All rights belong to Rick Riordan

Chapter 55

That's Gotta Hurt

(Percy)

'Seriously Reyna where is Piper? It has been over 12 hours and no one has seen her.' I asked the demigod who simply smiled in return.

'That's not my fault if she doesn't want to be found.'

'It is, because people are going to start asking questions, Jason spent the rest of last night after he recovered looking for her and I am sure he suspects you. Besides the only reassurance we have that she is still alive and not in Tartarus is your word.'

'I swear on the Styx I did not kill her or allow her to die. Anyway I was being serious she probably doesn't want to be found. If she doesn't turn up by tonight I will show you where I left her.'

'Perseus leave her alone, I agree if she is not found by tonight Reyna will have to show us.' Artemis said from behind me concluding the matter while the Roman demigod returned to her look of serene happiness with herself. It had been the first clue to Jason that something wasn't right when he came to ask us earlier. Reyna never appeared actually happy, sure she would smile on occasion at a joke or prank but actual happiness was unheard of.

'Yes Milady.' We replied in chorus as she returned to cleaning her equipment, sure I had removed the ichor from her clothes but I refused to do the rest of the wear and tear she had done in the last few weeks.

The hunters had the day off from all duties and training for winning the game and most were taking the opportunity to stay in bed all morning or to gloat over the campers and the gods of heroes. So much so that Leo had locked himself in Bunker 9 because Phoebe had found it hilarious to keep reminding him about me possessing him and using him as a tool to break free of my own trapped state.

Sure I had apologized to him for doing it and injuring him but I could tell he was still sore about the subject. Afterall this was not the first time he had been possessed and I knew from personal experience with the Eidolons it was not cool. I had a plan to make it up to him but for the moment I did not have the strength to do it.

Even Nemea had taken apparent pleasure in strolling through the camp causing most of the campers to flee in terror at the sight of her, and I realized just how much the Lioness had done last night. The hunters admitted after the game they captured three demigods and Frank total. The rest had been done by me, Artemis, Thalia, Reyna and Nemea. The Lioness had single handedly (pawed?) defeated the entire camp attack force and that was in her reduced state. I was starting to think how I had created a monster when I had taught her to keep her mouth shut at all times in a fight as it was her only weak point.

Nico and Bianca had returned to the underworld after Hades summoned them to account for how I managed to beat the pair while handicapped and barely able to move. Sure my relationship with my uncle had improved but apparently it still grated upon him for me to beat his children, even if he had technically adopted me or at least blessed me. Not that it was currently active like most of my other powers at the moment.

As for everyone else Frank had returned to New Rome to oversee the Senate, Jason was off Piper searching and Thalia was gloating over everyone as if she had single handedly won the game. Then again she had defeated two gods so it was fairly justified even if she was technically the only person on our team who was out by the end of it.

Artemis and I had chosen to spend some time at the Archery range as it had been free of other people because the hunters weren't around, the Apollo kids were dealing with the few still wounded campers. Of course I achieved very little in the actual practice though it did give the pair of us time alone together without risking suspicion. Though eventually campers had begun to arrive there for training and we had left first so I did not injure any with errant shots and second because they kept shooting us look of bitterness towards the loss. Not that they said anything aloud, apparently they decided it was good to not bad mouth the Olympian goddess and the Titan Lord who kicked their asses.

'So what do you have planned for today, other than keeping an eye out for unwelcome guests?' Artemis asked quietly as we walked away from Reyna. No prizes for who she was referring too.

'Nothing much for I would spend some time with my girlfriend who I can't actually be seen being affectionate with. You know the usual.' I remarked getting a punch to the arm in reply, one I actually did feel, stupid temperamental curse. I had learned this morning that it was a lot more erratic when I started to shave and almost carved half my face off. Fortunately it had been with an actual razor blade I found in my dad's cabin and not my old method. Though of course Artemis had heard me screaming blue murder from outside and had assumed something more sinister before simultaneously blushing and bursting out laughing at the sight of me topless cradling my cheek, Stupid partial invincibility.

'You could just man up and tell my father, he might even let you live.' She said sweetly.

'Yeah that will happen, I think I would at least wait till I know I will come back to life at some point before then.' I replied deadpan. Seriously though, her father was the only issue in our entire relationship, well except maybe her brother if he had an issue with it.

'Chicken.'

'Maybe, but then it won't exactly help matters if I beat him up and hurt his pride. Now come on I have done the stupid archery now it is your turn to suffer Ariel.' I said making sure no one was around before grabbing her hand as she flashed us away.

(Artemis)

'Why again have I got to do this?' I complained as we both stood at the bottom of an empty lake. Well he stood I sort of just remained motionless drifting a few inches of the lake bed.

'We had a deal remember, I suffered through archery you have to suffer learning to swim with a tail.' He explained for the second time and I still wanted to ignore him as I regretted making that deal.

'Say's the guy who lost the same ability within two days of getting it.'

'True but the difference is I didn't look like a disabled mermaid when I had it.' He remarked tilting his head back as I launched a blow at his head.

'You do know I can fire a bow underwater now.' I pointed out remembering that accursed crab.

'Not a problem all I have to do is go behind you and you would probably fall on your face while turning.' Gods he was so annoying when he was most likely right as he had to gloat the matter.

'Fine what do I need to do? As you can't exactly do a practical demonstration anymore,' I said taking a small amount of solace in pointing that out at least, though he remained smiling as he essentially had the advantage no matter what.

'You need to lean forward a little, before trying to gently move your tail. That will allow you to go forward at least.' He explained and as he did so I tried to follow the instruction. The key term being tried as I immediately mistook my center of gravity and pitched forward before realizing my mistake and over correcting and almost ending up on my back instead. Thank the gods we were alone otherwise any spectators would have been murdered.

'The good news is you managed to lean at least.'

'Shut it smartass, just because you were lucky to get this as a major domain and instant knowledge of it.' I snarled back.

'Hello pot it is kettle calling, you're black. We just had the reverse of this scenario remember and last I checked no one is in any danger with you learning to swim.' He pointed out and I bit my lip in frustration, I hated being helpless like this.

'Well shut up and help me then.' I demanded angrily.

'So the damsel in distress needs my help again, how many times is this now?' That's it I am gonna drown him, I don't know how but I will find a way. I plotted as he slowly made his way towards me.

'Why do you even walk down here when you are manipulating the current to push you along as well?' I remarked as he came close as I noticed the action and it was true he actually walked despite the fact his feet were not resting on the lake bed but he instead drifted along several inches above it.

'I don't know it just feels natural.' He explained before shrugging it off as walked around me before I lost sight of him as got behind me.

I got quite a shock when he grabbed me by the waist and lifted me up several inches. I was struggling not to blush as his hands rested on my bare scaled hips.

'Right now try again, you're not gonna fall over I promise.' He explained from behind me and once again I did as he had instructed and I felt myself move slowly forward a few inches and his hands began to slide down my tail. I was just about to try a larger stroke when he had to open his mouth.

'You know I wondered if you shaved your legs, but scales take the cak-owwwwww.' He never got to finish the comment as I thrust my tail up as hard as possible and caught him in the groin, though the action caused me to also fall forward though I was able to catch myself rather than face dive the floor, which was more than could be said of him as he rolled around crying out in pain.

Karma's a bitch.

'You know I think I may have just sorted out us ever having to worry about my oath.' I remarked after having pushed myself upright looking his direction, with a satisfied grin.

'That's not fair I was only joking.' He cried out in a much higher tone than normal which only served to make me laugh at his plight further.

'Well did you see me laughing because I amnow, so how do you fancy life as a eunuch?' I teased causing him to turn white as he cupped his manhood.

'That's meeeaaan…' The squeakiness in his voice, causing the word to drag out much to my amusement

'Look at the bright side the hunters may even accept you as one of the girls eventually if you did.'

'Please stop, you win. This really hurts you wouldn't understand.' He implored.

'A bit of blunt force trauma to some soft tissue, big deal! Try giving birth from what I understand.'

'No this is worse; I just got smacked in the balls by a giant fish goddess essentially.' He defended.

'The fish goddess as you called her is gonna do it again if you call her that again. So are we going to have anymore smartass comments? No I thought not. Now get up.' I commanded happy that this was another victory for me over the idiot.

Nevertheless he slowly began to rise as he moved his hands to his back as he straightened himself out.

'Seriously why do you feel pain in your kidneys when that happens? It makes no sense.' He questioned more to himself than me and I noticed a bit of normality return to his voice. I kind of missed squeaky Percy already.

'You know what I don't know and nor do I care. Though I think this has been an excellent training session don't you?' I asked being as sarcastic as possible. It was less training and more therapy and the best bit was he was the one regretting it.

'Can we just go now?' He asked holding a hand out which I ignored instead grabbing his ear instead. Hades why not, I thought as I flashed us back to camp ignoring his cry of pain.

(Percy)

'So do I even want to know what happened?' Grover asked from beside me.

'One word: Artemis.' I said as I re-adjusted the bag of ice on my crotch.

'Trouble in paradise?' he asked chuckling.

'No just made a comment I now regret deeply. One for the pain it caused me and two because she told the hunters who found it hilarious, though she neglected to mention the circumstances to them.' I explained as I remembered the fact she dropped us inside the hunters cabin, much to the hunters insides shock and my embarrassment.

'Wow dude sucks to be you.' He commented chuckling.

'Thanks for the moral support man. So how is it going with you then?' I asked as when we had spoken before it was generally about me or his new family.

'You know the usual boring council meetings, Juniper, council meetings.' He explained with a sigh.

'Almost makes you want to go back to the old days of fighting monsters.' I replied knowing what he felt like except substitute Juniper for training.

'Hell no, I have had enough dark damp caves and monster infested lairs for a lifetime. Though I know what you mean. Everything is just so normal now. For the first time there is not someone plotting to kill us.'

'Plotting to kill you maybe, I still have enough of those issues to deal with. Let's see I have the king of the gods when he finds out, an insane river and her husband and most likely the girl scouts when they also find out. A pissed off Titaness for a number of reasons and I think Artemis was seriously trying to kill my sperm count.'

'I reiterate the phrase sucks to be you, I am going to take an educated guess on the middle one Styx?' He asked to which I simply nodded.

'So that would make her husband….Fuck.' He cursed as the magnitude hit him.

'Yeah that's the one, though from what I know he is not the bothered about it, she's the one on the rag about it. He doesn't appear to have much choice in the matter.'

'And yet like normal you don't seem to give a crap about any of this.'

'I have spent the last 5 years with at least someone trying to kill me; the novelty wears off after a while. I am more terrified with whatever the hunters and Artemis can dream up.'

He looked ready to respond when I sensed someone approaching from behind and turned towards it preemptively just in time to watch a dryad I didn't know come round a bush.

'Lord Grover….Lord Perseus, we have found Piper.'

'Well at least she is alive then.' I muttered quietly though the super perceptive satyr heard.

'I thought you said you didn't know what happened to her?' Oops.

'Well I didn't know what happened or where she was but I may know someone who did, like the person who did. Come on G-man lets go see what a girl scorned is capable of.' I said slowly standing up despite the ache downstairs and discarded the ice though I made sure to pocket the bag under the perceptive eyes of the Dryad.

'Well this can't be pretty then. Thanks Hazel could you lead us there.' He asked the Dryad who was obviously also called Hazel who did a small bow before going back the way she had come as we walked or in Grover's case trotted behind her.

'Well she was pretty beforehand at least.' I commented not sure what I was going to see when we arrived.

'Well she doesn't look that bad.' I commented from inbetween Artemis and Grover as we looked from the entrance of the cave towards the goddess who was sitting at the far end. Piper had bent her legs up in front of her and was hiding her face for the most part behind her arms, aside from a few cuts and tears on her clothes and the few bits of pink armor she still wore appeared dented there seemed to be little wrong with her.

'Then why does it smell funny in here? All I can smell is Ichor.' Grover commented sniffing the air.

'Idiots look through the mist.' Artemis commented and in response I did as she suggested and immediately regretted it.

Well the source of the smell Grover found was rather obvious as it looked like someone had used the place as a slaughterhouse. Ichor was practically sprayed up the walls and in places the ceiling. That scene alone should have been enough for me to look away and try and suppress the memory but curiosity got the better of me as I looked at the source.

'Oh fuck.' Was all I could say and think as I processed the image in front of me, when Reyna had said she had not killed her she had been telling the truth, though not by much it appeared given the state of her victim…

Almost every area of exposed flesh was a shade of black or purple. The remnants of her outfit were completely coated in her own Ichor. She had numerous cuts and grazes along her arms and at least several of her fingers appeared broken or dislocated at the least. And that was just what I could see from here. However as I looked up I noticed a rather obvious difference to before. Her chocolate brown hair had always been a little choppy due to her own personal style but by the looks of things Reyna had attempted to cut it with a hedge trimmer to say the least. Large patches of it were missing completely and those that remained appeared blond covered in Ichor.

Grover must have noticed my expression. Do I even want to see what you are seeing?' He commented and I remembered that he probably could not see through the mist as well as I could now.

'No but I suggest you go get a medic or better yet Apollo or get someone else to.' I recommended. Gods he had a weak enough stomach as it is and that would have only made this worse.

'That bad?' He asked as I silently nodded and he quickly trotted off out of the cave.

Unfortunately it caused the wounded goddess to look up briefly as she noticed us and we caught sight of her face.

Well it would have been faster to say what wasn't normal about it. The swollen left eye and cut eyebrow, the broken nose and jaw. The other eye stuck closed due to a trail of ichor from her brow line which looked to have been done by a blow from a certain hand held weapon that was still in my pocket.

As if to make matters worse, it was just at that point in time that Jason saw fit to turn up followed by Thalia as the pair floated to the ground. However Jason wasted no time in running into the cave as soon as he caught sight of his beaten girlfriend and sitting by her side grabbing a hold of her. However this only served to make Piper freak out more and start crying loudly.

'Let me guess I am not seeing everything am I.' Thalia commented calmly as she looked at her brother holding the hysterical goddess.

'Thankfully for you, No.' I replied as I turned around to preserve a bit of dignity before walking outside the cave entrance and the two daughters of Zeus followed me leaving their brother with Piper alone.

'Reyna may have gone too far Artemis.' I stated shocked by the brutality the former Praetor had inflicted.

'Maybe but remember you were the one who introduced her to torture, besides she has been building up stress for years and she used Piper regrettably as a vent for it. I knew it would not be pretty in there but that is slightly worse than I expected. Nevertheless what is done is done and don't even try and fix it. You are not at full power and she is a goddess so don't even think about it.' She commanded and I knew she was right.

'So what will happen to Reyna?' Thalia asked worried for her new best friend.

'Nothing.' Artemis said simply.

'What do you mean nothing?' I heard someone shout from the behind us and I turned to see Jason standing there almost crimson, contrasting with the gold all down the front of his shirt.

'Like I said nothing will happen to her. If you so much even touch a hair on her head, I will take yours. You may be a god and even my half-brother but no one touches my hunters understand. This situation is over. If anything reappears between the pair the offender will be punished but this incident is over. Do you understand?' Artemis stated menacingly and I could have sworn she grew several inches as she spoke because she was almost level with me.

'This isn't over.' Jason declared weakly.

'Bro you really don't want to go there seriously. Go back inside and calm Piper down until someone arrives to help her.' I said calmly standing between my enraged girlfriend and an equally pissed of friend. As the pair stared each other down for almost a minute before Jason broke away and stormed of inside the cave again.

'Milady is that true?' Thalia asked as the goddess returned to her normal size.

'Of course, let's go I would rather not be here when sunshine boy arrives.' She said flatly before walking off on her own through the woods back towards the cabins.

'Another point to note is stay out of Artemis's way when she goes Mama Bear on someone.' I remarked to my relieved cousin.

'I am just glad she did not turn into a bear and do it. Now come on seaweed brain, you may not mind our brother, but we do. You coming?' Thalia said taking a few steps before looking back expectantly.

'Sure why not.' I replied after taking one last look at the cave mouth.

Of course eventually we had to explain to Chiron what had happened, though few knew about what had transpired between the goddess and the hunter. It became common knowledge that something did what with the fact the Apollo turned up in the Sun Chariot converted into an ambulance for no apparent reason seeing as he flashed the pair of them out afterwards.

Chiron decided that technically Reyna had broken the no maiming rule what with the fact she had broken 7 of Piper's fingers and an arm.

Reyna took her sentence of 3 weeks KP duty remarkably lightly which considering she had beaten seventeen shades of blue out of a goddess was fairly light. That and she found it amusing to walk near the few Aphrodite kids that were still at camp and watch them panic.

Other than that the next few days passed uneventfully. I was forced to suffer Archery daily though away from camp to prevent loss of life. Despite the training I still managed to confound Artemis/Diana with my complete lack of progress. Piper was healed by Apollo and her mother restored her appearance to what it had been. Though she refused to come anywhere near camp while the hunters were still there.

I managed to cause everyone to panic near the end of the week when I collapsed for the better part of a day. I don't remember any of it to be honest one minute I was eating Cheerios and the next I was waking up in the Poseidon cabin with Diana looking at me expectantly.

Apparently what she and Apollo and Chiron had worked out was this the result of me reaching the coma stage of the week I regressed. This had me thinking on that if I reverted a person to a previous point, when they aged back to that point everything would return which was good for me to know in regards to myself but it also got me worried about Tania. After all I had only sent her back a day yet she had not regained her memories which contrasted with what I was thinking until Diana thought of the reason as we sat in the chariot that night.

Because Tania was an immortal and didn't age she would never reach that point unless she lost her immortality for whatever reason,She theorized and I had to agree it was better than anything I could come up with to explain it. Long story short Tania.Do not break your oath or you will go insane.

By contrast though I was an immortal I did still age because I chose to. I was not staying as a kid forever by any means. Maybe some point in the next few years perhaps... Providing I made it to that point of course!

Though the whole coma experience taught me one valuable lesson which was, if I needed to revert, for whatever reason to only do it for a few hours at most. Unexpected and unscheduled naps were not something I needed to happen regularly especially as I was practically defenseless.

However by morning when I woke up in laying against the side of chariot with Diana resting her head on my shoulder I noticed the immediate difference in how I felt both physically and powerfully. That and the fact I did not have to bend my legs to lie down in the damned chariot.

I decided to test my re-acquired powers by pulling a prank Artemis herself had used. As I summoned a coalesced ball of water in my hand and allowed it to rest above her head.

'If that touches me Perseus, I will throw you out of this chariot sans wings.' Diana commented without even opening her eyes.

'How did you even know?' I asked confused as I discarded the water bomb over my shoulder regretfully.

'We share the domain dumbass, I can sense water nearby. Now shut up I was comfy.' She moaned into my arm, rubbing her head into my shoulder as if to get comfy. Great I got to play the role of a pillow. Though this was something I had learned in the last few days that we had both stayed in the chariot together. When she actually slept gods help anyone who woke her up unnecessarily which was generally me and now I was back to normal I didn't have the curse of Achilles to stop every other blow.

'We can't spend all morning up here it is almost 5am, Thalia will be up soon.' I explained lifting my shoulder causing her head to fall off as she looked at me with narrowed eyes.

'Last I checked I was the one who set the rules in the hunt.' She muttered and I supposed that was true.

'Try telling Thalia that.'

'Di Immortales why have you got to make sense occasionally but she can wait a little I want something to eat first.' She declared weakly as she tried to rise unsuccessfully before starting to topple backwards. Luckily I was able to stop her, by putting my hand on her butt. Sure it wasn't the first time but it was with an extremely groggy Diana who froze at the contact before turning to look at me curiously/venomously, the expression causing me to freeze where I was in panic.

'A little early for that isn't it and last I checked we were no making out.' She remarked and I immediately let go.

'Thank you though, now come on I fancy donuts.' Gods she was so confusing, how she could shift from murderous to ravenous was beyond me. And she had the cheek of calling me schizophrenic, I was nothing compared to her mood swings and that was not even going into her dual aspects.

'Well are you coming or what? It is a long flight back to New York.' Which was true I had learned that the hard way from mid-pacific to East Coast was a flight and a half and had practically cost me a day. All because I suggested we spend the day doing more training or more specifically just her training.

'You do know I can just shadow travel back now right.'

'I know because you have to take the fun out of everything.' She replied holding her hand out downwards towards me which I accepted as we made a joint effort to pull me up which was only possible for her as my wings had apparently vanished while I was asleep reducing my weight by half a ton.

'Come on lets go.'

By the time we arrived back at camp I had learned several things. 1 Monster donuts are nicer fresh, 2 it is staffed with actual monsters in this particular example a rather brain dead blond Empousai and 3 it is rather foolish for said Empousai to attempt to flirt with me when Artemis was next to me.

I also refused to eat most of my food because it was covered in monster dust which was completely unrelated so I chose to eat some of hers or at least try to before a hunting knife appeared on the table warningly and I wisely chose to go looking for salvageable ones of my own.

When we did eventually get back almost an hour late it was to the sight of Thalia pacing back and forth out the front of the cabin while a yawning Reyna sat on the steps with her cape wrapped around her to ward off the morning cold wind.

'Milady where have you been?' She asked immediately upon seeing the goddess and I was glad that we had travelled separately as it meant for once I could avoid the inquisition.

'Breakfast?' she said simply before walking past the stunned demigod into the cabin.

'Seriously,' Thalia said bewildered before focusing on me.

'Err yeah I would offer you some but she ruined most of mine.' I joked.

'You're looking a little short again by the way.' Reyna commented from where she sat.

'Thanks I hadn't noticed.' I replied sarcastically.

'You're welcome, now come on Thalia. Artemis is back so stop fretting. Can we go back inside now?' Reyna asked rhetorically because she was already halfway in the door by the time she had finished the sentence.

Thalia looked ready to comment before she simply sighed and turned around and walked inside the cabin. Not before making sure to slam the door as hard as she could and waking up the entire cabin if the faint moaning and complaining was anything to go by. Misery loves company.

All in all things were going well the odd incident notwithstanding, until once again things began to go downhill on my Birthday.

AN. First things yoy may have noticed is I have finally given in to the complaints about the format and am slowly altering the others when I can be bothered. also the old authors notes are gone as they take up a surprising amount of words. Second the rating has temporarily dropped to T, before you all complain. for those who are interested there will be lemon scenes in this fic just not anytime soon ok besides I wanted to acquire some more readers who wouldn't have seen this behind the filters.

Thirdly for the first time in a long time, time has actually passed in this book. it was close to a 120000 words covering a weeks events. however next chapter is where everything starts to go wrong.

As always read and review