BEFORE YOU READ: LOOK, THIS IDEA WASN'T MINE. This story is based on Her Venomous Majesty's, NightPoison's, Dream or Nightmare. She gave me permission to post this. I don't get the credit for the basic premise of this piece. This is an AU of an AU. Fanfiction of a fanfiction.

Bleeding Coral

Once, there was a little boy.

Once, there was a little girl.

And as you might expect, reader, they soon met the other.

Chapter 1: Firelight Love

Apollo's had been a hard birth. Artemis felt proud of the fact that she had helped her mother through it. She tried not to dwell on the certainty that her brother wouldn't have survived the event if not for her. She was a goddess, she was special, and her brother was a god. Her mother, even though she wasn't a goddess, was a Titan. She didn't understand the difference between a god and a Titan, but Artemis felt that it was a harmless enough thing not to know. While a Titan, like a goddess, was immortal, they were susceptible to fading when in labor because another immortal life was being brought into the world.

Or so her mother told Artemis, but her mother was never wrong, so why doubt her?

Cautiously, she stepped out of the cave where her mother and brother were sleeping. Apollo had complained about their living arrangements the day before, and her mother had sighed and explained that Hera was displeased with both Artemis' and Apollo's birth, so she would not let them into Olympus. Though she had chided Apollo for complaining, she hadn't seemed particularly fond of sleeping in the cave. Artemis, in contrast, was at ease in the cave, but she would have preferred to go into the forest nearby. Her mother had straight-out refused her request, reacting with such ferociousness that she'd made Artemis curious as to what was in the forest. Surely, it wouldn't be able to harm her. She was a goddess, albeit a young one.

Artemis jogged to the edge of the forest. She hesitated at the sight of the huge trees and the shadows enveloping the place. She stepped back, only now thinking that disobeying her mother would be a bad idea. A howl scared her into turning her back to the forest and running back to the cave where her family was quietly slumbering.

But as fate would have it, the young goddess's way was blocked by a thick wall of trees. Artemis shook as she advanced towards the wall that had appeared behind her, eyes wide. She reached out to the trees, and her hands touched rough, solid wood upon contact. Her breathing grew swallower. She struggled to contain her feelings, but soon a scream was building inside her.

Her mother had warned her. Her mother was never wrong. Now she was cut off from her family, and she wouldn't be able to reach out to them. Artemis was a young goddess. Despite looking almost nine in mortal years, she was barely a year old. She couldn't use her powers yet because they hadn't manifested themselves. Those would be acquired in accordance to the experiences she attained in her youth. There were children of the gods who chose their domains younger than her, but those cases were rare, as her mother had told Artemis. She wouldn't be one of those godlings.

The scream burst from her throat as a loud shriek before it was cut off abruptly when a hand covered her mouth. Her hands automatically rose to it, trying to rip the offending thing from her mouth when she was shoved behind a nearby bush. She struggled vehemently, but soon another body covered hers.

Artemis felt warm lips hovering next to her ear. "Please. They're coming." A boy, not a man. His voice was reminiscent of Apollo's, but deeper and quieter. She understood at once that the stranger wanted her to keep quiet.

She was relieved when the stranger took his hand off her mouth. He slowly relaxed, after realizing that she wasn't going to scream. Soon, Artemis understood what the boy had been running from. She couldn't see them, but she recognized the bark of a hellhound. She clutched the stranger's shirt without realizing it. She was scared; the last time she'd encountered a monster, her mother had sent it back to Tartarus.

She prayed to her father that the hellhound wouldn't see them, but they did anyways. Abruptly, a paw the size of her head swiped at her chest behind the bush. Artemis would have been torn to shreds if the boy hadn't pulled her up and away. He dragged her behind him, and Artemis had a hard time keeping up with him even though he continually jerked her arm to make her hurry.

Eventually, they reached a cliff. At first, she thought they'd gotten lost, that he's screwed up. Then she looked down and was met with the vast green-blue shadows that made up the sea. "Oh no." She couldn't jump. She was a child of Zeus. Poseidon wouldn't tolerate her entrance into his domain. Never.

"We have to." The boy removed his hand from her wrist but clasped her hand with his own.

Artemis looked at their hands before turning her eyes to the boy. "I can't!" She gave a strangled sob. Artemis bit her lip, fighting to keep away the tears. She was a young immortal. She could die.

"I'll protect you." He said fiercely.

She swallowed. "No, you can't. I'm…" She looked into his green eyes. For some reason unknown to her, she hesitated. "I'm the daughter of—" Her words died away under the loud barks of the hellhounds. "I thought it was only one." She gripped the boy's hand tighter.

He squeezed her hand. "Jump. I'll protect you." Artemis looked at him for only a moment more before she nodded.

The boy nodded back, and together the two stepped off the cliff just as the hellhounds came into view. The wind whipped Artemis' hair over her face. It almost tore the boy's hand from her own, but he held on to her, thankfully.

Falling into the sea hurt. She felt like she's just crashed into a very, very thick tree. She cried out in pain, and saltwater flooded her mouth. Her arms flailing around in the water while she choked, she made the boy lose her grip on her hand. She clawed at the water, trying to locate the boy, but her eyes burned when she tried to open them.

Artemis felt herself sinking… sinking… but just as she lost consciousness she felt something warm touch her hand. She knew the boy would keep her safe.

When she came to, the first thing Artemis saw was his eyes. They were a beautiful shade of green. They reminded her of the sea—not the blackish waters she'd been drowning in the last time she'd been conscious, but the brilliant, sparkling sea. They were beautiful.

"I was afraid you were dead. I didn't want to break my promise." The boy ran his hand through his hair then plopped down on the sand next to her.

"I wouldn't have died. I'm a goddess." Artemis realized how untrue her words were the very next second. She would have died without him.

"You are?" He grinned at her. "So am I! Er, well, a god, anyways."

Artemis blinked. She was surprised, but she didn't know what to say. She tried to remember what she was doing before he'd first met him, but she remembered nothing before the time she'd stepped into the forest. "Who are your parents?" She didn't know why she asked that.

The boy scrunched up his eyebrows, thinking. Artemis thought he looked cute when he did that. "I don't know. I can't remember anything."

Artemis gasped. "So can't I. I…" She looked at the sand sadly, and she contemplated how pretty the white sand looked before shaking her head. "I don't think I have a family." What else could it be? If she couldn't remember her father, her mother, then she probably didn't know them.

The boy was silent. Then he said, "Do you think the Fates brought us together?"

Artemis bit her lip and frowned. "Why would the Fates do that?"

The boy shrugged. "I don't know. They're the Fates. They can do anything."

Artemis sat up. "But why us?"

"I don't have a family, either. That can't be coincidence, right?"

Artemis cocked her head to the side. "You're so silly." She shook her head, smiling a little. "I'm Artemis."

The boy nudged her. "Perseus, but I like Percy better."

The years passed.

Percy and Artemis were alone in the forest, save for the monsters. Those, though, stayed away from them after the first night. Once, Artemis asked why.

Percy looked at her guiltily. "The forest responds to me, Artemis. I don't know why that is." He said, anticipating her next question.

She closed her mouth with a snap, which made Percy laugh. Artemis pouted. "So you could have saved me from the hellhounds without having me jump off a cliff. But you didn't know?"

Percy blushed at Artemis' fake glare. "Oh, shush, you're secretly very thankful I found you and made you jump. You're not as scared of the sea anymore."

Artemis crossed her arms over her slowly-developing chest. "I don't like the sea." She puffed out her cheeks, then flicked her long red hair away from her eyes.

Percy laughed and shook his head, smiling at her lie.

They spent their mornings hunting, their afternoons sparring. While Percy taught Artemis how to hunt, she became much better at hunting game than he was. He didn't particularly like doing it, either, but everyday he followed Artemis to please her. Likewise, she didn't like sparring, but Percy insisted that since she only hunted with a spear—and made him do so too—they both should practice how to fight with a sword. This led to Artemis insisting they practice archery, too, but Percy was so bad at it that Artemis took pity on him and turned a blind eye when he made his kills only with his spear and neglected his bow and arrows.

It became easier, as they grew, to catch bigger game. At three, Artemis looked like a mortal thirteen-year-old would. Soon after they'd met, Percy and Artemis had ascertained that they'd both been born in the same day. Despite this, Percy looked younger than Artemis, simply because she was taller. She liked to remind him of that fact as often as she could, but a mere year later he surpassed her in height. He was still skinny but Artemis liked the way his hair looked wet, when he was climbing out of a stream right after she pushed him in. She liked the color of his eyes. She liked the slow smile he always gave her when he was teasing her. She liked the way he looked at her when she woke up on cold winter days. She liked the way her chest tightened when he accidentally touched her, and liked even more the small shivers she got when he touched her on purpose.

It wasn't until they both turned five—when their bodies had become reminiscent of fifteen-year-olds—that it happened.

In the middle of winter, they'd both been inside the cabin they'd built for themselves when they'd first met. They'd been lying in front of the fire, huddled together with blankets covering them. With their arms around one another, they'd moved Percy's wolf furs near the hearth so that they could sleep close together. As was custom for winter, they talked the night away until they fell asleep.

Percy woke up before Artemis. It was still dark, and he suspected that dawn was still a few hours away. He looked down at Artemis, who was lying on his chest with her arms wrapped around him. His own arms encircled her waist, holding her tighter against him. Their legs were tangled together in such a way that he couldn't extricate himself from her without waking her. He contented himself with watching her hair as it caught the light of the dying hearth. He played with the locks, curling them around his fingers and running his hands through them. He wished he could bury his face in her hair, but moving her would defeat the purpose of the occasion. Though Percy loved to talk to Artemis, he refused to surrender the few moments he could freely watch her sleeping and admire the way the firelight made her hair a thousand different shades od red.

Most of all, he loved how she looked when she finally did wake up, and she opened those magnificent silver-blue eyes of hers. They would change colors in the light. If there was something he loved more than playing with Artemis' hair, it was staring into her eyes when she'd just woken up. In those moments, she wasn't guarded, or teasing, or scared or brave. She was Artemis, lying in his arms, relaxed against his chest as she kissed his cheek as a greeting.

The moment that night came sooner than Percy expected it to. She stirred in her sleep. Her hair fell smoothly away from him, slipping from his hands like water was never able to. Shadows and light played with her hair, making it one of the most beautiful things he'd ever seen.

Her hands, which had been lying comfortably on his chest, slid up and touched his shoulders, then coiled around his neck. Finally, she opened those gorgeous eyes of hers, her eyelashes magnificently long from where he was watching. The force of her gaze jolted him as strongly as any other time. Her eyes darkened to navy blue, then a dark, rich brown.

Artemis rose slowly and kissed his cheek, looking him straight in the eyes. She always did that. Whether she knew that he liked it when she did that or was unaware of that fact and merely liked looking at him then, every time she woke up in his arms… Percy didn't know.

She lowered herself back onto his collarbone, resting her head sideways. Her hair fell away to reveal the graceful column of her neck. She kept staring at Percy, waiting for him to finish the ritual.

Percy's mouth felt dry. He could almost hear his heart beating, and he was thankful that in the current lighting Artemis wouldn't be able to see his soft, golden blush. He tilted his head down, brushing his lips against her soft cheek. Percy was very aware of her hands on his hair, caressing it, her palms touching his neck. He continued to look at Artemis, and was surprised when she didn't break eye contact herself. It was always he who pulled away, and only now did he wonder why that was.

Almost without thinking, he moved his head a tiny fraction, and his lips touched hers.

The reaction was immediate. Her hands slackened in his hair and her eyes widened ever so slightly. She didn't flinch, though, so he didn't pull away, as he would have if she had. He closed his eyes, brushing his tongue against her lips. They trembled, but he assumed it wasn't a negative sign. If Artemis didn't want this, she would push him away.

Percy kissed her slowly as he pulled her off him so that she would be lying down besides him. He liked the way she tasted. It wasn't sweet or bitter. It was something in between, something he couldn't describe. But when he knew minutes had elapsed and she still lay limp besides him, he forced himself away from Artemis and looked at her.

He couldn't place her expression, but he hadn't seen it before. He wanted to apologize, he wanted to tell her he hadn't known what he'd been doing, but he didn't feel sorry and he had known what he'd been doing. He'd wanted her. He still did.

She was still staring at him in that peculiar way when he kissed her forehead and pulled her on top of him once again. "Go to sleep, Artemis." He whispered into her ear.

Again, he woke up before Artemis did. She'd slid down during the rest of the night, so while they were touching, he didn't have to move her at all when he rose from the makeshift bed. Percy could see the first signs of dawn in the horizon. He wondered what would be better: to wait for her and hunt or take the morning to himself. Would she worry? Or would she understand that he'd wanted her to have some time for herself?

He looked at Artemis, lying on his covers, and decided to run down to the sea.