Thalia leaned on her crutches and sighed heavily, watching the clean-up with almost dead eyes. At some point, she would need to leave Olympus and return to the ground, to the carnage in Manhattan, where the mortals were trying to make sense of what had happened and the demigods were trying to pretend like their entire worlds hadn't been flipped upside down.
"How are you feeling?"
Thalia looked up at Apollo and managed a brave smile. "Fine thank you, Lord Apollo. I'd bow, but I'd probably fall over."
Apollo sniggered. "Yeah, let's do something about that." He rested a hand on her lower back and his eyes glowed, too brightly for her to look at.
The pain died away and he took the crutches from her to allow her to check her legs.
"Thank you," Thalia said quietly. "Won't you get into trouble?"
Apollo shrugged. "You're Father's favourite at the moment. I'll be fine." He looked seriously at her. "I know you're not though."
Thalia swallowed hard. "We won. Kronos is scattered across the cosmos somewhere. It was just a hard win." She paused. "I'm sorry about Michael."
Apollo nodded, his jaw clenched. "Thank you. They haven't found him yet."
"I know," Thalia said. "Percy was going to track the tides, figure out where he's going to … wash up."
Apollo nodded silently.
"You know, if it's any consolation," Thalia continued, "your cabin is the only one that didn't lose anyone to Kronos. The army, I mean. Well, I'm not counting the Big Three, because there's only one of us in each, but … aside from us, yours was the only one."
Apollo sighed. "Does that mean something?"
"It means you're a good dad," Thalia said. "And they know you are."
Apollo's smile returned, and he turned to face her properly. "You didn't get to say goodbye, did you?"
Thalia's breath caught in her throat. "W-What?"
"To Luke," Apollo elaborated. "Percy and Annabeth were with him, but you didn't get a chance to say goodbye."
"No," Thalia admitted. "I didn't."
"Would you like to?"
Thalia hesitated. "How? The Fates took his body."
Apollo smiled, holding out a hand to her. "Close your eyes."
She did, taking his hand, but even with her eyes closed, the glow that surrounded her was a little painful.
Finally, it died away, but she kept her eyes closed until he released her and told her it was safe.
They were in a small room, devoid of furniture but for a cot bearing a shrouded body.
Thalia sucked in a shaky breath, taking a small step towards it.
"I'm going to step outside, Thalia," Apollo said softly. "Take all the time you need."
Thalia nodded wordlessly, unable to form words just at the moment. Even after Apollo had left her, it took her a few minutes to manage to close the distance between her and the cot, and pull the shroud back from Luke's face.
It almost broke her all over again.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. Her words echoed off the walls and disappeared into nothing, destined never to be heard. She cleared her throat, forcing herself to talk normally, as though Luke was listening and would respond and wasn't … the way he was. "I've wanted a chance to talk to you since I woke up. And I never got one, because you weren't you and you weren't willing to listen to me. I'm sorry I left you. I'm sorry my death hurt you so badly. I'm sorry if you felt like I betrayed you, taking their side over yours, but … I couldn't take your side, Luke. Not after seeing you. That wasn't you – that wasn't my Luke. It was a stranger with your face and …" She wiped her tears away furiously, unwilling to let them fall and yet powerless to stop them. "I'm sorry I wasn't enough to stop you."
Her voice broke on the last word and she let herself cry, her whole body shaking with the force of her sobs. "Why wasn't I enough to stop you?"
She didn't know how long she stood there, but finally her tears stemmed and she wiped her face once more, before reaching out to touch his cheek. "Annabeth says you fought your way back. I knew you would." She paused. There was so much she could still say, and yet none of it would make any difference now. "I miss you. The real you. Maybe one day we'll meet again in Elysium. Just … don't do anything else stupid in the meantime, yeah?"
She leant down and pressed a kiss to his forehead, which nearly made her cry all over again, because his skin was cold – so cold – and Luke had always been so warm, on the streets, when the temperatures dropped in the winter and they huddled together for survival.
"Goodbye, Luke."
She forced herself to walk out. If she didn't, she might never leave.
Apollo was waiting for her, and he met her with pure concern. "Are you alright?"
Thalia took a deep breath, assessing. "Yes. Yes, I think so. It's not … It's not complete closure, it's still … hard, but … I feel like I can draw a line under it now. Close the book. Move on."
Apollo smiled slightly. "Were you in love with him?"
That was the question, wasn't it?
"I don't know," Thalia admitted. "I never got a chance to figure it out. We were children, and then I was dead. But we spent three years together, just the two of us, and … I don't know if I was in love with him, but he was my everything." She sighed. "And maybe only love would hurt like this."
Apollo opened his arms to her and she went into them willingly, taking comfort in her half-brother's embrace.
"Want me to take your mind off it?" Apollo asked.
Thalia sighed. "Oh gods yes please."
Apollo released her with a grin. "I need to talk to my kids. Want to come and help me fool Dad?"
Thalia wiped her eyes and gave him a smile. "I'd love to."