All rights belong to Rick Riordan

Chapter 53

I Annoy Two Women in One Day

(Percy)

Slowly I began to regain control of my senses which generally consisted of a lot of pain and not much else. Slowly I began to open my eyes, I was hoping to see Artemis by my side but it seemed that I was alone in a cabin which was disappointing. Although it did give me an opportunity to look at the state I was in which, if the bandages were anything to go by was bad.

With the exception of one, every pair of wings was heavily bound in white linen and splinted out to my side and immobilized. Someone had removed my shirt and I could see that my chest and shoulders had got the same mummy treatment, any that weren't seemed to have instead been band-aided to death.

All of this made me question whether I had been treated by someone who knew medicine or an idiot. From what I had seen on TV I thought the current approach was to leave broken ribs unbound?

Of course that question was answered when I could hear a heated debate from the other side of a door at the end of the cabin.

'Listen sis if you stop complaining for 2 seconds I can fix your shoulder and get out of here.' A voice that I recognized as Apollo explained. So it was both then or so Artemis would have explained.

'If it would take you 2 seconds then why not try and explain why Perseus looks like Lord Pilsbury doughboy in there?' Well at least that accounted for the goddess.

'He'll be fine in a few days, it is not as if you need a guardian while you are staying at camp is it?'

'How about it was at this stupid camp where all these problems began in the first place and it was your legacies fault. So yes I want him back on his feet, besides capture the flag is tomorrow and we need him.' Artemis carried on now sounding even angrier after the insinuation.

'Since when is that my problem sis? Gods I preferred it when you appeared younger, now it is as if you are on that time of the mon-' now that ended about as predictably as could be expected when the door and a lot of the surrounding wall shattered as the sun god was blasted through it.

Well this was certainly amusing to see someone else on the receiving end of pissed of Artemis and to get front row seats to boot.

Slowly I began to notice an outline through the dust at
the end of the room before it settled on Artemis's older form that was glowing with power, I realized that the dust was not so much settling as being vaporized by being near her, thankfully there were no mortals or demigods or we would have had to sweep them up with a pan and brush. To me though she looked radiant, no pun intended.

By contrast, her brother who slowly dug himself out of a pile of masonry and wood splinters looked to have gone a few rounds with a professional boxer if the colossal bruise that was forming on his cheek was anything to go by.

'Would you care to repeat that little brother I had trouble hearing it the first time?'

'God now I know why you stayed single forever, what poor guy could spend time around your constant complaints and mood swings, only an idiot would even try and love you.' He spat out angrily before flashing out just as a knife embedded itself where his head had been moments before.

The goddess meanwhile remained staring at the spot with silent rage, I had to see that his comment must have hurt her even if he was unknowingly wrong.

'He is wrong you know, those are what I like about you.' I said quietly not sure if she could hear me but evidently she heard something as she snapped her head towards me before noticing me looking back, the look of anger seemed to fade away rapidly to be replaced by relief as she walked through the devastation she had created towards me.

'How are you doing Percy?' She asked sounding worried.

'More importantly did anyone get the number on the truck that hit me?' I joked causing her to turn red with embarrassment and I saw her lift a hand to hit me before she reconsidered.

'You know he is wrong… right, sure you can be a little hostile to people when annoyed but then we all have flaws. Mine is loyalty I would rather let myself die than let Thalia get harmed, yours is prejudice and treating all males as the same. Except yours truly, of course.' I explained with a small laugh before stopping due to the pain it caused in my chest.

'Is he though? Let's be honest you are not sane by any stretch of the imagination and you asked me out while on what could have been your deathbed and even then I nearly killed you to resolve the problem.'

'Hey that's the great thing about this family we are all completely dysfunctional but somehow we still stick together. Now will someone tell me whose idea it was to let Apollo do this to me?' I said trying and failing to pull myself into a more comfortable position.

'Well considering the state you were in it seemed like a good idea at the time.' She said rubbing the back of her head.

'You do know that if you put me in water it does still heal me, probably you too come to think about it.' I added when I noticed her shoulder was still injured not that she was commenting on it but it was at an unnatural position which drew my focus.

'You know I don't like being underwater.' She complained weakly.

'Come on Little Mermaid it is not that bad, you will always look beautiful to me even if you do end up on your face a few times.' I remarked only to get socked in the leg causing it to go numb.

'I can still hit some of you, smartass.'

'Why do we always hurt those we care about the most? Me, your brother even if he was asking for it.' I remarked looking at the scene of devastation behind her.

'I know, the fool managed to break Phoebes bunk, now she is gonna want to hurt him even more.' She said with a sly grin.

'About that why am I in your cabin? I thought this place was forbidden to any and all males?'

'First you are now a part of my hunt for better or worse, second you were heavily injured and I didn't feel like leaving you in a crater of your own creation and third this way I can keep an eye on you as every time I am not looking, you get yourself into more trouble.'

'Hey I was fine, not my fault Thalia managed to fall off Blackjack. Admittedly I had planned for him to throw her off at some point but with a bit of notice beforehand. To me that is, not her and it sure as hades would not have been that low for certain. How is she doing anyway?'

'Last I saw before coming in here chasing a Pegasi halfway around Long Island.' She answered with a grin and I had to feel a slight bit of sympathy for my horse even if this was his fault.

'So what's the plan for getting me out of this bed and ready for the game?' I asked thoroughly aware of the answer.

'He left 5 minutes ago.' She replied nonchalantly.

'Well in that case then I suppose desperate measures are needed because I have had enough of being bedridden this week already.' I told her cryptically hoping the idea I had would work. After all it worked on Tania so why wouldn't it.

'Wait what are you gonna do.' Artemis said as she suddenly became panicked but it was too late for me to stop.

(Artemis)

Ok once again I found myself regretting the unpredictability of my boyfriend, as he had gotten a stupid grin on his face before his whole body had become enshrouded in golden light. The only clue I had was the fact his eyes had turned golden momentarily before which meant he was manipulating time but the fact was I did not know if he could it to himself.

'I swear when you finish doing whatever the hades you are doing I am going too-. You fucking idiot.' I couldn't help but blurt out as the glow surrounding him faded mid-sentence.

Now to explain he now looked perfectly healthy again which was good as it meant it could work. The problem however which I had immediately noticed because of the comedy of the fact was that his feet extended almost a good foot beyond the bottom of the bed despite the fact his head was in the same position.

'How far did you go back?' I demanded from the confused male who had been looking rather pleased with himself.

'Err a week, why?' He answered tentatively.

'You were not an immortal a week ago you fool. What was wrong with a few hours, a day at most?' I stated in exasperation.

'Well I can just fix it one second then.' He said with a cheeky grin which lasted almost a minute before he sudden turned to annoyance and confusion.

'That's strange. Why is it not working this time?' He questioned aloud more to himself than me.

'Your powers are not complete at the moment, your back to being the knockoff Titan Lord you were before dumbass. Hopefully after a week it will wear off and you will revert back to normal. As I would rather not have to find another Primordial with a death wish. That's if you don't manage to get yourself killed in the meantime.' I said angrily due to the enormity of his fuck up.

'Do me a favor then punch me.' He asked simply and I was so happy to relish the opportunity to relieve my frustration I didn't question the feral smile on his face as I swung my good arm at his cheek only for it to bounce of as if I had punched a solid wall jarring my wrist.

'Good news is I got the curse of Achilles back at least.' He said with a grin.

'Is it? Now everyone's least favorite river goddess has got her grip on you again and as if she wasn't pissed that you have gained it and lost it twice now you have gone for the hat trick. I don't suppose it is too late and claim we weren't dating a week ago?' I said before letting out a sigh as I remembered when my life wasn't this stressful.

'No you would miss me.' He answered with that stupid grin of his.

'Unfortunately you are right, though that better not be permanent it was a bloody miracle the first time and I am not eager to do it again. Now come on and get up now you fine for lack of a better word besides you look like an idiot with your feet sticking over the end.' I said standing up making the mistake of using my injured arm as support causing me to cringe in pain.

'What did happen to you anyway?' He asked noticing my pained expression.

'This is what happens when you shoulder tackle a half-ton idiot who is trying to make a Percy Pancake.' I replied sarcastically.

'Yeah sorry about that; any consolidation I would have done the same for you.'

'No you will damn well catch me. Now come on and try not to hit your head on the way out.' I told him before making my way towards the door.

(Percy)

It was weird to be back to how I was previously despite the fact it had only been 34 hours since I had become a true immortal and the fact I had been like this for over a year beforehand. It was the little things like being a lot more noticeable about my height and the fact once again my wings were permanent though at least they were useable at least as opposed to the crippled mess they had been when I awoke.

Sure Artemis was in a bad mood about it but how was I supposed to know? Besides hopefully after the week I would revert back to normal just in time for my Birthday at least.

The goddess meanwhile was striding through the camp making a straight line for the lake which I considered strange until I realized that perhaps she had listened to what I had said earlier about it healing us. Maybe I should have taken my own advice. Thankfully the campers were nowhere to be seen as it seemed to be time for the camp feast.

'So does this mean I am not bound by the Ancient Laws at the moment?' I asked as I eventually caught up with her the benefit of longer legs.

'I don't know, there is not exactly a precedent for idiot immortals who turn semi-mortal for the week to go by.' She snapped back.

'But that's because I already did everything that everyone else did so the fates had to start making up new ones. It is not my fault blame them.'

'I do, why couldn't they have given you the brainpower to work out you can control time before you hit the floor, or did the thought never cross your mind.'

'Wouldn't have worked. I can only slow someone down by reducing the speed of their own actions not the fundamental physics that are operating on them. I have no control over gravity all I could have accomplished would have been to make Thalia flail in slow motion while falling at the same speed. Someone running is an entirely different matter as they are providing the momentum in which case I can slow them down by making them run at the same speed but over a longer duration.' I explained and the goddess looked at me in surprise.

'Wow I can't believe I am going to say this but you just almost sounded intelligent. Are you sure there is not a small bit of a legacy of Athena hiding in that head of yours somewhere?'

'Hey I can be intelligent sometimes you know, or at least really good at improvisation. Look what I did to Antaeus that was clever have to give me credit for that one.'

'You defeated your grossly overweight manchild brother with mummy daddy issues by giving him a wedgie. We were all in awe at your brainpower. Now come on because believe it or not this hurts a lot.' She remarked causing us to walk the rest of the way in silence.

(Artemis)

'Are you sure there is no one around?' The last thing I needed was an over curious nymph gossiping about me entering a lake willingly with a son of Poseidon especially as no one yet knew about my tides domain. Besides I had to let the water touch me which would result in the infamous change to my lower body. Something he had great delight in reminding me of.

'We are fine the lake nymph is currently up at the pavilion with everyone else so don't worry about being seen with your adorable silver tail.' He joked and I was tempted to choke him were I not for the fact he was partially in the lake already and to my annoyance still with 2 legs thanks to the fact he currently did not have Tides as a domain.

'If you don't shut up about that I will see how you like it not having legs because I will cut yours off.' I threatened but he simply laughed before drawing Riptide and running it across his leg resulting in nothing but a clean cut in the jeans he was wearing alongside his leather coat which had appeared on him when he had reverted in place of the bandages he had been wearing.

'You can try but I can't promise you can actually do it Ariel.' He said playfully to my chagrin before pitching back and defying the laws of physics by floating on the water's surface despite his extreme weight.

'Way I see it Ariel, you have 2 choices you can jump in this lake for a few minutes or you can go apologize to your brother.'

'Yeah that is never gonna happen and stop calling me anything to do with that abominable cartoon.'

'You love it really, just like your tail. You just don't want to admit it and the way it matches your color scheme perfectly really brings out your eyes.' He said before breaking into hysterics.

'If you don't shut up about it soon these eyes will be the last things yours ever see. Remind me again what I see in you again.'

'My amazing physique, charming personality and awesome power?'

'I thought it was more sympathy on my part to try and stop you almost getting yourself killed, though if anything it has resulted in you getting a bigger death wish, due to suicidal overconfidence. Besides awesome power you have managed to lock yourself in the weaker form you were a few days ago. It would be a better power if you could think something through beforehand or better yet ask for an opinion first.'

'Wow you really think that? Here I was thinking it was my great ability was to be able to kiss you without getting castrated.'

'That can change and it will solve a lot more than one problem or do you secretly really want to be a girl now you have seen how we are superior to you. You can even keep your name almost we could call you Persephone instead.' I chastised taking pleasure as he went quiet and slowly turned white before he sunk under the water surface out of sight. Artemis 1, Smartass 0.

I would have taken pleasure in my short lived victory had I not been reminded of why we were here in the first place by the sharp pain in my shoulder and I began to tentatively approach the lakes shore so the water was brushing up against my shoes.

'You're running out of time, it is about time the feast ended.' I heard Percy say noticing his head had resurfaced someway off and I knew he was right as I slowly walked forward yet using my newfound powers to keep the water a few inches away from my skin.

'Hey Artemis look up.' Of course like an idiot I did only to see nothing there but as I looked back at him in confusion I came face to face with a 6ft high wave and no time to do anything about it. He was now definitely a dead man swimming. Sure the wave itself I barely even acknowledged as I was already brushing past that as I noticed my legs joining together and as fabric gave way to silver scale as well as my feet being replaced by a matching silver fin.

'See what I mean Sebastian, she honestly does look gorgeous like that.'

'Who the hades are you talking too?' I snapped turning towards the sound of his voice only to find him holding a hand by the side of his head.

'Sebastian the crab, I did say his name you know, he says hi. Did you know that because of that movie Sebastian is the number one most common name amongst crabs every single one of his brothers has the same name and even a few of his siste-.' He was interrupted from his monologue on crab naming when said crustacean suddenly sprouted a new limb , a 2 ft silver one to be precise and I watched in satisfaction as the arrow point shattered when it hit Percy's hand as he stared at the skewered creature.

'Guess what shoulders fixed and I don't have to move my bottom half to fire an arrow. So I make 2 points to me, 0 to you and a DNF for the crab. Now let's go.' I remarked as I conjured a buffer zone between the water and me and I felt my anatomy shift back to normal before walking towards the shore leaving him to remorse over his new dead friend with a smile.

(Percy)

It took a fair bit of explaining before everyone understood why I was no longer suddenly near death (again) as well as the fact I had suddenly grown by a foot something the campers were more surprised about due to the fact they had never seen me like this. Eventually though the various individual Q&A sessions ended concluded with most of my long time friends and the hunters all calling me an idiot which I had no real defense against, after all I had not thoroughly thought it through before I acted.

Though it turned out a lot of them were less happy about my recovery as they had been hoping for me to be out of the game tomorrow night.

I was also finally able to go look for the other problematic daughter of Zeus in my life who had still not returned from Pegasi tormenting. Thankfully though Blackjack had the advantage of speed over the hunter but by the time I finally caught up with the pair he was exhausted whereas she appeared completely fine in her revenge taking before I finally convinced to let him be after all it was not his fault and no one got hurt, well except me and maybe Artemis but we were fine now.

So for the rest of the evening was simply a matter of catching up with everyone else that I recognized because the six had all left for the evening back to either Rome or in Leo's case back to his secret lab/workshop which I could detect was somewhere in the woods by simply detecting where he was as a rough marker. I did feel slightly sorry for the young Latino god after all he was the odd one out in regards to the 7 of us back on the Argo II. We had all been couples while he had instead been alone and focused on keeping us in the air.

Even when Nico joined us he had still been the loner one by comparison because Nico knew me and Annabeth as well as the Romans previously besides he preferred to be alone. Whereas Leo was the goofy kid that while useful no one really knew how to act around as he would go from laughing and joking to suddenly stress, when the ship suddenly developed a problem that only he knew how to fix. If anything the year since it looked like his isolationism had increased if he was locking himself away. At this rate he would be worse than his father at least he was supposedly playing in the game tomorrow which was a start.

Eventually though as evening shifted into night and the campers and hunters began to retire to their cabins, I began to wonder what I was gonna do because Artemis had left for the evening to return to the chariot on her own as revenge for me calling Ariel and the Sebastian incident. So after a quick stop by the Artemis cabin to check on the hunters and to repair the damage Artemis and by extension Apollo had done to the place at Phoebe's insistence due to the fact a sun god had been thrown clean through her bed. I had bid them goodnight and settled on sleeping in my father's cabin for old time's sake.

For the first time in months though my dreams did not go undisturbed as I found myself in my second least favorite place after a classroom, Tartarus. Seriously though considering how much the place was hyped up and dreaded from my stay in the place I could say that boarding school was hands down worse in terms of making your life a living hell. You can fight back in Tartarus against any problem, school that just makes you there longer.

Anyway back to the dream I found myself back on banks of a river that I recognized and hated as the polluted water drifted past.

'Are you sure this is necessary? From what I understand he had no intention of doing it. Besides it is not permanent is it?' A loud male voice asked semi-concerned and I knew it was speaking about me.

'I don't care if he meant to or not. That fool has crossed the line for the last time. Twice he has received my blessing and thrown it away, something that angers me greatly on its own and then the little bastard child of Poseidon has the gall to reinstate it on himself whenever he wishes and I cannot even control it anymore because I severed ties at my end. The blessing is essentially free to do as it pleases until it wears off.' An aggravated female voice that I did recognize practically screamed.

'So you want me to go risk myself getting stuck in here permanently by fighting someone who could for all intents and purposes be indestructible as well being a skilled and powerful combatant surrounded by allies. Someone who managed to simultaneously kill my father and Hyperion as well as defeat Oceanus, not to mention everyone else?' to be honest the guy who I had identified as Pallas sounded like someone who was asking his boss to reconsider his job for the day that I had to almost feel sorry for him. That and the fact the Titan of War seemed concerned for his well-being in the face of an almost impossible task.

'I don't care, whatever it takes I will see his soul trapped within my river for eternity! If you have any problems just deal with those pesky hunters and their foolish goddess. Swearing an oath and not on my river. What is even the point? Now go and kill Perseus!' The angry river goddess screamed at her husband who I starting to feel pity for. Though he was welcome to attack me, those I cared about was a step too far if he tried, well his father would have more company.

'For the record dear if by some miracle I survive this I want a divorce for domestic abuse.' He said wearily that I almost had to laugh. Normally my dreams were filled with past nemesis's taunting and threats of death, whereas this was that with Oprah thrown in as well and a severely mistreated spouse.

'You swore an oath remember, you can't until I say you can. Now go and kill that pretentious fool!' Styx shouted as the shadowed figure turned away from her shores but not before a silver gauntleted hand became visible in the twilight briefly pointing gesture at the angry goddess.

As I felt myself breaking away from my dream state I knew two things. One someone else wanted to kill me and two I don't know who to be more sorry for me or my would be assassin.

The only person I told about my dream was Diana when she returned first thing in the morning and she became understandably worried about my safety despite my nonchalant attitude to the matter. I was more concerned with stopping her going down to the Underworld and picking a fight with the river herself than my own safety. Besides we had no proof other than my dream, so until Pallas made an appearance we could do nothing about it, besides something told me my fellow Titan was not exactly in a rush to confront me.

Of course this only served to aggravate my girlfriend further at me being so laid back about it. Besides I had one advantage over the son of Krios other than a girlfriend who actually cared about my wellbeing, I could just fly into the air. Diana did have to agree on that simple fact as it was a confirmed fact that Pallas couldn't do the same, heavily armed and armored yes getting off the ground not so much. Besides I had bigger things on my mind than the possibility of Assassination namely the capture the flag game tonight which I wanted to keep all of the hunters focused on.

They had yet to ever lose a match and there was no way I was letting them lose during a game I was playing for them and I knew that Diana had the same thought though I could tell she was worried still. I was able to partially appease her by returning Nemea to her full grown form and having her walk the borders of the camp just in case. Eventually though I had to tell her to stop worrying before someone figured there was something up. Hades people would probably find it strange that Artemis could worry about a male even if I fell under the category of 'friend'.

So regretfully we separated so she could oversee some last minute training amongst the hunters while I did some one on one with Thalia now she had the hang of levitation and locomotion it was time to see if she could put it to use. It was good to know that Styx was no longer calling the shots on my invulnerability though even if it was completely random now it was better than her having some measure of control over me.

It turned out though Thalia was equally good in close combat aerially as she was on the ground but I would take her a while to get used to the fact that her opponent could constantly shift the direction of attack to come from above or below as several times I would be fighting her on a level altitude before I would suddenly drop 3 feet as she lunged before striking upwards under her guard. That was not to say she did not have a few chances herself besides if the numbness in my spine was testament to the fact she could always just hit her target with lightning as several times I lamented the conductivity of gold.

The only hunter I did not know about was Reyna the last I had seen she had been heading towards the armory for some reason. I struggled to think why seeing as she had arsenal that rivalled my own. Sword, Shield, Spear, Bow, Hunting Knife what could she possibly require nevertheless, I left her to her own devices as the determined look on her face when I had passed her suggested she was a woman on a mission. I almost had to feel sorry for anyone who got in her way and I had a strong idea of who her target was.

I had briefly discussed her vendetta with Diana this morning before I revealed my own problem and we had both eventually agreed that as long as she didn't kill anyone or permanently disfigure Piper she could do as she pleased. But we both definitely agreed that it ended tonight either way and she had to accept that matter she could not spend the rest of her life plotting machinations against a goddess for something she unknowingly did.

Gradually though the hours passed by until it was time for the customary early feast before the game and the six had also arrived in various armors of different styles and divine metals. Nico in Greek style Stygian Iron, Hazel in Roman cavalry officer armor of the same metal but with a few golden highlights that contrasted. Frank had a set of light leather armor only which meant he was likely planning on archery and transformations which was to be expected. Jason was equipped in a combination of Greek and Roman. Leo strangely was simply wearing a camp T-shirt which either meant he had a trick up his sleeve or perhaps he was hoping that fire would protect him. The most obvious however Piper who was arrayed in a suit that I recognized from a few years before game when we dealt with the Myrmykes and Beckendorf got captured. Well at least Reyna would have no trouble finding guerilla warfare Barbie she stuck out enough.

I had considered wearing armor but the fact my old set no longer fit my current frame and the fact I was nigh invulnerable convince me otherwise. Besides I could do without the additional bulk it was far easier to simply not get hit.

Eventually though the tables were cleared away and were instead restocked with the usual game equipment for those that did not have their own.

'As you all know tonight's game will be Camp Half-Blood and the gods of Heroes against the hunters of Artemis as well as Lady Artemis and Lord Perseus. You all know the rules no killing or maiming will be accepted and that goes for the immortals as well. Just because it won't be permanent does not mean it is acceptable, lead by example after all. So Clarisse that means no trying to run Perseus through.' Chiron explained which was followed by an audible boo from the Ares table. I would have looked in her direction but I was currently focused on Reyna and mouthing that also included her.

'As discussed immortals are not to use shadow travel or any other form of instantaneous movement. Flight is acceptable however except to carry the flag upon retrieval as it must be carried by ground. As Lady Diana mentioned to me the Nemean Lion will also be playing so long as Perseus guarantees to reduce it to a more acceptable size and promises it won't eat the campers. Anything else is fair game, magical weapons and items are permitted with one exception. You have 15 minutes to prepare yourself.' Chiron explained giving me a look as if to say yes I remembered about Maelstrom. I was not leaving it behind though just in case of unexpected participants.

All in all it was looking to be a fun game as I walked alongside Artemis towards our team.

AN. I was hoping to put the capture the flag game in this chapter but once again it stretched out longer than I planned and a lot of other interesting stuff happened in here, rest assured it is definitely in the next.

What do you think of Percy's temporary reversion to part immortal, I had this concept planned out for months but could not find a chance to justify using it but it also allows an opportunity to bypass those pesky ancient laws when it comes to mortal bashing.

A quick look into a even more dysfunctional relationship than Percy x Artemis. Sure Pallas may be the Titan of War but that does not mean he is as mentally handicapped as his godly counterpart. he understands exactly what he is getting stuck into and who he has to fight. besides someone has to seriously think if it is a good idea to try and kill the guy who has kicked everyone else's ass. Styx is about a good a wife as Gaia was to Ouranos.

Can't believe I am already over the quarter of a million words. which if you take away the shitty last two chapters that no one likes or even understands from Everlasting Promises it makes this longer, either way I still plan on beating it and being the longest Pertemis fic.

As always Read and Review