A.N: Just so you guys know, I have changed my pen name from 'TyGuyFlyGuy' to 'TyGuy45'. Just in case you didn't already notice. And a forewarning that this chapter may not be as interesting as the others. Sorry in advance.
Artemis POV:
We appeared in the throne room and I quickly took out my bow, launching a silver arrow into the air to signal a council meeting. We needed to tell them of our findings as soon as possible.
Almost instantly the gods were assembled and in their thrones. Most of them were looking around wildly before their eyes caught our figures standing in the middle of the throne room. They all gasped in amazement and disbelief. Suddenly, a male voice rang out through the silence.
"Percy?" Poseidon asked with tears in his eyes. This was the closest I had ever seen the sea god to crying.
Beside me, Percy said,"Yes, dad, it's me. We're back." He had a wide smile on his face, which I daresay made him look even more handsome than he already was. What? I'm bonded to him, so I can think whatever I want about him. It still felt a little weird to complement a male's physical features though. After so long of not even acknowledging a single man, it was unnatural to me.
Poseidon had an equally large smile on his own face, and before I knew it, he had jumped off his throne and dashed towards us, hugging Percy tightly. I could see tears running down both of their faces, but I could feel a flash of happiness and relief flowing through my body that wasn't my own. I realized that it must have been from our soul bond. The feeling warmed me down to my bones and it made my skin tingle.
All of a sudden, three more pairs of arms were wrapped around the father and son. I looked over and saw that Hestia, Athena, and Hera were piling on top of Percy in an attempt to crush him within their embraces. Athena had a wide grin on her face, while Hestia and Hera were crying even harder than Poseidon was.
Some of the other gods were looking at the hugging group with a tender look on their face, while others were full out crying. I knew that they didn't all particularly like the Hero of Olympus, but every single one of them had some level of respect for him and were all glad that he was back safely. Some of them glanced at me and gave me a small smile and a nod to welcome me back, but they were nowhere near the expressions on the faces when looking at Percy. There had never been so many tears in this throne room at one time.
"I'm so glad you're ok, Percy," Cried Hestia. Hera and Athena nodded in agreement, still latched onto poor Percy as if their lives depended on it.
"Mmphhh!" I heard Percy screech from the middle of the group hug. I chuckled a bit before trying to pry the others off him. I didn't want him to suffocate too soon. It was quite a long time before finally I manage to free Percy, who was gasping for breath.
After the four gods had calmed down, they walked back to their thrones and looked at us, obviously wondering what happened down in The Pit.
"Well, needless to say, we're all glad that you're back. It was getting rather quiet without Apollo and Artemis bickering over every little thing. As much as some of us would like to continue welcoming you home, I think we would all like to know what happened down there. Artemis?" Asked my father. All the gods and goddess nodded along at his statement and they looked the most focused on anything I had ever seen them on anything before. I was surprised by the concerned tone of my father's voice. I had never known him to show that kind of emotion for anyone, not even his own wife or children.
I told them of everything that had happened since we had willingly jumped into Tartarus. Percy chimed in every couple sentences to "embellish" my story as he claimed later, although I think it was just him trying to make his own deeds seem more impressive. Surprisingly, this didn't annoy me as much as it amused me.
I made sure not to tell them anything about Percy and my soul bond because I was afraid that it would stir up an argument between our two fathers. Fighting amongst ourselves was the last thing that we needed right now. I was also not exactly ready to share this little detail yet. I still hadn't fully come to terms with it yet myself and I was a little uncomfortable about speaking about it with even Percy.
As I told the story, the gods' eyes grew wider and wider to the point where I was worried that they would pop out of their heads. Nobody interrupted as they were too intent on listening. By the time I had finished, everybody was silent, taking in what they had just heard.
"So let me get this straight. This "key" is in Percy, right now. What does this mean for him? And this poison? Are you sure that you are completely cured of it?" Asked Hera worriedly. I knew that she, along with Athena and Hestia, were very close to Percy and I wasn't surprised that they were so worried for him.
"That is correct," Percy confirmed, "But according to Nyx, it shouldn't hurt me if you extract it. She said that we had two days before the wards she cast go down. I'm not sure how long extracting it will take. And yes, I believe that I am completely cured of this poison." He looked at me and smiled brightly. I knew that this was his way of thanking me again, so I smiled back.
Apollo suddenly piped in,"I think I should be able to pull it out in a couple hours. I sense it inside your body and I don't think it is completely infused, so it probably won't take too long. I could also check for that poison of yours. I just want to make sure that there is no lasting effect on you."
I nodded my thanks to him, something that I rarely do, and turned to Percy, "When would you like this procedure done?"
"I think it is best if we do it after this meeting is over. The sooner it's out the better," He said.
"Then we will wait until the end of this discussion," Zeus said, "Now, we must know everything about Apollyon so we have the best chance of defeating him. Have you had any other contact with him other than what you have already told us about?"
I shook my head, but when I looked to Percy, he had a grim and sad look in his eyes. "Percy?"
He turned to me and I saw that his face was gaunt and strained, a haunted look on it.
"Percy? What's that look for? Don't tell me he's come to you in your dream as he did me."
Suddenly, Percy's face broke into a miserable expression of sorrow and tears gathered in his eyes. He broke into tears and started sobbing uncontrollably into his hands. All of us gods looked at each other in shock and confusion.
I walked up to Percy and put an arm on his shoulder, much to the astonishment of the other gods.
"Percy?," I repeated, "What's wrong?" Even I was a little surprised by the soft tone of my voice.
He looked up at me and I saw just how sad he looked. It was not unlike the look he had in the throne room after the war at the reward ceremony for the demigods.
"When I was unconscious from the poison, Apollyon showed up in my dream,"He said, and I stiffened,"But it wasn't like any other dream I had ever experienced. It was so real, and I could feel everything around me. I woke up in a battlefield and everybody that I knew was lying there d-dead. Then he showed up and told me that if I failed, then that was going to become reality. It hurt so much to see you and the others look so lifeless."
His voice was no more than a whisper and only I could hear what he had said. To the other gods, it must have looked like I was just hugging him to comfort him.
"Shhh... It's ok, Percy. You're not going to fail. We'll get that thing out of you and then we'll end Apollyon once and for all. You won't have to worry about what he showed you because it won't happen. I promise," I whispered back. I stroked the back of his head in an attempt to comfort him as best as I could. His tears soaked into my clothing and I could feel it on my shoulder, but if it was for Percy, I didn't mind it one bit. I decided to try something. I focused on our bond. It will be fine, Percy. I sent a flow of calming emotions to soothe him while speaking words into his mind.
Eventually, he calmed down and pulled out of the hug. I felt a little cold the moment we separated, but I pushed down the feeling. Those types of feelings wouldn't get me anywhere right now. Percy gave me a broken smile that didn't quite reach his eyes, but I could see a little bit of the usual flame in those sea green eyes. I could tell that my words had an effect on him.
When he was ready, we turned our attention back to the rest of the council who had a questioning and slightly pitying look in their eyes.
"Care to tell us what that was about, Daughter?" Asked Zeus.
"I think it is best that we don't. He has gone through much more than any other demigod has in just the time that he has been in Tartarus," I said.
"That is not what I meant. I know that he has been through much. I was talking about your little... intimate reaction to his pain."
I felt my face heating up a little and looked at Percy to see if he would answer. He still had a dazed look in his eyes, as if part of him was in the world of the living, while the other was Chaos knows where.
Seeing that he wouldn't answer, I said, "Over the course of our 'adventure', Percy and I have become close." I noticed Apollo and Zeus' eyes narrow slightly at my statement. Just wait until they hear about our bond, I thought.
"You two better not do anything to Percy, or else you will feel my wrath," I threatened. I must have looked scary because they both gulped and their glares lessened slightly. Only a little.
Percy was too caught up in his own thoughts to even notice the hostility they were showing him. It didn't matter though, if they tried anything, then I would be there to stand in their way. If anybody were to look into my thoughts, then they would probably faint in shock at the strength of my thoughts for a male. As much as I hated to admit it, Percy had become a part of my life that would be hard to live without. His outgoing attitude and infectious humor had made Tartarus so much easier to traverse. Granted, walking through Tartarus with anybody, no matter who was better than doing it alone. The sinister feeling still chilled my spine and crawled up my body whenever I thought about it.
I shook off the feeling as a voice pulled me back to the matter at hand.
"Well, I think we have discussed enough of this matter for now. I would definitely like to hear a more in-depth story, but from what I hear, we don't have that type of time. I think the best course of action would be to extract the object from Percy and then meet back here to confer on what we should do moving forward," Poseidon said. He sounded a little worried, probably because his son was going to undergo a procedure that would literally be ripping something out of his soul. To be honest, I was slightly worried as well.
"I think that a good idea," I said. I placed my hand on Percy's arm softly and waited for him to snap back to reality. He looked at me a little confused.
"Did you hear what your father suggested?" I asked and he nodded his head, "Well?"
"I think that's a good idea. I just want to get this stupid thing out of my body and then go say hello to my mom. She's probably worried sick about me," He said.
"Ok, We can start after Percy has a little more time to say hello to the gods he wants to, and then after, he can go and see his mother. Any objections?" Zeus said. The gods shook their heads, so he said, "Then the meeting is adjourned until the key is out of Percy's body."
He and most of the rest of the gods gave us one more nod and flashed away to return to their duties. The few that remained were me, Hestia, Hera, Athena, Poseidon, and... Aphrodite. Uh-oh, this can't be good. Percy seemed to sense this as well and looked uneasily at Aphrodite.
Suddenly, she sprinted towards Percy and tackled him into a hug, kissing him right smack on the lips.
"Percy!" She squealed. Percy let out a muffled yell and tried to fight against her grip, but she had godly strength on her side and held him in the kiss for a couple of seconds before I reacted and charged Aphrodite and shoving her off Percy. Rage and jealousy boiled through my body, so much so that I could barely see straight, let alone think straight.
I ran at Aphrodite and started attacking her with my fists, hitting her in any place that I could. I was about to punch her again when Percy got up and wrapped his arms around me to stop me.
"Let me go!" I yelled, struggling to break out of his grip. I could have used my godly strength, but I didn't want to hurt him.
"Artemis, calm down, it's not that big of a deal. Just let her go and pretend it didn't happen," He said, then whispered in a ton so soft that she had to strain to hear it,"I know you're jealous, which is perfectly understandable, but just know that with this bond, then I can never stray with another woman."
Upon hearing this, I blushed furiously, and I barely managed to conceal it from the others. I didn't even try to deny the fact that I was jealous, because I knew that he could feel it through the bond. I was still new to this relationship and I had never actually jealousy before, but I definitely didn't like the feeling. It felt like my entire body was burning, which was not a pleasant sensation.
"You better get out of here, before I release Artemis on you," Percy addressed Aphrodite. She gained a terrified look before promptly disappearing in a puff of pink perfume. There was silence after that, before a soft laughter broke through it.
"Well, now that that's over with, I think we have a little more to catch up on," Hera said, still chuckling a little. Percy and I awkwardly separated and much to the other gods' amusement, we both had red faces.
"So would you like to tell us of this recent development?" Hestia teased.
Our faces turned even redder and Percy mumbled something under his breath.
'What was that, Percy?" Asked Athena with mirth in her voice.
"Nothing!" He said a little too hastily.
"Cmon, Perce, we know you're hiding something from us. What is it?" Asked Poseidon.
All four gods were looking at us and trying not to laugh at the looks on our faces. I had a feeling that they knew something about this, but were just teasing us for the sake of it. I heard a masculine voice in my head.
Do we tell them? Percy asked in my head.
If we're going to tell anybody, then why not start with them, I replied.
We tuned back to the current conversation and looked into the other gods' questioning gazes.
"You see, when Percy was stabbed by Nico's blade, we left out the detail that the sword was actually poisioned by Nightshade. Percy went into a coma like state and Nyx told me that the only way he could be saved was to give him a piece of my godly essence to neutralize the effects of the poison. I did what I needed to, but apparently, because I gave my godly essence him willingly, then it has now created a soul bond between us that allows us to communicate with each other and feeling the other's emotions and sometimes thoughts," I explained.
The gods were shocked at this, but Athena being Athena, sensed that there was something more.
"There is something that you're not telling us. A big detail that you left out."
"Oh, uh... I might sorta develop romantic feelings for each other over time?" Percy almost squeaked out. The gods stood with their jaws on the ground.
Suddenly, Hestia broke out of it and started laughing loudly, before the others joined in, almost rolling on the floor in laughter. Percy and I looked at each other in confusion. When they had finally stopped laughing, Athena turned to Percy.
"Of course you would somehow managed to enter a relationship with the man hating maiden goddess. Normal was never good enough for you, little brother," She said, still laughing a little.
Percy blushed a little, before saying,"I think we should get this procedure thing over with. No point in dragging it out."
"Ok, but we're going to have a long chat about treating your lady correctly, young man," Hera said, hugging Percy one last time before flashing out. The other gods and I smirked at the look on Percy's face. The rest of the other gods gave Percy a last hug as well, before flashing away one by one, leaving Percy and I together in the throne room.
"That went a little better than I thought it would," Percy said.
"Yeah, I expected Poseidon to blow up on me," I said.
"Now that that's over with, I think it's time we pay Apollo a visit. I don't really want to have to wait too long to get this thing out of my body."
I smiled lightly at him before taking his hand and flashing us to Apollo's palace.
(Line Break)
The procedure took almost two and a half ours, but all went well, so Percy was not in any pain during the process. Apollo had sent me outside so that he could work without any distractions, so I spent the entire time pacing outside the door to the room, waiting for the final results. I had been worried sick about him and had hope that nothing would go wrong.
Finally, when Apollo had finished with Percy, Percy had emerged from the room and I had run to him and checked him over for any injuries. He had just laughed me off and told me that he was fine. I could sense through the bond that he was telling the truth, so I let it slide and asked him about it. He pretty much just said that all he saw was black for two and a half hours.
Apollo emerged from the room, taking off his gloves and throwing them in the trash.
"That wasn't as hard as I expected," He said.
"Thanks, Apollo, not sure what would have happened if you hadn't pulled this out of me. Apollyon would probably just kill me and rip it from my soul," Percy said.
"Hey, no problem, Man! If you ever want me to hook you up with some ladies, feel free to stop by!" He said cheerfully. I felt a rush of protectiveness rush through me and Percy must have felt it through the bond.
"Er, I think I'll be fine for now. I don't need to be hooked up with any ladies at the moment," He said and I glared at him,"Or ever."
"Just saying," Apollo said.
"Apollo! I will not tolerate you tainting the only decent male left on Earth!" I shouted at him. He raised his hands in surrender and muttered something about evil woman under his breath. I gave him one last glare before turning back to Percy.
"Let's go back to the throne room so we can figure out what to do next. Hopefully, Nyx's wards will hold until we can decide on something," I said. The mood turned somber as I mentioned Nyx. Both Percy and I had a new found respect for the primordial and we both knew that she was possibly suffering at the hands of our enemy. I promise you, Nyx. That we will do whatever it takes to save you, I vowed.
I flashed Percy and I to the throne room and walked over to my throne. I felt the rush of power that I had sorely missed down in Tartarus. It felt good to be home, if only for a couple days.
The gods seemed to sense our presence in the throne room and flashed in. Poseidon looked around, most likely for his son and saw him in the middle of the throne room. A wide smile broke out across his face.
"Son! I'm glad you're alright. How are you feeling?" He asked.
Percy shrugged,"I feel fine, just a little empty, but Nyx said that it was to be expected."
Poseidon looked happy to hear that his son would not be the carrier of the most lethal object ever created anymore.
Zeus spoke up with authority in his voice,"Nephew, we are all glad that you are fine, but there are pressing matters at hand that must be discussed. Tell me, what do you think is the best course of action?"
Percy thought about it for a couple seconds before replying,"I don't think that it's worth it to build up forces to defeat him because no matter how strong our army is, it would be almost hopeless to battle against him. The only way that we even have a shot at this, is to somehow activate this key when he nears to send him back to the Void. Otherwise, I don't see another way."
Athena had a thoughtful look in her eyes,"And how do we activate it? The most powerful object in the universe doesn't just come with an instruction manual."
"There has to be some forgotten scroll or book that will tell us something about it. We just have to find it and hope that there is information in there about how to activate it," I piped in,"Now where is this key. Apollo?"
All eyes turned to Apollo as he fumbled around in his pocket for something.
"Ah-ha!" He yelled triumphantly as he pulled something out. He was holding a small paper back with something glowing inside. Slowly, he pulled it out and held it in his hand gingerly. The item in his palm was a cube (Think of the tesseract, from marvel), glowing with so much power that it felt as if the entire universe had been compacted into that one small thing.
"Wow... So much power," Hestia said. I had never seen my aunt at a loss for words before, but this was the closest that it came. Her jaw was so wide open that I could have stuffed an elephant down her throat. Not that I would. I love my aunt.
Many of the gods had a greedy look on their face, unlike Hestia who just looked awed, and I knew that they were thinking about what would happen if they took this power for themselves. Stupid power hungry males. At least Percy wasn't like that. If he was offered even a quarter as much power as this, then he would never accept it.
"Oh stop it! Control yourselves!" I yelled at them, scowling. They all seemed to realize what they had been contemplating and their eyes cast downwards in shame.
"Now, back to what I was saying, we need to have every single person that we can spare searching the forgotten sections of the library for anything on this. We should probably start as soon as possible," I said and Athena hummed in agreement.
"That is a good plan for now. Hopefully, those wards will hold, else we're screwed," She said.
The gods nodded, before sitting in silence once again, nobody speaking a word. I soon grew tired of it.
"Well? What the hell are you waiting for?! Get your asses of those thrones and start searching!" I yelled as fiercely as I could.
And let's just say, I didn't know that it was scientifically possible to move faster than the speed of light.
(End of Chapter 20)
GhostChilli666: Thank you! I have already talked to you about your story, so there's not too much to say anymore. I hope you keep reviewing every chapter. I really love reading your complements and feedback!
L3: Remember that Percy's fatal flaw is loyalty. The moment that he feels he has done something to get his friends killed, all the blame starts piling up on his shoulders. The gods cannot sense where Percy is because Athena and Poseidon have been helping him stay hidden.
SPQR-Alan: Nyx is not dead yet. Maybe she will die, maybe she won't. You're just going to have to read and find out. ;)
Chimera629: Ok, I don't even know where to start. I'm just going to answer a few of the questions that I think are the most relevant to my story.
Why doesn't Artemis recruit more hunters?
A: Artemis was extremely saddened by the death of her hunters. She loved them dearly and it would be hard for her to recruit more without constantly thinking back to the original hunters. Do you really think it would be that easy to replace so many people that you love? Not trying to mean, just saying.
Why don't the survivors teach the new kids?
A: Well, first of all, there are barely any survivors. And second of all, the war has affected everyone deeply. It wouldn't be easy to just start training again and go on as it had never happened when only a fraction of the camp is gone.
How has Percy grown in terms of skills on his two year break from society?
A: Not much really. His main intent on straying from the gods and Olympus was to distance himself from the others and to mourn for the death of everyone that he lived. He didn't grown in power so much as maintain his current level of power. Like I have said in the past, I want this story to be realistic and not have Percy kicking ass every time he faces an enemy.
Well, I think I have answered a some of your questions and I hope that you are satisfied with my answers. If you really want answers to all your other questions, then you're going to have to p.m me.
the guy that loves all gunpla: I'm glad you like it!
Wulfkin17: I'm glad you think so. It's one of my main goals for this story. Realisticness.
A.N: I'm so sorry for the boring chapter this week. I just had to put in all the reactions of the gods when he came home, otherwise it would seem like I am missing out on details. Next chapter will be him going to see his mother and Ashley and probably some action as well.