Thalia- Demigod

She snuck around the corner dodging in and out of the lights. She didn't know why she was sneaking away. She could just walk out. Hades, she could've light fire works and no one would've come. There was nothing left to stop her.

Except herself.

Her hand wrapped itself around the handle of her dagger. Her bow was strapped to her back along with her quiver and small back pack. The streets were empty, with the occasional flickering of the lights. 

It reminded her of a better time. When Luke, Annabeth and her were all together, braving the streets and fighting monsters. A tear fell down her face. They acted like a family. They took care of each other. They trusted each other. Her breath grew shaky as she tried to hold back the sobs. How could that have ended? Why couldn't they have just stayed in that fantasy forever? Luke never would've gone bad and sacrificed himself for the greater good. She never would've become a tree, a big stupid pine tree. Annabeth never would've fallen in love and then into Tartatrus. And most definately she wouldn't have been the only survior of the family.

She wiped her tears on the worn fur of her silver parka. She walked down the road. She wanted to fight. Not hide. She wanted the mortals to cower before her as she wrecked havoc on them like they did to them. She wanted so badly to strike a megaton lightning bolt into their percious white plated building and make them pay for bringing the sadness to her life. 

But she couldn't.

She didn't know what was stopping her, but she couldn't make herself leave the borders of town. To see the damage. To look around and remember the memories made in the different places.

The world she knew was burned to the ground.

The life she wanted was burned to ash.

The future she planned had gone up in smoke.

Everything she knew, or wanted, or dreamed, died the moment Lou Ellen entered the Hospital wing with Leo's smoking body, Screaming and crying.

She had been in there to check on one of her hunters. Her only hunter. The only one who survived. 

Lou Ellen was sobbing as she handed the body to the nearest Apollo camper. She was choking on her tears and her blue robes were singed. Her face and hands were burned severly, but from the hysterical crying she made, She doubted that Lou Ellen even felt it.

She found herself comforting the distressed daughter of Hectate. Magic symbols that had been drawn on her clothes in what looked like orange marker, cracked and popped, Making her nervous to be holding Lou Ellen.

Nyssa came running around the corner, her face was red, though she could tell it wasn't from running hard. 

"What happened?" She demanded. If she hasn't known any better She would've assumed Nyssa was close to tears herself.

"F-F-Fire." Lou Ellen choked. "Tried t-to save t-them. S-she was already d-d-d-"  multiple signs on her jeans popped with a heart breaking sound as she burst into more sobs. She got a sinking feeling in her stomach.

Nyssa tried to calm Lou Ellen down. "Breathe, honey. Breathe. Deep breath. slower. -"

"Who?!" She interrupted. "Who was already dead?"

Lou Ellen looked at her with watery eyes and whimpered. more tears came falling down her face. "A-annab-beth." She wailed. "I'm Sorry! T-there was a-a knife in h-her ch-chest! I couldn't do a-anything."

She froze. Stiff. disbelief. Horror. Denial. pain. Fear. Hate. Anger.

Emotions so complicated she couldn't even comprehend them.

Annabeth. Was. Dead.

Annabeth was dead.

Annie was dead.

Something in her broke. Something she couldn't fix. Something so deep and painful it was the only thing she could feel.

"-Calm down! it's okay!" Nyssa tried to tell her. But she, too, was covered in tears. "It's going to be fine-!"

She stumbled gasping for breath. Suddenly she didn't have enough. Her body started shaking, she felt her knees buckle. She grabbed the wall but gravity pulled her down.

Then the worst part happened. Something wet trailed down her face. Then another. And another. And then...

She couldn't stop.

She hugged her knees close to herself, crying. She had gone numb. Her fingers wrapped tightly around her legs, her chest heaved for oxygen. Her mind kept repaying the same words over and over.

Annabeth was dead.

And it hurt. The pain inside. It felt like someone had ripped her open and tore out her heart. It hurt worse than when Luke had died--and she had cried for two weeks non stop.

She just wanted the pain to stop. She wanted the tears to stop. She wanted the sadness to end.

She didn't know how long she stayed there. It could have been hours or days. She didn't move or eat or sleep. But then something else in her clicked and whirled. And slowly the sniffling died out. The tears dried up. Her breath turn to normal. She stared at the wall across from her.

She felt something beyond anger. Beyond hate. She felt pure undeniable rage.

And she embraced it.

Nyssa and Lou Ellen were gone by the time She got up. No one had stopped her from leaving, as she walked trance like out the doors. They were too busy surrounding a crying Hermione. She didn't stop to look at the body on a stretcher that had a white cover on it.

Katie and Travis stood nearby. Katie was trembling. Travis turned away as she walked by, a look of certain despair. She trotted to the nearest house, not caring if anyone was there. She packed a bag. She was leaving.

At least that was the plan.

That was four hours ago.

She wandered down to the empty side of town. No cars came. No sounds were made. It was...

Quiet.

No it wasn't that. It was...

Lonely.

Empty.

Abandoned.

She shivered at the word. That horrid word. Then she stumbled. Thoughts and memories jumbled through her brain. Her breathing got labored again. She grabbed onto a street light trying to steady herself. everything came at her like a blur. She felt like she swallowed a frog.

Her feet stumbled warily on the uneven ground.

She forced back throw up. Her throat was raw. She blinked back tears.

She fell to her bloody knee, too exhausted to feel the pain. The weight on her shoulder shifted and her body ached. A sob escaped her mouth.

"Give up Thalia."

"Give in."

"Let go."

"Join the rest of your hunters in the underworld."

Guilt weld up in her until it felt like she was going to puke. She shouldn't be alive. She shouldn't be allowed to walk away with only a few marks and bruises.

"Don't..."

Thalia twisted painfully. "What?"

"Don't...listen..." Phoboe croaked. "You...did...what was...right. You saved...me..." The older girl's voice trailed off as she took uneven, shotty breaths.

"I let everyone die." Thalia said. "I should've died in their place."

" What?" Phoboe gasped. "What...could you...have done? "

Thalia looked at the girl leaning heavily on her shoulder. She winced noticing a trickle of blood seeping down her forehead. Despite the terrible shape she was in, with a twisted ankle, several open cuts, and a gun wound in her arm, Phoboe had stumped her. What could she have done? 

Phoboe grimaced, as close to a smile as she could manage. "See?" She gasped "Nothing...would've...changed...except....I would....be....dea-"  She broke into a coughing fit, her throat raw and gasping for air. Thalia felt panic engulf her.

"No!" She shrieked. "Phoboe stay with me! breathe! In...Out...In...Out!"

Phoboe gasped, wheezing painfully, before resuming her original position on Thalia side. Her head lopped back, her eyes staring at the gray cloudy sky.

She needed medical attention. She needed now.

Thalia forged on fueled by a desperate need to save her friend. But inside she was slowly dwindling away. She tried to pretend like she was strong. She could make it over the hill, no doubt. Her friends could help.

In truth she wasn't sure she could make it another five steps, much less climb the hill.

"For Phoboe." She kept muttering, like the words would give her power. "For Phoboe. Keep Fighting."

Her head spun, thoughts blurred together like paints, the ground under her seemed to shake like water. She wanted to let go. She wanted to give up. She wanted to sleep forever.She closed her eyes and forced herself to think.

Left foot....Right foot....For Phoboe...Left foot...Right foot...Keep fighting...

She stumbled.

She opened her eyes, confused as to why her face was in the dirt. Phoboe wheezed harshly, and Thalia brought her head up. Camp. Relief swelled in her...

Until she saw the tree.

Until she saw the remains of her tree.

They had been here. They had hurt her camp. They had hurt her Hunters. And They dare go near her home?!

She stared down the hill, caught between white hot fury and a complete meltdown. Her hand tightened around Phoboe, who inhaled sharply seeing the chaos.

Hate bubbled in her.

The cabins were gone, mere ashes in the grass. The big house had been torn apart, a smattering of wood and objects. Glass sprayed everywhere and a foul stench eroded from everywhere. Blood. Fire. Smoke. The strawberry fields were partially burned and trampled, the lake turned an uninviting black color. The forest leaves and the trees themselves looked dead. The campfire was overturned and broken, the arena looked like it had been run over a bulldozer. The entire camp had been emptied. Everything was abandoned.

Only one thing stood wavering in the wind. One sick thing.

A flag. In the middle of the clearing.

Red, White, Blue.

Electricity sparked through her. Her eyes glowed viciously. Thunder boomed above her, wind whipped about. With her one free hand she pointed it at the flag and...

She fell to her knees a feeling of sick righteousness zipping through her. The flag was a contoured mess of metal and ash. They dared touched her home. They dared burn her tree. They dare attack her Hunters.

She barely heard the click click of a safety. Her eyes caught the unnerving blackness of the protective armor. Her throat started to close up. Her mind was a shallow mess. She didn't have the energy to stand. But she glared into the cold eyes of the man with the gun, and he flinched away.

"Mortal." She hissed. "You've doomed your race."

She couldn't fight him. She could barely hold up Phoboe. But if she was going to die, she'd do it the hard way.

Electricity cracked between her fingertips and the hair on the back of her neck stood up. He had a direct shot. His finger was pulling....

Lightning arched in the sky. It struck downwards impaling the man. His body shook and wiggled. Thalia let go and the man fell.

She breathed hard. The earth spiraled forward to meet her.

"Thalia!" She heard someone yell. She slipped into darkness.

She racked away the tears. Everything left so real. The pain. She had never found out who brought her there. She never had said a thank you. Even if she knew who it was, if she could walk up to them and say it, she wasn't sure would.

She wished she had died there at camp. She would have been spared the pain. What was it to be a survivor if there was nothing left to fight for?

She pushed away from the light pole, barging into the nearest house. sobs escaped her lips and she felt pain flood her. Pain from long ago. Pain she had forbidden herself to feel. When her mom abandoned Jason, leaving him to grow up away from her, when she gave up her life to save Luke and Annabeth, when Luke reveled his intentions as Kronos host.

"That idiot." She sobbed, slamming into a wall. "I loved him!"

There she admitted it. She loved Luke. She never stopped loving him, even after he turned bad, even after he died. That's why she was a hunter. That's why she swore off men.

Her sobs echoed faintly in the room. She cried until she couldn't breath and then cried some more.

By the time she had dozed off to a pathetic whimper light of early dawn was seeping in.

In through the open glass doors.

And Thalia realized she hadn't been alone.

She looked at the blurry figure of the boy, his chest lifting and falling, barely. He looked in pain, twitching and muttering one word over and over "Reyna."

He looked like death. He needed medical attention. Thalia sucked in a breath.

What was it to be a survivor if there was nothing left to fight for?

Right foot....Left foot....Keep fighting...Right foot...Left foot...

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Just so you know that part with the flag was only there for emphasize. I myself am a proud American I apologize for any offense that might cause.

~Greenninjagal