Over the next few weeks, Percy tried to decipher what the dream meant. Understandably, he was having no luck. All it did was reinforce his belief that Artemis was the worst goddess. Like seriously, who wakes up one day and decides to hate half of humanity?

And who decides that just because they had one bad experience with a man, all men are bad? Percy couldn't believe it.

What a sad life to live.

Meanwhile, Apollo was scheming. He was trying to workout what could have caused Percy's injuries and was desperately combing through his memories to see if he had any visions of this event. He didn't.

He flashed away to the scene of the crime, and, very faintly, could pick up remnants of a powerful beings presence. It felt familiar, but it was too faint to ring any bells. He was determined to get to the bottom of it.

Percy found himself in the gardens outside of the throne room on Mount Olympus. Every year, all the influential demigods who fought in the war had been invited to a party to celebrate their victory. Percy couldn't think of anything worse.

Seeing his old friends was bittersweet. Sure, he missed seeing them, but they had seemingly forgotten about him, moving on to bigger and better things.

It was also a stark reminder of how many demigods had perished. How many people he'd been unable to save. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair that his friends, people who had so much more life to live, had to perish and yet he was supposed to be sucking up to the gods, pretending to listen to stories about their past glories, accepting praise for saving Olympus, yet he couldn't save his friends.

Yes, he would spend as long as he possibly could out here. It was tranquil. He sat himself on a bench, and stared up into the sky. It was a cloudless night, and the stars shone spectacularly. He stared up at the moon, and was surprised to see that, unlike the stars, it was dull.

He wasn't sure how long he sat there, staring, until he heard a throat clearing and spun around.

Two gleaming silver orbs were staring back at him. He quickly dropped to a knee with a muttered "Lady Artemis." He received no reply, and when he looked back at her, he noticed that she was in her adult appearance instead of her usual childlike form. She was staring at him with a mixture of curiosity, along with another emotion he couldn't place.

"Rise, Perseus. You of all people should bow to no one."

Percy was about to argue, but a swift look from the goddess shut him up.

"Not enjoying the party? There's many a goddess inside who would love to spend some time with you." Artemis said.

"I'm not really in the mood for a party, let alone dealing with goddesses who only like me because I'm popular." Percy responded firmly.

"I was under the impression that you and my brother frequented parties, and you have no problem spending your time with mortal women."

Percy sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "Tonight should be about commemoration and honouring those who died for Olympus. Instead, everyone in there is having the time of their lives. I can't do that. It's not fair to dishonour them by getting pissed." He started to raise his voice but quickly calmed himself down when he remembered who he was talking to.

Artemis walked over to the bench he'd been sitting on and sat down, patting the spot next to her. Percy hesitantly sat down. He wasn't taking any risks.

"I feel the same," she said softly, "I lost many a hunter during the war. To see everyone acting like fools is a dishonour to their sacrifice."

Percy nodded. Artemis continued, "Its not fair. I get to be immortal and continue on with my life, but my hunters do not. Every battle could be their last. I can't protect them all, no matter how hard I might try," she turned to look at Percy, "same goes for you, Perseus. Although you may be immortal now, you are not a god. You are still fallible. And despite how strong you may be, it is impossible to save everyone."

Percy sighed and leaned back, staring at the constellations in the sky, and quickly finding his favourite one. The huntress. Artemis looked at what he was staring at and smiled softly to herself.

"I know I can't save everyone, but I feel like I have to you know?" Percy said, "I just feel so guilty and I know I can't help everyone but I can't stop myself from reliving those moments, thinking of what I could've done differently. I could've been positioned better, I could've given better instructions. It keeps me up at night. It fucks me up." Percy said with a bitter laugh.

"You have to learn to let go. You did what you could at the time. You have to learn to move on." Artemis said softly.

Percy chuckled at that, but it was without any real humour. "Easy for you to say."

Artemis glared at him and he quickly apologised, "I mean, you've got lots more experience with this kinda stuff. I see their faces in my dreams. All my friends who died. None of them deserved it."

Artemis sighed, "I remember all of my girls who have died. But the only thing you can do to honour their memory and sacrifice is to not let your pain and guilt consume you and strive to be the best you can."

Percy smiled at her gratefully.

Artemis rose, "Now," she said firmly, "I believe there are some people in there who would like to talk to you. Including my idiot brother."

Percy rose and gave a quick bow and shot her a quick smile. "Thank you, Lady Artemis, I really needed that."

Artemis stared at him again, before saying, "Just Artemis will do, Perseus, and no bowing. Now off you go."

Percy started to make his way back to the throne room, but not before he turned and gave a cheeky smile and "Only if you call me Percy!"

He could've sworn he heard the sound of soft laughter.

chapters will have ~4/5k words hereon out. give thoughts plz