Disclaimer: I do not own PJO or Epic. If I did though, there would have been a sequel for Epic.

Chapter 2: Frustration

—Ronin's PoV—

"…and I pursued the vigilante but they managed to escape, your majesty," Ronin finished his report to the Queen.

The young Queen seemed to be mulling over his news. Finally, she said as formally as possible, "Thank you for telling me this General Ronin. While the situation with the Boggans is most disturbing, the news of this mysterious figure is quite intriguing. Are you sure you could not make out any significant details about them?"

"Aside from good bowman skills and a bronze sword, they had green eyes, majesty," he informed her, striking green eyes flashing before his eyes hauntingly.

The Queen seemed genuinely curious now. "Very well. Thank you for this information, General. If there is any more, please let me know."

"Yes your majesty," he said, bowing again before exiting the throne room.

I almost had them, Ronin internally berated himself. If I just hadn't faltered...

"Uh-oh, I know that look," said a familiar voice, somewhere on his left.

Ronin looked around to find Nod leaning casually against a rock, watching him with a playful smile.

"So happened to make you hate yourself so much?" the rookie leafman poked.

"Never you mind," Ronin retorted, not looking at him.

"Well someone's grumpy," Nod commented.

"Is there any particular reason that you're here and not with your group?" Ronin said, finally facing the teenager, brow raised.

Thankfully, Nod accepted the change of topic. "Ronin! I'm off the clock. Relax a bit, would you?"

Ronin rolled his eyes but did not respond.

"Anyways, MK and I were wondering if you would want to go to Nim's with us later?"

Awhile after he, Nod and the shrunken Stomper named MK had saved the forest, MK and her father, Bomba, had decided to move out of their home to be shrunk permanently and live among the Leafmen and jinn. Also in that timeframe, MK and Nod had officially started dating, too.

Focusing back on the topic at hand, Ronin shook his head and said, "Thanks for the offer but no thanks. Unlike you, I have a lot more responsibilities I have to take care of that I can't shirk off without a thought." Okay so that wasn't exactly the whole truth but not exactly a lie either. He did have stuff to do (other than brood on the vigilante), though they could probably be taken care of in a heartbeat.

Apparently, Nod had also recognized that too. "Look Ronin, it's been a year since her death. You need to stop mourning and get out there again. Don't you think that the Queen would have wanted that?"

As soon as he said that, Nod stopped, instantly looking like he had regretted those words even leaving his mouth, but it was too late. Ronin's grip tightened around the hilt of the sword at his waist, his knuckles turning white. He could feel his face tightening in a scowl as his frosty blue gaze bore into the rookie leafman before him.

"I-I'm sorry Ronin! I didn't mean— I just meant—"

"No thank you," he said coldly. "Now get back with your group until your shift is over."

Without another word, Ronin walked away, scowling so as to hide his inner emotional turmoil.

He knew that he probably shouldn't have snapped at Nod, but even after a year, the pain of Tara's passing still brought him fresh heartache. Even after all this time, Ronin still blamed himself for the Queens passing. She had been in his charge, in his responsibility, and she still had died.

Shaking his head in an attempt to clear it of morbid thoughts, Ronin mounted his hummingbird and took off. He had tasks to do and little time to get distracted.

—Unknown PoV—

By the time I got home, it was nighttime, and I was exhausted. Today had been a long day not to mention eventful.

Passing my full-length mirror as I walked past, I got a good look at myself. My small figure was covered by a long dark cloak that hid everything except my luminous green eyes. Pulling the hood back, I saw a tanned, fit young woman with long dark hair that cascaded down her back, long lashes that framed sea-green eyes and features that befit a Roman or Greek goddess; I saw the face of Persephone Jackson, the demigod daughter of Poseidon.

Shaking my head, I quickly moved away, heading to my room, placing my sword and bow in a safe nook along the way. (Did I mention that I had gotten a lot better with a bow thanks to a lot of practice with Boggans?)

Soon enough, I lay in my King-sized bed, looking up at my painted ceiling that depicted all the stars and constellations.

I had been living in this forest for a little less than a year now. Apparently when I asked the gods to give me a break from all the wars and monsters, they decided that shrinking me until I was two inches tall and sticking me some forest with Boggans and all sorts of other nasties who wanted to kill me was a break.

Real funny guys. Not.

Now, I've learned to just live with it. Being tiny wasn't actually that bad. Sure I missed all my friends and family a lot, and they all probably thought I was dead. But the monster attacks were less frequent and I could decide if wanted to fight or not, and not worry about being some divine forces' pawn.

Sighing, I mentally replayed today's events as I got ready for bed.

I had almost been caught by that one Leafman. Maybe I was getting sloppy? Or maybe he was just different? During the fight, I had briefly taken into account that the blue-eyed Leafman seemed different than the rest. I just could not put my finger why he did so.

Aside from that, there was the concerning matter of the Boggans. Their attacks had been getting more frequent as of late, and I wanted to know why. I had encountered the Boggans barely into the first week of my new life here in the forest and I realized that they were this worlds version of monsters except, they kept a sort of balance with the Leafmen. Things would die and start to rot and then that would give way to new life and the cycle went on. But of course, they just seemed to want to cause destruction and disrupt the natural balance of the world. Anyways, from what I had overheard from a conversation between two Leafmen, the Boggans used to have a leader named Mandrake but he had died after a failed assault on the Leafmen's stronghold, Moonhaven, when he tried to take or destroy some kind of special pod.

So did the Boggans acquire a new leader? It was possible. But like with the monster-kind I was used to, they were always fighting amongst themselves, making it difficult to find leadership. Not to mention that Boggans weren't too bright from what I had seen.

Shifting in my bed and ruffling the blue-black covers, my thoughts whirled through endless possibilities, but couldn't remedy as to why the Boggans were so aggressive lately. But tomorrow I planned to find out. I would get my answers.

Closing my eyes, I soon fell into a semi-restful slumber, images of piercingly sharp blue-eyes haunting my dreams.

A/N: So we finally discover who the mysterious figure is! Yay! And now Percy is gonna pull one of her famous Seaweed brained stunts. But that's not until the next chapter.

Anyways, for those of you who have never read my other works, you should know that I am implementing a 2-Review Policy. "What's that?" you ask. Simple, unless I get 2 reviews, the next chapter will not be guaranteed. Yep, that's right. I will not post another chapter until I get two reviews. Luckily for you guys though, this time I do have another chapter ready to post. All I need are TWO little snacks to feed the monster. So please REVIEW.