After Dante's introduction the two groups of leaders slipped into an awkward silence, the Hunters of Orion staring expectantly at the others while the Hunters of Artemis and campers exchanged wary glances to one another. It was, unsurprisingly, Chiron who spoke up to break the silence extending between them. He took a hesitant step forward and raised his hands, palms outward, in a gesture of peace. "Hello. Welcome to Camp Jupiter, my name is Chiron. I am the head counsellor for the Greek demigod camp."

"We've heard of you." Leonard said curtly. His arms were crossed tightly over his chest, scowling at the centaur.

"Now, now, Leonard." Dante said chidingly, a cruel little smile playing at his lips. "Let's not start things off being rude, plenty of time for that later."

"Watch it." Thalia snarled, a hand going to her sword. She already could barely stand the sight of the Hunters of Orion. Their red garb was easily reminiscent of the armor that the Giant wore, the reminder infuriating in the extreme. The Hunters of Artemis moved ever closer, bows at the ready and long knives drawn as they sensed a conflict looming closer.

An arrow arced up from the woods and buried itself directly in front of the line of Artemis's Hunters, halting their advance. "Now, I would recommend calming yourselves." Dante said smoothly, nodding to the main force of the silver Hunters. "Otherwise something rather unfortunate might happen."

It was almost as soon as the words had left Dante's lips that a silver arrow came streaking out from Artemis's Hunters. The shot had been aimed directly for Dante's throat, though it never reached its intended target. Zain stepped forward before the arrow had even been shot and intercepted the arrow, the barbed head lodging itself in his throat rather than Dante's. He staggered back one step and shook his head. Dante glanced curiously to his comrade, one eyebrow arched curiously. A small cheer went up from the silver Hunters at the sight of blood pouring down one of the red Hunters' throat. But their cheer was short lived. Zain reached up and grabbed the arrow's silver shaft and slowly pulled it out of his throat, the fabric of his lower mask going with the arrow. A collective gasp of shock went up from both the Hunters and the leaders of the two camps.

"What in Hades…" Thalia said in a low voice. It was clear to what she spoke about. Though the upper side of Zain's face was unmarred and untouched, everything beneath the bridge of his nose was an atrocity. Chunks of flesh were missing from his jaw and, beneath the blood which had slowed to a near stop, several long scars ran up and down the length of his throat.

Zain inspected the arrow he had pulled from his throat, bits of flesh still clinging to the arrow, and then tossed it aside without another thought. His expression remained bored and neutral throughout the entire ordeal, never once showing pain or anything of the like. Dante waited for the arrow to hit the ground before turning his attention back to Chiron and the others. Behind him the Hunters of Orion had drawn their various weapons and were looking expectantly towards the Hunters of Artemis, almost as though waiting for an order to attack. "Now, that wasn't very nice." Dante said coldly, glaring at Artemis.

The goddess raised her chin and stared down the bridge of her nose at the red Hunter. "It was deserved." She said with equal ice in her voice. "I hope that you learned-."

"Moving on." Dante said, cutting off the goddess mid-sentence. There was a collection of gasps and furious muttering from the Hunters of Artemis and they began to move forward again. "If you really want to do this, fine." Dante said softly, his hands fluttering down to the chakrams at his side.

For a moment it looked as though bloodshed was unavoidable. The Hunters of Artemis had their bows drawn and aimed directly at the Hunters of Orion. The red Hunters had their weapons in hand and were looking hungrily at the silver Hunters, almost begging them to start the confrontation. Just when the proverbial fire was about to begin, a piercing whistle rang out from the trees that the red Hunters had appeared from. For the first time since the meeting had begun the male Hunters tore their gaze away from the females. With looks of loathing and disgust, they slowly lowered their weapons and returned them to their various holsters.

"Well, that was certainly anticlimactic." Dante said with a sour expression, his chakrams hanging by his side once more. He crossed his arms and glanced back to the red Hunters assembled behind him. "Calm you lot, calm."

"You must understand your position." Artemis said, drawing the conversation back to the issue as she saw it. "The only immortal hunters allowed to exist in this world are myself and my hunters. You, you are an abomination."

"I am sure that is our position as you see it." Dante countered, smirking. "But there are two sides to every argument."

"You will speak to Lady Artemis with respect!" One of the silver hunters snapped from the newly arrived ranks.

"I'll speak to her and anyone like I want to." Dante sneered, his grin deliberately antagonizing. He tapped one finger against the side of one chakram and raised one eyebrow. "But you are more than welcome to try and stop me, pardon, us."

"Please, let's not get distracted from the reason you called this meeting." Chiron said, eager to avoid any bloodshed that he saw as unnecessary. "Please, all of you, let us be civil. At least for now. We have more pressing adversaries than one another."

"Tell that to them, we aren't the one who came here with the intention of killing us." Leonard scoffed. He waited for one of the Hunters to dispute the claim and smiled when no argument came forth.

"Yes, well, these are dangerous times." Chiron, ever the diplomat, said smoothly. "One can never be too certain. You must understand how it sounded. Orion has long been a very dangerous nemesis to both of the demigod camps. The fact that you came here under his name, claiming to be his Hunters, it was only wise for us to prepare ourselves for a fight."

"You should always be ready for a fight." Dante said fairly, nodding in acceptance of the explanation. "I'll give you that. So, you asked what we are here for?"

"Please, I am sure that an explanation will speed along these talks." Chiron nodded.

"And it may very well save your life." Artemis added coldly.

A muscle worked in Dante's jaw as he obviously worked hard at remaining calm. He inhaled a deep breath and slowly exhaled it, his fingertips fluttering at his side. "We are here, at Orion's order, to assist you in the battle against Tartarus and his Corrupted. No matter what you may think of us, and I have a pretty good idea none of it is good, we are demigods as well. From what we have seen you could use all the help you can get."

"And what is it you want in return?" Artemis demanded, addressing a question that had popped into the heads of all those assembled.

"We don't want anything." Dante said, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "Rhea made us swear that we demand that we have a place at the camps if we ever want to leave the Hunt-."

"You are not part of the Hunt!" One silver Hunter screeched indignantly.

"But other than that we really don't have any demands." Dante shrugged, ignoring the outburst. "If you don't fulfill that one request, well, first off you are terrible hypocrites and secondly, we are going to fight the Corrupted anyways. Lots of fun. But it would be unfortunate if the camps mistook us for Corrupted and killed one of us. That would not end very well, for anyone. In fact it might very well turn into a three way battle."

"Is that a threat?" Chiron asked, his voice decidedly neutral.

"No, more along the lines of predicting the future." Dante's smile widened slightly. "Look, we aren't asking for much. Food and water since we would be fighting alongside you. Somewhere to sleep out of the woods would be nice too. We aren't as well equipped as your pretty little silver starlings over there."

"What did you call us?" Violet demanded, her hair curiously changing colors from a light blue to a fiery red in an instant.

"Ooh, temper, temper." Dante said loftily. He spread his arms wide and dropped his mocking grin. "There it is. You asked what we wanted, there it is. Plain as day. After we are done taking care of the Corrupted, well, we can see how things go after that."

"You have a deal." Chiron said after a moment's pause.

"You have no right to make such an accord!" Artemis said, silver light flaring up around her in anger.

"Despite your personal vendetta, these demigods have done nothing wrong." Chiron said firmly. He clopped forward several steps and extended one hairy hand towards Dante. "And they are right, we are in grave need of more fighters. The last battle proved that to us."

Shaking the proffered hand, Dante glanced to Leonard who nodded slightly. "Pleasure doing business with you." Dante said, quickly releasing the limb. "So, where would you have us stay?"

"In truth, I think that it may be best for you to be as far from the Hunters of Artemis as you possibly can." Chiron said, glancing over his shoulder at the absolutely enraged female hunters. "Otherwise I fear that bloodshed may very well be unavoidable. Tell me, do you remember the symbols that appeared over each of your heads?"

"If you are about to suggest that we stay in the cabins with our so-called 'siblings' I am going to stop you right there." Dante said decisively. "We have no desire to associate with any of them. Although they are allowed to make their own choices, the others generally have the same feelings."

"I suppose that such an idea was wishful thinking." Chiron admitted with a sigh. "There is a cabin on the other side of the camp, a few blocks beyond the mess hall, it is currently uninhabited. If you so wish, you can claim that one. Be warned, you are bordering both the Hermes and Mercury cabins. Things may… go missing."

"That's enough." Artemis said forcefully, her voice loud enough to cause a slight ache in the eardrums of the demigods. "Chiron, whatever the reason, I cannot allow these atrocities to step foot into the camp." The silver Hunters had moved forward and were now barring the path into the camp. Bows had been drawn and blades readied, the determined stare of the Hunters speaking volumes.

"Well. That's as far as diplomacy get us boys." Dante said, chakrams in hand and at the ready. He glanced to Chiron and inclined his head slightly. "I thank you for your kindness, it is rare in this world. If there are any of us left, we will gladly take you up on that offer of the cabin. For now though, you may very well want to get out of the way. Unless you want to join them. Or us, if you would like. God knows dealing with those silver starlings may very well get annoying."

"If you call us that one more time I am going to rip your tongue from your mouth." Violet threatened, an arrow aimed directly at Dante. "While you are still alive."

"Ooh, I am so down for that." Lydia said with a wild grin. "I would love to see you choke on your own blood. And your red armor won't even stain!"

Chiron stood resolutely between the two groups of Hunters, his hands held up in a gesture of peace. "Please, there is no need for this." He said pleadingly. "We are already at war with the forces of Tartarus, there is no reason for us to further weaken ourselves."

Artemis had opened her mouth to speak when several of her Hunters gave sudden cries of surprise. For a moment it looked like it was going to be the spark that ignited the inferno, but the source of the surprise quickly appeared at the front lines in the form of a very young girl with dark hair. She squeezed between Thalia and Artemis without a care in the world, her little legs pumping furiously as they ran towards the Hunters of Orion. "Zaaaaain!" She squealed, pure delight evident in her voice.

The blonde haired, emaciated demigod began to frantically pat himself down for something the second the little girl had pushed between the silver Hunters. Clearly understanding his sudden concern, Leonard ripped the sleeve off of his armor and cut it length ways so that it was a passable replacement for the mask that had been ripped away by the arrow. "Here, Zain." Leonard said, offering the red cloth to the blood-covered demigod.

Zain shot him a look filled with gratitude and quickly tied it around the lower half of his face, covering the scars and chunks of missing flesh. Just in time as it happened. He had just finished the knot when the little demigod leapt into the air and wrapped her arms around Zain's midsection. His arms went around her head and a lone tear escaped before he could wipe it away. He glanced pleadingly back to the group of red demigods and one of them stepped forward, placing a hand on Zain's shoulder and nodding. "Cloe." He croaked, his voice raspy and unused. "I missed you so much."

"You left!" She said, her little fists beginning to punch at him. "You left me! You promised you wouldn't! You left!"

"I'm… sorry." He said, his voice unsteady. "But…I had to go."

"I'm sorry!" An out of breath Clarissa LaRue said, coming to a skidding halt beside the Hunters of Artemis. "We were at the pegasi when she suddenly froze and then bolted. For a six year old the kid can move."

"Cloe, do you know this young man?" Chiron asked gently, his hand on her shoulder.

"Zain." She hiccupped, pausing from the sobbing. "H-he's my big brother."

This revelation was apparently not news to the red hunters, though they seemed unsure of what to make of the family reunion. The Hunters of Artemis however, seemed stunned. Cloe wiped her nose and eyes on Zain's pants and turned back to Chiron, her hand firmly crushing Zain's. She spied Butch and her face lit up. "Butchy!" She exclaimed delightedly. "Can I take Zain to see the horsies?!"

"Butchy?" Violet asked, arching one eyebrow and looking to her little brother for an explanation.

"Look, she has called me it from day one." He said grumpily, "You try telling a six year old not to do something. It doesn't work, and she is among the worst of them."

"Cloe, come back here." Clarissa called warily, glaring at the red hunters. "You didn't finish feeding the pegasi and you know how they get when they think they didn't get fed enough. They might not let you pet them again.

"Come on, Zain!" Cloe said, tugging on her brother's hand and pulling him along.

Almost of their own accord, Zain's legs moved and followed after his little sister. He glanced back questioningly to Dante who shrugged in response, unsure of how to respond to this unexpected development. The Hunters of Artemis parted as Cloe approached them, Zain watching them warily. He picked up Cloe and wrapped his arms around her protectively, the little girl giggling madly and climbing up to sit on his shoulders instead. He held on to her legs to steady her and slowly moved through the ranks of the Hunters, glancing from side to side. "My lady?" Thalia asked uncertainly, watching Zain move further into the camp.

For the first time since Thalia had begun to serve the goddess, Artemis seemed genuinely perplexed. "I suppose that the choice has been made for us." Artemis mused, half-annoyed and half-amused. "By a little one of no more than six."

So, my readers, it is question time. Would any of you be interested in a story regarding the Hunters of Orion and the Hunters of Artemis? A standalone story. Please, let me know.

Cheers, Hallowed