Been awhile, huh...

Sorry for that, but we back. Finishing this shit soon, then we moving on to the next projects.

Only two or three more main chapters, this one's got a lil bit of fluff.

Enjoy 3

Chapter 34: I Just Had to Wear Heels

"This feels weird." Percy said, his voice flat.

"I can't believe Piper convinced me to wear heels." Thalia mumbled. She side-eyed said daughter of Aphrodite, who was conversing with another huntress just a few seats away.

"I honestly can't believe it either." Percy commented, peering below the large circular table they reserved to see that Thalia was two seconds away from kicking her heels across the room.

The restaurant that Calypso had reserved was… unfamiliar. The chandeliers were expensive, the booths made of velvet, the room in an almost silent chatter. He wasn't used to this. This formal and relatively fancy setting. He didn't belong here, and he doubted he ever would. He belonged on a battlefield, he was hardwired for it. He belonged in the wild, he was comfortable in it. He belonged in the sea, he was truly tranquil in it. He didn't belong… here. A restaurant as fancy and no doubt expensive as this just made him too on edge, and he had a feeling most everyone at the table would agree.

Still, it was a generous change from their recent routines. Recently it felt like all he and the huntresses did was train, fight, survive. Even Percy could tell you that doing that without any interruption for an elongated amount of time would result in disaster.

"What are you getting?" Thalia asked, peering over Percy's shoulder at his menu while still wincing in discomfort from her shoes. Percy couldn't blame her. When he was younger he had tried on one of his mom's pairs of high heels. It didn't go well.

"Probably just the chicken parmesan." He replied with a shrug. "Haven't had chicken for a while to be honest."

"You haven't had basically anything on here for awhile, stupid." Thalia rolled her eyes.

"Eh, you'd be surprised," Percy gazed around the table, finding that most everyone looked to be enjoying their little break. "What are you getting?"

"You'd think for an Italian restaurant they'd have more actual Italian food." Thalia muttered. She sighed, her squinted eyes scanning the pages before her. No doubt, like basically everyone else at the table, her dyslexia was acting up. "I'll just take what you're having."

"Mhmmm," he smirked.

"Fuck off." Thalia flipped him off. Percy simply nodded along, smiling.

The waiter soon came around to take everyone's order, with Thalia taking the time out of her night to flip him off again when she took her order (this time with both hands). Percy took that time to just look around and soak in the atmosphere.

Although there was an underlying uncomfortability, he was still able to appreciate their situation for what it actually was. Thalia was to his immediate right, Calypso to his immediate left. Piper and Artemis were close as well. The… vibe of the table was something he had yearned to be a part of since his time at Camp Half-Blood (although, he was still technically on the outside looking in). Yeah, his exclusion of said vibe was of his own volition, and the reason for the decision seemed logical at the time, but he was beginning to doubt his reasons more and more.

Well, that's not quite it. Rather, he was beginning to doubt whether or not he should continue his exclusion. He still believed in his past actions, his friends had failed to convince him of that, but for now and the future… he was questioning what to do, to say the least.

"You okay?" Calypso lightly shook his arm. Percy smiled and nodded.

"Yeah, I'm good," he genuinely answered. "Just thinking."

"Good thinking or bad thinking?" Calypso asked.

"A little bit of both." Percy shrugged. "But I'm good."

"Alright." Calypso smiled, her bright pearls nearly blinding him. A thought occurred to him; did Calypso have toothpaste on Ogygia? That island in general just made no sense. "I believe you."

"What are you eating?"

"I'm unfamiliar with a lot of the food here," Calypso smiled and nodded towards the patron goddess of the hunt, who gave a small smile in return. "Artemis recommended the gnocchi, so I'll be having that. It's truly amazing how much food and recipes have evolved since I was last in the mortal world."

Percy scoffed, "I wouldn't know. My taste in food's limited to assorted fruits and the occasional semi-complex meat dish". It was honestly a wonder he could sustain his fitness-level at all with his type of diet.

"No cookbooks to help you expand your horizons?" Artemis asked, surprising Percy with her addition. He chuckled and shook his head.

"Nope. No use in a cookbook if you can't read it," Percy said as a group of waiters came back to their table, donning plates and plates of food.

"You could always get versions that are in Greek." Artemis commented. He simply shrugged, a waiter interrupting to put down all of their food. Percy wasn't ashamed to say that instantly, his mouth began to water. Besides the recent meal he and Calypso had cooked up, it had been maybe half a decade since his last truly special plate of food.

After thanking the waiter, Percy laughed, "Too much work. Maybe earlier, but right now we have too much on our proverbial plates."

"That's terrible." Thalia deadpanned. "When's the last time you cracked an actual joke that made people laugh?"

"I didn't even mean that, to be honest." Percy said, finally taking a bite of his chicken parmesan. Honest to gods, he had to bite back a moan of ecstasy with how good the food was. Maybe it was just because of how comparable it was to his normal food, but it was delicious all the same. "And you're talking. I don't think I've seen you smile once in all the years I've known you."

"That's because I've never had a reason to around you." Thalia said, lightly punching Percy in the shoulder. From the slight upturn of her lips - not nearly enough to classify as a smile - Percy could tell she was joking.

"Please don't speak with your mouth full of food." Calypso scrunched up her nose.

"Yes, it's quite disgusting." Artemis added, cringing similarly to Calypso. Percy rolled his eyes but dutifully finished chewing his mouthful before childishly sticking his tongue out at both of their general direction. That just made them cringe even more.

"Hades, if I didn't know any better I'd say that my mom had chosen rebirth and reincarnated into you two." Percy said dryly.

"Is that even possible?" Piper muttered, more to herself than to anyone else.

"Doesn't matter." Percy waved her off.

"How do you know she didn't? You never know." Thalia asked with a raised eyebrow. Percy raised his fork, gesturing for her to wait just a moment as he attempted to swallow yet another mouthful of paradise.

"Visited her a little while back. She and Paul are in Elysium doing just fine." Percy asked. "I asked Hades if he would let her go down to personally torture Gabe every once in awhile. He didn't agree."

Piper laughed, "No shit."

"Gabe?" Calypso asked. Percy turned towards her and saw her expression of confusion. He tilted his head and racked his brain.

"I didn't tell you about him?" Calypso shook her head.

"Eh, don't worry about it. Just the old abusive, disgusting step-father. Mom got to turn him into stone and sell him for a lot of money." Thalia actually laughed at that, mumbling "classic Sally" to Piper.

"Abusive?" Artemis asked. "How did I not hear about this sooner?" She looked between Piper, Thalia, and Calypso. None had an answer for her, so she looked back at Percy.

"It's not like you can punish him or anything. He's already dead." Percy smiled weakly. He knew that although Artemis' focus was mainly on the abuse, harassment, and assault of young girls, she didn't tolerate any of it just in general as well. "It's alright, Artemis. It's not like I was trying to actively hide it from you guys. It's not that big of a deal. Basically everyone here had a terrible childhood."

"You can say that again." Thalia muttered. Piper nodded along with her, and Percy could spot several hunters nodding their assent as well.

"Still, an abusive parent shouldn't be underscored simply because it is more common than it should be." Calypso said.

"Agreed." Artemis nodded.

"Alright, whatever." Percy sighed. "If you want we can talk about it later. Let's just do what we came here to do and have a good time." Both Artemis and Calypso looked like they wanted to argue, but thankfully they relented.

The rest of the night was, to put it in simple words, fun. Although he wasn't included in many of the side conversations he heard due to him simply not being friends with many of the hunters, it was still the best meal he had eaten in a while (and it wasn't because of the food, although that was good too). Just… It had been awhile. Since he had fully sat down and just talked with his friends. Even though he wasn't fully acquainted with everyone at the table, he still had Thalia. Piper, Calypso, and Artemis were there too. He was friendly with a handful of other huntresses.

It wasn't everything, but it was enough. He hadn't done this in a long, long time, and that made it all the more sweet every time he found himself laughing at a joke or a story. He was actually able to push the looming threat of an immortal rebellion to the furthest recesses of his mind. Sure, it was still there, lingering and waiting to pounce when he was most vulnerable, but he was able to cut loose more than he thought possible.

Honestly, Percy was surprised that a monster didn't come out of nowhere just to spite him. Yeah, said monster would've probably been cut down by an arrow once it got within 100 yards of their table, but it still would've been just Percy's luck for his one off night to be ruined by some idiotic hellhound.

Thankfully though, no monster came. Even as it went deeper into the night and Percy's hand itched more and more to uncap his pen, there was nothing. It probably had something to do with the fact that they had the presences of an Olympian goddess, a titan, a couple dozen huntresses, and Percy himself all exuding an intense amount of power. Only probably, though. Maybe every monster in San Fran decided to have an off night too. If so, that was very kind of them, scheduling it up like that.

Oh yeah.

Percy forgot about the best part of the night.

The alcohol.

"I hate beer."

"You've had three bottles already." Piper deadpanned.

"Sue me, I haven't had a single drink in my life and I already have a tolerance to this shit." Percy whined. He really, really wanted to feel something right now. He'd never even taken a sip of alcohol, but it made him curious.

Yeah, he had strayed away from the liquid because he saw how disgusting it had made Gabe, and he wasn't planning on getting fixed onto the harmful stuff. But he wanted to feel the buzz, at the very least. He didn't want to get black out drunk, but this natural tolerance that he blamed on his godly side wasn't being very helpful right about then.

But then again, Piper and Thalia didn't have nearly as much tolerance as he did. Artemis said it probably had something to do with Poseidon. Percy was pissed, to put it simply.

"Fuck, man." Percy winced slightly after downing his fourth bottle of beer. He hated the taste of this shit, but was willing to endure it if it meant he would feel just some type of effect from his tenth bottle. He was selfless like that.

"Sucks to suck." Piper smiled almost lucidly. She had nursed a single drink over ten minutes. What a lightweight. Percy definitely wasn't envious at all. Percy glanced to Thalia, who despite her attitude at the beginning of dinner, looked more gone than Piper. Percy groaned in frustration. It was like they were shoving it in his face (they probably were).

"How did you guys even get bottles of beer?" Percy asked, exasperated. "You both look like you're 16."

"We'll never tell." Thalia said, putting a finger to her lips and shushing him. Yeah, she was definitely drunk. Was that his imagination or did she just giggle? Thalia never giggled. Percy groaned and turned to Artemis and Calypso. To his chagrin, both of them looked amused at what was happening. Along with every single hunter among them. Apparently they didn't ever get to see a drunk and obnoxious Thalia.

"You're not gonna stop this?" Percy asked Artemis, gesturing to Thalia and Piper (Thalia had picked up yet another bottle, seemingly from out of nowhere). Artemis shook her head with a smile.

"This is quite amusing, if I do say so myself." Artemis smiled. "Plus, I like watching you not get your way. It's humbling, you know."

"Fuck humbling." Percy mumbled. Artemis laughed. Fuck, she heard him.

"Why do you wanna get drunk so bad?" Calypso asked, albeit with a smile not too dissimilar from Artemis'. "It's not like it's going to magically fix all your problems. If you wanted that, you could've just asked me."

Percy pointed at her accusingly, "Don't touch me with your sorcery." Percy grinned so the titaness knew he was merely joking. "I've already had Circe turn me into a guinea pig, I don't need you doing whatever you're thinking right now."

"A guinea pig!?" He heard Piper exclaim. She snorted. Very un-womanly of her. "How have I never heard about this?"

"Jackalope would've been better." Artemis commented offhandedly.

Percy groaned yet again. He had to be under the influence at least a little, right? There was no way he would've willingly admitted that information if he had been fully sober.

"Eh, whatever." Percy waved it off as if it had never happened. "Can gods get drunk?"

"Is that your terrible attempt at changing the subject?" Calypso asked with a raised eyebrow and a smirk. Percy simply shrugged.

"Only immortal drinks such as the wine of Dionysus can affect immortals." Artemis said. "Anything else is too diluted for us to be affected."

"Probably for the best." Calypso smiled. "Don't want Hermes crashing into a bunch of mortals after a late night out."

Percy winced at even the notion of that. Yeah, if gods being drunk and under the influence was common, the world probably wouldn't survive two weeks.

"Okay, but why can't I get drunk?" Percy asked. "I know you said it's because of dad, but does that mean I can't get drunk at all?"

Artemis shrugged. "We'll just have to find out."

"I'll never get used to that." Piper said, her hand gripping onto Percy's shoulder as if he wasn't nauseous too. Granted, he was much more used to divine travel than Artemis, but it never surprised him at just how uncomfortable the gods' form of teleportation was.

Turns out, he can't get drunk at all. Screw this fucking demigod son of Poseidon bullshit. He'd trade his powers for the ability to get drunk in an instant.

Okay, he takes that back. Probably not the best tradeoff.

"You're telling me, sister." Percy muttered, shivering as a chill went down his spine. It was much colder in Purgatory compared to the warm, stuffed city of San Francisco. A subtle breeze lightly swayed the trees that lined the forest, and while the sun had set hours before, the light of the moon and its reflection on the lake was enough to illuminate Purgatory.

It was a cool night, something that was becoming more common as the days went by. The sky held a bluish tint, one that canceled out the strong color of the leaves and grass of the forest as well as the yellow sand of the beach.

"I'm gonna call it a night," he yawned, his body feeling tired and his resistance to Morpheus' realm failing fast. His legs felt like jelly after sitting so long, but all he wanted was to go to bed and hibernate for a few days.

"Wait." Artemis said suddenly, causing everyone to stop where they were.

"Can't I go to sleep yet?" Thalia complained. The effects of her alcohol congestion were still present. Piper was still tipsy too. Percy still hated them.

"Thalia." Artemis said, her voice deepening. Percy glanced at Thalia - who was now quickly sobering at Artemis' seriousness - before he looked to Artemis. Her eyes were on the treeline, darting every which way. Percy followed her gaze and squinted to see in the darkness.

And there, just as Artemis allowed her bow to appear and nocked an arrow, he saw it.

Or, more accurately, he saw them.

A pair of red eyes here. A metallic glint there. The entire forestline held hidden presences.

The shadows of the forest shrouded the fuel of nightmares.

Percy now knew just how serious this was. As did everyone else.

In an instant, each and every one of the huntresses were armed with their weapons. Bows were aimed at the trees. Knives were unsheathed in readied stances.

Percy merely had to give the moment a second thought before his trusty xiphos was in his right hand and a trail of water snaked up from the lake and twisted around his left arm. If Percy was forced away from the large source of water, he would bring his own source of water with him.

"Not one night, huh." Thalia grumbled as stepped forward beside Artemis and tapped her bracelet. Aegis sprung to life, and Percy could almost feel the fear curling off from the forest.

"Indeed." Artemis affirmed, unmoving. Thalia sighed, Percy didn't blame her.

"I just had to wear heels."