When I Don't Remember You (Percico)

Chapter Forty One: A House, Not A Home

Thalia Grace

At least I didn't get that close to him, because otherwise I'd have to chop his dick off myself.

He's still my brother, though, which makes it frustrating that he'd say stuff like that. Whatever the details, whatever possible slurs he could've used, it was racist.

That's not okay.

And I didn't raise him and I wasn't there to guide him to watch him grow up at all, but I was still hoping that he would've learned better. He would just know better because we're full blooded siblings and still he's Roman and I'm Greek and that shouldn't matter.

But it does matter, because he makes it matter.

Needing to just kill off some steam, I took out a few dummies at the training grounds with my knife rather than my bow because with the rate I'm going, I won't have my bow and arrow much longer.

Which, it's fine. I've accepted it.

After all, I joined the hunt to avoid turning 16 because of the prophecy and the prophecy is long since concluded, so I can age if I want to.

Not long before lunch as I was finishing off my last dummy, Reyna found me, which didn't surprise me much. I figured if it wasn't her, it'd be Annabeth to track me down to make sure I don't hunt Jason down to beat him up even worse than Percy did.

"Those dummies never stood a chance," Reyna joked as I rolled my eyes, chucking the most recent one into the bin for the Apollo cabin to take and use later. "Come on, otherwise we'll be late for lunch."

"You said that like we're not given an hour and a half for lunch," I reminded the Praetor as I stepped off the platform and put my blade back in it's sheath, joining her as the conch horn blew for lunch. "I'm surprised you didn't join me. You doing good? That was... News."

Reyna scoffed.

"I'm more shocked to hear that Percy went through with punching him than that Jason flew off the handle with the Greek/Roman thing," she insisted, which was... Sad to hear. "He's never been vert direct about it, but being raised there with some of the others created a kind of fucked up mindset, I think. I've been slowly trying to work it out of campers, but it's hard when they believe so firmly in tradition, and traditionally speaking, the Romans and Greeks hated each other so... I'm surprised you guys weren't more upset with us, too."

I shrugged.

"We're tired," I figured, although I knew that it was true to at least some capacity even just looking at how Percy responded to being told he had another quest to go on. "I don't know what you guys dealt with these last few years with Kronos, but we very busy and we lost a good amount of people to the battles and that ended in August and then Percy went missing and Olympus closed and I think we're just so desperate for a break that we could care less if you we're Roman, Norse, Egyptian, or whatever, just... You're not trying to take down Olympus so we shouldn't have to worry about it, even though now we do but..."

I sighed.

"Whatever, right? What's another dead body for somebody who couldn't just talk it out and realize that maybe a battle or a war wasn't the answer."

I can't wait to be done with this.

The real world sucks, too, but at least I don't have to be a member of a militia against my own will.

"Wh-" Reyna began as we both stopped and it's so frustrating to think about it years later, or even just a year later, and it makes me want to cry.

She didn't say anything, though. She just pulled me into a hug.