Chapter One
Reborn
Pressure. It was something that certain types of people could adapt to. Certain types of people could thrive off of an intense situation, feeling the pressure and disregarding it in the sway of their movements.
Warriors, that was the label for people that lived a life without regard to pressure and social burdens. Warriors had littered the history of the world, building stories around only the most accomplished of those chosen few.
Stories were always based on truth, at least in part, and the stories that echoed around the halls of Olympus were legendary, painting three particular Demigods in a light that would never let them falter from prying eyes.
As sons of the Big Three, all eyes were on them. No matter where they went or what they did, people watched for their every movement either in anticipation or anxiety, it didn't matter. When one of those sons walked into a room, the focus shifted towards them like an unspoken rule.
And that was before the feats they'd accomplished.
For their whole lives, this was how they'd been treated, growing accustomed to ignoring the stares that people gave them. Of course, it didn't help when they'd each found themselves stuck in the middle of an ambiguous prophecy that could have meant any of them.
The prophecy itself had stated that a time would come, a time of great warfare that would put tremendous strain on their world, changing it forever, and at that moment, in the most crucial moment, a child of the Big Three would be the one to either save or raze Olympus.
Salvation or destruction. That was a concept that had been burned into their minds, forever at the forefront of everything they did, always to be taken into consideration for the actions they made.
Olympus was in ruin, but together they'd fought back against the tyrannical Titan Lord of Time, their Grandfather no less, an irony that wasn't missed on them. They'd managed to take Kronos down before he could fully develop his corporeal body and obliterate Olympus. Sure, the kingdom was definitely looking worse for wear, but they'd finally done it.
It was over.
Percy Jackson was on his knees, breathing heavily with blood pouring freely from the various cuts around his body. The sons of the Big Three had once taken a trip down to the Underworld, looking for answers and any advantage that they might get for this fight. In the heat of the moment where they'd all locked horns with one another about who would go into the Styx, they'd resorted to childish games of rock, paper, scissors to decide who would take the plunge.
Percy had been the one to take that painful venture into the black river. They had all agreed that there was little point in all three of them trying their luck with the Lady of the Styx. She hadn't been in a favourable mood to begin with.
The invulnerability that had served him well in the battle leading up to the throne room of Olympus didn't do quite as well against the soul reaping weapon of the Titan Lord.
Percy bled, his invulnerable skin being spliced open at an atomic level by Kronos' bastard scythe. It was painful to feel his soul being pulled apart through his skin but soon enough those cuts and bruises would heal themselves. The pain was a solid reminder that he was still mortal.
Looking around he caught sight of two of his cousins who had been caught up in the battles leading to the throne room.
Mason had stopped to help his sister, Thalia, who'd been ironically trapped under a fallen statue of their father's wife. Mason took great pleasure in destroying Hera's statue in the name of freeing Thalia; something that he knew Zeus could forgive. Or at least that was going to be his excuse for mercilessly exploding the wretched marble vision.
alas, there was nothing he could do about the smile of satisfaction that crept across his face when he'd sent chunks of stone Hera flying around the grand staircase.
The son of Zeus had seen a lot of the battle before the final fight had even begun and was no doubt to gain a substantial amount of scars due to the sheer number of Empousa that he'd had to fight off when freeing Thalia from the statue.
The last of the monsters that had lingered on, not knowing that their war had been lost, were being cut down as Percy's other cousins swooped in. Nico Di Angelo followed his, biologically, older brother up the stairs to the throne room. Dante was the same age as Percy and Mason and as of their first year in camp together, had been extremely close, all having known what it was like to grow up with the weight of expectation bearing down upon them.
Dante was on a spree, using twin blades to strike down any monster that dared to challenge him. Nico was being followed by a squad of undead fighters he'd summoned back in the world below. Zeus hardly destroyed any of them straight away, they needed all the help that they could get for defending Olympus.
Percy heard the doors swing wide open and Dante barrel-rolled through them with what seemed like an incredibly casual look considering the situation they were in. The fight against Kronos had been won with the help of an old friend, Luke Castellan, who had managed to temporarily gain control of his body once more, and finished the job with the cursed blade.
Dante cast his glance around the rubble-filled throne room, taking note of Annabeth's injuries as she tried to push herself to her feet. Thalia hobbled forwards through the grand marble doors with Mason helping her along, supporting her shoulders as they walked.
Upon seeing that it was over Nico fell to the ground from exhaustion after letting his guard fall. His adrenaline disappeared and the tiredness took over. He would be fine after his fatigue induced sleep.
Mason had burn marks all over him from where he took on the Colchis Bull in single combat which at the time had seemed like a totally sensible idea considering that they were in the middle of an all-out war for Olympus. It wasn't really a choice rather than a task he'd received by default. Percy had almost immediately been attacked by the Minotaur and driven around the side of the Pavillion while Dante had found himself having an intimate fight with Doctor Thorn which left Mason with the Colchis Bull.
Dante seemed to have the worst of the injury out of everyone present due to the lost use of one of his arms after being stung by Doctor Thorn and poisoned. It was a… Tactical move as Dante had retorted by taking Doctor Thorn's tail spikes off of his body which resulted in Thorn fleeing the battle.
Dante had cold flaky blood swept down half of his face which matched his deep garnet eyes. The blood was thick and stuck to his short already matted jet black hair. He had half of a celestial bronze plate of armour stuck to his well-toned physique.
He'd gotten a lot of cuts around his body as well, and even had an arrow sticking out of his right shoulder. It was no secret, Dante was likely the toughest out of the Demigods, but yet he wasn't the strongest or fastest or smartest, he just had an incredible talent for being stubborn when it came down to his personal fortitude. Many younger campers had heard the rumour that he was too stubborn to die, mastering Death itself as the son of Hades.
Mason's electric blue eyes scanned the scene quickly before he saw the Gods smash through the doors to the throne room. It felt pretty unnecessary, they must have seen Mason and Thalia just walk through them. It didn't matter, they were too late to join the fight but their help would be needed straight away if they were to save their sons and daughters.
Apollo marched past everyone else and saw to Annabeth's injuries first. He looked at the others while he worked on Chase. The burns on the son of Zeus would go away soon, they were minor but there were many of them. Percy was a special case and everyone knew that not even Apollo could heal him, not after he'd subjugated himself to the river Styx. The injuries would naturally heal themselves.
Apollo had to do a double-take when he spotted Dante. He was surprised that he was even still standing. His celestial bronze plate had taken so much damage that it was barely still clinging to his body by one of the thick leather straps that hung lazily over his shoulder. He saw no point in keeping it on, the battle was over. He ripped it from his body with incredible ease using the one good arm he had.
Apollo could then see the rest of the damage on Dante's body. Many open wounds, most of which would be easy to heal. Alongside the arrow that was sticking out of his shoulder, he spotted a few glints of metal surrounding a small burn mark on the boy's right side. He sent him a questioning look in the form of an incredulously raised eyebrow.
"Shrapnel from a bomb with Greek fire in it. I'd say that it was bloody genius if it hadn't hit me dead on." Dante said, brushing a hand lightly against the wound that he was talking about.
The Gods had all filed into the throne room at this point and were starting to fix the immediate damage. Apollo carried on with his self-inflicted task of healing the Demigods to the best of his ability. "I'm surprised that Hades' lad is still alive," Apollo whispered to his twin sister, Artemis.
Apparently, Dante had heard this comment however and responded in such a manner that got respect from the God of War who'd pushed past helping people and instead sauntered to his throne.
"It's because I'm a double hard bastard." He said, only wincing slightly when he plucked the arrow straight out of his shoulder. Judging by the way his shoulder moved afterwards, he managed to self-diagnose that the arrow's penetration had cleanly cracked his shoulder blade. "T'is fucked." Dante murmured as he looked at the limp limb. The feeling in the lower part of the arm had been gone for a while now due to the poison from Doctor Thorn but the arrow was in fresh territory which unfortunately meant he could feel it just as much as the rest of his wounds.
Ares chuckled despite everything that had happened. It seemed that the war had only gotten him excited and pumped up. The actual fighting had satiated his appetite for some time.
Dante finally sat himself down on the cold marble floor, clearing a pile of rubble so that he could rest on solid ground. All he could think about was taking a really long bath and falling asleep for a week after consuming copious amounts of alcohol. It didn't take longer than a few seconds before he realized that sitting upright was far too taxing and instead resorted to lying on his side, propping himself up on a hand and watching the antics of the Gods in silence.
"I'm not going to skirt around it, the lot of you have saved Olympus from certain destruction. Without any one of you, we would have failed today." Zeus said in an exhausted tone as he took up his mantle and immediately looked partially rejuvenated to some extent. As each of the Gods sat on their respective thrones, they seemed to be healed from the constant fighting.
"I think some kind of reward is in order, yes? How about some food, I'd kill to have a steak right now." Dante started being a smart-ass. Usually, the Gods wouldn't appreciate such disregard for respect but after the day they had all had, no one blamed the Demigod for being in a less than favourable mood.
"Food would be good." Percy agreed with a tired nod. Hestia nodded casually and trays of food and water appeared on the ground next to each one of the young Demigods. A sight that they all greatly appreciated.
Both Percy and Mason immediately went for the glistening jugs of water that were put before them, desperate to replenish themselves. Dante however opted for gently crawling towards a sparkling jug that was filled to the brim with a deep crimson wine. He managed to down the entire jug in mere moments, leaving him feeling fulfilled and a lot happier than he had been previously. He had a moment of victory to himself before they all gave their attention back to the Gods.
Artemis had come over to Dante in her human form and twirled her hand, signalling that he needed to give her some room to heal his injuries. He slowly agreed and shifted his position so that the Goddess of the Hunt could continue. Percy had used most of the drinking water to actually self-heal himself. The curse of Achilles was what had stopped Apollo from healing the son of Poseidon, but Percy's powers of self-preservation were very much still there. Annabeth managed to flitter back into consciousness and was given a square of ambrosia to help her regenerate at a much faster natural rate.
One by one the Demigods were brought before the council to talk about the reward that was offered to them. Each and every Demigod was offered a reward specific to them, but after that Zeus had asked that Percy, Dante and Mason remain while the others left. Annabeth and Nico helped Thalia out and they left to get some rest. They were allowed to stay on Olympus that night, and for that, they were truly thankful.
"Ow." Dante hissed as Artemis started poking around the pieces of shrapnel that lined his left side. She'd healed the burn damage but the metal shard had remained, and seemingly refused to leave him. She slowly lifted her gaze just enough to glare at the fidgeting boy. "What? You're tugging at pieces of metal stuck in my skin, it hurts." He told her.
"Are you not the Demigod that broke most of his bones trying to fist-fight Atlast? I don't remember you whining about that when Apollo brought you in to undo all that damage. Don't be such a baby." Artemis hissed back at him with the slightest hint of amusement in her voice. Dante merely grunted in response before letting her get back to fix his broken body.
"We wanted to offer you three something a little bit different from simple immortality." Zeus began to explain but he found it a little bit harder than he'd originally thought. What he'd been proposed by his daughter, Athena, was complex and left three of the most capable Demigods free to roam without any official links to Olympus.
"We are offering you a new role within our society." Athena said, taking over from the struggling King of Olympus knowing that she would do it better than Zeus could, "Three immortal Guardians. You would be free to do as you please, whether it's simply hunting down monsters, preventing the next Titan uprising, or helping Demigods escape their mortal lives, and find safety in Camp Half-Blood." Athena told them.
Percy couldn't help but look around at the faces of the Gods to see if this was a decision made between the council or just an idea that Zeus had to create an elite fighting force at his command. He didn't get anything more than an emotionless expression from Hades, who was now proudly sitting on a throne because of Percy's personal wish. He got a funny look from Artemis who looked away the moment their eyes locked, he thought that was a bit strange but didn't press into it too much.
"Guardians. I like the sound of that. It kind of just rolls off the tongue." Dante rambled quietly, unsure whether or not Zeus had even heard him. Mason was watching the healing process intently, pulling his wavy blonde hair out of his eyes every now and then to keep his vision clear. Artemis had now managed to extract all of the shards from Dante's ribs and left his side without any further words. Dante muttered something about the typicality of it all.
Percy and Mason exchanged a glance at the offer they had been presented with. "All you must do is swear your loyalty to Olympus. We will only call upon you should we truly need the aid of the Guardians. You three are the strongest Demigods to have ever lived and we can all see the potential for so much more" Zeus returned to be the leading voice of the council. He'd laid down his terms and eagerly awaited a response.
Dante pushed himself to his feet and slowly trudged his way over to the other two, all eyes watching these three Demigods. They quietly conferred amongst themselves, the anticipation from the Gods was almost palpable. In truth, none of them had any real way of knowing what the reaction from these three would be.
Percy was the first to change his direction, facing the council directly, eyes looking across the faces of a few Gods before settling on Zeus. "I believe that I speak on their behalf when I say that we will agree to this new purpose. As your new Guardians, we will answer the beck and call to aid Olympus in their times of need. This I swear on the Styx." Percy said with a fiery conviction, crossing his arms as he stood tall and proud. He felt that after everything had been said and done, he would no longer feel the need to kneel to this council.
Thunder rumbled outside the throne room, signalling the deal had been done. The Gods all muttered their surprise, but it was mostly positive. Mason and Dante both showed their silent agreement in different ways but it was very clear to the Gods of Olympus that this was a decision that had been made between the three of them.
A few minutes later and it was done, all three Guardians had sworn more formal oaths on the Styx to become eternal warriors sworn to aid Olympus should the need ever arise. With the definite clause in their metaphorical contracts, they had all been granted a massive decorum of freedom, something that each of them so desperately craved after all of this fighting.
"Go now, our Guardians, the celebrations are to begin soon, Apollo has infused a bit too much energy into the ambrosia that he's been healing people with, it would seem to be a shame to waste that energy and not relish the end of the war," Zeus commanded, but this time he had somewhat of a smile adorning his face.
It was strange, but after all this time, they were finally free from the threat of Kronos taking over the world and destroying Olympus. The boys left the throne room and the moment that they did, they noticed that each of them shimmered slightly. Percy had a blue light to his body, much like how the Hunters of Artemis shone silver in the moonlight. Mason had a bright yellow shine that came around every once in a while, seemingly emulating that of power and electricity. Dante of course had a deep red colour to him, as bright as hellfire. They emerged from the throne room as different men, immortal men: Guardians.
The celebrations were vast and everyone they knew had come along to congratulate the defenders of Olympus for saving everyone. Ares and Dante were deep in a chat about their favourite ways to kill a Manticore, a conversation that was likely being fuelled by wine and hatred. To anyone outside of their conversation, they would have appeared to be complete psychopaths.
Both Mason and Thalia were enjoying the time that they could talk to their father without it being in any vague form of lightning, sitting together at a small table in the midst of the pavilion as the party raged on around them.
Nico was proudly standing with his father, getting a lot of attention from the many daughters of Aphrodite. "Go on." Hades rolled his eyes with a laugh before pushing his younger boy towards the women.
Dante noticed this and raised his eyebrow at his father. Hades only winked before stalking off to find Poseidon. Funny, Dante and Hades were on totally different levels when it came to Nico as Dante was sure that his little brother was a bit more on the side of men but maybe only time would tell, for now, he'd see how Nico dealt with the daughters of Aphrodite.
"Excuse me, son of Hades?" A feminine but godlike voice asked for the man. Turning around he found himself face to face with the Goddess of the Hunt, it had taken him a good second to figure out that it was her, she didn't look much like the small Goddess that had tried to heal his wound only an hour ago, right now she was… Aged, much, much closer to that of himself which was just strange.
He still felt obliged to bow whenever he was presented before a different God or Goddess. She scowled slightly at him. "Please stop doing that." She told him. He was more doing it now to annoy her, however. There was no malice in it, that's just how he was, and fortunately, Artemis could see that. She scowled at him briefly, "Are you just doing this to annoy me?" She asked him in an overly serious manner.
He couldn't help but smirk. "A little bit, yeah." He admitted, still feeling annoyed that she'd been careless with his wounds, he knew she could have done it without hurting him.
She tilted her head slightly. "It's not wise to anger a God," Artemis responded calmly.
Dante shrugged and had a careless expression. "It's not wise to be this beautiful around a son of Hades." He retorted flashing a good-natured smile her way. She smiled back using it as a front. She was actually looking past his veteran body, and into his mind. He frowned immediately, his eyes were dull and unfocused as if his mind was elsewhere while he tried to figure out what she was doing. She noticed this and was shocked when she could no longer see into the freshly made immortal's mind.
"Just ask me, and I'll gladly tell you anything you wish to know." He explained calmly. She looked into his eyes again and saw nothing but the truth. Artemis did however get a small piece of information that she was seeking before Dante could block her off.
"You are flirty and a ladies man with every woman you meet, however, you have no intention of involving yourself with them. At first appearance, you are the prime specimen of what my hunters and I hate. But under that layer, you're completely different. Kind and caring and would never hurt anyone who didn't deserve it." Artemis cocked her head slightly. "You are one of the few exceptions of men that I will tolerate." She smiled briefly at one of the champions of Olympus but it flickered away ever so slightly, "But don't ever flirt with me again." She added.
He waved off her ending threat and decided to focus on the first part of what she'd had to say to him, "So despite the animal that I turn into when I'm fighting and my surprisingly crass personality, you'd still count me as an exception to other men?" He questioned her, enjoying his time to poke fun at Gods. She considered this for a moment before placing a single finger on his forehead.
He scowled at the Goddess, this time he could not prevent her from entering his mind. "You never use this personality to women with the exceptions of personal jest to those close to you where the situations would be understood by both parties." Artemis continued, releasing her hold over his mind.
He muffled a slight growl at the personal intrusion. "And everyone has their darker sides, I would expect nothing different from a son of Hades. It has been a pleasure to fight alongside you today Dante. Some advice for you though, do not let your anger overwhelm you. It may prove to be both a blessing and a curse." Artemis smiled before she went to find the other Guardians. Dante frowned. A blessing AND a curse? Why did Gods always have to be so cryptic?
Sighing, Dante went to go and mingle with other Gods and Demigods alike. A quick stop by Dionysus first though, his wine was getting dangerously low, and nowhere near as strong as it needed to be considering that Apollo's wicked painkillers weren't holding up quite as nicely as he wanted.
Elsewhere, sitting at a table in the pavilion where the main feast was being held, Zeus like all of the other Gods had assumed a human size so that it would be more of a normal celebration for the true heroes of Olympus. Sitting with him were two of his children, both immortals now. Thalia had achieved immortality by joining the eternal Hunt of her Olympian sister, Artemis, whereas his son, Mason had become a Guardian, a completely new role within their society.
They had been talking like a regular family but the conversation soon swept to their shared passion for battle. Artemis came over and it was a different scene once she got stood to attention and Mason kneeled in front of her which provided for quite the amusing contrast.
Artemis laughed lightly, "Thalia there's really no need for that. Not only are you my highest lieutenant, but you're my sister." She smiled before turning to Mason. "Mason get up, you're making the floor dirty." She smirked before talking to her family, like family, despite him being a man.
"You're my brother, and more than that you're a Guardian now. They are above the minor Gods of Olympus. You do not need to kneel in front of me any longer." She smiled equally before saying her piece to her father. The small part of the family had laughed and drank before Artemis moved on once more. This time to find the Guardian that most intrigued her. She didn't quite know why he interested her so much but she was determined to find out. He was no doubt celebrating alongside the daughter of Athena.
Artemis had to question why there had never been anything between the two Demigods. They'd had the closest friendship out of any one of them that she'd ever seen and as of yet neither of them had shown any interest in each other beyond their inseparable friendship.
She couldn't exactly blame Annabeth though, for Percy was above all, a man. He was a Guardian now though and she suspected that his duties would slowly separate them, which saddened her greatly. After the battle had ended and the Demigods had been spoken to individually about their rewards, Annabeth had been gifted Godhood, she was both the minor Goddess of Wisdom and Architecture, following after Athena and Hestia respectively. A fitting reward for one such as herself.
Artemis noticed a shimmer of blue light and she thought that her eyes were playing tricks on her. She spotted Percy but the shimmer didn't die down. She looked over to her father who was smirking at her. He had bestowed every possible privilege of Godhood on them except for the essence of being a God. If they had been made Gods, they would have been forbidden from intervening with mortal affairs. This way, Olympus could still retain a strong handhold on the mortal world.
She came into sight of Percy who had been merely talking with some other Demigods and feasting. "My lady." He said as he kneeled to the ground once he'd seen that she'd joined their circle, alongside the other Demigods in the area. Most dispersed however due to the intimidating nature of the Goddess of the Hunt.
"Perseus." She smiled briefly. Annabeth went to find Grover who had been relentlessly chasing some Nymphs for the last hour at least. Percy noticed how she had assumed her human form, yet retained her godlike appearance. He noted how beautiful she was. Not quite Aphrodite but if anything, beauty could easily have been a secondary domain for Artemis.
"Was there something you needed m'lady?" Percy asked her respectfully. He didn't know why she wanted to talk to him, but he had to act normally. He was only used to a few Gods even now. Mostly his father and Zeus, he had however had his fair share of dealings with Ares. A painful collection of dealings.
"Oh? I cannot just celebrate and congratulate one of the heroes of Olympus?" She asked him with a scorching scowl. He didn't flinch at all by her scolding demeanour which shocked her.
"Yeah but… I'm still just a guy, I thought you hated men?" He asked her, slightly confused but still no trace of fear of the Goddess. She liked that, he and his cousins were brave and fiercely loyal to one another. They also each had incredible respect for women alike, despite any faults that they had, they were the few men that Artemis could easily tolerate, and being Guardians it would be inevitable that they and the Hunters would no doubt end up working together.
The celebrations carried on but there was some commotion that prevented Artemis from talking with Percy any further which greatly disappointed her. She'd get her chance another day though. Everyone looked over to Mason and Dante chasing Grover and Annabeth through the pavilion, the former two cursing at the troublemakers whilst Annabeth and Grover laughed alongside most of the party-goers.
Apollo burst out into laughter next to Hermes. It must have been those two Gods that put Annabeth and Grover up to whatever prank that had achieved. Looking closer Percy pointed to something so that Artemis could see where to look. She leaned in, placing a hand on Percy's arm. He noticed this but she didn't, he found it strange, to say the least, but once she'd found what everyone was looking at she let go.
Somehow, they had tied the laces from Dante's combat boots, up with those of Mason's converse. They hobbled along trying to catch the pranksters. They got far too frustrated however and began to fight between themselves, throwing punches.
Lightning hit around them while the ground began to spontaneously combust on places that they'd previously been. Percy sighed before looking back at Artemis who had an expectant expression, she was obviously waiting to see how he would handle the situation. He bowed deeply which annoyed the Goddess. Percy was clearly the peacekeeper between the cousins and he would be a vital part of their success as Guardians.
Vaulting over a table he flicked his wrist and immediately a jug of water came to life, the contents emptying itself over the fighting cousins who abruptly stopped when they had been soaked to the bone.
"Done?" Percy asked them. They both nodded in agreement before Dante sent one final jab into Mason's face. It wasn't hard by any means of what they were capable of.
The fight was over and the subject of their entrapment came barreling back into all of their minds. "Holds onto these for me," Dante muttered as he leapt out of his boots high into the air before touching down gracefully. They both exchanged a glance before looking over at Annabeth and Grover who paled when he realized that now the cousins were free, there was very little chance of escape.
"Bah." Grover bleated in fear. Annabeth had already disappeared. Dante chased her down before long. Dante and Annabeth had been gone for no more than a few minutes before a grinning barefooted son of Hades had ironically returned with Annabeth's shoes which he elegantly tossed into a fountain as he walked past, laughing to himself as he went.
The celebrations for the night continued after their light entertainment, it was truly a night that they were all somehow managing to relax with despite the hardships they'd all faced. It wasn't easy, they'd lost loved ones and friends alike but perhaps the last thing they needed right after the victory of Olympus was to process and mourn immediately.
The celebrations had gone on long into the night and before they knew it, time was starting to pass.
A year had gone by since the war for Olympus and in that time nobody had seen nor heard from the Demigods who had ascended their mortality and become Guardians. There was widespread speculation that they'd gone off the radar to train with various Gods but nobody was willing to openly speak about it. Ares for one was remaining tight-lipped about anything regarding the Guardians.
Artemis and her Hunters had set up their camp in a thick forest where visibility by mortals was zero. With no activity from the Guardians, things were beginning to get a bit restless with monster sightings. The balance had been tipped with the three most powerful Demigods simply vanished, whether to train or not the margin of strength had gone down considerably.
The hunters would take the challenge upon themselves, but help was needed for the bigger bands of monsters that were starting to emerge, on top of that the Hunters were starting to find themselves more in the spotlight of the monsters that they were hunting as a result.
Thalia snapped her head to the sound of a nearby crack of roots. None of the hunters were careless enough to make any noise in the woods. She pulled back an arrow on her bow and slowly the other hunters caught onto what was happening.
Stunned at the sight of a very calm Manticore slowly stalking its way into Artemis' encampment they all got bows at the ready and began firing but before the Manticore could be taken down, a flash of metal had landed in front of it, blinding them all as it initially reflected the beaming rays of the sun back at them.
The Colchis Bull had deflected every shot that had been fired at the Manticore. Knowing that they had more than an unfair fight on their hands they began to slowly retreat when they heard another sound. The Minotaur had appeared behind them, billowing smoke from its nose, wielding a huge axe in its hands.
Artemis cursed their luck. They had been out for a full day of hunting down lesser monsters and now here they were, tired and having to fight off three greater monsters? She couldn't recall a time before that these three monsters had gone out of their way to fight together without being heralded by a greater banner and yet here they were.
A flash of lightning had caught everyone's attention, both the Hunters and the monsters. Once Artemis looked back towards the threat, there stood a warrior clad in all white armour that she'd never seen the likes of before.
Around the edges of the armour was a pulsing yellow trim that seemed to ooze power. It had blocky plates of armour that stuck out, giving another dimension to the way they looked. Underneath the plates of armour, this warrior was wearing some kind of dark grey full body underlayer that contrasted against the brilliant white of the armour.
The thing that caught her attention the most was the set of feather angelic wings hanging from the warrior's back with such grace and elegance. The next thing she knew she could smell the salty breeze of the sea and out of nowhere there stood another warrior. This one had the same white armour on except for the small fact that he had a sea blue trim around his armour as opposed to the brilliant yellow of the first warrior.
This fighter had no wings aligning his back though but instead had what seemed like a watery overlay just flowing freely over parts of the armour. Artemis couldn't believe her eyes. It was like Olympus had seen they needed help.
The ground shook violently before opening up and a third and final white warrior leapt up from a fissure that quickly closed itself up. This one had the same armour like the other two but with deep red trim around the protruding armour pieces. He also had no wings on his back, but with an entrance like that, she doubted he needed it. She gasped when she recognized who it was but couldn't speak for the life of her as it felt like there was a lump in her throat. She believed them gone for good.
It was the Guardians, but she'd never seen armour like this, it must have been a gift from Hephaestus, no one else would have had the creativity possible to craft something like those suits.
The Minotaur charged straight at them but the one with wings leapt up high and punched it directly in the face sending it hurtling back towards the tree line. The Colchis Bull and the Manticore assumed a defensive position at these new arrivals. "Hey no fair, we didn't even Ro Sham Bo for the Minotaur!" A familiar voice called out in genuine hurt, it was the red-trimmed warrior.
The Hunters couldn't believe it, they had formed a triangle and were literally playing rock, paper, and scissors over who got to fight the biggest one. After two knockouts, the red warrior let out a victorious yell. It seemed that the Guardians had decided their battle plan just in time.
The Minotaur had charged, aiming its horns directly at the three. The blue one turned his body into a wave and moved out of the way with grace just as the yellow one jumped and his wings extended. He pulled out a great sword that looked heavier than the armour itself. He converged on the Colchis Bull, landing on its back which immediately sent the grand mechanical bull wild, bucking around in a frenzy fueled by panic and hatred, pounding off into the forest with a winged Guardian riding it erratically.
The Minotaur reached the cheering Guardian and almost hit him dead on when the danger seemed to hit home with him. He turned and grabbed the Minotaur by the horns, almost stopping it in its tracks. The Minotaur managed to push him back a few feet until the charged assault was finally stopped. Artemis couldn't believe it. Not even some of the Gods had power and strength enough to stop the Minotaur at full charge.
"M'lady." The warrior nodded as he broke off from the Minotaur's horns and landed a few punches in its face, effectively disorientating it. He pulled out two daggers that didn't contain a consistent composition. Half of them were celestial bronze while the other side of the daggers were composed of the same metal that their armour seemed to be made from.
Artemis noticed that their armour was not of Ancient Greek design. It had Hephaestus' touch to it, but it was modern, much like a power armour made from coated celestial bronze. The strength required to carry around that much metal was astounding though, let alone to be fighting with as much dexterity as one of her Hunters.
Artemis' focus had been captured when the blue-trimmed warrior had uncapped a pen that turned into a very complex short sword. Riptide. It WAS Percy. She should have known, no other children of Poseidon would be strong enough to travel via water molecules. He fought with even more prowess than he had on Olympus. This past year he had only improved on his skills. That must have meant that the one with the angelic wings could only be Mason, her younger brother, which in turn meant that the last remaining Guardian who was currently assaulting the Minotaur was none other than the eldest son of Hades.
Dante threw one of his daggers and managed to impale it in the Minotaur's beefy neck. The next dagger was used as a club, he jumped and pounded the already embedded dagger straight into the throat of the charging brute. It turned into dust before it even hit the ground. Dante thrust his hand into the mountain of golden dust and retrieved his lodged blade and socketed them both before turning towards the other two Guardians.
The moment he turned around, he dodged and narrowly avoided the thorn from the Manticore's sting. "Perce, stop him from doing that." Dante supplied casually. The moment he'd said that the other Guardian had corresponded, twisting high over the swipes that the Manticore was giving him and slicing his tail in half, right before landing with a thud and sticking Riptide straight through the monster's back.
The Manticore turned to dust before their eyes. That left Mason and the Colchis Bull whose fight could only be heard in the distance. From the sounds of the battle, it was going more or less the same as the fight that Artemis and the Hunters had witnessed first-hand.
Lightning shook the ground and the next thing they saw was the last Guardian joining the ground with golden ichor lazily seeping out of his leg. The gold dust spread out into the wind. They were all completely unharmed except for the small scratch that Mason had sustained. The Hunters all had their bows drawn and were ready to shoot at them despite the clear show of skill and otherwise pure dominance that they'd all just witnessed.
Phoebe let fly an arrow that would have hit Dante square in the white helmet that covered each of their faces completely. Percy caught the arrow mere inches from his cousin's face which caused Phoebe to stare in shock. No man should be able to do that.
Dante examined this and took the arrow from Percy's hand before casually walking straight towards Phoebe, ignoring the threats from the other archers completely. He stopped about a foot from the perpetrator. Artemis examined this completely. She knew for a fact what each and every Guardian was like and knew that they were no threat to them.
Artemis waved her hand and the Hunters all lowered their bows. Phoebe kept her look of defiance. Dante's faceplate swiped upwards revealing his naturally good looking face.
"That; wasn't a very nice thing to do, Huntress." He said, handing back the arrow that would have caused him a lot of pain had it hit him. He turned his focus towards Artemis. The other two Guardians had caught up, the three of them falling into formation perfectly. Their face-plates come up as well. Artemis noticed Percy's sea-green eyes looking directly at hers and once again couldn't understand why she was so interested in him and his engaging stare.
They all kneeled before the maiden Goddess, "The Guardians are at your disposal." Mason told her with the same tone of respect that he'd always given her. They all rose once again. The respect that Artemis felt for these men was above everything. That would have been a tough enough fight as it was without them, but they handled it with one person to each greater monster. Better than her Hunters could have done it, not that she was ever going to admit that to them.
"Follow me." She told them as she led them all to her tent of strategy and planning. Inside there was a big table with a map that seemed overlaid with one of modern-day New York. They were tracking something big, this was definitely an area of expertise for the Guardians to help them out in. The three cousins couldn't help but smile at the prospect of fighting something huge alongside the Goddess of the Hunt.
"Big game hunting?" Percy asked, moving a gloved hand over a small handmade map that seemed to mark the location of a den of some kind. The cousins were all looking and studying different things. Mason seemed the most interested in an old manuscript that located an ancient dragon.
"Yes. Dragons." Artemis answered seriously. All three boys immediately had widened eyes. They then all shared a look of confusion and glanced between one another.
"I thought Peleus was the last of his kind." Mason offered up, not really talking to anyone in particular but just stating the fact.
"He's not, we're tracking down the dragons because they have risen from solitude and attacked mortals. This cannot be allowed to happen. If the dragons are organising themselves, it can only be bad news for all of us." Artemis told them. Dante began to pace around before he spoke again. It seemed that they had already decided that they were helping the Hunters track the dragons and now they were just formulating battle strategies. Artemis stood and folded her arms across her chest, just watching the cousins go at it. None of them paid any attention to her.
"If it's a dragon then we're more than likely going to have a battle in the sky," Mason told them both. Percy and Dante considered this. Dante looked fairly disgruntled by that which was kind of understandable. Mason was the one who had control over elements of the sky, Dante was far more comfortable with solid ground.
"Mobility will be key." Percy looked from cousin to cousin. Dante stopped pacing and considered this, stroking his chin as he did so.
"I…need some transportation." He said humbly before Artemis whistled loudly getting their attention, not enjoying the way she was being left out of this particular conversation.
"Transportation for what?" She asked him in confusion. She wasn't surprised that they'd been distant from everyone for a year, they had their own way of doing things and it surely worked for them when they weren't playing Ro Sham Bo for who got to brag about the toughest kill, but to work with other groups, they really had to get better with their group discussions.
Mason snorted slightly as his wings extended. "If we're going to fight dragons, then Dante needs a way to maintain altitude," Mason explained like it was the most simple thing there was to understand.
She took this into account before staring at Percy. "He doesn't have wings either." She pointed out as if this was the most obvious flaw in their statement. Without looking away from her eyes, Percy whistled lightly. A moment later the Hunters were all making noises of amazement outside Artemis' tent.
A pure black Pegasus strode proudly through Artemis' tent and nestled its head against Percy's armour-clad shoulder.
"Blackjack got an upgrade when we were made Guardians. He can answer my summons almost instantly." Percy explained, playing a hand on Blackjack's muzzle.
Percy tilted his head slightly and frowned. "Now is not the time for that. Plus she might kill you." Percy seemingly spoke to himself but Artemis quickly reminded herself that Poseidon had power over horses as well, and naturally, Percy would have inherited such powers.
"Well he's not a man, so obviously I will hear his request," Artemis told the water Guardian with the slightest grin showing.
Percy thought about it for a moment before shaking his head, "No, you'll definitely kill him. Moving on. I have Blackjack, Mason has wings himself." Percy tried to get their conversation back on track.
"Speaking of, how do you have wings? That isn't a power inherited by the children of Zeus. I've only ever seen wings on Thanatos." Artemis prodded, trying to figure out exactly where her younger brother had acquired the feathery attachments.
"Perk of the job." He answered with a shrug like it explained everything there was. Artemis sighed, she could tell that she wasn't likely to get a straight answer out of them.
"How do we get Dante in the air? I can guarantee that if you can get all three of us in the air with a dragon, we can kill it." Percy grinned, a challenging look in his eyes. Artemis had to do a double-take when she noticed that Percy's determined look was also present. She couldn't help but smile at the certainty that these cousins had.
"Or if you get me in the air with Blackjack I can enter the eye of the storm so to speak." Dante offered his suggestion but that was insanity at its core, not to mention that Blackjack was testy about anyone but Percy being the rider, even though Dante was one of the closest beings to him.
Artemis realised what he wanted to do but forced herself not to speak up against it, these Guardians knew how to do their job and she didn't want to throw a stick between them because of the fact that she would treat them how she would treat her Hunters.
"You want to ride the dragon?" Mason asked him with a wondrous look playing across his face as he contemplated whether or not it was even possible. He quickly decided that it wasn't. Shaking his head he was forced to disagree with his cousin,
"Not possible, the dragon would be too strong for you to hold on to and you'd be very lucky to get those daggers deep enough to even damage it some. Plus what if you'd fallen? We might not be fast enough to stop you from turning into an ichor stain." Mason told him, instantly throwing that conclusion out of the window.
"Ok so maybe it would be unlikely, but what if you two can ground the dragon then with the help of the Hunters, I can finish it off?" Dante said excitedly. It seemed that in his mind he knew that he was killing a dragon pretty soon.
Artemis whistled and her first lieutenant entered the tent. Thalia, a sister to both Mason and Artemis. Dante felt a little bit overwhelmed with so many children of Zeus in one place.
"Sister, I need your input." Artemis quickly explained the Guardian's plan. Percy was quietly leaning against Blackjack almost dozing off.
Because of his ADHD, he found that he had to leave the strategizing down to his cousins. Dante, Mason, Artemis and a daughter of Athena had all been formulating a plan to get the Dragon on the ground once they had roused it from its sleep inside its mountainside burrow.
Percy swore that he'd only closed his eyes for one second and the next thing he knew, Blackjack was talking to him.
'Lady Artemis is standing right next to you by the way… And apparently, she can talk to Pegasi as well.' His voice entered Percy's mind.
Percy's eyes snapped open and sure enough, standing right next to him, patting the winged horse on the head, stood the eternal Goddess herself. He managed to fake a small smile as he pretended that he hadn't fallen asleep. It didn't really give off the best impression of eternal Guardians.
"You know, if you only ask, then we can provide you three with a place to rest. Whether your fight with the monsters was easy or not, a fight is a fight and will always fatigue a person." Artemis reasoned with him. He didn't know why she had taken such an interest in him but he assumed that it was nothing more than simple fascination as to how much potential a person had, which nobody yet knew for the Guardians.
"Lady Artemis, might I be so bold as to query something?" He asked her respectfully, never lowering the amazing gaze that he gave off. Artemis looked at the man he was compared to the boy he used to be. Back when she first met him he was hopeless when talking to anyone that wasn't his mother, and now he had that bad boy attitude that did it for almost every woman he met. Aphrodite had been after him and his cousins for years now and they'd all declined her for their own personal reasons.
Percy had no interest in becoming infatuated with the Goddess of lust. Mason had his eyes set firmly on a certain daughter of Ares that he'd been caught with multiple times, and Dante simply denied her for bragging rights, something that no one had ever been able to claim. Percy was smart, Mason was committed, and Dante… Was stubborn.
Artemis couldn't help but admit that Dante was a very peculiar individual. He would defy the lords and ladies of a court anything that he didn't want to do despite the obvious consequences. She smiled at the thought of the many rumours surrounding the Guardians, most of them were started by younger Demigods but were entertaining nonetheless.
Percy was the calm Guardian of the seas, the peacekeeper that often kept his cousins in line. Mason, the Angelic Guardian of the skies, the one who brought swift justice to monsters and abusive stepparents out there everywhere. Then there was Dante; the devil who would never bend a knee to anyone that he didn't respect. The Guardian of the land.
Artemis sighed heavily, pulling herself back to the matter at hand, "Of course?" She willed him to ask his piece and be out with it already. She tried to read his mind when he was asking her, but like she'd done with Dante almost a full year previously, she had been blocked by Percy's mental willpower.
Percy stopped his questions to purposely poke fun at the Goddess. "Looking for something specific?" Percy flashed his bad-boy grin that told Artemis that he was at an advantage, knowing full well that she couldn't read his thoughts anymore.
"You seem to have taken a fair interest in me. Why? I am of no particular importance in any regard. And of course, there is nothing beyond curiosity in it because you're a maiden Goddess." Percy explained, all the while maintaining his curious look.
Artemis looked into his sea-green eyes, holding the look for what felt like an eternity before he finally looked away, her silver eyes remaining to be too intense for him to handle for too long.
"I am unsure. You are all different from each other and yet remain to be unique even within your little unit. I wish to find out what makes you so special." She answered, making sure that he knew her words were meant in a good-natured spirit.
Percy nodded, he could tell that she wasn't being entirely truthful but he wasn't about to argue with a Goddess over her own words. Dante sighed for an amazingly long time making everyone in the room stare at him.
"Can we not just get Hephaestus to coat some bullets in celestial bronze and let us shoot the bloody thing?" He asked, clearly despising any written work that he'd already been forced to do.
The sun was setting heavily and the boys hadn't eaten in quite some time. They didn't need sustenance, but it was a good morale booster, something that helped to keep them all consistently focused, which was the main reason that Dante was struggling to keep their train of thought directed towards the hunting plans.
Artemis shook her head with a sigh, "Not really," She mused, "Normal bullets, even ones coated in celestial bronze will be too shallow and not weigh enough to impact. So they'd probably just bounce off a dragon. Simply not enough stopping force, no, what we honestly need is someone with enough power to force some metal through the damn thing. There's a reason we don't use guns." She told them.
At the mention of them needing force and metal, Mason held up his greatsword with a single hand showing zero effort. The sword was about as big as Artemis herself which made her question exactly how strong these Guardians were.
She decided that she would set up a tent for the Guardians and they could continue strategizing their plans tomorrow. "Let's come back to this in the morning, we can hunt for the time being." She told them as they all filed out of the tent, gaining looks from the Hunters. Percy nodded to Blackjack who took off with grace and left to go back to Camp Half-Blood. He would call for him if he needed him in the morning.
The Guardians all went straight over to a small bench and sat down while Artemis explained the situation to the hunters. Most of them weren't happy but they all accepted this because of the fact that the Guardians were practically Gods.
Dante pulled open a small compartment in his armour and pulled out a small device along with some earphones which promptly pushed into his ears, drowning out the sounds of the world. He casually let his body fall to the floor, his frame emulating that of liquid before he curved himself and adjusted to the ground with no conscious thought needed. He lay there absent-minded, with his arms resting behind his head.
Artemis reckoned that the Guardians must have gotten used to wearing this much armour for long periods of time. Mason was sat leaning forwards so that he didn't damage his wings.
He was resting his head against his palm, about to say something to Dante but realised that he wouldn't have heard and probably wouldn't have cared either, so he instead looked over to Percy.
"If we are to stay here the night and have some time before the hunt begins, I would like to make a quick visit to Camp Half-Blood?" Mason told him. It was phrased like a question but he wasn't really asking for approval.
Percy nodded at him with a smile, "Of course. Tell Clarisse I said hi." He smirked at Mason with his best smug grin. Mason nodded nonchalantly before standing up and stretching, he walked a few meters away from the bench then disappeared in a flash of lightning. This got a few rogue looks from the Hunters that were wandering around not doing much.
Dante had noticed the lightning and questioned Percy about it. "What I miss?" He took out his earphones and put them back into his compact leg compartment. Instead, he now took out one of his twin blades and twirled it around with skill. He liked to play with his knives in his downtime. He spun it in his gloved hands before contemplating challenging one of the Hunters to a true shot contest. It would certainly provide him with something to do, they might even be quite the challenge for him.
"He's gone camping for a while. No doubt to see Clarisse." Percy explained casually, not paying much attention to anything around them. Percy had managed to learn patience during the year that the Guardians had trained, but there was only so much and eventually, his ADHD would get the better of him. He decided to stand and stretch his body before pacing slightly and deciding what he should do.
"She's going to kick his ass for not being around for a year." Dante chuckled, holstering his knife. There was silence between them for a few seconds before Dante looked around, "I…" He exaggerated the point, "Am going to go and challenge some Hunters. What are you going to do?" He asked.
Percy looked up with a frown until he'd finally sensed what he was looking for, a small lake near the basin of the forested hill that they were on, it would do nicely for a swim. "I've just found a lake. I'll see you later." Percy grinned as he quickly evaporated and materialized at the lake.
This time without his heavy armour and just half of the base layer that the Guardians had, it made for an excellent swimming material. It was made up of thousands of pieces of conjoined armour links. They were all extremely lightweight and therefore felt less like a suit of armour and more like a base layer of compression clothes. He'd opted for not having anything cover his top half, instead just covering his modesty and lower portions.
He flexed his torso and arms, revealing the many muscles that glistened underneath his pale skin. Since training began he'd fully utilized all of his muscles and let them grow to be quite defined. He slowly waded into the water until he felt entirely at ease. This was the part of life itself that he appreciated the most; absolute serenity. The calm washed over him and before long his eyes were falling closed.
Back at the makeshift Hunters camp, Dante couldn't see Artemis anywhere but he wasn't going to do anything bad, he just wanted to find a challenge. He quickly found himself face to face with Phoebe, she would surely jump at the chance to make him look bad.
"You." She said with incredible malice.
Dante made sure to look around him to exaggerate the point, "Me?" He asked her. He loved winding her up already.
"What are you doing here? We do not need help from boys." She spat, eyes narrowed towards him. Since planning their attack on the dragon, the Guardian's had disconnected their helmets from their suits, all it had taken was a mere thought for their head protection to fade away. It was impressive the kind of power they now had in their hands.
"Well when you're fighting dragons and you're cursing that you can't ground them, just think how handy it would be to have Guardians that can take the fight to them." Dante retorted with a smile before considering Phoebe as a challenge, "I bet fifty drachmae that I can best you in a throwing knife contest." He said immediately before Phoebe could respond to his previous comment.
She considered it for a moment before a small grin spread across her face, "Oh bring it on, Guardian." She smirked as the other Hunters gathered round. It hadn't taken long before Thalia had walked over with a tiny target and pinned it to a tree twenty feet away from them.
"Just to make it a fair contest, you will both use the same throwing knives at the same time. So Dante you give Phoebe one of yours and vice versa." Thalia told them. Dante begrudgingly permitted one of his throwing knives to his contender and accepted one of her own.
They threw the silver hunter's knife firsts, it was lightweight but had a good balance to it. They both hit the target dead on with what looked like no effort at all. With that being the case, the target was moved back ten feet and the knives returned.
Next, they threw the Guardian's knife to the same result. The contest kept going until they were throwing at a target fifty feet away. It was now a question of who could pull off the fanciest throw. Phoebe did a flip and used her momentum to launch the knife with expert efficiency. It thudded right into the tree right through the centre of the small paper target.
"Ah… shit." Dante cursed plainly, not bothering to filter his words. Whilst the Hunters were mostly immortal teenagers, they were all actually much older than him.
"What's wrong Guardian, seeing defeat?" Phoebe teased him. Just from her tone, he had decided to step his game up in a make or break trick shot. It was her tone, so teasing and yet it made him so sure of himself. He definitely liked this Huntress enough to show her up.
"No, I just got caught up admiring your beauty." He smirked at her, making it known exactly how he was, she scowled at him heavily. He walked over to Thalia and pointed to a small sash that wrapped around the bottom end of the spear that she carried. She hesitated slightly but pulled it free from her weapon and gave it to the Guardian.
Dante centred himself and looked downhill at the target for a few seconds to get a sense of how he needed to move before tying the sash around his eyes. He was blinded and he'd only know from the sounds of the Huntress' reactions whether or not he'd made the shot.
He purposely tilted his head over to where he knew Phoebe was standing before readying his knife and spinning his body for the momentum to make the shot. He heard a thud in the distance before a few gasps were heard. Grinning, he couldn't help but feel like the most talented marksman there. He knew for a fact that it was a fluke, however.
Lifting the sash he turned to see Phoebe giving him a death glare potent enough to topple Kronos. He smiled and extended his hand though, "How lucky was that? I'd say that makes it a tie." He said without a trace of sarcasm. This caught her off guard and she accepted the handshake with a confused expression playing on her face.
"When do we hunt? I'm hungry." Dante turned to Thalia who rolled her eyes at the Guardian.
"You can't be hungry, you're immortal." She told him slowly. She was starting to get an eye for understanding how Dante's mind worked. He'd always appeared to everyone at camp as quite an oddball but the more that she thought about it, the more she was starting to think that actually, he had the better approach to life with all of his quirks.
He considered this for a moment before turning back to her, "No, yeah I'm definitely hungry, let's go." He said, extending his hand for her. She shook her head and pushed Dante forwards roughly, but he simply smirked at her. He reached up to his shoulder and pulled what looked like a piece of his armour out, it was a long strip of white metal except once he shook it, it turned into a death black bow with shadows for strings.
"Where in Hades did you get that?" Thalia asked him in shock. Dante examined the bow briefly before he assumed a hunting position. They were stalking through the woods looking for pretty much anything. "It was a gift from Nico." He answered her before standing up straight, looking around in confusion. Something wasn't right, he could feel it in the air.
"What is it?" Thalia asked him, drawing the string on her silver bow, ready for any attack.
He frowned before grunting for a brief moment, "There aren't any monsters left around here. Guardians can sense monsters... But I do know for a fact that there's a group of Giants uprising in Athens. Hmm, I should probably take care of that. You coming along?" Dante looked at her as he turned around. He shook the bow once more and it straightened out into a piece of his white armour once again. Once it was fitted back in place, he waited for her response.
"Firstly, how in Hades can you sense monsters all the way in Athens, can you sense all of the monsters in the world? And secondly, you'd have to ask Lady Artemis first and I don't know where she disappeared to." Thalia shrugged helplessly.
Dante snorted briefly, "I can guess, and no, we can't sense monsters all over the world, we can sense most monsters up to around a hundred miles, maybe stretching two hundred, but for whatever reason, we're intrinsically linked to Greece, we can sense all major activity there." He said as he closed his eyes and focused.
A moment later he turned to her, "Artemis said yes by the way. We need to stop off at Camp Half-Blood first. That's where Mason is. Percy is… Unavailable at the moment." Dante explained to her. Thalia smiled quickly. She'd get to fight giants alongside the Guardians.
Dante put two fingers to his temples and focused, a second later the ground opened up and stairs led down to a very bright red rocky hallway. They walked in and immediately found another set of stairs. Once they were out, Thalia noticed that they were in Camp Half-Blood. She made a mental note to ask him about it later.
Over at the crest of the hillside where the Hunters had set up camp, Percy lay at the bottom of the lake his eyes only fluttering open on occasion. He was at peace with himself when he was completely surrounded by water.
He felt a slight disturbance in his cocoon of moisture and shifted his body slightly. He was a bit disbelieving in what he saw. Artemis had her finger in the water and was making circles. There was no doubt in his mind that she knew he was here and calling him over to her. What was her deal? For a Goddess that was upholding an oath to forgo the company of men, she was pretty damn interested in him.
He decided to play along for now. He slowly willed the water to push his body towards the shoreline where Artemis had recently pulled her hand out of the water. He rose up rather dramatically and let the water flow down his muscular body structure. He gave her a strange look as she managed a small smile out of the corner of her lips. He walked over to her until he was no more than waist-deep out of the water. "Aren't you going to come out completely?" She frowned. He tilted his head trying to analyse the Goddess before him.
"I could be completely naked. Do you want me to come out?" He asked her with a brave, provocatively raised brow. No man in history would have gotten away with an insinuation as heavy as that.
"You forget that water acts differently with you. It's clear, I can see that you're not naked." Artemis shot back quickly. She hoped to the Gods that Percy would just ignore the fact that her statement would have required her to have looked specifically below his waist to understand that he was clothed.
"What is it that you truly want with me?" He asked her. In truth she did not know the extent of what she wanted from him, she knew for a fact that she couldn't get him off of her mind and that was an especially impressive feat considering that she was a maiden Goddess and hadn't wanted any men in her life since she made her oaths. She wasn't about to admit that to him though, no, she'd lie about it if she had to even if the lie was only to try and convince herself.
"Truly? I do not know. You intrigue me and as of yet, I cannot understand why. You are but a man, an immortal Guardian and still so much more different than others. You are the typical man that women lust over but that is not it. You're a different man underneath this shield that you put up. I'm interested in finding out what makes that man tick." She levelled with him. He considered this lightly before brushing it off and quipping at her.
"What about me is typical?" He raised an eyebrow. She blushed ever so slightly before opening her mouth to say something. Percy held up his hand to stop her and tilted his head, after a few seconds he turned back to her.
"Something has arisen. Dante would like your permission to take Thalia with him to hunt down some giants in Athens." He told her. Artemis didn't even hesitate, she agreed to let Thalia go with the Guardian, and after all, they were both hunting monsters as a primary duty. Percy turned his head and closed his eyes once more before turning back to her.
"How much power do you Guardians actually possess?" She asked him, seemingly out of the blue. It was a solid question, they were just below major Gods in the variety of their powers.
"We each have different powers. If you're concerned about Thalia's safety, don't be. I can promise you that Dante would sooner jump into Hades than let any harm come to her." He responded as he played around with some of the water he had around his hands.
He formed riptide out of water in each of his hands and condensed the water time and time again until the rippling forms of riptide in each of his hands emulated the weight of his real blade. He absently started to swing them around as he prepared himself to answer Artemis' questions that she had no doubt been saving up for him.
"We all have the ability to speak into each other's minds. We can only do that between Guardians, however. Mason has a natural prowess for leadership and while we are all equal, his judgements are often the decision-makers because of his almost impossibly level head." Percy smashed one of the swords down in an arch that sent a moderate wave out into the shoreline.
"So he has power over decision making?" Artemis questioned him. She never expected the Guardians to be as complex as Percy was making it sound.
He nodded briefly as he turned back towards her. "It has to be more or less something that cannot disregard the oaths we swore to become Guardians. We also have the shared power to make someone a Guardian. It requires all three of us to turn someone into an immortal Guardian though and so far we've not had a concrete decision over this." Percy let the water dissipate back into the lake.
Artemis stared wide-eyed at him. Through the three of them, they could create more Guardians? Percy continued to expand upon that thought, "They will also receive the blessing of the Guardians. If we were to ever create more Guardians, we would be their hierarchy, and only we would have the power to do as much as we can. It would be very much like a male version of the hunters." Percy explained before he frowned for a moment, "Except for the fact that if we found someone worthy of becoming a Guardian, their gender would not matter." He stopped and began to rise until he was standing on the surface of the water. "Any more questions?"
Artemis thought about it before shaking her head, "I'll let you answer them as of when I get them instead of piling it all onto you today. I'm needed back at the encampment, I'll see you up there." She smiled before she disappeared in a flash of silver and white. When she left there was a small trace of silver dust.
Percy laughed at the typicality of it before evaporating. Artemis turned when she smelled a salty sea breeze and there he stood with all of his armour back on and not a trace of water except for that which flowed freely around his armour.
Percy wondered how much pain Mason was having to go through for leaving Clarisse for a whole year. The thought almost made him visibly wince but he had other things to occupy his thoughts for a while, namely the silver Goddess currently addressing her Hunters.
A thick strand of lightning smashed against the ground of Camp Half-Blood, clearing to reveal a broad man in white power armour with a set of heavenly looking wings gracefully floating behind him.
He'd landed right in the middle of the dining area, tables scattered around for each God or Goddess. It seemed like it was so long ago that he was here, eating with them, but it had only been a year since he had fought alongside each and every one of them at the battle for Olympus, and now he stood there unrecognisable in his white armour.
Many of the campers had taken up arms against the unknown presence. Chiron was over by his alchemical table and merely laughed at the campers. He of course knew of the Guardians, but the campers weren't so well informed as the ancient mentor. They knew where the legendary Demigods had gone, supposedly, but they like many others hadn't actually seen these Guardians since the victory at Olympus.
It was Clarisse that had taken it upon herself to determine whether or not the new arrival was friend or foe. Mason let his wings extend themselves fully. "Ah, that feels better." He groaned with bliss as if he had just cracked his neck or back. Clarisse was right next to him with her bow pointed at his faceplate and an arrow notched, threatening to crack straight into his skull.
He slowly put his hand up to his face before taking the mask off completely and revealing his wavy blond hair and handsome face. She lowered her bow for a second but raised it once more with a more murderous look adorning her face, "Where have you been!?" She shouted at him, throwing her weapons to the side before running into his arms. She smashed her lips into his, passionately kissing him.
The campers were in an uproar, all cheering for the Guardian in the centre of their camp, making out with the infamous daughter of Ares.
"Performing my duties like a good little Guardian." He answered her. Her face told him that she was hurt that he hadn't shown himself for the past year. At the very least she knew that it wasn't just him, all of the Guardians had been gone, but his disappearance had hurt her more than anything. The first thing she noticed was that the wings had a mind of their own.
"Care to explain?" She asked him, finally changing her expression from hurt and angry to confused.
"A gift from my father." He nodded nonchalantly.
"And the armour?" She questioned yet again.
"A gift from Hephaestus." He slowly smiled. Gods he loved the armour, it was everything he needed to be a tool of justice against monsters everywhere. Like a bright white demi-batman.
"And the sudden absence?" Her face turned murderous once more as if daring him to say something wise. He grinned quickly before it disappeared.
"Believe it or not, a gift from your father. He gave us the tools we needed to train for a year. Each and every day a vision of him would shoot at me. Me more than the others because one day I made it painfully obvious about us." He smirked at the memories. It was more than worth it to Mason. Dante didn't find it particularly funny, especially when he got an arrow to the buttocks, causing a great deal of golden ichor to flow.
"My- We're going to have words. Take me to Olympus right now, I'll be having a serious discussion with him." She had a face made of hardened steel. Most of the campers were now watching from their tables as opposed to right next to them with weapons drawn.
Before Mason could respond, the ground shook and opened up, revealing Dante in similar armour to Mason, except he had no wings and a different colour trim to it. With him was Thalia, an immortal Huntress. Cheers and greetings had erupted from the campers that had only just gotten over the excitement of Mason's return.
"Hey. We've got business to attend to. I know you felt it. Let's go. Hey Clarisse, good to see you, kind of. You coming along?" He asked her, all the while making fun of her like he used to do in camp so many times.
Mason sighed heavily, expecting an argument to arise, instead, Chiron came over. "You should go. I know you'll be safe with two Guardians. Speaking of which, where might young Perseus be?" Chiron asked, looking at the unit and noticing his favourite student missing.
"Oh yeah, he's... busy," Dante said quickly. Mason raised his eyebrow and Dante reached out to his mind to issue him with a quick 'I'll tell you later. Mason sighed once more.
"Being a daughter of Zeus you should probably travel with Mason on this one." Dante reasoned. Mason nodded in agreement after a moment of silence where it became apparent that he wasn't really listening all that much.
The two children of Zeus vanished in a dazzlingly bright lightning bolt. Dante smiled as he locked on to his cousin's location and a set of stairs opened up from the ground. He turned to Clarisse, "Shall we?" He walked down before waiting for her response, holding out his arm for her to take in an old fashioned manner. He got a comically tutting response before Clarisse walked into his underground hallway without sparing him a second glance.
Elsewhere, Percy had disappeared from Artemis' camp without saying much. He blinked his eyes open a few times to readjust to the glaringly gold light. He was standing on Olympus, very near the throne room. He decided that after everything was said and done, he should console with his best friend.
It wasn't hard to find Annabeth, not after knowing her for so long. He quickly locked eyes with her stormy grey orbs that were looking around so analytically at the architecture of each and every building on Olympus, thinking about the many ways she could improve upon the designs. She withdrew to her human form the moment that she saw Percy in his white armour. She hadn't seen nor heard from any of the Guardians for so long.
"Hello, wise girl." He greeted the Goddess with a huge hug. The time may have passed but she was still his favourite God and his best friend.
"What brings you to Olympus seaweed brain?" She quickly backed away, as if she'd walked into a trap, "And where are Dante and Mason?" She looked around critically. Dante had a long history of pulling pranks on Annabeth and Clarisse. Mason would usually join in when he could be bothered.
"I stand alone. I needed some advice." He told her. Annabeth's stormy grey eyes widened briefly before she pulled him along. Annabeth had her own palace on Olympus, though most of the time she liked to be in the presence of her mother. To Percy's surprise, they hadn't run into any other Gods when they were walking through the streets. Once they were safely away from prying eyes and ears Percy decided to open up about what had been bothering him. After he'd heard whatever Annabeth had to say to him, he would no doubt join his cousins in Athens to fight the giants.
"As Guardians, we heard the call, we came as soon as we could. It was Artemis' Hunters, they had been ambushed by three greater monsters. Someone was sure to have been injured or killed. We came to make sure that didn't happen. We fought them off with ease, but then as we headed back into Artemis' strategy tent things began to get a bit… Strange. We're joining them on their hunt for the dragon that has been attacking mortals, but it seems that Artemis has taken somewhat of an 'interest' in me." Percy explained. With each passing moment, Annabeth's expressions would change to something new, finally resting on shock. Artemis, the maiden Goddess had found something interesting in a man. She was thinking mortal man but Percy was anything but mortal now.
"I truly have no idea what to say to that. I really wish that I could help you beyond the obvious parts." She said, still stunned into a small silence.
Percy tilted his head before grinning, "You're forgetting that it's me we're talking about here, I can't work out the obvious stuff, wise girl." He smirked at her before receiving a grin back from her as Annabeth explained as best she could.
"Well, it's pretty obvious that Artemis is seeing you beyond a man now, she's seeing you for what you are underneath, and as much as I don't want to admit it for fear of your ego getting as big as Olympus itself, everything about you is attractive Perseus." Percy knew that she was telling the truth because of the fact that she'd used his real name as opposed to seaweed brain.
Annabeth laughed about that for a moment, "Hah, not even the Goddess of virginity can resist your bad-boy attitude." Annabeth smiled funnily at him for a moment. Percy frowned, that's the second woman to have mentioned him and bad boy in the same sentence. He would have questioned her about it but let it slide because in the end, he wouldn't care anyway.
"Wait, so that means that you find me attractive? Not so wise girl." Percy had to quickly dodge a glare of death.
"Don't push it, Jackson." Annabeth thundered but in a jokey sense. Percy smiled before hugging her once more and promptly disappearing to go and join Dante and Mason in Athens where the number of giants was growing at an alarming rate. They had no business appearing in Athens so something was vastly wrong. Still, it was probably nothing that they couldn't handle.
Probably.
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