~THALIA~

When she landed in the Olympian throne room, courtesy of Lady Artemis, her first instinct was to draw her spear and shield. (What? That's what you get for being a demigod.) The people who were unlucky enough to face her flinched away from the sight of Medusa on Aegis and cleared a wide berth around her, all of them well aware of the reputation the daughter of Zeus wielded and not wishing to get on the wrong side of her. Although she knew it was wrong, Thalia allowed herself a slight smirk. Zeus's children had the worst fatal flaw, in her opinion: lust for power. She'd struggled with it throughout her whole demigod career, in the end triumphing over it by choosing to be a part of the Hunters of Artemis over being the prophecy child. Sometimes, though, it would still trouble her. No matter what her rational mind said, her subconscious to some extent still loved the feeling of having power over other people. At times like this, she cursed her father.

She turned her attention to the more immediate problem. Lady Artemis had been quite vague in her explanation, only saying that everyone was required to be at Olympus, and flashed them here. Looking around, Thalia could see that the Throne Room was abnormally packed, with all manner of minor gods, demigods and even nature spirits and satyrs. She frowned in confusion. According to what she knew of her father, he would never let "lesser beings" like this (his words, not hers) defile his precious Throne Room. So what was going on?

Spotting Reyna among the crowd, looking as confused as she felt, she started to make her way through the crowd to the Roman praetor. Unsurprisingly, it was quite easy given her tendency to flash Aegis in the face of anyone who would not budge, and in minutes she was by Reyna's side.

"Do you know what this is about?" She had to shout to be heard over the din that was everyone else speaking.

Reyna looked back at her and said something, but it was lost in the noise. Thalia rolled her eyes. "WHAT?" she yelled.

"It looks like a trial!"

Trust a Roman to know. They were all about trials. Greeks were more like, kill first, ask questions later. That was Thalia's preferred way, anyway.

"A trial for what?"

To that, Reyna had no response, but Thalia could feel a chill slithering over her spine. She had a feeling that whatever it was for, it couldn't be something good.

They waited for what seemed like eternity to Thalia's ADHD. She made small talk with Reyna to pass the time and actually found the other girl's company quite enjoyable. She'd never actually met Reyna before, only a cursory glimpse during the war at Camp Half-Blood, but had heard of her stiffness and coldness, courtesy of her Roman upbringing. The girl in front of her was nothing like that at all. She was lively and smiling, gesturing wildly with her hands whenever a topic she was passionate about came up. She'd make a good Hunter, Thalia mused, but dismissed the thought, having already observed in the short time she'd known Reyna how protective she was of New Rome. She would never leave.

All conversation suddenly ceased, leaving Thalia's ears ringing. She and Reyna looked up simultaneously, following the crowd's gaze to the massive doors. Eight silhouettes emerged, and Thalia felt the shiver creeping up her spine dig its claws into her back. A warning. Dread filled her stomach as silence blanketed the room, oppressive, as her friends stepped into the room and the doors slammed shut behind them. Reyna inhaled sharply, realization dawning in her eyes, and Thalia's gut clenched. She didn't want to believe it. What reason would the Olympians have to condemn their heroes? But in her heart, she knew. The power-hungry fools viewed them as a threat, and they would do what they did to all threats: eliminate them.

She caught Annabeth's eye as she looked around the room. If anyone would know what was going on, it was the daughter of Athena. What's going on? she asked silently, and felt her stomach drop as Annabeth shrugged minutely, clearly conveying, I don't know. But she did, just like Thalia did. They just didn't want to face it.

But as Zeus droned on, reality sank in, and horror washed over Thalia.

"This isn't a trial, it's a farce," she hissed to Reyna, who nodded in agreement, her gaze still fixed on the eight unmoving figures, her lips pressed into a thin line.

Thalia's jaw clenched. She would not stand for this. Her friends, had just saved Olympus - some of them twice over - and this was how the bastards would repay them? No. She would not let this happen. Before she knew it, she was pushing through the crowd, wielding Aegis like a battering ram, before feeling a hand on her arm.

Reyna clutched at her, eyes wide. "You can't go down there! It's suicide!" she hissed frantically.

Thalia gritted her teeth. "I know," she said. "But I can't just sit by and do nothing! Those are my friends! My brother. My family." There was a wealth of pain in those words, and Reyna's grip softened. Thalia tugged her arm out of her grasp. "I have to do this."

On impulse, she whirled around and held her hand out to Reyna. "You could come with me," she offered. "Two is always better than one."

For a moment, it looked like Reyna was going to agree, but then her expression hardened. "Rome needs me," she said. "If Frank ..." she gestured helplessly to them. "He is the other praetor. If I go as well, Camp Jupiter will lose both its praetors. And that cannot happen. Even now, Octavian's cronies are vying for power. I can't let that happen." She looked at Thalia pleadingly, begging her to understand.

Thalia had been expecting it, but it still hurt. She knew Reyna valued her duty to Rome above all else, so she smiled at the other girl and vanished through the crowd. But for Thalia, nothing was more important than her family. Apart from her blood brother, Jason, both Percy and Annabeth had been there for her in the absence of her parents and Luke. She owed it to them to at least try.

She made it down just as Zeus was speaking his final verdict. It had been tough; the crowd had been enthusiastically baying for blood, teeming in a mass before her. They disgusted her. Just a few weeks ago, they would have been cheering for their "heroes". And with just one word from her father, they did a complete 180? She shook her head in revulsion and skirted the edge of the crowd to get closer. She didn't have a plan; but she just knew she couldn't sit up there and watch it unfold.

The Olympians were now in sight. They had shrunk down to about ten feet so she could see their expressions clearly. She looked up at Lady Artemis. Out of all the gods, she would have expected her lady to be the most sympathetic, having bonded with her mortal Hunters, but the goddess's face didn't show an ounce of compassion. Thalia's face morphed into a snarl. How could she have ever thought the goddess was humane? None of them were. They were all cruel and evil, and for a second she thought, Luke was right. Oh, he wasn't right with how he'd gone about it, but at the end, his values had been right. She wished she'd been with him, and not turned into a pine tree. Maybe then, they could have made a real difference. But the past was the past, and there was no changing it. However, she could change the present.