Finally, right?!
So, Chapter 10 is here, now the story is going to get good.
The next morning-
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Last night had been incredible, Percy had never had as much fun as he did last night, nor has he ever been happier...
Percy never thinks about how he saved the world twice, he never thinks about how he got no appreciation or rewards to show for it, he never thought about that... But what he did think about, now, was that his life had been worth it to be here with Artemis. He's never wanted gold, or fame, or glory, or anything that isn't pure. Love and friendship is pure, that's why the only thing he's ever truly wanted was to help others and his family, and to have a woman that will love him and be loyal to him. And the latter, he hoped, was going to be Artemis.
Speaking of Artemis, she was right next to him in the bed, laying on her back with the covers pulled up to her chest... But not enough to cover her entire chest, she was fast asleep, but the amount of skin that was left bare to the morning air was making parts of Percy's body very much awake. Even after taking her multple times last night, he was more than ready to have some more fun this morning..
Percy licked his lips and leaned in towards Artemis, his destination was the sweet nipple that was reaching toward the ceiling... Peaked atop her perfectly round, rising and falling breasts. They were so beautiful that Percy could have latched his mouth around them one, then the other, licking and sucking and biting for hours. Which is what he intended to do, in fact. Like previously stated, it was addictive.
However, just before he got there though...
"Percy... What do you think you're doing?"
Dam...
"How long have you been awake?" He asked, sighing. Artemis smirked, her eyes still closed, almost mockingly...
"Long enough to feel your burning gaze latching onto my tits as hard as your teeth did last night." She said, and the memory of him latching his teeth around her nipple and the scream of pleasure that came with it last night was making him very hard.
Percy raised his eyebrows at her profanity, he never expected the goddess of the hunt Artemis to talk with words like "tits," and talk sexual similes like it was normal...
Speaking of teeth, he could clearly see the love bite marks that he left on her breast last night. Sinking his teeth into her perfectly soft and extra sensitive flesh had been one of the most satisfying things he had ever done.
"I can't help it, you're just so beautiful and sexy." He replied, propping himself on one elbow so he had a perfect view of her. She opened her eyes and turned her head toward him. "Know just the right thing to say, don't you?"
"No, I just say what I feel, and I got a pretty dam nice feel of you last night." He cooed, answering her question perfectly. Artemis blushed, he really did always know how to make her flustered and say the most romantic and sexy things.
"Percy, you're such a romantic... And I love you."
"I love you too, Arty, more than anyone or anything." She smiled, and they got out of bed.
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Unknown POV
I walked through the home of my father, striding with pride and dignity, watching as all other beings bowed to me in respect or fear. Some quivering, others just paralyzed, and some were ogling me, because you know, I'm the most beautiful woman in creation... Too bad my husband didn't think that, he's cheated on me more times than I could count, and... and it didn't matter to me anymore! It was hard, but I got over it, besides there was plenty of other men that would bow to me, men that are more than happy to make me feel like an appreciated woman...
You might be thinking, why am I being so sappy? Why? The reason is because that even when you're as powerful of a being as I am, lived as long as I have, I'm still a woman and curse my dad women get lonely... I do at least, sometimes, and the attention is addictive and sensational, it also helps that I'm so beautiful that men are attracted to me like flies to honey.
Anyways, I finally walked up to the huge black doors, beyond this point I will finally meet him, see him, for the first time in centuries, millennia actually... I've no idea why he summoned me today, the reason was foreign to me. Just as I reached my hand up to open the huge doors, they suddenly swung open. I raised my eyebrows, he had always been dramatic...
Speaking of him, as soon as the large doors opened I laid eyes on him, the most powerful being in creation... A beautiful and majestic grey dragon, laying on the raised platform that rested in the middle of the incredibly large room. I sighed and walked into the room, walking toward the dragon, striding with power and pride. When I crossed the large room, I kneeled in front of the large platform, mainly in front of the dragon, and bowed my head respectively.
"How may I server you, father?" I asked, greeting respectfully. The great dragon lifted it's head to look at her, then it laughed.
"Rise my daughter, you need not bow to me, come, it's good to see you and I have a task for you." He announced.
Figures... I rose and walked over to the great dragon, semi-anxious about what he had in store for me, what kind of task...
"Yes, father?" I asked.
"There has been a disturbance in my children, a shift in power..." He said ominously.
"Uh-huh, and?"
He sighed, "And I fear it means that one or more of your siblings have turned rabid, they are angry, and they will soon attack the Olympians, you must help them win, we cannot allow the rabid Primordials to destroy Earth. Now that Gaia is weakened so much that she has lost full control of her domain two of the other Primordials want to claim it for themselves." He said to her, sounding every bit the wise ass, old fart, fortune telling cookie he was.
I gasped, this wasn't good... "Which of my siblings have turned rabid, and how am I supposed to help the godlings defeat them?" I asked.
"You are to go to Earth, and speak with the goddess of the hunt Artemis, I need you to bring the newest addition of her hunt here... Namely, her newly appointed Guardian and lover, Percy Jackson, I need to speak with him, he defeated Gaia and such is critical in defending Olympus against this new threat." He explained.
Wait... Artemis has a lover? Since when in the all fuck did that happen? Isn't she the most man-hating woman in creation? When did the hunt get a Guardian? And most importantly, why didn't I know of any of this? I sighed again, but didn't voice any of my questions, they were insignificant details anyways...
"As you wish, but you didn't answer answer my other question, which of my siblings have turned?"
He sighed again... There's been a lot of that today.
"I do not know how many, but I do know that your husband is one of them." He said.
I gasped (again), my determination shooting through the roof, and trust me this ceiling was pretty damn high... What I do know is that I am going to get payback on that bastard! The bastard that treated me like a harlot bedwarmer... I would make him pay! I shall support Olympus, give them whatever they need to be able to defeat him, this I vow.
"When do you want me to leave?" I asked.
"As soon as you leave here." He said.
"As you wish, I shall return with him, do you want me to bring Artemis as well?" I asked.
"If she wishes, but you do not have to." He explained.
"Very well, if that is all, I will take my leave." I said.
"Good luck my daughter."
"Thank you, dad." I said with a smile on my face. He smiled back at me, something tells me that he really does love me, like a daughter.
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Back to our fav couple.
Percy and Artemis had talked for a few minutes after they woke up, and when Artemis mentioned that they needed to get back to the hunters and looked at the time, they got out of bed and got dressed... Both of which were much to Percy's disliking, he would have been perfectly content with spending the morning talking, or cuddling, or especially doing other things... hint hint.
They got dressed and brushed their teeth, Artemis did her hair, since it got disheveled, couldn't possibly imagine how that happened...
Percy noticed that she seemed to be limping a little bit... And had just a little bit of a hard time walking straight, which had him smirking. She didn't say anything though, didn't mention anything about him treating her a little too rough or whatnot, she was perfectly content. She had lived up and fulfilled her promise to him, and he was extremely pleased.
She had promised him he could do whatever he wanted to her, and by the gods, did he.
Best night of his life... Hands down.
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2 hours later.
Percy walked through the woods of camp, peacefully, dutifully, and routinely, as he does, scouting around the camp.
He was the 'Guardian' after all.
Although he felt like he was being watched, like that uneasy, not quite right feeling you get when someone is watching you. Atalanta usually comes with him when he does his duties, helps him with all of them, but this time she insisted on staying in the camp and organize her medial tent, she claimed that she had not done it in a few days and needed to get on top of it.
He stopped, looking around, eyeing the trees and reaching for his pen in his pocket, he brought it out and put it in his hand, ready to uncap it. Becoming the guardian had given him extra sensitive senses, so he could hear, see, smell, taste, and feel more intimately with his surroundings than ever before.
Twang!
Like lightning Percy reacted to the sound and uncapped his sword pen, swinging his body around and bringing the sword down in an arc, slightly twisting the sword with his wrist so that the entire thing twisted with his movement.
Cling!
Just as he knew would happen, the arrow was deflected into a nearby tree. He twirled the sword in his hand using the momentum that was created when the arrow struck the blade.
He quickly looked into the trees to see who the attacker was, and that's when he spotted a young woman in silver hunting garb, perched on a tree branch 15 feet in the air, about 40 or so feet off, she had a bow in her hands, and a shocked expression on her face...
"Do you truly hate me so much? Why can't you just get over it? You've followed Artemis's lead for millennia, why stop now?" He yelled, leveling Riptide at the Huntress in the trees.
It probably wasn't the smartest idea... Talking like that to her, or about Artemis without calling her "Lady Artemis," but Percy didn't need to call her that, for reasons that Phoebe was likely to get even more riled up about.
"Don't you dare presume to speak of my past, or who I follow, boy!" She screamed, firing more arrows at him... Then jumping down from the tree and brandishing her hunting knives.
Percy sighed and dodged each arrow perfectly, readying himself to be attacked by the experienced and hungry huntress. She ran like a huntress, extremely fast and agile, Percy knew that if he ran at her he would be at a disadvantage, so he waited for the huntress to come to him, readying himself with a defensive stance that was effective for defending against short weapons at close range.
Riptide was by no means a long sword, it was less than three feet long, which was perfect for defending against an angry huntress with hunting knives that were about 7 inches long... scary, but not to him.
It didn't take her long to cover the distance between them, starting off with a precise swipe right at his hear, to which he dodged and cut right toward her stomach in counter attack, but he was surprised it actually caught her off guard, cutting her hunters garb clean across her chest...
He figured she was so hungry, and so angry, that it was clouding her mind and preventing her from focusing. Too bad for her!
Phoebe snarled, clearly frustrated that he landed a slash on her, even though it didn't actually cut her, but it sure as Hades is going to leave a dent in Artemis's fabric bill...
"Think about what you're doing Phoebe, do you really want to go down this path?" He warned.
Nope, she ain't taking that shit!
"Shut up and fight!" She yelled back, leaping forward to attack him. Didn't that fail the first time?
He knew that there was a river close by here, so he decided to completely go on defense and let her push him back, but he made sure that he was backing up in the direction of the river...
Every time she would slash with her knives he would either dodge or parry, expertly and agile, clang clang clang! And with every clang Phoebe seemed to get even more angry...
He had no idea why she was all of a sudden so mean to and about him, suddenly in the last, oh, few days. Like, he had lived with the hunt for 2 whole years now, and yes she had always been the worst of them, but she wasn't this bad!
Maybe this was actually a good thing, maybe this could have a positive ending? He never really understood Phoebe like he did the other hunters, ones like Thalia and Atalanta, or obviously, like how he (thinks he) understands Artemis. Maybe it was because that he got to actually interact with those three, or because that they are more friendly, or maybe it was because they were friendly to him? Was it even because of him at all? Maybe it was because that they tried to understand him?
Whatever the reason, he knew that all he needed to do was defeat Phoebe here and now, and then she would respect him, simple, right?
Well, not really, and he's grabbing at smoke thinking that Phoebe will ever respect him, but hey... It might turn out like that.
Percy narrowly dodged a quick slash from Phoebe, having to jump back as she cut up toward his head with a ferocious uppercut, one that would have taken off his head had he not been more responsive. However as he jumped he jabbed his sword toward her and it dug into her shoulder, causing her to scream in pain as her muscles were lacerated. Blood was flowing out of the wound like lava down the slopes of a volcano.
Before he could regain his balance or recover from having to jump out of the way, she threw one of her knives at him, taking the 7 inch long point to point knife and propelling it like a throwing knife.
Right at his shoulder...
He didn't have time to deflect, or dodge it, not before it embedded itself deep into his shoulder, going in 4 inches deep.
He screamed in pain, jumping back even further, and readying his sword to finish this battle. He didn't want or intend to kill her, but he knew that she would kill him if he didn't at least disarm her.
Suddenly he felt it, the feeling of water close by, very close by. Percy smiled, knowing that this fight will very soon turn in his favor. Deciding that he needed to bait the reckless huntress, he put a concerned look on his face, hoping that she would buy it and see it as fear instead of what it actually was... a trap.
Haha, thankfully this girl was so angry, that she didn't see through it, and just smiled wickedly and pounced at him, lunging with her remaining knife in her hand.
He braced himself and felt that familiar tug in his gut, then like she was shot out of a canon, Phoebe was hit by a blast of water and flown into a nearby tree, the impact so hard it knocked her out and she crumpled to the ground at the bade of the tree unconscious and bleeding, although most of the blood was from the wound in her shoulder.
Percy stumbled, falling to his knee in pain, he reached up to the knife embedded in his shoulder and grabbed onto the handle, then he gritted his teeth and pulled it out sharply...
He screamed in pain and quickly, before he passed out from blood loss, he dropped a splash of water onto himself... Effectively stopping all the bleeding and repairing his wounds, not completely of course, but enough that he could function correctly again.
Percy cringed and got back to his feet, thankfully relieved of bleeding and most of the pain that had been pulsing through his body, for now at least. He looked over to Phoebe, knocked unconscious underneath the tree, he sighed and walked over to her. Now he may have done this to her, but she was completely asking for it, and he had to do this or she would have killed him... But he figured that he did need to take her back to camp and get her a healer, since, for the fifth time, he was the guardian after all.
He walked over to Phoebe, and picked her up bridal style (which would have been much to her dismay had she been awake, oh, he also made sure to take away her hunting knife...), then he started off in the direction of the hunter's camp.
But not even he could sense the pair of godly, silver eyes, staring at him from the bushes a ways off...
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Artemis's POV
I gasped in fear, watching as Percy took a hunting knife to the shoulder, blood pouring out of the wound, and Percy as he started faltering... When I say Phoebe about to pounce on him like a cat, I almost flashed over and broke this up... But then I let out a breath of relief when Percy blasted her into a nearby tree, knocking her out. That had to hurt, but I knew damn well that she was the one to start this fight, so she doesn't get any credit or support for what happens because of it.
It was shocking to see Percy defeat one of my best hunters... Granted he didn't dominate the fight, but he still came out on top with minor injuries, impressive.
"Wait, is he picking her up? Where the hell is he going with her? Is he going to take her back to camp!? That man is so nice, wow! I can't believe that after all the shit she's given him, he actually cares enough to bring her back to camp for healing! I'm definitely going to reward him for this, but for now I should go back to camp and wait for him." I thought as I flashed away back to my camp to wait for Percy.
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When Percy got back to camp he was greeted by Thalia, who asked him what happened to Phoebe... Because, not like she's curious as to why he's carrying a bleeding huntress like a sack of potatoes or anything... No!
"She attacked me in the woods, l won..." He said to her.
Thalia looked shocked, but she nodded understandingly. She wasn't one for many emotions, or many questions, and both of those were because she was very smart, so obviously she was able to piece the puzzle together very quickly.
"She'll be alright, but she needs a healer." Percy pointed out.
"No duh, follow me, Kelp head." Thalia instructed and walked into the camp, in the direction of the medical tent. A place that was rarely used, (because Percy rocks at his job, ya know), a fact that he took a bit of pride in... The hunters didn't need much protection, like at all, but they still got injured from time to time, and Percy being the guardian has cut down on the number of hunters being injured.
Or actually, in this situation, you could say him being guardian has increased the number of hunters in the medic tent, but whatever, right?
Anyways, Thalia led him to the medical tent, the two of them (three) were getting some pretty weird looks along the way... Some of the hunters asked, but Thalia just waved them off, saying that it would be explained in the future.
When they got the medical tent, it was empty, as usual... So Percy laid Phoebe down on one of the beds and Thalia went to go get Atalanta, telling Percy to sit down and wait for her to get back. So he did, and he waited for a few minutes before she came back with a very worried looking Atalanta.
Long story short the girl asked a few questions, patched some wounds, and carried a few flasks and boxes of ambrosia and nectar around the place like an OCD freak. Gotta hand it to her though, she knew what she was doing. The huntress that had helped him so much during his time in the hunt was an excellent nurse, Artemis had told him that the girl was the 2nd oldest Huntress now, with just over 3000 years under her belt.
By the time Atalanta was done with her, Phoebe looked like she was good as new, with just a few places bandaged up here and there (her shoulder for one.)
"She had a few places of internal bleeding, and her shoulder was pretty bad but she is going to live." Atalanta demanded, turning around and looking at Thalia and Percy, who looked at each other wearily...
"Well? Go on, tell her." Thalia encouraged.
"What happened was that Phoebe ambushed him in the woods, blind rage and hatred fueling her to attack Percy, and she was defeated because of it, not that she could have won on a good day either, of course..." Came a voice from the doorway, well, it wasn't a 'voice,' because by the time they were done talking everyone saw and recognized who it was.
Artemis stood at the doorway (just go with it) to the tent, her arms crossed and a smug look on her face, but her expression also showed disappointment. Although what, in all this, what she was disappointed in exactly, was a mystery to them in that moment.
"Lady Artemis." Thalia greeted, bowing her head in respect, Atalanta following her example. Atalanta was probably the most respected hunter out of all of them, her skills of fighting were unequaled amongst the hunters, only eclipsed by Lady Artemis herself. Her skills of healing have gotten her loads of respect as well, having saved countless hunters lives in the past, many of them owing their limbs, and their lives to her, because sometimes after a battle there just wasn't time to get a hunter to Apollo... Because, obviously, it takes time for Artemis to bully her brother into being useful.
"Thalia, Atalanta, Percy, good morning you three." Artemis greeted in returned, nodding to the three of them one by one.
"Were you watching our fight the entire time, Lady Artemis?" Percy asked her, throwing in the title just for shits and giggles. He knew it would have the desired effect, like she always gagged every time he called her "Lady Artemis," because he doesn't have to call her that, and when he says it it just sounds stupid anyways.
Yep, sure enough, she rolled her eyes in annoyance at his statement...
"I watched the entire thing, and I was quite impressed at your handling of the situation and of Phoebe, I'm impressed, Percy. Especially at your display of compassion by bringing her back here to Atalanta." She said, sounding genuinely pleased. Percy looked about like a fish out of water, pun intended. He didn't quite know what he thought about Artemis having watched him fight Phoebe... But she said she was impressed at his handling of the situation, and at his skills? Haha, he knew that his fighting skills weren't the only 'skills,' she appreciated.
He almost told her that, but he didn't think she'd like him saying that... Not in front of Atalanta, Thalia probably would laugh like crazy, and they all would laugh their asses off to see Phoebe's reaction. The injured huntress would probably he mortified.
Percy crossed his arms and looked down toward the ground. "Of course, I couldn't have just left her there, the hunt is my family now and no matter how mean she is to me, she is part of that family." He said, sounding sappy AF.
Artemis looked touched, like she just heard the most heart warming thing she's ever heard, Thalia noticed this too and rolled her eyes, she wasn't one for sappiness. She was appreciative of what he said though, and she was the closest to him of any of them other than Artemis, because he looked at her a sister, long before he came to the hunt.
Artemis and Percy were looking at each other lovingly, and Thalia decided to put a speed bump in the way before this went too far...
"Please don't start smooching here." She said, making Artemis blush golden and Percy smirk. "Yes, please don't." Atalanta agreed, blushing red herself. Atalanta hasn't actually ever seen them kiss, one of the only hunters to never have witnessed the display.
Atalanta actually wasn't a man-haters, people often compared her to Phoebe because they were good friends... How that was, was completely unknown, but the truth is they are complete opposites. Like just hear this, Atalanta is the camps healer, and Phoebe is the camps killer, Atalanta isn't a man-hater and Phoebe is the only hunter that hasn't accepted Percy. The only thing that they were similar in, was their ability to fight, and the fact that they were both Elder hunters. Atalanta preferred to avoid direct conflict if she could, opting to take a long-range position if she could, but anyone that was stupid enough to confront her directly, was guaranteed to end up opening a door to a very dark place.
"My lady! Something is happening in the camp!" Someone screamed from behind them, they all frantically turned to see who it was and saw that it was a younger hunter named Chloe. A hunter that Percy was very close with, one of the first hunters he made friends with in the camp upon his arrival amongst them.
"What? What is happening? SPEAK child!" Artemis exclaimed.
"I-I don't know, t-the sky is rippling! I-it's darkening!" Chloe shrieked, clearly scared.
Artemis looked at Percy, who was looking concerned, along with Thalia and Atalanta. "Is it the whole camp?" Artemis asked.
"Yes My lady, the whole sky! It's like we're in a bubble!"
Suddenly they all heard a waning sound, like a storm was brewing or something... Artemis looked worried, like she didn't quite know what to do, so she did what she knew she needed to do, protect her hunters.
"Chloe, go regroup with the other hunters, Thalia go with her and make sure they are grouped up, we are strong in numbers. Percy, come with me to the front of camp, and Atalanta your job is to stay here and protect Phoebe, she still hasn't woken up and would be vulnerable here alone." She called out, and everyone nodded.
"Well? GO!" She shouted when no one moved, and then they suddenly got their act together and everyone went to their assigned places (everyone except Atalanta of course), Percy and Artemis heading out of the tent to go see what this was and what was happening.
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When they got outside they saw a black sky, a round bubble sort of presence covering the entire camp, around the entire clearing, blackening the sky to a point that you couldn't see the sun and it was about as light out as it would be when the sun has just gone out of sight over the horizon, that's the amount of light they had.
Not to mention that it sounded like a storm was raging either outside or inside the bubble, the covering was pulsing and cracking like it was electric energy, like a force field or something. But neither Artemis nor Percy could feel any godly energy coming off of it, but there was certainly something going on here.
"What is this?" Artemis asked out loud, sounding completely ignorant to the situation, which she was, she had never seen anything like this. Percy hadn't either, and he was equally weary and unknowing as to what was going in, but he also had a feeling that they would soon find out. Which he was correct..
"I don't know, Artemis, I've never seen anything like this." He said, looking up at the "sky," in awe.
Suddenly they heard a loud boom, and a warping sound, like the air around them was opening up, shattering the glass of reality. Cracking open the tangible air around them like a walnut in a nutcracker.
Artemis gasped when a black portal looking abyss appeared on the ground level, crackling with energy and blackness. Artemis had seen something like this before, it was the method of transportation for the Protogenoi, or Primordials, and if one of these portals was opening up here, on Earth, then her and her hunt were in grave danger. The power levels of Artemis and one of the Primordials is like a candle compared to a light bulb, not even the entire Olympian council would have a good chance of defeating one together, let alone Artemis by herself.
Before she could act on these thoughts however, a completely black, tall figure walked out of the portal, a figure that was as black as the nights sky, like a pulsing being of black power, with eyes that looked like the moon, and a body in the shape of a human. A female human at that, the Primordials could take on the appearance of a human, but their natural form is this humanoid figure of swirling energy.
Artemis and Percy both readied their weapons, Artemis summoning her godly hunting bow, her symbol if power, and Percy uncapping riptide, and they could hear the unsheathing of knives and the drawing of bows behind them, the hunt was a strong force, and they would stand and fight whatever creature, being, or threat they had to to protect Olympus, such was the purpose of the hunt (according to Zeus.) Thalia walked up beside Artemis, her spear and Aegis in both her hands, silver tiara glowing atop her head.
"Who are you?" Artemis yelled.
The figure laughed, a shrill, chuckling crazed sounding.
"Haha, who am I, godling?" The being asked, laughing, and holding their arms out menacingly. Much to Artemis's dismay, who snarled at being called "godling."
"I, am the queen of the night." The Primordial announced, stepping away from the closing portal.
A/N- Well? Is the story getting good now? Did you know who the Primordial was when they were first introduced? Oh, and WTF was that with Phoebe? Lemme know down below what you think. (Eessaamaster I know you already knew everything so try not to be a know it all in...)
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