*This chapter was written by Metal Pen with some minor edits by me

Chapter 3 – The Next Step

The vibrant flourishes of gold flashed before Percy's eyes at the exact moment that Artemis had brought him to the ground of Olympus, high above the Empire State Building, 'floor 600' as it were. The lights that lined the streets were giving off a dim light which allowed the denizens of Olympus to go about their lives however they wished.

Further across the pavilion there lay a grand set of stairs that led all the way up the the throne room of Olympus with palaces of all kinds lining the stairway right up until the last few hundred yards. Percy had to squint and almost shield his eyes against some of the eyesores that acted as palaces, such as the overwhelmingly bright golden temple that belonged to Apollo and then right after that the sickening shade of bubblegum pink that belonged to none other than Aphrodite. Opposing Apollo's obnoxiously vibrant temple was that soothing pale silver that radiated with beauty when Percy laid his eyes on it. There was no way that it belonged to anyone other than Artemis.

"Is the change purely on the inside?" Artemis' voice reached his ears, she was being quiet but she knew for a fact that he would be able to hear her. With the senses of a Dragon she was confident that he could hear and distinctly group every sound and echo on the entirety of Olympus. Just by his natural instincts and senses she truly believed that he would be able to sense who was and who was not on Olympus with that alone.

"I'm sorry, can you specify?" He asked her respectfully. She was still so shocked that after returning and revealing himself only to her that he was still upholding his adamant determination to show her the respect that she usually demanded from males but then he was different from them, wasn't he?

"Your senses are all magnificently more powerful but back there with that Dragon you said your silver sword wouldn't hurt you because you had the body of a Demigod. You said it like you really have changed to the point where you can no longer identify as a Demigod." Artemis' words were very cleverly constructed, she desperately wanted Percy to give her some solid answers but she wasn't sure that he would outright fall into the verbal trap that she had laid, after-all, Dragons were some of if not THE most intelligent creatures to have ever existed, which was why they were ruled as such a dangerous species and locked inside Pandora's Box.

"Lady Artemis, I will ask something of you right now so that we can eliminate any more problems further down the line. If you want to know something specific then ask me straight, don't play with your words because I can see through them very clearly. You want an answer? Ask me THAT question." If he had been anyone else he would have died for the fact that he had basically just told Artemis to stop playing games and get to the point but aside from everything he was doing to hunt the Dragons and from saving Olympus three times, Artemis actually liked Percy, she actually tolerated him at a higher level than any other male in a long time.

"Fine, Perseus, what are you, specifically WHAT are you? I know you called yourself a Dragon but you look like a Human so... What are you really Perseus?" That was the golden question though, wasn't it? What was he, really? He knew that she was waiting to ask him that very question since the beginning.

Percy thought of a fitting answer for her as the two of them walked to the throne room with a few bystanders and random denizens of the city all pointing and staring. Of course they all clearly recognized the legendary hero of Olympus, the man who had toppled Kronos, slain Gaea and sealed Pandora's Box and of course, as of recently, became the Dragon Hunter.

"Quite simply I am a true Dragon. I am immortal in the sense that I can no longer age, as are all Dragons in my classification. What else?" He asked himself as though he wasn't quite certain of it himself. "Actually I think that's it, I'm the Dragon who slays his kin as decreed by Pandora's Box. I can never age I can never die, that is my curse, that I have to live for all eternity constantly hunting down my race until I am the last to stand." His words held a heavy weight of sadness and tragedy. It was clear to the master huntress that Percy didn't even want this task set upon him, he clearly didn't want to cause an entire race, HIS race, to go extinct and by the sounds of it, he had NEVER planned on accepting any kind of immortality yet here he was, forced to walk the Earth forever.

"The immortality of a Dragon." Artemis pondered briefly before sending a very subtle gaze his way for a split second. "What are you classed as then, where do you rank among those that you hunt?" She asked, finally giving him her full attention. It had been a subtle change but over the past ten minutes Percy had noticed that her body had been growing, her hair was turning from that greatly shiny auburn to a duller shade with small traces of silver running through it. She looked to have aged to around his own age. Percy wasn't unaware of the fact that he was greatly attracted to her, she looked amazing and smelled intoxicating to him. Dragons had a very dominant primal side, something that he suspected she was aware of.

Percy had gazed into her entrancing silver eyes for long enough and instead decided to answer her, the quicker that they finished their business on Olympus, the quicker that he could get to Germany to hunt down Azazel the black Dragon of death. "To kill an Ancient Dragon you have to BE an Ancient Dragon which is part of the curse from Pandora's Box. It's not just my instincts, my personality, my intelligence and all of that which has changed, in fact the ONLY thing that has remained is the way I currently look, even my soul burns with Dragon fire." He told her before nodding towards the grand golden doors inlaid with ornate metals from all over the world. This was the threshold of the Gods, this was where the council convened and had their meetings, this was where they were about to meet the new Percy Jackson.

Artemis led the way while she silently mulled over his answer. Even his soul was draconic? That was extreme and she wasn't sure how deeply that would have had an effect on him. He was right about Pandora's Box issuing him a curse, for now and forever he would be haunted by the harrowing task which was unfairly thrown upon him.

As soon as the doors opened up before them, Percy could see that nothing had changed since the last time he had been there. The scene was just as bright and vast as it had always been, this time though the whole throne room was empty save for Zeus who sat with a tired look about him.

The King of the Gods sent his gaze towards them, taking a few seconds to register that it was Artemis walking in with someone. His lightning eyes flickered with recognition before he sat up straight at an alarming speed. Zeus had hesitated for a moment before getting off of his throne and resizing himself to suit that of Percy.

"Perseus?" His voice was low and full of shock and surprise. His nephew had returned, after three years of not knowing the boy's fate, he had shown up completely out of the blue, walking side by side with Artemis no less. It was no secret to anyone around Olympus that during all of the conflicts and battlefields that had been shared between the two of them, that Percy was quite fond of Artemis and from the Goddesses' side, she was more 'tolerant' of him than she had been with anyone pretty much ever. It had spread like wildfire when people were dubbing him as Artemis' only male friend which had been something that Artemis had never denied. It was true after all, he was her friend and she'd happily keep it that way for all of the things he'd done for Olympus.

"Lord Zeus." Percy nodded before he started to kneel in front of the lightning master.

"You have no place in kneeling to me Perseus, you have saved us and the lives of our children, our families, three times without ever asking for any reward for yourself, you've even rejected Godhood twice. TWICE, nobody has ever even been offered Godhood twice and I'm sure you know that after Pandora's Box you would have been offered it once again." Zeus' words were filled with emotion, something that Percy couldn't actually ever remember him harbouring a great deal of in the first place so this was a new addition to his vast memories.

"Yes, well. I may not exactly be a God but I was forced to be immortal in the end anyway." He sighed as he casually told Zeus that he was immortal. He had a truer sense of immortality than the Gods did because of Pandora's Box.

After seeing Zeus' questioning gaze Percy decided that it would be far easier for him to explain it to the whole council and get everything done in one go to which Zeus agreed. The council had been summoned and after Poseidon had a few minutes to greet his now not missing son, the meeting had begun with Percy even having an honorary throne next to his father's.

Everything had been going smoothly until he had to face Hestia's burning tears that fell freely down her face. The council had found out that Pandora's Box had been stolen from her during the war with Gaea, they had found that out right before Percy had succeeded in closing it once again.

It was only meant to have Pandora's 'Hope' left inside but it seemed that whoever had stolen it, filled it right back up to the brim with the new evils of the world mixed with some old. After the truth had emerged in the council meeting that Percy was now actually a Dragon because of the curse from the box, Hestia couldn't hold her tears back, she ran towards him. Her flames almost being doused by the passing wind before she latched herself onto him, holding him in a tight embrace and frantically pleading him to forgive her.

"Hestia, you have nothing to apologize for. It was not your fault that it was stolen, it wasn't your fault that it was reconstructed and it was most certainly not your fault that I have become what I am because of that, now dry your eyes Goddess, there's a hearth that needs to be tended to." He told her quietly. He saw that her smile had wobbled back onto her face once again and he felt that his job was done. He had never blamed her, he could never blame her, he loved Hestia for the part that she played behind the works of everything, there was no way that he would ever bear any ill will to the Goddess of the hearth.

"Thank you." She whispered before gently putting a kiss on his cheek before returning once again to the fire in the centre of the room.

"What will you do now, son?" Poseidon asked him carefully. He'd been so focused dealing with his 'problem' that had come about as a side effect of becoming a Dragon that he'd not found time to actually see anyone between his various Dragon hunts.

"Well, I only agreed to come here because Lady Artemis asked me to, don't take it the wrong way, I'll always be the first one in the fight for Olympus but these Dragons are a task that I cannot take rest from. My job will be done when there are another nine heads mounted on my wall, so as soon as you deem it acceptable for me to leave, I shall be departing to Germany to hunt down a particularly nasty piece of work." Percy told them all, he had garnered a huge amount of respect from ALL of the Gods that had gathered in that room, even Ares was proudly promoting a smile for the son of Poseidon. Turning into a Dragon just to hunt down other Dragons? That was a concept that Ares respected.

"Then I have a proposal to make." Zeus announced before sending his attention towards Artemis, "This journey that young Perseus has been embarking on is... It's not a path that he should walk alone and I don't think there's a single person more suited to aid him than the Goddess of the Hunt. We've all heard that you see him as a friend so what do you say to that?" Zeus' tone was caring and surprisingly he wasn't ordering Artemis to go ahead with his idea but he was actually seeing if she would agree to it. Something had happened to the old God in the past three years that had softened him immeasurably.

"I wouldn't say no and force him to stand alone in upholding his burden. If that's what you think is the best then I ask only that you personally watch over my girls and protect them diligently while I'm gone." Artemis purposely ignored the piercing emerald stare that was boring into her. He stood like a concrete statue not even moving when he breathed, never making any sound when he did so. It wasn't just his senses that had improved but everything he had, any talent form before was now well above any mortal or immortal.

"Then with that being agreed to I dismiss all of you. You heard the boy, he wishes to find a fresh hunt as soon as possible and we shouldn't keep him. Perseus, please make sure to stop by every once in a while just so that we know you're safe." Zeus asked casually before winking and flashing out of the throne room in a white blaze of raw energy.

"Well that was unexpected." Percy chuckled for a second before realizing that Artemis was once again his size and standing right next to him. Really she was a lot closer than he'd expected her to be. He suspected that the scene before the Gods right now was what had sparked the 'rumour' of the two of them being friends. "I have to resupply after fighting that baby Dragon so can you take me to the national reserve park in Pennsylvania?"

"Why Pennsylvania?" Artemis queried before putting her hand on his shoulder and taking them exactly where he had asked to go. Taking only a few seconds to locate himself within the huge forests he casually pointed down the hill they were on.

"Can you take us to the bottom of the valley where the river ends? That is where my home is Lady Artemis." He told her quickly before she flashed them both to the bottom of the valley.

"Stop with the Lady this, Lady that, it's Artemis to you Perseus." She told him sternly. He had risen well above the need for formalities.

"On the condition that you call me Percy, not Perseus." He shot back immediately, the immense intelligence of the Dragon working away brilliantly and without pause. She was really coming to accept the fact that beyond seeing him as not only a male and a friend, that she was actually becoming fond of him, enough so that maybe, just maybe he may be able to soften her view on his gender all together. Either way, the fact that he was a man wasn't the first thing she thought of when she saw him. Unfortunately it was his powerful gaze that seemed to render her useless and unable to think of how to approach. She almost felt like they were playing an unseen game of cat and mouse over who was the prey and who was the predator and right now she wasn't so sure that she'd ever been the one in control, not when she found herself engulfed in the vast and vibrant emeralds that sat perfectly in his iris'.

"I'm taking that as a yes." Percy announced happily. His voice had broken Artemis out of her reverie of thought and she decided not to answer him or he might have realized that she'd been too busy thinking about his bright eyes to give him a response.

"Come on, we're almost there, you can get some food or whatever it is that YOU actually have in place of sustenance. I'll show you the head of my first Dragon as well, it's breathtaking and you'll need to understand what you'll be facing if you're going to be walking this path by my side." He told her without ever looking back. The sights, the smells, the sounds that surrounded them, all the things that Artemis knew she could feel, she also knew that for Percy it was second nature to pick apart every single detail in the vast green forests around them but above that, she also knew for a fact that he kept picking up her 'scent', the same smell he had deduced could only be her when she'd been watching him from the canopy above the now dead baby Dragon's grave.

Every time she reached the prime of her stride she was closer to Percy before he moved away and every time she'd done it, he'd happily pulled in that aroma of cinnamon. Dragon's were fiercely proud and extremely dominant, his primal instincts would be screaming at him because of her close proximity and she could already see that. He hid it well but he wouldn't be able to hide such things from Artemis.

The last thing he'd said had caught her off guard. 'To walk that path by his side'. It was small and held no further gesture than the figure of speech that he'd meant it for but for some reason that she wasn't quite sure of yet, it sent a flutter into the pit of her stomach when she thought about it. The Goddess of the Hunt and the Dragon Hunter, or rather, the Dragon Slayer as he'd called himself before, were going down a dangerous path to rid the world of one of the most capable races there ever was. Walking into his home would mark her crossing the threshold where she could no longer return from, she just wished that she'd known at the time what kind of threshold it was she was actually about to cross.