Disclaimer: I don't own any characters or source material. All rights go to Rick Riordan and their appropriate artists.

Chapter 1: After Dark

Run.

That's all anyone could do in such a dark forest.

Especially, a forest that was infested and overflowing with monsters.

The only light that illuminated anything was from the moon that pressed against the dark cloudy sky.

A sky that looked down upon the four running children that were made up of three demigods and one satyr.

And a giant creature that heaved through and looked over the grand pines of the forest. It had its eye on the children but one attracted its attention more than the others.

None of them dared to look back to stare up to its terrifying figure.

The group of children was led by a boy with a goat-like lower half. His hooves galloped across the dead leaves that scattered the forest's floor.

"C'mon!" The boy urged breathlessly, "We're so close!"

"Grover! How much longer!" The girl with blond hair asked with panic.

"Just don't look back, Annabeth!" The boy named Luke, who also with blond hair, begged.

While Grover, Annabeth, and Luke were trying to focus on outrunning the cyclops, the black-haired girl running beside them had her mind on something else.

She was, of course, distressed like her friends. But one thing was much more apparent than anything else right now to her.

It was all her fault. It was all Thalia Grace's fault, that they were being chased. Not just because she was a demigod. Everyone was a demigod in the group, except for Grover.

No.

It was something else.

Because of her father.

What a weird and inappropriate word to use to describe him. The most well-known god of the Big Three and Greek history.

He was the god of gods. The god of the sky. And most importantly, her father.

Zeus.

Everyone knew that any descendant from the Big Three was immensely powerful even when compared to other demigods.

Because of this, many monsters would instantly be attracted to the presence of the offspring of the Big Three.

Thalia hated herself right now. She was supposed to be a leader, she was 13 years old making her the oldest among her group. The youngest of them was Annabeth, who was about 10.

She hated running. Her feet were starting to get swollen from how long they have run.

She hated being looked down upon.

Which was most likely what Zeus was doing, looking down at her at this instance.

Her thoughts were broken by an incredibly unsettling noise.

stomp

Stomp

Stomp

STOMP!

The cyclops was only getting closer. This fact was very much prominent in the heads of the children. None of them wished to address it in this dire moment.

Tears started to form in Thalia's blue thundering eyes.

She couldn't let her friends die because of her. Because of something she couldn't control.

Without warning, she turned a sharp right further into the forest and away from her friends. This caused two things to consequently happen.

The cyclops was no longer attacking the group but instead one demigod that is all by herself.

The now trio group of young children's eyes collectively widened in shock. It took short moments to realize that their friend had just sacrificed herself.

Thalia ran and ran. She knew she had to face this monster soon.

But not now, she had to get it farther away from the group.

So, they can't hear her cries.

/~/

Soon, Thalia ran and ran until she was far away from anyone or anything.

She slowed down and took a deep breath to prepare herself mentally for her demise.

She turned around to face the giant one-eyed monster who was grinning ear to ear.

Thalia pulled out a long knife and gotten into a fighting stance.

She may not have a lot of training, but she could still take on a hellhound or two.

She may not win this fight, she would be damned if she were to go down without a fight.

She felt her legs jolt toward the one-eyed giant who raised its left hand toward the charging little demigod and attempted to grab her. But before the giant could grab the girl she rolled under its grip and cut the one-eyed giant's wrist along the vein.

But before Thalia could react, the giant kicked the girl causing her to be flying into a pine tree.

Thalia tried to get back up but could barely move without feeling every bone and nerve bend and tear.

She started to whimper as she looked up to the giant who slowly approached her.

"You're a brave one," The cyclops' voice boomed, "I'll give you that. It'll be quick."

The cyclops raised its fist blocking the moon causing a shadow to illuminate onto Thalia as she closed her eyes.

Those last words rang through her head.

It'll be quick

Suddenly, the cyclops gasped as it turned around frantically looking around. Thalia opened her eyes to see what was occurring.

The cyclops faced conveyed a mixture of pleasure and excitement.

"Two demigods in one night?" The cyclops asked itself rhetorically, "I should go out more often!"

After the cyclops finished its a comment, a sword suddenly emerged and shined under the moon's light. The light illuminated what was around it. It revealed a boy with raven-like hair, standing in front of the cyclops and holding the sword that shined so vibrantly.

The light also reflected in his sea-green eyes that beamed in the dark.

Thalia was surprised, she didn't expect anyone to even stand up to such an intimidating creature. Only selfless idiots would do that, which is what she was.

"Looks like we have another fighter," The cyclops commented.

The cyclops attempted to grab the boy, but he was able to adjust the sword to reflect the moon's light into the cyclops' eye temporarily blinding it.

The boy wasted no time and ran past the cyclops' arm making varying sizes of deep cuts vertically. He continued to run underneath and through the one-eyed giant's legs getting behind the cyclops. He raised the sword and swung, cutting the heel of the left foot of the monster.

The cyclops groaned in pain as it tried to stomp on the boy with its right foot. But groaned even more after putting more pressure on its cut left foot as a result of raising its right foot.

The boy ran to the cyclops' right foot and did the same thing that he did to the left foot to the right.

After both heels were deeply cut, the cyclops fell on its knees causing the ground to shake.

Thalia was amazed at the speed of the boy. She never saw anyone move so fast and strong.

The cyclops wasn't done trying to kill that little brat, yet. It raised its uncut hand to grab the boy.

The boy's sea-green eyes saw it coming to a lightyear away and managed to evade it effortlessly. He quickly reacted by slicing it's pinky clean off its hand.

This only angered the monster even more.

Suddenly, the shining blade disappeared concealing the boy in the dark. The cyclops looked around angrily shouting, "C'me out! I'll kill ya!"

Suddenly, a shining beam shined from above catching both the attention of Thalia and monster.

The light came from the boy on a high tree branch holding the grand sword that illuminated so brightly.

But once the one-eyed giant laid its eye on the boy, the sword was sent flying toward its eye piercing and blinding the giant.

"You little mutt!" The giant cried as it reached toward the sword that was in its eye. It then threw the weapon far away in an act of anger and attempt to get rid of the chance of the boy getting his weapon back.

Thalia was worried and scared. The cyclops may be heavily injured, it would still be near impossible for any demigod to kill a cyclops without any weapons.

"That was a mistake," The boy stated as the identical sword reemerged in his hands. The sword made a sharp ringing noise that caused the giant to cower.

"No! That's not possible!" It cried, "Stay away from me!"

The cyclops was actually cowering in fear. It was flailing around.

The boy launched himself off of the tree branch toward the one-eyed creature.

And within a blink of an eye, the head of the cyclops was severed from its body.

The boy landed on both feet in front of Thalia, who finally could get a good look at him.

"Hey, you ok?" The boy asked.

"No," Thalia grunted as her whole entire body relaxed a little bit.

The boy knelt down to observe the injured girl's condition, his sword disappearing in the process.

Thalia stared into his sea-green eyes and noticed how defined his face was. Strands of his messy black hair hung in front of his forehead.

He reached out his hand to feel Thalia's forehead to see if she was ok.

"What are you doing?" Thalia asked.

"I'm trying to see if you have a fever," The boy answered, "Your face is pretty red."

Thalia's eyes widened as she realized how warm her cheeks were.

"Um," The short-haired girl was speechless. What was she supposed to say?

"Hm," The boy hummed thoughtfully. "It may be because you almost got a one-way ticket to meet Hades."

Thalia chuckled at the boy's dumb joke but soon regretted it when she felt her body convulse in pain.

"Whoa, easy there," The boy warned, "We should get you to camp."

The boy then started to wrap his arms around the girl's waist and threw her over his shoulder.

"Hey! What do you think you're doin'!" Thalia screamed, "Just because you saved me doesn't mean you could have se-"

"Oh, I'm just carrying you," The boy deadpanned, "I don't think you can walk by yourself so I am just making things easier for you. Would you like to try and walk by yourself?"

"Well…" Thalia felt her ears heat up. "It would be nice to know your name first."

"It's Percy," The boy had a warm smile that glowed, "Percy Jackson."

"I'm Thalia Grace," The girl introduced herself.

"Thalia," Percy repeated, "That's really pretty."

"What is?"

"Your name. It has a nice ring to it."

"Thanks." Thalia actually felt the comment was genuine and not an attempt to flatter her.

She stared into the boy's face. Despite being in a forest with a monster around every corner, he still wears a smile. His eyes attracted the girl's attention.

And soon she started to feel very drowsy.

And soon she was fast asleep in Percy's care.

/~/

"I can't believe we left her!" Annabeth screamed.

Luke was speechless and very shaken up.

Grover was also speechless and had his head in his hands.

Annabeth couldn't believe it. She shouldn't have kept running. She should've joined her friend in her last moments.

"We couldn't do anything," Luke almost whispered.

"Bullshit!" Annabeth spat.

"Children."

The three kids looked over to the voice to see a tall man with a lower half of a horse.

They all instantly recognized who it was.

Chiron.

The trainer of heroes.

"Grover, where is Thalia?" Chiron asked the satyr.

Grover eyes widened and stared at the ground.

Chiron instantly knew what Grover was inferring.

Chiron put his hand on Grover's back.

"You know what this means, right?" He asked.

"Yeah," Grover sighed.

But before Chiron could speak, someone else intervened.

"He is one step closer to being a searcher."

The four looked up to see Percy Jackson holding Thalia Grace, who was fast asleep on his shoulder.

"Percy!" Grover rose up to his hooves.

Chiron smirked warmly as he watched the raven-haired boy make his way up to them.

"Thalia!" Annabeth exclaimed as she ran up to the boy. "Is she?"

"She has some internal bleeding and bruising," Percy assured, "But she'll be fine with enough treatment."

"Thank you so much," Annabeth said as she wrapped her arms the boy who carried her friend.

"Uh, maybe you should say your thanks after I take care of your friend," Percy said awkwardly.

Annabeth quickly released the boy who chuckled at the girl's behavior. Annabeth was almost tempted to get her Yankees cap and put it on to disappear from this embarrassing situation.

"Percy!" Chiron smiled, "I think you should take her to the infirmary wing. I am giving you the task to help her recover."

"Alrighty then!" Percy smiled and turned to Annabeth, "Well, see ya later, umm…"

"I'm Annabeth, daughter of Athena."

"Well, I'm Percy Jackson, son of…a god."

That answer left Annabeth and Luke confused while Chiron and Grover chuckled at his answer.

And with that, Percy carried Thalia to the infirmary.

/~/

Green eyes.

Eyes that reflected the sea.

That's all Thalia could think of at the moment.

She wasn't thinking of where she was.

She wasn't thinking of how she almost just died.

She was thinking of a boy.

What a surprise, a teenage girl thinking of a cute boy.

Shocking.

His name was Percy.

She already forgot his last name. Was it Johnson? Was it Jameson? Or maybe it was Jackson?

That sounds right.

Percy Jackson.

"Wonder how long sleeping beauty will lay," A voice said waking Thalia up from her trance.

When she opened her eyes, she saw Percy sitting on her bed.

"Well, look who's awake," The boy smiled.

"Hey," Thalia groaned as she still felt how sour body still was. "Where am I?"

"Well," Percy clicked his tongue, "You're at Camp Half-Blood. More specifically, the Infirmary Wing."

"We made it?" Thalia asked stunned.

Percy simply smiled.

"How long have I been out?"

"For about 2 days."

"Where's Luke?"

"Training."

"Huh, should've guessed. Where's Annabeth?"

"Currently, reading I think? She has been doing a lot of things lately."

There was a sudden warm silence that fell over the two.

"So, sleeping beauty huh?" Thalia smirked, breaking the silence.

Percy smirked back. "I thought it was an appropriate nickname."

"Oh, did you?" Thalia still wore her smirk.

"Unless, you prefer sparky? Daughter of Zeus."

Thalia was shocked. "What? How did you know already?"

"Well, Annabeth filled me in about you," Percy's smirk turned into a smile. "She was really happy to know that you're alive."

"That's good," Thalia smirk also turned into a smile. "How much did she tell you?"

"Well," Percy said in a contemplative manner, "What do you think of Green Day?"

"THEY KICK ASS!" Thalia exclaimed but quickly groaned in pain. Percy chuckled as he grabbed a cup that was on a table next to Thalia's bed.

"Try this," Percy passed her the cup. The liquid in the cup had a texture that looked like it was apple cider that was diluted by water. It was kept cool by a handful of ice cubes.

She put the cups to her lips and widened her eyes in shock when the liquid made contact with her tongue.

"What do you taste?" Percy asked genuinely curious.

…

…

…

"I tasted the best hamburger ever made," Thalia said shocked.

Percy started laughing. Tears were threatening to leak from his eyes.

"That's new," Percy gasped in between laughs.

"What's so funny?" Thalia asked.

"It's just that when people try that drink they would say something like cookies or candy," Percy explained, "They usually don't taste something so savory."

Percy's cheeks started to turn red. "Now that I think about it, it wasn't that funny."

Thalia started to quietly giggle at the raven-haired boy.

"That is pretty funny," Thalia smiled. "So, do you like Green Day?"

"Yeah, they're pretty cool," Percy said, "I really like their new album."

"American Idiot?" Thalia said, "You heard it already?"

"Yeah, it's pretty great," Percy said, "I have it on cassette. Do you want me to loan it to you?"

"Really?!" Thalia exclaimed excitedly.

"Yeah, it's no big deal," Percy assured.

Suddenly, a conch horn was heard in the distance.

Many who were in the infirmary with the two started to get up and leave.

But Percy stayed by Thalia's side.

"Don't you have to go?"

"Eh, dinner could wait."

"It's fine. I could take care of myself."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure."

"Nah, I'll just stay," Percy resolved, "And besides you're pretty much recovered by now."

Thalia raised her eyebrows. "What do you mean by th-"

But before Thalia could finish her sentence, Percy grabbed her hand and raised her up to her feet. She was about do two things. First, slap the crap out of Percy. Second, collapse in pain. Not in that specific order.

But when Percy pulled her up she didn't feel sour whatsoever. She actually felt like she could run around the world twice over.

"What the?"

"Looks like the nectar worked its miracle," Percy smiled.

"Wait, was there nectar in my drink?"

"Just a little bit," Percy explained, "You were pretty much recovered by the time you woke up all you needed was just a little kick."

"Oh. Well thanks," Thalia said.

"No problem. But you can stop."

"Stop what?"

"You can stop holding my hand."

Thalia looked down to see, in fact, that she was still clasping onto Percy's hand. She quickly yanked her hand away and did her best to cool down to stop feeling so hot in her ears.

Then without warning…

SLAP!

"Oww! What the heck?" Percy complained as he rubbed his now red cheeks.

"That's what you get for teasing me!" Thalia said shocked that she went through with slapping the handsome boy.

"Teasing you?" Percy tilted his head in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Just SHUT UP!" Thalia cried embarrassed.

"Can we just calm dow-"

"That's it! I'm leaving!" Thalia said abruptly, trying to get out of this situation.

The black-haired girl started to walk out of the infirmary.

"Do you know where you're going?" Percy asked.

Thalia stopped and turned around with her cheeks burning.

"Yeah," Thalia whispered.

"But, actually no," Percy chuckled, "You don't know where you are. Let me show you around. We have some time before dinner starts."

A/N: So… yeah I did it. I am currently rereading all Percy Jackson books (Just the first series). I am trying to get this story as accurate to the source material as possible while still having my ideas.

I decided to make Annabeth and Percy much older in the story. I am also making it so when Thalia, Annabeth, and Luke arrives, it is 2005ish. This is just easier for me to write about and also gives me a solid reference point to the setting.

As you can tell, Percy is different. It will be explained in the next chapter (at least inferred). I have plenty of plans for this fanfic and I hope to see it through.

But don't expect anymore new stories from me anytime soon.

Edit: I changed Thalia's age by one year for plot reasons.