Lev here! Ik, Ik I need to update Accepting Mortality. I've hit a road block and I'm desperately trying to figure out how to get this chapter laid out so that the rest of the story flows smoothly. I have about 2,000 words down before I wasn't sure how to proceed forward. I will definitely keep trying to figure out how to proceed forward with it but other then that, enjoy this short angsty one shot.
The moon shone brightly down on the clearing below, trees towering over the area surrounding it. It was easy to get lost in this forest, to walk in and never walk out. To meet something you had no hope of besting. To die and have your body stumbled upon months or even years later. Try as they might, the inhabitants of Camp Half-Blood have never been successful at trying to contain the forest so that they stopped losing more of their siblings and friends to the forest. No matter what they did it was simply never enough. They would continue to lose many people to the forest.
And yet, as the moon still shone down brightly on the forest a man had dared to breach it at night. He had been doing it for months on end. Had been meeting with the Moon herself. A recent predicament. Something that was only growing, evolving into something more. It was fragile and frail. It would break at the slightest inconvenience but the man was willing to brave it. To brave the consequences that might befall him because Gods were vain and prideful creatures. The Sun was overprotective of the Moon, the reason they met at night so that the Sun could not watch them. So that they had peace.
Still, the Sun would find out eventually. As the man, now identified as Percy Jackson, sat against a tree bleeding out he wondered if he had been truly ready for the consequences. He should have listened to the myths but now he lay against a tree, in a clearing surrounded by trees that had stood hundreds of years before him and would go on hundreds of years after him. His blood was warm as it soaked his once bright orange. He had been laying there for a couple hours now, his body unwilling to give up yet. Not yet, not after everything he had done. Everything he had missed. He wouldn't see his little sister, Estelle, grow. He wouldn't watch his mother's first book go best-seller. He wouldn't get to watch the kids he had just picked up to train in sword fighting master the disarming trick he had been taught all those years ago.
In the back of his mind, he knew. He knew that it would end like this. He knew that he would one day find himself in this situation. Find himself savagely attacked for doing nothing wrong. His mind was blurry and he couldn't remember who had attacked him. He knew he had been walking peacefully through the forest when he had heard hounds come after him. Their growls were savage, rabid even. They had been fast, faster than any normal hound should be. They blended into the night, their eyes glowing. Percy had turned tail and ran. Usually he would have fought but something deep inside of him, something primal, demanded that he ran.
His feet propelled him forward, running to the clearing that he knew he would be safe in. Knew the hounds would leave him alone or face a Goddess's wrath. Even if she was not there yet, there was a fairly big creek that ran through it. He would be able to defend himself better, he would feel safer in his domain and not the hounds.
The moon shone down on him as he ran, as if it was following him. The dread in his stomach only grew as he heard a loud roar, it was almost like someone had said something but his ears were pulsing with adrenaline. Whatever the beast was, had joined the chase for him, clearly agitated that something hadn't gone to plan. He had just made it out of the clearing when they reached him. Their teeth sank into his calves and caused him to tumble to the ground, his own roar of pain releasing from him. His legs burned, his blood gushed in waves out of the open wounds that had been created.
The hounds stood over him savagely, his own blood dripping from their maws. For the first time in a long time, fear filled him. White and hot, boiling fear. His heart was pounding in his chest. His mind was running a thousand miles an hour and his instincts were screaming at him to run. To escape. To find safety.
He saw the beast stalking towards him. Its outline was hard to tell but it was tall, easily 6'2. Even in the shadows it seemed to glow. Before he could say anything a hound had launched itself at him and he jumped back but not before it had clawed him in the forehead. More blood gushed out the wound and into his eyes, further restricting his vision. He turned around and started to crawl away, hoping to reach the creek. His only safety. His only chance. He was too panicked to remember that he could probably summon the water.
A sharp command came from the beast, once again escaping meaning from Percy, and the hounds were on him again. They had bit into his legs and were dragging him back. For the first time a horrified scream escaped his throat. Fear shot straight through him and he cried out. Begged for mercy, for forgiveness. For once he wanted the gods to pay attention to him.
"Artemis! Please, Artemis help me!"
A horrified choking sound escaped his throat before the beast snarled again and launched itself at him. It's claws digging into his shoulder as it hauled him up. He swore it growled out pathetic before it ripped its claws out of him and stabbed him again. This time in the shoulder, close to his neck. The hounds howled in glee as they started to rip into his legs savagely.
As blood squirted from the wound in his shoulder he realized that this was it. There was nothing else for him. He was going to die here at the hands of this beast and its hounds. As he laid there glancing to the creek he saw him. Saw Apollo staring at him with an expression of rage. Proof that he had caused this. Proof he had sickened monsters on him. The god he had once so openly joked with had caused his brutal murder.
The usually warm and inviting voice of Apollo was now cold as it screamed in his mind, "How dare you think you are worthy to try and win my sister's hand. Now look at you. You are breaking her heart, do you know how much this will hurt her? You puny demigod, you were never a match for a God."
Through blurry and bloodied vision, he sobbed. Silently because his neck muscles no longer wanted to work. Sobbed because this was it, he had been betrayed by someone he had considered his friend all for getting close to his sister. Had saved more than one of Apollo's kids and he was still repaid like this. The only reason Apollo still lived is because he sacrificed his own safety for him and now he was being mauled to death.
The beast had come close again, he could feel the pure rage coming from it but also sadness. Deep and sorrowful sadness. Percy felt the claws stab him again and again in his chest. He had long since stopped feeling the pain but all he could do was take it.
He laid there with his eyes closed, waiting to join Hades realm for what felt like hours but was probably minutes. As he laid there he felt himself being moved around. He was no longer in the correct state of mind to recognize time or distance. He still felt Apollo's presence, always watching. The beast's rage had left after it had caused irreversible damage to his life span.
Now he was sat against a tree, his head tilted up and leaning back against it so he could look around him. The beast was shaking with its shoulders hunched over. The hounds whined at its feet and licked at its hands. For the first time, Percy was able to make out its figure. It was feminine.
Horror filled him as he recognized the long Auburn hair. The beast was Artemis and the claws were the bloody silver daggers she held. Even more than betrayal filled his core, heart break. The loss of a friend and yet he couldn't understand why. What had he done? Was it because he was making her feel things she hadn't experienced? Had he disrespected her somehow? Had he hurt a hunter?
His blood warmed up his chest, the wet liquid poured down his body in waterfalls and he glanced to look at the sun that was slowly rising above the mountains. He could have sworn his clock had said 1am before he set out and there was no way he could survive several hours in this state, even now his strength was waning. His vision blurring and darkening in certain spots.
"What lies did he tell you?" Percy croaked out, realizing that Apollo had done him in the same way he had killed his Half-brother. Trickery and lies.
Artemis had turned around to snap at him for speaking but she couldn't. Her voice had caught in her throat as she sat there and watched him. His once vibrant eyes were dull and afraid. His screams for mercy echoing around her mind as she brutally attacked him. She blinked slowly and bile rose to her throat. She had never been one to throw up but as she sat there and looked at what she had done it was almost hard not too.
"You touched one of my hunters, Boy. For that your head is mine."
A bitter smile graced his lips as he turned to look at her Brother. The man who had told her what had happened. The man who had told her what Percy had done to one of her hunters. Why he was walking out to the forest at 4am. The man who had tricked her into killing Orion because she had feelings for him. Horror filled her gut as she realized what she had done. How she had been tricked.
The hounds that had attacked Percy were now curled around him, realizing that their master was no longer upset at him. Blood soaked their white and tan furs. His eyes were glazed over and he was slumped in a way that clearly proved his body had no more energy. His blood had stained the grass red, had soaked the groan. Even now when Artemis walked she could hear the squelch it meant. Her hounds liked at his hands as they had done so many times before trying to get the man to play with him.
She shoved those feelings down and rage filled her again. Rage and even more sorrow as she turned upon Apollo who had once again ruined one of the things she had come to cherish. Drawing her bow she started to fire arrow after arrow at him, seeking to get revenge. Her hounds had stood up realizing their was another hunt going on. They watched her eagerly but before she could set off she heard him whisper that he had forgiven her.
"I will come back for your body Perseus Jackson. I will bury you myself and then I will accept any punishment seen fit for me. Enjoy your afterlife, Percy."
Artemis set off after Apollo, determined to extract a revenge that he would not forget for the wrongdoing he had caused her to commit. The trickery he had played, the way he had influenced her rage. He had once again taken an important person away from him and she was going to make sure he understood her rage and sorrow.
As always, thanks for reading and I hope you don't mind the story too much. Don't be afraid to curse me out in the reviews for things you didn't like, I can always use the motivation to get better. Signing off, Lev.