...What is this? What is happening?

She looked at her hand in a daze.

Artemis was a goddess that lived since antiquity. She has lived since before Ancient Greece was the center of the civilization, when it was just Greece. Not the Greece of today. That's just another memory. A place to look at with nostalgia.

She have lived through the... empire and times that followed. Through Germanics, the Franks, all through to the Britons, before landing in the Americas. She because of that, she was familiar with familiar with the changes she went through, for the most part.

Artemis remembered what her nature felt like at the high of her power, when she was actively worshiped. Her name spoken with knowing belief, rather than optimistic superstition, or lore seeking curiosity.

Her Names were spoken, all in awe and reverence.

Names, or Titles would be more appropriate, were one's stamp upon a Domain. Their stake in it. And sometimes Domain can be so intertwined with a god that to invoke one was the same as invoking the other. Such as her father, Zeus simply was the Sky and all its Lightning and Storms, in the hearts of mortals.

Such as her name and the Hunt. Those who think of Artemis can not disassociate her from the Huntress, the Wild Archer. That is why any act of faith or worship toward Hunting, to the use of Archery goes to Artemis. And Apollo as well she supposed.

Artemis was familiar with the Titles she once had but were forgotten. She was familiar with Domains she used to hold, but slipped through her fingers to other gods, or Olympians, due to them being shared but one more associated with other gods. Like Madness and Magic. Those were part of her once among her Titles.

Artemis of the Night's Lunacy.

Artemis of the Wild's Mystic.

Yet there weren't one she held onto strongly.

And why would she need to? The moonlight shining upon those who view it, can fill them with the ferality of the Wilderness.

The word Lunatics came from that. From the hidden mysterious knowledge that could come from the light of the moon.

And through that, the untameness of nature offered power to ones who delved into it, and accepted that nature into their souls.

Madness, Magic, the Wilderness. Her divinity embodied living in the Wild in all its forms. She and Pan used to be (unfortunately) near inseparable with how much they interacted.

He was the Wild and she was to Live in the Wild. At least he had the wisdom never to try any of that "satyr charm" bullshit with her. After the first time.

So why would she need to hold on to anything, when she was all those aspects?

But with time and age, humans began to look at the Wild different. The Wild was something to be tamed. Conquered.

Broken.

The Madness from the Moon was no longer a strong connection. It was simple Madness. So she let go of that to the drunkard brat, Dionysus.

And Magic? It was never her interest. Magic for her was just part of nature's mystery and mystic. Why would it need to be a separate thing? But Hecate was the Goddess of Magic. Definitively.

So Artemis let it go, because then she could focus on solidifying what truly mattered. The Titles that did embody her, the Domains that were made for her. Or she for them. She never bothered with the philosophy of which was meant to be.

She was Artemis. Goddess of Hunt, Archery, Wilderness, Animals, Forests, the Moon, Radiance, Maidenhood, and Childbirth. Sister of her twin, Apollo (although they don't really look that much alike, just born together), known as the Twin Archers.

And right here, right now she was standing in a place were she was also the Goddess of the Wild's Magic and Madness. Of Agriculture and Fertility. Of War, Protectors of Cities. Orthia, Astrateia, Propylaiê, Hêgemonê, Hymniê, Kordax, Pyrônia, Kondyleatis, Keladeinos, Prostatêria, PRÔTOTHRONIÊ—

Artemis clenched her hand into fist and took a deep breath to center herself.

What is this? She wondered again.

It's not like those Title are back with her. Instincts were always the sharpest when it comes to threats and danger. The biggest threat can come from within. When one's mind was too loud and started speaking nonsense.

She didn't trust this power... even if it was addictive to feel all her power through the ages. Some Titles weren't even present together as they were of different eras, where one was forgotten and one gained.

Yet she could feel the totality of her history with her.

And she also felt this connection to be false.

Well, "false" might be too strong of a word.

Weak would be more accurate. Her powers that those Titles granted aren't as strong as they once were, when she did have them. Rather the connection was now there, rather than just being completely gone.

Regardless, standing here in this place, in the Labyrinth—She was sure it was the Labyrinth. She knew it my feel and smell. She had hunted her before. Also the Bull called it Labyrinthos. And it was chaotic. At least at the start. Now she could feel this realm become more... Ordered.

Standing in the Labyrinth, it felt similar to Olympus. A Seat of Power.

Mount Othrys was going to be rebuild here. The Seat of Power for Kronos and his Titans. It was being rebuilt quickly with rising power, a harbinger sign of his return. After spending millennia regaining consciousness and will, the Titan King was very quick to scheme his resurrection, allies, follower and worst of all faith. It was why her father's first action was to deny Kronos' return. It wasn't some ostrich behavior, but a purposeful action. To deny acknowledgement of Kronos was to deny him a path to belief, to faith.

Although, all of that was hopeless now, and thus my need to council Lord Zeus on this! Artemis thought.

But that is what made this so terrifying.

The Minotaur... Asterios as Bianca called him. He created a Seat of Power within minutes.

How could that be possible?

How long was he planning the seeds to his rise to power? How many years? Decades?

...Or was it centuries?

Culminating power by propagating and strengthening the myth of the Labyrinth till it was finally the right time to mark his place in the world.

But then why give up all the secrecy? Artemis' eyes shifted to injured and poisoned Bianca, who was sitting up, slowing her breathing, and trying to focus on beating the Ladon's poison that Atlas's spear was drenched in. A smart, valiant effort but useless.

So it was for a womanly prize? Artemis wondered in distain. Although... Hades tasked the Bull with saving his daughter. He even assigned him to guard her before, according to a random comment by Bianca once.

If it was duty then that was good. If Asterios was under Hades' reign, then even better. Was this an attempt by the Bull to break free then? But again, why risk this exposure to save his master's daughter?

Love then? Artemis frowned even more. It really was the most powerful and idiotic force in the world. Able to make men go from the wisest to the most foolish, and the kindest to the cruelest.

Bianca deserved better than to be a prize by a lustful Bull monster.

Yeah, that's right. She knows about that Fate/Monster Arena game's "adult" material. Apollo told her about those too.

Artemis needed to at least warn the girl of the beast ill intentions. It might shatter her rose-tinted view of the Minotaur but so what? Ah, if only young girls would stop growing into fools lead by Desire.

She would have made a great Hunter. She still could. Artemis was going to heal her, regardless of the young girl's naivety that the Hunters were bad, too isolated or cult-ish. She heard all those quips before from self-righteous moronic females, that were a shame upon womankind. Artemis would hope Bianca never grows up into such delusion.

Zoë however... Artemis felt her eyes water. Her noble lieutenant, one who had served by her side the longest now, and best friend was soon to perish. As the prophecy depicted.

But her end doesn't have to ignoble. Artemis' eyes lit up with determination. Zoë Nightshade may have been forgotten by the world. Erased from all records. Well, Artemis wasn't going to let that happen. She will spite the damned Hesperides, all the nymphs, and that worthless cunt Heracles himself!

She will make her into a constellation, so that all beings when they look up at the Night's Sky, they will her, her Huntress and acknowledge her whether they wanted to or not!

The Bull arrived before them, having suppressed Atlas, a Titan and a General of Kronos' army successfully. He walked toward them with all the swagger of a wannabe hero wanting adulation for something they accomplished.

Artemis dismissed him. With the power she could feel coursing through her veins, he was of no import. Right now, she felt like she needn't worry about conserving her faith like she was used to for the past millennia. She could act much more vigorously, maybe even save Zoë— No.

Artemis shook herself from the idiotic though. Zoë was meant to die here, and Artemis knew well what happens to those that defy Fate. Even the gods.

Maybe if there was some other way. If maybe Annabeth could find a solution then it might be allowed? Demigods can go anywhere, challenge anyone. Even the Fates. Insanely foolish, but allowed.

Yet the girl seemed overtaken by the current situation too much to think on how to save her fellow Huntress. Artemis would have to teach her later the importance of focusing on her sisters of the Hunt. They only had themselves, and only themselves after all to face this world.

"Peace." Asterios said, raising his hand in a placating manner.

Artemis wondered how much longer that façade will last once he's overwhelmed by monsters from every corner of the world, due to that arrogant challenge of his. It seems in gaining sanity, the Minotaur also gained the hubris of men. How typical.

Then he swung his arm up and a tree burst forth from the ground next to them. A tree of Golden Apples.

...What?

Then a table with a feast for gods and demigods arose near them as well.

"Give those to the injured. If you feel the immortality would be too big of a decision, I can call someone to come dilute it. Eat, rest, we got a big challenge ahead of us." He said with a smile, like he was putting effort not to stretch his lips widely, and show his monstrous teeth.

"What's that?" Percy asked. The son of Poseidon was tired, yet stared at Asterios in curiosity and challenge. He stood ahead of everyone, just in case, to protect them.

That was... admirable. Foolish, given the power Asterios had displayed, but worthy of recognition. Or the boy was too stupid to realize the danger he was in.

Artemis' eyes went to the Golden Apple Tree. Hera's wedding gift by Mother Earth.

Zoë could be saved. Artemis didn't want poisoned hope to enter her heart. She was used to losing her Hunters when it was their time. Her heart should be hardened already. Yet this was Zoë and these were Golden Apple, so just maybe...!

However, every gift came with a cost. What would it be for this? ...How did he ever get the fucking apple to appear like that!?

"Why, so we can go Titan slaying of course!" Asterios grinned, and his expression really was terrifying. He really couldn't help but show his monster side.

"...What?" Annabeth said confused.

Oh. So that's it.

But why? Artemis wasn't a strategist like Athena, but that doesn't mean she can't see patterns, and figure things out.

Why would the Bull need to slay Atlas, when he had been freed from the burden of the Sky?

"What the fuck is happening!?" Thalia shouted as she joined the group, going to Annabeth's side, to check on her, Percy and Bianca. She slowed upon seeing the Golden Apples tree and pointed. "Are those...?"

"I'm guessing probably yeah. I'm not sure how he managed that though." Annabeth explained, before getting two Golden Apples and presenting them to Bianca and Zoe. "Come on, you guys need to eat and be healed."

"That is not necessary." Artemis spoke. She held out her hand, and moonlight shone from it.

Bianca blinked as all her wounds were gone. The feeling of coldness burning through her vanished as well.

Along with her old Titles restored, her dominant ones she held, felt much, much stronger. Supercharged even.

The spear in Zoë's gut vanished, teleporting away next to her. Her body was patched up of the hole within it. Zoë blinked a few times as she felt that her insides were still damaged and poisoned. She smiled in understanding.

Upon seeing that Artemis clicked her tongue, nearly growling as her eyes got teary.

No. I refuse. She's my Huntress, I can at least attempt... Artemis focused her healing powers.

"Atlas be damned!" Artemis shouted.

"What? What is it?" Percy asked in a panic, as Annabeth and Bianca sat next to Zoë, watching her with hope overtaken by dreaded worry of the inevitable outcome.

"I..." Artemis swallowed her bitterness and answered. "I can't heal her quick enough."

"What do you mean?" Bianca asked before Percy did. She saw how distressed the goddess was, and felt if she snapped in anger, it at least wouldn't be against a maiden.

"Atlas spear wasn't dripped in Ladon's poison alone. It was also made with his blood. His power permeates it, and that corrosive energy is now in Zoë's body, enduring any attempt to remove it, or change the body's condition." She was crying now. Her body at occasion glowing as she tried to hold in her powers from erupting.

This wasn't fair.

"B-But you removed the spear and closed the wound?" Percy asked in disbelief.

"Superficial." Zoë spoke this time. She went to sit up, and Artemis and Annabeth helped her up.
"'One shall perish by a parent's hand'." Annabeth repeated the prophecy's last line. "It ended up coming true."

"Indeed." Zoë said with small smile for the sake of her friends. "It seems like it's my time. Annabeth I..." Zoë Nightshade began her goodbyes.

"Maybe not yet." Asterios came and sat down cross legged next to the group, still towering over them.

"You can save her!" Percy immediately jump onto the line of hope. "I mean, you did all this, so sure you can—"

"You can not heal my Huntress, Minotaur." Artemis glared at the bringer of false hope. "Even the apples would just grant her a life of pain eternal. Nothing more."

The demigods flinched at her tone, but all they really felt was despondency at their helplessness in this situation to change its outcome. To save their friend.

"Well, I never said I would be able to heal her." Asterios shrugged. "But I know someone who can, if you can keep her alive along enough."

"Who?" Bianca asked, gently.

Asterios smiled back and pointed up.

"I can." A new voice spoke, and as the group looked up, from the ceiling descended a woman, a sorceress floating down, with a hole in the ceiling closing behind her.

"My mother is a grand potion maker." Asterios praised.

"Thank you, son." Pasiphaë smiled as she landed next to them and went immediately Zoë, checking up on her.

"You're Queen Pasiphaë." Annabeth said wide-eyed. "Wife of King Minos, the one who was cursed to—"

"We don't need the whole story, Annabeth. It's pretty well known." Asterios said in a dry tone, making a "cut it" motion with his hand at his neck.

"What? Why don't you want to talk about that part of the story?" Percy asked.

"Want me to tell you all the times, your father took on the guise of an animal to seduce a woman?" Asterios raised an eyebrow.

Percy blenched before shaking his head. "Nope! No, I'm good!"

"My son is right." Pasiphaë said, mainly to Artemis, to refocus the conversation. "It is possible to save her."

""You can?!"" Annabeth and Percy exclaimed excitedly.

"She's your Huntress. She's already suffused with your power. Focus on that to remove the titan's energy, while I make a potion to heal the rest."

"If you can save her then—" Artemis started to say.

"There's the prophecy." Zoë spoke up, as her goddess immediately attempted to prolong her life with a solution present. "I already knew I'd die on this quest. There's no running from fate."

"'One shall perish by a parent's hand', that was the line, right?" Asterios spoke, hand rubbing his chin.

"Yeah." Percy nodded.

"Very well," Asterios nodded back. "Hey, 'parent', can you 'perish' this 'child' and bring her back to life?" Asterios asked his mother in a deadpan voice.

"Wait, what?" Percy blinked.

"Yes, I can, Asterios." Pasiphaë chuckled and nodded.

"You will not play with my Hunter's life and sully her death on a flimsy gambit!" Artemis spoke, her voice roaring, even if she wasn't shouting.

The winds howled her wrath, making the demigods shield their eyes. Asterios simply held his mother to steady her, as his hair fluttered in the wind.

"In hospitals, many times a person would die, pronounced 'dead' and then a minute or so later come back to life." Asterios calmly replied.

"Those who could escape death were not meant to have died—" Artemis began.

"You have a sorceress with millennia of knowledge on herbology. You have a daughter of Hades to ensure her soul stays here in the physical plane connected to her body. She has you, her literal goddess who can purge the power of the titan within her, due to the connection you two already have. All the pieces line up for her to survive, so why not—" The more Asterios spoke, the more Artemis hesitated as she couldn't help but be brought to his argument.

He was right, this was too perfect of an opportunity.

However, the one who disagreed was the one person who needed convincing the most.

"Asterios." Zoë Nightshade spoke. "You came because Bianca called for you, right?" Asterios stared at the serene look on the Hunter's face and frown. He nodded to her question. "Then thank you, please continue to help her. A Child of Prophecy needs all the help they can get."

"Zoe, don't..." Bianca started to say, looking sorrowful now, as if slowly also starting to accept the outcome.

"If this is to be my end then I will accept my death with grace." Zoë said for a moment, before looking at Thalia. "Oh, apologizes. Thou are alive."

"Bitch!" Thalia burst out a laugh at the incredulity of Zoë's joke. It lightened the mood a bit. Artemis smiled through her tears, decided to accept this out—

"Bull. Shit." Asterios growled, making the hairs at the back of the demigods' necks stand.

"Monster, my Huntress has already said—" Artemis began to say only to be completely ignored by said monster.

"Do you think you're doing something noble here?" Asterios began. "That this is something brave and grand to accept death, when you actually have a change at life?!"

Artemis sneered, almost ready to beat this beast for insult her hunter's determination. Only for the wait of her other hunter to hold her shoulder.

"Please, wait my lady. Please." Annabeth pleaded. A desperation in her eyes, that halted the goddess's rage. "If we can," Annabeth whispered. "Shouldn't we try not to lose anyone?"

Artemis' express fell, as she was deep in thought.

"What you're doing? Saying 'oh yeah that's just fate'? Prophecies are always vague for a reason. This is one of them, so you'd have a chance at actually reversing the obvious outcome. Dying? Dying is easy, anyone can die. Even gods have their form of death. Existing as an immortal without change is no different than being a rock at the bottom of a river. Living is hard. Living is the most courageous thing anyone can do, especially when life is arduous." Asterios growled. "You have something that no one almost gets to have. A chance to circumvent Fate.

"And to give that up for some vague notion that this was meant to be? Nothing is meant to be until it happens. If you want to die so much then be a mortal and live to old age. Right now, there's no less honor in being on your death bed without regrets, as there is to die in battle." He seemed to get heat the more he spoke, only stopping before shouting, as his voice turned soft. "When you die, it's over. No more 'hellos'. No more chances to change anything. No chances to be anything." The beast of truth seemed to look into Zoë Nightshade's soul. "How many people are going to miss you when you're gone? How many will wake up tomorrow and find you're not there. That you'll never be there. You owe it to every single bond you have, to all the one you have made to live.

"You only accept death when its really the end. When there are no more road you can walk. When there no other outcome, that's when you stare death in the face and smile. Extending a hand and telling them 'good game, you finally caught me'." He then leaned in, and spoke with the utmost seriousness. "Has it finally caught you now? Or can you still stand up and run?"

Zoë was crying, looking at Asterios with bitterness, humiliation... and hope. A roaring defiant wish to survive, to see the sun and stars once more.

"My lady?" Zoë turned to Artemis who was by her side, holding her hand.

"Yes, Zoë?" Artemis spoke, feeling her heart calmer for some reason now.

"Can I live?" She asked. "Can I dare try and fight fate?"

"...Yes."


AN: For those interested in Artemis' Titles [HERE]

These are gonna be a few long character chapters. So final battle isn't gonna be here for a while, okay?