Next chapter! Okay again, I know this is a TEENY bit different from how it happened in the actual book but you know...life goes on ;D

I have 2 more chapter ideas planned for this story, and then I'm considering ending it there, although I'm MORE than willing to add more if anybody's interested. I've already started the next chappie though. Opinions? Requests? Thoughts? Ideas? Suggestions?

Disclaimer: Ha...I WISH I owned PJ&O

One look was all it took. One look to make me ask myself if I had made the right decision. I had turned down eternal power, watched both Bianca and Zoe die, and I murdered Luke...all for them. For the gods.

Percy, Annabeth and I were standing in the large throne room of Mount Olympus. We had rescued Artemis yet the gods were still deciding the fate of Percy and I. Annabeth was a wreck. I know she was trying to hold it in, but she looked as if she wanted to cry. Percy and I were all she had left...and here were the Olympians, including her own mother, deciding whether to let the two of us live or not. After all we had done, they still wanted to kill us.

"We will not blast my son to bits!" Poseidon insisted.

Zeus looked at me. "Nor my daughter. She has done well."

I quickly looked down. It just didn't feel right. Here he was, after everything...leaving me behind with an abusive and unstable mother, letting Hera take Jason away, turning me into a tree, never aiding me when I truly needed it...After everything he had and hadn't done, I didn't like the fact that he was proud of me. It made me angry. But at the same time, it was like I wanted to show him that I didn't need him, and that I could do just fine on my own. So when he approved of me...it kinda felt nice.

The brothers' statements put all of the gods and goddesses into a frenzy. They began to argue over how dangerous we were.

"I am proud of my daughter, but it is not safe to keep the other two around." Athena advised. "As thick-headed as he is, Ares has a point."

The gods in counsel continued to argue some more over Athena's statement.

Maybe the titans were right in a way. The gods were cruel. No matter what you did for them or how you proved yourself, they still thought about themselves, and how helpful or endangering you could be to them. It was no secret that tomorrow, I was to turn sixteen and the fate of the gods would supposedly depend on me. They were obviously scared.

It was Artemis who pleaded our case and insisted we live. Finally, the gods made an uneasy agreement that we could be let be for now.

"Wait a moment." Artemis turned to Zeus. "My faithful companion, Zoe Nightshade has passed into the stars, and I am in need of a lieutenant. But first father, I must speak to you in private." He agreed and after he beckoned Artemis over, they spoke privately. When they returned to the rest of us, Artemis grinned at me.

"I shall have my new lieutenant. If she accepts of course. Thalia, daughter of Zeus. I would very much like for you to join the Hunt. Do you accept my invitation? Will you join me?"

I was stunned. After everything...I could have another chance to belong somewhere. Part of me desperately wanted this. The other part was overpowered with guilt. Zoe. I could never just replace her. It wasn't right. But maybe I wasn't replacing her...Maybe I could never be Zoe. In fact, I know I could never replace Zoe. Even so...The Hunt needed someone to fill the gap that had been ripped from them. I could try, couldn't I?

"I will, Lady Artemis." I said firmly.

Percy seemed a bit bothered by the whole thing. I guess it wasn't really fair...but I didn't want to be the child of the prophecy. I now know my fatal flaw. Power. Resisting power. I couldn't let Kronos tempt me again. Percy understood that, didn't he? He had to.

Both he and Annabeth smiled at me, and I knew then that everything was going to be okay.

Even with Jason, Bianca, Luke, Zoe and my mother gone, I would be alright.

Somehow.

It was after I pledged myself to Artemis, said my apologies to Percy, gave him and Annabeth both hugs, and turned to return to Camp Half-blood with my friends one last time, that I paid attention to Hera. She was giving me a murderous look and made her meaning very clear. She wasn't happy with me being allowed to live, she wasn't happy that I had joined Artemis and had gained mortality. This wouldn't be the last time that we saw each other.

I had a feeling that next time I saw my step-mother, she intended to make sure that the two of us would be alone.