All rights belong to Rick Riordan

Chapter 43

Endless Possibilities

(Artemis)

It may have been a problem to find my wayward boyfriend when I got to were it not for the fact he was standing by the entrance to the gardens as if expecting me. He looked to have calmed down though there was still evidence of a few golden tears that had been wiped away on his fingers. If anything he no longer looked angry as so much saddened by something.

'You never told me about Tania's past.' He said barely loud enough to hear as he looked into my eyes and I saw they were still golden. Clearly his mood affected them.

'There was never a need I did not think it was that important, besides you never brought it up again after you mentioned it before we met the twins.' I replied although I knew it was a pathetic excuse considering what it may have prevented.

'You did not think it was important to mention the fact that one of my brothers killed her family while making her watch?' He said gradually increasing in volume though stopping before he came to shouting.

'You are not Sciron, just as you are not Orion. You cannot control who you are related to. Sciron died three thousand years ago when Theseus killed him and he should have stayed dead. Unfortunately Gaia brought him back alongside a lot of others and people were hurt because of her machinations. You killed Gaia and Tania killed Sciron. Vengeance was served to the dead, why can you not leave it in the past? She moved forward with her life and you should too.' I said pleadingly.

'Did she? What do you think she saw in Hades presence that could have broken her so badly? I may have restored her but I cannot heal what lies beneath that tough exterior she puts up. She sees me as a permanent reminder of him and what he did to her mother and sister. That is what she saw, she saw me in his place killing her family and then forcing her to clean my feet before she too was killed, again and again.' He explained sadly and I saw flecks of green return to his eyes.

'No one can resist Hades forever even gods can be driven mad around him; you are just unlucky in that she saw you. She does not remember it any more. She does not know you for who you are. Recently you have become just as reclusive towards the hunters as we did towards each other. You need to show the rest of them that you do really care for them and get to know the others not just Thalia and Reyna.' I stated knowing that though he got on fine with those two and the twins perhaps the others were still distrustful around him.

'How am I supposed to get their trust now? After all I have been lying to them all this time.'

'Well then how about you start telling them it and stop running away and delaying it. Neither of us is going anywhere anytime soon if I have anything to say about it. So how about you use some of your famous recklessness and throw yourself into the storm that awaits. After all if you were a coward you would never have admitted your feelings but you did despite what could have happened so what is nine semi-immortal demigods capable of doing to you.' I snapped at him being so sorry for himself.

'There is only one of them I am worried about and I don't know if you know this but lightning bolts hurt, a lot.' He said with a smile and I saw I was finally getting through to the real Percy underneath.

'If you think that is bad wait till my father finds out, then you can see exactly how nimble you are as you get to dodge the master bolt.' I said with a small laugh as the thought of Percy trying to fly through the sky with my father racing behind him in his chariot came to mind.

'Thanks for the reminder of that, how come my girlfriend has to be the one with the most overprotective father known to mankind? I am sure there is a reason most of Zeus's daughters chose to be maidens, I think you all just did not want to inflict him on unlucky suitors.' He said wittily and I had to admit it was partially truthful.

Athena and I were maiden goddesses, father by comparison rarely had female demigods and a lot of them had chosen to swear of men throughout the ages in one way or another. Such as Thalia joining the hunt or in Rome the Vestal virgins were the normal destination of my half-sisters. Perhaps it was our way of compensating for our father and brothers penchant for getting around. Those that did get married such as Persephone stayed faithful to their husbands.

'Welcome to the enormous mess that is immortality in my family. There are those you can't stand, those you don't like and those you wish would just leave you alone and stay out of your business. All of them full into one of the three categories. Fortunately you are not a god and so don't fall into any of them.'

'So which category is Apollo?'

'All of them.'

'I thought so and I guess a few others fall into that cluster as well, though it feels good to be outside the family circle. That reminds me, Poseidon is not directly my father anymore which means that Zeus is not my uncle and you are not my cousin.' He said completely random.

'Your point is?' I said putting my hands on my hips as I looked at him. There were far more weird things in my family tree than dating your cousin after all my father was married to one of his sisters and had been in a relationship with one of the other two.

'It means I don't feel weird when I do this.' He said with a smile before closing the gap between us and grabbing me in an embrace and putting his lips to mine. I smiled into the kiss as I felt his hands cover mine on my hips holding me close to him.

Eventually though we had to pull away from one another lest we be caught in a compromising position, we were pretty exposed after all we were standing at the entrance to the Hesperides garden, thankfully none of them were in sight as they were probably still hard at work repairing the damage that Nico's Cerberide had done to the place.

'So are you ready to confront you critics or are you going to keep me standing here for ever. It might hurt a little but you will get over it after a while. All I can suggest is be honest and tell them the truth; they will hate you if you lie to them again.'

'Tell them everything?' He said with a nervous grin.

'Stop being a seaweed brain, of course don't tell them everything, there are something's we can keep behind closed doors.'

'So now you want me behind closed doors, are you sure you're a maiden goddess?' He teased playfully and I resisted the urge to stick an arrow in his butt.

'Last I checked you were not exactly a figure of male virility, Mr. Celibate Titan Lord.' I said as a retort.

'Keeping a tab on my sex life were you? Just in case I was available.'

'More like making sure Aphrodite didn't try and stake a claim in the only decent man out there, otherwise I would have had to write you off as a lost cause.'

'How come the she hasn't shown up, normally she loves to screw up my love life. I am surprised she hasn't already figured out about us already and told everyone.'

'Because she already knows I liked you, when I first started feeling for you. I did not know what the hades was happening so I confronted her and she forced me to admit the truth, though she swore on the Styx to not tell anyone and not get involved.' I admitted as he looked at me in horror.

'You told Aphrodite of all goddesses is there anyone you have not told?' He said finally regaining a straight face as he looked at me panicked.

'Not everyone goes out of there way to piss off Styx like you do, she will keep to her word otherwise no amount of make-up will cover what I will do to her if she tells anyone else.' I said trying to reassure him.

'Next time use the damn internet and Google it, I am sure there is someone else who else who could have helped you.'

'Hi there my name is Diana and I am an immortal virgin goddess, lately I have been getting these strange feelings around this guy that acts as my bodyguard / domain partner. Can you help?' I said playfully mimicking being on a mortal telephone.

'You would not have needed to be so honest about it but yeah that would have been fine by me.'

'Shut up Seaweed Brain, it is done now and I don't think even you can rewrite five weeks from a goddesses memory.'

'It was bad enough seeing what Tania went through in 24 hours I don't even want to imagine what I would see in Aphrodite's past.' He said with a shudder and I remembered the muffled sound of Ares behind a locked door and something about bondage and I shuddered myself at the memory.

'See what I mean, that is not somewhere I want to go.'

'Anyway stop wasting time lets go back now, so you can tell the hunters before the campers get back as that will only make things even harder for you. At the moment they have not heard from you in over a year, they will be naturally curious about your return a lot of them think you probably died after that incident with my brothers bastard legacy.' I said still bitter over the actions one power hungry person can have. I would never refer to him by name, he was not worthy of sharing a name with the first emperor of Rome, even though Augustus had been no angel he was still leagues above his namesake.

'Fine but at the first sign of storm clouds overhead I am off.'

'I will take you there then this time but after this you are learning to flash yourself around. I am not acting as your personal travel service.'

'Good because shadow travel is really tiring, I was ready to drop down before you got here. Though you are not my personal taxi service you are my little mermaid and I would have it no other way.' He said trying to be sweet and instead sounding really corny as I resisted the urge to strangle him for the use of that nickname.

'Come on then Lover boy before I decide to feed Nemea sushi after Thalia's through with you.' I said grabbing hold of his hand before reverting my age back to normal as I flashed us back to the Greeks camp.

(Percy)

It was with trepidation that I found myself once again back in the familiar dining pavilion of CampHalf-Blood, I noticed several things immediately. The first was that Artemis was back to her use usual teenage appearance which was annoying but not unexpected after all people may have started questioning if she suddenly stopped appearing at her hunters age. The Second was that we were not alone as we found ourselves before the head table where Piper and Jason were seated in the middle of a make-out session completely oblivious to us.

Fortunately Artemis decided to make them aware of us by coughing loudly and giving the pair a stern look as they slowly turned towards us wide eyed.

'Lady Artemis…Percy your alive?' Jason stammered out before noticing me.

'Yeah I guess, it takes more than a magical arrow to kill me, though it was certainly unpleasant.' I replied matter of factly.

'I bet it was, though you look different now and where have your wings gone? What happened to you?' Piper asked being more observant of my reduced stature.

'I became a true immortal and so I can control my appearance now. You have no idea how much those things weigh when not in use.' I joked simply.

'So you became a true Titan somehow and you are still so unserious about everything that happened including almost dying. Does anything actually scare or even bother you.' Jason asked in disbelief.

'Your sister for starters, where is she anyway? I am surprised in have not been zapped already.' I said pretending to look around.

'She and the other hunters are by there cabin learning first aid I think, she tried to press us for answers but turns out showing affection for someone is a surefire way of making them leave you alone. No offense Milady.' Piper said apologetically towards Artemis.

'None taken, unlike your mother you at least put others feeling ahead of pure lust and desire.' Artemis said coldly as she looked into the other girls kaleidoscopic eyes.

'Thank you I guess.' Piper said quickly before looking away from her icy silver gaze.

'Err I guess we should go and tell them the truth. If you hear a lot of screaming and thunder just ignore it. it will likely be Thalia trying to find out if with enough electricity you can kill an immortal.' I said with a nervous smile.

'Well I wish you luck, though I would be better of wishing you a rubber suit. Though do try and keep the noise down Leo is doing something in Bunker 9 I think and I don't think he wants to hear.' Jason said with a smile.

'Where and what's bunker 9?' I asked confused as I didn't recognize the location in camp.

'It was where we built the Argo II and where the bronze dragon used to live, now it is Leo's personal workshop and when the other Hephaestus and Vulcan kids are here.' Jason said sadly and I remembered the magnificent bronze dragon that we worked hard to restart as well as the ship it became a part of despite its destruction.

'Oh I may have to take a look if I make it past the next 15 minutes. One more thing where is the rest of my weapons? I have my sword and I can summon my spear and shield but I don't know where Riptide and my knives are.' I asked remembering the fact I was missing half of my arsenal.

'Hazel has them, Frank did collect them but holding the knives made him feel ill. As for your spear and shield they would be next to the very upset Nemean Lioness who no-one wants to try and approach again after she tried to claw Frank a new one so I shudder to think what she will do to you.' Jason said accounting for them all.

'Why is it all girls are mean to me?' I said feigning sadness knowing that there was nothing Artemis could do to me here with witnesses around.

'Perhaps it is because we know you are a pushover.' Piper said with a smile.

'Or because we know you will let us do anything to you without fear of consequences. Now come on Perseus I believe my Lieutenant wants a word with you so stop delaying.' Artemis said with a cold smile and I knew she was going to make me pay for my comment; then again she was probably still annoyed about me calling her little mermaid again.

'Have fun Percy, I think I will stay out of the blast radius though I am rooting for you honest.' Jason said cheerfully raising his thumbs up before receiving a light tap round the back of the head from his girlfriend before he turned and kissed her again and Artemis turned her head away quickly towards where the cabins were and walking in their direction as I swiftly jogged to catch up with her.

'I have not even started being mean to you yet, I think after we are done here I should turn you into a guinea pig again or something so you know your place. I may even let Thalia look after you; I think she would jump at the chance.' Artemis said without looking towards me though I could see the playful grin on her face.

'No I am fine with staying just as I am. I think I am fine with doing whatever you say in that case.'

'I thought so, now come on then. I could use a laugh after everything that has happened this morning.' She said looking towards me with a cute smile on her young face.

Unlike previously the Artemis cabin was no longer in the central U of the cabins as I knew that a memorial now stood in its place depicting those that died in the incident. The new cabin was on the left hand wing next to the Hades cabin because of the way they had spread out.

Therefore when we passed the black stone cabin I found myself before 7 of the 9 hunters who all looked up from the assembled pile of medical training equipment and strangely a blackboard that Atlanta was standing next to as if teaching from it. The girls all looked from Artemis to me with moderate confusion as if struggling to recognize now I was no longer as I was before.

Before one of them surged forward like a lightning bolt and laid a right hook on my temple that not only made me dizzy but also made my hair stand on end because of the accompanying electrical discharge.

As I struggled to remain standing I felt a hand on my back before I was pushed back forwards towards the angry demigod. Great even my girlfriend wants to watch me get the crap beaten out of me.

I felt liquid dripping down my cheek from my eyebrow and judging by the looks of bewilderment on the face of the hunters, I guess they had noticed the fact I now had true ichor. Well except one who looked remarkably happy about the discovery.

'So seaweed brain can't die anymore. This is going to make this so much more fun.' Thalia said cracking her knuckles menacingly as she looked at me with a twisted smile as if considering the possibilities of what she could do.

AN. Sorry about the delay but I simply wanted to take a break for the weekend which I consider fair considering I have spent the last 3 months writing this in almost all of my free time.

Quick one for all of you. I see that a lot of you want him to have a Roman aspect and I am open to the idea however I have no idea what to call him. it is not that hard to make him more serious as he is a pretty light-hearted guy. therefore if any of you have any recommendations either for another name completely or a suitable Prenom/Title.

I will try and get another chapter out during the week otherwise it will be the weekend.

Until then as always read and review