All Rights Belong to Rick Riordan (Or do they?)
New Beginnings (Part One)
(Percy)
Despite the early hour and the general lack of light, there was a buzz of activity going on around the Hunter's campground a few hundred yards away. As the girls got ready for the return of Harmony and their long-lost fellow sister.
Of course, it had all started once I unexpectedly and indeed quite literally dropped in unannounced on the small party of hunters that were likewise out looking for Delia. Surprising Atlanta who had been keeping watch at that time into falling off her rocky seat in surprise. In doing so whacking her head on another, immediately knocking herself unconscious. This result was an unexpected turn of events that I hadn't predicted and wasn't sure immediately whether to laugh or be worried about her. Instead, I stood there pulling a face thinking that it was definitely my fault, even as a roused Blackjack began to whinny in alarm not realising it was me initially.
The Pegasus's actions awakening the two other hunters who were suddenly upright and holding weapons pointed in my direction as I could only stand there pinching the bridge of my nose.
As it turns out, things that sound cool to do when you think of them. Aren't always seen that way by others. Even after undoing the damage to the hunter's best healer, the three of them had still glared at me for a while as they packed their small temporary camp up. Of course, I also had yet to tell them the reason why I was here at that point until they were good to go.
Partially, because I suspected they would demand to go to the island right away to see her. Secondly because I really didn't want to have to explain the full situation right off the bat and then do it again with the rest of the group later.
Of course, the three of them were old and smart enough to know something had happened. There was no other reason I would be here in the ungodly hours of the morning otherwise. Still keeping my mouth shut until everything was packed at least served to get them to do it quicker.
So, with them hurrying to do that in record time, I had chosen to take my sacred animal back to America and save him the hassle of the long flight home.
That out of the way and several newly acquired boxes of pastries in hand, I returned to their campsite with less disastrous results this time.
So, with one box of donuts handed over to the trio as penance for my unannounced visit, I finally gave them a brief summary of why I was here. Two minutes after I had told them Delia was alive, we were already back on Delos due to the frantic demands of the two ancient hunters.
Soon enough, everyone was now awake and mostly aware of what was happening.
"If you take another one, I will break your fingers." I said eliciting a huff of annoyance from my gender-changed doppelganger as she slowly pulled her hand back away from the cache of cakes beside me.
"I'm almost with him on this one, none of us wants to deal with a hungry Harmony." Pride or rather Perseus as he was basically back to now being said in agreement.
It was actually almost strange to see considering all the shenanigans the two had done previously but the two of them were seemingly getting on. I mean they probably shared about four braincells between them, but after all the weird shit that had gone on between all the fragments of my aspect, it was still surprising to see them being cordial with one another.
"Yeah well, I am basically her, so I should also be allowed them." Lilith argued futilely puffing up her chest.
'Nah, Harmony's tits are bigger.' I idly thought immediately.
"Maybe in a dark alley, I might confuse the two of you. The difference though is I actually am sleeping with her and I want to keep it that way." I argued and I could have almost sworn, I saw Perseus stiffen out of the corner of my eye.
"Hey! I- That's fair." Lilith conceded after initially seeking to argue the point.
"So why are you two getting along now? Last I saw one of you was trying to get all freaky with the other." I asked looking between the pair of them.
"We decided to talk things over, have a little character growth so to speak." Lilith said waving me off.
"She spoke, I realised she actually made sense, when she wasn't acting like a freak. Besides as neither of us knows how to get rid of the other we are at an impasse." Perseus said whilst idly picking his fingernails with a peculiar box cutter knife.
Now call me an idiot for leaving the reckless idiot playing with it, but I knew exactly what he was holding. After all someone had physically cut the chains that were binding the other Sins. Of the blades I knew of that could cut divine metal easily, the first and least likely one was hidden with Artemis's temple along with the lance, one was attached to my wrist, and the other had cut through my other arm like it and my still bifurcated shield were butter. Which just so happened to be last seen, somewhere he was left unattended for a while.
Of course, I had been too busy dealing with the appearance of the seven idiots themselves and my own dismemberment to focus too much on the clean-up from Vegas. But it stood to reason that Pride had nabbed Chronos's scythe from within the debris. Perhaps I was giving him the benefit of the doubt, but it was true he had defeated the crazed primordial and so was entitled to the rewards if there were any. He had certainly done more to earn it than I had anyway in that battle. I got to claim the title for the business card, that was good enough.
"Be careful not to cut yourself." I told him whilst raising an eyebrow causing my doppelganger to look from me to the knife and back, before slowly and wordlessly pocketing it again. The silence from the otherwise talkative aspect enough confirmation that I was right.
"Sooo. What time is her highness due back?" Lilith asked leaning between the pair of us.
"Not a clue. Whenever she is done sorting Delia out, I guess. I did my bit; I found the island and told her to speak to the Lamia. My work was done." I told them leaning back on my elbows.
"What are we going to do with her anyway? Not like a twenty-foot-long snake girl can blend in with the others." Perseus asked curiously.
"We are going to do nothing, this is between Harmony, Delia and Aika to resolve. We or rather I am only here as hired or rather conscripted help. Recruitment is nothing to do with me. They are the Hunters of Artemis for a reason." I told them bluntly.
"Plus, the two Huntresses." Lilith added sarcastically as I stared at her blankly.
"I am quite aware of Reyna and Suzie technically being different, I was here well before you two were even a single thing."
"Those were the good days." Perseus said mournfully.
"That was literally less than a month ago you idiot, besides whose fault was it you are like this now?" I told him in annoyance.
"Artemis's, she is the one that created the cursed Eidolons in the first place." He argued whilst folding his arms.
"I am not cursed; I am a lot hotter now for starters." Lilith said butting in. Technically speaking she was basically still an Eidolon, just one given actual divine flesh and some powers. Pride was indeed by this point basically as far as I could tell Perseus in every way, whereas the avatar of Lust was... just sort of still here.
"Eh. Nine out of ten, needs some work on the colour palette." Perseus said a little too quickly as suddenly both of us were looking at him.
"What? She might be an unbearable bitch to me most of the time, but she is still hot. Still, I prefer Diana over fucking Harmony, at least she isn't insane..." Perseus said defensively before realising he was potentially inviting a whole host of problems to come his way. Now if said goddess wasn't busy with Delia, I would have expected her to appear out of nowhere and ask him to repeat that statement, but I guess he was lucky on this occasion... for the moment.
Now even though at least two of us could sense the presence of those nearby. All three of us still ended up looking around to verify the case that Harmony was not actually here.
"So anyway, is his death wish part of the Eidolons or is that part me?" I asked Lilith causing Perseus to cross his arms in annoyance.
"Well, I have thanatophobia so I would say that it is on you?" She said as I looked at blankly for a few seconds before finally understanding what the word meant. I mean just because I had met and rescued the winged god of Death didn't mean I instantly made the connection; it was not as if we were on a talking basis.
"I have seen you get torn to pieces by a pissed of jaguar goddess and be good as new after a minute demanding more. How in hades can you be scared of death?" I asked in confusion, even down in Kur when she had been wounded by the Sumerian goddesses, she had not been too worse for wear despite being mostly depowered and once she got out, she was fine again. If somewhat in a justifiable bad mood judging by her brief visit to the chariot before her forcible ejection by Harmony.
Then again, I had never really actually sat down and had a chance to talk to the aspect in a civil manner. The only other time was back when she was being all freaky and weird.
"You ever been murdered by an irrational goddess who decided that one day, your town was looking like it needed redecorating with a layer of gore? To go from being powerless and begging for your life one second to being a disembodied cursed spirit the next. Well, it leaves an impression on you let me tell you." She explained challengingly as I responded in the only way that seemed appropriate.
"Oh." I said before sitting back and dropping the subject.
"Besides as it turns out, she actually has some good ideas." Perseus added surprising me as he actually defended his fragmented aspect almost protectively, to which she then smiled back at him.
Meanwhile I was busy working out what the hell I had missed in the last day that had these two sticking up for one another.
"So, are you planning on hanging around here?" I asked changing the subject.
"I was never planning on being here in the first place remember. Harmony knocked me unconscious and next thing I know I was here. I only stuck around because someone had to do your damned job for you." Perseus complained poking me in the shoulder for emphasis.
"I guess now would be a bad time to tell you then that you are stuck on Mandatory Council Duty for the foreseeable future. Themis is a real stickler for technicalities after all." I told him laughing nervously as his look slowly changed to almost murderously unhinged.
'So that is what I look like when pissed.' Was the thought that ran idly through my head as I looked back at him trying to act innocent.
"Son of a... very nice mother." He said almost accidentally before having to correct himself even as he bared his teeth in annoyance.
"Please tell me that it is just him who has to deal with that BS. I have already had to deal with one lifetime curse." Lilith added almost concerned that she too would have to suffer through those colossal waste of time.
"You should be good, unless you start identifying as Perseus on a permanent basis." I said playfully even watching as Perseus's nostrils flared.
"Sweet."
"I thought we were in this together?" He asked her as if betrayed.
"Nothing could make me want to willingly deal with that crap. No, that shit is on you." Lilith told him putting her thumbs up and smiling.
"I didn't even do anything!" He protested almost childishly banging his fists against the floor.
"Bro, you have quite literally done everything to piss someone off recently." I told him whilst glaring at him, the number of headaches he had created for me in such a short period of time was almost impressive in its own right.
"Have I fuck! I have literally never killed anyone in my entire existence. Arty killed the Praetor, you finished off Chronos. The only thing I have tried to kill is fragments of myself. When was the last time you killed something." He shot back accusingly. I mean just because he was technically correct didn't mean he was right.
"It has been what two or three days? I believe the homeless guy had it coming though." Lilith answered unhelpfully as I sat there whistling innocently.
"Unbelievable, a fucking mortal, is that why I have got to deal with this council bullshit! I thought my only issue was her, but as it turns out it was you that was the one who was really going to fuck me in my sleep. What a joke." He shouted angrily and bitterly rising to his feet before disappearing into shadows.
"Well, he took that well." I said trying to be upbeat even if I did now feel a little bad for my counterpart. Not much considering everything he had done but it was there a bit.
"Meh, he is all talk. He will be back before you know it." Lilith said rising to her feet and dusting her skirt off.
"You continue to surprise me." I told her sincerely.
"There are many things I could do to surprise you; all you need to do is ask." She said sultrily whilst winking as my expression automatically became blank as I glared at her.
"Take a joke, besides not like I stand a chance when the resident nymphomaniac is normally always within about ten inches of you."
"Such an ironic choice of words, what could you possibly mean?" A cold yet all too familiar voice asked from behind her. The dozen silver wings that framed my view of my feminine fragment serving to increase her menacing aura.
"Well would you look at the time, I really must be off." Lilith said frantically before likewise following her counterpart into the shadows.
With her out of the way I was rewarded with the sight of the world's most beautiful woman in her place even as her massive metal wings began to interlock and fold away behind her before disappearing entirely revealing the two other figures with her. The familiar massive figure of the Lamia, Aika and the not so recognisable diminutive figure of the redheaded nymph in a classical white chiton on her other side.
Now I had never seen the hunter in her prime for obvious reasons but what shocked me the most about her appearance was her height or rather her lack thereof. In contrast to her 'daughter' whose resting height was close to eight feet tall, Delia was barely four foot eight if I was being generous. This despite looking as old as even the oldest appearing hunters like Zoe, Reyna or even Thalia. Hades after all she was older than Artemis herself despite the goddess beside her towering over her now.
"You're staring... and not at me." Harmony said with irritation albeit playfully judging by the faint smirk on her face even, as I hurriedly diverted my gaze to the goddess herself. Though we were quite a distance away from the campers, the appearance of the glowing goddess would also not go unnoticed for long.
"So, I guess everything went well then?" I asked rhetorically nodding towards the clearly uninjured girl. Who like her 'daughter' was looking at me blankly as I realised that the pair of us were speaking English again.
"What do you expect from me?" Harmony said with albeit justified arrogance seamlessly switching back to Greek.
'Generally reckless actions with little concern for consequences to be honest, but damned have I just realised you sound hot when you talk Greek.' I mentally told her with amusement as her face changed expressions. It was true though earlier when we had talked to Aika for the first time I had been distracted by her protests and the ensuing scuffle and not noticed the juxtaposition of her accent in her 'native' Greek and English.
"Delia I am glad to see you are looking better." I said addressing the redhead back in words she could understand even as Harmony was still clearly thinking up a retort.
"It was a lot to get used to. This still feels like a dream to be honest." Delia responded almost nervously as she held her free hand against her thigh as if to check that her legs was indeed still there.
To be fair I had spent several days idly doing the same after the Chronos incident. Constantly rubbing my wrist to make sure it was still fine.
'So, do you want me to talk dirty to you in Greek?' Harmony finally asked as I resisted the urge to laugh and keep a straight face.
'Time and a place Harmony, time and a place.' I told her even as I faintly detected people approaching from behind rapidly.
"Well, this is going to be interesting." I muttered even as metaphorical silver blur shot past my right-hand side and practically leapt at the nymph without concern for anything or anyone else.
Then again Delia didn't really have time to respond herself apart from a surprised 'eh', as the former Argonaut wrapped her arms around her barely stopping in time as to not bowl her over.
However, perhaps the most surprised person out of everyone at Atlanta's rapid appearance was Aika. Not because of how sudden her arrival was but for the fact that she paid her no notice whatsoever and was instead solely focused on her mother.
"You're back, you really are back!" The former princess exclaimed happily not letting go, Atlanta already talking in Greek as if she had never spoke another language since the last time they met.
Which really went to show the absurd speed the girl could run at was that it was not for another twenty seconds that the first of her pursuers began to arrive. Unlike the Arcadian princess though it was clear that the others had spotted the other figure accompanying us.
It was at this late point I also finally realised something about the Lamia's appearance here. She was still very much in the nude, sure there was nothing visible to see on her bottom half but I was no doubt going to catch shit from at least one Hunter because of it.
What followed for the next half-minute or so was a tense standoff as the assembling hunters looked nervously between the Nymph girl to the goddess in the middle of the group to the monster to the other side. Whilst hands were not on weapons currently there were certainly a few hands that were not far away from them and twitching nervously.
Thankfully it seemed that Harmony's brain finally rebooted, and she stepped forward to take the lead in this situation.
"Girls, I would like you to meet your long-lost sister. My former Lieutenant and namesake of this very island, Delia." Harmony told them turning their attention at least for the second towards the clearly flustered girl who was finally being released by her glomper.
Suddenly being the focal point of the attention of almost two dozen people, when she had only a single companion for several thousand years seemingly made the older girl half hide behind Atalanta nervously.
(Thalia)
Despite the excitement that my fellow hunters had with the announcement that my predecessor had been found. I was in a comparatively bad mood due to being interrupted at a most inopportune time.
If it was not the fact that we were both wide active and awake and had a brief second to react to voices nearby outside there would have been absolutely no way, we could have hidden our relationship when Zoe's head appeared through the entrance to our tent.
Instead, I had basically been roughly tossed from one bed to the other by the daughter of Bellona with barely a chance to throw a blanket over myself before the demi-Titan had let herself in. If it wasn't for her own suppressed excitement making her rush off to the next tent, she likely would have realised that something wasn't right.
Still for the time being it appeared our secret was still safe. Well as safe as it could be considering Harmony and Percy (and his various aspects) were aware of it.
However, as I looked across the tent to my girlfriend, I could barely help but laugh as I noticed her own blanket was resembling a tent pole.
"I'm happy to see you too." I giggled whilst pointing at the artificial peak even as Reyna rolled her eyes and pulled the sheet aside and began to rapidly remove the apparatus. Unlike my first time we had opted to use a significantly smaller one on this occasion. Still as she moved, I found myself staring at her toned legs and backside until she spotted me doing so and raised an eyebrow.
"Fine..." I muttered before beginning to move myself and immediately feeling disgusting as the sheet rapidly thrown across me had to be peeled off due to the sweat on my body.
"Urgh, this makes me feel jealous of Seaweed Brain, he can just summon water and give himself a shower." I complained as it was the daughter of Bellona's time to stare.
"You truly are a victim of the superpower lottery; it must suck to only be able to fly and throw lightning." She said mockingly. Well, I suppose when you considered that her only seemingly inherited traits were being better in a fight and innate command talent it was heavily biased in my favour.
"You forgot to mention being goddamned hot." I added vainly as I rose to my feet in front of her.
"I didn't think it needed to be said." She teased running a few fingers gently up the outside of my leg... before sharply slapping my backside causing me to yelp in surprise even as she laughed.
"Now stop showing off and get your ass moving or I will slap it again. Who knows what insanity those two have got in store for us today." She told me before turning over to search for her own underwear.
Resisting the temptation to return the favour on the open target in front of me. I quickly remembered that keeping the goddess waiting was never good, especially considering she would know exactly why we would be late.
As such by the time we were both presentable and had finally gotten outside of our tent, the camp was a beehive of activity. As Hunters both young and old hurriedly made sure the campsite was tidy for when the goddess got back.
The only people who were not making themselves busy was the Titan Lord and his two aspects who were sitting a couple hundred yards away talking amongst themselves. Well, them and Nemea who had decided that now was a good time to have a nap whilst full size in the middle of the main path between the various tents. Perhaps deciding that now her actual master was back on site and supposedly doing his job that she was off the clock. I mean I wasn't going to tell the three-ton kitty where she should or should not rest but it was still a pain in the ass having to travel the long way around her.
More annoyingly though was the fact that my cousin was giving us zero information about what had transpired. Just telling me that I would find out when Harmony got back, a matter to which he too had no idea when she would even arrive. Choosing to get away from the almost knowing look of Lust or Lilith, whatever she wanted to be called as quickly as possible I had returned to the camp itself before things became embarrassing.
Ostensibly I was still in command of my fellow sisters, despite the fact I was still currently not actually a Hunter again and therefore not technically their Lieutenant. So, the fact that things had gotten so messy around here over the last few days was realistically speaking, on me. Or at least I was not going to argue against it with the goddess.
However, between my own distractions, the absence of the three elder Hunters and indeed the goddess herself. On top of this being the first real chance of a vacation any of us had experienced in a long time if at all, standards had admittedly slipped over the last few days.
So perhaps an extremely early morning spring clean of the camp was not such a bad thing for us to go through.
Thankfully with over a dozen of us on the job we managed to get it sorted relatively quickly as to avoid trouble from the now increasingly hormonal, emotional and frankly unstoppable goddess.
I was amongst a mixed group of the other girls when the faint sound of male shouting reached us as all eyes turned to the only possible culprits just in time to catch Perseus vanish into darkness.
"What do you think that was about?" Suzie asked curiously as we watched the Titan Lord and Lilith for a few more seconds before realising that the two were not doing anything that we could see.
"Who knows with those three. At this point I have given up trying to decipher the mystery that is Percy Jackson's mind." Atlanta said shrugging.
"I mean one minute he comes across as being a massive dumbass and the next he comes up with some genius plan that works flawlessly. There is no middle ground." I conceded with a sigh as I turned away. Admittedly I had come to see his almost chaotic nature as part of his natural attractiveness. You were never in danger of being bored around him.
Only out of the corner of my eye did I see the daughter of Apollo suddenly become a blur in my peripheral vision. By the time I had turned back she was already fifty yards away heading towards a now changed group over by the Titan.
Not wasting any more time, the rest of us began to run after her even as the distance between us only increased further.
As we got closer, we could see the obvious glowing figure of Harmony herself and the notable disappearance of her discount clone. However, all eyes were divided between the other two strange figures.
The small red headed girl currently being embraced by Atlanta and the towering figure to the other side of Harmony.
Now I have met my fair share of larger than normal people, be they Gods or Monsters. My first impression was that somehow Harmony had acquired a Cyclops or even a Laistrygonian girl. Until I realised her face was far more 'human' than those monsters could hope to be, indeed even as I briefly studied her completely exposed chest and torso everything seemed fine. Eventually removing my eyes focus from the other girls' breasts for long enough, I noticed the obviously inhuman bottom half of the snake girl. Looking back to her face again I noticed the slitted pupils and the faint sign of a pair of fangs poking out from beneath her upper lip.
Now with the fact that Atlanta was acting like an excited puppy around the chiton wearing redhead it stood to reason that she must be Delia, however the snake girl, or Lamia as they were known as a species was a mystery to me for the time being.
For an uncomfortable amount of time there was a tense stand-off as those of us bearing weapons regarded the monster uncertain of what to do in this situation. Keeping in mind what had happened with Nemea we kept our hands empty for the time being. Besides even the tell-tale sign of a bowstring over her own shoulder showing that she too was armed meant little considering the fact that between her and us were two of the most powerful beings to ever live. Both of whom could stop any or all of us in our tracks without so much as blinking.
Eventually however this stalemate was broken when the auburn-haired goddess finally took control of the situation.
"Girls, I would like you to meet your long-lost sister. My former Lieutenant and namesake of this very island, Delia." She explained gesturing towards the shorter girl who had finally been released by Atlanta.
Even though it was sort of ignoring the elephant in the room for the time being, we all focused on the ancient hunter for the time being. Instinctively I felt myself comparing myself to my predecessor after all she too had held the rank of Lieutenant and for a lot longer than I had. From the talk of Zoe and Atlanta I guess I was expecting some sort of badass drill sergeant of a hunter...
I got a comparatively tiny girl who was only taller than the two youngest amongst us and even then, not by much. Even compared to her direct successor Zoe who likewise had been a Nymph, she did not look anywhere near as imposing or awe inspiring. Especially not whilst practically hiding behind Atlanta looking like a nervous wreck.
"H-hello." She finally stuttered out nervously in Ancient Greek.
'Oh gods, she is like Zoe but even worse.' I briefly thought to myself as I realised that the girl did not know how to speak English at all. Where on earth had she been hiding all this time?
Almost immediately my eyes shifted from the girl to the goddess who was watching the girl herself. However, I noticed a pair of golden eyes looking almost directly at me.
'Do not judge a book by its cover, she has not had an easy time.' He told me mentally seemingly understanding my apprehensions. Taking a deep breath, I stepped forward towards her.
"Greet-ings, Delia... I am Thalia... Daughter of… Zeus. Lieutenant of Artemis. Welcome back." I said in broken Greek actually having to think of the words as I was saying them. Naturally understanding or being able to read Greek was one thing, but going out of your way to speak a language for pretty much the first time was another thing all together.
At hearing my broken introduction and something whispered by Atlanta the girl stood a little straighter and more confidently.
"Well met Daughter of Zeus, I am Delia, Hunter of Artemis and this is my daughter Aikaterine..." She answered in flawless Greek before pandemonium kicked in as almost everyone of us Greek Hunters reacted to her words immediately looking between her and the now identified Lamia.
All at once there was a barrage of questions being shouted around so much so that none was coherent, and the girl was suddenly once again hiding behind Atlanta who likewise was caught off guard by the statement and seemed to be asking her own questions albeit quieter and more directly in her case.
However, as my vision turned towards the figure now identified as Aikaterine it had to pass over a clearly annoyed Harmony who was unmistakeably counting down on her fingers before suddenly everything was silenced as her left hand became a fist.
"Girls Enough! You are better than this. I know you are all surprised but if you would all choose to listen then your questions will be answered in time. Delia though she has been missing for so very long is still your sister and her daughter is my guest and as such will be treated with respect." She told us firmly in English and confirming that we had not been hearing funny.
Come to think of it, I guess Reyna had no idea what she said anyway so this would be the first time she knew what the debacle was all about.
Seemingly giving us all a mental minute to process her words she finally let us have control of our bodies back. I wasn't sure what it was but when Harmony froze time over us it always seemed so much more terrifying than when Percy had rarely done so. With him it was only done as a complete necessity, she appeared to do so just because she could.
"Apologies Lady Harmony, I guess we were all taken aback with shock." Zoe said humbly as several heads nodded in agreement whether truthfully or just not to further aggravate the supremely powerful goddess.
Now whilst everyone else had lost their shit at the initial announcement, I had used rationality and worked out that the Lamia could not be Delia's actual daughter for two simple reasons. I had never personally encountered them, but Lamias were known to be a group of sterile monsters with only a single progenitor. The second admittedly less obvious one was that there was no way in hell Artemis would not have known Delia was alive if she had managed to get herself knocked up. She apparently knew every minute detail of mine and Reyna's romance at the same time we did, so there was no way in hell she could have missed that. A third though not necessarily guaranteed reason was that the two obviously looked nothing like one another.
Then again, It was true enough that I had little resemblance to my sister Artemis. Whom ironically enough had little commonality with her own daughter if my vision was correct as the girl clearly took after her father.
"Now as I am sure some of you may have worked out by now, Delia is not Aika's biological mother. So, no there was no breaking of vows or any of those shenanigans for you to all worry about." Harmony explained whilst seemingly rolling her eyes as indeed several faces around me looked to be pondering if that was possible.
"Anyway, why are we standing here in the open when we have a perfectly good campsite down there where we can sit down and discuss what has happened in the last two and a half millennia? Besides I am sure you have all kept the place immaculate in my absence, haven't you?" She added before looking directly at me with a wry smile.
'Gods dam it Seaweed Brain.' I thought in annoyance, forgetting that the two often had conversations mentally at the same time as they were talking to us out loud. The only solace was that we had actually tidied the camp prior to her return. Otherwise, we were all going to be suffering for the next weeks.
"Now then Atlanta why don't you show Delia and her daughter the way." Harmony told the energised princess who almost immediately grabbed the redhead's arm and began to drag her despite her protests.
"Wait!" Delia shouted firmly before breaking free. Even as everyone watched silently, she got down onto her knees and leaned forward until her forehead was on the floor. For a full minute she held the position, despite the fact her face was largely hidden by her hair it could be seen that she was clearly moving her mouth, but no words could be heard.
Eventually, she would quickly rise to her feet and dust off her chiton before grabbing Atlanta's hand.
"I'm ready. Thank you for waiting. Aika please come with us." She said turning to her 'daughter' with a sincere smile as she allowed Atlanta to lead her. The serpent girl not needing any further instruction as she hurriedly slithered forward to catch up with the two ancient girls.
"Well, what are the rest of you waiting for?" I asked my fellow hunters before taking off after the group ahead of us. It was clear if we wanted any further answers it wasn't going to be coming here.
(Percy)
As I watched first Thalia and then the rest of hunters slowly follow on behind the newcomer's group I waited with the goddess.
'What was she praying for?' I asked curiously picking up my burden and moving towards Harmony.
"She wasn't praying at all; she was asking her sisters for forgiveness." Harmony said quietly looking at the spot where the girl had kneeled. As I looked, I noticed that a small patch of grass had appeared in that position only to rapidly begin to wilt and die even as we watched.
"Why would she want forgiveness from them?" I asked confused, as far as I was aware there was no bad blood between the three nymphs that had used to rule this island.
"For not dying and suffering with them. What happens when a Nymph, Satyr or similar being dies?" Harmony asked.
"They get reincarnated-. Oh." I exclaimed as I felt a shiver as realisation struck me. From what I had seen in battle those that died were reborn where they had fell. Except here on this island things were not allowed to live.
I was not sure how much that reincarnation could occur and still be thought of as the same being. But it was entirely possible that her sisters had suffered through Hera's curse until they eventually died and then been locked in a subsequent cycle of immediate reincarnation and death over and over again on this land they had looked after for centuries themselves. Now the islands corrupted nature itself refused to allow them to exist.
"That's terrible." I said bitterly, my relationship with Hera was mixed at best. But suddenly my Fiancée's actual dislike of the Queen of Heaven seemed to have a lot more credence behind it. She had given no concern to collateral damage in her wrath against her husband's other lovers.
"That's why she never came back here." Harmony said as what remained of the small patch of plants that had grown at the return of the nymph crumbled into dust.
"Do you think she will be ok?" I asked genuinely concerned for the redhead, even as Harmony reached inside the box in front of me and retrieved her prize.
"Honestly... No." She said pausing to take a bit out of the donut.
"Wait, why do you say that?" I asked in surprise at her lack of confidence in her words.
"As much as it pains me to admit, she reminds me of Galahad... She is like a fish out of water, or in this case her own time. Everything she knows of the outside world is either dead, destroyed or changed beyond recognition. Me included. Remember when she was lost, Rome was not even a thing back then. I hope so much so that I am wrong but what was I supposed to do? Leave her down there in that damp cave?" The goddess asked me, mismatched eyes wide and full of emotions.
As much as I wanted to help her, I had no idea what I could recommend. This was the one situation that the two of us had greatly different experiences with that I could not empathise with her on despite the irony. I was unable to comprehend the passage of time in the long term and how it affected people, places and indeed even concepts.
For example, back in those days' slavery was an accepted thing to deal with on a daily basis, now it was almost universally abhorred by rational individuals. It has often been said that Americans have a weird view on history by the rest of the world as it could be said that some Europeans houses are older than our country. Even then we would look at the ruins and artifacts of Rome and say that is Ancient History and belongs in a museum to be looked after carefully.
Delia was from a period that predated even that and because of her isolation had no concept of anything that had occurred in between then and now.
The goddess herself had admitted that she had spent entire centuries unchanging in her approach to life, but she was at least somewhat aware of what was going on in the outside world even if she did not give it any heed. She would learn information from the newest recruits and subconsciously learn the latest developments at the two annual meetings she was forced to attend. Diana given no other choice during her exile to the moon chariot would watch what transpired below as she had little else to do.
Back to Delia herself, even if I compared her to say Zoe from a few years ago. That was not to say they were similar it was just that Zoe had taken after her father and was stubborn and refused to learn or adapt to the changes around, despite having experienced that entire period of time. The only real situation I could compare her to was upon finding Pan in the Labyrinth and that had not exactly had a positive end either.
"Harmony, listen I don't know what I can say that will help, but you know if you something just say." I said at last, not wanting to bring up that particular example.
"Thank you, when it comes to the hunters it should be me who deals with situations that arise. I just sincerely hope that this is one of those times that I am going to be wrong." She said sighing as she shook her head before finally finishing the donut she still held.
Balancing the boxes on my left palm, I used my right arm to pull the goddess in close.
"Harmony you are quite literally the strongest woman I have ever known but you don't have to bear this alone. Not counting me you have more than a dozen strong minded girls down there who will quite literally do anything for each other. She may be new to most of them, but she is still one of them."
"I am so lucky to have you." She said shuffling in closer to face me directly before kissing me on the cheek.
"Here was me thinking it was the other way around." I responded with a grin before kissing her on the lips.
'Don't even think about it.' I told her mentally noticing a change in her expression as the ambient noise around us got noticeably quieter.
Slowly pulling away from me, it was not hard to miss the pout on her face at things not progressing further, again. In all honesty this was probably the longest the pair of us had gone since she had changed into her current state. Which considering that was only about thirteen hours said something about the former virgin now very much so nymphomaniac goddess in front of me.
"Come on let's not keep them waiting any longer." I told the sulking beauty in front of me, who silently relieved me of an entire box of sugary treats and began to walk whilst eating towards the campsite.
"Oh, by the way, can we try to avoid destroying more stores in the future. They are getting harder to find and have threatened to charge us more if it happens again." I told her playfully following on behind. That a disabled toilet in a monster fast food franchise was not the most inappropriate place to have done it was a feat in and of itself for the pair of us.
"Or they will do what exactly? If anything, they might as well send the Hydra my way so I can open a lot more stores for them." She finally answered between mouthfuls of the sweet treats.
"Good point." I said before wiping a small amount of strawberry filling of her lips with my thumb and licking it off myself.
"That probably looks hotter when I do it." She teased as I silently nodded in agreement before we resumed our walk.
(Perseus)
In my anger at my counterpart, that ridiculous punishment that I did not deserve and my frustrations about the goddess herself. I had found myself constantly bouncing between locations around the world aimlessly for the last hour or so.
Finally at last I found myself solitarily walking down a vaguely familiar patch of coastline. Despite how long it had been since I was here last. I knew it like the back of my hand. So, as I walked around the final rocky outcrop the sight of a small isolated pastel wooden cabin was not a surprise for me.
Despite it being almost five and half years since that fatefully cut short vacation, the place was still largely as I remembered it. Sure, the paintwork was a little more faded and some of the wooden decking looked like it should have been replaced a year or two ago. But then again that cheapness was why my mother, and I were able to come here in the first place after all.
It was here in this little cabin in Montauk that my life had been permanently changed. The night I found my best friend on the door mat sporting the legs of a goat and occasionally bleating like one too. It was on that small gravel drive that our mad dash for the safety of camp had started; with a wheel spin as mom smashed the pedal to the metal on Gabe's car as it began its final journey and the start of mine
Unsurprisingly considering it was the middle of winter and that there was no central heating inside. I was unable to sense anyone inside even as I forced the door and stepped through entrance, pausing to turn around and recollect the exact sight that had appeared in that spot all those years ago.
How quaint that all seemed now after everything that had happened since.
Numerous quests to unknown and lost places, enemies defeated, challenges overcome, wars won, the loss of dozens of fellow campers and friends and even Annabeth. The impact of the goddess on my life and my sanity.
All of it had started here, sure there was events before that, but it was here that everything finally clicked into reality with the appearance of a goat boy on this doorstep.
Turning around and walking inside the lounge I found myself sitting down on a simple wooden stool at the dining table. Mildly amusing to me was the thought that it seemed so much smaller than the last time I has sat at it. The almost tranquil surroundings and the occasional sound of waves crashing on the rocks outside doing much to calm the anger that had clouded my head.
Reaching across the table I took a hold of the folder that had the cabins general information on it and flipping it over began to absentmindedly start to draw and write on the back of the single-sided pamphlet pages.
Come sunrise I was still sitting there albeit with my face now firmly pressed onto the table where I had fallen asleep.
Slowly pushing myself up I had to pause and pull the sheet of paper that was stuck to my forehead out of my vision.
Allowing my tired eyes to focus I regarded the heavily doodled piece of paper that had previously had a map to the nearest small town and the shops located there but was now covered in the highest quality stick men and monsters stabbing one another. Scoffing at my own childishness I tossed it back towards the table before it rode in the air and instead fell of the table on its reverse face.
In contrast this side was heavily covered in writing from top to bottom, as someone who had never had any serious need to write due to my dyslexia hampering my ability to do so regardless. Still I was quite surprised that I had written so much of anything, before even reading whatever it was.
Looking closer and past all the scribbled-out sections and still broken English I was surprised about what I was reading. Putting down the page I was holding and picking up some of the others that were now torn free and spread across the table I began to notice that what seemed like incoherent ramblings were actually my attempts to narrate my own life since the last time I was here.
Some bits were written in very hastily but other bits like my first arrival at Camp Half-Blood I had devoted entire pages to explaining. After going through all the pages, I could find it seemed like I had gotten to our ill-fated trip to the St. Louis Gateway Arch before running out of paper and seemingly falling asleep.
"What on earth am I even doing here?" I muttered to myself gazing down at my creation.
Here I was running away from my problems to my childhood vacation cabin, breaking into it and writing a childish version of my own memoirs at the grand old age of eighteen.
Even though truthfully none of these memories were ever my own technically.
That thought alone instantly causing my anger to return as I pushed the table back away from myself.
As the wood scraped on the floor, I suddenly became aware that I was not alone as the noise disturbed the figure laying on the couch across the room. Even as I recognised the familiar figure of my last remaining fragment, I was still surprised to see her here.
"How the fuck do you keep finding me?" I asked angrily. My rage less as a result of her actual presence and more my own anger about my own shortcomings compared to my original counterpart.
"Good morning to you too." Lilith said rolling her eyes as she flipped her hair over her shoulders as I simply glared at her. My momentary anger distracting me her looks.
"What can I say... I guess you could say that I am attracted to you."
"Lucky me." I muttered under my breath as I began to rock my chair on its back legs. There was little point in arguing with my twin aspect. We had the same memories and origin after all; besides she was as deadly in a war of words as I could be in one of swords.
"Still this place sure does bring back some memories." She said rising to her feet and walking across to the fireplace and running her fingers through the thin layer of dust upon it before brushing it off with the other hand.
"Shame that they are not our memories." I told her bitterly not missing watching her rolling her eyes again.
"Jeez you are worse than Diana." She said and at the Roman goddess's name I almost instinctively perked up.
Seemingly not missing this change in my expression Lilith pulled the chair out opposite from me across the table.
"Oh, what is the matter does being compared to dear old Di get your hopes up? Sure, you both have a massive inferiority complex. However, the difference is she got hers by being isolated and having her sense of self beaten down by her overbearing counterparts over thousands of years. News flash! You are not in and have never been in the same boat as her, literally no one is telling you what you can and can't do except don't be an asshole. Even miss perfection herself has told you the same thing, do whatever you want to do, just don't fuck about or you will find out." The carefree aspect told me, even as got me to focus on her face I noticed her hands busily collecting my makeshift manuscript into a straightened pile in front of her.
"Are you trying to make a point?" I asked rudely.
"You are so frustratingly stubborn that it almost hurts me to admit that we are related. Do you just have a nap and forget any bit of progress you make in life? If you keep comparing yourself to Percy, your life is going to fucking suck forever. Once I disappear, give it a few decades and mom does eventually die, the campers that you knew go on with their lives. What will you have? What is your legacy and not something that is stolen from him because at the moment you are in danger of being the creepy uncle that no one invites for dinner."
"..." I went to open my mouth before choosing to hold my tongue. Without meaning to I had ended up as her victim anyway and there was little point in providing her with more ammunition.
"You must have something, why else would you have spent five hours writing this?" She said waving the collection of papers back and forth.
"How long was you watching me?" I asked almost creeped out. More alarmingly I was so engrossed in what I was doing that I had clearly missed her presence as she was spying on me.
"That's not the important thing here." She said waving off my concern at her stalker tendencies.
"Why are you asking me this, you know full well that I am basically a lost sheep without direction." I told her bitterly.
"What was Echidna's dress made of?" She asked me randomly as I stared at her.
"Well?"
"Denim..." I answered quickly albeit confused at the nature of the question.
"What was the name of Clarisse's ironclad?"
"CSS Birmingham." I answered instantly. That one was easy, it was a ship after all.
"Why did you think Blackjack was a girl for several weeks when he clearly has a dick!"
"Because I was young and more than a little retarded." The fact I only realised after Grover had asked me why I kept calling him a girl several weeks later When talking about the Pegasus as part of the story over the rest of that summer was embarrassing enough.
"This your legacy dumbass. You may not like it, but this is who you are. If none of this happened, you would not be here. Own it. Unlike Percy you are not so distracted with the future that you actively want to forget about the past. The good thing is you can also act as a third party and write down all the really dumb shit that he did and never told anyone about, people will think that it is him and not you."
"That's diabolical... I love it."
"There is one thing I would have to recommend you avoid though."
"What?" I asked genuinely concerned.
"Writing anything yourself, because holy shit your handwriting is a mess and your punctuation is a dumpster fire, why are their capital letters in the middle of words?" She said nitpickingly throwing the papers on the table and jamming her finger on examples. So what if I spelt Chiron's name wrong in four different ways all on one page alone. He was my teacher after all, perhaps he should have taught me better.
"Sorry, I almost forgot that I never got to finish school." I told her sarcastically.
"Technically you never went to school at all. So, I guess you are not doing too bad." She said playfully before turning the papers over and looking at the drawings on the opposite side before pausing, looking up at me and then back down to the drawing and back again several times before finally placing the offending image on the table and spinning it around, so it was now facing me.
"Explain." She asked almost nervously as I began to feel my face fluster at the very crude stick drawing in front of me.
"Listen it was late, and I was half delusional by that point." I defended weakly even as I slowly lowered my chair back onto all its legs.
"Delusional enough that you wrote half a structured novel. I wonder what Harmon-." She said reaching back for the offending item before I simultaneously grabbed it with one hand whilst simultaneously covering her mouth with my opposite palm.
"Not a single word..." I said warningly before letting her go as I folded the offending item up and placed it into a jacket pocket. I should have destroyed it, but then I would have lost a full page of what I had written.
"What would I say, if you think you could do it, go on ahead. I mean her hair is certainly long enough..."
"I hate you."
"Love you." She teased victoriously before rocking back on her own chair.
"So what? Are you saying I should really do this?" I asked genuinely. I mean was it hard to believe that my life had played out like some sort of twisted story considering everything that had happened in it?
Oh wait, The Three Fates and their mother were real. As much as I liked to think I was the main character, I was still basically an NPC in their games and machinations.
"What is the worst that can happen? Besides play your cards right and you might even genuinely earn some positive attention or better yet money. Show the goddess that you are not just an angry moron who happens to look like her boy toy. Like it or not but Percy Jackson is a big deal nowadays, guys and gods envy him, and goddesses would dearly love to fuck him." She said crassly returning back to her usual demeanour as it was my turn to roll my eyes.
'Like that is ever going to happen.' I thought brushing away that sentiment instantly. What could anyone offer him or even begrudgingly me over that particular goddess. The second hottest girl I knew barely ruffled my attention and that was purely out of curiosity of whatever she was getting up to with Bellona's daughter.
Basically, unless you were one of the three forms of the Goddess of the Hunt or her literal clone, I could not give a shit about how you looked.
"Sure, fuck it why not, not like I have got anything to lose." I finally agreed as Lilith paused looking at me, her knees resting against the tabletop as she stopped rocking back and forth.
Besides the fact of my emotional stunting would not affect my ability to write if I was to start at the beginning of my adventures. It wasn't like I knew a girl was interested in me until I was like fifteen, to say my relationship progress with Annabeth was slow was an understatement.
Come to think of it, I would probably have best let Athena know what I was planning on doing. A) because her 'late' daughter would be a big part of my story even without us being in a relationship for the longest time. B) she might be able to point me in the direction of someone who could write better than I could ever hope to.
Oh and I suppose Grover too-... I added as an afterthought only to pause as the chair Lilith was playing about on snapped underneath her causing her to disappear out of my view with a yelp.
"Pretty sure more than half a dozen teachers told us that would happen in class." I lambasted as finally it happened.
"Yeah, well half of them were monsters. So, they probably wanted it to." She shot back before bouncing back to her feet, embarrassed but otherwise physically fine just like usual.
"One was a monster; students were another matter."
"Stop being smart! So are you going to hide here or return to Orthrys." The flustered fragment asked causing me to look about the cabin instinctively. To the outside world this place was nothing special, even its owners had clearly started to neglect it but for me it had always been a place of beginnings.
It also gave me a simple achievable target in a world that usually expected the impossible from me or rather my counterpart.
I wanted to earn enough money to buy this place.
I wanted to bring mom and Andromeda here and let her have that vacation that we never experienced.
Sure, compared to the grandiose surroundings of Olympus, Orthrys, Atlantis or even New Rome this place was a ramshackle hut by the side of the ocean. But unlike all those places it actually meant something to me.
Sure, I had never had to fight and almost die for this place like those examples. Instead, it represented something that I had long since lost from my childhood.
My innocence.
I had been forced to grow up too quick in a cruel world, hell legally I was not yet old enough to drink alcohol in most places. Yet I had tortured and killed mortals and other demigods alike, let alone the questionable things I had done to immortal enemies.
Perhaps people and my detractors did need to learn what my life had really been like. That I was not just some one-dimensional being they called upon whenever they had lost some shit or needed someone's head to not sit on its shoulders for a while.
"Hello."
'Oh right.' Apparently, I was just as good as my counterpart at going off on mental tangent as he was.
"Come on let's go, I am hungry." I told her before grabbing her hand as we both disappeared into light.
Hopefully a little furniture damage would drop the price down a little when I got the chance to negotiate.
AN. Well who had the fourth wall being broken and it turning out to be that the real author of PJO is Perseus? Is it more breaking the wall down if I then put the series creator as a canon character in a fanfiction based on his own creation. Or is he technically already Canon because he calls himself the Camp Scribe in The Demigod Diaries foreword?
I hadn't planned on breaking this chapter up into a Delia section and a Perseus section but his side ended up longer than I expected and more enjoyable to write to be honest. First off the situation on Delos, is it little surprise that Delia is basically terrified of the other hunters despite who she had been in the past. For someone who has been in a long period of near total isolation and in the condition she was for that long to suddenly be bombarded with questions by new faces was never going to end with a simple "Hello There, I am Delia and surprise bitches I am still alive. Give me back that Diadem." instead 'Fuck, Fuck, oh my goddess, who are these people, what do they want to know, holy shit her tits are massive, speak Greek please.' are more expected responses in her situation.
Second is of course Perseus (and Lilith's) trip down memory lane, despite some people asking for more than half a decade at this point, he is not going anywhere. However, I want him to be able to step out of Percy's shadow and be his own person with his own experiences and even friendships that Percy never would. He is the Lord of Time and yet Percy is generally only focused on the present and future, Perseus's sense of inferiority of Percy's actions getting to the point of his own appearance causes him to focus on that past to an unhealthy degree. Now it is his chance to turn that into his own strength. It is not like Percy has never shown to be creative, he literally thrives and survives due to his ability to make something ridiculous work in a way only Orks from 40K would possibly understand or appreciate. Also he has actively set himself his own target rather than simply follow someone else's idea. Progress in a strangely heart-warming way for him.
So anyway let me know what you think of what is going on with that tangent.
Next chapter is back to Delos, our power couple and may even see the reappearance of a somewhat forgotten about Dragon - Witch - Hunter - Princess - Knight-Apprentice. (Well technically she was a mortal queen, but her grandfather is a immortal dragon-emperor... Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot Ramblings intensify)