Artemis POV
I wasn't in the mood to stick around and chat after the meeting. Like all the other Gods, I had things I wanted to do and, like all the other Gods, I wanted to remember Percy in my own way, how he deserved to be remembered. The other reason is most of the Gods still haven't warmed up to me. They all still shoot their poisonous words at me, even Apollo. A similar thing had occurred about 600 years ago, when Aphrodite had made most of the Gods, including me, fall in love with a random monster from Tartarus. Even after we had all been given an antidote to her love poisoning a month later by Zeus, almost everyone hated her guts, and many tried to kill her. The difference is that, with her, most of the Gods were laughing and flirting with her again only two years later. Here I am, five years later, still waiting for people to tell me that it's alright.
Shoulders slumped, I shuffled down the streets of Olympus, looking for Aphrodite's palace. It's quite interesting in my opinion that a love goddess and a maiden goddess would become best friends, but that's what happens when you end up making mistakes. It's the one way I've benefited from 'The Disappearance'. That's what we refer to it as nowadays. Most people call it 'The Disappearance', when Percy disappeared, but on several occasions I've heard people calling it 'The Splitting', probably because of the diverse views people have here on Olympus. We have Olympians saying that I did the right thing by making the man leave the hunt, and others saying that I have cost us our best hero. Generally, most of them have accepted the latter.
The hunters still get on with their jobs, but there's a different, more somber mood in the air. Even when we had found Phoebe and Atlanta locked away in Poseidon's palace hadn't been able to cheer them up. When Percy had left, Poseidon had been more mad than upset. There had been massive tsunamis all night, and earthquakes in japan with a magnitude of 8.4, apparently. Poseidon had then gone ahead and kidnapped Phoebe and Atlanta. He had kept them locked up, and it took too much effort to get them back. 5000 drachmas and hundreds of threats later, I finally freed them, whatever difference that made. They're still depressed all day, and don't talk much.
Thalia wants to say sorry to Perseus, but, obviously she can't, and it drives her crazy. I've heard her sobbing in her tent at night. In some ways, she's similar to Poseidon, except she begs me to let her search for her cousin, while Poseidon tells his armies to search.
Aphrodite's house is white, which I find ironic seeing as it gives her this sense of purity when, in reality, she is anything but pure. Only her door is black, which gives the palace a nice contrast. The first time I had talked to Aphrodite after 'The Disappearance' had been in my palace, not hers. That made my smirk. She had come to mine uninvited about a week after 'The Disappearance', two days before we all cornered him in Manhattan, and we'd had a talk. She'd left me with some interesting things to dwell on, and I still dwell on them.
"Before I do something else that I deeply regret, get out of here," I spoke in a deathly tone, muting my never-ending sobs just for a few seconds. The door creaked shut, and this time, Aphrodite was inside, apparently deaf to everything I had just said. She was the first visitor I'd had in the last week. Father had tried to visit me, but I didn't want to talk to him. Most likely, he would give me some crap lecture on why I should be grateful that I am still here and how I need to apologise for everything I've done. I made some mistakes, but I was too ashamed to apologise. The last thing I needed to see was the look on Poseidon's face when I told him that I was sorry he won't see his son again in ages, all because of me. I hadn't wanted Aphrodite to come in either, but she had her ways, and disguised herself as someone else.
"Get out!" I yelled, my hand clenching around the nearest thing I could feel, a half smashed glass, the nectar stains still inside. Aphrodite noticed this.
"If you're gonna throw that at me, then I won't stop you," she started, raising her hands in defeat. "I know what's happened to you and Perseus, and I know that I am partly to blame. I won't stop you, but please listen to what I have to say."
I didn't want her to come in, but she did have information which was valuable to others. She knew the real reason why I had attacked her, and could tell anyone whenever she wanted to, which would be catastrophic for me. After a moment of consideration, I threw the glass onto the floor, muttering "fine" as I trudged upstairs to my bedroom.
When I reached it, I threw the door open, and stormed inside. My mattress was all over the floor, so instead of putting it on, I just decided to lay down in my bed. For the last week, all I had worn was the same nightgown I had since the night I slept with Percy. It had grown tattier by the day and had lost its usually pure white colour that I had cherished. Other than that, I wore nothing underneath, with the exception of my bra and pants, but I don't think we need to go into those details.
It was only a minute later that Aphrodite walked in the room, and stared at me with pity, as if she wanted to say, 'you poor thing'.
"Don't give me that look," I spat. "Tell me what you want and get out. I don't want to call my hunters." That was an empty threat. If I did call the hunters, Aphrodite wouldn't shut her mouth and, as I said, it would be catastrophic for me, Instead of saying whatever she wanted to, she just came and sat next to me on the bed. I wanted to tell her to go, but just couldn't find the energy to. Crying all day does that to you.
"We are in this mess because I forgot that you knew nothing about love and tried to sleep with Percy the wrong way," she started, looking at me.
"And we wouldn't be in this mess if I hadn't gone to you for help. I regret that day more than ever."
"I never said that it was your fault. I take full blame. You were meant to sleep with him while he was awake, so that he would know that you were in the bed." I never knew Aphrodite could blame herself, but here we were.
"Think about it," she gently whispered to me. "What would you do if you woke up one day sleeping next to a man. It would be a big shock and, knowing you, even if that man had been forced to, it would still be his last sane day. Perseus reacted with shock. From what the hunters told me-"
"The hunters talked to you!" I suddenly yelled, finding energy somewhere. I thought i'd told my hunter the 'tuck and roll' principle whenever Aphrodite was near to avoid the exact same problem I was in right now,
"-he only left because he was provoked by Thalia into running away. Don't blame yourself."
"I don't blame myself," I lied. "I blame you entirely." Aphrodite smiled.
"Blame me if you need to, but remember, as cliché as this sounds, Percy is not going to magically appear at your doorstep while you sit here sulking. There is only one way to find him, and you know how." I did know how to find him, but I didn't know if I could. Could I seriously order another hunt to find Perseus, the same males my hunters used for target practice and would gladly do so again. What do my hunters think of me now? Perhaps as an emotionally unstable psychopath? I'm not the same goddess I was last year. I've changed for the worst. Turning around, I put my head onto my pillow, before realising something was off. Ahhh yes, Aphrodite was still here.
"Well? You want to say something else?" She stared at me, before shaking her head.
"I want to ask for your forgiveness, but you won't give it to me, will you?" I didn't know how to respond to that. I mean, Aphrodite asking me to forgive her was something big, but could I really forgive her for the pain she has caused me. Perseus hates me, Olympus hates me, I will never see Perseus the same way again, and it all is because of her.
"Leave me Aphrodite," I whispered, not trusting myself to talk any louder. She nodded, before walking out the door, but not before giving me one last look.
"Change is always good, but only for those who want change. You want the same old everyday, which is the problem. I can swear on Styx that Perseus will come back, be that in five years or five millennia, but he will, and when he does, you need to be ready. You have almost no chance of being Perseus', but just maybe, if you can change, and accept change, he can accept change and change as well. I think I said 'change' too much, but just keep that in mind as you sulk. I'm in my palace if you need me."
With that, she walked out, head high. The one thing I could think of as she left was, she didn't have any perfume on.
It had taken me years to warm up to her. Day after day, she would visit me, and talk to me. Now that I think back on it, I never would've fully recovered, had it not been for her. She always came, and was so kind, something unusual for her. I think she felt guilty for ruining me. After a year I forgave her, A year later, I started visiting her in her palace. Now, fast forward another 3 years, we talk all the time. She's visited the hunt a few times, and even made the hunters love her by bringing sweets each time. I'm still suspicious of her, but talk to her much more. She's given me advice on many things, and pulled a few strings that time when a couple of minor gods were trying to get me kicked off the council, something that had been a real threat at the time.
"I was expecting you," Aphrodite said, opening the door and letting me in. Usually, she would always cover her up when I came, but today, it seemed as if she had done nothing. All she was wearing was an extremely tight top with even tighter shorts. Shorts were the wrong word. They barely covered anything, and made me feel awkward. I never liked being in the same room as girls who exposed that much skin. It weirded me out.
"So what's the problem," she asked, sitting down on the couch, and motioning for me too. After seeing the wet spot on her couch last month, I had decided to always sit on the floor now, just to be on the safe side. Aphrodite smirked at that. She always found these 'sexual' things funny. I, on the contrary, most definitely did not.
"What do you know about Perseus and these men dressed in black that have been stealing my food recently," I asked her, cutting down to the chase. Instead of answering me, she got up and made her way to the kitchen, returning two minutes later with two cups of nectar. As soon as she gave me mine, I greedily drank it all in one sip. I tell you, it's impossible to get sick off nectar. It's more addictive than that drink Apollo is always talking about when he comes back from the Olympian bar with Hermes every Sunday.
"Why would you think that I knew something about it?" she asked. I sighed.
"I'm not an idiot, Aphrodite. I saw you and Hestia looking at each other nervously when I mentioned these 'Revenant' dudes and dudettes.
Aphrodite POV
If I say too much, I'm gonna have Hades, Apollo and Hestia on my back. Hestia is nice, but when someone she loves comes into the fray, there is nothing I can do to protect myself. She will go furious if I tell everything to Artemis.
"The Revenant are a group of soldiers who shouldn't be messed with. Their leader knows Hestia well, and Hestia doesn't want anything bad to happen to him."
"Couldn't Hestia perhaps tell their leader to stop attacking me an stealing my food, because he's being a real dickhea-"
"I can assure you that you don't want to finish that sentence," I interrupted. Had Perseus heard that, Artemis would be in trouble again. She glared at me, putting her glass down with a loud thud on the floor.
"What about Perseus?" she asked, looking at me hard in the eye. I couldn't lie to her. If Artemis found out that I lied to her, it would destroy the close connection we had developed over the last few years, which was something I didn't want to jeopardize. I knew that we were very different, but I owed her for what had happened to Perseus, and would continue owing her until I could bring the two together.
"Perseus is missing, and I haven't seen him in five years."
"When did you last see him, and be careful because I will call Apollo and Father if I have to?" I sighed. One way or another, she would find out, and I might as well tell her now.
"Two weeks after 'The Disappearance'." I hung my head down, ashamed to look at the person who had trusted me for the last five years.
"You mean one week right, two days after you saw me?" Artemis couldn't believe me.
"I saw him one week after you did, in Ogygia, right after you say him kissing that girl in the iris message"
She looked at me for a moment, as if she wanted me to suddenly yell out, '7 months late April fools!' but I couldn't. I wish I had lied. Five seconds passed, and then, Artemis broke down. Once that first tear broke free, the rest followed in an unbroken stream. Artemis bent forward where she sat on the floor and pressed her palms to the mat, she began to cry with the force of a person vomiting on all fours. It was painful to see her like this. All I could do was embrace her and let the torrent of her tears soak through my shirt. I could feel her clench her fists, not knowing whether to be mad or to give up hope all together. I could hear her silently screaming, suffocating with each breath she took holding onto her pride. I ran my fingers through her hair, time and time again, in an attempt to calm the silent war within her mind. I should've lied. I should've lied. It would've been much better to lie right up in the nose of the person who trusted me the most than see her breaking down like this. Artemis's emotional state was very fragile.
There has been a lot of emotional crying from Artemis over the last few years. It takes little to make her burst out crying.
Artemis POV
I stared at Aphrodite who was sitting next to me, her shirt soaked, entirely my fault. Embarrassed, I stood up, taking care to remove all signs of my breakdown before I would step outside.
"I think I ruined your date," I mumbled in shame. She gently laughed.
"As long as you don't hate me, I think it's fine." I didn't hate her, but wasn't sure what to say. It's not like she lied to me, but she hadn't told me the truth either.
"I think I need to visit my hunt. We've spotted some monsters coming, and I've never seen them before, so we'll need an early rest for that. I'll see you soon then, I guess."
Taking care to walk out of her palace, I flashed out, to the hunt. I didn't know what to make of the event that had just happened. Ignoring my lieutenant's questions, I walked into my tent, zipped it, and quickly set up my gear for tomorrow's hunt. After rummaging through my draws, I stumbled upon a grey package that I hadn't dared to touch. The package hadn't changed one bit since five years ago, when Aphrodite had given it to me, to gain my trust. My hands froze over the package, fingers tracing the contours of the box inside. Five years I had kept this locked away and hidden from all of Olympus, Poseidon especially. Despite all the feelings inside of me, I couldn't bring myself to open the package and look at the thing inside. I knew what was in it, and it haunted me, every day and every night..
Knowing that I needed to get a good rest, I laid down in bed, pulling the duvet over my head. Throughout the night, I knew that I would be haunted by dreams of the grey package…
… Dreams of the grey package which contained, careful package inside and covered by many layers of silk, Percy's sword, Riptide.
Alright so how was that? Any constructive feedback?