A/N: My expectations for this fic were admittedly low, and to see that the views on this story more than doubled after my last chapter made me a surprised and happy boi.
Please review, favorite, and follow and all that to keep boosting my fragile ego and encourage me to update more frequently. For now, here's a long chapter to buy me time to play video games.
Thank you very much.
I don't own Percy Jackson.
In a clearing surrounded by tall trees, the Hunters of Artemis were setting up camp early on in the day. The trees were thick and their roots jutted out from the ground at odd angles. Even during the day, barely any light from the sun managed to shine and pierce through the leaves above. The ground was uneven and rocky, making it so that even the more experienced hunters had to exert more effort in navigating the forest. It had tired their new recruits fairly quickly, so Artemis had ordered them to set up camp and prepare to continue their journey tomorrow.
A few hunters were off at a nearby lake, washing clothes and filling up their water jugs. A couple of hunters were patrolling around the area for any intruders or monsters, not that far from the clearing in case a hasty retreat back to the camp would be needed. A vast majority of the hunters were setting up the tents and building makeshift pens for their wolves to stay in for the night. They left a large area for Artemis' tent that she would usually create herself. The goddess herself was a bit distant from the campsite, as she had insisted on hunting for their dinner for later that night.
The atmosphere was generally peaceful; birds were chirping, the hunters were working while making companionable conversation with each other, and everything was calm.
That was until the ground had begun to shake beneath them, and a small, high-pitched sound had begun to pierce the slight silence in the clearing. The hunters, all blessed by Artemis herself, had their senses heightened and were able to make out the sound that none of them could actually identify as an animal or monster. After a few seconds, the sound had grown louder, and one hunter had looked up. Her eyes widened and she pointed up into the sky, "sisters! Look up! It's coming from above!"
All the hunters had gathered together in the clearing prior to the exclamation of one of their own, and all had looked up at what appeared to be a burning mass hurtling towards their camp.
Immediately, shouts of panic filled the area as the hunters scrambled to get away from the burning mass. Most hunters leaped away to a safer distance on the edges of the clearing, while some had stayed a bit closer than them to be the first to inspect it when it landed.
All hunters had their bows out, an arrow notched in preparation as the burning mass neared the ground. As it came closer to them, their ears began to identify the sound from the mass as...
"Hey, does anyone else hear someone...screaming?" A hunter spoke up, prompting murmurs of agreement and confusion. Their already tense postures further became more rigid as they stared at the mass with trepidation.
Soon, the mass became much clearer to them, as it was close to breaking the treeline. It was indeed on fire, but it did not look like a boulder of any sort. It looked like a person who was balled up with their arms wrapped around their legs, curled up as he screamed. The girls weren't able to see what the person wore through the fire or any other features that would help them identify who they were.
"Bows at the ready! Be prepared for anything!" A girl who looked very much like a princess said in a strange accent. Her hair was dark and her skin was copper-colored. With her words, the hunters braced themselves for impact.
"Look alive!" A large, buff girl with ginger hair yelled after, glaring at the mass.
The hunters were immediately subjected to a large amount of wind blowing into their faces as the person made contact with the ground, causing a resounding boom to echo throughout the forest and inflicting a painful ringing into the sensitive ears of the hunters. The hunters, trained to be ready for anything, perceived this to be a direct attack and a few of the older hunters began to notch their arrows back fully, prepared to fire off at the smoking heap in the center of their camp that had created a large crater.
Before they could fire off anything, a shout from the forest had caused them to pause. "Wait!"
Turning their heads, the hunters were greeted by a sweating Apollo, whose eyes were wide with panic as he looked around in a panic.
"Where is he? Where the hell is he? Oh, Hermes is going to kill me!" The god yelled, surprisingly not even looking at a hunter for more than a second.
Apollo pushed past numerous hunters, ignoring their gasps and growls of anger. His head whipped around the camp as he gritted his teeth. The hunters he passed could hear him mutter about "Hermes" and "death".
Finally pushing past enough of the gathered hunters to see the crater, Apollo gave a cry of anguish and rushed towards it.
"No! Oh please no! This is not cool!" Apollo almost whimpered, earning him looks of absolute bewilderment from the hunters.
He jumped down and made his way to the center of the crater. The large pillar of smoke that rose from the crater obscured the god from view.
A few seconds of silence passed before a scream of pure rage from the pillar of smoke caused the hunters to once more notch arrows into place. They aimed at the smoke, narrowing their eyes as they tried to see through it.
The hunter with the accent immediately ordered one of her sisters, a child of Zeus, to clear the crater of smoke and fire with wind. Nodding her head, the hunter immediately focused on the crater, and a large focused gust of wind pushed back the smoke to reveal a boy straddling Apollo. The boy, with dark hair and sea-green eyes wailing on the god beneath him, trying to hit the man as he roared, "what the hell is your problem! I could've died! I'm gonna kill you Apollo!"
Apollo's much larger arms defended his frame quite well, but the unpredictable strikes of the boy on top of him managed to get through from time to time. "Percy," Apollo shouted as he grinned sheepishly, looking embarrassed. "I totally planned that! Calm down now- ow! Watch the ribs!"
This continued on for a few seconds. Percy would manage a hit on the apologizing Apollo, who would yelp in pain, and spurn on the enraged demigod. The hunters around them had no clue how to address the matter at hand; not even the girl with an accent seemed to know what to do, and she seemed to be their leader.
Finally, seemingly having endured enough torture from the small boy, Apollo shoved Percy back and pulled himself out from under the surprised boy. He then tackled the demigod and held him in a headlock. Due to their height difference, the god had to bend over slightly in order to properly execute his assault. Apollo began to viciously noogie the boy. He laughed at the resulting screams of pain.
"Quit struggling! You deserve this!" Apollo yelled, grinning widely despite the skin around his right eye darkening in the form of a black eye. He couldn't deny that his training had affected Percy extremely positively; the kid's wiry frame would fill out in time, but for now, it was deceptively small. He could pack a punch and when he began his sword training last month, Hermes had to accelerate his lesson plans by a few weeks with how fast Percy picked up the movements and stances.
A flash in the middle of the hunters had alerted the two roughhousing boys, and Apollo paled quickly as his eyes widened. He abruptly shoved Percy away, and due to his lack of care, drove the demigod onto the ground. The boy yelped, then immediately got to his feet after seeing his adoptive uncle's face. Something was amiss, and he didn't want to be caught off guard.
Artemis had flashed into the camp with a boar over her shoulders and was greeted by absolute chaos. Tents were overturned, the pens of the wolves were all on the ground, and a large crater with bits of fire still burning at its edges was at the center of their camp. Her hunters looked positively relieved to see her, which piqued her curiosity. Looking at the center of the crater, she held in a groan of annoyance.
Apollo's hair was an absolute mess, and he had a black eye. His expensive jacket was muddy and blackened on some portions due to laying in the crater with bits of leaves and sticks caught on the front. Artemis assumed he had been running in the forest in a hurry. His designer jeans were ripped, and though they looked to be ripped intentionally, the darkened portions on the knees told Artemis that he had been kneeling in the dirt. His white shoes were also completely ruined.
The boy beside her brother had dark hair, and a small flame still burned on his head. His eyes were a sea-green and he stared at her in curiosity. His skin was tan, and though his frame was small, something about how the boy stood told her he was not what he seemed. He wore a dark maroon sweater that looked pitch black due to the fire and black shorts. He wore flipflops that were extremely covered in mud. Parts of his skin was singed.
"Heyyy, sis!" Apollo grinned nervously, and something in his voice made Percy shift beside him.
"Apollo? What are you doing here? And who is this boy?" Artemis asked, her face shifting into a slight sneer as she looked at Percy. Hearing the word boy, the hunters promptly notched their arrows again and took aim at the demigod beside Apollo.
"Hey!" Percy shouted, immediately putting his hands up in the air. "I'm friendly! Don't shoot!"
Apollo surprised Artemis by stepping in front of the small demigod, glaring daggers at the hunters before he made eye contact with his sister. Though his eyes were angry, the goddess found that her brother still looked quite nervous at the sight of the numerous hunters who were very accurate with their weapons aiming at them. It brought her pleasure.
Artemis also noticed a look of pleading in his eyes.
"Artemis," Apollo began as he spread his arms wide to further hide Percy behind him. "I know you don't owe me anything, but please. Just let me explain."
Percy wanted to peek out from behind the god but when he turned around, he saw more girls in silver parkas aiming their bows at him. He gave them what he thought was a friendly smile and only received harsh glares in return. He sighed inwardly. He wondered how his adoptive uncles always managed to get him into trouble. He raised his arms higher.
Artemis pondered her brother's words with a calculated look on her face. After a few tense moments, she gave a small nod, and all the hunters had lowered their bows slightly. She slowly passed the boar on her shoulders off to one of her hunters, who took it and went to store it somewhere.
Apollo gave a sigh of relief, only to spin around to hear Percy yelp. The hunt's wolves had weaved through the ranks of the hunters slowly and stalked closer to him, sniffing him and growling lowly at him.
"Follow me to my tent. I will be bringing my lieutenant if you don't mind." Artemis said, turning and walking off in the direction of the space cleared out for her tent. A huntress immediately turned and walked after her. Neither told the wolves to back away from the two males.
Apollo grabbed his young student's wrist and dragged him away from the wolves, who stayed put in their places. Percy allowed himself to be dragged.
The pair stopped a few feet behind the two huntresses as Artemis snapped her fingers, causing a rather large silver tent to form in the clearing. She lifted up the tent flap for her lieutenant and gestured for the Apollo and Percy to follow. Once she was inside, she snapped her fingers again and turned to the two males.
Apollo was busy putting out the fire in Percy's hair with a finger and the boy was smoothing out his extremely wrinkled sweater. Her lieutenant watched them quietly from her spot on a chair near the edge of Artemis' tent.
"You said you would explain yourself, Apollo," Artemis spoke up suddenly, surprising the two males who were rather focused on their own tasks.
"Oh. Right. Is this place safe?" Apollo asked, settling with laying his hand on his student's shoulders. Percy simply stared at Artemis.
Nodding, the goddess snapped her fingers, and three more chairs popped into existence behind the two males and behind her. She gestured for them to sit as she did so herself.
"No one outside this tent will be able to hear us speak," Artemis said. She crossed her arms and settled her glare on her brother. "So what caused that crater in my camp?"
Apollo's grin bloomed on his face once more, though this one was slightly more sheepish than his usual. "Well, you see, sister, this is Perseus Jackson, and he is my young student."
"It's Percy," said the boy quietly, a small wince on his face, but he was promptly ignored by everyone in the tent.
"Today is his birthday, and I was giving him my gift," Apollo finished quickly, a smile on his face.
"Your 'gift' caused that boy to crash into our camp from the skies?" Her lieutenant spoke up. Her eyebrows were raised and a look of disbelief was on her face. "I do not believe it."
Sighing, Artemis rubbed her head. "Unfortunately, Zoe, I do. He isn't lying." Seeing her lieutenant's question look, Artemis simply crossed her arms again. "He's my brother. I know when he lies."
Artemis turned her head to her brother, "I sense that there is more to this story."
Apollo nodded.
"I expect you to tell me the rest," Artemis said, the tone in her voice not one of a request but that of an order. "Zoe, take the boy to the lake. Do not harm him."
Zoe raised an eyebrow and a twitch of her lips saw that she didn't really want to take Percy anywhere, but she walked off after a moment. Percy, seeing that Apollo didn't object, shrugged and followed out.
Apollo sighed, slowly sinking in his seat when the two younger occupants left. Silence reigned between the two siblings before Artemis decided to break it.
"His crashing in my camp was intentional, wasn't it?"
Apollo snorted softly, shaking his head. "Not really. I wanted you to meet him eventually, but I really wasn't lying when I said it was his birthday gift. Hermes has been trying to keep the kid out of the skies but Percy's wanted to try for months now. I didn't think my little plan would literally burst up in flames."
Artemis raised an eyebrow. "What exactly did you do to him?"
Apollo grinned despite the situation. "Strapped him onto a catapult blindfolded and only told him once he was on it. It was an old catapult I found somewhere in Olympus. We probably used it in one of the wars. I didn't think it would be that dangerous to use but..."
Artemis allowed her brother to stay silent for a moment. It was clear he wanted something, but he was hesitating to ask. He wasn't one to ask for help, so despite the fact that Artemis didn't like her brother all that much, she understood why he was hesitating.
"You said Hermes knows the boy?" Artemis spoke up, deciding to give her brother more time to work up the guts to ask for whatever it was he wanted.
Apollo nodded. "He took the kid in after he found the kid's mom was killed and the stepdad was about to off him too. Hermes stepped in and took him in. He found out that Percy's a son of Poseidon. And we all know about the prophecy."
"Hermes decided to train him?" Artemis asked, knowing the answer already. Seeing Apollo nod, she hummed. "I suppose it makes sense. And ever since that daughter of Zeus became a tree..."
"Percy's next in line to be the kid of the prophecy. We've been training him as best as we can, but it's hard to find anywhere to properly drill him on Olympus. We've been making do with Hermes' place." Apollo sighed, rubbing his forehead. As his fingers touched his skin, his black eye began to heal.
"I met the kid a month after Hermes picked him up. After he told me about everything, I wanted to help too. I mean, he's part of a prophecy. He has to look cool while he does his thing." Apollo smiled his usual smile, and Artemis rolled her eyes.
Apollo then frowned, looking more serious. "I'm going to try to reach Hermes in a bit, but I want you to know that I want Percy to train under you until Olympus needs him."
Artemis' eyes snapped wide open as she stared at her brother with surprise and slight anger. "What? You want a boy to train under me? Do you realize what you are asking of me?"
Apollo sighed as he slowly pushed himself up from the chair to stand. "I'm not asking you to just focus all your attention on him. I know you have your own things to do, and I know your girls will probably be against it too. That's why I'm going to get Hermes to convince you to do it."
He sighed and muttered under his breath as he took his phone out and began to dial Hermes' number. Artemis heard him no matter how hard he tried to keep him quiet.
"Percy needs it more than ever."
After a moment, Apollo cleared his throat as he spoke into his phone. "Hermes? Are you free? I need you to come to Artemis' camp. We need to talk."
Artemis heard Hermes' response despite her efforts to look uninterested and detached from the situation. "If this is about me getting your ass out of a bear trap again or something..."
"No, it's not. It's about Percy." Apollo replied, frowning at the memories of the multiple times the hunters had decided to try to maim him.
Almost immediately, a flash appeared inside their tent, and Hermes stood in front of Apollo. He narrowed his eyes as he spoke, "Is he alright? I swear if those hunters did anything to him..."
In a lake nearby, both Zoe and Percy's heads raised up as they felt a new presence enter the area. Despite not talking the entire time they were there, both looked to each other for a moment in confusion before continuing their activities with Percy cleaning up his face in the water and Zoe sharpening her arrows.
Back in Artemis' tent, the twin archers blinked slightly at Hermes' rather frightening tone. Sighing, Apollo gave Hermes a small pat on the shoulder and simply gestured to Artemis. "I think it's time we up Percy's training. I don't have a chance at convincing her, but you, on the other hand..." The god of the sun trailed off.
Sighing, Hermes looked at Artemis. "Hello, Artemis. I apologize for coming in all of a sudden without asking for your permission and all, but when I heard that Percy was here and since your hunters aren't really great with males..."
Artemis waved him off, "we have more important matters to discuss. Namely why you and my brother decided to take in a demigod when it is clearly against the divine laws."
Both gods made eye contact as if trying to hold a conversation in their minds without outwardly saying anything to Artemis. Sighing, Hermes nodded, and Apollo gave a small smile. Turning to her, the god of thieves spoke up first. "I'm sure we all know how Zeus reacted when Hades had some kids with a lady all those years ago. I didn't want that for Percy; especially after seeing firsthand what he had to deal with. His stepfather was an abusive drunk, Artemis. I'm sure you know how those types of people can get."
Artemis nodded in understanding. A few of her hunters were there in the first place because of abusive adults in their lives; the thought of them made her blood boil.
"In addition to that, he could very well be the kid of the prophecy, even if Zeus' kid didn't become a tree. Now that she's out of commission for a while, he's all we have, and I personally don't want to let whatever we're going up against have an advantage over him if all he has is a bunch of camp training." Hermes said, getting Apollo to nod beside him.
"We've been training him as best as we can, but as I said, we're limited up in Olympus. He won't get any experience fighting up there no matter how many times we spar with him. If we try to bring him away from Olympus for too long and end up in a fight, Percy's presence won't be hidden from Zeus for very long." Apollo said, watching his sister's face for any sign of a reaction to what he said. She did not show any.
"The only way for us to disguise his presence down here is if he were to be in a group or area where it would be expected to see a burst of power. The hunters are strong, Artemis, and with your girls, Percy could grow to be stronger than any demigod we have seen before." Hermes finished, and he stared right at Artemis as he said this. Apollo nodded beside him, placing his hand on his sister's shoulder.
Artemis raised an eyebrow at both of them before gently brushing her brother's hand off of her shoulder. She began to pace slowly and the two gods took this as a sign to get comfortable. "Even if I were to take him in, there are a number of people that would object to it. My hunters, for one, and Poseidon would start a war if he found out we were hiding his demigod from him."
Hermes shook his head, "Poseidon can't hold it against us if Percy doesn't even want to see him. He doesn't hate the guy, but apparently he doesn't really consider him a father either."
Artemis turned to look at Hermes, "so did you take up that role for him?"
Snorting, Apollo spoke up, "he told us that he's smart enough to distance himself from considering either one of us his dad. He said we're a bad influence or something. Hermes and I got into an argument about it and he shut us down anyway. Little brat is ungrateful, I'm telling you."
"Did you bless him?" Artemis asked the two. Hermes nodded, but Apollo shook his head.
At her questioning look, Apollo sighed. "If I blessed him then, it would've been a lot harder to hide his presence from the rest on Olympus."
Artemis nodded at that. It was a logical decision not to bless him. Though the palaces of the gods hid most things from those that were outside of it, most gods could still feel a presence if it was strong enough through the walls. It was how Apollo knew Hermes was inside that day he met Percy, but could not sense the demigod inside at all.
Hermes chuckled at Apollo, "that and he told you that he didn't want anything from you." The god of thieves was rewarded with a middle finger courtesy of the god of the sun.
Artemis bit back a small smirk at her brother's expense.
The tent became silent as Artemis continued to think. Apollo had begun to try to scrape off the mud on his shoes and Hermes was checking through his phone.
"What have you two taught him so far?" Artemis asked suddenly, still biting her lip in thought. Apollo looked up and at Hermes, who nodded back and began to explain.
"I started him out on reading about monsters and gods first. He told me that his dyslexia was so bad that he couldn't read anything, but once I gave him some books in Latin, he took to reading pretty well. He knows all about tactics and strategies and he knows most of the gods, even the minor ones. His stamina is extremely high for a kid, but it might be his genes and my blessing working together. He's strong, but he's not as quick as any genuine child of mine. He's fast enough, though." Hermes said, smiling in pride.
"Hermes got him started on sword training last month and it's going really well. I got him started on his defense and he's pretty good with that too; he can dodge most of the things I throw at him, but I haven't ever gone full out. I started teaching him how to manipulate the mist and use Hermes' communication powers to convince mortals to be more agreeable to him. I tried to start him on archery, but the kid almost took out my mini-me." Apollo shivered at the end, holding his precious jewels as he frowned.
Seeing her questioning look, Hermes supplied, "Percy's bad at archery."
Nodding in understanding, Artemis mulled over their words before she asked again, "what would you have me teach him? I doubt there is much I can do that you two can't."
"Teach him how to be a demigod who's been out in the world. He hasn't fought anyone else but me and Apollo, and it wouldn't be good for him not to have any experience with monsters at all. The prophecy talks about something that could actually topple Olympus. He needs to be ready for anything, not just gods who hold back." Hermes said, crossing his arms to try to play off how tight his chest felt. He refused to acknowledge the fear he felt for Percy's future; it would mean he would be acknowledging that Percy could die, and he did not want to entertain that thought.
Seeing his sister still slightly confused, Apollo spoke up, "if you want something solid, then maybe teach him some stealth stuff? Hunting knives would be good, too, since he's got the speed. Maybe get him stronger and faster physically, and more flexible. I'm sure we can get you more up to speed on his training so it'll be easier for you to pick up where we left off."
"We need you to do this for us, Artemis. If not for us, then for Olympus. If not for Olympus, then for the world. Anything that can beat Olympus could be bad for the world, after all." Hermes said, his tone obviously pleading. Apollo nodded beside him again.
"Hermes wanted to go to Athena, but we both kind of assumed she'd tell Zeus first thing the next day," Apollo said, earning him a small snort from his twin. All three nodded in agreement that she wouldn't oppose her father at all.
Artemis slowly sat down on the chair she had occupied earlier and, despite her closed eyes, could feel the two gods looking at her.
"I will do it," Artemis said slowly as she opened her eyes. "But I cannot keep him in the hunt. I have had male hunters before, but times have changed, and the dislike my hunters have for males will not be good for him."
Apollo glanced at Hermes before he looked back at his sister. "If you could take him for weeks at a time, that would be enough. It would give him experience and he wouldn't have to miss us so much."
Hermes nodded before smirking. "He would miss me. He wouldn't miss you at all."
Apollo glared. "Take that back! He would totally miss me!"
"I don't think so."
"Why wouldn't he miss me?"
"I don't want to say..."
"Hey!"
"You just keep telling yourself whatever will make you feel better."
Before the two gods broke out into another argument, Artemis cleared her throat to interrupt. "If you two are finished, I would like for you to be there when I break the news to my hunters. I will do the same for you when you tell Percy."
"We'll tell them separately?" Apollo asked.
"We don't want your student being shot at, now do we Apollo?" Artemis replied dryly. Hermes chuckled at the sun god's expense.
All three stood and Hermes gave her a genuine smile, one that she was surprised to see. "Thank you for this, Artemis. If you ever need anything, just call, and I promise I'll be there as soon as possible."
"Same here, sister," Apollo grinned widely, slinging an arm over both of the gods. "I'll be there to protect you if anything goes wrong!"
The sun god was rewarded with an elbow to his side courtesy of his sister, and a shove when he was doubled over by his friend.
Sometimes, he wondered why he let people hurt him the way he did but decided that if he was ever stuck in a room by himself, he'd probably want to hurt him too.
Percy had taken the news well. Zoe, who was there when they broke the news to him by the lake, did not.
The girl had been extremely against allowing a boy into the hunt, even if it was not a permanent arrangement. It went against everything the hunters stood for, and all those involved in the conversation understood. However, when Artemis explained the situation to her, albeit a simplified version of it, Zoe grudgingly nodded in consent. Artemis seemed to genuinely want to help the boy, and Zoe would at least honor her mistress' wishes.
The hunters took the news as well as Zoe, and a rather large girl with ginger hair took it worse than most. She terrified Percy. He'd never admit that, though.
However, with the backing of three gods and even Zoe, the hunters decided to simply accept that he'd be there from time to time and possibly interact with them. They swore to themselves that they'd never actually talk to him, and if he tried anything, he'd die, but they didn't outwardly express it.
As they were about to leave, Percy spoke up. "Uh, Hermes?" The three gods in front of him all turned to him.
"I know I won't be back until like next week, but could I at least get their names?"
All three gods blinked before Artemis snorted, Apollo began to laugh, and Hermes simply stared.
"I do not believe you would want to talk to them, boy."
"He wants to know their names! He's crazy, Hermes! Tell him he's crazy!"
"You're crazy, Percy."
"Oy! Quit laughing!"
Zoe, who was the nearest to the group of gods even as she stood among the hunters, couldn't help the small amused smirk that played on her face as she listened in. She hid it quickly when the three gods and demigod began to talk again.
"Is it really such a bad idea to at least know them? I'll be traveling with them for weeks! Our teamwork needs to be pristine!" Percy reasoned. In truth, he just didn't want them glaring at him anymore. If maybe he could prove he wasn't all that bad then maybe they'd treat him less coldly. Besides, he didn't have any friends his age, even with his guardians acting like children more often than not around him.
He ignored Apollo's comment on how Percy's knowledge of the word 'pristine' surprised him.
"They could maim you," Artemis warned dryly. Her arms were crossed, but she couldn't deny her surprise at the boy's wish to ask the hunters for their names. She found herself slightly interested in just who the boy was; anyone who was almost killed by a large group of man-hating hunters would logically want nothing to do with them.
"Actually, I think you should try it," Hermes spoke up, earning him a surprised look from Apollo. "I mean, if there's anyone that could do it, it's you. You've surprised me too many times for me to count you out."
Apollo stared at the god, "are you kidding me? He could die! Like, actually die!"
Percy, however, was no longer listening, and he had turned and walked purposefully towards the hunters.
The gods had quieted as they saw him walk until Apollo whispered, "50 says the kid gets punched."
"Deal," Hermes whispered back.
"Are you betting on your student?"
"Yes." Both gods replied. Artemis sighed.
Zoe's eyes widened significantly when Percy gave them all a hesitant grin and a small wave. "Uh, hey. I know you guys don't like me and all, but if we're going to be going on trips with each other a bunch, I was just thinking we could at least know each other's names. I will completely understand if you don't want to tell me. My name's Perseus Jackson, but Percy's cool too."
Complete silence greeted him. A small moment later, Zoe sighed and nodded to him. "Zoe. Lieutenant of the hunt."
The gods behind Percy all felt surprised. Apollo's was most visible; his mouth snapped open in shock. Artemis' eyebrows rose. Hermes blinked.
Grunting, the large ginger that he swore wore a perpetual glare on her face nodded as well. "Phoebe."
This went on for a while, with a hunter nodding and introducing themselves. Some of the older huntresses passed on the opportunity with polite shakes of their heads, but the interest and curiosity on their faces were obvious. Percy did not understand their looks at all; Hermes had always told him he was slow.
After the last hunter had introduced themselves, Percy gave them a grin that they swore came straight from Apollo. His hands were in his pockets, though, and Zoe made the connection that Hermes stood just like that behind the young demigod. She wondered how close the boy was to the 2 Olympians, but decided she'd find out eventually.
"I'll see you all next week then. Thanks for not killing me yet." Percy said with a wave as he turned and strolled back to the gods who looked at him with surprise. Artemis hid hers the most with a small amused smirk. Hermes looked slightly pride but hid it behind a raised eyebrow. Apollo was, once more, the most expressive, as he stared at the demigod before crushing him in a hug, yelling about how he was so proud. The god continued to hold his student tight even if he resisted.
The two gods eventually bade their goodbyes to Artemis, with Percy giving her a small bow and a grin. "I won't disappoint you Lady Artemis!"
Artemis simply raised an eyebrow as the two gods flashed away to Olympus with the demigod in two.
Artemis turned back to her hunters, who looked very much confused. The sun was setting, and the boar she caught would need to be cooked promptly if they wanted their dinner on time.
Percy's heart slammed against his chest and he could hear it's rhythm in his ears as he slid underneath a low lying branch. He gave a grunt as he rolled back to his feet and continued to sprint as fast as he could. He could feel them close; he could almost feel their breaths on his neck. He jumped over a large rock and made sure to push himself off of it to give him a boost. He heard the sounds of his pursuers doing the same, and he almost whimpered.
The hair on his neck immediately stood on end, and he ducked just in time for an arrow to pass over his head. He gave a gasp as he saw a few strands of his hair fall off despite the arrowhead being slightly dull. He gave a growl and pushed himself off the ground and continued to sprint. He slid again as more arrows flew over his head, embedding themselves in a tree ahead. As he passed, he grabbed the arrows off the tree and continued on.
He could see his end goal now; it was just a few more trees away. With a strangled cry, he felt his foot get caught in something, and a large log tied up to a contraption in the trees above came flying his way. He gritted his teeth as he leaped and managed to grab a hold of the log. On its backswing, he let go of it and rolled onto the ground. He coughed as dirt and dust flew into the air due to his maneuver, but didn't have long to stay still as he felt more arrows thud around him.
He grabbed onto a nearby tree and pushed himself off with a huff. He could feel his legs wobbling, but he couldn't stop. He couldn't risk it.
He continued to sprint and as soon as the chair felt like it was a few feet away, he suddenly felt the ground beneath him give away. With a yelp, he managed to grab ahold of the edge of a deep pit. He gritted his teeth as he began to pull himself up, only for an arrow to find its way into his left calf. He yelled in pain and he was lucky that the rest of the arrows were off by just enough for them to miss his body. If he could hazard a guess, the log trap was working its magic on his pursuers as well. He managed to pull himself up and he began to limp as fast as he could to the end.
He could hear them behind him when they stepped on the arrows he had taken from the tree. They were close.
With a roar, he launched himself forward.
Percy landed on the chair. "Safe!" He yelled.
After a few seconds of silence, groans of displeasure and disappointment sounded out from where he busted through from the forest. Slowly, hunters in silver parkas filed out, looking either annoyed or amused.
Zoe chuckled as she patted Phoebe on the back, who looked disappointed. A few other hunters were comforting the others who had failed to stop Percy from getting to the chair.
Artemis slowly walked into the clearing where Percy rested on his chair, an amused look on her face. "I did not think today would be the day you managed to outrun Phoebe, Perseus. It was a risky move on your part to set that trap, but you played your cards well and you made it to the chair. Not bad."
Groaning, Percy gave her a small smirk and rubbed his knee, trying to distract himself from the pain in his calf. "You know, after all the weeks I've been doing that, I really think I deserve more than not bad."
Artemis waved him off and went to see if any of her hunters were injured, and she was pleased to find that no one was injured and only their egos were bruised.
It had been around 3 months since Hermes and Apollo had convinced the goddess of the hunt to train Percy and bring him along on some of their travels in order to give him the experience that he needed for the prophecy. He would spend a couple of weeks with them and return to Hermes' palace for around the same amount of time. In those months, Percy's speed and strength had increased exponentially under the tutelage of Artemis, who took it upon herself to personally oversee the boy's physical training. He was a natural when it came to using two knives at once, and Artemis found herself actually impressed during her frequent spars with the boy. He was nowhere near her level skill-wise, but the talent was there, and she often found herself surprised at his unpredictability and ingenuity while sparring. He had also been drilled by the goddess and her hunters with stealth and efficiency in the forest and crowded areas, teaching Percy how to be more mindful of his surroundings so that he could use it to his advantage. He was able to learn how to deal with different kinds of monsters in his time with them and knew how to get rid of hellhounds, cyclopes, and harpies easily.
His skills with a sword only improved as Hermes' training was easy for Percy to grasp. The god had called him a genius with it, and Percy had denied it, not wanting the praise to get to his head. He had also been given his own shoes with wings and began his training on how to use them efficiently in and out of battle.
Apollo had continued to teach Percy how to manipulate the mist to the point that the boy could affect large groups of people if given a few seconds to concentrate. He began to up Percy's defensive training by attacking the boy with a little more fervor and was elated to find that his student only continued to get better by the day.
Both twin archers had begun to teach Percy archery, and as Apollo had said in the months before, he was absolutely dreadful at it. He could barely notch an arrow correctly when they had first started out, prompting many of the hunters to make fun of him for it. He had eventually improved to where he was decent with it, but he'd never use it in a fight unless it was absolutely necessary.
Surprisingly, Percy's relationship with the hunters was not bad at all. The few hunters that had refused to tell him their name had given in on their first trip with him and the majority of the hunters found that he wasn't a horrible person. He would laugh obnoxiously at his own jokes at times, and he would get intimidating whenever they had to fight large hordes of monsters, but he would always be the same caring and kind Percy whenever things were peaceful. Their teamwork was flawless, as most hunters liked to use their bows and Percy liked to go in deep into enemy lines. He would draw the attention and do large amounts of damage while the hunters would pick them off easily with free hits to the backs of their enemies. They still didn't treat him any differently than they would any other male, but there was a healthy amount of respect shared between the two parties and if any hunter had a problem with him, they would simply show him indifference.
Percy seemed closest to Phoebe, the huntress who was surprisingly not that bad of a person. She had a fiercer hatred for men than Zoe did, and he found that it all was because of a stepfather that had sold her little brother off when they were children. When Percy shared that he too had a jerk of a stepfather, she had started being less cold to him. This prompted the demigod to call her "a huge softie once you got to know her". He had told her that once and still had a scar on his right ass cheek from a deeply embedded arrow to remind him never to mention it again. She was a bit of a bully, but once she realized Percy didn't really want to assert dominance over anyone but Apollo, she stopped trying to antagonize him. He found that making things competitive made Phoebe more friendly, for some reason, and chalked it up to her being a daughter of Ares.
Zoe was a decent person to Percy as well, but she had never been fully comfortable with his presence, and Percy understood. He never approached her unless absolutely necessary or to simply ask for her advice on archery. She was nice enough, but he avoided being around her for long periods of time. It was for this reason that he never asked about her past, simply sticking to finding out small things, like what she liked to eat for whenever he was tasked with hunting for dinner.
Artemis was surprisingly kind to him. He knew she was supposed to hate males, so he was pleasantly shocked to find that she treated him much like she treated Apollo; as a child. He figured it was better than being treated in the way that he had anticipated, and stuck with their dynamic easily. She would teach him stuff, he'd tell her about his life and about what Hermes and Apollo had done either to him or for him, and they'd strengthen their strange bond little by little. Percy found that he had found a few more people to call family, and he loved every second of it.
Percy held his leg up to Artemis once she returned to him and with a roll of her eyes, snapped her fingers. The arrow in his leg quickly disappeared, leaving his wound to breathe. With a sigh, Percy slowly began to make his way to the lake.
The hunters gave him faux angry looks as he passed, and Percy sent back his patent carefree grin in response; it was as far as he could go to rub his victory in. Phoebe shouted something about learning from her mistakes and sticking an arrow up his no-no zone, which made him shiver and hurry up shuffling to the lake. Once he got there, he dipped his leg into the lake and watched his wounds close.
Percy had been dabbling in his control over water over the past few months as he found that it was useful. He didn't want to completely forgo the power as it was a strong skill to have, and it wouldn't help anyone for him to favor his other powers over it. It took a lot out of him to lift a small glass of water's worth of liquid into the air, but it was progressively getting easier for him.
Percy turned his head when he heard footsteps behind him, and found Artemis walking up to him with a grim look on his face.
"Hermes and Apollo are here with news. We need to talk." She said simply. She waited for him to get up and roll down his pant leg and they both walked back to camp in silence. Percy wanted to ask what was going on but the look on her face made him hesitate.
Apollo was looking uncharacteristically quiet inside Artemis' tent. Hermes' head was down, his face in his hands. Percy frowned and broke the silence, "Hey, what's going on? You guys aren't supposed to be here for a couple of days. Did something happen?"
Apollo glanced at Hermes and saw that the god did not move to answer. He sighed and looked at his student and spoke. "A few days ago, someone stole Zeus' lightning bolt. A quest in Camp Half-blood was issued and some satyr, a daughter of Athena, and a daughter of Poseidon went to see if Hades took it. When they got there, they found out that Hades didn't take it, and his own symbol of power was gone too. Apparently, Ares had a hand in it all and almost got a civil war started but that kid of Poseidon managed to get through it. She returned the bolt and found the thief, but he got away."
Percy raised an eyebrow at hearing that Poseidon had another kid but figured that it wouldn't be surprising for a god to do so. Even if Apollo and Hermes had completely stopped looking for women due to having to focus on him, the other gods did not have such responsibilities.
Still, he found that he disliked his birth father a slight bit more after that revelation.
"So who's the thief? Why does it matter?" Percy asked, looking around the room at the gods. None of them looked in any way positive about the situation. "I mean, didn't we win?"
"Because Ares was played by the father of Zeus, Perseus. Kronos is trying to come back." Artemis spoke from her spot near the side of the tent, leaning on a desk as she looked as if she were in thought.
"Kronos? Like...ate-his-children-Kronos?" Percy's voice was now soft.
Apollo hummed.
"And the thief?"
"My son," Hermes spoke up finally, looking up at Percy. The demigod had never seen his eyes so dull. "Luke Castellan was the lightning thief and he's helping Kronos come back."
Percy could only gape in shock.
Things were going to get messy soon.
A/N: Yay. It's over.
I'm still not sure whether or not I plan to keep my little OC of a Poseidon child in the fic as a permanent fixture or as a throwaway. I just needed someone around to be the hero at camp while Percy was training, and it sort of just made sense for it to still be a child of Poseidon. It makes for more drama for sure.
Please let me know if you have any ideas for the fic.
I'll be back to update soon enough, and by then, I hope I breach the 50 followers count. My goal is to at least have 100.
Help me stroke my ego please.
Bye for now.