Hey there, some news, if you guys want to i can start answering comments / questions about the story that you guys post through reviews. I'll just put them at the end of each chapter. I'll start next chapter, so ask anything u like in the reviews.

Here's the chapter, I'm moving the plot slowly, but it's coming. Enjoy!

Chapter 7: You Can't Live Life In Fear

"I must leave for Mount Olympus immediately. My father has called for a meeting." Artemis said as she barged through Percy's door. Percy looked up from his midday meal and shrugged.

"Okay. When are you going to return?" Percy asked.

"Later this evening. Thalia has been instructed to look over my hunters." Artemis said. Percy nodded in understanding. How this had anything to do with him, he had no idea.

"Alright. I'll just do my own thing, I guess." Percy responded. For the last couple of days while the hunters had stayed at Purgatory, Percy had continued to train his ass off. Everyday, whole body was sore from another workout and everyday he had been forced to bathe in the lake to heal any cuts and stab wounds.

"And one more thing. Tomorrow myself and my hunters will depart from your home. We have already spent too much time here and must resume hunting rogue monsters." Artemis explained. Percy, again, nodded in understanding.

Their departure would be bittersweet. Percy didn't exactly hate the hunters' presence, but he needed them gone, to put it bluntly. He could already feel the infatuations of loyalty and friendship pulling him in. He had already been attempting to distance himself as much as he could, but it was to no avail.

"Good luck." Percy said, getting back to his lunch of deer and strawberries. Percy found that a lot of his meals were very random and didn't seem to be cohesive in any way.

As soon as Percy finished his meal and cleaned the dishes and utensils he had used, Percy bounded toward the lake. Although his control of water was one thing he had regularly used while he neglected to practice sword fighting and muscle growth, he had never tried to expand his powers. He had only ever used his powers to entertain himself and the sea creatures in the lake.

What did he want to improve, was the real question. Two major aspects of his water powers that he struggled to improve were his stamina and his strength of power. He could only ever use his powers sparingly (not including his powers of breathing underwater and such), and whenever he attempted to do something drastic or incredible with his control over water, he would always feel drained and nauseous after.

Since strength and stamina were his major deficiencies as well as potentials, Percy decided to create a system of practice. This system that he would perform every day, week, month, or whatever interval, would hopefully gradually increase how much water he could control and how long he could control it for. He would lift a sphere of water and transform it into varying objects with increasing complexity for as long as he could before lowering the sphere of water and attempting to repeat the process with a larger amount.

The process was quite simple, but fairly effective. The practice would help him increase his control, precision, and strength similar to the process of weightlifting and increasing muscle strength.

Percy began the process and started to form different shapes. He attempted to transform the water into a pyramid, a knife, a bow, a bottle and even a disfigured miniature cow. Percy repeated this process with an increasing amount of water for about five or six times before he became completely overcome with exhaustion. It was only then that he realized he was completely covered in sweat and his headache of pain.

Luckily, Percy always stashed a small storage of ambrosia and nectar in a cabinet in his cabin. The only trouble was getting there as his muscles felt nearly too weak to move. Note to self, maybe don't practice so extremely next time.

After an excruciating ten minutes dragging himself to his cabin, he finally was able to relieve himself of at least some of his pain. Ambrosia wasn't magic - well, technically it was - and it couldn't heal a major wound instantly or completely get rid of soreness. The ambrosia was able to aid Percy in collapsing into a chair at his table instead of passing out at the doorway, but it didn't prevent him from instantly falling asleep from exhaustion and quite possibly drooling on his wooden table.

The first thing Percy noticed when he woke up was that someone had turned off the sun.

His cabin was dimly lit through the windows by what seemed to be torches, but other than that, Percy couldn't find any light. He groaned and stretched, realizing he was still a little sore, as expected. Rising from his seat, Percy flicked on one of his various lamps and peered outside a window. The hunters were eating dinner at the long table that Artemis always conjured when the last meal of the day was about to be eaten. How long had he been asleep?

Percy shook his head, chiding himself for being so stupid in going to such extremes in his practice. Next time, he would have to somewhat limit himself.

Exiting from his cabin, he was surprised to see Artemis leaning against the front of Percy's cabin, just watching as the hunters enjoyed their meal of various meats and salads.

"Artemis." Percy greeted, leaning against a pillar that held up his roof only on the other end of his porch. Artemis noticed his presence and glanced over before returning her gaze onto her hunters.

"Perseus." Artemis responded back. "I leave for only a couple hours and I come back to you passed out on your table." Percy rubbed his neck before responding.

"Sorry about that. I was testing out a new training regime for my powers and went slightly overboard." Percy explained. Artemis paused for a long, silent moment.

"Yes, well you did look funny. You talk and drool in your sleep." Artemis said. Out of the corner of his eye, Percy spotted a slight smile tugging at her lips.

"As I've been told." Percy rolled his eyes. A long moment of silence passed over the two as the pair blissfully watched the hunters enjoy their dinner under the night sky. "So… how'd the meeting go?"

Artemis sighed, "It was… different." Artemis shifted her position in uncomfort. "There has always been tension and disagreement within the counsel. But today… today was different."

"What do you mean?" Percy asked.

"There was much more arguing than usual. A lot more shouting over nothing all that controversial. The counsel seemed divided." Artemis said. Her explanation was extremely vague, but Percy got the feeling that she didn't know much more than himself.

"Just great. Were they arguing about anything in particular?" Percy asked. Artemis shook her head.

"My father expressed concern about an upcoming threat, but could not pinpoint what he was exactly afraid of. Ares seemed particularly aggressive, as did multiple other gods." Artemis explained.

"Perfect. Just perfect. Not out of character at all." Percy said, his words dripping with sarcasm. The gods were always arguing, how was this instance any different? Then again, Artemis' instincts were usually right.

"It is not something that should be dwelled on." Artemis reassured. "What will you do? Once we are gone?"

"You're leaving tomorrow, right?" Percy asked. Artemis nodded. "Well, I'll probably just focus on training and getting stronger. It's nice, having something to focus on and get better at." Artemis raised an eyebrow.

"What have you been doing for the past five years?" Artemis asked. "I thought you would've been keeping up on your training or something similar. There is not much to do out here." Percy shrugged.

"Training wasn't really at the forefront of my thought process when I chose to live here." Percy said. "But there are a ton of activities available here. I wasn't much of a hunter before I got here." Artemis again raised an eyebrow.

"I doubt you're much of a hunter even now." Artemis teased. Percy shook his head and hid a smile.

"Definitely not as good as you, but I bet I could be at least decent in a competition against you." Percy said. He didn't fully believe his words, but he tried to push as much confidence into his voice as he could.

"Really?" Artemis asked, a laugh escaping her. "I highly doubt that." Percy smiled and shrugged, sneaking a glance at her.

"Only way to find out is to try." Percy said. Artemis turned her gaze to him for a moment, searching for a sign of a bluff.

"Another time." Artemis said. "But we must leave at first light tomorrow. We have already wasted too much time." Percy nodded, understanding Artemis' haste. Percy opened his mouth, but failed to find the words to mention that he had no idea if they would be seeing each other again. Would he be seeing any of the hunters again? Honestly, Percy highly doubted it.

"Alright." Percy said instead, his voice nearly cracking. He cleared his throat and returned his attention to the hunters who looked to be about done. "Are your hunters going to use my cabin?"

"Not to my knowledge." Artemis affirmed.

"Okay then. I'm gonna head in for the night." Percy said. Even though he had just slept for the whole afternoon, he felt burnt out for the day. He could already feel his eyelids fluttering closed every now and then. "It's been an honor, Artemis."

"Goodbye, Perseus. May we meet again." Artemis bidded goodbye. Although the hunters would not leave for many hours, they would still leave at first light. Percy doubted he would be able to even wake up by then.

Percy nodded goodbye and entered back into his cabin. The already dim torches had become even darker, his cabin being almost completely engulfed in darkness. Percy made his way through the black void to the light switch on the wall opposite his door and flipped the three metal switches. After a slight delay, his home was completely lit up with warm light, forcing Percy to blink furiously as his eyes adjusted to the sudden influx of light.

Percy peered out his window to find the hunters scattering among the beach away from the table they had just sat at, heading off to take part in various activities. Wanting a little more privacy, Percy shut all his blinds and locked his door. He wanted no unwanted intrusion while he was sleeping. That would be unfortunate both for the intruder as well as himself. Considering the intruder would likely be the hunter and Percy would probably be stripped down to only his underwear, there was a good chance Percy would receive some sort of physical punishment for the possible encounter.

Deciding that he needed to do something before drifting off to sleep, Percy decided to fill a bowl with water and set it on his dining table. The reflection of the lantern above the table was visible in the middle of the bowl and the light glinted off the ripples of the bowl from the effects of Percy setting it down. Percy knew that he wouldn't be able to do much with the water, but nonetheless desired to tinker with his abilities.

The clear water snaked up and out of the bowl in a thin, straight rope reaching all the way to the lantern above. Percy rotated the rope of water to be horizontal to the table and took a deep, audible breath. As Percy closed his eyes, the familiar tug in his gut occurred, but this time, the tug was continuous and occurred one after another. Slowly and carefully, Percy was pulling individual drops of water from the rope, creating a sort of wall of drops of water in front of him. Already, he could feel sweat dripping down his forehead.

After a few moments of silence only interrupted by distant shouts from the hunters and rare grunts from Percy himself, he opened his eyes to see what he had created. Percy grinned in satisfaction at the sight before him. A wall of water droplets stretched in the air, spanning the entire width of the table. Each drop of water was clear and distinct, and although the droplets weren't even close to being evenly spaced out, Percy was proud. Some droplets occasionally fell to splash onto the table, but for the most part, Percy held his concentration. That is, until a knock at his door forced all the droplets to fall to the table as Percy lost focus.

Percy sighed and got up from his seat. He probably wouldn't have been able to hold it much longer anyways. Opening the door, Percy was only slightly surprised to see who had knocked.

"Calypso. What are you doing here?" Percy asked. Percy slightly leaned against his opened door.

"I just wanted to talk. May I come in?" Calypso asked.

"Are the hunters okay with it? I don't want to get attacked because, well…" Percy thought the implicit mention was sufficient enough.

"It is fine." Calypso assured. Percy hesitated before stepping aside and allowing Calypso to enter his cabin. Calypso plopped down onto Percy's couch and he again hesitated before sitting down on the opposite end.

"So, what'd you want to talk about?" Percy asked after observing Calypso's hesitation. Calypso stopped staring at her fingernails and looked up into Percy's eyes. She slipped her boots off and tucked her legs to her chest. She looked almost cold, even though the cabin was enchanted to always be at a perfect temperature.

"I… I want to stay here." Calypso said. Percy didn't know how to appropriately react. He simply kept staring into Calypso's dark, almond shaped eyes.

"Why?" was all Percy could conjure. Calypso shrugged and hugged her legs tighter to her chest.

"I love the hunters. They've been like a family. But… I want to stay here. If you'll let me." Calypso said, not offering much more of an explanation. Percy stayed silent, staring into her eyes. The offer was a surprising one, and Percy had no idea how to respond.

"I can't let you." Percy finally responded after a moment of silence. "This is the whole reason I came out to live here by myself. If I let you stay, I might as well have just stayed at Camp Half-Blood."

"But why?" Calypso asked, genuine confusion etched onto her face. "Why live alone? Everyone needs someone."

"No. I can't. This ring is a reminder of that." Percy said, slipping his ring off and flipping it into the air. The light glinted off the ring at its peak,illuminating the many initials etched into it. "I can't let you stay here, Calypso."

"Percy." Calypso gazed at Percy with soft and caring eyes. "You can't live life in fear. You need friends. You need a family." Calypso reached to take Percy's hand, who barely moved and allowed her to take his.

"I don't need friends. I can't have friends." Percy said through gritted teeth.

"Yes, you can." Calypso said, squeezing his hand. Percy forcefully shut his eyes before blinking furiously.

"No." Percy said in finality, standing up. Calypso's hand fell to her side as Percy moved quickly out of reach. "I can't have friends and I can't be connected with the gods. You oppose both."

"But, Percy." Calypso stood up alongside Percy, maintaining eye contact the whole time. Her eyes really were piercing. "I… I don't want to be your friend."

"What?" Percy asked in slight confusion. As he raised an eyebrow, Calypso smiled softly and cocked her head.

The next moment had Percy feeling like he was moving through sludge. Calypso's warm hands placed themselves on Percy's cheekbones as she leaned forward and kissed him. Percy stood stunned, not quite knowing how to respond. His hands moved seemingly by themselves onto Calypso's hips, and his eyes had closed, but everything seemed… weird. The kiss that seemed to last an eternity finally ended, and Percy was left gazing into Calypso's beautiful eyes. Her intoxicating cinnamon-like scent seemed even stronger at this moment. Calypso's hands had returned to being intertwined with Percy's, her soft skin feeling greatly different to Percy's own rough, calloused fingers.

"Calypso. I…" Percy didn't know what to say. Calypso silenced his stuttering with another quick peck before returning to their original position.

"It's okay, Percy." Calypso said softly. "Decide later." Percy nodded dumbly as Calypso walked away, going swiftly to pick up her boots and walk out the door, not bothering to put on her boots.

Percy stood for a few minutes after, attempting to process what had just happened in what was probably only five or ten minutes. He slowly closed the door after he had realized he was standing in the middle of his cabin, doing absolutely nothing.

"What the fuck just happened?" Percy whispered to himself as he plopped down onto his couch. He had known Calypso had had feelings for Percy, but he didn't actually think… well what did he think? What had he expected?

Still, even though Percy had been absolutely dumbfounded by Calypso, he couldn't let her stay. It just… it wouldn't be safe. And it would be completely against Percy's beliefs. He couldn't let that happen.

Percy's thoughts were all jumbled and confused as he stripped down and slipped into his bed. He was still in shock from what had occurred. He slowly drifted off into sleep, mind on recent events and possible future ones. Hey, maybe he would wake up with a whole new set of beliefs.

For such a bittersweet day, the moment was intensely beautiful. While Percy sat on the beach, eyes fixed on the lake and the horizon above, the sun began to peek out and glint off the water. The colors created in the sky were immensely beautiful, with the dark blue and orange lighting up what had been the pitch black Purgatory.

Percy hadn't been able to rest all that much the night before. He just couldn't with everything that had happened, all that he needed to process.

"Percy." Calypso said, snapping Percy back to reality. Her voice rang loud in his ear as she sat only a few inches away from him.

"Yeah, yeah. Sorry, what?" Percy asked.

"Did you decide yet? The hunters are only leaving in a couple of minutes." Calypso said, moving slightly toward Percy. He didn't have the heart to move or tell her off.

"Uh… yeah. Yeah I did." Percy stated. "Sorry. I can't let you. I won't let you." Calypso sighed and hung her head in slight disappointment. She regained her composure almost immediately and smiled.

"I understand. But Percy," Calypso stared into his eyes seriously and put a hand on his shoulder. "You can't live life in fear. You have to remember that. Trust me, from experience, living alone the rest of your life will do you no good."

"I'll… I'll consider it." Percy said. He didn't exactly agree with Calypso, but he respected her enough to take her opinion into account. Plus, he planned on taking a little trip to figure himself out, in a sense.

"Alright. Good luck, Percy. Goodbye." Calypso said. She embraced Percy, perhaps a tad bit too tight. Percy obliged and hugged her back before retracting and waving goodbye. Calypso ran back off to the hunters, who were patiently waiting for the two. Some of the hunters released their death stares on Percy to resume their activities of preparing to depart.

Percy returned his gaze to the ocean, not bothering to say goodbye to the rest of the hunters. He had already bid goodbye to Thalia, Artemis, and Piper. What he really needed was to get his mind off things until he went to see his cousin.

The water before him had Percy's full attention. Deciding he wanted to practice his abilities even more than he already had, Percy began to play with some of the water before him. Creating a sphere of water and transforming it into different and peculiar shapes allowed Percy to lose track of time. At one moment while he held up a small pineapple of water, he glanced behind him to see that the hunters were gone as if they had never set foot in Purgatory.

After he felt his mind begin to melt and his gut start to cramp, Percy heard a pair of slight padded footsteps approaching him from the forest. The sound was faint, but the sound of sand kicking up and the vibrations he felt under him was enough to alert him of the presence of another being.

"Who's there? Artemis? Thalia? Calypso?" Percy rattled off the names as if he had written them on a list. He turned around after the footsteps had seemingly stopped and he had gotten no reply.

The reply he received was… to put it, slightly unexpected. Large yellow fangs and beady devil red eyes filled Percy's vision as his instincts took over.

Percy rolled to the side instinctively, simultaneously tapping the button on his watch. As he bounced out of his roll, in one swift motion, Percy closed the pin on his butterfly knife and flung the resulting hunting knife toward the hellhound that had pounced at him.

The whole "fight" only lasted a few seconds, with the leaping hellhound receiving a hunting knife right in its eye as soon as it touched the ground. Still, Percy found his heart beating wildly and his breathing getting heavier.

This was exactly what Percy had begun training for, in the occasion that a random or rogue monster somehow found him and attacked Purgatory. This meant one of two things, or maybe both: someone had sent the monster to kill him and / or the magic that had been placed on his home was fading. Either option didn't bode well for Percy, and right then and there he decided he needed to take a little vacation. Percy needed answers, and he also needed advice. The Underworld seemed like a nice place to start.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter, the ending was kind of abrupt, but I sort of felt like I hadn't updated in a bit and I was slacking, so I wanted to get this out to you guys. Anyways, the next chapter will have Percy going to the underworld yada yada yada.

Oh, and before I forget, tell me in the comments if you guys want to occasionally see the POV from different characters like Calypso, Artemis, etc.