Well, here I am. Im back from vacation and it was tiring. I didnt really have that much time just for me and Im sorry for those who wanted more chapters. Until now Im not completely sure how to make the whole plot of the story, only some directions. I have my ideas I want to have included but that it was. Well I guess we will see where it goes.
Next Morning, Hunters Camp; Percy
Well this night sucked. I couldnt sleep. And because the same thoughts all the time. Stormy Grey eyes.
Fuck my life.
Why? I still dont get it. Who is responsible for fate if its not the Fates? And why does he/she/it hates me?
Okay, that leads nowhere. Later in the night, these grey eyes were replaced. And by what? Onyx eyes of a certain huntress of course. Great. I often thought back about dinner. How Zoe comforted me. I cant help it, but think that it felt great. Wow. Fantastic. I already start to think about another woman. Whats wrong with me? Gods.
The thoughts about Zoe though were interrupted by thoughts about a certain satyr. Fuck. I seriously forgot Grover. Whats wrong with me? He is, after all, my best friend. I need to contact him soon. Our empathy link was only supressed right? So it still is there. I couldve killed him when I jumped after Annabeth. Great. Thats exactly what I needed now to get my sleep.
Eventually it worked though.
I was woken up by some kind of knocking at my tent which sounded weird, because a tent isnt that stable. The tent wasnt impressive. A bed and some kind of a closet. I groaned, wanting to finally get some nights of good sleep after the war. Yeah thats probably not how it works if you are me.
Then, there was again a knocking sound.
"What!?" Okay well, that was not that friendly.
"Percy, wake up. Geez, you are so lazy."
Oh so its Zoe.
"Okay, chill. Im coming out."
I quickly stood up, after all Zoe and I need to have a somewhat good relationship. Which is kinda hard already, referring to the fact that she is a man hating huntress.
I put on my pants and a shirt and made my way to the entrance.
"Gods, you need to take a shower" Zoe said with disgust in her face. Wow thank you. How charming.
"Thank you Zoe, a good morning for you too." I said with a grin.
"Seriously, take a shower before breakfast. The hunters will think a bear intruded theyre camp" Zoe said, still disgusted.
"Ok, ok. But how should I take a shower? You dont have showers here right?"
"Nah but you can take a bath. You can take the creek. I will come in about half an hour to pick you up." Zoe said, turning around to the hunters Camp and walking away.
"Wow what a nice morning Conversation" I said to myself, sighing and walking towards the creek.
Line Break (no, Zoe wont see him bathing)
When I was finished I sat down at the creek, right about where I sat yesterday. I was thinking about my life with the hunters. Well, to be honest, I expected it to be worse. I still have my balls. I havent been hurt until now. And some of the hunters even seemed to like me. Kind of.
But Im still excited for Camp. It always has been a home for me. A second home. I remember it like it was yesterday, when I came there. I just defeated the minotaur and thought I lost my mom. Thank the gods I was wrong.
I was shaken out of my thoughts by a cough right next to me. And with that I mean right next to me. Like close enough to feel ones breath. She really was a great huntress.
"Hey Zoe."
"You coming now?" Zoe said.
"Sure, lets go. By the way, what will we/I do today?" I asked while standing up.
"Well Artemis wanted to spar with you. She seemed to be really excited."
Oh great. That will hurt.
"Oh great. That will hurt." I said out loud.
"Dont underestimate yourself Percy. You are one of the best sword fighters I have ever seen. And I saw the original Perseus and Achilles." Zoe said now, maybe even a bit proud that Im wielding her sword after all.
"Wow, gotta admit, that was one hades of a compliment. Thank you" I said trying to sound sarcastic. It didnt work that well.
Zoe seemed to recognize that and started laughing. Yeah her laugh sounds great. I actually dont know how to describe it, but you just have to like it.
I started smiling like a mad man. Her laughter simply made me happy. I dont know why, but since Annabeths death I only has been really happy when I was with Zoe. Maybe that had something to do with our Fates. Who knows.
Well, the need of beeing close to Zoe isnt that bad after all I guess. Shes nice and has a lot of interesting Storys to tell. Maybe, just maybe, we can make this work out.
By the time I finished this thought we reached the dining tent, which was again filled with hunters. I still received some glares but a lot less. Most of them remained kind of stoic or focused on their conversations. Artemis smiled at Zoe and me, while Thalia had a mischievous grin on her lips when she saw me and Zoe and stood up to hug me.
"You know Percy, I though maybe we should go shopping or something like that. I havent been since about a year and I think same goes for you." Thalia said after she hugged me. Gods I really missed her. She was like a sister for me after we got over our complications at the beginning.
"Sure Thals, sounds good." I said while I recognized Zoe standing next to us awkwardly.
"Hey Zoe, would you like to acompany us?" I said now, directed to Zoe, obviously.
She looked a bit taken aback but quickly regained her posture.
"Sure. I would really like to." She said with a small smile.
I smiled back and went to sit down, appareantly not recognizing the heat rising to Zoes face at my smile.
Well, Breakfast wasnt that impressive. It was meat and bread but I actually cant complain. I liked it and on the Argo we never had that much of really fresh meat. Though Leo was a quite good cook and we had the plates from Camp, it still wasnt the same.
During Breakfast, I talked to Thalia where we should head to and got to know that we were pretty much in the middle of america.
Since Im not that much of a Geographie guy, we decided to ask Artemis to teleport us to San Diego. I have heard it is a beautiful city and its one I´ve never been to before.
But before we can head there, Im going to get beaten by a Certain goddess.
Breakfast went kinda smooth from then on. I joked around with Thalia and Artemis and Zoe talked about their Adventures together.
Afterwards, I went to the sparring place, which was simply a clearing with targets for their shooting exercises.
Artemis seemed to be hyped up, smiling mischievously. Gotta admit, I had a bad feeling, when I looked at her smile. It sent shivers down my back, like she had one or two ace´s up her sleeves.
The huntresses were hyped up aswell. Though they kinda accept me, they still probably very much would like to see their patron kick one boys ass. The clearing must have been about 30 meters in diameter.
Artemis went over to me, probably making out some rules.
"So Percy, to keep it kinda fair, no powers at all. We both know I could blast you before you can blink." Artemis said, her smile still on her lips.
"Agreed. Anything about weapons?"
"You can use everything you have, other then the teleport ring of yours. I think that would be kinda like using powers."
"Alright, then lets get this going." I said, while I walked kind of in the middle of the clearing, but so that Artemis can be in the middle aswell, if you know what Im talking about.
3rd
Percy and Artemis both were facing each other, Artemis with her bow and Percy with Riptide drawn.
Thalia acted as referee and stood at the side of the clearing, whereas the hunters stood behind some kind of a wooden wall. Safety first.
"Alright, be fair! 3, 2, 1, GO!"
With that, Artemis started shooting arrow after arrow at Percy. They came with unnatural speed, one after another. But Percy hasnt won 2 wars for nothing. Even though he was facing the goddess of archery, he deflected or dodged every single arrow she shot at him. Some came closer to him, some werent even slightly dangerous, but it was hard for him to gain ground.
Ever so slowly he approached her, which was kinda frustatious, since Artemis had no problem shooting while kiting at all. She ran through the clearing, trying to get a hit, in vain. Percy, on the other hand, had no chance of reaching her, since he permanently needed to dodge arrows. His first idea was to wait until she ran out of arrows and attack her then. He realized a bit late, that she doesnt even has a quiver. The arrows simply appeared when she drew the string back.
This went on and on for some minutes already now, and Percy knew that he would be the first one to tire out. When you fight gods, thats simply how it works. Percy was always told that he was stupid, a Seaweed Brain, but if there was one thing he was good and clever at, it was fighting. He did it now for nearly 6 years, and even though he was known for fighting like a demon because he had no pattern, he didnt slash on and on without a plan. And a plan now formed in his head.
He concentrated on Artemis steps and her pulling of the bowstring. When he found the right moment, while one of her feet were in the air, he threw Riptide. Yeah thats one hades of a Percy thing to do. Throw your weapon away is exactly what you expect from him. Well you do, Artemis didnt. Riptide rotated through the air, at her. She, surprised stopped shooting and jumped to the side. In this time, Percy sprinted at her, tackling her to the ground and her bow out of her hand. She of course rolled off and so did he, but he was too close to her for her to take her bow out again.
The hunters, who cheered most of the time, seeing that Artemis came out on top before, now were pretty, pretty, quiet.
And Riptide, as it is its charm, returned to Percys pocket, from where he drew it again and started attacking Artemis.
Even though Artemis is the goddess of Archery, she also is the goddess of hunt, which includes her typical hunting knifes. Both definetely not long enough to match Riptide, but she was skilled and so she parried Percys attacks. Percy on the other hand, had fought Gods, Titans and Giants in close combat before, and he for sure knew how to do it now.
Whereas Artemis had the upper hand before, Percy was now dominating the spar. Faster than the hunters could see, let alone react he slashed at Artemis time after time. You know when he fought Chrysaor? It wasnt that one sided now, but he was definetely on top.
Zoe stared in awe, she had seen Percy´s swordfight before, and she didnt lie when she said he was one of the best she has ever seen. Well, now she considered calling him the best she has ever seen. The grace and beauty in movement Percy usually saw when he looked at Zoe, now was his own. Dodge, block, strike, repeat. Without one flaw he fought the goddess, gaining centimeter after centimeter of ground. Close range combat was his territory. He ducked under one of Artemis strikes, hit her other wrist with his left fist, which made her drop one of her knifes. The other one quickly followed after a brutal strike from Riptide.
The clearing was drop dead silent, the goddess seemed to be defeated. But Percy forgot her smile. The smile that sent shivers down his back. Well, he should have. Because he now will get to know what it meant. Right when he wanted to aim Riptide at her neck, ask her to yield, she rolled away, pulled something from her belt and slashed at his stomach. The slash wont have been a problem after all. No, it was the weapon. The weapon. It was a simple knife. Okay well, no simple knife. It was a celestial bronze knife. This knife though, looked exactly like the one Luke killed himself with. The one that fell into Tartarus. The one Annabeth had since she was 7 years old.
Percy, before concentrated, now looked like he got hit by a truck. He froze. As he froze, he didnt react to Artemis strike, which hit him into the side. But Percy didnt move. His gaze were fixed onto the knife Artemis held in her hand, until it cut into his flesh. He looked from the knife hilt to Artemis, confusion, pain and sadness in his eyes.
"How...?" He managed to say, barely audible, before he collapsed.
The scene only lasted for about 4 seconds, but for Zoe and the other huntresses it felt like hours. Especially for Zoe and Thalia.
That was when they snapped out of their stupor. Zoe rushed to Percy, trying to catch him before he hit the ground, while Thalia ran off to get Nectar and Ambrosia.
Artemis moment of Victory and the smile on her face lasted for about half a second. The half second after Percy froze and before he got hit with the knife. It was her plan to make him topple, but she didnt expect that.
Now she rushed forward, trying to help him, though Zoe was faster.
She laid his head in her lap, stroked his sweat soked hair out of his face and tried to make this more comfortable for him, which was kinda unnecessary since he was unconcious. Tears were streaming down her cheeks as she continued to mutter "Percy please..."
Artemis wanted to help, but just got an angry glare from Zoe and a "Havent you done enough?" which really hurt her, hearing it from her oldest friend.
By then, Thalia returned with the godly food. Not beeing careful now, she pulled the knife out of Percys side and poured Nectar over the wound. She took some of the Ambrosie and stuffed it into Percys mouth, which he chewed and swallowed out of reflex. Yeah, thats the kind of reflexes you get when you fight monsters for over 6 years.
The effects were instant, the wound started to close up and his face regained some of his colour. That was by far not the worst wound he ever had, it was the knife that made it. Artemis´ ace. Zoe sighed relieved. She stopped crying, and now was even a bit ashamed of her actions, but she still was mad at Artemis.
"You are going to flash us into his tent, him into his bed. I will take care of him, but you will stay away, understood?" Zoe said to Artemis with authority and without any kind of the usual respect she had for her goddess. Artemis simply nodded and did as Zoe said. The two appeared in his tent, he in his bed, just as Zoe said.
Zoe couldnt believe that Artemis would do something like this, just so she doesnt loose. It was obviously her intention to startle him, but that was too much.
But there now was no time to think about that, she had more urgent problem to deal with. She turned around to the still knocked out Percy in his clothes which were bloody and not much more than straps. Zoe sighed and went to work.
Line Break
When Percy woke up, he realized that he wasnt feeling as bad as he expected. The second thing he realized that he was laying in his bed. The third thing though was weird, he only wore underwear. The fourth thing though was even weirder. It was that Zoe was sitting in a chair facing him.
"Uhm hi?" He said, not really sure how he got into his bed and out of his clothes. He saw a small bundle of bloody rags. Okay that was where his clothes went.
"How are you feeling?" Zoe said now, pouncing out of her chair on to his side on the bed.
"Quite good. How did I get here, and how did I get out of my clothes?"
At that Zoe blushed a bit and Percy now pretty much knew how he got out of his clothes, which made him blush aswell.
"Artemis flashed us here, so you can sleep. And well, how you got out of your clothes is kinda obvious, isnt it?" Zoe said, still with a blush on her face.
"Yeah, it is... Wait what time is it?"
"Not too sure, maybe around 12 AM? You werent out that long." Zoe was pretty eager to get away from the whole clothes topic.
"So we still can go to San Diego right?" Percy said, making his way out of his bed.
"No we cant! You need rest. And-" Zoe stopped mid sentence. Percy, now standing in front of his closet turned around to see why. What he saw was kinda funny. Zoe´s cheeks were beet red and her gaze was narrowed. Yup, he forgot that he was only in his underwear. Now his face was beet red aswell.
"Uhm sorry, I uh, I forgot." Percy stumbled out, while he quickly through some clothes over.
"Still, we cant go, you need to rest. That wound was not nothing Percy!"
"Im fine really. We just need to get Thalia and ask Artemis to flash us." Percy said, on the way out of the tent.
Zoe stomped out of it behind him. "Percy no, you cant, seriously. And I would like to not to ask Artemis for something now."
"We can, and why dont you want to ask Artemis to flash us to San Diego?"
"Well, I wasnt exactly nice, after she tricked an stabbed you. You know how gods are, when you dont show them respect. But it was you, she simply cant do stuff like that. That was treacherous." Before she recognized how she spoke out you, Percy already recognized it and couldnt help but be happy about it. After all, it was Artemis Zoe spoke to. Though it wasnt one of her fairest actions, he wont blame her. She said fight with everything you have and he agreed. That was simply part of her tactic. And even though it shocked him, it was a good one.
Getting back to the way Zoe said you, Percy decided to tease her.
"Aww Zoe, you actually care about me. Thats so cute." Well, yeah seems like that wasnt the best idea. That comment earned him another punch. Zoe blushed a bit, though she really was angry. And Percy seemed to realize, because his sly smile quickly vanished.
"Listen Zoe, I appreciate your concern, but she fought following the rules and Im fine." Percy now smiled less slyly, but soft.
Zoe was still grumpy, which looked super cute in Percys opinion, but he kept it for himself. He´s got enough of the whole punching stuff.
"Alright lets go and get Thalia." and with that Zoe walked past Percy, head high and the steps firm. Percy couldnt help it but be reminden of Annabeth.
He simply sighed and followed her to the Hunters Camp.
When they found Thalia, she tackled Percy in a hug. She wouldnt admit it, but Annabeths death had hit her pretty hard and she doesnt want to loose another member of her little family. Thats why she was so unusual affectionate when it comes to Percy.
"Gods Kelp Head, Im so sorry. I wouldnt expect her to do that."
"Its alright Thals, but Im still down for a trip to San Diego, you still in?" Percy asked, his lop sided grin on his lips.
"Sure, but we need to ask Artemis for that unless you already learned how to use your ring. You havent right?"
"Nah, no time, needed to survive a bunch of man hating teenage girls, you know? Just the usual Percy Jackson stuff, nothing special at all." Well, I leave it up to you guys to decide if that was sarcastic or not.
"Oh come on, lets go already, Im hungry." Zoe interrupted now, before Thalia could retort.
And with that the three of them went to find Artemis.
Well, atleast until they realized that they simply could pray to her. It was Percy by the way who thought of that. Yup, Percy.
So, Artemis flashed into existence and instantly tried to apologize to Percy. It wasnt like "please forgive me" but rather like "listen Percy, I didnt want that to happen" which probably was a lot more of an apology than she was used to. Especially it beeing directed to a male.
"Artemis, dont worry, Its alright. We agreed on using every weapon and you simply did what was included in the rules. But I would really appreciate it if you would flash us to San Diego." Percy answered, still smiling his lop sided smile.
"Okay, sure, though I would appreciate it if I wouldnt be used as some kind of an travelling method." Artemis said, now smiling aswell.
And with that the three gathered up and flashed them to San Diego.
Ok guys, tomorrow I will continue writing, next chapter will probably come then. Ive got some more ideas now, but the trip to the city is the first thing to happen. Not so much action right now, but before the "Fate of the world" is decided, I would like to get some events through and get Zoe and Percy a little closer. See you then