Really and Always- Heroes of Olympus Selection (AU)

The Walk

I walked through the castle grounds, trying to calm down. Naturally, I walked into a forest near the outskirts of the gardens. Gods, I love this place. 

The smell of the green grass and pine trees. Dirt was slightly damp. I guessed that I could climb a tree and watch the sunset, or wait a couple of hours and listen to the wrath of my father. 

Option A it is. 

I wandered around, looking for the right tree. Yes, Thalia Grace looking for a tree. I flopped down on the ground after what seemed like a long time, and leaned against a tree. 

Without knowing I passed out. 

When I woke up, the sunlight was shining through the trees. What? I thought, Sunlight? I fell asleep mid afternoon! 

I scrambled up and found my bow next to me. Strange. I breathed in the familiararity of the forest, though this one was different than the last one that I remember. The trees were newer, the grass was shorter and there was more dirt than rocks. 

I followed the sound of the stream that eventually lead to a waterfall. This waterfall I have not seen in so many long years. It wasn't even in the Olympus boundaries. This was apart of many small kingdom systems. 

There were seven of them, Artemis being the ninth and not having a kingdom and Athena, the eighth, who was unhappily partnered with Ares, for war tactics and battle strategy. Those were the only ones where they were apart of every kingom. As some sort of advisors. But when their was war, they was allowed to pick sides. That hasn't happened yet, and hopefully never will. 

A stick cracked somwhere behind me, to my right. 

Faster than I remember I've done in a long time, I knocked an arrow and had my bow pointed in that direction. 

"Sheesh, Thals. You've gotten very jumpy over the past few days." A voice said. A voice that I knew. 

The boy emerged, shaggy blonde hair and bright blue eyes. He had his troublemaker grin on, but when did he not?

"Luke." My voice sounded relieved. 

"Yep. It's me. By the way, have you seen Annie?"

"Nope." I responded, slinging my bow over my shoulders. "But we should get moving soon."

"Hey Thals!" Luke called. I turned around and found that Luke hadn't moved. He had the trademark Hermes kid style grin. What was he doing? Trying to cut it close? Annoy me? Not do what I ask? The answer is D, all of the above. Ughhhh.

"What." I pretended to be busy, picking at my nails. 

"Do ya wanna have fun?"

"Depends on what that is." I plainly responded. We should be leaving, Castellan. My mind said. Not messing around.

"Take off your bow and arrows."

"What?"

"Do what I said." 

I glared at him and slipped them off, putting them on the ground. 

"Turn around."

This time I obeyed without a glare, I was curious. I faced the overhang of the Waterfall. I was always scared of heights, but this was okay. 

In less than three seconds flat I was knocked off my feet. Luke had wrapped his arms around my waist and pitched us over the waterfall. 

We've done it before, just not together. Annabeth had always waded in the shallows, she couldn't swim and wouldn't let us teach her, yet. 

Luke had managed to twist himself in mid air so he took the impact of the water. He released me almost immediately, we swam upward. I reached the surface, grinning madly. 

"LUKE CASTELLAN!" I yelled. Luke looked at me innocently. 

"Yes, Miss Grace?"

"THAT WAS VERY DANGEROUS! Imagine what an example for Annabeth you've set!"

Luke smirked. "I don't see the problem."

"Idiot." I matched his smirk and dunked him in the water.

That started a waterfight, the both of us wrestling to dunk each other under the water. 

"Ha!" I crowed when Luke didn't come up right away. Instead, he pulled me under from underneath. We came up laughing, I spotted a small figure on the shoreline. 

"Hey Annie!" I walked up onto the shore, Luke behind me. My clothes were sopping wet, at least Luke was smart enough to tell me to take off my bow and arrows; they didn't come easily. And he would be dead. 

"Hi." The little girl responded. "Aren't we supposed to be leaving soon?"

"Exactly," I said, wringing out my hair. I had originally cut it just before I left, dad wouldn't have ever let me do it. What used to be a pageboy haircut now grew almost to my shoulders. 

"But dooface over here decided to play games." Annabeth giggled when I gestured over to Luke, who was by one of our bags under a tree.

We both got changed into dry clothes and gathered everything we needed. I counted my arrows before slinging my bow over my shoulder. "Ready to go guys?" My partners both nodded, I grabbed young Annabeth's hand and just started moving to the northeast when I heard it.

The sounds of pounding feet. Horse hooves. Palace horses. Luke swore under his breath and I muttered "Shoot." I probably would've cursed too, but young ears were close by. 

"Go now! They're looking for me!" Luke said, grabbing his sword from his sheath. I shoved past him, "They are looking for me too!"

This might be a great place to point out that both Thalia and Luke are Royals of different kingdoms. Little Annabeth was left to her father's family when her mother, Athena, claimed that we was too busy at work to be taking care of a young kid. 

Annie covered her ears from our bickering. "Stop, stop, STOP!" She cried, stomping her feet on the ground. "We all go down together, or run. Together. Family, remember?" Suddenly the child seemed several years older, wiser. Braver. 

I nodded in agreement and turned to see Luke doing the same thing. 

In the distance between the trees, I saw movement flicker. The guards were getting closer. 

"We have an advantage being on foot, horses take a lot more space and time to maneuver through these trees. Just stay out of clearings. Okay? Good." I finished the briefings and shut my mouth. I frowned, staring into the distance, trying to calculate how far away the palace guards are. 

"Thalia! We need to go." Luke brought me back to reality. The horses nickered, really close by. I met Luke's eyes that shared the same message as mine. 

Run.