HM: Hello my pointy-eared peoples!

Others: Hey.

HM: So, I was just looking at the previous chapters of this story, and I saw that they were... cringeworthy... anyways, I thought that the previous chapters could use a bit of a revamp. Now that I've gotten a bit better with my abilities as an author, I want to redo all of the things that: a) don't make sense. b) is hard to read. And c) makes it easier to follow. Therefore, I give you this revamped chapter of RTS:R while I work on the other stories you guys wanna see! Without further ado, on with the story!

Chapter I: Kidnapped

I walked through the forest during the twilight hour, lost in thought and relishing in the peacefulness of the woods. In my hands was a bow gifted to me by my parents. Dark green leather provided me with an excellent grip and was a beautiful silver color during the night. During the day, it became a shining gold, to compliment the change from night to day. Further completing the motiff, a dual colored quiver was afixed to my back, the right side of it gold and emblazoned with an image of the sun while the left was silver and depicted the moon.

I continued walking until I reached a small spring. Sligning the bow on my back, I knealt down and cupped some water into my hands, bringing it to my face and taking a small sip. The cool liquid felt refreshing going down my throat and I splashed some water on my face and on the back of my neck. Looking up into the sky, I saw that it was turning an indigo color and the stars were begining to shine brightly.

I rose and made my way to the camp my Mother and sisters had set up. I moved silently through the forest, my trained senses taking in every detail. When I was younger, I realized that I could see and hear things others couldn't, which led me to becoming one of the best trackers that we had.

Tonight was our last night here in Montana. In the morning, we would head out to New York, as the solstice was approaching and there was to be a meeting in Olympus. One thing I should mention before I go on. The Greek myths? Yeah, not myths. The Olympians still ruled and had a palace set up at the top of the Empire State Building in Manhatten.

A couple times a year, the gods would meet on Olympus for random things. I've been there a couple times and, to be honest, I was looking forward to going there again.

Another thing, you know how in the myths the gods would have affairs with mortals and have children? Well, they still do that. So, there's a place in New York that's a safe haven for demigods, the offspring of a human and a mortal, where they can train to fight off the various monsters who would like nothing more than to have them as a midnight snack.

However, I am not a demigod. I have no idea who my birth parents are, or what they did. Artemis and Apollo, the Twin Archers and gods of the moon and sun respectively, had found me when I was a baby. Little known fact, but Artemis and Apollo are also the guardians of children. So, they took me in and raised me with their blessings. I stayed with Artemis and her Hunters, and quickly rose to become her third-in-command. Other than her lieutenant, Zoë Nightshade, I was the one with the most authority, bar Artemis herself.

Anyways, there I was, walking along the snow-covered forest floor. It was around mid-November and winter was coming soon. Stepping lightly over fallen leaves, I entered our campsite, my destination being a tent underneath a large maple tree.

When I stepped inside, I was immediately greeted by a large wolf with violet eyes and midnight black coat. I had named her Akira and had raised her from a pup. I smiled brightly at her when I entered. "Hey Akira, did I miss anything?" I asked her.

The she-wolf shook her head no and relished in the petting that I was giving her. I gave her another scratch behind the ears and headed for my trunk. I opened it and pulled out a pair of plain black pajama pants. Changing into them, I neatly folded my gear and stowed them back in the trunk.

After washing up, I blew out the candle, causing the darkness to surround the room and the only light being from the moon outside. I slipped underneath the covers and Akira cuddled up next to me. For some reason, I had a very strong sense of foreboding. I didn't know what caused it, but I didn't like it. With those troubled thoughts, I fell asleep.

All around me was nothing but inky darkness. It surrounded me and pressed in on me like a Cyclops giving me a bear hug. It, for some inexplicable reason, filled me with a sense of comfort. I felt myself floating along, though I didn't know what was up and what was down.

Suddenly, I felt myself being grabbed by my waist and pulled forwards harshly, the surprise causing me to thrash around in a vain attempt to escape, but whatever it was only held onto me tighter.

I abruptly stopped, the feeling of being dangled over something resonating very strongly within me. I felt an evil and vile presence below me that caused me to shiver. I resumed my struggle to get out of whatever was holding me when my arm hit something hard and metallic. Looking down, I saw that I was being held by a hand the size of a small car. Attached to it was an arm covered in diamond-like armored scales.

I followed the arm upwards to the towering form of the thing. It was a beast larger than a building. Its feet were as thick as tree trunks and its head was the size of a whale, its mouth lined by razor sharp teeth. It opened its mouth and let out an ear-splitting roar, which made me cringe. It then leaned down and opened its maw to clamp its teeth down on me.

I gasped as I woke up and sat up, heart beating fast and layered in sweat. Feeling a weight in my lap, I look down to see Akira resting her head on my lap, looking up at me with her violet eyes. I shakily laid my hand on her head and started to stroke her fur. I heard the flap of my tent open and some one walk in.

"Gin," I heard the voice of my sister Zoë say. "Milady instructed me to alert thou that we art preparing to depart and advance to our next location." I heard her walk closer to my bed and place a hand on my back. "Brother." She said softly. "Art thou alright? What ails thee?"

"It's nothing, sister. Just a bad dream." I replied.

I could tell that she didn't believe me and I could picture her narrowing her eyes at me. However, she said nothing. She gave my shoulder a comforting squeeze and rose from my bed. "I shalt alert milady that thou shalt be delayed in joining our troop." She said in her lieutenant's tone as she walked towards the entrance of my tent. She stopped at the flap that served as a door and turned back to me, expression soft and full of caring. "I hope thy feel better, brother." She said, leaving without another word.

I sighed and rose from my bed, Akira following me as I exited my tent. I saw that the site was deserted, my mother and sisters having left some time ago. If I hurried, I could hopefully catch up to them before noon. After washing up in a small creek, I hurried back to my tent, changed, and then proceeded to take down my tent, which I packed into a bag.

After slinging on my bow and quiver, Akira and I headed out. Both of us ran down a path that was marked for us. Not only did I have the gift of enhanced senses, but I also possessed speed and strength greater than a normal mortal. Good thing too, as it took us awhile for us to reach the rest of the Hunters.

Along the way, I had gotten the distinct feeling that we were being watched. Behind me, I heard the sound of something hard impacting the earth. I whirled around, bow in hand, coming face-to-face with... nothing. I looked around, trying to find some sign that something was there.

When nothing emerged, I placed my bow on my back once more and ran alongside Akira with haste to mother and the rest of the Hunters. When we arrived, I saw that Mother was inducting three new girls into the Hunt.

I groaned inwardly as I knew what would happen. Whenever mother gains new Hunters, they are always wary of me, both because of the way I looked and also because I was a guy. The way it usually went down, they would either stay a minimum of twenty feet away from me, or would try to kill me in my sleep (extreme, I know, but it's happened). Even now, some girls that have been with us for a couple of months give me the evil eye.

I slyly made my way towards the area where I was going to pitch my tent, but I saw my Mother gaze in my direction. Her silver-yellow orbs locked on to me and she smiled, beckoning me over. I hung my head in defeat and trudged my way over towards her, ignoring the snickers from Zoë and another of my sisters named Phoebe. If she could, I'm sure Akira would've done the same.

I stationed myself next to my Mother and she placed her hand on my arm, a motherly gesture, but also one that I knew to be a sign of making sure I didn't try to sneak away. "Girls, this is my son, Ginkage Higure, though you can also call him Gin. Though he is a male, he has been with us since his infancy, so do not worry about him. When Zoë or I are not present, he is the one who commands the Hunt." She said.

The three girls jumped in surprise at my appearance. I did not resemble Artemis in the slightest. Not only did I possess eyes that were a burning crimson; my ears were long, slender, and pointed; my hair was a soft silver color; and on the side of my neck I bore a mark in the shape of an eye. If anything, I looked like an emo elf, so, needless to say, they were looking at me oddly.

"Now, each one to your tents. Gin, when you are done putting your tent up, come to mine, I would like to speak with you." She said, before she turned in the direction of her tent and went to it.

I sighed and went to pitch my tent. When I was finished, I went into my mother's and sat down across from her. She was sitting cross-legged on the ground with a doe in her arms.

It was silent for a moment, until she finally spoke. "Gin," She started. "Is there a reason why you were late in joining us?" She asked. "I'm not upset, but it's not like you. And not only I, but some of the other girls have noticed that you've been in odd moods lately. I was planning on talking to you when we were journeying here, but I wasn't able to get the chance. Is everything alright?"

I was silent for a while, playing with a peice of straw on the ground. "It was just a bad dream, mother. And I overslept. When I woke up, I saw that it was late, so I hurried to get here as fast as I could." I said with a small shrug.

She stared at me for a couple moments in silence, before she asked the same question Zoë did. "Would you like to talk about it?"

I shook my head and continued playing with the piece of straw.

She nodded silently and placed the baby doe on the ground. When she did, it made its way over to me and settled in my lap. She rose up and grabbed something wrapped in white cloth. "We were going to wait until we got to Olympus to give this to you, but I think now's a good a time as any." She said, heading back towards me. She placed the object in my arms and took the doe back into hers.

I carefully unwrapped it and my eyes widened when I saw what it was. It was a golden harp with the sides carved into bird's heads and wrapped with blue cloth, the strings gold as well. It seemed to glow with a faint light and the instrument was warm.

"It was with you when we found you. My brother kept it until today, as tomorrow you turn eighteen. He had tried to get Hecate to place an enchantment on it, so that when you played it, you would immediately know how to play it expertly, but she refused. She didn't give us any reason as to why, but she said we would find out." She said.

I plucked a few of the strings and the instrument made a beautiful noise, all of the strings were in tune despite obvious years of unuse. I smiled brightly at her. "Thank you, Mother. And I will be sure to thank Father when we arrive at Olympus." I said.

She smiled at me and we shared a hug. She stroked my hair and sighed. "Tomorrow, you will no longer be a boy, but you shall be a man. However, know this. No matter what happens, you will always have a place in the Hunt. You are my son, and I think I did a pretty good job, if I say so myself." She said with a slight smile.

I smiled in reply and bid her goodnight. I headed to my tent and sat on my bed for awhile, plucking random notes on the harp, and each string producing the same heavenly sound, no matter what string I plucked in what order.

My thoughts turned to my birth parents. I didn't know them, but some part of me yearned to do... something, I don't know what it was. How come I looked like this and no one else did? Where did I come from? Why was I abandoned? All these questions swirled in my mind with no answer. Eventually, I fell into a fitful sleep.

Rising at dawn was relatively easy for me. Being the adopted son of the sun god, it kinda came with the territory. To some, it may seem stressful to be a child of the god of the sun and the goddess of the moon, but to me, it wasn't that bad. Though I leaned more towards being active during the night, I still enjoyed the sunrise. Plus, it was around this time that my father and I would talk.

To further enjoy the sunrise, I had hiked to a hill some ways away from camp. I did this not only to have an unobstructed view of the rising sun, but also so that if my father did come, he wouldn't be shot on sight by his twin sister's Hunters.

So there I sat, satchel hanging from my shoulder and harp in my arms, absentmindedly plucking a few strings. I felt a presence behind me and smiled softly, placing my harp into my satchel and rising up to greet my father.

However, before I could turn around, I felt something cover my mouth and wrap around my torso, pinning my arms to my sides. I felt myself pressed against something solid and heard chuckling next to my ear.

"So, I finally found you, my dear, sweet kage kodomo." I heard someone say in a masculine voice smooth as honey yet underlying with something dangerous. "No noise now, we don't want an uneeded audience, do we?" I felt something wet flick against my cheek and I struggled in the being's hold, but whoever it was, was much stronger than me.

I heard the person chuckle. "Struggle all you want, sweet kage kodomo, it is futile."

Somehow, I knew that what he had called me was shadow-child, but why?

He dragged me backwards through the campsite. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see that we were approaching some pots that were stacked. Lashing out with my foot, I knocked the stack over, creating a lot of noise.

"Quiet." I heard the person hiss in a language I've never heard before yet easily understood. "You'd better pray to your goddesses that no one heard that."

However, I saw Zoë storm out of her tent with murder in her eyes. One look at me and her eye widened in surprise, before they narrowed and she summoned her bow. She fired an arrow and let it fly, hitting the person. I heard him grunt and his grip on me loosened enough so I could get away.

While I rolled to the side, Zoë grabbed her horn from her belt and blew it, alerting the other Hunters. I summoned my own bow and quiver, and aimed an arrow at the thing that tried to take me.

It was a man around seven feet high with pale grey skin, white hair that was slicked to the back on the right and reached his chin on the left, forming a curtain over his left eye. His eyes were a cold onyx and the violet bags underneath them resembled eyeliner. He wore white lipstick and his lips were curled into a snarl. He was wearing a white leotard with diamond cutouts along the legs and torso, a golden sash around his waist with a red stone in a diamond shape affixed to it, and white gloves with the same diamond cutouts. He wore a red cape with a high collar and cut into long traingles. hanging from his pointed ear was a blue diamond.

By this time, the other Hunters and Mother had arrows trained on the man. He growled and snapped his fingers. Out of the forest came large skeletons wearing armor and some of them with four arms, short fat red creatures brandishing clubs and swords, and humanoid lizards with stone guantlets on their left arm.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned my head to see my father, Apollo, glaring at the man and creatures. "Who are you? And what are you doing here?" He asked coldly, startling some of the newer Hunters and even causing mother to do a double-take.

The man quickly schooled his features into a chilling smile, and bowed with a flourish. "Sorry to disturb your peaceful morning." He said. "However, I'm going to need that child for something... important." He said, gesturing to me.

Zoë's scowl deepened and she tightened her grip on her bow. "What dost thou needeth him for, male?" She spat.

The man chuckled softly and placed his right hand on his hip. "Unfortunately, that's need-to-know information, huntress. However, as for who I am, I am known as Ghirahim. My full title is Lord Ghirahim, but whichever, I'm not fussy." He said nonchalantly. His lips curled into a smirk and he gestured to me. "Now, will you hand over the child to me, or shall I... persuade you?" He asked.

The collective response was to ready arrows at him.

The man chuckled and a long tongue poked out of his mouth to lick his lips. "Very well then, it matters not. One way or another, you will come to me, my dear, sweet, child." He turned his attention to the monsters and gestured to us. "Get him." He snapped his fingers and disappeared in a cloud of diamonds, a chiming noise sounding out.

It was pure pandemonium. Though we had the advantage of better fighters, they had the advantage of numbers... and were slowly overtaking us. Even with the Twin Archers on our side, we were still being pushed back.

"Gin!" Mother shouted. "Get to Camp Half-Blood! It's you he wants, and if you stay here, he'll get you eventually. Zoë will go with you. Go!" She said as she fired off another arrow and turned another monster into a jackalope.

Part of me wanted to protest, to stay and fight. However, another part of me knew that what she said was right. So, with a heavy heart, I grabbed Zoë's hand and the both of us, along with Akira, sped towards Camp Half-Blood.

It felt like we had been running for hours, when, in actuality, we had only been running for about twenty minutes or so. We didn't dare to rest, for fear of something attacking us. On and on we ran, until I felt something grab my ankle and caused me to pitch forward face-first onto the ground.

Looking behind me, I saw that it was one of the armored skeletons emerging from the ground, its bony appendage wrapped around my ankle in a vice-like grip. My first instinct was to kick it in the head as hard as I could, satisfied when the head flew off and hit a tree somewhere. The action caused it to let go of me and, with the help of Zoë, rose and dusted myself off.

"Brother, canst thou walk?" She asked.

I took a tentative step and rose the foot quickly when searing pain ran up my leg. I knew that I had sprained it. I shook my head and Zoë placed my arm over her shoulder. Like that, we hobbled along until we reached Half-Blood Hill. I sent Akira ahead of us to get help and we made our way up the hill.

However, before we could reach the boundry line, a transparent wall of yellow and black diamond glyphs appeared. The ground around us rumbled and four four-armed skeletons emerged. They surrounded us in a cirlce and Zoë deposited me on the ground.

My sister summoned her bow and fired arrow after arrow at them, but only managed to slow them down. I rose myself up and summoned my own bow, hoping that the extra help would be enough. One swung his sword and managed to leave a sizable gash on my abdomen.

The battle was turning against us. One of the skeletons backhanded Zoë and she went flying a few feet, impacting the large pine tree and lying there in a daze.

"Zoë!" I yelled. With renewed vigor, I fired even more volleys of arrows. However, one grabbed my arms while another grabbed my ankles and squeezed my sprained one.

I saw Chiron and some campers along with Akira reach the summit of the hill and I yelled out to them. One of the skeletons hit my head with the butt of its sword and I was left in a daze, my ears ringing. I felt something wet and warm trickle down my forehead and my vision started spinning.

They dragged me towards a swirling black portal that opened up and ventured inside. It felt like being submerged underwater and the last thing I saw was Zoë's heartbroken face before the portal closed.

O

I wasn't sure how long we were floating in that portal for, it could've been minutes, hours, days even. However, as we floated along, I felt one of the things loosen its grip marginally. As I had given up on struggling, a little of my strength was saved up, despite all the blood loss from my head and torso.

When it loosened its grip on my arm a little bit more, I yanked my arm free from its grasp and punched the one holding my arms hard enough to cause its head to spin wildly. This, in turn, casued it to let go of my arms to try and stop its head spinning.

I reached down and grabbed its sword. I yanked it out of its sheath and swung it like a club at the head of the other one. It connected and was turned violently to the side at an odd angle. It let go of me to situate its head and I was tossed from their grip in a different direction.

I was flying towards a golden light and hit the ground roughly, my ribs screaming at the harsh landing. I felt the sun on my back and heard the sounds of life all around me. A small breeze blew through my hair and I slowly raised myself to my feet.

Through my spinning vision, I saw that I was in a forest and that it was around midday. I paid no attention to my surroundings as I hobbled forwards. As I went on, my vision began to get blurrier and my vision began to tunnel.

I found myself standing on the shore of a small pond with white sand. The sun warmed the sand and the pond sparkled in the light. The ground shifted and my perpective was skewed. When did the pond turn vertically? Odd thing too, why was my right side so warm?

My vision darkened and I heard muffled sounds around me. I saw shoes in front of me and I heard someone say something about a cart. Then, everything went black.

HM: And cut! So, as you guys can see, I took out some things and reworded a couple of things. What really annoyed me in the other chapters was the Japanese. Yeah, I'm pretty much making Hylian Japanese, but I think I had made Gin speak it a little to early. So, it's not really going to come up until later on.

Another thing I changed was the spacing. I really cringed when I was rereading it and saw the massive walls of text, without breaks to signify who is speaking and making it hard to read. Hopefully it'll be a bit easier now.

Something else that's different is that Gin isn't that emo, hopefully. I made him suffer through a teenage emo phase and I wasn't really feeling it, it was a bit much, everything being either black or red. Hopefully he'll be a bit easier to relate to.

Yes, I'm keeping the Percy Jackson references in here. It's actually going to be important later.

So, I think that's it. Love it? Hate it? Let me know! Send me a review, a PM, or smoke signals! Let me know what you guys think of it and if you have any suggestions to help the story move on smoothly. With that, I'll see you all next time. Ja ne!