Chapter Text
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Five years ago…
The forest was chillfully silent, the only sound that could be heard was the rustle of squirrels playing in the trees and the occasional sound of a deer running through the river to get to a clearing. The Hunters of Artemis were sleeping in a small clearing near the border of Maine and New Hampshire. It was dark, the sun was slowly setting, practically a sliver in the sky as Apollo dragged the sun with his chariot and Artemis brought night with hers.
Roselin was eight, watching the sun set as the Hunters got ready for their next expedition. She felt a warm hand on her shoulder, and looked up to see Lieutenant Zoë Nightshade, her face lightened up by the moon’s light.
“What is thou doing, young one?” She asked, voice like a balm to Roselin. “Watching the stars again?”
Roselin nodded, her face brightening with a smile. “How could I not?” She giggled. “They’re just so beautiful. I could stop and stare at them for hours.”
Zoë smiled, sitting down next to the child to watch the stars with her. They stayed like that for a few minutes, the night filling with the music of crickets and frogs waking from their autumn slumber.
“I want to be a star one day,” Zoë hummed, breaking the comfortable silence. “Once my time is over, I wish to be one with the stars.”
Roselin looked over to her mentor, her memory filling with times she’s trained her, helped her, and just… was there. A day without Zoe would be strange. She blinked, her head titling slightly.
“Not currently, right?” she asked, fear quivering in her voice. “You’re not going to suddenly die and leave me, right?”
She saw her mentor soften, tucking her hair behind her ear with the gentleness of a mother. “No, not yet. But soon. And when I’m gone, tho will be ready. I’m sure of it.”
Current day
This isn’t happening. This couldn’t be happening. Zoe was alive just a few days ago! She couldn’t… She couldn’t be DEAD!
No!
No.
No?
It felt like only yesterday that Bianca had said the Hunteress Pledge, that Roselin was begging Zoe to let them keep Nico around because IT WAS SOOO OBIVOUS THAT HE’S GAY-, and now, Chiron was telling her Zoe was dead. Her mentor since birth was dead. The one face that she could actually consire her mother is gone. She wasn’t ready- Zoe promised that she’d be ready when she dies and joins the stars.
“I’m terribly sorry, Roselin,” Chiron sighed, placing a hand on her shoulder before she flinched away, her frost at her feet spreading from the floor towards his wheelchair. “I know this must be hard for you, and Annabeth had something that Zoe said would be yours if she came back.”
Chiron opened his hand and in his palm laid a silver hairclip, a moon crescent that seemed to sparkle with a variety of different muted colors.
She slowly took it, feeling the chill of the metal. She recognized it instantly as Enchanted Silver, a common weapon the Hunters of Artemis use. She wasn’t allowed to have her own bow until she turned thirteen, and her birthday was in a few days.
“Thank you, Chiron,” she said shakily, placing the hair clip into her hair. “I will protect this, as I know Zoe would want me to.”
He nodded and she noted how his eyes sparkled with the desire to say more, but decided to keep his tongue held. He left the room, going into the infirmary to check on other demigods to leave her to her thoughts. She took a few deep breaths to calm her clenching heart and thaw the frost at her feet. Roselin turned to the door, walking out of the Big House and felt the eyes of other demigods.
It was reasonable, really; seeing a girl with a Hunter uniform come out of the Big House with water color-like frost following her as she went to cabin 8.
Opening the door, she spotted her mother back as a young girl with Thalia Grace wearing the Lieutenant crown and froze. Zoë just died. She just got the news and now her mother was replacing her?! Right now?!
Thalia's eyes caught hers and Roselin bit her tongue. She wasn’t allowed to decide on Lieutenants, she was only allowed to train new Hunters. She knew she’d have to mentor someone in the ways of a Hunteress, something that Zoë had never taught her before. She felt the eyes of her mother and the other Hunters, feeling the need to disappear, run even.
“Roselin, dear,” Artemis started, her tone final for whatever news she was about to receive. “Thalia is your new Lieutenant, and I expect to treat her like one.”
Roselin nodded, unable to speak. She wanted to scream at her, to demand to take away Thalia’s title and bring back Zoë. But she didn’t. She couldn’t. It wasn’t her place.
The Hunteresses bowed to Artemis and Thalia, but Roselin stayed standing. In Huntress culture, she was above Thalia. Her mother waved her hand, dismissing the Hunters, and they left with snickers and mutters. Something was happening.
Artemis nodded to Thalia and then she left, leaving a chill behind in the room in the cabin. The two, a Lieutenant and a girl, were alone now. Thalia sighed, sitting down on one of the made beds. All of the beds were made, they were leaving. No one told her.
“Roselin, that’s your name right?” Thalia asked but didn’t wait for an answer. “Listen, I know Zoë was the one who was training you, but I feel like you’d be better here.”
Roselin blinked, once, twice before speaking. “I beg your pardon?” Her accent was thick on her tongue, her voice thick with unshed tears and surprise. “I will not be staying at a camp with… Demigods!”
Thalia raised an eyebrow, unbothered and unimpressed. “But you’re a demigod.”
Roselin huffed, crossing her arms. “Technically, yes, I am. But I am a Hunter. Always and forever.”
“But you can’t say the pledge.” Thalia pointed out. “Listen, you still have a lot to learn and I don’t think I can teach you. So I think it’d be better to stay here and train.”
Roselin felt her heart clench, her hands balling into fists as she wanted to argue, but she heard the tone of command in her voice and knew it would be better not to argue. She finally nodded, her head hanging low. Thalia smiled, standing up from the bed and patted her shoulder before leaving to join the Hunters. She followed, feeling the frost stirring again. The hushed whispers from the other Hunters was unintelligible from how cluttered it was. She could only hear bits and pieces without context, but taking it as warnings; “I heard that the Aphrodite kids date people to break their hearts-” “I heard that Hephaestus kids are ugly-” “-Ares kids rape people-” “There are so many stupid rules in this camp, she wouldn’t survive it.”
Thalia clapped her hands together, gaining the silence and attention from the gossiping hunters. “Ladies and gentletheys, Roselin will be staying at Camp Half Blood in the Artemis Cabin, she will not be traveling with us. I expect you respect her decision.”
—
Roselin watched as the Hunters left, now in an orange Camp Half Blood shirt. She waited until the ladies were out of view before she backed up, feeling the tears finally drop out of her eyes and she fell onto her knees, hands covering her face as she silently sobbed. Night was falling and other campers were gathering to their cabins, now able to get a front row view of her pathetic form as she sobbed. She heard a snicker, a hushed whisper and instantly got up, fleeing into the forest. She didn’t know where she was going, but she knew one thing; she didn’t want to be in the eyes of others.
By the time she stopped, she had tripped on a tree root, forced onto the ground where she shakily panted, tears and sweat dripping down her face as she caught her breath. Once her tears had finally dried up and her sobs became sniffles, she leaned against a tree, looking up at the stars.
The stars were lovely like always. The Winter Solstice was out, and she could see all the stars brightly. She remembered the stories of the stars that Zoe told her, and the sweet memory brought a small smile onto her face.
Suddenly, there was a snap of a branch, causing Roselin to get up quickly, grabbing the hairclip and flicking it to turn it into a silver bow. And man, did it not disappoint; the bow had a dark blue grip with the limbs having a starry design that swirled onto the metal. It had more weight than the wooden bows that she was taught with, but she bet she could handle it. The realization that she had no arrows hit her like a truck, but then she felt the weight of a quiver on her back. Reaching out, she felt the familiar feather of an arrow. Grabbing it, she notched the arrow, letting it rest on the arrow shelf as she waited for the target to come out of the bushes.
The bushes rustled, and she readied herself, before spotting the familiar face of a raven haired boy. His olive skin seemed to be paler and his cheeks were flushed. Nico di Angelo was in front of her arrow.