A/N- I know that the last one was maybe a little confusing for some of you, but that is ok, if it wasn't obvious Diana took over when they went to Rome and Artemis took back control after she locked lips with Percy, what a cliche love story, huh?
Enjoy, starting this out with a ton of dialogue, so I know you guys like that stuff.
Later that day, inside the Praetors office, Reyna Ramirez-Arellano and Artemis, Percy and Atalanta.
(Oh God... Now I am putting a scene description at the top of these... Just a few more chapters and I'll be Shakespeare guys, mark my words...)
"We have been expecting you for quite some time now, Lady Artemis, the campers have all been rigorously preparing for your arrival. You will find that the Artemis house is freshly cleaned and stocked up for your stay, we have taken the liberty of cleaning the streets and organizing everything as well as was possible, all five of the Cohorts are ready and waiting." She explained, leaving some things unsaid so that they could discuss, like the part of the training.
"You have your own house here in Rome?" Percy asked Artemis, with an astonished look on his face, he knew that she had a Cabin in camp half blood, obviously... But an actual estate in Rome? That was cool, and he honestly felt kind of stupid that he didn't know about it, as he was a Praetor too, technically.
"Yes, it is equivalent to my palace on Olympus, and it serves the same purpose, being more than enough to house my hunters and some other guests, I can't even remember the last time that I used it. Fun fact, it is called the Moon Mansion."
"Oh my gosh, that is such a tacky name, but that is incredible, do you have to like... Pay rent?" He asked hesitantly, he was honestly confused.
"Of course not! I am a goddess, why would I have to pay rent? But seriously, it is funded by Olympus, and no every god does not have one."
"There is something more than meets the eye with you two, isn't there?" Reyna asked cautiously, she always was a smart one.
"Maybe, Percy has recently had a lot of problems in his life and is now our... Protector, if you will, the hunters accept him and we are very good friends... Anyways, we would like to take the day to prepare and then please could you gather all of the Cohorts together at, maybe midday tomorrow, I would like to give a speech. Percy here is at your disposal if you need any help, I know very well that he is a Praetor as well."
"Very well My Lady, I will do as you say, one thing though, if I may ask..."
"Of course," she replied.
"Why are you not Diana? You are in Rome now and so you should have transitioned? Correct?"
"You are correct, but sometimes it is possible to take back control even though we are in Rome and my Roman form should have taken over, I have a strong enough will to take back control from her, she was... Threatening Percy, and I couldn't allow that, surely you understand?"
"Of course," Artemis replied, crossing her arms.
"Do you understand the problem that is currently going on at Olympus and why we are here in the first place?"
"Very much so, I know that two of the Primordials' have declared war on Olympus and that you need to deliver the news to both camps and prepare them for war, I assure you, the Romans are and will be ready to fight to the last demigod, we openly welcome you to Rome."
"You certainly did your homework; how did you already know so much?" Artemis asked.
"Lady Minerva told me, she came down a few days ago to inform me of what was going on with the upcoming war and all that."
"That is interesting, well anyhow, thank you, Praetor," Artemis greeted as she went to leave the room, and Reyna nodded in response. One thing Percy noticed, was that Artemis left out the detail about Nyx, or Nox as she would be here in Rome... He also wondered why she would not tell the Praetor about that? But it also wasn't his place to ask, at least not out here in public.
"Thank you, Reyna, have a nice day!" Percy called as he follower Artemis out of the office and into the streets of Rome, Artemis had already instructed the hunt to carry on to the Artemis house, Thalia was leading them and that is why Atalanta came with them to meet with the Praetor, as they needed a representative from the huntresses and Atalanta is the next in line for Lieutenant if Thalia dies. But then again, she probably wouldn't take it because she has never taken an interest in being the Lieutenant and most likely would give it to Phoebe, but Artemis didn't know how she felt about Phoebe being Lieutenant after she was so mean to Percy, but she also amended her ways, so there was that... But if Artemis had her way, she would never need a new lieutenant.
"Holy shit this place is huge!" Percy exclaimed as they walked into the Artemis house in Rome, the outside was huge, but the inside was amazing! There was a huge central gathering area that could fit one-hundred people easily, and then past that was a huge kitchen that ten people could easily fit inside cooking, and then to the left when they came in there was a massive staircase that spiraled up to the ceiling, passing four different floors and spiraling up to a single room that was no doubt the master bedroom. but while Percy was excited at how massive the place was, when he calmed down, he looked over to Artemis who had gone over and was sitting on one of the couches with her arms and legs crossed looking like she has had the worst day of her life.
he was very concerned, so he went over and sat next to her, and pulled her close to him.
"What is wrong Artemis?" He asked her softly, running a hand through her hair to try and make her feel better.
She sighed, and then she replied, "This place... ugh, there are more than a hundred rooms in this place, meant to house over three hundred people, and do you know how many hunters we have? Don't even answer, we have enough to fill less than a quarter of the rooms, we used to have enough to fill more than half!" She exclaimed, burying her face into his chest, she didn't cry though.
"Arty... We'll rebuild the hunt; this won't last forever."
"We lost so many in the Titan and Giant wars, and we will lose so many more in the war to come... It will take millennia to rebuild the hunt to the numbers we used to have."
"You won't lose any more if I have anything to say about it, I promise."
"Thank you, Percy."
They stayed like that for a little while, holding each other and thinking about the past but not saying anything out loud... And then suddenly Artemis shouted:
"Phoebe! Come down here!" Which scared the living hell out of Percy, Artemis could shout really loud!
Within the time of ten seconds, the eldest hunter was running down the stairs from who the hell knows where, he would have to explore this place.
"Yes, My Lady?" She asked when she go to the bottom of the stairs.
"Have you received any news from Taylor?" She asked, leaving Percy to wonder who the hell Taylor was.
"Unfortunately, no, My Lady, she has not reported back in some time... The last we heard from her was a few months ago, when she brought Amanda to the hunt." She explained, Amanda was their newest hunter who was only about ten years old.
"Dammit, what could be taking her so long? She is one of the oldest hunters and we need her back! Especially with a war at our doorsteps!"
"My Lady, with all due respect don't we also need more hunters? We've lost so many in the previous two wars, and with the war to come we will need all the numbers we can get!"
"Phoebe, you of all people know that the hunters live by Quality over Quantity, Taylor is one of our best hunters and even though her job is extremely important, we need her back, especially since she seems to be FAILING as of late... Not a single new hunter in months, that is disappointing to say the least."
"Who is Taylor, Artemis?" Percy asked from the side, ever since that audience with Chaos, he no longer used the title of "Lady," with her, when they were in Private or in front of the hunters, but still used it out in public.
"Taylor is quite possibly the most important hunter that we have, she is a recruiter for the hunt and spends all of her time out in the world, New York for example, finding young girls that are being abused or raped and bring them back to the hunt, she has a special pendant that I gave her that allows her to flash like a god and will always pinpoint my location to her, so that she can always find us and return to us with new recruits..."
"Geez, this is sounding more and more like a cult by the day..." He mocked, crossing his arms like he was brooding.
"Percy!" Both Artemis and Phoebe exclaimed at the same time, looking totally exasperated.
"What? Fine, I was joking." He admitted, and Artemis sighed.
"Anyways, that is Very well, Phoebe, inform Taylor that she is to return to the hunt as soon as possible. She may return to recruiting once the war is over, tell her that we are now in Rome so to be prepared for that." She instructed.
Phoebe sighed, but she said "Yes, My Lady, right away."
"Thank you, you are dismissed." Artemis said and got up from the couch to walk over to one of the cabinets.
"What was all that about?" Percy asked, getting up to follow her.
"I was interested to know what the status of our recruitment officer was, Phoebe is the intelligence Officer of the hunt and thus she is Taylor's direct liaison to us while she is away. Since Taylor has not reported back in more than two and a half months, then she needs to return because we need all hands on deck... And adds are any new hunters she brings to the hunt right now are almost useless anyhow because we won't have enough time to train them and they will be too young to fight."
"I see, I also see there is a vast network of things I didn't know about..." He said almost to himself.
"I'm sorry Percy, honestly." She said to him softly, walking over to him and laying her hands gently on his chest.
"I-I just didn't think to tell you, y-you won't hold against me, right?" She asked cautiously, like she truly did care what he thought and asking for his forgiveness.
"Of course I do, Arty, however... I would like you to tell me about things in the future, it didn't hurt me at all to not know about this, but don't make this a pattern, understand?" He did not like it when she kept things from him, and he never took it well, which is why she was so scared that he would be upset with her.
"I promise, Percy." She replied and leaned up to kiss him sensually, which he eagerly kissed her back.
ZAP!
A zapping noise and a bright flash of golden light covered the room, and when it faded a average height pretty blonde girl stood in the middle of the room looking around. She looked like a woman that would work at a secretary's office, she was dressed like a mortal, but not like a wealthy one but one you would see working at McDonald's that is earning money to go to college, and she was young enough to fit that description too, looking barely older than a sophomore in high school... She was pretty, probably bugged by men every day. The most noticeable thing about the girl though, was that she had a sword on her back, he had an idea of who she was but he wasn't sure...
Artemis practically freaked out, quickly walking past him and over to the girl, right up in her face.
"Where the HELL HAVE YOU BEEN!?" She practically screamed.
"I-I,"
"You better have a damn good explanation Taylor, I haven't seen you, IN MONTHS!" Artemis barked, cutting her off.
"I'm truly sorry My Lady, I felt that I was obliged to stay out as long as was needed to bring back a new hunter... I found none, I was currently in Atlanta Georgia when I received an order from Phoebe to return."
"What the Hades did you expect to find in that state? Fried chicken?! NO! Go upstairs and find Phoebe and give her a full report, NOW!"
"Yes, My Lady!" She quickly said and raced up the stairs faster than Percy has ever seen anyone climb a flight of stairs; she was skipping three at a time. When she was all the way upstairs and he heard a door shut, Percy said:
"What was that? Why were you so mean to her?" He asked, exasperated at seeing his girlfriend be so harsh to one of her followers... The last time she had been that mean to one was when she blew up at Phoebe for talking bad about them, about him.
Artemis sighed, but then she started speaking: "Taylor is an elder hunter, she's been around for a very long time, and Taylor is not even her real name, her real name is Keira. I have high expectations from her because her job is so important, so I am hard on her when she fails to deliver. In this case she hasn't returned in months and a war is going on, so I had her return and I chewed her out. What else do you want to know?"
"Why does she have a sword?"
"Taylor is the only hunter other than Thalia, and maybe Atalanta who uses arm long daggers instead of the standard ones, to not use the standard huntress weaponry, she prefers using the sword, and before you ask me why I had you teach us how to use a sword and not Taylor, is because that she is A gods awful teacher, and she is almost never around anyways."
"Makes sense, Artemis, uhm since we are back in Rome... Is it alright if I go and hang out with my Roman friends from the Argo II?" He asked, walking up to her so he was right next to her.
"Of course, Percy, go have fun, I'm going to go take a nap."
"Thank you Arty, I'll be back soon." He promised, and they shared a loving kiss before he left.
"Percy!"
"Ahhh! Strong as ever, Leo." Percy praised as he hugged his friend that he has not seen in a long time. His friend was the best and most prestigious son of Hephaestus that he knew, and they had been through a lot together.
"Where the Hades have you been? I heard what happened with that little blonde bitch, I knew she was trouble from the beginning."
"Yeah, I'm really sorry Percy." Jason said, walking up to the two, Piper at his side.
"She was Toxic," Hazel chimed in from the side, they were all there.
"Never liked, her." Frank agreed.
"Yeah, I never liked that Annabitch, the next time we see her it won't be a cordial visit..."
"Thanks for the support, guys, I really appreciate it. Yo Piper, we stopped at Camp Half-blood and you weren't there, it was pretty sucky without our Beauty Queen."
"I've been here with Jason, the Roman's don't much mind me anymore, and I don't mind them... And me and Jason are getting pretty serious, he is a really nice boyfriend."
"I don't need the details..." Percy assured them, and they laughed.
"So where have you been? What have you been doing? Percy?" Jason asked quickly, changing the topic as fast as he possibly could... Which was smart.
"Well... Believe it or not, I joined up with the hunters of Artemis."
"WHAT?!" They all burst out at once, and with Percy's enhanced hearing it really hurt his ears.
"Calm down, it's fine, they are nice to me and all, they are like my sisters now."
"How the hell did that come to pass?" Jason asked, crossing his arms and wearing a thoughtful expression.
"Are they hot?!" Leo chimed in, unhelpfully and ludicrous, as usual. And the way he said it was way too enthusiastic in Percy's opinion, and as he was supposed to be the protector of the hunters, needless to say he cringed.
"I suppose so, but I do not think of them that way..."
"Always the prestigious type, Percy..."
"Tell us the story!" Hazel insisted, enthusiasm coating her beautiful voice like caramel on an apple.
"Alright... Fine, everybody sit down and listen closely, it is a long tail."
"Just like your mom!"
"SHUT UP LEO!"
A couple years prior-
Annabeth came out of her bedroom exhausted; she had been at this for forever... Her mother had been working her up one side and down the other of a fucking wall recently, making her do research and projects for her... She hadn't been able to see Percy in days, she could only imagine what he must be thinking of her, probably thinking that she didn't want to spend time with him, and maybe even that she was cheating on him, it was awful.
"Welcome Annabeth, please come in." Her mother greeted warmly, Athena was always nice to her daughter, but she did work her very hard... Probably because that Annabeth was her favorite and most prestigious child.
Annabeth followed her mother into her palace to the kitchen, which was a massive expansion of walls and room that covered thousands of square feet, her mother was on the council, so her palace was huge.
"Annabeth, can you come here for a second?" Athena asks. "Yes mother." Annabeth tiredly replies to her mother, moving towards where she heard her voice.
"I need you to work out these equations for me, and then when you're done continue research what I had asked you to research." She instructed, they were researching the Labyrinth, a vast and old structure that almost nothing was known about, at least nothing detailed was known about it. The laptop that Daedalus had given her was the center of their research, and the things that it had on it was vast and numerous.
Again, Annabeth tiredly replies, "Yes mother." She loved her mother, and she knew that her mother loved her, but sometimes it was a pain in the butt to have to do all this stuff for her... Like why she couldn't just do this herself, was beyond her...
They have been in Athena's palace for three full days now, only coming out to do the necessities, and it was showing on Annabeth's face. She looked completely spent and exhausted. As she had only ate once today, she was dead on her feet, as to why she hadn't asked for a break, firstly her pride wouldn't let her, she felt very close to a breakthrough on her research, and she was afraid she would see disappointment on her mother's face, which wasn't likely to happen, but she was extremely tired so her thought processes weren't really reasonably functional right now. She walks up and gives the equations back to her mother, and her mother, seeing her daughter's obvious exhaustion, says to her daughter, "Take a break Annabeth, you deserve it. Go see your boyfriend, he is probably worried sick about you." Annabeth practically heaves in relief and says, "Thank you mother, I am sure that he is." and she leaves to go to camp and rest, but she needs to see her boyfriend first.
XXX(())XXX
Her mother Athena had offered to flash her back to camp and she couldn't help but accept, because otherwise it would have taken her the rest of the day to get back to camp.
Upon her arrival, she saw her boyfriend Percy running to her with concern written all over his face, he asked. "Annie, are you okay?!" Annabeth snapped, "Don't call me that!" Percy snickers a bit, and says "Okay Annie, but seriously are you okay?" She wipes her eyes. " I'm okay Seaweed brain, just a bit tired." Percy being very overprotective, searches her over and Annabeth, in a moment of rash decision, snaps and says, "Just leave me alone, okay?!" She hurriedly walks to her cabin, leaving Percy outside, with not a little bit of hurt.
XXX(())XXX
The next day-
"Percy, I'm sorry... I've been stuck up with Athena for the past few days, I didn't mean to snap at you." She apologized, wrapping her arms around his neck and leaning up to kiss him.
But he pulled away, he didn't trust her at the moment, because that she had been gone for so long and he didn't really believe her at the moment... She was starting to become more and more distant to him, like a few days ago she was gone for two days and when he asked about it, she snapped at him and told him to go away. No, no kissing right now, he needed to go think, and maybe his Wise Girl would be calmed down by the time he got back. He told her so and she did not like it at all... Oh no.
"Well maybe you are the one that can't be trusted, how do I know that you haven't been around the camp plowing the Aphrodite girls? Maybe I AM THE ONE THAT NEEDS TO GO THINK ABOUT YOU!"
"Annabeth, you know that I would never cheat on you."
"Pfft," she spit and stormed out of his cabin.
That did not go the way he wanted it to go, what the Hades was UP with her?
XXX(())XXX
Percy-
Percy sat down on his bed and put his head in his pillow, he probably should not have said that, maybe if he had been more accepting, she would not have gotten upset... Maybe even let him get lucky, Annabeth was a prideful girl, and she rarely apologized for anything, but hey... You never know.
"What has gotten into my Wise girl?" He asked himself quietly after she had left. "She leaves for four days or so and when she comes back, she is completely exhausted, and snaps at me, then leaves again the next day. I know that she was in her mother's palace helping her out, but... She should still be nice to me? Right? Is she ever really, nice? Yeah, she is, but only when I do something for her or she is trying to gain my favor." he muses quietly in his cabin.
"Anyways, I hope she's not overworking herself at Olympus." He scoffs. "Who am I kidding." he says. "I bet she barely gets to sleep up there." He mused, which was pretty much correct.
He starts planning, "I'll Wait until she comes back, I'll spend some quality time with her and then make sure she gets the rest she needs." he concludes and nods his head excitedly, and then goes off to the shower that he had all to himself in his cabin.
XXX(())XXX
1 Week Later-
"There she is." He says to himself, watching Annabeth walk across camp, and to his distress she looks even more exhausted than before. He decides to talk to her, so he walks towards her but when he gets over to her she walks away. Confused as to why she was ignoring him he follows her while calling her name, but to no avail, he gets annoyed and finally grabs her and turns her around but she slaps him and walks away wordlessly. Now that was harsh, she just completely rejected him! He was her boyfriend, he was worried for her and she treats him like that? Maybe this was not such a good idea, he just turned and walked back to his own cabin to sulk.
...
The next day he tries to talk to her again, only for her to again ignore him the whole day and say a meek apology in the evening, that he doubted she had any heart in at all. To his distress, she leaves for another week and comes back even more exhausted but this time when he went to her she cuts him with her dagger and does the same each time he tries to talk to her.
Every week over and over she does something different when he goes to talk to her in her cabin or his. Until one day, he felt a hot hand on his shoulder as he was walking through camp, right next to the huge fireplace in the middle of the cabins.
"Peeeercy," A warm voice whispered behind him.
He turned around and saw a woman that was around thirty-five years old and had chocolate brown hair and warm hazel eyes. She was pretty, incredibly pretty actually, with possibly the warmest expression he has ever seen. His entire body relaxed when she walked up to him, and he knew exactly who this was.
"lady Hestia..." He breathed, she had never approached him like this before, they were friends but this was incredible... Being approached by a goddess as powerful and old as she was, and in her older form no less,this was a great priviledge... He had only ever approached her when she was sitting at the fireplace, never had she approached him before, except that one time.
"I'm no Lady, not to you anyways... And yes Percy, it is me... Listen, I won't take up much of your time, but I couldn't help but notice what is going on between you and Annabeth. I know you love her Percy, but you have to break up with her, there is no way that that relationship is healthy, I am all for family and love, but you won't get either from her."She ismply said and then was gone, burning away in fire.
XXX(())XXX
Percy walked up to the Athena cabin cautiously, he couldn't break up with her... There was no way he could do that, but maybe he could salvage this relationship by going and talking to her, standing up for himself and putting an end to this? Get some real answers?
He knocks on the door and there is a little bit of a shuffle inside and he heard some yelling, but finally a blonde girl swung open the door like she hated ever fiber of the wooden thing.
"What Percy? What do you want?" She snapped, it was Annabeth alright.
"Can I come in? I need to talk to you."
"You can do it from right there, where you are then." She snaps at him, he closes his eyes and takes a deep breath in, try not to get offended or angry Percy he thinks to himself.
"Fine, Annabeth... I know that you have had a hard month, but there is no excuse for the way you have been treating me, I love you and you have seriously hurt me with the way you have been treating me lately and the rejections. I just want us to be happy together again, and I can't do that if you push me away, so Annabeth please tell me what it is that I did wrong to you?"
"I'll tell you what it is Percy, I don't like you anymore, I don't love you anymore, nor do I think I ever truly did... I found another man, and I don't want you anymore, I NEVER WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN!" She screamed, slamming the door in his face.
He just stood there, shocked and on the verge of tears, and that's when he felt a set of arms wrap around him and flames shot up around them, but they didn't hurt him, they were calming and... and they were peaceful flames.
And it was from that moment on that he knew, he needed to keep better company of women and that Hestia would always be there for him.
"Damn Percy, I can't believe Annabeth dumped you like that. You loved her so much and that is how she repays you? Makes me sick." Piper exclaimed, crossing her arms across her chest and crossing her legs.
"I know, I was so heart broken, I was driven into a depression for weeks after that... That stuff just hits me harder than it does for other people, it's the loyalty flaw, I just want people to reciprocate loyalty back to me... And it just doesn't work that way, people just aren't as loyal, at least she wasn't. Most of my friends at camp weren't either, only a few remain my friend now, and you all of course, I didn't even get to speak with Rachel while I was there. "
"You act like it doesn't bother you now, but I know that it must still bother you, you've never gotten over these things fast, but did you move on? You speak like you did, so tell me, who is the lucky girl now?" Jason asked, putting on a smile at his masterful deduction skills.
"If I tell you all, will you promise to keep it a secret? Every last one of you, it's a very sensitive matter, and if people found out in the wrong way they would not take it well and it could destroy her reputation."
He paused, looking around the room at the nodding heads, they all looked content enough.
"Of course, Percy, we won't tell a soul, we swear." Frank announced, putting himself into this conversation for the first time. Percy looked at him cautiously, he did not know if telling them about Artemis... Telling them her greatest secret, something that could get her persecuted, while she was napping at home, unaware of what he was doing... She trusted him to go out, easily let him go, so was this a good idea? He could trust these people, right? They were his friends, that he had shed blood with, that he had been through wars with.
"Remember I said I was in the hunt now? Well..."
"Your girlfriend is a hunter? Aren't they like... Sworn off men? Geez man you are mad daring, gotta give that to ya."
"Not exactly Leo, because I'm dating Artemis herself."
The room was silent like he had dropped a bomb, no one spoke at all.
"Or I suppose you could call her Diana too, most of you are Roman, after all."
"PERCY!? You are seriously insane bro; how did you manage to pull that off!? Did you just like, ask her out to red lobster then she was like, fo sho dude, or what? I thought she was like completely sworn off men, not only that but she hates them. Like she castrates and kills every one that does her wrong or anything, like the hunt skins men alive for fun if they stumble across them in the woods."
"I may or may not have taken the sky for her once, when I rescued her from Atlas, and I was friends with her lieutenant Zoe before she died... Artemis has always liked me, and respected me, so when I needed her, she let me in the hunt and eventually we got really close... Now she is my girlfriend, I plan to propose to her after all of this is over."
"That is really nice Percy, I am happy for you, she has to be better, a lot better than Annabeth." Piper told him.
"Thank you, guys, she is a really nice girlfriend, and she is much better than Annabeth was, she also treats me as an equal. She takes charge when we are in public, but we are equals when we are alone, or with just the hunters."
"That is nice... Percy, we're happy for you, I hope it lasts a long time, forever."
"I do too, Pipes, I do too..."
A/N- Thanks everyone, I hope you enjoyed this one. I would like everyone to welcome my new Beta Reader... Drum roll please! OH yeah! It's Naeemakil11!
He has been so helpful to me on Discord, with stuff about the story, and just a great person in general, he is the one that gave me the idea for the Annabeth break up, I didn't want it to be cliche and I hope it wasn't...
Thank you all so much, to my supporters as usual, you all on Wattpad and on Discord are some of the best people ever, thank you so much.
Please join my discord at- 9hDzyzMkD3
Till next time wonderful people!
Please do me a favor and review/comment/vote/kudos
Plz and thank you, have a WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS!