A/N. Review time!

"Wow, Lol. Too bad Percy can't do anything about it. And there starts the Pertemis! Thanks for coming back, I was wondering where you went. Thanks for another awsome stroy. Hope the next one comes tommorow!" -KryptonWrites

You're welcome. I have granted your wish as well lmao.

"More than decent, I'm really loving what you're putting together here. Like a lot of people I too loved once the Guardian of the Hunt plots until I saw it regurgitated to oblivion and got bored of it. I love this twist.

Personally I don't appreciate much having so many alternations of where in the timeline the chapter is set but I do understand the necessity of it for context sake. and since we're already there I am curious to see Percy meeting Poseidon and Hades' guardians, even if their interaction was brief." -8MexicanJaeger

Thanks man! Yeah, I was a fan until I saw that it was overused and stale. I appreciate you sticking around even though you're not a fan of the alternating structure. I hope you continue to enjoy despite this!

Onto the chapter...

Chapter Eight

Artemis sat next to him. She looked at him and noticed that he had a smile on his face as he gazed out to the sea. She was happy to see him enjoying himself. He had done so much for her, gone through so much for her, it was nice to see him happy with something he wanted to do.

The crescent moon in the sky had never shined so bright before.

It wasn't until long before Percy finally got to see Olympus. After months of no update from the gigantes, the Olympians were getting worried. Zeus had called a meeting to discuss the potential of this threat having been removed and no longer being a threat to them.

Artemis and Percy knew better though. They had their fair share of the gigantes to know that they hadn't just disappeared.

Artemis flashed them to the throne room on Olympus. Artemis instantly went to her throne, growing to her godly height. Percy followed her, sitting down at the foot of her throne. He seemed like an ant in a regular room.

The throne room was made for Gods of high stature, so to be a slightly taller mortal in this room, it felt eldritch. The design of the room itself was beautiful. The white columns, and the dome made of stained glass above them that caught the sunlight beautifully. The thrones were arranged in a U, with a hearth in the center of the U, providing an ambient crackle with the fire. Percy could have sworn that he saw a young girl sitting in the flames, smiling at him.

A flash of light signaled the arrival of another god. Hephaestus and his guardian, Pipaluk. They went to his throne. Like Percy, she sat at the foot of his throne.

The rest of the Council flashed in slowly, their guardians with them. Zeus was of course the last one to flash in, with his guardian Alexandria, looking annoyed. Percy idly wondered if it had anything to do with the hickeys on Zeus's neck—the ones he was trying to hide from Hera.

"Well, now that we are all here." Zeus started, like they weren't waiting on him. When the rest of the council looked at him with annoyance, he continued. "I would like to discuss the possibility that the gigantes have decided against attacking us after all."

Artemis rolled her eyes.

"I haven't seen any activity from them." Dionysus said, pouring himself a drink. Maybe not the best idea, his words were already a tad bit slurred. "But, if I'm being honest, I haven't exactly been keeping a keen eye out." His guardian, Zara, nodded with his words.

"Besides my little… situation with Ephialtes and Otis, I haven't seen any." Ares said. He had a sword on his lap. He was absentmindedly rubbing the cross guard with his finger. His leg was bouncing as he spoke. His guardian, Sade, was polishing a knife with a cloth, but she nodded, confirming his words.

"I've been keeping an eye out while I drive the sun, and I have seen a couple. As well as a prophecy or two about them. I've mainly let Artemis and Percy know about them."

"And you thought to not let the council know about these… prophecies?" Zeus asked.

"No, as they had nothing to do with the council. If they involved you, I would have shared it."

"If you told us, we wouldn't be having this conversation right now."

"Well, we're having it now, aren't we?"

"I think that in the future, should something come up, the council should be informed. Hm?" Athena intervened.

"Fine, whatever." Apollo said, to which Athena gave him a crossed look.

Zeus made a noise of discontemptment but sat back in his throne. He turned to Artemis. "How many gigantes have you come across?"

Artemis turned to Percy. "Two? Ephialtes and Otis?"

"Three. Orion." He corrected.

"Right. I forget he was a gigante. Looked like a really tall human."

Percy nodded.

"Three. My bane as well as Dionysus's." She reported.

Dionysus held up his cup in a salute. "Thank you. I shall bless you with a nice Thasos wine."

"I don't want your wine." Artemis said.

Dionysus shrugged. "You're getting it anyways. Never said you had to drink it."

Artemis rolled her eyes, annoyed by the Wine God's antics. "Anyways. The gigantes have not retreated and are still active. They should be seen as our biggest threat as of now. I move that we move into a state of nigh Total War."

"Denied." Zeus said. "Daughter, you can't possibly expect us to be in war mode all the time. I mean, we still have responsibilities."

"Like sleeping around. Sure." Hera said bitterly.

"Please, let's not turn this into a public argument in front of the council."

Zeus's guardian, Alexandra, looked at each guardian one by one and pointed outside. They each nodded when they saw it.

"Artemis." Percy whispered to his Goddess.

"Yes?" She asked, not looking away from the King and Queen currently going at it, screaming obscenities at each other.

"The Guardians are going outside to have a separate meeting. I'll be back in a couple of minutes."

"Okay."

Percy got up and joined the rest of the Guardians outside the Throne Room. They could still hear Zeus and Hera arguing as the door closed shut. He looked around and saw that they were all waiting for him.

"Now that Perseus is here, we can begin." She said, giving the Guardian of Artemis a pointed look.

"What, I was just letting Artemis know where I was. What's wrong with that?" He asked.

"You don't have to give your charge a status update every five minutes." She said. "You're a big boy."

"I was letting a friend know where I would be. What, are you guys no friends with your charges?"

All of them were silent.

"None of you, really?"

"I mean, Hermes is cool, but he's always working, and so am I." Tangela said. "This is the first time since my creation that I'm able to actually sit down." She proved her point, sitting down. She reached into her traveler's satchel and pulled out a canteen. She took a swig of water before putting it back.

"Athena is always drawing up plans for something. She's alright though." Gary said. "Frankly though, books aren't my thing. I can't read that well. Words get mixed up."

All of the Guardians, including Percy, hummed in agreement.

Dionysus is constantly having parties, I love him." Zara said. "Do you know how many orgies I've been in this week alone?! But I don't think I'd call us friends."

Ignacio, Aphrodite's guardian, fiddled with their shirt. "Aphrodite hates that I have no interest in love. She's constantly hitting on me. And she's constantly messing with people's lives. Hate her. When all of this blows over, I think I'm gonna go to the Fates and ask if I can retire."

"Dude, you have the Goddess of Love hitting on you?! That's a dream come true!" Burne said.

"Not for me. I don't need that stuff man." Ignacio replied. "Besides, it's not like I have anything down there anyway."

"Apollo keeps trying to sleep with me." Lydia said.

"Same with Zeus." Alexandra rolled her eyes. "And then I have to watch over him on all of his escapades." She shivered. "Traumatizing."

"Hera's just a bitch." Ryan said. "Constantly screaming, going back on everything she says, ranting about a 'perfect family' like that even exists."

"Ares scares me. Not because of his violence, but he… he seems to not be in a good place. He'll often zone out, only to snap out of it with a jolt. Maybe a scream or two. He's constantly anxious. He doesn't sleep. I'm worried about him." Sade said.

"Demeter keeps telling me to eat my wheat. Kinda annoying if I'm being honest." Burne said.

"Poseidon spends all of his time in the water. Luckily, he blessed me with the ability to breathe underwater. If he hadn't… Well, I couldn't really protect him, could I?" Hana commented.

"Hephaestus is always in his forge. Nothing really special about it. Seems like he doesn't have the best people skills." Pipaluk said.

"So are me and Artemis the only ones actually being friendly towards each other?" Percy asked. "Seriously?! Me and Artemis?!"

Alexandra shrugged. "It's just a job to us Percy." She said. "We were created for this. This is it."

"Isn't that depressing though? So, when all of this is done, what are y'all going to do? Just get a hut down with the mortals?"

"Aren't we mortals?" Zara asked. "We're all gonna die sooner or later. I'm just gonna live the best life I can until then."

"You, I understand. You're out partying with Dionysus every night. Not my style, but whatever. The rest of you though…" Percy stopped. "If this purpose is all your life is, that's a sad life."

"WE WERE CREATED FOR THIS! We were given one purpose. Protect our charges. Defeat the gigantes. That's all we're gonna do." Alexandra said.

"That's not all there has to be though! You can befriend your charge. You can have fun, enjoy your life! Yeah, you're protecting them, but that doesn't have to consume you."

"Why can't you just let it go?!"

Percy sighed. "Fine, I'll drop it. Whatever." He crossed his arms. "What was this meeting even going to be about anyways?"

Alexandra opened her mouth to speak, but the next words spoken weren't hers.

"GODS OF OLYMPUS! HEAR OUR DECREE! COME OUT OR BE DESTROYED!"

And with the declaration of war announced, the Gigantomachy began.