In the Original draft I wasn't going to revive Thalia at all but I have some interesting ideas now you will like.
Aaron slept fitfully that night, his mind consumed with horrible images. Screams, a force hammering against a vast emptiness, sobs like thunder raging in his mind. It was not the magic of a god, but something different, echoing in his heart. He himself was paralyzed, screaming in agony as the force bombared his very soul. The source was unreadable, unmasterable. He had no control over dreams yet but he has enough sensitivty to at least sense that someone was touching him spiritually and that they were close and had a human soul.
He just couldn't do a damn thing about it.
There was a banging on his door, loud and strong enough to shatter his dream restricted body and wake him up. Bryce bombared into his room, waking him and Meggy both. " You need to come, to see this!" The look of utter terror in his eyes conveyed a lot to Aaron, Bryce was not one to be scared like this. Aaron threw on clothes quickly, as did Meggy and together they raced outside alongside each other.
Dawn was just breaking, but the whole camp seemed to be stirring. Word was spreading. Something huge had happened. A few campers were already making their way toward the hill, satyrs and nymphs and heroes in a weird mix of armor and pajamas.
Aaron heard the clop of horse hooves, and Chiron galloped up behind us, looking grim. To Aaron's left was Percy and Grover, both looking terrified and worried.
"Is it true?" Chiron asked Grover. Grover could only nod, his expression dazed. Chiron, without effort, grabbed Aaron and Percy both and tossed them on his back. "Aaron we may need your skills, my friend." Together they thundered up Half-Blood Hill, where a small crowd had started to gather. "Curse the titan lord," Chiron said. "He's tricked us again, given himself another chance to control the prophecy."
"What do you mean?" Percy asked but Aaron couldn't as he suddenly was wracked in agony, burning in his chest. He started to fall off of Chiron but Percy kept him aboard. "I... something's wrong, my head... someone's inside it, the talisman isn't..." Aaron froze and everything became clear as his mind caught up with Chrion's words. "The Tree... she's out, and her body is calling her spirit."
"The Fleece," Chiron nodded as he said. "The Fleece did its work too well and I believe your right." They galloped forward, everyone moving out of their way. There at the base of the tree, a girl was lying unconscious, her aura immense and powerful and filled to the brim with cockiness and pride. Another girl in Greek armor was kneeling next to her. The tree itself looked perfectly fine, whole and healthy, suffused with the essence of the Golden Fleece. "It healed the tree," Chiron said, his voice ragged. "And poison was not the only thing it purged."
When Annabeth saw them, she ran to Chiron. "It… she … just suddenly there …" Her eyes were streaming with tears, Percy eaped off Chiron's back and ran toward the unconscious girl. Chiron said: "Percy, wait!"
Percy knelt by her side. She had short black hair and freckles across her nose. She was built like a long-distance runner, lithe and strong, and she wore clothes that were somewhere between punk and Goth-a black T-shirt, black tattered jeans, and a leather jacket with buttons from a bunch of bands Aaron knew mildly well. She had good taste.
"It's true," Grover said, panting from his run up the hill. "I can't believe …"
Nobody else came close to the girl.
"She needs nectar and ambrosia," Percy said. She was clearly a half-blood, whether she was a camper or not. Percy took her by the shoulders and lifted her into sitting position, resting her head on his shoulder. " Come on!" I yelled to the others. "What's wrong with you people? Let's get her to the Big House. Aaron do something."
No one moved, not even Chiron. They were all too stunned.
Aaron coughed and stumbled towards the girl, shaking and weak as her powerful soul fought against the magic imprisoning it. "I have too..." Aaron took off the Talisman and put it over the girl's neck. "Ei liberate!"
Mist and smoke gathered around the Talisman as Thalia's soul lifted from it and slowly it was restored into her body... but in that moment, Aaron felt a powerful connection, literally soul deep, burn between them. The kind of magic even the gods had no power over. It made him stumble back, and he felt the magic of the dew around him fill him with power, the lingering essence of rain and storm in the air empowering him if only slightly.
Thalia started to cough then, her eyes opening to show the most beautiful blue. "Aaron how..."
" I told you I would help you meet Annabeth... well here she is." He gestured to Annabeth. "I kept my promise, my friend."
She started to cry a little. " Yes, you did... thanks." Then she passed out once more but she wasn't alone, Aaron felt a wave of exhaustion wash over him and before he knew it, he too passed out too... Only to wake up at a Pit, clearly in the Underworld, with Thalia next to him. " Where are we?" She asked, shaking a little but radiating more bravery then Aaron had ever sensed.
"Can't you sense it... we are near Tartarus, and your Grandather has summoned us... which shouldn't be possible since I have become immune to such magic recently...except, I think our souls have become bonded, somehow, so your soul dragged me here when he tried to get your attention."
She looked at him in shock, her beautiful eyes fixed on him. "Our souls bonded?"
"The magic I used to place you back into your body was powerful, it used only a sliver to release you as you still have the Fleece's magic in you allowing you to call back your soul... but if I am right, your soul was stained with my magic from being in the Talisman and being manipulated with it. It marked you and thus bound us. I have a pretty good understanding of magic but soul magic is a bit out of my reach, so I am just guessing."
A loud cackle made them both jump and turn back to the pit where Kronos was rising from. "Oh precisely, your understanding of magic is exquisite, you rival Alabaster already in terms of sheer understanding and surpass him in your own way. To think you are not even an legacy of Pandora, but a pure mortal not tied to any divine or mystical being... fascinating... " Aaron felt more then heard his attention turn to Thalia. "Granddaughter, I have a propostion for you... Join me, and return to your Beloved Luke once more. Take revenge on the Petty gods who literally killed you and cursed you into a tree for almost a decade. Who stole so much of your life to satisfy their own pettiness and stupidity."
Thalia shivered for a moment before stepping back. "I will not abandon Annabeth."
"Good, and that is the last of your shit Kronos. I will not serve you and neither will she." Aaron grabbed the girl's arm and channeled his magic. "Leave us be and go back to sleep like a good boy."
Drawing on the power of his soul, Aaron reached forward and severed the connection holding them in place, sending them flying back to their bodies and back into the darkness of dreams.
"""
Chiron waved his hands over the two unconcious powerhouses, demigod and mortal both, and frowned. "Their spirits have been summoned... and they are bound together. I sense a bond, not unlike an empathy bond between the two of them."
Grover, who had helped carry them, nodded. "I can smell it. It is stronger then an Empathy bond, it is soul deep."
"How is that possible though?" Annabeth, refusing to be seperated from Thalia, asked. "I don't know alot about magic but I know Empathy bonds take a tremendous focus and have to be intentional."
Will coughed. "Aaron's magic is strong Annabeth, he doesn't have a lot of it and it regenerates slowly but the contents of his power is great and it comes from the Soul and the Earth. I think that by containing her soul in his Talisman, which is soul magic, and then putting her back while she was filled with the Fleece's magic, her soul absorbed some of his magic. The bond could be temporary or permanant but it is there and I know it wasn't intentional. Aaron just made a talisman to keep his mind free of other influences, there is no way he would risk binding his mind to anyone, even Meggy and he loves her more then all of us combined."
"Whatever the reason, we have to be careful with them. The bond could be a number of things and it endangers them both... " Chiron would have said more but Silena, tear streaked and shaking walked into the room. "My dear, Aaron will be alright." He knew of their deep bond and figured that was it...however the look in her eyes stopped him from assuming anything.
"No... its... more then that. I have something to confess." She looked up fully and stood straight. "I am the traitor... I am the one that has been giving Luke the information he needs to sabataoge camp."
Her words, like a bomb startled everyone and knocked them back... Meggy, who had been silently sobbing to the side, moved forward though and lifted Silena by her throat. " I should gut you like a fish. You are the reason Aaron had to kill, why he nearly died saving B... our first Demigods." She squeezed tightly, making Silena gasp in agony.
"Stop." Aaron's voice cracked out, making them all jump once more. The Mortal boy sat up, eyes bloodshot and face pale. "Put her down and let her explain... first though... why tell us now?"
Meggy did as he asked and dropped the girl, who scrambled over to Aaron to hug him tightly. "You were... I thought you died. I couldn't live myself, knowing I had any part in this..." She sighed and pulled away. "It started... well kind of cause he was nice and cute but also because he said I would reduce the damage. Less people would die... but I realized your way was better. Helping the Minor gods, helping Meggy, getting my siblings and I to train harder... you were helping directly. You made real changes and helped the Camp and Campers and those the deserved it. You cared and didn't just wallow in agony and chose the worst option to make war. You saved demigods on your own, you gained your own honor and power...
I knew that your way was better so I chose a different path. I haven't spied for months, claiming that I wasn't able to get any information..." She handed Aaron something, a talisman shaped like a scythe. "Take it and destroy it. It is what he used that let me get away with this for so long. " She stood then, taller then tall, head straight and proud. " I will take any punishment you have to offer me."
Chrion sighed. "There are a few punishments we can give... but this must be reported to Olympus child... we cannot allow this to pass so... easily."
"That is what I expected. I am willing to go to trial if that is what it comes to."
Aaron sighed loudly. "May the gods have Mercy on you... I truly hope they do. Your intentions were pure and I cannot fault you for wanting to help people. The gods have not made anything easy for you lot."
Chiron waved a hand and Chains appeared, wrapping around Silena's wrists. "Take her to the Basement... make sure she is well cared for but remember she is a prisoner." Annabeth of all people led her out to the basement.
Thalia all but screamed as she suddenly woke, making everyone jump once more, shaking and turning to Aaron. " Can you not think so loudly, I felt everything... and saw it. That girl, did she really betray us."
"Yes... but she is making ammends and we have to respect that... but say a word to no one. " Aaron said. "We do not want unrest, not now... things are too vunerable. "
Chiron nodded. "You are right, naturally." He looked around and got a nod from everyone. "It is getting late, return to your normal activities. Will stay and help me monitor them. Grover, you will do the same as you understand this magic we are dealing with the best." They all left, leaving the more magically inclined people behind. "Aaron, do you know about the Connection between you and Thalia?"
"I felt it form and it was enough to drag me alongside Thalia to your Father's place in Tartarus."
Chiron gasped. "That's... it sidestepped your enchantment? That is a seriously powerful bond... we must study this for your own safety. I hope you are both prepared."
Thalia frowned. "Your Chiron? Like the Chiron?"
"Why yes My dear, I am sorry for not introducing myself before."
She nodded. "That's fine... I would say it is nice to meet you but under the cirucmstances... well..."
"I understand."
Chapter end, tell me what you think in the reviews.
This was a lot of fun to write...
Love, your Ninja Overlord,
Mika.