Artemis POV

This was nice.

The sun was rising, Apollo was sprinting across the sand, and I was petting an animal. It had nice soft fur and a white underbelly. Its upper coat was coloured a light brown. She, I think. She nuzzled my hand affectionately and backed away. She proceeded to gallop forwards, shining in the waning moonlight, and jumped.

I, distracted and mesmerized, blasted it with my powers. It shone, flaring out with so much power it caused Apollo, my younger brother (say otherwise and your face will meet my fist), to trip over awkwardly and land face-first in the sand. He spluttered out very... colourful language... very colourful.

After running out of colours, he got up and muttered something about shiny deer and animal protection laws... and needing to protect his beautiful face. I looked around for the deer, but it seemed to have completely vanished. Apollo must have frightened it off with his inexcusable stupidity.

I laughed," Apollo!"

I decided to have a little fun, "What was that?"

"I need to save my face."

I raised an eyebrow, smirking, "And why is that exactly?"

Apollo just looked at me, red-faced, until he replied, "Umm... Because I need this face to get girls?"

He said it in such an innocent and confused tone that I started snickering. If possible, his face started to morph into an even more confused look before he frowned," Why are you laughing?"

I didn't answer. Instead, I just rolled around in the sand and laughed some more.

"Children!" I heard my mother, Leto, call out off in the distance. "Food's ready."

The moment I heard the word 'food', I was already bolting across the beach, halfway to our small but cosy home. I heard Apollo yell, "Wait for me Artemis!"

By the time he got to the premises, I was already going up a set of stairs. When I reached the top of the staircase, I swung around and watched the island of Delos. He still liked to move on occasion and yes... He can move. He's the only island of his kind. Extraordinary, really. I focused my attention back to the house. I would never get tired of the sight.

I turned to our garden first. The garden that our wonderful mother, Leto, spent hours upon hours creating.

The area was wide and open, sloping gently down to a cosmic-blue river. A grove of cypress pines flanked us on one side, while a grove of peaceful beeches stood guard on the other. Apple trees ran through the centre of the garden, forming a lake of claw shadows onto the soft grass.

Then, there were the sections that Apollo and I made ourselves. It was split evenly. However, If you saw them, you'd think of them as opposites. Abstract.

Apollo's was flashy. To be frank. It reflected his personality perfectly. His need to shine. The garden itself glowed. His side was covered in golden flowers that didn't reflect sunlight. It didn't need to - it literally produced its own sunlight. Other than those, he had statues of instruments that hadn't been invented yet.

Yes. He actually made those. What would happen if a mortal saw these and tried to recreate them? Exactly. They would shift the course of the future. Then, Apollo would have almost definitely secured the wrath of the fates.

If someone saw those, I'd probably go into hiding or change my name and appearance. Imagine being associated with someone who broke time?

Spoiling the future was looked down upon in Greece. It made people paranoid and often mucked up the future.

I, on the contrary, didn't get caught up in those unnecessary, avoidable, and millennia-long lectures. Instead, I was charged with the exhilarating job of hunting monsters. Even though I technically wasn't old enough to lead my own group. I had to wait until I had been given my domains. Even then, Dad would judge if I was mature enough first.

Back to the topic of the garden. My side wasn't overly extravagant, nor too dull. It's main colour scheme consisted of the finest shade of silver, and an underlying shade of raven black. There were flowers, but they were small and quaint - none of the flowers were too tall but none were so small that you would overlook them either.

Past the river, there was a plush-green meadow that stretched away into the vast and unpredictable wild. I felt calm in the wild. Free. Like the many creatures that lived there.

I sighed. The sight would never cease to amaze me. It probably never would. Not for now, at least.

Apollo finally caught up. He was panting heavily. The kid didn't exercise enough. Looking back, I probably should've made him do an extra tiring and healthy training regimen.

I walked through our door. The wonderous perks of having things thousands of years early are endless. Luckily, the mist blocked this particular invention

Mother had prepared my prey along with our daily dose of nectar.

"Artemis dear," My mother began, starting a conversation on schedule," What have you done today?"

"Oh." I shortly after looked up at my mother" I shot a deer with lasers today."

"Really?" My mother inquired, obviously curious and at least a bit worried about the deer.

"What happened to her?"

My mother's deer were all females. Just how I liked them. The males were too aggressive and competitive. Ruffians.

"She ran away after Apollo frightened her; made her away by using his 'charms'." I put emphasis on the word 'charms' to tease Apollo. Which I was successful at.

A long and loud 'HEY!' could be heard for miles. I wouldn't be surprised if the animals on the other side of the island heard Apollo's shout. He would probably become the god of loud noises or something.

Mother sighed," I think you two should go visit your father. You should ask him about-"

I intercepted her. "Wait? Are we going to visit our father? Wait... Why No! But mother! I don't want to go! Father is an ignorant jer-"

"Artemis..." Mother warned. She continued with what she was saying earlier," You two are going to see your father. He will help Apollo with his... problems... and he'll help both of you with deciding on your sacred animals for when you receive your domains. Any complaints?"

I opened my mouth to retort but decided against it. I knew who to fight my battles against but my mother isn't one of them. Plus, I already recognized that I clearly wouldn't win this battle since it was against my mom, who knows everything about me and can use that to her advantage. In addition, she's my mom, so she gets the final say in things (read: everything).

As much as I hate to admit it. I'd be defeated in a matter of seconds.

I sighed, defeated, and slouched back into my seat. That's when I remembered that I wanted to catch a new creature to put into my personal nature reserve so that they never go extinct.

I got up and looked over to my mother who was briefing Apollo as to why he shouldn't be acting all high and mighty especially when he grows up. I couldn't help but think about our father. Zeus. He had arrived at mother's doorstep when she was at her most vulnerable, charmed her, and left her with twins so she alone would face the inevitable wrath of Hera. Luckily, Hera and mother eventually made peace.

They would sit together and joke about my father, laughing tremendously about how he had not charmed them through his 'good' looks, nor his 'funny' jokes, but because they felt sorry for him. He had looked so sad when they tried to reject him the first time. Like a kicked puppy, and no one ever ignored a kicked puppy. If you have, well, sorry to break it to you, but you're an incredibly bad person.

Mother didn't stay mad at my father. Actually. I almost forgot that she ever despised him. That is until he showed up again at our house. I had never seen my mother so angry. I also felt sorry for the hundreds of utensils that were crushed to sate my mother's seemingly everlasting rage.

...

We were trudging to Olympus by foot, both of our bows in hand in case a thief or any other threat appeared on the road.

Why? You might ask. Well, Olympus was guarded. Those who were branded as a traitor or ones who hadn't become a deity yet (or you were mortal - in which case you'd just die while trying to get up. Just don't try), had to go under Olympus by foot before they could either take the clouds up (The clouds could only be summoned by an immortal deity. Sorry to you mortals or demigods that can't do that) like an elevator (as I said, the wonders of technology thousands of years before humans had known about it). Otherwise, you'd have to climb up Mount Olympus on foot.

Back to us. Apollo and I were trudging towards Delphi to rest before we continued our trek to Olympus when we heard saw them. Hundreds of townsfolk, seemingly the whole town, trekking towards Sparta. Why would they be heading in the direction of Sparta? Delphi had a debt for Sparta. Unless...

"Artemis!" Apollo exclaimed, waving in front of my face.

"Sorry," I shook my head, trying to organise myself," I zoned out."

Apollo groaned, obviously exasperated," Well, all of the citizens of Delphi seem to be following this guy towards Sparta." He pointed towards a figure off in the distance.

I had to squint to see him. He seemed like a boy of around thirteen or fourteen. Why they were following the wannabe hero, was unbeknownst to me. Maybe they were just trying to help his self-esteem. However, It seemed that they were marching to war. Many held spears and swords while the woman actually held shields, guarding their respective husband or sibling.

There were at least six-hundred people that lived in Delphi, including the children and women. Sparta had a couple thousand citizens, trained soldiers not included. Sparta was also under the protection of Ares, while Delphi didn't even have a patron god. They were goners.

We had visited Delphi from time to time - disguised of course - whenever Delphi landed, and we had found a little city full of life. We hadn't visited in a while, but it looked like a lot had happened while we were gone.

I said as such to Apollo and he grimaced silently, a sour look etched across his face.

I sighed, resigned to the fact that Delphi was to become non-existent before Apollo yelled, making me jump, "We obviously have to do something. Maybe if we hid in the trees-"

"Trees!" I exclaimed, jumping up, before silently and professionally dropping down into the cover and safety of the bushes.

"We can hide in the trees and shoot the Spartans from above. Ares will never have proof that we did anything!" I shouted/whispered eagerly.

Apollo scoffed, "Sure." He flipped his hair like he was trying to look cool, "Ares is obviously too dumb to think this hunk would get his hands dirty!"

...

We were trailing the swarm of citizens that formed a spear, the teenage boy leading the charge. We tirelessly kept up. I say we, but Apollo actually needed a couple dozen breaks. Seriously. It was only a few hundred miles.

For some reason, the citizens of Delphi seemed to be curving around the perimeter of Sparta. Not daring to cross over into official Spartan territory. That would be classified as a charge. Apollo was darting across the field. After the sun rose, he suddenly burst forward while I slowed considerably. I guess I rather moving faster under the cover of darkness. As of right now, the sun was at the point where it was closest to us. It seemed to be at the edge of the cliff we were scaling.

Seemingly at once, the whole collection of people stopped, and Apollo barreled forward, as fast as a bullet, zooming towards the sun.

Apollo POV

I screamed like a little girl (e.g. NOT my sister. If you tell her that, you'll end up with a blacker than black, eye. Sadly, I know from personal experience). One that was deprived of their sleep. Probably. I mean, I need my sleep. When I'm sleep deprived, I get cranky.

Anyway. Back to the important stuff. AH!

I was terrified. Screaming my lungs out like there was no tomorrow, which there would be in my case cause I was literally going to crash into the sun. I prayed to Helios and said a quick sorry in advance. I mean. I was going to crash right into his chariot, charging at it at speeds that rivalled the speed of light. The dent I was about to make would probably take at least a few years to fix.

I caught glimpses of the citizens of Delphi noticing me and pointing, making us lose the cover once had.

Then, something weird happened. I saw flashes. All appearing and flashing around before disappearing. They all showed different scenarios.

Me hitting it and smashing the chariot at full speed before landing on the ground below and fading.

Me holding my foot down and catching on a rock, causing my leg to break and for me to drop straight down onto the ground, and fade. Again.

Me screaming, shouting and calling for help when I slowed substantially and shone. I never saw the end of that one because it disappeared. That was the one I wanted. It showed me slowing down, which was something that didn't happen in the other ones.

So that's what I did. I screamed. At the top of my lungs. I called for help. I made as much noise as possible, but nothing happened.

I neared the edge of the cliff. I screamed for real, not even trying on purpose. I was actually afraid. Scared of fading. Scared of hitting the chariot. Scared of leaving Artemis and mom.

Holy Hera! What was mom going to do when she finds out that I'm dead? She's going to kill me!

Nevermind fading! She'll fade on purpose just to find me then scold me eternally for doing this to her.

Buzz... I felt a surge of energy shooting through my body, and abruptly I had the urge to stop screaming. I had nothing to lose, so It wouldn't hurt to try to calm down and at least look dignified.

I closed my mouth, pushing against the rush of air and finally ending the strangled shriek that I had produced.

I heard the fading sound of Artemis calling out to me. Something about me growing.

I suddenly felt sick to the bone, like I had swallowed something funny, like a bee.

I tried to open my eyes, to find that I couldn't. The air was pushing so hard that the resistance it would have taken to open them would be tremendous.

For some reason, my eyes instantly shot open, straining it and overloading my senses.

I was huge. Massive. Bigger than the cliff I was initially standing on.

I saw Artemis, rushing towards the end of the cliff. The citizens of Delphi, pointing at me and a black-haired teenager running towards me. I turned around and screamed, undignified. I was heading towards Helios' chariot, ready for a head-on collision...

Helios POV

I was riding my lustrous sun chariot when I saw a giant five-year-old version of me screaming as he flew towards me at speeds that weren't even supposed to be possible.

Woah! Woah! Let's back up a bit.

I had just started to start my ascent up to the sky for my journey across the sky when I saw the strangest sight ever.

Hundreds of Delphians were marching in a perfect arrowhead formation, and that wasn't even the oddest part.

At the head of the configuration, a young teenage boy of around thirteen or fourteen leading and seemingly instructing the whole city of Delphi.

However, this completely distracted me from my task at hand, which I had done for hundreds of years since the age of the Titans. Driving my sun chariot. I forgot to start my ascent, which meant that I wouldn't get my daily dose of Vitamin D.

Zeus was going to have my head for this. He gets so annoyed when I do this.

His punishments are the worst. Oh no... I'm going to be under house arrest... Again. Oh, man!

Oh no... I'm getting distracted again. It's the lack of Vitamin D I tell you!

Anyway, then I spotted a pair of godlings, one elegant and silent, even in the sunlight. the other stomping around with about as elegance as an ostrich with a bee nest on its head. But I could see the resemblance they had. They were probably related.

It was the stomper than held any resemblance to me, but when the first ray of sunlight came into contact with his body, he made up for it with speed. He sped up drastically at a rate that even the sun chariot couldn't achieve (I mean it sped up faster than the sun chariot but obviously the sun chariot could achieve higher speed).

Then, his overall speed quadrupled and he lost his balance, causing him to fly forward, screaming like a complete idiot.

I nearly facepalmed from embarrassment. What if someone, or even Zeus, mistook that idiot for me? I'd be ruined!

Wait... I'm getting distracted again. Gods! Why does this always happen to me?

Anyway, this is the last time that that is going to happen.

Back to the screaming ostrich.

So this tan blond kid, who looked disturbingly like me, continued screaming like a gopher when he zoned out and just stopped shouting. Sadly, that wasn't good new. Now, he looked like a lost fish. Luckily, he wasn't on the sun chariot so he obviously wasn't me.

He just zoomed forward unmovingly, like a dart. The weird thing was he was not even blinking.

Hear that? Not. Even. Blinking.

Does that not sound disturbing or weird to you? No? Ok... Whatever.

Then, after about 3 seconds, he clamped his eyes shut and screamed. He screamed like a little girl. He screamed so loud that my right ear became deaf for the next few weeks.

Then, the stranges thing happened, he started growing. Like actually growing. A godling who seemed to have no real-world experience at all had already mustered enough energy and control to manipulate his size.

The thing is, he didn't grow, like, two feet. His whole body grew until he was about thrice the size of my ride. Yeah... He grew FAST!

The good news was that he probably wasn't going to crush my chariot.

The bad news? Oh... Well. You know... He's going to eat it instead. No biggie.

Artemis POV

I was chasing after my idiotic and non-stealthy brother when he grew. Yeah... He grew really big. He was about the average size of an Olympian during a meeting.

I watched him from a distance. It was obvious that there was no stopping him, so I just ran over to the edge of the cliff and yelled at the Delphians," EVERYONE! GET DOWN! HE'S GOING TO CAUSE A MASSIVE EARTHQUAKE!"

Que the rumbling... Apollo, screaming loudly, swallowed the sun chariot, along with Helios, whole. He then proceeded to choke and crash to the ground, causing me to fall off the cliff, plummeting a good hundred (100) feet.

I closed my eyes, bracing for impact, but only felt a surge of warmth spread across the back of my neck and back. Sort of like a collection of animal fur. I opened my eyes to see the teenage boy holding me up, bridal style, grinning madly.

"Hi!" He smiled, bouncing with energy," I'm Percy! Wanna overthrow the king of Sparta?"

25/11/19 EDIT: Wow. I really need a beta reader because there were a lot of grammatical errors in this one.

~MasterGravity