Disclaimer. Sadly, I own nothing but my character, all rights go to Rick Riordan. Good thing too, because if I were in charge, Asgard would be the main theme.
The Return of The Asgardians Chapter 4
Moving On
Right about now I am sure we should have been pelted with arrows; however, I guess I was underestimating them for no one moved, not while in the face of a God. Perfect
"Now, I would very much enjoy keeping this civil so please if you would tell me why you and your large group of hunters are here?" I asked again.
She scowled "we were hunting," she said curtly, my eyebrows shot up. She just did that, okay I got her
"Oh you were? Hmm never would have guessed, I thought you guys were knitting or something" I said.
Right on time, I saw the tip of an arrow 3 centimeters from my eye, only held back by the hand of myself, of course, my clone lowered the arrow, and I nodded to him
"Thanks, Al"
"Of course Al"
We returned our gaze to the hunters, and it wasn't Artemis that let the arrow fly apparently, it was another girl next to her, and based on the scowl that marred her face I could tell that she wasn't happy at all.
"Oh, I'm sorry miss did you not like my sexist comment? Well then don't try my patience I am not afraid of you or your goddess or the rest of the Greek deities for that matter, and I am trying to be polite but it would seem that manners aren't a part of Greek culture" I said with a sneer.
Only to have the rest of the arrows fly, they pelted me in the chest, a few to the skull and two in each knee, as I watched myself fall back I, twirled the lone arrow in my hand as green dust dispersed and silver arrows lay across the snow next to me.
"Well, he had a mouth on him eh?" I laughed as I turned to the angry hunters,
"well that's enough of that" I said quietly as a large duffel bag soared over their heads I caught it and handed it to Nico.
"Hold that please" I said and he nodded staring wide-eyed at the ground where the arrows lied, I turned back to The Hunters and smirked at their confusion, shock and of course anger.
"Thanks for the arrows Al!" I yelled
"no problem Al!" I heard from behind them causing them to turn and stare at the clone I had stealing the arrows from their quivers.
My smirk dropped, "now that I have taken your arrows, and just outright embarrassed you I would very much enjoy- you know what? Fuck it, father if you would please?" I asked, and he nodded.
"Now girls be good and take a nap while the grown folk talk. Thanks" he said and just like that The Hunters dropped leaving a confused, angry, and shocked Artemis.
"Father, you speak to the avid goddess please, I still have to handle the whole demi-god cadet situation," I said, and he nodded making his way over to Artemis.
I shook my head "this could have been over 10 minutes ago," I grumbled
I turned to 5 very shocked faces, I had a clone take the duffel bag of arrows back then return them to the unconscious hunters. I thanked Nico for his assistance, and he nodded still wide-eyed, my attention was brought away from my cadet by the sounds of someone trying to speak. I looked up to see Thalia stuttering; I rose an eyebrow
"yes? What would you wish to say?" I asked her with a smirk. She stared at me for a second then shook her head
"you are either the dumbest or bravest person I've ever met" she said, and I chuckled.
"Well, I like to call it proper planning and a whole lot of bluffing" I returned
"you were bluffing?" the black-haired boy said,
"why yes I was bluffing about quite a few things but the trick is that they don't know that," I stated with a chuckle.
Then I remembered a thing called manners and extended my hand "Alfred Vonstein, and you are?" he took it, and I noticed his grip was a little lacking in strength and his hand didn't have many callouses, that was the sign of an up and coming warrior, but he held himself with some confidence.
"Percy Jackson," he said, and I nodded in greeting I then turned my attention to the blonde girl I saved earlier.
"how are you feeling Miss?" I asked, and she took my hand
"Annabeth Chase, I'm fine and thanks for earlier I don't know where I would be right now" she said.
I waved the thanks off with a smile, "so, you were bluffing?" Thalia asked, and I nodded
"about what?" she asked, and I smirked
"that's something for you to piece together yourself," I said simply.
She grinned, and I sat down on a log after brushing off the cold snow, I then remembered something
"Father!" I called, and he turned to me,
"hypothermia is a thing. We should get them off the ground" I said. He nodded then returned to his conversation, The Hunters began to stir from their forced sleep, and Thalia laughed at their confused expressions.
"Serves them right," she said, and I rose an eyebrow
"don't like them very much I see," I said,
"not one bit" she said with a scowl
I didn't ask why because, well I wasn't in the mood too so I just motioned for them to sit,
"didn't you want them off the ground so that they wouldn't get sick?" Percy asked, and I nodded
"yes I did, but they weren't awake and laying down in the snow, we are awake and just sitting so we should be fine" maybe. He nodded in minor understanding and sat down with the rest of the group, I clapped
"Okay, down to business. Why are you here again?" I asked
I forgot what I had asked them before being pelted with magic and arrows. Defending against a goddesses' magic and taking arrows to the face will make you forget a thing or two, Thalia spoke up as expected seeing as she may as well be the leader of the group.
"We came here because those two are demi-gods and we are to bring them back to our camp where they will be trained and protected," she said.
I nodded "and I assume you know this because of cadet Grover the Satyr," I said to which she agreed.
"Why would I let my cadets leave just so that they can be placed into these situations on purpose?" I asked
"because they will be taught how to handle the situations" she retorted.
"I feel I am perfectly capable of protecting and training them; it comes with the territory of owning the Academy," I said.
"Well you didn't do a great job of that seeing as you hired something that was after them" she threw back at me
"Only because I was seeing what he was planning, and don't forget that it was me that scared him off," I said with a grin.
"It was only by chance that you were even here in the first place" she sniped back
"It's a good thing I was here then because if I weren't Miss Annabeth would be in the hands of said Manticore" I pointed out.
She stopped and glared at me, and I smiled
"ooh she's feisty, you should keep her" my father said from over my shoulder.
I smirked and noticed just a slight tinge of red on her cheeks
"Keep me? He'll be lucky to have me in the first place" she said.
I decided to end the conversation there considering more important things than flirting
"So, what's going on father?" I asked.
"Well, other than the fact that she's very cute when mad. I learned that she prefers tea over any other drink, her favorite color is red surprisingly, she hates a lot of guys, her favorite food is steak oddly, and-" I stopped him by grabbing his arm.
"About why she is here father, and wait if she hates guys then why was she telling you everything?" I asked.
He shrugged, "I just have that kind of face," he said to which I sighed
"I swear if you bed the Greek virgin goddess of the feminist movement... I would actually applaud you because that would be awesome" I said.
Cadet Grover made a rather indignant sound but we ignored him for the most part.
Anyway, the point of the matter was that apparently, Artemis knew what Dr. Thorn was looking for and decided that she was going to go and look for this odd creature that would bring about the downfall of the Greek deities. Percy stopped us
"Wait how did you guys know what Thorn said?" he asked
Father looked at him with a grin "I read your mind of course," he said.
Percy didn't look like he was finished. However, we were very rudely interrupted by one of my cadets, Bianca I believe her name was
"What is going on!" she yelled getting everybody's attention.
"Who are you people? Why did that thing try to take my brother and me? Please just tell us what is going on!" she yelled.
"Silence!" I snapped she quieted down
"Now," I said regaining my calm smirk.
"I will explain to you and your patient brother what is going on; you two were taken by Dr. Thorn a Manticore that I hired. You and Nico are demi-gods, of what God I have no idea-"
"Hades" father said, and I stopped
"what?" I asked
"Hades, they are surrounded by a very faint aura of death and fear, and since the Greek demi-gods came looking for them I say they are the son and daughter of Hades," he said, and I nodded.
"Thank you, father anyway you two are the offspring of Hades, and these demi-gods have come to bring you to their camp-"
"or with us" someone else cut me off and I did not enjoy that.
"No, they won't!" Thalia growled glaring at our new arrival, I merely looked at her
"What do you mean or with you?" I asked the tan female that let loose the first arrow.
She would've been pretty if she wasn't surrounded by this thing called bitchiness, a very unattractive thing to me, she ignored my question. Another thing I dislike and simply looked to Percy and Bianca
"Percy, Bianca come with me" she order and turned on her heel moving towards the tents that I did not notice were being built. I looked at Bianca and motioned for her to follow me, we stood, and I looked at the group
"I will return shortly, in the meantime father please do your best to entertain these fine people, come along Percy, Bianca" I said as I noticed fathers grin become devious.
We made our way toward the camp, and once we got within 10 feet of the outskirt, I once again had arrows pointed at me. I rose my hands, "really? Again? Come now girls do you wish to be embarrassed again?" I asked.
I dropped my hands and motioned for them to follow I knew they wouldn't dare fire, well I hoped they wouldn't shoot me again, I had a clone invisible behind us just in case. The dark haired, bronzed female that led us and appeared to be Artemis's right-hand lady stopped in front of us.
"Lady Artemis's tent is this way," she said glaring at me, I smiled
"Did you really think I wasn't going to follow?" I asked, her glare hardened but she kept going, and we followed her to a rather ordinary looking tent, the only unusual thing about it was the fact that there were large birds and silver wolves around it.
They stared at us with an eerie amount of wisdom within their eyes; I got the odd feeling that they were older than most humans. I shook my head, and we entered the tent after the dark-haired hunter
"I somehow knew you would be coming as well son of Loki, where is your father?" she asked in that old timey Shakespearian accent of hers.
"More than likely doing sadistic things to the others to pass the time, it's what he excels at," I said she nodded
"Anyway what did you call Percy and Bianca here for?" I asked.
"I wished to hear directly from Percy what was said, your father gave some grim news, and I wanted to know if it was true or if he was withholding information," she said.
It seemed she finally understood at least a little that we were not to be taken lightly,
"Fair enough. However, we have no reason to do anything drastic if no drastic action is taken against us... without reason" I said.
I nodded to Percy to begin, and he relayed the tale of what happened when Dr. Thorn caught him. It was what father said just a little less detailed more than likely due to Percy's nervousness.
Artemis nodded at the information then sighed,
"So it's true then" she said, and I was still lost, yet I hid it behind my natural, easy going smirk.
"What does this mean Lady Artemis?" the hunter asked
"It means I must go on a hunt," she said
"I will tell The Hunters"
"No Zoe I must do this alone," Artemis said.
The hunter now known as Zoe looked shocked
"But Lady Artemis-" she started, Artemis stopped her with a raised hand.
"I must do this. So, there is no use Zoe, you and the rest of The Hunters will stay at the camp and await my return" she said.
It was evident that Zoe did not like this idea at all; however, she held her tongue with a look from Artemis, I nodded
"Well what do you need of my cadet?" I asked. Artemis looked at me then to Bianca
"Since you are now aware of your demi-god nature young one I would like to extend to you a choice" she said.
Just a reminder that Artemis speaks in a very fashion but that would be a pain to write so just imagine if Shakespeare was talking to you and you get the gist of it. Bianca looked confused, and my eyes narrowed expecting something that I was not going to like
"A chance to join The Hunters of Artemis" she said.
I lost my smirk, and Bianca gasped
"What does that mean?" she asked
Zoe stepped in "It means that you will follow Artemis, you will become a sister and hunt with us, and you will become immortal to all things besides battle" she said.
"She means that you will become a man hating immortal Archer," I said, and I got a glare from Artemis
"Do not discard my hunters as something so simple," she said.
I gave her a steady look "you are asking her to leave her little brother so that she can go off shooting arrows, hating men, and screaming girl power" I stated with a frown
Now that may seem harsh, but you must understand that I did not like the idea of someone abandoning their family. But I knew that it wasn't my place, so I held my hands up in surrender and let Bianca decide.
Artemis got to her, the promise of a family, a lack of responsibility made her swoon. She is a child, but by human standards so am I, she was giving up her real family, to join an artificial one. To run from responsibility, from life, from growing up, getting her heart broken, gaining wisdom, finding happiness and for what? Immortality? Not worth it, not worth it if you must leave behind someone that depends on you, not in my book. This was not my choice; however, it was Bianca's, and despite everything, she is still a child, and Gods are so damn manipulative.
Sad to say Bianca didn't make the best choice, so I ended up renouncing my responsibility toward her. It was only me and Percy that left the tent, and as we re-entered the clearing we were introduced to a fascinating sight. An enormous black snake easily 20 feet long and 5 feet thick was wrapped around a few trees, Thalia and Nico wrapped up in its tail and cadet Grover was hanging halfway out of its mouth.
Percy's eyes widened, and he took out a pen? Which elongated into a sword, but I grabbed his shoulder and dragged him closer for him to see that Nico and Thalia were laughing.
"Hang in there Grover!" Nico yelled
"Don't get eaten Goat-boy!" Thalia laughed, as they swung back and forth from the snakes' tail.
"Th-this isn't funny guys!" he yelled then he made an odd goat noise which made me chuckle, as we reached the tree I stepped up to the snake
"Having fun father?" I asked, and he turned to look at me before nodding.
This caused cadet Grover to whimper as he flopped up and down.
"You should spit out the cadet before he decides to urinate" I stated and before I knew it Grover lie before me in a puddle of saliva.
I grabbed him by the arm and hauled him up to his hooves, his pants plopped down seconds later, but I decided to not grab them due to the issues of hygiene. Grover was shaking, so I patted him on the shoulder.
"You're alright cadet, suck it up and take a shower when you can, because you wreak of snake spit and wet goat" I said stepping past him.
I waited as the snake slithered down to the ground, letting Thalia and Nico go as it began to shrink and reform until my father was standing in front me again. However, his smirk wasn't on his face. I was going to ask him what was wrong before he coughed once then spit out a fur-ball, I frowned.
"Well that's attractive" I scoffed
"Do you taste goat?" cadet Nico asked, and I was instantly reminded of what took place 10 minutes ago.
"Hey Nico, come here a second" I said turning and moving toward the cliff.
I sat down on the edge and motioned for Nico to do the same.
"Is something wrong?" he asked smile still present on his face.
I sighed, and he lost his smile "well Nico, I have some bad news. Then again I have recently come up with some good news as well" I said.
He looked confused "well what's the bad news?" he asked, and this caused my eyes to narrow because I am positive that anyone else would have asked for the good news first.
Especially someone as young as him, well as young as he seemed to be. He has this off feeling about him, like he doesn't belong where he is right now, it's a small thing but still something to think about.
"Well, alright I'm going to lay it to you straight, Bianca abandoned you," I said simply, and he stared at me for a bit.
"What?" he asked
"Bianca Di Angelo has left you to join The Hunters of Artemis," I said, and his eyes grew wide.
"That's not funny," he said, and I nodded.
"I agree it's not funny, but the truth tends not to be so," I said.
"She wouldn't do that," he defended, and I shrugged.
"I have no reason to lie to you I mean you can ask her yourself, she'll be out as soon as the joining ceremony is over," I said.
In truth, I was making it sound brutal on purpose, with a couple of word choices you can make something go from bad to just downright evil, you see I have this thing, it's called a fatal flaw, and I know what you are thinking, what could I be bad at? Well, the answer is simple. I am ambitious, greedy, and spiteful. You see when something happens that I don't like, my constant scheming tends to be a complete issue to whoever I aim it at, and at this moment I have that aimed at The Hunters of Artemis.
Nico looked up at me; I could see the pain in his eyes and hear it in his voice as he asked "Why?"
I looked out over the edge, the city below was quite beautiful in the night.
"To run, to escape from responsibility, to hide from the things that life can give and take, for immortality. To have a family, even if it means she has to abandon her real family, to be a coward and follow a goddess blindly despite her manipulations." I said coldly
"She is a child, gullible, scared, with silly dreams of something bigger, to be truthful the idea of running away disgusts me. A tactical retreat is always on the table, but to run away in fear, to leave those that are important is something I cannot accept despite age." I looked at him, silent tears left his eyes as he gazed over the city, I placed a hand on his shoulder.
"But I don't see that fear in you. I see greatness, and love for your sister even now, this is what will make you better than her, or any hunter." I said with a smile.
I did see greatness in this boy, a power that only he may possess, and I was going to bring that out.
Which leads me to what I did next.
"However, I do have some good news" I said, and he looked at me.
"What's that?" he asked me in a quiet voice.
"Well, how would you like me to be your teacher?" I asked.
He stared at me, "what do you mean?" he asked, and I chuckled.
"I mean do you want me to teach you how to be as strong as I am?" I asked and his eyes widened.
"You mean how to fight monsters?" he asked "among other things yes" I said with a nod.
"Cool!" he yelled looking out over the city, I noticed that it was getting close to dawn with the tiny bit of red over the horizon.
"I'm going to take that 'cool' as a yes?" I asked, and he turned back to me and nodded vigorously I smirked.
"Good man" I said clapping him on the shoulder.
"Come along, it looks like something is going on over there," I said looking back and seeing the groups meet around Artemis, we stood up and brushed the snow off our backsides.
Making our way over to the group and I noticed Bianca standing with The Hunters, she was looking around, more than likely for Nico and when she finally caught his eye. Well, it looked like she didn't enjoy what she saw, I glanced down and was surprised to see Nico's look of sadness, betrayal, but also pity if a child could even convey that. I grinned, and we kept walking.
"What's happening?" I asked.
"I am setting up transportation for my hunters and the demi-gods," Artemis said giving me barely a glance.
She turned toward the horizon and stared out.
"Your ride should be here shortly get your things together hunters" she said, and The Hunters went on to pack their tents.
Bianca looked like she wanted to talk to Nico but opted to help her new family with the packing, I turned to father and noticed him grinning devilishly at Grover.
"Father, stop giving the Satyr nightmares, I'm sure he'll be having them for a week," I said, he chuckled.
"Alright son, so you going?" he asked.
"You already know the answer," I said, and he nodded, I was about to speak to Nico again, but something stopped me something I'm sure I should've noticed a bit ago.
"Wait . . . how come everyone can see you now?" I asked.
Father looked at me "because I'm not hiding my presence" he said with a shrug, I shook my head.
"But how come you can touch people? You aren't really, here right?" I asked.
He chuckled "I used the Bifrost to get here a while ago, remember when you went unconscious for two days mysteriously?" he asked.
I nodded "the medic said I was exhausted from my workouts" I said.
His grin widen "and I used you as an anchor for the Bifrost. It makes sure there is no huge rainbow and a crater where I land" he chuckled, and I stared at him for a while.
"You stated that you were in Asgard not even 4 hours ago-oh wait no you told me you lived there not that you were there currently, never mind," I said then finding nothing wrong with the situation I shrugged.
I looked down at Nico, and he was staring over at The Hunters, I pat him on the shoulder.
"You'll get time to talk with her Nico, just be patient. First life lesson, patience is the greatest thing a bright person owns" I said, and he nodded.
"So, I noticed that you always have those cards with you" I motioned to the deck of cards in his hand.
"Want to explain to me what that is?" I asked, and he smiled which was a lot better than the serious look he adopted since I told him about his sister.
He went on to inform the group about his cards, well Thalia and me mainly as father went on to torture Percy since he wasn't there originally and Grover because he has now made a hobby of scaring the Satyr. It was a very entertaining game and had a surprising amount of info on some monsters that shouldn't be known, so something tells me that this game was made by someone who can see and actively searches for these monsters. Like the Crocodile Hunter, but with monsters that you really shouldn't make angry, before long Artemis called us back over to the cliff as dawn began to break.
"Your ride is coming" she said staring at the horizon.
"Apollo" father said, and I looked at him eyebrow raised.
"How do you know that one?" I asked, and he looked at me.
"She's staring at the horizon expectantly, and she is Artemis, there is only one ride she would be waiting for" he said.
I thought for a second "oh." I said, and he nodded.
"I wouldn't look, my brother tends to be rather flashy," Artemis said and I looked away because getting my eyes burned out by a sun chariot was not on the list of things I wished to experience.
So instead I turned to look at the academy once more before I go on this, whatever it was, vacation? I'll make sure to call my uncle when I get to camp and let him know I'm on business so he can hold down the fort.
"My very own castle," I said aloud.
I was reminded of when I first took complete ownership of the academy I stared up at the black stone walls, slit windows, large double-doored entrance, and the towers where the cadets sleep just like this. I smiled at the Academy, and I didn't have to be a mind reader to know that father was thinking the same thing, we had some great times here, horrible training times but great nonetheless.
I felt an intense heat hit my back and it took a bit for me not to flinch, there was a blinding light that would have forced me to shut and cover my eyes if it weren't for the fact that I was turned around. The light and the heat died down, and I turned around to see a rather impressive shining bright red Maserati Spyder. I looked down and noticed the snow had melted in a perfect circle around the car, and I was now standing on green grass, I whistled at the beauty of a car.
Then I looked at the driver as he stepped out, almost as tall as father and me with sandy blonde hair done in a short stylish fashion, he had a tan and was good looking in an outdoors and nature kind of way, he wore blue jeans, loafers, and a sleeveless t-shirt. I rose an eyebrow; he was a pretty blonde boy, I don't know why but I don't like him already.
"That would be from me son, my family has issues with blonde pretty boys" father said, and I nodded in understanding Thor would more than likely fit in that description.
"Wow" I heard Thalia mutter, "Apollo is hot," she said and I did not enjoy that observation.
"He's the sun god," Percy said, and I smirked.
"Not what I meant" she said, and I lost that grin.
"I don't like this guy," I said, and father laughed, while Thalia grinned at me.
"Little sister!" he yelled happily with a set of dazzling white teeth.
"What's up? You never call. You never write. I was getting worried!" he said causing Artemis to sigh.
"I'm all right, Apollo. And I'm not your little sister" she said.
"Hey I was born first" he replied.
"We're twins! How many millennia do we have to argue-"
"so what's up?" he interrupted.
"Got the girls with you, I see. You all need tips on archery?" he asked, and I stifled a laugh, that was good.
Artemis grit her teeth "I need a favor. I have some hunting to do, alone. I need you to take my companions to Camp Half-Blood" she said.
"Sure, sis!" Then he raised his hand.
"I feel a haiku coming on" he said, and my eyes widened.
Okay let me stop everything here, you see I haven't told you one thing about myself, I have an unnatural hatred for poetry. This is because I am abysmal at it, whenever I try it ends up being the most horrid creation ever, so you understand now why when he started throwing out a haiku I began to reach for my knives.
The only thing that stopped me from trying to cut the Greek god of the sun to ribbons was the fact that my father loves making a scene, so he turned back into a giant snake and wrapped Nico and me up in his tail.
"Now, now let's not get hasty son" he hissed, and I fought with him.
"Father, I'm just going to talk to him," I muttered, and everyone looked back at me as Nico and I were dragged off.
Messed with this one just a bit longer than the rest, went over it three times to try and get his attitude just right, and my opinion of the Hunters of Artemis out there. Not sexist, I actually enjoy strong women, girl punched me in the face once, and I ended up dating her for a long while after that, she was feisty.
It's just the way Artemis swayed Bianca over to the idea of joining pissed me off, I personally couldn't imagine leaving my little brothers even if I knew they would be taken care of. Just a big brother thing I guess.
Read, Review, Flame It's all good in the hood... or well The Army.