Titan of the Hunt

by vPxForerunner x

During the final days of the Second Giant War, Percy loses the one he loves and his purpose for living. So he asks the gods for a task, to challenge him and give him a new purpose. Unfortunately for him, a certain man hating goddess and friends are going to be gaining a new Guardian. Post MOA. Pertemis. 18/9/22 Currently in the process of re-writing the early chapters

127. Lost But Not Forgotten

All rights belong to Rick Riordan

Lost But Not Forgotten

(Harmony)

As I stood there looking across at Delia, I almost instantly understood why she never returned from that final hunt, so long ago. She may have been successful in killing Lamia, but it seemed the cost to her had been clearly terrible.

The left half of her face had been corroded by the monster's acidic venom burning away much of her cheek, eye, brow and scalp leaving blackened scarring. Her glazed eye only partially concealed by what red hair she had left covering that side of her face. Her left hand too only had a thumb and index finger remaining.

However, despite the severity of all these individual injuries. Even together they paled in comparison to the most notable one. However, even so it was the last I spotted, due to their partial concealment under the fur hides draped over most of her body. There was a complete lack of evidence of her lower legs.

That she had survived such injuries of battle on her own was a feat of incredible survivability. To then last even in such a way all this time since then was a miracle of the ages. Delia was an immortal that was true, she had my blessing as a hunter giving her eternal life. Even now the side of her face that was undamaged was still largely the same as I remembered. Even so, just like the other hunters she still had needed to fulfil the basic requirements of every living being otherwise they would die.

Yet despite all of this adversity, suffering and isolation she had seemingly endured it all.

"Life is not meant to be easy Artemis. Your mother once told me that. She said it meant that we could enjoy the good things better by comparison. Back then I had questioned her logic after everything she had gone through with you and Apollo. She had been forced to endure so much as she travelled. What was the sense in living through so much suffering, surely nothing could possibly make it worthwhile in the end?"

"I can help you-." I responded only to be cut off as she held up her damaged hand and smiled.

"She suffered so much pain so her children could be born and raised in safety. How was I not supposed to follow in her footsteps when the given the chance myself?" She proposed and I understood her implication immediately.

"You willingly chose to remain here and raise the Lamia." I said simply even as I felt a tear fall down my face.

"Was I supposed to abandon that child to her fate? Is an infant guilty of the sins of its parent? I may not have given birth to her, but she will always be my daughter. As such I could never allow her to integrate with the world outside of this island. Here she may remain innocent of the ways of the world. To anyone outside she is just another monster, to be hunted out of fear or as a matter of honour or even sport. The world of men and gods is not a kind place for her kind. That I learned too well in your hunt, my goddess." The hunter nymph said with conviction as I nodded in agreement unable to refute the statement.

Afterall, how could I? How close had I come to killing the girl just because she was being troublesome, after I trespassed in her home and attacked her. Like that I had almost inadvertently ruined Delia's life accomplishment out of spite.

"You... You are right, my actions would have been rash." I conceded apologetically, even now thousands of years later I was still prone to rushing into things without thinking of the consequences.

"It is good to see you have gained maturity since we last spoke then... The Artemis I remember would never have criticised her own actions."

"Believe it or not but that only started very, very recently. A few eye-opening revelations made me realise I was not exactly the easiest person to deal with, for anyone." I said with a deep sigh. The fact of discovering my own Fate was basically coded to make me like that, was a hell of a revelation.

"That is putting it politely milady. Still, it at least gave me some prior experience with how to do deal with an unruly temperamental child down the line."

"I was never unruly." I complained indignantly. As for temperamental, I had no defence. A certain Eidolon creating incident sprang to mind, it being within her tenure as my Lieutenant. Not that it had anything to do with her or the Hunt in general, I just had an episode of irrationality and that town had incurred my wrath.

"You pushed your infant brother off a cliff to see if he could fly." The nymph said bluntly and I vaguely recalled doing something like that. In fairness I was also an infant at the time, my logic I had believed was sound. Mother said that Father was Lord of the Sky, so why couldn't we also fly? Even now many millennia later, I still found it unfair that his demigod children could but his divine ones normally could not.

Obviously as the elder of us two I had volunteered for Apollo to try first. After seeing him ragdoll off a few rocks down to the beach below, I had subsequently delayed any further personal testing indefinitely.

Almost four thousand years later and at least now I finally had a definitive answer to that statement. I could and Apollo still sucked.

"We agreed never to discuss that again." I complained weakly. I was also convinced I had heard a short burst of male laughter from around the corner.

"You are not alone?" Delia asked seemingly also hearing the nearby idiot. It stood to reason that the half-blind Nymphs other senses had developed whilst she had been down here.

"No, no I am not. However, their introductions will have to wait for a while." I confirmed even as I briefly wanted to strangle the Seaweed Brain.

"I see, speaking of which you look so different now and what is that outlandish raiment?" The ancient Nymph asked finally addressing my physical condition, even as much as I wanted to address hers.

"The world outside of here has changed, I'm afraid the chiton is no longer the height of fashion even for us gods." I said playfully even as I approached closer to her. It stood to reason that the hawkeyed hunter of the past was no longer quite so sharp now, having lost vision in one eye.

"Are you glowing?" She asked bluntly in surprise.

"Yes." I told her equally simply.

"Why?"

"I took over and became goddess of the Moon from Selene. She and Helios have passed into the void."

"But why are you glowing? Surely that makes hunting harder?" She asked logically.

"I can dim it down; it however helps when I am in the dark like now." I said defensively doing just that leaving us both in the almost dark for a second.

"You are still wearing silver, but your eyes are golden again." I take it back she could still make out fine details really well. Of course, she would remember when I did originally used to be associated with gold before I changed it permanently after the Eidolon incident.

"Only one normally, however yes, I have overcome my problems and broken the curse."

'And gained a few dozen more problems instead.' I thought to myself.

"That is good to hear." She said bluntly.

"Are you not going to comment on the rest of my appearance?" I asked in almost shock. Call me arrogant, but I mean it was pretty obvious I was not the same childish goddess from the last time we met.

"It has been thousands of years; I would have been more surprised if you were still in the body of a child..." Delia said before stopping as the sound of laughter coming down the passage was unmistakeable this time.

"You had one job!" I shouted turning around towards the entrance before turning back towards Delia with my face reddened in frustration.

"As it is abundantly clear that your companion can hear us both anyway, why don't they come and join us?" Delia suggested her remaining eye staring at me in a way that suggested I didn't have a choice.

"Who it is may surprise you. He can be a bit ANNOYING!" I said emphasising the last word in frustration.

"You are in the company of a male is more surprising, it is not that son of Poseidon Orion, is it?" She asked and I remembered she was out of the loop with what went on there.

"Close but Apollo killed him shortly after you disappeared, he turned out to be a rapist bastard." I said venomously. Of all the beings that returned when the doors of death were opened, I half expected him to be one of them.

"Oh... He seemed almost pleasant to deal with, even you didn't seem to mind him."

"That opinion soon changed believe me. Percy! Stop will you stop eavesdropping and get your ass in here!" I exclaimed and soon enough the Titan Lord appeared into view with the Lamia just behind him. Obviously, we hadn't asked her to come in but there was also little reason for her to remain outside either.

"Another son of Poseidon, yet he is also something... more." Delia said almost instantly after he stood behind me.

"Hey Harmony, even half blind she is still better at spotting things than the rest of the Hunters." He said to me playfully as I chose to glare at him. 'Way to go drawing attention to her injuries idiot, I was getting to that.' I thought to myself.

"His eyes, their colour suggests an affinity for time. So, either he is closely related to the Lord of Time or has defeated him. Logic says the former-" She deduced extremely quickly.

"Both, I was Titan Lord Kronos's heir and have since killed the Primordial god Chronos." He confirmed as I turned back to see Nymphs remaining eyelid blinking rapidly at the revelation.

"This is why you were left outside for the time being, you make everything complicated by presence alone." I told him in frustration as he laughed nervously as I continued to glare.

"Just wait till you tell her the rest then Harmony." He said with a chuckle.

"Why does he address you as Harmony, Artemis?" This was what I meant, he complicated things all the time just by opening his mouth.

"That's a long story and we will get there later I promise. However, because he will no doubt say it at some point before, we get to that part. This is the Titan Lord Percy Jackson, my Fiancé." I explained in exasperation watching as the injured hunter looked dizzy at the revelations.

"Hello." He said waving as finally Delia tumbled backwards onto the file of furs behind her.

Stepping out of the way the pair of us watched as the shocked Lamia charged past us to assist her foster mother.

---

(Percy)

I hadn't meant to get involved yet in their discussion, but I couldn't help but laugh as the long-lost hunter criticised some of the goddesses' flaws. That and it was more interesting to listen to them than it was to stare silently at the Lamia who kept baring her fangs at me.

Still as I sat over to one side on a former Stalagmite that's top, I had lopped off and let the goddess and the monster care for the other girl I couldn't help but admire Delia. Not out of attraction of course but to survive with such injuries, for all this time with little to no help was astounding. Especially in the beginning, when her 'daughter' must not have been able to help her.

My own recent dismemberment was still quite fresh in my mind, and I even knew I could survive it and even heal from it. Still the shock of it had been a terrifying thing to think about at the time. That had just been part of my forearm and hand, she had lost a lot more than that and had no chance of them reforming over a period of time. Still, she had endured it and proverbially 'walked it off' because she still had things to do, rather than curl up in a ball and wait to die as I would have expected someone to do in her place.

Perhaps those from ancient times were simply built of sturdier stuff than us modern folk.

Eventually with the other two's assistance Delia was able to recover from her shock even as Harmony forced a goblet of liquid into her intact hand. Judging by Delia's initial shocked reaction to the liquid it wasn't water in it. Then again, had she had access to anything but water for several millennia?

Still, she continued to drink the liquid between deep breaths as she returned to her calm state finally. Albeit to her embarrassment she began to hiccup and blushed as a result, on what part of her face was not scar tissue that was.

Leaving Delia to her adoptive daughter's care, Harmony walked away from her side and back across from her where she had been previously.

"Milady, my apologies for that. I was simply surprised by the revelation."

"Believe me, you were not the first that reacted to the news like that. For Example, Father threw the Masterbolt at him when he found out."

"That wasn't a fun day for anyone." I concurred. I got injured and then I got Perseus as an unwanted bonus.

'And yet that was still less than a month ago.' Harmony pointed out mentally as I went wide eyed.

Holy shit it felt like an eternity ago by this point. So much had happened over the last few weeks.

"You must be made out of stronger stuff than you look... Milord." Delia said formally as I swiftly shook my head.

"I never asked to be anyone's lord, I am just Percy." I told her.

"Modesty Milady, what has happened in the world outside? Next you will tell me that the mortals have learned to travel the skies."

"They did that more than a century ago, worse still fifty years ago they stood on the moon." Harmony pointed out almost in annoyance at the last point. Wide-eyed Delia instead sat cradling the cup of wine like it was a lifeline.

"The straight white lines I see in the sky, they are mortals?" The Lamia asked curiously putting two and two together.

"Yes child. Their ability to expand and overcome problems is almost impressive, when they don't use the opportunity to try and kill each other at the same time." Harmony answered and then subsequently criticised with a sigh.

"Perhaps one day we or rather they will finally choose to work with each other rather than against each other. Hades if Olympus and Orthrys can work together than why not the nations of the world?"

"You volunteering for that as well? Because it was only the risk of you putting your foot up father's butt that made that peace possible. Besides you sure you have no other upcoming obligations you would like to deal with first?" Harmony pointed out in a tone that suggested that no, I was not going to be brokering world peace anytime soon.

"Fair point." I conceded wisely deciding to go quiet even as I watched as the nymph cracked a broken smile.

"You really have changed Milady." Delia said chuckling even as she almost spilled the cup were it not for the quick reflexes of the Lamia beside her catching her wrist.

"Getting into a relationship with a male, openly mocking your father. I would almost not recognise you from the goddess you were before."

"Father has done enough stupid things recently to deserve some ridicule. The me from a year ago would not recognise what has happened to me. That me you would have thought was the same person from the time you disappeared except possibly even more ambivalent to the world around me. If it did not involve the Hunt directly, I did not care. That all changed once he turned up." She explained looking at me.

"You're welcome." I added cheerfully.

"Lady Art-Harmony are you not going to introduce your consort properly?" Delia asked curiously after hesitatingly changing what she chose to call the goddess. I guess she must have taken note of what I was calling her as being the current correct answer.

'Who's doing this, me or you?' I asked the goddess mentally.

"This is Percy Jackson, Saviour of Olympus... twice. Slayer of Primordials, Giant-killer, Argonaut, Prince of Atlantis, adopted son of Hades. Tamer of the Nemean Lioness, Minotaur's Bane, Peacemaker." Harmony said with a sigh as the Nymph unlike her daughter actually looked genuinely impressed by the accolades. Little did she know of course that Harmony was just pausing before she got into all the juicy titles.

"Heir of Kronos, Titan Lord of Time, Constellations, Light and Tides, Titan of the Hunt. My Husband-to-be."

"That is a very... impressive list." The wide-eye nymph said after a pause to look at her drink as if to make sure no Harmony had not spiked the beverage.

"She missed a few but it is close enough. Medusa killer, Curse of Achilles, Golden Fleece."

"She gets the idea idiot." Harmony said glaring at me with a silver eye.

"You said Argonaut, but I do not recognise him from their number."

"Different Argo from the one you know; on that matter Atalanta will be happy to see you by the way. Anyway, they built another one during the recent second Giant War."

"That would have made you a Hero up to recently, surely an immortal would not be allowed to be included in that title otherwise. How old are you, your looks do not explain your accomplishments." The almost panicked Nymph demanded taking more surprise over that than the prior list of titles.

"Eighteen and a half. Give or take a few weeks."

"He is a child Milady." She said almost chastising the goddess as the goblet finally fell out of her grasp.

"Hold on a second." The surprised goddess answered now caught on the backfoot.

"In fairness I was seventeen when we started dating." I remarked adding further fuel to this fire as Harmony actually hissed at me. Was that racist against the literal snake person in the room?

'Stop talking.' Harmony told me mentally.

"We are immortals it is not like that; Mother was four centuries older than father for example." Harmony desperately defended. Now it stood to reason that Leto was older than Zeus considering he was the youngest child of Kronos and Rhea but that was still more than I thought. I guess mother like daughter preferred a toyboy.

"What is the difference between four centuries and almost forty between frien-" I remarked only to be silenced as my body was frozen against my will. Judging by the fact that all other background noise had stopped I suspected that I was not the only thing subdued.

"Seaweed Brain!" The angry goddess shouted her head turning towards me as her golden eye glowed.

"This is not about you; this is why I wanted you to remain outside. Even if accidentally, the conversation always begins to revolve around you."

'Yes, because you were doing such a brilliant job addressing the elephant in the room Harmony.' I told her mentally almost wishing I could still roll my eyes. Of course, my provocation caused the angry goddess to stomp across to me.

"What is that supposed to mean?" She asked glaring at me with glowing eyes.

'Probably the fact that you are willing to talk about literally anything else apart from the physical trainwreck that is sitting across from you. Your friend is only about seventy percent of the person you remember. She knows what she looks like to you and probably doesn't want to talk about it either. However, like it or not, dancing around the subject is not going to get any of us anywhere. Those injuries happened whilst she was serving you rememb-' I told her harshly, fully expecting the inevitable slap. Even before I regained control at the last second before it arrived from the angry goddess. Taking the slap without flinching I continued to stare at her.

"Shut up!" She shouted grasping her head in her hands. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see that sure enough the other two were also frozen in place.

"Or what Harmony? You keep erasing everyone's memory until you have a version of events that suits your interests. At some point you are going to have to ask those questions and chances are you are not going to like what you hear. But even so you will have to ask them if you truly want to get closure. I love you so much, but it is also true that fortune favours the brave. However, you Harmony, despite all of your powers. Can be an absolute coward when confronted by a problem you cannot just blow to pieces." I told her honestly and openly.

In all honesty I half expected her to just then, rewind the clock and pretend none of this ever happened.

"Do you not think I know that? I have spent all of my life running away from problems. Whether that is because of my own screwed up fate causing me to have a distrust of everyone around me. Or my own cold lifeless personality driving others away, I even tried to get rid of my own aspect rather than deal with her, I..." She complained in frustration looking up at the ceiling above and therefore not seeing what I was doing.

"Harmony, look at me and tell me what you see. Please." I interrupted asking her whilst holding my hand out in front of me, a small object held in the palm. For an uncomfortable thirty seconds neither of us moved or said anything before she eventually relented and shot me a look before focusing on the small silver band I was holding and frowning.

"You are no longer a plaything in someone else's game, you get to decide what happens now. Your past actions, words, mistakes, flaws they don't have to define you forever. You can forge your own path, just like you chose to forge this ring." I told her calmly as she seemingly closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Listen Percy, I know you want to be helpful all the time and I love that. But remember that though I have lived a lot longer than you, my experience with actually having to deal with social issues is less than yours. Why do you think I basically ran away from Olympus at the first opportunity. Emotions never came to me naturally with the possible exception of anger. As a result, I was unable to empathise with others struggles, even my own Hunters. That is why I have a Lieutenant to act as a buffer between me and them and deal with the majority of their issues." She said running her hands up her face and through her hair before opening her mismatched eyes and looking at me.

'And put that back on your finger.' She added mentally not really asking and more in a tone of demanding. Hastily complying with her command, I could have sworn I saw her huff with satisfaction as the band once again encircled my finger.

Rising to my feet, I stood in front of her and took hold of her hands taking pleasure in the embarrassed blush that soon began to form on her face.

"Listen Percy, I'm sorry about what I did. You didn't deserve-." She whispered quietly before being cut off by my kiss.

'Oh no I completely deserved that slap, but you needed to hear the words.' I told even as I tried to break up the kiss before it became something more as the goddess's hands began to roam.

Call it ironic, considering I was sure we had already crossed every moral threshold with what had happened back in her cabin at Camp Half-Blood. Still, it would have been extremely inappropriate to do so here with this 'audience', besides after having experienced it back on Delos. Caves were simply not that comfortable, having to extract gravel from your backside was never fun despite how it may have got there.

"Like always I guess you are right, then again maybe you just like being slapped? I know I-" She whispered sultrily.

"Harmony focus on the reason why we are here." I cut in interrupting the perpetually aroused goddess and grasping her waist before physically turning her towards the injured girl and her 'daughter'. Her veiled attempt to once again delay the inevitable questioning by any means being easily seen through by me as she sighed in resignation.

"Fine but let me do this my own way, I promise I will get around to it under my own terms. Just please try and stay out of it if you can." She asked softly.

"I was not trying to get involved before, the two of you brought me into it." I responded whilst shrugging before sitting back onto my rocky seat.

---

(Harmony)

As the Titan Lord settled into his former position before our altercation, I restored time over our 'hosts'.

"-ends." Percy said immediately once he saw them move slightly.

Right, he was literally in the middle of a sentence when I stopped everything. I was more shocked he remembered what he had been saying before.

"You be quiet and let the adults talk." I shot towards him whilst glaring, this time it was not supposed to be in a negative way. I was just selling the story of making him not get involved for a while to the other two.

To my surprise Delia actually began to chuckle.

"You used to say that to Apollo, except now you actually look like an adult. Perhaps you haven't changed so much." She said happily.

"Mother, she has wings now though." The Lamia interjected, whether taking the statement at face value about me not changing, or just because she had remembered the fact.

"Really? So, I guess you really did learn to fly then." She said smiling as I took the cue and slowly unfolded set after set of silver wings much to her surprise as her eyes opened wider with each one. Likewise, over to one side a patch golden set appeared behind the Titan, though they remained interlocked in his case. Between the two though the generally dark room was suddenly bathed in a lot more light.

"Both of you?" She asked leaning forward in wonder.

"Well technically I had them first, she got them as part of a package when she became as she is now." Percy answered for me.

"As I said earlier much has changed about me, I acquired the Moon as one of my principal domains. Later with the passing of Pontus into the void I was likewise given Tides as another."

"So that means both of you have Hunting and Tides as domains. Is that how you got together?"

"I guess me having Hunting played the biggest part in it, but Tides came afterwards. Harmony can explain." Percy said before going quiet again. Now this was fine from him, for him to be quiet completely was too much and made me look authoritarian and controlling. It was easy to forget to remember that when he was the more powerful one, I never had any form of his powers used against me. Well except the occasional water bomb.

"I see." She said turning back towards me.

"Whilst it is the truth that I have gained much, recently a lot more than I ever thought possible. I have also lost so much as well. The last few years have been difficult for the Hunt. As you heard despite Percy's youth he has accomplished so much. We have had to fight back-to-back wars against first a resurgent Titan Pantheon and then the Giants and indeed even Gaia herself, whilst dealing with a demigod civil war. The last of which was the most preventable and yet most damaging for us..." Now I wasn't again trying to avoid the elephant in the room but trying to work my way to it. Via tales of mutual suffering, I tell you mine, you tell me yours was my thought process.

"Even as we triumphed over the greatest foe Olympus has ever fought. Treachery and deceit cost us the bulk of your battle sisters in the blink of an eye, all due to a single mortal's hubris and ambition. Those that survived were not the same afterwards as they struggled to deal with what had happened, resulting in even further losses. All the while I could only stand and watch as everything I... We had built up over the centuries and millennia was destroyed in quick succession. That is what lead me to implore father for help and so in an ironic twist of Fate, Percy here was searching for a purpose in his own newly found immortal life as a Titan."

"Which was not supposed to involve falling in love with my newfound employer. I had enough personal issues to deal with at that time." He chimed in as the Lamia girl glared at him perhaps suspecting he had something to do with it.

"If anything, I or rather a part of me fell in love with him first, even as much as the part of me that is Artemis desperately tried to fight my feelings. In the end it was a futile matter and through a number of highs and some lows that actively involved us trying to kill one another, the machinations of Aphrodite, revealing the truth to both Olympus and father and by far worse to your fellow Hunters. Yet despite all of these trials and tribulations I can finally say that I have experienced true happiness. Now finally in a few more months perhaps I can feel another kind of happiness that I never expected to even dream of feeling let alone experiencing." I told her as slowly I reached my hands to my stomach.

What followed for the next ten seconds was an uncomfortable silence as the two looked at me with wide eyes, before one set of slitted ones focused on the male in the room and began to hiss in rising volume almost like an old kettle.

"Not my fault, Aphrodite caused it." He defended as a length of tail smacked the wall behind her hard enough for part of the limestone to crumble.

Of course, his statement had basically confirmed without a doubt what I was alluding to with the Delia.

"You really are like your mother, arriving on my island whilst with child. I am not going to get cursed again, am I?" She joked finally with a wry smile.

"Literally no one, would have the proverbial 'balls' to do so. I have killed three Primordials and yet she still terrifies me. This is probably the safest cave in the entire world currently." He quipped even as he rose to his feet and stood next to me.

'Technically this is a cavern.' Harmony pointed out randomly as I stared at her in shock.

"Thats good, I was almost worried I would have to tell Aika to get away from here as fast as possible." Delia joked as we finally learned the Lamia girl's name.

"Well met Aika, I am the goddess Harmony, and this is my consort, Percy." I said politely even as her 'mother' shot her a look.

"You never introduced yourself to a goddess!" Delia admonished causing the significantly larger figure to almost cower. For a very brief second I had a flashback to the Lieutenant she had once been all those years ago, training and disciplining the newest hunters. Most of whom had been recruited from well off or even noble origins who often desiring a son were quite happy to see the backs of girls that were potentially nothing more than a financial dowry waiting to happen. The Nymph had little care for their origins, only for results. This perhaps was a result of having to drag herself up to her position from being cursed and literally at deaths door simply by the merits of hard work.

"Mother, I-"

"To be fair, Harmony did start her introduction by wrestling her and holding her at knife point." Percy interjected almost futilely.

"Aikaterine introduce yourself now." Delia told her firmly as the enormous snake girl began to nervously slide out in front of us. Of course, the name would eventually become anglicized as Katherine, but it was a relatively common name back in the day when Delia travelled with me.

'Pure... I guess she really did want to keep her away from everything.' Percy told me after a short delay. Luckily for him he made sense with what he said, because if he was just translating the name to me, the literal Ancient Greek goddess in the room I would have frankly slapped him again.

What followed was perhaps the most over the top bow I had ever seen that was only possible by someone who was literally all spine and muscle. Whilst having part of her body still vertical she managed to bend so far forward that her bare breasts were touching the floor. I had to give Percy credit, he was, at least as far as I was aware doing an outstanding job of not focusing on that particular physical trait of the girl. Not that I was concerned about him being attracted to her.

"You needn't prostate yourself before me." I told her almost in embarrassment, perhaps understanding how Percy felt about the whole thing in general. Slowly with almost uncertainty Aika straightened back up before having to bend her lower 'torso' as to avoid catching her head on the ceiling a dozen feet above.

"You really have changed in so many ways. The formality I always suspected was the only thing you enjoyed about Olympus. Your presence demanded respect from those beneath you." Delia said eyeing me curiously.

"Maybe. However, if that was the case now, I would have the whole pantheon grovelling at my feet. Officially though I am taking a break from official duties currently, after having a few difficult months, which is putting it politely."

"Vacation with the person responsible for most of that stress, I am going to be honest and admit there is a bit of backwards logic on that one." Percy said chuckling at the irony.

I mean technically he wasn't wrong; he was just also my new favourite stress outlet.

Almost like his punishment from father being sentenced to a whole year with me.

"Percy please tell me this, Lady Art-Harmony has seemingly changed so much in every way, but I suspect there is some things that can never change about her." She said looking from me to him with that wry smile again.

At this point I was worried; the other girl knew things about me that no one else knew. She literally knew me from the hour of my birth and then for the next fifteen hundred years. Things that I had no recollection off with four millennia of experiences overwriting them were probably one of the few things she had to think over whilst being down here.

Of course, Percy was leaning forward with interest like he had hit a proverbial gold mine.

"You seek to make milady your wife, but have you actually ever tried her cooking?" She asked with a mischievous if crooked smile as Percy began to laugh.

"Oh, thank fuck." I whispered under my breath in English so she would not understand regardless even if she heard. Temperamental as I could be, even I could deal with that sort of joke about my known shortcomings. You want gourmet or even just edible cooking go ask Hestia or Hera. I just procure the food; I have people to do the next bit for me.

"Thankfully we have developed a thing called take away meals, so that I don't have to worry about her cooking too often. I mean using fire to cook meat is not that difficult, is it? Otherwise, the Hunters are more than capable of cooking as well. Because no one wants to be constantly poisoned." Percy said teasing even as I had no way of defending against the argument.

"Cooked meat is stringy. Raw is better." Aika added voicing her opinion and reminding everyone that she was a monster. Now my interactions with Lamia and her kin were generally short and involved them becoming porcupines then purses or belts in rapid succession.

So, as it was my understanding of how they operated day to day was limited even despite my age and 'job'. But even so I found myself suddenly wondering how far she could open her mouth, like complete dislocation just to cram it in there or what... I mean Lamia was known as a man-eater but was that the quite literal one mouthful manwich style like Nemea or in bite size pieces?

"Let's agree to disagree." Percy said shuddering as I realised, she was looking at him as she said it.

"Delia... I have told you about me... What happened to you?" I finally asked stuttering nervously breaking the uncomfortable silence even as I fought through my own trepidation.

Almost instantly the silence returned as all eyes looked at the injured nymph whose expression faltered and looked almost gloomy as if I had torn open some old scars.

"I'm sorry if it is painful to explain." I apologised even as her working eye opened wide.

"You have no need to be sorry for anything Milady. My own foolish actions resulted in my condition. I didn't tell my hunter sisters or you what I was doing or where I was going. In every way I failed as your Lieutenant that day and the time that followed. Afterwards I hid to hide my failure from you..." She said with a tone of intense self-loathing. Unable to hear her continue I stepped forward and kneeled in front of the girl and took hold of her hands.

"You didn't fail me, the fact that you are here in front of me now proves that. You are not the only one who has done foolish and reckless things, even I managed have managed to do some incredibly stupid things on my own-."

"Yeah, like that time you needed rescuing from Atlas by a literal child." At that point in time, I briefly wanted to strangle my spouse. I mean he was quite literally naming the second biggest mistake I had ever made, one that resulted in the direct deaths of two of my hunters as a result of the quest to rescue me.

For reference the whole debacle at Troy with Hera was a part of my 'childhood' I would much rather forget. I had thought it an opportunity to get revenge for mothers' treatment by the goddess and by extension Delia and her sisters. Turns out she may be goddess of Marriage, but it was easy to forget that she was also a child of Kronos and knows how to put uppity children in their place. Sure, even in my 'normal' forms of Artemis or Diana I could probably deal with the Queen of Heaven now, if need be, with my greater experience and powers gained since the last time.

But still getting dragged around a battlefield and indeed back to Olympus by my hair had instilled a primal hatred of others touching my hair ever since.

"One time, would you kindly let me live it down?" I asked sarcastically, this act I hoped would help her break the ice. I needed her to know that what happened to her was not her fault.

"Nooooooo." The seaweed brained idiot teased.

"Delia, listen to me. Everyone makes mistakes and has things they regret doing. But what you do afterwards is what defines you. Yes, I have done many things that I could be proud of but that doesn't hide the fact that I also made some big mistakes. Once I accidentally released Typhon from his prison, which didn't exactly make me popular with certain Olympians. I cannot imagine what you went through here with your injuries but the fact that not only did you not give up or go crazy, but instead you managed to adopt and raise your daughter. Despite her heritage and the challenges that must have involved." Percy told her seriously before any sign of a smile fell from his face.

"Yet when I felt alone in a dark point in my own life, despite the fact that I had none of your handicaps or struggles. I attempted on multiple occasions to try and kill myself and only survived due to an evil goddesses meddling. That alone is enough proof that you are stronger than me." Percy told her honestly as the smile slowly returned once he was done.

Now while I was quite aware of that dark part of my Fiancé's life, but obviously I knew that it was not something that he liked to discuss. However, it was a life experience that I could not relate to. With so much of my life with my emotions seemingly locked away and unable to relate with physical disability or familial attachment. There was little that I could say to relate to her situation. However, perhaps Percy could do something in my place.

"I wanted to, so many times I thought about ending it all... If not for my fear about leaving Aika alone... I would have likely done so." Delia said emotionally taking long deep breaths even as tears began to form in her intact eye. To my left I noticed the Lamia now shifting uncomfortably as she looked at her mother figure. Perhaps this was the first time she too had heard Delia's sorrow.

"During the times I was left alone for months, when food was scarce on the island. Those thoughts would inevitably return. Would she be able to come back? What if something happened to her in the outside world? Would she want to keep coming back to care for me? Perhaps I was a burden on her?" She kept asking her hands trembling in emotional fear.

"Mother!" Aika cried out pushing across and wrapping her arms around the chest of the crippled girl rocking her over to one side precariously.

"I would never leave you! I hated leaving you behind every time." She cried out the end of her tail slapping wildly against the wall and floor behind her.

"Aikaterine, I do not know much about you. But you are a good daughter." I told her even as I instinctively released Delia's hands so that she could embrace the serpent girl herself. The return touch from the nymph seemingly doing much to calm the Lamia down almost immediately.

'Hey, you think our kids...' Percy began to ask almost curiously during the lull as the two embraced each other.

'Hardly, with us two as their parents at least one of them is going to be a terror to deal with. If we are lucky that is.' I interrupted scoffing at the proposition. The bigger question was which one would be harder to deal with? Now putting aside obvious bias, I hoped that my daughter would be the perfect mirror of myself and the ideal hunter. But there was also the fact of having half-Percy thrown in there adding an unknown quantity of natural chaos into the mixture. Then there was also whatever the hell domains they would get thrown in there as well.

No, chances were the paraplegic nymph and the massive snake girl in front of us had a much higher chance of a normal parent/child relationship than we could ever hope to have.

'We could always do what your dad did and just keep having more until one turns up that he liked.' He proposed with a sly smile.

'First don't threaten me with a good time, second are you saying that he doesn't like me? Third wasn't he supposed to stop at some point then?'

'Oh, he probably still likes Artemis, he just doesn't like you.' He retorted.

'That's fair. Then again it was Artemis who killed Aquila...' I considered with amusement; I had done a lot of things recently that must have made the king of the gods consider therapy and that wasn't even including what he didn't know about had occurred in my cabin whilst he was 'present'. Then again, he had chosen to use my chariot for a booty call with mother.

Still whilst we chatted between ourselves, the two of them had gotten over their emotional moment seemingly as Aika pulled herself upright albeit she was still touching her mother.

"Milady I am sorry for that-" Delia said seemingly blushing with embarrassment even as I held my hand up to cut her off.

"You have nothing to apologise to me for. Seeing you again and smiling is more than enough for me. Honestly, I am happy for the both of you, as surprising as it still is."

"You are too kind." She said before turning to Percy.

"You really are a good influence on her." She told him as he chuckled nervously, and I looked between the pair rapidly.

"Father would disagree." I said seriously.

"Nevertheless, long I worried with trepidation about how this meeting between us would go. However, I now feel put at ease knowing what happened to Phoebe and Br-. Br-." She said before the 'curse' kicked in much to her surprise at being unable to utter the name of my first Lieutenant, her predecessor. I thought she would have been unaffected by that part of the oath that was added later but clearly, I was wrong.

"There is no point hiding it Britomartis is fine and always has been. She never betrayed me; Father was just being an ass that day because Hera had caught him again with a mortal. I had to tell all of you something as an explanation." I told her nonchalantly catching her off guard as a lie more than three thousand years old was swept away without fanfare.

"What about Kallisto?" She asked bringing up one of the other first-generation nymphs.

"Yeah, that one was real and likewise still my father's fault." I conceded. In fairness of my hunters that broke their oaths. Not an insignificant percentage of them were directly due to my father, whether they wanted to or not. Now that I think about it, I wasn't sorry for the damned bird or anything else I did recently. Perhaps he saw them the group as a source of guaranteed virgins. With the exception of Thalia and Reyna they still were.

"Is there anyone your dad won't try to sleep with?" Percy asked.

"Hestia, Athena, me and maybe Gaia." I responded immediately. The fact that only ruled out two of his daughters and one of his sisters was pretty telling.

"Yeah, my dad drew that short straw. Twice." He said under his breath sighing.

"So, I became your Lieutenant because of a lie?" Delia said seemingly disheartened.

"No, you became my Lieutenant because you were the best. Britomartis sought personal glory just like most of my other siblings, she sought attention and fame in her pursuits, even now as a minor goddess she is still more than content doing her own thing for her own desires. She was an exceptionally skilled hunter but never a good leader. You were able to not only deal with the needs and requests of your fellow hunters in ways that she never could. You were also able to make an aloof and whimsical goddess take note and do her own job. No one could deny that you knew what you were doing, you earned that position through blood, sweat and tears, not by who your father was." I told her proudly. Truth be told we had no idea who either of her parents were, she and her sisters had just always kept to their island. It was probably a Titan or even a Primordial but as a simple nymph she had inherited nothing from them.

"Thank you, milady." She said with a crooked smile.

'Why exactly did Thalia get that job originally?' An annoying and yet wholly understandable voice asked in my head.

'Shut up Seaweed Brain.' I told him mentally even as I gritted my teeth. I could imagine the smugness that was running through his head. I had literally made Thalia Lieutenant on day one of her being in the hunt because of who her father was. I am aware I was a hypocrite, but I was two for each on the hard work – nepotism ratio, shifting towards work based if we counted Thalia's second stint.

"Out of curiosity who did take my place?"

"Zoe Nightshade." I answered proudly, I had no regret over that choice either.

"The scrawny lovestruck Hesperide? I remember when she was a useless fool who constantly wanted to teach us all gardening. It must have been a decade before she actually learned to use a bow." She said with shock as Percy fell to his knees and began to laugh and wheeze uncontrollably as even, I smiled. On several occasions Zoe had indeed even tried to grow plants on Delos with a predictable lack of success, they had dried up and withered within minutes.

"I wouldn't exactly call her scrawny now, only a few weeks ago I watched her punch an elephant god unconscious." I said chuckling at the memory.

"What?"

"There was also the time she also punched me through several walls." Percy added whilst stopping to take a breath.

"We are talking about the same nymph, right?" Delia said with wide open eyes in shock.

"Yes, but actually no, it's complicated. Zoe served in the position from about a decade after you disappeared until five years ago. Then she was killed by Ladon and Atlas, whilst rescuing me from the latter with Percy's help of course." I explained earning a pair of blank confused looks as they did the maths.

"Long story short, she cheated the reincarnation system and managed to get herself reborn. As a true demi-Titan child of Atlas. Hence the super strength. Now she is once again in the hunt."

"Punching elephants." Delia reiterated utterly flabbergasted it seemed. I never took the Hunt into Asia back in those days but we had seen those that had been captured or killed in the constant wars between Persia and Greek City States.

"She picked it up and flipped it over first." Percy added not helping.

"Is anyone or anything still the same." She said shaking her head.

"Atlanta is still pretty much exactly the same. Albeit like the rest she gives me far more back talk recently."

"Princess catch-me-if-you-can." She muttered suddenly, seemingly with annoyance at a personal memory of the Greek girl. See this was why I needed Lieutenants even back then. To act as a buffer between the problems and me. If the problem got to me, then you knew you had made a severe mistake.

Of course, there would have been friction back then between those two, as explained Delia had come up from literally nothing to where she was. Whilst Atlanta was a demigod princess with almost everything anyone back then could have wanted. Power, Fame, Wealth and Status, Atlanta had it all before joining the group. Including men quite literally lining up around the city trying for her hand even if it meant they could possibly die. The two could not have been any different, yet even so Atlanta at least for her part talked fondly of the other girl's memory.

"She and Zoe are as we speak are off searching for you on other islands." Percy added.

"How did you find this place, from what Aika tells me, this place is hidden from view?"

"Dumb luck actually, I accidentally almost flew into a cliff whilst heading through the storm. After that we decided to have a look around as we weren't having much luck elsewhere. Then we found Aika." Percy answered honestly.

"How did YOU end up here is the bigger question." I asked finally getting around to the real questions.

"I was searching for clues as to something praying on men in the area. A group of sailors said they knew where the beast was and foolishly, I trusted them. They brought me to the island but not before seizing any gold I had on me. It seems they were afraid to kill me themselves for fear of the repercussions from you or Olympus. Likewise at sea, in close-quarters, outnumbered and surrounded I could do little to resist them physically. Their leader explained that either I would kill the beast in which case they could not let me tell Artemis about what they had done, or I would be slain and would not need the gold anyway." She explained possibly explaining why she had never made an Iris Message even before she was injured.

"This pirate didn't happen to have a gold mask on, did he?" Percy asked nervously as I slowly turned and stared at him.

"Yes, you know this fiend? He still lives?" She said confirming his suspicions as his fists began to clench.

"He is the demi-gorgon Chrysaor... my brother. As a son of Poseidon, he would naturally be able to navigate the storm outside. I... I need to make a call." Percy said in almost cold rage at this point before turning away and walking out of the chamber his footsteps echoing off the walls.

After around thirty seconds his heavy stomping feet came to a halt.

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" An angry voice echoed back down the chamber in English.

"He is certainly... interesting Milady." Delia said breaking the silence in the room as Percy's shouting faded in volume. It was still there faintly but not enough for me to make out the details. It was truly a shame; I was almost starting to like the pirate; I could not even make him grovel at her feet and apologise... Yet.

"He certainly keeps me on my toes-" I said as I watched her sigh. Ouch, it was instinctive. It was a common phrase after all, just one in terrible taste considering I was the only one in the room with them. Oh, gods he was rubbing off on me.

"I guess there is very little point in avoiding it further. After I was left on the island I began to search for the presence of my target. For two weary days I roamed the island before I found this cavern and my quarry within. It was at that point I made my fatal mistake, rather than wait for the beast outside and ambush her as I was so used to doing. I made a rookie mistake; I had gotten impatient perhaps as a result of my isolation and tiredness and so foolishly chose to walk inside of the beast's den despite being unaware of what truly resided within."

"I have hunted Lamia since; I would doubt that any other single hunter could bring her down even if you had ambushed her outside." The cursed former queen of Libya when I encountered her was easily around twice as large as Aikaterine was, despite her being the largest of her children I had encountered. That was just in length, in terms of overall size she was far larger.

"Perhaps you are right, regardless though I entered the depths here, tired, alone and unsuited for combat in this sort of environment. The darkness and the waterlogged terrain working against me. However, I assume from the moment I entered here I was observed by those in her brood that she had already birthed." She explained and I realised that I had assumed that Aika was the only one daughter that Lamia had produced but clearly that had not been the case. Then again that would have been different to every other time that Lamia had been encountered, instead she was just the only one left on this occasion.

Which only cemented how impressive what must have transpired here had been. That she believed she had failed was honestly hard to understand.

"Rising silently from the water behind me I narrowly detected them as they attacked with claw and fangs and drove me further inside even as they fell one by one to my arrows. As the seventh and final fell clawing at my feet in this room I realised too late that I had been driven inside her egg chamber and was now face to face with the serpent." She explained pausing as she shuddered seemingly at the memory.

In contrast to her daughter who apart from the teeth and slitted eyes could pass as human from the waist up. Lamia as a result of her sheer size was to compare her with a modern allegory was more like 'Jabba the Hut' than a woman. A corrupted, bloated mass of flesh and scales that had maybe once resembled something feminine with the body of a great serpent.

"Spotting the monster in front of me unravelling to confront me, I made an effort to flee immediately. Alas the last of her brood was not yet dead and with the last of its life sunk its fangs into my ankle even as it became dust." She explained and now I knew the reason for her amputation, or at least one of them. There was a reason I had restrained Aika's head earlier after all, Lamia venom was highly corrosive to flesh and intensely debilitating and paralytic to its victims.

"In that case, how on Gaia did you survive?" I asked flabbergasted. Seriously with the venom in her body she had literally moments to get treatment from a divine or to take the leg off before it affected the rest of the body and it was clearly obvious which one, she had done.

"I suspect it was because Lamia was a cruel queen who enjoyed the suffering of those beneath her, even before she became a monster. My only choice and the following action likely brought her great amusement as she watched and laughed as I did what was necessary to survive even if only for a few extra seconds." Even as I focused on the wounded hunter who I was resisting the urge to hug, I couldn't help but notice the Lamia standing uncertainly to her side. Despite everything, she was still talking about her real biological birth mother. If this had happened a short while later, she could have been one of her siblings that Delia killed or it could have been her who inflicted that fateful wound.

One thing was for certain, if I stumbled upon the scaly blob monster again, I would flay her skin whilst she yet lived and feeding it to her creating a deformed disgusting version of the Ouroboros.

"Even as I crawled, I could only watch in horror as she took my... my leg and..." At this point the girl was outright trembling and stuttering as she recounted what was the worst point in her life. To be forced to make a split-second decision to paralyse yourself was one horrible thing on its own. To watch a literal monster then devour your amputated limb was the stuff mortal nightmares were made of. Knowing that the rest of you was next was something the Furies could only hope to be so creative about.

But all of that was pushed aside for the minute as I now held the sobbing girls head against my chest. I was not even sure myself how and when I got to this position. Once she started to break down, I was simply here beside her.

"It's okay, nothing like that will ever happen again." I told her in an attempt to be reassuring, as much as I was also solemnly swearing that I would hunt down and destroy the beast for good as soon as I got the opportunity. I had access to all the available tools and powers to make her cry for oblivion... which she would receive only at my discretion.

Twice before I had felt a similar level of rage towards an individual, Orion and Octavian and twice in my emotionally stunted state I had watched as someone else dealt with them on my behalf.

This time I WOULD deal with this with my own hands.

Behind me I could sense Percy's return, before he suddenly stopped and turned around it seemed.

'I will wait out here for now, if you need me just say.' He told me seemingly instantly realising this was not the right time for him to be here.

'Thank you.' I responded to him simply and earnestly as I continued to comfort the other girl.

---

(Percy)

As soon as I caught sight of what was happening in the other chamber, I decided to take my leave and leave it between the girls for the time being. I mean it wasn't like I couldn't hear most of what was going on anyway but this way I was less likely to say something inappropriate.

So instead, I could continue to think about how close I was to consider dropping my half-brother from low earth orbit, without our winged equestrian brother around to catch him.

I mean it was no secret that he was not a 'good' person. My introduction to him was him holding us hostage and trying to rob our own ship. However, over the last few months I had given him the benefit of the doubt and overlooked some of it.

Until I got a sudden reminder that he had been a piece of shit in the past and robbed and left a lone girl to die on a hidden island in the middle of fucking nowhere with a literal man-eating monster.

It was no surprised to say that he was shocked to receive an Iris Message from me. Especially one with me threatening him (still in Ancient Greek) about something that he had done several thousand years ago, which no one should have memory off. And most certainly as it turns out that he knew exactly what was living on this island at the time, because the big scaly bitch had eaten two of his crew after they had moored up to the island the first time.

Explaining to my demi-gorgon brother that the only reason that I didn't come to him immediately, and drag the idiot back here right now. Was only because there was a high likelihood that Harmony would likely just kill him immediately.

At that name the monster paled, sure he was possibly as good as me with a blade. But I had him beaten every way in terms of weapons and other powers, anything he gained from dad was useless against me.

Yet even that was nothing compared to my future wife. All Harmony had to do was exist somewhere near him to render him unconscious and utterly vulnerable. Most actual gods were in the same boat to be fair, but at least they still had their own boat.

So, after warning him that we would be speaking again in the near future about this turn of events I cut off the call, leaving him to ponder his ancient mistakes and there soon to be consequences.

I mean after all, it wasn't like he could escape or hide anywhere now, whether that be on land, under the sea or even in the sky. Now there was no place that was safe from Harmony. Even this once hidden place had been found now after all, albeit more by dumb luck or perhaps even fate.

So, as it was for the time being I chose to lean against the cave wall, close my eyes and relax. Quite aware of anything said by those nearby due to the echoes of the cavern and able to wordlessly communicate with the goddess if need be.

Besides after this was over there was a chance of two things happening. Harmony would either be too busy dealing with the fallout of the search with rest of the Hunters or she would palm that off with her usual enthusiasm to get back to doing her seemingly favourite pastime.

In which case I would need to maintain all the energy I could get or... a new pelvis.

Sadly, I was truly suffering from success as of late, it was such a terrible burden to bear but I would continue to struggle to deal with it alone.

---

(Harmony)

"Are you ok?" I asked the girl softly after almost a full minute of her having gone silent and still within my arms.

"I knew I was going to die..." She whispered barely audible.

"But you didn't, you are here with me now, so is your daughter." I said attempting be reassuring even as the snake girl looked at me uncertain of what she should or could do around me.

"There was just so much blood, I tried to fight back but the knife slipped from fingers when Lamia grabbed me by my remaining leg. Being held aloft higher and higher I could only scream as my leg bones splintered within her crushing grasp." She said louder this time choosing to carry on her tale of misery and suffering. Chances were the only reason she remained conscious was because she was held upside down slowing the blood loss and keeping it flowing to her head.

"Finally, I was held level with her hideous face. I listened as she mocked and belittled my futile actions, my choices and even you. I silently held my tongue even as hers slid across my flesh, her caustic saliva ruining my face and blinding me." She explained sounding more confident now at least even if the past ordeal was still not over.

Whilst the explanation of her still increasing injuries made sense, there was still more to come. Though now I knew why and how her remaining leg was damaged I already had a suspicion of why that too had been amputated.

"With me having gone silent at last, no matter what she chose to say and even if she injured me further. She finally chose to end it all as her ravenous bloody mouth opened ever wider until all I could see was the black and vile smelling void that was to be my end." She said with almost finality.

"But then you struck her and slew her at last." I said almost optimistically.

"No milady... I did not, I was unarmed, my dominant hand was ruined, I was blinded by acid and my own blood trickling down from my self-severed leg, the other was damaged and restrained in her grasp. I had remained silent because I knew anything further was futile, I was no demigod able to make a plea to their divine parent for aid. I was alone and I WAS going to die." She said crushing all my beliefs of what could happen in rapid succession. A hidden knife, a broken arrow, ripping her own fang out and stabbing her through the brain with it. All of these thoughts had crossed my mind over the last hour. That she had never done any of them was impossible for me to consider.

"But that's impossible, you must have done something! Are you saying she died from food poisoning? That would be ridiculous." I said with irritation as I wanted to know the truth.

Ignoring a comment from nearby about how I likely could kill someone with food poisoning, I readjusted my position to look into the face of the injured girl.

"It is the truth; I remember her releasing her grasp and falling towards the maw that awaited me and so I closed my eyes. The next thing I knew I had fallen headfirst to the rocky floor and was rendered unconscious for a short time. When I awoke, I was deep within a layer of golden dust. Mostly blind and in shock, I could not see anything clearly."

"But if you didn't kill her then who did, Aika?" I asked still in shock.

"She had yet to hatch at this point. At one point I thought in my delirium that I saw a woman for a fraction of a second but she was gone in the blink of an eye if it were true. Unfortunately, I had more pressing issues to deal with like surviving." Delia explained, as infuriating as it was, she had no reason to lie. Besides she had experienced several thousand years to ponder what had happened that day.

For the time being I would let the matter stand but there were tools I had at my disposal to investigate that mortals could only dream of having. I would get my answers later.

"That's alright I can only imagine how hard things were for you at that time." I told her gently, even if I was disappointed with the turn of events that had resulted in her surviving her encounter with Lamia. The fact that she did in her condition was still amazing.

"Using rags torn from my ruined chiton and the string from my bow as a tourniquet. I was able to suppress the bleeding of my leg and hand and clean them in a pool of water to prevent pestilence. In doing so I saw my own reflection for the first time... I knew then that I could not return. That was of course providing I even survived the next few days; despite my best efforts the next few days were a continuous cycle of fatigue and feverish convulsions. By this point my remaining leg had begun to fester, the broken bones having set wrong and with no way to treat it, I knew I was in danger of it killing me by still being there as the other had been after its loss. It was whilst dragging myself in search of my discarded knife that I found Aika having recently hatched and calling out." She explained and sure enough I was now almost completely convinced I knew where this was going.

"You decided to save the child, despite what her mother had almost done." I said holding onto her hand.

"At the time she was no bigger than my arm and utterly helpless. I guess I thought back to everything that your mother had endured for you and Apollo. I still had no idea if I would be able to survive the next few days but if I didn't do anything then I knew I would not. Where was the harm in allowing an innocent soul to gain something from my loss? I guess if you look at it one way, she really is my flesh and blood." She explained proudly, clearly not regretting that decision no matter how hard it must have been.

"I don't think I have heard that saying used that way, but I guess it works in an albeit morbid way. Then again both my father and grandfather have eaten their own children or the mother thereof, so I am not one to comment." I laughed nervously.

"In terms of an investment it paid off in the long run. Aika grew rapidly and eventually began to return the gesture in kind. Even as she continued to eat the last of what I could give her, she would bring me the bodies of rodents and other creatures that she caught in the cavern. It wasn't good by any means but it was enough."

'I think I am going to be sick.' Percy complained from outside.

'Shut up or you get the choice of me cooking something or a rat.' I told him, young people these days didn't know how easy they had it. Not having the joys of eating rodents to survive. I mean I didn't have to either, Nectar and Ambrosia was easy enough to acquire even at the worst of times if you knew how to threaten someone.

"Days slowly became weeks, eventually my wounds closed and the realisation began to strike me that perhaps I truly would survive this. Within a month or two Aika was now almost as large as I was and was beginning to leave the cave searching for larger meals. Though we were still not able to communicate with words, it was clear she was intelligent enough to understand concepts and would watch as I skinned and butchered an animal, getting additional resources from the creature rather than as she did of trying to swallow it whole or tear it apart to then swallow it. Eventually even the seasons began to change and with her assistance we would leave this place. After almost four months since my injuries, I was back out under the stars for the first time, starting a small fire to Aika's amazement. I began to tell her tales of my life, of you and the other hunters. It mattered not that she perhaps did not understand my words then. Just having someone to listen was enough for me, it helped to dispel the gloom in my heart of being away from everyone I knew. Even as the arrival of winter would force our return to the cave as the almost constant rain hampered most of efforts to do anything by myself. Back then there were still predators on the island that posed a threat to me and Aika herself was reliant on her bite to take down larger beasts. Still, we lived and eventually in time as she matured, she learned to talk at last albeit slowly for the longest time as little more than a young child. Her mind unable to keep up with her body which continued to grow. By the time of our fifth winter, I had long since given up hope that you would find us, Aika had taken to learning any skill I could teach her. Tracking, Archery, traps she wanted to learn everything I could teach her, she wanted to be like me." She explained proudly as the heavy serpent's tail smacked against the wall perhaps subconsciously.

"She had the best instructor; she could have wished for. You understood hard work when you saw it and yet you would not tolerate slacking." I told her rising to my feet, it was clear that she was back in her comfort zone again.

"Mother was still mean to me when I failed. She would make me patrol the whole island when I made a mistake."

"Did it make you get better?" I questioned knowingly raising an eyebrow.

"There were no more predators by the time of my seventh winter. I was the only hunter left." She said enthusiastically.

"You learned quickly then it seems, tell me what did you hunt to earn that title."

"There was a lion but he was old and barely counted, three bears and a great lizard that lived by the water, it mostly ate fish but also anything else that got close. I put its eyes out with arrows but its body proved too tough for my arrows, so I was forced to bind it within my coils and bite through its softer underside. It thrashed about and cut me with its claws but in the end I was victorious." She explained pointing to a small patch where her human abdomen met the scales where sure enough a series of large ancient scars could be faintly seen.

"You mean a crocodile?" I inferred from her explanation.

"Cro-co-dile." She repeated and even Delia looked confused by the word.

"One of these." I said summoning one of the poor creatures from gods knows where before sending the confused lizard away once they had seen it.

"Too small, that crawls on the floor, this walked on two legs, its front paws were short but with large claws." Aika complained almost offended that the largest of limbed reptiles was what she had fought.

"Woah woah woah, are you telling me this place actually had dinosaurs and she killed it." Percy said running back into the chamber.

"Sounds like it. Guess you are not going to be riding one after all. They are really extinct now." I told him as he actually looked disappointed by the news.

"That sucks." He complained returning dejectedly to his rocky seat from earlier.

"If it makes you feel better, I do know where the biggest 'Terrible Lizard' lives, I don't think he would let you ride him either though. I am sure Morganna can tell you about him sometime when she gets back." I told him with a smile before turning back to our hosts.

Almost like it was on the island of my birth, time began to flow continuously without incident. Years became decades that became centuries. Aika finally began to stop growing for the most part at least thankfully, otherwise we truly would have had food issues. Whilst I was fine to eat the produce the islands vegetation produced, she only had eyes for meat. This resulted in strangely the animals of the island approaching me if I was above ground even as they fled from her. However, this was not to last, sometime after about four hundred years I would guess, tragedy struck the island, lightning struck the island and started a fire that burned for days. Aika was hunting and was driven to the edge of the island whilst I and what animals that could escaped to safety down here. Most however would not be so lucky. The island was devastated."

"Aika told us that as a result she had to leave, else she would starve." Percy commented as Delia nodded.

"She protested my decision for days, she wanted to take me with her despite the absurdity of that proposal. I would never have been able to survive the journey through the storm. That was the first time we were ever separated for longer than a day or two since the time of her hatching. For two long years I waited and watched as saplings grew out from amongst the ashes, with no way of knowing if she was ok or even if she made it beyond the storm itself. Eventually all the ensuing dark times and sleepless nights were dispelled when she returned to the shore, tired and weary for her journey but she was back."

"And to the probable complaints of every animal on the island that was now back on the menu now the apex predator had returned." I commented causing Delia to smile.

"Rabbits breed quickly." The lamia said justifying their likely subsequent culling.

"In the end, despite of my injuries or perhaps because of them I began to see myself less trapped on this island and instead glad for it. It gave me a small part of everything I had experienced in my life and even some I never thought to experience. A small land to watch over like the one of my youth before it was lost so tragically. A young fledgling to train into the ideals I so respected, sure she could be stubborn at times but she got there in the end, eventually. With her came a third opportunity for a family, after losing my sisters both by birth and by oath. There are certainly worse places to be forced to retire to." She said smiling earnestly.

"You certainly were fortunate there at least, the occasional fire notwithstanding." I told her.

"Out of curiosity, when was the last time Aika had to leave the island?" Percy asked curiously.

"I cannot remember precisely, but it was within the last century. Something unknown to us suddenly fell from the sky and caused another fire. Whatever it was left a large hole full of shiny metal fragments at the centre of the fire's origin." Delia explained as the last mystery was almost answered.

"Harmony, you said the wood from that arrow was around seventy years old, which puts it in the middle of World War Two. Chances are that was a bomb from the Battle of the Mediterranean between the Italians and the British Navy." Percy explained giving us all the history lesson. It was embarrassing to admit but I as Artemis basically missed the Second World War, Olympus had relatively newly moved to North America at that point and I was too busy exploring all the new forests of the new land. I had seen what had happened with the Great War and wanted the Hunters to have nothing to do with it this time. Diana had a ring side view from above but my two halves weren't really talking back then. That the Americans themselves also missed the first two years didn't help it register on my important matters to worry about at the time.

"The mortals have weapons that can burn down forests now." Delia asked seemingly alarmed.

"They have weapons that can destroy countries and enough of them to destroy the entire world multiple times if someone is stupid enough to use them." I explained with a sigh. Sure, in some ways the world of mortals had improved so much, but their natural affinity for expansion, conquest and destruction had become increasingly more terrifying even for us gods over the last century.

"I don't know whether I should be glad that MAD is the thing keeping it that way... Mutually Assured Destruction. If one country decides to go crazy, then every other one will retaliate in kind." Percy explained after drawing a blank from the other two.

"The world is truly different now to the one I left behind." Delia said sighing and looking down at her hands clasped together.

"It is not that bad; we have managed to build so much better stuff. We can show you!" Percy told her with his usual optimism and in real time I watched as whatever colour the injured girl did have seemed to pale even further.

"You mean leave this place?" Delia asked now physically trembling.

'Percy please stop for a second.' I told him quickly.

"I know you have been here for a long time now, but you can leave now if you want to. You don't need to be trapped here forever now. Aika too you can go anywhere. You have seen a glimpse of what is outside the place, sure you are interested to see more. Why else would you make the long journey to Delos otherwise?" I said catching the Lamia off-guard sure Percy had alluded to the arrows earlier but this time I was directly addressing Aika on the matter, there was no one else who could have made that small shrine in the cave.

"Aika, you travelled there?" Delia asked in shock clearly not aware of her daughter's action.

"I was curious mother about where you had come from, you spoke of what Hera did but I wanted to see for myself what became of that place." Aika responded passionately.

"But why did you make that shrine to me within the cave? The offerings? The carving? You must have known that someone would find them? Were it not for them we would never have guessed that your mother was still alive."

"I don't know, I felt like I was guided to that place by instinct almost like I was supposed to go there out of compulsion. I didn't have much apart from some trinkets that mother had given me so long before. It just seemed like the right thing to do." She explained and sure enough I knew that the Fates had been up to their usual tricks. Even if I had potentially broken free of their manipulations, I was still ensnared within the seemingly spiderlike web of plots they had spun over the Millenia. They were just acting on those closest to me instead.

"So that is what happened to my carving. I thought you said it was lost in the ocean?" Delia asked her daughter glaring as she froze rigid along her entire length.

"You needn't be hard on her, she had good intentions. I am personally glad she did, even if it did cause me to have an emotional breakdown for a few hours. Because at long last I got to see you again." I told her wrapping her hands in my own and smiling.

"Milady even if I could leave this place, what use would I be to you in this condition? I know nothing of what has occurred over the Millenia. What use would I be?" She again asked.

"The same thing you were from the first days of my life. You would still be my friend. You introduced me to your world all those years ago and helped to shape me into who I was and now I would like to introduce you to my world." I told her passionately.

"We could probably do something about your injuries first as well. I mean it is not like both of us have dominion over time... just saying." Percy said shrugging as my head rotated around towards him and I glared at him. Sure, he was right but I was getting to that bit.

"You can help mother!" Aika exclaimed seemingly excited by the prospect as she became almost animated fidgeting.

"Yes, if she would like me to." I told her turning back from the Titan to first the monster then finally to the nymph. Unlike what had happened with Thalia couldn't complain, there was little issue with going backwards, at least as far as we were aware.

"If I were to agree to everything, what would become of my daughter? Despite everything I had done and taught her, people would surely still see her as a... monster." She added seemingly ashamed to call her that. It was a valid point to consider. Even in the most recent version of my hunters pledge it was still basically only valid for Nymphs, demi-gods and mortals, not monsters.

'Take her with us, I have an idea that I will explain to you later.' Percy told me.

"They would have to get through the massive invulnerable fire-breathing lioness that now calls camp home first." Percy told her resulting in a rapidly blinking eye on the hunter. That was an oddly specific thing to say straight after what he told me.

'Percy...' I began to question only to be interrupted by the girl in front of me.

"Lady Harmony, explain. Does he speak of what I think he speaks?"

"Yeah, I made the Nemean Lioness my pet, she is now my sacred animal. She is really cool, especially when compared to a stupid deer." He interrupted managing to both openly mock the poor golden doe for the countless time and spelling out his proposal simultaneously.

I mean he had certainly shown it was possible to do but that was getting ahead of the matter. I needed to get her mother out of this damp cave first.

"Things have changed now, Olympus and Orthrys are now at peace. That monster played a bigger part in defeating the giants and Gaia than almost every god present on the battlefield. Myself included. All I ask is that you take a look for yourself and make your own decision. After that you are free to do as you please, after all you have never owed me anything."

"Aikaterine, what would you like to do? You have been off the island, but this time things would be different you would be meeting others for the first time. Potentially even the 'true' Hunters of Artemis. But that also means there would be risks that you have never had to deal with before." Delia said turning to her daughter who had yet to calm down it seemed about the prospect of healing her mother, let alone the rest of what we had said.

"I will go, where mother goes. Though I would like to see if it is really like your stories. Lady Artemis turned out to be different than how I thought her to be after all. I like her more now than I did when we first met though." She added changing tone from excited to nervous as her mouth got ahead of her brain. Thankfully she managed to catch herself before she potentially said something incriminating.

"Don't worry that was entirely her own fault. I suggested she just ask you nicely." Percy responded whilst stretching his arms above his head. I mean he was right but that didn't mean I couldn't glare at him.

"Very well Lady Harmony, as much as it pains me to leave this place. I- We would like to accept your offer." Delia said with a face that was mix of emotions. Sadness, relief, apprehension, all could be seen on what wasn't scarred. Rushing forward the snake girl embraced her mother as I tried to stay out of the way before eventually giving up on avoiding the scaly appendage that was her body and stood out of the way and turned to Percy.

'Percy, whilst I wrap things up here can you do me a favour. I would like you to find Zoe and the others and get them back to Delos and the others. Tell them that we found Delia and are bringing her home and for the love of gods tell Phoebe not to shoot the monster this damned time.' I told him remembering that infamous incident on his first day on the job.

"No problem, take as long as you need. You want or need anything else doing?" He said rising to his feet.

'I'm hungry.' I told him unashamed even as he rolled his eyes.

"Four boxes of the usual then... make that five, I wonder if either of them is diabetic." He said jokingly in English before blending into the shadows of the cavern.

The sudden change in language reminded me that these two only knew the ancient Greek dialect. Sure, Zoe and Atlanta who being from the time period would naturally be fine. The rest of them however should be able to understand most of what was said by the newcomers but Reyna and Suzie were going to spend a lot of time looking at them blankly.

"Where did Percy go?" Delia asked curiously even as Aika was seemingly repeating the syllables to the word diabetic.

"He has gone ahead to make arrangements. As I said Zoe and Atlanta were also out searching for you, so he has gone to take them back to Delos and the others." I explained.

"Delos..." She responded before pausing at the name of the island named after her. Come to think of it even to my knowledge she had never returned to the island of our shared birth. The present state of the island had held no good memories for her after her sisters passing. As such I had often allowed her to hunt alone on the few occasions the hunt had returned to my birthplace.

"Mother?" Aika asked concerned noticing the subtle change in her mother's demeanour.

"... It's alright, I guess I was just surprised about going back there. It really has been such a long time." She said suddenly smiling back at her daughter.

"Aika can I please ask you to leave the room whilst I help your mother?" I asked politely. Despite our 'rocky' introduction the girl was growing on me with her sincerity and commitment to her mother figure. Now whilst what I was going to do was not dangerous for her, I simply did not want the distraction whilst I did what needed to be done.

The snake-girl looked from me to her mother until at last, she nodded that it was ok for her to leave us for the time being.

"You promise she will be fine?" She asked turning back to me.

"I swear nothing bad will happen to her." I told her adamantly before she nodded and slowly slithered out of the chamber with one final look back at us. Even then I could still detect her presence from only just out of view.

"I really am lucky to have her." Delia said softly as I moved back in front of her.

"I know despite my initial thoughts she is impressing me, you taught her well. She truly is a remarkable tracker despite her size."

"What can I say, I had plenty of time." Delia said laughing even as I took her left hand.

"That you did my dear friend, but now for too long have you been hidden in the dark. Now it is time for you to walk back into the light." I told her as she took a deep breath and closed her remaining eye.

Despite mine and Percy's earlier statement, this was not a straight forward hit the rewind button on her life until she was back to her former glory. Such as was the case with Tania after her time with Hades. That would have resulted in her having the correct physical result, but also obliterated her memories of the last few thousand years. Despite the hardships she had experienced she clearly had no regrets over what happened, especially when it came to Aika.

As such I had to take a much more subtle approach to my actions. Because she was immortal her body was still the same as all that time ago, as such were it not for the damage to her face, I could have just acted upon her body alone and left her head alone but that was not the case. Instead, I was forced to act upon her small pieces at a time to ensure I did not make a mistake.

Even as time continued to flow around me, I took my time before finally after almost twenty minutes I allowed the natural passages of time to equalise and leaned back to admire my handiwork.

"Delia, its done." I whispered, yet even so she continued to keep her eyes firmly closed.

"Relax." I told her interlinking her now formerly damaged left hand with my right one and squeezing her now restored fingers. Eventually reacting to the stimulus, she began to squeeze back before her right eye opened out of curiosity and looked at the complete five digits of her own hand. Upon doing staring at it for almost a full minute her left eye shot open suddenly and she pulling her hand away she pulled it up close to her face even as tears began to form.

'Aika you can come back in now.' I told her mentally. If she was surprised by me contacting her that way, she did not show it as she charged into the room without hesitation only to pause about a dozen feet away from her mother as she finally got to see her mother the way she used to be.

"Mother!" She shouted emotionally even the nymph gazed back at her with full vision for the first time since she hatched.

Standing back to one side, I left the two alone for a few minutes as the Lamia fussed all over the other girl who could barely get a word in as Aika studied every detail of her mother. From her now restored full head of crimson hair to her skin, her hands, before finally getting uncomfortably close and looking Delia straight in the eyes with only a scant inch or two separating them.

Of course, we hadn't even got to the changes that had occurred below the layer of furs that covered her lap.

"Delia you are missing the best bit." I called across pointing at the floor waiting a few seconds before realisation hit the pair of them. What happened next was almost a comedy of errors as an excited Aika almost immediately tried pulling Delia to her feet even as the hunter herself only was just coming to terms with the fact her 'ghost' limbs were no longer, not there any longer.

The end result was in the massively stronger monster lifting her surprised mother clean out of seat and into a hug... with her feet hanging a good two feet off the floor of the cavern. Perhaps we would have to explain that not everyone was as tall as she was. I mean Percy and I were relatively tall at six feet but the snake was easily eight feet at her normal 'resting' height.

So, whilst the nymph let out a cry of shock as she was swung from side to side, I couldn't help but laugh at her plight as the Lamia made no effort to calm down and more importantly put her down even as Delia patted her on the shoulders with futility. Perhaps as a bonus of me returning her body back to how it had been thousands of years before the tattered and patched cloth that covered her upper body had also returned to its original form of a white Greek chiton. The matching silver clothes of my hunters only having occurred in the last two centuries.

Looking across at her now empty seat I couldn't help but notice an ancient long since outdated bronze knife left behind amongst the furs. Its bare celestial bronze blade long since having gained patina and turned green on its flat sides. Despite what she had been forced to do with it, she still kept it at her side for all this time.

Eventually however after increasingly louder protests Aika had finally realised what she was doing and nervously placed her mother back onto the floor.

Only for Delia to immediately stumble and fall to her knees.

Yet even as I rushed over, I was surprised to find her laughing even as she looked at the grazed knee in front of her.

"My knee hurts." She said smiling and pointing at it. I think the pain served as a final reminder that her disabilities were a thing of the past.

"I didn't heal it just for you to injure it again." I told her whilst frowning for a second before smiling as she slowly began to tip each of her toes with her forefinger before laughing giddily.

As I have said before I had little experience with injuries both physical or emotional. At least not in this context, that was not to say I hadn't gotten into fights and lost some of them. That was obviously not the case at least as far as Artemis was concerned, Diana was still unbeaten in all competitions and well as Harmony I was well... me. But even in those occasions where I had been forced into capitulation by the likes of Atlas or Hera, I was normally beaten by fatigue or a trick rather than direct injuries such as dismemberment. Sure, as a divine it would naturally grow back as was the case with Percy or any of Ares multiple incidences over the centuries.

But even in my lover's case, after he got over the initial shock he had been not to bothered by the whole incident once it started to heal. I mean we had quite literally been frolicking in the bedroom a few hours later even as it still healed.

Too have spent the better part of three thousand years in that crippled state only to have it remedied so suddenly and completely. I could only pretend to imagine what it must be like for her at this moment.

So, for the next hour I watched as she once again got used to being able to use her legs. I would help at times where required but generally let the two girls interact with one another in ways they had never been able to do before. I myself was in no rush to hurry them along, it was still late at night outside and it would take time before Percy could get the three other hunters back to camp and let them know the basics of what had happened.

Instead, though I was keeping an eye on them I had put my investigator hat on and was looking around the chamber for clues about what had happened to Lamia. Almost twenty-five centuries had passed since then but there must have been some clue.

Of course, on a naturally warm and wet island like this and being a limestone cave. Erosion was always going to happen relatively quickly and constantly. Unfortunately, though with those two still in the room I couldn't just restore my entire surroundings to how they had been on that fateful day... or at least not at this time.

Eventually though as the initial novelty wore off, the two seemingly remembered that we were going to be leaving this place. From the pile of furs that had been her home for so long Delia extracted the ancient green bronze knife and further still a small collection of intrinsically carved wooden figures. I guess it had made sense that if she had made the other carving, we found at Delos there was potentially others.

Amongst the hand-crafted ornaments, I spotted a variety of animals as well as another small hunter figure and unmistakeably that of a familiar snake girl also holding a bow before she wrapped them up in a deer hide.

Eventually though with a final deep breath she stood back from the place she had spent so long and smiled towards me as if to say she was ready.

Approaching the pair of them I realised that the Lamia carried nothing apart from her own homemade bow and arrows. Perhaps this showed that in reality the only thing in life she had was the other girl beside her.

"If you would take my hand." I told them before Delia shook her head.

For a split second I thought that she had changed her mind and was going to stay.

"With respect Lady Harmony, if I am to leave this place potentially for good. I would like to do it on my own terms." She explained perhaps as a result of my expression before I sighed in relief.

"Feel free to do as you please." I said smiling before she nodded gratefully and turned around and began to lead our procession back up to the surface.

Now obviously she had been back up topside previously with Aika's help but this was the first time she had ever been able to walk out of the cave on her own. Silently the three of us travelled until at last, the stone roof gave way to the bottom of the sinkhole, with no light pollution here the field of stars high above shone down on us. The moon chariot however being obscured by the trees that flanked the western side of the geological depression.

To my surprise as soon as Delia entered the sinkhole she had got down to her knees and closed her eyes.

'O great goddess Artemis, I thank you for my success in this hunt and now I will return to you.' Her voice said in my head as she prayed. With that said she stood up straight and turned around to face me.

"I am glad to hear those words again my faithful hunter." I told her before embracing the smaller girl tightly.

"For far too long I have been away. I would like to go home now." She said tearfully in my arms.

---

AN. Apologies for the delay as usual. one minute it felt like it was Christmas the next thing I know it is bloody April and all I have written is what was shaved off the end of the last chapter. Well I got this one out before the 10th anniversary at least. Almost 10 years TOTH has been part of my life and despite how much has changed in my life, this story is still here and will continue.

The hardest part about writing this chapter was the fact that I continuously felt bad about what the suffering I was putting Delia through. I would write a paragraph or two at times and then stop because I felt like I was being cruel to a fictional character.

So many times I was tempted to break the chapter down and make an update but there was simply no reasonable point in the chapter where that would have made sense. It became all or nothing and even then I was tempted to carry on with the return to Delos itself but that actually can wait until next time.

Of course there is the usual unexplained mysteries that come with this story that will get explained later, though I always look forward to the conspiracy theories.

Feedback is always welcome both good and bad and is what acts as my motivation either way. (Come on guys lets get past 5000 reviews as we recently past 6 million views)