Lord Perseus: The god of Heroes
AN/: Real... life... sucks. A lot. Now to you this chapter has been made and posted the day after I posted my first one and you are now worshiping me as a god and are going to expect this to be a regular occurrence. WELL THAT'S TOO DAMN BAD! I wrote the first chapter and half of this before I even had a profile. School starts tomorrow (for me) and I'm told that being a sophomore where I go is hell. Several times was I told this. Several. You can see how much I'm looking forward to this but it will interfere with updates. I'm going to try to do once a week, but no promises. Please review! I'm not begging, but if you do, you may get several baked goods. They may be shaped like a circle and they may or may not have something to do with a certain monster on Sesame Street. If you can't figure out what it is then may God have mercy on your soul.
Chapter 2:
Artemis' POV
'Why did I do that?' I thought, mentally questioning my actions as I took my hand from Percy's arm and turned away.
'I am the goddess of maidens! I can't comfort some pigheaded boy. Then again, Percy never was pigheaded… NO! But he looked so cute when he tilted his head… What was that?' I continued to debate with my own feelings as the council wore on.
"Everyone in favor say aye," my father, Zeus, breaking me out of my confusing thoughts and back to reality. I wasn't sure what was happening, so I looked to my brother for guidance. He said aye and then looked at me and, seeing my confusion, gestured for me to say aye as well, guessing correctly that I hadn't been paying attention.
"Aye," I announced, showing my approval for whatever issue we were voting on. The other members of the council agreed with my proclamation, all except for Percy. He was looking at me with that confused expression of his.
Ignoring the feelings it elicited from me, I whispered to him, "You should go with what you think is the right thing," thinking he wasn't sure what to say. He nodded and said his approval, making the decision unanimous.
My father nodded to himself and turned to Percy. "It is decided," he said to the rest of the council. "Perseus-," he began, but Percy quickly interrupted.
"It's just Percy," he sheepishly inserted. I was impressed that his new found power hadn't gone to his head, but it was only a matter of time.
"Percy," my father began again, glowering at the new god, "will stay at Artemis' palace while the daughter of Athena builds him one. Council dismissed!" He and the others popped away leaving Percy and me.
I jumped up at shouted at Percy, "What did he just say?"
He looked at me, puzzled, and nervously said, "That I will stay with you until my palace is built. Weren't you paying attention?"
"I do have my own business to take care of!" I cried, indignantly, trying to hide my embarrassing thoughts. "Now explain why you are not staying with any of the other gods," I continued, my mood now matching my usually calm expression.
He was still nervous, but Percy did his best to answer my question. "I can't stay with Zeus because he would just blast me to Tartarus before we reached his house. I can't stay with my dad, Poseidon, because Zeus says he'll just have me vote with him on every issue and I don't want to create strife. Aphrodite immediately offered, but she had been staring at me and told several times how good I looked, so I figured she would try to get me to sleep with her, but I don't want to. I can't stay with…," I didn't hear him for the next few seconds since I was thinking about how different he was from other guys. Most other guys would do anything for the chance to jump into bed with the goddess of love, yet Percy turned her down.
I refocused on what he was saying and this time I saw pain in his eyes as he said, "I can't stay with Athena because she reminds me of… never mind. I can't stay with…," he continued quickly changing the subject. I held up my hand while he was in mid sentence.
"I get it. Now let's go to my palace," I replied to his questioning look and popped to my front door. I stood there for a while, waiting for him, before I popped back, annoyed. He tensed up, surprised by my arrival, but quickly relaxed.
"Why didn't you follow me?" I ask, deceptively calm.
"Because I don't know how to do what you just did," he replied, equally calm. I sighed with frustration and quickly explained it to him. We arrived equally quickly at my front door. Was about to open it, when he quickly grabbed the knob, opened the door and held it open for me. I stood and turned to look at him, surprised, as no one had ever held a door open for me. I walked inside and he shut the door and followed me. I led him on a short tour of my dwelling until we reached the living quarters.
"This is one of the guest bedrooms, but you can't stay in this one, as it is for my most special guests. You have to stay in one down the hall," I said, readying myself to fight him on the issue since my own brother always complained about it when he stayed over.
Percy merely shrugged and replied, "Okay," and began to walk down the hall to one of the other guest bedrooms.
I was surprised that he didn't argue about it, but I surprised myself more when a, "Wait," escaped from my mouth. "You can stay in this room," I continued as even more rebellious sounds escaped. He turned to look at me, the confused look on his face and the tilt of his head causing even me to have to fight more even more feelings from showing.
"Thank you. I am honored that you would consider me a special guest," Percy said sincerely, looking into my eyes. "Now, I am going to bed," he said, walking to the room. He opened the door and began to walking in, but turned to face me.
"I just want to say thank you for allowing me to stay here and good night," he said turning back around.
I merely replied, "Good night," as Percy shut the door.
Percy's POV
I tried to hold in my returning feelings of anguish, since I didn't want to bother her with it, but that night, when I thought she was asleep, I couldn't hold back the tears. I sat on the side of my bed and cried silently, but for a few silent, pained screams. Suddenly, my door opened, but I barely noticed it. I suddenly felt a someone sit down next to me. I turned to look at who had come to my side and saw it was Artemis. She had a concerned expression on her face and and she was looking at me with worry. I didn't think, I just reacted and encircled her in an embrace I desperately needed. It seemed as if she would pull away, yet something held her in place besides my arms. She very slowly and cautiously hugged me back. She seemed to know that I just needed someone's shoulder to cry on.
She slowly relaxed into it and said, "It's alright. I'm here," in a voice that I could have listened to forever. Now I know what you're thinking. "Are you five years old?" I'm not, it's just that after all Annabeth and I had been through, I thought she felt the same about me as I did about her. To hear her say that even if she did, she couldn't because of her new job, broke something in me. I still wanted her as a friend, but I don't think I'll ever get over it.
Artemis and I feel asleep in the same bed that night (don't be nasty, nothing happened) and when I woke up I was surprised that I felt sad she was gone. I left the room and followed the smell of bacon and eggs to the kitchen. Artemis and Thalia were sitting at the table, deep in discussion, while the rest of hunters made breakfast.
When Thalia noticed me, she stood up slowly and tentatively asked, "Percy? What are you doing here?" As she spoke the rest of the hunters realized a man was among them and quickly drew their bows, fitting an arrow to each. They pointed them at me menacingly.
When Artemis jumped up and stood in front of me, telling them that I was a god and was a guest here until my palace was built, I realized that I was probably the first man to ever see the inside of Artemis' dwelling, besides Apollo.
They all looked at me in shock and, because I was still male, suspicion. Thalia came over and hugged me, saying, "Way to go Percy! You definitely earned it. What does Annabeth think of it?" Thalia had no idea the impact those words had on me.
Artemis' POV
I saw the damage my lieutenant's statement had done. The pain filled Percy's gorgeous, see green eyes. Wait, I thought, Did I just think gorgeous! How can I, the goddess of maidens, do that? How is that even possible?
I quickly shook my head and cleared my mind of the treacherous thought and walked over to where the new god was standing. I put my hand comfortingly on his shoulder and guided him back to his room. My hunters looked at me with disbelief. The fact that I even touched him shocked them all. I opened his door and we went in. I quickly shut it behind us because Percy was beginning to break down. The pain was still fresh and raw for him. I comforted him as before, which was strange for me. This should be a dream come true for me. A maiden breaking a man's heart for her career, like what so many other men had done to women, yet I felt differently because it was Percy.
He had stopped his cries and was merely enjoying the comfort of my embrace, and for some strange reason, i didn't stop. He finally moved away from me and said in a nervous voice, "Thank you for being there for me now and last night. I need that."
I smiled at himand answered, "You're welcome. I was glad to do it." What is wrong with me?
Percy's POV
The rest of the week was awkward for me and Artemis. She avoided me and I avoided her because I didn't want her to kill me. I was trained by the other gods on how to use my new abilities. I have much more control over water, I could beat anyone in a sword fight, change in to absolutely anything I want, and I was to become the new camp counselor for Camp Half-Blood. This may seem like a dingy list, but I do have to keep some of my powers to myself or else they won't be a surprise. I will tell you this though, I had more power than any god but Zeus. For some reason, I could beat my own father whenever we fought using water and I practically mopped the floor with anyone else I faced . The Big Three treated me strangely after that, whispering to themselves every chance they got while occasionally looking at me.
I wasn't to focused on it though, with the very new pain over Annabeth and added to that was something very unexpected. I felt something for Artemis, and it was stronger then what I had ever felt for Annabeth. It was very confusing, so when a week was up and my palace was done, I was glad to have a place to get away from everyone and think.
As I walked out of Artemis' palace, I waved good bye and said, "Thank you for letting me stay here, and thank you again for being there for me." She merely smiled, waved, and mouthed, 'You're Welcome', before I left.
I walked next door, which was quite a ways a way considering the size of these grand buildings. When I made it to the front door of mine, my breath was taken away. It had sea green walls and pillars with what looked like barnacles and shells carved into them and what appeared to be... No way!, I thought as I ran up to the house to get a closer look.
A river of actual sea water was running through the walls. It would go straight one way then it would suddenly twist and turn like a snake. I stood there, watching it for five minutes and it never repeated the same pattern twice. I decided to see the inside of this house of mine and walked to the front door. It was the color of sea foam and had door knobs shaped like a Pegasus that were colored black.
On the door was a note from Annabeth. It read, "Dear Percy, My mom told me what happened after I left the throne room and I want to say sorry for whatever I did, as I'm sure it had something to do with me. On the inside is a gift to help you feel better. Enjoy your new home! Your friend, Annabeth."
I was very hurt that she didn't even know what she had done to make me upset, but I managed to block out the anguish that was building in my chest and go inside. I opened the door and stepped in, but I forgot to close it because I was so shocked.
On every single wall, table, counter, and just about everywhere else, was a picture of the people at camp. There was one of the awesome food fight that happened last summer, there was one of the whole camp together, there was one of each of the cabins with everyone that lived in it standing outside. I could go on for ever, but one thing I really noticed was how much of the ones she had put up of her and me together. It did make the already growing sadness grow even larger since I realized just how long I had thought Annabeth loved me. Then I saw something that made my blood run cold.
There was an entire wall dedicated to Luke.
Pictures of him with friends, pictures of Annabeth, me, and him together, and the thing that was the final straw, pictures of Annabeth and him together. Now I'm normally and easy going, fun loving, forgiving guy, but seeing those pictures, finding out Annabeth didn't even know what she had done, holding in all of my anguish for a full week, and my confusing feelings about Artemis; I snapped.
AN/: I'm going to be evil now and cut off this chapter. Tomorrow is the first day of school, I'm tired, and I need to go to sleep. Please don't be hating on poor me! You should blame the in-tra-net since I've had to redo a good portion of this because it screwed me over about saving this thing. Everyone does need to give a round of applause to Olympian Hero since he had some awesome ideas and has helped me round this out quite a bit. I now have a direction! YEA! Please REVIEW! I need feed back for this. I want to at least sound competent.
