Like I said, this is the second in the three-shot Godchildshipping series. If you do not approve of the pairing, please don't read it. You should probably read Silent Wind, my first one-shot-of-three first.

Disclaimer: Percy, Thalia, Annabeth, other PJO references Not. Mine. I don't really need to make this any more clear.

After I got back from his apartment, I took a shower. You can never be sure whether or not Artemis could still sniff out the boy on you. I remember last year, when Lily got caught (she had been out with Stephen way past our allotted break period, and had arrived back with her bra strapped on backwards and a brazen blush to her face). Artemis had took one gentle whiff of her skin, and pronounced her a disgrace.

She was banished to live with satyrs, and dance to their ridiculously dorky songs.

I don't know why I had even bothered, myself.

Yet I still organized that spontaneous rendez-vous, to catch up with Percy. He hasn't been quite the same, since we got back from that quest for Atlas.

Maybe it was just the fact that he looked so lonely, so forgotten (Annabeth says she bugs him often, but he still looks so dull). I could tell he'd been drinking, too. The smell of sloe gin was so obvious…why was he depressed?

I let the stream of semi-warm droplets shower over me. Their pitter-patter seemed to dim on my skin, and almost seemed to become silent, feathery touches. They swept away the scent Percy's cologne (it smelled so damn good), and the rest of that sticky foundation I had poured over myself. My skin turned from a lovely tan to my usual creamy ivory. The bunches of blonde Annabeth-hair felt out of my head like limp leaves in Autumn, revealing a thick wave of black hair.

My disguise was gone.

But he was barely paying attention to what I was saying, anyways.

What was the guy thinking?

God, it was annoying.

I had tried my best to not draw attention to my eyes. Every pair of contact lenses I fitted on couldn't hide Zeus' sparkling deep blue. The gray lenses had only made my irises look like a cross between a mutated violet and murky brown.

And then he said it. He said those words that changed my life.

I thought that, for eternity, I would be unloved. Forever the one abandoned, the one singled out for being Zeus' cute little daughter.

"I miss Thalia."

I sucked in my breath.

"I didn't realize it, but I really loved her, Annabeth. Now she's gone and I miss her so much."

I was close to tears by then.

This wasn't supposed to happen.

He had always loved Annabeth. Always reserved that look of admiration for her, not me. Always looked up to me more like a sister than anything else. More like a sibling. I was one year older than him, Godammit.

But, the fact is, I really like Percy, too.

The water in my shower was still hot and running, shattering the walls of my heart. It was finally breaking through those bonds that I had kept up for so long. It washed away all my tears, filled my soul, drowning all my old fears. It felt as if I was being touched by an angel, with love. This invisible, silent rain, struck like lightening in a midsummer storm.

Those dormant feelings, they were all gushing forth, swift as any meducoid snake, any Cerberean head.

But I couldn't hurt Annabeth. She was my friend.

I could hear Annabeth in the background, swearing under her breath.

"Shit."

That's right. Shit.

Annabeth walked away. Left me alone with Percy.

Then we got attacked.

"Where is your baseball cap, Annabeth?"

I thought I'd nearly blow it. Real Annabeth was the one eavesdropping under her invisible-hat. I didn't have it, and I really hoped that Percy didn't notice.

After that, I somehow wound up in Percy's arms.

It felt so lovely.

And so wrong.

I told Percy that Annabeth was still friends with him. No matter what he did, she would always be there for her. I know she would. She'd just keep her love restrained from now on.

I'm afraid I can't say the same thing for myself; I've got angry Artemis to tend to.

Seriously, I have no idea why I ever bothered joining their little club.

I redirected the water fountain, and ended the soothing shower.

Oh, yeah. It was Zoë.

Rubbing myself dry with a towel and spraying on a small amount of heavily-scented rose-petal perfume, I stepped out of the bath.

Karenna was waiting outside.

"Hey Thali, what's up?" the little brown-haired girl looked up at me with innocent azure blue eyes. We were both Hunters, and ever since I had joined, Karenna (being exactly a century older than me) had decided to buddy up with me.

Actually, it was Artemis' plan. By building up strong connections between sisters, we can avoid unnecessary contact between creatures of the opposite sex.

But that didn't stop Lily from trying to elope.

Or me, still harboring a little love for Percy.

"Nothing, really," I slipped on an extra bathrobe over my nightgown.

"Thali," she whispered, grabbing my hand, "I need to talk to you."

We left the bathing area and entered the inner chambers. No one was in the room, and the marbled-walls glinted rather ominously. There was never a time when I haven't had a sense of foreboding when I went to sleep in this room.

"What do you want?" I sighed. My head was beginning to spin.

"Well, recently," Karenna looked up at me, then looked down. Her eyes didn't seem to want to settle anywhere, and she looked rather guilty, like a small child caught stealing a pack of gum at the drugstore.

"I, I met this boy."

Uh, oh. This can't be good.

"I think he's rather good-looking. His name's Travis. He's a demi-god, like what you were before you became a Hunter, and he gave me these when we went to visit Camp Half-Blood. He's a counselor there."

Her hands held out a pair of intricately-wrought emerald earrings.

I sat down, and stared at them, "They're beautiful."

"Travis wants me to quit the Hunters."

I looked into her eyes, "Do you want to quit?"

Karenna glanced at my stony look, "W-Well, that is, um, if Artemis doesn't –" she let out a breath of air, "yesIreallywanttoquit." She bowed her head, almost as if she was shielding herself from my definite lecture.

I looked at the little girl. She appeared so innocent, but she was at least one hundred and twenty years old, "you will do," I murmured, and reached out to pat my friend's back, "what you think is best."

And then, I knew what I had to do.

"What?" her voice was soft and deadly.

I swallowed.

"I-I, I can't stay here anymore."

"But," Artemis' voice was dark and her expression fierce, "You promised. You recited the Hunters' Oath. You said that you would banish your filthy mind of all thoughts of men and boys."

"My mind," I muttered, "is not filthy."

Artemis gave a bitter laugh, "oh, you humans. You'll never understand the purpose of this, will you? You don't become a Hunter just because you want to take the place of another girl – you join because you have set your mind to it. You join, because you know that the males in history have all, at some point, cheated on or disgraced their female counterparts. You join, because you know and despise them. I guess I haven't taught you a thing during your stay here, right?"

I brushed my hair against my ears, "You didn't teach me anything."

"It's a pity," Artemis smiled jeeringly, her pretty features mocking my every word, "you're such a beautiful girl, too. To think that you would want to throw away looking forever like that for some boy…"

"I'm not leaving for a boy."

"Why else are you abandoning such a wonderful life, then? The only reason any woman would try to leave the Hunters, which, in itself is quite a big mistake, is to go meet up with some gods-forsaken man. You girls are all the same. The only one who's ever been faithful to me was Zoe," her eyes softened at the name, but only grew more icy and distant as the young goddess glared at me, "whereas you…you pathetic excuse for a Hunter. Normally, I wouldn't care whether or not you leave, but tomorrow's the second day of the Sacred Hunt, and we cannot lose a member at such an important time –"

"…then there will be another member. I'll take Thalia's place in the Hunt."

I wheeled around, just as a tall, blonde head revealed itself from underneath a magical baseball cap.

"Annabeth, don't…"

"I don't need your sympathy, Thalia," her voice was cold as she spat out every word with a un-Annabeth-like contempt, "you've already stolen everything from me. It's only right for me to take your spot in the Sacred Hunt."

I couldn't do anything. I just watched, standing there on the cold stone floor, my mouth gaping open as my once-friend Annabeth Chase swore herself into the sorority of eternal life.

It was the most depressing moment in my whole life.

I left to pack up.

Outside, the silent rain poured out its soul.

A/N: Now that, that was rather depressing. I think I should've read the 4th book before I posted this, but I will read it directly afterwards. I don't know if this will be AU or OOC...

And, PLEASE.PLEASE.PLEASE don't flame because of the pairing. I don't know how many times I've had to repeat this. But there was still someone who did it. Shame on you (however, it was worthless to remember who it was).

Thanks for reading! Leave a review! Constructive criticism, light flaming (not of pairing) is very much appreciated. Just REVIEW, for God's sake.