Hunters Camp; Later that day
Percy
When I "woke up" I was no longer in the infirmary tent. I was not sure where I was tho. Where am I though?
I was standing on a little hill, overlooking a sea of green grass and different weeds. Over my head, there were millions of stars shining, dead already but never fading, nonetheless.
Was it over my head though?
I dont think so.
I felt smaller.
I looked down on myself.
I was not myself.
I was a women.
Have we had that before?
"I" was "running"? over the plains I was watching before, making my way to my destination.
I didnt know where it was, I didnt know what it was… but I was getting closer.
It didnt take long, before the feeling was getting tenser. I was almost there.
Without a warning, I instantly stopped in my tracks. That felt like lifting something up, but with too much strength, because you got the weight wrong.
Out of nowhere, it seemed, a small fawn appeared.
Without fear, doubt or hesitation, it made its way towards me and I lifted it up.
I continued my travel, another goal in mind and the fawn in my arms.
Getting closer to my goal yet again.
I stopped, the same feeling shooting through me.
The fawn dropped from my arms, took a few steps away from me, and stopped to turn back to me.
I raised my hand to wave it goodbye and said "we travelled together for long, my friend, but now I need to let you find your own path." and the fawn disappeared, gone like a whisper in the wind. Even though, I still had no idea what the fuck was even going on, or who I was, I still felt sad after the fawn went on his way.
Sad, but still happy for it. Happy, that it could start his own adventure.
It was right for it to travel with me, because it needed someone to take care for it, but everythings gotta be over someday.
When I woke up, I was pretty confused. Did I really wake up this time? Am I still dreaming?
My legs felt heavy, so I assumed I was awake. I opened my eyes and was greeted by the wall of the infirmary tent.
I sat up from my bed, resting myself on my elbows, when my gaze met blue eyes. Familiar blue eyes. Thalias eyes.
"Oh Percy, I think Ive got some bad news for you. Your beauty sleep didnt work, I think you need to try again." she sad, a sly smile on her lips.
"Aw shit, gotta be dreaming again. Theres some black haired monster harassing me." I retorted, neither sharp nor really focused on her.
"Very eloquent, kelp head. Cant get your thoughts away from some young lady?"
"Huh? What do you mean, sparky?"
"Zoe, duh. Dude, you 2 are acting weiiiird. And she just cant keep her hands off of you." Thalia said now, grinning broadly.
I was even more taken aback now. I was still trying to decipher what my dream tried to tell me. Though, I had to hold back a smile when Thalia mentioned how touchy Zoe seemed to be with me. Then I remembered that I was angry at Zoe, which brought my mood back to how it was before I went to sleep.
"Oh dont do that Percy, youre not that mad at her" Thalia added now, seemingly reading my mind or something like that.
"Youre confused. And hurt. And scared. I understand that, I also dont know what to do without Annabeth. She knew what to do. But she is dead. And you need to accept that."
Thalia spoke now firmly. She smiled at me, but I could see her grief in her eyes. She, too, lost someone dear to her. Annabeth has been like a sister to her, for many many years.
I was at a loss for words.
"And, you know, I think Zoe is kind of confused too. I dont think she expected to be brought back to life. I dont want to assume she didnt want to be brought back to life, but Im sure if she could, she would switch places with Annabeth." Thalia stated now, getting my thoughts to make an emergency stop.
"I… uh… Listen, Thalia, there still was no reason, like no logical reason for her, to do what she did. I thought about it, people got their reason and stuff, but I cant come to a conclusion making any sense as to why she would act like she did." When I said that, Thalia started smirking. Maybe she could think of a reason?
"Ough, Percy. Yeah totally, no idea why she did what she did." Thalia added, rolling her eyes at my retort.
She didnt seem to agree with me. She seemed to know something I didnt.
It was just a little much right now. Everythings happening at once.
He was glad that Thalia was with him though. He could really use the comfort of his "sister" in times like these. Soon the 2 were back to talking nonsense, just enjoying each others company.
Forest, close to the hunters Camp
Zoe
Boy I was glad Nico didnt take off of the whole Ghost King train. He greeted her with respect, though he was pretty confused as to why she would contact him. Once she laid out her request he got pretty quiet, but ultimately agreed to do what he can to get Percy back.
It was kind of unfair, to be honest. Its not like I knew why I was acting that way. And now Percy is going to be an ass. That was not like him. She couldnt really blame him though, she herself didnt let anyone insult her without consequences. The consequences she would have in mind though, were rather offensive. Lets not think about that now.
"Zoe." she heard behind her, recognizing the voice, of course.
"Lady Artemis."
Her old friend smiled at her, but it was obvious that she had a particular reason she was looking for her.
"Young Perseus is back, Ive heard."
"Oh yeah, hes in the infirmary if you want to talk to him. Atalanta shot him."
"Atalanta informed me about the events already. He should be fine again soon though. I am not so worried about Perseus though. I am worried about my oldest friend."
Zoe got a little bit nervous at her comment.
That sounded like the introduction to some kind of mother/ daughter conversation. After all, their relationship went in that direction.
"Zoe, I know you are, lets say confused. You were literally dead for years, just to be brought back to life in what seemed to be some kind of a sick joke." Artemis said, with a scowl on her face.
I dont know what to answer to that statement. So I didnt.
"I couldnt help but notice how you and Perseus act around each other." Artemis added now, glancing at me and looking for my reaction.
My reacting was a deep pink, raising to my cheeks. I mean she was right, right?
I travelled with Artemis and her hunters for thousands of years. Ive seen the evil that dwells in a man. I didnt outright hate them, like some of my sisters did, but I was never fond of one. Not since that day.
Yet there is Percy. Getting me to laugh. Making me worry. Making me blush. Yeah of course I realized that. That didnt mean though, that I could make it make any more sense.
"People change, you know that Zoe. And sometimes, we need to allow ourselves to change aswell. It may not only be to the worse, my old friend." Artemis was standing right in front of me. I gulped.
"Mylady, I dont want to change.","Well, thats you decision in the end. Just keep my words in mind. Change means progress. And Im proud of you."
And with that our conversation ended. No one spoke it out, but I think we both knew.
Line Break
3rd
Percy and Thalia were still in the infirmary, just goofing around, when Artemis entered.
Just in time to see her Lieutenant scream in laughter, probably remembering an adventure the 2 mastered together.
Artemis has seen both of the Half Gods in battle. Thalia never hid her emotions when she fought, she embraced them. Screaming, cursing, laughing. They gave her strength.
Perseus, she thought, also did so. Pulling the strength from his emotions. But he didnt show them outright. When Perseus fought though, his face was an emotionless mask. Only his eyes betraying him.
Both were frightening to watch in battle. Even herself as a goddess had no shame in admitting that. After all, these 2, were of the most powerful heroes to ever walk earth.
She loved her Lieutenant, as she did all her huntresses. She knew her, could calculate with her. The boy, on the other hand, was, and always will be, a wildcard.
Unpredictable, unrestrained, unbeaten. The son of Poseidon was easily the most powerful being, except for her fellow Olympians of course, she has ever encountered.
Funny though, he didnt even knew of it. She couldnt put her finger on it. Maybe he got more than the usual fraction of powers from his father. Maybe Sally Jackson was no mere mortal.
Well, Sally Jackson for sure was no mere mortal. She did exceptionally great with Perseus.
"Thalia, I would like you to return to your training." Artemis said, making her presence known to the 2 "siblings".
Both were a little startled, but Thalia followed her orders, waving Percy goodbye and smiling at the goddess as she left the tent.
"Percy, I would like to have a word or 2 with you." His hand twitched at that comment. It made him feel, not scared, but uneasy.
But, wisely, he just nodded.
"I am not going to tell you what to do. But Im going to tell you what I observed."
That confused him even more.
"Zoe is sorry. She didnt mean what she said.", "Do you even know what she said?"
"I do. And even if I didnt, I know of my statement to be truthful." Artemis said firmly.
"She is not having an easy time herself. You know that. Youre not having an easy time. I know that. But youre a grown man, so you should act like one. She is sorry." Artemis added, and she really got through to him. He decided to talk to Zoe before, but to see that Artemis cared so much, made him even more confident in his decision.
So he nodded at Artemis, before giving her a slim smile.
"Maybe you and Zoe should take some time away from the hunt. Im not sure if having her fellow hunters so close will help the purpose." He looked surprised at that. He didnt expect Artemis to let go of Zoe that fast and easily, after just getting her back. Artemis smiled knowingly, like she just read his thoughts.
"I missed her dearly, but I need to do not whats best for me, but for her. Even if that means letting go sometimes." Artemis said, sadness in her voice but contentment in her eyes.
For her it really mattered what the best was for Zoe, not for her own. Percy had no way but to respect that. But he had his doubts.
"Look, maybe Zoe and I need a break of each other."
"Oh dont come around with that kind of bullshit" Artemis exclaimed now, startling Percy.
He never had heard her talk like that.
"You 2 literally suffer when youre away from each other. I assume your headache was the reason you returned to us."
That made Percy´s thoughts come to a halt yet again.
He sighed. "Youre right."
Artemis smiled at the young man.
He was stubborn, yeah sure, but he was a good man. He had the heart at the right place. And he meant good.
They will be fine. The worlds fate is in capable hands.
Line Break
3rd
The day was turning to its end, the forest laid there, peaceful. The silence only sometimes broken by the songs of some birds.
It was time for dinner.
Percy, by now back in his own tent, which the hunters kindly, actually very kindly, set up for him in his absence.
He was waiting for his escort. Yeah that sounded weird, the meaning was right though. He didnt want to be shot again. Last time did actually hurt. So, some huntress was on her way to pick him up. As usual, a certain huntress.
He heard someone clear their throat in front of his tent.
"Yo, Im coming" he quickly announced, before making his way out of his tent.
He was met by none other than Zoe Nightshade. Their gazes met, and weirdly enough, both felt something tickling inside their chests. Both too ignorant for now to give the feeling the weight it was one day supposed to hold.
"Listen Percy…" Zoe began, but she was interrupted by Percy.
"Zoe Im…" Now she interrupted him, "No Percy, Ive got something to say." she spoke with intent.
"Im sorry. I didnt mean to insult you. And I know how hard Annabeths death weights on you. I have lost loved one before aswell. I dont know why I felt the need to speak like that though, but I am sorry and I hope you can accept my apology." Yeah, Zoe Nightshade was thousands of years old. Shes not a little girl, intimidated by some man.
She has been nervous though. She never wanted to hurt Percy. Thats what she was sorry about. And Percy was big enough of a person to indeed accept her apology.
"Its okay Zoe, but I think we need to work on our relationship my friend." He said, smiling at her.
At that, Zoe started smiling aswell, her worries from before washed away.
"Lets get you something to eat then, shall we?" The huntress asked, a smile still gracing her lips.
They made their way towards the dining area in the hunters camp, making a little small talk.
There was still so much of each other they didnt know. Percy mentioned how he and Annabeth, his mood still dropped when she crossed his mind, and Zoe almost didnt notice but he was not back to being fine again, he was still hurt, visited Circe´ Island. And how he got turned to a guinea pig.
Zoe enjoyed the image that formed in her head: a pitch black guinea pig, furiously squeaking to get Annabeths attention.
They reached the dining tent, just as Zoe told Percy of an encounter with Apollo, in which she might or might not have pinned him to a tree. With an arrow. Through his pants. Close to a delicate position. When she described the face Apollo made, Percy couldnt keep it to himself anymore and bursted out laughing. That alerted the already gathered hunters.
Some just gave him an annoyed glance, while Atalanta couldnt help but smile at Percy.
He was alright, she thought to herself. And if Zoe and Lady Artemis were so fond of him, he couldnt be as bad as men are usually.
Artemis also smiled at the unlikely pair. She had her own thoughts regarding their relationship, but she kept them to herself, for now.
And Thalia. Well, Thalia was simply happy to see Percy laughing again. He has been very quiet since the end of the war. Which hasnt been to long ago anyway, but it still affected her.
To see him laughing with Zoe made her heart bloom. She missed her cousin, but it almost seemed like he was back. Almost.
The rest of the evening went by pretty quietly. After dinner, the hunters prepared a bonfire.
Soon everybody was seated around it in a loose circle, as Artemis left for her godly duty of driving the moon chariot.
The huntresses were telling storys of former hunts. Some were part of the hunt for thousands of years by now, like Phoebe, Atalanta and Zoe, of course. Some only joined months, or even weeks ago. There were 5 pretty new huntresses, who, though they understood the reason as to why Percy was accompanying them, didnt know much about the son of the sea.
Thalia was telling the story of how they defended manhattan.
How Percy was the one in command, without any practice. A simple hero, who just did what he thought was right.
She was getting to the battle of Central Park, telling of how Percy fought Hyperion.
From the walking on water, which earned a lot of groans from the hunters. Such a show off.
To the hurricane, which he was soon center of. Even Thalias eyes glowed with envy.
Percy remembered the battle like it was just moments ago. The first time he actually realized how much power cursed through his veins. He didnt know back then, that that was just the tip of the iceberg.
The "younger" huntresses were impressed, intimidated even, as Percy didnt look like much, but had more power in his fingertips, than most demi gods will ever achieve in their lives.
Yet he was calm. He was modest. He even might have been a little shy. The attention he was getting was getting kind of uncomfortable for him. He didnt like to talk about his achievements that much. After all, each and every single one, was accompanied by pain. Pain for lost loved ones, actual pain.
Thalia continued, and came to the part when there were only a dozen half gods left, facing Kronos himsel, and his army of nightmares. Percy at the front, Riptide in his hand, determination on his face and the power radiating off of him.
"Ugh, come on Thalia, thats bullshit." Percy said, a little bit annoyed.
"Listen kelp head, you look terrifying. Kronos, the titan lord himself, avoided you. It felt like there was Poseidon among, fighting in our ranks, refusing to give up a single inch of ground to the evil." Thalia retorted, looking at her cousin with a mixture of pride and envy.
Zeus´ kids really couldnt stand not being the strongest nearby. Not that anyone had a shot at that with Percy in the race. Thalia wasnt really envy of Percy, of course. But she couldnt help but admire him.
"Okay, now youre exaggerating, sparky." Percy said now, even more annoyed. That was until Zoe spoke up.
"She is right, Percy. It was terrifying. Not even your friends dared to get to close to you. It seemed like they were scared of evaporating." A smile graced her lips. She smiled a lot more since her issue with Percy has been resolved.
Percy just huffed at her statement, but didnt counter anything.
The rest of the evening went by quickly, and it was soon time to get to sleep. The day starts early when youre with the hunt.
Zoe was bringing Percy back to his tent, he still didnt feel comfortable among the hunters without "protecting company". Maybe he just liked to spend time with Zoe. And maybe, she did so too.
They reached his tent. It was not that far away from the camp, though far enough that you could talk without being heard.
"Im glad were on good terms again" Zoe said honestly. His smile faded ever so slightly on that comment. He didnt feel like they were back on how they were before the incident. Maybe it was because he still couldnt find a logical reason for her reaction.
He quickly hid his thoughts, not wanting to spark another conflict, for now.
"Its just so easy to talk to you, you are very understanding for a man hater" he answered. He really enjoyed how easy it was for him to talk to Zoe. She was just so much older than he was. She lived through many thousand years and you kind of could tell.
"I like conversing with you aswell" Zoe said earnestly.
They stood in front of the tents entrance, not sure how to say goodbye.
Zoe decided to take the upper hand for now and quickly hugged Percy. He was startled at first but made up his mind and embraced her. It didnt last long though, both kind of uncomfortable in the unusual situation. They unusuality made the situation uncomfortable, not the hug. Both kinda enjoyed the warmth of the embrace, being in a need for comfort. Neither of them willing to admit to themselves that they enjoyed the short sign of affection.
Zoe flashed Percy another smile, and turned around intently, her steps feathering as she strode back to the hunters camp.
Later that night
Percy
Dreams literally never stop when youre a half god. He have had sooo many before, there were sooo many to come, and hes never gonna get quite used to it.
What he also never will get used to, is getting woken up by the sound of a battle.
A battle raging nearby. Hunters screaming, hell hounds barking. And… was that a drakon?
It took him some seconds to figure out where he was. Right, the hunters camp.
He quickly through over some clothes, Riptide already at the ready.
He made his way out of his tent, getting greeted by a terrible sight: A big part of the forest they were in, was aflame.
He heard another human scream, reaching him from the direction of the hunters camp. He shook away any dark thoughts crossing his mind, quickly drawing water from… literally everywhere. The moisture from the air, the leaves of every tree nearby, every single drop from the creek. The tug in his gut was mind numbing, as he willed the water under his control to spread out throughout the woods.
It looked like air moisture at 350%, or strong rain, frozen in time. Okay.
When he willed the water to drop, the splash couldve been heard from miles away, probably. The fires died out and the whole forest was drenched. Okay. Now to the next issue.
He made his way to the camp by now, quickly looking for the huntresses. Some were running around, trying to get their equipment, while some others were already shooting arrow after arrow into the dark.
Percy recognized almost every huntress by now and then, Thalia was knocked out cold, but he didnt really have time to look after her now. She was not bleeding anywhere and was probably going to be fine in a few hours. He couldnt find a certain demi titan. He could find a certain drakon he heard roar before.
It wasnt hard to find honestly, even in the darkness of the night, since it was breathing fire every few seconds. Like it was fighting something on close range. It didnt seem to get the desired results though, because it kept roaring in anger? He thought it sounded pretty angry.
As always, he thought to himself, as he made his way toward the drakon.
To say it was big, wouldve been an understatement. It. Was. Huge. And it was breathing actual fire holy shit.
And… there was a small figure, shooting silver arrows at the drakon, trying to get a hit through its skin or into its eyes. One eye was blinded already, offering a weakness.
Percy didnt think about attacking the monster though, he was more worried about the person fighting the monster. Because, who else should it be, Zoe Nightshade didnt seem to have it easy against the ancient beast.
With horror Percy had to watch, as the creature swung its tail, hitting Zoe in the chest and throwing here several meters through the air before her extraordinary experience was stopped by a big fucking tree.
Percy felt like he just has been hit by a truck. The air getting sucked out of his lungs.
Before he even understood what actually happened, he was at the fallen huntress´ side. Oh boy that looked serious.
She was knocked out. Good for her. She was no pleasant sight, and he was kind of glad for her that she didnt need to see her rib sticking out from her chest. He didnt need to see that either, but he had no choice now, did he.
He forgot completely about the drakon. He wasnt going to regret this now, because just as the monster made its way over to the 2 fighters, a lightning bolt Zeus would proudly call his own struck down on the monster. Still drenched, the lightning spread out over the whole, huge creature, cooking its flesh in its bulletproof skin, before it disappeared in a cloud of golden monster dust.
Percy couldnt care less. Every single of his brain cells was focused on the broken form of Zoe Nightshade in front of him.
He felt helpless. Was she dead? He was lost.
The only helpful thought crossing his mind just now, he quickly sent a prayer to the only one he knew could help now.