'Lady Of The North Star' is not bad... She just needs to realize that there are ways to induce tension other than the sexual ones she employs. It is nice to read about gods as fishes out of water, but the amount of effort she puts in making the story cringe-worthy is just overkill.

About the Pertemis part... I assure you we will have it, but what fun will it be if they get together so soon? I do realise that not many stories have romance as less as this one does up to this moment, but then, what fun is following the herd? There will be romance- It is one of the genres mentioned- but it will come later.

Also, I have decided that I will be removing all the disclaimers, since I now realise that the fact that this is a fan fiction means that I am a fan and not the owner of canon.

6. I'd Kill For An Airplane To Olympus.

Apollo feel to his knees in exhaustion, "Can we please stop for the day?"

Leto considered it for a moment, "We may. Set up camp, Apollo."

Apollo's exhaustion abandoned him and he ran off to find a suitable place.

"He schedules his exhaustion with precision." Artemis noted, "We've been walking daily for forty-two days and there hasn't been any improvement in his stamina."

"Alternatively, Artemis," Leto said, "he might've not gotten enough time to receive from his daily training. None of us can truly understand his magically workout assigned by Selene."

"'Tis true. Selene's training was and is an enigma. I guess Apollo's favorite mentor has done at least some good." He paused, and turned to his mother, "I'll go create the boundary."

She nodded, certain by now that something was wrong with him. He never shared chores with his siblings or even engaged in casual conversation. Perseus left to enchant the nearby grounds and m mark them as his, in order to prevent an attack. Leto assigned Artemis guard duty and went to search for and help Apollo.

The forest was deep. It was good, in a way. There was rich game, lush cover and, foremost of all according to Perses, isolation. No god could find out that they were traveling to Olympus. The Titan had pressed upon the importance of a low profile on their travel and the citizens of Delos had wholeheartedly agreed, knowing Perses' wisdom.

She reached Apollo and saw, to her pleasant surprise that he'd already completed setting up the tents and was leaning against a tree trunk, having a casual conversation with a dryad. He was in his seventeen year old Form- she'd made them swear to never age more than thirty- and was dressed for a party. She cleared her throat to get his attention.

"Aye sir!" He saluted as he sprung to his feet.

"At ease, soldier." Leto said, continuing his drama, "Follow me into the kitchen tent. We're making going to make some food."

"Sir! I won't be able to help in that department, sir!"

"I know it'll be hard, my dear lieutenant." Said Leto sympathetically, "But we'll need all hands on board to accomplish this. For your nation, will you not follow me into victory?"

Apollo did not have a response to that. Leto smirked at his fallen face and went inside. She had a very interesting food idea for tonight. She gave Apollo some chores to do while she began her work.

About three hours and a billion embarrassingly 'unmanly' tasks later, Leto released Apollo. She figured she might as well send him away while she interrogated Perseus. Apollo quickly sprinted out of eyeshot to find a nature spirit or sibling to torment.

He found Artemis pacing in a large ellipse around the tents: not an ideal target, but it'll do. He walked up to beside her, keeping pace and suddenly hip-bumped her, hard.

"What was that for, Apollo?!" Artemis yelled from her position on the ground as soon as she had verified that it was him and not some enemy who had sneaked up on her.

In response, Apollo just shrugged, picked up a bunch of pebbles, shifted a little away from her and threw the tiny stones one after another at her.

Artemis got up and pounced at him, but Apollo ran off, still showering her with pebbles.

"...and I flashed us back to the Clearing. That's it." Perseus finished.

"When was this, again?"

"Just before Perses arrived."

"Oh, Perseus. You should've told me... it isn't healthy to close up."

"On the contrary, I've had some profound realisations since then. I think it helped to not open up."

"And what were these realisations?"

"The first one was that distancing myself from the incident and looking at it objectively helped me reduce the grief to nearly manageable levels. That it the only reason why I can talk about it normally and freely.

"The other thought-process is that it is probably better that my love isn't returned. We are brings of Chaos, not Order: any thing once complete will be polluted and destroyed. My love, this way, will stay forever by her."

"To what end, though? Perseus, if you desire it, I can wipe your memories of your confession... and Artemis' too."

"No, mother. I have some hope she'll change her mind. I'll have to continue to hope... or I'll go crazy."

It was precisely at the last part that a giggling Apollo ran into the tent, followed by a fuming Artemis, and Leto knew due to that that they won't be able to complete the conversation.

Hence she simply sunk into her favorite chair and looked at her triplets bickering like children-their ages would've identified them as an adult in one of the mortal cities, but they weren't even toddlers when their kind's life expectancy was considered.

Perseus acted as a shield for Apollo to hide behind while Artemis, bow in hand and a pointed arrow nocked, kept going around in frantic circles around her elder brother to get across him or to gain a clear line of sight to their younger sibling in order to turn the imbecile into a pincushion.

After about an hour's worth of entertainment and half a dozen arrow wounds to Perseus and none to Apollo, Leto stepped in and enforced a ceasefire. She herded the three to the eating area, where they stuffed themselves with the world's first pasta.

"What," Apollo asked, his food almost spilling out of his mouth, "is the plan for tomorrow, mom?"

"Firstly, close your mouth." Leto chided, "Secondly, we'll just keep walking: No more for-the-sake-of-it breaks, if that's what you're thinking about."

Apollo saddened visibly. Perseus spoke next, "Actually, mother, if it's fine with you, I would like to make a little detour and learn from the mortals of news from Olympus."

"You may. However do stay near us: it is not wise to sperate... except when it's either an ambush or a chase."

"As you wish, mom. I'll explore the demigods' areas in Theria while you guys traverse the jungle."

"You'll need a disguise, Perseus."

"Oh. I didn't know I was that famous, Artemis."

"That isn't what I meant!" She hissed, "I wanted to say that you'll need to morph your aura as a mortal's."

"That is correct, Artemis." Leto said, "though I trust Perseus has already got something for that purpose."

"The usual: a spell."

"Also enhance The Chariot while you're near the shore."

"Yes Apollo, I will." Perseus said tiredly, "I remember enough of your tantrums to never forget to enhance it."

Apollo grinned, pleased with himself and the power of his tantrums.

At first light the next day, Perseus departed for the town of Theria. It was quite a ways from their camp: he had to sprint for about three hours to reach the small city.

It was a quiet little place. The presence of a representative of the king's was all it had to claim itself more than a village. The first impression Perseus had of it was that it was a settlement that had previously been abandoned for decades.

Of course, that meant it was easy to find out where the demigods were. The blacksmiths and the buff wannabe-Spartans at the bars: there wasn't any shortage of those types of half-bloods. Hence, simple intoxication and a few drachma to the host to provide isolation solved all his problems.

The War-spawn told him that Zeus had, upon learning of Leto accompanying her triplets to Olympus, sent a child of Gaia after the Titan, in order to 'cleanse the gods of unwanted influence'.

It took all of Perseus' self-restraint and some drawing blood and gritting teeth to not kill every child of Zeus nearby and provoke the lord of the skies into a duel ending in his vacation to Tartarus. He inhaled deeply and asked the demigod calmly, "And who, pray tell me, is this child of Gaia?"

"It's name is Python. A huge serpent. I heard them say it ate twice it's weight everyday- in meat or man. They said it is almost worse than the Chimera."

"So it must be. It has to get rid of a Titan, hasn't it?" Perseus seethed internally, but was careful not to display it: Perses' training was worth something after all. "Well," her said at length, "I must be gone. 'Tis never good to leave your young sister unguarded."

"So it is." Ares' child said to him with more seriousness than Perseus thought was possible in his state of intoxication.

Percy shook his head to clear it off such irrelevant thoughts and marched down the stairs. Even though he wanted nothing more to either kill Zeus or inform his mother and take her somewhere safer, he had a promise to keep.

He reached the crude port that the town had and summoned The Chariot, their 'boat'. It was the size of a house, tough not as well designed or furnished: the most decorated items were the altars to Poseidon and Oceanus. Perseus and Apollo had erected them when Leto had suggested that doing so would help them pass off as ordinary immigrants and voyagers, both to mortals and the deities of the Grecian seas.

He had, previously, repeatedly used a shield spell to supplement the relatively low sides of the vessel. So he decided that it would be better to invest some time and effort in building higher and sturdier sides: a quarter of Greece was water and they'd probably need the boat at least twice in the journey that remained.

As he worked on extending the walls, Perseus noticed that he could add a half-level to the boat without hampering navigation. That'd give them more space and diversity without having to remodel the entire vehicle. They could use the upper mini-deck for storage and slumber!

He finished his work, sent The Chariot away and went out of the town in a half-jog. When he reached the tree line, he broke into a run to catch up with his companions.

He reached them just as Helios touched down and set off to return his chariot to Othrys. Apollo was just about to collapse with his usual groan, along with the complaint that since their torch wasn't here, they'd be blind in the forest. Perseus smirked at that. He hid himself a bit away from their path and chanted a complex spell.

Soon, Leto and her younger children were trapped in an illusion where the sun was rising again. As soon as they noticed the ground being lit up again and their shadows to their left, "What the-?" and "Holy-" were started, but Leto smacked the back of their head and stopped the cussing.

The Titaness also looked around for explanation and squinted towards the celestial body to discern if it was real.

Finding it so, since the illusion was pretty much perfect, she instead concentrated for a while and said, "Nice one, Percy."

"You were the one behind this?" Apollo asked.

Percy grinned, "Of course my dear little cheerful sunflower," Apollo scowled at that, "We wouldn't want you sad due to the low displacement we had, would we?"

"So, what news do you bring?"

"Zeus has sent one of Gaia's children, a serpent named Python after us. He wants to remove any undesired influence from his children."

"Wh-? Oh..."

"Yes, Apollo. Wait till when I reach the mountain... I'm going to create a power vacuum in Olympus."

"You will not. And I force you on your oath. I don't want you to ever attack or scheme against our father. You'll end up worse than he will for sure."

"How swift you are to remind me of my oath, Artemis. A father too high and mighty to know me and a sister too great to care for her real family. I think I'd rather settle on Delos than fool myself with your promised family."

"My care for you was what made me force you. I don't want to see your broken form after your duel with him."

"You think you are so loving and caring if you prevent me from getting hurt, Artemis?" Perseus hissed, "We are just brother and sister, are we not? I owe nothing to you and you owe me naught. We don't even look similar. I have no relation to you except through our parents, one of whom I don't give a damn about and the other whom you don't give a damn about.

"Your duty was to protect the one who birthed you, which you don't deem worth your time. You instead pretend to protect a relative stranger. Please don't try that hard."

After that he turned around and grabbed his mother's hand and started walking swiftly away from the town, dragging Leto with him, his body glowing lightly to show the way.

Apollo turned to his sister, "Do you really hate her so much? Why can't you have one mother-daughter moment?"

"You don't know for sure if she's not just using us as revenge tools. Zeus is the king of gods! There must be some reason he is. Leto was abandoned by him. Bringing us to Olympus is the perfect scandal!"

"It is truly sad, Artemis, that you think so. I don't know if I'll ever be able to stand father after all he's done for us. I realise, unlike you, what mom has gone through. We are her blood, not Zeus'."

And he whipped around and strode towards his brother's light, leaving his sister alone in the dark.

They were successful in hiding from their pursuer for another week. They'd used the most isolated and uncivilisable areas to get to the godly mountain. Apollo and Artemis had reconciled after a short discussion. Artemis had changed her views on her parents, though she could not truly blame her father's paranoid nature. Perseus, however, had not spoke to her since. It was as if the threat to Leto's life had turned off his emotions: he'd turned into an expert bodyguard trainer's best handiwork.

He no longer engaged in normal conversations with even Leto. He turned more jumpy yet calmer in the face of suspected danger. He no longer slept for more than three hours a day, and even then he would place magic all around his mother. It was seriously affecting his health, bit the excess energy in him was extremely useful in persuading fatigue to visit later sometime.

Leto decided, as she walked through the thin beams of the noon sun that cut through the canopy, that she would force him to rest that night: since the beginning of the journey he'd never allowed her to expend any quantum of power and moreover, since the knowledge of Python, he would never shut down his system completely. Granted, he had gained extra energy through Apollo's half-mistake, but that didn't mean she was going to let him waste away his Form.

Just as she was about to turn to him to declare so, a rustling in the foliage from far behind them alerted them to a presence that wasn't their own. The crashing of trees informed them that it wasn't just a traveler or a lesser monster.

Perseus mouthed to the others to get ready to flank the monster. One thing that went without saying was that it was to be, unless strongly proved otherwise, assumed to be Python.

And Python it was. The huge snake slithered its way into the clearing its targets had retreated to a minute after it had been noticed. Perseus couldn't decide, upon seeing it, what was it most- ugly or large. It was the size of the bar he had visited in Theria and owned more ugliness than Hephaestus could ever dream of achieving. It was dirty green in color, its lower scales full of dirt and leaves from the forest floor. Python's face was too disfigured to comprehend or communicate about, so I won't be describing it. I could force the image into your minds, but I'd rather have you alive and sane for the rest of the gods' history. Think of it as a monster having a bad hair day.

Wasting no time, the four surrounded it. It turned around to face Leto as soon as it could smell her clearly, and charged. Perseus, expecting this, clicked his fingers once the creature had gained enough momentum, and Leto was sent to a traveler's house in Theria, her immortality disguised and her power to teleport back locked away.

He then took a quick swing at the monster to test its reflexes, which turned out to be better than most demigods. It twisted out if the way and lashed out at him using its tail and Perseus was hit with the force of a war chariot going full speed. He was swept off his feet and crashed into a dryad.

Apollo and Artemis backed up a bit to get better range and started raining streams of arrows on the monster. Almost all reached their mark, but Python was moving around too quickly and randomly for any to make significant damage. Artemis yelled to Apollo to target the spots she'd already hit to increase the damage on injured tissue. He nodded swiftly and did as he was told, for once accepting that she was the elder one.

When Perseus was finally able to get to his feet (the damage to his spine was quite large), he saw that the archers had succeeded in slowing Python's movements... and making him to spiky for close combat. He ordered them to summon their ammunition back and they did.

Perseus charged at the beast, determined to let Zeus know that he won't be able to torment his mother. He summoned all the training he'd received and began striking across the beast's body. He had to duck and block and dodge many times, but his movements were fluid.

The child of Gaia was bleeding ichor all over, but it didn't faze it at all: the serpent kept retaliating with the same vigor as before, just a tiny bit slower. It feinted to the right with its fangs and brought up the tail behind Perseus and threw him against another tree trunk, breaking it in half.

He got up and began approaching it, but before he was in range, Python took off, closing off the path he took by bringing trees down across it.

Perseus didn't chase. He knew Zeus would help the creature escape. Therefore he simply checked upon his siblings once and released his mother from the spell that prevent her from flashing away from Theria. As soon as he did, and appeared on front of him and glared at him.

But he didn't waste time responding to it and instead collapsed in a heap, his spinal cord finally making moan.

Python did not torment them after that: Zeus' offer of having a Big Three demigod for lunch everyday for a week wasn't tempting enough. On recommendation from its mother, the monster moved back to its home cave in Delphi- at least there was the resident spirit to torment. Zeus' failure was the talk of Olympus and the demigods for a third of the month.

Leto and her triplets had gotten a bit relaxed knowing that the monster wasn't on their tracks, but were still cautious of mercenaries and lesser monsters. The eldest of the triplets wasn't yet in a mood to relax, and his behavior didn't remain contained: the others too became more serious, each wanting nothing more than reaching the center of the godly world. It was, by Artemis' estimate, nine days away with full jungle cover and without any poaching zones or tribal settlements: truly the best case scenario... if one ignored the problems of the mind, that is.

Artemis was conflicted: she didn't want to take back her restrain on Perseus; she was angry and hurt that he deemed their bond so unworthy; she wished that he would listen to her once and let her explain that she'd changed; she wanted to be accepted again and she hated that he could so easily go about ignoring her despite the fact that he had claimed that he loved her. She wanted to throw all thoughts of her strained relationship with her brother out of the proverbial window, but couldn't do it, not with all the time she has to spent looking at him as they navigated the woods.

One day, as they were setting up camp, Artemis had tried talking to him. "Percy," she had said, to which he had nodded stiffly, "I just wish to tell you that I have changed my views on our family."

"Not enough of a change, though." Was all he'd said before turning away and focusing on pitching the tent they'd been working on. And that was the end of their conversation.

'What is it that he wishes I do?' Artemis had wondered as she helped her mother prepare food, 'Will it take me hating father to ease him?'

Two days later, five days after Python's attack, Perseus started their breakfast with, "I've had enough of this shit." Before his mother could reprimand him in relation to his way of expressing himself, he continued, "Mom, by your permission and some nonessential support, I can simply teleport us there."

Apollo nodded vigorously and moved his fingers around a bit, "There's my energy."

"Woah. Take that back. It's more than what's needed. Don't get so excited about it."

"Okay, Perseus," Leto said after pondering for a while, but not too much, since her eldest had mostly taken the journey into his own hands, "but only till the gates: I know not what your father may do if your introduction involves getting an Othrian upon Olympus."

In response, Perseus muttered under his breath and flashed them, along with their equipment packed and ready, to the entrance of Olympus.

"Hey!" Complained Apollo, "The first time I get a choice of breakfast and you don't even let me finish it!"

"You got to your father's kingdom, didn't you?"

"Of course, Percy. Remind me to talk to him about creating some public transport to and from this city, will you?"

Please review. I would like to know how my writing feels like at the reading end.

Summary:

Traveling to Olympus.

After Perses' departure, the citizens of Delos begin walking/sailing their way to the godly mountain. Perseus finds out, one day when he visits a town, that Zeus has sent a monster to kill Leto. The monster (Python) catches up with them a week later and escapes heavily injured. The group reaches the center of the godly world in five days due to Perseus teleporting them there.