"Everyone was in the wrong place at the wrong time," Ares says. "It's just been some decades since father had allowed the search for Perseus Jackson"
Poseidon stiffened at the mention of Percy. And his eyes were seas that didn't know if it wanted to be a tidal wave or a whirlpool the way Poseidon didn't know what exactly was he feeling when his son was concerned. "It was a waste of time," Zeus scoffed.
"If I recalled correctly, Artemis was hunting around Canada," Ares says looking at his sister who confirmed it with a nod. "Coincidentally, my Ace was on a mission for me at the same place," Ares says. That was a lie. It was neither coincidental nor a mission from him. Hestia informed Percy about the situation, and before they could even think of a plan together, Percy already went his way to go and made sure the Hunt was safe.
"Now, the problem was that the Hunt was in the way," Ares says . "Well, it's not our fault he was there! As far as I remember, we were following a trail that was supposedly Perseus's" Artemis stated.
"And that is exactly the problem, trustful sister. Obviously, you found no Perseus Jackson in that Hunt. What you were following was my Champion's trail" Ares says. Technically, he wasn't lying.
So she was already close to finding the Ace before? Artemis mused.
"Now, you were all very close to capturing my Ace but what the Hunt didn't know was that it was a three way game" Ares says which confused everyone.
"What?" Demeter asked.
"What I meant was, Artemis was hunting down my Ace who was hunting down his mission who was hunting down Artemis," Ares says in one breath. This was slightly confusing.
"Just stop with the riddles, Ares. It doesn't suit you," Apollo groaned.
"Oh," Athena realized putting the pieces together…at least, the pieces that Ares gave her. "Are you saying that…?" Athena trailed off.
"What is it, Athena?" Hera asked.
"Isn't it obvious? It was a few decades after Perseus disappearance. Artemis was hunting down Ares's Ace who was on a mission hunting another person. The only way I'd assume that Ares would allow his secret Ace to cross paths is if their missions would coincide. So, think, besides Perseus, who else was Artemis instructed to hunt down at that period of Time?" Athena asks. The answer dawned at the Olympians. It was Dionysius who answered.
"The remaining Giants that escaped the war," he says in a bored way.
"Exactly," Ares says. "Our war escapees thought that if they didn't win the war, then at least they would get to capture and torture one of Olympus's beloved maiden princess"
Hestia wasn't really paying attention to his nephew. She was bothered by something else. Her presence you see was also at some other place….
"It's stopped bleeding, I promised," Percy says. The moment the column of fire died down and he saw that he was surrounded by a very familiar cottage, he knew that Hestia had helped him…which wasn't what he needed right now.
Before Percy and Artemis was snatched up by Hestia, a trickle of Artemis's deadly glow had found its way to Percy which didn't help the almost-not-bleeding scar at all.
It was acting up again in reaction to Artemis's silver glow. Percy made a mental note not to get on Artemis's bad side, I mean seriously, if a trickle was so painful, what more if he was shot by a handful of Artemis's moonly powers?
Anyway, Hestia is the last thing Percy needed. He wanted to deal with this alone. But of course, the fates didn't make anything go in his way…usually, because moments later, Hestia appeared.
"Don't be ridiculous, Percy, let me see it"
Percy shook his head. No. He wants to do this alone. He needed to do this alone. It's almost starting! He didn't want Hestia to be here when he goes into like that.
Pictures flash into his minds unintentionally. And his vision became to swirl. "Please," Percy almost sounded like he was begging. "I…I can take care…of…my…self" Percy says as he struggles to make sure his mind stays out of the past.
"Percy!"
Percy lost the fight versus himself. His body had overcame his mind and he no longer controlled what flashbacks he kept at bay.
What should he do? Artemis was going to be here any minute! If he tries to explain, then the hunt will capture him and he will be brought back to serve Olympus where he will be used…again. No! That's not gonna happen. And besides, even if Artemis would believe him, it'll be too late. It'll take too much time, and those stupid giants would've found a way to make sure their trap worked.
He couldn't defeat the two giants without Artemis help either.
He had to make a decision fast. If Artemis gets here, she will fall into the trap, which will send the first person it comes into contact with—along with the creator of the trap—to another dimension.
He was left with no other choice. This was the best option. Percy took a deep breath. This wasn't the first time he's done something extremely painful for that goddess. Thalia would never forgive him if he didn't save her goddess when he could've. Percy would've never forgiven himself if he allowed Thalia hurt because his mistress was gone. Nico was more than old enough to not rely on him. This was the best choice.
With that, Percy stepped to the trap. And because of the trap's function, he was transported to another dimension, along with the giants.
"What!" some Olympians complained.
"So that's how those giants disappeared" Athena mused aloud and then added, "But how was he able to keep them in that dimension at bay? Shouldn't he have died?"
"That was the sad part. His godly powers from his parent kept the giants from exiting their dimension, and just enough to heal himself, but he could not fight back—much to the giants pleasure. Although they were restrained from leaving that place, they had a beloved demigod (they found out about his identity) stuck with them. At first they tried to kill him so they could escape, but his powers did not allow that. All the wounds healed. So those motherfuckers could torture him for all eternity. This is why I don't blame him for hating his godly parent. The one thing that his parent gave him—powers—and it was the cause of him going through one of the most grotesque torture of all" Ares spat. The Olympians shifted uncomfortably with guilt that they might be the godly parent that Ares was referring to.
"But he did escape, didn't he?" Artemis asked even though she knew the answer.
"Why sister! Is that concern I hear! And one for a boy at that!" Apollo cheerfully said.
Ares snapped. "How much of a child can you be, Apollo?! I just told you that my Ace—someone who isn't even a god!—got captured voluntarily so that your sister will not be, and you use him for pitiful jokes?!"
Apollo mumbled a sorry. Ares wasn't done.
"Do you wish to know what torture he had to through to spare your sister?! Huh?! As a mockery of his sacrifice, they got they used Olympian Silver to brand him instead of iron" The goddesses gasps here "And do you know what kind of fire they used to heat the silver?!" The Olympians gulp fearing the answer they knew: Greek Fire.
"HELLFIRE!"
Oh by the gods! Hellfire was a thousand times worse!
"And what they branded on him was a scar that would never leave: the symbols of the goddess he had saved. But that was only the first! The first of all the torture! His powers started to heal him, but he even wasn't half-healed when they started torturing him again! And to keep the pain at its peak, they only wounded him within the scar they had created! Now do you have the conscience to mock him when he took every pain when Artemis was supposedly the receiver?!
"Oh! But that's not all! Did you know that he did not even—not even once—blame or regret saving you, Artemis? In fact! He made you the reason to endure instead of choosing to selfishly let the giants loose and go back to Earth so he could use all of his powers to fight back or to heal himself!
When he escaped, he was so traumatized—and this is an understatement of an understatement—that he couldn't even talk proper sentences, and I had only glimpsed of one retched memory of his stay in that damned dimension
Let me show it to you, if what I said of what he did isn't enough to gain all of your oh so precious oh so wanted trust!
Percy was now trembling uncontrollably. But this would be over soon. He could feel Hestia helping him burning memories in his mind. He just had to endure the flash backs.
He flashbacked into the one memory Ares had been able to get out of him
He was screaming…he thought. He wasn't sure. He couldn't hear his own scream because the pain itself was roaring in his brain, growling at his skin, and ringing so loud in his ears.
He had used up all his tears. There was no point in crying.
What had he done to go through this? Percy thought. And he was glad to have asked that question, because he remembered that he had helped Artemis by doing this.
If he didn't do this, then they would be doing this to Artemis, so no, he was not going to chicken out and die and let this stupid fools free to find Artemis again, he will endure…this was for Thalia…for Artemis. He had held the sky in her stead, he would feel all this pain in her stead, over and over again.
"How long was he stuck?" Artemis croaked after Ares had shown them the memory…they saw it in the Ace's point of you, and they felt the Ace's resolve strengthen at the thought that he had saved her from all this pain—as if as long as it was not her, then it was worth it.
"59 days," Ares said and the Olympians sighed at the thought that at least he wasn't stuck too long. "But time is different from every dimension, so to us, it was 59 days. But to him it was—"
The flash backs were over and he heard Hestia sigh and put a hand on his heart. Percy smiled at the warmth. It was no matter. His Patron would always be there for him, and they were all just memories. Memories that he will gladly keep on seeing if it meant that the result—Artemis and Thalia's safety—was the same. Even if he had to relieve memories…memories of almost two years of worth…memories worth 590 days.
A/N:
First of all, Thanks for the Reviews guys.
First week sucked, if any of you were wondering.
ANYWAY, there's a 50% chance that this will be my only update this weekend being the latter of the chance that I will update another tomorrow. BUT I think I'll write chapters in advance this weekend so that I can update a few during weekdays!
YOSH! Again, thanks for the revs and the views guys, i appreciate them