Chapter Two
The Bane
How was it that a mortal Demigod held power and strength to rival the Olympian Gods? It certainly went some way to explaining how he'd managed to harbour attention great enough to warrant the creation of a Bane.
With the added weight of their gaze he could stomach it all no longer. He admonished his trident and turned heel, fleeing from everything, running into the distant darkness that loomed in the forest.
He couldn't stay there, it would only serve to get them all killed when the Bane returned to finish its mission.
If he couldn't kill the beast then there wasn't anything else that could be done to stop it in it's tracks. The hunters wouldn't be able to kill it, not without some serious extra strength.
Strength that he currently didn't have.
He ran, and ran, and ran until his legs would carry him no longer. The intense burning sensation was flowing throughout his quads and into his thighs where he'd long ignored the limit of what his body was willing to do.
Finally succumbing to exhaustion, he collapsed down at the edge of a deep river, with the waters calling out to their Prince, beckoning him to come closer, to feel the healing power wash over him.
'So you chose to run. You didn't even think to ask the others what they might feel about this? Pretty soon, we're going to have a conflict of interest, Percy.'
If death at the hands of the Bane was truly inevitable, then he'd face death in his own way, with no reason to worry about Artemis or any of the hunters.
He'd stand and fight against the creature and use the full weight of his power to wipe it off of the face of creation, even if it killed him.
Down by the water's edge was where he'd wait, bringing the Bane to him where he could use the river to his advantage and keep the battle going on until his very last breath.
His mind had been circling through a dozen different action plans, stratagems, and contingencies, trying to cover every possible angle of the oncoming struggle, all until he'd been brutally ripped from his thoughts by a soft hand placing itself against his shoulder.
At first he thought it could only have been Artemis because of how fast and long he'd been running for, but his surprise was edging on his skin when he turned around to find himself face to face with Thalia. Only mere inches between them. Because of his shock, his breath had peaked and then ceased completely.
Thalia felt Percy's hot breath briefly blow across her face, the sensation was too good for her to admit. She'd never had any reason whatsoever to be this close to a boy before, but she found that she liked it, despite how taboo and dangerous it was for her to have a thought like that.
Maybe that was why she enjoyed it so much.
"Thalia? How did you get here so fast? I've been running for hours!" Percy quickly backed away, putting some room between them. He didn't want to be close to anyone right now.
"Artemis realized that something was wrong and that you wouldn't run away for no reason. Only she and I are capable of finding you Percy. I can fly using the winds as a personal current. Artemis didn't think you'd want to see her or any of the others so she told me to make sure you're not alone." Thalia explained carefully.
"Go away. I'm only going to get you all killed. I want to be alone anyway." he brushed her off, very nearly getting into the river before Thalia grabbed his wrist in a vice grip.
"No, you'll just run away again, like you did to Annabeth!" Thalia shouted. Percy fought the urge to shout back, but anger overwhelmed him and he just couldn't.
It was at this point, this level of rage that Percy was used to having that inner voice exert control over his body, his personality warping and changing until the only one left was the voice.
"Because Annabeth cheated on me with my own brother!" Percy raged. The waters of the river just froze over as easily as that. With a raise of his voice, the natural flow of the water had stopped as if frozen in time.
No fluidity at all, it was just completely still and un-moving, a streak of ice slowly shined over the surface. His powers were governing the realms of other states.
"I'm not Annabeth!" Thalia shouted back before she could hold her tongue in. Percy was shell shocked. What had she meant by that? No, he couldn't afford to think about it, he needed to clear his head.
'You got that right? You understand what that was about don't you, or am I going to have to take over once again and get you out of this mess that you're making worse by the second?'
"I mean, I… Percy, I'm sorry." Thalia tried but it was fruitless. He shook his head at her as he turned away. Her words were rapidly making sense, but he denied them, refusing to believe what she might have meant by that.
"Let me clear my head. Stay nearby if you must, but don't talk to me right now." Percy told her as he gently walked into the once again flowing river. She knew she'd possibly ruined their friendship after her outburst. He was never meant to find that out.
Ever.
Thalia let her shoulders sag in defeat and sat on a nearby boulder. She refused to be defeated by this. How was she supposed to have felt? She'd died when she was younger and by some miracle she'd been turned back to the land of the living.
The first face she saw when she woke up was Percy's. He'd done all of that to save her tree because it was dying. All of that without even knowing the consequences. She couldn't help how she'd felt for him since then.
She knew that he'd never accept her, not while Annabeth was in the picture, so she joined the Hunters of Artemis, under the guise of preventing the prophecy from being about her. That wasn't her reason, her reason was to avoid Percy, the one thing she couldn't have, not while he was with Annabeth.
She couldn't believe that Annabeth had cheated on him, she really couldn't yet the pain was evident in his eyes. She'd actually broken him as a man.
Thalia swore that she would be the one to build him back up again. She needed to be the one to restore him to the glorious, strong son of Poseidon that he was. Not the depressed shell of the former.
"Percy, I'm sorry, I didn't mean for that to come out. Please talk to me…" Thalia whispered quietly under the sounds of the rushing water. She knew that he could hear her. After nothing else happened she began to cry silently. The black eyeliner around her eyes began to leak down her face towards her lips that were colored the same.
"At least let me explain why…" she tried. A few seconds passed as more tears came down before the water parted gracefully exposing the son of Poseidon that it had been harboring.
"Speak." he told her as he kneeled on his legs in front of her. He couldn't look at her anymore, not in the same way, he couldn't look at her without thinking of her as something that he shouldn't.
At the most she was a hunter of Artemis, and they were forbidden from having feelings towards men, the feelings that she had towards him at least.
"When I woke up from being a tree… You were the first person I saw. Yours were the first set of eyes I saw. I can still see those glowing green orbs when I close my eyes." Thalia silently wept as she choked out her confession.
"So that's why you joined the hunters. Because of her?" Percy asked, catching on very quickly. He wasn't half as dense as most people believed. Thalia looked down in guilt.
"Yeah, if I couldn't have you, I didn't want anybody else." Thalia told him through tear filled eyes.
"I'm so sorry Thals… I didn't know." he told her carefully. He truly didn't know that she felt that way at all. Nor did he now know what he could do about it. She was a hunter and he was emotionally broken.
Little did either of them know about a certain moon Goddess listening intently from her chariot, almost shedding a tear herself, but for completely different reasons.
All this time and it turned out that she wasn't alone, that there was one man that had actually succeeded in gaining her attention in ways that she had long forbidden herself from.
Though her attraction was nowhere near as far gone as Thalia's, it was still definitely there. And she wasn't sure whether or not she hated herself for that.
After a difficult conversation that Thalia never thought she'd have to have, Percy had made her promise to leave him and go back to the Hunt on the ground that he wouldn't be far behind her.
He needed to stay and process things a little bit more. He knew he was at risk, what with that Bane still out there. If the situation reached its most dire peak, then he had one last resort hidden in his arsenal, something that his reluctance to use spoke volumes from the uncertainty of it's prospective success.
'I'd hit it.' Perseus announced, flooding through Percy's head as he reminded the Demigod of his Demon counterpart.
"Of course you would. Do you not understand the levity of what it means for her? Her entire way of living has been changed because of me." Percy responded, staring at his reflection in the water as he conversed with the aspect inside his head.
Before their conversation could continue, a thunderous roar burst through the tree line on the other side of the river, destroying the semblance of peace that had befallen the lone Demigod.
"This is it." Percy gritted his teeth, feeling the all too familiar sensation of a cold crippling weakness start to dawn on his body.
Unknown to him was that Artemis had been watching him from her chariot and flashed down right next to him, her bow already drawn.
'I'm warning you, if you let this thing get the better of you, then I'm going to break my shell, and you won't like what happens Percy. Do not let it get that bad.' Perseus told him.
"Lady Artemis, how did you-" he began, but she cut him off.
"I can sense everyone under the moon Perseus. When I heard that beast's roar, I knew where to find you." she told him. Not the truth, but it would do.
"I see. It's come back to finish me off Lady Artemis. Maybe with all that's going on, I should just let it. I'm a problem for Olympus, Camp Half-Blood doesn't want me around and your hunters have already tried to kill me, very nearly succeeding." Percy told her, his face glued to the ground. He felt a sharp stinging sensation across his cheek.
"Don't you ever say that again. There are still people that love you and that will need you, so don't be selfish in thinking that's the easy way out. Ever again, or it'll be me you need to fear not that silly monster." Artemis fumed at him. Her hand actually hurt from where she slapped his cheek and she couldn't figure out why.
"Well I guess it was going to happen sooner or later." Percy sighed as he extended his hand towards the water, a moment later that silver trident erupted from the river into his hand and he felt truly powerful once again.
The Bane burst from the tree line and a big glob of poison shot towards them. Holding up his trident, Percy purged the river straight up into a wall that protected the both of them from the incoming projectile.
A hushed gasp came from Artemis as Percy purged the water even higher before he pushed it all straight towards the Bane.
The water was like molten metal because of the force it had hit with. Artemis immediately began to unload arrow after arrow into the monstrosity that was before them. It quickly recovered and had begun to affect Percy already, his body was weakening so much faster than it had the first time they had fought against the bane.
In a last ditch effort he threw his trident with all of his force before it struck the fore leg of the body and crushed the bones to dust.
The Bane wasn't defeated by any means but it's wound would buy them some time. The power that he had to exert to perform that though was simply too much though, and he fell to the ground, barely able to breath. The trident dissolved into the air before returning itself to him.
"Percy!" he heard Artemis scream before the darkness swept over him.
'God damn it Percy, I told you not to die! Now it's my turn to be in control, and I'm not just going to hi-jack your mind this time. This time, I'm actually going to be the one in control, it's my turn to be free, now relax, this will all be over soon.' Perseus spoke, already becoming the one to take control of his actions/
Percy slowly rose back to his feet, much to the surprise of Artemis. She noticed a key difference though. Where his once bright and shining emerald eyes had sat, there were now two eyes the deepest color of blood, looking far more alert yet at the same time, they seemed to convey a lazy confidence, as if he knew that he could defeat his own Bane and not use much strength to do so.
The wall of water had fallen back to the river, no longer under Percy's influence, but then, Percy wasn't even there anymore.
The Bane circled them, analyzing him with a refreshed interest.
"That's right, I won't smell like your prey anymore will I?" Even the voice sounded slightly different to Artemis, everything was slowly changing, piece by piece.
His hair was the first thing. A gust of wind had enveloped him, his hair had all swept back, and it seemed to be... Shorter? How the Hades had he managed that? It was at least the same color.
His body had changed as well, not that Artemis would admit to looking at his body, but she remembered what it had been when he'd been in her bath, healing his wounds.
He was tall and lean, a swimmer's body was a pretty standard custom for children of the sea. This one though, his muscles had grown, they weren't just bulky, they were huge slabs of incredibly defined meat.
"I assure you that I am one hundred percent still Perseus Jackson, just with added flavor." he grinned. Had he really just referred to himself as Perseus?
So this really was the Demon instead of the Demigod...
As if to add to the building repertoire of things that signaled he wasn't the same as before, two identical long narrow horns the color of midnight jutted out of the top of his head, streaks of blood-red just as dark as his eyes adorned the horns as if they were ornate blood stains.
"Oh, where are my manners? I totally forgot to introduce myself and explain why your powers aren't working on me in the same way that they work on my counterpart." he sighed sarcastically, standing to his full height which with all of the added muscle mass, made him look absolutely terrifying.
"My name is Perseus Jackson, I'm a Demon. You were bred to have an invulnerability to water, so how about I heat things up a little bit?" he asked the Bane rhetorically who just snarled in response, but it was enough for Perseus to go with it.
He covered himself from head to toe in fire so potent that Artemis had to instinctively dive away from it before it burned her.
So that was how it was. An inner Demon that was the flip-side of the Demigod. It at the very least went so far as to explain how he was so powerful for a Demigod.
The answer being that he was no longer just that, he had ascended into a Demon-God. The fight that followed, was something that Artemis wouldn't have even thought possible in the realms of imagination.
The roar of the Bane echoed all around them, infuriating riding along its tone in thick heavy waves that were easily readable to the senses of the Demon-God and the Hunter Goddess that were assembled, ready to fight the beast away.
The creature struck out first, swiping down at Perseus with a gargantuan black hand laden with razor-sharp claws that cleaved through the air like whistling knives, cutting across the space where the Demon had been standing only an instant before.
Fire took his place, splattering against the Bane, serving only to burn the face of the creature that was designed to be the end of Percy Jackson.
Another thunderous bellow erupted from the beast as it only became that much more determined to attack and kill the Demon.
The fight was no longer something that was so vastly outmatched in terms of raw power. The Bane no longer had that same weakening effect on Perseus as he did for the Demigod that ruled the seas.
Pure physical power was being propelled towards the Demon who fought against it with his own prowess, fire fueling the strikes of the Demon, running through his veins with every waking moment.
It was just another sure sign that Percy was gone for the moment, out of the picture where Perseus was holding the reigns.
"Not so sure of yourself anymore, are you?" Perseus asked with a smirk as the Bane continued to attack in variety of ways, each a feeble attempt to gain some kind of advantage over the Demon who had taken it upon himself to ensure that for the first time, the Bane was the one that had become the prey in the eyes of the predator.
Artemis had been skirting around the sidelines of the river, firing arrows at random intervals, trying to identify any weak points that the Bane might have had.
The Goddess hadn't been all that focused on attacking the creature herself, rather she had been watching the Demon intently, trying her best to see what was making him tick, what was propelling him forwards, to see if there was any inclination as to what his true origin really was.
She'd been paying just as much attention in the throne room as any of the other Gods when it had been revealed that Perseus was a true Demon, born of Hell, raised in the depths of darkness, knowing only to rely on his own strength in order to survive.
It wasn't all that far removed from how Percy had grown up, relying on himself to ensure the survival of his kind, to keep Olympus safe, thwarting Kronos' advances, as well as countless others.
Before she'd realized what had happened, the Bane was staring right at her, coming in quicker that she'd been expecting it, almost rearing up when it was upon her, stuck in the moment where it was too late for her to avoid the direct attack.
She could see as the creature's chest began to flux, dilating along the throat as it bulged, all before the humongous maw opened up and spewed a carpet of fire that she'd been able to feel the intense heat of before it had even emerged.
The last thing she'd seen was the blood red eyes of the Demon-God before her, a devilishly handsome smirk playing across his lips as he'd put himself between the Goddess and the Bane, openly allowing the fire to hit him as he turned heel and splayed his arms wide, forcing it away from Artemis as she stood there, in stunned silence as she watched the attack unfold.
The fire curved around Perseus, but only just. Just enough to avoid singing and harming the Goddess.
"You're way sexier now that I can see you with my own eyes rather than inside his head." Perseus told her with a wicked grin before turning his attention back to the problem at hand.
Once it was all gone, the Bane had already been fast in its hasty retreat, seeing Perseus as something that it wasn't ready to take on. Something so vastly opposed to the qualities and elements that it had been designed to destroy.
Perseus was an entirely different breed of opponent, a true Demon.
"Yeah, run bitch." Perseus laughed before the buffeting layer of fire at his fingertips fizzed out into nothing, leaving a trail of smoke that followed his hands as the Demon collapsed hard against the ground.
It was still early, he'd been able to manifest his body but the true extent of his power was going to remain alien to him, at least for now.
Artemis watched in macabre fascination as the body reverted, shrinking down ever so slightly as Perseus returned to Percy, the Demon to the God.
There were so many questions that she desperately needed answers to, but for now, his care would come first. At least she now knew that he wouldn't have to be stripped down to receive the healing effects of the saltwater she'd had put in the bath in the camp.
He wasn't sure how much time had passed, but Percy had awoken, his body feeling stiff and bruised, his face covered and constricted by something thin and dark.
When he'd moved aside, he realized that it was Thalia's short hair from where her head had been slumped over his chest. She'd clearly been sat in the chair next to the bed he was on, obviously falling asleep at some point where he'd been put there to rest.
How long had he been unconscious? The last thing he remembered was throwing his trident at the Bane, exhaustion taking over all before he watched through a prison like view of the world around him as Perseus took hold, throwing the Bane around like it meant nothing, playing around with his power like it was limitless.
That was obviously the reason they'd been laid to rest in the bed, Perseus had drained them of power so completely.
How was he supposed to deal with the issue he now had with Thalia? What could he even really say in response to something like that?
He was being charged with helping Artemis to destroy the Bane, and vice versa, which meant that he was now tied to the Hunt as their Guardian of sorts, which in turn meant that avoiding Thalia of all people would be nigh impossible.
The depression was bad, it was enough to make him feel like ending it all had really been a viable option. All of the pain and suffering he'd gone through had paled in comparison to what he'd felt from the betrayal.
Annabeth betrayed him once, but Thalia also made Percy feel that stinging sensation that got caught in the back of his throat, threatening to send burning tears to his eyes.
She felt that she couldn't have talked to him about it first, instead of just ruling everything out and running away. She was now his closest friend, and she had been even before everything that had happened.
So when she instead of telling him, ran away to join the hunters, he'd felt even more betrayed.
He didn't want to speak with her right now though, and he was still very tired, so instead he decided to do nothing and go back to sleep, he'd silently leave when he woke up and she was no longer there.
It might have been more difficult than just saying it though, because for one thing, Percy had no idea where he even was anymore. He'd run for miles when he'd fought against the Bane, then as soon as his unconsciousness had passed, he'd woken up in yet another unknown place.
This was started to become a rather annoying habit he had. Soon enough though, he had even more time to think about everything that had been happening in the last six months, the dark warm embrace of sleep had called out to him once again, saving him from the awkwardness that waking Thalia would have become.
"Oh Gods, I'm not looking forward to explaining to Artemis what happened." he whispered to himself.
'Yeah, you and me both pal, shit got pretty intense during that fight, one thing is for sure, I'm not willingly being in control around her. I may have said something and long story short, she hates me. You're in the clear though, so good luck buddy.'
That was literally the last thing he needed right now. Luckily he had some time to think, or rather, he had some time to savour one last sleep before Artemis decided to castrate him for whatever Perseus had said.
After letting the confines of sleep take grasp, he finally felt at ease. The care that Artemis had shown him was unbeknownst to anyone, and something that he felt she was going to keep that way for as long as possible. It made him feel safe.
Percy awoke once again in a private infirmary of sorts, which was actually just his tent. Artemis and the girls that had been allowed inside to tend to him were all gone and it was fast approaching night time.
He knew that he wouldn't be seeing his Bane for quite some time as the spot his master weapon had hit would need to be healed over several months.
"What did you do to it?" Percy asked out loud, wondering what the extent of damage had been done to the Bane after Perseus had taken over.
'I burnt half of his face off, broke both of it's hind legs, though in fairness, it healed them up pretty good after a while. I think I also punched half of it's face off. I'm proud of what I've done.'
So he was free to do his duties as he pleased. What was he to do though when Artemis and Thalia were both angry, and one more than the other, would be looking out for him more than she needed to?
Unknown to Percy was the rapidly developing feelings that were coming from the Goddess. Inside the immortal's tent, there was not one divine presence but two. Aphrodite sat across from Artemis, watching her intently.
"Whatever you're doing, you need to let it take its course. I'm not asking you this, Artemis, I'm pleading with you." Aphrodite's words stunned Artemis by no small amount. She'd never seen the pink Goddess this desperate before. She didn't even bother to sneer or scorn her.
"What is it doing?" Artemis asked her quickly, seeing the state of distress on her.
"I'm the Goddess of Love. Everything under my domain affects me in different ways, but when a Goddess cannot figure out what she truly wants, it's overpowering. You need to figure out whether or not you're ready to accept him. But the worst is yet to come. I fear that if he does not return your feelings of affection soon, then the heartbreak may well kill me." Aphrodite explained, a measure calmer than when she'd first stumbled into the campsite.
"You're mistaken if you think that I'd ever have feelings for the boy." Artemis huffed indignantly. Aphrodite tilted her head slightly, analyzing every microfiber of Artemis' being.
"And you're mistaken if you think that I'd ever be lied to in regards to my greatest domains. Artemis, I know what this is, believe it or not. Either way I promise to keep my lips sealed until you decide to reveal anything. Be it a couple of days or an eternity of you rejecting your emotions. I'll be silent." Aphrodite explained.
Artemis was seeing her in a new light, a new distress that needed cooperation between the two Goddesses. Artemis' expression softened at her promise.
"Thank you Aphrodite. I truly appreciate that. Now I must tend to the Hunt." Artemis stood and once she did Aphrodite just lazily fluttered her hand and vanished.
Over on the other side of the camp, Percy was kneeling by the small stream that lied just off to the side of the site, still just about within the boundaries of Artemis' ever watchful gaze.
He knelt looking at his reflection. He remembered when Zeus had unfairly summoned him. He hadn't known that it was Perseus, he was just following the immense power that was going around unchecked, little did he realize that it was an angered nephew of his.
Percy had been hunting a deer, risky business but the Demigod needed to eat. He made sure to pray forgiveness to Artemis before he did so, luckily the moon Goddess was aware of the situation. She didn't agree with her father's orders, but he was still the King of the Gods.
"Percy." A faint whisper broke through his remembrance of the past. When he didn't answer the voice he heard footsteps advance on him until he could see the reflection of the woman standing behind him.
He knew that only two people would approach him with such sympathy in their voices, and one of them refused to call him anything other than Perseus. Though now, they might end up referring to at least half of him as such.
"What do you need Thalia?" he asked her with a heavy sigh, refusing to look anywhere but the running water.
He'd purposely distorted it so that she couldn't see the pain that was held in his eyes, because that seemed to be a dead give away for these girls when they needed to know when to absolutely not go near him, which was effectively all the time.
"For you to stop being so detached like this. We all know why Zeus made you guard us. With Lady Artemis with us we would never need a guardian, yet without any choice you were forced here. None of us like seeing you this way Percy." Thalia continued.
Her voice cut out in certain places here and there as she fought the urge to start crying. What she desperately wanted to do was to grab him by the shirt and… No, she shouldn't be thinking about those kinds of things, not anymore, not now that she was part of the Hunt, forever swearing off men.
Artemis had known her reasons for joining the Hunt, surely she would have foreseen how this would have affected her lieutenant. Percy was her closest friend, that mattered more than being her romantic interest, and if anything she couldn't bear to see him near suicidal.
"Leave me be, Thalia. I didn't ask to be here. It's obvious that I'm not so much your Guardian as you are mine. The Gods don't want their precious pawn to kill himself." he told her, keeping his eyes firmly fixed on the ripples in the water.
He'd been harsh but perhaps that was the only way that his words were going to get through to Thalia. Standing tall before she could argue against him, he leapt into the waters, willing them to pull him down into the safety barrier where none but one born of the sea could reach him.
He couldn't bear the way Thalia looked at him anymore. There was pain in her eyes, but it was for him, he didn't want to be the cause of anyone else's pain any longer.
What if he could just end it all? Kill himself and put a stop to the constant danger that he presented the camp? Would anyone miss him? He could just run away again. Not where the hunters could get to him, but instead to an underwater refuge.
He knew that sooner or later his father would vie to find him and then it would only be a matter of time before they caught up.
'Think very carefully before you continue down this path.'
At that moment he made his decision, he didn't know how much time had passed but the sun was rising and Thalia was still staring longingly into the river he was resting in. He needed to say goodbye, he'd already put her through so much.
"Thalia." He got her attention, his voice heavy and laden with grief. His eyes were dark and she knew something was wrong, more than usual.
"I'm sorry. If things were different… Just know that I would never have rejected you." Percy spoke quickly and softly, his eyes glued to the floor. He could already hear Thalia choking up in front of him. He turned his back on her firmly before stepping into the river that surged above him.
"Perseus what are you doing?" Artemis' voice called out. She was now besides Thalia, looking at him warningly. Her hand was hovering over her hunting knives, if she could paralyze him, then she could prevent him from doing what she knew he was thinking about.
He spared the Goddess a quick glance before a brief smile washed across his face then disappeared as soon as it had arrived.
"I'm Percy, the Demon is Perseus." With a wave of his hand the entire river surged upwards and blocked Artemis from doing anything. She tried to follow his movements but he was simply put, just far too powerful. The river rushed across the landscape in a tidal wave, continuously seeking a massive body of water.
"Thalia! Assemble the hunters!" Artemis ordered as she already took off after Percy.
"What for milady? What are we hunting?" she asked her in solid confusion.
"Percy Jackson." Artemis told her quickly before bounding after the tidal wave.
Percy had nearly escaped. Very nearly. He was only a mile out from the sea basin that he could get to Atlantis from. Surely his father would hide him or let him live with them in the palace?
But he never made it that far, an arrow struck him in the foot and knocked him off of the wave he was controlling. The pain in his ankle caused him to lose control over the behemoth stream entirely and he tumbled further into the forest, now partially immobile.
'Ow, what the fuck! Why did that hurt so much more than any other arrow we've been shot with!? God damn!' Perseus raged and screamed inside their mind.
It wasn't an exaggeration either, that arrow must have been blessed by the God of vindictive dick-moves as it spread pain in excessive amounts throughout his body, yet he pushed on, just with an extremely angry Demon inside his mind.
He had to be very careful, if Perseus got too angered, would he take control and try to fight back against Artemis? Gods, Percy really hoped not.
The hunt would be short and Artemis was sure to punish him greatly. But Percy would never go down without a fight. He was stubborn to the end. Whatever that particular end may be.
He thought about angering Artemis enough that she might kill him then and there, it was a different approach that Perseus fighting her, it at least saved Artemis from being hurt. Save his Bane the trouble of doing it as well, effectively keeping all of the hunters safe.
The emotional pain was only just starting to become bearable, but when Thalia finally admitted her feelings, he couldn't take it, that was one more person he felt betrayed by, the pain in his heart was overwhelming once again and the only embrace he wished for was the cold lonely void where he would cease to exist.
The pain in his ankle grew. Artemis was smart, she had given him some sort of paralyzing agent and it was working its way fast.
If he could get to a high point in the forest just in time that somewhat overlooked a body of water, that he could make a jump for it and hope for the best, but he knew that once he felt that familiar tug in his gut that there was no way he could get to that place in time, he'd be completely immobile at that point.
"Percy stop!" he heard Artemis' commanding voice call out behind him. In the sides of his vision he could see the silver flashes of hunters running through the trees parallel to him. They must have been told strictly not to attack him otherwise he'd be dead by now.
'Don't stop, keep going, piss her off more, it'll be hilarious!'
"Big words coming from the guy that was screaming because of an arrow moments ago." Percy muttered his response, earning silence from the Demon.
Damage the ego, and the mouth will stay shut, something that Percy was never going to forget now that he knew it worked so well.
The only thing he could think about doing was dangerous, he'd never been able to pull it off before but if not now then he'd never be able to do it.
With all of the power left in his body he forced himself to turn into a faint sea breeze that traveled a lot farther than he could muster on foot at the moment.
He managed to get thirty feet away when he reappeared and heard the shocked gasps. He was far more powerful than anyone could have ever imagined, and that was something that at least made him feel better.
Once he got close enough to the water he'd be able to summon his trident and then he'd be back with a chance of escape. Once again he purged his body into a sea breeze and reappeared on the top of a hilltop that overlooked a lake.
There was nothing connecting this large lake to the sea though, but it was the best chance he had. He could survive in the lake for a very long time.
'I'm going to hate myself for saying this, but do it, straight in the lake and don't you dare resurface until we're fully healed. Once we're out, I can take on the Goddess if she outright refuses to let us leave in peace, because that's what we want right? That's what you want if it means we can legitimately live in peace.'
The hunters weren't taking any chances though, he felt an arrow embed itself in his right shoulder then another one in his right hip. The pain was excruciating but he knew that they were only trying to immobilize him.
If they had wanted to end him, he would already have five arrows sticking out of the back of his head. He'd seen how the hunters worked.
'Percy, stop right now!" Artemis' thundered. In that single moment she sounded scarier than he could ever imagine Zeus and for the life of him he was shocked into not resisting her orders.
He turned around just as he got to the top of the hill. If he jumped now he would survive. Artemis was three feet away. He knew he was fucked when she tackled him.
She thought it would be a clean take-down but he jumped mid-way and they both rocketed off of the hill top and straight towards the murky depths of the lake. Artemis cursed in ancient Greek while Percy just felt bad that she would get wet.
The moment they hit the water Percy felt slightly less vulnerable. Still weak from the paralyzer but not completely screwed. He'd made it to the lake, that was all he could have asked for.
'Oh thank God, these bastard arrows were starting to make me want to destroy all of them, and I ain't got that kind of time.'
Using the same principles as he had for traveling in the air, he turned his body to water and fell out of Artemis' grasp before creating an air bubble around her.
She slowly sank to the bottom of the lake. Percy reappeared on the outside of the bubble, looking like an angel made of water. Artemis had to bite her lip to hold in her embarrassment for actually finding him attractive.
He would be the first man to escape her. She hated it. She hated it more than Apollo. Artemis knew that Percy was rapidly failing to the paralyzing agent they had put on their arrows.
How would he fare against it now that they were under the water though? With a lazy wave of his hand her clothes magically dried themselves almost instantly. Then he lifted his hands again and they both started to rise.
"Leave me alone Artemis." he choked out in a pain stricken voice. It wasn't just physical pain from the arrows, but she knew for a fact that what Thalia had told him had broken him just as much as Annabeth cheating on him had.
To have the kind of trust those two had just for her to turn around and say that. Artemis didn't know what she could do about it, but the pain was evident.
"I can't. I care about you too much." she whispered. She knew for a fact that Percy heard her because of how he stopped for a split second before continuing.
Artemis rose above the surface on a platform of solid water right next to the edge of the lake. Percy came up on his own in the middle of the lake but within seconds of them reappearing more and more arrows flew wildly at him. All hitting their mark.
He was stunned for a moment before it registered to him. He looked like he'd had acupuncture with foot long needles. Artemis screamed to stop firing but it was too late.
He staggered for a moment before the air became humid, a power struggle of control was happening inside the body of Percy Jackson and Artemis had seen this once before.
His muscles bulged, his hair seemed to shorten and those eyes that looked like pure evil erupted with a brightness of anger.
Fire enshrouded him before he started to fall towards the water's surface, now with plenty of arrows embedded throughout his body.
"The next person to shoot me, I will issue a personal cremation service so thorough that not even the Gods will be able to fix them!" Then, just as quickly as the Demon had appeared, it was gone.
Artemis had gotten to dry land easily but as she looked back towards the lake she saw something that felt like her heart breaking. Percy's limp body was falling towards the water with arrows sticking out of him everywhere.
"My lady, we have to get him out of there!" Thalia's voice called out to her frantically. Artemis could barely register what her lieutenant was saying until it clicked.
The two of them neared the water's edge but as they tried to get into the lake to retrieve Percy, it froze over just under their feet, wherever they walked. It couldn't be Percy's control; he was clearly out cold from the pain and paralyzing serum.
A nymph appeared just above the surface of the water.
"I'm sorry lady Artemis but the Prince is under my protection now." she told them somewhat coldly.
"You would refuse an Olympian access? That's an unwise movement nymph." Artemis sneered just as coldly. Her fingers itching towards her bow.
"I would. I know of you, Lady Artemis, but the Prince is my lord, and while you are powerful, I fear that you have never truly seen the wrath that Poseidon is capable of instilling on the gentle waters. I'm sorry my lady. But he is under my protection now, not you nor your hunters can enter my waters." she explained to them in an apologetic tone before disappearing from sight completely.
Thalia was furious, she fired an arrow into the water but the water froze over once more right where the arrow hit and bounced straight off before finally sinking into the depths.
"Thalia, get the girls to set up camp at the proximity of this lake. We're not leaving without him." Artemis told her before flashing to Olympus. She needed to have some words with her uncle.
Percy slowly let his eyes flutter open. It was dark, someone was singing and he felt completely comfortable with that. With everything actually.
He wasn't sure if he cared whether or not he ever moved away from where he was now but he knew he'd probably regret it.
Trying his best to upright his body even in the water ached and he hissed with pain. The singing stopped and it seemed whoever that voice belonged to had turned their attention to him.
"Don't do that silly! You've been impaled by so many arrows. I'm amazed that you're alive. Even being a son of Poseidon and miraculously landing in the lake you still had a small chance of survival." That voice, angelic.
'That might have been partially me that helped us to not die a painful death. I got incredibly angry and managed to cauterize most of the arrow punctures before falling unconscious, so yeah, you're welcome.'
His eyes were sore but he forced them open. Floating gracefully above him was the most beautiful nymph he had ever seen.
He knew how much his father had wanted him to marry a nymph but he'd never really seen the appeal until now.
"I um." He cleared his voice before blundering and managing to somehow blush underwater.
"To be fair I am the strongest son of Poseidon ever." he managed with a slight smile, skillfully neglecting to mention the fact that he wasn't a Demigod, but half Demon and half God. The nymph's light blue tinted cheeks suddenly went a strange shade of scarlet and Percy couldn't help but feel warmer inside.
To add to the effect, he summoned his trident out of the water itself. It had reverted back to its normal beautiful emerald green trident illuminated the nymph's waters.
"Well even so you've still got arrows in your chest so lay down again son of Poseidon before I make you." she told him in a stern yet playful voice.
If Artemis or Thalia had witnessed the mutual flirtations of these two then Percy knew for a fact that they would both string him up and use him for target practice, but he didn't care anymore.
"Why can't I just pull them out?" Percy asked with a frown before he did that exact thing. He screamed and accidentally caused an explosion of water.
That was sure to have scared anyone above the lake. He sank down as his body became as still as a corpse. The nymph put her hands on her hips and pouted.
"That's why. Because you'll work the paralyzer in even further. Let me do it in future." she continued to pout before getting back to work on removing the hunter's arrows. In peace mind you because Percy could no longer say anything.
'Do that again and I'll kill us both right now! That hurts like a motherfucker!' Perseus was incredibly foul mouthed, but Percy wasn't quite sure what he was supposed to expect, he was a Demon after all, and everything that he'd been taught about Demons had depicted them as being far worse than his other aspect.
"My name is Esther by the way my lord. I know it's probably not of interest to you but you've become quite a hot-shot recently. Your father keeps mentioning that you're going to marry soon. I realize this may just be your father being your father but it's definitely spurred interest around the kingdoms." Esther continued to ramble on.
Percy could just about blink at free will now so he was in no position to deny his father's claims against his intentions to marry. Even if he could, he wasn't sure if he would.
Surely if the famous Percy Jackson wanted to marry then he could have anyone under his father's domain. Would someone like the nymph patching him up even be interested in him?
She noticed his forced blink. "Don't worry, I'm not in a position to say anything to anyone anyway. I can't speak to the tree nymphs around here. There's something about my lake which prevents contact unless there's a godly presence. I was only able to intervene and save you because you're so strong that the ancient magic that curses me thinks that you're a God. Feel special Lord Perseus." Esther smiled naturally as she edged out yet another arrowhead coated in paralyzer.
'Lord Perseus, I like the sound of that, perhaps more than I should... I'm keeping that title, and the best part is that no-one can deny me of it. I mean, how many Demons do you know?' Perseus laughed heartily before another arrow was pulled free of their body, this time a little more forcefully, edging some more of that bastard paralyzer in.
There was no amount of poison or paralyzer that would be capable of stopping Percy from groaning at the use of his formal name, or more importantly, his inner Demon. Esther's mouth formed an 'O' in surprise at the prince of her kingdom.
"It's. Percy." he managed to groan out. She nodded quickly.
"I'm sorry my lord, but I'm rusty with my social skills as you can tell, and extremely lonely." she faltered, her hands slowly crept away from the arrow in his stomach.
"When you're well enough to leave, would you ever consider coming back to visit me?" she asked him. He swore that he could almost feel the tension in her body.
How long had it been since someone else had visited her? How old was this curse? She did mention ancient magic, surely she couldn't have been cursed from that long ago.
Slowly but surely as Percy moved the strength to his arm, he felt his eyelids become heavy and forced to close them but he managed to wrap his fingers into hers as he slowly drifted out because of the paralyzer.
The last thing he remembered seeing was her beaming smile. A grin that would have shamed Apollo's pearly whites. Percy thought that he'd be able to rest in peace, right up until he felt the presence of another immortal teleport very close to him, very close indeed.
'If that's Artemis then we are fucked.'
Poseidon appeared in the lake as soon as he was able to. He saw Percy's eyes close slowly just as he had gotten there. He cursed briefly before turning to the nymph.
"I came as soon as I could. Thank you for defending my son. He will no doubt be very grateful." Poseidon nodded as he slowly made his way over.
"He is quite remarkable, my lord. He had already started to fight through the paralyzers just to correct me calling him Perseus." The nymph smiled before looking back down at Percy with something more than just a sense of duty in her eyes.
Poseidon was weary because he knew of the curse that was placed upon her. He sought to visit her once every decade out of sheer pity. Even he could not break the curse.
But the way that she was looking at his son, could it possibly be Percy that would finally end her reign of solitude in the lake long forgotten by mortal and immortal eyes.
"He is indeed. I know for a fact that he will visit you often just for showing you this kindness. Fear not though, his life was never in danger, not from Artemis' hunters. Perseus is the most powerful Demigod we've ever seen. He even has his own trident." Poseidon nodded with pride, a grand smile making its way onto his lips.
"He rivals the weaker Olympians in power, Artemis could not kill Perseus without blowing up half of the country. Still, she wasn't exactly trying or he'd be in much worse shape." Poseidon explained with a frown.
"I should probably speak to her while I can. The night descends and she will be called away soon." Poseidon commented before turning into a current and shooting towards the surface. When he broke through he was face to face with a blushing Artemis.
"Is he OK, Poseidon?" she blurted out before reigning her tongue in.
Poseidon nodded. "Thank you for not trying to kill him. He would not fight you back for he admired you and cares for Thalia too much. The destruction would be overwhelming if he was ever to flat out fight an Olympian." Poseidon told her before remembering what he had truly come to tell her.
"Ah, about that. I'm not sure if you're aware of this or not, but it's incredibly important either way. Percy isn't a Demigod any longer." she told him quietly, unsure of how Poseidon would take the news if it so happened to be news to him.
"Excuse me?" he asked her in confusion, tilting his head to the side for a moment. Most of the hunters were all watching from the safety of a far distance.
All knew of Poseidon, though few had ever met the sea God. The one thing they all knew for certain was the tales of his legendary rage, and it was only earlier that day that most of them had managed to lodge an arrow in his son's body.
"He's ascended beyond the confines of a Demigod, what with that Demon aspect of his, he's become a Demon-God." Artemis told him, casting a weary glance over him, analyzing his reaction as best she could.
Of course he knew what it meant, but he was more shocked to find out that, supposing what he'd heard was true, that Sally Jackson was either a Demon, or from a blood line of Demons.
To the best of Poseidon's knowledge, Demons had actually fully gone extinct from the mortal world a few thousand years ago. Poseidon sighed, knowing that nothing good would come from pondering it for too long.
"Do not take your aggravations out on the nymph living here Artemis. She is cursed by magic older than most Gods. Only an old forgotten prophecy will break her free of the magic and let her resume her life in the sea." Poseidon told her sternly. Artemis crossed her arms and pouted before she briefly froze when the scent of perfume crossed her nostrils.
"Aphrodite." Poseidon greeted with a curt nod of his head. She just waved it off. Time was short and formalities would only take much more of it.
"I know of this curse Poseidon. I usually wouldn't help in affairs such as this but Percy is by far my favourite Demigod, despite his unnecessarily harsh rebuking." Aphrodite added the last part to help give gravity to the situation.
"The curse can indeed be broken but for only a short amount of time. The one who put the magic on the beautiful nymph needs to be destroyed while the magic is down. The ancient witch who was once known as the temptress Glenda. Do you remember Poseidon?" Aphrodite asked him quickly.
Poseidon's brow scrunched up in confusion, "The water mage? She withered and died did she not? Well over two millennia ago." Poseidon pointed out.
"She did not. She was made immortal by her own power and magic, therefore there are ways to dispatch her. First Percy must temporarily break the curse that the poor nymph has lived with but he simply cannot do that with the state his heart is in right now." Aphrodite looked at the floor saddened that this would ever happen to anyone.
"What do you mean?" Artemis asked her with narrowed eyes. She was weary of tricks Aphrodite liked to pull but this was below anyone.
"His heart lies in three places, moon Goddess. I truly believe that he is the hero destined to break the curse over the nymph, but the prophecy calls for the hero's heart to be clear in what it needs. Who it needs. It's clear from the words that the nymph in there is one of them, but it hints to others. I'll leave you to figure it out Artemis, you're a clever girl." Aphrodite winked before leaving. Poseidon was not nearly as dull as many believed.
"I don't approve of what that means Artemis, but it is Percy's choice to pursue whatever paths he sees fit, but know now that if you choose to accept what Aphrodite's words mean, then the backlash between your father and I could cause a lot of damage and dare I say it, some pointless deaths." Poseidon glanced towards the water.
"Just think about your next actions very wisely. I shall still support anything involving my boy and should you need help, you know how to contact me." Poseidon flashed away and Artemis could no longer feel his presence around her or in the lake. Like Aphrodite, he had left.
That surprised her, though it wasn't a negative one like Poseidon had initially made it sound. He was going to back Percy regardless of the situation, but that was by extension, him saying that he would stand by her against her father if the King of the Gods refused to see sense.
Percy was part of yet another prophecy? She felt so sorry for him, but she also suspected that only herself and Aphrodite knew the truth to it.
Percy was falling in love with the nymph. Judging by Aphrodite's words he had already felt something for Artemis from a younger age and from the way he and Thalia had been acting and reacting towards each other she knew for a fact that while Thalia outright admitted her affection for him, she could also see that the feeling was returned, but he was still in denial.
How long would it be until he realized the calamity that he was in? Artemis was about to summon some mist so that she could speak to the nymph and explain what had just happened.
That was when she heard something that made her pale completely. A bloodcurdling roar echoed throughout the woods, throwing hunters into full war mode as it dawned on them what was coming their way.
The Bane of Percy Jackson had come back for round two.
Panicking, Artemis did what she could, "Apollo, I need you." she whispered. She knew he heard because of the mental link they shared what with being twins.
"I'm here Artemis." Apollo announced as he dove right out of the sky in a barely working sun chariot. It was getting dark and it wouldn't do for him to be driving the Maserati around at full volume. Apollo was very different when Artemis was in need. He was a mature and sensible God.
"The Bane of Percy Jackson has returned. Percy lies at the bottom of the lake unconscious. We cannot get into the lake because a nymph has banned my forces." Artemis explained. The twins simultaneously took out similar bows, but with different color schemes.
"Artemis." Apollo's voice was very edgy, "Why is he unconscious in a lake? We both know that sentence is a huge oxymoron." Apollo's voice adopted a serious sense of worry.
"He tried to run away Apollo. He's adamant that he is the reason for my hunters getting hurt. Indirectly yes, but none of them blame him at all. He believes he is unwanted by the campers and has had enough. I had to do something, Apollo, so I ordered my girls to hunt him down using only paralyzer tipped arrows. We both know he is far too strong to be harmed just by arrows." Artemis explained as she dove straight into the action, Apollo hot on her heels.
"Alright, but if this Bane is for Perce then we may need backup." Apollo told her sternly.
"We do not need backup, Apollo." Artemis told him firmly. Just then the bane ripped through the tree line covered in thick plates of armour, all stuck to the creature with massive metal pins that had been driven into the flesh itself.
"We're gonna need backup." Artemis told him quickly. The Bane had a gleaming set of armor covering it's entirety. A mixture of celestial bronze, Olympian gold, and another metal that she didn't immediately recognize. Just when Artemis didn't think things could possibly get any worse, they truly did.
"Glenda sends her regards."the beast spoke up in a very articulate and refined voice. Apollo concentrated for a moment and a second later there were two flashes behind them. Ares came forwards grinning like an idiot brandishing a great-sword that was larger than Apollo. Behind them Poseidon stood firmly against the edge of the lake with his trident in hand.
"This is the Bane of Jackson? Right, when I destroy this thing the kid will forever be forced to acknowledge me as superior." Ares grinned even more. The Bane regarded him casually.
"Did he not defeat you at only twelve years of age?" it asked. Artemis was certain in that moment that if a wolf's head could be smug, that's what it was doing. Ares grunted before charging and initiating one hell of a painful battle.
Having been the only one to have seen the Bane before, she was the only one aware of the fact that despite the armor being the obvious indication, that it had received some serious upgrades.
Perhaps Tartarus had told it to seek out this, Glenda, or perhaps it had found her of it's own free will, but one thing was for sure, it was nowhere near the level it was back in the forest the other day. This was a whole new beast, possibly one composed to be a Bane to Perseus as well as Percy.
There was only one way to find out, and that comprised of awakening Percy, and forcing him to finally unleash all of that pent up rage that he'd kept hidden away for so long. A plan was formulating in Artemis' mind, it was a bad plan, but it was still a plan.
"We can't win without him." she announced.
"Who, Percy?" Apollo asked, certain that was the only person she could have been talking about. Poseidon watched all of this with interest. He believed himself to be somewhat on the same page as Artemis.
"No, the dumb-ass that refers to himself as the necessary evil." she groaned. That was enough, much to Poseidon's surprise, there was a shock wave on the surface, and the waters were starting to boil in the middle.
He was coming.
Ares ran forwards in an epic show of bravado but was abruptly taken down a number of rungs in the badass ladder when the Bane swatted him away effortlessly. Ares' body turned into a speck that began to hit high altitude, never showing any signs of slowing down.
Artemis and Apollo spared no time in taking up an archers mantle and firing away at the weak spots in the armor. Poseidon knew what needed to be done but he did not voice his concerns.
The only being powerful enough to take on this monstrous Bane was an angry Percy Jackson. What would get Percy riled up enough? The impending threat of a loved one…
He had to think quickly back to Aphrodite's words. A love triangle was it? He could tell that the first person was Artemis, the prophecy stated the second to be Esther, but who could be the third?
Poseidon slammed his trident into the surface of the lake and he rose up, anger dwelling within his writhing sea green eyes.
Apollo had been punched through a tree, literally through the tree and Artemis had been downed with what looked like a severely broken arm.
A number of the hunters lay unmoving in felled positions. Poseidon truly felt bad for them but he knew not to speak of it to Artemis while they still lay, fighting on against the clutches of Thanatos' cold hands.
Poseidon suddenly found himself locked in a head on battle with the Bane, faring much better than the others had with him being one of the big three and mostly in his own domain. Unfortunately, he too wasn't enough to fend the creature off.
When Poseidon could see no way around defeating it apart from teleporting Percy out of there, something completely unexpected happened.
"I will not let you harm him!" Thalia shouted in defiance. She stood between the Bane and the water's edge with Aegis and her spear in her hand.
She was battered and bruised but the look in her eyes told Poseidon everything. Thalia? Perseus had grown to love Thalia? It made sense to the ancient sea God, everything was finally becoming clearer.
Poseidon vowed then and there that he would endeavor to help Percy finish the prophecy that called upon him and finally decide who his heart was truly going to be for. Artemis, Thalia or Esther.
"Thalia!" Poseidon's voice boomed, he had one foot in the water and he projected his voice deep into the lake. Thalia gave Poseidon a confused look before the Bane struck her down brutally.
He sliced a vicious gash into her exposed midriff with the jagged tips of his claws. She shouted in agony as she clutched the horrible wound it had inflicted. No more than a full second after Thalia's scream filled the woods had the lake erupted into a watery chasm of translucent death.
The son of Poseidon rose above the swirling typhoon with his eyes shining so brightly that you could not distinguish them from solid emeralds, except there was a small difference, they were emblazoned with streaks of fire red.
A silver trident in hand that had a sea green gleam to it, the very tips of the trident was adorned with volatile flames eagerly licking around at the air.
A coalition of two aspects, though judging from the lack of over the top amounts of fire, it was still Percy that was in control, and not Perseus.
'Let the power flow through you just as naturally as that of the seas. The flames of ire are yours to command on this occasion.' Perseus told him quietly before going completely silent.
Percy didn't even need to give him an answer, Perseus had given Percy most of his power in order for them to succeed, it seemed that the hot headed son of Poseidon was actually rather fond of Thalia, as opposed to the water-clogged brain of Percy who was still in denial about it all. At least one of them knew what they wanted.
At first glance it seemed as though his eyes were literally burning with the restless power of the oceans itself, even Poseidon had looked worried for a moment.
"You will not touch her!" Percy shouted. His voice was deep and low and the Gods knew straight away that this was the side that Percy Jackson hated to reveal, this was everything kept within his dark side.
Artemis noticed what was really happening though, and perhaps only she would understand it all anyway as she was the only one to have actually seen Perseus up close, but this was definitely him, it may have been Percy on the surface, but everything that spurred them on, all of that hatred and anger was something that could only have been derived from the Demon inside.
A haughty chuckle emanated from the Bane as the two colossal powers collided. An armored hell hound paw struck out against the Demon-God who dodged it effortlessly and threw his trident at the place the paw landed, impaling Bane's leg.
This was the same leg that Percy had decimated before. A guttural growl of agony sounded in the woods as the three pronged tips of the gleaming silver trident were suddenly covered with a midnight blue liquid that bubbled up thickly.
Apollo and Artemis went to see about the casualties and evacuated everyone. They knew all too well that Percy was about to have a rather explosive episode.
And they weren't sure just who was going to come out on top of it.
'You've got this Percy, just don't let the anger overcome you, or I'll be forced to step in and finish this myself.'
Ares was adamant in his choice. He was going to kill it and hang its smug bastard head from his trophy wall. No one had shown him up that badly since Jackson himself and as much as he hated to admit it, he was actually rather fond of Poseidon's kid, a punk he may be, but a strong and respectable punk.
It was at this point that he was nearly above Olympus. From the impact of the strike, he realized the Bane had been infused with some magic rivaling that of Hecate herself because he sure as Hades couldn't slow down his descent or flash out of it.
He literally had to wait around just to be bitch smacked by the earth itself. Oh how he couldn't wait to get his fists around that bastard's neck and rip it's tendons apart with his bare hands.
As he was contemplating the most gruesome ways to kill a mixture of monsters, he forced his body around to face his point of trajectory. How long had he been circling the edge of the atmosphere? Here he was, stuck in his flight as he began to approach the same landmass that held the forest he'd been so rudely ejected from.
It was only because of his superior vision that he could see the surface below. Something was wrong, something was very wrong. They all looked either dead or defeated. Percy had just burst from the lake.
Ares looked closer, was that Zeus' child that tried to protect him? So there was some sort of secret romance between Percy and Artemis' lieutenant. He was sure Aphrodite was no doubt going to absolutely love that.
Pulling his body into a dive, he made sure to give Percy one final gift. He was ashamed to admit that he wasn't much help in the fight, but he was determined to at least leave some sort of mark, so decided to see exactly how well celestial bronze and Olympian gold did against an orbital strike using a God's body.
Poseidon saw the inevitable and with a simple snap of his fingers, he teleported every single being excluding Percy and the Bane back to Artemis' camp.
Apollo and Artemis nodded appreciatively, not having to constantly fight against a seemingly un-killable beast made their tasks of healing the hunters a lot easier.
"Go, he'll be fine! He would be able to go toe to toe with Typhon like this for some time." he told them with his famous, 'I'll explain later look'.
They both shared a glance yet didn't question him about it immediately though and that was good. Quickly remembering his job, he dived straight back into the lake before an explosion happened above the surface.
He quickly bobbed his head up just to see what was happening. The Bane was rid of armor completely and Ares' body was slowly floating towards Poseidon. Did he only just land? He must have done his stupid 'Ares bolt'.
An orbital strike often performed from Olympus itself. He would jump and dive straight down from terminal velocity and continue to accelerate, using his huge body as a mass driver straight into his target.
Only Ares and similar Gods of fortitude would survive such a thing. Poseidon snapped his fingers and Ares was quickly relocated to Olympus. They could deal with him. He remembered his purpose for the third time and dived down to where Esther was looking on with worry.
"If you stay here you will not survive. I know a loophole around this ancient magic. I need your permission however." he told her quickly, keeping his comments vague.
"What might that be my lord?" she asked, suspicion in her eyes. The Gods had not helped her along with her journey much in her long life which was an especially heavy guilt resting upon the sea God's shoulders.
"In my palace there is an entire wing dedicated to when Gods visit. Naturally they cannot breathe underwater like you or I. There is no water in those particular wings of the palace. I have been looking for a beautiful piece to put in the central halls. I can reform this lake to be smaller and manageable and intend to put it in my palace. A lake under the ocean. You would be safe for now, until we can rid you of this curse, but I need your permission to alter the lake." he quickly explained. Her eyes widened and he saw the slightest smidgen of hope.
"Please lord, please do it!" she begged him. With a nod Poseidon started to transform the lake and move it. Once Esther was out of the way, he knew Percy would not hold back any of his power, he would not be worrying about hurting anyone other than his very own bane, and that was the only way that anyone was going to get out of this alive.
The two enormous powers clashed. Poseidon could feel it from his underwater palace, just like he believed that there was no doubt Zeus and Hades had heard it from their respective palaces.
An axis point from where the true power of a conjoined mixture of Percy Jackson was fighting against an equal and most definitely 'opposite' force.
The sea trembled from the rage that it's prince was holding within his mind. The tremendous power of the second trident wielder was sending the world into chaos.
Percy Jackson and his Bane were fighting to the death. Where once Percy would have had absolutely no chance against the beast, Ares had evened out the fight with his orbital strike.
The creature had no more armor to save him from Percy's explosive wrath which was now an increasingly unstable mix of fire and water.
A blast emanated above the waters that failed to still themselves, even at Poseidon's will. The shock wave sent a tsunami raging across the coast and out into the world's seas.
If it collided with anything it would instantly destroy everything in its path. Percy was outputting that much power. The bane was in a state of shock.
"Who sent you!?" Percy demanded with the pure unbridled fury of the seas that was writhing in his veins, and the mere prospect of the Bane hurting Thalia had turned his once calm sea green eyes into burning balls of cool emerald flames.
The Bane was unsure exactly of how far it's own powers governed the ability to kill an enraged Percy Jackson, but it knew for a fact that this far into the fight, it's prospects at succeeding were dwindling fast.
"Glenda, the immortal older than the Gods. She was the dominant mistress of the seas before your father was born. She cannot be defeated, she made sure of that." The Bane spat from the wolf's head that was fused firmly on it's shoulders.
It had the body of a hellhound and it was night, so Percy knew that if it became seriously endangered then it would simply just shadow travel away.
Percy felt all immortals leave him alone with the Bane. That gave him the freedom to release his true power. Percy let out an agonizing scream and the lake exploded outwards and engulfed the two of them in a swirling death trap of water.
The beast tried to travel away from it's suffocating prison but couldn't do it while Percy had his gleaming silver trident illuminating the waters. I
t was trapped to swirl in the watery death that had surrounded him. Percy shot forwards inside the cyclone and used his trident to rip through it's back. The rage of the seas at his fingertips he killed the Bane, ripping it apart piece by piece.
The water abruptly stopped and the Bane turned to dust. One monster was dead, but another monster needed slaying.
Whoever Glenda was, and whatever she wanted, she wouldn't stop until himself and the people he loved, were dead. He wouldn't let that happen, ever.
'Well that was exhilarating, but perhaps now we should tone it down before you kill everything within twenty miles.'
He dropped back down to the surface, seeing a pile of ashes in the ground as black as the fur that had shrouded the bane. Percy saw something glinting above it and bent down to inspect it. It was a dragon's horn. He hadn't noticed that on the Bane but hell, he'd keep it as a trophy if nothing else.
'Keep it, maybe we can make a weapon from it.' Perseus commented. Percy hummed back his agreement, maybe they could, besides, dragon horns were incredibly strong anyway.
A sudden thought had occurred to him, his arsenal was going to be increasingly powerful. He had a legendary blade of the sea, Anaklusmos, he had a master weapon, the trident that he could either summon from the very sea or bring out of a similar pen to that of Anaklusmos, and if he decided to get this dragon horn turned into a weapon, then he would have yet another extremely powerful instrument of destruction.
Percy suddenly realized exactly how much power it had taken to finally rid himself of the Bane. It had exhausted him completely, he knew that only one thing would be able to save him now.
He slumped to the ground, the last reserves of his energy leaving him.
"Artemis." he whispered quietly. Just as his eyelids became too heavy to hold open, he felt two godly flashes right next to him.
Their immediate vicinity caused his skin to tingle, the other presence caused the hairs on his arms to raise. He never noticed that before, and still could not figure out which was which. Who made him feel nervous? Cautious was more the word.
'I don't know who that is, but I like it.' Percy found himself agreeing whole-heatedly. It was a thrilling feeling. He should have realized that it was Artemis, there was something about her which made him curious, but still nervous around her, like she was one day going to love him and then hate him the next.
The tingling skin was starting to annoy him and he realized that out of all the Gods, Apollo was the most annoying of them, so that must have been him.
When Percy woke up he could only feel the first immortal presence. He opened his eyes to be met with curious silver ones looking directly at him.
"You know, the last time I woke up here, it was Thalia that had been watching over me. This is getting to be a terrible habit." Percy chuckled weakly before finding out that his ribs were broken, he had only felt them now because there was a lack of adrenaline pumping through him.
"Perseus-"
'Yes sweet-cheeks?' That caused Percy to groan. Before Perseus had manifested himself, Percy used to groan at the use of his formal name because he didn't much like it, but now he groaned because a dumb-ass Demon answered to it, but only he could hear him.
"Artemis please, it's just Percy, you know that Perseus is the Demon." His voice was pained by her even more than his injuries at this point.
"We need to talk Percy." she told him sternly but with a sad glint to her eyes.
"OK. But if this is about the nymph, then please don't blame her, blame me. If I hadn't have fallen into that lake then you would never have been caught up by my Bane, this would never have happened and there wouldn't be a need for the infirm-" He was cut off by a pair of silver eyes only an inch away from his own as the taste of cinnamon danced around his lips.
Artemis was kissing him.
'What. The. Fu-This is nice, roll with it.'
She closed her eyes and he felt the need to do so as well. When he reopened them he was no longer on a makeshift hospital type bed in Artemis' tent, he was on the moon chariot, lying against the side of the vehicle. Artemis was sat by his side, looking remorseful and regretful, but not for the reason Percy believed.
She couldn't believe that she had waited so long to show Percy how she truly felt. She shed a single tear for that exact reason and for the confusion on his face.
She didn't know how he would react because at this point he was frozen in his own little world, more than likely having an internal argument with Perseus.