Hey everyone,

I'd like to announce that although some myths contradict with others, I may need to change the order in which historical myths took place to be able to fit the characters I want into the story.

Although the setting is ancient Greece, I will make the characters talk in English and informally, as if they were regular boys/men or girls/women in the modern world. It makes writing this a little bit easier, and the characters more relaxed than if they talked formally all the time.

Just a note about copying and pasting author's notes...in the past, I have had readers who did not read the author's notes until later chapters. I just want to keep reminding. If you have already seen the author's notes, you can just skip them and go straight to reading the story. Thank you.

With best regards,
SharkAttack719

Chapter 19

The Hunt for the Calydonian Boar

"A Hunt for the Calydonian Boar," Percy read. "Well, it's a good thing we stayed in Argos for another year, huh? Now it's been around four and a half years since the launch of the Argo."

"A hunt would do well to help me practice for hunting seeing as we haven't left the city like we should have," Zoë said.

"Relax, Zoë," Percy said waving her off. "We have tons of time to get up onto Olympus. I'm sure the monsters that we should sacrifice to the gods won't be too difficult to find. We're around fifteen now, right? We have a few years to go. Besides, at least we get to learn of news of where old friends used to go. Add Theseus to the list of heroes that should be scorned. Luckily we went searching for Ariadne, otherwise she would have died of starvation. I'm sure Dionysus will take good care of her."

Zoë smiled remembering those events like they were yesterday. "That was all your idea. Sometimes I don't understand the extent of your kindness."

"I promised I wouldn't treat women the way Jason and Heracles did," he said. "It was only right to go and save her."

Zoë let out a sigh, leaning back in her seat at the old boatyard of Argos. "Well, Theseus got some of the payback he deserved. It's no wonder why it's called the Aegean sea now. Poor Aegeus, not a single clue of how to wait just a little longer to see if his son was actually dead."

Percy leaned back in his seat to, a smile flickering on his face before he stared at the wall. Theseus had been a pretty close friend of his, yet he, like Jason and Heracles, betrayed the woman he loved. Even when Percy had gotten really angry at Theseus in Athens, he still felt pity for his friend as he laid miserably on the ground, his love being left on an island and his father floated dead in the ocean. The one thing about Theseus that neither Jason nor Heracles did was regret what they did. At least Theseus felt bad about leaving Ariadne behind.

"When your life starts going down into a pit of nothing," Percy chuckled humorlessly. "I can't believe everything is changing so fast. I mean, it wasn't that long ago when I was looking forward to the quest, trying to become a tougher person. Now, I just don't know what to think after all those who have shaped me, aside from Atalanta, are either dead or have done the thing I saved you from.

"Everything is like a blur, and nothing seems to have stayed the same," he finished. "At least when we get back to Calydon, we'll get to see Atalanta again. Then we can compete against her in hunting. For a warm up, let's travel through the forests rather than on the roads. How does that sound?"

"When can we go?"

"Well, the hunt is in a week so we might as well head there now," Percy said. "We might even kill the boar on the way and not even have to compete with the others for the prize. That prize will send Leon enough riches to skyrocket his family and business up to wealthy living standards. He's like a lion that blacksmith. Scary but great once you get to know him."

"You've met a lion that's great once you got to know him?" Zoë asked doubtfully.

"Well, no."

She rolled her eyes. "Of course, making up random relationships between people and animals. You are still the most ridiculous person I've ever met."

"I am not ridiculous!" he said feigning offense.

"Just a minute ago, you were sulking about your friend being completely wrong in his actions."

"I know this is getting too repetitive but... stay positive!"

Zoë put a hand to her face in exasperation and frustration. "We use that sentence far too often. Too late to change that now."

"Of course it is. Now come on, let's go to the hunt."

The destruction caused by the boar was terrifying.

As they made their way to Calydon, they passed by villages, or at least places that used to be villages. The main lot of them had been torn down, destroyed until they crumbled into rubble and dust. Others had been burned down. Percy reasoned that the boar had knocked over torches and fire had caught onto flammable materials therefore causing the spreading of the fire.

There were only a select few left, though it looked as though the villages were on the brink of collapse. Most of the buildings had been abandoned, though the bravest of the men had stayed behind to preserve and protect their villages.

Percy and Zoë had arrived at one of the villages just after it had been destroyed, the brave men trying to defend it. One man had his upper body separated from his legs. It was a gruesome sight, the grass all around him stained by the blood. Others were mutilated like him. Some were barely harmed at all on the outside. Some had been stepped on. Some had been burned alive.

It wasn't exactly the welcoming that they were hoping for when they passed through these territories.

When they got to the city walls (this city miraculously built walls to protect themselves), they were quickly let in by the guards before it was shut roughly behind them. Inside the walls, it looked as though the city was preparing for a battle. Women and children still milled around, but they all had that look in their eyes, the look of fear.

Percy and Zoë walked through the city to the main palace where they were expecting to meet Prince Meleager and King Oeneus as guests to their city.

True enough that was, the king probably having received word that visitors had arrived in Calydon. King Oeneus stood before the pair and bowed, a sign that he was in desperate times.

"Hello, young ones," he said. "You look like travellers who need rest and supplies."

"Actually," said Percy, "we're here to enter in the hunt for the Calydonian Boar. We heard it was causing you trouble, and an old friend of ours lives here. We wanted to help her out by helping to get rid of the boar."

Oeneus stared at them in disbelief. He turned to face his son, Meleager, who gave them a kind smile. King Oeneus turned back to them and said, "But you are not yet adults. You are not a man nor you a woman. How could you possibly think you could survive in the hunt for a massive boar?"

"My father is right," Meleager said. "You are but children. I'm sorry to crush your hopes and dreams, but killing a giant boar that tore down the countryside is not for everyone, especially the likes of you."

Zoë narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean the likes of you?"

"Children, adolescents, immature little—"

"Percy! Zoë!" cried an ecstatic voice to their right.

Out of nowhere, a twenty-year-old girl flung herself at the duo, crushing them in a giant hug. Meleager's face was full of shock and confusion. "Atalanta... you know these children?"

She ignored him for the time being, grabbing Percy's shoulders. "It's been a year and a half since we last saw each other. Like I said, I've missed you." Then she turned to Zoë. "How's the knife work going?"

"Not enough practice," she said shrugging. "Percy sucks with a knife."

Percy chuckled, knowing that was true. He looked at his old friend sadly. "Did you hear about what Theseus did to Ariadne?"

"Oh, yes," sighed Atalanta sorrowfully. "He's been moping about it ever since he got here."

"He's here?" asked an eager Zoë. "Where?"

Percy held up a hand to stop her. "Moping?"

The daughter of Iasus nodded sadly. "He deserves what he got, but he's so heartbroken about it... He resents what he did and refuses to do anything until he apologizes to Ariadne. We all know she will never forgive him, but the least we can do is try and send the message. I've never seen him so depressed, not since... since the Argo when he asked me."

"What do you mean he 'refuses to do anything'?" he asked.

"Nothing that a king is supposed to do," she replied. "He offered himself to join the hunt, but says he wants to die facing the boar. He wants to go to the Underworld and beg Hades to tell Ariadne what he felt after leaving her."

Zoë bit her lip as she looked at Percy. Atalanta was right. He did get what he deserved, but the fact that he was chewing himself out to the point where he didn't care for his own life was maddening. Percy had known Theseus for a long time... It was all up to Zoë. She knew what Ariadne felt, she would know what he truly deserved in the end.

"Sorry to bother this old reminiscent talk but how, exactly, do you know these two, Atalanta?" asked Meleager.

"Sorry for not introducing you sooner," she mumbled. "Prince Meleager of Calydon, Zoë and Perseus. Zoë and Perseus, Prince Meleager of Calydon. But call Perseus Percy. He doesn't like being referred to as equal to the first Perseus whom he regards as 'better than me in every such way.'"

"Well, it's true!" Percy put his hands up in surrender. "He faced Medusa!"

"And you've faced the Colchian drakon, nearly fought an army of Colchians, sailed through the entire world, fought Cynoscephalae, rescued Zoë from a terrible fate, and is the real capturer of the Golden Fleece!"

"You were an Argonaut?" exclaimed Meleager with wide eyes. "Atalanta said—"

"Yeah, I started when I was ten years old. Big deal."

"And I've trained them both in hunting, though most Percy," Atalanta boasted. "Percy trained Zoë, at least I hope he did. They will be capable in hunting the Calydonian Boar. I've heard Percy take out tigers with two well-placed arrows and a sword."

"Not seen?"

"Well, I saw the aftermath."

"And he actually..."

"Yes."

"Well then..." Meleager turned back to Percy and Zoë. "I trust Atalanta knows what she is talking about, as always."

Atalanta blushed.

"So, welcome to Calydon," he greeted. He stuck his hand out for shaking. It was a fairly new greeting type that had recently gotten popular. "All hunters participating in the hunt will have a room saved for them inside the palace and will be fed full meals until the day of, which is tomorrow. You would be surprised how many people don't read the small print."

Meleager held up one of the posters and pointed to the small writing at the bottom. Percy read aloud, "All hunters who participate in this event will get a complimentary room and food until the day of the hunt."

"Devious," Zoë muttered.

"Yes, only Theseus, Peleus, Telamon, Ancaeus and the Dioscuri have arrived so far," King Oeneus said.

"Peleus? Ancaeus? Castor? Polydeuces?" asked Percy.

Atalanta nodded. "A lot of Argonauts so far, Percy. Hopefully more are up to the challenge. It is a wonderful prize. The boar's hide is worth dozens of drachma. That should lure men into fighting for it, huh Zoë?"

"Yeah, most will be fighting for the prize, like many men do, but Percy and I are just doing it to help your kingdom, King Oeneus," she said, smiling at the aging king. "It will also help me improve my skills against actual beasts rather than animals who won't fight back."

"We haven't run into any hellhounds," Percy explained. "It's no fun. It's almost as if Hades is trying to suck all of our fun away. Of course, I am the son of his no-good brother..."

"A son of Zeus?" Meleager asked.

"No!" Percy snapped angrily. "I'm not related to Heracles. I'm a son of Poseidon and am unfortunately related to Orion, the stupid giant who raped women behind Artemis' back while he tried to seduce her. The least he could've done was not lie to the goddess' face."

The prince of Calydon nodded in understanding before turning towards his father and bowing. "Shall I take them inside the palace to their rooms?"

"Of course, my son," said the king.

Meleager turned to him and Zoë. "Follow me, you will be put in a guest room for the time being. Would you like to have separate rooms?"

"No thanks," Zoë said. "We trust each other enough to stay in the same room. Unless Percy has this fetish I am unaware of." She cracked a smile and winked at him to let him know she was just joking.

"It seems to me as though hunting is not all you've learned from Percy," Atalanta noted.

"I'm usually more serious, but when I feel anxious and antsy, I try to cover it up with a layer of humor," she said admittedly.

Meleager was looking impatient and a little angry that we seemed to be having such a good relationship with Atalanta. True enough, he knew her first, but he hadn't spent nearly three years seeing her. And every single day, Percy added.

"Come Percy and Zoë," he said, an obvious touch of vexation in his voice. "I will lead you to your room. It will be next to your friend Theseus so you can have your little chat with him. Dinner is going to be soon, at sundown. You will be able to tell the time from your window."

"See you later," Atalanta said smiling.

"Bye!" they said in unison.

As they followed Meleager up the steps to the palace, Zoë whispered quietly to Percy, "What's the matter with him? Why is he angry with us? What did we do to him or his kingdom?"

"He's just mad that we know Atalanta quite well," he whispered back. "It's quite obvious that he fancies her. He did give her an expensive looking necklace. To think what would have happened if Theseus hadn't given the necklace back would be like thinking what would have happened if Heracles wasn't a son of Zeus: disastrous."

"How is Heracles not being a son of Zeus disastrous?"

"If Heracles still did his tasks and was a son of Hades or Poseidon, then Zeus would have done everything in his power to either kill him or take all his credit away," Percy explained. "I'm glad I'm living at the same time Heracles did otherwise Zeus would have his full attention on me rather than half and half."

"Consider yourself lucky, I guess."

"Yeah."

Meleager led them through a huge opening where doors would have been, had the king wanted to make it a pain to enter and exit the palace. It was at least four times Percy's height, and for his age, he was pretty tall.

They were led through a corridor to the right and they went up marble stairs. There was a path of animal furs on the ground, strewn across the floor as if to make it okay to walk barefoot through this part of the palace. They continued through until they reached a hallway with sets of doors on either side. There were so many doors that Percy felt as if he were back on the Argo.

"Two doors down on the left side," Meleager said, pointing down the hallway.

"Thanks," Zoë muttered, and she walked towards the room. Percy gave Meleager a curt nod before following Zoë.

The guest room wasn't really anything fancy in terms of royal perspective. In the eyes of Percy, who had grown up in the wild his entire life and never really had the luxury of seeing large amounts of riches in any form other than drachmas, it was a magnificent looking room.

It was indescribable to the son of Poseidon.

"Wow, this is nice," he said.

"I've never seen anything like it," Zoë said. "It seems extraterrestrial, like I've stepped into a whole different world. There was nothing like this back west. I'm not sure about you but I prefer the outdoors. This just doesn't suit me well."

"Zoë, you look like royalty," Percy said. "So you might as well enjoy it until we have to go hunting tomorrow. Then we'll get back to our normal lives: hunting."

"I suppose..."

The door creaked open behind them and a reluctant head poked in giving the two a teary-eyed smile and a look that begged for forgiveness. Percy almost didn't recognize him. The man who poked his head in looked terrible: his eyes were red and puffy, the shade of green his eyes dull, his hair was chopped unevenly, and a scar ran down the right side of his face, from his right eye until it reached his neck.

"Percy," he croaked in a voice that Percy had never heard him in. It was even worse than the time he saw that depressed version of him on the Argo a couple years back. "Zoë."

"Theseus," replied Zoë in a conflicted voice. "How are you doing?"

"I suppose you can tell from my appearance," he said fully opening the door and hobbling in. "Do you mind if I..."

"Come in," Percy said.

Instead of doing what he expected him to do, Theseus sat on the floor rather than one of the beds. He didn't look young and fresh or anything like royalty. He looked as though he'd lived as a broken man for his entire life.

"Can we talk?" he asked.

Percy glanced at Zoë, who looked both sad and angry. He could tell she was still angry for what Theseus did to Ariadne, yet she looked sad as he was the only one to show compunction. Jason and Heracles didn't feel affected by their actions much, but Theseus... he looked almost dead.

"Tell us the entire story, including the Labyrinth," Zoë demanded at last, sitting on the bed right in front of Theseus.

Percy took a seat next to Zoë and listened as Theseus told his story.

He started with reaching Athens, finding Medea there, Medea plotting to kill him, and rejoicing with his father. Then it turned out Aegeus owed King Minos of Crete. Seven Athenian boys and seven Athenian girls would be sent to be killed by the monster. Theseus volunteered to slay it and promised his father that if he succeeded, he would return with a white sail. At Crete, he received the help of Ariadne. But on their way back, a goddess (he didn't specify which goddess) spoke in his mind. She said to leave Ariadne on a deserted island halfway back. Torn with distress, he finally agreed not wishing to anger the goddess. Then as he returned to Athens, he found out that his father had flung himself off the palace thinking he was dead. As he reached the shore, he realized that the goddess had tricked him. It was a test to see if it was love he felt towards Ariadne or not. Ever since, he gave his position as king of Athens away and roamed the lands as a homeless fool. At the end, Theseus curled up into a ball and stared at the wall, rocking back and forth.

"Don't live your life like this, Theseus," Percy said sympathetically. "I understand we were angry when you arrived back in Athens, but we didn't think it would affect you this much. We thought you would be like Jason."

"No," he said. "I loathed Jason the moment I heard what he had done. Medea didn't really want to hurt me. She was just heartbroken from Jason's betrayal and acted purely out of rage."

Zoë patted Theseus on the shoulder. "It's okay, Theseus. You deserved what you got in the death of your father, but you don't deserve to starve to death."

"I betrayed her like Jason did Medea! I deserve everything that's come to me!"

"But you regret it. That's what matters most," Percy said. "Some need reminders from others to regret what they did, but you did that on your own. You deserve a second chance. Maybe people can learn that acts of kindness can sometimes be more powerful than a sword."

Zoë and Theseus stared at him.

"What?" Percy asked.

"Acts of kindness can sometimes be more powerful than a sword?" Zoë asked.

Percy put a finger up to his chin. "I made that up out of the blue, but it can be true. For example, what if I hadn't saved you from a terrible life? What if I just said I killed Heracles with a sword and left you alone? It's a bad example but you get what I mean."

She nodded, still staring at him. "Yeah. I do."

"Not all can be forgiven, Theseus, but some things can." Percy offered his hand to the king of Athens. "If you can change, maybe you can become a great hero after death."

Theseus hesitantly grabbed Percy's hand and used it to help himself up. A small smile broke onto his face. "Thanks, Percy. Thanks, Zoë. I'll never forget this. You watch."

The next day, the courtyard just outside the palace of Calydon was filled with almost fifty men and two women.

Prince Meleager stepped onto the ledge of the fountain in the middle and held his hands up in the air. "Everyone please be quiet!"

The conversations slowly died down as the heads turned to the prince standing in the center of the courtyard; however, before Meleager could speak a single word, two fancy-looking men with decorative bows and expensive clothing spoke up.

"Prince Meleager," one of them said bowing. His voice was a little whiny with a giant spoon of snob spread over top. "I must ask you one question. Why are there women here? Are they to serve us when our hunt is over? And tell us why that boy is here with a bow and a quiver? Does he think he is well-suited to hunt a boar at the size of this Calydonian one?"

"I must agree with Anaikos," the other man said. His voice was not whiny like the other man's. He had a considerably lower voice and was not snobby. The only part to that was the tone of his voice. He seemed to think himself higher than others.

Meleager tightly pressed his lips together. "The girls' names are Atalanta and Zoë, and they will be hunting alongside us for today. The boy with be hunting as well and his name is Perseus."

Anaikos wrinkled his nose. "You have got to be kidding me. There is no way Kepheus and I will be hunting alongside such disgraces to the art of hunting."

The other man, Kepheus, nodded. And that triggered an explosion of complaining.

Most of the other men seemed to agree with them and started yelling at Meleager, yelling phrases so rude that Atalanta actually tried to stop Percy and Zoë from hearing them. It was to no avail as the two had heard everything the raging men and tried to say.

"Actually, I have seen these three hunt and they are quite amazing, better than us," a man said from the middle of the crowd. Percy had heard that voice before and his face broke into a smile when he saw who it was.

"Polydeuces," he said waving. "Castor."

"Percy," they greeted. "Zoë. Atalanta."

Said girls waved back at the Dioscuri. Anaikos and Kepheus stared at them with their jaws dropped. Kepheus blinked and pointed at Polydeuces. "You know them?"

"They were part of the Argonauts," Castor said, sending a ripple of shock over the crowd of men.

"And that is why they will be capable of hunting a boar," Meleager said. "Is that clear?"

Everyone looked amongst each other before saying in harmony, "Yes, we understand."

"Good, now let the hunt begin!"

Trumpets blared from the palace and immediately, Meleager took off, grabbing Atalanta on the way.

Percy and Zoë were the last ones to leave the courtyard, but to them it didn't matter. Their goal was to save Calydon from fear and save the surrounding villages from complete destruction. They didn't care about the prize like the others, even if it was extremely tempting. They were just there to help.

"So, where should we start?" Zoë asked.

Percy scanned the area before pointing to a mountain, "I think that's Mount Zygos. We should try to get a better view. The monster has to be huge to destroy villages like that and scare the Calydonians back into their city. Getting up at a higher elevation will be good. And who knows, maybe we'll run into the boar on the way. We have to take the stealthy approach, though. No one can know where we're going."

"Got it," Zoë replied.

Then they took off for the forest. When they got to the base of the mountain, they began scouting out where a good lookout view would be to see where the boar was.

"Where do you think would be a good place to view the landscape from?" Zoë asked.

Percy frowned and looked up. As he analyzed the few ledges that they could climb up to, he thought he heard the trees and leaves behind them were rustling... no the trees off behind them to the left in the distance. It was distant, so Percy ignored it for the time being.

"I don't know," he admitted to Zoë. "It would take us a long time to get to that one, but this lower one might not be the best view we could have to find the boar. And—"

He cut himself off and whirled around. There was nothing behind him, but he oddly felt as though someone was watching him. He felt as though a pair of eyes were ready to attack him. When he turned back to Zoë, the feeling dissipated and he shook his head.

"Are you okay?" she asked concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He waved her off. "Here, let me boost you up. The lower ledge is always a start."

Percy stood at the bottom of the cliffside part of the mountain and boosted Zoë up to the very, lower ledge that was connected to their destination via a path that seemed to be carved naturally into the side of the mountain.

Just as she got up, a loud male voice yelled, "KILL THEM!" and Percy was ambushed by six men with swords.

"Percy!" Zoë shouted in warning.

But she didn't need to. As soon as those words escape the mouth of the man, Percy had Anaklusmos out ready to intercept the men who obviously wanted them out of the hunt.

They had bows slung over their backs and two of them stopped just short of Percy and brought their bows out. They were aiming for Zoë, who dodged out of the way like a fox, sleek and swift, and pulled her own bow out.

"Kill or injure?" Zoë shouted.

Percy was about to say "injure" when an arrow tore right through Zoë's knee. He felt energy and anger rush through him and he shouted, "Kill!"

Before the men charging Percy knew what was happening, he somersaulted over them and jabbed Anaklusmos straight through the neck of the largest man. The man dropped dead at Percy's feet, blood gushing out of his wound like a fountain. Percy had already moved on, though, parrying a swipe from Anaikos. Anaikos was terrible with a sword, his blow so weak that Percy's parry knocked it right out of his hands. It was clear these men were hunters, not sword fighters.

Percy slit Anaikos' throat with a shallow cut, making him suffer as he bled out. The next two men tried fleeing, but Percy pulled out his bow and shot two quick arrows at the retreating men. The arrows didn't hit them in fatal places, but they both collapsed to the ground clutching the arrows in them.

Then he beheaded the two archers and went back to the fallen men. They were trying to crawl away, but Percy grabbed them and pinned them to two trees with steel-tipped arrows. Then he cut small wounds in their necks and growled, "You should never have tried to kill us. Seriously hurting my friend is what you get."

Then he turned back to Zoë who just rolled off of the ledge. She landed on the ground with a thump.

He ran over to her and looked at the arrow in her knee. It had torn right through, most likely destroying the bone. It would have taken a really powerful bow to tear right through like it did. He looked her in the eyes and asked, "How much does it hurt?"

She grit her teeth and closed her eyes in agonizing pain. In a pained voice she replied, "A lot." He knew it was taking a lot of her will not to shed tears. The wound was painful.

Percy took off his pack and looked inside. "I know I have some ambrosia and nectar in here. There has to be some."

"I'll still need to rest, to heal," she croaked. "Let's forfeit the hunt. Get me to the infirmary."

"Are you sure?" Percy asked. "We can still take out the boar. You just attack it from long range."

Zoë shook her head. "Serves these bastards right for trying to kill us."

"Normally, I wouldn't kill, but your knee!" He finally found the nectar. "Oh thank the gods that demigods are allowed to have ambrosia and nectar. Too bad for Tantalus, though. Never steal it."

Zoë tried lifting her upper body up to see the damage to her leg, but winced and fell back down to the ground. A tear from each eye escaped.

"Don't move it, we don't want to cause any more damage," Percy said. He took a bit of nectar and poured it around the wound on both sides. Then he took the bronze arrowhead off the arrow and poured nectar on that side of the wound. He put the nectar aside and held Zoë's leg to the ground. "This is going to hurt, Zoë. Brace yourself. The splinters will hurt the most."

She nodded closing her eyes and biting her lip.

Then Percy pulled the arrow out of Zoë's leg. The muffled scream and loud whimper that was elicited from Zoë when he pulled the arrow out hurt him as well. He couldn't bear to see Zoë in that much pain. Unfortunately, things like this happened and there was nothing he could do to prevent it. Women were often the targets.

He grabbed the nectar and poured it on the wound. Slowly, the wound healed in her leg and it returned to normal. They waited a little longer before Percy helped Zoë up.

"Lean on my shoulder," he told her. "Hopefully no one tries to intercept us."

They hobbled back towards the palace slowly, carefully avoiding tree roots and anything that would get in their way. Some of the trees were dryads and they helped the two get back to the palace quicker, pulling Zoë along before dropping her off at the next dryad. He knew dryads only had a certain distance they could get away from their home tree unless they were willing to die.

However, when they were halfway with the fourth dryad, she suddenly yelped and disappeared with an explosion of green mist.

"What the Hades?" Percy shouted.

"Wait, Percy," Zoë said. "Do you hear that?"

He frowned and looked at her. "What?"

"Listen."

Percy quickly delved into silence, waiting for whatever was coming. Then heard it, just like before, the leaves were rustling. The only difference this time, accompanying the rustling leaves was shaking. The ground was shaking, as if a miniature earthquake was approaching them.

Then something crashed through the trees, and Percy dove to the dirt, Zoë in his arms. He had an arm wrapped around her as they collided with the ground. Earth seemed to explode around them, trees collapsing and dirt flying everywhere. When Percy looked up, a terrifying sight welcomed him.

The Calydonian Boar, its beady eyes glaring at them, looked murderous and ready to kill them.

Zoë moved to get her bow and arrow, but Percy stopped her. "Don't," he whispered. "Move to get weapons and it will kill us."

"But—"

"Trust me, Zoë. Trust me."

The boar pawed the dirt and glared at them for what seemed like days before it let out a gurgling sound. "REET!" the boar squealed.

As if they could read each other's minds, both of them rolled to the side, nocked an arrow and let them go. Both arrows nailed the boar in the eyes before another three arrows stuck into the boar's back.

The boar let out a squeal of pain and spun around trying to find the third attacker.

Percy ran over to help Zoë back off as Atalanta and Meleager leaped into the scene. The former shot more arrows into its hide as Meleager came with a sword. Like the others, he was a hunter and didn't look that comfortable with it. He made the killing blow on the monster, driving the sword through the beast's breast and into the heart.

"That was close," Zoë said.

"Nice shot," Percy complimented. He turned to examine her leg, poking at it to see if it still hurt.

She shook her head and nonchalantly said, "It feels more like I severely bruised it now. The nectar worked well."

Percy smiled and let out a little laughter. "Leave it to you to be braver than people think you are."

Meleager pulled a conch shell out of his bag and blew it as loud as he could. Then he turned to Atalanta. "That was excellent! We managed to kill the boar! Finally, my father will no longer have to worry about this beast ravishing the countryside and the remaining villages are safe."

She smiled and nodded before turning to Percy and Zoë. "Nice shots you two. It was funny seeing you on the ground considering at your skill level with melee weapons should have made you think of a better way of attacking it."

"That wasn't why we were on the ground, Atalanta," Zoë said. "We got ambushed. Six men tried killing us, and I took an arrow right through my knee. Percy managed to heal most of the wound with nectar, but it feels like I've severely bruised it... not to a life-threatening level of course."

"Are you okay?" asked Meleager.

"I just need to get some rest on my leg and get to the infirmary to check from any extra damage," she said.

He nodded and looked at Percy. "Would you like to help me escort your friend to the infirmary?"

"Yes, sure."

Percy and Meleager stood on either side of Zoë as they made their way back to the palace. Atalanta stood at their side asking about all that had happened while carrying the boar's hide. Percy told her the story and the outcome, including the deaths of the men.

Meleager shook his head in disgust. "This was supposed to be a hunt for the boar, not to attack hunters you don't want in the hunt. Good riddance to them." He looked apologetically at Zoë and Percy. "We will have to hand out the prize, which will go to Atalanta."

The other male hunters didn't take that news well. Toxeus and Plexippus, the uncles of Meleager, took it the worst.

While they were disputing about everything, though, Percy and Zoë walked over to the palace as Atalanta led them to the infirmary. She smiled at the pair when they arrived. "I don't think you'll want to be around when they 'resolve' this dispute. Things may get ugly."

"That's all right, Atalanta," Percy said.

The three of them looked at each other another time, supposedly the final goodbye. Atalanta didn't think she would be staying around too often in Calydon, her reasons unknown to the other two. It was another sad farewell, but the fact that Percy and Atalanta already had a saddening farewell made this one a little easier. She wished Percy and Zoë the best of luck in their journey's ahead, and Percy wished her the best of luck with Meleager.

"If I do end up winning that prize from Meleager, I'll make sure to sacrifice it to the gods, as a present from us three," Atalanta said. "That way, it will be a little easier for you to get up onto Olympus."

"That sounds great," Zoë said.

She opened her mouth to speak something, but instead exhaled and gave them a smile before departing the room. Percy watched as she left and continued to watch until there was no sign that she would be returning.

As his palm was facing the ceiling, a soft, gentle hand lay on top of it. Percy turned and looked at Zoë, who was giving him a look that told him everything he needed to feel better. He looked back at the entrance, just in the light of things.

Zoë squeezed his hand, an unmistakable message in it. He squeezed back and said, "Yes, Zoë. The final journey begins here."

Hey everyone,

Hope you enjoy this chapter.

I apologize for any grammatical errors in the chapter above.

Later on, I might actually decide that Percy may have a pairing in this story, so I have started one up about pairings. I will choose what I want, but I would like your opinions on it.

With best regards,
SharkAttack719