The Awakening of Thalia
Chiron, Percy, Annabeth, and Grover quickly made their way toward the infirmary, though Annabeth was nearly outpacing all of them, hurrying ahead with a smile she couldn't hide. But the moment they reached the entrance, a noise made all of them stop for a second.
"Where's Luke? Where's Annabeth?" a shout came from inside, followed by the sound of something smashing against the floor.
A son of Apollo immediately came out through the door looking a little frightened, probably because of the patient's hysterical outburst.
But the moment he saw Chiron there, he quickly calmed down.
"Sorry, Chiron. We tried to calm her down, but she's still really agitated after waking up," the young camper said quickly.
"It's fine. Don't worry about it," Chiron said, just as Annabeth became the first one to cross through the door.
Percy followed behind her, still remaining silent.
The moment he stepped inside, he saw the entire room was a mess, with objects scattered all over the place; and Thalia, standing in the middle of it all, staring at Annabeth with a look of complete confusion. Like she was trying to match that face to a memory that, for her, was only a few days old, but for Annabeth had been several years.
Meanwhile, Annabeth was looking at her with pure joy, even with tears in her eyes.
As if she had waited for that moment for so long that she didn't even know how to react anymore.
Percy stepped in just as the two of them were staring at each other, causing Thalia's gaze to shift toward him. The moment she saw him, she frowned.
"You…" she said, her face turning furious; maybe remembering the first and last time she had seen him, which had been when he beat the hell out of Luke.
She looked around until her eyes landed on her own spear, which was resting beside her bed in the infirmary, and grabbed it without hesitation. At the same time, one of the many bracelets she wore suddenly glowed with a silver light, and a shield quickly formed.
When that happened, Percy couldn't help but feel a slight chill as he looked at it, while the figure in the center of it felt strangely familiar to him.
But he didn't focus on that too much.
"Oh, great," Percy said, already knowing what was coming. "Why do people leave weapons near injured patients?" he couldn't help but add.
"Guys?" Grover said, surprised by what he had just walked into.
Thalia charged straight at Percy while Annabeth shouted:
"Thalia!"
The tip of Thalia's spear shot directly toward Percy's chest in a brutal strike. Percy instantly moved his hand to his waist, pulling his sword from his bag and barely lifting it in time to stop the attack with the blade.
"Percy!" Annabeth called out again, trying to stop both of them.
But Thalia didn't listen, quickly pulling her spear back before slamming her shield toward Percy.
He jerked his head back as the edge of Thalia's shield passed just inches from his chin.
But right after that, a spear lit with electricity came straight for his stomach.
Percy quickly defended himself with his sword, striking the tip of the spear and knocking it aside while the electricity shot toward the wall, instantly leaving a scorched hole in it.
Thalia didn't stop there and spun her whole body, slamming her shield toward Percy's chest again, using the momentum of the turn to increase the force behind it.
Thalia didn't give him even a second to breathe.
Percy ducked immediately, dodging the blow. But as he did, he saw Thalia's foot instantly coming toward his face, forcing him to roll to the side to avoid it, just before the crackling spear came down from above again like a whip made of lightning.
"Tsk." Percy made a slightly annoyed face at being stuck on the defensive and quickly raised his sword above his head, stopping the spear. Then he shifted his wrist just slightly, angling the blade of his sword and causing the spear to slide downward, still letting out electricity that made his arms tingle and even hurt a little; but he clenched his teeth and endured it.
Then Thalia's shield came at his face again.
"FUS," Percy said, and a sudden burst of wind threw Thalia off balance, shaking her for just a moment. That was enough for Percy to shove the shield aside with his hand and open up her guard.
And his fist moved with full force straight toward her face.
"Percy!" Annabeth shouted.
Making Percy's punch stop right in front of Thalia's face, whose eyes widened slightly as she felt a faint gust hit her skin from the restrained force behind that blow, which without a doubt would have knocked her out cold.
"Please, stop. This won't solve anything," Grover added immediately.
Percy quickly took a few steps back and cleared his throat.
"Well, Annabeth… she attacked me first," he said quickly, excusing himself while looking at her. Annabeth had a serious expression on her face now, watching both of them.
Thalia came out of her daze when she heard the name that had left Percy's mouth, and slowly turned her gaze back toward Annabeth.
"Annabeth?" she asked with a confused expression.
Blonde hair, gray eyes, the same face as always… only time hadn't stood still for Annabeth.
"Yes," Annabeth said, smiling again as she looked at her.
Percy watched the two of them for a moment before looking away and letting out a sigh, feeling like it would be better to wait outside.
Because honestly, someone was going to have to explain way too many things to her in way too little time.
Especially when Percy saw the seal of the Champion of Olympus on Thalia's hand, which, unlike Percy's own, was an image of the Empire State that looked a lot like the ones on golden drachmas.
Which, for some reason, made Percy feel pretty satisfied, because his own champion symbol, the one that represented his pantheon and his master, was way cooler.
And they would definitely have to explain to Thalia why she now had a really ugly tattoo on her hand.
As Percy walked out with a faint smile, like he had already won something, Thalia couldn't help but frown at that.
"Annabeth… how long was I…? Where's Luke? What happened? Did we make it to camp?" Thalia immediately bombarded her with questions, just like Percy had expected, making Annabeth open and close her mouth without knowing where to even begin.
Thankfully, Chiron stepped in to help her.