Everlasting Promises - My ending

by hector.vorng

Creds go to starblade176, purely a fanfiction of a fanfiction..

11. Chapter 11

Percy

Percy woke to a sharp pain on his head and face. Then he felt something thumping painfully against his chest. His eyes flew open and saw a woodpecker pounding away on his chest.

"WHAT THE HADES!" Percy roared, sitting up straight as a board. The woodpecker flew off with a screech while Percy wobbled and fell… right into the water. Percy surfaced, spluttering slightly. What. The. Hades. Is going on? Percy thought, completely bemused. He concentrated his thoughts and froze the water. He slowly raised himself up and took note of his surroundings. He was on a river in a part of the Adirondack Park he had never seen before. He then realized the thing he fell off of was a mattress. Then it hit him. The hunters. Stupid hunters, what did I do? Just because I said 'Good Night' to Tracy? Percy thought angrily. Then he realized he shouldn't jump to conclusions so soon, so he decided to walk back to the hunters camp before getting angry. Percy turned to his mattress and forced the water out of it before swinging it onto his back as he followed his sense back to camp. Even without the water, a mattress was still pretty heavy.

Half an hour later, and well past breakfast time, Percy stumbled into the camp, walking past several hunters who cheered and gave each other high-fives. So, my suspicions are correct. Still, I shouldn't yell at the hunters, since that's begging for death from Artemis. Percy thought grumpily. Percy stomped towards his tent, the mattress on his back, making him look like a oversized, white-shelled turtle. When he reached his tent, the first thing he saw was Artemis, Thalia and Tracy standing in front of his door, Artemis with a pissed off look. Then they saw Percy, and their expressions twisted into a mix of shock and amusement.

"Perrrccy! Where have you been? I thought you disappeared! And what happened to your face? Why are you carrying a mattress on your back?" Tracy whined, running over to him and tugging on his jacket.

Percy looked up at Artemis and Thalia, who were looking at him with amused expressions.

"Hello Tracy, good morning. Hope you had a good night's sleep. And about me carrying a mattress, well, it's nothing. I just somehow managed to fall asleep, floating down a river and waking up with a woodpecker pounding away on my chest. And what do you mean 'what happened to my face?'" Percy asked rather grumpily.

Artemis laughed. "Well, here, take a look." She waved her hand a summoned a mirror and handed it to Percy.

Percy looked at Artemis with a odd face. "I didn't know you could summon mirrors, my lady. I thought that was something Aphrodite does."

Artemis blushed at the mention of Aphrodite, which brought back the memory of Percy stating that she looked better than the love goddess. "Any god or goddess can summon mirrors and chairs boy. Now are you going to look or not?" She snapped.

"Sorry my lady." Percy apologized before putting down the mattress and taking the mirror from her hand, careful not to touch her fingers. He looked at his reflection and instantly saw what Artemis meant and why he had woken up to pains on his face. He had cuts and bruise all over it, and his face also had long scratch marks. No doubt from the woodpecker's claws. Percy sighed. He reached down and pulled out his flask of nectar, took a sip and pulled out a chunk of ambrosia, munching on it as he watched his wounds heal in the mirror. Finally, his face returned to its normal, unscathed face. He handed the mirror back to Artemis.

"Thanks. So what is it now, breakfast time?" Percy asked wearily.

Artemis nodded. "Go put your bed back and meet us at the dining table. The hunters are hungry." Artemis said, smiling slightly.

Percy gave a grumble before kicking open his tent door and putting the mattress down onto his bed frame. He quickly walked to the dining table, where Tracy had saved a seat for him. He looked at very cautiously.

"Don't worry Percy, I tested the seat out before you came. It's safe." Tracy said happily.

Percy couldn't help but smile. At least he had one huntress on his side. Thalia couldn't count because even though she was closer than a sister to him, she loved watching him struggle. He sat down, half expecting it do give way, but it didn't. He turned to Tracy.

"Thank you Tracy, that was kind of you. So, what's it going to be for breakfast?" Percy asked, glad that he could finally sit on a chair without something happening.

"Hmmm, how about a big bowl of chicken noodle soup?" Tracy suggested cheerfully. Percy looked at Artemis and the other hunters for confirmation. They nodded. Percy clapped his hands, summoning oversized bowls of soup. Tracy's face split into a large smile as she happily attacked her soup. Artemis, Percy, the hunters all smiled at Tracy. It was impossible not to feel cheerful around her. She seemed to be such a happy and cheerful little girl.

While Percy was eating, he remembered his promise to Thalia to ask Artemis to let her wear her old goth/punk clothing with the chains. He also decided that with everyone listening, Artemis would be more likely to cave in. Hopefully.

"My Lady, I have a… request." Percy started.

Artemis looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Alright. What's that?"

"Well, my request is to let Thalia wear the clothing that she likes. You know, the ones with chains and spikes. Because those chains can be really useful, like the ones I'm wearing right now. Last night, my little fight was completely done using my chains and my hands, and I must admit, it's a very nice way to fight. Good for self-defense, especially against mortals." Percy finished, saying each word carefully.

Artemis had a thoughtful look on her face. "Are you sure it's useful and it's a good idea? "

"If Thalia is willing to learn, yes, it's very useful. Also, she can imbue the chains with a bit of her lightning powers, since she'll obviously be holding them." Percy said.

Artemis seemed to ponder over it. "I'm still rather unwilling to have Thalia wear all black… she should be wearing silver."

"Well, the chains will be silver. She can have silver lining on her shirt and jackets. And what about me? I'm wearing black. And Phoebe wears plenty of red. Christy, Elizabeth, and Diana wear plenty of blue." Percy argued.

"You're different. It's because I can't bear to see you wearing silver, you look ridiculous every time I picture it in my head. The others, well, at least red is a nice colour. And the Trio are wearing light blue, a sky blue, which is peaceful. Black is dark. About Thalia… hmmm, silver lining you say?" Artemis asked.

Artemis pictures me in her head? Wow. That's creepy. Percy thought. Then he realized Artemis had just asked him a question, so he quickly pulled himself together and forced himself to remember what Artemis had asked. "Um, yeah, silver lining. Nothing wrong with it." Percy said.

Artemis continued to ponder over it, and Percy could almost see the two sides fighting with each other. One wanted to say yes, because it was good self-defense, especially against mortal men who had no respect for females. The other wanted to say no, because girls in her hunt should wear silver.

"Fine. I think it's a good idea, so you, Thalia, have my permission,"-At this, Thalia's face lit up and she beamed a smile at Percy-" but I must ask, what about my other hunters? I think they should learn how to use chains too." Artemis said. The hunters instantly started protesting, but Artemis quieted them down.

"Now listen girls, this is actually a good idea. You can't always rely on distance, and Perseus is a excellent close combat expert. If he were making suggestions about ranged combat, well, then I'd obviously consider your opinion. But I really do think this is a good idea. And I certainly prefer this than the 'if' alternative." Artemis said, looking at each of the hunters. The hunters nodded. They completely understood what she meant and decided that it was best to be safe than sorry. However, Percy could tell they were unhappy that he, a boy, had to teach them how to do something. Percy gave a mental sigh. He'd deal with that later.

"About your hunters, well, that's easy. Silver chains on silver clothes and jackets. Would look pretty nice too, come to think of it." Percy said.

"Wait, what? I thought you had to wear a certain type of clothing to have chains on them!" Artemis exclaimed.

Percy grinned. "Er, no, it's just that with Thalia's style, the chains come standard. You can easily add on chains anywhere if you want to."

"So that means Thalia doesn't have to wear black then!" Artemis said indignantly.

"Too late my lady! You already promised!" Thalia said gleefully.

Artemis glared at Percy. Percy met her gaze steadily, giving her a charming smile that he knew would throw her off. It did. Artemis turned her head away, blushing. In an attempt to cover it up, she quickly asked a question.

"Whatever. But how do you propose to get the silver-lined clothes and chains for Thalia and my hunters?" Artemis asked, not meeting Percy's gaze.

Percy smiled. "Good thing Aphrodite owes me a favour, eh?" Percy said, twisting the ring that Aphrodite had given him. "Speaking of which, I gotta return this ring back to her."

Artemis glared at him. "You're asking Aphrodite for help?" Obviously, asking Aphrodite for help galled her badly.

"No, I'm merely…ah, claiming the favour that is owed to me." Percy said, smirking slightly.

"Whatever…" Artemis grumbled, reaching into her pocket for a drachma. Before she could take it out however, there a huge puff of pink smoke and the strong smell of perfume. It was Aphrodite. Again.

"Aphrodite. What are you doing here?" Artemis asked stiffly.

"Hello Dearie, hope you're having a good time so far." Aphrodite said to Tracy, who looked a little nervous. To Artemis, she said "No need to be so angry, I merely require Perseus's services…again." Aphrodite replied.

For some reason, that pissed Artemis off even more. "Perseus is a guardian of the hunt, not some type of for-hire hit man." Artemis said through clenched teeth.

"Yes, but this does relate to Tracy, which is the reason why I asked. Also, Percy is the best candidate for it, no one else can do it." Aphrodite explained, pouting slightly.

Artemis sighed. "Fine. Get on it with it. What is it?"

"Well, I'd be eternally grateful-and always available- to Perseus if he could help persuade Hades to toss Tracy's relatives into the Fields of Punishment." Aphrodite said, throwing Percy a sly look to which he replied by giving her a bored expression. Then it changed to surprise as he registered what she said.

"Wait, what? You want me to go persuade Hades to throw those three fatties into Punishment? And why the hell are they anywhere but Punishment anyways? I mean, that's what they deserve." Percy said.

"I know. I asked Lord Hades where they went this morning, and turns out they went to Elysium. Why? Because Minos convinced the other two. Apparently, Minos said that they arrived with such terrible wounds, internal injuries, death by lack of oxygen, and death by paralysis, he said that they "deserved better" in the after-life. The other two agreed apparently…" Aphrodite said angrily. "Even though I do thank you for giving them such painful endings."

Percy's eyes burst into flames. "Minos? That back-stabbing, treacherous piece of Minotaur dung! Curse him. And why can't Hades reverse the choice?"

"Because Hades doesn't believe me. And he's just too lazy, that cranky, dark, smelly lord of the dead." Aphrodite said. "I would have tried to contact Nico, but Hades doesn't want my "influence" so he's blocked off Iris Messages to Nico for now. That leaves you."

Percy nodded. "My Lady, I request permission to go and convince Hades to knock Minos off as a judge and reverse Minos's decision." Percy said, staring Artemis straight in the eye.

Artemis stared into the green flames and saw the will for justice, for what is right and what they deserve. Another characteristic that she found endearing. Damn you Jackson, stop impressing me. Artemis thought angrily. On the outside, she remained calm and impassive. She nodded her head. "You have my permission. But don't you dare think that this'll weasel you out of your archery lessons. And wilderness training. So far, we've done almost nothing in that matter." Artemis said, always eager for the last word.

Percy bowed his head. "Of course not, my lady." Percy turned to Aphrodite. "Oh and Aphrodite, I suppose I also require a favour."

Aphrodite raised an eyebrow. "Hmmmm, and what's that?" Aphrodite asked, licking her lips.

"Well, you know how yesterday you gave me this outfit with the chains? I think it's very useful, and Artemis has agreed to my preposition that Thalia and the hunters should be outfitted with shirts, jackets, pants, similar to mine. Obviously not as overkill as min, but a few chains you know, enough for self-defense, but too many as to look weird. Except maybe for Thalia, since she's a crazy girl." Percy said.

"Hmmmm." Aphrodite appeared to mull over it. Then she looked at Percy with a seductive smile. "That's a big favour, young godling." Aphrodite said, attempting to throw Percy off balance with her smile. It backfired. Percy returned the smile tenfold, curling his lips into the sexiest, most attractive smile Artemis had ever seen.

"But surely it's not too much to ask for, is it?" Percy said, taking a slight step forward.

Aphrodite stared at him, her face beginning to turn a deep shade of red, speechless for the moment. Artemis was simultaneously amused and furious. Amused because Aphrodite was experiencing what she usually did to guys, but she was also fuming because Percy was giving Aphrodite the smile, not her. And even though she knew that Percy was doing it for her hunters, it did little to calm her down. She started a vow to make archery as hard as possible for Percy, but that thought completely disappeared as she stared at his smile again. Zeus, damn it. Artemis cursed silently. She was finally able to stop staring when Aphrodite recovered herself enough to talk.

"Um… n-no, of course not, I…I'll get started right away." Aphrodite stammered out as she turned to her hunters with a critical eye. Percy's smile turned into a triumphant smirk. Thalia barely held back her snicker. Even her hunters seemed amused, although they were doing quite well at hiding it.

"Alright! Now let's see if you girls like this." Aphrodite said, snapping her fingers, causing a pink cloud explosion and the horribly strong stench of what Percy recognized-from many summers stuck in a camp with the Aphrodite children-as Chanel No. 5. Percy gagged and coughed as the cloud dispersed.

"So, how does everyone feel?" Aphrodite asked excitedly.

Percy looked at the hunters. Many of the hunters actually seemed happy about the change of clothes. Most were wearing all silver, but there were a few exceptions. Phoebe was wearing a silver jacket with several chains on the front and arms of her jacket. She was also wearing a blood-red shirt that had a skeleton with his head rolling around on the ground. Her black camo pants had deep red stripes running up and down the side of her pants. She seemed rather content with her clothes. The trio, Elizabeth, Christy, and Diana were wearing a mix of silver and light blue clothing. All three were wearing silver jackets with striped blue shirts and a mix of silver and blue pants. A couple chains glittered on their jackets and pants. Tracy was happily inspecting her outfit, bouncing up and down with the hyperactive energy of a young child. Instead of a silver jacket, she was wearing a dark blue jacket with a silver shirt. Her chains, instead of being in a straight line like most of the others, her chains were in various shapes, most of them in a heart shape and a rose shape. Percy distinctly saw Artemis wince at them. Then Percy turned his attention to the last exception, which was Thalia.

Thalia was wearing a pitch black shirt with a skeleton being hit by a blue lightning bolt on it. Her black leather jacket was buttoned a little past her throat, her odd band buttons easily observable. Her chains glittered all over her jacket, pants, and black leather boots that were also flat soled for good kicks and fast running. She also had two short chains flashing on each of her shoulders, to Percy, it looked more like decoration, as if her silver tiara wasn't enough to indicate she was the lieutenant. Her black hair was now slightly back to the way her original hair style was, spiky but was still long and hanging around her shoulders. She was wearing blood red lipstick, and her black eyeliner was back, enabling her to give anyone her perfect 'evil eye' look. Silver skull earrings dangled from her ears. As was agreed on, all of her clothes were lined in silver. Thalia smiled. Percy had to admit, the red lipstick made Thalia look slightly scary.

"Now, this is my style." Thalia said, unhooking one of her many chains and swinging it around, causing a whirring sound. "You know Percy, other than our eye colours, it'd be easy to mistake the two of us as siblings."

Percy laughed. "Quite true."

Artemis was staring at Thalia in absolute horror. "You like this style?" Artemis screeched.

"Oh c'mon my lady, don't act surprised, isn't this what I was wearing when I had just joined the Hunt?" Thalia asked cheerfully. Artemis rolled her eyes but didn't say anything, instead, she surveyed her hunters.

"Are you all happy with it?" Artemis asked.

"Yup. I love it." Tracy said, bouncing up and tugging at Artemis's hand. "You should wear one too my lady!" Artemis froze while Percy and Aphrodite looked at each other with evil looks.

"Hmmm, a silver jacket/suit combo, a chain on both sides, silver shirt with a moon on it, black pants with silver vine designs on it? Oh, and throwing knife sheathes over each shoulder like mine?" Percy whispered into Aphrodite's ear quickly.

Aphrodite grinned. "You got it." She snapped her fingers, and before Artemis could react, she was surrounded in a cloud of pink smoke. Artemis reappeared a couple seconds later, coughing and gagging.

"WHAT WAS THAT FOR, APHRODITE?" She yelled. Then she realized that everyone was staring at her. Percy couldn't help but stare either. She looked stunningly beautiful with her silver suit/jacket combo, a form fitting silver shirt that had a full moon design on the front and her black pants that had silvery vine designs twining up and around her legs. Completing the entire outfit were the ominous looking throwing knife sheathes over each shoulder.

Thalia was the first to recover. "Good job my lady, you've finally caught up with the times!" Thalia said cheerily, walking up and giving Artemis a pat on the shoulder.

"What…?" Artemis asked, thoroughly confused. She was also starting to get embarrassed under Percy's steady gaze and began wondering what Aphrodite had done.

"Oh gosh, here" Aphrodite said exasperatedly, summoning a full sized mirror and putting it in front of her. Artemis stared in shock at her image, from the horrible form fitting t-shirt to the knife sheathes over her shoulders. Her first reaction was rejection. But the more she looked, the more she realized that she actually liked this outfit. Besides the t-shirt of course. She cringed at it, before concentrating on the other parts of her outfit. The throwing knives were in a good place, the same as where Perseus's knives were sheathed. The silver suit/jacket wasn't too bad, and she loved the vine designs on her black pants.

"Well, what do you say?" Aphrodite asked with a expectant look on her face. Artemis gave a internal snort. I'd rather break my vow than say 'thank you' to Aphrodite.

"Fine. But don't presume to do that again, and especially you, Perseus. Now get going on your little quest and try to get back here before lunchtime." Artemis said crankily.

"As you wish, my lady." Percy replied, doing his special bow.

"And when you come back, um, can you help train my hunters on fighting with those chains? They don't exactly have much experience with it." Artemis said. Very funny, I refuse to ask a female goddess for help and yet I am perfectly fine on asking Perseus for help…

Before Percy could answer, her hunters exploded into protest. "My Lady, we don't need a boy's help, we can learn how to fight with the chains perfectly well! Even better than what that boy could teach us!" Phoebe said indignantly, her other hunters joining in. Except for Thalia and Tracy. Artemis bit her lip. She knew why her hunters were acting like this. Especially the old ones. The way Orion had so patronizingly instructed her hunters on how to shoot and hunt properly still stung deeply, but Artemis knew that Perseus wasn't like that. She opened her mouth, ready to quiet them down, but Percy held up his hand to stop her.

"I'm quite fine with that my lady, besides, I haven't had too much practice with the chains myself. Actually, I haven't had much practice at all lately." Percy said loudly, his voice easily carrying over the hunter's commotion. The huntresses instantly quieted down when they heard.

Artemis looked at Percy and thought she saw a flicker of understanding. "Alright. Girls, you can go and start practicing with your chains, partner up and all, but try not to break the chains."

"They won't be able to break the chains, while they may be mortal titanium, they're unbreakable. Fireproof and all. Same with yours Perseus." Aphrodite said.

"Oh. Well then don't worry about that. Percy, go finish your business and come right back." Artemis commanded.

Percy bowed and extended his wings, ready to fly. "Wait, hold on a second, Aphrodite, you said you could tell me what Jason did. What did he do?" Thalia asked.

"Wait, Aphrodite, you know also?" Percy asked.

"Of course! Piper's my daughter, how could I not know? Besides, it was sooo cute." Aphrodite said.

"Wait, this involves Piper? What did he do?" Thalia asked in a urgent voice.

"Oh nothing, Jason just, ahem, had it with Pipe-" Aphrodite said a second before Percy clamped his hand around her mouth.

Thalia looked shocked while Aphrodite, after a brief struggle, was content to snuggle up to Percy and began licking and sucking on his fingers. Percy instantly snatched his hand away and leapt backwards.

"Eww, that's disgusting, control yourself will you Aphrodite?" Percy yelped, wiping his hands on his pants. Aphrodite looked at him with a pained look, pouting.

"Why did you have to leave? I was just getting comfortable!" Aphrodite sniffled. She touched her lips. "And damn, that tasted good."

Percy rolled his eyes. "Well I sure as Hades was not comfortable. Sheesh, can't you just leave me alone and let me do my, excuse me, your job? And go find someone else to screw around with." Percy grumbled.

"Whoa, whoa WHOA! Hold on a second! Seaweed Brain, how the hell did you know that Jason had…had it with Piper?" Thalia yelled at him.

Percy's face turned red. "It was completely accidental, I swear on the Styx. I had just called Leo, via Iris Message, to build some automatons for me, and then I decided to call Jason you know, to catch up with the times. Remember, I hadn't talked to any of them for like 5 months right?" Percy said.

Thalia nodded. "Go on. There has to be another reason."

Percy stiffened. "I don't want to talk about it." Percy said.

Thalia glared at him, obviously not getting his discomfort, even though both Artemis and Aphrodite knew why. Percy glared back.

"I wanted to ask Piper whether I had done anything wrong in my relationship with…her." Percy said flatly. "And I just so happened to Iris Message them while they were lying together nearly naked. I'm pretty sure they didn't hear me though."

"Oh. Sorry for asking Percy…" Thalia mumbled. Then her mood changed to a blazing fury. "But you should've told me! I'm his brother and he's TOO YOUNG TO HAVE IT WITH PIPER!" Thalia yelled, the air around her crackling as she stepped closer to Percy.

Percy held up his hands, trying to calm Thalia down. "Whoa Thals, don't get angry at me, why don't you take this up with Jason?"

Thalia glared at Percy, who found it completely unfair that Thalia was angry at him.

"Fine." Thalia growled. She walked over and punched Percy in the chest before turning to Aphrodite. "Get me to Camp Jupiter, will you? I wanna have a talk with my little brother."

"That's not how you talk to a goddess, Hunter." Aphrodite said in a haughty voice.

"Might as well just drop her off at Caldecott Tunnel, the main entrance to the Underworld is in California anyways. Kill two birds with a stone, right? And give her something so she can teleport back here quickly." Percy said, rubbing his chest where Thalia had punched him.

Aphrodite softened instantly. "Alright. Fine. But only for you, hero. Oh, I forgot to mention, you're going to have quite a bit of trouble when you get into Hade's palace." Aphrodite said, giving Percy a sly smile before raising her hand to snap her fingers.

"Wait! What? What do you mean trou-" And then he felt himself disappearing from the Hunter's Camp. He reappeared right in front of the Underworld's mortal entrance: DOA Recording Studios. He was about to push the door open when he felt a heavy weight in his jacket pocket. He reached in and pulled a small, heavy pouch out. It jingled with a healthy supply of drachmas. On it was a note.

You can either give Charon all of it or some of it, it doesn't really matter seeing as you'll always have at least five drachmas available in your pockets at all times.

Aphrodite

P.S. I'm always available! And good luck!

Percy shook his head as he put the pouch and the note back into his pocket. What did she mean by good luck? Was Hades going to kill him when he arrived? Only one way to find out. Percy thought grimly, flipping the hood on the back of his up as he push the door open. It was exactly as he remembered it all those years ago, with Muzak music playing in the background with steel gray walls and carpeting with black furniture. Many souls were sitting around, wandering listlessly. Everyone froze when he came in however, and many flinched backwards. He walked straight to Charon's podium.

"Perseus Jackson. Still not dead, or did you "drown in a bathtub again"?" Charon asked, a hint of a smile on his face.

Percy couldn't help but smile either. It had been a horrible lame excuse but it was the best he could've thought of.

"Nope. Still very much alive, thank you, but I need to talk to Lord Hades. And nice suit by the way, I see you've changed it since last time." Percy commented.

For the first time, Charon's face split into a big smile. "Yes! I must say, I have you to thank for, before, I worked for 1 golden drachma a year. Can you believe that? One drachma a year. Now, it's 5 golden drachmas per hour! 365 days, 56 weeks, 5 golden drachmas an hour! Whoopee!" Charon said excitedly.

Percy grinned. "If I gave you a tip, would you at least take me and some of these dead souls into the underworld?" Percy said, reaching his hand into his pocket.

Charon's eyes glinted. "Well, I'd certainly take you, my dear boy. But for the others, depends on how much the tip is."

Percy pulled the pouch out of his bag and tossed it to Charon. He caught it with a surprised 'oomph' at the weight of it. His eyes widened as he looked inside. "Alright everybody! Free ride to the Underworld! NOW!" Charon barked out excitedly, practically dancing from behind his desk to the front with Percy and many other souls following behind him. Charon opened the elevator and in no time, the elevator had transformed into a huge boat and they were soon at the gates where the judges decided on a soul's fate.

The other souls rushed off and Percy stayed behind to let them go. "Thank you Charon."

"No problem at all, Mister Jackson. Good luck and I hope you come out safely and alive." Charon said before Percy stepped off the boat. Percy calmly walked forward, ignoring the looks the ghosts gave him. Deciding it'd be too much trouble to go through Cerberus, he launched himself into the air, shooting over the gates with ease. Unfortunately, that raised a really loud alarm. Percy ignored that too and flew straight towards Hade's gates. Halfway there, he met the three Furies in mid-flight. He flew past them in a blur as they stared in shock after him, probably surprised that he could fly. He landed in front of Hade's main palace doors; the instant he landed, more than a hundred laser dots appeared on his body. He calmly held his hands up as US Marines carrying RPGs and Grenade Launcher equipped M16s came forward slowly and carefully.

"Lord Hades! Uncle! Open up! I need to talk to you! Or Persephone! Either one!" Percy called out. There was a loud crash and he heard screams and yells, with the occasional moaning. He distinctly heard a female moaning Nico's name, drawing it out like a drunkard.

"Niiicccooooo… Come baaaaack" He heard a female moan loudly. What the Hades? Percy thought. There was another crash and he felt a burst of magic. Then the window at the very top of Hades's palace flew open.

"Perseus! Get up here! I could use your help right now!" Hades yelled.

"What's happening?" Percy yelled back.

"JUST GET UP HERE! YOU'LL SEE!" Hades roared.

The Marines instantly pulled back and motioned to the hidden snipers to stand down. Percy extended his wings and shot up, neatly flying through the window. He looked around and saw a mess. Chairs were overturned, the walls were partly melted by magic, and bunches of flowers and plants were lying all over the place.

"What's hap-" Percy began again, but was interrupted by a yell.

"Father! HELP! She's got through the first barrier! Oh my GODS, heeelllppp!" Nico's voice pierced through the walls, panic clear in his voice.

"Follow me!" Hades commanded before dashing out the door. Percy followed closely. "Care to tell me what's happening?"

"The stupid love goddess Aphrodite has put a spell on my wife Persephone, because I refused to move three souls from Elysium to Punishment. You can't blame me, I can't exactly trust her word you know!" Hades said. "Now I'd like to ask you, what are you doing here in my domain?"

Percy opened his mouth to answer when he was interrupted by a yell just around the corner. "FATHER! HELP! SHE'S GOT ME!" Nico screamed. They rounded the corner to see Persephone crushing Nico, who was frantically trying to struggle out from underneath Persephone, but vines were holding him in place. Persephone had just wrenched Nico's face around to kiss him when Hades snapped his fingers and muttered a word. A hole appeared beneath Nico, and as Nico hung on to the edges of the hole, Persephone and her vines fell, the goddess screaming Nico's name as she fell.

Hades helped his weary and tired son to his feet, giving him a pat on the shoulder as Nico leaned against the wall, breathing heavily. Percy couldn't help but laugh.

"Sooo, Aphrodite's spell was a love spell on Persephone and now she's trying to hit on Nico?" Percy managed to gasp out before surrendering to whoops of laughter.

Nico glared at him. "It's not funny" He snarled. "And who are you anyway?" his hand reaching for his Stygian Iron sword.

"Oh c'mon Zombie Dude, you telling me you don't recognize me?" Percy asked, pulling his hood back.

"Percy?" Nico yelped. He lunged forward, giving Percy a big hug before pulling back. "Where have you been? You more or less disappeared after our last short conversation!" Nico said.

"Well, I've been…around. Not much." Percy said vaguely.

"Bullshit. Even a Titan can lie better than that. What's the truth? C'mon, tell me, I swear on the Styx not to tell anyone." Nico begged.

Percy sighed. "Alright. Well, thing is, I'm a Guardian of the Hunt. Sworn to protect Artemis and her hunters forever." Percy said.

Nico's eyes widened. "To be honest, I'd rather be stuck in the Asphodel Fields than be stuck with those group of rowdy girls." He turned to his father. "Dad, why didn't you ever tell me this?"

Hades shrugged. "I had a feeling Percy would've liked to be alone for a bit. Especially after that little… incident. And I knew you'd know about this sooner or later."

"Yeah, alright, fine, whatever." Nico grumbled. He turned to Percy again. "Sorry about that with her, but can you lend us a hand? We have to get Persephone down long enough for me and my dad to go search for some books that can give us a antidote or at least wake her up." Nico said.

"Yeah, no problem, speaking of which, that's the reason I came down here." Percy said.

"What? Why?" Hades asked.

"Aphrodite sent me to get you to send those three souls to Punishment. And trust me, they deserve it. I saw what they did. They beat up a 9 year old girl who was their relative, and forced her to work like a slave. And the reason why they had such bad injuries was because, um, well, because Aphrodite sent me to "rescue" her daughter." Percy explained.

"Ahhhh, so that's why she took such an interest in these souls. And that's why they had such bad wounds, one fatty came here with a black face." Hades said. "Well, that's no problem, if Aphrodite gets the curse off of Persephone, I'd gladly transfer them to Punishment."

"Wait Father, where's Persephone? She's not usually this quiet, I haven't heard her at all during the time we've spent talking." Nico said.

"Um, she didn't get knocked unconscious when she fell, did she?" Percy asked.

"No no, not possible, I opened up a slide so she would land on her bed all the way down there." Hades said, point towards the ground.

"But you didn't close the slide."

"Oh SHIT!"

Before anyone could move, vines and grass flew around, binding Percy, Nico and even Hades tightly against the wall. Persephone popped out of the hole in the ground, her eyes completely glazed over and filled with artificial lust.

"Hmmmm, I wonder which one I should get?" Persephone said right before leaping at Nico. Nico screamed as he jerked his head to the side as much as he could, causing Persephone to smash her face into the wall.

"That's not nice." Persephone pouted, slapping Nico across the face. This time, the vines wrapped around tightly on Nico's face, wrenching his mouth open. Percy knew he had to act fast. He burst into green flames, burning through the vines in a nanosecond and tackled Persephone, extinguishing his flames as he tackled her to avoid burning her up. The good news was that it allowed Hades to rip himself free and untie Nico. The bad news was that Persephone's lust for Nico appeared to have disappeared, to be replaced by deep lust for Percy.

"Mmmmmm, you're so hot!" Persephone said, reaching for Percy's pants button.

"HADES NO!" Percy yelled, frantically kicking Persephone off and making a dash for the nearest corridor. Nico and Hades both tackled Persephone, holding her by her arms while she struggled, this time moaning Percy's name.

"Try to talk to Aphrodite and get her to at least calm Persephone down!" Hades yelled.

"How? I don't have telepathic powers!" Percy yelled back.

"She's probably listening right now, just try!" Hades grunted, as Persephone struggled even harder.

Percy shrugged and yelled into mid-air." Aphrodite! HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO HELP YOU IF PERSEPHONE IS CRAZY LIKE THIS?"

I'm sorry Perseus, but I can't stop it. I set this as a permanent spell, because I didn't think about calling you for help until it was too late. It'll fade in about half an hour though, so I'll be able to take it off if Hades has kicked Minos off and tossed those three idiots into Punishment. Aphrodite replied to his mind.

"Another half an hour? ARE YOU CRAZY?" Percy yelled. No reply. "Well Lord Hades, Aphrodite said that it'll start to fade in half an hour, she'll be able to take it off by then if Minos is kicked off the judging table and her daughter's three relatives are thrown into Punishment." Percy said.

Hades gritted his teeth and Percy knew what was going on in his head. On one hand, he was one of the Big Three, and his pride forbade him to bow down to another god or goddess's demands. On the other hand, this spell was causing complete and utter chaos.

"C'mon dad, this is enough trouble for a lifetime. At least for me. And I sure as hell don't want to get chased by Persephone for the rest of my life. To be honest, I'd rather be a dandelion." Nico said.

Hades nodded. "Very well, we shall keep my wife under-" CRACK! Both Hades and Nico flew backwards as Persephone punched them square on the jaw before leaping on top of Percy and rubbing her body against his. She began moaning again.

Percy gave a yell and accidentally let loose some of his power. A wave of fire and force slammed into Persephone, lifting her off her feet before crashing into the wall. She fell to the floor, unconscious.

Percy scrambled up and flipped Persephone over, sighing with relief that Persephone was still breathing, just in a comatose state. Hades and Nico bent over her warily.

"Sorry about this Lord Hades, I just lost a bit of control…" Percy mumbled.

"To be honest, I think that's what was needed. Now I'm going to move her to bed and guard her door before she wakes up and starts chasing us again." Hades said, standing up and summoning a skeleton with a snap of his fingers. The skeleton bowed.

"My Lord."

"I will be moving my Queen to her chambers, and I want a platoon of guards to do whatever it takes to stop her from leaving her room if she wakes up. Don't harm her obviously, but stop her from leaving her chambers. Understand?" Hades said.

"At once, my lord."

"Good. Dismissed."

The skeleton bowed and sank through the floor to dutifully carry out Hades command. Hades turned to Persephone, gave her a kiss on the forehead before snapping his fingers, no doubt teleporting her to her chambers.

"Now let's go and kick Minos off the table." Hades said. Percy and Nico both nodded wearily as they followed Hades through his wrecked palace before heading straight to the judging table.

"So tell me how it has been Perce. And how the crap did you get fire powers?" Nico asked.

"Well, after the fiasco and whatnot, Hestia became my patron. I became her champion. When I was still a full demigod, she gave me a share of her flame powers. Even though she's usually peaceful, since I'm her champion, I can use my fire powers for fighting. She increased my flame powers by a lot when I became part immortal. My dad also increased my water powers. I think Poseidon's still rather grumpy that my flame powers are equal to my water powers." Percy said, grinning slightly. It was good to talk to someone who wasn't staring at you like a piece of dog poo or staring at someone you weren't supposed to stare at.

"Damn. And where did you get such cool clothes man? All black and so many chains, this isn't usually your style." Nico said.

Percy shrugged. "I suppose some of Thalia's style must have rubbed off on me. And this was Aphrodite's idea actually, and while I hate to admit it, it was a good idea. These chains are titanium, and very good for defense against mortals." Percy said. "So how's everything going for you Nico?"

"Well, before this, life was rather boring. I got banned from camp because I'm a "necromancer"." Nico growled. "Not that I care about that blasted camp since it's filled with so many dumb campers, but 'necromancer'? Seriously? That shit filled half-brother you got is the most obnoxious and stuck up asshole I've ever met."

Percy smiled. "I'm glad we share the same sentiments. How about Hazel and Frank?"

"I haven't checked up on them. They were rather busy. And Hazel is still having problems with those jewels popping up out whenever she gets nervous. They may no longer be cursed, but having free diamonds sprouting out of the ground isn't exactly a good idea, you know." Nico said.

Percy nodded. "I agree. But at least if people accidentally touch them, they won't be cursed."

"I wish I could've done something about it. But removing her curse was the best I could." Hades said sadly. "Now, to toss Minos off the table, where should we put him? And the relatives?"

"We can boil Minos in cheese fondue for all eternity. Put him in a place very near Daedalus, so if Daedalus has new inventions, he can try it out on Minos first. As for the relatives, well, one of your worst Punishments available, I think that'd suffice." Percy said.

Nico shuddered. "Are you sure? It includes slowly drilling a hole into your brain, leaking your fluid out, putting termites into them, cutting off your knee cap and pouring red fire ants down them, also has the part where they put mini spiders on to your sensitive parts-"

"Enough. I don't need to know the details. But I think that's a good enough punishment for them." Percy said.

"Alright. Here we are." Hades said, walking up to the table where the three were currently judging. He motioned for a group of guards to surround them. The instant Hades walked up, all three judges instantly stood up, bowing.

"Lord Hades, to what do we owe the pleasure of your visit?" One judge asked.

"It's got nothing to do with you George, nor you Thomas. But it's got something to do with Minos here." Hades said, glaring at the third golden-masked judge.

"What did I do?" Minos asked indignantly.

"Three souls came earlier, with a black face, a broken back and a broken neck. You put them into Elysium knowing full well that they had tortured a poor young girl when they were alive. I have come to put them into Punishment, and to knock you, Minos, off the judging table. I believe there have been hundreds of bad souls who deserved Punishment and yet were tossed into Elysium." Hades turned to George and Thomas. "And I expected better from you two." They bowed their heads in shame and submission.

"You-you can't!" Minos yelled as skeleton guards took a firm grip on his arms, yanking his mask off. His terrified face could clearly be seen. "Who's going to replace me then? Where are you taking me? YOU NEED ME!"

"I am the Lord of the Dead, Ruler of the Underworld, I can do what I see fit. And I don't need you, I just need another judge who is worthy of being one. A fair and honest judge. As to where you are going, you're going to boiled in cheese fondue for eternity! Next to Daedalus!" Hades roared. "Now take him away!" The guards dragged a screaming Minos off to his eternal punishment, justice served at last.

"My Lord, we are very sorry that we have not done a better job. Please accept our deepest apologies. But if I may ask, who is going to be our third judge?" George asked.

"Wait." Hades turned to Percy. "I was thinking whether to instate your mother as a judge Jackson. What do you think?"

"What! No! Let my mom rest in peace, I don't want her to sit behind some table and looking at all the nasty things people have done for eternity!" Percy yelped.

Hades shook his head. "I knew you'd say that. But you do realize that your mother is bored out of her mind? She's a fascinating mortal, who seems to have to do something. Now I know why Poseidon took a liking to her. Besides, being a judge gets all the perks. There are break times where they can relax in Jacuzzis, massage chairs, all the comforts. I can also arrange it so that your step father gets the same comforts too. We'll ask her shall we?"

Percy froze. The prospect of meeting his mother's and step dad's shade was scary. "I-I suppose so…"

Hades clicked his fingers and almost instantly, two shades could be seen coming towards them. Percy immediately recognized them as Sally Jackson and Paul Blofis. They were slightly faded, true, but still easily recognizable. Percy's heart lurched as he saw them, final proof that they really were dead and no longer living. Percy stepped forward but both Hades and Nico thrust him backwards, the latter pulling him into the shadows.

"Hey, why can't I say-"

"Quiet Percy! There are some Ancient Laws me and my dad have to follow, why do you think I couldn't meet my mother? I'm a son of Hades, sure, so I have some more freedom, but there are still rules to follow! Imagine, if you could just stroll down here and talk with your parents, then they wouldn't be dead anymore right? I'm sorry Percy, but this is the way it has to be." Nico said urgently.

Percy sighed and then started tearing up when he saw how sad his mom and step dad's face were when they walked up to Hades. He wanted nothing more to go over and comfort them, show them that he was alright, anything to talk to his mom again. But he couldn't. Damn laws. How come the bad guys never follow them? He watched as his mom nodded her head, agreeing to become a judge. Then Hades said something to both of them, which visibly cheered them up. Hades snapped his fingers and Sally was suddenly dressed up in the black robes of a judge with the golden mask. Paul was dressed in a suit, and sat in a comfy chair behind the three judges, as if he were some type of attendant. Both George and Thomas shook hands with Sally and Paul before taking their seats. Hades then clapped his hands, and the Three Furies appeared. They too had a quick talk with Sally and Paul before Hades pointed into Elysium and then pointed to Punishment. The Furies nodded and took off. Hades turned to where Percy and Nico were standing and snapped his fingers, teleporting them to his palace.

"I am sorry that you could not talk to your mother Jackson. But there are some laws I must follow…" Hades said.

Percy nodded dumbly. "So she accepted? What about Paul?"

"Your mother is the first ever female judge. Your step father will act as a unofficial fourth judge. If the three strongly disagree, then Paul will come in and voice his opinion. Other than that, he'll be something like a relief judge and attendant. If one of the judges gets tired, then he'll step in. Both are very happy to know that you are well. And Sally wishes to never see you in the Underworld, since, well, you know what that would mean." Hades said.

"Yeah, I know what she meant. At least I managed to see her one last time right? So have you moved the three fatties into Punishment? You swear on the Styx?" Percy asked.

Hades gritted his teeth but made the oath. "I swear on the River Styx that the three fatties that you and Aphrodite wanted me to move to the Fields of Punishment is currently suffering some of the worst punishments I have." Hades said. Thunder boomed and Percy knew the oath was made.

"Alright Aphrodite, your wish has been granted, now can you remove your stupid spell on Persephone?" Percy yelled into the air. Percy's ring pulsed red as Aphrodite spoke into his mind.

Thank you very much sweetie. The spell should be off of Persephone in about 5 seconds, and remember, I'm always available! Aphrodite said into his mind.

"Well?" Hades asked.

"Aphrodite said that the spell should be off in about 5 seconds…" Percy said. Barely had the words left his mouth when the entire palace shook and Persephone's screams could be heard all over.

"APHRODITE! I WILL KILL YOU FOR THIS!" Persephone screamed.

"Ahhhh, well, I suppose that means the spell has been lifted." Hades sighed. "Well, it looks like I owe you some thanks Jackson. But whatever, take these and crush them, they'll transport you back to the Hunt's camp. Nico, I suggest you, ah, take a walk while I explain the situation to Persephone." Hades said, giving Percy a black pearl. Percy nodded his thanks as Hades teleported himself away.

Percy and Nico shook hands. "Well Nico, if my hunter schedule loosens up, perhaps I'll be able to visit you again."

"Yeah, even though I suggest not too soon, since I think Persephone might turn you into a weed or something if she finds out she tried to hit on you also." Nico said, smirking slightly.

"Haha, very funny Nico. But you are stuck down here and you can't escape her forever. And she chased you far longer than she chased me." At this, Nico's face, if possible, paled. "See you around Nico, and one last favour: Don't tell anyone that I'm still alive and around. I'd love to see their reactions." Percy said, giving Nico a last pat on the back before crushing the pearl in his fist.

"You got it. I'd like to see their reactions too." Was the last thing Percy heard as he felt himself being teleported away. Percy reappeared right outside of the hunters camp. Percy stretched and took a quick look at the sky, expecting it to be very late and probably get yelled at by Artemis. To his surprise, the sun hadn't even reached its peak yet. Or perhaps he was reading it wrong. Ah well, might as well just go and find Artemis. He followed his sense and found Artemis teaching Tracy to shoot a bow. She was doing admirably well for a first time ever shooter. Tracy hadn't nailed a bull's eye so far, but she hit pretty close to it and the other huntresses were gathered around, occasionally giving small tips. Even when Tracy missed, she laughed it off with good humour. Then she drew back and held it there for a long time, with Artemis gently nudging her feet and hands into a certain position. She nodded and Tracy fired, scoring a direct bull's eye. Tracy and the other huntresses cheered while Artemis smiled, giving Tracy a pat on her shoulder.

"Congratulations Tracy. I wish I could shoot like that." Percy said, grinning cheerfully as he stepped into the clearing.

"Hello Percy!" Tracy said cheerfully, walking over and giving Percy a hug, to which he returned cautiously, seeing the hunters glaring at him. Artemis merely nodded.

"You're back early. I expected you to be back well past lunchtime." Artemis said.

"Early? Well, I can't read the sky very well, but I thought I spent a lot of time in the Underworld." Percy replied, giving Tracy a gentle push back towards Artemis.

"Time varies between realms, dear boy. It's not even twelve o'clock here. And thank you for your help, I can finally sleep in peace." Came Aphrodite's voice. She walked into the clearing, wearing no make-up, normal jeans and a clingy white blouse. "So, think I look good now?" Aphrodite asked, arching her hips to the side.

Percy snorted. "Acting like a model doesn't make you look any better than normal. And what are you doing here again?" Percy asked exasperatedly.

"I merely came to thank you for your services and to take my ring back." Aphrodite said in a throaty voice.

"B.S. You could've easily taken the ring back without seeing me personally. Now can you please just leave me alone?" Percy growled, yanking the ring off his finger and tossing it to Aphrodite.

"Well, the other reason is because I need to personally teleport Thalia here, since with your mistresses magic borders, it'd make it riskier to teleport without me being at the destination." Aphrodite pouted. She wave her hand and a pink cloud appeared with a eminently satisfied Thalia stepping out of it. "See you!" Aphrodite called before disappearing herself.

Percy rolled his eyes. "I wonder how Ares puts up with her…" Percy muttered under his breath. "So Thalia, how did it go?"

Thalia grinned. She had a chain in one hand and was twisting it around her hand. "Great. I think I'm beginning to love these chains. Let's just say that I've made a record of how many boys have been sent to the infirmary due to ah, too much energy." Thalia said, giving Percy her evil eye look while hooking her chain back on.

Percy shuddered in spite of himself. "That's…good to hear. So I trust Jason is well?"

Thalia smirked. "Yeah. Not too bad. Let's just say that Jason will have a bit of trouble if he drinks too much water."

Percy winced. "He's your brother, how can you be that mean to him?"

"Exactly. He's my brother, that's why I do it. It's for his own good. Now shut up Percy, before I literally whip your ass." Thalia growled, her hand reaching towards her many chains.

Percy rolled his eyes but he let the subject drop. "So what now my lady?"

"I need to finish teaching Tracy in several other things, and it's quite a while until lunch. Why don't you go and practice on the training dummies? I can assure you that even the normal dummies are harder than the ones you campers used at Camp Half Blood." Artemis said.

Percy did his special bow. "I shall and thank you, my lady." Percy said. Percy walked over to where he knew the hunters kept their training dummies and found several of them already put outside. It'd be fun to see how good their dummies were.

An hour later, piles of shredded canvas, wood chips and straw stuffing was lying all around Percy after he had refined his skills. He was pleasantly surprised to find that his stamina was much better than it was before, but was rather disappointed in the dummies. Sure, the wood was denser than the ones at camp, but they were still no match for automatons. To stop himself from completely destroying all of the hunters dummies, he decided to improve his chain fighting skills. He rummaged around the bin that contained the dummy packets, packets that were very tiny and yet could magically hold 10 dummies in each packet. Most likely gifts from Hephaestus. He rummaged deeper and found bright red packets that looked deadlier than the normal packets. Percy reached down, picked one up and turned to the fighting arena before pulling the tab. There was a bright flash of light and he distinctly heard the clang of metal on metal.

When the light cleared, 5 metal automatons stood in front of him, several holding twin knives and others holding short swords. Percy analyzed them carefully as his body instantly sank into a battle stance, his hands naturally drawing both Riptides out. The automatons seemed to be shiny versions of a human, the legs, arms, head, neck, the entire body looked like a solid metal version of a human. Percy narrowed his eyes, knowing that these automatons were even deadlier than the ones the Amazons had. He was right. The automatons moved forward at a respectable speed, and Percy jerked his swords up to block, then calmly counter-attacked, swiping a automatons head clean off and thrusting another straight through its metal chest. The last three leapt at him, and easily defeated them with simple counter-attacks and sidesteps.

Maybe they aren't so deadly after all. Just faster, but not quite as strong. Or maybe I'm getting better. I hope it's the latter. Seeing it was so easy, Percy decided to train his chain skills on the automatons. At least they moved and could attack semi-intelligently. He reached in and pulled out another red packet, yanking the tab and causing another five automatons to appear. He quickly unhooked a medium chain and held it between his hands like a garrote. As the first automaton leapt forward, swing its sword down in a downward swing, Percy's foot shot up, kicking the automaton's hand with enough force to knock the sword out of its hand. At the same time, he swung the chain around the automaton's neck, with his left hand he caught the other end of the chain, tightened it and swung his arms upward, literally picking the automaton up and swinging it 180 degrees, twisting his body as he did so so that the automaton smashed into the ground in front of Percy with his back now turned to the rest of the automatons. Before any of the automatons could react, Percy unhooked a long chain on his pants and swung it around, entangling themselves around the automatons legs. Percy gave a yank and all automatons crashed to the ground.

As the automatons were still on the ground, their legs tangled up, Percy gave another snap of the chain, causing a automaton to fly into the air. Quick as thought, Percy pulled out Riptide and stabbed his sword clean through the automaton. The automaton fell to the ground with a large hole in its chest. Percy easily defeated the rest of the automatons in a similar fashion: tangling them up with his chains, and finishing them off with his sword. Percy grinned as he stood over the ruins of the automaton. He had found a new fighting style. Besides dual-wielding swords, he could also dual-wield a sword and chain. Damn, that's sweet. Then Percy paused, remembering what Aphrodite had said when she had given the Hunters their chains. She had said they were fireproof. Percy stared at the chain in his left hand and it burst into flames like a flaming whip. This is going to be fun…

Three hours later, a heavily sweating Percy was standing over tons of molten celestial bronze as he faced the last 30 automatons, the ground smoking and burnt black where his swords and chain had touched the ground. His sword and chains both dripped flames, which hissed like acid when it dripped onto the ground. Percy capped Riptide and unhooked a second chain from his pants and set it on fire before rushing the automatons, swinging the chains in smooth and deadly arcs, causing fiery trails to fly around him. Metal limbs flailed and fell as the intense flames melted through the rather poor quality celestial bronze that had been used to build the automatons. When the automatons came within sword distance, Percy dropped both of his chains and pulled out both Riptides in a flash, performing the 360 and easily cutting through the rest of the automatons. Just for the fun of it, he did a flying leap, thrusting his sword straight through the last automatons neck in midair before twisting his sword, decapitating it.

Physically tired though he was, emotionally he felt great. He had learned a completely new fighting style, and had improved his skills greatly with an even wider range of weapons available at his disposal. Percy sighed as he saw just how badly scarred the training arena was. The thick smell of melted metal hung in the air, and large chunks of the ground was very slippery due to the fact that the metal had cooled on the ground. Artemis would kill him if she saw this mess, probably putting it all down to his disgusting man traits, so he quickly bent down and began picking up the pieces of metal and putting them into a pile. Little did he know that he was actually being watched by Artemis and her hunters.

Artemis and her hunters were sitting in the treetops, watching Percy training against the metal automatons at Artemis's urging. As Percy fought against the automatons, Artemis herself was forced to admit that she was impressed with his combat skills, and she knew that her hunters were impressed by it too, though they hid it well. She noticed that he seemed to have two different personalities and also noticed how much his personalities had changed. On the battlefield, he was once a good fighter, but a bit too soft-hearted at times. Now he was a brutal, merciless but swift and quick killing machine. When he was off the battlefield however, he was a cheerful, happy-go-lucky and kind guy. Most of the time. Even though his mood could change in the blink of an eye. She had seen him happy, sad, angry, she had seen him furious, heartbroken, and she had seen him do foolish and yet heroic things. She would have continued thinking but Tracy interrupted her.

"My Lady, I think he's done fighting, and while I would really love to learn how to fight like that, I think I speak for all us when I say I'm getting a bit hungry." Tracy said softly. All of her hunters instantly nodded agreement.

Artemis quickly took a look at the sky and realized it was a bit past their usual lunch time. She gave them all a smile, "Well, you girls go get ready and I"ll ask our cook to hurry up then, shall I?" Artemis said as she leapt down from her tree to land right behind Percy. Percy turned around calmly.

"I take it that you and your hunters are hungry, my lady?" Percy asked, tossing the last chunk of molten metal onto the very large pile that Percy had stacked up.

Artemis frowned at him. "How did you know?"

Percy laughed. "Well, why else would you come and get me?"

Artemis held back a blush as she realized with a slight twinge of shame that almost every time she called on Percy, it was because she had more work for him to do. She struggled to find something to counter it. "Well, maybe it was because I was wondering where you were." Artemis said hastily.

Percy laughed again. "That's an excuse, and a bad one too my lady. You knew perfectly well where I was, you've been watching me fight the automatons for a while, haven't you? And speaking of automatons, what am I supposed to do about this pile of scrap metal?"

This time, Artemis did blush. "How did you know I was watching you? And about the automatons, well, here." Artemis said, snapping her fingers. A silver light engulfed the pile of melted bronze and it disappeared. "I sent it to Hephaestus; he'll have some use for it. Probably make more automatons for us, considering how many you destroyed."Artemis said in reply to Percy's questioning look.

Percy nodded. "Well, remember that I have a sense in my head where I can always track you? I keep part of my mind open to that at all times, and I sensed that you weren't at the archery field after the first couple hours." Percy said smugly.

Artemis grumbled, not used to not having the last word in a conversation. "Whatever. Just get some lunch ready for us. And STALKER!" Artemis snapped, slapping Percy across the face before walking off with a huff.

Percy stared after Artemis with a look of wonder on his face as he rubbed his cheek. He began to realize that he enjoyed pissing Artemis off, her face looked just so cute when it was flushed and so breathtaking when her eyes glowed a deep silver. Percy mentally slapped himself again. He really had to stop thinking about Artemis. As he walked towards the dining area, he stumbled upon three huntresses who were feeding a group of wild stags. Percy froze when he recognized them as the trio. Diana turned around and gave Percy a devilish smile. Uh oh… Diana whistled, and instantly the group of stags that were peacefully eating bits of food from the huntresses hands came charging at him at speeds Percy thought impossible for a animal. Percy turned and bolted, swiftly changing into his liquid form and shooting into the woods. After a bit of distance, Percy shot himself up a tree and reformed, taking deep breathes and massaging his aching muscles. Just when he was relaxing a bit to come down from the tree, something landed on his face, clawing, spitting, snarling and scratching like a monster from Tartarus. Percy crashed onto the forest floor as he reached up and yanked the monster away. His eyes widened when he saw it was a squirrel. A squirrel? Percy thought incredulously. He sent a bolt of flame at the squirrel, causing it to scamper with a squeak.

Percy got up slowly, his face burning. Who knew squirrels could be that aggressive? Percy reached the dining area to find Artemis and her hunters already waiting there. Artemis looked up and opened her mouth to lecture him about keeping people waiting but stopped when she saw Percy's scratched up face and his messy hair that had twigs and leaves in it. She burst into laughter.

"Tsk tsk. Is it really that hard to walk here without tripping over?" Artemis asked after taking several deep breaths to control herself.

Percy's mouth tightened as he briefly considered ratting on the Hunters but decided against it, since he wanted to try to get on their good side.

"Mother Nature hates me. I don't know whether it's because Gaea lost and she's getting revenge on me, but do you know that squirrels are extremely territorial and stags charge like a buffalo on fire?" Percy groaned.

Artemis gave another snort of laughter. "Of course! That's called The Wild, Percy. Of course I do wonder why your clothes are unscathed."

Percy looked down and indeed saw that his clothes were perfectly fine, without a single scratch. "Whatever. Probably some Aphrodite charm. Let's just get on with the lunch so you can torture me some more alright?" Percy grumbled, throwing a glare at Diana, who returned it with a innocent smile.

Artemis smiled again. "That's the spirit. A large bowl of chicken corn chowder and a small sized French baguette should do it Perseus."

Percy bowed his head and snapped his fingers. It seemed to be getting easier and easier for him to summon basic home food like this. The instant Artemis started eating, he instantly dug into his soup, very hungry after his intense training and workout session.

As Artemis ate, she thought back to what she had seen from Percy's fight against her automatons. The metal "dummies" had been her strongest ones, and only the stronger and more skilled of her hunters could take them on. Even Thalia, her best fighter, could take on no more than 15 of the automatons on a good day, using a combination of her lightning powers, bow, spear and her hunting knives. Percy had cut through them with ease, and she knew he could do far more damage had he fought using only his dual-blades. Artemis decided that she would get Percy to teach her hunters in sword fighting and other methods of fighting, especially using the chains, since Percy seemed quite skilled with them. She tapped the side of her bowl to get their attention. Instantly, everyone quieted down and turned to her.

"Listen girls, I know you won't like this, but I've decided that when Percy is taking a break from my archery lessons, he should instruct you in close-combat fighting. Primarily fighting with swords and your newest weapon, the chains." Artemis said. She looked at all of them, using a stern voice. "Do you all understand?"

Artemis could see most of her hunters hated the idea. But they obeyed her as usual. They murmured their agreement while throwing death glares at Percy.

"Perseus, I expect you to teach them well." Artemis said, staring straight into Percy's eyes.

Percy bowed his head. "As you wish. When shall we start?" Percy asking, pushing his empty bowl aside.

"Now." Artemis said, standing up. "I must go to Olympus to ask Hephaestus for more automatons, but I am ordering you to stay here and train my hunters. You understand?"

Percy also stood up. "As you wish, my lady."

"Good." Artemis said. She disappeared in a flash of light.

"Well, let's get started then shall we?" Thalia said, grinning as she swung a chain around her hand. Percy noticed that all the hunters were staring at him as if they were wolves and he was a very fat deer. I have a bad feeling about this… Percy thought glumly.

An hour later, after several "accidents", Percy managed to teach the hunters a few moves and change their footwork a bit despite the fact that they were obviously not listening. Little did he know that they were planning their own large prank to let Percy know that they did not welcome him as a teacher.

"Hey Thalia, Tracy, since you two seem to be doing so much better than us, care to go and get a few more dummies over?" Christy asked.

"Sure, no problem." Thalia said. "C'mon Tracy, might as well show you how the dummies work."

"Alright, now there's one thing I would like you girls to learn is an extremely useful disarming technique." Percy said, completely unsuspecting of what was in store for him.

"Sure. But can I ask you a question first Perseus?" Phoebe asked.

"Of course Phoebe. Ask away." Percy said politely.

"How many arrows can you deflect with your sword without warning?" Phoebe asked innocently.

"Well, it depends on who's firing, where-"

"NOW!" Phoebe yelled. Instantly, all thirteen hunters fired a stream of arrows at Percy, who reacted with impressive speed, cutting down many arrows. However, thirteen expert archers shooting arrows ten times faster than a machine gun was impossible for anyone to block forever, and eventually Percy was overwhelmed. The instant the arrows struck his clothes and skin, they burst into tight strings, wrapping themselves around Percy in a tight grip. The hunters cheered as Percy was completely wrapped up in a oversized cocoon and began rolling him to the nearby lake and dumping him in it. Percy gave a low growl as he began burning his way through. I don't know how much more of this I can take…

And so it went. For the next month, the hunters played increasingly large "pranks" on Percy, while Percy struggled to keep up with his chores, tried to teach the hunters, and keep up with Artemis's archery lessons. He failed the archery lessons miserably. Surprisingly, Artemis had not yelled or lost her patience with Percy, and she seemed to be warming up to him but she hadn't exactly done anything to stop her hunter's pranks. Then again, Artemis never saw the large pranks that the hunters played on Percy, she only caught the small ones, such as tricking Percy to fall into a pit that had been covered by grass, or a trip wire since the hunters were so good at doing the large pranks behind Artemis's back. Tracy did her best to warn Percy, such as coughing, whistling, or making signs, but Percy being Percy, didn't really pick them up. Such as the time when the hunters slingshotted Percy out of the park.

He had been walking back from doing laundry, and just as he was about to walk between two very large trees, Tracy had frantically waved and coughed loudly to stop him from continuing. Unfortunately, Percy's good heart made him walk forward, since Percy's first reaction was Tracy had some minor problem. Then he caught the warning look in Tracy's eyes, but then it was too late. A super-sized sling dropped on top of him, tightly wrapping his arms to his body as several hunters ahead pulled on strings, which in turn pulled Percy into the sling. Then they angled the sling down and let go, shooting him high into the air. Percy managed to burn his way through the tight bonds, but didn't quite fully managed to spread his wings completely before he crashed to earth, breaking several ribs. To add insult to his injury, he had crash landed in a large pile of deer poo. After washing and healing himself in a river, he strongly suspected the hunters had somehow calculated it. Percy managed to keep his cool and stop himself from flooding the entire camp, but it had been getting harder and harder to do. Eventually, Percy snapped.

After a horrible archery lesson which had Artemis wondering on new ways to teach Percy how to shoot, Percy decided to take a break and have a walk in the wilderness in an attempt to clear his mind. It was late afternoon, and there wasn't too much to do other than teaching the hunters, which he did not look forward to. Surprisingly, Artemis agreed.

"Are you sure you want to go alone? You seem to be getting in trouble quite often nowadays." Artemis offered.

While Percy would've loved to have a walk alone with Artemis, he knew the hunters would hate him even more for spending more quality time with their beloved mistress, so he declined.

"No thanks, I'm pretty sure I can handle anything out there. You know, scorch their butts or send them off with a bit of water, you know?" Percy said, walking off before Artemis could say anymore on that subject.

Boy was Percy wrong when he said he could handle himself out there.

Barely had he spent five minutes tramping through the forest, ducking beneath branches and trying to figure out which was north and which way was south, when the animals began attacking him. Hundreds of different types of birds flew in, pecking, scratching, clawing at Percy, even emptying their bowels on top of him. Percy was now impossibly grateful for to Aphrodite for her auto repairing clothes, if it weren't for them, he'd be wearing nothing but rags. Percy gave a growl and batted another bird away before he felt a sting on his cheek. He slapped the mosquito away. Hell, even the bugs were attacking him! Percy set himself on fire and had deep satisfaction watching the insects burn themselves up, but he stopped when a bird fell to the ground, burnt to a charred crisp. Percy knelt down beside it.

"I'm sorry , little birdy. I didn't mean to kill you." Percy whispered.

Percy finally found a river he could follow and walked upstream, hoping for a tall hill or a cliff he could relax on. Just when he was about to get relaxed, he heard a low growl. Percy froze. That didn't sound good. Then there was huge crash and Percy was flattened on the ground, the wind knocked out of him as a massive black bear landed on top of him. Percy gave a yell as he managed to kick the bear off of him, but the bear swung its huge paw before Percy could run, catching him straight in the chest and almost breaking his ribs again as Percy collided painfully with a thick tree trunk. Percy blinked the stars out of his vision, stumbling to his feet and surveying the bear. He noticed that the bear had crazed, blood lust filled eyes. Hades, just my luck, a rabid black bear after me. Percy couldn't kill a major wild animal without Artemis's permission, even though he wasn't exactly on a hunt. Percy decided to run. He turned and ran, but out of nowhere was flung backwards by a huge pair of antlers.

"What the heck!" Percy yelled as a stag burst forth, lowered its head and charged straight at Percy. Percy leapt aside and collided with the black bear. The bear flipped Percy around and pinned him beneath itself, baring its teeth and completely ignoring the stag. Percy decided that the time to be careful was past and let loose a wave of his power. The bear flew backwards, snarling as it crashed through several trees while Percy transformed into liquid form and sped away at top speed, not caring where he went. He found a cave and decide to hide out in it, changing back into normal form to preserve some strength. He listened carefully for any sound of the black bear pursuing him. He heard none. Percy gave a sigh of relief and was deciding whether to continue or go back to camp when he felt several somethings land on his arm. He froze again. Percy turned his eyes into flames, which allowed him near complete night vision. And saw a row of bats on his arms. Now normally, Percy knew that bats were harmless. But after being chased and mauled by a stag and bear, Percy wasn't thinking rationally and his reverted back to his old instincts.

Percy gave a scream and flapped his arms, knocking the bats off. That was a mistake, since it caused the entire flock of bats to fly after him. Percy gave another scream and shot out of the tent, smashing through tree branches and crushing vines underneath his feet as he aimed to get away as far as he could from the flock of creepy bats. Percy finally stopped when his legs couldn't take it anymore, crumpling to his knees. Percy took in deep breathes to calm his heart down. He was bleeding from several cuts and he was dead tired. He decided that it was time to return to camp, since he was getting hungry and the sky was growing darker by the second. He stood up on wobbly legs and did his best to brush himself down. He took a step to go back to camp but stopped. Which direction do I go to get back to camp? Percy wondered. Oh right, follow your senses.

Much later, with the sky fully dark and a worried Artemis waiting for him with her group of considerably less concerned hunters, Percy finally stumbled out of the forest with many half-heal cuts and bruises all over his body after being re-chased by the bear, a group of foxes and pecked at by several flocks of birds. Percy's eyes were smoldering and he had a scowl plastered on his face. Normally, he was a rather laid-back, calm and relaxed type of guy, but he was beginning to get enough of all this nonsense. Artemis gasped when she saw the state Percy was in.

"Oh my…Percy, what did you do to yourself?" Artemis asked. Percy was rather surprised to find genuine worry in her voice.

Percy gritted his teeth and clenched his jaw muscles, not saying anything as he ran his hand through his hair, trying to walk through the hunters to get to his tent and simultaneously ignore the rude things the hunters were saying.

"I bet he got attacked and assaulted by all those animals we ordered to attack him. Men attack women, and men get attacked by animals. If only we could've caught it on tape." A hunter snickered, referring to the whole Hunt. The instant Percy heard it, he lost all self-control.

"ENOUGH!" Percy roared, a wave of fire and force exploding outwards, blowing everyone backwards. "You want to know what happened? Well, all you girls happened! I'm sick and tired of your "pranks", your cruelty and most of all your hatred for me. I'm fed up with all this! You don't like men, well, the same can be said for me also! I don't trust women! I would know since my girlfriend left me after five years. Why? Just because I was gone for five months doing the things Athena ordered me to do so I could date her! You'd think someone like her could wait right? WRONG! And if you really think I was cheating, go ask Thalia. She can confirm that all I did was train with the Amazons non-stop and do that impossible quest." Percy growled harshly. The air around him pulsed with flames as silence enveloped the extremely tense atmosphere. "I'm not leaving since I have two promises holding me here. One is to Artemis and one is to Tracy. But don't " Percy's voice lashed out. "Expect me to be Percy Jackson anymore. From now on, like for like."

With that ominous ending, Percy whirled around and stomped into his tent, slamming the door as he went in.

Everyone stood there, shocked. None of them except for Artemis and Thalia had expected he could be that angry. Even Artemis, who had seen Percy furious to the point where he could've blown Olympus up, was baffled by what had just happened. She turned to glare at her hunters, who bowed their heads in shame and embarrassment, knowing Artemis was going to punish them with a lecture.

"Girls. What did I say about going easier on him? I'm quite sure that ordering all the wild animals to attack him was not going easy on him. What part did I not make clear?" Artemis asked coldly.

"Um…"

"I'm truly ashamed of you girls. Especially the ones that have been "pranking" on Percy. Percy isn't selfish or greedy, he isn't even pompous even though he has every right to be. He risked his life three times to save me, the last time he saved all of you girls. This is how you repay him? And doesn't that make him worthy of your respect?" Artemis continued in the same, cold tone.

Her huntresses flinched. Her tone was even worse than the one she used if a hunter broke her vow. "My Lady, we understand he deserves better, but he's a-"

"A man. Not true. He's not just any normal man, he's a real man and a true hero. But he's far more different than any other man or hero to have ever lived. I now realize my mistake in not telling you earlier that the only reason Percy joined the Hunt is because his lover left him, left him for architecture in Greece and a mortal who could give it to her." Artemis said.

Her hunters gasped at this knowledge since no one outside of Camp Half-Blood and Olympus knew. "Who was she? He just mentioned her now didn't he?" Elizabeth asked.

Artemis nodded. "She was a daughter of Athena, and a brilliant one too. Her name was Annabeth Chase, the Official Architect of Olympus. Also your Lieutenant's best friend." Artemis said, motioning to Thalia. Everyone looked at her.

"Not anymore." Thalia spat. "Percy's my best and closest friend."

Artemis continued. "He joined the Hunt because he came to Olympus and asked Zeus to send him to the Underworld. We all thought it was a terrible idea, Zeus decided to put Percy here as a Guardian. This place was supposed to be a place where Percy could heal, a place to make life worth living. I fully understand why his trust in women must have fallen. And while I admit that I did not treat him so nicely at first, your escapades and various other tortures have not made matters any better. And also, if Zeus sees that this does not work, he may replace Percy with a different man." The hunters shuddered as deep guilt and shame washed over each of their faces in heavy torrents, it was obvious in their faces and eyes. "Now, I'm going to go talk to him so that he'll remain as Percy Jackson and not some cold-blooded Guardian. If he agrees, will you girls promise to treat him like how you treat each other?"

"We promise, Lady Artemis." They all said simultaneously. Artemis saw that they meant it and gave them a small smile before going off into the direction where Percy had went.

Artemis walked up to Percy's door and decided that a serious talk was more important than some useless courtesies. She walked right in and noticed Percy lying on his bed, his right hand seemingly clenched over something. Percy looked up and noticed her, his emotionless face turning into a grimace.

"What now, my lady?" Percy grumbled.

"I'm here to talk." Artemis replied, standing over him.

"I'm not up for it." He said, turning around so that I could no longer see his face.

"That's being disrespectful, Perseus."

"I don't care. I'm back to square one. Nothing to lose right?" Percy grumbled.

Artemis sighed. This was going to take a long time. "You have to. I'm not leaving your tent until we've talked this thoroughly and we've come to a decision."

Percy turned over and looked her right in the eye, his eyes a pale green. "Fine." He grumbled.

"Come on, let's go outside, this place reeks of man smells." Artemis said jokingly. Wrong thing to say at the wrong time.

Percy arched an eyebrow. "Well, that's your problem, you wanted to talk to me, not the other way around. So you'll have to bear with it." Percy said simply.

Artemis gritted her teeth. "Fine. If you want the hard way, then so be it." She clapped her hands and teleported them both outside to a nearby lake. Percy looked around in mild surprise before leaning against a tree.

"Alright then, fire away." Percy said.

"Percy, look, I apologize for the actions of the Hunt and myself. I honestly admit that I actually looked forward to using you as a slave, but that just doesn't seem right after all you've been through. The huntresses have also realized this and they've promised to treat you like their own. Will you come back?" Artemis asked.

"My Lady, you have no idea how devilish and evil they are. I bet they've got horns growing under their hair, and taking into account of what they've done, forgiving is going to take a long time. Being chased and mauled by a super-sized stag and a rabid black bear in one day isn't fun. Neither is being chased by flocks of bats and pecked, slashed at, and pooped on by various birds. Or getting slingshotted out of this park…" Percy grumbled.

Ordinarily, Artemis would have blown Percy up for talking about her hunters like that, but she really had absolutely no idea what they had done to Percy, and therefore couldn't blame him.

"Percy, they've been raised to hate men with a passion. And for good reason too, they just haven't ever met someone like you. Nor do they know you as well as I do. Accepting you takes longer for them along with some explaining Perseus. I'm positive they approve of you, and if they dare try anything else like what just happened, I'll take care of it personally." Artemis said in a pleading tone. Then a thought hit her. To get him back to his old personality, she had to hit the right spots. And she knew where. "Besides, if you don't come back as Perseus Jackson, I won't ever get the chance to whip you up in hand to hand combat" she added slyly.

"What have I got to lose if I don't come back as Percy Jackson? And what the hell do you mean you can beat me in hand to hand combat?" Percy said, perking up a bit.

"You'll lose a family. You'll become depressed. Trust me, I know the Hunters, when they're nice, they're really nice. And besides, you may be a great fighter with weapons, but I bet I can thrash you easily in fist to fist fighting." Artemis said, continuing to poke his pride.

Percy stood up straight. "Are you saying that I'm weaker than you? I'd take you on in a brawl, but I can't hit girls."

Artemis snorted. "That's just a lame excuse you can use to weasel yourself out of when you lose against me."

"'When I lose against you'? Excuse me, but are you implying that I don't stand a chance?" Percy said, the old light coming back into his eyes.

Excellent, gotta hit the metal when it's still red hot. Besides, I can't resist this chance to beat him up. Artemis thought. "Of course. In unarmed combat, I can beat you anywhere, anytime, blindfolded, hands tied behind my back, I'd beat the crap out of you."

"That's some big talk. Can you prove it?" Percy challenged, standing straight, his old personality clearly back.

Artemis smirked. "Of course I can, you have any doubts?"

"Yeah. I doubt you can even make me fall, let alone beat-"Artemis interrupted Percy as she crouched down and swung her legs, sweeping Percy right off his feet. Percy crashed to the ground with a thud.

"You were saying, Jackson?" Artemis asked smugly.

"That was cheating! I wasn't even ready!"

Artemis wanted to point out that in real life, you were hardly ever ready but decided to can it. "You ready now?"

"Yeah, why?"

Artemis jumped into a nearby tree before landing on top of Percy's broad shoulders, smashing her thumb onto a nerve at the base of his neck. Crushing it caused temporary paralysis. Artemis leapt off as Percy tumbled into the lake, frozen. Artemis laughed.

"Not so tough now, are you, hmm? That's what you get when you underestimate the Goddess of the Moon and Hunt, Artemis." She said proudly.

Suddenly, without warning, two large hands shot out of the water and snatched her in, her head below the water before she could even give a scream. Panic instantly overwhelmed Artemis until she heard a deep chuckling sound. Artemis swam deeper and tackled Percy, punching every inch she could hit. When Artemis felt her breath growing short, she surfaced, drawing a deep breath, ready to go back down and beat Percy up. Instead, she got tackled by Percy from behind, causing her to scream as she went deep down into the lake. The scream had cost her a lot of air, so she kicked Percy once before surfacing again, climbing the shore and standing there, dripping wet. Percy surfaced next to her, a big smirk on his face.

"I can't believe you were actually afraid when I pulled you down there. That was hilarious." Percy said, snickering as he calmly shot himself out the lake next to her.

"I'll get revenge on you eventually. Beating the cockiness out of you isn't enough. And make me dry, it may be early spring, but I'm cold!" Artemis said, shivering.

"No problem my lady." Percy said, touching her shoulder and instantly drying her up. Artemis involuntarily shivered again at his touch.

"Still cold?" Percy asked, concern in his voice.

"Um.. Yeah, a bit. Can you go and get a blanket or something?" Artemis said quickly, not wanting to let him know the real reason why she shivered.

"No need. Here." Percy said, extending his wings and wrapping a large wing around her. Artemis was instantly cocooned in a blanket of heat and comfort. Artemis froze. This wasn't what she was expecting, it was bringing her closer to Perseus. In an attempt to get out of his wing without seeming rude, she hooked her foot around his legs and tripped him over. Unfortunately, while Percy fell, she fell with him since his wing was wrapped so tightly around her. Artemis fell onto Percy's chest and she hastily rolled herself off, her face heating up. She found herself in a surprisingly comfortable position, with his left wing wrapped around her like a blanket and her face against his left arm, she was very comfortable and didn't want to move at all.

"What was that for?" Percy asked, careful not to move an inch in case he disturbed Artemis.

"Nothing." Artemis murmured. "Percy, will you come back and join my hunt? P-Please?" Artemis whispered, deciding that this situation deserved a 'please' even though it felt like acid in her mouth.

Percy turned to his left to find a mass of lush auburn hair next to him as Artemis pressed her face against his arm. He felt himself blush.

"Well, if the hunters really do feel bad, then I'll accept their apology. Forgive and forget, right?" Percy said softly.

The instant Percy said that, she felt an immense amount of weight lifted from her shoulders. "Thank you Perseus." Unconsciously, she snuggled up closer to Percy and wrapped his wing tighter around her body, staring at the stars. "You know, if Zoe were alive, she would've accepted you." Artemis said, staring at her favorite constellation, The Hunter.

She felt Percy turn his head to look up at the night sky. "You think?"

Artemis nodded. "Of the constellations you know, do you know the history behind each of them?"

"Um, well, there's Hercules, the stupid, pompous, stuck-up, greedy and rude dude. He used to be my favourite constellation cause he had even worse luck than I did. The Big Bear Thing-"

"It's called Ursa Major, Perseus, not 'The Big Bear Thing'" Artemis said, smiling.

"Alright Moon Beam, Ursa Major. There's Ursa Minor. Your boyfriend, Orion-OOMPH!"

The last part came as Artemis shot straight up and slammed her elbow into Percy's stomach. "Who said he was my boyfriend?" Artemis snarled.

"Well, isn't that why you put him into the sky? So you could stare at him for eternity?" Percy gasped out, clutching his stomach.

Artemis slapped his face, hard. "You stupid mortals! You never know the truth!" For some reason, it burned her that Percy thought she still liked Orion.

"So it's not true? You never loved him?" Percy asked, inwardly flinching at how hopeful he sounded.

Artemis paused. She had no idea why she was telling him, but she was. "I thought I did. That's why I put him into the stars, because I was guilty that I had killed him myself. But I realized many things after I killed him, and among them was that I only loved him for his skills, because he was a excellent hunter and archer. A male who was my match in the things I loved the most. I never liked him for who he was, since he had too many flaws." She flopped down into Percy's wing again and unconsciously wrapped it around herself. "And I learned a lot more after he was dead, like the fact he raped a maiden and tried to seduce my huntresses." Artemis clenched her teeth. "That's why there's a scorpion up there. I put it there to scare him, he never had the guts to take on a scorpion. Especially a pit-scorpion. Don't tell anyone, but I'm actually glad that Apollo killed him. He was just a distraction. He was actually a large reason why I hated men even more. You're the first completely different man that I've met." And completely likeable Artemis thought, but she pushed the thought away.

Percy knew he shouldn't be feeling this, but he felt immensely glad and happy that Artemis never really like Orion all that much and deeply touched that Artemis thought he was a good guy. "Don't worry. I won't say anything. But how do you know that I'm a completely good guy?" Percy asked teasingly.

"Well, tell me one bad thing that you've done in your life."

"Um, killed Amphitrite, and killed Tracy's relatives. Before, I could never kill."

"That's different. What you did was for the greater good, not something bad for absolutely no reason." Artemis said.

"Thank you my lady. That eases my conscience knowing that you approve." Percy said. Artemis chuckled.

They lapsed into a comfortable silence. "Percy." Artemis mumbled.

"Yes my lady?"

"Sing me a song." Artemis murmured, smiling at his reaction.

"What? My Lady, I'm not a singer. Why don't you ask Apollo to get you a music player or something?" Percy said nervously. "Besides, the music I know is pop stuff."

"But you listen to Don McLean."

"How'd you know?" Percy asked, bewildered.

"Thalia told me. Especially a song called 'Vincent'. Quite appropriate right now, don't you think? Sing it for me will you?" Artemis said, giving him a nudge with her face.

"Um… alright my lady. But don't blame me if it sounds bad." Percy said, clearing his throat.

Starry, starry night

Paint your palette blue and gray

Look out on a summer's day

With eyes that know the darkness in my soul

Shadows on the hills….

Artemis was surprised that Percy had a soothing voice. With the combination of his voice, the warmth from his wings, the firmness from his muscles in his arms, and her fight with Percy underwater, Artemis fell asleep.

Percy finally finished the song. Nervously, he asked Artemis for her opinion. "Um, how was it my lady? My Lady?" Percy asked. Percy turned his head and found Artemis with her eyes closed, her chest rising and falling in synch with her deep and even breathing. Percy couldn't help but stare at Artemis, her thick and lush hair, perfect lips and flawless lips, looking so peaceful and beautiful in her sleep. As Percy looked at her, he felt something stir deep inside him.

Percy froze as he realized with a deep shock that the feeling was love. He was in love with Artemis. He, Perseus Jackson, a mere partly immortal demigod had fallen deeply in love with Artemis, Goddess of the Moon, the maiden goddess. Emphasis on maiden. Percy cursed in his mind. He couldn't love her, it'd would bring disaster to both of them. Despite that thought, it was all Percy could do to not kiss her right there and then. He decided to try and wake her up, since he was pretty sure that no matter how sorry the hunters were, they'd rip him apart if they saw Artemis asleep in his left wing.

"My Lady, um, are you alright?" Percy asked, tapping her shoulder. Artemis gave a moan and slapped his hand away. As much as Percy would love to have Artemis stay in his wings, he knew he really had to wake her up. He jerked his wing a bit as he bent over her, shaking her by her shoulder. Artemis gave a growl and her fist came up, punching him square on the nose. Percy fell backwards, clutching his face and giving a low groan.

"Seriously my lady, if waking you up is like that, then I'm not going to wake you up then." Percy groaned.

"Then don't wake me up! I'm comfortable, so let me sleep!" Artemis growled, wrapping Percy's wing tighter around herself and snuggling her face into Percy's arm.

"Look my lady, as much as I love having you sleep on my wing, I don't think this is exactly appropriate is it?" Percy said, blindly groping for a chance to not get too connected to Artemis.

Artemis's eyes flew open and she blushed furiously as she realized that she had fallen asleep in Percy's wing, her face squashed against his left arm. Then she noticed Percy's bleeding nose.

"Percy, what happened to your nose?" Artemis said, her hand reaching forward.

Percy gently pushed her hand aside, his face a burning red. "Well, I was trying to wake you up and you um, didn't want to be woken…" Percy muttered, trailing off at the end.

Artemis blushed again as she realized that she was still lying in Percy's wing. She hastily sat up, even though she really didn't want to leave and pulled Percy up, not looking at his face.

"Um, let's go and tell the hunters that you've decided to come back if they apologize alright?" Artemis murmured, walking ahead.

"As you wish, my lady." Percy said, also blushing.

The instant they arrived at the camp, the hunters sprang out eagerly, almost frantically as they crowded around Percy, begging him to come back as Perseus Jackson.

"Everyone, back!" Artemis barked, glad to have something to distract herself from thinking about her short nap with Percy. The hunters instantly stepped back, silent.

"Percy has agreed to return as long as you girls promise to treat him like your own and, of course, an apology." Artemis said. Each and every one of her hunters apologized, even Thalia.

"I'm sorry Percy that I didn't try to stop the pranks and that I played a pretty major part in it." Thalia murmured. "Please accept my and our apologies."

"So Percy, do you accept? Will you come back to my hunt as Perseus Jackson?" Artemis asked.

Percy looked straight into her eyes and saw the pleading in them.

Percy sighed and nodded. "Alright, I accept. Just one thing." Percy said.

Her hunters instantly asked him what it was. Percy grinned.

"I need help on archery." Percy said.

Her huntresses immediately agreed. "Of course! We'll be glad to help!"

"Alright everyone, it's getting late, so let's eat dinner? Percy? Your choice." Artemis announced, blushing slightly as she turned to Percy.

Percy gave her a crooked smile. "Of course." He led the hunters to the dinner table and clapped his hands, summoning some of his favorite food. Barbecue. Everyone instantly dug in and the hunters willingly sat next to Percy, though Tracy claimed her seat next to Percy as "hers". When everyone finished eating, and everyone was wandering around talking, she was about to tell everyone to go to bed but was interrupted by Phoebe.

"My Lady, before we go to sleep, do we have your permission to do something?" Phoebe asked.

Artemis cocked her head. She had absolutely no idea what it was but she agreed. The hunters all grouped together and Phoebe walked to where Percy was standing. Percy looked a little wary as Phoebe walked towards him. Then Phoebe did something that surprised Percy and Artemis. She hugged Percy.

"Welcome to the Hunt, brother." Phoebe said, pulling out of the hug.

"Um, thank you Phoebe, that was nice and...unexpected." Percy mumbled, rather embarrassed. Artemis almost burst from pride as she watched her hunters swallowing their hatred for men, each going up to Percy and embracing him, welcoming him to the hunt as a brother. Usually it was 'sister' but they now accepted Percy as a brother. It was the highest compliment they could ever give. Tracy literally threw herself onto Percy, giving him a big hug.

"I'm glad you're back Percy. And since you welcomed me in, I don't know what I'm supposed to say." Tracy mumbled, clinging onto Percy's waist tightly.

"Thanks Tracy and that's alright, you don't have to say anything." Percy said, giving Tracy a pat on her head. Tracy hung on a little longer before letting go, allowing Thalia to have her turn.

"Welcome to the Hunt, cousin and brother." Thalia said, grinning cheerfully and slapping Percy's back as she gave him a big, tight hug. "Congratulations on getting to join the most prestigious group on Earth. Love ya Perce." Thalia said, pulling back, her face slightly red.

Percy grinned. "Love you too Thals. Since when-" Percy was interrupted by a loud gasping sound. Everyone whirled towards the direction of the sound and saw a mass of blond hair fading from a disappearing Iris Message.

"Damn bitch, you stalker!" Thalia yelled, pointing The Finger sign at the now-gone Iris Message. The hunters laughed.

"Whoa Thals, calm down, chill." Percy said.

"Humph. Who cares. And what were you saying?" Thalia asked.

"Huh? Oh, I was asking since when did you become so emotional." Percy replied.

Thalia grinned and gave Percy a light punch on the stomach. "Since forever, Seaweed Brain."

Percy rolled his eyes while Artemis smiled. Percy and Thalia's love/hate relationship brother/sister relationship strongly reminded her of her own sibling relationship with Apollo. The difference being that Percy had more guts than Apollo. The smile promptly disappeared, however, when she heard what Thalia was saying.

"It's your turn now my lady!" Thalia said cheerfully, standing in front of the other huntresses.

"What? My turn to do what?" Artemis asked, bemused.

"To welcome Percy to the hunt of course! You have to give him a hug just like what we did!" Phoebe said cheekily. The other huntresses were quick to agree. Both Percy and Artemis were staring at the hunters in shock. Just hours ago, they were anti-Percy, and now they were completely fine with Percy and Artemis hugging each other. They both looked at each other and swallowed nervously, both turning red.

"Um…" Artemis mumbled.

"I, ah, er, don't think it's really necessary, seeing as my lady already welcomed me into the hunt." Percy said hastily. Artemis began nodding her head like a bobble-head doll.

"Oooo, what did you guys do?" Christy asked. Artemis stared at Christy, dumbfounded. Then she gathered her wits.

"Alright, bed time! Now!" Artemis yelled, snapping her fingers and teleporting her hunters into their respective tents. Artemis turned to the very embarrassed Percy.

"We won't speak of what just happened and what happened a hour or so ago." Artemis said, turning red at the memory.

"Yeah, we'll just forget about it alright?"

"Yup. Agreed?"

"Agreed." Percy turned around, his face bright red as he walked back to his tent. Before he could get in and try to fall asleep, Artemis called him again.

"And Percy?" Artemis asked.

Percy turned to find Artemis looking at him in a embarrassed way. "Yes my lady?"

"Thank you. Again." Artemis mumbled before slamming her tent door shut.

Percy shook his head, completely bemused as he finally fell into the first deep sleep he'd had for a long time.

Meanwhile…