Artemis waited anxiously as the demigods gathered in the throne room. From her own personal throne, she could tell that the demigods were all a lot more refreshed after the huge battle, the six of them that is. The young Valdez boy had "sacrificed" himself to take down Gaea. What the other demigods didn't know is that he had the flying boat contraption, Festus, use the life cure on him after it made its way to Ogygia, where he was now alive with Calypso. An interesting development, seeing as how no mortal could make it to Ogygia twice, he managed to bypass that by coming back dead and returning to life.
But she wasn't one to dwell on the intricacies of Valdez, and so she shifted her attention back to the demigods. Piper, Jason, Frank, Annabeth, Hazel, and of course Percy all stood in the middle of the circle of thrones, awaiting what the gods had to say to them.
It started off with Zeus making a small speech about the end of the war, and the defeat of Gaea. Then he congratulated the demigods (which was a personal surprise to Artemis, it wasn't often that he congratulated any mortals). And finally, he offered each of them a boon.
As the demigods made their way through what they wanted, Percy was the last one to be asked, and when it was his turn to be called forth, Zeus offered him Godhood once more.
"No offense, milord, but I would rather have my prize be something a lot simpler…" Zeus cut off the demigod.
"Perseus Jackson, you have turned down Godhood twice now. What in Hades could you possibly want more than the gift that I offer you now?"
Percy looked up at the King of the Gods and said simply, "I just want you all to get along with each other better, and also I would like to ask that I be excluded from any quests for the rest of my life; I've had enough of catastrophes happening to me to last. Oh and I need Calypso freed of her curse, you guys promised me that the friendly Titans would be pardoned and it turns out she wasn't. That'd be it though.
Artemis gave a small smile. Of course he would want a peaceful and quiet life and feel the need to help others. After everything that has happened, he never got it into his head that he was more important than others, or special, or become prideful. He had his pride, sure, but he was not full of himself, and that was one of the things that was so endearing about him.
She knew that she had to face these feelings soon; else she would go stir crazy.
Percy's wish was granted, and Artemis followed the demigods as they left the palace of the gods, shrinking down to her mortal height, but retaining her adult form. She approached the group, who seemed to be standing around talking with one another.
"Percy, may I take some of your time?" The Goddess asked him.
The black haired teen looked at his friends, who shrugged back at him. Piper, on the other hand, seemed to be occupied by something, and upon following her gaze, Artemis found that the demigoddess was focused on the Red String that connected Percy and Artemis.
Piper looked at the Goddess, who met her gaze. Artemis dipped her head slightly in affirmation, and Piper nodded back. "Yeah, go on Percy, I'm sure it's not something that should wait." The daughter of the love Goddess told him.
Percy, who was unaware of the small interaction between his friend and the Goddess, nodded in agreement and decided to go with her.
"Sure milady Artemis, we can talk." He turned back to his friends. "I'll be back at some point, but don't wait up for me."
Artemis began to walk away from the group, with Percy following alongside the Goddess, and while they were walking, Artemis began to talk to him.
"Percy, I never quite thanked you for all that you have done for us; for me. I'm grateful that you have spent so much of your life saving us, and I wanted to thank you for coming and saving me on Mount Tam all those years ago."
Percy wasn't quite sure what to do; this was the first time a Goddess was thanking him for anything. "It's not a problem, I'm happy that I could help."
Artemis shook her head. "I don't think you understand, Percy. You could have chosen to stop at any time. You could have not joined the quest to save me. You could have left young Annabeth alone in Tartarus. Anybody else would have given up, but you have never chosen to not be a hero. You have never been one to not help those in need. You have always stayed true to that defining quality of Loyalty that compels you to be the kind of person that you are. So I am telling you now, Perseus Jackson, that everything you have done has been important and worthwhile."
Percy stopped walking, and when Artemis turned to him she found that he had a smile on his face. "Thanks milady," and Artemis interrupted him, "Call me Artemis."
"Artemis." He tried out. "Well, Thank you Artemis, for saying that, it really means a lot to me."
Artemis smiled back at him, and then surprised him by leaning in to give him a hug. She pulled him in and told him, "Don't let anybody tell you that you aren't important or special, because you are." Artemis knew that a light blush had settled on her face, and so she turned away from him as she pulled away.
They had continued to walk before Artemis spoke up once more. "Percy, I assume that you are familiar with the concept of the Red String of Fate?" She asked the demigod walking by her side.
He glanced at her and replied, "Yeah, I think so. My mother, Sally Jackson (So that was the name of the woman that I saw that day just under 17 years ago, Artemis thought) told me about how the Red String of Fate connects us all to the person that we are destined to love no matter what. She even claimed to see the Red Strings of others."
Artemis looked at him and asked, "Do you believe that everyone might have a Red String?"
He looked at her and almost instantly realized the implications of her question. Here was a maiden Goddess, asking a young demigod if he believed that She had a destined partner. A Goddess with a long known history of being essentially anti man, was asking if he believed that She could ever love a man. It was a loaded question. Either way he answered could be taken to mean both good and bad things.
"I think," He began, "That if the Red String of Fate exists for some people, then it must also exist for others as well. Following that logic, the Red String would appear or be attached to any person who has a soul mate, wouldn't you agree?"
Artemis looked at her soul mate and gave a small smile. "Now what would happen if you could see the Red Strings of other people, and yet, there was none to be found on yourself?"
Percy stopped moving as he contemplated the thought. "Well, I would assume that means that you don't have a soul mate then."
Artemis interjected, "The Red String also fades into nothingness when a soul mate dies, wouldn't that mean that a Red String can only appear when both souls are alive?"
Percy was taking this conversation very well, all things considered. He was quickly drawing conclusions about the conversation, and decided to voice his thoughts. "Do you mean to tell me that you can see the Red Strings of Fate, and that you don't have one?" It made sense, after all, that the Goddess would chose to be a maiden if she didn't have a soul mate.
"Had." She said. "Imagine my surprise when, after thousands of years of being without a soul mate, after pledging myself to being an eternal maiden, I wake up one morning and suddenly a Red String of Fate had magically appeared around my finger."
Percy stopped in his tracks. "So you now have a soul mate. And you never did before?"
Artemis stopped as well and shook her head. "It was a great surprise to me when I found that overnight my entire life's basis had essentially been torn apart. I am Artemis, with a history of hating guys and now I'm expected to fall in love with one. Isn't that a funny thought?" She laughed out loud, hoping that Percy wouldn't be off put by her words.
"So that means, probably that your soul mate had just been born. When did this happen?" a small thought was beginning to make its way into Percy's head, and he wasn't sure if he liked what it implied.
Artemis looked directly into Percy's eyes and said, "I'll never forget the eyes of that newborn child when I saw them for the first time almost 17 years ago. Sea Green, like the waves of a stormy ocean in the moonlight, those were the eyes of my soul mate."
Percy couldn't believe his ears as the little idea came blasting into his mind as a fully functioning thought. Was Artemis trying to tell him that he of all people, throughout thousands of years of her life, was destined to be with her? What the actual hell. Like seriously. He needed time to process this. The demigod suddenly just sat on the ground where he was.
Artemis sat down with him. She had just sent off the bombshell, now to see what would happen. The Goddess knew that if she could love anybody, then it could pretty much only be Perseus Jackson, the teenager was pretty much the definition of perfect, especially when his greatest "flaw" is personal loyalty to those he loves. What more do you want from a person?
Percy looked at the Goddess who was sitting nearby him. She had said it herself, that her whole existence of being essentially anti male was destroyed by her having a soul mate. By him being her soul mate. If anything, she was going out on a limb here to tell Percy about the Red String that bound them together.
What could he say to her? If he said yes, there could be a slight issue with the fact that number one, he was still young, and two, he was mortal and she wasn't. If they truly were bound by a Red String, then he couldn't exactly reject her, they were destined to be together, and neither of them would ever find love with anybody else as much as they could with each other. Artemis would probably go back into isolation from male contact, never to open up her heart again if her soul mate rejected her.
"I think," Percy said, "That it sounds like I'm going to need a lot more time to think about this than a few moments before I can give you any sort of answer. This new information…" He smiled at Artemis. "It's a little much to take in all at once, you know?"
Artemis smiled back at him, "Take all the time you need, Percy, after all, I have forever." And so it was that they parted ways, Percy returning to his friends, looking back to give her one last smile and wave as he went on his way, and Artemis returned to her hunt.
Weeks passed, and Artemis was shooting targets with her huntresses when an IRIS message appeared next to her.
"IM requested for Lady Artemis, from one Perseus Jackson. Do you accept this request?" The cloud of mist inquired, and Artemis acquiesced, telling it to connect them.
Percy's form appeared in the mist, and upon seeing him, the goddess gave a smile. He was just as she had remembered him, sea green eyes and raven black hair, all wild and untamed as it stuck here and there, with a small streak of grey that was still there from the time he had taken the sky for her. He was wearing his orange Camp Half-Blood shirt, and the sleeves were short enough that she could see his SPQR tattoo poking out from underneath.
The demigod smiled back at her.
"Hi." He said simply, giving her the opportunity to respond.
"Nice of you to call, Percy. Is there anything I can help you with?" She inquired. The demigod looked away for a second, almost bashfully, before he retrained his attention on her.
"Well, It's my birthday on the 18th, and I was going to head to my mom's place for the day, but I was wondering if you wanted to, maybe, come and spend the day with us?" There was a twinkle in his eyes, Artemis could see it clearly, the light of hope and apprehension. He had never been in such a situation as to ask a girl, his soulmate specifically, to meet his mother. Granted, Artemis had already met his mother technically, but that was besides the point.
"I would love to join you Percy, just let me know when you want to meet up and where, and I'll be there." Percy's small smile grew wider after she said that, her response had likely been very close to what he had wanted to hear.
"Why don't you meet me at camp Half-Blood on the morning of my birthday, let's say, around ten o'clock?"
"Ten o'clock it is, I'll see you then Percy." And the call ended. She was now going to spend time with him and actually get to formally (or informally) meet his mother for the 'first' time.
Percy was feeling quite anxious. He was waiting at camp for Artemis to appear, it was his birthday today and he wasn't sure how he was going to introduce Artemis to his mom and Paul. Should he just out and say, "Hey mom, my soul mate is the goddess Artemis, here she is"? Probably not, that wouldn't go over very well… while he was contemplating these sorts of things, he was broken from his reverie as Artemis flashed into camp almost right in front of him.
"Oh hey Artemis!" he called out to her, grabbing her attention. Artemis smiled as she heard his voice, and she turned to face the demigod.
His breath left his body as he looked at her. She looked stunning. She had absolutely no makeup on, but her eyes glittered with a yellow silver of the full moon on a clear night, and her smile brightened up her visage and made her look like a million dollars. Her auburn hair fell over her right shoulder, ending up in a braid that reached down to her waist.
She waved a hand in front of his face, "Are you going to quit staring at me Percy, or can we go to your mom's place?"
He was still slightly in a trance even after she did that, and he couldn't stop himself from saying, "You're so pretty." Before he caught himself and started stuttering, "Err, w-what I meant t-to say is…"
Artemis blushed a little bit before laughing, he was just so cute. "Come on, loverboy, we're going." She grabbed his hand and teleported the two of them to his mom's address (she had gotten it from him at one point).
He stumbled in a daze almost for a moment, dizzy from the teleporting. Eventually he got his bearing, and opened the door to his mom's place, before calling in, "Mom it's Percy!"
Sally Jackson came to the front door, and brought Percy up in a great bear hug.
"Percy, It's so good to see you again." She pulled away from the hug, and looked right at Artemis. She gave her a smile, noticing the Red String that linked the two together. "So, I finally get to meet the Goddess that is my son's soul mate. My name is Sally Jackson, it's a pleasure to meet you."
Artemis smiled at the woman in front of her, while Percy looked around in a bemused manner. "It is likewise nice to meet you Sally, I am Artemis."
Sally Jackson took a step back, looking astounded for a moment. "A-Artemis?" she choked out after a moment.
Artemis laughed at Percy's mother's reaction. "Yes, and while quite inconceivable, believe me that I myself was astounded when I woke up all those years ago with a Red Strand that connected me to somebody after so living my whole life without one."
The situation diffused quickly, and within minutes Sally Jackson was showing Artemis around the house, while Paul was sitting in the living room with Percy.
"So," Paul awkwardly started. "I guess your girlfriend is an immortal maiden goddess?"
Percy blushed a little bit. "She's not my girlfriend, just my soul mate, there's a difference." And after a moment continued with, "But yeah you're right it's pretty crazy. I mean I did go on a quest this one time and ended up saving her from the weight of the sky, and we've been pretty amiable since then, but I never would have guessed that she was my soul mate of all things."
Paul let out a sigh, "It's going to be pretty hard, I'll tell you that, harder than I can imagine, but let me tell you that in the end, as long as you're happy together, it'll work out. Even with a maiden goddess with a long history of turning men into furry animals and allegedly burning a city down for not worshiping her and stuff, although that was thousands of years ago, so you shouldn't have a problem on that front."
He saw the look on Percy's face and clapped a hand on his back. "I'm just kidding Percy, seriously."
Meanwhile, Artemis was looking at a bunch of pictures of Percy growing up throughout the years that Sally had kept after all this time. "And this is the picture of the school bus that Percy accidently blew up on a field trip during third grade." Sally said, handing a picture of a rather ruined looking school bus with Percy standing near a historical cannon overlooking it, a look of horror on his face as he realized what he had just done.
They were having a jolly good time, and eventually moved on to including the boys in on a board game.
"And with that capture I complete my ownership of North and South Americas." Artemis said, a look of excitement on her face; RISK seemed to be one of the perfect board games for her to play, she was clearly in the lead, while Paul and Sally squabbled over Asia and Australia, Africa was uncontested, and Percy had Ownership of Europe.
Percy took a couple of turns to take control of Africa, meanwhile Artemis began to infiltrate Asia through Alaska, taking out Sally first and eventually Paul, putting her at a clear advantage over Percy, who held on for a couple of turns afterwards before the inevitable fall of his armies, leading way for the Artemis Empire to have control over the world.
"Well, that was fun." Percy said after they had left his mother and Paul's house. They began to walk around, heading in the general direction of Central Park.
"Indeed it was, I had a lot of fun today Percy." Artemis told him. "We should get you back to Camp soon though, it's almost night time." It was indeed, the sunset was almost upon them as they reached the park.
"Yeah, we should probably go soon." Percy agreed almost noncommittally, he didn't particularly want the day to end; he was enjoying himself spending time with his Soul Mate. Artemis seemed to pick up on this and they watched the sun set over the horizon before she turned to him and asked, "Are you ready to go?"
He smiled at her and answered, "Yeah, let's go." Artemis looked at the demigod, and with a mischievous look in her eyes, she said, "alright Percy." Before placing a kiss on his cheek, simultaneously teleporting them into his cabin at camp, before telling him, "A goodbye kiss, see you around Percy." And she was gone after that, disappeared to wherever she wanted to go to.
Percy stood there for a moment, smiling to himself after she left. "She kissed me." he said to himself, feeling quite happy with the turn of events.
Hey guys, it's me, Remvis, back at it again with the late memes, I mean, late chapters. Hahaha, call me what you will, but late is definitely one of them. I plan on updating this at least one more time before marking it as completed, so let me know through reviews what you would like to see in the next(maybe final) chapter. I plan on updating A Year in a Day by Halloween, so don't worry guys, I'll get to that next. And finally, I have to say, I plan on making a series of one shots (each their own short story, not a multi chapter of one shots) of Pertemis, based on songs. Basically I'm doing songfics of Pertemis, each with a different story/Au to them, so you don't have to read them in order or anything. Let me know in the Reviews what songs you would like for me to do, and if I like the lyrics, I'll give it a shot.
Thanks for putting up with my antics everyone, and have a wonderful night/day! ~Remvis