| For as long as she stayed at Camp Half-Blood, Thalia Jacobs and Olivia Teixeira were best friends and as close as sisters, mainly due to the fact that they were. Having essentially grown up together in the Hades Cabin, the girls were inseparable, and moved into an apartment in Fort Worth, Texas together after leaving camp. They lived in their apartment happily for a couple years. Their friendship would soon be strained as Thanatos would more and more frequently visit Thalia, initially with messages from Hades, then more often for "recreational purposes", much to Olivia's chagrin. Becoming uncomfortable with her sister's goings on with the god, Olivia faced her sister with an ultimatum: To stop her dealings with Thanatos, or to move out of the apartment. Left with no other option, Thalia left the apartment, and though she kept in contact with Olivia, they were at odds with each other ever since.
It would be another 5 years in Dallas before Thalia became pregnant with Thanatos' son. When she went to tell Olivia, she herself had the news that she had also encountered a god, and was pregnant with Ares' child. The two seemed to reconcile over the time of their pregnancies, though they still had a distinct mistrust of each other, something they would impress upon their children, Thalia upon her son, Ian, and Olivia upon her daughter, Adriana.
Ian and Adriana, as he often called her Dri, grew up close to each other, though their mothers tried their best throughout the years to make them hate each other as they did. But this was mostly to no avail, as they were best friends growing up, and as they got older, they developed feelings for one another. At 15, they both made the trip to camp half-blood, where they each were claimed by their fathers. For two years at camp, Ian and Dri were inseparable, and soon developed a steady relationship. In these two years, they also became fast friends with a son of Nike, Jeremy, who, while clumsy and timid, was formidable in combat and became counselor quickly after arriving at camp. For the most part, Ian's life was good. However, it wouldn't last.
One day, Jeremy was called to lead a quest to retrieve one of Nike's chariots from Kratos. Not feeling like much of a leader, Jeremy allowed Ian to lead the quest for him, only making certain judgement calls. Along the way to find Kratos, the group came across the chariot, abandoned in Austin, Texas. Before they could retrieve it, Kratos returned, and nearly killed them all before Ian challenged him to a battle. He faced off against the god, but he brutalized the boy until he yielded, nearly beaten to death. Kratos then escaped with the chariot,leaving the questors with few options. Roxie and Jeremy managed to keep him alive, though unconscious, as they decided to take him to Dallas to see his mother, as they were out of nectar and ambrosia, before they chose their next course of action.
While unconscious, Ian had a dream where his father appeared to him. He stood in the middle of a park, a man with large black wings that looked out among the people there. He walked up to him cautiously and asked him, "Who are you?" The man smiled almost to himself, but never looking away from the children. "They're precious, y'know. Children. They don't even know I exist, some of them. Granted, for most of them, I'm a far ways off, but still......Oh, my apologies, I didn't answer you. Don't you know your own father? I am Thanatos, the god of death....and I take it you need something? Advice, a gift, something of that nature?" He looked up at him for a moment. "Some advice would be pretty nice at this point. I need to know of some kind of way to fight Kratos without getting murdered. Everytime we try, he beats us and we're starting to not patch ourselves up as well. It's like a curse or something." Thanatos smiled again, this time looking at his son. "Y'see, sometimes a curse can be just what you need......and other times, the bane of the existence. Remember what you've heard about curses while at camp. I'm sure your mother will have her piece to say about it." the god winked at him before there was a bright flash and he woke up in his mother's house with her standing over him. He told her about his dream and what Thanatos told him. Thalia furrowed her brow before she spoke. "I recall hearing about one curse in particular that's supposed to be helpful while I was at camp........The curse of Achilles, I believe. Though it requires the blessing of the mother for you to not die. You also have to go into the underworld and bathe in the River Styx, so it'd be less than easy." Ian didn't seem phased by the description of the curse, but was focused on the mission. "Sweet,that works, L.A was our next stop anyway......Well, mom? Do I have your blessing?" Thalia smiled at him, kissed him on the forehead, and said he had her blessing to do whatever he felt he had to do to help his friends. He nodded and went along to Los Angeles after a meal and a nap.
The group made it into the underworld with no real issues, but when faced with the River, Ian felt terrified. In a moment of impulse, he stepped into the water. He felt as though it was going to burn him up from the inside. Just as he was about to melt away, he felt a sharp pain in his sholderblade and exploded out of the water, feeling stronger. Once the group left the underworld, they came across the chariot again. Just before they could claim it, Kratos quickly appeared, and upon seeing him, Ian attacked him. The god punched at him while he was running, but Ian dodged the attack and managed to catch him in the gut with a kick, sending the god flying into the Pacific. Adriana then walked up to him smiling and playfully punched him on the arm. "Nice one, tiger." Ian's body seemed to react without thought to being hit. His arm shot out and smacked into her, sending her flying into the nearby pier. Now enraged, Ian sprinted at Kratos as the god rose to his feet. Jeremy tried to step between them to capture the chariot, but wasn't fast enough, as Ian threw him into it as he crossed his path. Within seconds, the god clashed with Ian. He dropped his shoulder and slammed into Kratos knocking him back. He then created a scythe and swiped his legs and slammed the hilt of his sword down on the god's chest as he fell. Kratos kicked him in the face, breaking his nose, but he only staggered back, then slammed his elbow in his face, causing golden ichor to run from his nose. He then swept the gods legs again and before he fell, he grabbed the god by his armor and tossed him into the pacific again, running towards the chariot. As Jeremy got in the chariot, horses seemed to erupt from the front of it and it sprouted wings on the side and began to hover. Ian jumped into it while Kratos slowly rose to his feet. The chariot took to the sky and Ian blacked out.
He awoke a week later to hands around his throat. He was pulled out of his bed to a man who seemed to have flames for eyes and a permanent scowl. "YOU LEFT HER TO F*CKING DIE?!!! JUST WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, BOY?!!! I SHOULD KILL YOU!!!" As he was choking, he managed, "What are you talking about?" "And you say you love her.......You leave my daughter to die, and you don't even remember." Ares dropped the boy. "You nearly killed her.....And I'm going to see to it you never hurt another demigod like you did her ever again." He placed a hand on Ian's chest and he screamed in agonizing pain. "You will feel that pain again, anytime you ever hurt another demigod the way you hurt her....Bear that in mind, son of Thanatos."
When he went to tell Jeremy about his encounter, he ignored him, and not long after, left camp for good, leaving Ian to bear the curse of Achilles, as well as the curse of Ares.
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