Whoa, wait, did you say, my destroyer?" despite the situation I was in I felt like laughing. I would have to use about fifty hands to count out how many people had said that.
"Do you find that funny, Sea Spawn?" Polybotes asked, the gigantes born to defeat my father looked rather angry, but I'm sorry, it just made me laugh. It was so cliché.
"No, no, of course not. I'm just laughing because I thought of a funny joke." I said, but I stopped laughing, and straightened up, allowing an emotionless mask to cover my face as I slid into my battle position. Riptide appeared in my hand with a tug of my gut, and for I second, I swear Polybotes looked taken aback by the three-foot long Celestial Bronze blade.
I spun Riptide, immediately getting use to the extra weight, and glared at Polybotes. His poisonous green eyes were boiling with untamed anger, and he slowly stood up from his throne made of twigs. The trident in his hand boiled with power, and for a second I felt my body seize up, but it was gone quickly.
"Show me, Son of Poseidon." he said, and smiled cockily as I spun Riptide one last time, before running at him. I jumped just before I reached him, and spun in the air, swinging Riptide around so it met the trident with a loud clang!
The impact jarred my arm, and it sent vibrations all throughout my body. I clenched my teeth to stop them from vibrating, and swiftly brought my foot around to kick Polybotes in the face. My kick didn't do anything except make the Giant grunt in anger, and push me away with his trident.
"That's a pretty big fork." I said, and smirked slightly. "Are you over-compensating for something?" I asked, before lunging at him, and meeting his trident with Riptide again. My hands trembled as he pushed down on me, the green stuff on his trident slowly dripping onto my hands and arms, sending pain sky rocketing through me.
"You cannot win, Godling. Gaia has made me to kill your father, who is ten times stronger than you." I hissed as the green stuff burned through my skin, and locked Riptide in between two of the prongs.
"Perhaps, but my father taught me to never give up, and I plan to live by that." I flicked my wrist, making the trident bend to the side, along with Polybotes' wrist. I heard a loud snapping noise, before Polybotes suddenly roared in pain.
He stumbled backwards, still roaring, and I smirked as he tripped over his throne, and fell to the ground. I stepped forward to finish him off, but was stopped when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I automatically turned to kill whatever it was, but I stopped when I saw it was Artemis.
I took Riptide away from her neck, and stepped back, bowing my head in apology.
"We must go, Percy. We have to tell Lord Zeus of our findings." I hated it when Artemis got all logical, but I knew she was right. I knew that Polybotes was only toying with me, I could still feel the power coming off of him, but I also wanted to pummel him for insulting both me and my father.
"Yeah," I slowly looked over at her, and then back at the army. They were seething, roaring and hissing, but none of them moved a muscle. "Let's go." I said, and we jumped over the army, before we took off running as fast as we could.
"Get them!" Polybotes screamed, and the roaring increased as they took off running after us. But they would never catch us, besides Hermes, Artemis and I were the fastest Gods on Olympus, there was no way a bunch of monsters were going to catch us.
We ran with long strides, our steps louder than I had ever heard them. But I couldn't shake the feeling of wanting to go back there, and pummel Polybotes into a bloody pulp. Not just because he had insulted my dad, but because I felt like I needed to. There was something about him that made me want to smash his face in.
I felt something change, something about the air, about a hundred miles away from the monster army. It was like it became fresher, as though the air back there had been old and musty, sort of like it was in Athena's library.
"I think this is far enough." I stopped running with a sigh, and looked behind us to make sure none of the monsters had been able to keep up with us. I looked back over at Artemis, who was also looking behind us, but as she felt my stare she turned to me.
"Gigantes." she breathed, and ran a hand through her hair tiredly. For a second, Artemis didn't look like a thirteen year old girl, she almost seemed older and much more tired. Her vibrant silver eyes turned into a dull gray-silver, and her auburn hair seemed to become lifeless. But as I said, it only lasted a second, before my Artemis came back.
"That one was meant to kill my father." I said, and looked back at where we had come from.
"Which makes me thing Gaia is making one to kill all of us." I stared at Artemis, and I could see in her eyes that she was thinking about the one that would be sent to kill her, well, try and kill her.
"You can't be killed though." I said, and I even felt a little bit of dread rise up in me at the thought. I wouldn't be able to imagine what it would be like if I lost Artemis or my father, Hades, I couldn't imagine what it would be like without all of the Olympians.
"No, but they can send us to Tartaurus or make us fade." Artemis' voice was grave, and she looked up at the moon, which was bright with a silver luminescence. The silver light of the moon seemed to be focused completely on her, and for once, I noticed how beautiful Artemis was. Sure, I spent almost every day with her, but we were always hunting, and I never really cared about looks.
Anyways, her long auburn hair hung loosely around her, the silver streaks in it reflecting the moonlight perfectly. Her sharp features were set in a mask of annoyance, her arched eyebrows furrowed, her silver eyes narrowed, and her pink lips set into a frown. She had her arms crossed over her chest, and her small, lithe, hunter's body seemed to be ready for anything. She turned to me suddenly, and I blushed as I realized I was staring.
"Let's go, shall we?" she asked, and I quickly nodded, hoping she wouldn't notice my blush. If she did she didn't comment on it as she released her Godly form, and disappeared in a bright golden light.
I looked around, feeling like something was watching me, before slowly deciding to turn into my own Godly form, and leaving the deserted place.
I appeared in the Throne Room on Olympus to find that there was only two Gods in there, Artemis and Zeus. I quickly bowed to Zeus, not getting blasted was always the first thing on my mind, even if Gaia was making an army.
"Lord Zeus." I said in greeting, after straightening up. He nodded at me, but otherwise didn't react as he continued staring at his daughter.
"What have you found, Artemis?" he asked, and I looked back over at Artemis, who was looking at me, her silver eyes dark.
"We found that Gaia is indeed making an army, but it seems as though they will be more trouble then we initially thought. Gaia has made a Gigantes to combat Lord Poseidon, and we have come to the conclusion that she is making a Giant to defeat all of us. To take our place in this world." I looked back over at Zeus as she finished, and watched as he leaned back in his throne, scratching his beard thoughtfully.
"What was this Giant like? The one that was suppose to defeat my brother?" he asked, and Artemis looked down at me again.
"He is like the opposite of my father." I said, and Zeus looked down at me. "For a second I almost thought he was Poseidon, but upon further inspection I found that it was, indeed, not my father. This Giant, he...scared me, I could feel his power in the air." I thought back to the first time Riptide had clashed with his trident, I hadn't noticed it in the heat of the moment, but there had been something there, forcing me down.
Zeus nodded again, his electric blue eyes turning a rainy blue as he thought about what our info could mean.
"I shall confer with Athena and together we shall come to a decision, but until then," Zeus looked down at me, his blue eyes flashing with electricity. "Perseus, I want you searching, if you find anymore of the 'Gigantes' then you are to report to me immediately, understood?" I quickly nodded, and Zeus looked away from me again. "You to, Artemis. You are to help him in whatever way you can. This is to be your top priority, nothing comes before this." we both nodded, not daring to speak against the King of Olympus.
Zeus disappeared in a flash, and I slowly looked back at Artemis, who was glaring at the marble floor beneath her. I sighed, and ran a hand through my unruly hair, feeling unbelievably tired. The Olympians never had to sleep, their vast source of power never running out, but us minor Gods did from time to time, perhaps every five to six weeks, and after a day like I had had I really needed some rest.
"I need to get some rest, we'll begin at dawn, okay?" Artemis looked up at me her silver eyes masked, before slowly nodding, and leaning back into her throne. "I'll see you later, Arrow Head." and with that I flashed out of the Throne Room and into my palace.
I appeared right in the middle of it, the moon was shining down on me, its silver glow making the need for light useless, but I still snapped my fingers to light the braziers that ran throughout it.
I looked around, taking in the palace that I hadn't actually been in for almost eight months. It wasn't dirty, Olympus had its own personal made service, but it almost seemed like it was. There was something about it that just felt...off. I looked down at the water surrounding the six by six set of tiles in the middle of the palace. Then I remembered:
The stupid little she-demon had eaten my fish!
Although, I could have sworn she only ate out of the mote surrounding my temple, not from the inside. I decided to ignore it, opting to go to my room and get some sleep instead.
"Percy," a familiar voice said, and I groaned loudly.
"Sleeping, go away." I moaned, and rolled over so I was facing away from her. I vaguely heard Artemis sigh, before I was suddenly sent flying out of my bed. I landed on the ground, and let loose a small string of cuss-words as I slowly blinked my eyes open.
"Great," Artemis said in an overly-cheery voice. "You're up." I grunted, and formed a three-fingered claw over my heart, before pushing outwards in a sign to ward off evil creatures.
"Be gone, evil creature. You are not wanted here!" I exclaimed in a joking voice, and Artemis snorted.
"Just get your lazy butt up, so we can get searching." she snapped, and I sighed loudly, before slowly sitting up. I rubbed my eyes lazily, and slowly looked over at her, feeling exhaustion flood through me as I did so.
"Yeah yeah yeah, whatever you say, M'lady." I groaned, and slowly stood up, feeling my muscles protest as I did so.
Talk about your classic case of Godly soreness.
As soon as I managed to get up, I ended up plopping right back down onto my bed. I rolled my eyes exasperatedly, and stood up once again. I stayed in my spot for a few more seconds, before taking a few hesitant steps forward to where Artemis was.
"What's sleeping like?" she asked, and looked over at my bed with curious gold eyes and a furrowed brow.
"Well, it's like...sleeping, except, you know, better." I said, and stepped through the open door tiredly. Artemis sighed, and roughly pushed me forward by placing her hand on my bare back. I stumbled slightly, before my balance came back to me and I straightened, finally feeling energy rush through my tired body.
"I wonder about you, I really do." I didn't need to look at her to know she was rolling her eyes, but I still smirked, and looked back at her.
"I wonder about you to. I really do. Sometimes I think about how you're suppose to be one of the twin archers, and yet you can't even shoot a bow correctly." I probably shouldn't have said that since Artemis took her archery seriously, but I couldn't resist.
"Is that a challenge?" she asked threateningly, and I shrugged nonchalantly as I walked over to the little island thing in the middle of my palace, and slowly stepped into the water, feeling energy rush through me as soon as my first foot was in.
"It isn't much of a challenge for me to beat you." she sighed loudly, and walked over so she was sitting in the middle of the island, sitting down so she was facing me.
"We'll settle this later, but right now you need to concentrate." she said, and I rolled my eyes. Artemis was such a party-pooper.
"Yes, ma'am." I said in a rather sarcastic matter, and I slowly closed my eyes, and that's all I did. Nothing else happened, nothing, not a thing. I frowned deeply, and allowed my forehead to crinkle as I concentrated. Nothing...nothing...and still nothing. Not even a glimmer of the usual map I saw.
I pulled my legs out of the water, and put my hands to my temples as I concentrated, I felt a small amount of power rush over me, but otherwise nothing happened. I breathed in a very deep breath, and made myself calm down. Perhaps I was just to excited about finding something?
"I-I can't- it's not working." I stuttered, just as surprised as Artemis looked.
"What do you mean it's not working? How can it not be working?" she asked, and I opened my eyes to see her brow furrowed in confusion. How wasn't it working? Never, not once in my life, had my powers not worked. They had worked since the day I was born, Hades, back when I was born my powers were a little uncontrollable.
"I-I don't know?" I asked more than stated as I buried my head in my hands, and shook my head tiredly. Because, how was I suppose to know? This had never happened to me before, not once, and it scared me almost as much as Polybotes' sheer amount of power did.
"Do any of your other powers work?" I looked up then, increasing my sense, hoping that, that power worked, but my hope wasn't enough as nothing changed.
"Say something." I commanded, but continued staring straight ahead.
"Do they work?" she asked, and I sighed when her voice sounded exactly as it had before, not at all louder. I groaned in frustration, and scratched my head angrily.
"No, no they don't." I looked over at her, and was slightly surprised when I saw worry in her silvery eyes.
"Why do you think that is?" she asked, and I shrugged tiredly. How was I suppose to know?
But then I remembered, last night, when I was fighting Polybotes...
"His trident," I whispered, and met Artemis' eyes for a second longer, before looking down at my hands, which were completely fine. Not a scratch on them, not even a mark. But I could have sworn the stuff on his trident had gotten onto me.
"What?"
"His trident," I said, and looked up at Artemis. "There was poison on it, and it got onto me. Maybe it had some kind of thing that weakened my powers." it was the only thing that explained it, the green stuff had looked like poison. And the pain when it had dripped onto my had been immense. It felt like I was being dipped into a pit of Greek Fire.
I looked up at Artemis, and saw she actually seemed to be contemplating it. It was the only thing that made sense, so what could she say against it?
"Alright, say this poison can weaken your powers, how are we gonna find out how to get your powers back?" I felt myself deflate as she said that, and I sighed once again. Why did she always have to have such hard questions to answer?
"I'm the God of Tracking, not wisdom, go ask Athena if you want your questions answered." Artemis sighed tiredly, and stood up.
"Sadly, my sister cannot help in this situation." I stared at her for a second, before slowly following her lead and standing up also. "We must pay a visit to someone who is an expert on all things medicine." I followed her as she began walking, but it took me a few seconds to realize just who she was referring to.
Apollo.
I followed her to Apollo's palace, feeling annoyed that we had to ask him for help. I really didn't have any problems with Apollo, but I prided myself in never having to ask him for help unless absolutely necessary.
"Well, this should be fun." I said as we reached the golden palace that belonged to my dear cousin. Once again, absolutely no problems with Apollo.
Artemis snorted, and glared as she waited for Apollo to let us in. See, a God couldn't enter another God's domain without permission, and fortunately-or unfortunately- this also included their temples/palaces/everything-else-that-belonged-to-that-God.
"Percy, Artie!" Apollo's voice resounded through our ears, and I felt my pride step down a couple of steps. "What brings you two Hunters here?" he asked, and I almost groaned as Artemis stated our reason.
"We need help, brother. Let us in." she growled, and judging by her expression she didn't like asking Apollo for help just as much as I did. Although, her reasons were probably completely different.
"Since when does my little sister, need help?" he asked, and next to me Artemis slapped her forehead exasperatedly.
"Apollo, for the last time, I am the older one. How many times do I need to te-." Apollo cut her off, probably already knowing what she was going to say since he had received the speech millions of times.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever, sis. Now, come on in, and let Apollo take care of all your problems."
For some reason that last sentence sent shivers down my spine.
So, what'd ya think? I personally didn't like this chapter, I felt like it was rushed, but whatever. I'll probably re-write it later.
To Fish321- there will be romance, probably Pertemis, but it won't be till almost the end of the story, and it'll probably only be a kiss before Percy goes MIA. Oh, and I'm glad you liked the wolf interaction, I just ended up adding that cuz I didn't know how to start the chapter.
And, I'm sorry this wasn't out earlier, this piece of shit internet that we have decided not to make itself known until 1 AM. Although, I was really lazy today and I didn't have this chapter written anyways, so I should probably thank the internet for cutting out, but whatever.
Loved it, hated it, your choice, just tell me in a review!
-The Produca