Author's Note: This is my first time writing a fan fiction, or a story for that matter, so I know that I won't be the most experienced writer, nor will I have the most interesting story and as such, I'll gladly take both praise and constructive-criticism alike. This is my take on Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson series, starting from The Mark of Athena. Hope you enjoy!

Full Summary: Despite the combined efforts of both Greeks and Romans, the seven heroes have been broken. The Great Prophecy has failed. Gaea has awoken and begun her assault on Olympus. The Titans have risen, the Mist dispersed, and the world, including the realm of mortals, was shaken asunder. Percy once again finds himself stranded on Ogygia but Calypso, along with her invisible servants, are nowhere to be found. As he heals and regains his strength, many others, as well as a certain someone, find their way to the island. The remaining forces of humanity, demigods, and Gods alike pool their powers together in a last ditch attempt to reclaim what was once their reality. Will they have what it takes to salvage the Great Prophecy... and the world?

Genres: Action, Fantasy, Romance, Supernatural, Tragedy | Fiction Rating: T, Suitable for teens, 13 years and older, with some violence, minor coarse language, and minor suggestive adult themes.

Chapter V | Artemis

She had to admit, Perseus Jackson was a decent fighter- at least, for a mortal. When she'd first offered to help train him, she figured it would take a few long months to teach him anything of significance, but he picked up what she taught him almost as fast as she could teach him. He's a natural swordsman, observed Artemis.

They had been training together for a few weeks or so, spending the majority of their time together sparring. It had been awkward at first, even for her, a Goddess, but as time passed, they found each other growing more and more comfortable in each other's company. Because of her injured side, Artemis had to verbally teach him in the beginning, but despite not having any demonstrations to guide him, Perseus still managed to master it in the end- albeit with a strenuous amount of effort. His skills had grown by leaps and bounds during their sessions, and to her surprise, he was even starting to develop his own techniques on top of those that she taught him.

As time passed, her side eventually began to show signs of getting better. She could now move normally without pain, but high levels of exertion still made her wince. Percy had asked about her wound and why it wasn't healing as fast as it should, and to be honest, she didn't know either. Yes, the gash was a nasty injury, but she'd healed far graver wounds in a fraction of the time it was taking for this particular cut to heal. It bothered her, but since she didn't know the cause, there was nothing she could do about it for now. In the meantime, Artemis made the decision that she was now well enough to directly spar with Percy, and it was the first time she'd been on the receiving end of his strikes. Because of her injury, she couldn't move as fast or attack as hard as she normally would have, but even with the handicap, she was still able to defeat him without exerting herself- although admittedly, she noticed that it took more and more effort to beat him each time. He was learning at an incredibly fast pace, much faster than she'd previously anticipated.

Today's sparring session seemed to run longer than the others. It had been a while since she'd felt this level of exhilaration. The adrenaline in her veins were still pumping and it was... exciting. Even her Hunts did not provide this level of enjoyment. Monsters typically fought with strength, not wit. However, Percy was a combination of both, his strength had grown as a result of their training and now, each of his blows hit hard, fast, and with meticulous accuracy. She had underestimated him at first, but she knew now, the instant she let up, he could quite possibly turn the tables on her. He was very adept at finding weaknesses and taking advantage of them. It was odd, she mused in her head. She had heard through the wild and various gossip that Percy wasn't known for his intelligence. She'd even witnesses his moments of... ah, confusion herself. It was only during sword fighting that his true strength seemed to shine. All of his moves were steadily calculated, aimed to slowly but surely tire her out, wear her patience thin, and bait a reckless attack. Her wounded side limited her true capabilities and put her at a pretty even match against Percy- but Artemis preferred it that way. She enjoyed challenge.

Eventually, as he was undeniably a demigod, and she, an immortal, his stamina left him faster than hers and his swings eventually slowed, losing their accuracy. It was the moment she had been waiting for. Jumping at the next opportunity, she locked her daggers into his blade and then swept his feet from under him with a quick swipe of her leg. He fell hard and Riptide landed with a clump on the grass beside him. She crouched on his chest, her knees on his arms to prevent any resistance, and pressed her daggers to his neck.

"I win... again," she said with a triumphant smile.

Percy groaned, "Let me up."

With a twinkle in her eye, Artemis replied, "No. Not until you admit you lost."

He gazed into her eyes stubbornly. Their staring match went on for a few seconds before she realized how close she was to him. A few months ago, had someone told her she'd be this close to a male of her own volition, she'd have scoffed at them. Now was a different story. Percy's presence, a male's presence, had come to be... normal for her. They were the only two people on the island after all. As these thoughts wandered through her head, she realized that Percy had been calling her.

"-ou won. Now please get off me. You're heavy. And my arms hurt."

Her mouth gaped. She... she was heavy? "How- how dare you," she sputtered. Sure, she hadn't had as much exercise as she typically did over the past few weeks, but that was only because of her side. It wasn't... it wasn't like she was slacking intentionally, she just couldn't- then she noticed his lips turning up slightly. Realization dawned on her and now she knew he had been teasing her. She held back the urge to smack him in the head. His smile was so very rare these days, she could count the times she'd seen any emotion on his face with the fingers on one hand. She was reluctant to admit that seeing his smile lifted her spirits. After everything that had gone wrong with the Great Prophecy, he'd need to keep his morale up.

Eyeing her wearily, he got up and rolled his shoulders a few times. As per usual, he said, "Next time. Next time I'll win."

Artemis rolled her eyes. Just how many times had she heard that line now? Oh right, just a few hundred times. Oddly though, she had the feeling that he was telling the truth, which was completely ridiculous since she had felt that he was telling the truth each time he'd told her, but she'd won... each time he'd told her. Just like normal. So far, their tally was two-hundred and sixteen wins- Artemis, and zero wins- Percy. Despite the tally, it was like her mind wanted to believe everything Percy said and with a tilt of her head, she realized that it was because she trusted him. While Artemis did expect things from mortals, she rarely trusted them. Only her closest confidants, the Hunters, had that bond with her. Strange, she thought. Very strange. Artemis never thought she'd have a Hunters bond with Percy, a male- wait. Since when had she started calling him Percy?

"-temis. Earth to Lady Artemis," said Percy, waving a hand in front of her face.

A normal human would have found themselves with antlers at this point, but not Percy. Like she'd said, she'd gotten... accustomed to his presence. She was fine with little things like this as long as he wasn't outright disrespecting her. Again, she thought of how odd it was, how forgiving she'd become to a male. She sighed. He was still flapping his arm in front of her face and she resisted the urge to grab his arm and flip him onto his back.

"What is it... Perseus."

He frowned. She smiled. She knew he didn't like being called "Perseus" so she always made sure to do so when he annoyed her. He frowned again. She raised her eyebrows innocently. He sighed, "It's time to eat. What do you want for dinner?"

It was his turn to get the food. They'd been together for... weeks? Months? She wasn't sure, time was difficult on Ogygia. For all she knew, while months had passed on the island, it could have been the equivalent of three seconds in the mortal world... or three thousand years. Who knew? Anyway, they shared tedious tasks like cleaning, making target dummies, and gathering food- sometimes doing things together, other times setting a schedule for who did what and when. It depended on the task.

"I'll take the usual, the bright red fruits."

"Alright," came his reply as he set off towards the forest.

She sat down contentedly and gazed at her surroundings. The place she was in right now was a clearing in the forest, close to the cave where she stayed. Despite her protests, Percy continued to stay at his cave down behind the waterfall and she still used the cave by the beach. Truthfully, she wasn't sure why she kept pressing him. It wasn't like... like he could stay with her in her cave. It was barely large enough for one of them, though her bed was large enough for two, she thought. Abruptly, she halted her thoughts. No, she thought harshly. That is not- will not- be an option. While she trusted that Percy was not the type of man to do anything, they would have to stay separate as per her vow to forswear the company of men called for. Even their daily relationship was pushing it, she must not press any further.

Anyways, she thought, this sort of life on the island, it isn't particularly terrible. In fact, she almost wished she could stay like this. Forever. It was comfortable, the island was beautiful, food was plentiful all year long, and best of all, there were no monsters. No Titans. No Gaea. It was like she was living a dream, leaving all of the blood and chaos behind. Unfortunately, she knew it wouldn't last. Couldn't last. Eventually, Gaea would find them and then this perfect dream would come to an end.

She knew that once that time came, she would have to be ready. She had no way of contacting anyone outside of the island's boundaries, but she had little doubt that things had likely gone from bad to worse. Typhon had returned and with Gaea in control of the Doors of Death, she could bring him back as many times as necessary, until all of the Gods were crushed. She and Percy had discussed what they'd do when Gaea found them. Truthfully, they both knew that things weren't looking up.

Enough of that. Just where was Percy? He should have been back by now, she thought. She got up, starting to get worried. There weren't any monsters on the island and even if there were, Percy was back to full health and stronger than he'd ever been. Even nearly strong enough to defeat her- at least, while she was injured. There's no way a simple monster could pose a threat to him, she thought, but just in case... I'll go have a look. He's probably just pranking me, waiting by the treeline to jump out and scare me. Well, I'll show him I'm the Goddess of the Hunt for a reason, she thought indignantly, but even then, she couldn't seem to shake her worry. She glanced at the sky and moved quickly towards the forest.

Hours... or so she thought, had passed. Where was he? She'd been searching for... for quite a long time. It was disturbing that someone could hide from her for that long. She was the Goddess of the Hunt after all, no prey should be able to escape her... and yet, Percy Jackson had just... disappeared. She'd followed his tracks towards the trees whose fruits she'd liked, the red ones, but then it seemed to vanish into thin air. She'd spread her presence through the forest, prodding her consciousness through the dense foliage, but always came up blank. She was wracked with worry. Had Gaea found him? Had he somehow left the island? Was he hurt, or kidnapped, or even... killed? Questions with no answers raced through her mind. She had already trekked through the entire island twice, scouring through every brush, lake, cave, or river and yet there was no sign of him besides his tracks to the red fruit tree. She would have to rest soon, her injury was starting to scream in pain and every step she took was forced.

He'll turn up, she thought desperately. He had to. He wouldn't just... leave her like that. He would have said something, she reasoned. Or maybe, a dark inner voice whispered, he was using you. He only wanted to become stronger and you just happened to be nearby. Almost immediately, she dismissed the voice. Every demigod had a fatal flaw- Percy's just so happened to be unwavering loyalty. He would not betray her. As far as Artemis was concerned, it was more plausible that he'd turned into a shrub than the idea of him double-crossing her. Besides, she was the one who'd asked him if he wanted her to train him, not the other way around. I will wait, Artemis decided. The sky was getting dark and she needed to return to her cave to rest. In the morning, if he still was not back, she'd search for him again.

One way or another, she'd find him. She had to. Too late, she realized another one of the things she'd enjoyed about the island. The presence of a friend.

Chapter Note: There were some slightly minor-major changes in this chapter. I decided to change their relationship's progression rate, but it's all the same by the end of the chapter. I just felt that it was slightly unnatural before so I did some minor tweaking. Thank you to everyone who's followed along to this point, and a special thanks to AEceros for pointing out a mistake I made in the previous chapter. I tend to go into a slight trance as I write and sometimes the details just fly by me- anyways, that's it for today. See you soon.