-The best way to find out if you can trust somebody, is to trust them-

Ernest Hemingway

Thalia backed up steadily, her hunting knives clutched tightly in each hand, Luke advanced with his sword, sweat beaded on his forehead, but he grinned at her all the same. It had been two years since Thalia had given Luke her knife, two years since they had made the blood promises, and since then two had become inseparable, they depended on each other. Luke was fifteen now, and Thalia was fourteen, but they both looked older, acted older, were older, or at least, they thought they were.

Thalia batted away Luke's sword with the swipe of a knife, dropping down as he swung over her head, she spun on her heel, kicking out his legs from under him, before she pointed her knife at his neck, and grinned smugly.

"Beatcha' again," She sang, helped him up and watched half amused and half exasperated as he took the ready stance yet again.

"One more time, last one I promise."

Thalia sighed dramatically and dropped into the stance, winking at him. Luke quirked an eyebrow, before charging at her full tilt. In one deft move, Luke flipped one her knives out of her hand, they sparred for the next five minutes, until Thalia lost balance on a block. Seeing an opportunity, Luke grabbed her wrist at the same time she grabbed his arm for balance, and they stumbled, pinning her between Luke and a tree.

The bark bit into her back harshly as they both struggled to break the hold each other had. Luke pressed on a point on her wrist, making her drop her knife. She glared at him, silently telling him that she wasn't done, but Luke didn't seem interested in sparring anymore.

He was just looking at her, but his eyes were darker, a deep oceanic blue instead of his usual sky blue. She bit down down hard on her lip as her heart leapt up into her throat, blocking her air. Suddenly he was much closer, leaning into her, her head spinning from his intoxicating breath on her face, she tried backing up, pressing herself further into the tree. He dropped her wrist and put his hand on the bark beside her head, leaning closer, his darkened eyes sliding shut. Panicking, she groped on her belt trying to find the small dagger she kept there. Their faces were millimetres apart, she could barely think properly anymore; she fumbled with the dagger before quickly placing the flat side against his neck.

Startled by the cool metal's touch, Luke jumped, glancing from the flashing silver to Thalia's flushed face, a flash of something painful flew across his face before he covered it with a smile, which didn't reach his eyes. Thalia released her abused lip, she knew that she had hurt him, she flashed him an apologetic look.

"I win." She whispered; she dropped her eyes as a powerful silence dropped between them. She searched for something to say, anything to make this better, but her sarcasm and humor had run dry. She turned away extricating herself from his arms as she walked unsteadily to the fire.

"Thalia?"

She turned around his carefully, Luke was still in the position she had left him in, but his hands were clenched into fists. In her years with Luke, she learned that he expressed what he was feeling through his hands.

"You let your guard down, if you do that in a fight, you die. I was just trying to keep it real." Thalia said grimly, noting how Luke's jaw clenched, "you can't trust anyone."

"You can't trust me?" Luke asked looking up, he stepped closer, uncrossing his arms, "If I was gonna stick a knife in your back, I would've done it a long time ago!"

"I know-"

"Haven't I earned a little trust?" He continued angrily, cutting her off, running a hand through his hair in exasperation, "I trust you."

"Why would you do that?" She retorted, bristling at his anger, "Give me one good reason why you would trust me."

Luke just looked at her simmering with fury, his nails began to draw blood from how hard he was clenching them. She sighed, and ripped a strip of cloth from one of the woolen blankets. He watched her as she took his hands and bound them.

"This," he said quietly, gesturing at his bound hands, "is why I trust you."

Thalia froze, she glanced up and met his gaze, reading his eyes and seeing the trust he had for her in them. She exhaled, running a thin-fingered hand over her face before meeting his eyes again.

"Fine, I trust you."

Luke raised an eyebrow challengingly, and she scowled, she did not back down from challenges.

"My last name is Grace."

Luke smiled at her, a real smile, and she hesitantly returned it, relaxing into him as he pulled her to his chest.

Later, night saw them sitting by the fire watching it flicker, engulfing them with its light and warmth.

Luke's hands were tapping idly on his legs, "Am I only getting a last name?" He teased, but Thalia knew that he was serious about wanting to know more.

She was silent for a while, collecting her thoughts, while watching the fire.

"I was born fourteen or so years ago, I don't know the name of the hospital, so don't ask me," she flipped a piece of onyx hair out of her face before continuing, "my mother was a teenage starlet, not a huge celebrity, but we still were pretty well off."

"I don't really remember the early years, but I remember she wasn't very... caring, or loving or any of that shit, she hired a nanny and that was the end of her involvement with me."

Thalia stopped, she wasn't sure she wanted to continue talking about her past when she was trying to forget it; she continued very quietly, almost a whisper.

"Around the time I turned six, she decided that I was the reason that she couldn't get on the A-list, and thats I learned how to take a hit."

She stopped again, resting her head on her knees; Luke threw an arm around her shoulders, and pulled her closer to him. She shot him a grateful look before continuing.

"I grew up avoiding my mother and her boyfriends, because whenever we did meet, it would end up with me yelling and her throwing bottles at my head," she smiled dryly, "I used to imagine my dad as some sort of… I don't know… some sort of normal, not important, regular-Joe kinda guy who would one day come and take me away from there."

Luke leaned back onto a tree behind them, pulling her with him, and she didn't resist. It felt weird, opening up to someone, and she strangely felt safe, and comforted, she had never let anyone in this far, never even had anyone to let in this far, but even Luke wouldn't get far enough for her tell him about Jason.

"It's hard to swallow the fact that my dad, instead of my regular Joe, was the king of the effing gods… at least regular Joe dad had the excuse of not knowing I exist, or, or not being able to get to me because of a manager or bodyguard or something, my real dad has no excuses, for anything. He just didn't care enough to come and take care of his bastard kids."

She realized she was talking too loudly, and had accidently let slip that there was more than one kid, but Luke didn't seem to have noticed. She took a deep breath through her nose; the air was full of Luke's smell, a mixture of sweat, rust and the cheap soap they used to clean their clothes in the rivers with, it was strangely intoxicating.

"I was always told I looked like her, which pissed me off," she scowled, "she would always get angry when anyone mentioned that I must've had my dad's hair and eyes, or when I mentioned the monsters I saw, so eventually I stopped talking. My Dad came back once, and screwed everything over, before leaving us even more messed up. So I ran away, and I was on the run for a month or two before I found you."

"Your dad's a jackass" Luke said through his clenched teeth.

"Yup."

"He just sat and watched as you..." Luke trailed off angrily.

"The gods don't have time for us, we're just their screw ups."

"we're not-"

"I know."

They sat quietly after that, illuminated by moonlight and fire, contrasting silver and gold light that played with the shadows of the night, casting capes of darkness behind rocks and trees. The wind called faintly through the night, causing leaves to run across the ground, and the clouds to slide across the blanket of the sky, colliding into each other. The night sky was lit with the silver pinpricks, lighting up the darkness. The trees were witness to them falling asleep, clutching each other, because there was no one else that mattered, no one else that cared.

I love thuke 3

they're just so, so... AMAZING.

reviews are amazing, CC is taken into serious consideration :)