Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or Heroes of Olympus

I got a lot of mixed feedback about whether to continue training, so, training will continue for this chapter, then maybe (big maybe) some flashbacks in future chapters. We'll see.

Also, sorry for the long wait, truthfully, this chapter has been in progress for weeks, I just couldn't really get it onto paper.

Chapter 21

Percy's POV

Days have passed, and each of them consisted mainly of me training Kylie, between the bow and hunting knives. Artemis was more lax with my responsibilities so I would have time for training her.

Kylie progresses quite quickly, although it would still take quite some time before she reached the Hunters' standards, but she was determined to do as well as she could. After a bit more coaxing, I've gotten her to try her hardest against me too, now that she sees that she can barely get close to injuring me anyway. She seemed to prefer knives, but was progressing with both weapons (though she still claimed to hate the bow)

As always, she was complaining about the bow I was making her practice with.

"But why? Everyone else here knows how to shoot. Does it really matter if I can?"

"That's the same thing I told Artemis when she started making me learn how to use a bow," I replied with a small smile, "I still don't know the answer, but it's probably better to just go along with it than to try arguing with a goddess."

She gave an over dramatic sigh in her usual fashion. Ever since she was getting more comfortable, I was seeing more and more of the little girl in her as she had fun (when I wasn't making her train), talked to the Hunters, or did just about anything that wasn't serious.

I nodded back towards the target, "Might as well get it over with, then you can be done for the day."

I leaned back against a tree with my arms folded as I watched her practice, taking mental notes of the things I knew how to correct. I wasn't an amazing archer by any means, but I've improved since Artemis required me to. I surprised myself at some of the things I noticed Kylie doing.

I rubbed my eyes as I sat, watching. The nightmares had seemed to be lessening to some degree, but last night was worse than usual, even for my old standards. It had been another nightmare about Gaea. The recurring nightmare about her holding the person whose face kept changing between everyone I cared about, but now Kylie was one of the faces too, and it had been much more vivid than normal. I'd waken up biting down on the corner of a blanket. I hadn't slept anymore after that, which was probably around two in the morning.

I shook my head a little and went back to focusing on Kylie, but I felt like I could… sense someone. I turned a bit to see Artemis standing, leaning against the same tree as me, watching Kylie.

Without looking at me, she started talking, "You've done well with her."

I waited. Artemis typically didn't have small talk with anyone but her Hunters.

She turned her head to look at me with one eyebrow slightly raised, "No input?"

"Umm… Thanks?"

She rolled her eyes, "Hasn't anyone taught you how to take a compliment?"

"I know how, but none of the Olympians, yourself included, tend to hand out compliments to demigods."

I stood up as she replied, "Well, then you should be even more grateful about getting one then."

"Well, I graciously accept your compliment, Lady Artemis." I said, giving a low bow.

She put a finger to my forehead and pushed me back up to standing, "I'll pass on the sarcasm for the moment."

I gave a small smile, and turned to look back over to Kylie to see her watching, holding the bow like she was getting ready to shoot before she noticed Artemis and I.

"It's hard to hit the target with your head turned this way."

She turned her head back and continued practicing, but I saw her glancing over occasionally.

I turned back to Artemis, "So what brings you here? You don't usually, watch Kylie train. Actually, I don't think you ever have before."

She turned from watching Kylie shooting back to me again, "I thought it was about time to see what bad habits you were teaching her before she was unfixable."

"I've only taught her what you taught me, so if anything's wrong, you're insulting yourself."

A small smirk was developing on her face, "I didn't say I found anything wrong. She's doing everything mostly correct, all she needs is a few changes and a lot of practice."

I stayed silent. Artemis has been more friendly, especially since Kylie came here, and I wasn't sure what I should think about it. It made me nervous, kind of, and I was never sure how to respond when she was.

She cocked her head slightly, looking at me.

"You don't seem to like taking compliments, maybe I should start insulting you more."

"You don't usually compliment me, or you didn't used to."

"That doesn't mean I'm not allowed to, does it?"

I stayed silent, watching Kylie, "I guess it doesn't."

Artemis stayed silent, and we both leaned against the tree watching as Kylie put arrow after arrow into the target.

"Percy, the main reason that I've come here has to do with you, not Kylie."

I turned back to Artemis, and waited for her explanation.

"You've been training for quite some time, and you've actually developed pretty quickly. You're to the point where shooting targets over and over isn't going to do you any good, so I want you to start coming hunting with me. You need practice with monsters, and this is on the only way the get that kind of practice. With the wars over, and most monsters scattered, the Hunters aren't really travelling and fighting constantly like they have for years now, so we need to seek out monsters where we can."

I nodded, thinking of what would happen. Just Artemis and myself out hunting… She would constantly tease me, and probably make things harder just to 'teach' me, but I didn't have much other choice, and besides, if Artemis was going to stay friendly, it might even be fun, at least while we weren't avoiding death.

"We'll probably head out for several days at a time to find monsters, they tend to stay a good distance from out camps."

I opened my mouth to argue, but stopped myself. I couldn't go out for several days, that would mean camping, which meant sleep, which meant… nightmares…

My mouth closed again without saying anything and I just nodded in reply.

Her head was slightly cocked to the side, like she had noticed that I was going to say something, but she stayed silent. She glanced over to Kylie again, before looking back to me.

"Keep working with her, you're doing great. We'll leave for our first hunt tomorrow evening."

I watched Kylie and stayed silent, giving a small nod. I heard light footsteps, then looked over to see that Artemis was gone.

This could be bad… I had to stop the nightmares, somehow.

Again, sorry for the wait. There will be a few more chapters before the time skip, and I hope you like it. Please review if you enjoyed it, and I hope to see you in the next one.