Hello, I'm back!

Yes, I'm here with an update for all you good readers. Probably against my better judgement, considering that I'm still swamped in work. Still, dedication to one's craft, right? Or something, I dunno.

Uh, so I've decided to cap this fic at 30 chapters, because I feel like any longer, and it will start to drag. So there's one more chapter coming, whenever I decided to write it. I might do one-shots upon request, or something. Less commitment to keeping the story consistent and accidentally retconning a big chunk of plot between updating.

So yeah.

Enjoy the chapter, leave a review, blah blah.

Relief.

Artemis was finally talking to Apollo again.

It hadn't been easy. Apollo had sent poetry, written songs, and generally annoyed Artemis until she couldn't take it anymore and snapped. In an impressive fit of temper, she had snatched the lyre from his hands and smacked him over the head with it.

It had hurt. Apollo had retaliated. Harsh words were exchanged. One hour and twenty minutes later, it was mutually agreed upon that hair pulling was on the list of undignified-and-ungodly behavior. Then they began to talk.

"Sister," Apollo began. "If, hypothetically, I propose that we work together to kill the giant, would you be entirely against this course of action?"

His sister scowled, "What are you planning this time?"

"Nothing! I'm just saying, both of us want him gone, and two gods gotta be better than one, right?"

"Perhaps," she said grudgingly. "But if you're doing this out of pity-"

"I'm not-"

"-then I do not want your help. I am not the helpless child you seem to think I am. You seem content to make decisions that are mine to make. You treat me as if I do not have my own autonomy, when I am older and your equal."

Apollo put up his hands, "No more making decisions for you, got it-"

"And this does not mean that I have forgiven you," Artemis cut in. "I am working with you out of a mutual interest. Do not mistake this as absolution."

Apollo swallowed. Perhaps he had celebrated too soon. "Got it."

"Then let us go."

So there he was, following his sister into the woods, preparing to hunt down the giant Artemis had once favored.

The irony did not escape him.

"So what's the plan?" He asked. "Lay a bunch of traps?"

Artemis looked at him as if he were dense. "'Lay a bunch of traps?'"

"That's what you usually do, isn't it?"

Artemis looked like she was ready to facepalm, which might be dangerous, since she was holding a rather sharp set of twin daggers in both hands. "Remind me again why I agreed to let you help…"

If one were to ask Apollo, he would tell you that the battle was glorious, an ultimate showdown between the forces of good and evil. He would sing songs about his brilliance, how he had come to his dear sister's rescue, how he had single-handedly saved them all from the clutches of a terrible giant.

He would not, for example, sing about the part where he found himself crashing face first into the dirt after tripping over a root.

He cursed. Zoe stood over him, unimpressed.

"You didn't see that," he warned her.

Zoe raised an eyebrow, "Of course not, Lord Apollo." She didn't say anything else, but Apollo could swear that she was thinking, Just like you didn't see the tree root?

Apollo resisted the urge to sigh and got back on his feet. A twig snapped. A couple of small animals darted into the bushes and out of sight.

It was a rather miserable affair. Undignified, too. Apollo had expected less tracking and more flair.

"So I have an idea," Apollo said, a bit too loudly. There was more rustling in the undergrowth. He'd probably scared away some other critter. He resisted the urge to wince. "How about you go on without me, since I'm too awesome to be navigating the forests. I'll be close by, and when you encounter him, I'll help you deal with him."

Zoe considered this. She opened her mouth to say something, probably "What an amazing idea, lord Apollo! I'm so glad you came up with it!" when Apollo caught sight of a flash of something black between the trees.

Apollo had just enough time to tackle Zoe before the arrow struck her throat.

So much for the element of surprise. Zoe cursed, trying to get to her bow.

Apollo summoned his own weapons and returned fire.

Frustratingly, the figure moved out of the way. The trees obscured his field of vision and he growled, dissolving in a shower of sparks.

Zoe's eyebrows furrowed, possibly wondering what he was doing. She didn't have much time to ponder that as a second arrow almost pierced her hand. In a series of moves that might later be categorized as breakdancing, she managed to flip onto her feet, bow at the ready.

Apollo took a moment to admire her technique, before turning his focus onto Orion. He resisted the urge to smile. He was about to do what youngsters of the future would refer to as a "pro-gamer" move.

The thing about being a god was that Apollo wasn't exactly bound by the laws of physics. As particles in the wind, he had much greater mobility than a fleshy human body and could, say, sneak up on Orion as the giant was focusing his attacks on the Hunter.

Was that cheating? Probably. Apollo would like to argue that the whole "giants could only be killed by a god and demigod working together" thing was a bit cheating, since it took a massive amount of persuasion to get the gods to do anything, unless there were beautiful men and women involved.

Still, Apollo had to admit, the giant was fast. He seemed to have caught on the fact that Apollo was trying to get to his blind spot, and was constantly moving around.

And he was still shooting arrows with deadly accuracy.

Honestly, if it weren't for the fact that he was an enemy, Apollo would have taken him out to dinner or something. He was almost mesmerizing to watch.

Right, concentrate.

Apollo whizzed around, trying to get a good angle on the giant.

Oh yeah, he thought, rather belatedly. I don't have to have a good angle to surprise him.

So he materialized as himself again.

True to form, the giant froze for a moment, just enough time for Zoe to pin him to the trunk of a tree with an arrow.

A dryad melted out of the tree, glaring. "Do you mind?"

Zoe winced, "Sorry."

Apollo shot another arrow at the giant, who had managed to pull out the first arrow, severing the giant's bowstring.

The bow snapped straight, the string hitting him on the nose. The giant flinched at the impact. Zoe shot him in the throat. Apollo, who was much more spiteful, shot him in the groin.

The giant howled. His skin began to smoke. Slowly, he wilted, leaving only his mechanical eyes behind.

For a moment, it was silent. Zoe, Apollo, and the dryad stared at the spot Orion had been, then at each other.

"Heck yeah!" Apollo threw a fist up in celebration. "Another victory for Apollo and friends!"

It was, however, not over.

Their short but intense battle had devastated the part of the forest they were in, and under some urging and the combined weight of some very unimpressed stares of various nature spirits, Zoe was now on cleanup duty.

Apollo had skipped out, now that the dramatic part was over, citing his god privileges. Zoe grumbled about lazy boys who were only there for the flashy parts. The naiads kept trying to make her life difficult by splashing her.

They never had forgiven her for giving Heracles the idea of redirecting the rivers.

A hand landed on her shoulder, and she snapped, "I am trying to help here, and if you do not leave me be, I swear to Artemis I will-" she froze.

"Swear to me that you will do what, Zoe?" Artemis asked, though her smile said that she wasn't really offended.

"I should apologize," Artemis said stiffly. The twins were on Olympus, on the roof of a temple they shared, watching the stars. "I judged you too harshly. You were right. About Orion, I mean. In the end, he turned out to be worse than the rest of them, even if you were the catalyst for it."

It took a massive amount of his godly self-restraint to squash the surge of indignation. They were supposed to be making concessions here. "I made mistakes, too. I judged your relationship too quickly. I should have realized that you weren't...you know. Even though I'm right about him and he did like you that way."

"He asked me," Artemis said thoughtfully. "I turned him down, of course, but I felt guilty about it. I don't think that was his intention," Artemis added hastily as she saw that her twin was about to interrupt. "But the point is, I shouldn't be. My feelings were my own, and he didn't have a claim to it. But for a moment, I was tempted to change. For him. That perhaps I might love him romantically if I tried hard enough."

"So I did you a favor there?"

"No," Artemis said automatically. "It was a personal problem that I needed to come to terms with, which you have inadvertently solved in the most insensitive way possible. Truly, I would be impressed if I'm not so angry."

"Oh," Apollo said. "I'm sorry."

Artemis paused, evidently surprised at Apollo actually apologizing. Apollo cheered internally. His older-brother-maturity must be coming through today. "Apology accepted," she said grudgingly.

"Awesome!" He said, his solemn demeanor forgotten. "So now that we're on speaking terms again, I can show you all my songs you missed out on!"

Artemis groaned, "Spare me…"

Reviews are appreciated!

Also, since we have one more chapter before the fic officially ends, and I haven't written said chapter yet, I'm letting you readers choose what's in it.

This is not multiple choice. More like select all that apply (which means I can do all of them, if the need arises).

A. Orion in Tartarus.

B. Artemis and Zoe sharing a quiet moment.

C. Apollo and Britomartis sharing a quiet moment.

D. Narration from Orion the Constellation. (Not the real one)

E. Artemis's side of the story while the Ultimate Showdown(TM) was happening.

F. Flashforward for about several thousands years for when Zoe dies/becomes a constellation.