5 years later
Lake Glacier National Park, Montana
February 27th 1:34 AM
Percy's POV (3rd)
Sitting on top of a mountain, Zoë fast asleep next to him, looking up at the northern lights, Perseus never felt more at peace. He pulled a small, wooden guitar shaped key chain off his backpack and watched as it grew into his two foot long travel guitar. He got it from an older son of Apollo he had saved from monsters. Percy has stayed with the son of Apollo, Jake was his name, for about a month; learning how to play the instrument. He couldn't stay for too long sadly, Zoë was a wild animal, not some house pet.
He strummed a few notes, accidentally waking Zoë up. Zoë walked around for a bit, stretching out her muscles, and sat down next to Perseus in the snow. Percy smiled at that, the closer she sat the more she liked the tune. He continued to play late into the night, enjoying the beautiful scenery and tranquility of the night. He fell asleep happily, thinking to himself that life couldn't get any better.
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Thalia's POV (3rd)
February 28th, 8:57 PM
Lake Kintla, Glacier National Park, Montana
Thalia wanted to be out looking for her cousin- Percy Jackson. That kelp head has been missing for over eight years and nobody has heard from him. The only indication that he's even alive is the sacrifices to Artemis, Poseidon and occasionally Hermes. It wasn't until around a year later that the mythological world felt the effect of his absence.
Questers started failing miserably, coming back not even a day after leaving, usually sporting severe injuries. The gods had realized that they were giving out impossible tasks, expecting the demigods to come back into camp with a smile on their face. Sadly there was only one man capable of that: Perseus Jackson. Percy had always persisted through anything that was thrown at him, no matter how difficult, no matter the pain he was in; he'd complete the quests, sheer willpower and determination powering him through.
The camps, however, noticed his absence quickly.
When not completing impossible tasks for the gods, he was everyone's best friend, older brother, and mentor all rolled in one. You needed help with your swordsmanship? Ask Percy. You needed someone to talk to? Ask Percy. You needed advice? Ask Percy. Blackjack leading another rebellion? You better get Percy. You could ask him anything, he'd be there, not mattering the time or place, he was always there.
However, nobody felt his absence more than Thalia, Percy was her brother in everything but blood. Ever since he left, she's become colder, fully adopting a hunter's mentality.
The gods wanted to start sending search parties out for him, but were stopped at Lupa's request. Only the Olympians know the details of the meeting but apparently he's happy wherever he is.
Thalia currently was teaching two new hunters how to hunt a wolf and signs that there's one in the area. An auburn haired hunter, Kayla, called her over. Thalia reaches Kayla and found what she was looking at, wolf tracks. They followed the tracks into a clearing, finding the largest wolf Thalia had ever seen, with all black fur and onyx colored eyes. The wolf heard Thalia and the girls coming and ran away howling into the air. Not wanting their prey to escape them, the hunters sprinted after it.
This damn wolf was fast, she was barely able to keep track of it. The chase ended with the wolf backed up against the edge of a cliff, seeing the hunters closing in on it, the wolf howled into the air once more.
Thalia and her hunters closed in on the wolf, not letting it escape. They were taking aim when Thalia heard the sound of footsteps pounding into the snow, she decided to ignore it, "Fire!" At the sound of her voice she heard the familiar twang of bowstrings. What happened next Thalia wouldn't believe if she hadn't seen it with her own eyes.
A man broke the tree line, throwing two throwing knives mid stride, both intercepting arrows mid-flight, all four projectiles clattering to the ground. As the third arrow was closing in, the man picked up his pace to speeds that should be impossible for a human. He ran infront of the wolf, and covered both of their bodies with a golden pelt. When the third arrow broke against the pelt, the man turned around, his sea green eyes literally swirling in anger. Wait. Swirling? Thalia recognized that from somewhere, but couldn't put her finger on it.
The man stomped his foot on the ground, sending an earthquake towards Thalia and her hunters, "What the Hades do you think you're doing?!" The man, who was obviously a demigod, shouted. Thalia, who doesn't like taking crap from anyone, said, "Who do you think you're talking to boy?"
"Seriously Thals? You shoot my wolf, then have the audacity to try and insult me?" Thals? The only people who called her that were Annabeth an- "Percy?" At this her fellow hunter's ears perked up, they, like everyone else, have heard tons of stories about the legendary demigod from the older hunters.
Percy's POV (3rd)
"Well who did you think it was? Apollo?" Percy replied, obviously frustrated. They just shot at Zoë, his best friend. At the revelation Thalia ran up to him and crushed him in a hug with tears in her eyes. Percy hugged her back, his anger dissapearing; even though he was more than happy with his current life, doesn't mean he hadn't missed his favorite cousin. When Thalia pulled away, she gave him a look over, then punched him squarely in the jaw, "Where the hell have you been?! Do you know how worried I've been about you? You could've I.M'd me-" Percy stopped paying attention to her at this point, focusing on holding Zoë back from killing Thalia after punching him, she's overprotective like that.
When Zoë finally calmed down, Percy turned back to Thalia, only to find another fist being thrown at him. This time he was ready and caught it, "Could you not do that? It's not easy holding back a 170lb wolf trying to killing you." Thalia seemed to finally realize that Zoë belonged to Percy and looked confused, she was about to question Percy about it when two hunters ran up to her, talking in hushed tones. Thalia had made them swear on the Styx not to tell anyone about her seeing me, the threat of a high voltage lightning bolt making them agree quickly.
After the two hunters left, Percy and Thalia talked until well past midnight, catching up on the past events of the last nine years the two cousins have spent apart. When Thalia finally was too tired to continue trading stories, she headed off back to camp, but not before making him promise to I.M her at least once a week