Chapter Text
ᴀ ʜᴀʟꜰ-ʙʟᴏᴏᴅ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜᴇ ᴇʟᴅᴇꜱᴛ ɢᴏᴅꜱ,
ꜱʜᴀʟʟ ʀᴇᴀᴄʜ ꜱɪxᴛᴇᴇɴ ᴀɢᴀɪɴꜱᴛ ᴀʟʟ ᴏᴅᴅꜱ,
ᴀɴᴅ ꜱᴇᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴏʀʟᴅ ɪɴ ᴇɴᴅʟᴇꜱꜱ ꜱʟᴇᴇᴘ,
ᴛʜᴇ ʜᴇʀᴏ'ꜱ ꜱᴏᴜʟ, ᴄᴜʀꜱᴇᴅ ʙʟᴀᴅᴇ ꜱʜᴀʟʟ ʀᴇᴀᴘ,
ᴀ ꜱɪɴɢʟᴇ ᴄʜᴏɪᴄᴇ ꜱʜᴀʟʟ ᴇɴᴅ ʜɪꜱ ᴅᴀʏꜱ,
ᴏʟʏᴍᴘᴜꜱ ᴛᴏ ᴘʀᴇꜱᴇʀᴠᴇ ᴏʀ ʀᴀᴢᴇ.
Thalia Grace could only watch as Kronos struck Annabeth, flinging her fragile, broken body away from him. Blood roared in her ears as Annabeth's crumpled form hit the ground with a muffled but painful thud. She desperately tried to move closer to her friend, but it was like wading through a sea of honey.
Luke - no, Kronos, she reminded herself as he turned molten gold eyes on her - smirked at her pathetic effort and tilted his head, slowing time around her even more. Even with every ounce of her willpower, she couldn't manage even a centimeter forward. She could only watch as Kronos loomed over Annabeth, his sword raised to make a fatal blow.
"Annabeth!" Thalia screamed, her vocal chords ripping themselves apart as Annabeth spun around to face the Titan Lord. Thalia felt tears pricking at her eyes as her desperation grew. She knew that Annabeth wouldn't be able to take Kronos by herself. Not because she wasn't strong - Annabeth was one of the strongest people Thalia knew - but because her enemy was wearing the face of Luke Castellan.
Kronos's lips twisted in a cruel smile as he zoned in on her, the muscles in Luke's arms tensing as he readied his blade.
Annabeth wasn't moving away from him.
What was she doing?
Kronos was ready to strike her down, snuff out her life like it meant nothing, and she wasn't even trying to escape her fate.
"Family, Luke," Annabeth croaked out. "You promised..."
Kronos faltered in his advance toward her.
Something shifted in his eyes.
His knees suddenly buckled and he nearly toppled to the ground right in front of her. He gasped out.
It wasn't a sound of pain, like Thalia would have expected it to be. It was more like the sound of someone who had nearly drowned finally getting the air they needed back into their lungs. A sound of both desperation and bone-crushing relief. "Promise..." His expression creased for a moment. Then it cleared. "Annabeth."
The viscous air enveloping Thalia let up slightly. Her hand flew to her mouth as she choked out a sob at the sound of her oldest friend's voice. Luke, she mouthed, not trusting herself to say his name aloud. Silent tears trailed down her dirt and blood-encrusted cheeks.
"You're bleeding..." the familiar voice continued. Luke's eyes betrayed infinite sadness as they raked over Annabeth's damaged body.
"My knife." Annabeth grunted and struggled to raise her dagger. It fell out of her hand, clattering onto the ground. Luke's eyes followed it, but he didn't move away or toward it. Annabeth's gaze found Thalia's, her expression imploring and grief-stricken. Everything suddenly clicked in Thalia's head. She knew what Annabeth was thinking. "Thalia..."
Thalia paced forward, noticing she no longer met any form of resistance. She made her way to the fallen knife and gingerly picked it up, her fingers shaky against its cursed hilt. Luke's gaze shot to her. His weapon slipped from his grasp at the sight of his former friends - his former family - standing before him, hurt and damaged as a direct result of his own actions. Thalia took an extra step to place herself in between him and Annabeth. His attention was now completely on her. Good.
Luke's lips parted to say something. Thalia wasn't sure what it would be. She didn't even know if she could bring herself to listen to whatever he said. An apology, a plea for her understanding - but she never got to figure it out. His body started to glow, pulsating with a horrible golden light. A broken cry escaped his lips and he convulsed on himself with pain.
"He's changing," Luke shouted. "He won't need my body anymore... Please-"
"NO!"
Thalia nearly jumped back when the roaring voice of Kronos clanged through the tense air, shattering the strained calm between three old friends. Luke's face grew unnaturally cruel and angry once more. He spun around, his hand grasping for something that wasn't there. Thalia quickly kicked his weapon out of reach. It skidded against the marble floors and hit a far wall with a low echo.
Kronos sneered at Thalia and slapped her away before she could react. She landed on the floor, sprawled next to Annabeth, her head making a harsh impact with an object behind her that she didn't care to identify.
"Thalia," Annabeth whispered. "Hero... Cursed blade..."
"I know," Thalia murmured.
Kronos didn't even make it half the distance to his weapon when, all of a sudden, his knees collapsed on themselves. He grunted, his face screwed up in pain as he slowly turned towards Thalia and Annabeth. Thalia clutched Annabeth's knife and forced herself to her feet. She knew with a sinking heart what she had to do now.
"You can't do it yourself," Luke breathed, as if he knew exactly what she was thinking. "He'll break my control, d-defend himself... Only my hand..." His skin radiated with a brighter light. Thalia hastily brought a hand over her eyes to shield her vision, never letting her guard down, her hand clamped down on the hilt of Annabeth's knife like her life depended on it. Smoke began to emit from Luke's skin.
Luke cried out. Thalia felt sick watching her old friend in such agony while there was nothing she could do but stand there and watch. "Please... No time." Thalia knew he was right. Maybe it would be a few seconds, maybe it would be a few minutes, but eventually Kronos would grow strong enough to cast away Luke's body and assume his true form. When that happened, none of them stood a chance.
The hero's soul cursed blade shall reap.
Thalia steeled herself, praying to whoever was listening that she was making the right call. The whole world depended on it.
She handed her oldest friend the means of his death.
She stood, completely defenseless and exposed, as Luke took hold of the bronze weapon. She watched as he slowly unlatched a piece of his armor. An Achilles Heel, she realized with a shock. Kronos must have forced him to bathe in the Styx. Oh, Luke...
Luke's eyes closed as he readied the tip of the dagger. He brought back his hand and made a sharp motion downwards. His aim would be impeccable as always. Thalia braced herself-
But the knife never made it.
Luke's arm suddenly seized up as if time had slowed down around him instead. His fingers shook violently. Panic rose like a tidal wave in Thalia's chest, her fight or flight instinct going off, and she surged forward with every intention of stabbing her best friend.
She couldn't move either. Her limbs froze up, her head the only part of her body capable of movement. "What in Zeus's name...?" she muttered.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you."
Thalia whipped her head around to see a single boy standing near the entrance to the Throne Room. His left hand was in the pockets of his jeans, his right hand raised in a lazy gesture. Sea-green eyes were narrowed in intense concentration, his focus never leaving Luke's hand.
Abruptly, Thalia realized that this kid was the reason neither she nor Luke could move.
"Percy?"
Luke's voice betrayed his bewilderment as his gaze fell on the raven-haired boy. The boy raised his eyebrows faintly as he walked over, his strides steady and confident, his posture never wavering. Beams of golden light broke through Luke's skin and he screamed in agony. The boy wordlessly plucked Annabeth's knife from Luke's hand and threw it aside offhandedly.
"What are you doing?" Thalia cried out. She grunted, the veins in her neck bulging as she tried her hardest to launch herself at this kid - to simply knock him out or pummel him, she didn't know - but in any case, her efforts were in vain.
"Quiet." The boy didn't even spare her a glance, his attention on Kronos.
Thalia stubbornly tried again. "Don't you understand what's happening? We're all going to die if Kronos leaves Luke's body. We have to end him now! Why are you helping him?"
This time, the boy offered her a glare, his eyebrows raised as if appraising her. He took a step closer, lowering his hand and sliding it back into his pockets. The hold over Thalia's limbs didn't let up. Thalia bit her lip, feeling genuine fear not for the first time that day. Who was this kid?
"You're Thalia Grace." It wasn't a question. The boy tilted his head as a thoughtful expression replaced his look of concentration. Thalia didn't find the strength in herself to ask how in the world he knew that. It shouldn't have come as a surprise to her, considering he was working for Kronos. "Luke's friend."
"He's in pain," Thalia whispered, ashamed to realize that it came out as a sob. As much as she resented Luke for how much he had hurt her and Annabeth, she wouldn't wish this fate upon anyone. He deserved to die as a hero, even if it meant sacrificing himself. Were the Fates so cruel that they wouldn't even grant him this mercy?
The boy nodded nonchalantly, though she caught a flicker of grief in the depths of his eyes. It struck her how young he was. He couldn't be less than a year younger than her, around fifteen. What was a boy like that doing with Kronos of all beings? She had never seen him at Camp Half-Blood before or anywhere else. Where were his parents?
This had to be a form he was taking, Thalia concluded uneasily. A disguise. No demigod could have managed what he was doing to both herself and Luke. The kid must be an immortal taking the form of a young boy. That could be the only explanation.
Luke screamed and he fell on his knees, his skin cracking apart. The boy's gaze shot to Thalia and Annabeth, who was looking on the scene with poorly-disguised horror. "If you want to live," the boy told them, "get yourselves out now. His presence will be too much for you to handle once he breaks free."
"No," Annabeth protested. "Then Kronos will take over Olympus. He'll take over the world from here. Millions will die. We can't just let that happen!"
"I'm going to give you twenty seconds to leave," the boy said calmly, not the slightest bit perturbed by Annabeth's plea, "and if you're still here, I won't lift a finger to save you. If you want to go out like that, fine, I could care less, but I for one would want to live to fight another day. Look around you. You can't even move unless I allow it. What do you think you can possibly do to stop him?"
Thalia exchanged glances with Annabeth. She hated it, but the boy was right. There was nothing that could be done now. They might have stood a chance against Kronos before, but with this boy in the equation, all their hopes for victory had vanished into thin air.
She was going to hate herself for the rest of her life and she knew it. She had let everyone down. She was supposed to be the prophesied hero who would save Olympus. Thalia chuckled bitterly. Some hero she turned out to be.
If she had been a little bit braver, she thought, she would have held her ground and gone down fighting. She would die, but at least she wouldn't give up. A hero wouldn't do that.
A hero wouldn't run away, dooming the world to an era of terror and death.
But that's precisely what she did.