Chapter 9: Wait! Past? Future? Time Travel?
11 September, 1992, Olympus, Manhattan, Athena's Palace
Artemis sat on a chair, a towel wrapped around her thin frame, her hair wet as she sipped some coffee. Athena sat opposite her, holding a notepad as she looked over Artemis and the torn and battered silver parka on the ground besides Artemis' chair.
"So wanna tell me what happened? I have never seen you cry and definitely never seen you hug anyone, including father. So why did you cry and hug me when you arrived? You muttered something about me being dead," Athena questioned, her dark grey eyes bore into Artemis' soul.
Artemis sighed and placed the cup on the table next to her chair and leaned forward, "I am about to tell you something you probably aren't going to believe but you need to trust me." Athena's eyebrows rose but she remained silent.
"I am from the future."
Just like that, she dropped the whole news. Athena dropped her notepad as her mouth opened wide open as she stared at Artemis. Artemis calmly sipped her coffee as she looked around her sister's palace. It looked the same as before but there was a huge loss possessions on her wall. For starters, there was the silver bracelet Artemis had gifted her before she had been captured.
Wait, I gave her the silver bracelet but she doesn't have it right now. How much back in time have I travelled? Maybe I can go and save myself from being captured and am able to keep my dignity of being the stealthiest being in the universe.
Athena seemed to have heard Artemis as she got up hastily, her chair toppled backwards, as she bent forward and picked Artemis by her throat.
"Artemis… You do know how unbelievable you sound right now right? How do you expect me to believe that you are from the future."
"Look, I swear on the Styx that what I say is true." Thunder rumbled outside making Athena's eyes to go wide as she stumbled slightly but maintained her posture
"Well then, this is certainly something I didn't expect. You cannot change time or any event that takes place," Athena shouted, trying to keep her anger at bay.
"Sister, do you even know how horrible my time is? The gods-", Artemis tried to reason with Athena but she clamped her hand at her mouth and said, "Don't say anything about the future. To me or anyone. There is a reason nobody changes or messes with time Artemis. Do you have any idea how much risk you have put the Western Civilisation in by coming to this time?"
She took a deep breath and continued, "Time is like a sea. It likes to stay calm and collected but even a small ripple, doesn't matter if from a pebble or from a huge rock, can cause a huge disturbance. That is why even Kronos didn't reverse time because he knew that even going to the past was tricky and changing it would have huge and terrific consequences. So don't change time. Let it go as it had gone in your world because if you change even a tiny bit of time, the whole future can change."
Artemis froze in shock and didn't even notice Athena take her hand off her mouth. She couldn't believe that she had taken so much effort and danger just to come to the past and change the time but she couldn't?
Athena shook Artemis and said, "From the time you entered my palace, I have been investigating your godly power and vitals," her face took a troubled expression, "you seem to have lost your godly power."
Artemis froze again in surprise as her mind went blank, her breathing began uneven as she began panicking. Athena stiffened and flashed a book on panic attacks as Artemis began shaking violently and muttering gibberish.
Athena read fast before throwing it away and tried to calm Artemis. Artemis continued panicking before she passed out as Athena knocked her on the head.
When she woke up, Artemis was on a bed in what she assumed was Athena's palace. She sat up and looked around, catching sight of a figure standing in the doorway.
"I see that you're awake, Sister," Athena said, "I had to knock you out to stop your little panic attack."
At the mention of a panic attack, Artemis remembered exactly what had set it off. Her eyes widened, "Athena, tell me it's not true. Tell me that I am still a god." She looked like she was on the verge of another panic attack.
Athena shook her head sadly, "I'm sorry, Artemis, but I'm afraid that it's true. Although, while you were passed out, I took your ichor samples to Apollo and said that it was that of my sister. He didn't even seem surprised as he probably thought I was talking of some other daughter of our father. He checked it and said that you have gone through a huge power depletion. Your immortal domains that kept you powerful, per say, have been removed. You are now just a normal immortal with golden ichor and regeneration."
Artemis' breath started to pick up and her heart began to race. I cannot lose my domains. They are a part of me. The fates ordained it so. Artemis started twitching on the bed, the bed shaking slightly.
"Woah there, calm down, Sister. Take a deep breath and calm down."
Slowly, Artemis started to calm down and her breathing returned to normal. She nodded at Athena to reassure her that she was alright.
"Ok, now that you're alright, I need to know a couple of things. First off, why did you even come back to this timeline? I know before that I said you shouldn't tell me about the future, but if it is so serious that you needed to come back in time, then it may be necessary. Plus, if you are already here, then the timelines are already messed up, and it can't get much worse than this." Athena said.
"Yes, this is very important. But before I say anything, what year is this?"
Athena seemed confused but answered nevertheless, "1992."
"In the future, there is a demigod that will be born, Perseus Jackson. He will be a son of Poseidon," Artemis sighed and stated, secretly making sure that she doesn't mention that Percy would be born next year. At hearing this, Athena clenched her fist in rage.
"I see that Barnacle Beard decided to break his vow too."
Artemis looked disapprovingly at her sister before continuing with her story. No matter what happens, she never gives up her fit over Poseidon. If Artemis didn't know Athena as well she does, she would highly think that Athena does it for getting his attention.
"As I was saying, Perseus will be a son of Poseidon, the most powerful demigod to walk the earth for centuries. As he grows up, he will live with his mother, who will have some way to keep the monsters away, in order to protect her son. I don't know how she managed to do that as Uncle refused to share much about the woman. Yet after 12 years, she is forced to bring him to Camp Half-blood. There he will get his first quest of many. I will not go into detail for each one, but let's just say that each of these quests is enough to put any demigod in written history forever."
Athena looked shocked, "Surely you're exaggerating, Sister. There has been no demigod except maybe Hercules who can shock me and since we have made him a god, he doesn't do much except sit at the pillars dedicated to himself."
Artemis shook her head, "You will see once he is born into this timeline. Anyways, there were two even more major accomplishments that he achieves, greater than his others. First, he will defeat Kronos in the throne room while defending New York from an upcoming Titan War. And second, he and six other demigods will manage to take down Gaea to save the world a second time."
If Athena was shocked then, this was a whole electrical power plant. Her mind raced trying to grasp the fact that not only did her rival break the vow but produced a child smart and strong enough to help the Olympians. Her mind bristled with mild anger and jealousy as she tried to comprehend what her sister from the future had told her.
"I see that you are shocked. I can't say that I wasn't either. Now, Perseus will be involved in a relationship with a daughter that you will have in about a year, named Annabeth."
"My daughter?! Why would I ever let a sea spawn anywhere near my daughter?" Athena said indignantly.
"Oh hush, Perseus is not only a hero, but also a good man. His fatal flaw is loyalty. Yes, he is the only man that I would ever consider to be worthy of even being called a man. He did not do anything bad to your daughter, so quit scowling. In fact, Perseus even turned against Olympus over your daughter, which is why I am here."
Athena looked surprised, "Why? What happened to my daughter that made him do such a thing? If his fatal flaw is loyalty, then something terrible must have happened for him to betray Olympus."
"During a quest to find the Athena Parthenos, Annabeth encountered Arachne and managed to trick her by trapping her in her own weaving. Something happened that went terribly wrong. Arachne fell in, pulled Annabeth in with her. Percy tried to save her, but he was not able to pull them both up. Sadly, this was the turning point for him and he turned into the man I hate and every one of my hunters hate. Though I was deeply sad with his loss, I saw him kill my ," Artemis sighed sadly. Despite the fact that he was a male, she still felt saddened that he had turned dark. He did not deserve it.
"So you're telling me that you came back in time to save a male demigod? Or kill him?"
"Kill him and save the Western Civilisation. Perseus became extremely powerful by absorbing the essence of all the deities that he killed. The Olympus from the past is already doomed, so the Olympians sent me back in time to save this timeline," Artemis said. Athena pursed her lips in thought.
"You do know that by telling me this, you have already risked this timeline greatly. You realize that what you're trying to do is change fate," Athena said incredulously.
"Look, sister, I know this is a lot to ask, but I'm really going to need help saving this timeline. I'm not even a goddess anymore, what can I do except give suggestions and information," Artemis said.
Athena looked at her sister and nodded, "Don't worry, sister, we'll figure something out."
M/N: Sup readers. So in this chapter, Tyguy45 and I made some changes and he will be the one typing while I edit and write the description for some more chapters so he has control of how this story progresses. Anyways, we are trying to update as often as we can but it is hard, especially with the lack of reviews. So go easy on us because we do spend hours planning and typing and editing to make it good.
T/N: Hey guys! I know there was a lot of dialogue in this chapter, but we needed to establish the relationship between Athena and Artemis in this chapter. Hope you guys like the story so far!