Song Recommendation: "Direction" by Mat Kerekes. A wonderful, soft song that's super easy to listen to while holding a certain edge in terms of lyricism. It's certainly his most popular song, once again for good reason. Then again, this album is amazing so check it out. Regardless, this song is one that I listen to every so often and I couldn't help but relate it to both Percy and Artemis, sort of for the same reason. I think, at the core of their characters, they're alone. They're very much drifters, but with that, comes a certain level of loneliness and sometimes, a lack of direction. I think that's one of the fun things about their relationship though, with both finding that sense of purpose in each other. And, for the tail end of the song, I find it interesting that they're both such strong characters in terms of personality, but they'd still do anything (up to a point) for each other. Normally, I find that such strong characters tend to clash, but it's been super interesting to watch them build off of each other. Anyway, great song. Let me know if you like it.

The next day had a relatively late start. They'd taken their time to get something to eat and both cleaned up a bit before heading back to camp at some time around ten. Needless to say, there'd been quite a few questions hurled their way, but the moon goddess was quick to brush them off. Percy was sure that meant that she'd explain later, but thought nothing of it. It was less for him to explain, so he wasn't really complaining. After lounging around for another hour or so, the two departed again. This time though, they were in his truck, making their way back north.

Surprisingly, the hunters hadn't been eager for either of them to go, instead acting like puppies whose human was about to leave for work. Percy got a good laugh out of that while Artemis assured them that they'd meet up sometime in the coming week. Thalia smacked him once before hugging him goodbye. And with that, they were off.

Percy had elected to drive for the first little bit, though he wasn't enjoying it. This wasn't because of the company. Rather, this was due to the fact that some of the other drivers on the road were driving like they'd had a stroke recently. Artemis laughed as she watched the way he gripped the steering wheel.

"Are you alright?"

Percy grumbled, "You know, I try not to let it bother me, but this is kinda crazy."

Artemis agreed as she watched two people try to merge into each other, "Lucky we aren't mortal."

"Something like that," Percy said tensely, "But this is just fucking absurd."

Artemis laid a comforting hand on his thigh as he drove. This seemed to calm him down a little, and she watched as some of the color returned to his knuckles. Truth be told, he wasn't all that concerned for his safety. His mood stemmed more so from a weird bundle of emotions that he couldn't quite place. Sure, a few were directed at the other drivers, but it wasn't like it'd started that way. It was more of an excuse as equally as many of those errant emotions were directed back at himself. More than anything though, he was concerned about the dream he'd had last night. It wasn't anything he felt like thinking about, and in trying to avoid it, he'd wound up tense.

Thankfully, some of the tension had left him as the moon goddess beside him helped soothe some of the stray feelings. Even still, he could feel himself trying not to think about his dream. It was bothersome, to say the least. Percy was more than accustomed to the oddly-realistic dreams that came with being a demigod, and it wasn't like they'd gone away since he'd become immortal, but they were becoming more and more realistic than they had been. Odd, but nothing of true concern. At least, up until the previous week.

The first of the dreams had been the more concerning of them as it had affected him to the point that others had to get involved. Sure, it wasn't the first time, and he was sure it wouldn't be the last, but that didn't mean it was nothing of concern. That being said, the second of the recent dreams had been the more unsettling of the two. It'd felt wholly different from the first. Where the first had him back in the depths of the Pit with its ever hellish landscape, the second of the two had been eerily calm to the point that it was unnerving. This time, it'd felt like he'd been summoned there, rather than the previous dream where it'd felt like he was reliving his past experience there.

And that wasn't even mentioning the things he'd heard. Simple whispers that he couldn't quite make out had been standard for his more prophetic dreams as a demigod, so the fact that he was having those same experiences now was slightly concerning. At the very least, it seemed that there wasn't that much malicious intent. That much.

Oh well. Like many other aspects of his life, he'd stress over them in the late hours of the night. Instead, Percy chose to take a deep breath and try to relax. Thankfully, the moon goddess made that significantly easier. She'd been idly tracing circles on his thigh for several minutes now, so it wasn't hard to focus in on that. After another moment, he forced himself to look away from the road. Sure, the other people on the roads were idiots, but he was more than aware of the fact that he was using them as a scapegoat for his annoyance.

Almost instinctively, the son of the sea found himself glancing over towards his companion. Artemis seemed wholly relaxed, turning through the pages of the book in her lap. Percy refocused on the road. She seemed busy, and he needed to drive.

"I'm not."

Percy blinked, turning back towards the moon goddess momentarily, "What?"

"I'm not particularly invested in this," she said, holding up the book in her hands, "Simply passing time with it."

Percy blinked again, "Reading my mind again?"

The goddess smiled as she turned towards him, "It does not take much to know what's on your mind."

Percy sighed, "You sure I'm not bothering you?"

His question was quickly answered as the item in her hand disappeared, whisked off back to wherever it had been before, "I'm sure. What is on your mind?"

Percy's mouth twitched, "Nothing I'd care to talk about right now."

"That's fine," Artemis said easily, stretching a bit in her seat, "Approach it whenever you are ready."

Percy smiled a little, "Thanks."

"For?"

"I dunno," Percy said as he stared at the road, "Just being you?"

"Ah yes well," Artemis smiled, "not sure if that's something worth being thankful for."

"Definitely is," Percy retorted, "You might be the single best person I've ever had the pleasure of interacting with."

Artemis looked away with a small smile, "High praise."

"Yeah, but it's deserved," Percy said.

They argued back and forth about it a little more, but Percy's insistence won out in the end. The goddess had smiled a bit wider, but said nothing more about it as they continued to talk. The topic varied, though they found themselves coming back to their shared space. It was fun to try and brainstorm ideas for their little fort. Coincidentally, both were quickly realizing that this was going to be a rather large undertaking. For that matter, Artemis noted that it seemed like it was going to be more of a home rather than a fort, but she didn't mention that. Better to let herself think that than have Perseus find it weird and shoot it down.

Though, at the same time, she had to imagine that he wouldn't mind that. For all intents and purposes, they were partners. Not necessarily in a romantic sense (yet), but in the sense that they were nigh inseparable. Apollo had commented on that. Artemis had smacked him, then agreed. Speaking of her brother though, she wondered if it wouldn't be wise to invite him to lunch some time. While he was annoying all the time and downright insufferable at the worst of times, he was her brother. And, he was good friends with Perseus. He could use some time with his friends.

She could tell that he was having a rough go of things, struggling with nightmares and just seeming on edge. She imagined that some time with someone other than her would help that. Artemis was well aware of the fact that she couldn't claim to be the calmest of people. At times, it weighed on her. Was she too stressful? Too much?

For no reason in particular, she cursed at Aphrodite in her mind.

"You okay over there?" Percy broke her out of her thoughts as he glanced over at her, "You look irritated."

Artemis denied it, but Percy saw right through her. Even still, he didn't comment on it, instead choosing to focus on something else, "Do you think we should hide it?"
"Hide what?" Artemis asked, confused by the sudden change of subject.

"The fort. Like make it all secret and stuff so nobody but us could find it."

Artemis, for better or for worse, quite liked the idea of having a secret space to disappear to so that nobody else could find them. She voiced as much, "I think so. I'm sure there have been plenty of times you've wanted to escape from everyone. I know I have."

"No kidding," Percy grinned, "Though I think we've both found out that I'm rather good at hiding when I need to be."

"Mmm, yes," Artemis agreed, "But it would be nice to know where you are, rather than having to hunt you down every time you want to be alone."

"In my defense, you could have just called."

"Yes yes I know," Artemis sighed, "I lose sleep over it sometimes."

"Really?"

"No."

Percy laughed, "Yeah okay guess I should have expected that from you. Not like you actually sleep anyway."

"I sleep, just not often."

"Could have fooled me," Percy half-shrugged, turning towards her in the process, "The most I've ever seen you do is sit with your eyes closed."

"I do not make it a habit of sleeping in front of others," Artemis said lightly, "Though if it pleases you, I could make an exception for you."

"Might have to," Percy nodded, completely missing the subtext of that comment.

Artemis stared at him for a moment before shaking her head, "Just know, I can't help it if you fall asleep first."

"That's not fair," Percy fake-complained, "Sometimes I'm just a sleepy guy."

"Right. I will endeavor to fall asleep before you then," Artemis smiled.

"Thanks," Percy paused, turning to look at her again, "Are you the type to need a stuffed animal or something to fall asleep?"

"What?"
"Like a favorite little bear. Or deer in your case I guess."

Artemis laughed, "No, but I am not opposed to one."

Percy hummed, "You sure you're not just embarrassed?"

"Quite," Artemis smiled, "But if it concerns you, you can be my stuffed animal."

"You don't mean literally, do you?"

"You sound concerned."

"Let's not pretend like you couldn't do that if you wanted to," Percy grinned, "And you're the perfect amount of weird to do it too."

"No no, I much prefer to keep you animate. Maybe I could turn you into a puppy again though."
"It's better than being a stuffed plush I guess," Percy said uncertainly.

"Fine, fine," Artemis waved her hand, smiling as she looked away, "I'll keep you human then."
"Works for me."

"Good," Artemis said easily, staring at the exit signs, "Are you hungry?"
Percy snickered, "I think you know me well enough to know that I'm pretty much always hungry."

"Mmm yes, well I mean would you like to pull over and eat something right now?"

"I would," Percy grinned, "What did you have in mind?"

"Anything will do," Artemis said easily, "I just want to eat something."

"Do gods get cravings?"

She nodded, "On occasion. It varies by the god though."

"What do you crave?"

"Depends on the day. Mainly fruit though."

"That sounds about right. Though I could imagine you craving dried cuts of meat and stuff for some reason."

"Why is that?"

"I dunno," Percy shrugged, "I just associate that with being a hunter for some reason."

"I suppose that makes sense," Artemis agreed, "Though I imagine I'd prefer to have some sort of cheese with it."

"Yeah that sounds about right," Percy nodded before grinning, "You ever pretend that you're a medieval peasant getting your rations of meat and cheese?"

The moon goddess stared at him for a minute and he laughed, "I cannot say that I have."

"Really?" Percy asked, "Never had like a crust of bread and some cheese and pretended that you were dying of plague?"

"No," Artemis shook her head in wonder, "Though I imagine I should expect that from you by now."

"Probably."

"I don't need to worry about you dressing up in rags and parading around my camp asking for your rations, do I?"

"Hey that's not a bad idea," Percy looked genuinely interested, "Maybe I could convince Thalia to do it with me."

Artemis sighed, staring out towards the window, "I've made a grave mistake."

"Hey! It'll be funny."

"Because you're an idiot."

"Maybe so," Percy agreed, "But fun is fun. Think about it. You could be the queen or something, blessing your poor citizens with food."

"Or," Artemis countered, "I could be a guardsman and beat you for bothering me."

"You're mean."

"So long as you're aware."

Percy laughed, "I couldn't imagine you being corrupt though. Beating the crap out of me, sure. But I think you'd have a good reason for it."

"Couldn't you?"

"No. Why would I?"

"I was not the kindest goddess before," Artemis pointed out somewhat forlornly.

"Sure the stories sound a bit bad, but I don't think you would have been corrupt."

"Really?"

"Yep," Percy nodded, "I prefer to think that you were just evil."

She smacked him, and he laughed, quickly retracting his statement, "Kidding kidding. In truth, I just figured it was because you were a young goddess at the time."

"What do you mean?"

"Well honestly," Percy started, "I imagine most of the gods don't particularly care about the mortals other than the ones they want to fuck. And growing up around that wouldn't impart any specific care for them, so I imagine you just viewed them like we view ants."

"In what regard?"

"The way I see it, it's like an ant bit you," Percy said, "Annoying, but inconsequential. And so you go and kill that ant, and then maybe you see a few more walking around and you step on them too out of annoyance. I imagine it was the same for you. Not saying it was right, or even good, but it's not like you grow up knowing the importance of life. It's something you give meaning to."
Artemis could certainly understand where he was coming from, "That is an interesting way of putting it. And, I can't say it is wrong either, as much as it pains me."

"Hey," Percy shrugged, "You changed for the better. Better to have made the mistake and learned from it rather than to have ignored it and kept making it."
"I suppose so," Artemis said, "But it does weigh on me at times. I joked earlier, but it truly does keep me from sleeping at times."

"Don't get me wrong," Percy looked at her, "I don't like hearing that it still bothers you or that it keeps you up at night, but if you're worried about being a good person, I wouldn't be."

"What makes you say that?"

"For one, I feel like it'd be more concerning to hear that it didn't bother you at all," Percy pointed out, "Maybe this is just how I see it, but being able to regret something means recognizing what you did might not have been the best course of action."

"That is putting it rather lightly."

"Maybe so, but I think you regret it because you recognize it was wrong," Percy said, "it's not like there was anyone to really get mad at you for it. I highly doubt the other gods cared much, other than maybe Hestia."

Artemis looked away, "And my mother."

"I stand corrected then. But even still, I think my point stands. It's not like you feel bad because you got chastised for it. At least not nowadays. I feel like it stems more from your regret over your own actions."

"I will not disagree with that."

"But you disagree about something else?"

Artemis turned to look at him, "How is it that you are so okay with this?"

Percy shrugged, "It's not like my hands are clean. Sure, we may have done what we did for different reasons, but I don't think you're necessarily a bad person for it. Maybe if I'd met you back then, I'd feel different, but I know the 'you' from now and I think you're pretty cool."

"Do you ever think about that?" Artemis asked.

"Think about what?"

"If we would have been friends had we met two thousand years ago instead of today."

"I don't see why we wouldn't have been," Percy shrugged, "I feel like at your core, you'd be the same person."

"I was quite different I think," Artemis shook her head, "More uptight, less happy."

"What changed?"

"I matured, I suppose."

"See, that's good!"

"Somehow, I didn't think you would have been so unbothered by this."

Percy shrugged, "Weren't you the one telling me the other day that things weren't always so black and white?"

"I was."

"Then there you go. People aren't black and white. Gods wouldn't be an exception to that."

Artemis smiled, "You are a strange man, Perseus."

He turned to smile, "We're a strange pair."

"True," Artemis chuckled, "We've gotten completely sidetracked."

"Also true," Percy laughed, "Where do you want to eat?"
"Anything will do."

"You know what I'm going to say, right?"

"I do, but I'm surprised that you're not used to it by now."

"I am, but I enjoy complaining sometimes."

"So long as you choose where we eat, you can complain as much as you'd like."

"Seems like a fair tradeoff," Percy grinned, pulling them onto the first exit he saw.

There wasn't much to see. Even after driving for a few miles, the most they found was a sleepy looking motel and a few gas stations. Even still though, that wasn't an issue. Percy pulled into one of the gas stations near the highway. It wasn't the worst. It was clean enough that he didn't mind going inside to peek around at the snacks while gas was pumped. Artemis accompanied him, and the two trekked inside. Again, there wasn't much to see. It was empty other than the clerk who was sitting on his phone at the counter. Until they walked in, that was. Percy could hear as he set the device down with an audible 'thunk' and he could feel his eyes on them.

They quickly grabbed a few things with the two quickly separating to grab whatever caught their fancy. It only took them a few moments to reconvene at the counter with each having an armful of various items. Percy noted that Artemis had a rather big bag of jerky and couldn't help but comment on it.

"So, we going to talk about that?" he asked, gesturing towards the bag.

Artemis rolled her eyes, "It sounded good. Bite me."

Percy snickered as they stacked their items on the counter before turning back to each other.

"Should we eat on the road or do you want to stop somewhere?" Percy asked.

"I'm sure there are hiking trails nearby. I see no reason not to enjoy the day."

"Sounds like a plan," Percy grinned before turning to look out the window, "Think it's going to rain?"

"Tonight maybe, but not now."

Percy nodded as the cashier finished ringing them up. It took them a few moments to grab it all and store it in the truck, and roughly another two minutes to get onto the road again. This time, they were in search of somewhere nice to sit down and eat. It wasn't like they had a full on meal, but it was a cool day with the promise of rain so it was best to use what time they had. Artemis drove this time as her natural sense of the wild let her navigate them easily to a nice green space. It wasn't far, maybe twenty minutes away from where they'd gotten the food, but it was pretty.

From there, it was a quick lunch. It was more of a quick snack break than anything, but they spent more time simply talking and walking around. They spoke about whatever came to them. For Percy, this meant talking about various strange ideas that he'd come up with off the top of his head. Naturally, this led to their usual banter though Percy found himself distracted.

At some point, he found himself staring at the moon goddess as they walked. They'd fallen into one of those comfortable silences, and he was trailing a step or so behind her as she led the way. Some pesky voice in the back of his head pointed out that she was still wearing his sweatshirt from last night. And, as per usual, it looked better on her than it did on him. Quite a bit better in fact. At the same time, it wasn't like she was wearing anything different than what she normally did. Currently, that consisted of a pair of black cargo pants secured tightly by a brown belt and combat boots, along with the usual hunting knife strapped to her thigh.

Maybe it was just because she was wearing something of his. Or maybe it was the way she'd put her hair up with it hanging loosely in a messy ponytail. Or maybe it was because of what happened the previous night. Whatever it was, he found himself hard pressed to stop himself from staring.

He shook his head a little as he recalled the previous night. By the gods, he was lucky that she hadn't smited him from the face of the Earth. She probably would have had she known what he was thinking. Not that he meant to. She was pretty. Shoot him. At the same time though, she was a bit more than just pretty, and he wasn't going to pretend that she wasn't. They'd even talked about it before.

"What's got you thinking so hard over there?" Artemis stood, leaning against a tree, watching him in interest.

He nearly jumped out of his skin as she broke him out of his thoughts, "Oh you know. Thoughts."

The moon goddess hummed, "What sort of thoughts?"
How was he supposed to explain that he was thinking about how hot his best friend was, without creeping said best friend out? That left him in a dilemma, but luckily, the goddess solved it for him. Unfortunately, she did this by causing him another little dilemma. This time, it was by her appearing straight in front of him, and poking him in the ribs. He stopped himself from jumping again. Fuck. Maybe it was best to just do what he did best and wing it.

"Oh you know," Percy repeated himself, "Thoughts."

"Yes I got that part." Artemis looked amused.

"It's not going so well but," Percy took a moment to breathe. After a moment, he spoke honestly, "I'm trying to figure out how to say something without looking like a total idiot."

"Had no idea," the moon goddess smiled, dropping down into a sitting position while pulling the son of the sea down with her, "Care to share."

"That might not be a great idea."

Artemis looked at him with interest, "Oh?"

Percy mentally cursed at himself, "Probably shouldn't have said anything."

"Yes, but now you're going to have to."

"Do I?"

Artemis smiled, tapping his chin, "I'm asking you to. Take that as you will."

Percy sat there for a second, "This feels unfair."

"That's too bad."

"Fine," Percy grumbled, "I just thought you looked really nice today and I wasn't sure if I should say anything or how I would even go about saying it and yeah. There you go. Me, being an idiot."

The moon goddess didn't say anything for a moment, and Percy started to worry. At least, he did up until the point that a wide smile broke across her face and she had to hide a laugh behind her hand, "You know I don't mind you saying that, right?"

Percy looked away in embarrassment, "Yeah but sometimes I worry that it'll come across the wrong way."

"That's very sweet of you Perseus, but I think you worry too much. There is not a discourteous bone in your body."

"Maybe, but my brain isn't a bone, and I like saying shit without thinking."

"Have you considered that I might like to hear you say those things?"

Well that was fun. I had writer's block on this chapter, so I'm not sure how it turned out overall, but there are definitely moments that I really like in this chapter. The end is fun, and there's some stuff I want to set up as per usual. Anyway, on to fun stuff.
To kikinder: Well I always appreciate hearing from you so thank you! And the movie specifically is The Drop with Tom Hardy. Love him and it's a good movie. To Ishimaru Taiki: Yeah just had some fun with it and I figured Percy would be the type to just keep random things on him. Fun chapter for me, and I really enjoyed writing. Glad to hear you enjoyed reading it. To PhantomFuryJP: Thanks! Always nice hearing from you. To mastercheif1229: Thanks! I've been trying to get on A03 but I haven't gotten the invite thingy yet. I honestly haven't sunk much time into Titan of the Hunt but I very much enjoyed the others. Love hearing that though so thank you! To IsItReallyTho: It's sir, I guess. Feels weird saying that instead of just calling myself a dude you know?. Ah I know the feeling of finding something when it's not done and having to wait. Sucks, but is what it is. Same with the music thing, I have to listen to something while I do stuff. Thanks for the review! To TomorrowCarpe Diem: I intend to explore that in a few chapters actually. And thanks! I really enjoy trying to make them fun characters and give them a bit of personality. To Vladiz35: Love INK. Great song rec too. Was one of the first ones that I ever heard by them. To DoomsdayKid: Oh don't worry. I have some fun planned for that. And that's praise that I'm not sure I deserve, but I thank you for it anyway. Means a lot to me! To OkBoomer147: Thanks for reviewing! Makes my day. And I love writing these just easy, fluff chapters. They don't do much for the story, but there isn't that much of a story anyway so. To Sawgrass: Thanks! It's been super fun to write. To HellraiderS: Thanks! There were some things I didn't like, but I did enjoy writing it for the most part. To ZachariaArkos: Well it's a pleasure to have you! Hope I continue to satisfy. I always love hearing that people enjoy, so thank you, and I hope you enjoy this chapter. To Remvis: Lots of feel good stuff that I just wanted to throw in. I've got way too many ideas and just wanted to throw some in. Can't wait to fully explore the space thing though. Thanks again! To sushiman57: Thanks! To Ladis11: For some reason, I kept typing your name with a 'z'. Anyway, it might, but I'm lazy. And thanks for the vote of support! Means a lot to me, and I always love hearing that you're enjoying. To Savien X: Well it's great to have you aboard then! Thank you for reading, cause it's been a pleasure to write. To lordofthenight97: Yeah I thought about that, but we'll see when I get there. Who knows?
Anyway! Hope you guys enjoy. They're finally back on the road. Have some fun stuff planned in the upcoming chapters. Let me know!