Chapter 2: Hunting
She woke up startled in her little cupboard. Her heart was hammering in her chest like crazy. She looked around, desperately trying to find the threat, which was nowhere to be found.
How is this possible? I can't have possibly dreamed this, could I? It felt like I spent months in Delos, not a few hours asleep in my cupboard! Did that really happen? And if it did, are they okay?
"GET UP YOU FREAK!" was yelled at her from the door, as she heard the locks being opened.
Her aunt opened the door and made it clear that she was in a foul mood "Make breakfast now, and don't waste any more food, or you'll not eat for a day! Am I clear?"
"Yes, aunt Petunia." Delia said with a miserable face.
Barely back for a few minutes, and she already missed how Artemis and her would prank each other to wake up, how when opening the door of their room, they could smell breakfast being made.
She blinked back tears. No, this isn't possible. None of it was real, she thought. Just a dream proving that she was a freak with too much fantasy. As if someone would willingly take her in, she thought bitterly.
As the morning progressed she fell back into the familiar pattern of verbal abuse and chores. It was somehow even more painful now than it was at first. Before her dream, she never knew what it was like to have friends, to be part of a family, but now… now she knew exactly what she was missing.
xxx
Delia Potter was not having a good day. On her way to school, Dudley took away her math homework, which resulted in an angry teacher - again, and she couldn't do anything about it. What could she possibly do? Say that Dudley took it? That was an assured way to be called a liar and a fun treatment at home whenever Dudley ratted her out.
The teachers always seemed to have disliked her. They deemed her either too energetic or too lazy because she was still having trouble with basic spelling and reading, and never seemed to be able to sit still. They just couldn't understand that the letters seemed to move for her, making it nearly impossible to read.
It only got worse during lunch break, when Dudley and some of his 'friends' decided to drop some of their food on her clothes. If the oversized rags could even be called clothes, she thought distastefully. The stains on her clothes were impossible to clean out with just some water, and would definitely get noticed by her aunt.
If only she could have stayed in her dream from two years ago. Oh how she yearned for it.
The final straw of that day seemed to happen during the afternoon break. Her dear cousin decided that it was time for another 'Delia Hunting' session. She just needed to briefly glance in his direction to realize it was time to run. And run she did, with Dudley and his gang on her heels. It was a good thing that she had such an active lifestyle, letting her gain some distance from them. She just rounded a corner, to notice she ran in a dead end.
Her panic started to sky rocket as she scanned her surroundings for exits or good hiding places, but there were none. That's when it happened: the sound, the disorientation and the bright light.
xxx
She was laying on her back in a forest again - the forest in Delos, she recognized. She kept laying on the ground for a bit longer, trying to catch her breath after the chase and consequential panic she just went through. Eventually she stood back up, wondering if Artemis, Apollo and Leto still lived here, after all, it has been a little over two years.
She immediately received the answer to that question, as she turned around to spot Artemis standing near the edge of the clearing, staring at her with wide eyes and a beautiful bow in her left hand.
"Arty?" Delia asked hopefully.
This seemed to unfreeze her, as she shouted "Delia!" and ran at her at an almost inhumanly fast pace. They met each other in a bear hug, after which Artemis held her at arm's length and seemed to scan her face over several times. "Delia, what happened? I saw the bright light before the monster snapped at you! I hoped you survived it, but we heard nothing from you! It has been years! Even mom, who didn't seem worried at first, has been starting to stress over it."
"I don't know how I left Delos again, although I'm happy that I left at that moment, there is no way I would have survived the monster. I have no control over these dreams or jumps or whatever they are. They just happen. What happened to you guys with the python?"
"Apollo was so convinced you were dead, it was almost like he completely lost it. He took mom's bow and killed the beast himself. He kept firing arrow after arrow." Delia's eyes went wide as saucers at Apollo killing the beast. "He was convinced the beast ate you, he still thinks you're dead. He won't listen to me about the flash of light and has been sulking ever since. Mom thinks she knows who sent the beast after us, but she won't tell us." She finished with a pout.
A flash of guilt appeared on Delia's face. "We should start looking for Apollo then. It's a little unfair to keep him in the dark much longer, besides I have missed him too." She spoke softly.
"I can't. Mom just tasked us with a one week solo hunt, and we decided to make a contest from it, to see who among the two of us is the best archer and hunter, and I plan to win the contest. Can't let my little brother get too big headed now, can I?"
"I… I don't know anything about hunting or archery at all, I have never even seen a bow from this close before. The only experience I have with hunting is running from my cousin as he hunts me down. That's actually what he was doing before I came here." Delia said in a sad tone, looking down at the forest floor in shame, realizing she was nothing but a hindrance to Artemis at the moment, a waste of space as her uncle would say. Doing so, she missed the narrowing and darkening of Artemis' eyes at the mention of her cousin occasionally hunting her down. A look that in a few years time would have any sane man running for the hills without a second thought.
"Why don't I teach you?" Artemis said, suddenly feeling protective of the girl.
"Really?" Delia said hopefully, "But then the contest becomes nearly impossible to win for you!"
"I rather see it as a bonus challenge, besides, when - and not if - I finish this contest with more prey than him, while also having taught you the basics of archery and hunting, I will undeniably be the better archer and hunter." She said, with an almost smug grin, like she could already picture Apollo's gobsmacked face at her victory. "Besides, archery and hunting can be life saving skills, you should learn them!"
"Alright, let's kick Apollo's ass!" Delia said with more enthusiasm than she probably ever had in her life.
"... I rather not come anywhere near his ass at all."
"It's an … nevermind."
xxx
In the following days, Delia received a crash course into tracking, trapping, archery, hunting and bushcraft, and she absorbed it all like a spunge. The nights were spent telling each other stories and star gazing. Delia had never seen so many stars before.
It didn't take long for Artemis to decide that they should take shifts hunting prey with the bow (as she only had one with her), and checking the traps and processing the meat. That way, they could maximize their gains without getting tired of doing the same specific tasks over and over again.
On the last day, they had acquired so much meat that they almost didn't know how to properly carry it all back to the cabin. They might have gone a bit overboard. Oh well.
After a few hours of carrying the heavy load, Delia started to recognize the part of the forest they were in, as it was near the cabin. She could hear chattering - Apollo and Leto she realized. The closer they got, the bigger her smile became.
"Early congratulations on your victory, Arty." She said, with a full blast smile, seeing the clearly smaller stack of meat next to Apollo.
"Our victory, you are a fine hunting companion." She answered, with an equally bright smile and a fondness in her eyes.
It was at that moment that Apollo noticed them. "Delia!'' He screamed so loud that she felt like she would have permanent ear damage.
"Apollo!" And that was all it took for Apollo to run at her in an all out sprint, arms wide open as to crush her in a hug. However, a few paces before Apollo reached them, she started hearing a high pitched sound again. "No no no no! It's happening again!" Artemis latched onto her arm, as if trying to ground her, but it was to no avail. The light started to blind her again and before she knew it, she stumbled and fell.
xxx
After the light faded, she was more disorientated than ever before. It took her several seconds to realize where exactly she had landed: on the school roof. How did she get up here? As she was slowly standing back up, she was able to spot Dudley and his gang. They seemed to be confused as they rounded the corner and couldn't find her. They were looking behind every object, no matter how small it was, as if she was using it for cover.
She came to the conclusion that 1) no time had passed 'in this world' since her travel, and 2) that she had to get off this roof as soon as possible, before someone might notice her here.
As she walked to the door, she took a quick glance at her rags, and realized it had become much worse than just a few food stains. There was still some dirt and blood on it from the hunting. No way that aunt Petunia won't notice this. At least she finally had tangible proof that the 'flashing' as they (Artemis and she) had dubbed it, isn't just a dream born from too much fantasy, she mused.
She quickly grabbed the door handle, trying to open it, only to realize that it wouldn't budge. Fuck. And just like that, Delia was right back on track with her really shitty day.
AN: Let me start off with wishing you all a Happy (and healthy) New Year!
I know that the gods in mythology often grew up ridiculously fast (as in a few days), but for the sake of the story, I toned down the speed quite a lot.
Next update will have a bit of a delay, just a heads-up.
Tiger2020 - There definitely will be a pairing, I just don't know yet if it should be Apollo, Artemis or someone else. Any ideas or preferences are welcome, I can't give any guarantee that I'll use them of course.
To the dear anonymous Guest who left a wall of profanity with the finishing touch that I should "Just write an oc for your pathetic wank fantasy.", there are plenty of those OC stories out there, some of them are pretty damn good too. My story is clearly neither, as I am still quite new to all of this and experimenting, so if you prefer that genre or quality, don't stick around and just keep exploring this site. Happy New Year to you too buddy.