All rights belong to Rick Riordan

Chapter 52

Falling with Style, Sort of

(Percy)

Fortunately it is a lot easier to spot things from the air otherwise I could have had some serious problems finding Juniper, after first checking her own source tree and not finding her there. The thing with Dryads is though they are bound to stay near their tree as they mature they can venture further away from them over time, I had no idea whereabouts she was likely to have gone and Grover was still KO'd.

My break came when I spotted a small tree overhanging the stream that fed into the canoe lake that I recognized from my reading as a willow, so I went out on a hunch given what Grover had revealed. Well that the fact I didn't remember there being a tree there.

As I folded my wings and came into land a short distance away from the tree to avoid startling the two figures I now detected under the drooping branches. Of cause, in reality just as I was about to touch down a gust of wind blew from behind causing me to pitch forward and accidently drop Grover as I tried to overcompensate. The satyr hit the ground with a loud thud and a groan of pain which served to obtain the figure in front of me's attention, as she looked from me to the object on the floor with confusion before shifting to worry as she recognized her boyfriend/partner. To be honest I don't know how satyr/dryad relationships progressed or if they go married or what I had never really thought about it.

'Grover!' Juniper shouted running across towards him as I slowly folded my wings behind my back.

'Urgh my head, oh hi Honey I'm back.' Grover said wearily rubbing his head which made me feel bad about dropping him.

'Don't Honey me Grover, where in the gods did you sneak of to last night.' Juniper demanded going from worried to angry in the space of a micro-second. Perhaps she and Artemis had something in common either that or it was just women in general.

'Oh err I had to go to a council meeting cause…Err Percy's back.' Grover said after a few seconds pause. Now it was rather obvious Grover was not going to tell her what he was really doing but his lie served his purposes perfectly, after all it deflected her wrath, unfortunately for me it was now directed in my direction as the dryad realized what he said and she gained a look of recognition as she paid closer attention to me.

'Percy Jackson! Where in the hades have you been! Do you know how bad it is when you are pregnant and your boyfriend cares more about where his friend is than you. Well do you?' She shouted angrily. While I had to admit I was glad that Grover had been so worried and focused on me, though I felt bad that it had adversely affected his relationship with Juniper, though the good news was her statement answered my previous question.

'Err no Juniper I don't, though you are looking well considering. So I guess sorry about that.' I said as diplomatically as I could the last thing I needed was every dryad at camp out to get me.

'You better be! Anyway you had us so worried, what happened to you?' Juniper suddenly asked shifting mood again as she looked at me with curiosity.

'I didn't really have much choice in the matter once I became a Titan, I couldn't exactly stay here any longer besides it gave me responsibilities up on Orthrys.' I explained simply and the Dryad seemed to take the revelation a lot better than her boyfriend did.

'Wait so you were being serious about the whole Titan thing… so what are your domains then bro.' Grover said turning to me curiously.

'Time, Tides, Light, Constellation and the Hunt and I used to have the Air hence the wings.' I said fluttering said appendages. Of course the pair's reaction was about the same as everyone else's when told, stunned silence as they comprehended it.

'So you and Artemis?' Grover said with a raised eyebrow breaking the silence. If it wasn't for the fact it would have looked suspicious I would have told him to shut up about it, the last thing I needed was every tree from here to Orthrys finding out.

'Yes we share the hunt, even though I am still learning about it from her.' I said looking at him as if to say shut up about it. Thankfully we were interrupted by the arrival of a very young girl, who tentatively approached from behind Juniper before nervously poking her face around her mother's skirt or so I guessed judging by the slight green tinge to her skin.

Despite the fact that she could not have been more than a year old at the most, she had the appearance of a girl of at least 6 which I guessed was the result of her being a nymph, I knew that satyrs matured at half the age of a human perhaps dryads compensated by doing the opposite but then again I had never seen an old one either, so I had no real idea after all I had always been more focused on the less friendly creatures than those closer to home.

The young dryad meanwhile had noticed her father and had gained a large smile on her face however she seemed to freeze when she also saw me behind as if unsure what to do.

'Hey Willow have you been being good for mommy?' Grover asked her breaking the ice as she snapped her attention back to him as he stood up and trotted across to her.

'Yes Daddy.' She replied in a high voice before she was suddenly picked up into Grover's arms with her legs hanging down.

'Good because I want you to meet someone, this is Percy; he is daddy's best friend. We went on lots of adventures together.' Grover explained as he slowly came back towards me and I had to admit he seemed a natural at parenting.

'You mean the Percyyyy from all the stories you told me about?' She asked as she turned back to me with wide eyes of amazement. It was good to know that I was a bedside story.

'The very same he had to go away for a while but he is back now, so say hello.' Grover replied slowly lowering her to the floor in front of me.

'Hello Percyyy.' She said apparently she needed to prolong the Y but it was endearing and cute so I had no problem with it as I slowly crouched down to her level, folding my lower wings so they did not brush through the dirt.

'Hey Willow your daddy told me all about you, but he never said you were this cute.' I said making her beam with pride as she turned back to her parents.

'She must have got it from me then.' Juniper said deadpan before breaking out into laughter when Grover turned towards her suddenly.

'Thank you Percyyy, Daddy didn't say anything about you having shiny wings though.' Willow asked oblivious of her mothers comment as she had caught sight of the golden appendages on my back.

'They are from another story, one I can tell you about soon maybe. I have to go now and help some of my friends with some things but I will be back I promise.' I explained to her as I remembered Thalia and Reyna were likely waiting for me still. She seemed saddened by the news and I noticed her start to give me the puppy eyes which was starting to make me feel bad about having to go.

'Come now Willow Percy has people he needs to help and you know only your father is affected by that look it doesn't work on me.' Juniper told her drawing the young dryad's attention towards herself as she looked ready to protest while Grover gave me the look as if to say; go now while she is distracted.

Needless to say I used the opportunity as I stood back up and with a beat of my wings felt myself lift off the ground which also had the result of getting her attention again, as I left in the direction of the camp stables staying low for short journey. I heard her say wow in admiration as I left the trio behind.

(Reyna)

While we had been waiting for Percy to return I had already retrieved Scipio and saddled the Pegasus, while Thalia tentatively tried to help although I could tell she was extremely nervous about what was coming up from her pale skin and the fact she was being relatively silent.

The stables themselves were relatively empty because a lot of the Pegasi had gone with the Greek campers to New Rome for the summer as well as the fact Arion was also not here. So it only had 3 occupants at present: Scipio, a chestnut furred Pegasus I did not know and a pitch black Stallion that had to belong to Percy.

Blackjack was easily one or two hands taller than Scipio and with his single color coat I could not help but be impressed by the majesty of the flying horse. Were it not for the complete opposite polarity of his coat he could quite easily have passed off for his father, as I had no doubt he was a direct child of the actual Pegasus. Despite most conceptions most Pegasi were in fact in legacies of the original and true children of his were few and far between.

By the time we were done saddling Scipio and waiting for Percy to return I was half tempted to let the other Pegasus out as well but Percy's warning to leave him alone came back to me and I suspected the Pegasus only let Percy ride him without permission much like Scipio did for me.

Eventually though I noticed the shine of gold flashing across the camp from near the lake and within half a minute the Titan guardian was already touching down in front of us backlit by the rising sun which shone through the gaps in his wings causing him to look resplendent until finally his feet touched the floor and he folded his wings behind him.

I still found it amusing that Thalia and the rest of the hunters had never found about Percy having wings. It was not as if they were hard to miss especially as he had only worn a jacket over the top of them. That in itself should have been a hint something was not right as who wears a leather duster 24/7 in California?

'Hey Thals, hey Reyna how's it going? Morning Scipio.' He asked addressing the pair of us before turning to my Pegasus who whinnied in reply or so I guessed it was kind of strange to see someone talking to an animal and it to reply when you couldn't understand one side of the conversation. Over the last month I had got used to Thalia doing something similar although her reply to birds was a lot less polite to say the least and generally ended in the word off.

'Cheer up Thalia it is going to go fine, it is not as if we are going to let you fall to your death.' Percy joked causing Thalia to wince and whiten.

'Percy a little less mentioning of death and a bit more tact would be better I think.' I told him flabbergasted that he would so casually mention that as a means of encouragement.

'I am not afraid of death; it is the falling I am scared of.' Thalia said angrily turning towards him her skin crackling with electricity though he seemed unconcerned whereas I took a step back.

'I will admit that falling uncontrollably sucks I know, I fell out of the gateway arch and got blown out of Mt. St. Helens both times while also on fire so consider this a good introduction. Unless you want to, I can go get Leo to help with the fire.' He said teasingly and I didn't know if he was joking or not I had not heard about him getting blown out of a volcano though I had heard about Typhon's release from said mountain and I began to think the events were not unrelated.

No! Definitely no Vasquez it is too early in the morning to be dealing with his enthusiasm and constant attempts on hitting on every girl he meets.' Thalia replied sharply and I had to agree on both fronts regarding the god he was probably worse than I had heard Apollo was. Though I had met the god briefly I had not been a victim of his flirting unlike the rest of the hunters. At least the sun god had the admittedly good looks to go with the talk whereas Leo looked like a Latino elf that got dipped in an engine grease pot.

'Fine take the easy route, Is Blackjack inside?' he asked before I nodded in affirmation and gestured towards the spare saddle I had brought outside.

'Ok then wait here, while I bribe him.' He said making his way towards the door.

'He is your Pegasus, he only lets you ride him why would you need to bribe him?' Thalia asked only for Percy to begin to chuckle.

'Do you want to get thrown off in mid-air then he needs to be bribed and I know just the thing.' He explained before walking inside.

(Percy)

It was strange to walk through the camp stables and not find them full of Pegasi as usual even though Chiron had told me last night amongst other things. A lot of them had not returned after their release and those that had had gone to New Rome for the time being. Nevertheless I could still detect the stables two current occupants, Porkpie who was by first stall on the left who looked at me curiously before going back to his hay breakfast and the other who was out of sight on the furthest right next to the heavily gated 'cell' that was Arion's. I suspected all the reinforcing was more to keep curious demigods out than to keep my horse brother in, as no doubt he could easily chew through a few bronze chains and bars in a few minutes if he wanted to. Actually come to think that made Blackjack my nephew on the horse side of the family.

'Black you awake, we got things to do!' I shouted as I walked between the empty booths. For the moment there was silence before a sudden burst of noise and a black wing tip could be seen and heard as the Pegasus no doubt rose to his feet from the floor.

'Boss that better be you and not those pair of noisy hunters.' I heard him whiny before his head stretched out over the door and he turned to look towards me.

'No it is definitely me, they are outside with Scipio.'

'Are you sure because you are looking a lot shorter from where I am standing.' The Pegasus replied looking me up and down.

'Yeah I have been getting that a lot lately.' I told him shrugging.

'Even so boss I still aint carrying your heavy ass again, besides what is a horse meant to do when his rider can fly himself other than feel a bit redundant as a means of transportation.'

'First it is not me you are carrying and second of all these are not permanent now.' I told him and I was amusing to watch the look of disbelief on the horse's face as I caused my wings to disappear.

'Whaaaa- Boss you go some explaining to do what did I miss, I come back yesterday and the place is half deserted and all the guys apart from Porkpie are gone and that Skippy guy is here saying there was a battle or something and you got injured or something. But short of a few missing inches in height you look fine so what gives?'

'Nothing much defeated a pair of Titans, you know the missing two. Got shot by a hunter. Almost died, got better, Killed a Primordial became a true Titan. You know the little things.' I said simply as I came face to face with the Pegasi who looked back with his eyes wide open.

'The usual then, do you know what the sad thing is though boss, you can do all that but you still can't get yourself a girl. Me I have em lining up around the stable.' He said boasting not paying attention to the subtle smile on my face.

'Who says I didn't.' I whispered barely audible so only he could hear.

'Who, what, when, where, how?' Blackjack suddenly snapped of as he comprehended what I had said.

'I can't tell you yet, let's just say if people found out I would need a hell of a getaway horse. You ever had a pissed of father to deal with on one of your 'conquests'? Well let's just say I would have to deal with the king of all pissed of fathers.'

'You mean the big man upstairs boss?' He neighed quietly.

'Yeah that the one.'

'Come on boss you can't leave me hanging who is she? You're not with Annabeth's mum that is kind of fucked up on several levels.' I shook my head to indicate no, and I had to agree that it would be weird to date my late girlfriends mum.

'He aint got many free daughters and two of them are hunters-. You didn't, did you? Which one the Lieutenant girl outside or the Boss. I don't believe it; boss is dating his Bos-.' I cut him off because he was starting to increase in volume and prying ears would soon be able to hear.

'Listen Black you need to keep this quiet, no one can find out and I mean no one. This one is serious if people found about it hell it could probably cause a war and I have had enough of those recently.' I whispered before slowly letting go of his muzzle.

'Fine then boss, though one quick point. Don't you feel just a little bit weird about dating a goddess who looks like 12?'

'First of all she appears older now, Artemis is at least 15 now in appearance and second technically I started dating Diana who appears slightly older than me before you start getting the wrong idea. Now come on you are going to help me teach another daughter of Zeus how to fall with style.'

'But boss I have not even had breakfast yet, this horse don't run on hopes and dreams.' He whined as I stood to the side and opened the stall door. Fortunately I had been expecting this protest. Why is it all of the mythological creatures I have acquired need to be bribed to do anything. At least they always wanted the same things. Mrs. O'Leary toys, Nemea wild animals to eat or String depending on her current age and Blackjack's signature diet of sugar based confectionary.

'I expected nothing less.' I said before summoning a bag of monster donuts into my hand. Hey it was a monster franchise, was I supposed to care about stealing from the Hydra? Because after it attacked me a few years ago I certainly didn't, Karma's a bitch. Blackjack however was looking at the bag with his tongue half hanging out of his muzzle.

'You want them, you got to earn them.' I said turning and making for the door before he could reply, unsurprisingly the sound of hoofs followed not long after.

It took some time and a near limitless supply of donuts but I was finally able to convince Blackjack to also wear a saddle for a while, normally when I rode the Pegasus I had no need for the cumbersome accessory. But after the first unsuccessful attempt at takeoff without one in which Thalia grabbed hold of his mane so tightly that he threatened to throw her off in pain that I decided to go back to Plan A and despite both parties protests to give up, which were overruled by a simple reminder. that Artemis told Thalia to do it, any problems take them to her.

Eventually though Thalia was seated in the saddle looking a little green with worry but otherwise ready.

'Remember Thalia all we are starting off doing is simply getting you in the air, nothing fancy so don't worry. Believe me I used to hate every second of being up because of our parents. You don't have that problem so stay calm and focus on what needs to be done. You're not going to fall off unless you throw yourself off and even then either me or Reyna will catch you.' I said trying to be reassuring though I may have been lying about something.

'If I fall and die. I am haunting you forever Percy.'

'What difference will that make I am already stuck with you for all time annoying me as it is, now GO!' I said slapping Blackjacks hindquarters causing the Pegasi to dash forward before flapping his wings leaving the ground to the sound of an angry shouting girl.

'You do know she is gonna try and kill you for that.' Reyna said from Scipio's back.

'Didn't go so well last time for her did it, so I am feeling lucky. Now come on before she actually does fall off.' I instructed noticing the black Pegasi rising higher and higher.

'Meet you up there then.' Reyna said before Scipio followed the same path Blackjack had while I had it easy and just flew straight up.

(Artemis)

After our return and dealing with the satyr issue which Percy had left to deal with. I had assigned all the hunters a variety of tasks depending on what their personal weaknesses was. For example Atlanta was great at Archery and Medicine but in terms of Close Quarters Combat she took after her father and was abysmal. Likewise as were the twins though that was more a result of being in the hunt for a short time.

So I forced them all into working on the own problems, sure I could have just left them to their usual practices but something told me this game was going to be a lot different from all the previous ones. For the simple reason of who was playing in it. Individually the minor gods were a minor threat to someone of mine or Percy's skill and power but the fact was they all complemented each other well after all they had all helped defeat Giants and the like and plus they had 3 dozen additional reinforcements.

The main problem however was the danger of attacks from above by Thalia's brother or the Son of Mars if he chose an aerial form. Sure we could have just done the standard approach of shooting them down with arrows but that is a lot harder when someone can turn into a 100ft long fire breathing dragon or can control the wind to blow the arrows askew. Which left only Percy directly able to deal with them in the sky unless I could get Thalia to get over her Phobia.

There was also technically Reyna but I had a strong inkling that once the game started she would go into tunnel vision and disappear on her own vendetta mission against the goddess of Compassion. I suppose I should have tried to stop her but the truth was I suspected she needed to get it out of her system so at the moment it was better for her to be helping Percy with Thalia than sitting around doing not a lot as I had to admit she was a great all round combatant with the exception that she saw herself generally above the dirty side of fighting which was common in all Romans.

So here I was laying against a log on the slope of hill relaxing but at the same time keeping an eye on the various small groups of hunters here and there. Occasionally I would cast a glance up into the sky at the three figures barely visible to the naked eye. The two Pegasi were impossible to distinguish at that height though Percy was easily notably for the fact that the sunlight reflected off his wings.

It was at times like these where I sometimes regretted my solitary life. I had no one outside of the hunt that I would willingly spend time with except possibly my Mother and I knew for a fact that at the moment all she would want to talk about is currently flying above me. Which would have been both annoying and embarrassing.

The only other people were Percy and in the past Zoe. Thalia may be by Lieutenant but other than a father we had very little in common whereas Zoe had been the sister I would rather have in place of a younger twin brother. She had been my confidante, with whom I could be completely candid about anything and she would reply as she saw fit, albeit in butchered ye olde English in later centuries.

She was the one person I would have had no idea how she would have reacted to the news of me and Percy. After all she had also fallen for a hero (in the loosest definition of the word) but because of that her opinion of them and men in general had fallen until her death but even then she had recognized Percy as different from others.

Whereas Orion by contrast she had wanted to hang by his entrails upon first meeting him and her opinion had only degenerated from there, until his death. Upon which I got the I told you so speech which had helped break me out of my-self loathing and see she had been right all along. Come to think of it, I was lucky their constellations were nowhere near each other lest the mortals try and work out how a constellation can get castrated.

The thought left a smile on my face as I imagined it though it swiftly faded when I glanced up and noticed the headcount was off and that there were currently four figures and one seemed to be falling quickly. Now it does not take the brains of Athena to work out something was wrong as I leapt to my feet.

The only question was whether I could make it in time as I ran towards where they were likely to fall.

(Percy)

Things had been going well until Blackjack jumped the gun and got a little carried away.

It had taken a while but we had finally managed to reassure Thalia that nothing was going to happen and she eventually opened her eyes and noticed her surroundings. Of course when she did notice she was about two thousand feet of the floor she immediately began to panic but that was nothing that a few reassuring words couldn't eventually deal with.

From there on out it was a matter of trying to find out if she could control the air currents around us. This was something that I had a minor understanding of from my limited time as Titan of the Air as I had learned the fundamentals of current control from Lelantos before I ultimately gave the domain back. It was a lot like controlling water which made it easier for me to get to grips with.

At first it had looked as if she was truly unable to it but I began to notice subtle difference in wind direction as if a slight breeze was fighting against the prevailing winds. Sure it was nothing special at the moment but it meant that the possibility was there and possibility was something we could work with.

I had my doubts about her being ready for anything fancy like actually being able to levitate herself and fly much less aerial combat but then again I had taken me weeks to learn. So Artemis hopes of her being ready for the game tomorrow were likely out of the window.

However all that would be changed because of a wasp.

I had been watching Blackjack wheel back around and had barely noticed Thalia waving her hand at something that seemed to be irritating her but had thought little of it and had turned back to Reyna to see what the daughter of Bellona was up to while we waited. Unfortunately that momentary lapse of oversight was all that was needed for something to go wrong when I heard Blackjack shout in annoyed pain something about his butt.

Normally upon finding out he had been stung on the ass by a insect I probably would have broke down into laughing hysterically at his misfortune but this time there was one small problem to deal with first, notably the empty saddle on his back and the screaming girl below.

For the first time I wished we had begun training at a higher altitude as this was going to be extremely close as I snapped my wings shut and went into a dive determined to catch up with her before it was too late. Fortunately her tumultuous flailing had the slight advantage of slowing her down just a little.

As the distance between me and her closed so did the distance between the pair of us and the ground. The one good thing was she had seemingly calmed a little and had extended her arms and legs to maximize wind resistance and reduce terminal velocity while I was doing the opposite and trying to raise mine.

By the time we were a hundred feet off the ground I was only ten feet above her but I knew that there was no way I would be able to grab her and prevent us both getting injured as there was simply no time to stop our acceleration in time. So my plan became simple grab her and let me alone take the force of the impact after all I couldn't technically die. Sure Artemis/Diana would probably be pissed off until I came back but that was better than letting my cousin die.

However once again the Fates decided to have another laugh at my expense when Thalia suddenly stopped in mid-air 30ft of the earth and I had a split second to wonder what the hades before I found myself embedded in several feet of soil. All I had time to do was make a stupid face and cringe. Who would have thought Gaia could still get her own back on me despite being dead and gone?

Just as I was accepting my fate I closed my eyes and suddenly felt the impact and sure there was a lot of pain but it mostly seemed to be centered on my chest as well as my back and wings. It felt like one of the times when Atlas had hit me in the chest with his spear and sent me flying into a wall but at least then I had the curse of Achilles and it took the brunt of the damage now all I felt was pain and I guessed that I had several broken wings as well as ribs which wasn't helped by the presence of a weight upon my chest.

I slowly opened my eyes and noticed the reason behind the burden and decided I actually didn't mind once I recognized the Auburn hair and Silver eyes that were looking at me with worry.

'Hey Artemis, you are looking good.' I managed to croak out before noticing that I had an abundance of fluid in my throat that I was beginning to suspect was not saliva and more likely ichor. Great never had a punctured lung before.

'Five minutes, I cannot leave you alone for five minutes without you nearly getting yourself killed can I?' She said with eyes full of worry. If it wasn't for the fact we were in the middle of Camp I would have kissed her there and then, well that and the fact I could barely move at all.

Slowly the goddess got of me and I could see what was beyond her notably, the straight trench that was dug half a foot into the soil with the occasional golden flash here and there that I recognized as my feathers.

The more curious thing however to me was the other Daughter of Zeus who seemed to be floating several feet of the ground at the point of where I should have landed (and died). However before I could ask Artemis about it my body went into protest and I found myself back in the familiar world of unconsciousness.

(Artemis)

It had actually been more of an accident than a intended plan that I found myself reaching the area just as the pair were about to impact the ground and I was equally surprised to suddenly see Thalia stop in mid-air unlike Percy who shot straight past her. Without thinking rather than slow down I threw myself at him, so the pair of us collided in mid-air and his trajectory was changed from straight vertical to horizontal in a heartbeat. I barely acknowledged the dislocated shoulder the move cost me as I felt the pair of us scraping across and threw the muddy ground until we eventually stopped.

Once we had I looked at the state of my boyfriend and couldn't help but cringe at his present condition. Thankfully I noticed him opening his eyes which meant he was fine for the moment at least.

Of course once I got off him to avoid suspicion he almost immediately fainted though from here I could see the actual state he was in. with the numerous obviously broken wings, the cuts across his body and the fact he now had Ichor coming out of his mouth likely from a punctured lung he was lucky to be alive, which was good because it meant I could do it when he recovered for being such a damned fool.

'Thalia find someone and get a message to my brother and get him here.' I ordered her noting with a grin the fact that rather than run she glided several inches above the ground well at least there was a bright side after all.

Turning my attention back to my once again comatose boyfriend there was only thing I could think of despite the circumstances.

'You're not getting out of the game that easily you know.'

AN. I was planning on making this one chapter along with the capture the flag game but as you can see this one stretched out but don't worry because it will be in the next once Percy gets of his ass. seriously Apollo should do frequent flyer miles.

Hope you all enjoyed the holidays and thank you all for the 300000 views as a gift from you to me.

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