of half bloods and happenings

by mcfuz

A collection of short one-shots pertaining to every character and situation in the PJO universe. Chapter #30: Now Nico was stripped bare to the very bones that kept his heart imprisoned. / Nico, Reyna and unrequited love. MAJOR HOUSE OF HADES SPOILERS.

23. time

of half-bloods and happenings

time

.

Thalia Grace chases the sun. (And she's so goddamn tired.)

At first it's an adventure, and she's glad she chose the path she did. She visits her friends, sometimes, when she can, but her heart belongs to the Hunt. (She misses them so much when she's away she feels like her lungs will burst from the pressure inside.)

She's invited to be a bridesmaid at Percy and Annabeth's wedding, and she is not crying, thank you very much. There's just something in her eye. (When the mortal guests ask what year of school she's in, she wants to shoot them.)

And two years later when the Jackson baby has colic and screams half the night, she is glad she is not Percy or Annabeth. She would never survive being a mother. Or a wife, for that matter. (She can't help but remember the wild look of joy on Annabeth's face when she held her daughter for the first time; she tries to forget what she's missing.)

The years spin past and she clings to her friends with cobwebs and fingernails. (They're twenty-five going on seventy, and she will be fifteen for eternity.)

When she's in the hospital with Percy, standing by Annabeth's bed and staring at the white sheet that covers her from head to toe, she hates herself. (Annabeth had cancer; she was given two months to live, but barely lasted a week. Percy wastes away the next year and only Thalia is alive to see him go.)

The world slips by her in great gusts of time. (She wonders if this is how the gods feel; like they're clutching at shadows melting away from the midday sun.)

She watches empires rise and fall. (Camp Jupiter survives longer than Camp Half-Blood; but soon they are both rubble in the breeze.)

She watches hearts be broken and tears be shed. (Her own, her own, all her bleeding soul's own.)

At first it was an adventure, but when a sword slices through her jugular and the world is painted red, all she sees are the pages of a history book long forgotten in the sands of time.

(Thalia Grace chases the sun, but it's always out of reach.)

.

Author's Note: I am suspiciously proud of this one. Please review. xx