Hey guys, how are you all? I'm doing great, started school last Monday finally(I've missed it so much! I mean, after so many weeks at home, you just get tired of it…Or maybe that's just me…). It's amazing, I love my school and, despite its complicated lay out, I'm finally figuring it out! Sorry, to take so long to update this chapter, I actually have had it done for the past two weeks, and sent it to my beta. After about a week of waiting though, I found out that she's dealing with something in real life right now so I decided that she definitely deserved a break for this week and edited this chapter finally.
So, other than that, everything is good! Well, here's chapter 7, I hope you enjoy it and don't completely hate it and stop reading it(Please don't do that)!
Disclaimer: As usual, I don't own Percy Jackson at all, Rick Riordan does! I mean, you wish you could, be we all know that only one person(Rick Riordan) owns it really…We might as well just let it go, the most we can do, is buy the merchandise…Depressing, but true!
Song I'm listening to right now: 'A Spoonful Of Sugar' by Julie Andrews(this movie has always been one of my favorites since I was a little kid, I just adore it! I, and probably others, seem to forget that it's actually a Disney movie too(or maybe that's just me…)).
Chapter 7
Zayden's P.O.V.
"Artemis and Zayden," We turned to see Hestia there, "If you don't mind, could I speak with you Zayden for a while?" She politely questioned as always. Both Artemis and I raised an eyebrow in question, wondering what she had to talk to me about. Glancing at Artemis though, she nodded, giving me consent, so I turned back to Hestia.
"I would be honored to speak to you, Lady Hestia." I stated sweetly, bowing low. I could see her beaming smile at my respect and I felt a pang, realizing that she never really got that respect much as she had no demi-god children and people probably didn't really think of her. Standing back up straight, I listened as Hestia spoke to Artemis.
"I just need to talk to him for a while; I promise he will be back to the hunt within the hour." She promised.
"I expect nothing less from you Hestia." Artemis kindly said, smiling lovingly. With that, both Artemis and the hunters flashed back down to the camp. After staring at the spot they had vacated for a second, I turned to face Hestia.
"What is it you wish to speak to me about Lady Hestia?" I inquired professionally. She smiled softly.
"It's going to take a while so why don't we start at one of my favorite places." She offered and I nodded in acceptance.
"Of course Lady Hestia." I agreed quickly. She raised her hand to my shoulder and in the next second, we were caught into a fray of light that teleported us from the throne room. When we had arrived and the light had died down, I saw that we were standing in a garden, one of my favorites that I had only been in once, but that had left a lasting effect on me: Hestia's garden.
"This is my garden in my palace." She explained as we started to walk, "I always come here when I need to think or just need the peace and quiet." She took a deep breath, before letting it out slowly, "It is my favorite part of my palace." She finished. After a second, she continued, "Now, you're probably wondering what I want to talk to you about." I nodded to confirm that, "I find you, Zayden, as an interesting character. When I first saw you when you, the other guardians, and Lord Chaos arrived, I did not know what to think about you. I'm never one to judge someone before I get to know them, but I admit when I first saw you, I came to feel that you were...very much like Hades when he was still gloomy, if you understand what I mean." She added and I nodded in acceptance.
"I do." I stated before she continued.
"But, from how your friends act around you and spoke of you in that meeting, I realized I had a completely wrong view on you. You are different, much different than I thought you were. You are a kind, smart, patient, and wise young man it seems." She concluded and I blushed.
"I am honored you think so highly of me, Lady Hestia." I thanked. She just smiled over at me as we continued through the beautiful and fluorescent trees, flowers, and plants around us, some that have not been seen for millennia. It was a truly magnificent sight, one that I had missed many times while I was on Chaos' planet.
"It occurred to me though as we sat through the meeting. The way your friends talked of you sounded familiar to me, like an instance I have only heard once before that contained such love, trust and passion." I started to walk slower, more wary now, "Curious, I focused my sights on you and realized something. From the way you stood, ducked your head, shuffled your feet, played with your hands, and everything; there is only one person I know of who acts just like you do and that person was someone I knew five hundred years ago, right around the same time you said you were from. Coincidence? I think not…" She trailed off before stopping. The garden was silent as we both stood there, she pausing in her speech and I waiting to hear what she had to say next. After a few seconds she smiled, turning towards me.
"Did you really think you could hide from me for so long Perseus?" She questioned, revealing finally. Without even meaning to, a grin rose to my face as I laughed loudly.
"Only you, Lady Hestia." I teased, reaching up and pulling down my hood, showing my face which had not changed once since I last saw her. Her breath seemed to catch as her theory at last was confirmed. We embraced tightly, having missed each other so much since we last saw one another. Hestia had always been like a second mother to me and I had missed her comforting aura near me over the past five centuries. Pulling apart, we smiled at each other.
"Hello Hestia, I have missed you so much." I softly stated. My heart grew as I saw tears arise in her eyes and spill over, her expression full of love and joy.
"I have missed you as well Perseus." She whispered quietly, but strongly. Taking a deep breath, she recollected herself, "Now!" She exclaimed, walking over to the fountain we were right next to and sitting on the ledge, patting the spot next to her which I went and sat in, "I expect you to tell me of everything that has happened to you over the past few centuries Perseus Jackson!" She sternly exclaimed which I smiled at. From there, I went on to talk about how I came across the army, how I became to be first guardian, how I met the other guardians, the battles and adventures I had been in since I joined, the others planets, and how the Iuominen group was. After I had finished, we had about fifteen more minutes of the hour we told Artemis we would take to talk.
"So, who do you plan to tell?" Hestia questioned, ending the silence. I tensed at that. I was silent for a few moments before I sighed, running my hand through my hair in distress.
"I don't know." I admitted, letting my hand fall limply to my lap, "I want to tell people, the people who stuck by me all those centuries ago, who I am, but...I'm scared to." I revealed, "I'm scared of how they will feel, how they will react, how they will treat me after they know. I-I know I'll tell them all sooner or later, but right now I just want to be Zayden and have them get to know Zayden, not be reintroduced to Perseus Jackson." I finished, staring down at my chest.
"Well, I can't argue with that." Hestia responded and I looked up to see her smiling softly at me. I returned my own smile before looking out at the garden. "So...how is everything with the hunters and Artemis going? They don't seem to trust you much." She stated in worry. I sighed yet again.
"Yeah, they think that I'm a selfish boy that is only there for his own gain and they don't really like that I won't open up about my past, they seem to think I must be hiding something." I glumly answered. I looked up as I felt a gentle hand rest on my shoulder to see Hestia's kind face smiling down at me softly.
"Don't worry Percy; I know you will change that." She promised. I smiled slightly before turning back to the garden, "How are you and Artemis?" She questioned, a sly grin appearing on her face which confused me.
"What do you mean?" I inquired, but she just laughed.
"Come on Perseus, I know how sweet you were on her before you...left," She gulped, a painful expression filling her face as she remembered my death. But that disappeared as she continued, "I know you loved her," I blushed deeply at that, "And from how you spoke to her in the meeting, it seems that you still do. So, what are you going to do about that?" She questioned, raising her eyebrows at me in a motherly way. I just sighed.
"Come on Hestia, Artemis is a male-hating, maiden goddess with girl hunters who will kill a man who even looked at her in any way, especially a loving way!" I exclaimed, throwing my arms up in the air before sighing, "She'd never like me in that way…" I finished. It was silent for a while before Hestia softly spoke again.
"You never know Perseus, people can surprise you." She mentioned before standing up, "Now, I believe our hour is up so we better head back to the camp before we both get in trouble." She joked which I smiled at. Standing up, I threw back on my hood, grasped Hestia's shoulder, and with that, we returned to the hunter's camp.
Narrator's(my) P.O.V.
When the two had appeared, they were right beside the campfire, causing all the hunters who were sitting around it to stop talking and look at them. They bowed their heads in respect to Hestia, but they glared in disgust at Zayden. Seeing her, Artemis stood from her spot and walked over to Hestia and Zayden.
"Hello again, right on the dot as usual Hestia." Artemis stated, smiling.
"Of course, would you expect anything less from me?" She joked and Artemis and the hunters laughed, seeming to forget Zayden was there. As Zayden watched them laugh, he smiled sadly; he wished that they trusted him enough to laugh like that with him, to take him in as part of the group like they have done with Hestia. He sighed mentally, his smile dropping. He was a boy, so the hunters would never trust him as they would trust another female, to them, he was a despicable and cruel boy who kept secrets and probably had hurt more girls than he told them about; he was probably lying about the whole 'only girlfriend' thing, "Thank you for letting me borrow your guardian for a while." The girls stopped smiling as Zayden was brought back to the conversation, remember that 'that boy' was still here.
The only girl who seemed not to think that, stared at the boy who had, just that day, saved her from death. Before that event, she thought just like the other hunters, that he was a no-good boy who thought it'd probably be easy to guard the hunters. But, the fact that he left his own fight against the most skilled fighter there, the leader, to save her life, that he even cared, made her pause in her thoughts, thinking that maybe, just maybe, she was wrong to judge him like that; maybe he was different than most boys. During the meeting, she still glared though and acted like she hated him as that was how a hunter was supposed to act towards a boy. But, she had also been watching him and listening to the other guardians speak about him. She heard as the guardians spoke words of praise and trust, words of love and respect about his skill and, even more, his personality.
She watched even more as Zayden kept trying to change the subject every time it went to him, as he got embarrassed at every word of kindness spoken, rubbing his neck and not making eye contact with anyone. The attitude and personality he showed in the meeting made her even more curious; he always seemed so stoic and business-like that she dismissed him as the rest of the hunters had. But, seeing the way he acted in the throne room, made her wonder how he really was like, the personality he showed the hunters usually seemed to not be the real him, so who was the real Zayden Blaze? For the first time in her life, Jessica felt herself truly wanting to get to know a boy, to befriend a boy. She wanted to know the real Zayden Blaze, to see him smile, not just keep the same emotionless expression he has whenever he has been near the hunters. Before you go crazy, no she wasn't falling in love with him, she just saw for once that she could actually have a boy as a friend.
Though distant, Jessica remembered her own childhood. It had been in the 1600's; her father was a drunk who had never treated her or her step-mother well, only focusing on her older brother to take over the business of farming one day, teaching him his ways. But, despite her horrible father, her brother was always kind, always sweet to her and her step-mother, treating them with love and respect. But, one day, her brother had been caught out in a winter storm and, by the time he was found the next morning, he was shivering and high with a fever. He passed two days later from the sickness. Life had gotten worse for her after that, her father never worked after that, becoming a full time drunk. Their farm withered and died and the three were often found starving, desperate for even a grain of rice. Jessica had finally had enough when her step-mother had gotten Tuberculosis and died soon after, leaving her with her father who treated Jessica like dirt, blaming her for the deaths of her brother and stepmother, saying she killed them. The boys in town always teased her for not having a brother and a step-mother anymore, for her own mother(Hecate as she now knew) having left her, often calling her an orphan and accusing her of witchcraft, teasing her for her dirty and moth-eaten clothes as well. One day, she had had enough and had run away into the forest.
After a week of being in the forest, she had been attacked by a hellhound and just as she was almost killed, Artemis appeared and killed the hellhound. After hearing her story, Artemis explained about the mythological world and how, because she could see the hellhound, then she must be either a demi-god or a clear-sighted mortal, though the power Artemis felt coming from her pointed to the former. When Artemis offered for her to join the hunters, she accepted and has been in it ever since. But, unlike the other hunters, she didn't believe that every boy was horrible. It was because of him, her brother, that Jessica always had a strong belief that not every man was like her father and the boys in town who teased and bullied her.
As she had stared at Zayden in the meeting, she realized that she yearned for that relationship again; to have an older brother who loved and cared for her, who protected her and was her best friend. All the sons of Hecate that she had met over the years were stuck up, rude, and conniving, never giving her the time of day or even being nice to her. After a while, she had just given up, though she kept her eye open for one, just in case. But, as she stared at Zayden Blaze right now, she realized that her wish had come true, she knew in her heart that Zayden would be the perfect brother, it would be as if Matthew had never left, she thought, tears in her eyes, though she hid them from the other hunters, Artemis, Hestia, and Zayden, she didn't want them to be concerned. Jessica tuned back in as Artemis spoke to answer Hestia's question.
"You are welcome of course Hestia. What did you talk about though?" Artemis couldn't help but ask. Hestia smiled and laughed.
"I'm afraid that that is between Zayden and I." Hestia stated, smiling sadly.
"Very well, I will respect that." Artemis stated, though you could tell that she really wished to know.
"Well, I must being going. Goodbye hunters, niece, and Zayden." She started to glow so the hunters closed their eyes and looked away as she disappeared. As the hunters opened their eyes, Artemis turned to Zayden with a hardened face.
"It is free time right now for the next hour. After that, I expect you to come to the dining tent to make dinner since you have that power of yours. If you wish, you may spend the time hunting to find an animal to make it easier on yourself." She stated, remembering the first time he'd made food for them. Zayden nodded in obedience and, with that, everyone left to do something in their free time. Only one hunter, Jessica, was left at the campfire. She was torn, staring at the retreating hunters before glancing over at Zayden who was heading towards the forest to hunt for dinner. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, she realized that, if any time was good, it was now. So, with that, she followed after Zayden. After a few minutes of walking, Zayden suddenly stopped as he realized that he was being followed and not by Artemis, as he had originally thought. Just as he was about to turn to ask why they were following him, he heard the footsteps pick up as the person started to run towards him. Usually, he would have tensed up at that, especially as it was probably a hunter, but he had a gut feeling that this person wasn't following him to hurt him. It was a strange feeling, but Zayden had always trusted his instincts and he wasn't going to start doubting them now, so he just calmed and turned slowly to see who it was. To his amazement, it was Jessica, the hunter who had thanked him this morning for saving her. Shocking him even more, she smiled happily. Even though he'd known the hunters for years, he'd never had any of them, other than Zoe, Thalia, and Artemis be nice to him so seeing her smiling at him really surprised him.
"Hey Zayden! Need any company? I'd be happy to help!" She exclaimed. Zayden stared at her in confusion. Sensing his confusion, her smile dimmed, "I know you are probably confused as to why I'd be talking to you, but…" She looked uncomfortable, turning her gaze towards the forest for a second before looking back at him, "After...this morning, I feel like I own you and…" She trailed off.
"You want to repay that?" He inquired.
"In a way." She vaguely stated, "Now, should we hunt?" She changed the subject, brightening up. At her excited face, Zayden couldn't help but smile.
"Sure. Let's go." And with that, they continued on through the forest, talking and laughing, a brother and sister relationship already beginning.
~~~~~~time skip~~~~~~
Dinnertime had just started and the hunters were heading towards the dining tent to eat. Just as they were, Jessica and Zayden came from the forest, Zayden carrying a deer over his shoulders, laughing quietly at something Jessica had said. The hunters didn't hear them though already at the tent. Jessica headed towards the tent, but stopped, realizing that Zayden wasn't following her. She turned and spoke.
"Aren't you coming Zayden?" Jessica inquired. Looking at her, Zayden hid his sadness and smiled.
"I'll be there in a second; I just have to get something. Go one without me; I'll meet you there soon." He stated, smiling. Jessica seemed unsure, hesitating a bit, before shaking it off and smiling.
"Ok, see you soon!" She said before rushing towards the dining tent. Zayden watched her run off with a sad smile on his face: he had realized that the only reason she was with him was to repay him for saving her life, no hunter likes to be in debt, especially to a boy. He figured that, now that she had helped him on his hunt and was actually nice to him, that she realized she had made up for it now. Though he wished they could be friends, he knew that a hunter like her would never be friends with him, but he wanted to be nice to her; he respected her and knew that the other hunters wouldn't like it to see them walk into the dining tent together. Though she probably would stop joking as they reached there, believing her job done, the hunters would still be suspicious that they both arrived late at the same exact time. Zayden didn't want to embarrass her, she had kept his spirits up for the short hour, making him believe that he could make it through this guardianship; he would show his thanks by acting as if that hour had never happened. With that, figuring enough time had passed, Zayden headed towards the dining tent, reaching it a few minutes later to see all the hunters sitting down at the table, inpatient as they waited for him to show up. Hearing him, they all turned and most glared. Like he expected, Jessica showed no sign that she had been just laughing with him, a calculating expression on her face as she stared ahead, not even looking at him.
"About time you showed up." One of the hunters, Phoebe, growled. Zayden held back a smile, she reminded him of Clarisse, though she was a daughter of Apollo, not Ares.
"I apologize, I got caught up." Zayden stated, they just continued their same hostility while Jessica still stared blankly ahead. Sighing quietly, he snapped his fingers, causing the deer over his shoulder to disappear and reappear on the table, the bones gone, and all the meat cut into proportional size pieces of meat, steam rising up of them like a river. Foods like potatoes, gravy, corn on the cob, and stuffing appeared on the table and, with a gigantic hunger, the hunters dug in, not even saying thank you. To his slight surprise, Jessica shook out of her thought process and smiled slightly at him in thanks. Figuring she wanted to be nice one last time, he nodded before making his own plate appear with all the things from the table that he liked and walking towards the end of the table, the closest hunter to him being Lauren who was five seats away. She actually was nice to him, though she had never tried to talk to him or barely even looked at him for more than a second. As he sat down, she glanced up, smiling slightly and awkwardly before turning back to her plate and continuing to eat.
Sighing inwardly, Zayden started to eat his food. As this went on, Jessica finished gathering her food and, before digging in, she paused. Looking up at all the hunters around her, she smiled, feeling content. But, her gaze turned to the end of the table to the left, right across from her where Zayden sat, head down as he ate. A frown grew on her face as she saw how lonely he was; he had no one to talk to, no one even glanced his way more than once and when they did, most glances were filled with disgust and distrust. Jessica knew that, if she were him, she would wish that someone here, in this place full of people who hated her guts, would find it in themselves to be nice to her. It was then that it hit her; she realized how much a difference that must have made for him, she knew now that he was not like other boys from her time spent with him. So, who was she to deny what she had learned, just so she could fit in with the hunters? Glancing once more between Zayden and the hunters, who were oblivious to her inward battle, chatting happily Zayden the complete opposite, Jessica made her decision.
Taking a deep breath, she pushed out her chair and stood. The few hunters around her looked up to see what she was doing before growing confused, seeing her untouched food on her plate. Ignoring the confused looks from the whole table, the rest having realized the conversations had stopped turning to look at her in confusion, she stepped back, pushing in her chair and picking up her plate and cup before turning to the left, noticing that Zayden was watching her too, his head slightly turned in her direction and having slowed down his eating to focus on her. Pushing her fear away, she walked towards Zayden before stopping and turning to face him. She could feel everyone's gaze as she set her plate and cup down and pulled the chair across from him out and sitting down scooting in and finally starting to eat her food. The whole tent was silent, tension in the air that Jessica, a hunter that had been in the hunt for around the space of a millennia, had voluntarily chosen to go and sit right across from the new male guardian of the hunt and away from the hunt. Even Zayden was frozen, staring across the table at her in shock, having never even thought that she would have never done that, but being proven wrong. Summoning up the courage, Julia paused from eating and looking up innocently, as if she had not just done that.
"What?" She demanded, "Do you have something to say?" Slowly Zayden shook his head, "Then is there any problem here?" Yet again, he shook his head, "Good. Then eat before I shove an arrow in your face." She threatened, her eyes softening slightly as she saw a small amused smile fall to his lips. Just barely, she could see his glowing green eyes from under his hood since they were close enough right now and she smiled, noticing the message of thanks he was showing her. With that, they both turned to their food and continued to eat; ignoring to gazes the hunters still gave them.
After a few minutes, the hunters recollected themselves and slowly continued to eat, only small conversations breaking out, the focus of those being on what had just happened, the occasional glance being sent towards the two who tried to ignore them to the best of their ability. Jessica felt uncomfortable, she had always been with the hunt, had always felt like she was a part of them. Now, she felt totally and completely separated from them, as if they were complete strangers. But, she knew that she had done the right thing, so she just smiled and continued eating the delicious food Zayden had provided.
Zayden felt uncomfortable most of all; He definitely did not expect Jessica to do that and tried to ignore the glares being thrown his way, blaming him for this, like he had put a spell on her or threatened her to do this(which he definitely did not do!). But, he was happy to know that he wasn't alone anymore. When none of the hunters were looking at him, he looking up and smiled unnoticed at Jessica, glad to have a new friend, he had a feeling that they would grow to be good friends. With that, he looked back down and continued to eat. After about ten silent minutes, Jessica and Zayden had finally finished their food. Standing up, Jessica walked around the table and rested her hand on Zayden's shoulder, who turned to look at her.
"Come on, we can clean up later." She stated, smiling, causing Zayden to smile back. Pushing back, he stood and followed her out of the dining tent, smiling as she continued their conversation from the hunt earlier. As the hunters stared at the retreating pair, Artemis realized that this was an important part of time, this would definitely change life in the hunt from now on, she knew it. What she didn't know was, would it be a good thing, or a bad? She guessed that she'd just have to wait and see...
Song I'm listening to right now: 'Bella Notte' from Lady And the Tramp(Disney track, total Disney fan here).
Hello again everyone! I hope you all loved the chapter; it took me a while to get it down on paper(or, computer really…), but I finally did. This chapter was really fun to write, I loved it. Though at times it got tough, I pushed through it and, about halfway through the chapter, the words were just flowing out of me(Though I'll admit, that soon stopped towards the end, but I got through it luckily!). I can't wait to hear what you all think! Well, until next time!