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For weeks, Thalia had talked about nothing other than Halloween, which she wouldn’t shut up about. She hadn’t been as excited about it at first but, once Reyna mentioned that she had never actually celebrated her favourite holiday before, that changed. She had convinced herself that it was now her job to make sure the other girl got the perfect Halloween experience with everything that included and everyone else just agreed to go along with it, knowing that they wouldn’t have been able to stop her even if they tried.
Then again, Reyna wasn’t even pretending that she minded anymore. It would take far too much energy to protest every time Thalia brought up another one of her usually crazy ideas so she saved her strength to stop the most dangerous ones and just went along with everything that appeared to be relatively harmless.
Attending a party at the nearly empty Camp Half Blood should have been one of the safest requests she had made so far but, of course, that would have been too easy. So, really, she should have seen this coming from a mile away. Just like she should have seen the group of angry hellhounds charging at them coming before they attacked.
The fight was long and brutal but, over an hour after the first Huntress shouted out in pain from being bitten, all of the hellhounds had been defeated and sent back to the underworld, most of them the direct way. The Hunters had all survived but some of them were injured, none more than Thalia, who had used herself as a human shield to safe another girl from nearly certain death.
She had seemed fine at first, no worse for wear than the rest of them, but that was only because she was scarily good at hiding her pain as well as the blood seeping through her clothes. For over half an hour after the last hellhound had been killed, she went around the battlefield and helped patch up everyone else’s injuries instead of taking care of her own.
It wasn’t until she collapsed where she was standing that people finally noticed something was wrong. If Reyna hadn’t been standing right next to her, Thalia would have fallen to the rocky ground and most likely hit her head. Instead, she was caught by a pair of strong arms and gently lowered onto a softer patch of earth.
Now that she could actually take a closer look at her, Reyna could see how much blood had already left Thalia’s body and soaked through her clothes, staining Reyna’s hands where she had held her up and half-dragged and half-carried her to where she was now, bleeding into the moss she had been placed on. Despite this, she was still smiling up at Reyna, though by now, her expression was clearly tinted by pain.
The smile disappeared as soon as Reyna moved her jacket and shirt aside to reveal a deep tear on the side of her torso. It was hard to make out any details beneath the blood still spouting out of it with each beat of Thalia’s racing heart and, for just a moment, Reyna felt faint. It was ridiculous, she had seen far worse than this, but somehow it felt different when it was Thalia bleeding out in front of her.
But she didn’t have time for that, Thalia needed her help and that rip in her side definitely needed medical attention before she ran out of blood completely. So, Reyna kneeled down in the dirt next to her, pulled the extensive first-aid-kit she had started carrying around at all times out of her backpack, and got to work wiping away the blood as gently as she could and disinfecting the bite.
After that, Reyna had to wipe the blood away again because it was still spurting from a severed artery. That certainly complicated things but it could still be manageable. She would just need to cauterize the wound before stitching and bandaging it up, nothing she hadn’t done before. It should be easy, if she could just get her hands to stop shaking.
Reyna took a few deep breaths to calm her nerves and steady her hands while the tip of a freshly cleaned knife heated up until it was nearly glowing red and pressing some folded-up gauze directly into Thalia’s injury to keep as much blood inside as possible. A lot of it still seeped through but at least the pressure slowed the bleeding enough to keep Thalia alive long enough for Reyna to really get to work.
By then, most of the other Huntresses had taken care of their own injuries and joined Reyna and Thalia where they were kneeling and lying in the dirt. Some of them were assisting but most of them just looked on with a combination of worry and awe as Reyna methodically worked on the gaping wound with the same intense focus she had while strategising or hunting.
Once she had prepared everything and some of the other girls assisted her, Reyna could work much faster than before so it didn’t take long until Thalia was patched up as well as she could be in the middle of a forest and with no real medical supplies. The ambrosia they gave her probably helped as well, though it certainly wouldn’t have been enough on its own.
While Reyna was still bandaging the now sutured and stitched-up hellhound bite, she told the others to set up camp right where they were, ignoring Thalia’s protests. Sure, she was disobeying direct orders from her leader but, for the sake of Thalia’s health, she was willing to break some rules. She was sure the other girl would understand once she recovered. For now, though, she was still resisting Reyna, who tried her best to convince her without having to force her to do anything.
“You need to rest.”
She kept her voice firm the same way she had done during senate meetings in New Rome when she wanted to make sure no one would question her authority. Back then, it had always worked, but, of course, Thalia just had to be different. She wasn’t even able to sit up on her own but she still insisted that she knew better and didn’t need to slow down at all.
“No, I’m fine, trust me. Besides, if we don’t leave now, we’re gonna miss the party and I spent so much time figuring out the perfect costume.”
Despite everything, Reyna couldn’t hold back a smile at Thalia still just being herself even while a big piece of her was missing, torn out less than an hour ago. If she hadn’t been able to see the bandages peeking out from beneath a torn and blood-drenched shirt, she would have almost been able to convince herself that Thalia was fine, even if she was a bit paler than normal.
She didn’t sound exactly the same she usually did, though. There was a strain in her voice that Reyna had never heard before. She also wasn’t nearly as loud as she normally was, which should have been a nice relief but instead felt like a stab directly into Reyna’s heart. Only the fact that Thalia’s painfully bad humour was still just as present as always managed to soothe that pain slightly.
“You have to admit, though, this is pretty on-brand for Halloween. With all the blood, I bet I look terrifying right now.”
This time, Reyna laughed out loud, earning herself a few strange looks. It didn’t matter though, not when Thalia was looking up at her like that, with wide eyes and that dreamy smile she sometimes got. Reyna was pretty sure she would have blushed as well, if she hadn’t lost too much blood for that. That thought made Reyna blush in turn.
Before she could react further, a young girl interrupted them, telling them that she had set up a tent for both of them to share so Thalia could rest and recover and Reyna could keep an eye on her. After that, it was only a matter of getting Thalia into the tent without tearing her stitches or having her use up too much energy at once.
As soon as that was done, Reyna closed the flap to give them some semblance of privacy so she could take care of Thalia better. When that was done, she moved to her side and helped her sit up just enough that she could drink some water, watching as she gulped it down almost greedily and wiping away the few drops that spilled and ran down her chin.
After almost an entire bottle of water and a few more soothing words and touches from Reyna, Thalia finally agreed to rest, at least for a little while. She still insisted that she should be woken up after an hour or two so they could make it to at least some of the party but it was still a step in the right direction, even if it was only a small one.
Reyna didn’t really know what she was doing when she moved closer to Thalia to let her rest her head in her lap. It was surprisingly nice, even more so when Thalia closed her eyes and leaned into Reyna’s fingers that had somehow made their way into unbelievably soft hair. Less than a minute later, Thalia was asleep and Reyna was gently braiding her hair.
They stayed like this for hours, Thalia finally getting some rest and Reyna watching over her as if her life depended on it. She probably should have woken her at some point but that seemed impossible when Thalia looked as comfortable and cute as she did. So, Reyna just waited until Thalia woke up on her own, sleepily blinking up at her a few times before slowly getting up.
Thalia insisted on helping everyone else pack up their camp despite her injuries but at least Reyna could talk her out of carrying the tents, as well. All in all, it only took a few minutes to pack everything up and just like that, they were walking towards Camp Half Blood again, far more slowly this time.
When they finally reached the camp hours later, it was the middle of the night and their annual Halloween party was just coming to a close. The few campers that were still awake had already started cleaning up. Some of them greeted the Hunters when they arrived and someone ran to fetch a medic but, other than that, no one really reacted to their arrival.
Reyna helped Thalia to the infirmary while everyone else went to bed for the rest of the night. For a long moment, the two of them were left alone in a nearly empty building that was still decorated with pumpkins and (hopefully) fake skeletons, waiting for whoever would show up to properly heal Thalia’s injury. It felt a lot like it had in the tent with them sitting next to each other and Thalia’s head resting on Reyna’s shoulder. The main difference was that this time, Thalia was at least somewhat awake and talking again.
“I’m sorry I made you miss your first real Halloween.”
She was talking quietly again but she didn’t sound as pained as she had directly after the hellhound attack. There was some guilt in her voice, though, and that hurt Reyna almost as much as her pain had. But at least she knew how to ease this discomfort far more than she had earlier. All she needed to do was lean in closer and gently soothe her worries.
“It’s fine, it wasn’t your fault. Besides, we can always try again next year…”