Everlasting Promises - My ending

by hector.vorng

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

13. Chapter 13

Artemis

Artemis was sleeping peacefully when her hunters woke her up. Before, she would have woken instantly to see what they wanted, in case they were injured, or they were under attack, or just needed some help. But now, with Percy as an official and approved member and Guardian of the Hunt, she slacked off, telling her hunters to rouse Percy first before trying to wake her up. Unfortunately, it didn't work out quite as well as she had hoped. Percy was a heavy and deep sleeper, so even with Thalia pounding on the door and cursing at him, it took forever to wake him up, let alone get him out of bed. Strangely, whenever she, Artemis, called him or knocked on his door, he'd wake up instantly. True, his hair looked like a rat had nested in it, but that was much better than literally breaking down his door and yanking him out of bed. As it was, Artemis felt strangely touched that Percy reacted to her at once, but it came with a downside: Her hunters would usually just wake her up to get Percy out of bed. Such was the case right now.

"My Lady! C'mon, we know you're awake, we need your help!" A voice she recognized as Thalia came through the door, followed by annoyingly insistent tapping.

"Gah, leave me alone for a couple more minutes. Let me sleep." Artemis mumbled back, rolling around and stuffing her head into a pillow in an attempt to block out the knocking. For a second, there was complete silence and Artemis gave a grateful sigh before falling back asleep. Then there came a loud bang and her whole tent shook as Phoebe through her entire body against the door.

"My lady, Percy's in trouble!" Thalia yelled, pounding on the door even harder. Instantly, without a second's thought, Artemis shot out of her bed and ran to the door, flinging it wide open.

"What? Where is he? What's happened? What- Why are you all laughing?" Artemis asked, utterly bemused. Practically all of her hunters were doubled over laughing, several of them were wiping tears from their eyes as they shrieked with laughter.

"Oh my gods my lady I think we know how to get you up now," Thalia gasped out "What's happened to you? Where has the man-hating Artemis gone? Have you softened? Has Percy softened you?" Thalia managed to say before surrendering to whoops of laughter.

Artemis felt her face heating up. "That's not true. I only responded so quickly because I-and you girls-consider him as part of the hunt. If anyone else were in trouble, I'd also get up immediately. So what you just said is nonsense." Artemis finished with an air of finality.

The hunters had recovered themselves enough to stand still, though many of them were still grinning from ear to ear.

"Whatever you say, my lady. But we weren't lying, Percy is in trouble." Thalia said, carefully keeping her voice clear of any emotion and closely watching Artemis's reaction. For a split-second, Thalia saw fear and worry flash through her eyes before it was replaced with an indifferent look.

"Really? Well, it mustn't be very serious, considering this whole camp is still in one place and you girls had the time to have fun waking me up." Artemis said grumpily, keeping an indifferent mask on her face even though on the inside she was slightly worried.

Really Artemis? You're still trying to deny it? When are you going to realize Percy is perfect for you? Thalia thought, although not too loudly, since she didn't know whether Artemis could read her mind or not. "Yup. He's in trouble. Because we're going to wake him up." Thalia said.

Artemis frowned. "How is he in trouble then? And how does this include me?"

"Well, today we decided to wake him up with a prank. We haven't pranked him in ages. And besides, it'll be funny. We just need you to unlock his door because it burns our hand if we try to. And it melts any pick we put in there." Elizabeth said, a crafty look on her face.

Artemis sighed. "Very well. I suppose I'd like to see what you girls are going to do to him anyway. But you could've just asked me to unlock his door, instead of saying he's in trouble when he really isn't in trouble." Artemis said, walking towards Percy's tent.

"But he is in trouble. He's in trouble with us. And anyways, we just found the perfect way to wake you up." Tracy said cheerfully, giving Artemis a sly look.

Artemis stopped in front of Percy's tent and looked at Tracy with surprise on her face. "You support this prank too?" Artemis asked. Before Percy had become a approved member of the hunt, Tracy had always argued with the other girls and even foiled many of their pranks.

Tracy smiled. Was there ever a time she never smiled? "That's true my lady, but like what Elizabeth said, we haven't had a fun prank on him since forever. And this is really funny."

Artemis shrugged. She could never say no to a fun prank on Percy. It was just too good to pass. Reaching out, she put her hand onto the doorknob and sent a pulse of silver fire into it, intending to melt it. The doorknob glowed before returning to normal. Artemis frowned. Every door she had tried it on had melted instantly, even Hermes own doorknob had melted when she had gone to beat him up for flirting with one of her hunters. She tried it again, this time sending a blast of silver fire into it. Still the same result.

"Percy is a fire user and water user after all. Why don't you just try to open it without doing anything fancy?" Thalia asked.

Artemis was doubtful but she put her hand on the doorknob and turned. A soft green flame glowed around her hand and the door clicked open.

"Awww, isn't that nice, Percy only lets you open the door, no one else." Tracy whispered in a soft singsong voice.

Artemis struggled to hold back a blush and hastily searched for an excuse. "Nonsense. That's because he'd know I'd beat him up if he locked me out of his tent. Now what are you girls going to do?"

"First of all, we need to make sure he's fully clothed, or at least make sure he has pants on." Thalia said, motioning to several hunters as she silently crept forward.

"Well, we certainly know he sleeps shirtless now." Thalia said, waving her hand at Percy's muscular, toned, and lean arms after shooting Artemis a sly glance.

"Are you sure this is a good idea? How do you know he's not going to wake?" Artemis hissed quietly.

Thalia gave a light snort. "I've known him long enough to know he sleeps like a rock. Has to, remember when we moved his entire mattress onto the river? He never so much as gave a grumble."

"Yeah, he really is a heavy sleeper. Anyways, I can see his pants poking out a bit here so he's only half-naked. Let's get started before he really does wake up." Phoebe said.

Thalia nodded and motioned to the other hunters, where they promptly began pulling back Percy's covers. Meanwhile, Artemis curiously watched several hunters reach into their backpacks, coming out with a couple cans of whipped cream and one brought out a large feather. Thalia had quietly unhooked several of her long chains and began to chain them together, creating an ultra-long chain.

"Alright. All set. And I must say, he's got one hot body." Christy said quietly.

Artemis glared at her.

Christy laughed. "Relax my lady, I have absolutely no intention of not being a maiden. Besides, Percy is reserved for yo- er, he's off limits I mean." Christy said, her face turning slightly red as she nearly let slip the fact that Percy was reserved for Artemis. Thankfully, Artemis didn't seem to notice as she was drinking in the sight of Percy's body.

Artemis had to admit, Christy was right. With the covers off, she could clearly see Percy's lean, chiseled and well defined muscles, from his impressive eight pack to his broad shoulders and powerful arms to his perfectly cut jawline and his wonderfully shaped lips. Even in his sleep, he seemed to let off a sense of power and strength. Artemis was strangely tempted to reach over and brush Percy's hair back from his forehead before she remembered where she was and who she was with. She also realized that her hunters were watching her. Holding back a blush of embarrassment to be caught gazing-no, ogling-at a man so obviously, she quickly asked a question to distract her hunters, not meeting any of their gazes.

"So, what are you going to do? And what's with the feather and the whipped cream?" Artemis asked as nonchalantly as possible.

All the hunters had mischievous smiles. "You'll see soon enough my lady!" Diana said.

A couple hunters carefully pulled Percy's arm across so his hand hung over the edge. Then a hunter took out can of whipped cream and squirted a healthy amount of it onto his hand, covering his entire hand in white puff. Thalia gave a devilish grin and took the large feather and began tickling Percy's nose with it. A second later, Percy's hand automatically came up to brush the feather away and Thalia quickly jerked the feather back, causing all the whipped cream on Percy's hand to transfer to his nose. Artemis and her hunters suppressed a giggle as they saw the white foam on Percy's nose. They reapplied the whip cream back onto his hand and waited for Thalia to choose another target.

"Alright, let's see… aha, his mouth! Yes, that's a good target." Thalia whispered. She gently tickled Percy's lips and a half-second later, his hand came up to brush the feather off. And again, Thalia pulled away just in time, causing a swath of whipped cream to cover his mouth. Everyone held back another round of giggles, Percy looked absolutely ridiculous, and yet he was still sleeping oh-so-peacefully, completely oblivious to what was happening. And so it went. The hunters would fill his hand up with whipped cream, Thalia or Tracy would choose a place to tickle, and Percy would unknowingly spread the whipped cream all over his face.

"Oh my gods, I think this is the best prank ever." Thalia gasped, wiping tears of laughter from her eyes.

"Yeah! He looks like Santa now!" Tracy said, her stomach aching from holding back her laughter. At the mention of Santa, the huntresses burst into another round of barely suppressed giggles. Artemis had to admit, Percy had a vague resemblance to that mortal Santa Claus thing. Seeing as Thalia had tickled Percy's nose, lips, chin, both cheeks and his forehead, he was covered in foamy white stuff. She found it highly amusing, even though she did a better job of concealing it than her hunters did.

"So now what? Are you girls going to wake him up now?" Artemis asked, curious on what they planned next.

"Oh yeah, we're going to wake him up. Just not in the usual way." Thalia said, indicating her super long chain. "Diana, Christy, bring the mirror over here and set it at head height. I think that'll be perfect. Phoebe, help me lift up Fat Percy will ya?"

Artemis held back a snort. Percy was anything but fat. She highly doubted whether there was even one percent of his body that wasn't lean muscle. Oh Hades, why am I paying attention to how much muscle Percy's got?

"Alright my lady, we're done. What do you think?" Thalia asked.

Artemis looked around and saw a relatively big mirror standing at Percy's normal head height. Thalia and Phoebe had wrapped the super long chain around Percy's stomach once and saw a shirt lying within easy reach once he got up, a load of whipped cream clearly visible inside it.

"Are you sure nothing bad is going to happen?" Artemis asked.

"Of course. Just a light shock. We'll all go hiding, since I have a feeling this is going to be real funny" Thalia said, her eyes glinting. All of the hunters had packed up their "equipment" and were already at the door, waiting.

Artemis shrugged. It would be pretty funny to see his reaction. "I still can't believe he slept through all that… well, alright then, let's go."

They quickly filed out of the tent and went into positions. Most of the hunters hid behind a tent but Thalia merely sat on a stool. Artemis quietly sat in front of a bush, magically changing her clothing colours to that of the bush. Without looking carefully, you would never see her auburn hair or her face. She could see, and yet not be seen.

"Well, here goes nothing." Thalia said. She sent a pretty powerful shock into the chain and Artemis watched as the entire chain glowed blue with sparks flying off before it stopped. There was a yell and Percy's voice came bellowing out of his tent.

"THALIA GRA-AHHHHHH SANTA!" Percy screamed. There was another loud yell and a crash, followed by a shattering sound. It sounded like a piece of glass or a mirror had broken. "THALIA! I'M GOING TO-ACCKK! WHAT THE HADES!"

The huntresses were screaming with laughter and Thalia had fallen off her stool, rolling around on the ground, laughing so hard that tears were running down her face.

"I-I think that was him trying to p-put his shir-irt on." Thalia choked out. Even Artemis was shaking with laughter but she managed to control it enough so it didn't look like the bush was doing a Irish jig.

A split second later, Percy burst out of his tent with a hastily thrown on shirt that was backwards and more or less left his abs bare. Artemis chuckled when she saw he had some whipped cream in his hair and had some on his neck.

"Thalia…" Percy growled. His gaze instantly fell on Thalia, who was still on the ground rolling with laughter. She stopped when she saw Percy.

"Ummm, how about I just go? Bye!" Thalia said, turning to run. Too late. Percy leapt at her, catching her across her midriff, causing her to crash to the ground. However, instead of looking scared, Artemis noticed she had a triumphant look on her face. "Hunters! Part two!" Thalia yelled gleefully.

"Wha…?" Percy said, turning around in confusion. That was all he could say before all the hunters piled on top of him, crushing him beneath their weight. There was a muffled yell and mass struggling.

"Yay! Wrestling and beat-Percy-up time! This is fun!" Tracy yelled happily, jumping onto the huge pile.

Instead of a growl of anger that Artemis was expecting, she heard a very familiar deep chuckle as Percy playfully fought back. Artemis couldn't help but smile an impossibly happy smile. Over the past three months since he got accepted by the Hunt, the Hunters and Percy had formed a close bond. They were now truly a large, happy family, and whenever her Hunters felt like it, they called Percy 'brother' instead of 'Percy'. Percy replied in kind by calling them his "little sisters", even though some of them were far older than he was. Artemis shook her head. If anyone, even the Fates themselves told her that a male would join her Hunt, and be accepted, she would have scoffed and mocked their sanity.

And yet here he was, truly part of the Hunt, and getting beaten up by the Hunters. Percy had achieved the impossible yet again, and this feat impressed her more than anything else he'd done, even more than when he had taken her wounds for him. Percy really is the perfect man. Artemis thought wonderingly. The only hero to have had his heartbroken by his lover. Artemis chuckled as a thought entered her head. If Annabeth hadn't broken up with him, he would never have joined her Hunt. Before, Artemis had wanted to skin Annabeth alive and torture her for eternity. Now, she just might have to thank her, since she couldn't imagine her Hunt without Percy. Artemis froze at that thought. Had Percy grown on her that much that she couldn't even imagine life without him? Surely he couldn't mean so much to her and her hunter's, could he? Artemis was shaken out of her thoughts by squeals and a low groan.

Percy was spread-eagled on the ground, face in the dirt. A couple hunters were sitting on top of him, and Tracy was beaming contentedly as she sat on his back. "You lose again big brother!" She said cheerfully.

Percy gave a groan. "That's not fair, I'm being piled by fifteen girls. And please let me up, I don't want to be any closer to Gaea than I have to." Percy mumbled into the dirt.

Thalia smirked. "Well, no, I'm not letting you up. I don't think I'll ever have this chance again anyways." Thalia walked over and promptly sat down on Percy's head, causing shrieks of protest.

"Thalia! What are you doing?" Percy yelled as best as he could, trying not to get any dirt in his mouth. The hunters chortled.

"Well, I must say, your head is quite a comfortable place to sit. It's like a big rock." Thalia commented as if it were the most natural thing in the world. The hunters laughed again.

Percy gave a shriek. "You're sitting on my head? What the Hades Thalia! And what did I do to deserve this?" Percy growled through the dirt.

"Well, don't you remember? It's your 3rd month anniversary with us! Quite an accomplishment!" Thalia said, leaning backwards and comfortably leaning against Tracy's back.

"Oh, well forgive me then, I thought anniversaries were supposed to be happy and fun." Percy said sarcastically as he finally managed to turn his head sideways a little bit, allowing him to breathe slightly better.

"Oi stop moving. Rocks aren't supposed to move. And besides, we're having fun and we're happy, so doesn't that fit your requirements?" Thalia replied smoothly.

"Excuse me, but are you guys having the anniversary? No. This is supposed to be my "anniversary", as you say, and I just got whipped-creamed, shocked, beaten up and now I'm getting my head squashed by an airhead." Percy complained.

"Oh ho, congratulations, you finally found another insult for me Coral Boy. Keep on going and I might get Phoebe to sit on your head instead." Thalia said.

Percy gulped. Phoebe was big. "Well, either way, can you get off my head? I highly doubt Artemis would like what you're doing anyways."

Thalia snorted. "If Artemis doesn't approve of this, she would've done something by now. Any other lame excuses?"

"Yeah. My shirt is going to be permanently stained with dirt, and since I don't always have to do laundry, maybe I'll be lucky and you'll have to wash it." Percy said, spitting some stray dirt out of his mouth.

Thalia chortled. "That has got to be the dumbest excuse ever Seaweed Brain. Or maybe you forgot. Most likely the latter, considering how you're head feels like a rock. Remember, you asked Aphrodite a couple months ago for a wardrobe full of clothing that ranged from formal to casual? They all have some chains, and if they're stained, dirty, cut, burned or whatever, it'll repair itself instantly. If that's the best you have, then I'm going to go and ask Phoebe to sit for me while I go to the restroom." Thalia said, turning to give Artemis a wink. Artemis rolled her eyes at Thalia's form of entertainment, which mainly seemed to be making Percy's life harder.

"You do realize that I could just set myself on fire and throw you all off with a bit of power don't you?" Percy stated.

"Yeah, well, if I were a Camper at that useless Camp, I'd be worried. But we're your sisters, so we have nothing to worry about." Thalia said, grinning along with the rest of her comrades.

"Yeah? How do you know?" Percy said as threateningly as possible but ruining it by smiling.

"I know you. And besides, I thought I could just sense a smile in there." Thalia said, smirking.

"Ok, whatever, but can you please at least pass some wind? I'm choking a bit here." Percy asked.

Thalia let out a snort of laughter. "Really Percy? Do you really want me to "pass some wind"?" Thalia asked, shaking with laughter.

"Well, can't you? Just send me some oxygen down here, or are you completely lightning powers only?" Percy asked, completely oblivious to what his question meant.

"Last chance Percy. Do you really want me to pass some wind? It might take a while, but I'm sure I could manage it." Thalia said, struggling to keep her voice from shaking.

"What's so funny with it? And what's wrong-" Percy stopped as Diana quickly knelt down to Percy's ear and whispered a few words into it before standing back to watch Percy's reaction. Percy's eyes widened with horror. "Wait! WAIT! DON'T! I GET THE MEANING NOW! NOO, DON'T PASS WIND THALIA!" Percy yelled almost hysterically.

It was too much for Thalia and the Hunters. They burst out screaming with laughter as they all rolled off Percy, unable to control their laughter at Percy's simpleness. Artemis put her face in her hand, unable to stop smiling. Perhaps Percy wasn't a perfect man after all. But then again, it's his flaws that make life so good and so funny. Artemis thought wryly. His flaws were near perfect flaws. But she also remembered what Athena had said, Percy's flaws were good in moderation, but deadly and fatal in the wrong situation. Artemis decided it was time to intervene, since if she didn't do anything, her hunters would continue messing Percy up. Besides, it was practically breakfast time and Percy had a "test" to finish. Artemis walked up to the beet-red, embarrassed Percy and the crazily laughing Huntresses as casually as possible, flipping Percy over with a flick of her foot.

"Hello Perseus, I hope you had a good morning hmmm?" Artemis asked, smiling innocently, unable to resist the chance to jab at him.

That smile was enough to capture Percy's attention instantly. "Uhhh. Good Morning to you too, Moon Beam. And no need to act so innocent, I know you helped my evil little sisters get into my tent."

The hunters chortled again at his nickname for them. Artemis merely rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Now get up, we need to eat and you need to take your final wilderness test."

"What! But I thought I was taking the test later! Like a couple days later!" Percy said, scrambling to his feet. "Also, why in Hades are you wearing green? I thought you wore silver?"

"Well, today is your 3rd month anniversary, so I decided to move it forward. C'mon, you did pretty well these past few months training for the wilderness, there's nothing to worry about. And my clothes are green because I was blending in." Artemis said, walking towards the dining area and motioning to her hunters to follow.

"Wait a second… all the time you've been watching the girls pile me and you didn't do anything?" Percy asked incredulously.

"Yes. You have a problem with that?" Artemis asked nonchalantly as they reached the tables.

Percy gave her a rueful glare before answering. "No. So what do you want to eat today?"

"Well, since I have an idea for what we should eat for lunch, something light. Why don't you try summoning cereal? Haven't had any for a long time. Post's Honey Bunches of Oats with strawberries. That should suffice." Artemis said.

Percy frowned. "Cereal? Not sure if I can summon that… let me try." He clapped his hands and a split second later, bowls of cereal appeared before each of them. "Huh. Wow. I never knew cereal counted as home food."

"So Perseus, time for you to take your test." Artemis said after they had eaten.

Percy sighed. "Fine. What is it?"

"It's easy. Go into the forest, avoid the basic traps we've laid out and go kill that rabid bear that mauled you three months back." Artemis said. "I have some plans for it."

"What are your plans for a dead bear?" Percy asked.

"Well, you haven't eaten a single wild animal ever since you joined. And my girls haven't either for quite some time. Besides, I want to see whether you like it or not." Artemis replied.

Percy shrugged. "I could always try out new things. And killing that bear won't be hard, I'll be right back." Percy said confidently.

"Oh right, about that, no swords, daggers, throwing knives or powers. You have to kill the bear with a bow." Artemis said, summoning a bow and a quiver full of arrows before tossing it to Percy.

Percy caught it instinctively, his eyes wide with shock. "What? But my lady, you know I can't shoot an arrow straight for what's my life worth! Especially since I haven't gotten any training on it ever since like, three months ago!"

Artemis shrugged. "Don't worry; I have a new idea of teaching you. I don't know why Apollo's blessing doesn't work on you, but I'll do my best. And I'm pretty sure you can kill a bear at point-blank. If you can't, then I doubt anyone can help. We'll be following you in the treetops to make sure you don't cheat. Now, off you go." Artemis said, waving her hand towards the forest.

Percy gave her an incredulous look before walking off into the forest. Artemis smiled at her hunters. "C'mon. I don't expect any trouble with the traps, I expect trouble killing the bear. Let's follow him." Artemis said, standing up before leaping into a tree. The hunters followed suit.

Percy carefully kept an eye out for pit-falls, traps, trip vines and the likes as he moved through the forest speedily, trying to find any trace of a bear, or perhaps animals that were being chased. He also listened for any sounds, anything that could lead him to the bear. At least he remembered what the rabid black bear looked like. Creepy bloodlust-filled eyes and quite a bit bigger than normal black bears. From the sense at the bottom of his skull, he could tell that Artemis was a couple trees behind him, and if Artemis was there, then her hunters were with her too.

Percy shook his head. He couldn't believe that the hunters had made him look like Santa and filled his shirt with whipped cream. It had been creepy, to wake up with a huge shock coming from a chain across your stomach and then standing up to see Santa Claus right in front of your face. Percy had fallen backward and kicked out at the same time, half of his brain shocked that Santa was in front of him, and the other half, the battle half, going straight to self-defense. Then he had heard a loud crash and then, only then, realized that it was merely a mirror and his face had been coated in whipped cream while he had been sleeping. And his shirt! He really should've paid more attention to his shirt; it had been filled with whipped cream. The instant he put it on, all the cream oozed out, scaring the crap out of him.

Percy smiled. While he had been initially angry, after wrestling with the hunters, he had to admit it was fun. It was these types of things that made life worth living again. And Artemis. Artemis somehow had the way of catching your attention instantly, and life with her was never bored. She was unpredictable. When you expected her to come out yelling and punching, she comes out with a heart-stopping smile. And when you expect her to be happy, or at least not angry, she smacks you across the face. She is such an interesting and intriguing woman. Percy thought. And impossibly beauti-

Percy was ripped from his thoughts by an instinctive sense warning him. Instantly, he leaped as high as he could and was glad he did. As he landed, the ground right behind him fell into a big hole that was probably filled with who-knows-what. He heard a snicker behind him and was about to offer a retort when he heard a loud growl. Percy set his eyes aflame and easily saw his target. Looked exactly the same and its eyes were as bloodlust-filled as ever. Percy grinned and was about to run to the bear and tackle it, planning to stick it with his dagger before he remembered that Artemis had ordered him to use a bow and arrow. He cursed as the bear bowled towards him, roaring insanely.

Percy leapt aside and shimmied up a tree, after three months of vigorous training with Artemis, his wilderness skills were far better than before. Unfortunately, the same could not be said about his archery, since Artemis hadn't trained him on it yet. Easily balancing himself on the tree branch, he notched an arrow and pointed at the bear, which was about 15 feet away. He took aim, let loose… and missed.

Percy groaned as his arrow went flashing past the bear. The good news was that the bear pounced on the place where the arrow had landed and had stopped trying to sniff him out. The bad news was that many of the trees seemed to be shaking and Percy swore that he could hear many girls laughing. Percy cursed before notching another arrow and letting it go. Again, he missed. Percy continued firing ten more arrows, each of them missing. By the time he emptied his quiver, the bear was literally dizzy from turning around and pouncing on so many arrows landing in so many places. The hunters weren't even trying to conceal themselves, they were laughing outright. He could also hear a sparkling laugh that he knew could only come from Artemis.

Percy gave a growl of frustration before deciding to do something rather controversial. He knew that Artemis's bows were much harder than mortal bows and from what Thalia had told him, they were nearly unbreakable. Thalia's had only broken during the Titan War because a Laistrygonian had thrown a cannonball right at it. Percy leapt down and landed right beside the bear before bringing the bow up and slamming it down on its neck, the pointy end of the bow sinking deep into its flesh. The bear roared and read up on its hind legs. Percy yanked the bow up before stabbing the bear several times in the chest before putting the bear's head in between the bow and the string, yanking downwards. As the bear fell to the ground, Percy raised the bow one last time and sank it straight into its eyes, killing it instantly as the sharp end of the bow punched through the eye and right into the brain.

"That was cheating." A cold voice said behind him.

Uh oh. Best act innocent. "I beg your pardon m'lady?" Percy said, smoothly turning on his heels and bowing his special bow that he reserved only for her.

"I thought I said no close combat?" Artemis asked, glaring at him.

"Er, no you didn't my lady. You said no swords, no daggers, no throwing knives and no powers. Just use the bow. And I did. So you can't complain against that." Percy said, resisting the urge to smirk.

Artemis face palmed herself. "Damn you Jackson. It appears I underestimated you."

"So, is my training complete then?" Percy asked cheerfully.

"Yes." Artemis growled. She pointed at the bear and flicked her hand, causing it to disappear in a fine silver mist. "But don't you dare think you're a good hunter. Acceptable, perhaps, but not good." The hunters chortled.

"Acceptable? Well, we'll see who's acceptable when I start training you girls with sword fighting, chains and daggers." Percy said, grinning evilly.

"Hey, who said that you're going to be training us?" Thalia asked, a little wary.

"Well, Artemis said so. And c'mon, are you telling me you're the forgetful one now Thals? Remember our deal three months ago? I finish wilderness training and I get to teach you girls right after. And that's what I'm going to do. Now let's get going to the training arena." Percy said before extending his wings and flying right off.

The hunters gave Artemis a rueful look. "C'mon girls, you know this is good for you. And besides, one day, we'll visit camp and you can show off some new moves. Wouldn't that be great?" Artemis asked. The hunters instantly brightened. Torturing campers was a fun pastime of theirs. "Alright, now let's go." She snapped her fingers and teleported them to the training arena and found, to her surprise, that Percy had already set up several dummies and was casually twirling his dagger in his hand. He nodded when he saw her.

"Alright, who's up?" Percy asked, holding the dagger now.

Everyone froze. "What do you mean, who's up? Aren't you going to show us?" Thalia asked hesitantly.

Percy nodded. "Of course I'm going to show you. But showing on dummies is a bad idea, dummies don't exactly respond and move like a person. That's why I need a volunteer. And besides, there are a couple of things I could correct before we even start fighting."

Phoebe agreed. "Yeah, that's a good idea. I'll go first."

"Alright, get your blade in a ready position then." Percy said. Phoebe nodded and took out her own hunting knife and held it in a position similar to a sword.

"No, that's not how you hold a dagger properly. Hammer grip is for swords, you use an icepick grip for daggers." Percy said.

Phoebe frowned. "I've been fighting this style for quite a while. And icepick grips are marks for an amateur."

Percy shook his head. "In the hands of an unskilled knife fighter, then obviously. But allow me to show you why a hammer grip isn't good. Attack me now."

Phoebe leaped forward; bringing her dagger in a downward arc, just as Percy had hoped. He took a slight step sideways and shot his left hand out, grabbing her wrist. Then he yanked her forwards slightly, causing her to stumble onto one foot and Percy lifted his left leg, soundly kicking her back with his entire leg before elbowing her arm, causing her knife to suddenly fall from nerveless fingers. Percy plucked the dagger out of the air as Phoebe stumbled backwards. All of that took less than two seconds.

All the hunters had shocked expressions. Phoebe was known for being incredibly hard to disarm, Thalia was the only one who had disarmed her once, and that had been because Thalia had slammed Phoebe with her shield.

"You see why a hammer grip is no good? If someone grabs your wrist, unless that person is slow, you'll most likely be disarmed. With an icepick grip, you can defend yourself if someone grabs your wrist. We'll do it slow motion so everyone can see. Try it." Percy said, handing the dagger back to Phoebe. Phoebe took the dagger and flipped it so the point of the blade was pointing down. Then she slashed upwards and Percy once again went forward and grabbed her wrist.

"There. You see? If someone does this, which is highly likely, all you have to is rotate your wrist a bit and the dagger can wreck chaos to tendons, blood vessels, and if you can twist your wrest enough, you could cut his hand off." Percy said, indicating how Phoebe's knife was in a perfect position to cut his wrist. "So, change to icepick. It's a lot better, trust me."

Phoebe nodded. "Can you also teach us how to disarm? Your way of disarming was really good."

Percy grinned. "That's what I'm here for, right?"

Percy surveyed his beat up, bruised and exhausted sisters. In a blunt way of showing how hard he'd train them for the last three hours, all of them were just sitting or lying down on the arena floor, depleted of all energy. The younger hunters, who had been in the hunt for a shorter amount of time, were practically passed out, not moving. Percy felt slightly regretful, since he'd pushed them hard, but seeing as Artemis hadn't said anything, he supposed Artemis was OK with it.

Artemis walked back from the dining place, completely done preparing lunch. She saw Percy sitting in a meditative position and saw all of her hunters just lying all over the place, exhausted. She surveyed her beat up hunters with a deep pride, they had improved greatly in a relatively short time span, having learned valuable footwork, sword tricks, various ways to disarm, tried-but failed-to dual wield a dagger and a chain, and had learned a rather brutal way of killing someone without weapons, which included causing the victim to fall on his back and the killer jumping up and landing on the victim's head…

"So Perseus, it's your turn now." Artemis called to him.

Percy frowned slightly. "My turn for what?"

"Well, you just beat my hunters up. It's only honourable for me to beat you up. Besides, I said that I wouldn't go easy on you anymore all those months back. And no holding back, I want to see what you're capable of." Artemis said, summoning her two hunting merciless looking hunting knives from nowhere.

"Oh you are soo on Moon Beam." Percy said, leaping to his feet and uncapping both of his swords. Percy let Artemis attack first, intending to counter-attack, but Artemis had millennia of experience and easily blocked it, kicking at his stomach to push him back. Percy leaped back and stabbed with one sword while slashing with the other, forcing Artemis to deflect both strikes and leaving her body unprotected for an instant. Percy kicked out but pulled the blow so that Artemis stumbled backwards instead of flying backwards.

Artemis frowned. "I said no holding back."

Percy bowed. "As you wish." Then he leapt forward, raining down blow after blow against Artemis's blades, sparks flying. Artemis was surprised at the ferocity of it, he was extremely strong, she could feel the impact as she blocked each blow and what made it harder was that Percy was fast.Usually, strong people were slow and predictable, but Percy seemed to have the best of both worlds. But he's not as fast as I am. Artemis thought, deciding to go all out with him.

Artemis aimed a wild kick at him, aiming only to push him back before literally turning into a silver whirlwind of death. Artemis attacked faster than Percy thought possible as he struggled to keep Artemis's blades at bay. Percy cursed as he continuously took steps backwards to avoid getting shredded to bits. He gritted his teeth as one of Artemis's blades got past his guard, drawing a shallow gash across his arm. He spared it a glance before returning to analyze Artemis's fighting patterns, he was pretty sure he'd found a weak spot. If only he could intercept the strike… There! Percy hooked one of Artemis's daggers out before knocking the other into the air. Unfortunately for him, he forget about Artemis's feet work. She kicked him in the second and as he bent forward, she flipped backwards, smashing Percy's jaw with both of her feet and sending him reeling backwards in the process. Percy gave a low growl as he shook his head to clear the stars from his vision before leaping forward, swinging his swords at the seemingly unprotected Artemis. Artemis grinned and held her hands out, her knives appearing there magically to block them.

And so it went. Block, parry, dodge, slash, riposte, stab, slash again, occasional punches. Percy was becoming exhausted. Sure, he'd manage to wound Artemis a bit on the arms and a slash across the stomach, but she seemed unstoppable and he'd receive a couple more slashes across the chest. He began wondering how the hell she'd manage to get overpowered by a group of monsters and two drakons. Every time he disarmed her, she'd just leap backwards or just dodge his attack and summon her blades right back. But if he was getting tired, so was Artemis. They were both heavily drenched in sweat even though their attacks were, if anything, becoming faster.

"Give up Perseus, you can't beat me." Artemis panted.

Percy rolled his eyes. "Over my dead body. I'm not giving up unless forced to." Percy said, locking blades with Artemis.

Artemis shrugged. "So be it." She pushed back at Percy and let loose a bit of godly power. Percy flew backwards and she helped him fly by blasting him with a ball of silver fire, causing him to land in a heap.

"Hey! That's not fair! Who said we could use our powers in this fight?" Percy yelled in a muffled voice as he staggered to his feet.

"Who said we couldn't?" Artemis shot back, smirking.

"Well, two can play that game…" Percy growled. He summoned balls of fire and began throwing them, one after another at Artemis, forcing her to constantly twirl and dodge, or be at risk of getting burnt. Artemis raised her hand a summoned a wall of silvery magic, blocking each of Percy's fireballs. She was about to taunt him Percy grinned and raised his hands. A tidal wave of water appeared out of nowhere, smashing and obliterating her shield. She just managed to leap high enough to avoid getting drenched. Artemis raised her arms and called down a rain of silver-fire shaped arrows, causing Percy to dance around like a fool as he successfully dodged them all.

"Give up yet?" Artemis called out.

"No."

Percy raised Riptide and pointed it at the sky and gave a yell. Lightning flashed and thunder roared, surprising Artemis.

"What? When could you-" Artemis stopped as she realized that Percy hadn't summoned lightning. It was a side effect of what he was summoning. The clouds boiled and the sky darkened, a split second later, rain came crashing down on them so hard, Artemis could barely see. Percy meanwhile, was perfectly dry and grinning.

"Son of the Stormbringer, at your service my lady." Percy said before attacking again.

Artemis spluttered and barely managed to block his blows. Even though she was a goddess, this storm was much more intense than any storm Poseidon or Zeus had sent down against the mortals. Well, perhaps the fight with Typhon had created more intense storms… Artemis decided to take a chance and wound her arms back before letting her daggers fly, one at the top and one at the bottom. A mistake.

Percy easily avoided the attack in a way that impressed Artemis. He planted both of his swords in the ground and kicked out with both feet. His body became more or less horizontal to the ground at the same time as both of her daggers flew overhead and his feet smashed into her chest with the force of a lightning bolt. Artemis flew backwards for about 50 feet before plowing to a stop, covered in mud and groaning. She struggled to one knee before it was swept from underneath her, causing her to land face first into the mud. A moment later, she felt a weight on the small of her and felt a sharp point at her neck.

"Defeat?" Percy asked.

Artemis growled before answering. "Yes. I lose. Now get your foot off me, boy."

She struggled to her knees and took deep breaths. She was tired and although she hated to admit it, Percy wore her down like no other. And damn Percy could kick. Her chest hurt. Serve me right for underestimating him… Artemis thought grumpily. Percy clapped his hands and the storm stopped. He was breathing heavily too.

"You tired my lady?" Percy asked cheekily.

Well, she certainly still had enough energy to teach him a lesson. "No. I have plenty of energy." Artemis said before hooking her arms around his legs and pulling. To her surprise, he didn't fall to the ground as she expected. Instead, his legs stayed rock steady. She vainly pulled several more times before giving up. Percy chuckled as she cursed in Ancient Greek.

"Damn you Perseus. Now leave me alone. Go prepare the table and dry the hunters. Lunch is ready and I need to go heal. It's all your fault." Artemis grumbled, not caring whether she sounded whiny while preparing to climb to her feet.

"Oh come on my lady, why do it the hard why? Here, let me help." Percy said, bending down and picking up Artemis, surprising both himself and Artemis.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Artemis asked indignantly. Her indigancy lessened greatly however, as she instantly became dry and was enveloped by Percy's warm, strong arms.

"Healing you." Was all Percy said.

"Well, excuse me, but I'm not an old cripple who can't walk back to their own tent!" Artemis said, even though her actions completely betrayed her words. She was snuggling up to him, resting her head on his shoulder.

"You're wounded." Percy said simply.

"Well, you're wounded too! Shouldn't you take care of yourself first?" Artemis mumbled, her face beginning to turn red.

Percy sat down and cupped Artemis's cheek. She felt her cheek heating up with embarrassment. "Now don't move."

"I, Perseus Jackson, as Guardian of the Hunt, forfeit my body to receive my Lady Artemis's wounds."

A brief flash of light, and Artemis no longer felt the ache on her chest from Percy's kick, or the cuts from his sword. Percy however, was coughing badly.

"Perseus! What's wrong? Are you alright?" Artemis asked worriedly, sitting up and touching his cheek. She could see streams of blood running down his arms and a red stain was forming on various spots on his body.

Percy shook his head, still coughing. "Oh my gods, my chest hurts."

Artemis grinned. "Serve you right. You kicked me with both of your feet, remember?" Unconsciously, she reached out and tweaked Percy's nose, shocking both of them.

"Uhhh…"Percy said, struggling to get around the fact that Artemis, the maiden goddess, had just tweaked his nose. The hunters were all giggling and Artemis wasn't meeting his gaze. Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, they were interrupted. By Apollo.

A burst of golden light filled the arena before dimming down to reveal a teenage dude with a super bright smile.

"Hey little sis, I got an- what the Hades is going on?" Apollo asked, his eyebrows going right up into his hair.

Artemis hurriedly slipped off Percy's lap, struggling to hold back a blush. "Don't call me little sis! I'm older!"

"Yeah…ok." Apollo said, his eyes bouncing back and forth between Percy and Artemis. His gaze suddenly sharpened into a dangerous look for just a split second before returning to its normal, cheerful self. "Hey little cousin, you look a bit injured, what happened?" He asked, gesturing to the streams of blood running down Percy's hand and his slightly red-stained shirt.

Percy got up and stood a little behind Artemis. "Not much. Lost a small fight against Lady Artemis."

Apollo snorted. "That lie would've worked with anyone else except me. I'm the God of Truth remember? And besides, somehow I don't think it was a "small" fight, I saw a huge thunderstorm brewing before I came."

Percy flushed. "Yeah, fine, I had a pretty hard fight with Artemis and I summoned a rainstorm after Artemis started using her powers. Nothing much. Got wounded and that's why I'm bleeding."

Artemis rolled her eyes. "You're too modest. You beat me and you, ahem, healed me, and that's why you're bleeding."

Apollo frowned. "Heal? I didn't know Percy could heal."

"Er, it's nothing. Anyways, what are you doing here Apollo? Or are you here to see why your blessing doesn't work for Perseus?" Artemis asked hurriedly, desperate to change the subject.

"Whaddya mean my blessing doesn't work for Percy? Isn't he shooting bulls-eye's now?" Apollo asked with genuine curiosity.

Artemis laughed. "Quite the opposite. He said that he isn't shooting much better than before."

"There! You see? That's my blessing at work! He's shooting a bit better now!" Apollo said, flashing a brilliant, sarcastic smile. Then his face turned serious. "Really, I don't know. Perhaps you're one of the unlucky ones? There are a select few that were very bad at archery like Percy, and my blessing couldn't work. But perhaps you don't need it, I hear you're pretty good with throwing knives." Apollo said, pointing to Percy's throwing knife sheathes around his stomach and over each shoulder. Percy shrugged.

"But to answer your question sis, Father wants us at Camp Half-Blood in an hour. Important meeting. Very important." Apollo said.

Artemis nodded. "Very well. Tell him we'll be there."

Apollo nodded also. Then he turned to Percy. "Hey Perce, why don't you go fix yourself up? I just refilled and remodeled the infirmary tent, hope you like it." Apollo said, his manner clear that he wanted Percy to leave for a bit. Percy picked it up. His eyes narrowed just slightly before walking off.

Apollo quickly walked over and took Artemis by the arm, moving her out of earshot from the hunters. "What is it?" Artemis asked, slightly annoyed.

Apollo looked at her and for one of the very few times in her life, Artemis saw a deadly serious look in his eyes.

"What were you doing on his lap?" Apollo asked.

Artemis sighed internally although she felt a blush creep onto her face. "It was nothing."

Apollo raised an eyebrow. "Nothing? Really? Artemis, usually you literally transform any man within 50 feet of you, and yet you were actually sitting on Percy!" Apollo said in a hurriedly hushed whisper.

"I told you Apollo, it was nothing." Artemis said, her eyes flashing dangerously.

Apollo flinched backwards slightly but did not give up. "You're pulling an Orion, aren't you?"

SMACK!

Apollo grimaced as Artemis slapped him right across the face, hard. "I am not pulling an Orion! I never liked the fool anyways!"

"Oh really? Then how come you were so sad when you shot him?" Apollo asked challengingly.

"Because you tricked me into shooting him!" Artemis said furiously. "I'll tell you this Apollo. I swear on the River Styx that I am beyond glad and forever grateful to you that Orion is dead. Because Orion was just a distraction. I never saw the whole picture, I only saw his goody side. That's why I hate men even more now. But Percy is nothing like him, he is nothing like anyone EVER! I know what good Percy has done, and what very few bad he has done. And his bad wasn't even bad! So don't you dare kill him. Now get out of my sight!"

Apollo's eyes widened before he disappeared in a burst of light. Artemis turned around, her fists clenched tight against her side. Whatever happened, she would not have Percy killed. She blushed furiously as she walked back to her hunters. She couldn't believe that she was defending Percy, and she couldn't believe what she had just said.

You were only defending him, not admitting that you love him. Her inside voice told her.

I don't love him! He's a…man… Artemis faltered, truly unable to think of any other reason.

Yeah, you just keep on telling yourself that, but can't you tell he's perfect?" Her thoughts shot back.

I am the most committed Maiden Goddess ever, and I intend to keep it that way! Artemis thought with utter finality. She forced it out her mind as she reached her hunters. Noticing their questioning looks, she waved it off irritably.

"My brother was acting his usual, immature and stupid self." Artemis grumbled. Her hunters nodded, they were mostly used to Apollo popping in and Artemis kicking him out. Percy however, who had just come back from the infirmary, nodded slowly, then noted her blush.

"Then why are you blushing? What did he ask?" Percy asked.

"I'm not blushing. It's not something I would do." Artemis said defiantly, even though she could feel her cheeks burning.

Percy smirked. "Really? Then how come your face is red? Because I don't think you're angry…" Percy said, purposely poking fun at her. Then he thought of something and frowned a little. "That reminds me, since you're a goddess, that means your blood is golden. Then why does your face turn red?"

Artemis ground her teeth together. I change my mind. I hate Percy Jackson. He's ANNOYING! Artemis thought furiously. She forced herself to stay calm and consoled herself by making a mental note to get back at Percy.

"It's a disguise thing. For immortals, just beings that are immortal, they'll always turn red. With gods and goddesses, its' also a disguise thing too, as long as we are in our mortal form. If we were in our divine form, then the disguise is off, obviously. Just imagine a god or goddess getting embarrassed or angry around a group of mortals, and his face turns golden. Not very helpful for blending in." Artemis explained, her lips quirking upwards at the thought of Zeus's grumpy face glowing golden. "Now come on, let's go eat or the food that I prepared is going to get cold."

"About time. I'm starving and I'm dead tired." Percy said, walking alongside Artemis with the hunters around him.

"Speaking of tired, I must say, congratulations Seaweed Brain. Artemis was undefeated until now." Thalia said. The other hunters voiced their agreements.

Artemis harrumphed while Percy grinned. "I was lucky. If I had hadn't used my powers, I don't think I would've won."

"Still, pretty good. But when did you become this good Percy?" Thalia asked curiously.

"Well, you know, you can thank the Amazons. They're great. I learned most of my moves and tricks from them." Percy said.

Thalia snorted. "I already knew that. But anything else?"

"Yeah. The chores that Artemis gave me and the hard time you girls gave me during the beginning of my stay. I think it increased my endurance a lot." Percy said.

"Ha! You see? It was a good thing that I tortured you Perseus." Artemis said triumphantly.

"Yeah, yeah Moon Beam. C'mon, admit it, you only piled the work on me because you wanted to make life hard, not because it would help." Percy said teasingly.

Artemis gave him a glare. "Whatever. Now come on, we're here, and I'm particularly interested in your opinion." She said, walking over to sit at the head of the table. Percy gave a slight sigh as he sat opposite of her and waited as the rest of the hunters sat down.

"So, what do you want me to try?" Percy asked.

"Everything. Seeing as we worked so hard this morning and early afternoon, I decided to prepare a feast." Artemis said. She snapped her fingers and summoned the food that she had prepared, from mashed potatoes and soup to fruit and desserts. And of course, the main course, which was the bear meat that she had gotten from the bear Percy had killed earlier that day. The hunters eyes lit up as they realized that they were eating bear meat, something they hadn't eaten in quite a while. The older ones especially loved the way Artemis prepared them. Percy however, was a true city born and bred guy.

He frowned at the plate in from of him. "I don't mean any disrespect, but um, what type of meat is this? Smells quite good but it doesn't smell like pork or something." Percy said.

"It's bear meat, Perseus. That's what I want you to try out." Artemis said.

Percy looked at the meat, then shrugged. "I could always try something new." Percy said.

He carefully picked up a piece of meat and ripped off a largish piece off it. Artemis looked at him expectantly. "Not bad. Actually, it's surprisingly good." Percy said.

Artemis's eyes flashed. How dare he? Surprisingly good? Did that mean he thought it would taste bad? Artemis picked up a spoon, and dipped it into her bowl of mashed potatoes. She came up with a large spoonful and lobbed it at the unsuspecting Percy, who was happily chewing on the bear meat. It landed with a loud splat, right on his face. Percy gave a surprised yelp as he reached up to wipe most of the mashed potatoes away.

"What was that for my lady?" Percy asked while the hunters giggled. Percy, being the seaweed brain he was, was oblivious to what his words had done, while Thalia rolled her eyes.

Artemis glared at Percy. "What do you mean, it was surprisingly good? And 'not bad'"? Artemis growled.

"Um my lady, look, I was just um,-" Percy stuttered and stumbled under Artemis's intense gaze.

"Um what?" Artemis said, picking up another spoonful of mashed potatoes and aiming it at Percy.

Percy flinched. "Um…" was the only intelligible response he could come up with.

"That's what I thought." Artemis said before she lobbed the spoonful straight at Percy. He managed to duck, but Artemis had expected that. Quick as ever, she picked up the entire bowl of mashed potatoes and threw it Percy before picking up the boat of gravy and tossing it at Percy too. Artemis grinned savagely pleasurable grin as she watched lumps of mashed potatoes and gravy rolled down Percy's body. The stains soon disappeared, thanks to Aphrodite's magic, but the action and the effect was clearly still there.

Percy slowly ran his hand through the thick mass of mashed potatoes mixed with the gooiness of gravy. Then, on an impulsive whim, he picked some up in his hand and flung it straight at Artemis. It hit her with a soft splat on her face, her expression shocked. The hunters abruptly stopped giggling.

Artemis slowly reached up and wiped the mashed potato/gravy mixture off her face. Artemis glared at Percy, who met her gaze challengingly. The hunters watched nervously, the tension growing thicker and thicker to the point you could've cut it with a knife. Suddenly, Artemis smiled a feral smile.

"You. Are. Dead." Artemis said before reaching down, lifting up a bowl of nuts and throwing it right at Percy. Without waiting a beat, she picked up a bowl of soup and threw it at Percy, following her assault with several apples, oranges, pears, grapes, and some sticky sap that was used to dip pear slices in.

Artemis smirked at Percy as she sexily leaned her hip against the table. "What is it Perseus? Your aim is so bad that you can't even throw an object?" Artemis taunted.

Percy was covered in a massive mixture of various food. Soup and sticky sap slowly dripped down his hair as he reached down and picked an apple on, taking a loud bite before tossing the apple backwards and facing Artemis. He held his hand out and a large Dutch Apple Pie appeared from thin air.

"You are sooo on Moon Beam." Percy said. A split-second later, Artemis's face was covered by a large pie. Tracy gave a loud squeal as she grabbed a banana and split it. Then she came up with the best suggestion ever.

"FOOD FIGHT!" Tracy screamed before throwing the banana at Percy. There were screams and yells as food flew all over the place. Fruits, vegetables, pork, bear meat, sauces, ice cream, they all flew through the air to land on someone. At first, the hunters and Artemis piled on Percy before Thalia lobbed a bowl of chocolate ice cream right at Artemis. That started off the whole free-for-all fight and with Percy constantly summoning food, they never had to worry about running out of food.

"Ow!" Percy yelled as Artemis threw an entire bowl of sour cream and managed to cause it to land directly on Percy's head. "Watch it!"

"Make me!" Artemis smirked as she picked up a watermelon that was chopped in half and threw it at Elizabeth, who responded by scooping up a handful of salad dressing and making it splatter all over Artemis. As Artemis tried to duck, Percy took his chance and summoned a bowl of fruit salad and threw the contents at Artemis. She ended up with several papaya chunks in her mouth.

"Hey Percy!" Thalia yelled.

Percy turned around and faced Thalia. "What?"

"CHEESE!" Thalia yelled as she pick up a plate of melted cheese that was intended for nachos and threw it at Percy. It hit him in the chest and splattered all over him as he fell backwards from the force of the plate hitting him. Thalia gave a squeal of laughter but was abruptly cut off as she received a pizza in the face.

"PERCY!" Thalia screamed.

"Not me!" Percy yelled as he raised his hands up.

Thalia heard a giggle and whirled around. "DIANA!"

Diana gave a yell and took cover behind a chair. Thalia looked around for something to throw at Diana but was thrown back by something pretty big. Thalia groaned and shook her head and saw that it was a Guacamole Grande.

"You're lucky I didn't throw it at your head Thals!" Percy yelled triumphant before clapping his mouth shut. Too late.

"JACKSON! YOU'RE GONNA PAY FOR THAT!" Thalia screamed.

Ultimately however, after forty minutes of constant summoning, dodging and throwing, Percy collapsed in sheer exhaustion. Shortly afterwards, Artemis and the hunters stopped too, since they were all dead tired. The hunters lay on the ground, with the constant laughter as they threw the food, the addition of using already aching muscles from the heavy training that Percy had given them, their muscles were near cramping as they lay on the ground, ignoring all the various mixtures of food dripping down their bodies.

Artemis however, being a goddess, had a much faster recharging rate, and even though she was tired, she still had plenty of energy to walk around and poke fun at Percy. She walked over to the spread eagled, food covered Percy and flipped him over. She couldn't help but smile at how funny and cute he looked with his hair now half black and half white, thanks to some copious amounts of ice cream in his hair and how his face looked like a colour wheel.

"My, my, Perseus, but your stamina is severely lacking. Tired so soon?" Artemis asked, her eyes shining with mirth as she smiled.

Percy groaned as he saw her. Even with various pieces of food on her face and her hair, she still had the ability to be stunningly beautiful, and added with her smile and her glowing silver eyes, she looked like a perfect goddess. Artemis however, misinterpreted his groan as a groan of weariness, which he was, but that wasn't what he was groaning about. Her expression turn to one of worry.

"Percy? Are you alright?" She asked, reaching down and tenderly wiping away a bit of sour cream on his face.

It took all of Percy's willpower not to flinch, since it was extremely disconcerting to know that Artemis, known for hating men, was wiping a bit of his face off. He was suddenly extremely glad that most of his face was still covered in stains, since he was positive that he was blushing furiously. He shifted his hand and grinned at Artemis.

"I'm fine. Just tired. But I still have plenty of energy for fun." Percy said, right before he summoned a cupcake and tried to shove it into Artemis's face. Tried to. Artemis however, was expecting and grabbed Percy's hand before shoving it into Percy's own face. Percy coughed and spluttered. Artemis smirked as she lightly slapped his face.

"Payback. Do you really think I'd be that stupid? Please, I thought you knew me better than that." Artemis said.

Percy grunted as he wiped his face off. "I don't think I'll ever know you, Moon Beam." Percy said as he stood up and surveyed the hunters lying on the ground and the absolute mess they had created.

There was literally no single piece of edible or distinctive food around anymore. The ground was a sea of colours, even though Percy did see a noodle lying around, intact. Percy turned to Artemis and grinned. "We all look like a mess eh? Think you can clean us up?"

Artemis glared at him. "You're the Guardian, so you're supposed to clean it up. But I'll clean up just this once." Artemis said. She clapped her hands and sent a cloud of silver magic to envelope everyone. There was a brief flash and everyone and everything was spick-and-span. The hunters laughed as they stood up.

"We haven't had this much fun since ages!" Christy said cheerfully, walking over to Percy and giving him a hug. "Thanks for all the fun Seaweed Brain."

Percy was touched. "You're welcome. But you should really thank your mistress; it was because she was so angry that it happened." Percy said, throwing a smirk in her direction.

Artemis rolled her eyes and was about to offer a snappy retort when she caught sight of the sky. The sun had fallen down a bit and she realized with a shock that they had spent almost forty-five minutes having a food fight. And what had Apollo said? Father wants us there in an hour. An important meeting. Very important. Crap.

"Ok everyone, we need to go to Camp Half-Blood right now, we only have fifteen minutes to get there, so come on, let's go." Artemis said.

"Alright, but don't you think we should change clothes?" Thalia asked.

Artemis frowned slightly. "Why?"

Thalia grinned an evil grin. "We need to make a big impression in them right? We can scare the crap out of them. With Percy, we'll be expected to be badass. Don't you agree? Percy agrees, right?" Thalia said. Percy nodded his agreement.

"Changing clothes? We'll be late." Artemis said.

Thalia shrugged. "Dad is too used to people obeying is exact orders, so it won't hurt to not obey it every once in a while. Besides, we can be fashionably late." Thalia said, a rebellious light glinting in her eyes.

Artemis couldn't help but smile. That was one place where Percy and Thalia both had in common. They were rather rebellious and didn't really quite like to obey rules, even though Percy was even more out of line, seeing as he'd turned down godhood twice in Zeus's face.

"Alright. You girls change first, and we'll judge." Artemis said.

Thalia grinned. "No problem. The best ones are the ones Aphrodite gave us first." Thalia said triumphantly. She turned to her fellow hunters. "Come on, we need to dress up and kick ass."

A short instant later, they were done and Artemis, along with Percy, was surveying them. Like Thalia said, they were wearing the exact same clothing as the ones Aphrodite had given them first, to see whether they liked it. And Artemis had to admit, with her girls dressed like this, they were sure to intimidate anyone. Phoebe, with her brutal skull-designed shirt and black pants with blood red stripes down each side. Artemis winced slightly at Thalia's outfit.

She was wearing the same black shirt with a lightning bolt-hit skeleton, but her leather jacket seemed to have change slightly, where they flanged outwards at the shoulder, very similar to Percy's jacket. Her skull earrings and many chains glinted and flashed in the sun, which only emphasized her black eyeliner and blood red lipstick. Her black boots were the same too, flat-soled and she knew that it had a hard tip. Good for running and kicking. Artemis noted two new additions however. On both wrists, Thalia was wearing black cuffs that had dulled spikes on the outside and she was also wearing black fingerless gloves. Artemis frowned when she saw them.

"I like the outfit Thalia. It's very intimidating for those weaklings at Camp, but what's with the fingerless gloves and dull-spiked wrist cuffs?" Artemis asked.

Thalia grinned. "These dull-spiked wrist cuffs are great for brutalizing a boy's face. And the fingerless gloves, well, they just look good with this outfit. Besides, it'll protect my hands a bit if I have to grab something."

Percy snorted. "Yeah right. I think you like the fingerless gloves because you want to wear gloves also pick your nose." Percy said, smirking slightly as several hunters giggled.

Thalia gave Percy a death glare which, in addition to her bright blue eyes and black eyeliner, looked scary. Percy flinched a little. "Good to know that my stare hasn't degraded. Now, go change."

Percy chuckled. "As bossy as ever, eh Pinecone Face?" Percy said, giving Thalia a light slap on the arm as he walked past her to his tent. Thalia rolled her eyes but her lips quirked into a smile.

"I wonder what Dad wants to talk about?" Thalia asked Artemis.

Artemis shrugged. "I have no idea. Maybe he just wants a report of how Percy is doing?"

"Yeah right. He'd call us to Olympus then. Maybe Dionysus is being relieved of his duties at that camp and Dionysus wants us to party?" Thalia wondered aloud.

Artemis shrugged again. "Perhaps. Even though I've had enough of fun today."

Thalia opened her mouth to answer but was cut off by Percy coming back. Percy walked in and turned to face them all.

"So. How do I look?" Percy asked.

Everyone was speechless. Not having seen Percy wear his original clothing for more than three months, it shocked her as much as it had when she had first seen it. His black shirt with the faceless winged figure surrounded by a faint halo of light with the words 'GUARDIAN' above it and the word 'ANGEL' below it filled her with pride for some strange reason. His black jacket and pants were as atrocious as ever, what with the chains that covered his pants and jackets, glinting a deadly silver. She knew, from what Tracy had said, that at least one of the blades had tasted blood. His throwing knives were as intimidating as ever, a cluster of them on his belt alongside his dagger and the three throwing knives across each shoulder. She also noticed that he was wearing Ray-Ban sunglasses, and Artemis guessed that Percy had allowed his eyes to be flames, since his sunglasses were glowing.

"Good." Artemis said. Her hunters nodded their agreement, feeling immensely proud of their "Big Brother."

Thalia grinned. "We walk in there like that, they'll think we're twins. You need to differentiate yourself, so make sure you go in with open wings."

"Of course. In fact, I have my own plan of entering the camp. But we're running late, so I'll tell you about it when we're going there. Artemis, your turn." Percy said, grinning at her.

"Ugh fine." Artemis grumbled. She teleported into her tent and went straight to her wardrobe, searching for the suit/jacket combo that Aphrodite had given her. She found it and couldn't help but smile when she saw the vine and leaf designs on her pants. The silvery designs contrasted hugely with the black colour and looked amazing. Being a goddess, she merely thought of changing her clothing to the one in front of her and it happened. She looked in the mirror and had to admit to herself, she looked great. Her silver shirt was still a bit tight against the body, but she really liked the moon design on it, so she decided not to do anything about it. The silver suit/jacket gave her complete flexibility and the silver greatly enhanced her eyes and the two chains that glinted on either side of her jacket was perfect. She looked adoringly at her pants, since she really loved the vine and leaf designs on it. All in all, she looked like a women going to a formal party, but there was one thing that ruined the image, changing it into a battle ready women. Well, two things. Her throwing knife sheathes, one over each shoulder. Each could hold up to three knives, and to her surprise, it looked as intimidating on her as Percy's own.

Right as she was about to teleport back, she decided to dab on a bit of lip gloss. She blushed as she did so, but she felt like it. It made her lips sparkle, and she told herself that she was doing it because she wanted to experiment, not impress Percy. She teleported herself back and smiled at them all.

"So, what do you think?" Artemis asked, looking at their reactions. Her hunters looked shocked, while Percy looked surprised beyond belief. "Well?"

"Um, you look great my lady. Fantastic. Er, especially the dagger sheathes. Haven't seen you in this outfit since, what, three months ago right?" Percy managed to force out as he struggled to hold back a blush. She looked absolutely amazing, a thousand times more beautiful than Aphrodite and even Calypso. Her silver suit enhanced her flawless, smooth white skin and her glowing silver eyes. The black pants with vine designs looked great, emphasizing her athletic legs. Percy blushed as he looked at her shirt. It was pretty tight and showed off the fact that despite being a maiden, she had a pretty curvy figure. Her lush auburn hair flashed in the sunlight and her rosy-red lips glittered.

"Yeah, you look amazing Artemis. I think Aphrodite will be very jealous of you." Thalia smirked, throwing a sly look at Percy. The hunters laughed, but all of them were also throwing sly glances at Percy and Artemis.

If Artemis saw, she didn't comment. "Alright everyone, now don't move." She said. She snapped her fingers and everyone disappeared in a flash of light. A instant later, they reappeared at the bottom of Half-Blood Hill.

Percy frowned. "Why teleport?"

"Well, why not?" Artemis shot back.

"Doesn't it take energy? And besides, I haven't told you what I planned to do." Percy said.

"Yes, it takes energy, but I'm not quite ready to taint my chariot with your disgusting male scent." Artemis replied, causing her hunters to chuckle. "And you can tell us your plan right now."

Percy shrugged. "Fair enough. Well, I'm going to circle from above so I can make an…dramatic entrance. And when you see Zeus, please tell him not to reveal my identity. I will reveal it as I see fit. Thank you." Percy said.

Artemis nodded. "No problem. I'll just send a small firework into the sky then, shall I? As a signal for you to come down."

Percy nodded. "Roger." He extended his wings and shot off into the air, going so high that he was a barely perceptible speck in the sky.

Artemis turned to her hunters. "Well, let's do this, shall we?"

Phoebe grinned. "Yeah. Let's go kick some ass."

Artemis gave an internal groan. Ever since Thalia had joined the Hunt, they'd become a lot more modernized, especially in language. She walked up the hill, her Hunters behind her in a phalanx formation, and walked past Peleus, who cowered away from her. They walked into Camp, their footsteps silent. Artemis noticed that the Camp seemed unusually quiet, there was no one yelling, no clanging of swords, no laughter, and the climbing wall was empty. She probed ahead and found a large concentration of power in the amphitheater, which could only belong to the Olympians.

"Unusually quiet. Must be a pretty big meeting. Any idea where it is, my lady?" Thalia asked, her hand hovering near one of her chains.

"The Amphitheater. Large concentration of power there. Follow me." Artemis said. They continued walking in silence until they neared the amphitheater. They could see all the campers there, sitting on the ground as Artemis saw her fellow Olympians sitting on chairs, waiting. Waiting for her. As they were about to enter, she saw two heavily armored guards standing at attention, their swords sheathed. As they got close, one stupidly drew his sword and stepped forward.

"Halt! No one is allowed past this-" Was as far as he got before Thalia unhooked her chain and leaped forward, sweeping the guard's legs from underneath him with her chain. As he fell to the ground, Thalia jumped up and landed hard on the guard's chest with enough force to crack the celestial bronze armour and badly bruise the guard's chest. The guard gave a wet scream as blood filled his throat. Mercilessly, Thalia reached down and pulled the guard up, then curled her foot to her body, charged her foot with electricity, and kicked out, letting go of the guard as her foot connected with the guard's stomach. It was a move Percy had taught her, and it was extremely effective. Added with her electric charge, it was even more powerful. The guard yelled as he flew through air to land in a giant cloud of dust, unable to stop shaking from the shock he got as he landed. Seconds later, unconsciousness overtook him.

"Hey! Who the-" the other guard yelled as he stepped forward drawing his sword, but was interrupted by Phoebe. She grabbed the guard's arm and bent the arm in the exact opposite way it was supposed to be bent. There was a wet crack and scream as his elbow broke, his arm bending in the wrong direction. Coldly, Phoebe wrenched the helmet off his head before bashing his skull, instantly knocking him out. A loud clong! was heard Phoebe bashed his skull. Phoebe tossed the dented helmet away.

"That should teach you to underestimate Lady Artemis and insult my brother, Percy Jackson." Phoebe spat at him.

Artemis chuckled as she walked forward, Thalia and Phoebe falling into position with proud smirks on their faces. All of the campers were watching them with a healthy dollop of fear and awe, and she caught a lot of boys staring at Thalia, although they flinched away instantly when she turned her evil eye to them. All the gods were staring at her in shock, obviously wondering why she was wearing clothes like this. Zeus looked absolutely dumbfounded. Aphrodite however, was smiling like crazy. Athena was the least surprised looking one, so Artemis sent her the message.

Tell the rest that Percy does not wish to have his identity revealed until he wants to. We can address him as The Guardian. Artemis spoke telepathically to Athena.

Will do. Athena replied.

Artemis stood in the center and slowly turned around, surveying the crowd with her sharp silver eyes. What she noticed first was a group of campers sitting separate from the rest. There were eight of them. She recognized them as Jason, Piper, Leo, Hazel, Frank, Nico, Reyna and Annabeth. She glared at Annabeth as she felt anger begin to boil inside her. She also noticed that Thalia seemed to be having a death-glare contest with Annabeth too. She looked away lest she reveal her divine form, which would be disastrous. She turned to the next camper, who was sitting a little ways off from the seven. And actually growled when she saw him. It was Matthew, that pompous, disgusting, perverted, brainless pile of horse manure. He was dressed up in full ceremonial armour, as befitting his role as "Guardian" of the Camp. Ridiculous. He seemed to be angry and glaring at something however, and Artemis turned to where he was glaring and realized what it was.

About half of the campers were wearing Percy Jackson shirts and the other half were wearing shirts that had the initials M.G. monogrammed onto various parts of their clothing. She noticed that most of the Percy Jackson supporters were older campers, and a few she recognized, such as the Stoll brothers and, to her surprise, Clarisse LaRue. She had thought they hated each other, but perhaps in extreme circumstances, Clarisse supported Percy. She did however, see quite a few young campers, which was a good sign. Artemis chuckled slightly as she realized that the entire Aphrodite and Athena cabins were wearing Percy Jackson shirts. Having finished her survey, she turned to her Father.

"Hello Father. Forgive me for being a little late. We had some…business to attend to." Artemis said. Yeah, a food fight was business, haha. Artemis thought wryly.

"Umm, of course, erm, of course not, we ah, we weren't waiting that long anyways." Zeus said, fumbling over his words as he stared at the amount of chains on Thalia's clothing. "Go take your seat, dear." Zeus said, waving to a large, silver, comfy-looking chintz armchair.

Artemis nodded. She was about to walk over when Zeus stopped her again. "That reminds me, where is The Guardian?" Zeus asked.

Instantly, the campers began whispering amongst themselves when they heard about 'The Guardian.' They quieted down however, when Artemis spoke.

"Oh, he's coming. Right now." Artemis said, grinning. She raised a finger and shot a silver spark into the air, making it explode when she deemed it was high enough. She looked into the sky and saw the black speck that was Percy. She saw it fly downwards, and an instant later, a dull boom was heard and the ground shook slightly. She saw the white cloud disappearing and smiled as she recognized a sonic boom. Percy flew so fast that it looked like he had appeared from a white portal and a moment later, he slammed into the ground with a crash, shaking the ground as a wall of flame and dust blew outwards from him. Small screams of terror could be heard among the crowd as the flames dissipated.

Percy was crouched on the ground in the middle of a crater, scorch marks emanating from the crater like sun beams. He slowly stood up to his full 6'5" height and stretched his wings to their full length. He had put the hood that was attached to his shirt up and with the shadow it cast across his face, he looked scary, especially with his black sunglasses covering his glowing eyes. Heat rolled off him like a furnace. He slowly turned to Artemis before snapping his wings shut, a sound that made all the campers flinch as one. He raised a clenched fist and crossed his chest with it, bowing at a precise 45 degree angle to Artemis. Artemis fought hard to hold back a smile, since she felt impossibly proud of Percy.

"My Lady." Percy said as she straightened up.

Artemis dipped her head slightly. "Glad you could be here, Guardian. Come, I don't think we should let Lord Zeus wait anymore." Artemis said, teleporting to her chair and sitting down in it, taking especial pleasure at crossing her legs, since the silvery vine designs flashed as she did so. Her hunters sat down, surrounding the space around her. Percy was about to walk over when Hestia stood up. She walked over to Percy.

"Hello my Champion. Haven't seen you in quite a while. Aren't you going to give your patron a hug?" Hestia said, a warm and playful smile on her face.

Percy smiled. Hestia had been one of the first to comfort him and had given him her gifts. "Of course I will Lady Hestia." Percy said, pulling her into a tight hug. Artemis smirked slightly as she saw the campers expression of shock and awe. Hestia was now back into the Olympian council and having her so plainly favour "The Guardian" was a big sign in the campers' eyes. Hestia pulled back and gave Percy a last smile before walking back to her chair.

"Aren't you going to give me a hug too?" Aphrodite practically squealed, eagerly leaning forward in her chair. Percy raised an eyebrow at her.

"No thanks. I don't want to smell like a perfume shop." Percy said, causing the gods to chuckle. Aphrodite sat back down with a disappointed look on her face. Percy grinned as he stood in front of Zeus.

"Think you could beat that type of entrance, O God of Theater?" Percy asked jokingly, waving his hand to indicate the crater.

The gods laughed and even Zeus boomed a laugh. "You bet Guardian. I'll find a way to best any type of theatrics, mark my words." Zeus said.

Percy bowed. "I expected nothing less, Lord Zeus." He turned to Poseidon and gave him a light slap on the arm. "Cheer up Lord Poseidon, everything will be handled today." He said. Percy's eyes seemed to pulse as he said so. Poseidon, who had looked rather glum, instantly cheered up as he stood up and pulled Percy into a man-hug. He slapped his back.

"I look forward to it." Poseidon said, his eyes giving him a meaningful look. Artemis shot a look at Matthew and felt deep pleasure as Matthew's face twisted in anger and jealously. Artemis smiled thinly. This was going to be a fun day.

"Lord Hades," Percy said, turning to Hades, "I trust everything is alright in the Underworld now?" Percy asked.

Hades nodded, then extended his hand. "Everything is going along splendidly. She is a fantastic judge, and quite strict with her fellow judges. But don't worry, she is very happy with her post, and so is he." Hades said as Percy shook his hand.

Percy smiled. "I'm glad to hear that Lord Hades and thank you." Percy turned and walked over to Artemis.

There were gasps of surprise from the crowd of campers as Percy sat on the arm of the chair. Artemis looked at the crowed and fought the urge to laugh. If they were surprised when Hestia hugged Percy, it was nothing compared to now. Practically everyone's eyes were bugging out, especially Annabeth and the others sitting in the center of the amphitheater. Artemis knew what they were thinking. Artemis, the Leader of a group of girls who hated boys, letting a man sit right next to her? Thing was, Artemis really didn't mind Percy sitting next to her at all, in fact, she felt strangely comfortable when Percy near her. It felt like she had someone she could truly trust, which in turn annoyed her. She really shouldn't be feeling this way about a man, and especially about Percy. He was endearing and hard enough to resist without this new addition. She would have thought more but hastily pushed it out her mind, since she didn't want Aphrodite to pick up.

Zeus cleared his throat. "Well, everyone here knows what I'm talking about except for you, Artemis. So I'll give you the long story in a short version. Basically, the council has, after some discussion, agreed to relieve Dionysus of his duties here as Camp Director, although he'll still live here since he's become rather attached to this camp. We have agreed to make these demigods immortal because of the great deeds they have done, and they shall also take over Dionysus's post and train the younger demigods. We have agreed with Hades wishes to not bind Nico to his camp so he can be his father's Lieutenant." Zeus said, indicating Jason, Reyna and the others. "Do you agree?"

Artemis turned and looked at the demigod heroes. Jason, fine. Piper, surprisingly different Aphrodite child, so yes. Leo, well, he was a outrageous flirt but he hadn't broken any hearts. Yet. So perhaps. Nico, well, fine, since he was like a brother to Percy. Hazel, no problem. She reminded her of Bianca, so Artemis had no trouble with Hazel becoming immortal. Frank, a surprisingly different son of Mars, and close friend of Percy, so she was fine with that. Reyna was a definite yes, she knew how to fight and she knew what was right and what was wrong. Annabeth… Artemis glared at her, sorely tempted to say 'No' before reminding herself that despite the fact she dumped and broke Percy, Annabeth did deserve immortality. Everyone had flaws after all and she was still a virgin. Alright then.

Artemis turned to Zeus. "I agree…on most parts. There are some I am rather…reluctant to say yes, but in the end, yes, I agree."

"I don't." Percy said. Everyone froze and turned to Percy, who was still sitting on the arm of Artemis's chair.

Dionysus glared at him. "Why?"

Percy pointed to Jason. "If Jason is to become immortal, I think Thalia should become a full immortal too. That's only fair."

Zeus let out a booming laugh while Thalia had a triumphant smile on her face. Thalia stood up and embraced Percy.

"Awww, that's so sweet of you Brother. But there really was no need." Thalia said before pulling back from a confused looking Percy and sitting back down with the hunters.

Zeus turned to look down at Thalia. "Well Thalia my dear, it turns out you win our little bet."

An equally confused Artemis turned to Thalia. "Wait, you knew about this already? How?"

"Forgive me my lady, but Dad sent me a dream last night, asking whether I wanted to become a full immortal. He told me to tell no one. And I declined, because that means that I'd be the oddball in the Hunt." Thalia said, smiling at her grinning comrades. "And then I said that he had no need to ask me when I was sleeping, since The Guardian would point out the "unfairness". Dad didn't believe it, so I made a bet with him. And I won."

"So what do you want me to do then?" Zeus asked resignedly.

Thalia grinned and gave Zeus a sly look. "I want you to… stop dressing in suits and wear clothes like a normal American. The suits are feeding your ego and Fates knows it's big enough."

Zeus sighed and put his face in his palm, whispering just loud enough for his brothers, Hera, Artemis, Percy and the Hunters to hear. "I swear that some of young Perseus's boldness has rubbed off onto you." Artemis and the hunters chuckled. "Very well, I shall honour our bet. Aphrodite?" Zeus announced, looking at Aphrodite expectantly.

Aphrodite squealed and snapped her fingers. A white mist covered Zeus before clearing to reveal a much different Zeus. Instead of the stern, grumpy looking Zeus, there was now a very casual looking Zeus. He was wearing a deep blue, open collared flannel t-shirt and jeans, with shiny new Adidas on his feet instead of formal dress shoes. Zeus looked down at his clothing before uncertainly moving his arms about.

"I suppose it feels…comfortable?" Zeus said, still uncertain.

Poseidon laughed. "Of course it's comfortable! If it weren't comfortable, I wouldn't be wearing something similar to that, would I?"

Zeus shrugged. "I suppose. Now, let's get on with immortalizing our young heroes here!" Zeus seemed very excited that his son was becoming an immortal. "Everyone, close your eyes and don't look until we tell you. Of course, if you want a one way trip to Hades realm, then go ahead and look, other than that, don't look." Zeus said sternly.

All the Olympians stood up, wreathed in auras of power. They raised their hands and sent streams of golden light at the eight demigods in the center, to replace mortal blood with golden ichor, preparing their bodies for immortality, to stop the body from aging and protecting the body from any type of sickness and increasing the healing factor. The air around the Olympians sizzled with power and the ground began shaking slightly. Abruptly, they stopped as one and sat back down.

"Alright, you can watch now." Zeus barked. Instantly, everyone opened their eyes and watched. The eight demigods didn't look much different, other than the fact that a golden glow was surrounding them.

"Do each of you swear on the River Styx to protect this camp, to train the young demigods, to always help the demigods in need, and to obey orders from the Olympians?" Zeus thundered.

Each of them bowed except Nico."We swear." They said as one. Thunder boomed and the oath was made.

"Do you, Nico Di Angelo, Son of Hades, swear on the River Styx to remain forever loyal to your father and help your father whenever he requires?" Zeus literally yelled.

Nico bowed. "I swear."

"Take a bite of our ambrosia and a drink of nectar." Zeus ordered, waving his hand and causing a plate of it to appear in Jason's hands.

Jason looked surprised but recovered quickly before taking a square of ambrosia and a drink of nectar. He then passed it to Piper, who did the same and passed it to Leo, and on until each of them had taken a bite of ambrosia and a drink of nectar. Zeus waved his hand and it disappeared. He summoned his Master Bolt and pointed it at the demigods, each of them flinching involuntarily at the sight of it.

"Then I proclaim you eight demigods as the Immortal Campers of Camp Half-Blood!" Zeus roared. He sent a blast of lightning and power from his master bolt to strike the eight demigods. There was a bang and an extremely bright flash of light that forced everyone to look away. The light dimmed and the eight Immortal Campers stood there, looking at themselves curiously.

The males looked a bit hotter than before and the females looked more beautiful, but other than that, Artemis couldn't easily make out the fact that they were immortal, unless she used her godly senses.

"Golden ichor now runs through your veins and arteries. Welcome to Immortality, young immortals." Zeus said, clapping his hands. Everyone followed suit and soon the entire camp was cheering like crazy.

Jason raised a hand and the crowd quieted down. "Lord Zeus, Father, I have a question. I truly appreciate this gift, but I must ask, what about Percy Jackson? He deserves this gift far more than any of us. Also, I would like to inquire whether you know where he is located. He is a close friend, and I miss him. My friends do too." Jason said, pointing to his fellow immortals.

They all nodded, but Artemis's trained eye caught a slight smile on Nico's face. Ah, so Percy revealed himself to Nico during his quest in the Underworld. No wonder he didn't look surprised when Percy arrived.

Zeus opened his mouth to answer but was cut off by Matthew. "We don't need him! You guys have me!" Matthew yelled.

Artemis felt Percy and her hunters stiffen. The Immortal Campers also stiffened. Jason turned to Matthew, fury dancing in his blue eyes. "You kicked him out. For no reason." Jason growled, his hand creeping toward his pocket.

"He was too dangerous! As Guardian of this Camp, it was my duty to kick out dangerous campers and he was one of them! Isn't that right, campers?" Matthew roared, standing up. About half the crowd screamed and cheered while the other half booed and hissed. Percy got off Artemis's chair and stepped forward. Artemis reached out and grabbed his hand.

"What are you doing?" Artemis hissed quietly.

"Don't worry. I'm going to teach those poorly educated bunch of numbskulls who's right and who's wrong." Percy replied.

"Don't do anything stupid, Perseus." Artemis said.

Percy smiled and pulled his hand out of hers, calmly walking forward and extending his wings slightly for effect. Everyone instantly quieted down as "The Guardian" stood in front of the Immortal Campers. The air around him rippled and warped as he stared at Annabeth, and Artemis tensed herself for something to happen, but then Percy slowly turned around, examining the whole crowd of campers. He slowly walked around the Immortal Campers before speaking.

"A sad lot, aren't they?" Percy said. "Tell me, anyone, who is this Percy Jackson?"

"He was an idiot camper who believed himself the best warrior this camp has seen." Matthew sneered. "That's bullshit. I beat a couple sea monsters and managed to take down several dracaene without any training."

Percy raised a sardonic eyebrow. "Really?"

"Yeah, Percy was never favoured by Poseidon, Matthew was. Matthew was always invited to Poseidon's sea palace, and I can confirm that Matthew killed dracaene without any training. Hell, Percy saw it but he proceeded to beat Matthew up because he was jealous." A huge boy swaggered down from the stands.

"That's not true! Percy was the-" Another voice yelled from the stands, but Percy raised his hands to quiet him down. "And who are you?" Percy asked the boy.

"Bruce, Son of Ares." He said, not even caring to extend a hand to shake. "And Percy was a delinquent punk, a big weakling. I can smash him easily. Hades, I'll bet my life I can smash you easily too, since you hang out with those girls." Bruce sneered. The hunters stiffened and some of them made to stand up but Percy waved them down.

"It's alright sisters. I can take care of it." Percy said.

Bruce smirked. "Yeah? I'd like to see you try."

Percy stood there for a second before he punched Bruce's face six times in less than two seconds and then kicked him in the stomach, sending him flying backwards. Percy leaped into the air and slammed his foot right onto Bruce's face, crushing his skull as easily as crushing a grape. Bruce's skull burst like a melon, brain matter and blood splattering the ground. Percy calmly withdrew his foot from the mess and wiped it on Bruce's clothes.

"The world has enough nasty boys like you. We don't need another one." Percy said coldly. The crowd and the immortal campers gasped in shock at how easily "The Guardian" kill Bruce, and how brutal his death was. Ares looked at Percy before giving a noncommittal grunt and a shrug.

Matthew gaped at Percy before recovering himself enough to start yelling like an idiot. "How dare you kill a camper like that! Who do you think you-?"

"ENOUGH!" Annabeth screamed, her sharp voice lashing through the air. Matthew stopped. He'd experienced Annabeth angry, and he had no wish to do so again.

"This is going nowhere. We'll talk about your behavior later, Guardian, but I know the answer to your question, Jason." Annabeth said.

Percy gave her a mocking smirk while Jason looked at her with raised eyebrows.

"How do you know where Percy is?" Jason asked, disbelief in his voice.

Annabeth ignored him and walked up to Artemis. She was about to speak when Thalia walked straight up to her.

"How do you know where Percy is?" Thalia asked coldly.

"I saw him." Annabeth replied, equally as cold.

"You saw him, and you didn't do anything. Can you get any worse, Chase?" Thalia snarled.

Annabeth's lips thinned into a line. "No, of course I couldn't say anything because I didn't want to interrupt."

Thalia raised an eyebrow. "Alright. But I've always wanted to do this, ever since I heard you broke up with Percy." Thalia said.

"Yeah? What's that?" Annabeth asked challengingly.

"This." Was all Thalia said before she smacked Annabeth's face with all the strength in her arm. The crowd gasped as Annabeth staggered backwards, the force of Thalia's slap sending her reeling. She held her cheek as she spat golden blood out.

"You-You dare? Have you forgotten what we all went through?" Annabeth screamed at her.

"Oh I haven't. But you're not Annabeth anymore; the Annabeth I knew wouldn't dump a guy as good as Percy." Thalia shot back.

Annabeth had a sad look in her eyes before they were replaced by anger again. "Look, I regret what I did, it's true that when they say you never know what you lost until it's gone, but if you want to cut your ties with me, then I'll cut my ties and spill your secret out too!" Annabeth yelled.

"That's fine with me! It's not like I have any secret that I care about! And besides, I don't want to be friends with a slut!" Thalia screamed back.

"Oh yeah? How do you know that I might not know a secret that you think you kept under cover so well?" Annabeth growled.

"Bring it on Chase! You think I'm afraid!" Thalia hissed.

Annabeth smirked. "So be it. Lady Artemis, I think you should know that Thalia hasn't given up on boys yet." Annabeth said, throwing a savage look at Thalia, who replied with a stoic expression.

Artemis knew what Annabeth was going to say so she decided to play along with her little game. She raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? Tell me then, I'm always interested in what my Hunters are doing." Artemis said calmly, sending a reassuring thought to Thalia.

Annabeth looked around before dropping the bombshell. "You're Lieutenant has fallen for my ex-boyfriend, Percy Jackson." Annabeth said with a triumphant smile.

Shocked silence. Zeus was about to yell when he realized that Artemis had a slight smile on her face, Aphrodite was smirking, Athena was rolling her eyes and the huntresses were laughing. Annabeth seemed taken aback, seeing as this wasn't the reaction she was expecting.

"So? Let's just assume that I am "in love" with Percy, what do you expect? You dumped him, he's officially up for grabs." Thalia said, smirking.

Annabeth looked shocked. "Per-perhaps for other people, but you were my friend then, you should have helped get me and Percy back together!" Annabeth exclaimed, stuttering slightly.

Thalia sighed and shook her head. "You know what I noticed Annabeth? You're selfish. You always think that you're right, and you think that people should give you what you want. You're not spoiled, but you are very selfish. Like during the Sea of Monsters, remember you told me? You told me that you wanted to travel near the Sirens, because you wanted to experience it, even though you knew it was dangerous. And Percy agreed. Then it ended up where Percy had to rescue you. That's your problem Annabeth, besides hubris. You're too selfish, and Percy is too selfless. You think you can dump Percy, go out with another guy, then decide that that guy is too boring or whatever, and then you come back, expecting Percy to be here for you. That's not how life works. Percy bended the rules and pushed the boundaries quite a bit, but even he has a limit." Thalia said, turning around to throw Artemis and her fellow hunters a wink. She turned back to Annabeth. "The thing is Annabeth; Percy is too good for you. Which brings about the question, why did you come back?"

Annabeth stiffened. "I had originally wanted to call it quits with him because I missed Percy. I realized my mistake, and I really needed Percy at my side. And I-I was going to find some way to break the news to him."

Thalia arched an eyebrow. "You speak in the past tense. What happened? Did he cheat on you? Serve you right if he did."

"No he didn't! He would never do that! He was…killed." Annabeth said, her eyes flicking to Poseidon and Athena.

"Huh. I never thought I'd hear myself say this, but I think death would've been better for him than for you to tell him that you want to break up with him. Do you realize something again? You're being selfish again. You dump Percy because of some bullshit, then you hook up with a mortal, and when you decide you'd had enough, you dump him and want to come back to Percy. That's overly selfish Annabeth. And here I was thinking that you and Percy had been together for a little more than five years and his selflessness would've rubbed off. Come to think of it, why did you dump Percy anyways?"

Annabeth ground her teeth in anger. "Ok fine, maybe I was a bit selfish, but what about you and Percy? You're a Hunter, and look what happens!" Annabeth yelled. "And why doesn't Artemis even care?"

Percy gave a cold laugh. "Don't you dare talk about Artemis that way, Annabeth Chase. As for Thalia's and Jackson's relationship, well, it's true, Thalia and Percy love each other, but not in the way you think. They're brother and sister in all types of bonding except blood. If you don't believe me, you can ask Aphrodite." Percy said, jerking his thumb over his shoulder to point at Aphrodite. He found it highly amusing that he was talking about himself. Thalia winked at him while Artemis grinned.

Annabeth looked at him in shock and a bit of apprehension. "And how do you know this?"

"I know many things, girl. And you would do well not to push me." Percy growled, his eyes glowing. "For a Daughter of Athena, you are unbelievably dense."

"Hey look here, while I'm not happy about Annabeth breaking up with Percy, at least she doesn't kill people like you." Jason snarled, his sword in his hand.

"That's right. Killing someone like that is brutal, and Percy always spared his enemies life. That was the honourable way. Not just killing someone without a second thought." Frank said, boldly stepping up next to Jason and glaring at Percy.

Percy shrugged. "That wasn't dishonourable. He bet his life on it, and I do not joke around. I took his words and fulfilled them. He lost, so he loses his life. Simple as that." Percy said coldly.

Annabeth growled. "Nothing is that simple and I grow tired of your mockery, Guardian. You want some?" Annabeth snarled, drawing her dagger.

Percy smirked. "Bring it on and we'll see how poor your skills are." Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see all of them coming up to surround him in a circle. However, he saw Nico hang near the back, giving him a discreet thumbs up sign as he left his sword sheathed. Percy mentally calculated on the ones he had to be wary of, which was Jason, Annabeth and Reyna. Frank too, since he could change shape. Percy decided to dual wield, using a dagger and throwing knives. He didn't dare take Riptide out, since it'd blow his cover instantly. The nice thing about being surrounded was that the attackers could only attack two at a time, at most. Anymore, and they'd cut themselves to pieces.

"You have one chance to back out of some public humiliation, Guardian." Reyna said, her eyes narrowed as she kept a careful eye on his movements. Jason crept closer, his sword sparking with electricity. Annabeth had the same old dagger she had used for ages, Leo was wielding two flaming ball-peen hammers, Frank had transformed his hands into bear claws, Hazel with her spatha, and Piper with Katoptris.

"No? Well, I must say that as a Roman, I admire your courage. No fatal strikes, but any other wounding is allowed." Jason said.

Percy nodded and unsheathed his dagger before flipping it over into an icepick grip and setting it on fire. Green flames licked across the blade and dripped on the ground, hissing. Percy grinned. This was going to be fun trying out his new combos.

Annabeth snorted when she saw his icepick grip. "That grip," she said, pointing at his dagger, "is used for beginners."

"We'll see." Was all Percy said before he leapt at Frank, the hilt of his dagger hitting Frank's temple, hard enough to instantly knock him out, but light enough to give him nothing worse than a headache. In one smooth motion, he pivoted on his heel and took a throwing knife from his shoulder, throwing it precisely and causing half of the blade to lodge into Leo's shoulder. He dropped in pain and Percy parried Jason's strike, then kicked him in the solar plexus, completely knocking the wind out of him before whirling around again and throwing another knife, this one hitting Piper's dagger with so much force that Katoptris flew out her hand. He sprang forward and thumped the base of Piper's skull with his elbow, knocking her out before pivoting and hooking Hazel's spatha right out of her hand, sweeping her legs from underneath her. Using both of his hands, he clapped them around Hazel's temples, forcing her into unconsciousness. Completely painless.

He sensed someone coming at him from behind and raised his dagger in time to block a strike from Reyna. They locked blades for half a second before Percy twisted his dagger, causing Reyna's dagger to fall. Reyna's eyes widened but she recovered quickly, she aimed a punch at Percy's face but he deflected it with the palm of his before stepping in and grabbing the front of her shirt and her belt. He lifted her into the air so that she was horizontal to the ground before dropping her. She groaned. He turned to face Annabeth with a triumphant smirk on his face. Six strong demigods down in about ten seconds. True, Jason was struggling to his feet but he was doubled over, wincing with each movement. Leo had taken the dagger out of his, which was easy since Percy had made sure that the dagger would give him a big cut, instead of punching through bone and sticking into his shoulder. Still, he felt guilty about beating his friends up, but that feeling was pushed out of his mind as Annabeth yelled and lunged forward, bring her dagger down in a diagonal slashing motion.

Percy sidestepped forward and left so he was abreast with Annabeth. He brought his dagger up and literally backstabbed Annabeth. As Annabeth gasped in pain, he whirled around; slamming the dagger into the front of Annabeth's left shoulder. He let the dagger go as Annabeth screamed, falling onto her back, a pool of ichor already forming on the ground.

"Hey…"Jason gasped, struggling forward with Leo. Percy looked at them and motioned to Apollo.

"Lord Apollo, please check that they are alright and heal them. Thank you." Percy said as Apollo got out of his chair and went straight to Leo.

Percy stepped over to where Annabeth lay on the ground, trying to get the dagger out of her shoulder. He kicked her hand away before kneeling down next to her.

"This is not even a fraction of the pain you caused me." Percy said.

"W-what…?" Annabeth gasped out, confusion on her face.

Percy reached up, slowly pulling back his hood and folding his sunglasses. Annabeth gasped as she saw her dream person. Or in this case, her nightmare.

"Long time no see, Annabeth Chase." Percy Jackson said in an icy tone. His green eyes were merciless pits of flames.

"Pe-Percy?" Annabeth asked, even more confused than ever. All the campers gasped in surprise. Well, everyone but Nico and the unconscious campers. Nico was standing there, grinning like an idiot while Jason and Leo watched, mouths so wide open, you could've fit a wild boar into it with room to spare.

Percy slowly nodded his head. Then he shook it. "I am. And yet, I am not. To my friends, I am Percy Jackson. But to you, or my enemies, not anymore."

"Why? Why did you do this to me Percy?" Annabeth gasped out, the pain from her wounds were nearly overwhelming her.

Percy's flaming eyes danced with fury. "Why? You have the nerve to ask why? Do you know how much pain you put me through? When I came back from my tasks? To learn that my girlfriend had left? All my work was done for nothing?" Percy hissed.

"Percy I-"

"You didn't even have the decency to tell me the truth! You just said that you had left for architecture. My ass." Percy spat.

"Percy please, I-I just wanted a normal life, a life without the demigodness in it." Annabeth begged.

"You could have told me. You could have told me up front!"

"But Percy, I didn't feel like it until you had left-" Annabeth began.

"Oh so it's now my fault. And how come you can go search and yearn for a mortal life and I cannot? Remember Rachel Elizabeth Dare? You were so jealous of her. Speaking of which, where is Rachel? I think she deserves immortality too." Percy said, looking at Zeus.

Zeus chuckled. "She has declined to come to Camp because of…personal reasons, but she is already immortal. Apollo made her immortal, because Rachel is his most favourite Oracle."

Percy nodded before turning back to look at Annabeth, who was crying from pain, both physical and emotional.

"You never answered Thalia's question. Why did you dump me?" Percy asked.

"Because-because I felt that we weren't as close as we were when you were gone for those eight months. And then after you had defeated Porphyrion, you trained even harder than ever, and you never told me anything. And then you left. And I…I felt like that was the last straw, so I left and met this guy who I thought was perfect. But he wasn't and then I realized that I truly missed you. But by then, it was too late." Annabeth whispered sadly. Suddenly, she grabbed Percy's hand. "Please Percy please; can I just have one more chance? Please Percy." She begged him quietly.

Percy turned his head away and ran a hand through his messy black hair. He would never leave Artemis and the hunters, since he truly loved it there, and he loved Artemis with all his heart. Even if Artemis didn't return his love,-she most likely wouldn't but Percy would keep on trying- he'd never leave her. But despite what Annabeth had done to him, his conscience nagged him for hurting Annabeth with both his words and actions. He sighed. Curse him for being so soft-hearted. Then a funny thought hit him.

"You know, in retrospect, I have to thank you Annabeth. I owe you a big favour, since if you hadn't dumped me, I would never have become Hestia's champion, I would never have learned the truth about Matthew, and I would never have found a family that I love and I trust." Percy said, smiling at Artemis and her hunters, who beamed right back.

He turned back to Annabeth and withdrew his hand, reaching into his pocket. "I've kept this with me for all this time as a reminder of loss and pain. But now, I don't need it anymore. You do. I loved you once before Annabeth, but we're over now." Percy whispered. He took from his pocket the engagement ring that Hephaestus had forged and Athena had given him. He put it in Annabeth's hand and wrapped her fingers around the box.

"For old time's sake." Percy said, as he stood up and bent down to drag Annabeth to where Apollo had rounded up the other still-unconscious campers. Apollo nodded and snapped his fingers, causing Percy's dagger to smoothly slide out of Annabeth. Apollo handed it to Percy, hilt first, which Percy took with a slight bow before sheathing it.

"Percy…" Annabeth whispered.

Percy faced her and performed a small two-finger salute at her, his flaming green eyes staring into her broken gray eyes. "Good-bye Annabeth. Maybe, perhaps, we can still be friends. We'll see." With that, Percy walked off.

"No…" Annabeth cried. Each word that Percy said felt like a hot blade straight into the heart. Soon, the emotional pain became too much for her and she lapsed into unconsciousness.

Percy walked on until he met his target: Matthew.

"It looks like we meet again, Matthew." Percy said.

Matthew snorted. "And it'll end up the same way. You getting kicked out of this camp. So go back and join your lesbian friends, gay boy." Matthew said derisively.

The air around Percy boiled as flames began licking the ground. Suddenly, they disappeared and Percy's face cracked into a grin.

"Gay eh? What's the matter, you jealous?" Percy asked in a taunting voice. The campers laughed. "Or are you offering?" Percy said in a sultry voice, smirking as he did so. This time, even the gods joined in the laughter.

Matthew gave a yell of anger and aimed a kick at Percy. Exactly what Percy wanted him to do. Percy grabbed Matthew's leg and held it up at about chest height, which for Matthew was about head height.

"Thalia! Come join the fun!" Percy yelled, indicating Matthews wide open legs.

Thalia gave a savage grin. "With pleasure." She said. Electricity crackled across her entire body as she walked up to Matthew. Then she charged her foot up with extra electricity before drawing it back and kicking Matthew right in the groin, Percy letting go at impact. An ear-splitting scream was heard as Matthew shot high into the air, electricity coursing through his body.

"Lord Zeus! He's a Son of Poseidon and he's flying without your permission!" Percy yelled as many campers and all the hunters screamed with laughter.

Zeus let out a booming laugh as he raised his Master Bolt and pointed it at the sky. "So he is! And he must be punished!" Zeus yelled as he let loose a blast from his Bolt. A split-second later, a blast of lightning came straight down, hitting Matthew and greatly shortening the time required for Matthew to descend to Earth. Matthew slammed into the ground with a crash, made noisier as his armour cracked. Matthew struggled to get up as he drew a flask of nectar from his belt and began gulping the whole flask down. Finished, he threw it aside and staggered to his feet, waddling from side to side.

"WOW! He managed to survive a kick as bad as that, do you know what that means?" Percy asked dramatically as he turned to Thalia.

"YES! It means he's a male with female body parts!" Thalia screamed, causing everyone to start laughing like crazy.

Matthew gestured into the crowd and two fat boys came running down, barreling straight to Percy and Thalia. Fat Boy No. 1 reached Thalia first, who simply stepped aside and clotheslined the camper. He flipped through the air to land heavily on his back. Thalia allowed him to get back on to his feet before Thalia did an uppercut using her wrist braces to smash his face into a pulp, and while he was reeling, Thalia smashed both of his kneecaps, forcing him to kneel in the completely wrong direction. The boy's face twisted in pain.

"Aww poor idiot, let me help you out of your pain." Thalia said before brutally kicking the boy's chin with her black boots. There was a loud crack as the boys lower jaw was shattered. He crumpled, unconscious before he hit the ground.

Thalia stretched. "Ahhh, good exercise."

The other boy stared in shock before yelling crazily, running straight for Percy. Percy stood there, and just as the boy was about to hit Percy, he raised a clenched fist and punched outwards. The boy hit it and flew backwards, spitting blood. Percy was about to beat him up when he saw the Hunters staring at him. Percy grinned and stepped back.

"MY SIS-TAHS ARE HON-GRAY FOR BEA-TING!" Percy yelled, setting off a chain of laughter at Percy's reference to the movie The Dark Knight. Percy bent down and grabbed the boy before throwing him to the Hunters. Without further ado, they all piled him and really began beating the crap out of the boy. 15 seconds later, Artemis herself had to pull her hunters off from killing the boy, as they pulled off, Percy winced at the sight. The boy looked like nothing more than a pile of bloody flesh and bones. He chuckled however, when Apollo went over to heal the boy and Artemis drew an arrow, pointing it at Apollo's head, point-blank until Apollo backed off.

"FATHER! Help me! How can you let this idiot beat me and my friends up?" Matthew screamed.

Poseidon looked up with an apathetic expression. "Matthew, as you know, there are currently some troubles with the mortals and the seas and I'm currently concentrating on them unless you want a tsunami to hit Florida. So shut up. Besides, you're an immortal, you can handle it, hmm?" Poseidon said.

Matthew turned back to Percy with a disgusted snort. "Yeah, I'll handle you myself." Matthew said before drawing his sword. "How're you going to fight? Like your coward mother?"

Everyone froze at this. Thalia backed off hurriedly as flames licked the ground and the heat emanating from him was so great that the campers in the crowd were moving backwards.

"Don't you dare talk about my mother with your filthy mouth." Percy growled as he slowly took a step forward, the ground sizzling where he stepped.

Matthew's eyes showed fear but he gave a yell and lunge forward, swinging his sword. Percy's hands shot out and caught the blade between both hands before he set his hands on fire. Matthew's eyes widened as he desperately tried to wrench his sword out from Percy's grasp, but to no avail. The blade glowed red hot before liquid metal began running down the length of the blade, straight to the hilt. Matthew screamed and jumped backwards, letting go of his sword in the process.

Percy smirked as he slowly crumpled the sword into a ball. Then he intensified the heat until the celestial bronze melted down completely, leaving only two small pools of molten metal in both of his hands. Matthew continued backing up as Percy slowly advanced.

"You want to run? I don't think so. My mother faced her death straight on." Percy whispered. He threw the molten metal in his hands right at Matthew's feet, and before he could take another step, Percy shot a blast of icy water at it, instantly solidifying the molten metal.

Matthew whimpered as Percy stepped right in front of him.

"Not so bold now, are you, you little bastard?" Percy whispered before putting his hand on Matthews chest. His cracked armour instantly began to sizzle as the flames from Percy's hand began melting it.

Matthew yelled and threw a punch. Percy caught the fist in his left hand and set it on fire. The smell of burnt flesh instantly permeated the air as Matthew screamed with the pain of his burning hand and from the molten metal now running down his entire body. Everyone watched in dead silence as Matthew's ceremonial armour began cascading down his body as Matthew continued screaming as his skin and flesh was boiled.

"Please, if you must kill me, kill me now." Matthew managed to gasp out as tears ran down his face.

Percy slowly shook his head. "I'm not feeling merciful when it comes to you."

Percy drew his dagger and began slashing at Matthew body, making sure that each hit was non-fatal. Matthew screamed even louder as the molten metal began entering his body.

"Oh shut up, you whiny baby." Percy growled, scooping up some molten metal and slapping it across his mouth before freezing it with a blast of water. Matthew screamed even harder, but it was severely muffled and sounded as if he were choking. Percy calmly stood back and raised his hands, summoning a large tidal wave. He motioned and the wave crashed into Matthew, solidifying the molten metal and giving Matthew a good dose of water down the nose in the process.

"Let's see how long you can last without food or water, Matthew. I wish you the best of luck." Percy smirked as he stepped back from the metal-covered Matthew. He was still breathing, but barely. His head lolled down as he struggled to take in breaths from his nose. Percy turned to the crowd.

"From now on, you will obey the Olympians, Chiron, and the Immortal Campers. Any other orders from Matthew is now invalid and void. Oh, and you will obey the Hunters too." Percy said before turning his back on them and draping an arm over Thalia, who had watched the entire show with a mix of sick fascination and uneasiness. Together they walked back to Artemis and the hunters.

"Percy… look, I hate Matthew as much as you do. But at least end his life now. Hades will take care of him in Tartarus." Poseidon said.

Percy stopped and motioned for Thalia to move on. "Why should I?"

"Because you know that he didn't kill your mother. He was a pawn, like I was. I won't grudge you the satisfaction of torturing him, but at least give him a quick end." Poseidon said.

Percy frowned slightly before turning to Artemis. "Well my lady? I think you have a say in this matter too."

Artemis seemed to ponder over this. "Well, since I can't turn him into a jackalope anymore, I suppose you might as well kill him. He looks awful standing there, and I don't think this camp needs a reminder that they had such a bad camper." Artemis said.

Percy did his special bow. "Your will, my lady." Percy said, walking back to Matthew.

"It's your lucky day, Matt." He reached up and melted the metal around his mouth, revealing a pair of horribly burnt lips. "Any last words?"

"You want a piece of me? Huh? If you want a piece of me, go ahead." Matthew said.

Percy smiled a smile that sent shivers down Artemis's back. "Thank you. But no, I don't want a piece of you. I want two of you." Percy growled.

Percy's left fist came up as he smashed Matthew's head, at the same time, he unsheathed his dagger and did a fancy flip so he was holding it in a hammer grip. He slammed the dagger right under Matthew's chin, the point of the blade poking through the top of his head. In one smooth movement, he withdrew, flipped it back to icepick grip, and literally ripped Matthew's head off as the point of his dagger entered and exited Matthew's neck.

Golden ichor flew as his head toppled to the ground. It stayed there for just a second before the head and Matthew's body dissolved into a fine golden dust. Percy turned back to Poseidon with a 'satisfied?' look. Poseidon merely rolled his eyes as he smiled distractedly.

"Take care of it, Lord Hades." Percy said. Hades nodded.

Percy walked back to Artemis and stood by her side. Only then did he notice that everyone seemed to be staring at him. Even his supporters were staring at him with fear. Percy frowned and bent down to ask Artemis.

"Why's everyone staring at me like that?" Percy whispered as Zeus began clearing his throat.

Artemis looked at him with an incredulous expression. "You really don't know?" Percy shook his head. Artemis rolled her eyes. "Too brutal. That ripping his head off, too brutal for the campers. They can't stand it and become squeamish. Personally, I liked it. Now quiet, Father's speaking."

"Ahem. Well, now that young Perseus has solved his feud, I can now finish my announcements. Now Artemis, there is another reason why I called you here. I have a mission for you and your Hunt." Zeus said.

Artemis instantly brightened and straightened up. "What is it, Father?" Her eyes gleaming.

Zeus chuckled when he saw the gleam. "Don't be so enthusiastic. This enemy is quite dangerous. Her name is Lamia. She has escaped her prison recently, and I have no doubt that she will begin to do what she does best…" Zeus trailed off.

The other gods paled while Percy looked absolutely mystified.

"Who's Lamia?" he asked.

Athena rolled her eyes. "She's a very beautiful woman who specializes in seducing young men and eating children. In the old days, she had a serpent's tail, but now in the West, she probably appears as a very beautiful young women then. She especially likes eating young demigod children."

"Oh. That's bad. But it can't be that hard to kill her now, can it?" Percy said.

"Well, she's your half-sister, and she's a very skilled fighter. Plus, her skills at seduction is like an Empousai, except about 10 ten times stronger." Artemis replied.

Percy shrugged. "That shouldn't be a problem. Your Hunters are girls, so she won't be able to seduce them."

Artemis sighed. "True, but the trouble is locating them. Sure, we can jump across every major city, but the West is pretty big."

"That's a valid point. I think that the Immortal Campers should take on this mission too." Zeus said, looking over to Apollo, who was currently overseeing the Immortal Campers. All eight of them were conscious, including Nico, who was smirking at his fellow Immortals. Thanks to Apollo's healing abilities, they all looked great, even though they were all warily watching Percy.

"What? But Father, I like working alone, what do you mean you're going to send another team?" Artemis asked indignantly.

"My daughter, I understand. But Lamia can kill many children in a very short amount of time, both demigod and mortal. And that is unacceptable. Besides, it's extra incentive for you to track her down faster eh?" Zeus said.

Artemis sighed. When Zeus was set on something, there was no point in arguing with him. "Very well Father. I shall also make use of this opportunity to show Percy how we work." Artemis said, throwing Percy a glance.

Zeus nodded. He turned to the Immortal Campers. "Jason, you and your friends will start your search for Lamia tomorrow. The Hunters will also, but your group and theirs will work separately. And Chiron," Zeus said, turning to the old and tired looking centaur who was standing next to Dionysus, "I'm afraid we will have to postpone the Capture the Flag games that you usually have. At least until Lamia has been killed."

Dionysus coughed loudly. "Oh, and when Dionysus's celebration party is over. Which reminds me," Zeus said, once again turning back to the Hunters and the Immortal Campers, "Try to kill Lamia by next week. Dionysus wishes to celebrate his freedom from this Camp and on that day, Poseidon will release his control over the tides, since Dionysus wishes to celebrate on a beach. Don't ask me why."

Chiron bowed. "That is absolutely no problem my lord. I'm sure that Jason and the others would like to rest after such a beating by Perseus." Chiron said, winking at Percy. Percy replied with a relieved smile, he was worried that after what he had done, Chiron wouldn't think well of him, but it still looked like Chiron cared about him.

"Very well. Then that is all! Meeting adjourned! Congratulations again to Jason, Piper, Leo Hazel, Frank, Reyna, Annabeth and Nico! Oh and Perseus, beat this!" Zeus yelled.

Zeus raised his Master Bolt and 25 bolts of lightning shot down, striking a circle around his and Hera's chairs with explosive bangs. Then a huge, thick blast of lightning struck, engulfing Zeus and Hera in a blinding white light. With a roar of thunder and a wave of light, they disappeared.

Artemis shook her head. "You know, perhaps you shouldn't have tried to make such a dramatic entrance. He's going to go overboard." Artemis said as the gods teleported away and everyone stood up and began going back to their own activities. A group of Apollo kids brought out stretchers and put the two boys that had been beaten up by Thalia and the Hunters onto it before wheeling to the infirmary.

Percy grinned. "We made an entrance though, didn't we? Um my lady, I'll see you at your cabin, I'm going to go catch up with my friends." Percy said.

Artemis nodded. "Probably see you during dinner, since it's so late already. Later Perseus." Artemis said, walking with her Hunters to her cabin, which was glowing in the night.

Percy turned and walked towards the Immortal Campers, who were all waiting in a group for him. Chiron was there also.

"Good to see you again, Chiron. How's life and camp?" Percy asked as he was pulled into a deep hug with Chiron.

"I too am very glad to see you again my boy. And with Matthew gone, Camp will be good. Even if he comes back, I'm sure your, ah, way of disposing him will stop people from following him again." Chiron said.

Percy flushed. "I hope you don't find it disturbing…"

Chiron smiled. "Not at all. Forgive me, but I must go now and attend to some things." Chiron said, cantering off.

A rather uncomfortable silence descended upon Percy and the Immortal Campers. Only then did Percy notice that Annabeth was not standing among the group, she had run off the instant she'd regained consciousness.

"So, is, um, everything cool and all between us?" Percy asked awkwardly.

Nico grinned. "Obviously with me. I got nothing against you." Nico said as he stepped forward and gave Percy a man-hug.

Percy looked at the other campers before Frank came up with an excellent suggestion. "GROUP HUG!" he yelled.

Percy barely had time to brace himself as all of them hugged him hard, crushing him from all directions. It was almost as hard as Tyson's own hugs.

"Oi, really, I'm touched and all, but I can't breathe." Percy gasped out.

After a couple more claps on the back, they let go and surveyed him.

"Damn Percy, if it wasn't for the fact that I'm with Jason, I'd go after you." Piper said, causing everyone to roar with laughter. Jason gave her a look. "What, it's the truth. Besides, did I just get you jealous?" That set everyone off again.

"That's nice to know Piper, nice to know. Especially considering how you already did that with Jason. So thank you very much." Percy said. Both Jason and Piper turned a fiery red while the rest sniggered.

"C'mon, let's just walk around; we look like idiots standing here. So how's Camp J?" Percy asked.

"Not bad. With Jason and Reyna as praetors, it's going pretty well. Octavian's influence has fallen greatly, probably due to the fact that that Rachel girl completely trashed him. Also, a lot of people want you back. The Fifth Cohort obviously, we were always on your side, but now everyone, even the First and Second Cohort are clamoring for you to come back, especially once they heard that you were kicked out of Camp Half-Blood." Frank informed him.

Percy nodded, absorbing the information. "Too bad. My loyalties lie elsewhere. Besides, I never liked the First and Second. Too pompous."

"Hey watch it, that's the cohort I came from." Reyna said.

Percy laughed. "Before, I would've been afraid of you Reyna, but not anymore. Maybe when you're in rage mode, but other than that, nope. Besides, we all know you have a soft side."

Reyna sighed. "True. But don't you dare tell anyone else that, or I will tear kick your butt."

"Don't worry. My mouth is sealed shut. Another question, what made you guys choose immortality?" Percy asked.

They looked at him weirdly. "Because…it's immortality. You get to live forever, isn't that great? Also, that means I can continue hounding the beautiful Daughter of Bellona, Reyna." Leo said, throwing a wink at Reyna.

Everyone laughed while Reyna rolled her eyes in exasperation. It was common knowledge among them that Leo had a huge crush on Reyna, ever since Leo had stepped off the Argo II into Roman territory for the first time, he'd been infatuated by her. He was also infatuated by Thalia, even though he was very careful around her now, since the last time he'd tried, well, let's just say that he looked as if he'd somehow stepped into a furnace hot enough to burn most of his hair off. Reyna had made it clear however, that she wouldn't fall in love since she had lost the "fight" with Piper. She might have small crushes, *cough* Percy *cough*, but they were extremely rare and she never committed herself to them.

"Besides, you're immortal too, aren't you?" Leo asked.

"Technically I am. But I'm a Hunter, so I can die in battle. It's harder to kill me, but I can still die like a mortal." Percy said.

"Oh. By the way, where did you get your fire powers? I thought I was the only who had them." Leo asked.

Percy grinned. "Didn't you hear? Hestia is my patron and I'm her champion. She gave me her blessing, and I gained some of her fire powers. I can also summon home food. Even cereal." Percy said proudly.

They looked at him with low-jaws. "Wow. That's cool. So you're now a water-fire user and can summon food?" Hazel asked.

Jason chuckled. "Isn't that what he just said?" Jason said.

Hazel flushed. "I just wanted to confirm, alright?"

"Whoa, I'm just making fun of you, no need to take it so personally." Jason said, holding his hands up. "Also, you better hide your diamonds."

Hazel gave a groan of frustration as she snapped her fingers, opening a crevice and causing a large pile of diamonds to fall into the ground. While not cursed anymore, Hazel had decided-and they agreed- that it was too dangerous since greedy and selfish people might hound her forever and possibly kidnap her to force her to summon more jewels and precious metals.

"Hey Nico, why don't you seem surprised? You're just walking there with a smile on your face." Jason said, turning to Nico.

Nico raised an eyebrow to Percy, who nodded. "It's because I already knew. Everything."

"What? You knew all this time and you never told us!" Jason said indignantly, mirroring his comrades shocked exclamations.

"Hey, hey, don't blame me, I swore on the Styx not to tell! Besides, if Aphrodite hadn't put a curse on Persephone, I wouldn't have known! So I was just lucky." Nico said.

That caught their attention. "Curse? On Persephone? What did my mom do?" Piper asked curiously.

Percy roared with laughter while Nico turned a blazing red. "Have fun explaining Nico!"

Nico averted his eyes. "Um, it went like this…"

After everyone had stopped laughing from Nico's story, they continued talking and walking as they traded stories on how life had been, anything new, Percy's powers, Percy's position, Percy's odd clothing and all the normal demigod stuff. Then the conch horn sounded, signaling dinner.

"C'mon guys, let's go eat dinner. I'm starving." Frank said.

"Speaking of dinner, where's Grover?" Percy asked. He had really wanted to see Grover and explain why he had cancelled the empathy link.

"Like Rachel. He said he'd never come back so long as Matthew is here. And he makes a good point, Matthew doesn't care naught about satyrs, he thinks they're useless and actually stopped them from rescuing some demigods." Jason explained.

"So where is he now?" Percy asked.

"Uh, I actually have no idea. Why don't you try Iris Messaging him tomorrow?" Jason asked as they reached the dining pavilion.

Percy nodded. "Will do. And here we separate. Hopefully we can continue talking some other time my friends."

They nodded and continued off to their own respective tables. Percy was about to go to the Poseidon table out of habit before he remember that he was a Hunter, so technically he could sit at the Artemis table. He didn't want to dishonor his father, but it was boring to sit by himself. Besides, he really loved Artemis a lot. He was caught in the middle of this dilemma when he heard a sharp whistle. He looked up and saw Artemis smiling at him, pointing to an empty chair next to her. Chiron was also waving his hand at him. Percy grinned. This was even better. He extended his wings and flew over before dropping into his chair.

Unbeknownst to him or Artemis, or anyone for that matter, the Hunters were watching gleefully from the corner of their eyes as they finally saw Artemis begin to warm up to Percy.

"So we're staying at Camp then?" Percy asked as he sat down.

"Wait." Artemis said, motioning to Chiron, who was standing up.

Chiron stomped his hoof several times against the ground to get the campers attention.

"As everyone knows, today eight of campers became Immortal for their deeds, which were indeed great. Joining us at the high table is Lady Artemis, who will be staying here for some time as she and her Hunters search for Lamia, so treat her and her Hunters with respect! Lastly, but definitely not least, today we also have the return of our beloved camper, Perseus Jackson. So let us all have a round of applause for Lady Artemis, the Immortal Campers and Percy Jackson!" Chiron yelled.

The entire camp cheered crazily and thunderous applause rang through the air. The Immortal Campers took turns bowing, with Leo doing an extravagant one to gain the girls attention. Artemis merely nodded, and Percy followed suit, but flashed a brilliant smile that left the entire Aphrodite cabin stunned.

Chiron smiled. "Now let the nymphs and dryads serve the food, do the sacrifices and then we shall eat!" Chiron finished before sitting back down to yet another round of thunderous applause.

"I must say, that has been the most enthusiastic response I've ever heard. Beats even when you came back from your eight month abduction, Percy. You're a celebrity now." Chiron said.

"You flatter me, Chiron. I'm still the same old Percy Jackson that you've always known. Different on the outside, but still the same inside." Percy grinned. Then the dryads came, carrying plates of food and they had to stop their conversation. Much to Artemis's relief, since she was sitting between Chiron and Perseus.

As the dryads neared the table, Artemis saw them fighting over who would serve Percy. When a dryad handed Percy his dinner, he looked up and smiled his thanks, causing the dryad to blush an intense green. She felt a twinge of jealously and was about to make a snappy remark when Percy stood up, carrying his plate with him. She looked at him in confusion.

"Where are you going?" Artemis asked.

"I'm still going to do those sacrifices whenever I'm at Camp; it's an old habit that's been with me my whole life." Percy explained.

Artemis nodded and waved him off. When Percy reached the brazier, he pondered for a second what to say. He then decided to say what was on his mind, though he was careful to not let his emotions for Artemis to show.

"To my father, Poseidon, my patron, Hestia, and my Lady, Artemis. Split them up evenly alright? No fighting." Percy whispered under his breath before blushing as he realized what he'd said at the end. They'd think he was a fool. He really hoped Artemis wouldn't notice.

He walked back and sat back down next to a smirking Artemis. Oh great…

"Really Perseus? Split them up evenly? No fighting? Really?" Artemis said, a small laugh escaping her lips.

Percy blushed as he looked away, a tingling sensation running down his back simply from hearing Artemis's sparkling laugh.

"Well yeah, I mean, usually campers sacrifice to one god right?" Percy mumbled.

"Well, you can continue doing it if you want, but don't add any more odd words again, alright? I nearly choked when I heard it." Artemis said, still laughing.

Percy bowed his head. "Your will, my lady."

Artemis nodded and turned to Chiron, asking about previous hotspots that Lamia had struck. He was just beginning to dig in to his barbecued steak when he felt a soft body pressed tight against him and two arms were wrapped around his chest.

"My, but you certainly are a celebrity in this community, Perseus." A soft voice said right into Percy's ear.

Percy sighed. "Aphrodite, get off me. And what the Hades are you doing here anyways?" Percy asked, shrugging himself out of Aphrodite's grasp.

Aphrodite pouted as she pulled a chair out from behind and sat down, facing Percy. "Why can't I sit down next to you? Besides, every celebrity should have a lady next to him. And they should, of course, have had some time in bed together." Aphrodite said, winking suggestively at Percy.

Percy rolled his eyes. "Well, I don't feel like having a lady next to me alright? Now can you just go away and leave me in peace? Or what, you have another mission for me? Because if you do, then that'll depend on what type of mission." Percy grumbled.

Aphrodite pouted again as she tried to snuggle up to Percy. "Make me leave. Bribe me. Perhaps a couple nights stand? Or better yet, a couple years? If that's too much, I'm fine with a couple months." Aphrodite asked in a hopeful voice, batting her eyelashes.

Percy opened his mouth to answer when a fist came from nowhere and smashed into Aphrodite's jaw. Aphrodite gave a strangled yelp as she stumbled backwards, sitting down hard into her chair. A very unsightly bruise was already beginning to form on her lower jaw. She gasped when she winced as she touched her jaw.

"What was that for Artemis?" Aphrodite said furiously in a hushed whisper, since a couple of campers were watching with wide eyes. Fortunately, they were boys so Aphrodite quickly flashed them a smile that left them dizzy before glaring at Artemis.

Percy flinched from the site of Artemis. Her silver eyes were snapping with fury and the look seemed to promise almost instant death. When Artemis had first saw Aphrodite pressed against Percy, she'd done her best to ignore it and continue listening to Chiron. Then her conversation had ended with Chiron and she had heard Aphrodite talking about Percy having a lady next to him. And when she heard Percy trying to get her to move and Aphrodite talking about one night stands and whatnot, she couldn't stand it anymore. So she punched her.

"Don't you dare try to corrupt the only decent man left on this planet!" Artemis hissed angrily.

"Corrupting! How is that corrupting? I'm offering him the best time of his life! And probably the best time of my life too! Tell me, how is that corrupting? It's like what Thalia said, he's up for grabs!" Aphrodite asked.

"He is not up for grabs. He's a Hunter, which means he belongs to me, and he doesn't want anything to do with you anyways!" Artemis shot back.

Aphrodite stood up, brushing nonexistent lint from her clothing. "Fine. But that doesn't mean I'll stop trying." Aphrodite said before disappearing in a puff of pink smoke.

Artemis gave a low growl. "The nerve of that goddess." She snarled.

Percy chuckled. "So I'm decent now? Where did 'stupid', 'foolish', and 'disgusting' go?" Percy asked cheekily.

Artemis turned to glare at Percy. "Not you too!" Artemis snapped before slapping Percy across the face and disappearing in a puff of silver mist.

Percy gaped at the place where Artemis had been as he rubbed his cheek.

"Your expression tells me that this is most certainly not the first time you've been slapped, my boy." Chiron said as he chuckled.

"No…no… definitely not. And I'm pretty sure it's not going to be my last either." Percy mumbled. Chiron nodded and returned to eating his dinner. Percy did also, and was almost done when he felt something small and hard in his jacket pocket. Percy frowned and reached in.

He felt the usual amount of drachmas that constantly regenerated, a bottle of Calvin Klein Aqua perfume that he couldn't toss away and then something new. A small bag and a note. He quickly pulled both items out and read the note.

Dear Perseus,

Contrary to what your cranky Lady thinks, I was here for another reason. If you think that the immortality is unfair, just look at the other item. It'll solve all your troubles.

I still meant what I said about having some private time together!

Lady Aphrodite.

Percy put the note back into his pocket and looked at the bag. He gasped when he saw it. He looked up to make sure no one was watching and noticed that the Hunters had already left. He quickly excused himself and walked off in a random direction, discreetly opening the bag. A powerful golden glow shone out as he opened the bag and confirmed his suspicions. It was the same enchanted bag that Athena had given him to hold onto the sixteen Golden Apples from the Garden of the Hesperides.

He quickly shut the bag and stuffed it back into his pocket, wondering how the Hades Aphrodite found out. Could he do it? Could he eat a Golden Apple and turn Immortal? He was shaken out of his thoughts by a loud thumping sound and the snap of bowstrings. He looked up and found that he'd walked to the archery fields. Quickly surveying the field, he saw his fellow Hunters shooting flawless bulls-eyes and Artemis was throwing silver knife after silver knife onto a target, a cluster of knives already stuck there. To his surprise, he found that he could actually throw better than she could. And since she seemed rather cranky, he decided to challenge her, if only to cheer her up.

"Hello my lady. I see that your throwing knife skills are quite good, although not as good as your archery skills." Percy said, calmly walking up to her.

Artemis whirled around; dagger already in hand before she realized it was Percy. She sheathed it with a huff and raised an eyebrow.

"You sound like you could do better." Artemis said.

Percy grinned. "In this matter, I'm pretty sure that I could do better." Percy said as cockily as he could.

Artemis's eyes instantly brightened. "Ohh, a challenge is it? Alright then, shall we have a throwing knife contest? 30 knives, no stopping to take aim, whoever wins gets to ask one thing out of the loser. No backing out. Hunters as our witnesses." Artemis said smugly.

"No problem. Whenever you're ready." Percy said.

The Hunters instantly formed a circle around them, eager to see who would win and eager to see what Artemis or Percy would ask.

Both Artemis and Percy drew their daggers from their shoulder sheathes, three daggers in each hand. On an unseen signal, they started throwing them at high speed, Artemis summoning more when she ran out and Percy reaching down onto his Chaos-gifted belt. Nearing an average of five knives per second, they were finished in about seven seconds. Both of them were breathing hard, since they had been throwing at maximum speed but still with great accuracy.

Artemis was looking quite proudly of her cluster of knives, each of them hitting the bulls-eye, when she heard what Percy was saying.

"I win." Percy said.

She froze. Then she turned over to Percy's target and saw twenty nine knives stuck in the bulls-eye. The thirtieth one had split a knife and it was lodged clean in the knifes handle. Artemis slowly turned to Percy, who had a smug expression on his face. Artemis felt an uncharacteristic fear cross over her as she faced Percy, her mind frantically trying to find some way of backing out.

"So, anything I ask?" Percy said.

"Y-y-yes." Artemis squeaked. The Hunters instantly squealed like little schoolgirls as they waited anxiously and impatiently for Percy's answer. Many of them were thinking along the lines of kissing or at least hugging, which they were eagerly awaiting. Artemis however, was feeling nervous but she straightened herself. If she were to meet her punishment, then she might as well face it with dignity.

"Well?" Artemis asked challengingly, trying but failing to keep a quaver out of her voice.

Percy didn't answer. Instead, he was thinking deeply. Percy slowly surveyed Artemis and his fellow Hunters. He loved Artemis, and he loved his "sisters". They had, after some rough spots, accepted and embraced him, even offering their sympathies and using past experiences to relate to Percy. They had had much fun, and they had all spent quality time together. It was this that made life worth living, it was the joy of having company and living life to its full. But what always scared Percy was that while they were immortal, they weren't completely immortal. They could still die in battle, and Percy couldn't bear to think of living without any of his fellow Hunters. Percy grinned as a thought hit him. Fifteen Hunters and one Artemis, with sixteen Golden Apples. Now that was an interesting combination.

Percy looked up and met Artemis's gaze directly, tilting his head slightly as he continued to formulate a plan. Perhaps he could kill two birds with one stone. But he'd need help. And he knew exactly just who to ask.

While he was thinking, Artemis was getting more and more anxious and when Percy turned to her with his heart melting sea green gaze, she almost fainted. Finally, Percy spoke.

"Alright then. You ready for it?" Percy asked, grinning slyly.

Artemis swallowed nervously. "Y…yes." She stammered out.

"Ok. You, me and the Hunters, dinner in one week." Percy said.

The Hunters stared in shock while Artemis looked absolutely mystified. She had been expecting something more like what a man would do, probably forcing her to kiss him which, she had to admit, wasn't actually all that bad, what with his perfect lips. She blushed and forced herself to think about Percy's proposition. She was actually even more nervous by this, since she had absolutely no idea what he planned. Once again, she'd underestimated him.

"Um, but, er, in one week, that's Dionysus's celebration party!" Artemis exclaimed, trying to buy some more time to think.

Percy arched an eyebrow. "So? Dionysus probably wants to party all day, and while partying on a beach is great, I don't think I want to get punch drunk and I don't think you would want to either. We could have the dinner later if you wish." Percy said.

Artemis thought about it. It was true, even a goddess could, after enough wine as strong as Dionysus's, could get slightly tipsy. And she didn't trust herself around someone like Percy, especially since her resistance to him was already so thin.

"Alright then. Next week, pick me and my hunters up at eight o'clock at night. Don't you dare be late, Perseus." Artemis said as sternly as she could. It was completely ruined by Percy's response.

"Oh, don't you worry Arty. I'll be there." Percy said, his sea-green eyes glinting with amusement as he made another nickname for her.

"Don't you worry."