Chapter 22

Disclaimer: I think I've officially run out of pseudo-clever ways of saying it. I don't own PJO.

Percy's stomach was churning. He wasn't sure how to have the conversation that he needed to have. But he did need to have it. He'd tried to avoid it for as long as he could. After his friends helped him with his dilemma, he walked back to the hotel as slowly as he could. He could have shadow traveled in an instant, but instead, he took the long walk back there. He needed as long as he possibly could. He was trying to put it off for as long as he could. Eventually, he made it there. Back to the hotel where Sara had brought him last night. He took the elevator up to the floor they had been on and found the room. He walked in and saw Sara sitting on the bed, picking at a salad. Room service. She looked pretty good. Her hair was a mess and her clothes couldn't possibly have been more wrinkled than they already were. She still looked amazing though. She was supernaturally beautiful.

"What did they say?" she asked him.

He didn't even question how she had known. She knew him extremely well, and she figured that he would go to his friends for help. That didn't help him do what he needed to. The fact that she knew him so well, only made him question himself even more. But he reminded himself about why he had to do it. He had to deal with his grief head-on, rather than hiding from it. And he couldn't do that if he was with Sara.

"That it was my decision," he told her.

She nodded, "And that is…"

He took a deep breath and held it for a few seconds.

"I think you know what it is."

He saw her jaw go tight and her eyes well up slightly. She took a moment to collect her thoughts before she replied.

"This isn't fair," she said in a quiet voice.

"No, it isn't," he agreed.

"Then why are you doing it?"

"You know why."

She swallowed hard and dropped her head so her chin was resting against her chest. He felt terrible. He didn't want her to ever feel like this. Not for any reason. And yet, here he was, causing it. He sat next to her. She didn't look up at him. All he wanted to do was grab her hand, kiss her, and tell her that everything was going to be ok. But he couldn't.

"Why?" she asked again.

He took a moment. He needed to figure out how to say it. He needed to give voice to his thoughts, and he needed to do it in a way that would make her understand.

"I need to deal with some stuff. You know what kind of stuff. I've been avoiding it for way too long. If I don't deal with it, it's just going to eat at me forever. And I can't make myself grieve if I'm with you. You make me too happy."

She sniffed a little bit.

"Maybe if I did my best to make you miserable instead?" she tried to joke.

He cracked a sad smile and hugged her. She hugged him back. Tight. He felt some slight wet stains on his shirt.

"So," she said, wiping her eyes as she pulled away from him, "What now?"

That was a good question.

"I really don't know."

She snorted mildly.

"Well, that's a first," she joked again.

He smirked a little bit. He was glad that she was trying to ease the tension a little bit.

"I know that I really care about you. I know that you're almost the only thing that got me through the last 20 years. I hope you'll play an equal role in getting me through the rest of my life. Just because we're ending this, doesn't mean I want to go back to being strangers. I still want you in my life… but as a friend. I'm not sure I'm ready for anything more than that."

She went into thought for a moment.

"I'm not sure if I can manage that. I'm not sure if I can manage being friends with you, without loving you. Without being with you," she said quietly.

"I'm not sure I can manage it either," he admitted, "But I want to try. You're too important to not at least try."

"I want to try too. But I think it's gonna take some time. Cause right now, I'm looking at you and it's making my chest ache," she confessed.

"Same here… You think maybe you should go back to Chaos' realm? I'll be back there in about a year. Maybe that'll be enough time for us to adjust."

She stared at the floor for a few moments. He saw a few more tears well up in her eyes. She didn't wipe them away. Eventually, she nodded.

"I think that's for the best. You sure you can handle your mission by yourself?"

"Yeah, it'll be fine," he reassured her.

She took a deep breath, "Ok. Then that sounds like a plan."

He nodded. They didn't move for a while. He wasn't entirely sure how long it was. At some point, she cursed under her breath and turned to him. She leaned in and gave him the softest kiss he had ever experienced. It was plainly obvious what it was. It was a goodbye. After a few moments, she pulled back and stared into his eyes.

"I love you," she whispered in a hoarse voice.

"I love you too," he replied, his tone matching hers.

And then she was gone. She'd shadow traveled away. He wasn't entirely sure where she had gone. There was no way she could have traveled all the way back to Chaos' realm. Maybe Chaos had given Sara some way to contact her, and there was a dropship on its way. He didn't give it too much thought. Sara was gone. He sighed, and laid back on the bed he was sitting on. For the first time since the alley, he cried.

Line break

Two weeks had gone by. He hadn't handled Sara's exit very well. He'd been kind of a wreck. A few hours after she had left, Percy managed to drag himself away from the hotel room they had been in. He felt like steamed shit. He'd made his way back to camp and talked to his friends. They'd been sympathetic and understanding, and they'd tried to cheer him up, but they hadn't succeeded. He still felt like crap. He felt like crap because she was gone. He felt like crap because he had hurt her. But what was done, was done. He found himself thinking more about things he should have thought about a long time ago. He'd realized that he hadn't even been able to bring himself to say their names. Back when he had gotten the psych consult, before he and Sara had met, he had been ready to murder the shrink just because he had gone to say her name. That was far from healthy. It was something he needed to work on.

He had spent his time productively though. The hunters had been at camp, so he hadn't had to deal with them. He was free to go where he pleased, whenever he pleased. He had enrolled in a hacking course, where he had learned the fundamentals behind the science. It had been a very informative course, and he had learned a lot of useful skills. He hadn't had the chance to try them out yet, but he was reasonably confident that he would manage if he needed to.

He had also spent a lot of time with his friends. He'd leaned on them quite a bit. They seemed happy enough to spend time with him too, so it worked out well for everyone. He'd joined them on their missions to rescue demigods. It proved to be a very interesting experience. Each situation was different, and as such, needed to be handled differently. Sometimes, the young demigods had been attacked by monsters, forcing Percy and everyone else to travel to them and save their lives. Those were eventful, and he got to vent a certain amount of frustration on the random monsters that had happened to attack the demigod. The only problem was that they didn't pose much of a challenge for him. He hadn't had a really good fight in ages. But the demigods were always safe, so that was good. Other times, the demigods weren't being attacked by monsters, but rather by their parents or guardians. Those were always pretty tough, emotionally. In those cases, the children were evacuated and Percy stayed behind after the others had left. Once he was done with them, the abusers were begging for death, and Percy finally allowed them that single mercy. The fact that they then went to the Fields of Punishment, only made him grin sadistically. After that, they all spent a few hours going through major cities, stopping whatever crime they came across. The things he had seen in just those 2 weeks, would have been enough to make him sick to his stomach before his training with Chaos. Now it just unsettled him, but he pushed past it.

Once, as a test, he climbed to the very top of the Empire State building, closed his eyes, and stretched his senses throughout the entire city. The things he had sensed in that single instance were sickening. He had never seen it before. He had never realized the magnitude of the problem. The problem that permeated throughout the city he loved. He vowed to restore some semblance of order before he left. He needed to do something. To take action. If he could just do enough, if he could just show the people of his city that there was hope, then he was sure that they could handle the rest on their own. They had to.

Seeing his friends working together in their suits had been interesting. They had amazing coordination with each other. In the field, they communicated without saying a single word when necessary. They instinctively and intrinsically knew what they each needed to do. Percy had also been able to observe the roles that they each took on. They were all good in a regular fight, but a few of them had their own specialties. A few were obvious, like Nico being effectively an assassin. His ability to manipulate shadows and travel between them, gave him a ridiculous advantage in that area. A few were more subtle. He had barely even noticed at the time, but Piper was doing something very interesting in every single fight.

He had asked her about it later and she had explained that she'd been working on her charm-speak powers a lot in the last two decades. Apparently, she was able to influence peoples' emotions from afar, without needing to get up close to them. She said that she had researched her powers extensively, and found that she was able to manipulate peoples' hormones and pheromones, thus allowing her to charm-speak. Once she had learned that, she figured out a way to do the same thing on a more fundamental level. She was able to effect their mental state on-mass, and non-verbally. So every time they got into any kind of fight, Piper was subtly manipulating them into becoming calmer and less aggressive.

Jason was also doing something very interesting. He had also learned a lot about his powers. His powers over the air had become particularly powerful. He also used them very subtly, and in a very clever way. The first time Percy and his friends got into a shootout together, Percy noticed that the bullets were moving a decent bit slower than they should have. They still weren't exactly slow, but they were nowhere near their usual supersonic velocity. It was then that he learned that Jason was using the air to slow them down. It was pretty interesting to think about. In addition to that, he also learned to use the air as almost a force of telekinesis. He wasn't able to make anything hover in place, or be still, but he could use his powers to make objects fly towards him or away from him. That was really just an extension on his ability to fly, which he had gotten a lot better at as well. He was able to fly ever so slightly slower than a plane. Almost 150 meters per second was pretty damn fast. He also had pretty amazing control over himself in-flight. He told Percy that he had set up obstacle courses for himself to practice.

He had also been able to make some reasonable progress on the mission Chaos had originally sent him on. After the whole thing in Dubai, he had realized that the terrorists weren't just well-organized, but they were extremely well funded too. He had managed to track the money through accounts all over the world, hundreds of them, and he was going to come up with a name eventually. But that was going to take some time. His little vacation from the Hunt was about to end. Artemis had IMd him to tell him that her personal hunt was coming to an end, and they would go back to roaming the forests of America pretty soon. He was disappointed to have to leave his friends for a while, but he was going to see them again before he went back to Chaos' realm. He would make sure of it.

That brought him to waking up in New Rome one day. He'd been sleeping on Jason and PIper's couch ever since he had arrived there. There was still a villa waiting for him, right next door, but he couldn't bring himself to stay there. That place had been allocated to another life. It held a type of sanctity in his mind. Like it had been prepared for one specific kind of life to be lived in it, and he couldn't corrupt it with the life he was actually leading. Jason and Piper had tried to talk him into staying there, but had ultimately respected his wishes, and promptly allowed him to stay with them. It hadn't exactly been comfortable, since half the length of his legs hung off the end, but it was better than the alternative for him. It was a good thing that he barely slept. His eyes snapped open and he stood up. He striped the couch of the bedding he had been given. He had a feeling that he wasn't going to be back for a while, so he used his powers to thoroughly wash and dry them, before putting them away in the cabinet where they had been previously. He started stretching. He wasn't too stiff, since he had only spent an hour on the couch, but he still didn't feel right.

After a good few minutes of stretching, he left Piper and Jason's villa. It was pretty early in the morning, so no one was around. He preffered it that way. He wasn't exactly the sociable type. At least, not with people that he didn't know. He was making his way to the New Rome version of a gym. They called it an 'Exercise center', but it was a gym. As he walked, he picked up on something interesting. He was being followed. It took him a moment to figure out what was happening. Jack was finally responding to Percy's beatdown on him. He was retaliating. As Percy was strolling through the New Roman streets, he suddenly had a shadow. Actually, he had 8 of them. If he were to guess, they were probably Camp Half-Blood's best and brightest. By which, of course, he meant the best fighters of camp. 8 of them. Jack must have been pretty pissy to try something like that. Surely, he couldn't have thought that they would do anything to him? Did he think that 8 campers were better than him? Really? Or maybe he was using them as fodder. Make him lower his guard, so that he himself could sneak up on him. Either way, it wasn't going to work. If Jack himself, and 10 of his godly friends banded together to try and take him down, they would still be sorely disappointed. That wasn't arrogance. It was a simple statement of fact.

But Percy wanted to be absolutely sure before he did anything. He turned right. He kept walking for a few blocks. His tails turned with him. Then he turned right again. A few moments later, they did too. He turned yet another right. They stayed right with him. He made one final right turn, and they did too. There was absolutely no reason for anyone in the world to take 4 consecutive right turns. There simply wasn't. It just made a square. So they were following him. Fair enough. He walked until he found an alley that led to a dead end. He walked all the way to the end of it, and casually leaned against the wall directly opposite the alley opening. In a few moments, 8 demigods would make that exact same turn, and realize that they got played. And they did. They all made the turn and cringed at the sight of him. He just smiled lazily. He recognized them. They'd been trying to pull him off his brother when he had first arrived at Camp Half-Blood.

"It's your lucky day. If you leave now, with your tails between your legs, then I won't beat you all senseless."

They all exchanged glances with each other. Like they were trying to decide which one of them was the leader, and by that logic, who had to reply to him. Eventually, they chose the biggest one. Idiots.

"And why would we do that?" he asked, trying to sound brave and confident. He wasn't doing the best job.

"For the reason I just gave," Percy replied, exasperated.

The big idiot blushed.

"Yeah, well, there's 8 of us, and one of you," he tried.

Percy quirked an eyebrow.

"Hardly a fair fight, don't you think?"

"We don't need it to be fair."

"You really do. That's why you should go back to your little camp, find every single demigod you can, Jack too, come back, and then maybe you'll have something resembling a chance against me."

The big idiot went red. He hadn't been expecting that. He also clearly didn't have a response. The time for talking was over. They all charged against him. Like bulls. Hardly a brilliant battle tactic, but he wasn't about to complain about it. Despite the fact that they were trying to hurt, or even kill him, he didn't want to bang them up too bad. They were just dumb kids following orders, who had no idea what they were up against. It wasn't their fault. But at the same time, they needed to learn a valuable life lesson. They needed to learn to pick their battles.

As they all went charging for him, he just moved through them. He barely even touched them, just ducking and weaving his way through the mini-crowd, so that they were the ones blocked in at the alley. It was pretty easy. He was very fast and graceful. They were decently quick, but kind of lumbering. There was no finesse to them. Not to mention that Chaos' first blessing had slowed down the world around him. As far as he was concerned, they were practically moving through jello.

Once he was on the other side of them, he made his first move. It was a light tap to the base of the skull of the guy closest to him. A light tap by his standards, not anyone else's. The tap knocked him unconscious in a relatively painless way. After that, he casually redirected the punch aimed towards his head from the next guy in line, responding by sending an elbow into the side of his head, knocking him out cold too. Then there was a wild slash with a sword aimed for his torso. Percy simply caught the blade, wrestled it out of the guy's grip, and punched the offender in the nose.

'3 down, 5 to go,' he thought amusedly. He was having fun.

After that, the big idiot went charging at him. Percy just sidestepped and tripped him. Then he took careful aim and dolled out a very controlled kick to the side of the guy's face. It would be for the best that he didn't kill any of them, after all.

Then there were just 4. In the span of 3 seconds, he had casually reduced their number by half. The remaining demigods didn't look too confident anymore. He decided to be somewhat merciful. He used his control over shadows to send walls of darkness into each of them and knocked them all out instantly. Better that, than breaking their bones, he figured. It was then that he sensed an interesting presence. He smirked coldly.

"You didn't know I could do that, did you?" he asked, seemingly to no one.

Then a figure stepped out of the shadows behind him. But it wasn't Jack, as he had initially assumed when the demigods had started following him. He was looking at the King of the Gods himself. He felt the sudden urge to bow mockingly but managed to hold off. Zeus did not look happy. Or rather, Jupiter didn't look happy. He was in his Roman form.

"Since when have you had control over shadows?" he demanded.

Percy had only used those powers in Zeus/Jupiter's presence once. During the fight in the Throne Room. But by that point, Zeus was being beaten into a pulp by his brothers, so he hadn't noticed. Interesting.

"That's my business, not yours. What exactly was all this supposed to prove, Jupiter?"

Jupiter went quiet. Obviously, there had been some kind of initial point, but he was too embarrassed to say what it was, seeing as it had failed miserably. The two regarded each other for a few moments. Percy was ready to attack at a moment's notice. He was fairly certain that he could run circles around the youngest son of Kronos. There was a very strong possibility that the encounter would take that kind of turn.

After a few moments, Jupiter spoke again.

"Listen, demigod, I do not like the fact that you spend so much time with my favorite daughter. I do not like the fact that you are as insolent as you are. All in all, I do not like you."

Percy nodded.

"Listen, God, I do not like the fact that you spend so much time on your ivory throne, that you've forgotten what it's like in the real world. Or maybe you never knew. I do not like the fact that you are as prideful as you are. So prideful, in fact, that it almost led to the destruction of the world, on two separate occasions. You don't like me? That's perfectly fine. I feel genuine contempt toward you."

Jupiter looked even less happy about that. He was about to try and speak again, but Percy didn't let him.

"The only reason you're still in power is because I believe that you're the lesser evil. If the Titans or Giants ruled, then things would be much worse. But make no mistake, Jupiter, I have no loyalty to Olympus. My loyalty is toward the innocent people of the world, and ensuring their safety. Trust me, the moment a better option comes along, I'll give them my full endorsement, and leave you to rot. What the fuck have you ever done for me?"

The King of the Gods went red. He was getting angry. Luckily for him, there was still a small part of his rational mind left, keeping him in check. Even he wasn't arrogant enough to think he could beat Percy in a fight. And clearly, he had no desire to engage in the conversation anymore. He just flashed away without another word. Percy wasn't about to complain. Their conversation was getting frustrating.

Percy kept walking to the gym, as he had intended. His fallen demigod attackers could sleep off the headaches in the alley where he had left them. Eventually, they would wake up, probably with concussions, and throw up for a little bit before stumbling their way back to the portal to Camp Half-Blood.

Percy finally got to the gym, not having been delayed by his little detour too much, and started his workout. He wasn't able to work out like he did on Chaos' realm, since the gym in New Rome simply wasn't equipped for it, but he was still able to keep himself occupied. 4 hours later, he was done. He showered quickly and made his way to meet his friends for breakfast. They were all aware that it was their last one together for a while. But they didn't let that stop them. They still had a good time together, and laughed like they always did whenever they hung out.

Towards the end of their meal, Artemis walked over to him. Or rather, Diana did. There was a very clear distinction between her two forms. Much clearer than the difference between Zeus and Jupiter. Whereas Artemis was strict and disciplined, there was a much more human side to her. He rarely saw it himself of course, but he picked up on it whenever she spoke to her huntresses. Especially the younger ones. But Diana barely looked human. She was standing so straight, one might think she had a plank of wood strapped to her back. Or maybe a steel rod up her ass. Her jaw was constantly tensed and her face seemed like it had morphed into a permanent scowl. She was glaring at everything in sight.

She approached their table and offered a curt nod at everyone, before setting her gaze on him. He held it evenly and waited for her to speak. After a few moments, she got tired and sighed.

"It's good manners to rise when approached by your superior."

Percy wasn't able to stop his jaw from dropping. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Artemis had always had a slight superiority streak, but it was never this bad. What Diana had just said could have been straight out of Zeus' handbook. He narrowed his eyes. He and Diana weren't going to get along very well.

He stared at her for a few moments, waiting for her to crack up and scream 'Gotcha', but she didn't. He glanced around his table, as if asking the Roman demigods joining him, if she was being serious. They gave him subtle nods.

He sighed 'Wow' under his breath and stood up slowly.

She raised an eyebrow, but offered no other indication that she had heard him. Once he was fully risen, towering above her small frame, he offered a mocking salute. If possible, her jaw set even more, but she still didn't say anything.

"So, what's up? Something tells me this isn't a social call."

Her nose wrinkled in disgust and her eyes narrowed further.

"We're leaving in precisely 6 minutes. Don't be late."

And with that, she walked away. Hardy the sociable type. He wasn't exactly a social butterfly himself, but still. She would have fit right in with all of the emotionless robots in Chaos' realm.

'Emotionless robots, with one exception,', he thought as he remembered Sara. He missed her.

He turned back to his friends and they all hugged and said goodbye. He swore that he would see them all again before he had to go back. Once they'd all said their goodbyes, he walked to the portal between camps and stepped over into Camp Half-Blood. The hunters were all gathered on the hill, getting their gear together. He glanced around camp and saw everyone glaring at him. None of them appreciated the beatdown he had leveled against Jack, and just because they had allowed him to get off without punishment, didn't mean they liked him. That was fine with him. He was never going to see them again in his life. He saw Jack glaring at him too. Percy returned it heatedly. The rest of them, he didn't care about, but Jack was another story entirely.

Percy joined up with the hunters and was relieved to find that Artemis was back in her Greek form. He and Artemis weren't exactly friends, but he still found her considerably nicer than her Roman counterpart. He locked eyes with her, and she winced slightly. His eyes widened a fraction, but he didn't say anything. She walked over to him, almost looking sheepish.

"Percy," she started, "I just wanted to say, I'm sorry. I really hate being Diana. She's way too much of a hardass."

His eyes widened even more. She was full of surprises that particular morning, it seemed. She saw his reaction and blushed a little more, averting her gaze.

"What?" she asked.

"Nothing, I just never would have figured that you would apologise to me."

"Yeah, well…" she replied scowling, "I normally wouldn't, but Diana is a pretty aggressive type. So, yeah, sorry."

He just nodded vaguely.

"Right, don't worry about it."

She nodded too.

"Yeah, do me a favor and don't mention this?"

"You got it," he replied, eager to bring the strange conversation to a swift end.

She just nodded gratefully, and walked back to her hunters. He wasn't entirely sure what just happened. Thalia saw him looking like a lost puppy and walked over to him, already smirking.

"Did you have a little run-in with Diana?" she asked knowingly.

"Yeah, actually, how did you know?"

"Cause Artemis only even looks like that under very specific circumstances. That's her 'Diana apology' face. We've all gone through it. When I first met Diana, she called me a worthless grunt."

He snorted.

"So basically, she's an asshole."

"Yeah, pretty much," Thalia replied, laughing.

He looked around at the hunters. It had only been 2 weeks since he had seen them, but they all looked slightly different. Like they were more relaxed, and had been grateful for the small break, but were eager to back to hunting monsters. Phoebe was glaring at him viciously. He just rolled his eyes.

'Some things never change' he thought.

They all moved out and started another hunt. They weren't looking for anything specific. Just whatever they found. Unfortunately, they'd had to walk through Manhattan on their way. That had been its own little hellish experience. The entire hunt, excluding Thalia, glaring at each and every man that crossed their path. It really pissed him off.

He reached his breaking point when they had almost attacked a random guy, who had dared to ask them for directions. A single look at him had told Percy all he had needed to know. He had been standing on the sidewalk, staring at a map with a confused expression on his face. Every few moments, he would look up and around, crease his brow, and then go back to staring at the map. He was helplessly lost. He had finally given up and looked around to ask someone for directions, Unfortunately for him, the hunt were the first people he saw. Artemis was in her 20-year-old form, to avoid suspicion of a bunch of adolescent girls and one single gigantic guy, in Manhattan. Naturally, he put a friendly smile on his face and sheepishly went to ask her for some help finding his bearings. He didn't get the chance to utter a single word before Phoebe tried to slug the guy across the jaw. Percy had just barely caught her in time. He gave her a glare fierce enough to make even her back down, and proceeded to help the guy. It took 30 seconds, and they were on the move again, but Percy made sure to remember to berate Phoebe when they set up camp.

For the rest of the journey, Phoebe glared at him with even more venom than usual, and he ignored her very existence. He could literally feel her though. He could feel her fury simmering and bubbling up within her. He wouldn't be surprised if she attacked him when they got to camp. Her posse would probably help her. He was actually hoping that she would. He was beyond furious at her. There was no telling how many innocent people she had attacked for the stupidest reasons in the world.

Their journey took them another two hours. They'd found and killed several monsters on their way, and had blown off a good amount of steam before they set up their camp. Percy went about lighting the camp's fire, as he always did, when he sensed the heel of a boot flying towards the back of his head. He had expected it. He wasn't even mad, really.

He reacted to the heel by twisting around, grabbing the boot, and using it as leverage to slam Phoebe straight into the fire that he had just lit. Ok, maybe he was slightly mad. She had tried to kick his face into a fire, so he supposed that his anger was justified.

Phoebe gave out a shriek, and rolled out of the fire as quickly as she could. As a huntress, she was pretty fast and agile, so it only took a second for her to get out, but her clothes still caught fire. She rolled around on the dirt and managed to pat out the fire. He just stood there and let her. She had caught fire, so his revenge was pretty much complete. As long as she backed down, then their fight was over as far as he was concerned.

Once the flames were out, Phoebe stood up, glaring at him murderously. He stared back at her, perfectly calm. Then she flung herself at him. Apparently, she wasn't very pleased about the whole burning thing. But, in his defence, she was the one who started it. But he was still furiously angry about what had happened with that guy in New York. She deserved to be smacked down a bit. Or a lot. He met her in the middle of her lunge with a powerful headbutt straight to her forehead. He made sure to pull back on it a lot. If he went full-force, he would bust her skull open like a walnut. As fun as that would certainly be, he figured it would make the rest of his stay with the hunt, slightly awkward. He didn't even want to knock her out. He just wanted to give her a serious headache.

He made contact with her forehead, and she went crashing away from him. He could have stayed with her as she went, but he stayed where he was. More than just beating her in the fight, he wanted to demonstrate that he was not to be fucked with. He let her regain her balance, and even though every fiber of his being was screaming at him to go in for the kill, he stayed rooted to the spot. As soon as she was on her own two feet again, she pulled out her twin hunting knives. That was when he went in again. She slashed towards him when he got close, but she was slightly too late. He stepped inside her guard, slapped the knives out of her hands, and whacked an elbow to the bridge of her nose.

She went stumbling away again, and that time he stepped in with her. He sent a light punch into her shoulder and spun her around. He snaked his foot around her legs, and shoved the back of her head, making her trip over his foot and plant her face into the dirt. He gave her a second, and then used his foot to roll her over so that she could breathe.

He was about to tell her to think before she acted, but he was interrupted. Apparently, Artemis decided to shoot him. With the benefit of hindsight, he would be able to rationalize her actions, but in that moment, he wasn't exactly thinking about her perspective on the matter. All he really knew at that point, was that a goddess was attacking him. And he wasn't going to back the fuck down.

He easily dodged the arrow, and hurled one of his throwing knives toward her. She dodged it as he had. As he was coming up from the dodge, he was all too aware of the gun tucked into his holster. He could pull it out, fire twice, and end the fight there and then. He wouldn't even have to kill her. Just kneecap her. But he decided not to. He didn't want to go that far. If it ended up being necessary, then he wouldn't hesitate to shoot her, but he wanted to try and resolve the conflict without escalating it.

Something important in any fight, was to know your opponent's strengths and weaknesses. He knew that Artemis was one of the best combatants on the Olympian council. That wasn't up for debate. She was the literal Goddess of archery, so it went without saying that her bow was one of her biggest strengths. She was also excellent with her knives, but not nearly as good as she was with the bow. So he needed to close the distance between them, and take her on up close and personal. Artemis, in addition to being an excellent fighter, was no moron. She saw what he was trying to do, by closing the distance, and knew that it would be bad for her. She knew her own weaknesses, which was also important for a combatant. She saw him getting close, and immediately went on the back foot, giving herself room to work. But he was faster.

He faked a punch to the jaw, and used the cover to throw a knife at the bow, knocking it out of her hands. Her biggest threat against him was already out of play. Or at least, the biggest threat she could pose to him unless she used her divine powers to just melt him. The moment the bow was gone from her hands, she spun and used her powers to send a blast of pure energy straight into his chest. The force was enough to send him flying back, and he slammed into a tree hard enough to force the air out of his lungs. Thankfully, his armor took the brunt of the force from the blast, but it still burned straight through the mortal clothes he was wearing over it.

He wasn't given any reprieve. It became obvious to him that Artemis wasn't trying to prove some kind of point as he had been. She was trying to kill him. Plain and simple. She wasn't holding back. Fuck. Half a second after he crashed into the tree, her knife was inches away from his eye. He had a split second to react, which he used to shift his head to the right. He just managed to avoid the knife and sent his head forwards into a headbutt. That time, he didn't hold back at all. The force of the blow, sent Artemis flying away. He saw a tidal wave of golden blood explode from her nose.

Percy took a second to breathe, before flinging himself back into the fight. Unfortunately, Artemis had gone for a similar approach, only instead of rejoining the fight, she had gone for her bow. She had made it too. Damn Goddess was quick. She quickly fired an arrow aimed for his heart, but he managed to dodge to the side. It still hit him, but it only punctured a lung, rather than killing him. But a punctured lung was nothing to laugh about. It wouldn't cause him any permanent harm, due to his healing, but it would be a real pain in the ass for the rest of the fight. He needed to end it quickly.

He pulled his gun out of his holster and Artemis had just enough time to curse before he shot the bow out of her hands. She charged straight for him, and he met her in the middle. She held a knife to his chest, exactly where his heart was. He held his gun to her temple. They both froze.

"All I have to do is push," she told him.

"Go ahead. I'll pull the trigger."

"I'll reform. You won't."

"You really want to spend a few centuries in Tartarus?"

"It would be worth it, to kill you," she said venomously.

"What about your hunters? Would they be worth it? I wonder what would happen to them if you had to take a leave of absence like that."

She glared at him even harder but said nothing. He had a point and she knew it.

They both held their positions for a few more seconds before Percy figured he was going to have to take the first step. He lowered his arm and dropped his gun. Artemis held the knife to his chest for another few moments, before she dropped it too.

"You have some serious explaining to do," she told him.

"Fine. Let's go to your tent?"

She nodded and they went inside. Immediately, his senses were assaulted by her. He knew it was her tent and all, but holy shit. It was just so her. She sat down at a desk, crossed her legs and her arms, raised an eyebrow, and stared at him. He walked over to her desk slowly, and sat down opposite her.

"Why did you attack my huntress?"

"I didn't. I just defended myself. She started the whole thing."

"And why would Phoebe do that?"

He raised an eyebrow at her.

"Seriously? That woman is always on the verge of attacking me anyway. But I set her off during that fiasco in the city."

"Fiasco? You mean when you berated her for no reason?"

He laughed.

"You can't possibly believe that's how it went down. She was about to attack that random guy, just because he was lost and wanted directions. Is that how you operate your hunt? Any man that dares to look at you gets beaten down?"

"He was clearly being aggressive! He was probably going to try and hurt us, thinking we were defenseless!"

"For the love of God, Artemis! Are you blind?"

Her nostrils flared.

"Watch it, boy!"

"You can't honestly believe what you said! That can't seriously be your point of view!"

"What? That men are vile scum? Of course, that's how I see it! That's been my experience, my entire life! Millennium after millennium, they've proved me right!"

He took a deep breath. She was really pissing him off. He needed to stop himself from attacking her again, there and then.

"Artemis… think about what you just said. Think about the sample size that you have. You spend your time rescuing young girls in abusive situations. Of course, you're going to encounter more pigs that most people. But those assholes don't define the entire gender!"

She crossed her arms, but didn't say anything.

"You know what I bet you've never considered? There are women out there who do the exact same thing. Mothers who abuse their sons. Wives who abuse their husbands, and/or cheat on them. They're out there. They exist. Does that mean that the entire female gender is scum? Cause by your definition, it does!"

She looked away from him, still not having said a word.

"Let's look at what happened in the city. Cast your mind back. How did the guy look?"

She considered for a few moments, before replying.

"He looked like he was going to attack."

He sighed.

"Did he really? And what lead you to that conclusion? Please, do share. I'm eager to find out what I've been doing wrong."

She bit her tongue again. She didn't have a response to that. There wasn't one.

"No? Well, let me tell you what I saw. Did you notice his clothes? Plaid shirt, cargo shorts, and a baseball cap that read, 'I Love NY'. Not to mention the map in his hand. Tourist. Did you notice that he was staring into the map, and then looking up at the city? He was trying to get his bearings. He wasn't sure where he was. Based on the way he was dressed, and the state of his hands, I would say that he's a farmer, probably from Kansas. His first response to being lost was to ask someone, rather than find a street number, because that's probably what he would have generally done all his life. People are friendlier and more trusting over there, on average. And you and your little band of man-haters just so happened to be the first people he saw. He was going to ask where he was, and how to get wherever he was trying to go, which is precisely what he asked me when I talked to him."

Artemis thought about what he said for a long moment before she tried to defend herself.

"He could have been trying to flirt with us," she tried weakly.

He scoffed at her.

"Oh, please! Even if he was going to flirt, just say you're not interested and move on. That's not grounds for an attack. And besides, he obviously wasn't going to make a move on you. He was wearing a wedding band, that was at least 25 years old. Guy that age, with a wedding ring that old, he probably married his high school sweetheart the moment they were allowed. Not to mention the watch he was wearing. Less than a week old, and inscribed. Probably a nice little anniversary gift from his wife, no doubt inscribed with a lovely little message from her. They must have been in New York together. Probably a little anniversary vacation. He got them the trip, she got him the watch."

"How did you know that the watch was inscribed?"

"I felt the indentations."

"I didn't see you touch his watch. How did you feel the indentations on the watch, without actually touching it?"

"The same way I know Thalia is going to burst in here, in roughly 3 seconds."

Artemis raised an eyebrow and 3 seconds later, Thalia burst through the door. She looked slightly panicked. Like she had just heard about the fight and was worried the two were killing each other in Artemis' tent. She looked relieved to see them sitting down together, rather than fighting.

"What the hell happened?" she asked.

Artemis took a second, to look at Percy curiously, not understanding how he had known. A moment later, she replied.

"Nothing. It was just a… misunderstanding on my part."

Percy raised an eyebrow. He found it interesting that she was willing to swallow her pride like that and admit she was wrong. That was something most people struggled with, never mind Gods and Goddesses, who were famous for being as stubborn as can be.

"But-" Thalia tried, but she was interrupted by Artemis.

"Thalia, we're actually in the middle of something. I promise I'll explain everything later, but right now, we need some privacy."

Thalia blinked. She looked to Percy, who nodded in confirmation. She pursed her lips but did as she was told. Once they were alone again, Artemis looked at him even more curiously.

"Ok, how the hell did you know she was there? Even I didn't know she was going to come in."

"Let's just say that my senses are a lot stronger than they used to be."

"How much stronger?"

"I know that you spoke to Aphrodite at some point in the last 30-ish hours. I know that you spent a decent amount of time around Apollo and Hephaestus too, in the last week. I know that our little fight earlier was the first time you fired your bow since you dropped off your hunters at Camp Half-Blood. I know that you last washed your hair 3 days ago, using some kind of natural organic shampoo. I know that the last time you ate, was this time yesterday. You had veal. I know that the more I say, the faster your heart beats."

She stared at him.

"How… How exactly do you know all of that?"

"I can smell Aphrodite's perfume on you, and not on your clothes. She probably hugged you hello before you could dodge away. You've changed clothes since then, and the scent was pretty faint anyway. It probably wasn't too strong, to begin with. I doubt you saw her for more than a few minutes, one on one. The smell of grease and machine oil, as well as a pretty strong masculine cologne, are a little bit stronger. You had a little bit more time with Hephaestus and Apollo, and it was spread out over roughly a week because the remaining scents are faded, but more ingrained than Aphrodite's perfume, suggesting a longer duration of exposure. The callouses that develop on your fingertips from archery, were starting to heal ever so slightly. That means you hadn't fired a bow in a little while. I can smell the remnants of shampoo in your hair, and judging by the oily buildup, I would say it's been 3 days since you thoroughly washed it. I figured the shampoo was natural and organic, just based on who you are. I can taste the veal on your breath, and it's relatively old, with nothing more recent covering it. And I could hear your heart rate rising as I was talking. You were getting a little panicked at the fact that I knew all of that. And that's pretty interesting all on its own."

Her eyes widened a fraction. She was getting nervous.

"You got the most nervous when I was talking about your encounters with the other Olympians. Why would that by, I wonder? You said that you were hunting solo, and that's why you left us at Camp Half-Blood. That may have even been the original plan. But that's not what happened. You didn't hunt anything. You were in meetings. It's really faint, but I can smell ozone on you. You've been around your father. Not nearly as much as Apollo, Hephaestus, or Aphrodite though. Zeus is planning something against me, isn't he? He probably invited you, and the rest of the Gods that have an issue with me and had yourselves a little meeting about what to do about me. Your father assumed that you were on the same page as him. But you weren't. So that's why you told Apollo and Hephaestus about the meetings. You even told Aphrodite, but she can't have been able to help you much, so you didn't spend too long with her."

He sat back in his chair. Artemis, ironically, looked like a dear in headlights.

"Zeus had orchestrated a little attack on me when I was still in New Rome, but obviously it didn't take. That wasn't it, was it? It was just a little experiment, wasn't it? He wanted to know what I can do. Is he planning anything else against me?"

Artemis stared at him for a long time. He just stared back. He'd said all he wanted to say. Her turn. She took a deep breath and steeled herself.

"Yes, he's planning something more. We were going to try and stop it before it got the point that you would even have to deal with it, but it seems we're beyond that. That was amazing, how the Hades did you do that?"

"I told you, my senses are enhanced."

"No, not that, though that's still very impressive, but how did you figure all that out? You had the basic pieces, but based on what I've heard about you from your days at Camp Half-Blood, you shouldn't be able to come close to figuring that out based on what you had."

"Let's just say that rumors of my stupidity were greatly exaggerated. That being said, I would really appreciate it if you kept that to yourself. I still find it best that people don't know about it."

Artemis nodded distantly. She was deep in thought. And she was looking at him strangely. Like she was reevaluating things. Things to do with him. Maybe this meant that she was going to treat him a little bit better from then on. If she'd had this image of him as this stupid boy, blundering around getting lucky. Maybe she would treat him more like a person. Unfortunately, he didn't hold out much hope. She had thousands of years to form the habits she held. It would take a lot longer than one conversation to get her to change anything. But maybe they'd made a first step. Maybe it could lead to something akin to friendship between them. He would like that. Or at least, he thought he would.

A/N: Ok, that's all for that one. Hope you guys enjoyed. I want to make sure something is understood. Just because Percy and Sara broke up in this chapter, doesn't mean that the pairing will be Pertemis. I still haven't made up my mind on that one. Either way, Percy and Sara will become friends at some point in the future, as will Percy and Artemis. Then, at some point, I'll make my final decision on the pairing. Anyway, stay safe, everyone.