Guys this was such a hard chapter to write because of the odd place I ended it at, so I'm doing a time skip right to the dinner and then switch to Artemis' POV because although we have just begun Pertemis (Come on Star, 27 chapters and already complications?) I wanted to have Rachel be seen as a bit of a rival for the remainder of the series. (Why because Rachel doesn't become the Oracle until the end of The Last Olympian)
Jack/Percy (We are transitioning to being called Percy now) makes his decision(Staying at home, inviting Artemis, telling about Khione, and/or staying at her camp.)
Anyways lets get on with the story!
(NOTE: Story is in THIRD PERSON the ENTIRE WAY, a line will simply mean scene change for this chapter, tell me if you like it.)
Yui was sitting down in Percy's lap. She was happily eating and Percy just smiled watching her eat. Something about this position felt right to him, like it filled him.
"So... Jack," Mr. Dare called out to the distracted boy.
"Perceus Jackson, that is my full name but call me Percy, it's not like I'm one for formality." He waved off. "Oh also, this little girl, is my daughter Yui, she's the girl we found in the forest." Most would think that this would upset her, however the food, was... Cookies.
They had already finished dinner but of course, nobody would want to talk. Rachel and Mr. Dare had just finished a trip from Hoover Dam, and Percy, had just well... been across the country and back. Yui... she was content with sitting in her pseudo-father's lap trying this new tasty treat.
"Right, so Jack, I mean, Percy, would you mind telling me how, your daughter is?" He asked.
Percy nodded. "Yui here is doing just fine, of course my house is like ice cold but me and my sister, and Yui have a high tolerance to the cold. She really wants me to stay at home for a while but I had my own business trip in a sense that required my attention for the past week or two."
While all this was happening Yui managed to get out of her pseudo-fathers lap, take the plate of cookies and sit in Rachel's. The girl in question smiled at the youngers' antics.
"Oh? And what would that be?" He asked curiously.
Having no reason to lie, and Rachel wanting her father to know what's going on, Percy simply said. "I was travelling from here to San Francisco, freed the Goddess of the Hunt, childbirth, and maidenhood, Artemis from the Titan Atlas, went on a destructive rampage from seeing my friend, a girl in Artemis' hunt, Zoe Nightshade being hurt by her father Atlas, went back home, oh and I have to meet Artemis after this."
Mr. Dare was flabbergasted. "You're joking are you not?"
"Oh that reminds me, I also saved one of my cousins, Bianca di Angelo from being crushed in a prototype of Talos. Of course she's in a coma for who knows how long and her little brother ran off trying to find a way to help her get better despite already being told she'd wake up eventually." He added on. "And no I'm not joking."
"But that's preposterous! Goddess, Titan's they don't exist!" He shouted out.
However he was silenced when it started to snow inside. Percy raised his eyebrow, "You were saying?" He then formed it into Snow and he flew over to Yui. The girl giggled at the dragon her father made and offered it a cookie. Although it didn't need to eat Percy decided to humor the little girl and have him eat it.
He stood up and faced Mr. Dare. "Percy Jackson, Champion of Khione the Snow Goddess, son of Poseidon the God of the Sea and Storms, defeater of Ares the God of War, and friend of Artemis Goddess of the Hunt." Percy then bowed after his short introduction. "Of course if I wanted to add in the monsters I defeated we may be here a bit longer."
"But why show it to me?" Mr. Dare asked.
Percy sat back down, "It's quite simple, your daughter is a clear sighted mortal. That is the term we use for a human being with the ability to see through the Myst naturally. The Myst is what people from our side of the world, the one that sees what's really going on, describe as the wall between mortals and truth. While you may see a dog or a wolf, we see a hellhound, a creature from the underworld. You may see a business man but to us it is a Cyclops, perhaps an innocent pigeon when really it's a harpy. Why I fought Medusa and she was hiding herself as, get this, a gnome statue salesperson in the woods!" He joked.
Mr. Dare was shocked from the moment he heard his daughter was able to see things he couldn't.
That's when he asked, "But wait all those things I thought was her imagination, and every time I asked her to grow up?"
"That was simply you being unable to see what's really going on. However you don't need to worry anymore, well that much. While before you didn't believe her, I showed proof of our world. By being exposed you yourself can see a bit clearer into the Myst. Not enough to the point you are like me and Rachel, but enough to see through weak attempts to hide the truth. Also once you know it no amount of it will take it away.
"Say that you see a hellhound. Of course it doesn't know you do, but say that the Myst increases because Artemis is hunting a group of them and you are nearby, perhaps its trying to change into a deer so it looks like it was game. However even then you will know it is a hellhound and it won't just change into a deer. But lets say you didn't, if Rachel were to tell you it was, and you trusted her and thought so, the Myst would lose its affect and you could see clearly again.
"Myst is all about awareness. Even demigods, or half-bloods, can see through it but not entirely. Only a clear sighted person can. I myself am a clear sighted half-blood.
"If you wanted to know what it took to be clear sighted consider it as having a child that is left handed. If the mother is left handed the odds are at around 20%, if the father is it's not as much. However consider both are, it jumps to 35%. Works the same way with clear sighted, except 5% for mothers, 2.5% for fathers, and 15% if both are. My father is a god so I have a base immunity towards it, meaning if I am aware I can see through it, enough to say... tell if a man was a Cyclops or human if I tried. However my mother was also clear sighted raising the odds to 30%. I hope that explains any question you had."
He nodded and turned to Rachel, "I am sorry for all those times I had spoken of growing up, it appears you were more grown up than I was."
Rachel smiled, "Hey, we made up a month ago or something but there is one last question I have... well two but here's my first one. Why do I keep blanking out when I paint sometimes and paint these weird things that come true, like a certain snowy haired kid and him having an archery contest?" She looked at Percy expectantly.
He rubbed the back of his neck. "The oracle of Delphi might explain it, but because of the curse placed on it, I would highly doubt it. It has been centuries since the last completed host. I don't mean it's not possible but it's not likely either."
Deciding the two of them should go visit Artemis now, and Yui simply is going to get tired. Percy walked over to Yui and she grabbed his hand. "It was a nice dinner and I hope to come again sometime, I would offer my place but considering my house is made entirely out of ice and snow and it's pretty much always at freezing temperatures, I wouldn't recommend a human to go there."
"What about Yui?!" Mr. Dare asked in alarm.
He rolled his eyes, "My sister is Khione, she has two idiot brothers back home, and me when she isn't. Yui is pretty much her little sister she's always wanted. Gave her, her blessing almost right away. Sure Yup is human, but she has an extremely high tolerance to the cold. Just like me she radiates cool, not as much but she won't be hot unless it's somewhere in the 90 to 100's, she won't be cold unless it's like 0 degrees Fahrenheit.
"Anyways its time I went to Artemis now. She wanted to talk about certain events. I'd ask if you'd want to come along, but she isn't quite fond of our gender."
Rachel decided to jump on the conversation, "is it alright if I come?"
"I'm not your father or you, I'll wait for ten minutes at the lobby, after that I'm leaving." Percy said. (I'll be honest, I'm used to writing Jack instead of Percy so just understand that.)
Artemis had been waiting with Zoe, who was in a wheel chair, for Percy to arrive.
Zoe was holding her hairpin in one hand and a bow in the other. She lacked the strength to fire accurately or that far, at most anything a few yards away but nowhere close to her former performance. Not only that but her legs will never be fit enough to run for periods of time again. Perhaps two to five minutes but not as far.
Of course speed and a bow were part of being a hunter but she knew she would simply have to adapt to the circumstances. For now she is just an instructor helping out the newer huntresses like Mira.
"Milady, are you sure it is fine for me to remain in the Hunt? I am not of much use in my crippled form as is." Zoe said looking down at her wheelchair bound figure.
She waved her off, "You are my eldest hunter, you are not a nuisance. I wouldn't mind it and besides, how would you like to tell that to Phoebe, Atlanta, or any of the hunters that you are leaving? You are their lieutenant."
Zoe sighed, "But it doesn't feel right."
"Then perhaps you need a different form of transportation." A voice came from the woods.
Instantly both were at arms, Zoe held her sword, Artemis held her bow with an arrow drawn. "Hmm, and I thought I was welcome with my daughter and friend. I guess not."
Percy said jokingly as his full form came from the snow behind them. Along with him was Rachel and Yui. Immediately Artemis and Zoe relaxed. "Artemis, this is Rachel, I meet her last summer, helped her dad and her get back together. This is Yui!" She giggled as her pseudo father picked her up.
Yui had black hair, nothing close to Percy's, plus she looked far too old to be his. This raised questions to both of them. "Why don't we had into camp, I think the girls have something to say."
It was true, between waiting for Zoe to wake up, and waiting for Percy to arrive, Artemis recounted what she saw to the hunt. When they heard Percy had willingly returned a powerful sword imbued with Zoe's original immortality, they all regretted what they did to him more so than ever. Their initial reaction to his past was shocking, their reaction to Artemis' confession even more so, but this? This was another level. It was one thing to be a hypocrite, it was another to reveal affection after swearing off affection for the other gender, but to give up a sword of the heroes. A sword by the legendary Heracles, that was a new entire story.
As the five headed back Artemis couldn't help but think who was Rachel to Percy. Comparing her first impression on Percy, and how Percy willingly helped Rachel. Two things were sparking in her mind, one was jealousy, the other, if she would admit it, was fear. Fear that Rachel would take Percy away and she would be alone.
For once in her life, she had finally found a male who wasn't a monster, for once she found someone with similar views, albeit he had different tolerances it was still the same.
They finally got to camp and all the huntresses went silent. They looked at Percy with eyes filled with regret, they were about to apologize when he raised his hand to stop them. "It's alright, I decided to place your luck on Zoe's behalf. I gave it an all or nothing shot, I will forgive you all, Zoe you haven't told anyone have you?"
She shook her head. "We all have skeletons in our closets." She motioned him closer and as he leant her his ear, she quietly whispered, "Some still don't know I'm the offspring of Atlas."
The two shared a short laugh. "Alright, and I'm sorry about the legs, I wish I was fast enough to have helped you."
Zoe smiled, "It's nothing, it's a bit annoying, but at the least I am still able to do other things. Also what was it you were talking about?"
Percy stood back up fully, "Well, if you don't like being wheelchair bound. Why not go for something like on a wolf or horse? Or simply train wolves to be even more deadly? Kind of like a ring leader. Perhaps three of them, you can give them several commands verbally and if it's something basic perhaps whistling?
"Anyways, since you cannot be the best as you can physically, why not mentally? Plan strategies and work on spontaneous situations. For example..." Percy quickly snapped his fingers and formed a pack of hellhounds, Cyclopeses at each exit of camp, three harpies one above the courtyard, one the training field, and one at the armory, and lastly the ever so annoying Minotaur.
"How would you handle a situation where you find yourself surrounded? You don't have the strength to fire a fatal arrow towards the harpies, you don't have the speed to take down enough cyclopses to get out. Nowhere near enough strength to take on a pack of hellhounds, and the Minotaur is just giving yourself up, you don't have the physical capabilities to handle dodging quickly or attacking hard enough."
Zoe thought it over for a bit, knowing this was just an example and if it did get to that point Percy would cancel out his snow creatures.
"Perhaps send a few hunters to deal with the Harpies, a group of two to three. Have Phoebe and Atlanta take care of the hellhounds, and send wolves towards the Cyclopses, as for the Minotaur just avoid conflict until necessary, quickly break off a few wolves to help?"
He smiled, "Why not try it? Perhaps you can just switch to this, instead of being the instinctive fighter, why not plan things out in a pinch and get a quick getaway."
Zoe nodded and started ordering others to go do what.
The harpies were taken down shortly, followed by the pack of hellhounds, Atlanta and Phoebe made a great team. The Cyclopses were made into short work. Once everything was taken care of all that was left was the Minotaur.
Artemis watched in fascination as Percy had not only come up with a solution for Zoe just like that but she never had seen Zoe with a smile like that with her own eyes for so long. She never saw the interest that this switch took. It was a new challenge, and one thing a huntress couldn't turn down, was a challenge.
"Phoebe, Atlanta distract it! Shoot it's eyes, girls tie him up with arrows with strings attached." Zoe ordered from her wheel chair. "Alright now for the wolves, go in and hit it from all sides, don't stop till it's down!" The wolves obeyed seeing the minotaur as an enemy to the camp.
Once again Artemis was impressed with Zoe's quick plan. Having the Minotaur preoccupied on two fronts, and while that plan undergoes she has the others stop it's movements, all that's left is to tear it to shreds.
And tear it to shreds the wolves did.
Percy began to clap, "Nice work, perhaps if you work on it constantly you can even specialize the wolves or communicate them on a level similar to me and Snow. Snow of course is nearly his own sentient being at my beck and call. He's clearly a dual form of just transportation for the little kids enjoyment, and a battle dragon the other half."
When he said that, Zoe's eyes lit up, she thought of all the possibilities of her own 'hunt' albeit they are wolves, but who can judge, they are going to be deadly.
"Why don't we all sit down, I'm a little tired from standing." Percy asked. Everyone complied and sat down at the pavilion of their camp. "Now that we are all settled down," He looked at Artemis, she nodded back. "I believe it's time for me to hear you out Artemis, every step of the way."
She stood up and took a deep breath. "I wanted to refuse it. I wanted to refuse it a thousand times over, but, I would continue to believe that, and still lose. Jack, no Percy, I love you. I love you with all my heart and I don't think I can bear the thought of not being with you. When you went on that quest, Atlas had me watch majority of it. He reminded me of what you said during Capture the Flag, how you thought I was just... unfair." Artemis said trying to admit her faults, but it's hard to stray from the personal mantra she set for thousands of years.
"What I want to say is... You're right, I was being cruel, sexist, and definitely didn't listen to a word or your feelings. However, as time went by, I realized something. You aren't like every male, you aren't like any male for that matter.
"Everything you do is just completely different than everyone else on the world. You wished to die, but you do not want to die without leaving a mark on the world. You deliberately fought my father and won, you fought with Ares and came out on top! Defeated his curse-"
He blushed slightly, "Actually... it's not exactly, defeated. Something is making it easier, what is it though, is the real question." Percy said with a far off look.
Artemis blushed a little as well finding his pose a little adorable, what? She is millennia old, she can find things adorable still. She then coughed to get his attention, who motioned for her to continue. "Anyways, after you had overcome your curse, you not only gave Thalia her life back, but also help Zoe, save her from what probably would have been death, saved Bianca from her fate, and then take the sky! I'm amazed you're still standing to be honest."
Percy gestured to his hair, "Well, if having purely silver colored hair, I'd say I'm pretty close, and I did pass out for a bit."
"Well, it's still impressive, but here is the thing." She took a deep breath and looked at her hunters, "What is it that you girls say?"
They all looked at each other and smiled. "Percy had just about the worst past of us all, if we are anywhere cruel to him, we would only be the monsters we try to stop. If you love him, and he loves you, then you should be happy."
Percy's eyes widened, the hunt accepted him just like that. Rachel and Yui were somewhat confused, Yui because she doesn't know her dad's past, Rachel because well... let's just say in her mind are storm clouds and a touch of confusion.
Artemis looked at him, expecting an answer before he smiled, "Just letting you know, I've never really been on a date with anyone before, excluding dinner, isn't that right Rachel?"
She nodded looking at Artemis threateningly. The look said it all, but Yui was preoccupying Percy from knowing. "I am not losing to you"
To which Artemis replied with her own glare, "You could never win."
However one person did notice, "Aw, is there a glaring contest without me?"
Everyone's heads turned to face the new voice. To their surprise it was Thalia!
"What are you doing here!?" Zoe shouted, one because Thalia and her did not get along, they just tolerated each other because of the quest, Artemis and Annabeth.
She rolled her eyes, "Staying duh," Thalia said slinging her pack off her back. "I talked to my dad after the quest, he and the others were voting our deaths and the death of the sea cow, serpent... thing."
"Bessie?" Percy asked.
"Whatever, well, I managed to get their attention, suggested the fishy bovine stay in a tank on Olympus, said that if Zeus killed Percy, well then Poseidon would kill me, and we all know that wouldn't work. However, there was no way I was ready for the prophecy tomorrow. For one thing, I've been a tree for the past few years, I am nowhere near ready for a prophecy to be thrust onto my shoulders, and two, Percy's been training for it, he's the better candidate."
Percy smiled and turned to face Artemis, "Well then Artemis, looks like you have a new huntress."
Thalia grinned a bit, "Guess I'll need to get used to silver and a bow, huh?"
Yui looked around for once, finally getting antsy and her eyes lit up slightly, there was so much different stuff other than at Percy's frozen house. However, Yui was feeling a bit overheated*. She looked at the hunters and their weapons, the bows and daggers especially made her interested, and the fact it was something perhaps her father would let her do was an added bonus.
Innocently, she went up to Jack and asked, "Daddy, can we please stay here? Please? Pretty pretty please with extra chocolate sprinkles on top!"
*: Yui is currently at Khione's basic blessing, I think blessing's should strengthen over time, so at the moment, Yui is more used to colder temperatures than warmer ones, Percy will help her with this by next chapter.
(ALL A/N's in the story will be signified with a number, 1-5 (I don't expect more but if I do no more than 9) All EXPLANATIONS are signaled with 1 to 3 * (**) (***)
AN's will be first, then explanations.
Anyways guys this is the next chapter, it's shorter than usual (About 4k words this time.)
Next chapter we are going to actually get into the actual Pertemis on their first date.
It'll be a timeskip into December because I think that's a nice time to show off Percy's ice abilities.
Anyways, I'm so sorry for not updating in a month but...
Let me give you a reminder of something.
The information for Frozen's crossover sequel will be the chapter after the next.
This is Star, signing off!
