A/N: I have always had a secret soft spot for this pairing. It just seems right.

(No pun intended, considering the title of this one-shot...)

w / r / o / n / g

Sometimes things just went a little too far. It didn't matter that you were enjoying yourself. It didn't matter if you were happier than you'd ever been in your life. It didn't matter that you were in love.

Because before you knew it, you were on the edge of the canyon, one step away from falling in, from plummeting downward and sending yourself to a rocky death.

Thalia – Thalia, who was betraying the trust of her mistress; Thalia, who was setting herself up for disappointment; Thalia, who knew full well what she was doing and needed to end it - was on the edge of the canyon.

She wasn't sure if sneaking out to meet Apollo at an ungodly hour such as three AM was a step into the canyon or a step away from it. She hoped that even if this was close to sending her into a freefall, voicing the thoughts that had been haunting her would be like the rope that she would cling to, that would save her life.

"What's wrong?" Apollo tightened his grasp on Thalia's waist, resting his head on her shoulder from behind. Thalia didn't answer; only clenched her jaw. Apollo noticed this, narrowing his eyes in scrutiny. "Something's wrong."

Thalia Grace closed her eyes, letting his words sink in.

Something's wrong.

Yes, something's very, very wrong.

"You're right," she admitted softly. She glanced down to where his fingers were locked together, resting lightly on her stomach. She winced at the sight, reaching down immediately and pulling his individual fingers out of the embrace, like taking apart a puzzle or unlacing a corset. "Something's wrong." She removed herself from his arms and – taking note of the slight chill in the air now that she wasn't basking in the sun god's warmth – turned to face Apollo solemnly. "This is wrong."

Apollo's blue eyes widened, darkened by the nighttime atmosphere. He blinked slowly. Once. Twice. Then, as if suddenly realizing, he reached out to take Thalia in his arms once more. She moved away rapidly.

"It's wrong," she insisted brokenly. He could hear the tiny traces of emotion leaking through her tough exterior. Her armor was cracked.

Apollo shook his head, chuckling bitterly.

He'd seen this coming, obviously. What kind of god of prophecy didn't even know that his would-be lover was planning to end things before they even really started?

He'd seen it coming, but he'd been hoping to put it off for as long as possible.

"If…if that's really what you want," he whispered, hoping fervently that that wasn't the case.

Thalia turned away from him, looking over the promontory at the churning black ocean below.

"Yes," she whimpered simply. No.

The lie was sloppy, and obvious, and not carefully crafted. So much so that the god of truth didn't even notice it.

"Oh," Apollo replied blankly.

What else was he meant to say?

"I…oh."

Exactly.

Two minutes passed. Three. Thalia had said nothing, apparently infatuated with the dark waters. Apollo had said nothing, either, obviously infatuated with the girl standing only a few feet away from him.

"Why is it wrong?" he asked her, taking a few steps closer. Thalia tensed at the sound of his footfall.

"You know why it's wrong, Apollo," she answered tersely.

"No, I don't!" Apollo argued, approaching Thalia less hesitantly now. "I don't see how something that feels so…so right…could even conceivably be wrong."

"Apollo, please-" Thalia watched as a jagged wave carried a discarded water bottle out to sea. "-you know that it's hard to talk about."

"Well, it shouldn't be," he insisted fierily. "This shouldn't be so difficult, Thalia. I'm the god of prophecy, gods damn it. I should see everything and know everything without much effort. And you're making this hard for me."

"Me?" Thalia uttered disbelievingly. "Making this hard for you? How hard do you think this is for me, Apollo? I was perfectly content serving your sister until you…you…"

"Until I what?" Apollo asked pointedly. "Until I acknowledged you? Until you met me? What did I do, Thalia? I'd like to know."

"You messed everything up," Thalia cried. "You made me fall in love with you, and now…now we're here." She looked up at him sadly, her anger replaced with remorse. "I don't know what I would do if Artemis ever found out about this. I wouldn't have a family, or a home. My only refuge would be Camp Half Blood, and the gods know I'm not staying there year-round." She sucked in a shaky breath, hardly able to keep collected. "So I…I have to end it. Here. Now."

Apollo took Thalia's hand in his own. She resisted at first, but eventually allowed her hand to go limp in Apollo's grasp. Her demeanor was stoic.

"You'd always have a home with me," he promised desperately. "What makes you think you wouldn't?"

Thalia eyed him emotionlessly. "I'd have a home with you until you found a new lover." She yanked her hand away forcefully.

Apollo stared at his palm, which was still tingling from its contact with Thalia. "You think I'd just leave you like that?"

"And what would be stopping you?" Thalia asked quietly. "You're infamous for taking lover after lover after lover. It's what you do; it's who you are. Why am I any different?"

Apollo seemed to consider her words, stroking his forearm absentmindedly. Finally, he sighed and looked up to meet her expectant blue-eyed gaze.

"You think I'm not capable of love," he said. It was not a question.

"I never said-"

"It was implied," Apollo interrupted. "You think I just…sleep around. That that's all I do and it's all I'll ever do." He looked at her evenly. "It isn't true. I've fallen in love before, Thalia. What makes you different from my brief affairs is the fact that I really want to be with you, and what sets you apart from my other true loves is…nothing." Thalia's head snapped up. She was partially shocked at Apollo's bluntness; the other half of her tried to feel triumphant that she'd been right, but it felt like there was nothing to be smug about.

Thalia swallowed thickly, ready to reply, but Apollo was far from finished.

"But that doesn't mean you can't be different from them," Apollo continued. "I loved them, Thalia, like I love you. But they're…history. As much as I loathe to admit it, they are gone. And I – I just wanted a romance that didn't end badly. But I guess that's too much to ask for."

Thalia turned her back on the rocky cliff, setting her sights instead on the moon that hung high in the sky.

"I can understand that," she replied. "What you need to understand is that you're setting yourself up for disappointment." She gave him a sympathetic glance. "Apollo, you always want what you can't have. I'm supposed to be a chaste huntress, modeled after your sister. And your sister – she's given me everything I never had. An actual home. A real family. I can't just throw that away. I'd lose her favor, and her trust." She bit her lip. "And so would you."

"What?" Apollo demanded hoarsely.

"Artemis, Apollo," Thalia snapped, though it lacked her usual anger, and was instead tainted with weariness. "Artemis would feel so betrayed if she knew about us. It's bad enough that I, her second-in-command, her beta, have done something so…heinous. But you-" She looked at him pointedly. "You're her brother, Apollo. You're supposed to have her back."

"I do have her back!" Apollo growled. Thalia knew very well that Artemis was Apollo's one soft spot – the place you should never go if you wanted to stay on good terms with the god. But desperate times called for desperate measures, and besides – Apollo was, in a sense, hurting Artemis.

"Having her back doesn't involve messing around with her lieutenant behind it," Thalia shot back.

Apollo eyed the moon. He felt his heart give a little tug, as if reminding him that – for the god of truth – he was a liar. A liar, and nothing but.

"This is going nowhere," he finally said; he sounded empty, and hollowed out. "It's not enough that we love each other. It never will be."

Thalia moved her unruly black hair from out of her eyes, watching Apollo sadly. "Well. I'm glad you see it my way."

"Right."

"I should…get back to the campsite," Thalia murmured.

"Yeah. Probably."

She glanced upward. "You have to transport me there," she reminded him hesitantly.

Apollo tensed, knowing exactly what that entailed. He looked up at Thalia, took a shaky breath, and offered her his hand.

She took it simply, looking in the opposite direction to conceal her blush. In a sudden burst of warmth and light, the pair reappeared just a few yards away from the huntresses' campsite. Thalia released Apollo's hand, murmuring a simple thanks.

And then she walked away.

And it felt so wrong.

End Note: Because I always imagined these cards coming into play. As much as I would love to see Apollo and Thalia share a long-lasting relationship, there's always that chance that they won't be able to.

-Chelsea