Son of Time
Chapter 4
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters nor plot, all rights belong to Rick Riordan.
Her arms were wobbly, legs sore, and she was shaking in pain. Auburn colored bangs stuck to her pale forehead. Her silver parka was covered top to bottom with sweat. Needless to say, Artemis was not having a good day.
Currently, she was holding the weight of the sky. Literally.
Atlas, the general of Kronos' wretched army, had managed to escape his curse as the bearer of the sky and then even tricked her to take it. A quest, led by her lieutenant Zoë Nightshade, had been issued to rescue her.
It was quite embarrassing, if she was to be honest. Her, the mighty goddess of the hunt, needing saving from half-bloods. It also didn't help that one of the questers was a boy, a satyr, but a boy nonetheless.
But currently she wasn't worried about that.
What she was worried about was her two oldest lieutenants.
Zoë and Phoebe were both currently standing their own against Atlas, though she knew it wouldn't last. She couldn't bear to lose either of the two, after all they were her last support beams.
Once he, who's name shall remain unspoken, up and disappeared, Artemis' nearly lost it. She became cold, not allowing anyone to get close to her as that would only cause more pain in the end. Her hate for males had spiked up to obscene levels, going as far as to hurt them just for the simple resemblance of being a male.
The only ones who Artemis had truly allowed to get close to her could be counted on one hand.
There was Hestia, her ever comforting aunt. She had always been the one to keep the family members from going insane, so it was no surprise that she helped Artemis sort through her time of need. Though she never mentioned it, she could tell Hestia felt immense guilt. In her mind, Artemis' pain was her fault as she was the one who suggested the idea of taking care of the him.
Her surrogate daughter and most trusted friend Zoë Nightshade was there for her, of course. She too had been quite close to him so she understood her mistress' pain. In that sense, it had helped quite a bit in reducing the ache of her heart.
Atalanta was also one of the few. Likewise to Zoë, she was one of her oldest huntresses and was similar in the sense that she cared for him.
The last one was surprisingly Phoebe. Though initially Artemis was barely managing to reign in her rage towards the daughter of Ares, she eventually let it go. After all, she couldn't exactly blame her for hating males as that was the mindset of nearly all her huntresses.
She was broken out of her memories by a shrill scream.
"Zoë!" Phoebe screamed in a desperate attempt to warn her friend.
Artemis could only watch, wide-eyed, as Atlas' javelin sailed right towards her beloved lieutenant. Just as it was about to impale Zoë in the chest, where her heart was located, time seemed to stop. No, correction, time didn't stop, the javelin seemed to stop in time.
Everyone on the battlefield paused and just stared wide eyed at the javelin. Even Luke and Thalia, who were fighting a bit of a distance away, stopped mid-fight.
Suddenly, the sound of slow clapping echoed throughout the battlefield, breaking everyone out of their shock. What they observed just caused more confusion.
A tall man, around 6'0 or so, stepped out of the shadows of a wall. He was dressed in black jeans, black t-shirt, showing off his muscular and tanned arms, and a pair of black gloves. He had a pitch black hockey mask covering his face, which seemed to emit darkness. It was as if the hockey mask had a black fog machine instilled into it.
But what was really attention catching about the man-in-black were his eyes.
His eyes, which could be seen through the eye-holes of his hockey mask, were a brilliant golden color. Artemis could've sworn that exact color was attached to a certain memory of hers, though she couldn't quite make out what it was as she was devoured by those eyes. She felt as if she were trying to swim up a waterfall of pure molten gold.
"Amazing performance," His clapping sped up drastically before coming to a stop mid clap. "But I must say, I am quite disappointed in you, Atlas. Stooping so low as to hurt women?" He made a clicking sound with his tongue, "Unbelievable."
"Who are you!?" Atlas demanded, his face a mix of anger and slight anxiousness.
The man, however, just ignored the enraged titan's question. "I believe this earns you some sort of punishment. Perhaps holding the sky for another few millennia would do you well?"
Atlas snarled before charging the man, his fist poised behind his back in a punching position. The man simply allowed his hands to drop down to his side from their clapping position and waited.
Faster than Artemis could blink, she felt a heavy weight, Atlas, knock her from beneath the sky. Though just as fast as that happened, she was caught, with surprising gentleness, by the man in black before she could smash into the ground.
Before she could smack him for touching her, he set her on the ground carefully. Then, he began to walk back towards the wall he came from, his back facing her.
"Wait!" Artemis called out, ignoring Atlas' yells of anger in the background. The man turned his head around to face her. "Who are you?"
She could've sworn in that one moment, his eyes softened just a fraction. "We'll meet again, soon." With that, he turned back and disappeared into the wall.
Author's Note: Well uh.. shortest chapter I've written thus far. Hope you don't mind TOO much though. I was trying to post a new chapter before I get busy cause school starts in 3 days.
Also I'm sorry about changing the plot so much but I felt like it would be better like this. Originally I was gonna have Percy come in at the end of the war with Gaea but had a change of mind. I think it'll be better this way plot wise. Also if you wanted to see Percy's experience in Tartarus, that'll come later on in flashbacks of his.
