Okay, So I'm a little late….. again… sorry…
And I'm gonna have to apologize for cutting this chapter into 2. The party was supposed to be here, too but then it would've been too long and I might've needed more time so… yeah..
I also noticed that I lost a lot of readers after I haven't updated in a month. PLEASE, if you know anyway to get you/them back, tell me… I really feel soooo bad..
So here's the next chapt.
Disclaimer: I do not own PJO (^_^)
Chapter 25: Can I . . .
"Take my hand, take a breath. Pull me close, and take one step.
Keep your eyes locked to mine, and let the music be your guide."
-Can I have this dance by Vanessa Hudgens and Zac Efron(HSM3)-
Percy's POV
The following morning, a council meeting about my mission was organized. During then, I had to retell my adventure from the beginning to refresh our memories…
Compared to the last time, my retelling that morning was less . . . painful, so I got through it without needing to rest.
After the meeting was adjourned, as I got up, my dad – Poseidon – stood beside me. "Percy," he said.
I looked up and smiled, "Hey, dad. What's up?"
"How are you feeling now?" He asked me as we both shrank down to our 'Human' size and walked out of the throne room.
"A lot better, actually, compared to yesterday." I smirked. "Don't worry dad, I'm fine."
He smiled. "So are you ready for tonight?"
I shrugged. "Yeah… but still, I'm a little nervous."
Father laughed and placed a hand around my shoulders, "Don't be. I have also invited Chiron and the campers as you requested. Chiron said that they would love to come. All is set, Percy. . . except for one thing that shall be settled tonight."
I stopped on my tracks and looked at my father, "What is it?"
"A woman, my boy!" dad exclaimed.
I stared at my dad, wide-eyed. I tried making a response – anything! But nothing came out of my mouth.
"Well, don't you worry, Poseidon, I bet Percy already got that part covered!" someone chimed in. Father and I both turned and saw Apollo coming our way to join us. "Haven't you, Percy?" he continued.
I didn't know what to say. Thanks to Apollo, I got into a deeper situation. Thankfully, dad responded for me, seeing as though I couldn't say anything. "Well, I do hope so. So don't you fail me, Percy." He told me.
I simple nodded seeing as though my voice has betrayed me. Apollo must have noticed this so he asked Poseidon if he could talk to me alone. He said something about my health conditions and all.
"Of course, you better check Percy up if you think it should be. Anyway, I have meetings to attend to at my palace. I better be off." Dad answered. "And Percy, your mother has also said she'll come, so we have given her access just for this one night."
I smiled. "Thanks, dad."
He smiled back then teleported away. As soon as he had gone, I turned to face Apollo. "Is something wrong with me again?" I asked.
He chuckled at my worried expression. "No. You're fine!"
"Then wh-"
"No reason. I saw that you were already a lost for words back then. So yeah, no reason." He replied without waiting for me to finish my question. "So, will you be asking Artie to be your date tonight?" he intriguingly asked me.
I sighed then shook my head no. "Nobody else but you knows about us. And we haven't yet decided when to tell everyone about it."
"Well then, why don't you head on over to her palace now – since I know she'll be there – to decide?" Apollo asked me.
I stared at him. "It isn't that easy." I reasoned out, "Artemis and I's relationship won't be that easy to accept, you know."
"I knew it!" A female voice exclaimed . . . and who else would it belong to other than, "Aphrodite?" I breathed out.
"Oh now, now, Percy, did you honestly think I couldn't feel anything?" She told me as she came up to us, "I knew something was up but I wasn't sure… and now I am!"
"Yes, and you should also be sure to keep it as a secret, Aphrodite." Apollo reminded her, "You know father, he's over protective of his maiden children."
At that reminder, instead of looking disappointed, Aphrodite's eyes grew larger with amazement. "Oh, this is so romantic! A forbidden love!" she squealed, "Will you be admitting your relationship tonight?"
"Aphrodite!" I pleaded.
"Oh, right. Sorry, getting carried away here." She quickly apologized.
Apollo laughed then placed an arm around my shoulders. "Anyway, should you be at Hera's palace by now . . . you know, to choose her outfits for tonight?" He asked her.
Aphrodite clapped her hands as she remembered that she had to do something. She excused herself and teleported away. Apollo then removed his arm from me and stood in front of me. "And shouldn't you be at my sister's palace to ask her out tonight?" He teased me.
"Oh ha-ha, Apollo." I responded.
He gave me a small chuckle. "But seriously, I know you want to see her."
At that moment, I felt colors running up to my face. Apollo must've noticed this because he started laughing. So to stop him from embarrassing me more, I changed the topic.
"Is it really alright for you for me to date your sister?" I asked him.
He stopped laughing – for a moment, I caught a glimpse of his dead serious face before it turned into a grinning one. "Of course it's alright! Because I know that my sister is in good hands." He responded. "And besides, I wouldn't want to make the same mistake twice."
"What was that?" I asked because I wasn't able to hear the last sentence he said.
He shook his head then commanded me to go to Artemis' palace before he changes his mind about me. "Go!"
And without waiting for another command, I quickly teleported to Artemis' backyard thinking that she would be there as always shooting arrows – and she was.
She was in her usual 12-year-old form, wearing a white tunic, and her hair tied to a ponytail. She was getting ready to release her arrow when I appeared, she seemed to have not noticed my presence then for her focused look was still on.
I didn't want to distract her so I waited for her to shoot. Once she released it, I was about to announce my presence until I noticed her expression.
The moment she lowered her bow, I noticed her took a deep breath as she looked really sad or problematic. She was never like this or if she was, I haven't seen her looked like that. And because of my too much focusing on thinking what the reason was, I hadn't notice her notice me.
"Percy?" she asked as she jogged to meet me.
I tried to focus on her face and saw that her expression from moments ago was gone and had been replaced by a smiling one. "Hi! What are you doing here?" she asked me happily.
I shrugged. "I had nothing better to do so I thought I'd drop by." I simply responded. "And I see that you're still as amazing as ever with your bow and arrows." I commented as I gestured to the last arrow she shot right at the middle of the target.
She turned to look at it then turned back to me then yelped it surprise as I changed myself into a 13-year-old. "And you changed into your 13-year-old form, why?"
I grinned, "Because I look like a big brother praising a job well done by my little sister." I reasoned out, "Anyway, is something wrong?"
"Hm? Why ask that? All is well." She responded, "Anyway, come on in inside and get something to eat, I'm a little hungry."
As she started to walk away towards the back entrance to her palace, I quickly took a step towards her and hugged her from the waist behind. "P – Percy?" she stammered.
I held her tight, not wanting to let her go until all is settled. "Don't lie to me. I know something's wrong, I saw you a while ago; you looked problematic."
She slowly turned around to face me as my arms were still encircled around her. I looked into her silver pleading eyes, asking me to not question her anymore. "Artemis," I breathed out.
After a few moments, she gave in. "It's just that – I thought that maybe tonight, Poseidon would choose someone for you from his domain and – well, I was thinking if tonight would be the right time to – " she cut off.
I placed my left hand behind her head then pulled her closer to me. After a few seconds, we parted but our hands were linked together. "Would you want it to be tonight?" I asked her.
"It would be now or never." She breathed out.
I nodded then held her hand tighter, "Come on, let's discuss that while we eat. I'm hungry!"
She giggled but led the way to the back entrance of her palace.
Artemis' POV
"So how are you feeling now?" I asked Percy as we started to eat some sandwiches as soon as we reached the kitchen.
"I'm feeling better actually." He responded, "but I'm feeling a little nervous about tonight . . . how will we do it?"
I was about to take another bite but then I saw that he put his down, so did I. I shrugged. I honestly didn't know what to do during this kind of situation since I've never been into one. "I need some time to think. I think I need some air." I responded.
He nodded. We each took our plate of sandwiches and our glasses of juice as we made our way to the balcony.
The nearest balcony was the one at my room so we went there. Once there, we both placed our plates at the night stand. I headed for the balcony first. When Percy was taking too long to follow, I turned around and saw that he was staring at something laid out on my bed.
Curious, I went back inside and saw what he was looking at: a silver gown with those glittering beads around the straps and the end of the upper chest. It was the same gown I wore during one of Aphrodite's formal parties a year or so ago.
"It's so ironic. I had a dream before. You were in it, and we were at a ball. You were . . . you were wearing this exact same dress." He said as he looked at me, "Are you planning on wearing this tonight?"
To be honest, I originally planned to wear it tonight until Apollo came last night with a new one for me to wear. Apollo has said that he asked some nymphs to make it especially for tonight. And since Apollo barely gave me anything material, I agreed to wear it.
I shook my head no in response of Percy's question. "I was planning to but I changed my mind. I must've forgotten to place it back in the closet."
"Well, this is embarrassing." He commented. "I'm sure that you'll be wearing a far more gorgeous dress than this, and if I'll ask you to dance with me tonight – I might just ruin your poise."
"Why say that?" I asked him.
"I'm not that good of a dancer."
Suddenly, a soft melody was playing, resounding inside my palace. I looked at the time and saw that it was already the time when Apollo does random music playing. This time, it was some sort of slow dances. He must've been preparing for tonight's music.
I turned into my 18-year-old form and asked him to do the same. At first, he was unsure but he later gave in.
"Come on," I told him as I gestured for him to follow me at the balcony.
As the music came to an end, we were already at the balcony. And slowly, I recognized the music Apollo was listening/playing next. It was a song from a teenage-show that Aphrodite kept watching. I forgot what it was but I knew it had something to do with waltzing.
"I'll teach you," I told him.
"What?" he asked.
"I think I've attended too much formal partied Aphrodite organized, so I think I know what to do. Take my hand." I told him as I offered my hand, and just in time with the song's lyrics.
And as the song progressed, so did our dancing. Our movements went along with the song perfectly. At the near end of the song, we were doing the signature movement of the waltz, the circling.
"Well, that wasn't so bad." I commented.
"It's probably because I have an amazing tutor." He teased.
I smiled at him, "You should probably go back now. Prepare for tonight?"
He smiled back. "You're right. So it's settled, we'll do it tonight?"
I nodded.
"How?" he asked.
I shrugged. "Let's just . . . let's just let destiny do it." I responded, "Now, go and prepare!"
He gave me a quick kiss then teleported away. After he left, I went back inside, took the dress and went into the dressing room Aphrodite made for me. It was a huge room – almost the same size as my bedroom.
As I entered the room, the gown I was supposed to wear for that night was in the middle, being worn by a mannequin. I placed the dress I was holding at a closet before I went towards the gown at the middle.
I had to admit, it was gorgeous. I wouldn't have thought about wearing something like it, but that night, I did. I carefully caressed the skirt of the gown as I thought: what will happen tonight?
Sorry for the shortness, but please understand that my prelims are coming up next week and there are a LOT of assignments given to us! (Yeah, I know exams again!)
And I'm still feeling bad about losing the other readers… .
Anyone who wants to be friends in FB? Pottermore? LiveJournal?
To : Angela Banaag – Here's the first part of your suggestion!
GhotPriNce24, lightningkid333, mrpuppy, Umbra8191 – Thanks! Here's the update! What do you think?
Olympian Hero – That's great. About the ideas, I would love to hear more! Please keep them coming!
rodo272 – I can update now! Hahaha… Thanks!
The great book – Thanks! Uhmm… I think you can spell it!
GoddessIncarnet, Thalicolover4ever, total yanderekid24 – Thanks! Here's the update, tell me what you think!
Hi I will KILL u – yep. It will be like that. Anymore guesses for what will happen?
Kormk – well, I'm happy I made it just it time! Thanks! :D
PiperElizabethMcLean – Thanks! I would've updated earlier but I'm having some mind blocks from school… XD Here's the update.. tell me what you think, again!
allythebunny – That's great! So what did you think of this one?
pussycat3 – hhmmm… very close! Here's the update, any other guesses for the next?
percabeth-fan-4-ever – Thanks! Well… uhm… uh… I'm going to pretend I didn't read the last part.. :D
scyther27 – Thanks! I really worked hard on that one. Oh, and thanks for the opinion. But which do you prefer, first or second POV?
Wizzpotter – of course, I can! But time has really been an issue to me. Thanks!
SeaLover13 - :D well, here's the update. Don't worry, I won't kill him …. Maybe…
rockstar55555 - good suggestion, I'll see what I can do with it. Here's the update! Update me, too on your ideas!
The IronRAVEN xvx – Thanks! And about Percy being affected by poison, I planned this story as AFTER HoO (like after the war) and in the SoN, Percy gave up his curse of Achilles. So there… :D Sorry if this was a little short, and yeah, I'll be adding more challenges, but please do make suggestions!
Lieutenant Zoe Nightshade – uhm…. Thanks? :D
percabeth134 – Thanks! And don't worry, I will!
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That's the end for now.. tell me what you think!
oh, just to share: I made it at the top 10 in my class!
Always,
Kheilynn, D.N.