Author's Note: I don't own Percy Jackson, Rick Riordon does
Percy had really made a mess of things this time, Zeus had ordered many of the gods to look for the hero but he was nowhere to be found. Poseidon was furious with her, she had turned his son into a bunny with antlers. It didn't matter if he was close to his closing Thalia (who is the acting lieutenant), boys can't just barge into camp. She had turned him before Artemis realized who he was, then he ran off before she could grab him. Her huntresses grumbled their protests, they didn't want to have to look for a boy when they could be relaxing back at camp or practicing archery. But deep down she was worried, Poseidon would never forgive her if Percy was a jackelope for the rest of his life. Also, she still cared for him, he was one of the only men who didn't act like a despicable pig.
But Percy didn't know about this huge manhunt (or woman hunt, seeing as all the hunters are female). No, he was trying to solve a different problem. The jet black bunny frowned after his 5th failed attempt to pull a carrot from the ground. Sitting back on its hind legs, it stretched one of its paws at the carrot. The jackelope's face twisted in concentration, but after a few minutes of glaring at the carrot, he was unable to use the water inside of it to drag it out of the ground. 'Whatever powers I had as a Demi-God, are gone now,' Percy thought grimly.
Nico Di Angelo was having a very bad day, there had been a lot of backup in the lines for judging mortals. (There was a horrible earthquake in Japan.) This put his father in a bad mood, making Hades (the place) even worse. Nico needed a break, he shadow-traveled into some random field. He was in such a bad mood that he didn't care about the crops he was trampling. A foot by foot black rock sat in front of him, "MOVE YOU STUPID INANIMATE OBJECT!" Kicking the large stone, an odd squeal emitted from the Rock and it rolled in the air before hitting a tree and resting against it. Then 2 green eyes opened slowly and cautiously looked around. The rabbit shook itself off and stared at me before hitting its foot against the ground repeatedly, like it was Thumper the rabbit.
Nico scowled, before, he had not seen it because the rabbit had been curled up. But now, he could see the ridiculous antlers poking out from his furry head. "How could someone put antlers on you?" He felt that it looked oddly familiar, allowing him to relax as he stared at the rabbit's eyes. They were a sea-green, similar to... no, he should stop thinking about him. Percy was dating Annabeth, he looked into the rabbit's eyes. "It's just a rabbit, it's not like it's Percy," Nico muttered to himself. Cursing himself for being a stalker, he resolved to keep the rabbit, after reassuring to himself that he wasn't just keeping him because he reminded Nico of Percy.
Hades' Cabin
"WHY WON'T THESE COME OFF?" The cries of the son of Hades were drowned out by the earth shaking around him. For half an hour, Nico Di Angelo had been trying to remove the antlers of his new pet, Jack. However, he had made no headway, much to his and the entire camp's frustration. Chiron had tried to keep the campers from worrying by assuring them that it was nothing to worry about. But they had started to form mobs around it after Will Solace, son of Apollo, had been thrown off the lava wall because of the constant tremors, luckily he only received a concussion. Much to Chiron's dismay, the ground had started to shake even more violently, this had to be stopped before someone else got hurt. About to step into the cabin, Chiron flinched back when the door came swinging open, almost hitting his nose. A seething Nico stood in the doorway, his thin arms holding a jackelope by the antlers. The jackelope was clearly in little pain, as it chewed fervently on the tip of a baby carrot. "Nico, what are you doing with a jackelope?" Chiron asked cautiously, Artemis was well known for turning disrespectful boys into the comical creature, it would do no good to adopt it as a pet. His jaw opened with surprise, "this is a jackelope?" Chiron shuddered, the boy's voice was dangerously low, instead of putting the question off, he bravely nodded. Nico was incredulous, he had spent 30 minutes trying to remove the idiotic antlers off of the bunny but instead, it turned out that it was all for nothing. Not only that, but he had made a fool of himself in front of the entire camp.
1 Hour Later
After Nico had apologized repeatedly, he found himself sitting on a tree stump (in a forest he had randomly shadow traveled to). Jack was sleeping peacefully, Nico snorted, he should just leave him here, Jack must've been disrespectful to Artemis who fell into the short list of gods Nico actually respected. He stood up to go for a walk, glancing at Jack, he snorted. If Jack got up in the next century, Nico would be surprised.
Looking For My Cousin
Thalia was having a bad day too, her cousin, Percy Jackson, had been turned into a antlered bunny by her patron goddess and had disappeared. When she first started looking, she had thought, 'this should be easy, I mean how far can a rabbit with seaweed for a brain get?' Apparently, very far. The entire hunt had been looking (per Artemis' order) for 7 and a 1/2 hours. She had actually gotten slightly lost, not that she would ever admit it. A twig snapped behind her, whipping around she had an arrow notched at the intruder's chest in less than a second. Frowning she asked, "Nico?" He looked surprised and... upset? "Hey Thalia..." Nico said, "what are you doing here?" "I could ask you the same question," Thalia remarked, Nico sighed. After a few moments of intense glaring, Thalia shrugged and explained about how Artemis had turned Percy into a jackelope and how the hunt is looking for him. Nico's eyes widened but Thalia didn't notice so she asked, "so, what are you doing here?" "Uh oh... Thalia," Nico said hesitantly, "I might be wrong but the reason I'm here is because I couldn't get the antlers off of a jackelope I recently found..." Thalia's eyes widened, jackelopes were often killed off by mortal hunters so it would be unlikely for one to live a long time. "Nico!" Thalia shook his shoulders and he managed to gasp out a 'yes?' "What did the jackelope look like?" He paused a moment too long and Thalia started shaking him harder, "he...he...would you stop shaking me?" "The jackelope I found was jet black with green eyes." They looked at each other, the jackelope Nico had adopted as a pet was obviously Percy. Thalia struggled not to laugh at the thought of him being kept by the son of Hades as a pet and Nico never knowing. "Where is he?" Thalia asked, if she found him then Artemis would teleport all of the hunters back to camp, she hoped. Nico ran off, Thalia at his heels. When he reached the familiar stump, Percy was nowhere to be found.
Thalia contacted Artemis by Iris Message and she flashed there in an instant. Scanning the surrounding trees, bushes, and rocks for the tiniest pawprint or snatch of hair. She was about to give up when Nico let out a cry and whispered, "that bush just moved." Artemis looked in the direction he was pointing and was about to turn away when the entire bush moved. While Artemis would hate to destroy nature, the bush was brown and looked very dead. Thalia pulled it up and a black rabbit was attached to the end chewing a carrot. Artemis deduced that Percy must've pulled the carrot out, causing the ground to collapsed under his weight and all of him to be covered except for his antlers. Artemis was about to change him back when Percy held up a paw and said, "Artemis, I don't want you to change me back." All of their jaws dropped open, the Hero of Olympus wanted to be a antlered rabbit for longer than he had to? But that wasn't the only thought that ran across Nico and Thalia's mind, no, after they had gotten over their shock that he could also talk, they were furious. Why hadn't he said something?
"Percy, why don't you want me to change you back?" Artemis thought about changing him anyways, Poseidon wasn't a good enemy to have. The jackelope seemed to take a deep breath and said, "in the short time I was a rabbit, I felt a peace that I never have before, to not have to fear monsters or fear that the second you lose control of your feelings you put your friends and family at risk of your own powers." "What about Annabeth, your family?" Thalia thundered, incredulous. "We're just friends and I can still visit my mother and Camp Half-Blood," Percy glanced at Nico for a second. "Nico, thank you for giving me a few carrots, they were delicious." Then he hopped away, in mere moments, he had disappeared into the mesh of tall grass.
Epilogue (3 Years Later)
Nico smiled when he saw Percy, the jackelope's shiny coat looked soft. He took a deep breath and kneeled before Artemis. "Are you sure you want to do this?" She asked, even though she already knew the answer. He nodded anyway, Artemis waved a hand over him and then a bunny with black fur and black eyes stood in the place of where the son of Hades had been moments before. Percy said something indiscernible and they bounded off together in the direction of where Percy had made his rabbit hole years ago. Artemis chuckled at the irony. One of the only decent males ever had decided to take upon (what Artemis used to give as) a punishment. Not only that, but he had convinced his boyfriend, Nico Di Angelo son of Hades to join him. It would be interesting to see how he was doing in a few centuries, jackelopes were immortal but could be killed. "Good luck Perseus Jackson," Artemis said, then she shook her head and flashed out.