Percy

The sounds of hundreds of boot heels marching in unison was one that always put me in a better mood.

I snuck a glance at Artemis, who wore an inscrutable expression on her face as the assembled soldiers saluted in perfect formation with the cry of 'Senatus Populusque Romanus!'.

I returned the salute, thanking the Cohorts for their muster, and for their service to Rome.

'An impressive force.' Artemis said finally. Despite her lack of emotion, I could tell that she was surprised with the whole affair, which left me confused.

What, do the Greeks not have military parades?

Which, now that I thought about it, was a very good point. What type of government did the Greeks have? I assumed they would follow a democratic system like ours, as, well, they were Greeks. The form of government literally originated from there.

I made a note to ask about it at some point, in case it was necessary.

We walked side by side through the streets of New Rome, conversing idly to keep up appearances, though I could tell she found this just as boring and unnecessary as I did.

The rest of the entourage had kept a respectable distance from myself and, more importantly, Artemis.

They muttered among each other, and the senators especially made sure to stay outside of earshot, sure to be conspiring with each other while I gave Artemis a tour of New Rome, introducing her to some of the citizens that I knew better.

She could probably hear them, but I wouldn't grace them with that information.

'What's next on the itinerary?' Artemis asked with a slight smile.

I frowned. 'I'll be honest, I'm not exactly sure. I know it has something to do with a token of gratitude, but Reyna was put in charge of your reception. The senate thought that having a woman as your first point of reference would be a good jumping-off point for relations.'

Artemis snorted. 'I feel like they weren't completely informed on the dynamics of your leadership.'

I shrugged. 'What can I say? Most of the senators haven't been outside New Rome in the last decade, forget familiarising themselves with us. They think themselves above us.'

Artemis glanced back. 'They don't seem like much.'

'In a fight, maybe not, but they comprise the wealthiest families, our version of the original Roman aristocracy. This government lives off of their goodwill. And their pockets.' I explained. 'That's why, even though I love to aggravate them, and Reyna, I can't.'

Artemis looked back at me, frowning slightly. 'Is this about what I did to Reyna before?'

I sighed. 'Her powerbase is rocky as is. She didn't need this. I won't pretend I didn't enjoy it, but the reality here is more complicated than that.'

'You would rather her to the senators?'

'Maybe before the quest. Now… I don't know anymore. I know it's not my place, but please, try not to aggravate her?' I asked.

Artemis didn't respond, simply staring at me with an inscrutable façade. Eventually, it softened.

'...Alright.'

I smiled appreciatively, not revealing the relief I felt at her acceptance.

I went to continue, guiding her towards my favourite coffee shop in town, when I heard footsteps, turning around to see Michael walking up to me hurriedly.

I did not doubt the severity of the news he brought at his worried expression, leaning in to whisper in my ear.

'Sir, there has been an alert from a watchtower.' He whispered.

I stiffened instinctively.

'What is it? Is it a threat? Gaia?' I asked quickly in rapid succession.

'We don't know yet, only that a group of individuals have been spotted along the perimeters of the forest towards the fields of Mars.'

Just then, a horn sounded. Only, this wasn't the hunters' horn from before.

It was the warning horn of the auxiliary cohort.

I didn't hesitate for a second, already beginning to sprint back towards where the legion was assembled.

'Michael, get to the other centurions, assemble the legion at the via praetoria!'

I turned to Artemis, who was following me.

'You. With me.' I ordered without thinking, missing Michael's incredulous look as Artemis simply nodded, summoning her bow and an arrow already nocked, following me as I sprinted through the streets of Rome, my trident materialising in my hand as I willed it into existence, passing bewildered citizens already headed for their houses.

'Perseus! What's the plan?' Artemis asked as she caught up with me, running alongside me.

'Course of action is to identify enemy force, to engage and delay if necessary until reinforcements arrive.' I listed off readily, knowing the rules of engagement from my theory days off by heart.

I arrived at the gates to the city, myself and Artemis rushing past the auxiliaries in the process of closing the gates.

I skidded to a halt as I took it in.

'Fuck.' I cursed.

'What?' Artemis asked.

'Hey! You two!' I shouted over to the pair of auxiliaries. The pair, a blonde girl and a brown haired guy, both with similar builds, looked up at me.

'Don't close the gates, the entire fucking legion is going to march through it in a couple of minutes, and they can't well jump over it!'

The two legionnaires, unsure of how to respond, simply saluted, stepping away from the gates, unsure of what to do next.

I however, did not have the time to instruct them, time being of the essence, and I resumed my sprinting towards the area Michael had mentioned, praying that whatever had intruded on our lands was still there.

I knew there would be retaliation from the earth mother, but I didn't estimate it to be this soon. I thought frantically.

I felt the familiar humming throb of my trident in my hand, the dormant power reassuring me.

If worst comes to worst. I can always end them all. Just like last time. I thought, but I couldn't ignore the slight doubt creeping into my chest at the thought of trying to recreate my feat that day during the fight with Porphyrion again.

Soon, with the accelerated pace myself and Artemis could hold, we made it to the outskirts of the fields of Mars, where two distinct groups made themselves seen.

One was a group of armoured girls, dressed in the metal scaled armour reminiscent of the late Byzantine Empire, while the other was a small detachment of Auxiliary Legionnaires, poised with their pila raised above their scuta defensively as they remained locked in a standoff.

The officer overseeing his squad noticeably loosened his tense muscles when he turned around, like from the noise me and Artemis were making running over, the relief on his face showing at likely not having to make any judgement call.

'Officer.' I greeted as we got within earshot, prompting the officer to respond.

'Sir, the leader of this group claims to be the Lady Diana and her hunters.' The officer informed me.

I turned to the assembled group, not really being able to tell which was Lady Diana, due to the identical armour they all wore.

'I believe introductions are to be made.' A figure called out, stepping forward from within the crowd.

The woman took off her helmet, revealing silver-white hair, a beautifully terrible pale face, like ivory, with piercing yellow eyes.

Diana.

I had never met the Roman goddess of the Moon, or her huntresses for that matter. They were typically Roman. Uniform and coordinated.

I glanced over to Artemis, to find her face stony once again.

Suddenly I felt the tension much more clearly, as the hunters could clearly tell this wasn't a regular soldier.

Just then, the entire legion which I had called for assembled, marching in unison over the hill, which had left them outside of my line of sight. I felt a bitter taste in my mouth as I realised that Reyna was at the helm of the force, with the hunters of Artemis also forming part of the host.

Diana merely looked on at the Legion, seemingly unimpressed as she wiped a microscopic speck of dirt off one of the scales of her armour.

'Who's this?' Reyna demanded to know, striding forward confidently, flanked by two members of the second.

'The Lady Diana.' I returned, hiding my smile as Reyna's mannerisms switched up completely, her posture straightening as she turned to Diana, bowing formally.

'Lady Diana, I apologise, I did not realise it was you.' Reyna apologised.

Diana did not react, merely nodding slightly. 'That is alright. I admit that this visit was on short notice.'

'What is the purpose of your visit?' I asked.

Diana raised an eyebrow, surprised at my frankness.

'I am to represent the Roman pantheon, on the orders of Jupiter himself.' Diana said.

I frowned. 'I wasn't informed.'

'There are many things you are not informed of.'

I bit my tongue. 'Right.'

Diana turned to Reyna. 'I believe you are praetor?' She asked.

'Yes, my lady.' Reyna responded, bowing her head slightly.

'Good. You. Boy.' She turned to me. 'My hunters require lodgings. You are to show them.'

I chuckled awkwardly, trying to hide just how much my blood was boiling. 'M'lady, I am afraid that I would need to have a colleague check with the government for permission to use public grounds, due to your arrival at short notice.'

Diana waved me off dismissively. 'I don't care. Get it done, I don't want to wait around.'

'Leila–' I called out, but Diana cut me off. 'No no, I meant you. I wish for you to show them their lodgings.' She ordered, tone icy cold.

'I am afraid that won't be possible.' Artemis interjected, stepping forward. My head snapped towards her surprisedly, not expecting her to come to my defence.

'Praetor Jackson is my first point of contact.' She said.

Diana held her composure, though her eyes narrowed noticeably.

'Artemis.'

'Diana.'

'My request still stands.'

'As does mine.'

The two goddesses squared off, neither seeming particularly willing to back down.

Should I intervene? I wondered. A glance towards Reyna's direction revealed her seemingly as perplexed as I was.

Taking initiative, high risk yet also high reward. I mulled it over, but ultimately, the risk with immortals rarely ever paid off.

Eventually though, Diana submitted to Artemis' pressure. 'I forgot how liberal you Graeci can be with your oaths.'

Of course, it was the wrong thing to say when trying to lower the palpable tension in the room, as evidenced by the tightening of Artemis's grip on her bow, her knuckles whitening with the intensity.

Right when it seemed that this would only continue into a downward spiral, Leila, plucking up courage I didn't think she had, stepped forward.

'If it's alright, Lady Diana, I can show your hunters to somewhere where they could stay for the time being.' Leila volunteered bravely.

Diana seemed to consider it for a couple of seconds, before nodding her acceptance.

'Well, I suppose that took longer than anticipated.' Reyna said, furthering the conversation, while checking her watch. 'I suggest we reconvene tomorrow again.' She proposed, although at this point, I didn't doubt everybody wanted to be anywhere else but here.

The entourage, who I had completely forgotten about until now, made a practically unanimous sound of acceptance, beginning to trickle away, and I could practically feel the gossip leaking away with them.

'I bid you all good night.' Diana said, promptly flashing away as the rest of us, bar Artemis, looked away.

The centurions were the next to trickle away, with Larry and Michael being the only ones staying behind, Larry flanking Reyna, while Michael stayed more in the middle.

'Once again, I welcome you to New Rome.' Reyna said, turning away, while I nodded, also walking away.

'Praetor Jackson?' Artemis called out at the last second. 'May I have a word?' She asked.

Michael shot me a look of pure panic, and I recalled how I had talked to Artemis before, when he had first told me about the emergency.

I shook my head subtly, indicating him to leave it.

Michael nodded hesitantly, walking away.

I turned back to Artemis, who already began to turn, walking along a path.

XIXI

Percy

We made idle talk until she and I were both sure we were out of Diana and the rest's earshot before we spoke in earnest.

'I wanted to apologise. For before.' Artemis seemed to struggle getting the words out.

I smiled despite myself. 'What, hurt your pride?'

Artemis made a face. 'Don't remind me.'

'And what have we learned?' I asked.

Artemis stared at me deadpan. 'You're enjoying this way too much.'

I shrugged. 'Zeus knows I need something to make me smile after Diana dropped in on me unannounced.'

Artemis once again made a face, somehow managing to look even more disgusted thinking of Diana than even admitting when she was wrong.

'...So not a fan?' I prompted.

Artemis scoffed. 'Even for a Roman, Diana is incredibly stuck up, and tart.' Artemis narrowed her eyes dangerously. 'Whether or not she was sent here by the Roman council is irrelevant. She would have come anyways purely for the chance to irritate me. Just my luck.'

'We'll get through it.' I tried to comfort her, painfully aware of just how public of a place this was.

Artemis smiled at me appreciatively, although quickly shifting her gaze ahead, where I could see her staring out into the distance, simultaneously coming to a stop.

Likewise, I stopped, looking out at where she had watched, seeing the now-familiar silver tents of the hunt down the distance into the path.

'Tonight?' Artemis asked.

I went to respond, but in the last moment had to stifle a massive yawn, Artemis raising an eyebrow.

'Perseus.'

'Yes?'

'Have you been sleeping?'

'...Yes.'

'Much?'

'I'll plead the fifth on that one.'

Artemis huffed. 'Perseus, if you're literally driving yourself to exhaustion every night, you could have just told me.' She explained exasperatedly.

I shook my head. 'It's not that, just, it's been a long couple of days.' I paused pensively, mulling it over. 'Come to think of it, it's been a long couple of months, really.'

Artemis nodded her understanding. 'Still. I'll put a pin on our meetups until you're fully awake, and in return, you'll make sure to take care of yourself.'

I smiled cheekily. 'Seal the promise with a kiss?'

Artemis returned the smile, though hers tinged with sadness.

And I knew exactly why, too.

Despite now being closer together than we had been since our quest had ended, Artemis had never felt further out of reach.

'I'll see you tomorrow, Perseus.'

XIXI

Thalia

I looked up from the arrows I was sharpening at the excited exclamation of Claire, a newer huntress, as she called out to the Lady Artemis, who responded warmly, if not a bit distant, as she finally returned to the camp, swiftly entering her tent, where she would most probably not appear from until tomorrow morning.

'It's about time we talked about it.' Atalanta muttered softly from beside me where she was meticulously cleaning a long knife, applying oil with clean, concise strokes from the mineral oil-infused rag.

'Hush. There's nothing to be discussed.' I responded quickly, trying to shut down any speculation before it began.

'Oh come off it Thalia, even you have to admit that Artemis has been strange lately.' Phoebe piped up as she approached, a hunting spear gifted to her by her father Ares in hand.

'The war has taken a toll on all of us, so close after the last one, and with a quest from Olympus no less.' I defended loyally.

And I meant it, too. Sometimes, I felt my sisters forgot that the gods had feelings just like us, no matter how fucked up they could be at times, and Artemis was the best of the bunch.

'Look, I won't argue with you on that front, it's been tough on us all, but you can't possibly have an explanation as for why she appears in an older form.' Atalanta pointed out. 'I have served with the Lady Artemis more than two millennia, more than both of you combined, and I have seen her in an adult form perhaps two? Three times?' She shrugged. 'I don't know.'

Grudgingly, I admitted that I didn't have an answer for that.

'I won't claim to think I know better than our Lady, but I feel we should keep an eye on her. She's changed.' Phoebe affirmed with a definitive air of finality.

I sighed defeatedly, thinking back to all the strange decisions Artemis had made that day.

'Yeah.' I muttered. 'Maybe.'

AN:

Guys, I'm so tired.

But not for this fic. I always have time for Moon's Muse, except when I have to write filler chapters to further plot cus christ kill me now.

So uh, I was struggling quite a bit with inspiration this week so far, I've had a tough time finding any good Pertemis as of like two months, and jaysus, I didn't realise how many Chaos guardian fics there were until I tried searching for Pertemis that had nothing to do with it.

Onwards with the Reviews!

Azure Mane: Dude, I can still remember the smile I had when I first read this. You have no idea how much this means to me, really. I'm not great at giving myself credit, but I'll take your word for it. Honestly you gave me one hell of a motivation boost to get through this chapter. Hope it's up to scratch.

7MOONS: Hey man, good to hear from you. Hope you're enjoying your vacation.

So, for your question about the relationship between Thalia and Percy, I'll say it'll sort of be like their rivalry as children of the big three in titan's curse. Ofc, Percy is dating her boss, but eh, specifics, amirite?

I'm glad you picked up on Artemis not getting her answer from Percy. I'll be straight with you. Purely for more drama, because frankly these two have been having a remarkably healthy relationship, all things considered, and this is fanfiction. It will be resolved relatively soon, but I really want to expand on the different positions Artemis and Percy have in the relationship respectively, with Artemis being insecure, and unsure of how Percy really feels, while Percy is just so cooked he really just lives moment for moment.

Which by the way, we will also see him take a more active role again in actual leadership, cus up until now he's been less than stellar.

Yeah, not really much else to be said on last chapter.

fugy: Glad to hear I've been successful with that, always scared that I've messed it up. It does get really annoying with plot holes and character motivations though, I'll tell you that much.

Again, the trident thing was foreshadowed for pretty far down the line, so you probably won't be getting much of that anytime soon, just a heads up. Percy and Artemis' relationship is going to get some big development during this arc and the next, which I guess you'll see.

I think it's important to mention in the power struggle between Reyna and Percy, that Percyc is currently in ascendance. He had come back from what is widely considered the most difficult quest in Roman history, and successfully at that, has saved New Rome from Polybotes once he returned, and has secured a partnership with the amazons, and now has the favouritism of not only Theseus, the Greek ambassador, but also the first Greek goddess sent as an envoy.

Reyna's only saving grace at this point is that she is widely considered a less extreme and radical alternative to Percy's rapid militarisation of New Rome.

But oh well, don't want to give away the whole story, but that's some background.

I'm hoping to incorporate it better into the actual fic, but honestly it's difficult to get this all explained without it just being mindless exposition for the sake of having more information.

And that's about it.

See you guys again this week, hopefully.

Slán, Murph