AN: Something will definitely be different from canon in this chapter and even though it was very minor in the books, it will play a part and will reappear in one or two later chapters down the road. 1 of 2 updates for this month.
Unknown
Thalia let out a cry of frustration as she launched another lightning bolt into an endless direction, the bolt crackled until it simply got too far for her to hear and she dropped on her knees as she felt the bolt fizzle out completely.
She could hear the voices of her father, and Zoë talking to her in the beginning and later, her brother, but matter how many times she called out to them, they never heard her. Remembering how she ended up like this made her angry and no matter how many times she wanted to lash out, she knew that nothing could be done until whatever put her here let her out.
"Little demigod." an old and decrepit voice rang from all around her. "Have you had enough yet, demigod?" the voice from seemingly all around her asked and she whipped her head around her, looking for the source.
A chill ran down her spine as she found a pair of sharp golden eyes staring right at her. Lightning covered and crackled around her body as a precautionary and defensive measure, standing her ground.
"Oh hey, it's gramps" she muttered to herself.
"I have greatly enjoyed your pain and to know that this is who stands against me brings me great joy." Kronos said with a wild cackle near the end.
She fidgeted in her spot as she felt a shiver run through her but held her ground and glared back. "I'm really not scared of you." she replied indifferently despite the piercing golden-eyed gaze that sent chills running down her spine.
Kronos made a ticking sound with his tongue, "Time is ticking away from you and the decision to make the right choice is closing fast." he warned.
"Oh, I already made my choice a long time ago. You're just too slow to know it." Thalia explained smugly.
An invisible force pushed her down and the golden eyes hovered directly over her, followed by a thin trail of smoke. "Arrogance will be your downfall." he said to her.
"Really just a matter of opinion." she slowly said, gulping.
"We shall see about that." and he vanished, leaving Thalia alone. She gasped for air the moment his presence left and started to inhale and exhale heavily.
"Anytime now." she mumbled and suddenly, a white light engulfed her being.
The next second later, she felt the softness of her bed under her and a hand running through her hair with soft muttering from her side. Adjusting her eyes to the darkness made her more tired than she would've liked but she could hear the snoring of her brother and could just make out the faces of her father and Zoë kneeling by her bedside.
"Dad?" her voice was rough from the lack of use but could see her father and Zoë's eyes widening at hearing her speak.
"Thalia." Perseus whispered in relief and quickly hugged his daughter as if his immortality depended on it.
Thalia hissed in slight pain and Zoë nudged her husband quickly. He quickly pulled away and looked her over, "Did I hurt you?" he asked in worry. He barely covered up the fact that he almost choked on his words at seeing his daughter wake and quickly wiped away his tears.
She shook her head, "I'm just sore."
"Then get some sleep." he told her in a gentle tone. "Iapetus will be over to check on you in the morning." he stated.
"But-"
"I know but you gave us all a good scare." he replied.
"I'm not-" she yawned just as she was about to make her point.
Zoë reached and patted her on the arm, "Rest." she said.
Thalia suddenly looked at the sleeping form of her brother and frowned, "He snores too loud." pointing at him. She glanced over at the roll of tape on her desk, looking back at her little brother and her father caught on.
"Take it easy on your brother. He's been worried out of his mind for you." Perseus told her. "We've all been worried for you." he said as he ran his hand through the tangles in her hair.
Her eyes flickered back and forth between her father and Zoë and she couldn't help but almost feel embarrassed at her situation nor could she help the small look of shame that appeared, making the two look at her in concern.
"I'm sorry." she said, suddenly downcast.
Perseus furrowed his brow, "Sorry for what?" and were it not for her dad simply being him, Thalia would have thought that he was trying to get her to repeat her mistake to him.
"For getting myself hurt and worrying everyone." she whispered, looking away from them and wanting nothing more than to slink underneath the covers now but knew that she had to see this conversation through now.
Her dad sighed heavily, "Thalia, it's not the fact that you were hurt. I'm not saying that I wasn't worried but it's also about how you kept your concerns to yourself. If you just came to me sooner with your worries, then maybe…" he hesitated at the last part, giving the wrong impression to her exhaustion-ladened brain.
"Are you mad?" his daughter asked quietly, balling up the blanket in her hands in anticipation of his answer. She remembered seeing looks of pride and happiness and maybe the odd look of disappointment from her father when she and her brother were younger and did something they probably shouldn't have done but for some reason, she didn't know if she could handle seeing him mad at her now.
He wanted to answer his daughter's question, he really did, but at this moment, he couldn't find a way to properly express how he felt about it and instead, just turned his head away and looked to his wife. Zoë noticed her husband's hesitation in answering as well as the pleading expression on his face and gave him a faint nod.
"Thalia." she started, gaining Thalia's attention from her father. "Your father and I want to help you. When you're up for it, we want to hear out everything that might have popped into that head of yours, alright?" she requested gently.
Thalia looked hesistant, "When I'm ready?" she asked and looked back at her dad.
"We'll talk when you're ready. We promise." his head turned back to face her. He pulled the blanket up to her neck. He leaned over and kissed the top of her head, "Alright, come on." he prodded her to sleep as they saw her eyelids start to droop. "We'll be right here if you need us." Perseus promised and Zoë nodded with him. "Goodnight, sweetie." he whispered.
"You know you don't need to, right?" Thalia said to both of them as she nestled herself underneath the blankets, letting them know that they didn't need to stay here with her.
"Yeah but we want to." Zoë said for the both of them.
"Alright, enough worrying about us." Perseus whispered and Thalia nodded with her eyes half-closed, trying to stifle a yawn but failing.
"Night." she mumbled out as she couldn't fight off the temptation of actual sleep. It didn't take too long for her breathing to even out and for them to know that she was out.
Perseus looked at his wife and Zoë nodded, "We did say we'll be here for her." she remembered and he smiled softly.
"Just wanted to be sure you didn't change your mind." he quietly said.
Zoë scoffed lightly and nudged him on the shoulder, "As if. I've already made it this far." she kissed him on the cheek but couldn't help but give Thalia a worried look.
"We'll handle it." he whispered to her and she nodded at his promise.
Perseus sat on the ground and leaned against the side of the bed and tugged on Zoë's hand, his wife letting him pull her into his lap. He wrapped his arms around her midsection and Zoë leaned her head on his shoulder. The both of them closed their eyes, finally able to let themselves relax but only slightly.
Morning
Voices coming from outside Thalia's room woke her up as her eyes snapped open, hissing as a ray of sunlight slipped past her curtains and hit her in the face. She lazily flopped onto her back from her side and slowly lifted her head off of her pillow, looking around with bleary eyes before she sat up on her elbows. She rolled her shoulders back, getting the stiffness out of her limbs and groaning at the feeling and the sound of cracking.
She looked at the small table next to her, looking for Aegis and her spear, not spotting her items anywhere in her room and didn't feel like leaving the confines and the warmth of her bed to see if her father placed it inside of her closet or whatnot.
A knock on her door brought her attention away from her stretching, "Thalia, you awake?" her father asked from behind the door.
"Sorta." she replied, rubbing at her eyes.
"May I come in?" he asked and she could hear the hesitation in his voice.
"Yeah."
The doorknob opened and her father poked his head in before fully opening the door to enter, using his foot to nudge the door closed by just a bit when he walked in. He approached her bedside, pulled her into a quick hug, and kissed the top of her head before he crouched down to her eye-level. "Morning, sweetie." he greeted with a small smile, relieved to see her looking well for the most part. He snapped his fingers and the curtains pulled back, letting sunlight into her previously dark room which made her squint. He reached over and grabbed a zip-up hoodie off of the back of her chair and held it out to her. She took it from him and pulled the hood over her eyes.
The mattress dipped slightly as he sat on the edge of her bed.
"Hi, Dad." she yawned out, trying her hardest to cover up her yawn with her hand.
"How are you feeling? Still sleepy?" he asked. She nodded and leaned her head onto his back, "Iapetus and your grandmother will be by to check in on you." he informed her softly.
He felt her nod and he took that as her answer. He ran a hand through his hair and rolled his neck around. "You know… You know I'm not mad at you, right?" he said to her to soothe her worries from last night. "I won't say that I wasn't disappointed when I was first told about it, but that turned to worry more than anything."
He felt her shuffle closer and move her head onto his shoulder, "So, if you think I was mad, I'm not. I just-"
"I get it." he turned his head to look at her and found her tracing lines onto the back of his hand. "I would be a pretty bad daughter if I didn't understand my own dad." she said jokingly.
"Never. That would just mean that I was a bad father and not that you were a bad daughter." he replied with a comforting smile. She smiled back. "How are you feeling right now?" he asked.
"I think I'm fine." she quietly said.
"Are you sure?" he inquired.
"Dadddd." Thalia huffed in annoyance. "I already said I'm fine like a million times." she added.
"Saying you're fine and actually being fine are two different things and after what you've been through, I'm going to make sure you're above fine." he said more so to assure himself.
He rolled his eyes and worked his hand through her hair underneath her hood. "Where's Zoë and Jason?" she asked, looking around her room for the mentioned two.
"Zoë went to clear her head and I told Jason to go eat something before his stomach woke you up." he told her.
She pointed at the small table next to her, "Have you seen my spear and Aegis? It didn't get destroyed, did it?" she asked with an air of disappointment at the possibility.
"Your spear and shield can be replaced, but you can't." he chided lightly.
"It's really more of the sentiment behind the items if you get what I'm saying." she replied with a knowing grin.
"Thalia." Perseus said in minor irritation.
She raised an eyebrow and pushed for an answer, "So is that a yes or…"
He sighed and ruffled her hair even after working through the tangles mere minutes ago, "No, they weren't destroyed. You can have them back later when you're better than fine."
She faked a look of sadness and pouted, "Can't I just have them back now? I'm feeling a lot better now." pleading with her dad and widening her eyes like she was a kid again.
He laughed at her attempt, "Nope, that won't work on me anymore. And since you're feeling better all of a sudden, you're just going to have to deal with me coddling you for now!" and suddenly wrapped his arms around her, making her laugh as she started to squirm in his grasp.
"Dad! Let me go! She yelled as he stood up and heaved her over his shoulder, making his way to the door.
"Nope, you're still a baby and you're not going to let me do this when you get older." he replied with a straight face.
"Well I'm older now!" she said, slowly turning red.
He shook his head, "Still my baby." he said almost in relief.
"Dad!" she yelled, red-faced and embarrassed as her father opened the door and stepped out into the hall.
Jason came skidding into the hallway breathing heavily and eyes darting, "Is she up!?" not seeing the form of her sister heaved over the shoulder of his uncle but heard her yelling when he was in the kitchen.
"Have you tried taking a proper look?" Thalia's sarcastic tone rang out from behind his uncle.
"Oh."
Perseus sighed and set his daughter onto the ground and Jason slammed right into his sister in a hug. The two of them would have undoubtedly toppled over if Perseus wasn't standing behind her and placed a hand on her back to brace her.
Zoë appeared as the two embraced and looked at her husband, waving off his look of curiosity and concern with a small nod.
Perseus moved next to her and wrapped an arm around her waist, "Everything alright?" he whispered.
She hummed and leaned her head onto his shoulder. "I think so." she whispered back to him as she looked on. She dragged herself and Perseus out of the hallway to give the siblings space.
"What, you miss me or something?" Thalia asked with a snort and made a show of frying to wrench her brother's arms away with one arm but hugged Jason just a little bit tighter with the other.
Jason sniffed, pulling back from the embrace, "You wish. I just didn't want some poor soul to have to deal with you in Elysium." he replied with a grin.
Thalia clamped her hands over her heart, "Awww, so you do care about your big sis." she said as she wiped non-existent tears from her face, though she was feeling some real tears start to well up.
"Well, you're my only sister." Jason replied in a matter-of-fact tone.
"That might be the nicest thing you've said about me the entire year." she joked tearfully.
"Hey! You're starting to cry!" Jason exclaimed and received a slap on the back of his head.
"No, I'm not! It's just allergies." Thalia defended. She hastily wiped the tears and stuck her tongue out. Jason laughed at her reaction and stuck his tongue out at her, making her laugh.
"You can't get rid of me that easily you know?" Thalia assured with a steady smile once she caught her breath.
"Well, yeah, no shit. Do you even know how many times I asked uncle to dump you somewhere whenever I found you annoying?" Jason said with a chuckle and narrowly avoided another slap.
Thalia huffed with fake annoyance, "You're lucky you're my little brother." she said as she made to move, surprising Jason.
"What? No teasing?" Jason asked teasingly and was stunned at the lack of retribution from his sister when she shrugged.
"I'll do it after I get something to eat. I'm hungry." she replied with a dismissing wave of her hand. "Or I could just do it right now if that's what you'd like." she said as she turned around to face him with a devious smirk, making Jason shake his head very quickly and gulped.
Zoë leaned into the hallway and looked at both of them, "Your father thought I should check if you two were squabbling." she explained with a questioning look. "Are you two squabbling?"
"Thalia's hungry!" Jason blurted out and ran out, earning a look of amusement and confusion from Zoë.
"What happened to him?" she asked, looking at Thalia.
She bit down on a smile and shrugged, "Just Jason being Jason." Thalia said as she held in her laughter.
The goddess rolled her eyes and snorted, "The one answer that can explain anything." she said with a roll of her eyes. As Thalia looked at her, she didn't know when she started to feel nervous and fidget with her hands as she looked at her husband's daughter but she did know that Thalia picked up on it.
"You alright?" Thalia asked, her eyes flickering to Zoë's fidgeting hands, her fingers playing with her rings.
Zoë quickly moved her hands behind her back and gave her a small smile, nodding her head towards the kitchen, "Yeah. I'm just glad you're okay." she said as Thalia soon fell into step next to her, ruffling her hair.
Thalia whined and went to pat her hair, "I swear, you and dad have some strange habit of messing up my hair."
"You could cut it if you want." Zoë suggested.
"That's actually not the worst idea."
Thalia sat on the couch in the living room with a BLT in her hands and Jason trying to pick the bacon from her sandwich as he sat next to her, her hand slapping his away occasionally.
"Get your own bacon, you dumbo." Thalia complained and stuffed the remainder of her sandwich in her mouth.
"So unfair." Jason mumbled and she flipped him the bird.
The front door opened and Rhea walked into the room with the door wide open behind her. Her father, Zoë,and Iapetus followed behind her and she noticed how her dad pinched the bridge of his nose and Zoë acting agitated, seemingly muttering something underneath her breath.
Rhea let out a cry of relief when she spotted her on the couch, "Oh there you are!" she exclaimed and grabbed Thalia into a hug, her eyes almost bulging out of her skull. The force behind the hug made Thalia almost inhale her sandwich to which she quickly swallowed before she ended up choking on it.
"Mother, we just got her back so I would appreciate it if you didn't cut that time short." Perseus said exasperatedly and rubbed at his temples.
Rhea ignored her son's words and pulled back to look at her granddaughter, "Oh, you stupid girl. Were you thinking at all?!" she reprimanded once she let Thalia go. Thalia squirmed nervously underneath her gaze and looked to her dad for him to intervene before she got a dressing-down from her grandmother.
"Mother." Perseus warned, his eyes narrowed.
The Titaness realized how her statement might have sounded and smiled apologetically at her granddaughter, "My apologies, my dear. I've forgotten about your ordeal." using her powers to impose calm, fixing the sudden tension in the room, though more so in the two demigods.
Thalia scratched the back of her head and gave a nervous chuckle, "It's ok, grandma. Dad sort of gave me a rundown. I know I kinda scared everyone."
Iapetus looked at her with a raised eyebrow, "Kind of? You didn't kind of scare everyone, you did scare everyone." the Titan corrected.
"Do you promise not to do that ever again? You know my old heart can't handle much more of this." Rhea said.
Iapetus went around the kitchen island and poured himself a mug of nectar, the mug nearing his mouth, "The grey hair you give yourself probably doesn't help your dear image, sister." and sipped on the nectar just so the mug could hide the large grin on his face.
Perseus choked on his own spit as Zoë slapped him on the back while trying to contain her own amusement as Jason bit down on his knuckles to keep him from bursting out with laughter.
Rhea turned around to give him a deadpan stare as Iapetus started to shake in his spot from poorly-hidden laughter and nectar spilled from the sides of the mug in his shaking hand. She held her hand out and an ornate-looking dagger materialized in her hand and pointed the blade loosely in his direction. "Do you want me to make this disappear in you?" she said with a questioning look on her face.
Iapetus slowly sunk to the ground until only the top half of his face appeared, making Rhea roll her eyes and the dagger disappeared from her hand. She made her hair turn back to its original dark roots and turned back to her granddaughter.
Thalia held her hands over her mouth as she couldn't help the snicker that escaped her. "I am very glad that you can still find humor in your grandmother's plight." Rhea commented with an unimpressed look thrown over her shoulder. She glanced over at her son and back at Thalia, "Why don't you go see the rest of your uncles? I'm sure they've been worried about you and would like to see you." Rhea suggested, standing up.
Perseus nodded, "Jason, go with her and tell Marius to get the rest of the Gauntlet ready." he requested and his nephew nodded.
"Sure thing." Jason replied.
Thalia held her hand up, "Can I get my stuff now?"
"Later." her father told her, holding back a grin at his daughter's lack of patience.
Thalia rolled her eyes and grumbled, "Better." and followed her brother out.
The four of them waited for the two demigods to step out before the conversation they were all waiting for happened.
"You still haven't told her." Rhea said in an accusatory manner.
Perseus nodded once, "No, I haven't." he replied and he was already starting to feel frustrated with the way this conversation was going.
"You don't think those two deserve to know that their mother spent her last few years looking for them?"
