slightly.

Thalia took a mace canister out of her pocket. Percy was confused until it grew to a six-foot spear made of Celestial bronze. She smacked the silver bracelet on her wrist and said, "Aegis!"

Percy was taken aback when a bronze shield expanded from the bracelet with the visage of Medusa molded into it.

He didn't flinch away from it like Reyna and Hylla did, though. He had seen the real thing before, and a replica didn't compare, no matter the magic Percy could sense coming from it.

At least now Percy knew where Luke had gotten the idea that it was acceptable to fight an opponent without a shield when he had one. Thalia had probably used it against him while they were on the streets and proved herself superior because of it.

Percy raised Riptide and prepared to fight.

This was going to be interesting.

Sitting in the stands, Reyna watched the two powerful demigods circle each other, watching their opponent like two wolves about to pounce.

Except only one of them could actually fight like a wolf.

"You're staring," Hylla said from beside her, sounding amused.

"This will be an entertaining fight," Reyna replied. They both knew that wasn't why she was staring, but Reyna really didn't want her sister to push it.

She should have known that hope was all for naught.

"You like him."

It wasn't a question.

"He's powerful and talented," Reyna said. "What's there not to like?"

"I didn't mean that and you know it, Reyna."

Reyna watched Percy ram his shoulder against Thalia's shield, sending the daughter of Zeus backwards, and attempted to think of a plausible lie that would get her older sister off her back.

She couldn't come up with any.

Reyna sighed. "Yes, I like Percy. Happy?"

"Yes, actually." Hylla smiled. "From what I've seen of Perseus Jackson over the last few weeks, he is an honorable warrior who is incredibly loyal to those who earn it. If he wrongs you, it won't be intentional."

"But he's oblivious to everything outside training."

Hylla laughed. "True, very true, but he's a boy, they all are at that age."

Reyna lifted an eyebrow, taking her eyes of Percy's shirtless, sweaty body to look at her sister. "And what experience do you have with boys?"

"You forget, dear Reyna, but I was sixteen when we left home. I was out of the house enough to see how the boys in the neighborhood acted, even if they were all unworthy of attention."

Reyna's mood soured when Hylla brought up San Juan. She had hoped to leave the past in the past, but her sister kept mentioning it, probably in an attempt to get her to talk about what she had done to their father. Reyna really wished that Hylla would drop it and let her be, but that was too much to ask for.

"At least tell Percy," Hylla whispered, leaning in close so they wouldn't be overheard even though they were the only two people in the arena, aside from the two combatants. "He's already told us that the Lord of the Dead has made him kill before –– If anyone can understand, it's him."

Reyna looked back at Percy in time to see him make Thalia stumble by whapping her legs with the flat of his blade.

The daughter of Zeus was easily the most talented fighter Reyna had ever seen Percy go up against, but she wasn't anywhere near his level, and it was obvious. Thalia was rapidly growing more frustrated, and electricity was starting to bounce around her body like a miniature storm.

If Reyna didn't already know that Percy had some minor resistance to lightning as the son of the Stormbringer, she might have been nervous.

As it was, she just wanted Percy to end it so she could have another turn.

It appeared Fortuna was on her side –– Percy pushed Thalia's shield against her, and being physically stronger, the edge of the shield hit her in the forehead and made her stumble. He ripped the spear from Thalia's grasp and sent her falling backward to the ground in one fluid movement.

Thalia glowered at him from her place in the dirt.

"Good fight," Percy said, tossing the spear back to her. "Maybe we can do this again some other time."

"Yeah," Thalia grumbled, getting to her feet. "Maybe."

The daughter of Zeus stalked over to where her jacket was and put it over her arm, which was now bare of her shield, and stormed out of the arena –– almost literally, given the sparks flying between her fingers.

"She may hate her father," Percy said, approaching Reyna and Hylla, "but it's obvious which of her parents she inherited her temperament from." Percy paused, frowning like a confused baby seal (in Reyna's opinion). "Or she claims to hate her father, at least."

"You don't think she really does?" Hylla asked.

Percy shook his head. "I think she just wants his attention. If she really hated him, she would be less defensive about the subject. I overheard Annabeth talking to her about it."

Reyna resisted the urge to grit her teeth.

Annabeth.

The girl who appeared to be Percy's best friend, even if Percy had steadily grown more and more distant from the daughter of Athena over the last few weeks because of Thalia.

Reyna was pulled from her thoughts when Percy reached for the towel that rested beside her on the bench. He got close enough for her to smell the salty sea breeze that seemed to emanate from him. She didn't understand how it was at all possible for a sweaty demigod to not smell disgusting, but Percy managed it.

Hylla was smirking. Reyna glared at her. The elder sister twisted a hand next to her lips and threw away the invisible key, but her dark eyes were still shining with hidden laughter.

"Ready for another go?" Percy asked.

Reyna didn't see how he was still energetic enough to keep fighting after sparring both of them and Thalia, but he hadn't explained the training Pluto had put him through in too much detail. Reyna just knew it was far more taxing than any sessions Camp Half-Blood put their heroes through.

She picked up her sword and headed down to the dirt. She was determined to last longer than ten minutes this time.

The last two weeks of the summer passed fairly similarly to the time that followed Clarisse's quest into the Sea of Monsters. Thalia grew more and more comfortable with life in the present, and even started taking a bit of a leadership role around Camp Half-Blood, which pushed Percy even further into the shadows.

He was a little conflicted about that, but chose to ignore it.

Thalia challenged him to several more spars over those last couple weeks, and each occasion ended with her defeat and increasingly violent temper.

Eventually, though, the last day of summer arrived, and Percy couldn't wait to get back to the routine of last winter. He was looking forward to not having to sneak out on weekend mornings to keep up with his weight training so he didn't get out of the habit. Since Reyna's decision to join him had only been strengthened over the last few weeks, he was excited to having a partner.

Someone he could relate to.

Reyna had approached him a few days earlier and asked if they could talk, looking more serious and nervous than Percy had ever seen her.

"What's up?" he asked her when they were alone.

"You've…" Reyna hesitated. "You've, um, killed before… right? That's what you told me and Hylla a few weeks ago."

"It's not something I'm proud of, but yeah, I have."

Percy's nonchalance about it seemed to surprise her. He had long since gotten over his guilt over taking another person's life, thanks to Hestia's help. She was a better therapist than any mortal could possibly hope to be. That wasn't to say that Percy enjoyed killing, but he knew that he was saving countless lives with his actions, and if he had to fracture his own soul to spare another's, an innocent's, he would make that decision every single time.

"I have, too."

Reyna's voice was so quiet Percy almost didn't hear her words. His curiosity was hooked, but he knew by now that Reyna was the kind of person to shut down and refuse to speak if she was pushed, so he sat back and said nothing.

"I never knew him in his better days. Hylla told me that he used to be gentle when she was really young, before I was born. A good soldier, fearless, disciplined, but he was also handsome and very charming. Our mother blessed him, something she'd done for a lot of our ancestors.

"It wasn't enough for him, though. He wanted her to be his wife."

Percy could already see where this was going, but he stayed silent.

"He was devoted to Bellona, my father," she continued. "Hylla said something that's stuck with me: 'It's one thing to respect the power of war. It's another thing to fall in love with it.'

"We don't know how, but our father managed to win Bellona's heart. The problem was, he may have left the war, but it didn't leave him. It was mostly post-traumatic stress, but he couldn't stop thinking about war. Over the years, as I grew up, he… he changed."

Reyna gazed into a distance Percy could see, her eyes glazed over. He held her hand, just as she had done for him on the Queen Anne's Revenge when he had told her about Zeus killing his mother.

"He saw enemies everywhere, collected weapons. Our home was turned into a fortress. Hylla and I were locked in our rooms at night, and if we snuck out then he would yell at us, throw furniture, and… well, it was terrifying. There were some times where he thought we were the enemies, became convinced that we were spying on him, trying to undermine him.

"That was when the ghosts started appearing," she said quietly, her voice shaking slightly with fear. "I think they'd always been there, just hidden, but my father's agitation let them start to appear. They whispered to him, fed his suspicions, and then one day…" She swallowed thickly. "One day he just became one of the ghosts."

An icy fist clenched Percy's stomach. "A mania."

"I don't know. But whatever he was became impossible to live with. Hylla and I escaped as often as we could, but we always came back and had to face his rage, we didn't know what else to do. The last time we returned, he… he was so angry. He was literally glowing, he couldn't touch anything anymore, not physically, but he could move them. He tore up the floor tiles, ripped open the sofa.

"He threw a chair and it hit Hylla. She collapsed. She was only unconscious, but I thought she was dead." Reyna's eyes had tears in them. Percy squeezed her hand gently, reminding her that she wasn't alone. "Hylla spent so many years protecting me… I lost it. I grabbed the closest weapon –– a family heirloom, the sabre of the pirate Confresi.

"I didn't know it was Imperial gold," she said, almost as if she was pleading with him to understand. "I ran at my father's spirit and…" Her voice broke.

Percy hugged her, glad they were covered by the trees so no one would see her like this, struggling in a moment of vulnerability.

"That thing wasn't your father, Reyna," Percy told her softly. "You didn't kill him, you dispelled a ghost. You didn't do anything wrong."

Percy thought a lot about that story over the next few days. He had made himself a promise: He wouldn't let Reyna deal with anything like that alone ever again. Not if he could help it. She was incredibly strong, but that didn't mean she had to do anything without help.

"Where are you going?" Chiron asked. "Aren't you going to stay here?"

Percy and Hylla were saddling the two pegasi for a long trip. Reyna stood nearby, keeping an eye on their things in case a child of Hermes got any funny ideas and decided to try their luck.

"No, we're not," Percy told the centaur. "Sorry, Chiron, but this isn't a place for us to stick around too long."

"But it's safe."

"It isn't home," Percy said quietly. "I don't feel comfortable here, neither do Hylla and Reyna. We just need to find somewhere else. It's too… restrictive here. None of us have ever been good at following rules." A blatant lie. Reyna and Hylla literally had it in their blood to follow orders. But they were Romans, and sticking around Greek territory was making them nervous. "I promise we'll be safe."

Chiron sighed. "I trust you will, Percy, more than I did last year, now that I have seen what you are capable of, but that does not stop me from worrying."

About a potential child of prophecy, you mean, Percy thought bitterly. He knew that Chiron cared about him as a student, but most of his concern came from the danger that Percy posed to Olympus. The more powerful Percy got, the more dangerous he was, and the bigger threat he became.

And Percy didn't exactly have any reasons to care about Olympus.

"We'll see you next summer," Percy promised, intentionally keeping it vague about who exactly 'we' involved.

"I certainly hope so," Chiron murmured, turning around and walking away.

Hylla snorted once he was gone. "Well isn't he a cheerful one."

"Can you blame him?" Percy asked.

None of them could. It was a difficult time to be a trainer of heroes, with war on the horizon that Zeus was still denying the possibility of.

The Sky God was the most incompetent king in history, in Percy's opinion.

A few minutes later, Percy was mounted on Blackjack and the daughters of Bellona were atop Skippy. They took off into the skies together, having already said their goodbyes to the few campers who cared –– and all but Annabeth and Clarisse were unclaimed children of "minor" deities.

It didn't take long for the two pegasi to gain proper altitude and start the journey west. The plan was to go until they were far enough away from Olympus to not be noticed, then one Fury would take Hylla to the Amazons in Seattle while a second one took Percy and Reyna to the Underworld.

They didn't stop until they were roughly halfway through Pennsylvania about an hour later. The pegasi landed in a clearing hidden from prying eyes.

Percy distracted himself with unloading their stuff while the two sisters said their goodbyes. Hylla gave Percy a hug when she was done with Reyna.

"Keep an eye on her for me," she whispered in his ear.

"I will," Percy promised.

Shadows thickened between the trees and dispersed to reveal two Furies.

"Tisiphone, Megaera," Percy greeted. "I take it your sister is still angry?"

"You killed her twice."

"And both of you once."

"But that's not twice."

"And her name is quite literally 'Anger'."

"Okay, you've made your point," Percy said, grinning. Hylla and Reyna looked utterly bewildered by the conversation taking place. Percy decided to move things along so he could get home. "Ready to go?" he asked Hylla.

"Yeah, I'm ready." Hylla picked up her bags and walked over to Tisiphone, who would be taking her across the country. "Bye, Reyna, Percy."

"Bye, Hylla," Reyna said quietly.

Hylla smiled sadly as she and the Fury shadow travelled away.

"Guess it's our turn now," Percy said with false cheer.

A quick, frozen trip through the shadows later, Percy and Reyna stood before the gates to Hades' palace in the Underworld, staring up at the magnificent obsidian and bronze structure.

Percy smirked at Reyna's awestruck expression. "Amazing, isn't it?"

Reyna nodded numbly.

"It's even better inside. Come on."

He led her up through Persephone's garden and to the large front doors to the palace. He put his hands on them then grinned at Reyna.

"Welcome to the Underworld."

He opened the doors and they walked inside.

It was time to get back to work.

So there's that. Next chapter (I hope) will be out tomorrow, but no promises. This is the point where Percy starts separating further from Olympus than he already has, so I hope it meets expectations. He won't be evil (far from it), but the things he's willing to do for victory will get worse time goes on.

A lot of you want the son of Hecate story, so I'll be plotting that out! If anyone wants to contribute to the story, join my Discord server! Link is on my profile.

THANKS FOR READING!