The horn rang out, and Zoe smiled wryly to herself. The hunter's had lost, it seemed. She looked across the clearing, her wry smile turning into something a bit warmer at seeing Perseus talking to the two children of Hades.
She studied Bianca for a moment, pondering what could have been. The power she'd displayed. For a brief second, she imagined shadow standing with silver fire, before dismissing the thought. Zoe saw how the two siblings interacted with one another, how they leaned on each other.
Perseus was right. It wasn't her place to break up a family.
Her gaze dipped down to the bronze sword still held tightly in her hand. Somehow, the loss of the potential huntress, and the game, didn't seem so bitter to her.
Zoe spun on a heel, looking for Anna. Her search didn't last long, Anna was a few feet behind her, tending to a wounded comrade.
Anna's hands were placed over her fellow huntress's wounded shoulders. The auburn haired girl breathed in, her green eyes closed tightly as she concentrated. Slowly, an ethereal snake came into existence, formed of verdant light. The snake coiled itself loosely around Anna's shoulders, the emerald scales of the construct clashing vividly against her silver parka.
When she withdrew her hands and stood up, the wounded huntress's skin was smooth and unblemished, as if the injury had never occured.
Out of all the things Percy had given to the hunt, Anna might've been the most valuable. She was a daughter of Panacea, the goddess of continual health. With her divine abilities, she could heal wounds, prevent disease, and cure poison.
"Percy really knew what he was doing." Anna reported as she rose to her feet, walking towards another wounded huntress. "Their wounds are painful and incapacitating, but not eminently dangerous."
Zoe followed her, watching the demigoddess work. "Of course." The lieutenant said. "He's always been quick with that saber."
Anna paused in the midst of healing another huntress, glancing up at her with a smirk. "Not as quick as you, though. I saw you wailing on him. Invulnerable skin or not, he must've been hurting."
Zoe suppressed a smirk of her own. "Well, somebody needs to teach him not to overextend like that. He's invulnerable, not invincible."
Anna laughed. "Good luck. He's remarkably thick headed." She looked fondly at the subject of their conversation. "It's all about the mission with him." She trailed off for a moment, her mind briefly elsewhere. "Ares did a lot to him, and not all of it can be healed."
The snake around her shoulders shifted for a moment, as if the concept of not being able to heal someone was offensive.
"You really love him, don't you?" Zoe asked softly.
Anna nodded, unphased by the question. She knew Zoe unquestionably trusted both her and Percy. "Of course I do. He's family." She stated. "If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be here."
Her hand came up, idly stroking the ethereal snake draped around her shoulders. "This birthright of mine is both a gift and a curse. When I lost everything because of it, Percy saved me. He gave me freedom."
She looked at Zoe earnestly. "How could I not love him?"
Zoe swallowed. Her gaze again drifted to the sword clenched tightly in her hand. With a thought, the sword turned into a hairclip.
"If only I had been so fortunate." Zoe bitterly murmured, staring at the hairclip. It sat there innocuously on the palm of her hand, as if it were taunting her.
She hadn't intended her words to be overheard, but Anna looked over anyway from where she was knelt, healing the last of the wounded huntresses. "Hercules was an asshole. Dwelling on it only hurts nobody but you, Zoe."
The daughter of Panacea laughed. "I think you got the better end of the deal anyway. You get to roll with the hunters of Artemis, and Hercules gets eternal sentry duty at the Strait of Gibraltar."
Zoe couldn't help but laugh as well. "I think you may be right, Anna."
The younger huntress smirked. "Of course I am."
The two women smiled at each other for a moment longer, before they were interrupted by a shout of alarm.
The Oracle of Delphi was walking towards them.
Once upon a time, the Oracle of Delphi may have been an attractive woman. That time had long passed. The sundress she wore did little to hide her ravaged body, practically mummified due to the continual strain caused by channelling the power of Apollo.
Green energy coalesced in her eyes, stygian emerald gleaming from sunken sockets. The oracle turned to regard Zoe. It lifted a spindly arm, and pointed at the huntress.
"Approach, seeker. And ask." The Oracle of Delphi rasped. Her voice was low and grating, and yet it still thrummed with power.
Zoe frowned, exchanging a glance with Anna. She didn't remember asking for a quest to be launched. She looked at Perseus, but he was similarly dumbfounded, looking at her with a questioning gaze.
Why would she need to complete a quest? What would they have to do? What could be so important to make the Oracle of Delphi come to her?
Her eyes suddenly widened, realization flooding her like ice water. She raised a hand, summoning the power of Artemis. The silver fire was dull and extinguished, barely a step above embers.
"No." Zoe whispered, crestfallen. "No, it can't be. Not Milady."
She wavered, and for a moment it looked as if the millenia old huntress would fall to her knees.
Anna stepped forward, the snake around her shoulders dissipating as she pulled Zoe into a side hug, uncaring of all the people watching them. She whispered to Zoe. "Keep it together, lieutenant. It's not over. Her fire still burns. Lady Artemis is still out there, and we can still find her."
Zoe closed her eyes briefly. "You're right." She exhaled slowly. "You're right."
She rallied. Zoe's eyes opened once more, her onyx eyes gleaming with newfound resolve.
She turned to the Oracle of Delphi, squaring her shoulders. "How do I find Lady Artemis?"
"How do I find Lady Artemis?" Zoe's question ran through his mind like a bell.
Percy gritted his teeth. It must've taken a foe of incredible power to capture Artemis. He clenched his fists tightly.
"Gods damn it all." Percy whispered. He knew this was a prelude to war. He knew it was coming. He just thought he would've had more time.
"What's going on, Percy?" Nico asked, looking up at him.
Percy met Nico's gaze, sighing once more. Gods, he envied the ability to be that innocent, to be ignorant of the greater world.
"The opening shots of the second Titan war have just been fired." Percy muttered.
"What?" Bianca exclaimed. "You can't be-" Her voice trailed off at the exhausted, resigned look on his face. "You are, aren't you?"
He merely nodded, stepping away from the two siblings. He reached into his jacket, pulling out an old beaten up cellphone. "I've got to make some calls. Will you two be okay?"
Bianca shared a glance with Nico. Her expression hardened. "This involves us, doesn't it."
Percy opened his mouth to respond, but Bianca continued, overriding him. "We're the children of the Big Three as well." She reached out, grasping the sleeve of his jacket. She gazed up at him, frowning. "The way I see it, Percy, we're in this as much as you are. Don't push us away."
Percy looked at them for a long moment. "Understood." He murmured. He gestured loosely with his cellphone, a wan smile briefly crossing his face. "I do still have to make those calls though."
Bianca smirked. "We're not going anywhere."
Despite himself, Percy found himself returning the smirk. "Fine with me."
He paused midway in lifting the phone to his ear. "Thank you. Hestia always did say I needed more friends."
Bianca and Nico smiled at him, and Percy returned it briefly, before becoming engulfed in a conversation. It went over their heads, but Bianca and Nico could gather that he was calling in a few favors.
The oracle spoke.
Percy slowly lowered the phone.
He replayed the words in his head.
His hands clenched tightly, fingernails forming indents into invulnerable skin.
Night hung over the camp like a shroud. It was a dark, moonless night, black clouds suffocating the moonlight. On the outskirts of camp, within the dense forest, a lone figure sprinted through the undergrowth. The verdant ceiling only exacerbated the night, inky blackness making rendering visibility null.
And yet Zoe ran onwards, weaving through the the forest with a seemingly preternatural sense, avoiding trees and leaping over rocks and logs without making a sound.
Breathing heavily, the huntress reached a lone rock formation in a clearing. She climbed atop it and sat down, tucking her knees into her chest.
Only then, after making it through the rest of the day and much of the night did she allow herself to finally feel.
The words of the prophecy rang through her head as if they were taunting her still.
"And one shall perish by a parent's hand." She murmured to herself, finally voicing it aloud, slumping further into herself.
She was going to die. By her father's hand. Atlas, the Titan of Endurance would strike her down.
Acceptance and grief gave way to anger, and Zoe abruptly stood up, glaring at the night sky, at the aetheral ceiling her father was doomed to hold up. She howled in rage at the sky, her fists clenched.
"Haven't you taken enough from me!" She screamed, her chest heaving. She gestured wildly, vaguely aware of something rumbling and cratering, something shattering around her. "I was happy! I had a family! I had a life! And you will take it all!"
She turned, vision red with anger as she launched a fist forward. "It's not fair!" Zoe shrieked in anger. "I was tricked! I was deceived!"
Zoe continued to punch, lost in her rage. "You cast me out! Why can't you just leave me alone!"
She collapsed to her knees. "Why can't you just leave me alone, father?" She murmured.
The rock that was beneath her had long since been split and broken, shrapnel and debris littering the forest floor and impaled in bark.
Zoe inhaled sharply, bringing her hands up to stare at them. They were bloodied and split, but unbroken. She closed her eyes angrily, cursing herself. It had been years, decades, centuries even, since she had let her powers loose. She attempted to suppress her power, to bring it back under her control.
It refused her. Her power was out now, and it demanded to be used, to bring an end to something, anything. For she was the daughter of Atlas and Hesperia, a Hesperide by birth, the spawn of the evening itself.
She looked out with cloudy, pain filled eyes, looking for an outlet for the decades worth of power abruptly flooding her. She was burning up. Without what little divinity she possessed as a Hesperide, and with Artemis so weak, she couldn't handle her own power.
Reaching out desperately, she flicked her wrist, closing her eyes in sorrow, hating that she had to do this. The trees around her died, bowing to the evening she imposed on them. Their time in the sun abruptly ended. The trees wilted and died, thick bark buckling in on itself like wet cardboard.
Yet this still wasn't enough. She looked around frantically, for something, anything. She needed to vent, to get rid of this power.
"Hey."
Zoe whipped around, eyes wide with fright. She was afraid, but not for herself.
"Perseus, leave!" Zoe shouted. "It's…" Her voice cracked. "It's not safe around me right now."
Percy stepped forward, uncaring of the aura of power that now surrounded the huntress. "You need help."
"Do you want me to fight you!" Zoe screamed at him, struggling with the effort of forcing down her still growing power.
He rolled his shoulders, his torn and patchmarked jacket billowing around him. He raised his arms in a taunting gesture, smirking. "Yes."
Zoe shook her head, angry and frustrated tears springing to her eyes. She hated how much she suddenly wanted to take him up on that offer, how something within her suddenly yearned for combat. "No! It's too dangerous!"
He cocked an eyebrow, frowning. "Hey now, you and I both know I can take a hit or two. Besides, I trust you Zoe. You wouldn't hurt me." He paused, a wry grin crossing his face. "Too much, at least."
Despite herself, despite the situation, Zoe couldn't help but laugh at his morbid humor.
Percy continued, speaking more softly. "It's okay Zoe. I understand what you're going through. I've been where you are."
Zoe's laughter ended abruptly, and she glared at him, seething.
He thought he could empathize with her?
The huntress shot forward, howling in sudden rage.
Her fist impacted like a meteor, hitting Percy's closed guard and sending him skidding backwards, his boots tearing up the soft earthen floor of the forest.
"One shall be lost in the land with no rain." Percy recited flatly. He shot forward himself, his fist impacting Zoe's face with the force equivalent of an artillery shell.
"You're not the only one that's prophesied to die here, Zoe!" He shouted.
Zoe dragged a clenched hand across her face, underneath her nose. She stared at the back of her fist, surprised. A mix of crimson and gold was smeared across it.
She met Percy's eyes. His punch had knocked some sense into her, however temporary. Of course he could empathize with her.
She felt awful, and knew she was a hypocrite. She was complaining about a prophesied death and losing friends to Perseus, of all people. But the pounding in her heart, the thrum of power through her limbs, they wouldn't allow her to stop here. She needed to fight.
Percy understood, she could tell. He was staring into her now glowing eyes, her onyx black meeting a vivid sea green.
She flicked her wrist. The sanguine liquid smeared across her fist splattered across the forest floor.
The two combatants glared at each other for a long moment. The Fist of Olympus and the Lieutenant of Artemis sized each other up, the hammer of the gods preparing to strike at a daughter of the evening.
By some unspoken mutual agreement, they reengaged. Weapons and fists blurred. The clearing was torn asunder, such was the intensity of the fighting.
Percy growled, letting himself go as well. The mechanisms that made up his body began to glow, divine energy being channeled into them. He breathed, exhaling smoke. He leaned back, Zoe's fist flying a hairsbreadth away from his temple.
Zoe needed this. This much, Percy knew. But he needed it as well. Anything to distract him from yet another prophecy predicting his death.
Zoe rushed forward. Percy prepared himself for another haymaker, but a flicker of bronze surprised him. Her blade slammed into his shoulder, nearly forcing him to a knee.
He yelled in surprise and pain, forcing himself forward despite the nigh overwhelming impact, and slammed his shoulder into Zoe's chest.
The fight quickly devolved into a slugfest after that, both opponents simply hammering at each other.
Linebreak
Zoe and Percy leaned against each other, breathing heavily as they stumbled out of the torn and devastated clearing. Percy supported the exhausted huntress, draping her arm around her neck.
Percy wasn't doing much better himself, but unlike Zoe he was quite literally built to take divine punishment. His legs wavered and his chest throbbed with pain, the consequence of pushing his body too far for too long, but he continued regardless.
"C'mon Zoe." He muttered. "Let's get you back to camp."
"M'tired." The millenia old huntress murmured, leaning further into him. Her feet dragged across the ground, and Percy sighed in fond exasperation.
He grunted, shifting Zoe into a fireman's carry, and continued to walk. He couldn't help but note that, for all her destructive capability, the huntress was rather light.
Their return trip through the forest was a far sight less graceful and elegant than their arrival was. He stumbled through the forest, haphazardly driving his body through the undergrowth, snapping twigs and crushing dry leaves as he walked.
Percy was sure that they were audible for miles.
Sure enough, when he came out of the treeline behind the Artemis cabin, the huntresses were out in force. He winced when their bows came up to aim at him.
He knew that it didn't look good. After a massive, audible fight, he came walking out of the treeline carrying the bruised and battered unconscious form of Zoe.
"Would you believe me if I said she wanted this?" Percy managed to get out, falling to his knees in front of the hunters. He gently placed Zoe down on the ground.
"Yes, I would." A huntress kneeled down on the other side of Zoe's supine form. "Don't worry Percy, we'll…"
Her voice trailed off, becoming unintelligible to him. The pain in his chest and legs increased, and the world wavered around him.
Percy closed his eyes. "That's good." He squinted, trying to make out the hunter across from him. "Please make sure nobody tries to kill me for the next few hours."
"Huh?"
"I'm passing out now. Need to repair myself." He politely informed the huntress. It was always good to give advance notice whenever possible. Zoe really had knocked more than a few things loose inside of him.
With that said, Percy fell down on his side, the darkness quickly engulfing him.