Percy

The deal I had struck with Queen Hylla… wasn't ideal, to say the least.

After I had gotten over my shock that Reyna had an older sister, who coincidentally was also the queen of the amazons, and that the amazons existed and owned Amazon, and that me and Artemis had been kidnapped by them, I found out the amazons are actually really irritating.

Like really irritating.

They treated favours and political power like transactions, which reminded me a bit too much of New Rome for my liking.

The last thing I needed now was reminders of what I was coming back to after the quest was over.

And what I'll be leaving behind. That intrusive part of my mind quietly reminded me.

And that's how I found myself in the sewers of the amazon factory I had been held at, dealing with a large telekhine infestation.

My first clue as to the size of this infestation is when I found multiple crude chambers filled with forges, barracks and what seemed like classrooms.

Every corner I turned there seemed to be hundreds of the slippery seal-like critters, waiting to pounce at me. With the help of the disgusting sewer water, I had managed to plough through hundreds of telekhines. I had lost track maybe… two hundred and fifty of the Frankenstein's seals ago? Time seemed to dilate as I found myself quickly falling into a routine which included finding telekhines, killing said telekhines, repeat.

Queen Hylla (Gods that feels weird to say) told me that there was some type of large forge that I had to immobilise, which would conveniently collapse the vast network of tunnels the telekhines used to harass the amazons.

I cleared out a couple more chambers before I felt the heat start to pick up. That seems like a sure-fire way to get to the forge. I reasoned, heading down the tunnel I perceived the heat to be originating from.

I had a couple good clues to tell me I was probably headed in the right direction. The previously earthen walls turned into stone as the tight-packed dirt underneath my feet transformed into a cobblestone path.

The rickety wooden supports in the walls turned into solid stone, with bespoke torch holders now sticking out of the side of the walls, adorned with motifs such as dragons, their gaping maws seemingly spewing bouts of flames.

Unfortunately for me though, it's also where I encountered the most stiff resistance as of yet.

As I turned a corner, feeling the heat increase bit by bit, I found myself facing a full greek phalanx of armoured telkhines.

The telkhines bared their teeth aggressively at me as they growled what I assumed were profanities in their guttural cross between a dog's bark and a seal's whine they considered a language.

I bared my trident, channelling my power through it as I slammed the tip into the ground, causing violent vibrations to begin around the formation of telkhines, as massive fissures formed in the ground under them.

The formation panicked, quickly abandoning their positions and scattering. I felt absolutely no remorse even as the last of the aberrations exploded into golden dust at the end of my trident.

The heat was now close to unbearable as I continued in my search for the source of this heat.

Eventually, I found a large bronze gate, flanked by two guards.

The guards started towards me when they spotted me, but seemed nervous as they took in my figure, covered almost completely head to toe in golden dust.

The one to my right decided to bite the bullet first, charging towards me. I didn't even dignify him with a fight as I promptly crushed his skull with a swing from the butt of my trident.

The second telkhine guard didn't fare much better as I broke its neck by taking control of the fluids in his neck.

The gate was made of some form of inferior iron, no match to my demigod strength as I blasted the gate down with a well-aimed kick.

The cavern was a massive circular chamber, with long, arching spires inscribed with alien runes I didn't recognise.

In the centre of the chamber was a massive round dome, with a large opening in one side, where telkhines were furiously working away on their weapons.

The only real issue was the formation of a thousand or so armoured telkhines staring right at me.

I braced myself as the host of armed monsters closed in on me, spinning my trident so fast that it formed an indistinguishable blur.

I couldn't tell you how long I stayed there, simply holding off the massive horde of monsters as I kept spinning my trident, a divine meatgrinder to the host of monsters intent on killing me.

I count over a thousand heavily armed telkhines here alone… Hylla set me up. I thought bitterly, noticing the constant wave of bodies was starting to lessen slightly.

Over time, the veritable tsunami of monsters came to a grinding halt, with only a few stragglers really putting up any real resistance.

Suddenly, I heard clapping echoing around the chamber as a singular person seemed to be congratulating me for my efforts.

'Well done Perseus, or should I say, Perditor?' The now-familiar voice of Hylla rang out through a speaker system.

I cringed at the name. I hadn't been referred to by the sobriquet since the last war, and it brought back painful memories from the time, as well as how I had gotten it in the first place.

I heard the helicopter before I saw it, the roof of the chamber opening up like a flower, revealing a UH-60 helicopter making a slow descent, landing some way away from me.

Three amazon warriors jumped out the side, seemingly much more nervous of me than in the throne room much to my pride.

'Hi! I'm Kinzie, you fight really well.' The leader of the three soldiers greeted me cheerfully as the three of them came within earshot.

I simply nodded my head, unsure how to respond to this.

Kinzie seemed to take the hint as after a moment of awkward silence she motioned me to follow her and the other two warriors as they turned around and headed back to the still hovering helicopter.

I quickly followed them and hoisted myself up on the helicopter, taking a seat as quickly as I could while holding on to a handle until my knuckles went white.

Kinzie raised an eyebrow questioningly as she stared at my reaction to being airborne.

'Don't like flying?' She asked.

'Let's just say the sky doesn't particularly like me.' I ground out while gritting my teeth.

The rest of the flight went by without anything of note happening. As we landed on a helicopter platform off to the side of a nondescript warehouse that I assumed served as the amazon's (and Amazon's) headquarters.

I stumbled out of the helicopter as quickly as possible, thanking every single god I could think of that I had survived the trip.

I noticed Kinzie watching me with an amused look on her face.

She gestured for me to follow her when she noticed I was looking at her. 'You can kiss the ground later, Queen Hylla wishes to see you.'

I followed her back into the compound, thinking back to the last time I had been led through the repetitive nondescript halls.

'No chains this time?' I asked dryly.

'You have done my Queen a great favour by relieving us of having to deal with the horde down there, truth is-' Kinzie stopped and looked around conspiratorially at this, 'We would have lost a lot of warriors getting rid of them.' She straightened back up, and we continued walking. 'The amazons owe you a great favour, don't forget that.'

This information surprised me slightly. Sure, telkhines were no joke, but any trained infantry could take them out with appropriate equipment.

What was happening with the amazons?

'Thank you,' I ventured cautiously, 'look, no offence, why are you telling me this?'

'Things are not as they should be within Amazon and the amazons.' Kinzie said gravely. 'There are rumours that one of our old queens, Otrera, has risen from the dead, and is calling for the amazons to rally alongside Gaea.'

She cast a furtive glance around a corner before continuing. 'There is little trust between our sisters as of now. Hylla cannot afford to lose more loyalists to the telkhine infestation.'

I nodded in understanding. 'I see. And what is Queen Hylla's stance on the war?'

'She supports Olympus.'

'So a proxy war.'

'Of sorts, Olympus as always is ignorant of our plight, leaving us alone to fend off the Earth Mother and her agents.'

'I understand.' And I did.

Even in the last war, Olympus had been fairly detached from the reality on the ground. It was a gripe I had never truly come to terms with.

But this war included giants, which could only be killed by a combination of demigod and god, we couldn't afford the gods to be so lax about the interference this time around.

Anyways, that was a conversation for when I returned to my praetorship in New Rome after I finished this quest.

I ignored the now-standard involuntary flip my stomach made every time I contemplated post-quest life.

Now that I think about it, I really haven't thought much about anything in New Rome for a good while now.

My thoughts turned to my questmate briefly.

I really need to address that, it is throwing me off my game like nothing.

Hylla raised an eyebrow as she saw me enter the hall, while the person facing her turned around to face me.

Artemis gave me a brilliant smile as she came up to me, checking me for any injuries I might have sustained, fussing over me in a gentle manner that I hadn't seen from her before.

'I thought you were going to die.' I heard her whisper in my ear.

'I appreciate your confidence in my skills.' I returned wryly. 'You know, for a second, I almost forgot you are a goddess.'

Artemis took the subtle hint as she quickly straightened up, casting me yet another small smile as she regained her composure.

I blinked in surprise. Why was Artemis being so… Nice to me?

I finally turned to Hylla, who was smiling at Artemis with a smile that sent warning bells off in my mind.

'You fought admirably. There are truly few heroes I could say would have survived such a trying encounter.' She tipped her head to me in respect. 'You should be proud to find yourself included in that number, Perseus.'

I nodded my head in thanks, although in truth my mind was a million miles from here.

'I have kept my side of the bargain, it is time you honour yours.' I stated emotionlessly, anxious to get this over with already.

Hylla nodded in understanding. 'Right, that blasted loyalty of yours. Honestly, I don't understand where you get it from. Anyways, the amazons will stand against Gaea in the coming war.'

Don't think I didn't notice the sneaky lack of loyalty pledged to Olympus. I'd have to deal with that diplomatically

I nodded in acceptance. 'Olympus thanks you for your loyalty.'

Hylla laughed. 'Oh Perseus, you are so blindly loyal to your gods, it is no wonder powerful as you are the gods let you live. The world will freeze over before you speak out against them.'

I gritted my teeth in annoyance. Hylla was not making this alliance easy for me.

Hylla however, seemed unperturbed by my relative discomfort at her words, and continued anyways.

'Since I have wasted precious days of your quest, I will provide you with transport to Porphyrion's camp. What you do from then on is none of my concern.' Hylla drawled absentmindedly, examining a fingernail.

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. 'How do you know where Porphyrion's camp is?'

Hylla gestured lazily to the sky. 'Amazon. We control a vast network of satellites. The sky is the one domain Gaea could never wish to control. We monitor many happenings on the ground, make sure our interests are protected,'

My eyes widened at this information. 'And you wouldn't share this with the gods? New Rome?'

Hylla actually laughed at that. 'The gods? I do not trust the gods. They are power hungry, selfish, they care not for the happenings in the mortal world, just as long as it doesn't affect them. Even then, they slouch, do as little as possible. They care not for mortal lives. Why should I trust them with this power?'

She gestured towards me with a frown. 'And as I do not trust the gods, I do not trust their spawn, or are you telling me you would keep intelligence from your family?'

Oh how I wish I had a comeback for that one. 'I thought so. No, we will protect our own interests, involving ourselves with the mythological world has only ever caused more issues for us.' Hylla took in a deep breath, having finally ended her lengthy tirade.

'Thank you, Queen Hylla, you are most generous.' I replied diplomatically, hoping to end this uncomfortable conversation and get out of here as quickly as possible.

Hylla waved us off disinterestedly. 'Oh bugger off now, I'm sure Porphyrion is higher on your list of priorities than I am.'

XIXI

Percy

Artemis and I made our way to the helicopter pad, where a new helicopter was prepped and ready waiting for us. I recognised the pilot as Kinzie, who waved enthusiastically at me, giving a big thumbs up, before motioning us to come aboard.

'Welcome to Amazon airlines, where we bring you to every destination from a to z!' Kinzie called out happily as I took a seat.

I noticed some slight tremors in my hands as my fear of flying made a return. Artemis sat down next to me, laying her hand onto mine. As I looked up at her, she gave me a small encouraging smile.

'Relax.' She whispered. 'Zeus and Jupiter won't hurt you, I promise.'

Artemis was…

Honestly, I wasn't sure anymore.

A month. I felt like I had known her for ages.

She was a goddess, yes, but if I stopped reminding myself of that, she almost became like one of my friends back in New Rome, one that I could hang out with whenever when off duty, one who I might ask out to a coffee some time…

She's a goddess, thousands of years old. Your lifespan is but a blink for her.

I thought that's how it had started out, but now… She had irreparably changed my life.

Surely this had to be something more, right? The time we had spent together, memories made, could that just be forgotten?

I knew for as long as I lived, I never would.

And honestly, I didn't want to be fixed, I felt more complete with Artemis than… Ever before, really.

The sun tinted the sky a beautiful vibrant orange, painting the terrain a technicolour masterpiece.

When I finally snapped out of my stupor, I found Artemis sleeping, still in the same position we had been before.

Looking down at her sleeping form, suddenly praetorship didn't seem so attractive anymore. New Rome seemed more harsh, foreboding.

Artemis-less.

Empty.

What could I do with an empty life?

AN:

My god. That was simultaneously one of the most difficult but also the funnest chapter I've written so far.

So, Percy is finally fully accepting and acknowledging his feelings as more than just a schoolyard crush.

I am planning to take Percy in a different direction than I assume many of you were expecting, you'll see much more of that next chapter.

Now, Reviews:

Darth Kyuubi kurama - Cheers man, hope this chapter is up to scratch.

Sankarea396 - I'll answer all three reviews at once just for the sake of simplicity. First off, thanks! While I do love a good plot and some action, (although I struggle with writing it), this is at its core a fluff piece, albeit a very convoluted one.

As for update schedule, don't really have one per se, but I do aim for at least one chapter a week, unless I'm tweaking earlier ones. So yeah, weekly updates more or less. Chapters could also potentially get longer as we get into the more beefy and plot heavy part of the story. The quest is pretty much just the intro arc, I'm planning on expanding on EVERYTHING seen so far post quest.

So yeah, that's about everything.

Cheers, Murph