Well here I am staying up till 3 in the morning again lmfao. Hopefully I won't need to focus on school work for much longer. I've sent away my university applications, and if I get some unconditional offers then it won't matter what grades I get this year, so I won't study so hard. And you guys know what that means!
I'm literally falling asleep while writing this, so only thing I'm going to ask is, TheMeister7, what did you mean by repeated letters?
Enjoy!
Percy winced and turned to look at the tall figure behind Artemis.
Orion was small for a giant. Actually, if you compared him to a proper sized giant like Polybotes, Percy thought, Orion would be able to pass for an abnormally tall human. He then shook off the reverie he had slipped into and focused on the situation at hand.
Looking around, he saw that for now, the only people around were he, Orion and Artemis. Maybe Alex was with the rest of the hunters already, packing up camp.
Percy was about to draw Riptide, but then smirked when he saw that his girlfriend had everything under control.
The goddess of the moon spun, her bow materialising in her hands. As she swiveled, she pulled back on the string, and by the time she stopped, she was facing side on to Orion, an arrow of moonlight aimed at the spot right between his mechanical eyes.
"You traitorous son of a..." She hissed angrily as she pulled the string back even further. At this rate, the arrow would go right through the giant's head.
"Whoa whoa whoa, it's just me, Arty!" Orion exclaimed. "Remember me? Hunted alongside you until your brother got me killed?"
"Yes, I remember." Artemis said solemnly. "I also remember my hunters telling me how you SLAUGHTERED THEM!"
Orion nodded as if this was a good point, which it certainly was. But he had a comeback ready. "I'm sorry, Artemis. Gaia was controlling me! I had no choice!"
Percy grinned. No way Artemis would fall for that, he thought, transforming Riptide from barely used pen into familiar trusted sword.
But then gaped in shock as Artemis surged forward to hug the giant. "Thank goodness! I knew you couldn't be acting like that voluntarily!" She said. Orion returned the hug, and smirked cruelly over her shoulder.
That was easy, he thought. Thank Tartarus her feelings for me never disappeared entirely.
Suddenly, his smirk vanished as he noticed the demigod standing behind his goddess, staring at him slack jawed.
"Hey, Arty? Who's this?" He asked, slightly suspiciously. He disengaged from her hug to scrutinize the demigod more closely.
Something about the boy felt familiar, but Orion couldn't tell what. He knew they were linked somehow, but what was it?
"Oh! Orion, meet my boyfriend, Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon."
That must be what it was, Orion realised. He felt familiar because he literally is family. Wait, what?
"BOYFRIEND?" The giant yelled in surprise.
"Yep!" Artemis said happily. Here were the only two men in the world that she'd ever loved. "You two better get along well!"
As soon as Artemis turned her back, the two glared venomously at each other.
"I know why you're here, you ugly piece of skatá," Percy muttered, staring at the giant full on. "You're the giant working with Polybotes."
Orion smirked, staring right back. "And so what if I am? It's her you need to convince," he said, pointing at Artemis' receding back and grinning. "And that won't happen, she trusts me too much. If you kill me without first making her see the truth, she'll hate you!" Orion laughed, skipping off to catch up to Artemis.
Percy glared angrily at his back, still standing in the same spot. Suddenly, he felt two powerful gods flash down behind him and turned around.
"Apollo, Zeus. What's up?" He said, still fuming from what Orion had said.
"Listen, we need to get rid of that guy, and fast." Apollo said urgently, while Zeus nodded. "We heard what he just said, and we can't wait for you to try and convince Artemis. What if he starts trying to take advantage of her?" The sun god said fretfully.
Percy nodded, and turned to Zeus. "And what's your motive for helping me?" He asked suspiciously. Normally, from Percy's experience, Zeus would just sit and watch.
Zeus looked at him sternly. "I don't know what Artemis sees in you sons of Poseidon. But one thing I know is that I'd much rather have you date my daughter rather than that rapist scum." He said, conveniently forgetting that the myths had talked quite a bit about him forcing himself upon other women.
Percy put his hand over his heart. "Wow, I'm touched, Dad!" He said, smiling faintly. No matter how annoyed he got, he'd always have his sense of humour.
Zeus leaned in conspiratorially. "And Perseus, don't mess this up. If you manage to kill Orion, I'll even break off Artemis' virginity deal while still allowing her to keep her hunters." He said.
He pretended he was doing all of this for his daughter, but the truth was that he'd actually started to grow a little fonder of Percy. Not only that, but he respected the way Percy had bounced back after being betrayed by so many.
Percy's face lit up, and he and Apollo fist bumped. "Thanks!"
Oscar even licked the god of the sky's hand, and Zeus allowed himself a small smile. Maybe Percy wasn't so bad.
Reputations still needed to be held up, though.
"Yes, yes, whatever. When the time comes, I shall help you kill him. But I shall be watching you, Jackson." Zeus said ominously, before a bolt of lightning consumed him and he disappeared.
Percy and Apollo shared a look and smiled. Percy realised he should probably get some hints from Apollo, who had killed Orion the first time.
"Man, how did you kill the pest last time?" Percy asked, sitting down on a rock and gesturing for Apollo to come over and sit as well. The god did so, and they sat in silence, drinking in the peacefulness of the forest for a while, before he finally answered.
"I didn't actually kill him. I knew Artemis would kill me if I did that." He smiled. "I just made him go slightly mad. He started hunting everything in sight, until Gaia sent a giant scorpion to kill him so he wouldn't mess her ecosystem up anymore." The god of the sun summoned a ukelele and started strumming a soft melody on it.
Percy nodded. "I don't even know how I'm going to convince Arty that he's just some scum. If he managed to hide the fact that he's a rapist for so long, I doubt she'll suddenly just listen to me." Percy said, putting his head in his hands.
Apollo threw away his instrument and patted Percy's shoulder. "You've got to try, Percy. We're all counting on you. And don't worry, when it's time, Zeus and I will help you whoop his a-"
"Percy! There you are!" A few of the hunters' voices called as they rushed into the clearing. Apollo gave him a final smile of encouragement and flashed out, knowing that he'd get some arrows in some sensitive places if the girls were in bad moods.
"Hey! How's it going?" Percy grinned, putting on his happy exterior despite the doubt he was feeling on the inside. He started tickling Grace, then realized that all of the hunters gathered there had scowls or unhappy looks on their faces.
So either he'd done something wrong, or they'd found out about their new resident giant. Most probably the latter.
"Orion's here!" They shouted angrily.
Yep, he was right. He was beginning to hate being right.
"Yeah, I know. It's not right. But I don't know how we can convince Arty that he's the bad guy." He said hopelessly.
"Just remind milady about what he did to us in San Juan?" Celyn said, adjusting her tiara. She'd been elected the new lieutenant by Artemis after Thalia's unfortunate firing.
Percy sighed, shaking his head. "No point. In about two sentences, he convinced her that Gaia had been controlling him. I don't even know what to do."
The hunters shook their heads in defeat. By this point, the rest of them had shown up, and Alex stood there with Sadie as well.
Suddenly Percy leapt to his feet. His relationship was on the line! He wasn't going to waste time moping about.
"Come on! Let's go. All we have to do is wait for him to make a mistake, right?" He said positively. Slowly they all began to nod. The giant would have to slip up at some point.
Three weeks later...
Percy walked out of Artemis' tent, scowling. The hunters looked at his face hopefully, then sighed in disappointment. That was maybe their fiftieth try to make Artemis see sense. And it still wasn't working.
As they sat down to eat, Orion strolled in. "Hey, everyone!" He called out, a grin on his face.
Nobody answered but Artemis.
Everyone went back to their own conversations, except Artemis, who halted her conversation with Percy to call Orion to come and join them.
Orion sat down and grinned, taking Artemis' hand and grinning over her head at Percy. Said demigod just rolled his eyes and continued eating and talking to Artemis.
Orion frowned. For his plan to work, he needed Percy and Alex gone, and they didn't look like they'd be leaving any time soon.
He put the matter aside and focused on the beautiful goddess between he and Percy. He'd definitely have her for his bride soon.
Percy on the other hand, had always been focusing on Artemis, throughout the meal as she talked. But she only noticed when Orion turned his gaze on her, and blushed.
Percy grimaced. This wasn't particularly good. This good for nothing giant would end up getting his way if Artemis didn't do something about him.
So he confronted Artemis again after the meal. He led her out to the forest, and when they found a nice clearing he sat down on a tree stump to talk. Artemis sat in his lap, and looked at him. "What did you want to talk about?" She asked.
"Well, you see, the thing is you've been spending a whole lot of time with Orion lately. Anyone would think he's the one that you're going out with." Percy said, then immediately winced. That had come out a lot more jealous sounding than he'd intended. The point he'd been aiming to make should've-
Artemis immediately jumped up from his lap. "And?! So I can't spend time with the person who is literally my only male friend ever just because you are going to get jealous, huh?" She yelled at him. "That's not fair and you know it!"
Percy knew he should have articulated himself a little better, but she'd cut him off before he could amend his statements.
And if there was one thing that Percy had learnt from the whole betrayal event, it was that he hated it when people accused him of stuff he didn't do.
"Well maybe if you weren't staring dreamily into Orion's eyes, you'd notice how much time you pass with him!" He shouted back.
Artemis promptly gave him a smack, which he didn't bother blocking, and went storming off back to the camp while he stared at the ground sadly. He really wished he could control his anger issues better.
Orion, who had been hiding in the bushes, grinned. There was now enough turbulence between the two for his plan to work. He skipped out into the clearing, and patted Percy's head.
"That's rough, buddy." He grinned.
Percy's head snapped up, and he was already stretching his hand out, waiting as if he was Thor waiting patiently for Mjolnir to arrive. Same principle, really.
Orion saw this and just smirked, jogging off back towards the camp. Percy sprinted after him, catching his trident while running. He leapt forward and hurled it furiously at the giant's back, but a shaft of moonlight knocked it aside and into the ground. Percy looked at his weapon, and then up at Artemis.
"So you'd attack Orion from behind while he was simply going for a jog?" Artemis asked disbelievingly, frowning. "Perseus, I never actually thought someone could be this jealous." She said. She was about to shoot him, maybe in the shoulder, when Orion put his hand on her shoulder.
"He's not worth it, Arty." The giant said, shaking his head. "C'mon, let's go."
The moon goddess allowed him to turn her around and they walked off. But since Orion walked slightly ahead, Artemis didn't see the cruel smirk that had suddenly come to adorn his features.
Part One of the plan is a success, Orion thought. He could almost laugh and jump for joy, this was going so well.
Time for Part Two. Watch out, Percy. That was only the beginning.
