Percy POV
A little unnecessary… but I'll be damned if I'm complaining!
Calypso POV
A little unnecessary… but it most certainly felt good!
Zeus POV
A little unnecessary…but maybe Artemis had that coming her way?
Poseidon POV
A little unnecessary… but I would prefer Calypso over Artemis as my son's wife any day!
Hestia POV
A little unnecessary… but I have faith that Percy and Calypso are doing the right thing.
Aphrodite POV
A little unnecessary… but love burns, and that's life for you!
Leo POV
A little unnecessary… but I'm here for the popcorn!
Percy POV
Trust me, kissing Calypso felt like Elysium and everything, but it was also awkward as hell with such a large and… interesting audience. Stepping back, I took a moment to catch my breath, and waited for my face to cool down. Shifting to Nico, I created a temperamental link between our consciousness. Is it… obvious? From my side, I heard him chuckle lightly. Dude, it's like obvious obvious! Frowning, I ended the link, internally glaring at him. There was no point in looking up to see all the smirks the God's and Goddesses were giving me.
"So now that we have had a sappy reunion," I began, looking straight ahead without addressing the audience. Calypso was giving me that sweet sweet smile I so much adored. How was it, that out of the billions of people, I had been the one to kiss such a beauty in front of Artemis and the council. Was it only seconds ago that Calypso's soft lips had been on mine, and that had been all that mattered?
"Are you gonna continue your speech or just keep on drooling at Can?" Nico snapped. Behind him, the council all roared in approval. Nico grinned even more. "I mean look at him! He is literally drooling at her. Honestly, it's a good thing me and Fox actually managed to convince her to walk into battle with something moderately civilized! If you guys had been there… I swear, just imagine how bad the damage would be if she was fighting with… the other thing…" The whole of the Revenant suddenly burst out laughing at the same time. Ichor rushed to my face and I had to look down again, quickly wiping the drool from my mouth and attempting to erase Calypso from my mind until this meeting was over. Rubbing my face, I saw Leo rolling on the floor like a meatball, and Frank snorting out fire. WHY DID THEY HAVE TO TALK ABOUT THE… OTHER THING NOW!
"Typical boys," a voice came from the council. It was quiet, oh yeah, definitely quiet, but my ears knew this voice too well. Is it even possible to forget a voice that caused such pain and depression? Next to me, the Revenant's heads perked up, a natural reaction to her voice. Artemis was staring at the beautifully tiled marble floor, innocent where she didn't colvolute, but the whole of the Revenant had heard exactly what she had said. Frank was the first to react, withdrawing his bow in seconds, firing the arrow immediately. Again, a natural reaction to her voice. It wizzed just past her ear. A few golden drops fell to the polished white marble floor. Only a few, but the whole council silenced. I presumed that in the time I had disappeared, the council's lack of affection for her hadn't changed. The moon goddess looked up, glaring at Frank. A very, very wrong mistake. Now no pure-hearted girlfriend allows someone to glare at their boyfriend for a full ten seconds. Hazel was more pure than gold, and she was not in a good mood any more.
"Listen here, you piece of filth," she spat, "this person, Perseus Jackson, is the only reason you're still alive. If he wants to stare at his, bless Aphrodite, beautiful wife (okay where the hell did wife come from, seriously stop exaggerating every single goddamn thing, Hazel!) who, by the way is not, and will never be you, then he most certainly can, and no one can say a thing about it, least of all a freak like you. What am I saying, you don't even have the right to call him a man, let alone a boy. This person is… is a God to you as well as every single mortal. You wanna insult my friend, come then. Girl on girl, completely equal. I swear I will send you down so fast, not even Percy will be able to see it. Come on then, try me, because I have lost all my patience!" By the end, she was half screaming, and half ready to explode in a fit of rage.
Gently, I put my hand on her shoulder, and felt her shuddering. We all knew that no matter what Hazel did or said, nothing would stop Artemis from whipping out her arrow and firing it in a split second, killing her. Yes, I would absolutely obliterate the maiden goddess if that happened, but nothing can revive the dead. Okay, perhaps something can, but there's no way I am ever doing that again…
"I think we can let it slide, just this one time, and get back to our friendly tea party, eh?" Giving Hazel a warm-hearted smile, I could visibly see relief flood of her shoulders. Everyone else had a similar reaction, sheathing their weapons and breathing in calmness.
"Umm… soooooo…" I began, trying to fill in the unwanted silence. "We gonna talk?" When no one responded, I snorted out of habit. "#AwkwardSilencesLOL."
At this, the Lord of the Sky stood up, gently brushing his armor.
"Alright then I'll talk, and hopefully I'll spare the rest of the council from your incredibly cringy hashtags," Zeusy said, addressing the crowd, a slight frown noticeable. 'King of Olympus' or not, How dare he call my hashtags crigny?! A glare inside of me, I walked up to Zeus, my shoes creating clicks that filled the empty hall room. Staring him right in the eye, we regarded each other, for a brief, tense moment, before I absolutely yelled out at the top of my freaking voice, "HASHTAG SALTY ZEUS!" running back to the council in a fit of giggles. That was the absolute perfect moment.
Nico POV
It was fun to watch Percy returning to the council after 5 years. Not only did he make a whopping entrance that will be forever written in Olympian history, but he had a sense of humor that could even make Oizys crack a grin. Being with Perseus on the run has taught me many new things, including how to read facial expressions and emotions. Gazing at the crowd we had, while most were deeply amused and shocked, I did see a few upturned noses, frowns as well as creases in the forehead and cheeks. 'The Strange Ones,' Perseus had told me in a shopping mall back in Malta… Don't ask…
I knew why The Strange One's saw Percy as a freak stunt. A God returns after 5 years of emotional damage bringing a war with him, only to act like the class clown. The Revenant all knew his reason behind his, or rather the brain's reason for this. Perseus can make however many jokes he wants, but he can't hide things from his true family. They say time heals all wounds, but I find it ironic how the God of Time cannot heal his own wounds. The truth is, Perseus has a deep scar. Seeing Artemis in the flesh, and actually talking to her has peeled this scar open. And now it's bleeding. Badly.
Percy POV
"Boys and Girls… I… actually don't know what to talk about. There's not gonna be more said than needed. As of this morning, Leo, Piper, and basically the whole of Olympus were certain that we weren't gonna be fighting more than a couple of matchsticks, but that is evidently wrong. You see, we made a translation error…-"
"And cut us some slack!" Leo yelled nervously from Hephaestus' throne. "I'm the first person to partly decode the SHA-256 algorithm, so the fact that I managed to get us here alone is more than anyone else could've done." Patiently, I waited for him to shut up. It wasn't as if I didn't want to have a good pun every once in a while. Jokes were jokes and were hilarious, but like every other person, with the exception of Leo, I always knew where the line was, and when it was time to be serious. Staring at him hard, he got the message, shutting up quickly.
Standing up, I walked away from the Revenant, to my throne, the one I had sat on, but never fully synced with. Not even on it, and I could already feel surges of energy pulsing through my veins. It was power like never before. Unexplainable. I suddenly felt pretty certain that I could battle against every god or goddess or entity or thing on Olympus at once, and still unreservedly destroy them all.
The throne was staring at me with intensity. As was the whole freaking council, but we'll ignore that for now. The sleek gold matched my robes very well, almost as if it had been predestined. Every instinct I had was pushing me towards the block of gold. Towards my destiny. Not wanting to delay it any more than it had already been, I extended my staff to full length, rising to my godly form and resting on the throne.
Artemis POV
I presume nobody is gonna mention how Perseus first needs to go through the rituals by cleansing himself, and mentally preparing for the burden the throne puts on you before sitting on it. Giddily, the God was relaxing on his throne, flexing his fingers. As soon as he laid his head back, a large sigh was exhaled from almost everyone. Relief that he was okay. Relief that he had embraced Godhood. Relief that he didn't go through the torture we all did. I waited. In the Godly world, things had a tendency to be slightly delayed, be it 5 seconds or 5 years…
10 seconds, 20 seconds, 1 minute, 2 minutes. At this point, most people were ecstatic, certain he would be completely fine. Perseus himself seemed to be calming down, and actually smiling a little, as if he had been expecting something as well, which hadn't come.
We didn't even recognize it. It was an instant reaction. A cry of pain. The whole room suddenly lit up and shone. Joules upon Joules of light energy expelled from Perseus' human body. The heat, the strength was unlike anything ever witnessed.
"Not even Apollo had burned that brightly during his ritual," Demeter muttered. She was right as well. We thought Apollo had been the brightest God due to his control over the sun. Then comes along the most confusing, brave demi-god who outshines him without trying.
"SHUT IT!" The young God yelled, suddenly standing up, out of his throne, and pushing his hands in an outwards gesture. The whole light show ended abruptly, shadows engulfing any final rays, as Perseus collapsed down onto the ground. Almost instinctively, Calypso ran towards him, but Nico gently held her back, muttering something into her ear softly. She listened, the angry expression melting off her face. All of a sudden, her expression became soft, like the innocent heartbroken girl I had so wrongly insulted those years ago. Nodding towards him, Nico took her place, quickly running to Perseus' side.
"Boss, what happened?" the demigod started, helping him up. Perseus casually waved him away.
"Don't sweat about it," he said, standing up by himself and sitting on his throne. "The pain's gone. And besides, honestly I feel awesome…" He may look awesome, but you can't fake the pain that easily, talking from experience. His voice alone was shaky. Looking around and realising everyone knew his bluff, he scrunched his face up, like he was thinking. It looked cute as hell, and even cuter when his eyes lit up. Not so cute what he said next…
"I feel like I could 69 Calypso in 6 hours and 9 minutes like we did last night." Anyone able to tell me what this 69 thing is? It makes no sense. How can one number themself?
The titan's face turned an unforgivable shade of gold, as she looked down. If I had a thermometer, I could tell you right now that the temperature near her could rival the sun.
"We've… never done 69…" she mumbled. Shuffling frantically, one of the Revenant members, maybe it was Fox or Lemons, but they whipped out a microphone from their toolkit and sneakily placed it under Calypso's chin. "God's we haven't done any more than kiss and get caught making out a few times…" her voice bellowed out this time, and the council's laughter only seemed to get louder. Eventually, once it died out, the God stood up and addressed the crowd with one of his sneaky smiles. You knew something bad was coming. Every God, even Dinoysus, held their breath in anticipation.
"To all my fellow male God's please tell me am I wrong when I say… THAT THAT'S WHAT THEY ALWAYS SAY!" Every single man in the room fell onto the floor, laughing their hearts out. They were coughing their lungs and hacking their breath as any laughter they had from before erupted in a fountain of joy. Us females glanced at each other, muttering about feminism, but one thing was clear. Perseus was back. He was determined. He had moved on from me. And he had changed a lot.
Ten minutes later, everyone eventually was sat in their seats, and the last bursts of giggles were over. I think now we could start the meeting.
"Ladies and Gentleman, joke time is joke time, playtime is playtime, and right now, it's work time. Put the jokes aside and listen up so I can inform you all on our current situation." It took ten seconds. Ten seconds is all it took for it to become apparent that, no matter who was legally appointed as the King of Olympus, Perseus was the leader, and he made sure each of us knew that. Only now was I clocking how smart he really was. He had come at the exact right moment, made a dramatic entry, and saved everyone in an extremely unrealistic situation of life and death. Even if anyone decided to say, "You're not the king," Perseus would calmly smile and threaten to walk out right now, effectively leaving us good for death. We were basically in checkmate. Indeed you are, I heard in my head.
He stood up, and began to stride across the throne room. "When there is an army coming your way, what do you do?"
"Pray they're not coming your way?" Apollo snickered, along with a few other Gods. A hard glare from Perseus shut them all up, and made it clear joke time had passed.
"You train, and you learn to fight as if your life depends on it, because I can assure each of you this is the scenario you will be in, and you will need to win, not just for yourself, but for the whole of Olympus." For a brief moment, no one uttered a word, chilled down to the bone. He said this with a wild, serious look in his eyes that made me nearly want to regret living. No one aside from those in the throne room would understand how frightening it sounded. It was as if Thanatos himself was writing our death sentence.
From the side of the throne room, Zeus began clapping, an irritated look on his face. "Congratulations Perseus," he snarked. "I think you're the first person who's managed to scare the Hades out of every person in the council in under a minute. Truly, I am impressed." Nico was at his side in seconds. "You're snarking at us now, but I guarantee you, when this war comes, each and every one of you will be pissing your pants and begging for Percy to come and help. Artemis here has already had her fair share of desperation, isn't that right?" I didn't answer, but it was enough to cause Zeus' gears to start turning. "Perseus here is a realist. Why? Because he accepts what will happen and tries to prepare for it. You, you're the doom of Olympus at this rate!"
"Why you-" Zeus thundered, rising from his seat, thunderbolt in hand. As if instantly, the whole council bounded onto their feet, weapon armed. Poseidon, Apollo, Hades, Hestia, Hephaestus and Aphrodite were right behind Nico, whereas everyone else, including me, went to back up the Lord of Olympus.
Calmly and quickly, almost as if he had anticipated this, the Lord of Time raised his hands, snapping his fingers. Once again, the domain of time was under his control, ready to serve him. "Now now, let us not get carried away," Perseus quickly interrupted. "I was talking first, so you better listen to me or I'm already half-thinking about walking out those doors." For obvious reasons, no one said a thing, they just internally glared at him. At least I did.
"I want to do the right thing for once guys. Please, let me do something for Olympus after all these years." I could nearly hear tears coming from his voice. He sounded so bitter and regretful. "Please, okay?" Sighing, he slowly rotated his hands, bending time as well, until everyone with the exception of himself was back, sitting in their seats. Only then did he unfreeze the time, allowing it to flow naturally.
"Tomorrow, I'm visiting the camps," he declared. "Some people wish me dead, but I've still gotta meet up with the gang gang. Then, we're all gonna sit through a proper council meeting, one where Dionysus isn't sleeping 24/7, and talk about new protocols and measures that need to be introduced, as well as training for every, yes every God and Goddess, as well as most of the half-bloods. And you're training until either you can win against me, or you can win against the rest of the Revenant at once. Any questions?" Ares threw his hands up immediately, frustrated as hell.
"Yeah I've got one! What makes you think I'm gonna be training with a bunch of sadistic boys and girls that carry sticks and stones?" Perseus raised an eyebrow. Either he was concerned for Ares' mental health, or just generally curious. Probably the first one.
"If you think otherwise, you're more than welcome to try and beat me." The God snorted.
"I haven't got time for weaklings like you all." Alright, that was a pretty poor choice of words. I mean who the hell even says 'weaklings' these days.
"Let me make something clear for you," Perseus said in a deathly low voice. "I will drag you to the camp if I have to, every single day until you are good enough to stop training." He turned to address the council. "And that goes for all of you! Now, I'll repeat myself again. Any questions?"
Nervously, I raised my hand slightly into the air. The effect was instantaneous. The whole of the Revenant, plus a few other Gods let out loud groans.
"Well, time for more drama," Nico sighed in irritance. "What's it now?"
"Artemis!" Percy said with a twinge of annoyance and cringe. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
I shifted in my seat, but nevertheless answered. Facing my father, I said, "This came to a large surprise to me as well, but I have lost faith in one of my hunters." Charlotte and Thalia rushed to me.
"Milady, who is it?" They asked in disbelief. I couldn't bring myself to meet their gaze when I said it. "Earlier today, one of our hunters got injured. We had been out of nectar for a while, which had made us very vulnerable. I had assumed anyone who found any would've told me, as they always do. However, when our hunter was injured… Ch-Charlotte brought some nectar and ambrosia out to heal them. I fear they have been talking to someone they shouldn't have…" The huntress was speechless, a look of betrayal painted on her face. "I'm not saying she did, I mean perhaps she had some reserved for emergencies, but I would just like her to clear everything up in front of the council and Apollo."
"Mi-Milady!" Thalia blurted. Charlotte looked hurt, refusing to look at me, tears seeping down her cheeks.
A bellow of laughter came from in front of me, as Perseus began to hollow. He was weezing and laughing, his face tomato red. As were the rest of the Revenant, hooting in amusement.
"I'm sorry, you thought… she was…" The God was in a fit of laughter.
"What?" I demanded. "What's so funny?"
The God looked at me with a wild expression.
"You thought that… that she was a… I mean that's just outrageous, come here Charlotte." Perseus opened his arms, to which Charlotte ran into, hugging him tight, and making me hiss. Whether I was hissing because Charlotte was a hunter or Perseus was mine I did not know, but it didn't please me. Curiously, I looked at Calypso, but saw no form of jealousy, rather love, and a softness in her otherwise hard, mean expression that she always gave me.
"Someone explain to me what is going on," I demanded, feeling hot. Perseus looked at me, a wry smile on his face as I attempted to piece together everything that just might've led to Charlotte even knowing Perseus. She had been away on a hunt the entire time he was away. The only time was when… But no she couldn't've… She was haunted by it… It changed her…
I could go to the Fields of Punishment, endure every single torture there, and still never forget the smile that creeped upon Perseus' face as it all suddenly dawned on me, recognition swarming my body.
"Would you like to explain, for the benefit of the rest of the council?"" he smirked. Numbly, I shook my head, disbelief flooding through me. Perseus sighed.
"Charlotte, you're up," he said, sitting back down on his throne. The girl walked to the middle of the room, holding her head high. He motioned to the ground, crossing his legs. "The floor is yours."
Charlotte POV
"It's them," a voice screamed. 3AM in the morning, and you'd think a girl could get some rest. The sound of an explosion startled my half asleep body. Clearly not, I thought dryly. The word 'them' may be referring to a lot of people, but I had a pretty good idea of who it was. It was the soldiers. To be honest, we had no names for them. Most people enjoyed referring to them by a very… rude word to say the least.
First attack was 2 years ago. We hadn't actually seen them this time. It had been the middle of March, and my eyes opened at 5:30 in the morning. I wasted little time in dressing myself and heading towards the dining pavilion. For most, 5:30AM was far too early for breakfast, or any meal. Then again, most people were normal. Even before the drama between Perseus and Artemis, I was always socially awkward, always attempting to avoid any conversation. Men were the worst, with their flirtatious smiles. Handsome and almost alien-like, I despised them. It's probably the reason I joined the hunt, to avoid any contact with them. From the beginning, Artemis had recognized my shyness and attempted to help, always trying to engage me with conversations. Nothing made any difference. Eventually, hoping I would be forced to converse with someone, she sent me out on a rare solo hunt into Atlanta. I can't remember what I had been hunting. The monster wasn't dangerous, it just enjoyed playing hide and seek. It took over three months using my skills to track it down. Artemis had wanted me to talk to people, probably for help or something, but I had other ideas… When I say I am shy, I mean I was completely against any form of conversation. In fact, I'm certain the only person I talked to in this hunt was the owner of the local coffee shop, and I only told him my order, nothing else. After I had killed the monster, I came back to a completely new hunt. Few people talked to me now, and Artemis wasn't even disappointed when she found out I hadn't tried to overcome my shyness. I was astounded when I discovered it was normal for Artemis, our mistress, to sit and sob into her cereal every morning. Never having met Perseus Jackson or experiencing the events my hunters had gone through, I just felt like a complete outcast…
I was too shy to sit with them all and eat breakfast. Besides, being alone gave me some good thinking time, and was so much more emotionally relaxing. Walking out of my tent, instead of selling a deserted camp, I saw a mess. Crates on top of crates of supplies had been knocked to the ground, supplies splattered everywhere, and a very vexed hunter tied to a post, glaring murderously. It didn't take long for me to yell out for help and rush to her side, cutting her ropes. Furiously, she tore the gag out of her mouth, breathing deeply and flexing her arms, rubbing the scarlet red marks already formed on both her wrists. We both sat in an uncomfortable silence, her waiting for me to react and me not knowing how to react. Footsteps thudding saved me as Artemis came running along in her nightgown and a shirt too large for her that made me wonder who it belonged to.
"Tilly," Artemis panted. "Wh-what happened?" The hunter was in a rough condition, and didn't speak for a few moments. A crowd had gathered when she began telling her real life horror story. And that was when I knew that one day, I would kill these terrorists for everything they had done.
This time, they had decided to raid us extremely early in the morning. Fortunately, we had somewhat of a system for when the Revenant came. The guard would run up and down with a freakishly loud bell, assuming they hadn't been gagged yet. If they had… then… we had to pray someone would figure everything out. This time, it seemed the guard had succeeded in waking everyone up because outside sounded like a miniaturised hell. Screams and shouts, clashing of swords must've been heard from miles away.
Perhaps this was an emergency, all hands on deck moment, but I still could not be seen fighting in cheap jammies from the corner shop back at Atlanta. My self esteem is already low enough. Fortunately, I can change pretty quickly. Unfortunately, I'm only half awake and the only thing in my peripherals is a cute mini skirt. Reacting instantly, I leaped out of bed, rushing to the mini skirt, slipping into it. Running out of my tent, I grabbed a shirt from my drawer, tugging it on, and unzipped my tent. Surprisingly, the white t-shirt went quite well with the white mini skirt. The only issue was how brutal the February night cold would feel against my exposed legs. I froze for a split second, judging whether or not I should look for some other clothes, before deciding against it. I had already wasted enough time, and my hunters needed me. Taking a deep breath, I unzipped the tent, preparing for whatever horror awaited me.
In total, the Revenant had made 6 previous raids, each one becoming more deadly. Today it made 7. Unlucky 7. 'The Ghost Month.' This raid was doubtlessly the most lethal one yet. I could see flames rising from the south of the camp, smoke finding its way to my nose. To my left, bundles of supplies were scattered along the floor, most of them empty, including the nectar and ambrosia boxes, sending a shiver down my spine. No medical supplies and terrorists coming towards us was not good news…
"Fall back everyone," a familiar voice yelled amidst the smoke. I couldn't explain my relief when seeing Lady Artemis and 30 other hunters tactically retreating backwards. Newfound, determination surging through me, I followed my fellow hunters to the edge of camp, as stated in the protocol for terrorist attacks. We've had a few terrorists attacking on us before, probably because of the 'man-hating' vibes. For each attack, we grouped here. At this point, we are invincible, and the Revenant will come to see that.
"Cute skirt," Artemis muttered as I took my place in the first row.
"Umm.. thank you milady," I whispered back. She rolled her eyes.
"It's a complement," she obviously pointed out, a small smile on her face. "Well, at least we know you don't have a concussion." My heart thudded as I took a lungful of air.
"Are-are you saying some people have concussions?" I asked, stuttering in fear. Her expression turned grim as she nodded.
"Addition and subtraction, Charlotte," the goddess said. "We have a total of 56 hunters, but only 33 here. Think about that when you fight them…" Noticing my alarmed expression, Artemis stifled a laugh. "No deaths, only a few broken legs at worst." I nodded, still internally horrified. How I wish I could've stayed in bed now.
"Protocol 132," a voice boomed from in front. From the shadows, the Revenant emerged. Eight dark fighters, each masked with black cloth and glitter. The one talking to us had dark purple glitter across his mask.
"Why, Protocol 132 states in the unlikely event of terrorist traficking through primary base camp, tact retreat backwards along gate frame main, 2 double, forming posistions in groups of periods. I'll be honest with you, that is more garbage than this hunt it. I mean why do you have to over complexify every, single, fricking thing! I can do a much better job than you. If terrorist attack then go to border between 2 trees and form rows… You're actually built different Artemis."
"How do you know our protocols?" Artemis thundered, standing straighter and looking even more imposing than before. If you tell me, then I might grant you a swift death!" The leader, a tall, muscular man with golden-blue glitter, frowned and looked at Artemis curiously. Purple did too, before snorting in laughter.
"Are you trying to look more imposing or something? Because you are absolutely horrific at it. Besides, our leader could kill y'all with like 0.00001% of his power, so shut up and learn your place." Artemis glared at both the leader and purple.
"Why are you even hurting us for?" she asked the leader. He raised an eyebrow, before looking at purple for a good 10 seconds straight.
"We're not actually-" Purple began, before Artemis lost her already thin patience.
"I'm sorry, but did I ask you?" she laughed, and a few hunters, myself included, snickered. I was glad to know that Artemis was back on top of things. "The so-called leader of you animals can tell me himself." Purple opened his mouth in agash, ready to deliver his comeback, before the leader raised his hand, requesting silence. Flaming, Purple gave one last glare, before turning on his heels and walking behind.
Everyone was silent, eager to hear the leader.
"We have not unjustly hurt anyone," he began in a deep, hollering voice that most certainly wasn't his. "We only hurt when we were being threatened. My friend here did not want to knock Thalia on the head with a bat, but it was either knocking her on the head or getting his guts torn out. Now, I have already wasted enough time and energy on you. We thank you for your supplies, and goodbye Artemis." She was stunned. Not many people turned their backs to Lady Artemis, and she was not fond of it.
"You want to leave, you get through us," she yelled, throwing a knife that narrowly missed the leader. Again he raised an eyebrow. Gods, he loved doing that.
"Why?" he asked. Artemis held her head high.
"Because this is the only way out," milady said proudly. Every member of the Revenant stopped moving.
"What about the back gate?" the leader quietly asked, a smile under that cursed mask.
"You will still get through us, because no one takes our supplies without dying!" Purple sighed.
"Boss, it's not worth it, let's get-" Again, the leader shushed him.
"Very well," he said in his deep voice. "But you asked for this, so don't blame any deaths on me now." WAIT DEATHS?!
Gently, the leader began to float above the ground, rising above us hunters.
"I do not, and will not kill the innocent," he said. "But may the Gods save you." The leader sweeped his coat, and a ball of flames rocketed towards us. Lady Artemis didn't even have time to say "Run," before an explosion shook the Earth to the core, scattering every hunter like dominos. The leader gave one last look of pity, before falling onto his feet and walking across the hunt.
"You wanted it," was the last thing I could hear him say.
"I'm stuck!" Artemis groaned. "Someone please go after him." Silence was all milady received. She groaned in pain as she tried to pull something, I think it was her leg, from under a log.
"Is anyone awake!" she yelled into the dark. I stood up, wiping the ashes off my otherwise still white t-shirt. It was dark and my eyes were still adjusting after the bright ball of fire, but I couldn't see a single hunter awake. I prayed the leader wasn't a liar and they weren't dead.
"This is Charlotte milady," I spoke quietly into the dark. "I'm going to make them all pay," I assured her, before running out into the dark, determined to avenge my sisters.
If anything, the temperature had only dropped. My legs felt dead after only a few minutes of running. I had thought the increased exercise would warm me up. I guess I was wrong again. The breeze running against me, it didn't take too long to hear the Revenant, probably because of how obvious they were. To be specific, I could hear one of them whooping giddily as they ran above the trees. I didn't understand them. These people seemed truly evil. They forced us to live in fear and desperation. They had the power to send us to a real version of hell. They could make us cry with a snap of fingers. But they didn't. They 'do not, and will not kill the innocent.' Was I the innocent? Or was Artemis?
They ran for quite a while. It was certainly more than a few hours, and by the end of it my legs were aching. I didn't understand why they didn't fly there. I certainly didn't understand why they ran for hours to raid a group of hunters. Following the rules of stalking prey that Phoebe had taught me a few years ago, I kept my distance so that they wouldn't notice me, but not too far that I would lose their trail. I was determined to follow them and finish Artemis's request. Body dying, I soon began to lag behind, the voices becoming more and more distant.
They ended up stopping near a cave. The forest had ended a while ago as the trees struggled to grow in the impermeable mountain rock. Only Artemis's blessing had allowed me to run this far without falling onto the ground and retching. Carefully, they laid whatever boxes they had collected on the floor outside, before climbing up. Again, I couldn't understand why they didn't float upwards like before. Stopping at a cavern a hundred or so feet high, the Revenant crawled inside. My body stared at the height of the cave and screamed, 'Oh you've got to be shilling me.' So close and yet so high up. I could feel my legs threatening to convulse, but what about my arms… I prayed to Artemis and about every God I knew, plus a few that probably didn't exist to grant me that last strength to climb up the pile of rocks in front of me. Taking a deep breath in a futile attempt to calm my racing nerves, I reached out to the rock on my left, pulling my suffering body up and groaning internally. It was torture, but I had to do it. Rock after rock I wasted my energy climbing up the endless mountain. By the time I reached the top, daybreak had long gone. When my hands reached a flat surface, I yanked my entire body up, panting worse than a dog, body a wrecking heap. The last thing I could do was drag myself to the side of the cave, before I flopped to the rock hard ground, unable to stand for much longer. I leaned against the cave edge, out of view from the Revenant, but still able to hear them. Finally, I closed my eyes, allowing my body to be free and relax as I listened to everything they had to offer.
"Yoooooooo did anyone see how sick I was!" I heard a voice yell out not so discreetly.
"Oh please," a second, female voice came out from my side. "You were terrorising them for fun, which was what you were not meant to do." The second guy snorted, before it suddenly dawned on me that he was Purple! How he would be the first to feel my sword after the embarrassment he put Lady Artemis through. Now, I may be timid and reserved, but I know how to serve my leader properly… obviously right after I catch my breath.
"Why don't we ask the boss then?" Purple asked cockily. "Yo boss, was I not meant to terrorise those sick hunters?"
"No, you were not," a beautiful, soft voice said, most likely their boss/leader. "We are not terrorists, and one day, the hunt will be loving us." The female giggled.
"They already love you," she whispered, causing a frustrated groan.
"Shut up, I'm not in a good mood Ha-"
"I hope you're all hungry, because guess who made his McValdez signature tacos!" a third, obviously giddy voice interrupted, whooping in. There was silence for a brief moment, before the same person asked, "You alright?" I heard a clapping sound, before the boss said, "Let's go see Caly." The four of them exited whatever room they had been in. The silence gave me some time to think about how I would approach this scenario. These were deadly soldiers, and I had to kill them strategically. Firstly, I fumbled around just to check if I had any drachmas to contact the hunt. As expected, I found nothing. They must've been blown away during the explosion. The consequences of wearing a skirt… I was faced with two options. Either I stay and listen to whatever other secrets they had before running back to the hunt and informing them. If we were lucky, we could launch a counter attack within the week, assuming the Revenant didn't move. It sounded like a good idea, but still my body was screaming at me. At best, I would be able to run a mile or so, maybe less before dropping dead of energy. The other option was to wait until they fell asleep into dreams, before slitting their throats. By then, I should have enough energy as well to run back. Besides, I didn't care too much about dying for two reasons. One, I'll die satisfied as long as I take out Purple's heart. Two, if I die, the hunt will not sleep until I have been avenged, and I can be sure they will all die. I guess that settles it then. I'll wait in the cold just a bit longer. After all, anyone who runs for hours on end will be thirsting for a nap, so the wait shouldn't be too bad.
"I don't get how you get the cute girl that can actually cook," another new voice grumbled out. I heard a light laugh.
"Is she that bad?" the boss asked.
"She's bad if bad meant poisonous," he said in a grave tone, and the room burst into laughter. I could hear munching as the Revenant ate whatever had been cooked. The smell began wafting towards me, and I nearly moaned out loud when I smelt it. Chicken roast, with a spot of gravy and roast potatoes. How intoxicating it was. After that run, my brain completely lost it, as fantasies of food filled me up. (Now THAT is a smart line ;)) I only came back to reality because they began talking again.
"...But it's far too soon," Purple argued.
"Have you seen the weather today?" the boss replied.
"Well I must say I really want to close this door," the grumbling boy mumbled in agreement.
"I don't understand why you want to talk to her?" the girl from earlier asked. "She's useless."
"One could say that we need useless," the leader responded.
"You're not Shakespeare!" Every voice chided at the same time. Were they seeing someone? I hoped not, because I needed to kill them first.
"To be honest, I do need a nap, so let's get it over and done with," Purple said. Music to my ears. Purple himself wanted to sleep soon. This meant I could attack very soon, which filled me with relief.
"Alright," the leader said between a bite. "Bless her, she must be frozen rock by now. Masks on boys. Go fetch her Frank." It suddenly dawned on me that they were talking about ME! Scrambling, I stood up, but my reaction time was poor. Knowing there was no time to climb down, I made a split second decision. It was either die from the Revenant or die from fall damage. Praying to Artemis, I leapt off the ledge, falling towards the impaling rocks.
"I can't let that happen, sorry," the boy mumbled from above, before I suddenly stopped my free fall. I knew I wasn't dead, so what was the explanation? Did Artemis grant me flight? I didn't have much time to ponder, because very shortly after, an invisible force hurled me backwards, up into the air, right into the cave.
My landing wasn't beautiful. I slammed down into the mountain rock, groaning internally. I tried opening my eyes, but all I could see was spinning lights. From behind me, I heard the sound of a door shutting.
"Don't mention it," the boy said as he walked past. "And someone please get her into a chair." I felt hands unwillingly pulling me up, and pushing me into a chair roughly. Surprisingly, they didn't bother tying me up, although I still wasn't sure if that was good news or bad news.
Blinking rapidly, I opened my eyes, glaring at the person in front of me. I almost laughed when I saw my luck. It was Purple grinning under his mask.
"So you're the cutie that's going to save us all?" he asked. "I'll be real with you, you're not gonna last longer than a few hours, so hold onto yourself and pray to whoever you want to. Just remember, you're in my house now, and no one will even try to save you." My blood boiling, I didn't even think rationally when I grabbed the knife hidden in my socks, whipping it out and launching it with such a velocity into Purple's face. The only issue was that my body was frozen. As was Purple's, with a shocked expression I wish I could've captured.
"Very good," a soft voice smirked, walking towards us. The boss, along with most of the Revenant, walked to Purple's side. "Please accept my apologies for Nico here, he's usually this idiotic so don't feel too bad." Perhaps it's just my disorientated brain, but don't I know the name Nico from somewhere? A campfire? Burials…?
Clicking his fingers, the knife reversed back into my sock, and I stared in both awe and shock at the leader. Nico was glaring murderously at me, but that didn't bother me. If I could, I would obliterate him.
"Nico, may I sit down?" the leader asked. Giving me one last, 'I will kill you' look, he abruptly stood up, walking towards the others. The leader sat down calmly, staring deep into my eyes. He had a different mask. His one covered his mouth and eyes, stopping just under the eyebrow so that he could raise it like he loved to do. I felt as if I was talking to a black hole.
"Hi Charlotte," the man said in a soft voice. Momentarily, I was stunned, unable to comprehend why he was being kind to me. Or was it an illusion of his?
"Kill me," I spat bitterly. "May I die a noble death fighting for my mistress." The leader again, raised his eyebrow.
"Why the hell would I wanna kill you? Did you miss my entire speech?" Him saying this made me feel like an idiot for just blurting out, 'kill me' to rouge terrorists.
"Shut up… you freak!" I screamed. "I hate you! Let me go! You're an idiot! You fucker!" I rarely swore, but this person was making me mad. Staring at whatever part of his face I could see, I thought I saw emotion flicker across his face.
"I-I need a second," he mumbled, stumbling backwards and out of the room, leaving me alone with a pissed off Revenant.
They waited before he was long gone before starting on me. First, the grumbling boy, Frank, began snapping at me.
"Please, I beg you to explain why you said that to him! He is helping you. He is being so nice to you, and you decide to call him… Oh boy…" My head turned to see what he was staring at. The leader was back, and I doubted he was in a good mood. Walking back to his seat, he pulled it out, but didn't take a seat.
"Do you know who I am?" he asked her quietly. Numbly, and a little ashamed of myself, I shook my head. He sighed. "I am the reason Artemis cries every night." That was the last straw. No one is allowed to say they make my leader cry and rub it into my face. Abruptly, I stood up, kicking the chair to the floor.
"Who are you?!" I screamed at the top of my voice.
The leader calmly said, "Sit down please, Charlotte."
"I asked-"
"Sit down, Charlotte." There was something commanding about him. He wasn't someone you said no to if you wanted to live, or in my case, listen to who he was. Tentatively, I pulled my chair back up, and sat on it, not removing my glance on him the whole time. The leader looked down to the floor, gently removing his mask. I couldn't believe why he would listen to me. Why not freeze me, or kill me?
"L-look at me," I demanded, once he had removed the mask. "Please," I added at the end. Quietly, the leader looked up, into my eyes again. And this time, I could see his.
W-What-Who are you?" I stuttered.
"Do I not look familiar at all?" he asked me, in that same, soft voice. "Haven't you ever seen a picture of me? Oh and please look at one eye. Stop bouncing between them."
"I-I'm new to the hunt. I joined at 16, five years ago."
"I know," the leader smiled, before standing up and pacing along the room.
"My name is Perseus Jackson, and I was once the guardian on the hunt, until they shamed me, and cast me out like an animal."
It has been some time, but I hope my writing has improved. This took me a total of 14 hours to write, so please, please, please leave a review so I can know what I'm doing good and what I'm doing bad!
Happy New Year! May 2022 bring many new, better stories, and no more COVID-19!