Hey guys!

I'm back.

So here's the next chapter, don't forget to review! As before, for every five reviews you put in, you get a bonus chapter. (Link in my bio to figure out how best to get it to you). Reviews have relate to the story.

Thanks, and enjoy!

Artemis.

It was getting increasingly difficult to remember his life on Earth before he got banished here, but Orion clung to that name, the piercing silver eyes of the goddess that bore it…

It got him through most days, whatever constituted days in this dark, desolate world.

It had taken a few weeks to find his brother Damasen, who had carved out his own little corner of Tartarus, having constructed a hut out of the bones of the drakon he fought and killed every day. He had run into several of his other giant relatives along the way, half of which wanted to kill him for deserting, the other half of which wanted to convert him to their "glorious cause".

Both types of confrontations tended to end in duals to the death. Sometimes Orion won. Sometimes he didn't.

Damasen was nice enough. The other giant had missed the surface world, and Orion had plenty of stories to tell. Together they had shared meals and even the occasional joke. It was the best company that he could ask for in his current circumstances. Orion might have stayed with his brother for the rest of his days if it weren't for one thing.

Orion really, really wanted to go back to Earth.

And Damasen's own despair was seriously off-putting.

"It's not possible, brother," Damasen had lamented over a bowl of drakon meat soup. "Believe me, I have tried, as have some of our more hostile brothers and sisters. It simply isn't possible for giants to escape Tartarus."

Orion had looked into Damasen's eyes, hollow when they had once been kind and full of life, and thought, "I can't be like this. I won't become like this."

He had to get out of Tartarus.

Thus, they had parted ways. Damasen assured him that he would be welcome back anytime. The other giant had even gifted him a new bow and a set of arrows fashioned from drakon bone.

"Think of something that grounds you," Damasen advised before Orion left. "It's easy to lose yourself here. Remember who you were."

It was fairly easy to think of something to tether him. Artemis and the Hunt had pretty much been the highlight of his existence, and they were the main reason he wanted to go back in the first place.

It was easy, at first, to keep his memories and view them in the context in which they happened. After a few years, though, in the harsh terrain and his being forced to make more and more brutal choices, the memories started being...tainted by his mindset and the dark, oppressive atmosphere of Tartarus. There was also the fact that he had repeated the names of the people he held dear to him so many times that they started losing meaning.

It wasn't a good sign, but he pushed on.

Then he started dropping names from that list.

Most of the Hunters went first, until only Zoe, Phoebe, and Agatha were left. Zoe was the lieutenant-it would be difficult to forget that-Phoebe was amongst the best healers and trackers, and an excellent converser, and Agatha was the first Hunter to join since he had joined. One always remembered their firsts.

Then even that list started shrinking, or least, started getting pushed to the side because of the last name on that list.

Artemis.

And the goddess was more important than all the rest, wasn't she?

So it just became a repetition of Artemis, over and over again.

He thought he must have been in love with her, as he convinced a group of empousa to reveal how to get back to the surface.

He thought perhaps she loved him back, as he hacked the empousa to bits, thanking them for their service.

The thought didn't feel quite right, but then again, almost nothing felt right, those days. He was consorting with monsters, he was backstabbing the same monsters as soon as they outlived their usefulness. Nothing was right. He was also pretty sure he was steadily losing his sanity and morality, even though the spell Apollo had cast on him had long since worn off. The thought gave him enough motivation to keep going, at any rate, even if it weren't true.

Wasn't it true? He couldn't really tell anymore, any more than he could tell how many monsters he had slaughtered while he was down there.

There was too much blood on his hands. It must have been true, then: why would he go to such lengths for a delusion?

Finally, finally, he reached the highest part of Tartarus, where the bottomless pit just slightly grazed the bottom of the Earth.

Mother had implied that he would eventually be allowed to go back on Earth, after all. If, hypothetically, he pretended to have a change of heart, Gaea might be convinced to let him go back.

What happens if she catches on to your trick?

Orion, not for the first time, told his mind to shut up. The time for doubt was not now.

Well, Artemis thought. This is new.

It was nighttime, and a certain constellation was shining brighter than usual.

Artemis tried not to get her hopes up. It had been more than two decades since she'd last seen her friend, after all. Besides, Orion was a giant: she had never heard of giants coming back from the dead. She wasn't sure if it was even possible, unless Gaea really made an effort. And why would Gaea make an effort? Orion was hardly the most obedient son she's ever had.

Still, it would be foolish to ignore a sign like that. Artemis reached out with her senses, trying to sense a disturbance in nature, or something.

Nothing.

Slightly disappointed, she turned back to her tent. It was getting fairly late. Whatever that was, she would just have to figure out what it means later, when she had more to go on.

Still, she couldn't shake the sense of foreboding that came over her.

Well, Orion thought. This was easier than I expected.

Convincing Gaea to let him back worked surprisingly smoothly once he spent a few decades trying to get in contact with her. He didn't even have to put that much effort into his lies. He got the feeling she was just humoring him, though he couldn't fathom why. It didn't matter, though, because he was free.

Tartarus was a thing of the past.

It was nice, breathing in air that wasn't corrosive.

It was night. Quite a few constellations had been added since he was gone. Including, he was rather flattered to note, himself. He had a few qualms about the scorpion thing that had killed him the first time around being right behind his constellation self, but he was sure Artemis could explain things to him.

Artemis…

Perhaps that's why she put up the constellation of him, as a way to tether him to Earth so he could have a way to come back. Giants didn't usually come back from Tartarus, after all. Not without a lot of help. It required a small part of his essence to anchor him onto the surface world for him to come back like a normal monster would.

That was awfully nice of her, Orion thought. A small smile graced his lips. He might have had his sanity chipped at over the decades, but he thought he could hold on to something true now: he loved Artemis, and she loved him back.

He trudged forward, into the forest. He was sure she would welcome him back with open arms.

She loved him, after all.

Well, this one's a bit dark...

So I've been trying to come up with a logical explanation that Orion could come back from the dead, considering that most giants can't. Gaea had to bind the doors of death and stuff to allow the other giants through. Then I realized that Artemis had made him into a constellation, and I was like, "Ah! I can use that!"

So yeah. Hope you enjoyed, and don't forget to leave a review!