Percy

I was walking aimlessly through unknown streets as I was beginning to make plans to find the other pieces of essence. I wanted to gather them as quickly as possible and return to my friends. Not to mention show the gods the power I had gained in Tartarus. That all changed when I heard a noise from a large park that I was slowly approaching. What I saw would change my life even more than Ouranos already had.

A little red-headed girl probably six at the oldest, being pushed aside by a Satyr. The Satyr immediately shrieked in pain as the hellhound they were running from caught hold of him. The hellhound shook its head from side to side and when it stopped, I knew the Satyr was dead.

It became even more obvious when its body dissolved into a dandelion. The hellhound turned to focus on the little girl, but there was no way I would let anything happen to her.

Thanks to my new immortal body, I could finally flash anywhere I wanted to go. Which was good, because she was well out of the range of my shifting ability. I appeared besides her, putting my hand on her shoulder as the hellhound stared blankly at me.

The girl twisted her head to see who was touching her. I looked down and smiled gently at her while patting her shoulder. I then turned my gaze back to the hellhound, which was almost fully recovered from its shock. I whistled and it seemed like nothing happened at first.

The hellhound snarled and started to crouch while the girl whimpered. She threw her arms tightly around my leg for comfort as she stared at the hellhound. Soundly a loud howl came from seemingly nowhere, and the girl hugged my leg even tighter as I rubbed her back to comfort her.

Suddenly an old friend came barreling out of the trees slamming into the hellhound. The girl gasped and I chuckled while still rubbing her back as Mrs. O'Leary managed to pin the other hellhound down and tear out its throat. It began to dissolve into dust as Mrs. O'Leary turned her head towards me and started wagging her tail.

"Woof," boomed from her massive mouth as she landed in front of me covering me with kisses as I laughed. The girl was terrified by my pet at first but as she saw me laughing she began to smile. I reached down, picking her up and putting her on my shoulders.

"Say hello to Mrs. O'Leary little one," I told her.

"Hi Mrs. O'Leary," she said timidly, now nervous. That nervous tone changed immediately to shrieks of joy as my beloved pet began licking her face as well.

When she was longer being licked, she kept giggling which made me very happy. I was sure I had a large grin on my face while it happened. I started walking towards the middle of the park.

"Where are we going?" she asked me while she held on to my head with her hands.

"We are going to make camp, and then we are going to talk little one." was my response.

I felt her nod, and I kept walking as the trees because thicker and thicker. The park grass slowly disappeared and became replaced with bare earth, moss, and leaves. We had left the park, and we now in a forest.

"We are we?" she asked looking around.

"We are on the outskirts of Flagstaff Arizona. We just traveled about six hundred miles." I could feel her shock as we came to a stop.

I took her from her spot on my shoulder, and set her on top of Mrs. O'Leary. She started giggling again while she rubbed behind my pets ears. Mrs. O'Leary loved this so much, she immediately lay down and started arching her head, encouraging the little one to continue. I smiled slightly and began setting up camp.

When I was done, I had a large tent set up next to a fairly large fire that I had to be careful with making. I made sure that its magical properties prevented it from being a portal or a beacon. It wouldn't do for Hestia to find out I was back so soon. I then began preparing dinner while I saw the little one doze off into Mrs. OLeary's fur. After about an hour of preparation, I was done with the food.

"Wake up little one" I called over the fire, "Dinner is ready."

She immediately woke up, and quickly moved to get some food. She had a healthy appetite, which probably came from being on the run from monsters. She immediately grabbed a plate that had a medium size steak on it with potatoes and string beans. She grabbed a clean chalice and filled it up with water I had in a large barrel. When she sat down I also helped myself to the food and we ate silently.

When we were both done, I grabbed the plates and chalices and tossed both of them into a container. Her eyes widened as water began to splash from the circular container and dish-rags started moving around cleaning everything. I looked at her, clearing my throat to get her attention, and began speaking.

"Well we might as well get introductions out of the way, I am Percy. Percy Jackson. And what is your name?"

Looking slightly sad the girls replied, "My name is Lily, but I don't have a last name."

She began to cry and I moved over to her picking her up and holding her close.

"Shh, Shh, I'm here, I'm here." I whispered to her.

Eventually she quieted down and through her sniffles told me about what had happened. Apparently she never knew either of her parents. She was raised in an orphanage, the only thing known about herself was her name. She began having problems with scary people when she was five. Eventually, she found out she was going to be adopted, but that joy turned to terror when she saw that her soon to be adoptive parents were cyclops.

She ran away that night and after somehow surviving for a month on her own, she found Steve a week ago, the satyr that tried to protect her from the hellhound. He had tried to lead her to several safe places, but they could never make it to them. The monsters always seemed to get there ahead of them. When she was finished she was holding on to Percy again, with her head buried in his chest.

As he stared down at her head, his heart went out for the little girl who had lost the only one to ever care about her. He was determined to keep her safe and happy from this moment on. The essences of Ouranos had waited thousands of years to be found, they could wait a few more.

"Lily," I said. She looked up at me with puffy red eyes.

"How would you like to be apart of my family." I gestured towards Mrs. OLeary and myself.

Her eyes lit up instantly and I could feel her quivering with excitement. "Really!?" she squealed.

"Really really." I said hugging her again. "Welcome to the family Lily Jackson."

She beamed as she heard her full name for the first time. "Thanks Daddy," she said.

I looked down at her, surprised that she accepted me as her dad already. Then I began to smile again.

"Your very welcome," I whispered to her, "My dearest daughter."

Her smile got even wider at that if it was possible. We both began to laugh as we were suddenly pushed over and licked as Mrs. OLeary wanted in on the fun as well. After another hour of talking, I noticed my new daughter began to look tired. So I picked her up and brought her into my tent. The same one I used in Tartarus, it was enchantedto be much larger on the inside.

It was a complete inside of an apartment with a kitchen, bathrooms, and a single bedroom. There was only one bed in my room at the moment, but that changed when I waved my hand and a smaller one materialized. I gestured and all the dirt and sweat on her body from running away from the monsters disappeared leaving her sparkling clean. Her tattered clothes replaced with pajamas that were light blue, and had creatures of the sea printed on them. What made the pajamas even cooler was that the sea creatures where constantly moving across the fabric.

With that done, I tucked her in, kissed her on the forehead, and whispered "Good Night Lily."

She smiled in her sleep and sighed contently. I walked over to my bed, willing myself into my pajamas. Mine were as dark as the night sky, with constellations all across them. Like Lily's pajamas, the constellations on mine moved as well, but at a much slow pace.

After admiring then for a few minutes, I hopped into bead and crawled beneath the covers. I noticed that Mrs. OLeary had shrunk down to her more portable size, and was sleeping on a doggy bed I had kept there, to remind me of home while I was in the pit.

I smiled at that, then fell into a deep dreamless sleep.

Artemis

It started out as a normal day on Olympus. I decided to take a walk with my hunters, a nice normal walk through the gardens and temples. No monsters to hunt and nothing to fight.

The hunt had always kept life interesting, but it seemed even to me downright tame compared to the trials my huntress had been through after the giants war. Fifty years after the war, we were given the task of hunting down all of the lycanthropes, a task not made easy by the cunning of our foe.

After five years of tracking across the country which involved painful skirmishes and the loss of several of my beloved sisters, we thought we had cornered of foe. It turned out that we were the ones that were tricked. I had been dragged across the border into Alaska where my powers dwindled away to nothing.

My brave girls followed me despite the danger, and many paid for my foolishness with their lives. We eventually emerged victorious, and I took great pleasure in removing the Lycan King's head from his shoulders. I weeped for weeks afterwards for the lives that were lost, for I knew it was my fault.

Eventually though my tears dried, and we continued hunting. The years passed slowly, for each year brought more losses than gains. The monsters seem to grow stronger, or perhaps we just grew weaker, as time grew on.

Eventually it became so bad that we arrived Olympus five years ago, intending to rest. It quickly became apparent that more time was needed for us to recover. We were down to only nine hunters, the lowest it had ever been, I had stopped receiving recruits fifty years ago, when New Olympus had been completed.

The demigods now had a safe place to live besides camp. A place where they go grow old and have families without having to worry about the dangers of the outside world. I was glad that many women had found a safe home, even if they did want to spend their time with boys. I was saddened though at the thought that someday there might not even be a hunt.

I was suddenly broken out of my thoughts by a buzzing sound in my head. I felt the summons to the throne room that came with it and after bidding my hunters to return to my palace, I flashed myself into the throne room already at my godly size.

The council started off as it always did with the little arguments and gossip, but all became quiet as Zeus raised one of his hands.

"Olympians," my father began, "it has come to my attention that a powerful being has been at the Gardens of the Hesperides."

This got my attention. I never like the other brats for what they did to Zoe, but I knew that she would be concerned for her sisters.

"Apparently," father continued, "A man entered the gardens while the Hesperides slept during the morning twilight."

"Idiots," I thought to myself. "Never let your guard down."

I turned to face my father fully. "What happened father? Did this man attempt to rape them?" was my scathing question.

Many of the gods glared at me for my instigation that was all a man would do.

I felt slightly bad for saying such things with my uncle Poseidon in the room, as he had always been kind to women. Not to mention my brother Apollo, as he had only tried to rape a maiden while under the effects of a love arrow shot my Eros. He may be a womanizer, but he had never hurt any of the ones he had been with. The others though had acted like pigs on multiple occasions.

"No daughter," Zeus said looking more irritated than the others at my remark, "He instead attacked Ladon, waking him before he made the first blow."

At the, the other gods began to mutter, and I lost myself in my thoughts, "Who is this man bold enough to attack a dragon such a Ladon head on, without even the advantage of trickery." He was either very brave, or very foolish. My heart was set on foolish. This was a man we were talking about.

"Furthermore, the man defeated Ladon," My eyebrows shot up in surprise at this. No one had ever beaten Ladon before. Even us gods were wary of fighting that creature.

"And picked all the apples from the tree." was the next bit of information from my father, but I could barely process it.

I was still reeling from the fact that Ladon had been beaten. It seemed impossible, for Ladon was nigh on undefeated. Even that swine Hercules had to resort to tricking Atlas to bypass him.

"The Hesperides tried to prevent him from eating an apple without our consent."

"Good," I thought to myself. At least they remembered to do their job.

"But according to them he merely waved his hand, and blew them back so he could finish the apple." I grew angry at this, though I would have probably done the same. The fact that a man had attack a woman made my blood boil.

"They tried to stop him from leaving, so judgment could be passed upon him, but his power seemed to grow even greater in potency after he ate the apple, and he blew them even farther away." My fury grew even greater at this. Brats or not, they were female to.

"At which point he simply left the gardens with the ten other apples." With the explanation over with, every god had a thoughtful look on their face. It was not difficult to guess what they were thinking.

I cleared my throat, and all the other gods looked at me. "I would be happy to hunt this being father, at the very least I might be able to figure out who he is and what he wants."

"While beating the immortal life out of him for striking a woman," was my unspoken thought.

Continuing on, "At best, I will be able to bring him before you in chains with the Apples returned to safe hands."

I began to imagine in greater detail the horrors I would visit on this man for his arrogance.

My father studied me for a bit, his face strangely blank for once, then said, "Very Well, hunt well my daughter. This meeting is over."

I smiled slightly as I flashed back to my palace to gather up the hunters.

Once I had gathered the hunters and we were all geared up, we began our journey to the Garden of the Hesperides.

It went faster than most of our other trips, as we had fewer Hunters. It meant that we were less likely to be attacked, while at the same time allowing us more stealth without even trying.

We managed to reach the outside of the gardens in two days time due to a combination of using my chariot and getting lucky with public transportation. Normally I would have asked my brother for a ride, or have taken us all the way in my chariot.

After all those years of rest however, I wanted to make sure that we were still in practice. I need not have worried, the girls had kept training over the years, often using the forests in my palace as sparring and hunting ground.

We started outside of the garden, as there was no easy way in without it being twilight and that twilight was still a few hours away. We quickly saw that there had been signs of a battle, or at least a struggle.

I could smell the power of the wild and when I saw the dandelion, I realized that it had once been a satyr. Which meant that there was probably a half blood involved as well. Taking a look at the ground, I noticed several things, one was the footprints that had been next to the cloven hoofs for a few hundred feet.

They were small, so I figured that the demigod was probably young. I noticed that those seemed to stop next to the start of a set much larger set of footprints. The thing I could not understand though was how the large footprint got there.

The ground had been moist at the time, as footprints of this quality didn't usually show up in dry earth. But even though there was dirt all around for at least ten feet, there was no indication of where the larger one came from.

This lead me to believe someone had simply appeared there, as they were not deep enough to suggest the larger person had jumped from a tree. The cloven footsteps had ended right where the dandelion was, that much was clear. Though the curious part being that there were two sets of hellhound tracks. One clearly following the cloven and smaller foot prints, with the other coming from the direction of the nearby park.

Putting all the pieces together I explained to the hunters my findings, "It looks like a satyr and a young half-blood were running from a hellhound. The satyr is clearly dead, judging from were the footprints end and where the dandelion is. But these large footprints intrigue me, they show that a being simply appeared right at this spot. The spacing in between the footprints shows that this being walked, not ran, into the forest. So clearly the danger passed before he had started walking away. The interesting part is how did the danger pass? The man clearly didn't move except to walk away from here and the second hellhound's track lead away from where I assume the first hellhound perished. The second hellhound doesn't seem to be chasing the remaining two, it merely followed them based on these imprints. It almost seems to have been friendly, as if neither the hellhound or the man were running, it must have been right next to him the entire time. I would also guess that judging from the lack of the little one's footprints after reaching the larger being, that the larger one had carried the smaller one in some way."

"But that makes no sense my lady," came from Thalia. "There has only been one friendly hellhound in the world, and she disappeared over seventy years ago. And without her master she wasn't nearly as friendly as before"

I nodded sadly, I heard how Percy's pet Mrs. O'Leary had become more and more viscous without her master around. She was due to be put down because of the dangers an uncontrolled hellhound presented, but she had managed to escape into the shadows. She had not been seen since by anyone.

"I do not know my lieutenant, but I do know they could not have gotten far." With that said, I began to follow the tracks into the park.

It was not long though before I lost them to the grass and the newly fallen leaves. Growing irritated I ordered my hunters to search the entire park for clues. Unfortunately, it was a large park, and twilight was nearly upon us before all the hunters reported back, no one finding any hint of a trail.

I raised my eyes to the heavens and sighed, this was not how I wanted our first hunt back to be. We quickly made our way back to the garden and entered it shortly before it turned to night and the doorway was closed.

We quickly set up camp as the Hesperides approached us with something akin to malice in their eyes. That changed when they saw I was among the girls and they quickly bowed in respect. As much as they hate other women, they were not stupid enough to show it in front of me. I looked around the garden an noticed that it seemed to be in perfect order. There were no signs of a struggle and the biggest surprise came from when I looked over at Ladon.

The dragon was awake and staring at me, but what had shocked me were that he had all of his heads. I was going to yell at the Hesperides for leading us on a wild goose chase, then I noticed that there weren't any apples on the tree and I held myself back.

"Hesperides," I said with an air of respect that was completely false and I was pretty sure they knew it. Not like I cared or anything though.

"What happened here? Ladon appears to be fine, yet there are no apples." I waited impatiently as they told me the entire story.

When they finished I was incredulous, this man had defeated Ladon fair and square, then proceeded to heal the dragon to make sure the tree was still protected. I felt a little bit guilty when I realized how harshly I had judged him when I heard that the Hesperides had attacked him first and that he was only acting in self-defense.

I realized how much restraint he had actually shown by not cutting them to pieces, as I was sure it was well within his range of abilities. But I was still annoyed that I had no idea who this man was. The Hesperides were no help as they said he had worn a hood.

Sighing, I told my hunters to get some sleep. I found myself quickly falling into Morpheus's realm as well, but I told myself before I entered that we would not be spending the night here in the garden again any time soon.

We searched for two more days in the surrounding areas after we woke and left the garden. True to my word we began camping in the park that we had been at before. The girls didn't complain as I knew they had all been uneasy around the Hesperides.

We found no more clues about where this mysterious man, or where the beings in the park went. I had a feeling that the man and the large figure in the park were the same person, but without any evidence I kept my mouth shut.

I was annoyed about our failure to find anything about either two events. I had hoped that our return to Hunting would have met with more success.

I couldn't feel to dejected though. I had missed the thrill of the Hunt and the excitement that came with it.

For the first time in many years I felt truly happy and content.