Long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...

Thalia, happy (belated) birthday, it seems like the only thing that gets me to update this story is her birthday.

So here's to our favorite daughter of Zeus, another year ol… well it's a birthday anyway!

Disclaimer: I don't own "Percy Jackson & the Olympians".

She should've known the 'very good start' was too good to be true.

Words of wisdom from the Queen...

"If it's good and happening to you, of course something is wrong."

Not that Thalia had reason to think differently.

In fact, that was the lot in life for most half-bloods anyway.

A particularly nice babysitter? Nope, turns out she was a monster waiting for your mortal parent, foster parents, or step-parent to leave you alone and bath-time turns into 'time to try to cook the kid' time. Doing well in a particular class? Maybe you're doing it too well, and now the other teachers are getting suspicious that you're cheating, and even if they can't prove it you're suddenly kicked out of school. Or maybe you think, you had the gall to believe that you had a chance to show off in a friendly game and maybe make some friends? Well, how dare you?

No, seriously, what was she thinking?

This was Capture the Flag, and it was training for combat to these kids, and even if some of them were having the time of their lives in a miniature warzone, it was still a warzone. And it was unlike any training that Thalia had ever received.

Demeter's children were almost passive, peace-loving and hard-working, literally wouldn't cause undue harm to a plant. In a 'friendly' game of Capture the Flag though, they were indiscriminate in how they turned mild-mannered shrubbery into weapons of mass distraction, whirling burls and lashing twigs that stung, painful but not incapacitating. No, they had poison-oak and ivy that did that job, like garrotes of greenery that dropped down to strangle and ensnare, and they knew (because of course they did) that no one would dare to risk destroying the plants to clear a path. The nymphs didn't care about how the plants grew wild, some even preferred it for sure. They didn't mind being used by Demeter's children to be obstacles or traps, but if anyone dared actually harm their precious trees, so much as aggressively trimming their bushes without permission, then they weren't above beating children in mismatched Grecian armor into the dirt like tent-pegs.

Ares' children were anything but passive, go figure. But they were worse than mindless thugs, they were cruel bullies who actually communicated with one another, had pack tactics, and showed actual insight and creativity... all channeled to hurting people. And they had almost (no, not almost, exactly that) supernatural control over their weapons. Some preferred the spear and shield combination their father was traditionally depicted with, others favored heavy bonze swords and deadly, two-handed, scythe-like axes with fortunately blunted edges. Some of these weapons crackled with energy, or lit passing greenery on fire as they passed. It didn't stay lit for long, the only reason why the nymphs and satyrs hadn't rioted, the fire always followed like it was magnetically drawn to the blade. They didn't care about winning, that was the worst thing. Sure they wouldn't mind, but they wanted to prove they could fight better. Athena had a plan, Hermes was cleverer, but as long as Ares' cabin proved they could fight the best, that was everything they wanted. And that meant having to avoid packs of them that splintered off from the main group looking for vulnerable targets to gang-up on and beat them to a pulp.

And Hermes' children? Or rather, Hermes' cabin? Ooh no.

Thalia had a sweet-tooth, once. Until the Queen. Yes, Her Majesty was careful to impart lessons regarding nutrition and health unto Thalia, with her usual flair for the dramatic.

'Always be careful of what you choose-'

-she'd say as Thalia looked over an assortment of chocolates.

Razor blades, poison, a teeny tiny bomb... nougat.

No, you never knew what you were going to get. And so Thalia swore off chocolate that she didn't make by hand. There was no telling what powers and abilities the Hermes cabin had, not with so many unclaimed kids, and they fought harder than all the rest. They had a chance, after all, to win and get claimed by their parents. If only they proved worthy, it was said, if only they were noteworthy, special.

Not everyone at Camp Halfblood was special. Not everyone got to sleep in their own cabin, with a closet full of fancy clothes and food that was prepared every meal that was somehow better than the food that materialized for all the other campers.

So Thalia found herself avoiding more and more children from Hermes' cabin, even if they were supposed to be on the same team. They were unpredictable, and they resented her. Except for the one boy.

Green eyes and floppy hair, said to have killed the Minotaur but not before it killed his mother. Percy Jefferson or something. His last name was something presidential, Thalia remembered that much, but it wasn't Johnson because Mr. D called him that and he never willingly got anyone's name right.

She was still being called 'Tabitha'.

He had been kind to her, and not like Luke who was purposefully was kind to everyone, in a way that was calculating but... still undeniable. There was an earnestness to the boy. He seemed young, even if he was older than a few of the other kids here, not just because he was new but because he was so earnest and clearly unprepared.

And had Thalia had listened to Luke and Annabeth Chase (that scarred girl with grey eyes who seemed to hate Thalia on principal) and their plans, she'd be just as unprepared as he was for the gang of Ares' kids who had him cornered by the stream.

Di immortales, he looked so young. Staring at a cut one of the Ares kids made in the sleeve of his shirt, his shield hadn't been raised in time. He said something about the 'no maiming' rule. The Ares kid just sneered. Why wouldn't he, if all that they could do to enforce the rule was taking away dessert?

Still, Thalia wasn't sure if she should intervene. He was another one of the Hermes' cabin children, an unclaimed, who knew what powers he secretly had, or what agenda he secretly harbored? The Aphrodite children weren't above luring prey in with false sympathy, and while he didn't have the conventional looks one of the Aphrodite children maintained, it was still a risk. And Thalia had taken many risks to get this far. Hades, even she had pulled that 'helpless' ploy with the predatory Apollo sons.

He looked so young though, and it was five-on-one. Ares' cabin liked odds in their favor.

Then again, he couldn't be that much younger than her... could he?

"Why are you acting so ungrateful, it's just cake you silly, disagreeable little brat."

"i just... why is there cake..? My Queen?"

"For your birthday, eat up."

"How... how old am i, Your Majesty?"

"Oh. Well that is an important question, isn't it?"

"..."

"Let's just say you're as old as I need you to be. Go ahead now, I insist. You deserve this."

Thalia slept for what felt like forever after that. And lost her appetite for cupcakes too.

Drugged desserts. Nothing killed a sweet-tooth faster.

But age and desserts and lack of trust aside, how far gone was Thalia's sense of right and wrong that it was so squarely behind her self-interest?

No, not her interests... Jason. Always to find Jason. Always to keep him safe.

Keep her head down. Learn. Report. Keep to herself. Don't attract attention, but don't be a disgrace, don't be an embarrassment... not anymore than she already was just by being alive.

She was the only one here who didn't care for the flag or for proving anything to her... to Lord Zeus.

Or anyone else.

The Queen knew her worth and told her regularly, after-all.

And Thalia was warned to be careful about her choices, always to be careful. So between doing nothing, and doing something, in the face of an obvious, blatant, shameless injustice...

Well it wasn't like she burst in with a cape and jumped into a pose under a spotlight, really.

All's that it took was a bit of lightning, a small bit of electricity really, and she watched as sparks dance across the surface of the stream. Point and sparky-boom-boom, really. Not enough to kill anyone.

(she hoped)

Just as planned, three of the Ares kids went down convulsing, but two were standing, one on the bank and the largest one, which from her boar helmet Thalia realized had to be Clarisse. That damn spear of hers... Tamer, Blamer, whatever it was called, it had electricity in the tip. Of course she had practiced with it enough, hurt herself with it enough, that she probably had some measure of tolerance for a small dose of lightning. Also, a handy scapegoat.

"Clarisse you team-killing bitc-" her one remaining brother started cursing in frustration.

That turned out to be a bad idea, for while Clarisse was still in a measure of confusion and pain, but not enough that her aim was any less true; she backhanded him with her shield, a sharp jab that would probably break his nose if she only hit him with her fist, but with the shield strapped to her arm, he was knocked out cold. "Shut up!" Clarisse snarled, rather pointlessly. Her brother wasn't going to be saying anything. Thalia privately hoped someone got him ambrosia or nectar soon, because he was probably a little brain damaged. Not a great loss for a son of Ares, but still.

That wasn't the only thing that was going wrong with Thalia's masterful, cunning plan. The boy, Percy, was still on his feet too. How?! He was smaller, almost waist deep in the water. A bit of electricity should've been enough to get him knocked cold too. However big a bully Clarisse could be, Thalia couldn't imagine she would stoop to beating up an unconscious kid.

Instead of preventing anything though, now Thalia had orchestrated a mismatched duel between the best fighter at Camp and the newbie who just lost his mother. She had chosen, and she had been wrong again. Stupid again...

But then, strange things unfolded...

The first was the boy, Percy, managing to hold his own in the water far better than he could have on land. Thalia had seen Clarisse pin him at wrestling, knock him on his butt with a thrust of her elbow as they passed each other going to lunch, and with that spear and shield, Clarisse was supposed to be borderline unstoppable.

Probably why Luke and Annabeth had sent Percy and Thalia both away from the rest of the game... Clarisse had picked them for her targets after all.

She probably was rethinking her position now though, because 'borderline unstoppable' was suddenly not enough; Percy, Percy whose last name Thalia couldn't remember, had broken Clarisse's spear, a gift from her father, like a twig.

"You corpse-breathed worm!" Clarisse roared in outrage and disbelief.

Now had Thalia more time, she would have liked to believe she'd have stepped in, preventing the almost certain murder. But there wasn't more time.

What there was instead was a small tsunami, a focused geyser that sent Clarisse sprawling back, soaked and stunned.

There was cheers, but not for that. No, Thalia vaguely noticed the cheers were coming from the Athena cabin and their collation of half-bloods who had seized the red flag, which was magically turning to blue and grey with their victory. Soon enough though, the cheers subsided.

Above Percy's head, there was a glowing green, ethereal, unmistakable trident.

Clarisse's face was drawn tight in fury and misery, maybe a little bit of fear, seeing who she was messing with revealed to be... considerably more dangerous than anyone had expected. Annabeth, holding the flag, looked bitter and resentful, her victor upstaged and by a freshly revealed son of her mother's sworn rival. Only Luke amongst all the half-bloods present seemed thoughtful, composed, fingers steepled and lips pursed, something dark behind his eyes.

"The bloodline is determined," Chiron said in a tone fit for a funeral dirge. "Poseidon- Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Lord of Horses. Hail Perseus Jackson, son of Poseidon."

Thalia had made her choice. And hiding in the bushes, no one saw the guilt in her face as she hesitatingly bowed with the rest of them to the newly prophesied hero... or doomed child.

She had chosen... and it looked like another poor choice.