Chapter 11
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"Why do we fight? To protect home and family, to preserve peace and bring harmony. For my kind, the true question is not why we fight? It is what is worth fighting for?"
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Luck has always been Apollo's ally ever since he was made an Olympian. He knew that and took great pleasure on it. He is handsome, powerful, he got a seat on the Olympian Council and his dad is the big king that no one wanted to piss off. He can do anything he wanted without being overly worried of the consequences. Everybody loved him; everyone wanted to be Apollo's friend for one benign reason to another. He wanted to think that next to Zeus, he is the Alpha male of the Olympian family and someone which both the mortals and immortals of his gender aspire to be.
However right now, he is anything but lucky as he stood there looking down over the downed form of the beautiful species in front of him, her towel in tatters, barely covering her modesty while her limp form floats like a dried twig over the waters where she was bathing a few minutes ago. That is the position that Zoe and Triton found the former sun god as the two dropped down from where they have been skipping from rock to rock.
Apollo immediately knew he is in deep shit the moment the two newcomers' eyes laid on the downed form of, it is Cassandra isn't it? And him standing there looking guilty. It did not take a genius to know the thoughts that are gearing inside their heads. He would admit, if their roles are reversed, his conclusion would end up the same as theirs. It didn't help that Zoe looked like a tomato on the countdown to exploding and Triton though bearing no expression, he could practically feel the anger rolling over him in waves.
"Would you believe me if I tell you that she attacked me first?" Apollo jokingly asked and nearly got himself skewered… twice as out of nowhere a trident went sailing, followed by an arrow that would have planted themselves on his genitals and his head. It's only his godly reflexes that prevented him from being castrated permanently and getting his head cut off.
"Come on, can we talk about this?" protested the former sun god jumping over a rock for cover just in time as three arrows embedded his hiding place a split second later.
"Die you pervert!" a roar sounded eerily close to his ear and Apollo only had a second to curse as the trident nearly skewered him from groin to head as the green armored figure came crashing from above. "You're going to die for what you did!" he added roaring after a Apollo who is backpedalling in alarm, trying to dodge both the arrows of Zoe and the rather enthusiastic raging of the Vroengardian heir.
"I told you that I didn't attack her first," protested the sun god dodging another swipe. "This is all a misunder-glurk!" Apollo's words are cut off cleanly as out of nowhere, the foot of Zoe crashed at the side of his face sending the sun god careening and outbalanced flat on his back at the waters.
"Damn that hurt!" moaned Apollo touching the swollen flesh which got the full brunt of Zoe's ire. His eyes widened though immediately at the shadow falling down towards him from above and Apollo barely made his back flip from the ground as the trident impaled the ground where he is lying only a second before.
"Come on man! Are you trying to kill me?!" asked the former Olympian, a golden sword materializing on his hand. He may not be planning to fight even more of his supposed' visitors and allies, but he had obviously no plan on letting them simply kill him. He may be dead tired from dealing with the weird, sexy and pretty lady, but he's still got some strength in him, and he hoped that's more than enough to stave off Zoe and the green armored guy before they murder him.
"You've hurt one of my best friends, you're gonna pay for that," growled armored guy making Apollo roll his eyes at him.
"To be honest my man, she hurt me far worse than I hurt her. I tell you, that girl really knows her stuff about nature magic. Scared me half a dozen times before she-, WOAH! WOAH! Zoe! Stop with the damned shooting!" yelled Apollo nearly skewered again by another arrow from the huntress. "You know my little sister is so going to get you if she knows you accidentally killed me?"
"Not really," answered the princess looking girl smiling at him in a way like wolves would do to a rabbit before pouncing on it. "I'm pretty sure Artemis won't protest much if I only lopped off your manhood, and limbs. Besides, I'm pretty sure I can staunch your wound with a brand. I'm pretty good at cauterization you know,"
"Not a chance sweetheart. You may be pretty, but I love my limbs more than you," answered Apollo blocking another slash of the Trident by the green guy with a small "clang" with the top of his sword.
"Oh, don't mind me then if I join the fray," smiled Zoe evilly sending tingles of alarm at the sun god's back at the tone.
"Oh damn it all!" cursed the sun god as he immediately found himself besieged in all sides.
Immediately it came painfully obvious that the two are obviously no slouches when it came to fighting. Despite wielding the unwieldy Trident which is designed more to be used on a piercing fight, the armored guy managed to use it as efficient as a staff and let's just say that a regular Greek sword isn't exactly designed to fight long weapons. Add Zoe's efficiency on the bow covering him, it did not take long for Apollo to find himself on his back tired and beaten with the two looking down at him.
"So, I guess you beat me then," chuckled Apollo staring at the two cold faces atop him. Before Zoe could plant the arrow on his head though, a weak musical voice stopped the two from executing him prematurely.
"Triton, let him go, he's right. I started it first," the small but beautiful voice of the Alfakyn echoed on the background and Apollo knows no more as he fainted from exhaustion and energy depletion.
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While Apollo however is getting his ass handed to him by the heir of Vroengard and his date (and soon to be girlfriend), Artemis and Percy is having the time of their lives as they pulled on their clothes, while at the same time trying to get over the realization of the fact that the two of them had engaged with intimate activities with one another more than once over the newly christened Moon Well lying behind them. Both souls are confused with what they did with one another. The goddess due to the fact that she's the former goddess of virginity and eternal maiden, and the second Prince of Vroengard due to the fact that he knew that he just created an entire set of problems for himself by falling hook, line and sinker to someone he never expected to sleep with.
"So….," began Percy as both of them finished strapping the last of their clothes. "What do we do here from now on?"
"Become a couple I guess," commented Artemis with a small unsure voice which didn't sound at all like the usual strong and confident goddess. "Unless of course that you plan to simply forget what happened and act as if what we did is not a simple tryst,"
"Arty,"
"No Percy, I know that I am not comely enough. I've lost a lot of my beauty when I lost my power. So forgive me if I don't live up enough for your expectations to-hmmph!" Artemis let off a little squeak as she found herself pulled to a searing kiss that made the toes on her sandals curl at the intimate contact that Percy made.
"Arty, I will never leave you," whispered Percy to her ear once he let go pulling her to a hug. "You are the most beautiful woman I've met my lady. Don't ever doubt that. As for what happened between us; don't worry about it. I may not know yet our feelings to one another seeing that we met only barely. However don't get me wrong, it is not simply nothing. We need time to think about this, both you and I Arty, but trust me on this that what happened between us I would not regret, whatever might come then,"
Desapite herself, Artemis can't let off the glowing smile that appeared on her face immediately. If she's going to be honest with herself, she really liked Percy; he made her feel important and wanted, and the way they made love last night. Artemis never felt so protected and womanly in her entire life. The way he held her, made her feel as if she's a fragile thing that he must be so careful, else he would break her. And she may be afraid to admit it, but seriously talking. She won't mind if they do it again. However the logical part of her knew that they must take off the time to sit down and think about things. Relationships after all must never be rushed. And there are a hundred and one things that she must consider about if they're planning on being serious with each other.
"Of course, I must say that I also didn't regret with what happened between us," the former moon-goddes spoke looking at the fascinating emerald eyes looking down at her silver ones. "I-I like you Percy, more than you know, you are the first of your gender that made me feel like this. So if there is any….any chance at all of the two of us coming together, I would gladly take it. But you are also right. We need to think about this. This…this isn't something that we can just rush. Besides," this time Artemis let off an amused smirk at the prince in front of him. "We still need to tell everyone, your men and the villagers of mine about what happened between us. I would rather that they know the truth rather than let them make their own speculations once they noticed the closeness between us,"
"Very wise, but what am I expecting, you are a lot older than me after all," chuckled Percy ruffling his black messy hair.
"It's good that you know then," Artemis whipped her long hair to the side taking pleasure at the slightly mystified look with the way that Percy's eyes followed it. "We girls are known to be wiser than you boys after all. Is it really a surprise that we are more knowledgeable than you?"
"Aw and that's sexist Arty," laughed the Vroengard prince. "Just lead to the council already,"
"Your will is my command your highness," Artemis mock-bowed making Percy pout immediately at her.g
"Not funny,"
"So you say Percy, so you say. Now come and let's go back to my home. They would be frantic by now surely with my long disappearance. Never have I been so long away from my home before," said Artemis pulling Percy alongside her away from the Moon Well to the familiar path heading back to the village walking in silence with hands holding one another.
"And Arty?"
"Yes?"
"Whatever our decisions might be between us, I just want you to know that I would never regret what happened between us. You will always hold a place on my heart as my friend and lover Artemis. I just want you to know that," said Percy in admittance making Artemis bow her head as she squeezed Percy's hands intertwined with hers tighter.
"So do I Percy, so do I,"
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Joanna sighed for the thirtieth time as she moved her back on another angle at her chair to lessen the soreness that is slowly creeping on her back. In front of her lay the path of the jungle that leads directly to the beach. With the storms guarding the island along with rows of sharpened rocks that acts as a buffer for anything that floats, Joanna seriously doubted anyone would be able to reach their island in a sizeable force of invasion and Dianne and Nell haven't been exactly specific when she reported in a panicked sort about fogs, approaching ships and invasion. Joanna being the huntress in charge of this part of the island had simply waved her off, but she erred on the side of caution nevertheless, that's the reason why she is here slugging her back out while keeping an eye over the beach, to see for herself if she is right.
Other than a small drizzle that is starting to appear with the dark clouds gathered overhead, there is no sign whatsoever of approaching ships or even the sound of one. Sighing to herself, the huntress is just ready to call the mission off with the five of her rangers when a large crunch made her immediately freeze as her sharp senses recognized clearly the sound of heavy boots scrunching on twigs….and the sound of them being forced to walk slowly.
"Rangers! Arm yourselves!" Joanna barely finished the command before three brutish monsters the size of a hallway door jumped from the bushes, their green skins covered with gore and dirt. They looked humanoid in form, but one look at the bulging muscles and thick bodies only prove that they aren't human at all. It didn't help that their eyes held madness as they jutted their horned mouths at her and her companions' direction. At their hands are makeshift clubs and axes, the size of an arm each, enough to kill a man with a single blow.
"Shit!" Joanna only managed to curse for a second before a massive axe nearly decapitated her as she ducked. The person next to her however did not fare as well as her as he received a direct hit from the heavy weapon of the Greenskin sending him flying to the nearest tree, dead the moment he reached it.
"Damn you! You monster!" roared the huntress in anger, knives flashing as she dodged another hammer strike from the Green skin who didn't seemed perturbed at all that he had eliminated one of her Rangers.
Sidestepping another horizontal strike of an axe, Joanna kicked its legs underneath it. To her surprise though, the kick she made barely had an effect as it made only the Green skin look at her downed form staring in surprise as to why her attack didn't work at all. Large hands immediately grabbed her neck and despite her kicking pulled her high mid-air, Joanna can feel herself already drifting off as everything went slowly dark around her, and the last thing she heard is the call of her name at her fellows' mouths.
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Luke sighed in what he could count only to be the hundredth time as he observed the temporary camp that he and his men had set up for the duration of their stay here at the moment. It is by no means comfortable, but it is good enough even for Vroengard standards to be adequate enough. As generous as the villagers are despite the pompous character of their elders, Luke knew that they can't stay forever on the hospitality of this people. If his guess is right on observing their day to day interactions, harvest season is done and the people would soon prepare for the upcoming winter. Unlike the old world, winter season is longer these days than the planting ones and despite quite separated from the rest of the world, this island still adheres to the rules of nature.
Looking over the small encampment, Luke at least is glad that they have enough rations until they figured out a way to get out of here. Thankfully his men are integrating with the locals well and only a couple foolhardy males have tried gaining the affection of two of the Alfakin with them which ended them up on harsh rejections much to the amusement of the watching Vroengardians. Alfakin females are notoriously choosy when picking their mates, preferring only the good qualities of humans that they can sense from a person. Usually it is male members of the Paladin's circle which got the most luck on winning them over as wives and partners. In fact until now, Luke is still confused as to why neither Percy nor his brother, Triton had taken a move to win Cassandra's hand, it's obvious that the young Alfakin adored both of them, especially Percy. Seeing them not taking their chances on the offered fruit always made Luke wonder at the sanity of the two brothers, they may be the models of a good leader that many Vroengardians would follow into the depths of hell without a doubt, but in the romance department, they are anything but leaders.
Sighing once more to himself, Luke stared upward as he felt the firs tell-tale signs of rain when a drop pelted his head. Already the signs of a small drizzle is approaching and he could see his men running to their tents taking cover of the shower. However despite the approaching bad weather, the Lieutenant of Percy can't help but notice a single black raven flying from one of the trees and over the peaceful houses that had taken them in. He can't help the small frown that immediately marred his scarred features. Luke may not be a superstitious person like most people in Vroengard, however even he still feared the heralding bad news brought by such a sign.
"Black Wings are bearers of doom ever since the beginning," the teaching of his mother still echoed faintly in his ears.
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Yeah, so I updated this since Im pissed with my other story at the moment. Hihihi anyway hope ya like it. I reread the story and must say that Cassies mistakes are many and horrendous. However I cant blame her, she started this story when shes still a novice writer. Though I wont rewrite the previous chapters since I don't have the copies. Anyway please enjoy this one. I may not be a fan of PJO, but the story had great potential.