The Masked Legend (PJO Fanfic)

The Hunt's Lieutenant

Penelope thought that camp wasn't so bad. It would have been better if Salomao was here though. The whole place was actually pretty cool. She even got to meet some of the people who were also saved by Salomao. She thought Annabeth was actually pretty cool. What bothered her was that the cabin counselors were over 500 years old.

    She even made a new friend . A daughter of Morpheus, Gwen Jackson. She was a bright and cheerful person. Penelope had guessed that it's because she was so hyper after a long sleep. Gwen said that she usually slept through the night and morning and was active in the afternoon.

  Penelope felt like she was at home. Even though she was still hurt by the loss of her family. But one of the people who was saved by Salomao comforted her. He had a similar experience like that with a little difference. He had two sisters. Both of them joined the Hunt leaving him behind all alone.

  Penelope felt like she could really connect to him and they had a great conversation. His name was Jack Winters, a son of Boreas.

  This went on for a while. Wake up and eat. Go to classes and talk to Gwen and Jack. Then head back to the Apollo cabin and sleep. Nothing was quite interesting other than capture the flag of course. Eventually, that became a regular thing too.

  Until the Hunters came............

   Penelope woke up and just like any other day she went to eat and then attend her classes. Then she suddenly heard a horn being blown. Confused, she stopped training with Jack.

Both of them walked out and saw women and young girls  wearing silver parkas coming from the woods. She saw the expression of both campers and the group of girls.

" Hey Jack, who are they?" She asked, confused. Jack realized she hadn't seen them yet and told her, " They are the Hunters of Artemis. Artemis is basically your aunt." Jack then went back scowling at the Hunters. Penelope realized that they are the ones who offered Jack's sisters immortality and a home with only girls in it.

  Two girls, who looked like the leaders, walked forward. The silver eye 13-year old girl looked young but she was the one that seemed more like the leader of the hunters than the girl with lightning blue eyes. Her eyes looked like it held thousands of years of knowledge. Which she probably did.

" Hey Annie!" The lightning blue eye girl greeted Annabeth cheerfully while Annabeth scowled at her.

   " Don't call me Annie, Thalia." Annabeth told the blue eye girl. The girl just shrugged like she didn't care at all.

  Thalia seemed to catch Penelope looking at her and she waved.
    " Who is she?" She asked Annabeth.
   " Penelope Morrison, a daughter of Apollo." She answered.
    " Save by the masked hunter." She added in. Thalia's face darkened.
   " Him?" She questioned. Annabeth nodded. Thalia sighed in frustration.
   " The Hunt is trying to catch him but no luck yet. Yo Annabeth, do you think it could be Percy?" Thalia asked. Annabeth shook her head.

   " I don't know. From what the demigods described of his profile, he is far different from Percy. He even uses a bow! A bow! You know how Percy is with bows." She replied, unsure.

But before they could continue on their conversation, Artemis called Thalia back.

  " Look Thalia, I found traces of the masked hunter." She said. Thalia's face soon broke into happiness.

   " But I can't let you girls join." She quickly added. Thalia tilted her head in confusion.

  " The last time we tried to make a move on him, it wasn't successful and you know what happened next." She answered. Thalia paled. The last time they got a trace of him, the masked hunter had used rope and hung them on a tree. Thalia quickly nodded as Artemis just laughed. Thalia glared at her half sister as Artemis just looked sheepishly at her.

   " You got to admit that was funny." Artemis said. Thalia glared at her.

   " Of course, you're not the one who thought you were going to die like a hangman." She told Artemis as they both talked and laughed.

  " Anyway, take care of the Hunt." Artemis told her. Thalia saluted mockingly before sending Artemis on her way, leaving her alone with her thoughts.

  Thalia walked into the woods where capture the flag would usually be held. A lot of memories came back to her every time she came here. It had been hundreds of years and slowly Thalia had forgotten his face. His eyes. His hair. Even though they had pictures of him. But, whenever she stared at it, in front of her would only be a stranger. It wouldn't be the Percy Jackson she once knew.

  Thalia felt like she made a mistake when she neglected his feelings. She blamed him for the wrongdoing. What was she thinking anyway? She never knew till this day. Maybe she was too power-hungry to think right. Everyone else moved on. Maybe even Annabeth. But the guilt inside her had never been away. It stayed there for days, weeks, months and years. Till today. She never knew Percy had a big impact on her but when Percy was gone, it felt like her world crashed down.

   " I'm sorry Percy." She muttered in the woods. There was nothing there but silence. She remembered clearly that day when she truly crushed his feelings.

" Just admit it Percy! You broke my bow!" She yelled angrily. The son of Poseidon didn't hold back either.
   " And how would you think I got in a man-hater's cabin!" Percy shouted back.
   " Just because you're all powerful doesn't mean you should do that!" She yelled back before stomping off.

It made her flinch every time she remembered it. She knew Percy wouldn't have done that. But she was blinded by how powerful Percy was and how she couldn't be as powerful as him. It had hurt his heart more than Thalia ever expected. From that day, the hunters and Artemis herself kept away from Percy. They would throw him disgusted looks. The only reason why they haven't killed him yet was because his father was Poseidon and they wouldn't want to feel his wrath.

  Speaking of Poseidon, he became depressed. Not depressed as in sulking in his room all day. Instead of neglecting his duties, Poseidon became a person who would work all day while neglecting his family. Triton and Amphitrite tried to help but even they would be quiet, affected by Percy's disappearance. It wasn't like they hated each other. Instead they had a mutual relationship with Percy.

Thalia sighed as she pulled back her thoughts. She looked around at the sky and the forest. It never changed much. But a lot had changed outside of this peaceful forest. Percy was gone. Poseidon became a workaholic. And now there was a masked person who went by Salomao Hunter in the mythology world and assuming it was the same person, he went by Sailor Hunter in the mortal world.

  " 500 years and you still haven't forgiven us yet Percy." She muttered. Thalia kept walking until she saw a tree that was quite special than any other tree. A tree that signified a promise, everlasting. It did pretty well with the everlasting but not the promise part. The tree lasted for hundreds of years and yet the true existence of the tree was broken.

   Deeply etched into the tree, she saw the carving of Percy's sword.
Best Friend forever
-Kelp Head & Pinecone Face

She could see the slash that Percy had made after she broke it. She could almost feel the anger and sadness inside him when she first saw it.

Drip
Drip

Thalia touched her face. There were tears but no sounds were coming out of her.

  " Please come back Percy." She whispered to no one.

END

   " No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear."
   - C.S. Lewis