IMPORTANT A/N AT THE END OF CHAPTER! PLEASE READ! THANK YOU! ENJOY!
Somewhere in America, in an indistinguishable forest, there is a seemingly ordinary cliff. The cliff overlooks a large lake whose other end marks the horizon and is bordered by an endless amount of beautiful blue spruces that seem to close around it and the cliff in an elliptic shape. Despite appearing ordinary, the area seems to hold a hidden energy; quietly thrumming with power.
On the cliff, sitting with his legs dangling off the edge, is a young man staring intently at the night's reflection on navy water, seemingly lost deep in his thoughts. He sits remarkably still; does not blink or breathe. Does not even twitch when he hears the soft rustle of someone approaching.
The approaching man - who looks just a little older and has hair the colour of the burning sun - lowers himself to sit in a similar fashion and, for just a moment, the men sit in silence.
"When are you leaving?"
The blond man breaks the silence first, still staring steadily into the open.
"Soon. Now." The first man pauses. "Soon."
The blond man nods slowly and turns to look at his friend. His friend who typically hides his worries and anguish beneath a carefully crafted lopsided grin, who now sits there with an uncharacteristic furrow between his brows.
The blond man lets out a soft sigh. "Come on Percy. You know how angry she gets when someone's late. How angry she's gonna get if you're late."
The other man, Percy, blinks slowly and shuffles back a little. "Yeah. I know."
The blond man stands up and helps his friend to his feet.
"Apollo." Percy suddenly says. The blonde man rises an inquisitive eyebrow.
"What if I hurt her again?"
His voice catches slightly.
Apollo shakes his head decisively. "You won't."
The two men look at each other for a moment more, and then disappear just like that.
Artemis inhales, her breath slow and steady, as she stretches the sting of the bow back taut. Her silver eyes dart about the dark woods, seeing a million more than the mortal eye; revelling in the silence.
Whoosh
Suddenly, her fingers let go, and arrows fly in quick succession, like hail, always meeting their mark. In less than half a minute a whole herd of sparkling silver deer lay dead on forest floor, their bodies seamlessly fading away into silver dust.
Artemis takes a deep breath, her anger somewhat subdued, and tilts her face up to the rays of harsh moonlight. As she stands there in the stillness, an awareness lights up in a corner of her mind, and with a stiff frown, she flashes away.
Appearing at her Huntress' camp, she is immediately faced by two very familiar men - one nineteen and the other twenty two, last time she checked - standing opposite a small army of scowling teenage girls. Shifting into her eighteen year old form, tall and lithe with her hair in an auburn braid, she approaches the stand-off with reluctance.
"Stand down girls. They've been permitted to be here." Artemis orders. "Sadly." She added, seeing the men smirk.
The Huntresses look at their Lady in confusion and slight suspicion, but back down regardless. Artemis turns to face the men, frown firm on her lips.
"You're late."
The blond man, her twin, grins carelessly. "Sorry Arty."
Artemis' frown deepens, but before she can say anything, the other man speaks up.
"I am." At Artemis' raised eyebrow, he expands. "Sorry, I mean. I am sorry."
He does look marginally apologetic, but Artemis has had centuries to know the pair and would never trust either of them so easily.
"I'm sure." She snaps.
Percy grins and Artemis has to remind herself to keep her anger in check.
"Come on, Moony. Gimme a break. I'm being honest!" He widens his eyes in mock hurt, bottom lip jutting out into the smallest pout.
Apollo snickers next to him boldly strides forward, wrapping an arm around his sister's shoulders. Artemis stiffens and her Huntresses almost growl from behind her. She slowly reaches up to grab her brother's hand and suddenly twists it. A loud snap tells all present that Apollo's wrist is now broken. Apollo, however, only winces and removes his arm, a bright glow already surrounding his wrist. In less than a second it's as good as new.
"Alright." Apollo grouches. "I get it. Time for me to go and let you crazy kids have your fun."
He winks at Artemis and her Huntresses, and nods 'goodbye' to his friend, before flashing away.
The camp is quiet as Artemis and Percy look at each other. Finally, Artemis shakes her head and points to a spot far away from the main part of the camp.
"Set your tent up over there. Far away from my Huntresses. We will speak tomorrow about your stay here."
With that cold farewell, she marches away to her tent, beckoning her Huntresses to leave too. Her Huntresses follow obediently, shooting hateful glares at a smirking Percy as they walk past.
Percy shakes his head, the barest hint of a frown appearing and disappearing as quickly as it came. He walked over to where he had been so rudely directed and conjured a modest tent, once again too lost in thought to care much about his welcome to the Hunt.
Meanwhile, Artemis paced back and forth in her tent, fuming wordlessly as she played back her interaction with the intruders in her head.
'How dare they! Coming into my camp and acting in such a manner! Who do they think they are! Stupid Apollo. Stupid twin brothers. And Perseus! By Zeus I should just banish him to Tartarus! Such disrespect and the way they stood there all haughty, why I would love to just take a dagger to their-'
Artemis' internal rant was interrupted by a knock. Eyeing the entrance to her tent, she sensed that it was just her Lieutenant, and calmly gave her permission to enter. Phoebe strode in and immediately bowed.
"Mi'lady."
Artemis waved for her to stand and noted the disapproving expression on her face.
"Mi'lady, with all due respect, what is he doing here?" Phoebe almost snarled.
Artemis frowned at the clear contempt in the Huntress's voice.
"Phoebe, he may be… what he is, but he is still a God and thus should be given the minimum respect." she admonished gently.
"Even if he absolutely doesn't deserve it." She added darkly at Phoebe's disbelieving look.
"But Mi'lady! He shouldn't even be here! Why is he here, and why the Hades is he staying!" Phoebe asked fiercely.
Artemis briefly closed her eyes, letting the true tiredness she felt show for a second, and sighed.
"It's not my choice." She began to explain as she finally took a seat and gestured for her Lieutenant to do the same. "There have been reports of increased monster activity. It seems they are grouping - which is never good. My father wants us and… Perseus to keep any threat contained while they try to figure out what's happening."
Phoebe took her time to think about what she was being told. Being a daughter of Ares meant that she was often susceptible to being rash, but all her years as a Huntress and a Lieutenant had taught her the valuable skill of thinking about things first. The fact that monsters were starting to group definitely worried her some, for they had recently recruited some new Huntresses and a couple of the other girls had only been in the Hunt for a few years. They were not ready to fight large groups of organised monsters on their own. She knew this, yet her hatred for the God of the Hunt easily overcame her rationale.
"But why does he have to be with us! Can't he go hunt on his own while we take care of our end?" She protested.
Artemis shook her head defeatedly. "Zeus' orders. I'm sorry Phoebe, but there's nothing we can do, other than get this hunt completed as quickly as possible."
Phoebe clenched her jaw in anger, but stopped herself from protesting further. She could see that her Lady truly had no choice in the matter, and hated the circumstances just as much as she did - probably even more. A rush of sympathy went through the Huntress and she prayed to the Fates that the hunt would finish quickly. The amount of pain her Lady must be in, now going to have to see that man in her territory everyday. Phoebe couldn't imagine it. At least most of her own anguish could be easily converted into anger.
Respectfully bowing her head, she stood up and made for the exit. She glanced back and saw that the Goddess staring blankly into the space before her; she probably hadn't even noticed that Phoebe had gotten up. A sad smile came over her lips as she turned back around to leave.
"Don't fret Mi'lady. Zoe would never let anything happen to her Goddess. Rest well."
Hello. So, this story has been lowkey abandoned for quite some time now, and for that I apologise. If any of you follow my 'The Riddle' story, you'll know what's been going on with me lately that's stopped me from uploading any more chapters for any of my stories. I think my profile might have some info on it too. Now, clearly some changes have been made. You see, I've been trying to slowly get back into writing, and this story recently got a review, so FF sent me an email to notify me. I came back to this website and read all the reviews, and then read the story again. Instantly, I knew that my style of writing had changed tremendously from when I last wrote this story, and I could not carry that voice anymore. So I wrote a new beginning. A fresh start. I urge you not to worry about the plot, because it will still be the exact same, but the writing style is just different. However, I am aware that those of you that followed and favorited this story, did so for what it was before. I don't want to take advantage of that, so if you prefer this story as it was before, please do review telling me, or PM me. For those of you that don't remember the original beginning, the next chapter is the original first chapter of this story, so everyone gets a fair comparison. now, I'm making no promises to update regularly, or even begin looking at my other stories. I don't want to disappoint anyone, so I'm taking this slow. Thank you.
-K