Artemis is a unique deity to him. Like the other gods, she is petty, cruel and selfish. Unlike the other gods, she surrounds herself with mortals, demigods and nymphs. He's seen glimpses of humanity shine through in his interactions with her over various lifetimes, and also seen the vengeful goddess and hunter of men.
It's exactly why he has no idea whether to shield the children from her gaze or to encourage them to bow.
"Artemis." He says, purposefully dropping the honorific while maintaining a respectful tone. A nice middle ground. "How may I be of service?"
Before the goddess can open her mouth, Grover stumbles into view. "Percy!" He cries. "The monster- kids missing!" Thalia and Annabeth trail behind him, similar worry painted on their faces.
"Dealt with." He says standing up, taking Nico and Bianca with him. He places his hands on their shoulders. "Stand with him, he'll explain the basics. We'll go over everything in detail together." He nudges them gently, yet they only stare at him. Scared of strangers, maybe. Or they could already feel the power radiating from Artemis and they were scared for him. "I won't be gone for a moment." He says softly, trying to smile comfortingly. It feels more like a grimace, but they acquiesce all the same.
Such sweet children.
He watches them for a moment before turning to The Moon Goddess. He raises an eyebrow while her silver eyes flicker across his form. "We were tracking the beast." She says after a moment, eyes now planted onto his own.
"Why?" He asks, unsure why the hunt would lower themselves to tracking a lone manticore all the way in Maine. He'd found that they mostly kept to the midwest, only moving east or west on special occasions.
"It was powerful. I believed it may have held information." She sizes him up once more. "Powerful, yet you all don't seem to have a single scratch on you." There's an accusation in her words that he's unable to discern. Treachery, perhaps? The thought amuses him, he'd been Olympus' greatest ally for a millenia whether they realized it or not.
"All monsters are capable of dropping their guard." She searches his gaze for deceit. Unable to find any, she turns her gaze to the children. He tenses up on reflex, something he sure the goddess takes notice of.
"You are not what I expected." She says finally, turning around and staring into the forest. "My hunt will arrive shortly. You may dine with us if you wish." It's an order, not an invitation. She wants to keep an eye on them and she knows they're in no position to refuse.
"Thank you." He says, turning before she can say anything else. Artemis was unique and as such she was unpredictable. It unnerved him. He never knew quite how she would react. Not mentioning his lack of honorifics or bowing was a good indication, but Gods were prone to mood swings and temper tantrums.
He walks over to the demigods, noticing Nico and Bianca's gaping faces. They're shocked, terrified of the world they've been thrown into.
Oh does that infuriate him.
"Percy! Is that Artemis?" The satyr swoons, shuffling his feet like a schoolgirl. "What did she say? Oh gods- does my hair look all right?"
He ignores him, heading straight to the children. He leads them out of earshot, tuning out Thalia and Annabeth's words. He kneels down to look them in the eyes, something about how scared they look bringing emotions he'd never even realized existed. "In a few moments, thirty little girls will appear with an array of weaponry. They are some of the most trained killers in the entire world. It will not make sense to you. Not much of anything will make sense to you anymore." He reaches out, taking their smaller hands in his. "But you will get through this because you are strong. Hold onto your questions for now. I promise you will get your answers."
Their dark eyes are wide with fear, but also trust. They nod resolutely and he smiles. It is still an uncomfortable feeling, but it becomes a small fraction easier each time. "Good." He says softly. "Good children." He brings them back over to the rest of the group, his hands on the shoulder in anticipation of their jumps when the hunt appears.
"Hey." Thalia glares at him beside Annabeth. "What the hell was that? Going off on your own, not saying shit to anybody? We thought you were dead!" He wonders if her fury comes from genuine worry for his safety or his effectiveness without her. The latter one, he decides. Thalia is not a complex creature and the simplest answer is usually the correct one.
"I was focused on the children." He says, letting his distaste of her show in his tone. "As should have been your focus instead of one-sided rivalries." He smiles at her. Not the soft smiles the children draw out of him, but the cynical, mocking ones he's grown so accustomed to giving out during his lives.
Thalia's eyes blaze with lightning as she steps toward him. "Listen, I don't know what the fuck's going on with you since we got here but-"
A horn sounds in the distance, cutting off her tirade. His hands keep the children steadily on the ground as they jolt up. As he'd told them, several girls appeared from the forest shrubbery, all wearing the same silver parka, their skin almost blending in with the material as it shined.
Artemis appears next to her lieutenant, blending in with the rest of her hunters with ease. He recognizes both of them easily, Zoë Nightshade has hunted him more than Thalia has. He finds her much more bearable though- her arrogance came from thousands of years of knowledge and experience. Thalia's came from birth.
"Demigods." Artemis steps forward. "You've done us a favor. Rest, dine with us. We will return you to camp as a reward."
"Thank you, Lady Artemis." Annabeth says, a kiss ass in every life. She bows, to which Thalia and Grover follow. The children look at him expectedly. He nods slightly, and they do the same. He merely inclines his head towards her, he hadn't bowed to a deity in ages.
He kept getting away with it so he wouldn't be changing his behavior anytime soon.
Artemis notes his stiff form, a question forming in her eyes before turning to Zoë. She says something, then returns back into the forest. The lieutenant steps forward. "Camp will be set in a moment. Thou should rest before supper." She whistles sharply, and the hunters spring into action. Silver tents and folding camp chairs start to appear all around them.
He picks up three of the chairs, leading the children back toward the cliff- away from the hunters and demigods. Annabeth gives him a look, somewhere between disappointment and disgust. He gives her the same smile he gave Thalia, enjoying the way she flinches.
"So, Gods huh." Bianca says quietly as she sits. Nico hasn't made a sound. He's twitching in his chair, the scratch of the canvas piercing his ears every couple of seconds.
He doesn't know when his body started to move, he doesn't even have the time to make a conscious thought. All he knows is that he scooped Nico out of the chair and sat him gently on his lap. The boy quickly latches onto one of his arms, not saying a word but his movement stills. "You're alright." He says softly, drawing him closer to his chest. "Yes, child. Gods and monsters and many other terrible things." He says to Bianca, and the look in her eyes gives him the sudden urge to draw her in as well.
"Do you know our dad?" She asks. "And can it please be you?" There's a vulnerability in her voice that makes him want to lie just to appease them. It scares him, how much leverage and authority these children have over him in only one hour of knowing them. It's not good, he knows that. He has a mission, a purpose.
But they're so good and he hasn't done much good in his many lives. He's killed and been killed and that's never done much of anything for him.
His lives don't seem to have any limit on them anyway.
Maybe, just maybe.
He could try something new.
"I'm not your father, little one." He says gently, the way her eyes dim making him question his decision to not lie. "I'm curious as to why you'd even think that. I'm not much older than the two of you." He tries to smile convincingly. The girl's too smart for own good though, he can see it in her eyes.
"I don't believe you." It's Nico that speaks up to his surprise, and he says it with so much confidence that he's shaken for a moment.
It's the only opening Bianca needs to speak her mind. "I don't either." She says with the same zeal. "We thought you were a God, Grover thought we were joking but how could we not? The way you talk, the look in your eyes. It's not normal." She leans closer to him, dropping her tone. "And when you were talking to her, there was this sort of… energy around you guys."
She stares at him with eyes that can seemingly pierce his very soul. "I'm very tired, Bianca." Is all he says, unwilling to lie again. Telling the truth is another story. They can suspect whatever they wish, but they can't know.
"That, I believe." She nods, staring into the sea.
"For what it's worth," He says quietly, suddenly finding the ground very interesting. "I'm sorry I'm not your father. If only I could be that lucky." And he meant it. He'd never thought of having children, never thought of anything beyond Kronos, really. But something about them…
It made him yearn for it.
"It's official then. We can both pretend." Bianca says triumphantly, fixating on him with a smile. "Nico?"
"Yeah?" The boy mumbles. He's exhausted, he'll need to go right to bed after he eats.
"We're adopting him. This is dad now." She says. His eyes bug out of their sockets and she only smiles wider.
"Okay. Sounds good." The boy says, closing his eyes.
"That- you cannot just adopt me." He says incredulously. What was running through her mind? This was bad. This was very very very bad.
"Well we just did, so deal with it." She says, her eyes shining like coal. "You look like you need someone to look out for you, and we're kids so someone needs to look out for us. It's a win-win."
"That is terrible logic!" He cried. "Child, Gods are prideful beings. They will not take kindly to-"
"Can't hear you dad! I think the food's ready, c'mon!" She jumps out of her chair and runs toward the camp before he can respond.
He's completely still for a moment, Nico's random convulsing being the only movement. What the fuck was even happening? Children were adopting him now?
He stands, taking Nico with him. The movement wakes the boy. "Was happenin'?" The boy asks as they move toward the camp.
"Your sister is incorrigible." He says tiredly.
"Put 'er in timeout, then." Nico says, rubbing his bleary eyes. "You're dad now."
These children would be the death of him.
The hunters serve them some sort of meat. Boar, perhaps. What you eat is never as important as actually eating, so it doesn't bother him. Nico sits in his lap, the boy being surprisingly clingy. He can't blame him for that, he supposes. He could do without the numerous glances from hunters and demigods, though.
He catches Bianca's eyes, subtly nodding his head toward Nico. She understands, sending him a small smile. He gets up gently, making sure not to wake the boy. He feels the stares at his back, the hairs on his neck pricking up as he walks toward the two tents the hunters have set up for them. He opens the tent on the right slowly, setting the boy down gently on one of the cots.
Nico sprawls out onto the cot immediately, drawing a blanket toward him instinctively. He watches him for a moment, the slow rising and falling of his chest as he breathes. It is… peaceful. He doesn't remember the last time he'd ever used that word, but it seems apt at the moment. He brushes the hair out of the boy's eyes, not understanding the instincts that take over when it comes to these children. His body just seems to move without a single thought.
He turns away, satisfied for the moment and takes a step out of the tent. "Hey." Nico mumbles just loudly enough for him to hear. He steps back into the tent, kneeling down by the cot.
"Yes, child?" He asks. The boy squints at him in the darkness, turning on his side to look him in the eyes.
"You're pretty cool." Nico murmurs before yawning. "You'll take care of us right?"
"...Yes." He says, knowing that he's sealing his fate. "I'll take care of you."
"That's good. Mama would've liked you. Bianca thinks so too." The boy's eyes close as his voice gets quieter and quieter. "'Night, dad." His breath hitches in his throat as Morpheus claims the boy once more. Hearing him say that, it feels so…
His mind comes up blank. He can't even describe how it makes him feel, but he knows he's in too deep. They trust him. They adopted him. It seemed his choice had been made for him.
He'd be trying something different this life.
"Goodnight." He says quietly, standing and moving towards the exit. He gives the boy one last glance before making his way back to the others. He feels lighter, like a little bit of the weight on his shoulders had been relieved.
Coming into view of the others, he sees Bianca standing in a corner with Zoë. Her eyes are narrowed, arms crossed tightly around her small frame. As soon as she sees him, she breaks away from the lieutenant, walking over to him quickly. He can feel the anger rolling off of her and he feels his own pulse quicken in response.
"Are they all like her?" She practically spits out as she moves behind him, using him as a human shield in case the hunter pursues her. He locks eyes with Zoë for a moment but she only sneers and returns back to the rest of the group.
"Miss Nightshade is a… special case." He says, turning back to Bianca. "She is quite ambitious in her pursuit for new members." He grimaces, immediately recognizing his fault. "I should have warned you. I'm sorry."
"It's alright." She says, still hugging herself. Was it cold out? He realizes he doesn't even know the year, let alone the month. That was a problem he'd have to rectify quickly. "She was just so bossy." Bianca says, shooting glances at the group. "And it was like she knew exactly which words to say, talking about 'the burden of thy responsibility' and 'the freedom of sisterhood." She shuddered. "She was actually pretty convincing."
He nods to himself, having a sudden bout of deja-vu. She had joined before, hadn't she? It was understandable, it seems she'd been more a mother than a sister. "Yet you chose not to join." He says. "Why?"
She shrugs. "Because I don't wanna leave Nico, no matter how much of a pain he can be. And because… it'd be nice to have someone look out for me. And since you're so… you, I'd figured I'd stay and see what having a dad feels like." She smiles impishly at him. "Even if it's a weird, teenage dad who talks like he's a million years old."
"Nobody is forcing you to adopt me." He says exasperatedly. "You have a father out there, who is a God I might add."
Her smile only widens. "Yeah, but you're here and he's not. It's a mutual adoption too since you put Nico to bed."
He sighs, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "We really need to work on your logical thinking."
"Awww, look at you! Already thinking of ways to parent us." She smiles before hugging him tightly. "You're our dad now, deal with it." She whispers in his ear before kissing his cheek. "Now tuck me in. Your daughter is tired." She pulled back and pouted at him.
He can't help the smile that comes across his face as she grabs his hand and drags him toward the tents.
He has lived thousands of lives.
He has slaughtered deities, led armies into battlefields, turned his enemies' own blood against them.
He has waged a war across time against Kronos longer than some Olympians' lifetimes.
He is putting a child he just met to bed while she calls him dad.
Gods help him.