Disclaimer: I do not own PJO or HoO, Rick Riordan does. (Uncle Rick)

Chapter 3

Mission

It had been a couple of days since the Hunters and I had formed our plan, and to say things were getting worse with Artemis would be an understatement. The treatment I was currently getting was terrible, and I mean just awful. If she looked at me it was with a glare, if I was in her presence I could feel her murderous aura, hell, if I was anywhere near even Orion she was angry. I was kind of confused as to why Artemis was believing Orion so easily. It didn't make much sense. But I didn't focus on that as I trained hard.

The Hunters and I had a couple more meetings when Artemis and Orion were out to work on the details of the plan. It was set to happen tonight. We had kept an eye on Orion and he had been doing the same thing every night: Leaving when everyone else was in bed and heading to the mortal town and getting cozy with woman. It was infuriating that Artemis, my Artemis trusted this no good of an excuse of a 'good man', which Artemis claimed he was.

Orion, in the meantime, had been doing his absolute best to make me mad or jealous. I wasn't proud to say it was working, but when he was getting all sweet up with my Artemis, it made me want to summon all the water in the world and use it to beat the everlasting Hades out of him. Of course, I did my best to hold myself back so I didn't actually harm or do anything to him, seeing as if I did Artemis would most likely kick me out of the Hunt, but it was still tempting. Also was fun to dream about at night.

Zoe had been hanging out with me most of the time as I went about avoiding Artemis. I had been leaving early in the morning so she couldn't force me to do more work or anything, and that was also making her mad. Gods, she'd been getting so mad lately it was a wonder I was still alive. Then again, it helped having Zoe, along with the other hunters around. They were basically my bodyguards, not totally on purpose but also sometimes purposely. Artemis wouldn't do anything to me with the hunters around unless I did something extreme, which of course I did nothing of the sort. No excuse to give Orion the chance to fire Artemis up even more.

The hunters had been tracking Artemis and Orion and listening to them talk. Orion was coming up with pretty much the same stuff every time, but when I heard the news that apparently he told Artemis I had been flirting with her hunters, that had been really bad. Not only because I was in an even worse mood for the rest of the day, but Artemis managed to track me down and force me to do a ton of chores. Great. Just peachy.

However, nothing compared to when I publically heard Orion call Artemis the one nickname I personally had reserved for her: Arty. I was extremely close to shooting his manhood when Zoe grabbed me and dragged me away. I swear, once the plan was done I was going to personally see to Orion's torture in the Fields of Punishment. Yeah, I hate him that much. Not really surprising, well, depends on what perspective you come from I guess. If you were a hunter, it wouldn't be surprising, but if it was any mortal who didn't know much about Greek culture and the gods, it would be surprising.

I was thinking about all of this as I walked back towards the camp. The sun was setting and it was around this time the hunters would be preparing, Zoe most of all. As said before, Zoe was to come with me while we went to expose Orion, seeing as just incase he spotted us or something, we had double the power instead of risking my safety. Also I needed her to whisper about how we had to alert Artemis, because it would be kind of weird if I just whispered to myself about it. I could see the light of the campfire from outside the camp ground as I neared. I stopped and took a deep breath. Exhaling, I walked into the camp. I was greeted by hunters giving me smiles and also knowing looks. From Artemis I got a glare and a smirk from Orion. Peachy.

As I sat down, I realized that the campfire was pretty much almost done. I guess Artemis had wanted to disinclude me as much as possible, which was a fair guess. I heard Orion address her as Arty, and anger roared in my ears. I had stopped calling her Arty since she had started acting like this towards me. I couldn't help but hold a grudge against her, because I had been her best friend for two decades, and now she's throwing that away? It would have been unnatural of me to be mad, so glad I was mad I guess.

The fire went out and the hunters started packing in for the night. I went into my tent and waited for the moon to come up, the time that Orion ran off to meet his women. After some time of waiting, I heard Zoe coming up to my tent and I quietly walked out. I saw Orion walking out of the camp, and nodded to Zoe, and we started quietly going towards where he disappeared into the forests. I saw Maria hiding out behind a tent and I gave her a thumbs up as Zoe and I went into the woods after Orion. We went in the direction of the nearest town, making sure to stay a good amount behind him where we couldn't track him because his hunting skills were good enough to tell he was being followed.

As we crept through the forests for a while, we had a rustling somewhere to our left. I was about to go check it out when Zoe grabbed me and whispered "No, you go follow Orion. I will check out whatever this is, I'll catch up to you." Nodding, I kept going as she ran off to the left. As I got closer to the edge of the forest, I could feel the atmosphere changing from nature to a town, it was quite unsettling how easy it was to tell and feel the difference. Mortals had been destroying nature, taking it down for wood and land, and for excessive hunting. I made my way towards the house that a hunter told me Orion had been constantly revisiting.

The hardest part about the plan was getting through the town unnoticed. I had to wear my hunters gear incase we ended up in a battle with Orion, and generally people didn't dress like I did. Last time I had come through in hunting gear everyone had been whispering and the atmosphere had practically changed from my presence. With Orion's skills, he'd sense something was wrong and investigate to find me wandering through the town. What really sucked was that the place he kept going was right in the smack center of town, by a statue made in honor of Zeus. The town was open, the places and buildings spread out, making sneaking through even harder.

On this particular night everyone was up and about, which was even more infuriating. How in the world was I going to make it through this? Had no time to go back and stop Maria from telling Artemis about Zoe and I leaving the camp in the direction of the town, and if I didn't get moving Artemis would find me and drag my sorry ass back to camp. No, if this was going to be done I needed to get moving and quickly. I snuck around to a wall on the edge of town and climbed over it. I snuck in between anything I could, making sure the coast was clear as I went from place to place.

The town was brightly lit up by torches, and occasionally if I jumped my shadow would be projected by a torch on a higher building down onto the ground, which some mortals would get confused by as they looked up and saw nothing to cause said shadow, to look back and see it gone. Yeah. This plan was going swell. I crept closer and closer to the center of the town, which was definitely the most populated place. Even the places I could sneak through were lit up and I could be easily spotted. I had no other options. That was what I thought until I looked up and saw the buildings were tall and close enough together where I could jump from roof to roof without being spotted.

I quietly made my way up to the roof of the nearest building, and people would just have to wonder why there were stab marks in the walls. I jumped to the next building, on to the next, and on to the next, until I finally reached Orion's love-making building. I quietly snuck down to the ground. The ground was elevated up higher right to one of the windows where Orion had reserved the room. Yeah, the hunters were good at getting information. From what I was told, Orion had rented this room for a couple of weeks, and was going to visit every night. At least that's what I was told when I saw nothing in the room except a woman waiting. I frowned. This wasn't going well at all. Zoe wasn't back yet, and I was starting to worry that something had happened to her.

Someone was nearing close to me, and I had to get out of there. I snuck in through a backdoor into the building, and crept my way to the room. I heard two people going at it in there. I smirked. Time to catch Orion red handed. I silently got ready to knock down the door, and after the count of three I smashed right into the room. My hunting knives were out, and I prepared to pin Orion. Now, might be a bad time to include this but you might be wondering: Percy? Why would you just barge straight into the room? Well, you see, brain, I had no time to go with the original plan. I would just have to hope Artemis showed up and saw me confronting Orion as I yelled about why he had been lying to her and the whole shabang.

Well, it didn't happen like that. The woman had yelped and jumped up, and nobody was in the room except the two of us. I was so confused. She was dressed as if she was ready for a good night, which disgusted me. I sheathed my hunting knives. "Ma'am, are you waiting for a man to arrive?" She nodded, and got up and slowly walked towards me. She moved her hips as if she was the recent fashion statement as she put her hands on my shoulders and said "He might not have come, but you may be even better." She said seductively, and I was about to push her back when I noticed slight movement out of the window and I looked over to see something that would probably haunt me for a long time.

Artemis and Orion were standing outside the window, Artemis looking shocked as Orion quickly said something, probably about how he hadn't been lying and here I was in the act. Angry, I shoved the woman away from me as I jumped at the window, smashing right through it as Artemis and Orion got back. I heard the woman scream and run out of the room as I looked murderously at Orion then innocently at Artemis. "Arty, I swear, it's not what you think it is, Orion has been lying to you-" Wrong thing to say. She screamed at me "DON'T CALL ME ARTY, TRAITOR!" Tears were pouring down her face. Orion put his arms around her comfortingly. My anger immediately boiled at that as I ran at him at speeds that would make Hermes proud as I slammed into him, sending the two of us tumbling down a hill, straight into town.

I scrambled up, unsheathing my hunting knives as people began to scream and run in terror as Orion launched at me, his own knives in his hands. I flipped up, kicking him and sending him flying over me, towards the forest. I winced, that probably didn't feel too good, not to mention it was hard enough to throw him into the forest. I sprinted after him, this time not caring if I was seen. After running for a minute I reached the forest and ran straight into, hearing him up ahead. I managed to catch up to him and we began fighting, knives against knives. He pushed me back as I went solely on defensive, going back as we fought.

I heard Artemis nearing us as he pushed me out onto an open cliff outside of the forest. I ran up near the top as Artemis came out of the forest. My eyes widened as I looked over and found Zoe tied to a tree. I gasped, Orion wondering what I was gasping about, and letting his guard down. I took this opportunity and kicked him to the ground as I ran to Zoe. I quickly ungagged her and untied her as she quickly explained that Orion had jumped her when she wasn't prepared. Nodding, she unsheathed her hunting knives and tried to tell Artemis but she shook her head. "Now you're on his side, Zoe? Why?" She seemed heartbroken, and I was ready to give her a hug when Orion suddenly launched at Zoe and I. He split off against Zoe as Artemis launched into combat with me.

She was extremely skilled, impossible to hit. I did my best to hold her off, knowing I couldn't defeat her. I was pushed back near the edge of the cliff. In the corner of my eye I saw Zoe and Orion fighting, and thank the gods Zoe was winning. However, I quickly focused back on Artemis as she pushed me to the edge. I brought my hunting knives up and interlocked her blades, as she slowly pushed me back. Her knives were at my neck as I barely held them back as I bent backwards, trying not to fall backwards off the edge. The flat of her blades were against my throat now, causing me to start losing air.

"I swear on the River Styx Orion has been lying to you." I choked out, losing air fast as thunder boomed and she suddenly pulled back. I nearly fell off the edge but she caught me and pulled me back. I was scared as I looked to her but I found myself in a tight hug as she sobbed. "I'm sorry Percy, I'm so so sorry, it just made sense why you've been disappearing sometimes and not showing up to our meetings." She managed to get out as I held her close. It was true, sometimes I disappeared and didn't go to the meetings, the reason being was I took some breaks. I didn't tell Arty that so I didn't offend her, but the Hunt sometimes was a bit much. "It's alright, Arty, no lasting damage was done." I said comfortingly and she managed to stop crying, wiping her tears on my clothes. I smiled at her.

That's when the hunt all burst out of the woods, charging Orion as he was outmatched by everyone. They forced him back against the edge as Artemis and I untangled and made our way to them. The hunt made way for us as we both radiated extreme anger as we looked down at the filth. He snarled, and he knew we had won. Artemis glared at him as she asked "Why?" Orion glared at me as he answered her "The Hunt is by far too powerful, along with you two, and Percy. Oh, Percy. He's the favorite son of our father, constantly getting talked about in Atlantis by him. Father won't ever shut up about him. I couldn't stand it anymore, with Triton being angry too. Triton blessed me with sea powers as I went to the surface and began training as a hunter for years until I matched, and even overpowered Percy's skill. I came near the hunt so that you would find and fight me, seeing my worth and skill. I knew you would recruit me and take me in. I knew Percy would be angry and jealous. I began feeding you lies about him to turn him against him. I knew what the two of you felt towards each other, and I used that information to fire up your anger towards each other. When I said I was off to check something out, I went to Percy's tent as I heard talking from there when I got to camp, and no hunters roaming about. I heard them come up with the plan to expose me. So I ran back to you as you neared the camp, and went back to chatting with you as the hunters, most of all Percy didn't realize I knew all their plans. I went into the forest earlier as they thought, and got ahead, and then snuck around near Percy and Zoe. I caused some noise, knowing Zoe would tell Percy to go on. I jumped her and brought her here, gagging her and tying her up. I went and told you that I saw Percy running off with Zoe as Maria looked on, horrified, and began telling the other hunters to get ready as we left. I took you to the building to find gold: the woman flirting with Percy. Everything went as planned until he swore on that damned river." He finished.

We were all silent. This all because my father spoke highly of me? Artemis and I didn't lose our glares as we grabbed our knives and prepared to kill him as he suddenly caught a hunter by surprise, taking his knife to her neck, and saying "Back up or she dies." We all obliged as he slowly made his way to the forest. We all ran after him, going at top speed. I knew where he was going: the river. He could escape there. I didn't have time to tell the others though as I began running in a different direction, a shortcut to the river. I saw him dive in as I dived in after him, sheathing my knives as I swam on the surface, him below. The river was terrible, hard to keep focus because it was ruthless tonight. I was about to dive down at him when suddenly, three arrows sprouted from my back.

I gasped, willing the water to take me back to the shore as I coughed and hacked out blood, trying my best to heal the wounds but I was failing. I reached the shore and I was kicked over as the arrows snapped and Artemis gasped in horror. She quickly removed the arrow tips from my back as she tried and failed to heal me. They were godly arrows, and they were poisoned. I knew what had happened: she mistook me for Orion and shot at me, hitting me with her godly arrows which were intent on killing me. Only my will kept me alive. I coughed blood out, my back bleeding as Artemis held me in her arms. "Arty.." I said weakly as she looked at me, tears rolling down her cheeks.

I managed to lean up enough to softly kiss her, a kiss that I hoped I would forever remember in the Underworld, the realm of Hades. Artemis kissed back, and I knew in that moment she had the same feelings I had for her. After a moment when I was too weak to stay up I broke the kiss, collapsing back. The hunters surrounded us, crying. Zoe cried most of all out of the hunters, her body racked with sobs. I felt cold, Artemis trying to soothe me, saying it was okay even though I knew it wasn't. I was going to die. No matter what anyone did, I was going to die. Artemis had shot three fully powered arrows deep into my back, I knew I couldn't live.

I gasped out blood as my beloved Arty looked into my eyes, silver against sea green as she said "I love you, Percy. Remember that." She launched into another round of sobs as I croaked out "I love you too, you better remember that." She gave me a weak smile at that. My world was fading as I whispered "I can't see the stars." As the sky faded away, and the last thing I saw was the beautiful face of Artemis.

*Third Person POV*

Artemis cried as she hold her dead lover in her arms. It felt like her heart had been ripped out and beaten on constantly for thousands of years. She had truly loved him, the reason she was so mad to believe he had been bedding mortal woman. She howled in anger at Orion, who was long gone by now into the sea. Artemis sniffled as she held Percy in her arms and began to chant. His body turning into silver mist as he floated up into the sky, a new constellation appearing. It was a boy, no, a man running across the skies with a bow in his hand. Artemis smiled weakly again as she said "May my hunter forever watch over us and comfort us in times of need. My Percy." She fell into another round of sobs as Zoe got down and hugged her.

After a while the hunters gathered themselves and went back to their campsite. Orion was in the sea, going back to Atlantis, his mission complete: Percy Jackson was dead.

However, what they didn't know, is that that was not that last they would see the hunter, Perseus Jackson.

3707 Words.

AN: Interesting, huh? I'm not going to explain anything just yet, if anyone immediately launches into the reviews questioning me. Trust me, this story is going to get very interesting. It will be difficult because Major_Nich did a story similar to this. I am going to need to come up with new stuff that isn't a copy of his, because if you've ever read really good stories and then tried to write your own, you find that you tend to unintentionally copy those, especially if your story is inspired by theirs. So, I'll say now: This story is inspired by Major_Nick's 'Lunar's Plight.' I recommend checking that out, that's my favorite Pertemis story, and I've read a lot. Anyhow, I hope you liked this chapter, and I'll see you in the next one!