Next chapter. Sorry, could have been sooner, I really have to do something against my laziness. Well we get started with the 'action in two to three chapters. Have fun.
Chapter 1
Earth, two thousand years after the second giant war
Thalia sighed and let her head sink into her hand, while she tried to ignore the bickering in the throne room. It was the usual noise, Hades bickering with Zeus and Poseidon about who was more powerful, Aphrodite trying to convince Athena to break her maiden vow, with Athena throwing smart comebacks, Dionysus arguing with Demeter over which plant was better, wheat or grape, while Demeter every now and then screamed at Hades to give her her daughter back, Hephaestus accusing Hera of being a bad mother and listing of examples, although she did not seem to listen and had been glaring at Zeus the whole time - probably for sleeping with another mortal women – Hermes checking his I-phone and Ares sharpening his sword and grinning wildly at the violent atmosphere around him.
The only three who were not involved in the discussions of the gods were Apollo, who sent longing looks in the direction of his sister, said sister, Artemis, who generally ignored anyone these days, except for her hunters and Hestia, if it was not important, and Hestia, who absently minded petted Mrs. O'Leary, who somehow found her way in the throne room.
Seeing Mrs. O'Leary send a sting through Thalia's heart, because it reminded her of him. Generally being in the throne room reminded her not only of him, but of her as well. Even the bickering of the gods reminded her of the events, which occurred in this room two thousand years ago. Since then, it had been filled with more aggression, more violence, all because of...
NO!
She shook her head to get rid of the unwanted memories; it was painful enough as it was, without remembering all the details.
"Silence!" Zeus bellowed and even though Thalia nowadays resented her father more than ever before, she was thankful right now. The gods gave her a headache.
"Good", Zeus huffed, after everyone fell silent, "now then, everyone is here, has someone, except for Hades, something special to report?"
Nobody spoke up or raised their hand, so Zeus nodded towards Hades.
He seemed to hesitate and think how he should formulate it, before he inhaled deeply and started.
"Since the second giant war, we have been living in relatively peaceful. Even the monster attacks lessened, because so many of them died during the two wars. "
Everyone nodded, that was old news.
"Well, it seems, the monster population is recovering. But that is not the worrisome part. The monsters seem to be more organized then before, despite not having a leader. The titans are still in their respective prisons and Gaia is still deeper in slumber than ever before."
"All thanks to my son!" Poseidon announced proudly.
For a moment Thalia had hope – only to see it crushed as Poseidon leaned forward and proudly pated Mark his immortal cabin counsellor, on the shoulder, while Mark just grinned smugly. Thalia scowled and tightened her hands around the end of the armrest of her little copy of Artemis throne.
This was also something, which reminded her of them. He had demanded that every god brought a demigod representative to every meeting and she had designed the chairs.
Thalia had to grit her teeth to stop thinking about them too much. If she did not stop, she would do something stupid, like breaking down crying – or frying everyone in this room, except for Artemis and Hestia, with a lightning bolt. Every single one of them, which included the gods, Jason, who was somehow shared by Zeus and Hera as their representative, Nico, representative for Hades's children, Katie, Demeter's children representative, Mark – this wanna-be son of Poseidon - , Travis and Connor, who stood for Hermes's children, Pollux, who represented Dionysus's children, Malcom, the representative of Athena's children, Frank, who stood for Ares's children, Will, representative of Apollo's children, Leo represented Hephaestus's children and finally Piper, standing for Aphrodite's children. The only one without a representative was Hestia, since she had no children and had refused to take a champion from the current demigod population, when the rule had been passed. They had all been made immortal, which, at least in Thalia's opinion, somehow defied the sense of his wish, because now some of them *coughMarkcough* thought themselves above the other demigods or, in one special case, even more above then he had already thought him to be.
Hades just continued as if Poseidon had not interrupted him.
"They group themselves and attack lone demigods, preferably without satyr guide and leave the quests, we send, completely alone. Also, something is stirring in Tartarus and even Tartarus himself does not know what it is. At least that is what he told me, when I asked him, which could mean, that he is either supporting whatever it is or it is more powerful than Tartarus, therefore able to shield itself from him, even inside the pit."
At this, all gods and demigods started mumbling worried. Neither of the two options sounded really good.
"You do not have to worry", Mark boasted, "since you have me, the mightiest and greatest demigod ever to live."
Artemis snickered and whispered so softly, only Thalia could hear it: "I would love to see him going against a primordial."
Thalia smiled and nodded. The last one who had done it...
'NO! Bad Thalia! Do not think of him!' she scolded herself.
Zeus shut them all up by shooting a lightning bolt in the sky.
"Alright, until we do not know what this threat is, we cannot do anything against it, although I am sure we can handle whatever it is. Hades, you will try to gain more information and give them straight to Athena. Maybe she can figure out, what that threat is. Artemis, you..."
Artemis interrupted her father.
"We will go hunting the monster groups, but only because that is, what we would do anyways, father. Remember, the hunt does not obey your every command anymore."
Zeus seemed as if he wanted to discuss with her, but then just nodded. They had had that particular argument so often over the last two thousand years, even he knew it was pointless to try and change her opinion.
"I should go with them and show these lesbian hunter bitches how to hunt properly", Mark boasted again.
At this, most gods and demigods gasped and looked fearfully at Artemis, who seemed to glow with rage.
"If you even so much as glance in the direction of my hunter's camp, while being within a radius of a hundred miles", she hissed through gritted teeth, "we will be too busy to hunt monsters."
"Busy with begging me to take you all?" Mark asked smugly.
"No", Artemis answered with a cruel smile, which made everyone shiver, "busy with hunting and torturing an immortal jackalope."
'Oh, that would be fun' Thalia thought and smiled evilly.
"Alright, I think, that was clear. Meeting adjourned", Zeus said hastily and flashed out, together with Hera and Jason.
Immediately, everyone started talking and discussing. Artemis stood up and walked over to Hestia. Thalia followed her.
"I take, I see you later at my camp, aunt?" Artemis asked Hestia.
The goddess spoken to looked up, smiled warmly at her and then at Thalia, who Mrs O'Leary trotted over to, to nudge her and whine at her. Thalia smiled and petted the large hellhound.
"Of course, niece", Hestia responded, "after all, it is the only place, I want to be."
Artemis nodded and beckoned Thalia to follow her. She did as told, Mrs O'Leary following behind her.
"Where are we going, milady?" Thalia asked.
"To my temple. I want to change my tent", Artemis answered.
Thalia just nodded.
-LINE BREAK-
They were nearly there, when Apollo stepped in front of his sister.
"What do you want, Apollo?" Artemis asked coldly.
"Come on, Arty", Apollo begged, "I did nothing wrong and even if I did, it has been two thousand years since then. So not tell me, you are still mad, little sis. Please, call me your brother again."
Artemis listened stoically to his monologue and then took a deep breath.
"I have a brother", she said and hope could be seen on Apollo's face, "but you are not him."
With these words, she brushed past him towards her temple. Apollo's face fell and now, desperation was clearly evident on his face. He turned towards Thalia with a pleading look.
"Thalia, please..."
"No", interrupted Thalia him with a stern look, "I am sorry, Lord Apollo, but you chose your side and we chose ours. There is nothing, I can do. Besides, we cannot forgive and forget when you are not even sorry about it."
"But I have nothing to be sorry about!" Apollo protested weakly.
"That is, how you see it. You know, Lady Artemis and I see it differently and I do not think, we will change our point of view anytime soon."
With that said, Thalia hurried after Artemis, leaving Apollo behind, who looked utterly lost.
-LINE BREAK-
Thalia's POV
After Lady Artemis got her tent, she flashed us back to the hunter's camp, only for us to be immediately overwhelmed with questions. So much, that we could not hear a single one of them.
"Alright girls, on at a time", Artemis said smiling and held her hands up in mock surrender.
"Anything new about brother and sister?" piped a small huntress up, one of the youngest to ever join the hunt.
"Yeah, I mean after all these years, even Zeus must have realised..." began Phoebe, one of the oldest huntresses, not from physical age but from her time spent with the hunt.
I couldn't help but snort.
"As if Zeus could realize something important about them!" I said with so much venom in my voice, that even I was surprised; I had no actual venom dripping from my teeth. "He forbade us from even thinking his name, because he fears it will summon him from wherever he is and he will then try to usurp his throne."
"So I will never get to know them?" the same huntress, who asked the first question, asked sadly.
"Of course you will get to know them, especially your brother, Lise and if I have to drag him personally in the camp and bind him to a pole, so you can interrogate him" Phoebe huffed, while Lise perked up and giggled at the idea.
Lise was a daughter of Poseidon and physically just eleven years old, but had already been attempted to be raped by her stepfather, her stepbrother and her half brother, until she finally came into the hunt, where she first heard of her legendary brother, since it was forbidden under penalty to talk about him in camp. Since then, she wanted nothing more than to meet the man, who the hunt considered their brother.
It was strange to share him as a brother with the whole hunt and even Lady Artemis, but it had somehow developed like this. After they had been banished, Lady Artemis had secretly offered them to stay with the hunt. I did not know why they accepted him, maybe because milady and I liked and respected him, maybe because she was so protective of him. Personally, I believed, that it was, because he looked so much like a puppy, which had been kicked so often, it did not even dare to move without its owner's consent, that not even the hunters had the heart to be cruel to him and torture him further, although he was a male inside their camp. Especially since he was the only male, Lady Artemis respected. Of course, after three years, when he just began healing, Apollo found out and told Zeus, so they had to flee, promising us they would return to visit us someday. That was also the day; Lady Artemis officially disowned Apollo as her brother.
I looked up to the stars and searched for the constellation of the huntress. For some reason, I felt safer, as if Zoe watched over them.
'Wherever you are' I thought 'we hope you are safe and happy, together. We miss you. We hope, you visit us soon, Percy and Annabeth.'
So, sorry for all Pertemis shippers. I personally think, it is a wonderful ship, but I do not think, I could present it plausible. Next chapter will be a gathering of different POV's and you can guess who is who :D. Just describing the general mood and situation of the characters. See ya.