Disclaimer: Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Heroes of Olympus, Trials of Apollo, The Kane Chronicles, and Magnus Chase are all owned by Rick Riordan. This is not made for any profit, personal or otherwise. Please support the original series.

Chapter One: Thalia Grace: Tragedy

Thalia Grace was worried. The Hunt had gotten a call to arms: Perseus Jackson, Hero of Olympus, one of the Seven, and a general Kelp Head (he was her friend, she could call him whatever she wanted, hero or not), had failed to send a message to Camp Half-Blood for a routine check in. Ever since the war with Gaea, Chiron had insisted upon all demigods keeping in touch with at least one other person involved in their world. Thusly, Percy had usually sent at least a weekly message to Camp, or would Iris Message Chiron with Annabeth. The last time he had gone radio silent, it was due to a stunt pulled by the Queen of the Gods, Hera, who swore that this time, she had nothing to do with his lack of communication. More worryingly, Annabeth Chase, Thalia's best friend, and Percy's girlfriend, had also gone MIA. If that didn't raise alarm bells, Thalia didn't know what would.

The situation was messed up by its nature, but Thalia felt something was off, disappearances aside. When Artemis had announced to the Hunt about their new and top priority mission, she hadn't allowed any arguing. That was par for the course, to be fair, but her face held a tension in it that Thalia hadn't seen in awhile, and an anger that had manifested itself towards all of the dissenters towards rescuing Percy. The Hunt in general had a bad attitude towards men, but the fact that Artemis had shown anger on Percy's behalf had all but cemented the fact that something big was coming. Sure, Percy being a hero meant little to most of the girls in the Hunt, but he had earned the respect of the moon goddess, not to mention being a personal friend of Thalia's.

So, when the order came, Thalia did not hesitate in the slightest in preparing for a potentially long search, and she glowered at any of the hunters foolish enough to grumble within earshot. She might complain about Percy, rib him for every thing she could, and mock him (a favor which he happily returned), but he was still one of her best friends, hunt included, and probably the best man she had ever met, despite his occasional cockiness. She was fully aware of how hypocritical she'd be if she faulted him for getting full of himself once in awhile, considering her own issues with that, and they had both often paid the price for it.

That being said, she was so going to make fun of him for probably being kidnapped by a god again. A bit of a low blow, but hey, he really needed to stop getting himself into these situations.

She was drawn out of her thoughts by her patron goddess walking up besides her, a scowl marring Artemis' face.

"Everything alright, my Lady?" Thalia asked, keeping a careful eye on her sister's expression. There was a glimmer of something there, something that Thalia had seen on Artemis' face a bit too often since Zoe. Sadness.

"...There's more to this situation than what meets the eye, Thalia." Artemis said slowly. Thalia frowned, and Artemis continued. "I will not tell you everything, yet. Even I am unsure of..." she trailed off, then shook her head. "You will have to be strong, Lieutenant. There will be unrest in the near future, and I believe you will be at the center of it."

That was always comforting to hear. Thalia had come to associate words like 'unrest' with situational train wrecks, and if Artemis was unsure of things, then it was likely Percy Jackson levels of train wrecks, which didn't bode well for anyone involved.

With that pleasant thought in mind, she bowed to Artemis, and turned on her heel, marching towards the rest of the Hunt. She would worry about the cryptic warning later: right now, she had a Kelp Head to find.

Thalia cursed. It had been hours now, and not even a hint of a trail leading to Percy, or Annabeth, had been found. She was becoming increasingly worried that he actually had been kidnapped again, and Artemis' stony silence on the matter did not ease any of her worries. Thalia found herself wondering just how many curses she could yell at Hera before being blasted off of the face of the planet, because surely it had to be another harebrained scheme of hers. Not too many gods could really get away with messing with Percy, if only because Poseidon could be a very powerful foe to face down if properly insulted or motivated, and because enough gods liked the demigod to the point where they wouldn't put up with it at this point. Annabeth was highly respected in her own right, of course, but Percy was generally considered fully off limits, even to blockheads like Ares.

Saving the world a few times had its own set of perks, she mused. Maybe she should've just accepted the prophecy when she had the chance, get Hera off her back permanently...

Nah, it wasn't worth it. She would have doomed them all, with her weakness to power. Fatal flaws were called fatal for a reason. Plus, the Hunt had been good for her, helping her tamp down on her formerly volatile temper. She could remember the very short time before she had joined the Hunt, after her resurrection, when she would argue with Percy over literally nothing. They still did, of course, but it was more friendly bickering.

Thalia was roused from her musings, a loud cry coming from where the earth turned into sand.

"Lieutenant! We found him!"

Thalia took off, putting every bit of speed training she had learned while in the Hunt to work. They were by the beaches of Montauk, a well-known vacation spot of Percy and Sally. She had found it a bit weird that nobody had thought to check the area yet, but she didn't have the luxury of making sense of things. She was going to be furious if Percy was just on a vacation, and forgot to check in. Though, she had to admit, if that were the case, she was sure she would have heard her sister-in-arms mercilessly beating the sea spawn for wasting their time. Artemis' warning also rang in her ears, and her pace quickened.

There was a wail in the air. It sounded like a child, and, even more worryingly, it sounded familiar to Thalia. Being a Hunter meant she only interacted with infants in fairly rare situations, and she certainly hadn't been around them enough to memorize how they sounded. There was one exception, and that, combined with the fact that Percy was supposedly nearby, chilled her to the bones.

She cleared the dune, giving her a full view of the beach, and what she saw had her slowly down in horror. The beach looked like it had been razed. Trees were downed, there were multiple tracks and drag marks everywhere, and, worst of all, there was a broken down shack nearby. It looked well worn, likely having been there for years, yet the damage looked fresh. And, with another thrill of horror, Thalia recognized the telltale sign of monster dust and mortal blood, clearly centralized around the building. She scanned the beach, and found the source of the voice.

There, screaming in the arms of Hunter Kowalski, was Estelle. That in itself was a relief. What was not was the blood that was caked on her. Thalia assumed that the blood wasn't from Estelle herself, since Kowalski wasn't tending to any wounds. Hunt or no Hunt, they would not just allow someone so young to perish. And then, she saw him. Percy lay on the beach, just outside of the reach of the water, and if she thought Estelle was a bad sight, Percy outclassed that. His left arm looked mangled, his right leg bent in an unnatural angle, and, to her despair, his chest was cut open, blood flowing freely.

"Percy!" She cried, and rushed to his side. The other hunters had not gotten close to the son of the sea, which irritated Thalia to an extent. Didn't they see he needed medical attention?

"I need nectar and ambrosia, now!" She cried. Cradling his head in her lap, she looked up. Not a single Hunter had moved. "Did I stutter? Nectar and ambrosia! Now!"

Reyna broke out of the trance she had seemingly been in, staring at Percy in transfixed horror, and rushed over, handing Thalia the food of the gods and the life saving liquid. Thalia quickly opened Percy's mouth, and Reyna broke off a square of ambrosia, placing it on Percy's tongue, before starting to pour the nectar down his throat, dissolving the ambrosia. Thalia massaged Percy's neck as she did so, encouraging the body's natural reaction to swallow, and thankfully, they could already start to see improvements. Percy's wounds started to seal up, and color was already starting to return to his face.

It wasn't enough. Luckily, Percy had an innate healing ability, and they were right next to a large source of what he needed. She motioned to Reyna, who understood, and the two started to drag him into the sea. Thalia sent two prayers to Poseidon: one to not strike her down for entering his domain, and the second for the water to heal Percy. Once they had gotten deep enough in to submerge him, Reyna backed away, with Thalia still clinging onto Percy. Even if he wouldn't drown, Thalia was scared to let him out of her sight.

The sea always protects its own, and Thalia was almost amazing to watch as water surged around Percy protectively, sealing up his wounds. His chest rapidly sealed, looking as if it were several weeks old already, as his arm began to return to its normal form. His leg slowly began moving back into its natural place, which Thalia assumed would have still been incredibly painful had Percy been conscious.

She glanced back to the shore. At some point, Artemis had taken Estelle from Kowalski, and was gently swaying the infant back and forth. It was frequently forgotten that Artemis was the goddess of childbirth, overshadowed by her other titles, but she truly showed it during times like these. There was a part of Thalia that thought her patron would be a very excellent mother if she ever chose to be so...not that she would ever dare to say such a thing to her face.

She returned her attention to Percy, staring at his slowly healing form. What had happened to him, to have been dealt such serious wounds? Percy was considered the most powerful demigod of their generation, which Thalia agreed with, though she'd never admit that out loud. He wasn't invincible, of course, not anymore, but it would take something or someone very powerful to truly injure him.

Suddenly, Thalia was aware of her patron's presence next to her. How Artemis had even managed to be silent in the water was beyond her, though she had been deep in thought. Estelle was sleeping deeply in her arms, now fully cleaned from all of the gore that had been on her. Artemis looked at Thalia in sympathy, and Thalia suddenly realized what she was about to say. It wasn't all too long ago that Artemis had approached her with a similar look on her face, and gave her the news of her brother, Jason's, death.

"Lieutenant..." Artemis said softly, and Thalia knew.

"...Where is she?" Thalia asked, managing to keep the waver in her voice under control.

"They, Lieutenant." Thalia froze. Of course. Why would Percy and Annabeth be here, with Estelle? If Estelle was here, that meant...

"Percy's parents?" Thalia whispered. She couldn't breathe. And when Artemis nodded sadly, Thalia felt her legs quiver beneath her. In an instant, Reyna was by her side, supporting her and Percy, as Thalia's world came crashing down around her.

Annabeth...Sally...Paul...

And as if the Fates had ordained it (which they likely had, because gods forbid that any story involving Greek demigods didn't involve tragedy), Percy suddenly let out a huge gasp, and his eyes shot open. In her shock, Thalia dropped him into the waves. He was gone for one second, two seconds, three...and then the water where Percy had vanished beneath the waves erupted, the son of Poseidon standing up to his full height, looking around wildly. His gaze swept over Reyna, herself, and Artemis, before focusing fully on Thalia.

"...Lia?" He croaked, his voice hoarse.

And in that moment, Thalia felt her walls come crushing down, and she embraced him, crying out in both relief and utter sorrow.

A/N: This takes place after Trials of Apollo, as Reyna's presence in the Hunt may have tipped you all off. After several rough drafts, this is ultimately what came out of it. I'm still not fully satisfied with it, truth be told, but that could just be my perfectionist nature acting up.

Anyway, this is the first serious bit of fiction I have written in a very long time. I've been bouncing around several story ideas, but this one is what I would consider my main project. I feel that Percy and Thalia have a lot of unexplored potential that was sadly robbed via Thalia being put on a bus after one book, so I wanted to explore this dynamic a bit more, especially in a more tense situation where there is no Annabeth to be the main heroine.

This story will alternate POVs, primarily focusing on Percy and Thalia, and I'm aiming for it to be a bit of a heavy story. I'll admit it's a bit out of my usual style, but as much as I love what Rick does with his characters, I wanted to give our hero a final story, and bring everyone's favorite punk along for the ride.