"Hahahahaha!" The evil laugh taunted Percy Jackson, who was trying to get up after the last attack. Percy was glad none of his friends or girlfriend was around to see him at the moment. He had accepted to do this quest for Chiron, who told him that a great danger was in the city. Percy never doubted the old centaur, but he was beginning to think that there couldn't be anything worse than a millennial sorceress with a terrible sense of fashion and a taunting smile. If she was planning on attacking the city the same way she was attacking Percy, he feared everyone would scared out of their minds.
Because wearing a dress- no a kilt, nor a skirt, a dress! -would be the doom of the men around the world.
"You think this is funny?!" He gritted his teeth, finally up from the floor. The dress was a flowery pattern on top of a dark blue base. It would have looked great on any girl, but Percy wanted to tear it apart immediately! No one was allowed to mock him like this! "No real woman would be caught in this dress if they had a choice!" While insulting Medea's fashion taste was bad, Percy thought it would be worst if someone ever sees him like this!
"You know nothing, Perseus Jackson... You wouldn't recognize a real woman even if she was staring at you..." Percy frowned, but looked away, away from Medea's voice. Apparently- not that Percy knew something -, she was obsess into fetching a demigod to herself, after her last attempt to Jason didn't work, thanks to Piper. However, Percy didn't have a Piper next to him and the resolve in his mind was fading the more Medea talked. "Join me, young demigod... What have the gods done for you?" She taunted him, smirking, while Percy focused his attention on getting rid of the dress, who was expanding and attaching to his body. "I can make you bigger than even Zeus... Take my offer-"
"Not tonight, sorceress!" Another female voice came to rescue Percy from his dilemma. Looking up, he saw a flash of silver hitting Medea's side and the monster sorceress hissed. "Never thought I'd say this, but you look good in a dress, young Perseus..." Percy blushed, but managed to focus on his savior. It was someone he didn't expect to see, especially helping him out. "Surprised to see me, young hero?"
"Artemis... You fool!" Medea screeched at her. Artemis, standing in front of Medea, forgot about Percy for a moment and, weapon ready, wasn't intimidated by her words. "You should had followed the path of the sorcery, you would had been so powerful rather than follow petty males!" Artermis' gaze upon her steeles and she frowned, arming her bow with an arrow.
"I don't follow any male." She stated, before firing the arrow. However, Medea was in the middle of a spell and, when Artemis' arrow hit her in the middle of her chest, the energy of whatever spell she was planning to release, exploded in waves, tossing both Percy and Artemis on their backs, onto the floor, making them unconscious for several minutes.
Artemis was the first up from the two.
And boy, she did not like what she saw.
As vain as Medea was, the sorceress had installed mirrors around her private rooms and that's where Artemis checked first. She was sure she had seen the sorceress disappear in a cloud of dust, but you could never be sure. Plus, Artemis could recognize a spell when chanted, so she figured Medea was planning a nasty surprise for them to face.
The idea of checking Perseus never crossed her mind. Never mind who, a male will always be a male and nothing could make them see differently. Artemis had growled when her brother had asked the favor, leaving her Hunters in order to save a male?! Apollo must have been insane. However, when her lieutenant heard the name of the male, she was willing to jump to save him. Artemis argued with her, only for Thalia to point out something important.
If the one who was in troubles was Apollo, what would she do?
Artemis shook her head over the memory. Thalia had got her there, but it wasn't acceptable for the goddess. She knew Thalia was a troublemaker, but she was expecting instant obedience from her. Thalia didn't disappoint in not delivering. Luckily, she didn't make a riot of it-
Artemis stared at her reflection in one of the mirrors and was frozen in the spot. She could not simply believe what her eyes were telling her, yet here it was. Medea had been chanting a spell, but wasn't a spell for Artemis to fight a monster. More to make her a monster.
Her loud shriek put Aphrodite to shame.
By the time Percy woke up, he felt slightly different.
However, the first thing he noticed was the fact that he wasn't in that abandon factory where he had found Medea's lair, but on Olympus. He looked around and noticed that several gods and goddesses were looking at him, between curious and concern. Percy groaned, getting up, getting the attention of all the presents. Unfortunately for him, his first thoughts after waking up was to check if he was still wearing that awful and embarrassing dress. To his infinite shame, he was.
But that wasn't the only thing he discovered.
His arms and legs were slimmer and weren't that obviously muscly. His finger had turned to delicate ones, not rough ones. His skin continued to be tanned and he still had the SPQR tattoo on his right forearm, so that testified that it was him. But his chest... his chest had swollen and not in a good way! He fought the impulse of even touching himself, considering the most rude thing ever. His fingers rushed to his hair, along with his panicked face and he felt that his short but messy hair had turned long and messy. He ran his fingers through his eyes, that seemed the same, but his face was a little rounder. Scared and confused, he grabbed by the clothes' neck the first god he found.
He was fortunate that the first god was his father.
"Dad, what happened to me?" Poseidon looked unsure, and Percy almost faints when hearing his new high-pitched voice. Poseidon has never seen someone pale that fast in a period of ten seconds and he was sure Percy would be having a stroke if he couldn't understand what was going on. "What happened?!" Poseidon felt being shaken by Percy and, even though he could understand his son's confusion, he wasn't going to tolerate this behavior, much in less in front of witnesses.
"Percy, behave yourself." Poseidon ordered. Percy stopped shaking him and a rush of unfamiliar emotions flooded him. Unknown to Percy, his newly generated female hormones were taking over, as he didn't know how to handle them yet and, as a result of the shock and intimidation, made the young hero cry his eyes out.
The present gods were left stunned, unsure of what to do upon seeing this. Aphrodite was quick enough to offer some support, allowing the young male-turned-female to cry on her shoulder, cooing him softly. Percy's loud sobs were muffled, but that didn't that he had stopped crying. Not by far.
"Is Hecate already searching for a solution...?" Aphrodite whispered at her fellow gods, who shrugged their shoulders. "Oh, for Chaos' sake! Go and ask her!"
"She needs both Percy and Artemis' retell-"
"Artemis? Where is Artemis? She saved my life..." Percy acknowledged, stopping his crying and looking up, his eyes red because of the tears. Poseidon was about to say that he didn't know when, the most strange vision so far, walked in view. Well, not strange, but strange under the circumstances. Percy's eyes widen at the frustration and, possible hatred the young goddess was displaying against him. "A- Artemis...?" That question was made with fear and even a hint of concern.
"I assure you, young Perseus, that I am me." The grave masculine voice surprised Percy. Well, not exactly surprised, as the voice was expected from any male. "However, I do not look like me and that disturbs me a little... I imagine it disturbs you too..." Artemis' new look wasn't that different from her previous one, combat boots and white camouflage clothes were there, but her- his facials were angular. In fact, too angular to belong to any male. Her eyes were still silver, glaring venomously at him, and her long auburn hair had been cut up to the beginning of her back neck, a few strands falling as bangs.
"Never seen a female goddess looking this masculine..." Percy admitted, blushing a little. Artemis' glare turn even more deep. It wasn't a mistake to say that Percy was blamed for her current predicament, though how he was to blame he didn't know. Aphrodite handed him a small mirror, giving Percy the surprise of his life. What his fingers and mind were trying to tell him, now his eyes confirmed it.
He was a girl.
"What happened to us? Why we look like this?!" All the gods shared a look with Poseidon, who nodded in resignment.
"It looks like the sorceress you both were fighting was preparing a spell the moment she was disintegrated..." When Aphrodite began talking, Percy started to recall the fight, so he nodded. "The energy she accumulated to release in the spell was released all together, working on its own... That, we think, might have caused the switch..."
"But, you can fix it, right?" Percy questioned them, hopeful. He noticed the looks between the gods and goddesses and his hopes were going down. "You- you can, right?"
"Hecate will be looking for a way, but... this, this has never happened before..." Poseidon explained. Percy looked down at himself in shame and nodded.
Not that there was an embarrassment to being a girl, but he was no girl!
Percy and Artemis had been gender switched for two weeks and Percy was losing hope the gods could or even were finding a solution for their problem.
Artemis had left Thalia as he leader of the Hunt, until this problem could be fixed. Percy would have give plenty to see his cousin's face when she was being explained what happened. But, he was stuck in Olympus, without outside contact. Everyone has been told he was there, but he couldn't even see them.
Aphrodite took some time to teach both Artemis and Percy to teach them how to act with the opposite sex. Artemis was very confident that Hecate would find a solution, but Percy wasn't that confident. Or, if Hecate actually find a solution to this problem, it wouldn't be in his lifetime. And he told so to Aphrodite. The goddess could only offer some hopeful words in return.
At the beginning of the switch, Artemis ignored Percy completely. She had made it, loud and clear, that he was the one responsible to this tragedy and that he should be the one looking for a solution. Percy could only listen in silence, while Artemis tore him apart, or that was until Aphrodite took Artemis for a chat and gave her an earful that the poor guy was already traumatized by the event and didn't need to add being blamed for something that was out his control. Also, the goddess pointed out something that Artemis had chosen to ignore that was that she was the one detecting Medea's scent.
In other words, if Artemis hadn't smelled Medea, neither she or Percy would be in this trouble.
After that, she was more subdue, but she showed her anger in every possible moment. Percy couldn't blame her, but there was no one else that he could relate to the things he was feeling. He couldn't talk to anyone and, even if he could, who would understand what he talk about? That made Percy spent his time with the most unlikely goddess of all. Aphrodite was great listening once in a while.
After the initial hatred from her part, Artemis and Percy began spending time together, learning how to behave correctly and from one and other. Artemis was thinking, without Percy knowing it, that maybe Percy wasn't the one to blame completely for her predicament, mellowing a little her attitude towards him. Percy, on the other hand, learnt a lot about the goddess, slowly understanding, though not supporting, her hatred for men in general.
But everyday, you could see the frustration growing bigger in Percy's eyes upon not finding a solution.
"Artemis?" Percy called her- him, one afternoon. "What do you think our lives would be like if they don't find a solution...?"
"They will find one, Percy..." Percy had insisted on being called Percy, otherwise he- she would think was in troubles all the time. "Give them some time-"
"Artemis, time is a relative thing to you, but not for me!" Percy exploded. Artemis shut up, realizing her- his mistake. Percy wasn't immortal, unlike herself. She knew Hecate would find a solution, but Percy didn't have the time to wait. "I just wanna go home with my mother..."
"I'm sorry, Percy... I wish I had a better answer, but I don't..." Percy nodded and hid the tears falling. Unfortunately for him, Artemis had seen them and was already wiping them away, surprising Percy. "The only person who can actually understand how you're feeling about this is me, so I promise that I'll do whatever I can to fix this..."
Despite promises made before, Percy sneaked out of Olympus to see his mother.
During the way there, he thought in all the things he'd have to do to prove she was he. All the funny yet embarrassing stories that Annabeth didn't know, that Sally would never tell. All those phrases that mean so much to his mother that could set her into the right track of thinking. Should he crack a joke or two to show his identity?
The way was easy and escaping of Olympus, even more. Percy suspected that he was let go, but couldn't find a wrong reason behind it. He tried also to convinced himself that his mother would recognize him and that will not throw him out of the house. Finally, he reached his home and knocked on the door, quite frequently.
"Coming!" Percy's smile came to his face the minute that he heard his mother. He brushed his now-long hair, trembling a little. He was excited about this! "Hi, can I help you?" Sally asked, the minute the door was opened. She was wearing her normal apron and was filled with flour, Percy quickly assumed she was making cookies.
"Mom, is me... Percy..." Percy whispered, tears coming to his face. Sally raised an eyebrow in confusion, before eyeing the woman in front of her very carefully. "Mom, it really is me..." He insisted and Sally's eyes relaxed and softened upon seeing Percy's.
"Percy, what-?" She couldn't even managed to say another word, as Percy launched to hug her, sobbing in happiness. Sally wrapped her arms around her now-daughter, closing the door behind her. She tried to calm down the young woman in her arms, even though part of her was confusing. Her. Heart was telling her this was her son, but her eyes needed a little more convincing. "Percy, what happened? Why are you like this...?" Percy stopped sobbing and looked at her.
"Remember I went to a quest a few weeks ago?" Sally nodded, remembering the conversation. "Well, I faced a sorceress and well, she threw a spell at me and Artemis, who arrived to help and... well, this is the result." Sally finally admitted to her brain that this was the truth as she wouldn't have the imagination to invent something like this.
"But- what is your father doing about this?" Sally's tone was somber and Percy was glad she wasn't mad at him. "He must be doing something or it was his idea to keep you in Olympus until you went back to normal?"
"I- I don't know, Mom..." Percy confessed. "I really don't and I believe that to be true... They're not so eager into finding a solution, no matter how disgusted Artemis is..." For the first time in his life, Sally was growling in anger. However, it wasn't aimed at Percy, who she hugged close to her. "Mom, I'm scared... What if I never return to normal...?" Soon, Sally found calming her distressful daughter.
"It won't matter to me, love..." She made him smile, before feeling bad of robbing that smile. "But you will need to talk to Annabeth."
Artemis knew Percy had done a runner.
She also knew that no one cared about it.
However, the goddess-turn-god had another task in hand. In her mind, the accusation that young Perseus had made was still lingering. He was, of course, absolutely right. In their eagerness of showing who was superior, they had condemn a young mortal, with its full life ahead, while she could simply hide away for eternity, facing no consequences.
Part of Artemis felt pride in that the receiver of the curse was actually a male. Part of herself also felt ashamed that she could consider hiding away until this was resolved. But her time with the young male-turn-female hero had mellowed her hatred for male, or at least, him.
"Hecate?" Artemis called her, walking into her cavern, after asking permission from Hades to enter his realm. Hades had complied, mainly because it had made Persephone laugh. Artemis wanted to wring Persephone's neck, just because she was mocking her, but she had a mission. She could wring the neck of the Queen of the Underworld later. "Hecate, I know you're here!"
"Then, why you bother into calling me, child?" Hecate responded, coming out from a shelf. Artemis didn't questioned that. "Do I know you?" She smirked and Artemis lost the little patience she had.
"I'm Artemis, Hecate!"she shouted at the titan-goddess. "Don't you gloat over your granddaughter's work and reverse it, damn it!" That really caught Hecate's attention.
"It was Medea?!" She gasped, looking Artemis up and down. "I honestly thought it was because someone had been messing with Aphrodite's things again!" Artemis growled, but tried to be civilized. "I imagine you're not the only one affected by this- then again, if it was only you affected, you would had come before..."
"It was Poseidon's demigod son also affected-"
"Young Perseus is a girl?" Hecate interrupted, Gale the farting weasel making an appearance by farting. "Gale, where are you manners? Just because you were spying on them, doesn't mean they had to know you were there!" Hecate scolded her, but Gale simply slipped back into the shadows. "Stupid weasel..."
"Hecate, I came here so you could fix this..." Artemis continued, gaining confidence "The young demigod pointed out something that I hadn't thought about it before that it was the time... Hecate, he doesn't have the time like we do..." Hecate nodded, thoughtful.
"Unlike the rest of you, I can remember that fact better..." Hecate surprised Artemis. "Give me a week, Artemis. One more week... I should have either a solution or an answer by then..." It was Hecate's turn to be surprised when Artemis hugged her.
"Thank you so much, Hecate..."
Originally posted as S. CHAPTER in Rise of Ouranos (ReWrite) - Chapter 18
I'm posting this as a separate story, but not a story that will be updated any time soon.
I came to the realization that I lose track of your requests (all of yours, guys) very easily and, even if some or many are related or not to the story in hand (I have a bunch of them, also requested by ObeliskX about genderbent but I think those fit better for a reincarnation story... which I'll do as soon as I have time!). This will NOT MEAN I will take the original posting down, so don't worry about it.
You can all send me comments or PMs and ask me to write something, but from now on, this is the place where they'll end up if they are PJO/HoO related (anything non directly PJO/HoO will either have its own story or I'll compile another book, I'll see).
I hope you can see the benefits for me in this and I hope it encourages you all to write or even try!
Hi, beautiful people of the internet!
First of all... HAPPY FATHER'S DAY! I want to wish a wonderful day to the fathers that are there constantly. To the ones who are away for work and think of us. To the ones we lost and know are watching over us. To the ones that raised us even when we don't share blood.
To all of you, happy day.
Secondly, I want to get something out of my chest, regarding the World Cup (not a very football fan myself, but I'll say this anyway): WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH YOU GUYS?! Seriously! I've watched all the matches (8 so far) and none of you are giving us great performances. Have you seen Morocco vs Iran? The Iran team won because Morocco made a goal IN THEIR OWN GOAL AREA! And, don't- DON'T get me started on Argentina's UNDER PREFORMACE!
*makes panting noises, ranting over*
Anyway, let's head down to the stories, shall we?
Sis/Bro! Your Shadow is Hot!: 1 chapter! We only have three chapters left! Can't believe it!
The First Times: 1 chapter! Hope you guys are liking the story so far... have someone cried yet?
Now, one last thing... I'll be posting a new story/book with the purpose of posting PJO/HoO requests. Details will be explained there, though a warning should be in place: it will be rated M for safety measures... Who knows what will be going in those little minds of yours...?
Enjoy Father's Day!
xoxo, SilverHuntresses