All rights belong to Rick Riordan
Chapter 97
Parental Problems
(Artemis)
"Will the pair of you stop with the god's damned suck up treatment! I am not here to listen to you worship the very ground I 'walk' upon." I told the two Ichthyocentaur trainers who had rushed to greet me upon arriving at the Camp Fish-Blood and spent the next five minutes showering me with praise.
'Maybe we should have brought Sea-Weed Brain with us after all, just to distract everyone else.' Diana remarked whilst the two Ichthyocentaur looked taken back by my remark.
'He would still be trying to pronounce Ichthyocentaur. Besides if he stays at Orthrys he can actually do something he hasn't in a long time, take a break.' I joked before admitting seriously. The truth was I was well aware of how self-destructive Percy's recent state was in the last few months, both physically and mentally. Having been shot, stabbed, electrocuted, blown up, possessed, drugged, kidnapped... Cultivating in the latest instance of him getting a limb dismembered. Something putting up with a now self-admitted 'hormonal' rampaging goddess was doing no favours for.
'So rather than babysit the Hunter's for us, instead he is babysitting himself?" Diana joked clearly amused.
'I like to think of it as getting practise for what is to come.' I proposed only for my counterpart to chuckle in amusement as I focused back on the centaur wannabe's in front of me.
"I am so sorry Lady Artemis, please accept our apologi-" Aphros began only to be cut off as I raised my hand.
"You can't even seem to shut up without dragging it out. I get it, it is an honour to see me. But the fact of that matter is I was rudely awoken by Triton to fix your problem. So if one of you could kindly go get him it would be muchly appreciated." I told them completely aware of how rude I was being. I was tired, annoyed and was having to deal with the fact I did not have legs.
"Yes...Yes of course Lady Artemis." Bythos said bowing his head before swimming off in a strange mix of galloping and using his tail.
"If I may Milady..." Aphros began as I looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes?"
"It was just that we expected Lord Perseus to be accompanying you."
"First things first, his name is Percy calling him Perseus will get you a rather nasty surprise and second why would you assume that?" I asked glaring at the blue man/horse/fish hybrid who suddenly looked like he wanted to sew his mouth shut.
"Well we had been informed you were betrothed to one another a while back." He answered rather sheepishly. A look that really did not match with his otherwise powerfully built body structure.
"Exactly how far back are we talking?"
"A month or two..."
"We only announced it, let alone got engaged last week so how could you know prior to that?" I asked glaring at him as he nervously looked back at me.
"Lord Poseidon is terrible at keeping secrets!" He stammered out rapidly.
"I had noticed that stupidity had to originate somewhere in the gene pool. Speak of a glaring example of it." I muttered more to myself than him noticing the return of the other Ichthyocentaur followed by the twin-tailed figure of Triton who had opted to return to his normal skin colour of green and back to wearing lapis embossed armour over his human half, trident held in his left hand. Aphros meanwhile looked like someone who had just been rescued from the gallows.
"Lady Artemis as beautiful as ever." Triton remarked bowing his head respectfully and seemingly using the chance to look at my silver lower half as I followed his gaze.
"Cut the crap and let's get on with this. The longer I am here, the longer your idiot brother is left unattended with no one but himself for company." I told him only for him to lightly laugh.
"Of course we wouldn't want that who knows what sort of trouble he could get himself into? The pair of you may return to the campers now." Triton said turning to the pair of Ichthyocentaurs.
"Of course my Lord it has been a pleasure. Lady Artemis." Bythos said bowing his head to the pair of us.
"Thank the gods... I mean yes Milord." Aphros said in relief only to realise what he had said and correct himself, finally before copying his brother's gesture and the pair of them galloping away.
"Do I even want to know what you did to my former teacher?" Triton asked laughing watching them leave before turning back to me.
"Not as bad as what I am going to do to you if you keep looking at my tail." I told him causing him to hurriedly avert his gaze.
"Unfortunately that is something you will get a lot more of from the rest of camp. Despite popular perception full-blooded female Mer-people are not as beautiful as they are cracked up to be by mortals. Far too many teeth for starters. Which probably explains why Marina had such problems in the first place with the boys here." He said and I wanted to call him out on exactly that thing was wrong with his current appearance.
"Great, so I get to stumble past the fish equivalent of hormonal boys." I remarked sarcastically as the god simply grinned.
"Pretty much, besides you are the one who accepted the domain. You will have to deal with the err- 'downsides' of that decision." He retorted pointing downwards towards my lower half.
"I am pretty sure I accepted the land side of Tides, Your brother is the one who got the water bit."
"What you mean to say is you are still having difficulty swimming." He said grinning like an idiot definitely resembling his brother. Well except with much pointier teeth of course.
"This is why I never liked you when we were younger." I said crossing my arms in annoyance. Unlike my little brothers Apollo and Hermes I had not been so impressed with the messenger of the Sea's antics, thankfully keeping to land and away from Olympus had stopped me having to deal with him too often in the last two Millennia. The occasion Gigantomachy notwithstanding. After what happened with Orion... Well I did not want much to do with the children of Poseidon for a few millenia until Percy changed my opinion of them.
"You never liked anyone when you were younger." He retorted as I ground my teeth.
'Touché' A voice laughed in my head.
'Whose side are you on?' I hissed back at her internally.
"Very funny fish boy, now how about we go laugh at how much you have screwed up the situation?"
"Been at least fifteen hundred years since you called me that. But come on then and try not to fall flat on your face Sailor Moon." He laughed before turning around and slowly swimming towards the outskirts of the city as I resisted the urge to stick a hunting knife in his back as I followed behind him careful not to do exactly that.
'Oh dear gods, If Percy ever calls us that I will kill him.' Diana grumbled in horror mirroring my sentiments on my seemingly newfound nickname. Why was it that Poseidon's sons all had to be smart only when it came to making witty nicknames and not common sense?
"Call me that again Nemo." I muttered under my breath only for the fool to chuckle.
"I can feel the vibration even if I cannot hear you."
"Yeah well go fu-"
(Percy)
"-uck's sake, can we please stop letting 'her' pick Kirby!" The avatar of Envy complained having come last once again.
"I agree." Greed chipped in.
"'She' is kicking your asses." I agreed having watched the rather humiliating demolition of the aspects by the third. Sloth was asleep in the lazy boy chair across the room. I had been forced to give up because using a console is rather difficult with only one functioning hand. Even one as dumbed down as the Wii.
"The problem is the fact 'she' keeps making sucking sounds every time 'she' attacks. It is really creepy"
"I can always suc-"
"Yeah I am going to cut you off there. It is really distracting and not to mention disturbing." I cut in before she could finish.
"You are all so unfair!" Lust complained crossing her arms across her chest sulking.
"Cry me a river and pick someone else already!" Envy retorted picking Pit again for the simple reason he had wings and a sword, despite the fact he had lost every game so far with him. Greed picking Princess Peach eliciting a snicker of amusement from Envy at his choice.
"I suppose I can always practise my tongue skills." Lust declared as her selector moved across screen as the rest of us followed it with growing dread.
"Yoshi." The figure on the screen declared as we all looked on in weary resignation.
"I have the now officially run out of fucks to give." Greed said in exasperation before slumping into the chair.
"I can give you a few." Lust retorted only to cause a groan from all of us.
"Just shut up and play the game freak." Envy complained as I wondered if the girls were having better luck.
(Artemis)
"Wow love the whole Hiroshima thing you have got going on around here. When you screw up around here, you do it in a big way." I told my companion as we transitioned from the intact part of the camp in to what could be compared to a battlefield. Speaking of that event it was one of the few times that we gods had had to sit up and pay attention to what the mortals were doing. Though it had been Hades kids who started that war it proved that my father's demigods had an equally disastrous taste for mass destruction.
"The worst bit is we had only just finished rebuilding it from the Titan War. I think Kymopoleia might have done it on purpose to get Briares back out of the house." Triton laughed nervously rubbing the back of his neck.
"Are you trying to say your sister is still upset about that arranged marriage?" I replied sarcastically.
"That is one way of putting it, finding out about old Pontus didn't do any favours for any us either. She filled my home with Portuguese men-of-war while I was sleeping." He remarked subconsciously rubbing his arms.
"And you sent her to talk to your emotionally damaged daughter… Wow you are as stupid as your brother sometimes." I told him stopping as I considered the shear amount of dumbass that went into that decision.
"It was a lot easier option than giving the puberty talk to her myself especially considering she was already at the stage of killing one of the other campers, Rhode gave Ariel hers after all and with her gone now I thought my other sister would be just as good. With the benefit of hindsight I may have made a mistake." He chuckled, nervously looking around the scene of devastation. In fairness I realised I had actually forgotten about the middle child of Poseidon and Amphitrite which I guess was part of the reason she had faded after her husband Helios had done so.
"The same daughter who ran off with a mortal at the first opportunity?"
"No one of the other ones I have never had, yes her." He muttered sarcastically with a hint of bitterness and I got the feeling there was a lot of bad memories for him when his first daughter had left. She had after all abandoned her everything including her own semi-immortality for the sake of love with a mortal.
"Sorry." I uttered quietly regretful at having brought it up.
"Don't be, Ariel made her choice in life. I may not have liked it but it was her choice to make and as a father I had to respect her decision. Perhaps one day now you may soon realise you can't keep them locked up in an Ivory castle it only makes them want to leave more." He said turning from me to the Maelstrom ahead of us where a structure was barely visible within the base of the vortex.
"This time though I was too stupid to realise I was going too far in the other end of the spectrum. Putting a girl with known psychological issues with men in a camp full of boys and expecting everything to work out whilst not catering to her every whim… and not paying her as much attention as I should have done. I should have just let you take care of her in the first place." He added and I got the feeling it was more to himself than to me as I watched his grip on the trident he carried turned his knuckles white.
"At least you tried to make up for your mistakes, my father does not particular care about any of his children with the exception of Athena. So that puts you one up on the king of the gods in my book." I told him sarcastically. I was still surprised I had not had a summon back to Olympus to explain the situation with me killing his favourite pet let alone the debacle with Chronos.
"I suppose you are right though, your father is a bit of a jackass to everyone, takes after grandfather I imagine." He remarked laughing opening his mouth wide enough for me to notice the second row of teeth behind the first like a shark.
"At least he didn't eat me, ignored my birth and left me to fight a giant snake with an idiot but didn't eat me which is nice. Still there is one thing I have learned about parenting across the millennia from all of yours mistakes. If Percy messes up I will kick his ass so hard it will be a legend amongst parents throughout the world."
"And that is why I don't envy him... Well ok I do a little bit." He added and I noticed his eyes glancing over me until he looked me in the face and noticed me glaring back causing him to gulp and look away. Unbeknownst to me my eye colour had shifted to gold briefly which I was rapidly discovering was a great way of getting messages across to idiots. Now that I no longer had to restrict myself I was becoming eager to test my capabilities against someone. Currently that person was likely to be either Perseus or Atlas whichever one messed up first. Well in fairness they both had it coming either way. Perseus for being well Perseus (except where he currently wasn't, in which case that freak bitch would settle in his place) and Atlas for being a stalker-ish jerk who was beginning to grind on my patience. That and well I wanted to pay him back for the whole kidnapping me thing, causing the death of two of my hunters and giving me six months of back pain in reverse order of importance.
"Anyway I think I will just carry on swimming before I get hurt." He remarked nervously continuing towards the maelstrom up ahead as I followed behind.
'He learned that pretty quickly, took Percy a few weeks to catch a hint.' Diana remarked in amusement and I found myself agreeing. Sure he was getting better but he was still rather dense when it came to reading body language especially when it came to the opposite sex. Something being surrounded with more than a dozen girls 24/7 for six months should have fixed by now.
'True but at least we can kiss Percy without fear of getting our face eaten.' I joked internally as Diana did the mental equivalent of a shudder at the implication.
'Triton could at least probably end up eating your cooking.' She joked as I paused in annoyance.
"Anytime, you know that is not going anywhere." Triton called back impatiently pointing at the cyclical storm ahead.
'I will get you back for that one.' I told her firmly resuming swimming after the god as my counterpart kept laughing.
(Percy)
I was beginning to think that Lust had as much skill at curb stomp battling her counterparts on computer games as I did against the Minotaur but where I had stop and wait for the poor idiot to come back from Tartarus (ridiculously quickly mind you, I was beginning to think he knew his own way out of the pit.) Lust just pressed the start button again and resumed the beat down. Even changing the game had done little to change the result as 'she' solidly annihilated them both at everything from Mortal Kombat to Mario Kart. Now I was not bad at games after all before joining the Hunt, I had had a lot of free time and no adult supervision telling me I was going to get square eyes and such things. But Lust made me look amateur at my own games. Thankfully though I wasn't playing so I got to avoid the embarrassment of getting my ass kicked by a 'girl' giving the term a loose definition.
"Don't you even think about chains—awing me." Envy began on to finish with a sigh as Lust did exactly that after bouncing off every nearby wall like a heavily armoured bouncy ball all the while giggling insanely at what 'she' was doing.
"I don't know why you even bother saying don't do it, it just makes me want to do it." Lust chanted while the steroid using lump of a guy on screen ran around in circles shooting into the sky randomly before getting a perfect reload as Greed ran around the corner and found himself looking down the barrel of the rifle/chainsaw hybrid. What followed could next would have been valid as a storyline of Law and Order Special Victims Unit due to the nature of the events.
"This is just sad to watch." I said tearing my eyes away from the scene of Virtual sodomy involving a smoke grenade.
"I can always just play God of War on my own."
"You mean a game about essentially slaughtering stereotyped versions of our own family. Sure why not." I said sarcastically.
"Err. Are you forgetting that we have your memories? How many times did you kill Ares?" Greed commented as I went speechless.
"Somewhere between sixty and seventy from what I remember." Envy answered as I slumped into the chair.
"Hey it was really cathartic, what can I say." I muttered weakly in defence.
"Not as fun as slaughtering Aphrodite is going to be!" Lust said practically squeeing with excitement as 'she' leapt out of the chair and ran towards the collection of consoles and hurriedly changed over to PlayStation.
"Let's be honest who expected it to say it wanted to sleep with Aphrodite." Envy whispered to me and Greed.
"I can still hear you idiot, and who said I cannot do both. Snuff films for the win." Lust said with glee as the rest of us shivered and I decided had had enough of babysitting them all for a few minutes and wanted some fresh air.
"I am going out, have fun and don't leave. I am sure there is a pointless meeting I can sit it and fall asleep to." I told them rocking forward on my seat and leaping to my feet and heading for the door.
"You can't leave either, you were told to stay here as well." Lust retorted before sitting between her counterparts where I had been, who immediately leapt as far away on the couch as possible from 'her'.
"Difference is I won't get stabbed for disobeying, besides I am not leaving the palace. Have fun and keep the killing/attempted rape to the game." I told them looking at Lust the whole time who was trying to look innocent before opening the door.
"No promises."
I was about to respond when I decided against it and stepped outside closing my eyes and shaking my head. Glad to finally be alone for a while… or so I though as I almost walked into the individual in front of my self's leg.
"Oh, hello Perseus." A familiar voice called from above as I looked up ready to correct the name out of instinct at this point.
"Err… Hi Dad." I answered nervously not really sure of how to act. The last time my dad visited me was back on my fifteenth birthday.
Thankfully my dad seemed to get the hint from me craning my neck directly upwards and shrunk down to human size in a flash of light.
"Uh sorry for the surprise visit but I wanted to catch you on your own. Without Artemis… She has gone hasn't she?" He said cautiously looking past me as if expecting the door to suddenly burst open and said goddess to suddenly burst forward.
"Yeah she is helping Triton which I am guessing you already know about judging by your timing. So… What you doing here dad?" I asked breaking the stalemate.
"Can we go somewhere private?" He asked indicating to the room behind me.
"Not if you value your sanity."
"They are in there then? Let's go somewhere else." My father asked and I implied he somehow knew about the various aspects of Perseus.
"Yeah for the most part, how do you know about them?"
"I will explain somewhere more private, but I will say that when Athena needs a drink afterwards... it must be pretty bad." He said with a chuckle as I mentally imagined the serious goddess drinking away the events of earlier.
"Things did not exactly go as planned for anyone. I am more surprised you were allowed in here. I had the feeling you, Zeus and Hades would be pretty much banned forever from the palace." I told as I began walking along the corridor towards the palace entrance.
"I asked your grandmother, She may no longer be queen of the Titans but she holds a lot of influence. Not that I don't feel like someone is going to jump out of a door and try and assassinate me. Still considering the last time I was here I was smashing the place to rubble things aren't so bad now." He laughed nervously only to stop as Koios and Phoebe rounded a corner arm in arm briefly pausing in their tracks upon recognising us, before continuing past the two of us, a very slight respectful nod the only sign the older Titan showed towards my father who returned it.
"I suppose I have to be nice to your future in-laws." He whispered with a hint of amusement in his voice as they passed out of ear shot behind us
"Koios is alright, Phoebe is a lot scarier than he is when angry. Probably explains where Artemis gets it from."
"It was her I was nodding too, I once watched her nail you uncle in the unmentionables so hard his eyes bulged out enough that the Helm of Darkness popped of his head. You gain a lot of respect and fear for a woman who can do that."
"So that is what doing a 'Hades' means, she threatened Iapetus with it once and he turned so pale I thought he had actually died. I thought she meant she was going to be really sneaky or something along those lines. Guess that explains Hades lower number of kids than you two then."
"Aye, everyone was so appalled by the sight we stopped the war and went home for the day. Your uncle was out of the battle for weeks putting snow on it to reduce the swelling. Gained a beautiful singing voice though could really hit those high notes." He said laughing loudly and I realised I had never actually heard him laugh properly, even when he was visiting me on my birthday he was still serious albeit only a little.
"Still I wish things could have worked out differently back then. That war raged for decades with neither side able to really do anything to the other. We were immortal if we died; we just came back from the pit. The doors were open everyone came and went as they pleased. Perhaps if we had actually talked things out we may have actually been able to co-exist. Seems to be working fine now I suppose and I guess you are to thank for that." He explained looking me in the eyes with a level of pride.
"I didn't really do much, I just gave everyone the opportunity to do so. I only wish those who had died would have been able to live to see it happen." I said sombrely only to be surprised as my father wrapped his arm over my shoulder and pulled me against him.
"Son, the first thing you should learn about immortality is there is a time to let go of the past. I do not mean that in a disrespectful way, remember those that died but do not let it weigh you down else that burden will become too much to bear. Your sister Rhodes was so weighed down with the loss of Helios that she soon followed him out of grief. My whole kingdom mourned her but even so we moved on because we had to."
"I learned that already the hard way… besides I was physically unable to kill myself due to Styx." I muttered under my breath as my father pulled away and looked at me with concern.
"When did this happen?" His eyes wide.
"A few weeks after I got here, I didn't see much point in anything. I was practically exiled from my friends, Annabeth was dead and to top it all off you think Solstice meetings are bad. I was in a pretty dark place for a while. I had some sense quite literally smacked into me by Atlas and got over it."
"Then I guess I owe the River some thanks."
"I wouldn't if I was you…" A voice said with some amusement from somewhere nearby though no one was visible.
"Who is there!" My father demanded Celestial Bronze trident appearing in his grasp.
"I can take a guess." I answered my head following the sound of armoured footsteps along the marble floor as they moved away.
"The husband." My father practically spat with some level of disgust.
"Oh yeah she wants me dead now and wants him to do it. At this point I am practically waiting for him to try just to watch Artemis kick his ass." I remarked casually beginning to walk in the opposite direction to where the concealed Titan had gone. Once I had learned he was there it was a simple matter of sensing where he actually was.
"Perseus, you should take care he is still the Titan of War." My father said scornfully.
"And Ares is god of War doesn't mean he is not the second weakest Olympian. I beat his father, I killed Gaia and Chronos even if he did somehow manage to kill me what would it accomplish other than forcing me to stroll through the pit and having to knock on a door."
"Watch your hubris Perseus…"
"Dad I am… Sorry. Things are a little stressful right now with everything that is going on, gone on. I am just…"
"Worried, concerned… scared." My father suggested.
"It is just I never really had reason to care for my own wellbeing, by all reckoning I should have died years ago. The only reason I survived was because people underestimated me and let me pull off the impossible. Now here I am soon to be a father and a husband… I have to keep almost two dozen teenage girls safe and under control. And I seem to be the only person who actually seems to want to fix everyone's problems. And to top it all off I have an aspect, make those aspects that only care about themselves, one a little too much. Yes I am scared!" I shouted angrily punching the wall hard enough for the stone to crack along with my knuckles. Though the only reason I noticed the second fact was because of the spray of golden ichor I left behind on the black marble.
"Now you know how your uncle feels most of the time. You and Zeus may disagree on just about everything but you do have something in common. You look at the bigger picture as well as only at your own interests. No one asked you to get involved with the Romans bickering and yet you did because it needed doing, no one asked you to help the Hunters and look how that has paid off for you…"
"Shot and Electrocuted mostly." I muttered. Sure Thalia had stopped recently but it was still a major inconvenience and pain for a while. When eight-tenths of your bodyweight is composed of gold you are rather conductive.
"Let me finish Perseus. My point is that anyone else would have been happy upon reaching immortality that they would sit back and relax and do you know many of those heroes managed to keep it for more than a millennia before fading? Two. Heracles and Dionysius are the only ones and even then it is only due to their fame of legend. People are quick to forget who they really are upon reaching godhood perhaps I should be grateful you became a Titan after all."
"…"
"You haven't lost track of whom you always have been… a hero. People look up to you, the Greeks know what you did time after time and as miss La Rue now keeps reminding the Romans, you were one of theirs first. The Romans have had a massive kick up the ass in being reminded that they are not superior to the Greeks as Octavian and the last fool liked to make them believe. And the six have realised they should actually do something to help once in a while. Sure you may have gained a bit more power and responsibility but underneath you are still yourself, do not forget that fact."
"Clarisse. Talks. About. Me. Positively?" I stuttered in shock as my father looked ready to face palm.
"Don't change Perseus." He said embracing me as I did my best guppy impression.
(Artemis)
"Bill! Report." Triton shouted at the group just ahead of us shifting tone from annoying/playful to serious/commanding as if remembering why we were here.
"Nothing has changed Milord, they are both still inside from what we can see. The Maelstrom continues to remain stable now since we last attempted to enter." A red eyed Merman reported in response quickly swimming and bowing to the god.
"Hopefully it means Kym has calmed down brother?" The largest figure responded as I quickly recognised the youngest and naturally largest god behind the merman with an equally oversized hippocampi and strangely a crimson harpy sitting on his shoulder, or what looked like a harpy with flippers in place of wings.
"Tyson you have not known her as long as me, she does not do calm. Just ask Briares how calm she is." Triton commented back and I got the feeling something had happened to the hundred handed one.
"Oh yeah…"
"Fifty faces… Hundred hands… ninety-nine black eyes… bad day for Briares." The harpy stuttered answering that question from her perch.
"Wow you really tried pretty much everything before coming to me and Percy."
"No I tried getting hold of you two before but couldn't get through." Triton corrected matter of factly and I guess he had been annoying us for the better part of two days.
"I have had my hands full dealing with your brother."
"So I saw." He muttered sarcastically as I grit my teeth a visible silver shape appeared in my hand.
"Triton…Incoming…Death." The harpy screeched warningly.
"Thank you Ella but Artemis won't kill me… Will you?" He called back before nervously whispering.
"I don't know, unlike your brother I don't need you, which means I can quite easily silence you." I warned with a smile whilst picking my finger nails with a knife.
"Err. Milord… Marina." The merman Bill reminded nervously as Triton turned white.
"Yes Triton let's deal with your first screw up before you make another." I told him sarcastically dispersing the knife.
"Of course." He muttered.
"Has anyone actually spoken to Marina apart from your psycho sister?"
"Well no, after Kymopoleia went in everything sort of went from bad to worse."
"Little storm turned big." Tyson commented simply.
"I would just like to remind you that you are an idiot. Right time to sort this mess out and get back to the other idiot, before he gets back into trouble." I said cracking my knuckles.
'Got a plan for this one?'
'Nope, I just thought I would slap the bitch, grab the girl and go home, that way we could have some legs again.' I responded swimming towards the vortex and leaving the others behind.
"Artemis. As much as my sister and I don't agree can you kindly refrain from killing her? Mother would not be happy if you did." Triton called as I was mere feet from the rotating column of water.
"We'll see." I said simply turning back to him before 'stepping' forward into the cyclone and feeling as if I was being blasted with broken glass whilst inside a hurricane. Thankfully the cyclone was only a few meters from edge to the eye so the barrage only lasted a few seconds.
'Dear gods that even hurt me.' Diana said in pain some of it clearly passing through to her as well.
"You have no idea. If I don't kill her I am sure as hell going to kill him." I said through gritted teeth breathing slowly.
"Are you alright in ther-" Tritons voice began to call telepathically only to be cut of as arrow capable of generating a sonic boom underwater went past just above where I guess his head was. Taking note of the large hole I had blown in the water column albeit temporarily, along with about a mile of the ocean beyond it as the blast displaced the water mass. Judging by the way he was silenced, he had likely either got the hint and shut the hell up or alternatively I had blown his head clean off.
"Oh for fucks sake, now who is it? Does the giant wall of death not provide a big enough hint to stay away!" A woman's voice called in seemingly severe annoyance as she materialised out of bubbles outside the cabin door before looking around and spotting me with seemingly surprise before frowning.
"You don't belong here; go back to the surface where you belong." The storm goddess said bluntly folding her arms looking at me with a scowl.
"And I would love to but until I help your brother is not going to leave me alone."
"The one you are sleeping with or the idiot?" She scoffed if my teeth could shatter due to clenching them so hard they would have done. Were things so bad down here with secrets that even the outcast in the family knew of me and Percy.
"All of your brother's are idiots." I pointed out through clenched teeth resisting the urge to slap the jellyfish haired goddess who looked to be enjoying my facial expressions. I wasn't sure if they were purely cosmetic or were actual tentacles in which case doing it could hurt me more than her.
"I could say the same for you as well; however Tyson is still young so he gets a free pass for the moment. Not as if he is going anywhere mind you." She added with sudden venom.
"Mind you, you did not deny sleeping with dear precious Perseus, everyone's new favourite Prince of the Sea. That leaves Athena, Hestia and Me as the virgin goddesses." She said with seemingly amusement shifting emotion again and I began to realise she was just as crazy as the rest of her family.
"You're marri-"
"If you mention my so called husband's name I will fix that tail problem of yours." She threatened a large bronze disc appearing behind her like a giant killer frizzbee.
"You see you have not had to experience being treated like a nuisance at best and property at worst. I am the eldest child of my parents and what was my birthright? Getting sent off to marry that abomination as a thank you present, all for making a few stupid weapons. As much as everyone mocks you and your sibling's nepotism at least you can do as you wish. I got exiled to the Atlantic when no one sailed it and once it became cool to cross that I got sent back to Mare Rostrum and told to stay put. The only person who even cared I still existed was Rhodes and now she is gone well I can take a message pretty damned easily. Do you know much it hurts to have your own mother tell you she wished you were dead instead?" She explained in a tone that exemplified how much self-loathing the goddess had for herself. In truth I think the only reason the bitter goddess in front of me had not faded by this point was out of pettiness.
"So what you are using your brother's screw up as a father as a personal cry for help to get your parents to notice you? The fact that he came to you in the first place sounds like he cares about you as well."
"Triton has always been an annoying little man-child when things don't go as he planned. How anyone expected him not to screw up a second child's relationship is beyond me. I mean come on he promises an emotionally unstable girl with a history of abuse to visit often and then forgets her birthday. And when he does eventually visit, he just downplays the known pervert tendencies of the mermen as boys being boys. Well look how that turned out!" She shouted pointing at the cabin behind her. I was about to respond but was cut off by the fact the goddess was on a roll now.
"Besides do not try making this about me Artemis, I learned a long time ago that no one was going to help me. I did not ask for my domain and yet I have it and it has made me a pariah since I got it. Unlike some of Zeus children I can get ignored easily enough by my own father limiting what I can and can't do by force. Yet here I am actually trying to stop Marina becoming like me, because no one else should ever end up like me." She said pretty much sobbing by the end as I watched ichor float out from her clenched palms.
"Sorry." I was able to mutter softly.
"Don't be, you never did anything and nor did you know. Most can't even remember I exist let alone my name and even then I am the one they use to scare their children. I have no legacy beyond creating storms and being given to a freak monster as a trophy wife. The only reason I found out about Pontus was because a whale mentioned it to his friends several kilometres from where I was hunting a squid and they are unable to be quiet. You and Perseus managed to get a good deal out of it I see, me the firstborn 'Princess of the Sea'? I was not even invited or better yet told. Who knows I might have actually got a domain out of it that doesn't cause me to be hated, who am I kidding I would have got jellyfish." She added down-heartedly though with a level of irony considering her hair but I got the feeling that was part of the joke.
'Am I the only one that finds it hilarious that even she hates those damned creatures?' Diana mused randomly even if she was right.
"If I could give you the domain I would." I told her only for her to smile.
"What use would I have for Tides? Please the shoreline is nothing but a target to get hit with waves besides you already controlled it with the moon chariot. The only thing you gained was hydrokinesis and a tail, two things I already have and I hate having a tail as it is." She explained with a laugh that sounded like a cross of a chuckle and a dolphin, and come to think of it now she had drawn attention to it, she was currently standing in front of me at the same head level, despite the fact she had her feet on the sea floor several feet below the level of my tail which was already a good three feet longer than my legs in the first place.
"Wow way to make that sound underwhelming." I commented deadpan.
"Did you expect me to lie and say it was amazing like all the other idiots around here? Because then I would be lying to you. I would rather have the Chastity domain now you and my little brother have eloped." She said grinning unsettlingly reminding me of said little brother.
"No!" I said sharply.
"Worth a shot, besides the fact the fates did not strip it from you kind of makes it obvious that your daughter is going to inherit it. You are having a girl the other you, a boy right?"
'The OTHER you, how insensitive can you get!' Diana shouted loud enough in my head to cause me to visibly wince.
"Oh aspects how fun they must be… Somebody that actually agrees with your way of thinking must be nice."
"I wouldn't go that far, I got exiled to the moon for eighteen hundred years." Diana announced bitterly in annoyance quickly seizing control of my body before allowing me to take back over.
"I have been exiled for four thousand years by my own parents, I win. At least you got to look at what was going on below you. The only difference in human civilisation I noticed was the type and size of the boats I was sinking. Well that and the languages they screamed for help in." She added with an almost cruel smile shifting from almost jovial to downright menacing, reminding me that she was goddess of a very dark domain with little to no good points.
'Wow don't get me wrong we have killed our fair share of mortals for various reasons you mostly but I get the feeling she has done a lot worse.' Diana said making me think about how deadly the otherwise minor goddess could be. She was practically useless in power against another immortal but against mortals she was pretty much the most deadly thing they could face. She was after all the firstborn child of Poseidon, who used to be just as bad when he was in a bad mood. Though my uncle had generally calmed down in recent centuries and didn't take extreme revenge for every slight.
'Well counting that just that tsunami a few years ago in Asia, I think she beats everyone already.' I replied back internally. In truth she had probably killed millions now I thought about it. Her only real redeeming feature, being that she did so without distinction.
"Aunt Kym?" A girls voice called out with a combined tone of curiosity and nervousness as the door behind the goddess opened. As if someone had tripped a switch the goddess shifted back to a gentle smile.
"Oh sorry I didn't know you had woken up." Kymopoleia apologised turning around as I briefly got caught sight of the raven haired demigod girl in the doorway before the larger goddess blocked the path of view.
"I heard what sounded like an explosion and you shouting." The girl asked sounding concerned.
"You have a guest, as for the shockwave…I imagine your father was to blame." Kymopoleia explained with a laugh before stepping aside so the girl could see me.
"Lady…Artemis." Marina stuttered seemingly in shock. Whether at seeing me at all or due to me having a silver appendage from the waist down I was not sure, as her look focus for a few seconds before she looked up at my face in recognition.
"Hi Marina. Just Artemis is fine." I said smiling and trying to sound friendly and reassuring. Two things I was not exactly known for, it was not helped by the fact the last time I saw the girl I was covered in the blood of one of her own would be killers. Followed by Eidolon/Proto Perseus rampage it was not exactly a good day for the girl. Hell it was an awful day for me with getting possessed myself, almost killing Percy, getting machine-gunned and then dealing with Percy under said possession and my brother finding out everything.
"I know why you have come and I don't want to go!" The girl announced suddenly seemingly upset.
I was about to respond when Kymopoleia beat me to the punch.
"Marina you cannot remain here much longer though either."
"Why can't I go with you?" She implored in return to my surprise.
"As kind as that sounds, you would not want to. My way of living I would not let you suffer. You made a mistake but that does not mean you should banish yourself away for the rest of your life. You deserve to be able to live and enjoy your life and with me you won't." The other goddess said kneeling down in front of the young Mermaid. Which while trying to be comforting to myself it looked quite amusing because the goddess was still two feet taller than the petite girl.
"I do deserve to be punished I killed someone!" Marina shouted getting seemingly more upset that if she was topside I was sure she would be crying.
"And he will be reborn like the rest of his kind. Yes you may have over reacted but that does not excuse what he was doing in the first place, he was in the wrong hiding in your cabin. If I received a lifetime's punishment for everything I killed I would be getting punished until the end of time and in some ways I probably am and will. The difference is you can make up for your mistakes in ways I never could. And with me you will not be able to but with her you can." She explained almost sombrely before rising and stepping aside.
'The rest is all up to you. Do not screw this up.' The other goddess told me telepathically.
(Percy)
"Ladon! No!" I shouted commandingly as half a dozen serpent heads eyed my father up like some sort of snack, whilst hissing angrily as they swayed back and forth.
"Did I ever mention I hated this thing?" My father said in annoyance pointing his trident at the serpent who didn't look to happy about being threatened as another dozen heads lifted up and focused on the god.
"Dad… Really?" I said struggling not to gag as the smell of dragon breath and Eucalyptus increased with each new head looking at us.
"Ladon snack time." A girls voice called out as the dragon and I both focused on the newcomer. Me with a look of profound relief, Ladon like an enormous scaly puppy.
"Thanks Calypso." I called back in relief as the girl using a large pair of tongs tossed a lump of unknown meat into one of Ladon's waiting mouths from a bucket just out of his range. The dragon really did take his guarding the tree seriously considering his main source of food was only five feet past where his closest heads could reach. Unbeknownst to me my dad was muttering behind me in self postulation as Ladon turned his attention completely toward the Titaness who began tossing the meat to him with terrific efficiency.
"You know some people thought that you and her might become a couple, considering you visited Orgygia." He whispered in amusement causing me to whirl around and look at him.
"That would have meant having Atlas as my father-in-law. Whilst he can be fun in small doses I would not want him as family."
"A position you instead filled with Zeus of all people." My father said with a hint of sarcasm as thunder boomed overhead.
"Oh shut up." We both said in tandem before grinning at one another.
"Now I guess you are probably wondering why I am here?" My father asked me leading me towards a secluded corner.
"It had crossed my mind; I guess it probably has to do with Vegas? Something that was completely not my fault."
"Mostly yes, some people are a little concerned with the fact you have now killed three Primordial gods." My father explained elaborating the obvious who by pointing upwards.
"One was trying to kill everyone, one was a mercy kill so shouldn't count and Chronos was completely insane." I defended shaking my head.
"I know that I was there for two of them and having been the envoy to discuss mutual living with Chronos I can verify the third. Some people however need physical proof."
"Hold on, you were an envoy?" I said with scepticism.
"Hermes wasn't born yet." My father said simply as if it was a simple matter. I just considered the thought of one of the big three running errands and messages amusing.
"That can't have been the only reason you would do something like that."
"Your stepmother was pregnant with Kymopoleia." He said turning unusually red as I sat laughing at my usually serious father looked uncomfortable.
"Wow you bailed on one pregnant woman I have to deal with two, then again when I went missing for a few hours the women in question tore a city apart to find me."
"She did a pretty good rampage through Olympus as well by all accounts." By father said regaining his composure and breathing steady.
"Besides I hated that damned bird, used to fly and crap everywhere." He whispered with a grin.
"What did you mean physical proof? Don't the Fates normally pop up whenever stuff like that happens? Not as if I have suddenly gained silver ichor and turned into a Primordial. Because believe me I have seen enough of my blood today to say it is still gold." I said holding my still healing hand up with annoyance at my uncles stupidity.
"I know that besides I confirmed it when you punched that wall earlier and split your knuckles. That and the fact the Fates haven't showed up hopefully mean that you should be fine, I assume 'they' are also the same."
"Well two of them: Wrath and Lust got the crap beaten out of them by Chronos and Artemis respectively and everything seemed normal, so I will go ahead and say yes."
"Good enough for me, so it will have to be enough for your uncle. If something were to change then please tell me, I would rather not repeat what happened in the throne room. Last time I took action against your uncle I got stuck building walls with Apollo and his 'music' if it could be called that almost convinced me to throw myself from them."
"Will do." I said with a laugh at the thought of my father chucking himself of the walls of Troy.
"Good. Now about your upcoming marriage, have you put any thought into it yet?"
"Not really had a chance between Perseus, the pregnancy, the Hunters and everything else that can go wrong in the last week. I have not even had a chance to sort out a proper rin-". I told him being cut off as my father procured a small blue with silver inlay box.
"I offered it to your mother; maybe you will find another home for it." He said passing the box into my hand as I stood there flabbergasted. In truth I still had the ring that Zeus and by extension Hera had given me but with the whole falling apart bit I had not had a chance to give it to her yet.
"Dad I don't know what to say?"
"Thank you is always a start." He suggested before I suddenly embraced him.
"Well isn't this a cute sight and even better two idiots with one stone. Uncle don't go anywhere." I heard Artemis's voice say firmly albeit distorted due to being underwater in the Iris message. I was barely able to catch sight of her before the image faded. Even with that brief glimpse I caught sight of the two golden orbs looking back.
"Why do I get the feeling she was not looking for me?" I said with a sense of foreboding dread.
"I get the feeling she may have taken offence to something I have or have not done. Any tips on calming her down?"
"Not a clue I was hoping that you could suggest something, normally I just kiss her and hope for the best."
"I think I may have to leave."
"Dad she is known as the Huntress for a reason, and you can't hide under the Sea no more." I warned him.
"Besides it is far too late for that Father." A girls voice I did not recognise said from behind me as I detected the arrival of two goddesses. The good thing for me was as I hastily stuffed the ring box in my Levi's and turned to face them was that neither of them was looking at me. As two pairs of gold and sea-green eyes were both focused on my father who was looking as if he wanted to be anywhere but here.
AN. Well this took a week longer than planned due to ending up about three thousand words longer than I thought it was going to and even then it is still cut shorter than it was meant to in regards to Marina. However I did find the character of Kymopoleia a lot more fun to write than I initially thought she was going to be. She still has the humorous sometimes moronic genes that the rest of the family have but she is also carrying a lot of emotional baggage that causes her to be bitter and angry especially with regards to her Parents. Something that I plan to address in the next chapter in the way Poseidon reacts to his sons a lot differently to his daughter. Something Artemis does not take kindly too considering that Kymopoleia is technically a maiden goddess and Artemis has seen how Poseidon acts regarding Triton and Percy.
Anyway I have to go plan out how to finish this story before Dark Souls 3 drives me into a early death on Tuesday.
However now that we are finally getting past these chapters of slower progress I should be able to write faster due to wanting to get to the Children. Arianna mostly having characterised her in SHOI I can have some fun with her in this story and explaining why she is so absolutely fucking terrifying.
Hope you all enjoy the chapter and I look forward to hearing your feedback.