Chapter 14: Mysterious People

She sat up on the infirmary bed, touching her temples lightly. So it's true. She really had been in a dream. And she'd been asleep for.. What? Five years? Percy said it'd been ten years for him ever since they figured out that she was stuck in sleep. So yes, five years. She'd been asleep for five goddamned years. There has to be something she missed.

She tried to remember all the things that happened. It had been ten years since he 'died'. The Greek and Roman camps have made a truce. Peace is restored. For now. Except a new threat was hanging over their heads. Literally. The monsters have come especially from the outer space just to help them with their 'evacuation'. The other creator was hell-bent on obliterating Earth, since their (the Olympians) rule was supposedly 'destroying the values of fairness, strength, and humility' as Order had put it. Or maybe Percy had just put it in a smart way so that she'd think more highly of him. Nice try.

Percy..

Most of the time, nowadays (however much total number of days she spent in that dream, she never knew), she thought about him. If there were a thing called time-travel (which there probably was, considering how messed up the world is) she'd be laughing at herself in the past; laughing at her own loneliness and longing for more hunters, when in fact, only one man can fill all those gaps. If this were last time, she'd not even want to think about men. But right now... her view changed.

Maybe there were still men in the world who weren't corrupted by the wickedness of mankind. Perhaps she'll be more merciful this time. One can hope.

She thought about their last meetings... up to the latest, where they finally, finally, admitted their feelings for each other. Or maybe it was her who admitted, since she never expected him to fall for her in the same way. But he did. They did.

Before she could think of it any further, a blonde-haired teen barged in, followed by a dark-haired one. She recognized them as her full-blooded brother, Apollo, and her half-sister and lieutenant, Thalia.

Apollo, much like the idiot he is, gaped at her open-mouthed while Thalia grinned widely and engulfed her in a hug. After a few moments, they pulled away. Although, her lieutenant seemed happy for more than one reason; she didn't get to ask her of it as her brother closed in on her, embracing her in a godly-sized hug. He was grinning ear to ear, she could tell. She returned the hug. She wouldn't admit it to anyone, but she did miss his idiocies. Just his idiocies.

"I missed you, little sis," he muttered, obviously happy that she'd come to wake, and not even trying to hide it.

She didn't try to stop the smile. "Don't call me that," she told him, too happy to snap.

They pulled away as the sky thundered urgently. The god glanced outside, before turning back to her. "You know that cue. I'll wait for you there." He gestured for the only demigod in the room to close her eyes, and he flashed out.

The demigod daughter of Zeus opened her eyes and smiled at her mistress. "I'm happy for you, my lady."

Artemis then got the sudden relative feeling that she had been watched. "I am too, Thalia. Thank you." The girl beamed at her.

"I think I'll wait for you in your palace. The Hunters are already there," she said, standing up. "We had a feeling you'd come around right now, so we got back in there a week ago."

The goddess furrowed her eyebrows at her lieutenant, standing up from the bed as well. "I thought it was only you who knew."

Thalia raised an eyebrow. "Your condition? Of course not. Knew what could wake you: now that I'm the only one," she said and smirked. "I bet you had a spy in there, hmm? I bet you already knew."

The goddess of the moon forced back the heat rising to her cheeks. "I didn't. That's the purpose of asking you." She stomped out, midway flashing into better clothes and heading out the door, leaving her lieutenant's joking laughs resonate throughout her brother's palace.

Of course she didn't know! Sure, she did have a spy, but she specifically told (rather demanded) that he won't spy on her hunters. Who knows, he might see something in their, ahem, private times; she would have to turn any boy who sees the opportunity into a jackalope—but of course, she won't do that to him, and that's why she settled on restricting him to do so.

Oh, Thalia was saying something about the thing that woke her up. Because she stormed away, she didn't catch anything about it. Yeah, how did she wake up, anyway?

Before she could ponder much about, the throne room doors stood before her, all high and mighty. She confidently strode in. All of the present heads turned to her, donning varying expressions.

Aphrodite, Ares, and Hermes were smirking at her, as if they won a bet that she had no knowledge of. Apollo had the same, stupid grin from earlier. Dionysus simply grunted at her, having no care in the world. Not that she wanted him to care, anyway. Poseidon (she figured that he'd finally recovered), Demeter, and Hephaestus had their eyebrows raised, a tint of amusement sparkling in their eyes. Zeus and her favorite sister Athena had unreadable expressions, staring at her as though they couldn't believe that she was awake already. At the foot of the hearth, her aunt had the same genuine happiness that she found on her lieutenant's face.

Hera, her stepmother, wore the strangest expression of all of them.

Pride. What was she proud of?

Artemis cleared her throat, flashing to her throne. "Uh, let's get this done."

The gods composed themselves. Her father began a recap of what happened over the past years: the duration she'd been asleep in, which she didn't need, really, since she was constantly updated by a certain son of Chaos. She pretended to listen as she remembered, clear as day, all of the things they did together..

"So my mom taught me something new," he said, grinning at her mischievously for some unknown reason. "It isn't anything helpful, I guess, but it makes someone feel better."

"Then why did she..?"

Percy shrugged. "She may have found me a little distracted."

"Of what?"

A small hint of red tainted his cheeks. "Uh, nothing important."

Artemis raised a curious eyebrow, but nodded. She trusted his judgment. "What is this that you learned, then?"

His grin came back twice the size. "Well, my mom taught me how to activate external stimuli from the inside."

"Meaning?" She was getting a bad feeling about this.

He continued to grin at her, and she felt something flutter inside of her. No, literally flutter. It was a funny feeling. Speaking of funny..

"HAHAHA!" She let out peals of undignified laughs, with his fingers moving rapidly in the air as if... tickling.

…

"I'm bored."

He stared at her stupidly. "What do you want me to do?"

Artemis rolled her eyes. "Get me some fun."

"A game?"

"No. I've had enough of your games," she told him, amused as he pouted.

Percy frowned, making those cute furrowed eyebrows; but then it became a smile when he had another idea. "An adventure?" he suggested smugly, knowing that she won't be able to refuse.

She blinked, excitement flaring up inside her. "What kind of adventure?"

He grinned at her. "We're gonna pretend as normal, teenage students."

"How are you to do that?" she asked, looking on curiously as he stood up.

"I've been practicing," he remarked, glancing at her. "Just for you. I figured you wanted something like this when it gets to your boredom. I could create a better world for you here."

Her heart skipped a beat as he said that: I could create a better world for you here—but she knew that it was only for this adventure of his.

He focused. On one moment, they were chilling in the forest, the next, they were at a school cafeteria, with food, tables, and hundreds of people. This was his adventure?

"Come on," he invited, taking her hand. "We'll get to experience being normal teenagers for once."

…

"I thought you said only we," she breathed, panting as they hid behind a closed door of a classroom, unused by any classes for the school fair. "But there are other teenagers here—"

"Fake teenagers," he replied, breathing as heavily as she was. "I made them. Plus, it wouldn't be a realistic school without all the other people."

Artemis sighed in exasperation. "It would've been better if your idea of adventure wasn't so childish right from the start."

"Oh shut up." He glanced at her at the corner of his eye. "Adults in fact enjoy this type of drama on TV."

"We're not on TV, are we?" she glared at him.

"Well sorry for trying to give you a safe worthy adventure." Percy held his hands up in surrender. "I even made a love triangle for us! I only vaguely understand how it works, but Rachel talks about that kind of thing a lot. So I figured that people must enjoy it."

"You mean love square," she muttered, but he heard her.

"What was that?"

Artemis flushed, pushing her back against the door as the girl pursuing them banged on it. "Nothing. What we need to do is to have that girl Louise away from your face, at the same time making Jack fall for her."

He looked like he wanted to comment about something, but wisely kept his mouth shut about it. Instead, he asked, "How are we going to—" Suddenly his face lit up with an evil smile, and he dragged her off outside. At first it seemed crazy, but there was no Louise in sight. They went straight to a class store: a marriage booth. Alarm bells rang in her head.

"What are you—"

"It's just fake," he reminded her, smiling cheekily. "I had it all set up with my powers. They'd be here in a minute, so we need to hurry."

"Why can't you just set them up with your so-called powers—"

"I can, but I won't," he deadpanned, walking into the booth. She hesitantly followed. Some of the students manning the booth led them inside their classroom, where there was a church set-up, complete with a red carpet and all that. They positioned the two side by side in front of some guy with a paper mustache.

For less than a minute, they did the ceremony, and then it was time for the most dreaded moment in her life. Or maybe the happiest, but she still couldn't believe that this was all faked in a fake life.

"You may now kiss the bride."

He leaned in, his lips twitching upwards. Was he itching to kiss her? What would he—

Pop.

The last things she remembered were the sounds of Louise's wails, the thud of chasing footsteps, and a tingling nose.

…

"Oh, so I was supposed to attend this dance."

"You wanted an adventure, Moony, and you shall get it." He looked undoubtedly handsome in his so-dark-that-it-was-almost-purple tuxedo. She wasn't sure how she looked. She never liked gowns.

"A shame that people won't get to see this beautiful face through the mask," he said softly, fixing the masquerade mask in front of her eyes. Did he just say beautiful?

"Let's go. I don't know where they got this legend, honestly; I didn't make it with them," he explained, leading her to the gym. "But I guess we're gonna try making do with their beliefs, huh?"

"Looks like it," she murmured, looking around at the many masked pairs dancing. She can't let these boys touch her, but nooo. Percy just had to make a rule that dancing in these balls were compulsory.

Artemis suddenly felt a hand rest gently on her waist, another holding her own. She was about to do that classic judo flip when she saw that it was him.

"We'll start. Let's just hope we end up on each other after some time, alright?" He smiled, beginning to maneuver his way in the crowd through the pairs, swiftly but safely dragging her along with him. He held her like... like she was fragile and unprotected. He made her feel safe in his arms.

They looked into each other's eyes, neither saying a word.

…

"These adventures of yours.. I actually enjoyed them."

"Um-hmm," he agreed silently. She and Percy were back to their forest after the four years—or eight years for him—that she'd been on his adventures, experiencing a different world after the other, sitting under the moon and gazing up at the stars in the night sky.

"Artemis," he called, after a few moments. He said it quietly, seemingly to himself.

"Yes?" she asked, still looking up at the sky. She was jumpy for some reason though, and she hoped she hid it well.

"Do you know what happens to... an immortal... if they bathe in the Styx?"

As he finished his sentence, she felt an ominous feeling overcome her, a cold foreboding chill that sent terrified shivers up her spine. "No."

"Quite the same as mortals, actually." He shrugged, talking to her without tearing his eyes away from the stars. She glanced at him, and she noticed that he was nervous about something. She recalled faintly that he usually circles around the subject when nervous. What was he getting to? "Only, when they die... they get sent straight to Tartarus to reform for the next to two decades."

She shivered. But he wasn't finished. "But there's another river like Styx in Khaos. It's called the River of Order."

Artemis wondered why it was named after someone who wanted to blast their planet to bits, but she waited patiently for him to elaborate.

"Chaos once deemed her brother to be the strongest, worthiest, and noblest of all, so she sent the boiling waters of her granddaughter, Tethys, to cover a strip of Planet Khaos' land, and named it after him," he began explaining, curling up his legs and hugging them like a boy alone in the playground. "She decreed that only the strongest, worthiest, and noblest of all, with the intent to restore peace and order, could bathe in the river; and in turn, being granted invulnerability."

"It just sounds like the Styx," she remarked.

He winced. "No. It's more painful that it."

"How would you know?"

He looked away. "I've got sources," he said vaguely, continuing before she could reply. "Everyone could bathe in the river as long as they are what Chaos had decreed. If they aren't, it's certain death," he pursed his lips, seemingly experiencing difficulty explaining as their conversation progresses. "They are completely, physically invulnerable. Their only weakness is their mortal anchor itself. It's like a more sensitive empathy link."

"Wait, what if they die?"

"That only happens if the anchor dies as well. And when that happens... the person doesn't technically die," he whispered. "Mortal or immortal, they'll fade. Forever."

"Why are you—"

"Artemis," he then breathed seriously. He grabbed her hands, pressing them to his lips delicately. "Please, take care of yourself. I—I don't think I can take it if you get hurt. If something happens to you... it happens to me too. But worse. Don't take this the wrong way, but—Artemis, I can't lose you."

The air supply coming into her lungs was cut off abruptly. What was he trying to say?

"Percy, I.."

He closed his eyes. "I lo—"

"..Artemis, who did you—? Artemis? Artemis?!"

The goddess of the moon jolted back to reality. "Huh? What?"

Some of the gods snickered. Aphrodite leaned forward, a wide smirk on her beautiful face. "See, Father? She's daydreaming about her man."

The goddess in question flushed in embarrassment, which made the others laugh outright. "I am not. Who is this man?!" It wasn't that enough to scare them.

"Yes, Aphrodite, I was also wondering who this man is," Zeus said, caressing his beard as he looked to his daughter questioningly.

The goddess of love smiled coolly and reclined to her seat. "Ah, you see, I have a confession to make."

"You don't know who it is?"

She shook her head. "No, no; I very well know who it is," she denied, waving it away. "It's just that I can't tell you."

"Why not?" Poseidon sighed in dismay.

"It's," she glanced at Artemis, who glared at her, "ah, top secret. Artemis would destroy the world if I tell."

The huntress, in turn, frowned. "I didn't say that."

It sparked something in her mind though. If she did tell, the world will be destroyed... because he won't come, and will let them be at the Ordians' mercy. She felt her heart beat faster. What would happen if Aphrodite, the all-time gossiper, would divulge it to everyone?

"I don't think not," the goddess of beauty replied, and for a second, Artemis was scared. Did she just respond to her statement, or was she reading her mind? "Also, I didn't help her wake up. She did it herself." Okay. She was going to tell them. It's fine. What he doesn't know won't kill him. Them. All of the worry thoughts about the secrecy were suddenly thrown out of the proverbial window.

"Say what?!" Apollo's grin melted, morphing into an incredulous gawk. "You mean she... she—"

"Yes," Aphrodite agreed, turning to smirk at her half-sister as if she did win a bet. "I just watched. She does dream about a man willingly."

Athena (as well as the rest) looked at the goddess of the hunt in shock. "That's why it took so long for her to wake up?" Artemis felt like banging her head to a tree. She reckoned she was going to ask about the man.

"No," Aphrodite shook her head and looked at the wisdom goddess as though she was stupid (which was pretty insulting on the other's part). "Love, whether with my help or not, takes long to submit. Actually, they started from.."

"What? How did you know?" Artemis demanded, but then exclaimed quickly, "Don't say it!"

"Ten years ago." Nevertheless, the love goddess continued, glancing at the younger goddess in amusement. "Exactly after—"

"Don't. Say. It."

"—the Second Giant War. And I mean exactly after that. On—"

"Don't say it or I'll—"

"Percy Jackson's birthday and death anniversary." She looked at Artemis, daring her to protest more, but the goddess was glaring at the floor.

"Hmm," Zeus mused, pondering the conversation held in front of him. "That long?" He turned to the goddess of the moon. "Who is this man? I shall smite him for even walking with your stride."

"You can't," she replied quietly, as though all her energy was lost from objecting on the other goddess. "He is stronger than you."

"A mortal, stronger than the Olympian gods?!" he bellowed, the pride long gone since the latest war reappearing in his voice. As quick as it came, it disappeared. "Who is he?"

She exhaled. "I'm sorry, but.." She trailed off, suddenly thinking of an idea. "Thalia mentioned something about how I woke up. How did I?"

Poseidon leaned forward to take a closer look at her from his throne. "I remember my brother telling you," he remarked, rubbing his temples. "Weren't you listening?"

Artemis tried to glare at him, but her heart was not in it. It was hard to become angry with someone more powerful than you, since you weren't so willing to make them angry anyway, and plus, he'd been a good father to her... lover.

It was still so hard believing that she, the goddess of the chaste, had a lover.

"I was... preoccupied."

"I see," the god mumbled, frowning. "According to Apollo, you could only be woken up if you did something you hate in that lifelike dream of yours."

"I hate many things. Mostly about boys."

"No, no; the one thing that you hate doing most."

Artemis narrowed her eyes. She didn't do anything like that, but as far as she recalled...

She silenced him with the first thing that came to mind. Their lips clashed, full of passion and comfort. His lips reacted and moved with hers, fitting together like a key to a keyhole. Her hands made their way to his hair, clutching his soft locks for all his worth. His hands snaked around her waist, pulling them closer together.

Feelings were shared with one long, love-filled kiss, and nothing else was said as they pulled away looking into each other's eyes, the windows of their souls portraying what they really felt.

The next thing she knew, both of them had fallen asleep, her form comfortable in his strong arms, making her feel respected and wanted.

…

Little did both of them know, they had become one. Two parts of the same soul worked harmoniously; connecting, fitting. The moon brightened above them—above Earth, above the endless shadows of the Void, and a tiny silhouette was seen in its surface, growing ever so slowly as time passes.

"You're back, my lady!"

Even for Artemis, that statement was a little obvious.

The Hunters crowded around her, all wearing big smiles. It made her feel slightly guilty that she'd been gone for ten—no, five years. She wasn't sure how they managed without her, and that made her all the more proud of them.

We missed you! Finally! What took it so long, my lady? Thank the gods you're back!

Mostly, that was all they said. She took the briefest of looks to her left, where a certain daughter of Athena was there, wearing a smile... only fractionally small than the others' that it was barely noticeable. Artemis wondered how she, or all of the Hunters in general, would react to their mistress having kissed a boy of her dreams.

Literally.

"Yes, thank you," she replied, forcing the thoughts down. If she'd think about it, it might slip just like what happened to her and Thalia. "Is there any news about the camps?"

The smiles promptly fell. "Well.. While you were MIA, we sent some of our sisters to check on the camps; and since we don't have you, we can't just come in there since we might... um, burn something down," Jean, a mortal, explained awkwardly, her mouth pressed into a thin line. "And they said that the attacks were getting more and more frequent, and better each time. The monsters seem to know where their weak points were, and that's where they attack."

Thalia scowled. "Spies again."

Artemis glanced at her, and then asked, "Who could these spies be?"

"They weren't trying to know." Phoebe scrunched up her eyebrows, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "Says it'll only cause division, but the consequences were that information would continue to be brought to the enemy. They said a boy had told them long ago."

"Percy did," Annabeth said, the look in her grey eyes telling that she had remembered something. Her eyes told no one to disagree with her, and the demand looked... stronger than ever. "He was right."

No one, whether they wanted to or not, could argue with that.

"But then they said something else." The mortal frowned bitterly, as if what she was going to say was something unpleasant. "They were accusing us. They said that their defenses were going great until we arrived to help."

The goddess could only watch as her hunters protested loudly, all saying their sides about the campers' assumptions. She narrowed her eyes. How dare those filthy campers accuse her hunters?

"Quiet down," she ordered. "Let us show those campers who aren't spies, alright? Let us go and assist them. Pack up."

The Hunters roared in approval, and then went to pack up their things. Thalia frowned slightly when she caught a glimpse of something unfamiliar in the hunt, when she felt something sinister. She paused and looked around warily, before continuing on to her tent, her guard not going to break down anytime soon.

…

"Hmm," he mused, looking down at the scene with interest. "It looks like this daughter of Zeus is getting something about you, my little hunter."

"I am very sorry, Lord."

"It's fine. They haven't found out about you completely yet, anyway." He waved it away offhandedly. "But it still needs some tweaking to do."

"What do you suggest, my lord?"

"Before I say," the unidentified god sighed, looking to his servant. "Why did you join me?"

"Because I think that the gods are merely using me today, my lord," the apparition answered without hesitation. "Last time, I had no reason to join you, but now I have. I have realized how corrupt the gods' ruling is."

"Then you should have joined that pathetic titan king, if that was your reason," he spat, looking back to the scene. "If you joined me for selfish reasons, such as to live, then I might just end your life here."

"I swear I tell the truth, Lord," the hunter promised, her strong voice wavering a bit. "I know that I am on the winning side. I will avenge the hero of Olympus this way."

"This isn't about winning or losing," he growled, to the hunter's surprise. "This is about teaching my bastard sister a lesson. I will eliminate everything she has created on this planet, and that includes you. It won't matter if you win or you lose."

The hunter looked down, shaking. "I will avenge the hero of Olympus."

His lips twitched, as if he was trying to hold back a smile. "I shall let you live, then," he said, his tone saying that those few words had a lot more meaning than they seemed. "But first, the hunters shan't know about you."

"I will do as you wish."

"Abolish this threat. We shouldn't wait for a little pest to grow."

The traitor hunter gulped, hesitating to reply.

The lord raised an eyebrow. "Will you?" he hinted, his hand itching towards his sword.

"O-of course, as soon as possible, my Lord Order." She bowed frantically. Then her apparition dissolved, returning to her body down on Earth.

"For such a smart creature molded from my sister's hands, you harbor such obliviousness," Order muttered to himself, pursing his lips distastefully. "No matter; I shall give you the benefit of the doubt. You should learn how to choose sides, little demigod.

"You should know that you are fighting against the very hero you wanted to avenge."

"Lord Perseus, your mother sends for you."

"Oh, um, thanks," he stammered awkwardly, sitting up from the bed. He glanced at the nymph by his door, who had her head bowed. "Um, you can go now. And just call me Percy, by the way."

She bowed lower. "Of course, Lord Percy."

Percy opened his mouth, but the nymph disappeared in a burst of leaves. He rolled his eyes and got up. He glanced down at his sketchbook, remembering last night's dream connection. He'd drawn her, the goddess of the moon, portrayed perfectly in pencil and paper. With a flick of his finger, color was added, and it looked like... like she was there, poking herself out of the book. He'd never thought of his works as beautiful, since he was just a beginner the last twenty years (okay, so maybe he wasn't so new to this anymore), but now, he would admit that it was. She was.

He sighed and slowly flapped it close. One day.. One day soon, he could finally be allowed to return to her.

He walked out to the corridor and started heading towards some random direction, then stopped. Why was he heading off randomly, anyway? He just realized that the nymph didn't say any particular place. Cursing his luck, he resigned to walking to his mother's throne room, as that was where she usually was, when she wasn't... busy.

He wondered what she was thinking when she told him to stay locked up.

"Your schedule for tomorrow has been changed a tad," she told him. "So it'd be best for you to stay in your room until noon."

"Can I—"

"No."

He looked at his mother oddly. "I can't come out?"

"No."

"I can't relax at the beach?"

"No."

"Practice sword-fighting?"

"You can practice in your room," she replied. "Just think of it as an arena, or gym, or anything you want, really, instead of a bedroom and it will change."

"What about if need to pee?" She raised an eyebrow. "Okay sorry. I can't really come out?"

"You can, but you may not." He frowned. She reminded him of his strict English teacher at 4th Grade.

If he may not come out, then why was she sending for him now? Maybe—he got a little excited at the thought—he was going to try those missions that Chaos had mentioned a while back? Or maybe she—gasp—found out about him and Artemis?

Okay, kidding. Truthfully, he shouldn't be surprised since she was the freaking Creator for Void's sake. Was it because of the fact that their relationship was forbidden, hidden, and... well yeah, generally unknown by anyone but them and perhaps, Thalia and Zoë. But right now, it was just them.

Should he really be surprised? Scared? If ever his mother found out about them?

He reached the throne room and was about to come straight in when he heard voices—voices different from his mother's. After a moment of overhearing, *ahemeavesdroppingahem* he recognized the other voices as Zoë's, Pontus' and Ouranos'. This was what he heard:

"That's quite a son you got there," he heard Ouranos say, probably to Chaos. "First, making a constellation, next... well, you know."

"I'm a great teacher, that's why!" Pontus exclaimed proudly.

"You did nothing but confuse him," Zoë said. "I did the push."

"And did you see that lightning? I taught him that!" Ouranos cut in, joining the argument.

Lightning?

"Speaking of that lightning," Chaos mumbled thoughtfully. "I understand that it had been about ten years since you began teaching him that, Ouranos, but still.. It was too strong for him. He couldn't possibly—"

"Don't doubt your child, Lady Chaos," the god of the sky chided. "He has so much potential. Heck, after that incident he was doing better than before!"

"In your class. Mine, not so much," the huntress grumbled.

"But that power!" his mother insisted. "If I know better I'd say evil comes with it."

"Oh, pull yourself together," another voice said, which Percy wasn't able to recognize for a while. "The boy grew well, in the arms of his birth mother. Plus the fatal flaw he received from his father. He's faithful to the good side, so why can't you have faith in him?"

"Says someone who got brainwashed by the bad side," a sing-song voice interjected. He figured that the former one was Gaea. She could already imagine her glaring her earthy orbs at the assailant.

"He's taking a bit long," Pontus sighed impatiently.

"Wait—now that it's over, what do you plan to do with him?" Zoë asked.

Percy's head went spinning. Over? What, over training? For reals?! He was about to bounce in, when something made him pause.

"Perhaps I'll send him on several missions, to make him busy," Chaos replied, confusing him. "As soon as he notices the new child. We can't have Order give his most powerful on ours. Let the child weaken him, and that's where my son comes in."

"But isn't that a little cruel?" the sing-song voice, which he now recognized as his sister Nyx's, inquired. "To Percy; to his, uh, girl; and to the child?"

"Of course we're going to make sure my gr—"

Percy knocked just to be safe. He learned to think before acting and he decided that knocking was the best thing to do, instead of stumbling in or barging in and make himself look like an idiot. But then, it seemed that it wasn't the best time to knock. Make sure his mother's what be what?

In the inside, he was dying with curiosity as they allowed him in. He was mildly surprised that he found all his teachers in the same room. "Wow, is this some kind of graduation or something?" he mumbled sarcastically.

"In a way, it is," Zoë replied, frowning, as though she wasn't happy that he was having this 'graduation'. "Think of it as a high school graduation."

"So there's still college?" Percy groaned.

"Figuratively," Chaos agreed, pursing her lips as she folded her hands over her lap. "You are to start the second part of your training."

"Joy. Does it include missions now?"

The Creator of the Universe raised an eyebrow with interest, as though she was expecting him to explain these 'missions' to her instead of the other way around. "Where'd you get that idea?"

Busted, he once heard from his longtime rival Nancy Bobofit when Chiron asked him a similar question. He flushed slightly. "You once told me." And she really did, so why was he even embarrassed?

His mother glanced at everyone in amusement, as if to say, could you believe him? "Do you have any reason to eavesdrop?"

He felt Zoë glare at him, hating that she hadn't sensed him in time. "Um," he mumbled, more blood rushing up his face. "ADHD."

Everyone smiled slightly. "Perhaps you have some questions."

…

"So let me get this straight," Percy sighed wearily, feeling exhausted as though he'd just ran a hundred miles instead of sitting down and drinking in information. "You set us up?!"

Pontus smiled. "Of course. Who better to than the god of love?"

He stared at him. "Technically, you are the god of the sea."

The god shrugged. "Self-proclaimed."

"But that's kinda creepy," the heir shivered involuntarily. "I mean—Mom, you were spying on us from the start?"

"Not really from the start," she responded, sending his best friend a sly glance. "Since the time your faithful best friend told me."

He, in turn, mock-glared at the former lieutenant. "I thought we were friends."

"We still are," Zoë grinned at him cheekily. "Friendship isn't true when you feel it's boring: no tricks, no teasing."

"Gee, I feel loved."

"That's why we should keep you busy," Chaos cut in between their spat, going back to the original subject. "You might ditch us and return to Earth. You could even do that right now."

"Really loved."

"No seriously; you are strong enough." The creator began pacing back and forth, pairs of eyes following her. "I don't know how.. You should gain this amount of power by the next two decades."

"Oh, so I magically cut my training days in half without knowing."

She stopped and looked at him. "You're absolutely right."

"Well.. What do I do now?"

She went silent, contemplating. Percy looked around as she did. His teachers, the other primordials, were standing to the side, watching their leader patiently. He wasn't used to them so quiet and gathered. Every day, he meets his teachers one on one, without anyone else interfering except Zoë for Ouranos and vice versa, and the occasional passerby. And with gods, he expected them to bicker, like the Olympians do. But these gods... they were more ordered and matured.

"We shall continue with the plan. But—we will make you reach your highest potential," Chaos finally said after several minutes of quiet.

The heir of Chaos narrowed his eyes. "You mean..?"

"We'll overdue," his mother replied shortly. "Unlike the original plan where you will only stay for four decades, or two decades on Earth, you will extend. We will test you until we deem you are ready."

"But what if Order is already causing havoc? Can't I come and help?" he asked, desperately trying to change their minds about this 'extension'. All he wanted was time, real time with Artemis without any limits, restrictions. Besides, he'd missed his friends, both Greek and Roman, and most of all, his birth mom Sally Jackson. He wondered if she and Paul were happy without him. Did they have a baby already? he asked himself.

Confusion overcame him when all of his teachers smirked at the same time. And it was kind of creepy. "We'll send someone else."

His eyes widened. "Who?"

"Choose first. Who do you like better, Travis Stoll or Leo Valdez?"

"Uh, Leo." Percy blinked, before his eyes widened. "Don't tell me—"

"Leo Valdez it is! Training starts tomorrow, Percy Jackson," Pontus exclaimed with a mischievous smile on his face, then waved him away.

"Wait! What do you—" A blast of seawater hit him in the face, the saline liquid forcing itself into his mouth, almost choking him if he wasn't a son of Poseidon. He made a few gargling sounds, and after some moments, he found himself in his bedroom, his throat clear of seawater.

He exhaled slowly, falling back on the bed. "It's so hard living with gods."

AN: Thank you for reading, have a nice day! ~SmartzyFan