Chapter 4
Hades POV
1 year later
I had been keeping track of Perseus' jobs and progress during his missions. Needless to say, I was thoroughly impressed. He was becoming the Epitome of Death, both figuratively and literally speaking. He was cold, heartless, and gruesome to all he encountered.
Hands down, he is the perfect assassin, and the one to take over the job concerning escaped souls. I've even seen Thanatos wince at the manner in which Perseus toys with his prey before ending their lives. Even when killing females is a part in his duty. He is merciless no matter who his target concerns.
But today was the day that I put my children in the Westover Hall. It was located in Bar Harbor, Maine, as a military academy that would hold them for a year or so when the time was right.
I had Perseus personally scope the place out before sending my children there. He informed me that there was a Manticore in hiding there as the principal of the school. But after a brief conversation with the hybrid, he was assured that my children would not be harmed.
I normally wouldn't trust the word of a creature like that. But Perseus filled me in on the encounter between him and the hybrid. To summarize it shortly, if my children were ever harmed, the hybrid will experience the most gruesome and painful death ever to be recorded.
But today, Perseus was relaxing here in the Underworld with my daughters, Melinoe and Makaria. Despite his silence, he seemed to be a different person around those two. Those two are the only ones that I've seen pull a smile out of him that wasn't faked. They treated him like they were all siblings, mostly pranking each other.
I was pulled out of my musings as my niece, Artemis, had teleported into my throne room suddenly. I looked over at her and straightened up in my seat just as Persephone did at the sudden appearance. "My niece, what can I do for you?" I asked, straight to the point.
"Uncle, I need your help. There is a maiden that I need your help in retrieving." Artemis said urgently, seemingly in a panic.
My wife spoke next. "Sister, the only help we can give you is a male. Will you be alright with that?" She asked politely, clasping her fingers together in caution.
Artemis bit her lip in what seemed to be a mixture of annoyance and caution. Then she nodded sharply. "I will accept his help. Is he around for me to meet?" She asked, looking around.
"Perseus." I called out, knowing that he was always listening for me to call him.
In an instant, he appeared in front of me, kneeling, head bowed and wings curled in.
"You called for me, my lord." He said
respectfully. He always answered my call like this. Even if there wasn't anyone else in the room besides my wife and myself, he wouldn't budge on straying from this greeting.
"You will go with Artemis as she fills you in on your mission. You are rescuing a maiden this time Perseus. So try to lower the amount of blood from usual please." I requested.
"It will be done." He intoned as he stood on his feet and turned around to face Artemis. He stood, feet shoulder-width apart, arms behind his back as his hands clasped each other, eyes forward and wings hanging from his back, unmoving as Artemis walked closer to him.
"I will be teleporting us outside the house where the maiden is being restrained at." Artemis said as she rested a hand on his shoulder and teleported the two of them elsewhere.
Artemis POV
"So. You're Perseus." I spoke to him when we landed.
"What do you mean by that?" He asked calmly.
"I helped deliver you. I was then visited by your father."
"My father came to visit me? How was he? What was he doing?"
"He was fine. However, I told him that I will watch over you with my life. And here we are. The two of us."
"In that case, I will allow you to help me on my mission."
"What did my uncle mean by lowering the amount of blood than usual?" I asked curiously.
"For the past year and a half I've been tracking down all of the worst people in this world and taking their life in order to bring them to the 'Fields of Punishment' As well as returning escaped souls back to the Underworld." He clarified as the door opened.
The one to open the door was a disgusting clear-sighted male. He was holding a celestial bronze knife in his hands and pointed it at me threateningly.
"I thought I told you to leave me be little girl." He snarled at me. I was in my twelve year old form yesterday when I ran across the girl that was being forced to stay here.
Perseus chuckled, drawing the attention of the male. His eyes widened at the sight of his wings. But he seem to stop breathing at seeing Perseus' golden colored eyes.
"Kronos." He gasped out.
Perseus smiled back at him. "Not quite, but still a good guess." He replied as raised a hand, shadows wrapping around the male in front of me. He flicked his wrist to the side as the shadows kept the offending male, in front of us, planted to a nearby wall as the male struggled.
"I will keep this one occupied, while you get the maiden." Perseus said, unsheathing his swords from his backside holster. I gasped as I recognized those swords. But I still went upstairs, leaving Perseus to deal with that male by himself.
Line Break
When I came back downstairs with the girl in my arms, I found the house empty. I was in my eighteen year old form as I carried the maiden out of the house. I spotted Perseus sitting on the porch swing, silently as he was cleaning the blood from one of his swords.
At seeing me walk through the front door, he sheathed his sword and stood from his chair, walking over to me, not making a sound. I was amazed at his ability to not make any noise effortlessly, it seemed.
"Thank you for your help Perseus." I said as I looked at him. He just nodded back silently. At his silent remark, I looked around noticing that it was late into the night. But before I could speak again, the child moved in my arms and grabbed Perseus with her hands in an unconscious movement.
This left the both of us standing really close to each other and in a weird combination of holding the girl securely. But Perseus acted before I could and pulled the child fully into his arms, without disturbing her sleep; the child rested her head into the crook of his neck.
I was surprised that the girl was comfortable with him. This was the man that I had heard about, and not in the amazing way. He was ruthless when it came to his duty of Death. I heard that he would play with his prey, until the person would beg and plead to be let go. Then he would silence the pleas while staring into the dying person's eyes as the light from their eyes faded.
But he was able to not have a problem with a young maiden in his arms and situate her comfortably in his arms in a matter of seconds.
"We'll wait until sunrise before going back to my Hunt." I said as I summoned a small campfire and two tents. Perseus nodded silently as he handed me the sleeping child for me to lay down.
As I walked out of my tent that had the sleeping child, I saw Perseus sitting in front of the campfire as finished cleaning his bloodied weapon. He seemed to be at ease in my presence, but he hadn't said a word in over an hour.
"You don't say much do you?" I said, causing him to look over at me.
He seemed to let a small smile grace his face. "Not usually." He supplied as he sheathed his weapon, as if he anticipated I would ask more questions. "But that's because I usually spend most of my time performing my duty with Thanatos." He responded.
"How old are you?" I asked curiously.
"I am fourteen years old, Lady Artemis." He answered politely.
I was shocked. I might be a man-hater but I was horrified that a male as young as this one was tasked with killing people, as gruesome as his kills were. "Where is your mother, Perseus?"
"She's in Elysium, curtesy of your father." He replied, his voice emotionless and unwavering.
"When did this happen?" I asked, shocked at the reveal.
"The day that I turned twelve." He stated as he closed his eyes and sighed deeply. "But I've moved past his actions and accepted them. After all, they've landed me in working with my father and ridding the world of bad people. I do get to see my mother every once in a while."
Just then, my annoying brother Apollo appeared to my right, sitting on the ground. He seemed to be in a good mood as he laughed heartedly. "Hey Arty, what are you doing over here? Your hunters miss you greatly since they're not able to stop blushing as I flirt with them." He teased.
As I was about to go off on him about flirting with my hunters, he seemed to notice Perseus. He jumped to his feet and pulled out his bow, nocking an arrow at the son of Thanatos. "Who are you and what are you doing here?" He barked firmly.
Perseus just stood up silently, letting his wings spread out as he rolled his shoulders. "Be quiet Lord Apollo. You'll wake the sleeping child if you continue to be so loud." He scolded firmly.
It was my brother's turn to frown in confusion as he lowered the bow, looking at me for an explanation. Sighing, I informed him of our activities from tonight and what will be happening tomorrow morning. He gasped at hearing that Perseus was the killer we had all heard about through rumors coursing through Olympus.
"That was you?" Apollo asked Perseus as he connected the dots.
"Yes." Perseus confirmed with a nod.
"But how? You're so young." Apollo questioned.
Perseus looked at me, his eyes asking me if I would fill my brother. I nodded and started to explain all I knew about Perseus and how he got to the position of being Thanatos' right-hand.
"That explains the wings. But dude, please tell me that you've been with a woman." Apollo questioned as he sat next to Perseus with an arm around his shoulders.
But the winged demigod seemed uncomfortable with Apollo so close to him and removed the arm, scooting away subtly.
"No, I have not been with a woman. Nor have I ever looked for one on my own accord. As my duty requires me to never be in one spot for a known amount of time, it would be unfair to my companion as I would have to leave all the time without a reasonable explanation." Perseus explained, shocking me immensely.
Maybe I have found the only respectable male in the world.Hey guys, thanks for reading. So... Artemis knows who Percy is, courtesy of the first chapter. This shit's gonna get interesting. Apologies for the delay, and as always, this is Lolagejosh02 signing off! (Insert Shitty Outro Here)
