I disclaim.

I just thought it was kind of ridiculous how Thalia never got a proper goodbye. Ugh. So maybe I overdid it…a little bit. (Yeah...I got my hopes up a little too high thinking there would be Thuke in The Last Olympian.)

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The Eleventh Hour

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"Nico…I don't think so."

Thalia eyed the boy skeptically. She adjusted the circlet on her head and ran a hand over her spiky black hair.

"Please," Nico responded desperately, grabbing her shoulders and staring with pleading eyes. "He swears he won't leave me alone until he talks to you."

She inclined her head away from the boy and scrunched up her nose at him. "You smell funny."

"Thal—"

"Fine. Ugh. Anything for you cuz," she said and rolled her eyes. Then she peeled his hands off her shoulders and gave him a gentle shove opposite her way. Breathing a sigh of relief, Nico waved the Hunter in the right direction.

They were in an alley: a dank alley that somehow reeked of death, darkness, and wet dog. They weren't in the Underworld, were they? There were only two entrances that Thalia knew of…and she was certain that this was neither. She followed Nico's steps in the darkness, the sounds echoing off the walls on either side, then spiraling into the night air above. The stepping noises stopped abruptly, and she just barely made out the profile of Nico's face.

"Here," the boy muttered as Thalia caught him slinking back into the shadows. She was about to lunge for the little creep, but a deep male voice caught her off guard.

"Thalia?" it said. The girl whipped around, looking for a presence.

It was him. Luke—her Luke. The one she longed for. He seemed to be leaning against nothing in the blackness, his slender body relaxed and his arms folded over his chest. Aside from an eerie glow radiating off his skin, he looked utterly flesh and blood. Thalia blinked over and over, trying to be rid of the hallucination.

"Luke," Thalia breathed, her voice barely perceptible. She forgot Nico, the Hunters, Artemis...everything.

The line of his mouth curved into a smile. He pushed himself off the invisible wall and strutted, almost gliding, toward her. His body was ghost-like up close. He was less opaque, and his skin flashed silver. "You weren't there, I didn't get to say goodbye." He reached for her hand—she was surprised he could lift it. It was just a whisper of a touch.

Staring at their entwined fingers, Thalia murmured, "I'm sorry. I never thought we'd end like this."

Luke's free hand began to trace the planes of her face. His feather-light touch brushed from her cheek to her jaw to her chin. Goosebumps crawled on her arms and a chill went up her back. "You're immortal Thalia. Just think...you may be lucky enough never to see me again," he whispered the words in her ear, so close she could have sworn she felt his ghostly breath.

"Don't say it like that." For the first time in a long while, Thalia felt boiling tears released from her electric eyes, burning as they dripped down her cheeks. She cried silently, as if she could pretend the tears weren't really there. Luke wiped the wetness away and kissed under her eyes. Thalia lifted her head and leaned closer, and Luke brushed his lips against hers. He lingered there.

The solidity in Luke's body lessened, he became more ghostlike with each breath. He clung to Thalia's hand as though he might be carried off by just the slightest breeze, and the girl was the only thing keeping him rooted to the ground. They both knew there were only moments left before they both had to go their separate ways. Thalia back to her Hunters…and Luke—he could feel the pull of the Underworld.

"Goodbye," she mumbled into his neck.

"I will be waiting," Luke said, his voice almost inaudible. He released her hand, and it landed slack at Thalia's side. He grinned at her one last time, but it could barely be seen—he had already disappeared into the night mist.