Poor Thalia explains her freak out. You gotta feel for her. And hey, just because they had a little run in doesn't mean they're going to come face to face with the Romans any sooner, heheheh. It was a nice little cameo and a reason for Thalia to open up even more.

Percy had to grab Thalia as the daughter of Zeus went to rush towards where Reyna had been, arms wrapping around Thalia's waist as the girl screamed, voice loud enough that Percy kind of wished she'd got the chance to put in a pair of earplugs or something, "JASON!"

"Thalia! Thalia what's wrong?" Bianca's voice was tight with concern, her brows furrowed "Thals-"

"Jason!" and- Percy felt a tight shock in her chest at the look on Thalia's face. The mixture of shock, grief and pure unadulterated agony. "JASON!"

"Thalia! Thalia they're gone." Percy tightened her grip as Thalia thrashed, forcing back a hiss of pain as she felt shocks jolting up her arms where they were gripping Thalia.

"No- no-" Thalia was shaking her head frantically, tears pouring down her cheeks. Fuck this was bad. This was so so bad.

What in Hades name was going on? "No no not again not again no-" and they were drawing funny looks. Concerned stares. So so very not good.

"We need to get out of here. Like, right now. We're getting some not great looks-"

"No- no-" Thalia had at least stopped with the struggling now, though Percy could feel her shaking.

"Thalia-" Bianca's voice was soft, and she pressed her hands to Thalia's cheek, forcing the other girl to look at her, "Thalia breathe. Breathe you need to calm down. In and out-" Bianca breathed in slowly for a beat and then out again. In and out. In and out until Thalia was slowly matching her rhythm, the hysteria slowly easing as her breathing settled.

Percy could admit that she was impressed. But then Bianca was a big sister. She was sure that the other girl had calmed Nico down like that more than once.

Once Thalia's breathing was steadier Percy loosened her grip. "You're not going to go running off if I let you go. Right?"

"No." Thalia's voice was hoarse, "No, no I won't." so Percy let go of the other girl, watching her expression as Thalia wrapped her own arms around herself tightly, shoulders hunching up tightly, eyes filled with pain, with grief still. Gods but that look was genuinely haunting. No one should have eyes like that. Though… Percy realised that she'd probably been just as haunted before. For different reasons but still.

"What was that?" Bianca was taking Thalia's hand, squeezing it gently, a comforting gesture which earned a weak smile from Thalia.

"I-" Thalia faltered, opening and closing her mouth a couple of times, as if she was trying to find the words before; "That boy… I- I think he was my brother." Which…. What? Thalia had a brother?

"Your brother?"

"I-" Thalia shook her head, "It's crazy. I thought- I was sure he was dead. He was only two. She- my mom was- she was bad. Really bad at being a mom. Between her and dad… I might as well have not had a parent. I basically raised Jason. We went for a picnic one day. I swear I only had my back turned for a few minutes, just while I was getting the picnic basket from the car but when I got back he was gone and she was crying and she kept saying he'd been taken."

"Oh Thalia-" Bianca wrapped her arms around the other demigod, hugging her tightly. "I can't imagine how much that hurt. It must have been horrible- if anything happened to Nico like that-" she shook her head.

"It- I searched for him. I looked but- but the way she spoke- I thought he was dead." There were tears again. And Percy didn't blame Thalia. This had clearly been weighing on the other girl heavily.

"How old were you?"

"Nine. I was nine." Thalia sniffled. "I ran away after that. Met Luke, then Annabeth like three years later but… but I never forgot Jason."

"And this guy looked like him? Reyna's Jason looked like your Jason-"

"It's more than that." Thalia shook her head, "His hair was blonde and his eyes were blue but I don't- I don't just assume… even with the name but- but when Jason was little mom was passed out on the couch and I was getting him food. I heard him crying and I went rushing in. Mom didn't wake up but he was on the floor, mouth all bloody with a staple in his top lip. I had to take it out and calm him down. Clean up all the blood. And that boy-"

"The scar." Percy pressed her lips together, "I saw a scar on his lip."

"It was the same." Bianca breathed the word, "You're sure of it?"

"I am."

"We can't go after them now." Percy's heart felt heavy, "Thalia… you know that- or at least I can't." she glanced between Thalia and Bianca, "You two can. If that's what you feel like you need to do. I won't blame you and I'll tell the others you had to go for… whatever reason."

"You'd do that?" Thalia blinked, a surprised look on her face. "You'd just let us run off in the middle of a quest when you need as many people to help as you can get?"

"Yes." Percy didn't hesitate, "I mean- it'll suck. But if someone took one of my siblings from me I'd carve my way through armies to get them back. I'll tear apart the world. Who am I to stand here and tell you that you can't go after your baby brother."

"We can do it." Bianca's voice was soft, "If you want."

"I-" Thalia swallowed hard before she was pulling her hand free from Bianca's and launching herself at Percy- and Percy let out a yelp, stumbling backwards, arms wrapping around the other girls slowly.

"Uh… I'm not complaining, I'm a big hugger but why?"

"Thank you." Thalia whispered the words, "For- for caring about what I want-"

"I mean, it's the bare minimum-"

"I'm staying with the quest." Thalia pulled back, "But- but thank you. For saying that if I needed to I could go. Not many people would have said that. It- it matters."

"Again, bare minimum here." Percy huffed, "But- I am glad that you guys will be sticking with us." Percy let out a little huff, blowing her hair out of her face and giving a wry smile. "It'll be hard enough to take out our enemy as it is."

"We can do it." Bianca spoke up, "I'm sure of it."

"So am I." Percy paused. "And when we get to Olympus I will try and talk to your dad on your behalf Thalia, if I get the chance. See if he knows anything about your brother."

"Really?" Thalia blinked, "I- I mean I've prayed for answers before but he's never answered-"

"Yeah well, I can be persuasive."

"If you couldn't already tell." Bianca snickered, "I mean you saw her with my dad-"

"Yeah that is still kind of awe inspiring." Thalia let out a soft laugh, shaking her head. She was still paler than usual, her cheeks blotchy and red from the tears, eyes puffy and red too. But she was smiling. Weak but genuine. That was a very good sign in Percy's opinion.

"Hey- I love your dad. He's one of my favorite gods." Percy declared lightly, "And your dad Thalia… no offence or anything but-"

"No, no I won't take offence." Thalia grimaced, "He might be my father but that doesn't mean that I have to like the guy."

"Good. Cause I gotta admit I have not heard good things about him. He could take a few pages out of Carter's book when it comes to, y'know, ruling."

"Your brother doesn't actually rule right now-"

"I know. And he's still better at it than Zeus." Which earned a bright laugh from Thalia.

"Oh I am honestly looking forward to this." Thalia shook her head, "It's going to be a damn good show."

"It really is." Percy glanced up at the sky. "We should head back to the Chase home now though." She pursed her lips, "It won't be long before we have to head out to Mount Tam. We don't want to just wait there for hours but if there are delays… which knowing our luck-"

"Good point." Thalia snorted, "None of this has really gone smoothly huh-"

"Quests rarely do. Fact of life." Percy paused, "Though the sort of quest I was on to return your dads bolt and uncle H's helm actually went really well all things considered. Sure we had to escape from Artemis and Apollo. And there was that run in with the Furies. And Crusty, but none of that was that bad. The Quest for the Fleece, now that was a more complicated one. And this one? Yeah this one has not gone well at all."

"Then let's hurry up and get it over with." Thalia took a deep breath. And Percy knew that the daughter of Zeus was forcing herself to focus on anything other than the glimpse of her brother. They could look into that when the time came.

For now it just had to wait. "I want to save Annabeth. And I guess that idiot."

"Luke?"

"Luke." Thalia snorted. "I'm still pissed at him though-"

"Oh you have every right to be." Percy nodded sagely, "Dude fucked up big time. Just don't go trying to kill him and it'll
be fine."

"How did you guys meet?" Bianca's voice was hesitant. "You don't have to tell us but- I'm curious."

"We were both on the run." Thalia's expression went distant as they started to walk. "Me from my mom, Luke from his. We'd both already had to fight for our lives. There were so many monsters- more for me than him but he had his fair share. We met in this Dragons cave outside of Charleston. You have no clue how it felt. I'd been so alone and then there was this boy and he was like me." She shook her head. A sadness in her eyes. "It'll probably sound stupid but when I saw him- the hair, the eyes. He reminded me of Jason. It made me want to trust him. So I did. And at the time I didn't have any regrets. We found Annabeth on the streets, took her in and we were like a family." Her voice turned angry. "We promised that if anything happened to either of us the other would always look after Annabeth. No matter what. He broke that promise. What he did to her…" she shook her head. "I can't understand how Annabeth can even stand to be near him."

"It messed her up." Percy admitted, "For a long time. That betrayal. It hurt her. If Piper and I hadn't been as determined as we were to stick with her…" Percy shook her head. "I mean, it was understandable. But she's strong Thalia. She learned and adapted and she's proved that she's more than capable. Even if she's a little insecure about the hand sometimes."

"It's sweet. Watching you and Piper with her." Thalia admitted. "Seeing the way she looks at you guys. Annabeth- she didn't have much stability as a kid. With her family. With me dying. With Luke doing what he did. She looks at you like you're solid ground." Which made Percy flush.

"I hope I can be solid ground for her." Percy ducked her head. "And so does Piper I'm sure-"

"It was unbearable." Bianca piped up with a roll of her eyes. "Those three were so painfully clearly in love- like I swear you could see the heart eyes-"

"Heart eyes- have you been using the internet-"

"Kaya taught me well- anyway you could see the heart eyes from all three of them. You have Piper and Annabeth calling Percy a princess, beautiful, ethereal-"

"Oh god-" Thalia snorted, "Ethereal?"

"Yes! Yes and she still didn't get it!"

"Hey it's not like I'm not used to getting that sort of compliment all the time-" Thalia raised an eyebrow before pausing when Percy continued, "None of those people actually know me so they can't actually like me like me they just like me because I'm a pretty famous person. It can be hard to distinguish real stuff from just… just fan stuff. Even with Piper and Annabeth."

"Okay, okay that's not unreasonable." Thalia snorted, "But for a second there I was gonna call you big headed-"

"I am big headed." Percy gave a grin, "Appropriately big headed." And before either of the girls could reach out to either punch her arm or push her she was darting forward, laughter slipping past her lips.