Hey guys.

This chapter took a bit longer to write, but in my defense, I suck at writing romance and romantic confessions. Also, I've recently read a fanfic that traumatized me so badly it threw off all my characterizations and tone. It took me like a week to recover from the BSoD.

So, sorry.

Also, while I have a vague outline and a general idea of where the plot is going, the bits in between are just me desperately making up details to fill in the narrative gaps. This happened to be one heck of a gap. It's one thing to have a premise and a conclusion and it's another thing have any goddamned idea how to get there.

But yeah.

Enjoy the story, and do leave a review for me. It would be much appreciated.

Content.

Artemis and her Hunters had just taken down their latest prey (no hero has taken down the Clazmonian Sow yet [1], so naturally, it was up to them), so they were in a celebratory mood. They had taken the pelt and on top of that, they had found themselves with an excess of pork for food.

Artemis had always believed in using what one hunted. Much more efficient use of resources that way. It wasn't like the pig was using it anymore.

Orion was getting excellent at cooking.

At some point, a food fight had broken out amongst the Hunters. Their only male member had been somewhat miffed about them throwing around food that he cooked (he had started to take pride in his culinary skills), but after getting pelted from behind with a rather large piece of pork belly, he had taken it as a personal insult and joined with more vigor than the rest of them combined. Within minutes, a large majority of the Hunters had gone down with food clinging to their faces.

Artemis, the only one spared from the carnage, took in the scene unfolding before her and laughed.

Orion glanced over. "Was the food not to your satisfaction, my lady?"

It was an invitation to banter [2].

"Not at all," she felt herself beginning to smile. "Impeccable aiming skills, Orion. I had no idea you were so well versed in the art of food throwing."

It wasn't a well known fact, but Artemis liked to banter. Banter was, by definition, good humored teasing, and since an excellent assessment of how close one's friends were was how much one can insult them without them taking offense, very few people dared to do it with her, an admittedly anger-prone Olympian goddess.

Callisto had bantered with her, back when she was one of her Hunters. She hadn't been Artemis's best friend for nothing, after all, but she wasn't exactly available anymore. Zeus had seen to that.

Apollo, as her twin, had engaged in banter when they were younger. But since then, they had grown further apart. The banter had grown less good natured and more barbed.

Zoe might come around eventually, but she was still new to the position and hadn't quite found her place.

So it said a lot that Orion, the sole male member of her Hunt, a giant, her supposed worst enemy, had felt comfortable enough to engage in banter with her.

They had come a long way.

Banter was a sign of ultimate companionship and trust, especially between a god and someone more prone to dying, since it relied on the god not getting offended enough to blast the other party to bits. She felt gratified that she had found such a companion in Orion.

So naturally, it didn't last.

"My lady," Orion said later that week. "May I have a moment of your time?"

Privately, she heard the implication.

"Very well," she acquiesced. He followed her into her tent.

"My lady," he began. "There's been something I've been meaning to say."

He definitely looked nervous now.

"Right, here goes. For a while now, I've been looking differently at the world, and the things I want from it. It's not that I've suddenly been recruited to join a group of previously all-female Hunters, or that I've finally been accepted by them. Thought it might have been, but…" he waved his hands helplessly. "It's me who's not the same, since I've met you. Knowing you changed me."

"Have you?" She was starting to get a sneaking suspicion as to what that was about. He wasn't...leaving, was he?

A sense of unease started spreading in her gut.

"You've seen the best of me, but you haven't seen the worst. It wasn't too long ago that I was wandering around, desperately looking for a purpose in life," he gave a self-deprecating laugh. "I know what I want now, and...I'm trying to say that I'm in love with you. And if you would have me, I'll be yours." [3]

Oh.

Oh.

Stupid, she cursed herself. All that time, trying to prove that she wouldn't fall in love, and she had never even considered that perhaps, the other party might fall in love with her.

What had she done?

She looked up at his face, expression hopeful and earnest, almost like a newborn puppy. She liked puppies, and she hated disappointing people she cared about. For a terrible moment, she thought about saying yes, just to avoid the pain and hurt that would come with the rejection. It would certainly make Orion happy.

But she didn't think about him that way, and it was ultimately her that controlled her life, was it not? She couldn't make decisions like that based on how Orion would take it. She had to act according to what she felt. [4]

"No," she kept her voice soft, as if to cushion the damage. It wouldn't work, she knew, but nonetheless, she tried.

Orion, as predicted, looked absolutely crushed. "No?"

"I cannot, Orion. I love you, as a friend. I really do, but...I don't love you romantically. I don't do romantic love."

"Because of your vow, my lady?"

"The vow was to prevent myself from being forcibly married off. I've...how to explain? I've never been interested in those kinds of things. I've never liked boys, or girls, or anyone in between. The mere idea...well, it doesn't sit well with me. The vow is just a method to ensure that I have a reason to never engage in these things."

"So you've...really never felt love?"

"No. Romantic love is...not my department."

"I…see," Orion looked almost catatonic, and Artemis felt a rush of guilt for hurting her friend. "I...I have to go."

For a second, she wanted to ask him to come back, to apologize.

But she didn't really owe him her affection, did she?

She didn't try to stop him.

I think we all know they're not going to end up together. I mean, I basically told you this from chapter 1.

But yeah, things will only go downhill from here.

Let's see...author's notes:

[1] Clazmonian Sow: Also known as the Flying Pig. It appeared in The Last Olympian. Annabeth mentioned that as far as she knew, no hero had ever beaten it. In other words, it seemed like the kind of job the Hunters of Artemis would be suited for. From what we've seen of the Hunters, they always seemed to be going after prey that were more dangerous than what normal demigods were suited for. In The Titan's Curse, they were going after the manticore, a monster that was too dangerous for Thalia, Percy, Annabeth, and Grover to fight. In The Lost Hero, they were going after Lycaon, a werewolf who's only vulnerable to silver. In the Trials of Apollo series, they were going after the Teumessian Fox, who was basically destined to never be caught. Basically, if anyone was going to kill the Clazmonion Sow, it would be the Hunters.

[2] As TV Tropes once said, "A very good measure of how good your friends are is how much you can insult them without them taking offense." I believe wholeheartedly in this statement.

[3] I may or may not have derived this bit from Kaidan 2's proposal. It's a Skyrim mod. It wasn't like I had much experience in writing confessions, so I had to take inspirations from somewhere. So if anyone spotted that, well done!

[4] Honestly, this was something I had to learn. I've watched dramas and stuff when I was younger and oblivious to the fact that I'm not straight, and I've noticed that whenever the dude in the romantic subplot does some grand gesture to win over the girl, the girl always acts amazed and touched, and then says yes. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it had left my younger self with the conclusion that the girl only said yes because she felt like she owed him something after realizing the depth of his emotional investment. Which is very, very problematic.

But yeah, I hope this portrayal is realistic. I haven't had much experience with this whole romance thing, and am not inclined to have any any time soon. So feedback is appreciated.

Do leave a review about it. Anything I could do better at, etc.

Thanks for reading!