Another Sunday, another update. Thank you to all of you who have stuck with me so far, as well as those who have left reviews, harsh or no. If you like it, review! If you don't... review anyway! Enjoy.
- PermaEncrypted

Disclaimer: I don't own PJO, HOO, or TOA. Obviously.

It had been a day since their search for Duriel, the Lord of Pain, had begun. And Percy didn't know what to think about it. He sat against a rock, waiting for Artemis to catch up. It most certainly was difficult for himself to deny that he approached this hunt with such single-mindedness that it was almost scary. Every single monster or demon that they came across he had slain with such cruelty that even Artemis seemed worried. Limbs gone, the water inside of them contorting their bodies unnaturally, the litter of small cuts… Multiple times Artemis had to stop him from going too far, something that he wasn't proud of. He didn't feel the same as he once did, he knew that much.

Percy took his sword out of the sheath where he held it, it not being a magic item, and began to wipe the blade down, cleaning it of the blood that stained the silver metal. He sighed as the rag moved up and down. Percy never had named the weapon, even though he forged it himself. It never had needed a name, at least, not to him. It was just his sword, nothing more, nothing less. Many an adventure had come to success because of this blade, although there was one notable exception. He scowled upon remembering it. Artemis showed up then, her bow out, apparently ready for a surprise. He looked up when he heard her, a small smile becoming etched onto his lips.

"Nice of you to join me, Artemis." He pointed to another rock next to his. "Go ahead and sit if you want, this is where I'm going to be setting up the camp anyway."

She sat next to him, frowning. Percy looked over with a quizzical expression. "What's on your mind?"

"Loss," she said simply. "Grief is a powerful force, isn't it?"

"Yes," Percy admitted. "I can't exactly be mad about it though. The life of a demigod is a difficult one. It wasn't ever made to be easy."

Artemis breathed in. To him, it almost looked like she was trying to calm herself. "I brought it up because… because of Zoë."

Percy grimaced. "I mourn that loss every day. Things happen, but when it's to a friend, it's hard to accept. I still think I could have done something."

The goddess next to him just gave a small laugh. "Was taking the sky for me not enough? You did all you could, Percy. Not even I could have done anything to fight her passing. It wasn't an easy time, and to be entirely honest, I still grieve. My companion, lieutenant, sister, for over three thousand years… gone, just like that." A tear trickled down her cheek, although she wiped it off quickly.

"Trust me, Artemis. I know loss, maybe not on your scale, but I certainly know it. We share in that grief, so don't be afraid to share it. I'll admit I still partially blame myself for Zoë's fate. On your own, it's even harder to deal with death. Apollo learned that the hard way. Unfortunately, I did too. When Annabeth died… the first thing I did after her burial was run off for revenge. I was left on my own, with no place but my mind to place the sorrow and blame. I promised her, damn it… I promised that I would let no harm come to her. And upon her deathbed, her last two words…" He stopped there, unable to say anymore. His head fell, his knees brought to his chest, and the tears began to fall. Percy was unable to stop himself. He hated feeling so… vulnerable, and in the presence of Artemis? Even worse.

Minutes passed, but the sobs had lessened. Percy felt a hand be placed on his shoulder, and he looked up at the hand. He followed the arm, and ended up meeting the eyes of Artemis, which were filled with concern. "Two things, Percy. First, Zoë made her choice. There's nothing you could have done then, and there's still nothing you can do now. Second, I'm here if you need to talk about anything. We're together on this… quest, hunt, whatever you want to call it. It wouldn't be right of me to let you suffer." She gave a smile, one that warmed Percy to the core, and he shifted slightly closer. Artemis didn't protest.

"There's just something missing from me, and I don't know what," Percy stated with an air of uncertainty.

"Then I suppose we'll find it together. I'll set up the camp, Percy." He breathed out in a way that could only be described as a laugh.

"Don't bother doing anything for me in the camp. I can sleep just fine here." And as he said it, he slumped backward against the stone, entering the realm of Morpheus.

Into dreams he fell quickly, courtesy of being a demigod. There's always something to look forward to in this life, he thought bitterly. A hero's life is never dull. Unfortunately, not in the way that makes it good.

His surroundings held no color, just an empty appearance. It looked like a corridor of sorts, the ground made of a black rock embedded with red streaks that almost glowed like flame, with no walls and certainly no ceiling. It had clearly been constructed, and wasn't natural. Percy had absolutely no idea where he was, and with nothing to do and nowhere to go but forward, he began walking.

A dark mist began to gather everywhere as he moved forward, covering everything in what could only be considered as impenetrable darkness. It brought parallels to the Mansion of Night in Tartarus, which wasn't exactly something he wanted to remember. He shivered involuntarily, and chose to wield Riptide here rather than his new, usual sword. A sandy substance whirled around in the air with the gusts of wind, and it stung his eyes as he continued. Black smoky things, almost like spirits, moved around on the ground, coming out from the mist and everywhere around him, following his path. As he kept walking, a peculiar feeling began to intrude on his mind. One that Percy didn't quite recognize until it became obvious that it was there. A feeling of sadness. He gritted his teeth. The stupid spirits were still following him. Without a second thought, he turned and swung Riptide, and cut through the row that was closest to him. But when he turned back, his feeling of melancholy was amplified as he saw the person he lost: Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena.

But… she didn't look right. Her skin was pale, her eyes bloodshot to the point of almost being red, bright with anger. In her hand, she held a short sword, one made of similar material to the one in his scabbard. Percy put the cap on Riptide, and it shrank back to pen form. He placed it into his pocket and put his hand on the hilt of his sword before he spoke in a broken voice.

"Annabeth… what happened to you?"

She laughed, a laugh filled with scorn, and hurt flashed across Percy's face. "What you did to me, of course."

Percy pulled the blade out partially, the Soulstone (as he called it) pulsating with a light, almost as if it were ready for a fight. "I didn't do anything, Annabeth. I tried to save you."

Her eyes gleamed with something near insane amusement. "Oh, sure. You can't figure it out, not anymore, not almost 3 years later. You didn't let yourself forget. You even told Artemis of all people."

It felt like he had been punched in the gut. "Annabeth, plea-" he tried, but she cut him off.

"No, I will not stand for this, Perseus Jackson." She spat his name out almost like a curse. "You PROMISED me, that NOTHING would ever happen. Now look at me, and see exactly how well you did that." The scars from her death were plain and visible as she showed him exactly how much she suffered. The anguish he felt was overwhelming. "There is nothing I hate more in this world than you. I thought you could keep promises. I guess I was wrong."

"No… no no no…" Percy chanted as he fell to his knees, head touching the ground. It hurt too much. And once again, a voice spoke to him in his mind. But this time, it was a female's voice.

"Anguish and pain. That's all that you have left, demigod." He tried to formulate an argument, but he couldn't find the words, leaving his mouth opening and closing almost like a fish. A shimmering portal-like thing appeared in front of him, and within it, he could see the Hunt fighting off a seemingly endless swarm of demons. He spotted one or two dead, with the rest having at least one injury, minor or major was irrelevant.

"I wonder just how much sadness and anguish the lieutenant is feeling right now," it mused. "Not being able to save her friends, her sisters."

And suddenly, it was almost as if Percy could feel all of her emotions, and it was horrible. Mental pain spiked through his mind. He could feel a presence moving closer to him, and as it got closer, the pain only amplified.

"What about this one, godling? How much more can you take?" The portal shifted its focus onto something that… hadn't happened? He lay on the ground next to someone. That someone had auburn hair and silver eyes, but they were slowly losing their light. Wounds covered both of their bodies, blood and ichor pooling together on the soil. Percy's other self seemed to be whispering something.

"I'm sorry, Artemis. I wasn't good enough. I couldn't save you. Or myself, for that matter." Powerful feelings overwhelmed him. It was simply too much for Percy, even though he had suffered through so much. The amplification of emotion by this being didn't help either. He was nearly broken. As he stared into the image, watching as the goddess of the Hunt and him died, his other self not being able to keep a promise, it just hurt more than he could take. He let out a scream of pain, emotions filled the sound as it ripped from his vocal cords. But, he was ripped from the dream by a different kind of pain. His eyes opened.

(Earlier, when Percy fell asleep)
Artemis stood, looking down at the now peaceful Percy Jackson, who was sleeping with his sword across his lap. She smiled at the sight. One of the few times that he was at peace was when he was sleeping, that much she was able to notice. She could only sigh as she thought of everything that they had done over the past days: continuing the search, looking for clues about where the Lord of Pain was, fighting together… It had been quite the ride, and barely any time had passed. She grabbed the hilt of the sword and slid it back into the scabbard. As she set up her own tent, thoughts slipped in and out of her mind, nothing really sticking. But one thing remained constant. Percy was arguably one of the most interesting people she had ever spent time with, and certainly a mystery. She knew what he was, and perhaps what he wanted to be, but she couldn't figure out exactly what he was, right now, in the current moment. He showed flashes of his former self, yet his spirit was like a shattered pane of glass. But despite all of his pain, he still cared about others, disregarding his own wellbeing for those close to him. Artemis remembered him talking to Thalia: "Annabeth has found her peace, I can be sure of that. She wouldn't want you to mourn forever." He still grieved for her loss, despite what he said to his cousin. She was certainly confused at his behavior. Although, his fatal flaw was loyalty to the end, and this time, loyalty might actually take him to the end. It was killing him inside to be telling everybody else the things that he so desperately wanted to believe himself, but he just couldn't. That's what she realized. Just before Artemis entered her tent to sleep, she looked over at Percy. "I won't let you die, Percy. You have my word," she whispered. She wondered if she was doing the right thing for herself. But, she couldn't even convince herself that she needed to do otherwise. It just felt right, and having this enigma of a man by her intrigued her more than enough.

Artemis lay in her tent, asleep, yet awake in the land of dreams. As far as she knew, it wasn't all that common for goddesses to dream, but she certainly did tonight, and she didn't really know why. She found herself in the forest, alone, near… Olympia, in Washington, or so she thought. The air didn't feel like it should have felt. There was a haze in the air as well, limiting her visibility. It was more so… thick. With what, was the only question. She breathed in, and the smell was unmistakable. Smoke. She ran off to where it seemed hottest. By the time she even got close to the fire, she was sweating buckets. It was unnaturally warm for a forest fire, even a large one. Artemis drew her bow, expecting the worst. The worst is certainly what she got, though it was somehow worse than worst, especially to her.

The forest not only was on fire, but there was nothing where there should have been at least burning brush. The fire was nearly pure red, no other colors present. It wasn't natural in any way. She began to see demons coming through the flames, rushing at her, maybe 10 in all. She nocked an arrow and fired and one of them, the motion smooth, faster than anyone could possibly have done it. Never had an arrow of hers missed a target, and it didn't here. But… it passed through the demon without doing a single thing! Artemis gasped, and with disbelief, dropped her bow and drew the twin hunting knives. She moved quickly, dashing in and stabbing the lead demon in the top of the head, which fell to the ground. As it tumbled down, it stretched its sword arm and plunged it maybe an inch into her leg. Her eyes widened and she removed the sword quickly, ichor pouring from the wound, but the demons just kept coming, for sure more than there were originally. Artemis fought as well as she could, killing a fair share of them with her powers and knives, each of her strikes placed perfectly, but sheer numbers overwhelmed her. The demons crowded on, and she curled up into a ball as the cursed weapons continued their assault on her body. She cried out in a sound of pure pain, calling for someone, anyone, to help. No one answered her calls. After what seemed like an eternity to Artemis, the demons just left without a trace.

Hundreds of cuts and stab wounds were inflicted on her, and she tried to heal some of them, but the pain was so horrendously bad that only a few closed. Her own golden blood covered her nearly from head to toe, and amid much hurt, she lifted her head. She saw… was that Thalia and the Hunt? They were fighting for their lives against hordes of demons, wave after wave entering sight continuously, no matter how fast the hunters could kill them. Many had sustained wounds, and Thalia was in clear pain. She heard a noise, almost like a frozen mist coming up on her, and she turned around, seeing a cloud of darkness. As it passed, she saw what could only be described as the most horrific thing she'd ever seen with her eyes.

The thing, for monster hardly cut it for a even an overview of its appearance, held the lower body of a caterpillar-type creature, with the lower part of the upper body almost looking like a large… mouth that opened sideways. The higher part held the upper torso of a man, with spikes protruding from the shoulder blades, and much smaller ones sticking out from the spine and the front of the shoulder. The arms looked normal until the elbow, where Artemis noticed with much horror that it wasn't exactly an arm, rather a spike of its own, almost like a crude spear. "Pain is a fickle thing, is it not?" it spoke.

Artemis' jaw dropped, and the only thing that she could say was, "Who in Hades are you?"

It let out a laugh, a horrible sound, something that almost didn't belong. It sounded mad, insane. "I thought you would know, with exactly what's happened to you. You experience not death, but what comes before it. Pain."

Realization dawned on the goddess. "Duriel."

"Turn around and look at your Hunt." She did so against her will, almost as if her body was being controlled, grimacing as the pain returned in quantities she didn't know possible. "They suffer, just as you have suffered here. Fighting is hopeless when all that comes is pain. Death is merely release, Pain is what truly causes agony. Make sure to tell your companion that before we meet again." Again?

"I do not fear pain any more than I fear death." Artemis tried her best to stand defiant, but Duriel just sneered, and the pain she felt increased in magnitude, and she let out a scream of agony.

"My armies, along with those of my siblings, gather. Your puny civilization will fall, and the whole of Sanctuary will finally bow to the Burning Hells! No nephalem can save you now." Before Duriel could continue, with immense mental effort, Artemis pulled herself from the dream. She sat up and gasped, her entire body drenched in sweat. She was breathing heavily, and tingles all across her body were left as residual effects of the… vision? To Artemis, that seemed like a more accurate description. Left with so many questions, she retreated back into her mind.

She thought about it for some time. The dream felt real, completely and utterly real. Every bit of suffering that she had endured left some sort of tingling feeling where it had been. Artemis knew that whatever being this was, it truly did have power beyond what she had expected, and certainly more powerful than many of the gods, if not all of them. That left only one possible being that would give these evils a challenge: the Primordials. As the Lord of Pain, she reasoned, he would be able to control pain itself, and as it's inflicted, would be able to amplify it. She continued to think, and realization dawned: Duriel had revealed his hideout! The forest near Olympia would surely contain some hint, or even better, his actual location! So now they would be able to put an end to Duriel's scheme. But… Artemis knew she needed to clear some things up with Percy first. Just as that occurred to her, screams sounded from outside the tent. She quickly jumped up, apprehensive at first about the pain that she may experience, but as she felt none, she ran outside of the tent, and found Percy sitting, not moving. Artemis knew that he had to be in probably the same place, and she punched him in the head, hard, in an effort to release him. It worked, and his eyes snapped open, breathing heavily, sweating, and tears in his eyes. "Percy!" Artemis said urgently. "Are you alright?" The air was thick with moisture, evidence of his anger and sadness.

Percy's disoriented sea green irises met her own. "I… I don't know." Artemis herself had tears in her own eyes, and she brought him into a hesitant hug. He stiffened, but relaxed quickly as he reciprocated, clinging to her in what Artemis thought was desperation.

"What did you see? What happened?"

Percy took a deep breath, and the tears began flowing. "I-I saw Annabeth… s-say she h-hates me… the H-Hunters dying to demons…" The stutter came out of his voice, and Artemis was completely stunned by what he said next. "You and I, dying, full of wounds…"

"What…" Artemis had absolutely zero idea why he would have experienced that instead of whatever she had to deal with.

Percy gave a broken laugh. "I don't get it either."

"Did any of them talk to you?"

Percy's breath was shaky, almost as if he was nervous about angering her. Well, this is interesting- "SHUT UP!" she yelled at her mind. His response came quickly after that. "Yes, but not one that I had ever listened to before. I've heard Duriel and one other that I don't know the name of, but not this one."

"Just… try to calm down. We can talk more later." She continued to comfort Percy, despite the grievances of her mind, calming him down slowly. The air went back to normal.

Artemis let Percy go, and he her, and he sat back, leaning against the rock. The tears had gone from his face, leaving a distraught demigod sitting next to an equally distraught goddess. Neither of them knew what exactly had just occurred, influenced by raw emotion and the trauma they just had. To be entirely fair to Artemis, she had never experienced a dream like that throughout the entirety of her existence, and Percy… well, she could only guess as to what he had to go through.

"Fucking hell…" Percy started. "I'm sor-" Artemis interrupted there, "No. I'm just doing what I said I would: helping you out."

"I truly appreciate it, I really do." He was quiet for a moment. Some time passed before they spoke again.

"I'm sure you have more questions than I do, Artemis. This kind of thing has happened to me before, so we need to get answers to you. Understanding it is probably going to help you better," Percy stated.

"Alright then, Percy," Artemis started. "There's more than one of them?" was her first question, referencing what Percy had said earlier.

"There are more, yes. At the very least, three. I can't be sure as to exactly how many." A worried expression came to her face, and in her mind, fear for her Hunters as well as Percy surfaced.

"How are we supposed to deal with them if we have so much trouble normally?"

Percy smiled, a small one. "We get creative." Artemis looked skeptical, but moved on.

"My own dream essentially told me… that you met Duriel before." The shard flared at the mention of his name.

"Yes, I did," Percy answered matter-of-factly, his voice filled with anger, the source of which was a mystery. "I had stumbled upon his camp, which was then somewhere in the middle of nowhere, and fought him for a few minutes. I couldn't keep up the fight then, so… I lost."

Artemis sighed. "I can't say I'm surprised. The fat caterpillar seems, at the very least, dangerous." Percy laughed at her description of the Lord of Pain. It held hardly any happiness.

"That's rather accurate, disgustingly enough."

"But why the anger in your voice?" Artemis questioned, with a tinge of worry in her face.

Percy took his time responding. "Because… he told me to my face that he enjoyed feeling Annabeth's reaction to the pain. I swear, when I see him, I'm going to inflict so much on him that even he will be crying out for mercy."

She was certainly startled at just how harsh it came out. Malice almost dripped from his words; never before had he seen him so angry. But nevertheless, she found that she could sympathize with him in a way. Artemis recalled just how much internal rage filled her against Atlas when Zoë passed, and even more with Orion when she found out he had killed many of her old Hunters.

"I know what you feel like, Percy. I felt the same way multiple times. But with rage clouding your judgement, you won't be able to make decisions that even benefit yourself. You can't just fight him alone!" she protested.

His eyes were stormy, pupils looking like blank canvas. Nevertheless, he smiled. "This is my choice. I'm sorry."

"No!" A note of desperation had crept into her voice. "You can't!"

Percy raised an eyebrow. "I didn't know you were capable of caring about males, Artemis. I can promise you I won't be reckless. But I will deliver justice."