A/N: Hope you guys enjoy the chapter and please review what you think and what you'd like to see more/less of. Reading reviews is maybe my favorite part of writing this story.
Chapter 7: Sparks and Prophecy
Dawn arrived on its usual schedule, bathing the beach in morning light. Artemis and Percy rose from their spots in unison, knowing it was time to get back to camp. She tapped his shoulder and the two appeared next to the empty dining table, and the hunters were stirring from their tents. Thalia was the only one already out and about, greeting them when they flashed in.
"Where are you two coming from?" she asked suspiciously. Before Percy could respond, Artemis beat him to it.
"Perseus had been gone too long, so I retrieved him. Get the hunters ready. We leave for the northeast corner of the park in 10 minutes," she said authoritatively.
"Why the northeast corner?" Thalia asked, satisfied with the answer to her first question. "We're starting the monster search there?"
"No, that is where the monsters are. While tracking Perseus yesterday, I discovered the monsters' location and numbers. Their forces will be a good training exercise in preparation for the coming battles," Artemis said.
Thalia nodded and turned to bark orders at the bleary-eyed hunters just emerging from their tents. The group of hunters gathered quickly after that, forming ranks in front of Artemis. As she briefed them on the enemy that would be awaiting them in the park, Percy could feel a few hunters send spiteful glares in his direction.
I guess one dinner wasn't enough. Maybe breakfast after this fight will get me closer to their good side. Percy thought to himself. If someone made food for him, they immediately found themselves in his good graces, so he figured the same idea could apply for the hunters.
He was brought out of his thoughts by a whistling sound. His hand moved instinctively in front of his body, his fingers wrapping around an arrow that found itself inches away from his chest. His eyes flicked up to find Phoebe scowling at him a dozen yards away.
"Get going, boy. Thalia is waiting for you to leave for the monsters' camp," she said rigidly, but pointed dismissively behind her.
Percy walked towards and then past her, tossing the arrow back into her quiver, not saying a word as he ducked into the forest. He found Thalia leaning a tree while tweaking her bow. She waved to him and the two took off through the forest together. While they ran towards their destination neck and neck, Percy struck up a conversation.
"You did that on purpose didn't you? Sending Phoebe to get me," he asked through steadied breaths. Thalia smirked.
"Recon is usually her and I's job. But after what she pulled last night, I thought making her fetch you to do her job would set her straight," she said. Percy laughed,
"Thank you, but it also made her try to shoot me with an arrow. I actually want to get her to like me, so no more retaliation on my behalf. Deal?"
"Fine, deal."
The two ran the rest of the way in silence, settling on top of a hill in the northeast corner of the park. They peeked over the hillside, seeing a mess of just over a hundred monsters entrenched at the bottom of the other side of the hill. They milled about with seemingly no care in the world. Percy noticed a batch of cyclopes who either wrestled with each other or were cooking bears they had hunted over a campfire. He looked disgusted.
"Who eats meat for breakfast?" he asked incredulously. Thalia ignored his question while she took note of the kinds of monsters that filled the camp's ranks.
"Cyclopes, dracaena, empousae, and hellhounds with no big named monsters to lead them. This may be the easiest mission yet. Percy, we could handle this ourselves, assuming you actually pay attention if another portal appears behind you," she said teasingly.
Percy just laughed and stretched his shoulders and back. They'd get rid of these monsters themselves. With everything regarding the meeting on Olympus still fresh in his mind, and him deciding to remain calm no matter what the hunters threw at him, he really wanted to blow off some steam. Percy excitedly donned his bronze knuckles, ready to fly off the hill and dive towards the enemy.
"Stop. Stay here, Perseus."
Percy almost tripped over his own foot, already in motion towards the edge of the hill. He and Thalia turned to find Artemis arriving on the hilltop with the hunters right behind her.
"Ah, come on. I should've been a second faster," he groaned.
Artemis craned her neck over the hillside, quickly surveying the camp herself while Thalia regurgitated what she had just told Percy. Artemis nodded.
"Good, there are a few more than there were yesterday," she said, turning to the hunters. "Girls, maximum six arrows each, and no melee weapons. None should be left alive," the goddess instructed.
Every huntress nodded in unison, readying their bows. Artemis simply nodded and the unit barreled down the hill towards the monster encampment. Percy moved to join them but was stopped in his tracks by a hand on his shoulder.
"This is their training, Perseus. Staying up here is yours," she said.
Percy was bummed about not fighting monsters but now he had an excuse to be close to Artemis. He quickly brushed away the thought and retorted,
"This must be a training of my patience, sensei." Artemis smirked for a second before changing the topic.
"Where did you get those Celestial Bronze weapons?" she asked as she began tapping her thumb to her fingers in seemingly random fashion.
"Oh, these knuckles were a gift from Lady Hestia. I got really into boxing, and she gave them to me because she didn't like seeing how bruised my knuckles would get punching monsters raw. They're somehow softer on the inside, but she also swore she'd never give me anything that promotes violence again," he said, always happy to talk about Lady Hestia.
Percy took note of Artemis' hand movements and it dawned on him what she was doing.
"No way. Are you keeping track of all of their arrows?" he asked in awe.
"Yes, this is your training. Come do it with me," she said.
Percy moved next to her and looked towards the fray below him. Half of the monsters were already dust, the rest a disorganized mess as they tried to form ranks against the hunters. Artemis pointed to Thalia, Phoebe and two other hunters who stood further back from the rest of the force.
"None of them have fired an arrow. They are about to switch into the fight, track each of their shots," she instructed.
Percy acknowledged her and trained his eyes on the group of four. As if on queue, they leapt into the battle as a dozen hunters shifted out with no arrows remaining. Thalia broke ahead of the group, rushing straight at a pack of hellhounds with an arrow drawn back on her bow. As she got within melee range, the first one jumped at her head. She slid under it, releasing her projectile into its stomach as she came out on the other side.
Thalia, One. To her left, one of the huntresses Percy didn't know fired four of her arrows in impossibly rapid succession at four dracaena that were getting too close to the hunters that no longer had any arrows to fire. Super fast girl, Four. Meanwhile, Thalia's skirmish had continued. Percy had almost missed her hop back to her feet, whirling around with two arrows nocked that took out a duo of hellhounds that had run into each other trying to catch her sliding form. Thalia, Three.
Unknown huntress #2 was still standing away from the fight. Percy watched her scan the battlefield before she looked nearly straight up with an arrow pulled back, and released it. He followed the arrow's path as it flew well over a hundred yards into the air before rocketing downwards straight into the head of a cyclops. She did this 5 more times with a calm and collected demeanor, having no reaction to her ridiculous ability. Percy looked dumbfounded. Airstrike girl, Six.
He realized how much time he had wasted, not catching the rest of Thalia's arrows. His eyes flicked to Phoebe, who was fighting the last living trio of monsters. There were three empousae and Phoebe was just toying with them, dodging in and out of their wild slashes just to make them angrier.
At least I'm not the only one she enjoys bullying, Percy thought to himself.
Phoebe got tired of playing with her food. She jumped a dozen feet in the air, showing off her superior physical prowess, and fired three arrows with expert precision directly into their now-dusty hearts. Bully, Three. With the training over, Artemis turned to Percy to see how he did. Before she could ask, a familiar roar shook the campsite. Everyone's heads snapped in the direction it came from as the creature made itself known a dozen yards from Phoebe.
The Nemean Lion roared again as it charged at the huntress. Percy looked at Artemis, who nodded, and he extended his wings, diving towards the lion at breakneck speed. The lion swiped its paw at Phoebe's head as she tried to backpedal away while shooting her remaining arrows at the monster. Right before the lion made contact, Percy crashed his shoulder into its head, sending the two sprawling on the ground as Phoebe looked on in shock.
"Weapons free!" Artemis shouted from the hilltop. Percy scrambled back as a hailstorm of silver arrows crashed down on the Nemean Lion, the hunters no longer restricted to six. After the rain of arrows stopped, the impenetrable lion got back to its feet unfazed. Its new target was Percy, but he wasn't worried. The lion charged him with its mouth half open. Percy flexed his hands, ready to test the new strength he was blessed with. He made contact, grabbing each jaw in one hand to hold it open.
The lion roared and bucked, and Percy's arms already burned from the tension on them. He used his wings to fling himself onto the lion's back, fighting to hold his mouth open. Percy shouted Thalia's name, certain she'd know what to do.
"Got it!" he heard her say as she readied her bow. The lion and Percy continued their bareback rodeo as Percy fought to keep hold. The lion eventually turned itself in Thalia's direction. Percy's arms were giving out as the lion's jaws were too strong, and its mouth had begun to close. Just in time, Thalia and Phoebe shot a dozen arrows altogether into the lion's maw. It made a choking sound before collapsing onto its side, breathing shallowly.
Percy rolled off of his back, grunting as he got up. He massaged feeling back into his arms as he thanked the two for shooting in time. Before they could respond, the Nemean Lion roared again as it fought back to its feet. The hunters and Percy snapped towards it wide-eyed; the lion shook its mane as it glowed with a black aura. In its open mouth, they watched the arrows disappear harmlessly into its stomach as the wounds closed themselves.
"You can't be serious, that was its only weakness" Percy groaned.
"No, wait. It's just like the Minotaur. It's not invulnerable or anything, you just need an extra umph now," Thalia said optimistically as she drew her spear and activated her Aegis.
"Let's hope you're right," he said as he uncapped his sword, swapping off his bronze knuckles.
They charged together while Phoebe shot periodic arrows at the lion. The rest of the hunters tried to join her but couldn't do much without risking hitting Thalia or Percy. For the duo, it became a game of dodging the monster's massive claws while trying to pry open its mouth. It had learned from its mistake and wasn't making any more attempts to roar. They slashed at its impenetrable skin and Thalia brought down several lightning strikes on its back. As they continued to try and wear down the lion, Percy noticed one of its back legs recurrently spasm from the lightning and an idea brewed in his head.
"Thalia, be ready with your spear," he said as he switched back to his bronze knuckles.
He rushed directly into the lion's face, launching a right haymaker straight into the lion's jaw. His forearm vibrated from the impact against unbreakable skin and Percy gritted his teeth. The lion's eyes almost seemed to widen in surprise; nobody besides Hercules had ever been stupid enough to try and fight with their bare hands. The lion backpedaled as it swiped at Percy's head. Percy was still reeling from the shock behind the strike, and Thalia ducked in, blocking the sharp claws with her Aegis.
"Get your head in the game, seaweed boy. I'm trusting you trying to fistfight this thing, don't make me regret it!" she hissed.
Percy nodded and narrowed his eyes. He closed the distance between him and the monster again, releasing another swing into the same part of his jaw. He winced again but recovered much quicker. The lion's jaw shifted a few inches to the side, and it let out a grunt of pain. Percy's hunch was right: it's not just its insides that were vulnerable, it was anything besides the impenetrable skin, so its bones were just as breakable as anybody else's. Percy's confidence built with his realization.
The monster seemed apprehensive at the pain it wasn't used to feeling. Percy looked down at his fist, and maybe it was the lightheadedness, he swore it was glowing with soft blue sparks. While he was distracted, the Nemean Lion rushed forward and sunk its teeth into his left shoulder. This time, Percy roared. He used all of his remaining strength as he unleashed his third swing into the monster's jaw. The impact sent an electric tingling sensation up his entire arm and the blue glow dispersed in every direction. In front of him, he watched the lion's jaw shatter, forcing its mouth to hang open, releasing Percy's shoulder. Before the monster could even react to its new permanent expression, Thalia jumped between the two and shoved her lightning-tipped spear deep into the lion's mouth, frying it from the inside out.
The Nemean Lion dissolved into dust as Percy sat down clutching his shoulder. Artemis appeared next to Thalia and Percy while the hunters celebrated another successful hunt and the show they just got to watch. Thalia called for the hunt's main medic to dress Percy's wound. He saw it was Airstrike girl and learned her name was Rachel. He thanked her as she expertly cleaned the wound and wrapped a special gauze around it, and he told her how cool he thought her archery style was.
"You did good, boy," she said as she finished up and returned to her sisters.
As far as Percy was concerned, this level of kindness was a massive win for him. His internal celebration was cut short as he looked into the glowering gazes of both Artemis and Thalia.
"Dude, what is your problem? That entire fight was so reckless, you look like you're trying to get yourself killed!" Thalia berated him.
Artemis didn't need to say anything because she felt the same way. Percy looked at the ground, knowing they were right.
"Yeah, I got ahead of myself. It's just that with these new powers, I guess I thought I'd be a lot stronger than anything we came across for a while, considering where the power came from," he said. This time, Artemis answered.
"Blind arrogance does not fit someone like you, Perseus. You used brute strength to hold open and even break the jaws of an impenetrable creature that was protected by Darkness. Every member of the council could feel your power in the throne room. But do not forget our enemy. The primordial of darkness has also been blessing his followers, and he is not bound to oath like Chaos. She did not give you these gifts to single handedly win the war, they are to give us a fighting chance. Do not be tempted by that hubris again; it is not your flaw to bear," she warned with a hint of concern in her voice.
"That was really inspiring, actually," he said. As Percy pulled himself to his feet, he realized that it wasn't like him at all to act like this. Just today, Artemis had amazed him several times with how brilliant and insightful she was. He turned to her to address the more important topic at hand.
"Now that it's handled, what would you like for breakfast, My Lady?"
Percy sat on the far side of the dining table as he nibbled on some ambrosia to heal his shoulder more quickly. The rest of the hunters chattered about the morning's events while tearing into the scrambled eggs Percy had made. Artemis ate the same as her hunters, relishing the food while she discussed the coming schedules with Thalia. The goddess shot a glance at Percy and watched as Anna, her youngest huntress, walked up to him.
"Um. Percy," she said timidly.
She wasn't shy around her sisters, but meeting a new man for the first time in a long time made her a little nervous. He turned in his chair and smiled at her.
"Hi!" he said.
"Uh, hi. Percy, I'm vegetarian," she started. He forgot about his shoulder and nearly jumped out of his seat in the direction of the cooking materials.
"Oh, gods, you can't eat eggs? I'll make you something else, is there anything in particular you want?" he asked earnestly.
She laughed and shook her head. His immediate kind reaction made her feel much more comfortable talking to him.
"No, I can eat eggs. Vegetarians just don't eat meat, not all animal things, those are vegans. Eggs are good, I like eggs. I wanted to say thank you for the veggie burgers you made yesterday, I liked them so much," she said happily.
Percy laughed and nodded, a little embarrassed that he was being educated on types of diets by someone that couldn't be any older than 7 or 8.
"I'm really glad you liked them. What's your name?"
"I'm Anna."
For less than a moment, Percy felt a soft pang at the similarity of her name to Annabeth's, but it left as quickly as it came. He smiled as he exaggeratedly shook her hand.
"It's nice to meet you, Anna. Hey, since you're so nice to me, anytime you want to eat something other than what gets made, come let me know and I'll make it for you. Just don't tell any other hunters, deal?" he said smirking, holding a finger to his lips.
"Deal. It's nice to meet you too, Percy," she said as she giggled and ran back to her sisters.
Artemis couldn't help but smile at the interaction between the two newest members of the Hunt.
Over the next weeks, Percy's place as the outside male began to change in the Hunt, mainly because of his connection with Anna. The two were almost immediately inseparable. When traveling between missions, they started off just walking together but now it wasn't uncommon to find Anna sleeping on his shoulders with her arms wrapped around his forehead. It was custom for a group like the hunters to feel extra protective of their youngest member, so watching the two grow close had elevated Percy's standing in many of their eyes as well.
Anna had started referring to Percy as her 'brother', much to the delight of Thalia. The hunters were by no means done giving Percy a hard time, but it had become closer to a teasing way. Of course, to the hunters, "teasing" meant shooting blunt-tipped arrows at him at all hours of the day, or setting up pit traps for Percy to fall into. But they had taken a liking to him, as well. They would watch Percy train with Anna, a daughter of Demeter, as he helped her start developing her powers. The hunters got a firsthand account of how kind and considerate specifically this man could be, and they had begun to accept him into their hunt.
The only one not happy about it was Phoebe. She still didn't trust him and didn't think he belonged with the hunters. She'd encourage more and more harmful "pranks" on him, using regular instead of blunt-tipped arrows or putting fire in the bottom of the traps. None of the huntresses enabled her ideas, but they didn't try to stop the oldest member of the hunt. Percy was still intent on breaking through that barrier himself, without ever giving her the satisfaction of seeing him get angry or upset. Inadvertently, it was Phoebe's actions that led to him becoming closer with Artemis as well.
If Phoebe did something that went too far, whether it was snide remarks about Percy's ex-girlfriend or almost seriously injuring him in some way, Percy would find his way back to that spot on Alcatraz Island to be alone. Not long after, Artemis would show up to check in on him. He had already asked her not to reprimand Phoebe since he wanted to fix it himself, so she would just sit next to Percy and they would talk for hours on end about everything from Artemis' earliest days with the hunt to Percy's last days at camp.
As much as he hated to admit it, he knew he had developed some feelings for Artemis even if he could never act on them. The Hunt was currently camped out on the outskirts of Seattle after successfully defeating the Erebus-blessed Sphinx and the army she was amassing. Percy hadn't been a part of the fight, instead making progress on his ability to keep track of the entire battlefield by counting arrows. He made his way to Artemis' tent to report his final numbers.
"... and Thalia, 31," he finished, rattling off every huntress' total arrows.
"Not bad," the goddess said, "you were only off by 25 total this time,"
Percy softly fist pumped, proud of the progress he had made so far. He
"Artemis, I think I'm going to head to the beach again. Since you always end up there to get me anyways, would you like to just come with me now? I already took care of dinner for the girls so there's nothing else to worry about today," he asked her, his heart beating a little faster as he waited for a response.
"I'd like that," she said.
Percy felt relief wash over him as Artemis stood up. She walked over to Percy and tapped his shoulder, the two appearing seated in their usual spots on Alcatraz Island. They sat in silence for a couple minutes, just breathing in the moonlit view in front of them, before Percy spoke.
"I miss my dad more than normal today," he said as he stared out into the sea.
"We will find him soon, Perseus. He loves you very much, and I believe he misses you more than you miss him," she said while looking at the demigod sadly.
"I don't know about 'very much.' He's an Olympian so we didn't ever have the closest relationship."
Artemis scoffed.
"You were all he talked about during council meetings. Any chance Poseidon got, he would rave about your most recent quests and the kind of man you were growing up to be. It was through Poseidon that I learned what I did about your character, and it played a large part in why I allowed you into the Hunt."
Percy rubbed the back of his neck, blushing at the praise he had no idea he was being given by his dad.
"I'll have to thank him for that. I'm really grateful to have a place here, and I think I'm growing on them too," he said.
"I am grateful you are here, as well. It is new for me to have someone in my Hunt that I see as a friend instead of a more formal relationship. Especially since you stopped only addressing me as 'My Lady,'"
"Now you have to stop only calling me Perseus in return, or I'll have to come up with some worse names to call you," he said jokingly.
"You may try your worst, Perseus," she emphasized.
"Don't test me, Moonlight. Nicknames are the only thing that not even a goddess can beat me in," he said proudly.
Artemis turned away to hide her reddened face and the smile the name gave her. Moonlight. She turned back and cleared her throat softly while Percy continued to talk.
"... and the hunters. I think the food I'm making has finally worked in getting them to like me some more."
Artemis laughed out loud before she realized he wasn't joking. She looked at him incredulously.
"Perseus - Percy. Where are you getting the notion that they like you because you make them dinner? They like you because you've shown them that you are not even similar to what they perceive a man to be like. Start giving yourself more credit," she lectured.
"Oh. That also makes sense. Anna has played a huge part in that then. She makes it so much easier for me to talk to the other hunters, too"
Artemis rolled her eyes; getting him to accept any praise was hopeless. She decided to ask him the burning question she had had since he joined the Hunt,
"Perseus, why did you take that oath? The one that binds your soul to the infinite void. We did not know each other and you put your existence on the line to invoke that name."
Percy thought for a moment before he responded.
"I don't know, Arty. I guess it was because it meant nothing to me but everything to you. I had already decided I was going to be loyal to you, which is a promise I would never ever break. But, like you said, you didn't know me so I had to prove that I'd be willing to risk an eternity of nothingness, even though that vow doesn't scare me at all compared to how I'd feel betraying myself," he answered.
"You have always got something to say, don't you Percy," Artemis said, taking note of his new name for her.
She couldn't have asked for a better answer, but her expression darkened at what she was about to tell him.
"I am sorry to already test your loyalty with something you do not wish to do: we must return to Camp Half Blood,"
Percy began to protest but Artemis held up her hand seriously.
"A new prophecy has been issued. And I believe it has to do with your father as well as you."
A/N: Thought about revealing the prophecy here but I remembered I gave you guys a cliffhanger-free chapter last week so not this time heh. Anyways, let me know what you guys thought! I wanted to focus on fleshing out some relationships and characterization before a lot of the plot starts MOVING, so sorry if the chapter seemed a bit slow, but get excited for it to speed up.
Ser Wathie: To preface this, I'm really liking the story so far, however I've always had a bit of a problem with chaos existing as a character, like, at all. Chaos is literally God. Creator of everything. Why the fuck would it care about an oath sworn to it? The only reason why the Styxs work as an oath is because that's its's job, it's literally the river created for that purpose. Why in the world would a being who sees thousands of years as seconds ever care about this one itty bitty little mortal? It probably wouldn't even give that much of a shit about the gods. It always seems as just such a huge cop out because for all logical reasons, it shouldn't care. Even the idea that a being like Chaos would ever do things like that out of boredom is laughable. It's an entity that existed for an insane amount of time. Its not a human that was given immortality, it's not even a Greek type God, the closest thing to it is fucking Azathoth or Cthulu, they don't do shit out of boredom, especially when it concerns tiny little mortals that live and die in the equivalent of nano seconds.
It also makes the whole swear an oath thing pointless if you literally can't break it. It's similar to the idea of "a good man is not a weak man, but is in fact a strong man as they have the choice to be good or bad." Doesn't Percy undertaking an oath tied to a being that makes it literally impossible to break underscore the choice aspect of being faithful to a cause? It makes any doubts or internal struggle worthless because he can't break it or find a way around it. He's just a slave at that point with an unbreakable collar. Would it not be better for him to live life as the Guardian by his own will? Being faithful has no meaning if there is no other option. It makes the whole basis of the real between Percy and Artemis meaningless if she has all of the power in the relationship. However if this is the direction you want your story to go in, be my guest. Plus why the hell did she give him powers? I mean, he's Percy fucking Jackson, his cunning to solve problems in situations that would seem impossible is half of his charm.
This is a very important review I wanted to make a point to address incase anyone else felt the same way. For all intents and purposes, Chaos isn't omnipotent like most real life perceptions of God is. She has a "finite" amount of power, even in mythology, it just seems infinite to mortals and even lesser gods. Regarding your very reasonable take on Chaos' long life meaning she wouldn't care about mortals/gods, I tried to address that in two ways. First, I characterized Chaos as someone with "human" emotions. She is a benevolent, loving Creator and would still care deeply about her creations regardless of how comparatively "meaningless" they are. Second, Erebus is threatening the existence of the universe itself and I essentially sterilized Chaos from intervening herself, regardless of how severe the matter is. So her only choice would be to get involved with human/Olympian affairs to protect her creation. As for the vow, I deliberately addressed it in the chapter after reading your review in case I didn't make it clear enough when Percy made the vow. The vow itself isn't unbreakable at all, it's actually a testament to how strong-willed Percy is because he holds his own principles at a level even higher than putting his soul on the line against the creator of the universe.
Thank you all for the reviews, and sorry my review response seemed to get a bit philosophical haha. Anyways, it just goes to show how much I love reading them and interacting with you guys so please leave more. Until next time.