All rights belong to Rick Riordan
Welcome To The Madhouse
Chapter 100
(Percy)
It was with mixed emotions that we appeared beneath the Atlantic to retrieve Marina. I would have rather spent a few more hours in bed enjoying the feeling of having a beautiful naked goddess lying against me but after just an hour's sleep (for her, I was far too distracted). She decided that we had things to do and that lounging around all day was only calling for further trouble.
Of course, further trouble happened as soon as we stepped out of 'our' bedroom and we were confronted with the idiot aspects of mine, who found our embarrassed faces hilarious. Wolf whistling and cracking jokes at our expense. Well mostly my expense as Artemis disappeared briefly into the bathroom to freshen up as she put or several lewder things as Lust referred to it as. I decided to generally stay quiet and not give them more ammunition, they no doubt knew what we had been doing and there was no point denying it. After all Pride had clearly caught us (Artemis mostly) in a very compromising situation and no doubt would relay the full details to them as soon as we left and it was safe for him to return.
The good news was not having legs down here hid the pain I was feeling down there both physical and the proverbial pain of us getting interrupted. In other news we had also decided to find a way of locking the door at the first opportunity as to avoid this happening again.
Instead I just lazily swam behind Artemis who clearly knew where she was going in the camp whilst I took turns looking at the various kinds of people who were carrying construction materials to damaged areas and shamefully looking at Artemis's tail with curious fascination. I was most curious about how exactly Merpeople did it, considering I had never seen physical evidence of well… Wow I was really distracted at the moment.
Shaking my head of such thoughts I continued to take note of the camp's general layout which whilst similar to Camp Half-Blood was also much bigger to accommodate the generally larger denizens of the deep that called it home. Just about every building was large enough to easily accommodate an adult cyclops passing through the door way.
Not that they were the strangest beings calling the camp home as I watched a giant squid squeeze out through a standard human sized door way carrying a collection of swords in each tentacle before swimming towards the other side of the camp or so it seemed.
As it was I was too distracted to notice we had arrived at a small limestone shack on the outskirts of the camp until I passed through the bubble inside into oxygen and collided straight with Artemis knocking us both to the floor. What transpired in the next few seconds was an unfortunate reaction to our bodies turning normal again with my head located not far from her behind.
"Percy. Get off of me and pay attention to where you are going." Artemis said firmly as I hurriedly extracted myself from up her skirt and found her glaring at me as I mimed the word sorry whilst shrugging. Besides at least she had clothes on this time, oh right we have company no wonder she looked less than impressed as I hurriedly rose to my feet and helped her up.
"I was not aware that you were that bold Percy." Triton remarked clearly struggling not to laugh at our predicament.
"I was not aware that you were so stupid as to open your mouth." Artemis snapped back clearly annoyed and/or embarrassed judging by the blush on her face.
"Anyway about time you got here and what on earth happened to your hand?" He asked in horror noticing the generally skinless limb poking out from below my sleeve.
"A crazy Primordial cut it off, nothing major. Bit of an inconvenience for a while but almost healed now." I explained brushing it off as he began to look queasy before looking away towards the sleeping figure of Marina who was asleep against the wall in the corner behind him.
"How is she doing?" Artemis asked the god who sighed dejectedly looking at his daughter.
"Tired, upset about what has happened, miserable at having to leave, sad Kymopoleia can't stay with her." Triton explained and I had to chuckle at the last one instinctively.
"What am I missing?" He said turning towards me raising an eyebrow.
"Well the bad news is dad has disowned Kym for the time being at least, the good news I guess is that she has a new boyfriend, Atlas." I said leaving my brother blinking for a good ten seconds.
"What!?" He finally blurted out comprehending what I had said. Unfortunately a little too loudly as Marina began to stir.
Next to me I could see Artemis silently mouthing the word 'idiot' to Triton whilst pulling a face. I was awful at lip reading but there are some words that you naturally pick up when they are said often enough particularly when they are directed at you often enough.
"Father?" The girl asked tiredly looking around rubbing her eyes before focusing on her father for a few seconds before spotting us. I decided to stick my injured hand inside my jacket, the last thing I wanted to do was scare the little girl with it.
"It's alright your uncle and Lady Artemis are here to take you with them." He explained kneeling down in front of her. However the way in which he said it you would have thought he was saying something along the lines of, 'These two are here to take you to prison or some other punishment.'
"Yes father." She said glumly looking at the floor.
"Hey relax, you will get along fine with the other hunters" I said trying to sound upbeat.
"But what if I hurt them?" She asked sadly. Jeez when she was miserable she made Nico when he was younger sound upbeat and cheerful. He was not exactly a ray of sunshine now by any means but he was getting better and he sure could snark with the best of us.
"Considering some of them can summon lightning, have ridiculously super strength, be a reincarnated legendary witch or other powers that I have to worry about on a daily basis. You should fit right in with them. At least unlike the others if you pull a prank on me, I can't be hurt." I explained cheerfully. The girl at least seemed to brighten up at pulling pranks so maybe she did have some sense of humour hidden away underneath her depressed façade.
"Did I mention we have an enormous cuddly lioness?" I added with a grin as she looked up with curiosity. When all else fails to get through to a little girl, offer something cuddly. Well as cuddly as a massive, indestructible, fire breathing, sort of monster/divine animal with a humongous appetite (That could and had included people) could be.
"Err. Ok." Marina replied with an uncertain smile whilst her father developed a strange case of spasms in his eyebrow as if to say 'seriously?' Artemis was a lot less subtle and simply face palmed whilst chuckling.
"Why are you laughing? Everyone knows that lions are cooler than deer's. It is not my fault you picked a lame sacred anim-ow." I joked only to get punched in the upper arm with enough force to cause me to stagger a step across.
"It is a Golden Deer thank you." She corrected firmly.
"Nemea is a Golden Lioness, I still win. Besides it is never around, I have never seen it in the entire time I have been with the Hunt." I retorted causing her to glare at me from within a few inches of my own face. Not that I was concerned I was busy looking into beautiful silver glint her eyes got when she was pissed.
"Err. Hello not that I do not want to interrupt the lovers fight, but we are still here by the way." Triton interrupted only for Artemis to turn her attention on him with enough level of visual threat to cause him to look away.
"Marina word of advice stay away from boys, they are childish idiots. These two are prime examples of the sort you should avoid."
"But aren't you two…"
"Getting married I know, I have no idea why either." I finished jokingly.
"It's because you know when to do as you are told." She said smugly. 'Plus you are cute.' She added mentally.
'You were saying a lot of other things about me earlier in the bedroo- I will stop now.' I replied mentally stopping as she threatened to punch me again.
"How on earth did you manage to hide your relationship for so long?" Triton asked as we both turned to look at him.
"Really badly actually. Pretty much the only person who did not know in the end was my father and some of the Hunters for obvious reasons." Artemis admitted with a sigh after initially glaring at him.
"It was what a few hours before Lelantos found out? We did a really terrible job in fairness. Luckily no one was looking and Aphrodite was 'persuaded' to keep her mouth shut." I joked though 'Persuaded' was a polite term for me nearly cutting her damned head off. It was good to think that she still had the cut on her neck though. I might let it heal at some point but I was not feeling generous yet maybe after the kids were born.
"In fairness looking back maybe we should have just killed her." Artemis said nonchalantly picking a nail clean.
'Can you both stop encouraging murder in front of my daughter? As much as Aphrodite may or may not deserve it.' Triton pleaded mentally.
Oh yeah they were here… still. It was funny how easily I could focus on Artemis at the cost of forgetting everything else going on around me.
'With respect we have already killed two people in front of her if you remember.' Artemis argued back.
'And then tried to kill each other. Dear gods how are you supposed to be positive role model for girls? No wonder the hunters are known for being bunch of little blood knights out to kill everything that gets in their way.'
"In fairness I take offence at that last one that is entirely Thalia's fault." I said out loud earning a slap around the back of the head.
(Marina)
I was beginning to think that I was only aware of half the conversation going on between the adults. They would talk about something then there would be long pause before they spoke again about something completely unrelated or so it seemed.
I had no idea what Aphrodite, who I had learned was the goddess of Love had done but evidently neither my Uncle or Artemis were big fans of her and by the fact Artemis wanted to kill her it was evidently pretty bad. Not that I was sure it was possible to kill a goddess, I thought they were immortal, unless an immortal faded or something along those lines due to becoming unimportant to mortals. Then again by all accounts my uncle had killed the Primordial Goddess Gaia permanently.
The strange thing was that in this camp we were told to respect gods and goddesses (especially my father) as they were beyond the comprehension of the various forms of campers. Yet if anything they were easy to describe… immature.
Sure they were powerful, capable of bending whatever domain they had control over to do with as they pleased. But they were also reckless, arrogant, irrational and childish.
Aunt Kym had been all of these though caring in her own way; she knew what it felt like to be hurt which is why I had bonded with her. The loss of innocence, I had lost my mother and then in the space of a few months I had seen many things a child of my age should not have.
Whereas Kym had been rebellious towards authoritive figures by comparison my father was a stickler for the rules. Which was why I could not stay with him at least at the moment. As an adult I would be free to do as I pleased which just may have let me be in close contact with him but as a child I had to stay with my mortal parent, or go to a camp or the Hunters.
Speaking of Lady Artemis, she checked all the boxes like Kymopoleia but the difference was she had willingly chosen to distance herself from those she did not like. Which mostly consisted of the male half of the population and her family in particular. And yet she was marrying the most immature adult I had ever met (Not that I had got to know many with how I was raised, my mum had kept us to ourselves for most of my life. My stepfather not withstanding but he was another story that I would rather not remember.)The difference was though he was actually of an age where it could be seen as acceptable.
Down here in the camp he was pretty much a celebrity even if he knew it or not. Both because he was the youngest Prince of the Sea (and a LOT of other things apparently) but also because he had managed to save the world at least twice and had played a part in beating just about everyone from legend and yet was only a few years older than me. Though it was said at great personal cost to himself and those around him at the time. If anything his goofiness was probably a defence mechanism from what he had been through in his relatively short life.
Of course that did not stop most of the camps mermaids arguing over who was better looking him or my father (Something I was not happy to be involved in) or who would win in a fight between them. Something that had very little argument considering Percy was supposedly beating up Olympians before he even became immortal.
All of this only increased the appeal that a lot of the Nereid's, Naiads and Mermaids had for the young Titan Lord. Unfortunately for them it seemed that he literally only had eyes for one goddess who he seemed to spend every free second gazing at like a love-struck puppy. Still from personal experience I knew that my uncle had a dark side and was certainly no stranger to hurting and killing others.
Still it was not as if I had a choice in where I was going it was either with my uncle and Artemis, or to a camp full of strangers and boys. And frankly there was a lot of gossip from the Naiads on what went on up there. And I did not want my head being put down a toilet or having all my stuff stolen by a child of Hermes.
"A few of the girls may be a little aggressive when it comes to enforcing our ideals. I don't see a problem with changing that sort of enthusiasm." Artemis said with a smile whilst shrugging. Judging by the fact my uncle rolled his eyes; he had received a lot of trouble with such enthusiasm.
"Clearly they are not as good at keeping the guys away though, Percy notwithstanding. Apollo by all accounts has visited several times in the last few months and not be emasculated at all." My father teased causing the goddess to glare.
"Give it one more visit, Zoe Nightshade is back now, normal progress will be resumed."
"The ex-Hesperide… Daughter of Atlas? I thought she died a few years back?" My father asked uncertainly and seemed to pale in colour. Clearly this Zoe person had as bad a reputation as Lady Artemis did.
"One and the same, though she is a Demi-Titan now. Which has changed her a bit for the better."
"She can punch me threw a few walls with ease now." Percy elaborated nervously.
"Oh that's good; please keep her away from me. I know what that girl has done in the past." My father said with a tone of terrified pleading. The fact that both princes of the sea were pretty much terrified of the capabilities of a bunch of girls physically a little older than me should have clued me in that the Hunters were not a bunch to be trifled with. By comparison, my worrying about hurting others was trivial compared to what they could do.
"Luckily for you then she can't shoot a bow at the moment, she keeps breaking them. I thought I might get her a ballista." Artemis remarked laughing as my uncle coughed nervously.
"Thank you for that horrifying thought of girls running around with siege weaponry and reminding me why I stay under the ocean."
"You know I can always start recruiting down here too now. Sea goddess now remember. I am sure Kym would love to help run it." Artemis remarked clearly enjoying making my father worry.
"Oh dear gods no!"
"Artemis stop being mean." Percy said into her ear barely loud enough for me to hear causing her humph with satisfaction.
"Why do people always interrupt when I am enjoying myself?" Artemis teased.
"At least you got to com-." My uncle grumbled only to get silenced as a hand was clamped across his mouth by the goddess who had turned scarlet for some reason.
"Percy you might want to keep somethings inside your head." My father said barely stifling a laugh as he looked between the mortified goddess and the embarrassed Titan. I don't know what he was referring to but clearly my father did but I got the feeling that I really should not been here to hear whatever he had almost blurted out.
"Sorry." He apologised when she slowly took her hand off his mouth. Instead settling on glaring at him.
"Dumbass." She hissed with annoyance before turning toward me.
"Just as a tip, never get a boyfriend ever. Things are easier without them."
"I would like to point out; somethings are a lot easier to do with them too." Percy grumbled.
"I agree with Artemis on this one, don't fall for a boy. It will only lead to… Disappointment." My father added and I knew he was referring to my older sister Ariel, who I now knew had done exactly that."
"Yes father." I replied only to be patted on the head by him.
"Just remember this, you can live your life however you want to and I will always be proud of you. I may not agree with what you do but you will always remain my daughter. Were it not for those stupid rules I would keep you beside me and never let you go. Until you turn sixteen though we have no say in the matter." He said sombrely going onto one knee so that his face was level with my own.
"I know you would…Dad." I said feeling a tear running down my cheek before grabbing him into a hug and knocking him onto his back.
"Now, now Marina what would people say if they saw us like this, they might think I was a big softie." He said with a light-hearted chuckle. His hand stroking the back of my head as I buried my head into his chest refusing to let go.
"I thought she was beating you up, wouldn't be the first time a little girl has handed you your ass." Lady Artemis chastised and I got the hint she was talking about herself.
"Little girls are scary. Fortunately at some point they have to grow up." My uncle acknowledged laughing, unbeknownst to me earning a glare and a soft elbow to the gut from the woman next to him for his comment.
"First of all Artemis I remember you were a horrible child when you were born. Your father's choice to give you a bow of mass destruction I never understood. Percy… Never mind."
"What?" My uncle asked surprised as I slowly released my father and looked at my uncle.
"Remember you don't need to comment every time someone says something. Getting hit by someone for every comment is not a good thing. Unless you like that sort of thing that is. Not that it is my place to judge after all."
"I don't do that do I?" My uncle asked with a tone of confusion as he looked at the goddess next to him.
"You do quite a bit, it is quite endearing and cute though. When I don't want to strangle you for doing it." She answered honestly causing him to let out a sigh and slump a little. Only to perk up a little when Artemis placed a hand on his head and tousled his hair.
"And just like that the famous saviour of Olympus, bane of everything known to gods… Is reduced to a sad puppy." My father said laughing only to stop when Artemis glared at him with enough ill will to seemingly cause him to shiver. The really strange thing was I could swear her famously silver eyes had turned golden for a few seconds.
"Triton the difference is I am allowed to treat my future husband however I see fit. You on the other hand need to remember that I do not appreciate others taking or worse mocking the things that belong to me. Or do you need to ask our uncle about what happens to those I take offence to?" She said with a tone of sweet civility but I could feel my father turn cold and tremble next to me.
It was at that moment I realised why Artemis was an Olympian and my father was not. Despite the fact they were both children of the 'big three'. Artemis was absolutely terrifying when she wanted to be and especially when someone had directly or indirectly offended her. It was no wonder that for thousands of years everyone had decided to steer well clear of her, she could emasculate a man or god both physically and/or verbally in seconds and yet be smiling the entire time. Unless that person was seemingly too stupid or stubborn to let that stop them trying to earn her affection.
"Sorry Artemis I did not mean to offend you." My father apologised bowing his head.
"And you do not have to over dramatize saying sorry. I am your cousin not my father I do not need everyone bowing and tripping over themselves to placate me. Like this idiot I would rather just be left alone without the world falling to pieces without me every two seconds. I have enough on my plate working out how to be a parent without that stress constantly." Artemis said sadly with a sigh her hand automatically seeking my uncles before grabbing it tightly. I had noticed as a minor point though that the entire time they had been here my uncle had not removed his left hand from his jacket.
"To that end I actually envy you two, at least you will be able to see your children as they grow up. No matter what I have tried, both times I have always found a way to screw it up for my daughters. I just hope you can do a better job of looking after Marina than I ever could." My father said slowly looking down at my face before brushing a strand of hair out of the way, his sea green eyes full of remorse.
"Dad…" I began only to be cut off as he placed a finger on my lips.
"It is true dear; I have been just as terrible a parent as mine were to Kym. I ignored you when you needed me and when you needed help I got someone else to do my job for me. I should have saved you myself and worried about the consequences afterwards. I almost lost you because I was afraid of what would happen to me, the immortal god who cannot die. How stupid and selfish can you be?" My father said bitterly criticising himself.
"You didn't come but when it mattered you sent someone and because of that I am still here to see you make an idiot out of yourself." I said embracing him as he began to chuckle holding me against his chest.
"I guess that runs in the family, here's hoping you got some sanity from your mother." He laughed running his hand through my hair.
(Percy)
As loath as I was to interrupt this father/daughter bonding session I was increasingly aware of how late it was becoming. We would still need to get back to the hunters, check to make sure they had not destroyed anything too valuable and introduce them to Marina before at least one of us returning to supervise the moon.
Fortunately I had someone with less patience to do it for me as Artemis fake coughed to get my brothers attention.
"Right… Marina you are going to need to go with Lady Artemis and your uncle now… You don't need to look like that; I promise I will visit you. Besides I am sure you will enjoy it before long, who knows in a few years you may be able to come back on your own." Triton said standing up and slowly releasing his grip on his daughter who had taken to hiding her face behind her hair.
"You promise?" She said grabbing his hand and looking up at him.
"Of course. As long as I don't get shot by someone." He replied laughing causing Artemis to grumble something illegible next to me but sounding a lot like "no promises".
"I promise you will not be hurt as long as you provide notice and it is convenient." Artemis said tactfully before mumbling so only I could here. "One seaweed brained idiot is more than enough most of the time."
"You know she could be called Seaweed Brain too." I whispered back.
"Little Mermaid?" She suggested with a grin.
"Wouldn't that be her sister, Littler Mermaid?" I proposed uncertainly.
"Too cheesy I am sure you will think of something really annoying though. You always do." She said with a smile before kissing me on the cheek as I stood there grinning like an idiot.
"When we get back I am having to leaving straight away, I trust I can leave you to do not do anything to rash?" She said looking at me seriously, as I stood there momentarily confused. Well the leaving bit was easy enough to work out but I took a bit longer to work out the subtext. She (Artemis) was going to oversee the Moon which meant Diana was completing Marina's introduction to the Hunter's.
"What you don't trust us?" I teased moving my face alongside her own and whispering into her ear.
"No I don't trust her. She hasn't shut up about what happened earlier yet." She said blushing automatically causing my face to heat up.
"Well I would like to point out that you started it." I said matter of factly.
"And your idiot aspect ruined it." She complained
"Believe me I am more than aware." I said with a grumble. Being blue-balled by Perseus was just another reason I wanted to strangle him when he eventually reformed as one being. I did not have enough hands to throttle the lot of them as it currently was one would be a struggle.
Of course the fact that we were having our own conversation over here had been noticed by the father and daughter on the other side of the room. As a small girl coughed in an ironic echo of Artemis a few minutes ago.
While her father looked outright horrified as we turned towards them the little girl stood with her arms folded across her chest boldly, as if to say two can play that game. Well maybe she was growing on me a little after losing the depressed attitude a bit.
Of course to Triton's clear relief Artemis took it light-heartedly with a small laugh.
"Keeping you waiting were we?" She asked the young girl who continued to look defiant.
"Marina-"
"Triton calm down, in case you haven't noticed in the last few thousand years. My hunters do not exactly stand on display, they say what they feel. Besides lately I seem to spend more time reporting to them than the other way round thanks to a certain someone. As it is Marina is a long way off what Thalia says and does most of the time."
'Lightning throwing, sadistic, foul mouthed curious Lesbian. Yep definitely nowhere near that level.' I thought to myself with a smile. Of course I was the only one in the room aware of the last fact something I had over my cousin for the time being.
"The one who got turned into a tree or the Muse?" Triton asked curiously.
"As if the muse is still a virgin." Artemis snorted in amusement.
"Nor are yo-."
"Would you like to finish that sentence?" Artemis interrupted politely causing Triton to freeze as his eyes glanced to her side away from me, where I was unable to confirm but there was likely a very sharp hunting knife now in her free hand. The subtext clear enough that if you bring that sore point up again, the following sentence she would return would be 'You were male'.
"So, as fun as it wouldn't be to watch you castrate Marina's father. It does not exactly set a good example." I said moving in front of the goddess and instinctively grabbing her other hand. Only to immediately regret my decision as I heard a little girl take a deep breath behind me.
"What happened to your hand?" She said with a tone of excitement rather than revulsion as I was expecting. As I let go of Artemis and held the injured hand up, sure enough it was healing quickly but it still looked like I had had the limb flayed.
"I got it cut off." I admitted nervously as she looked almost excited.
"That is so cooool." The girl said excitedly, a complete departure from early.
"Not how I would have explained it, mostly involved a lot of pain and then being beaten up by a goddess."
"Not guilty." Artemis chipped in to clarify almost defensively.
"So what it just grows back on its own? What if someone cuts your head off?" She asked excited leaning forward as if to get a better look.
"Then I would die I guess." I answered sheepishly to her now almost creepy enthusiasm.
"So how did it happen?"
"Hey Marina, I have a better suggestion. Ask the other hunters how they saved your Uncle." Artemis suggested with a smile as I couldn't help but sigh. Thanks to Perseus I was never going to be able to live that incident down for a very long time, me being saved by the girls I was supposed to protect. Especially with the likes of Thalia and Tania who would take great enjoyment in bringing it up at every opportunity.
"Yay for me." I muttered sarcastically loud enough for everyone to hear.
"We could have left you there if you wanted? Spending eternity with your doppelgangers now wouldn't that have been fun." Artemis continued teasing as I instinctively groaned at the thought.
"Right now would you both like to apologise because I can stand here all day putting you in your places, but at some point the Moon Chariot is going to hit something and well that would be bad for everyone."
"Sorry." Me and my brother replied under our breath in synchrony causing Marina to laugh briefly sounding like a dolphin due to her high level of pitch.
'I don't envy you brother.' Triton complained mentally sounding like a scolded child.
'Yeah you do. Sure she can be a little err- rough around the edges but she does actually care and besides have you seen her as-'
'Why are you smiling like an idiot?' Artemis interrupted abruptly mentally cutting me off immediately as I turned to find her looking at me suspiciously. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Triton coughing nervously.
'Because I am one?' I answered nervously.
'Good answer. You are my idiot though.' She said happily giving my hand a squeeze.
"Right then we need to get going before you two manage to embarrass yourselves any further, for a pair of immortal princes you really should learn how to act around others. Otherwise those poor pedestals you sit on might break even further."
"Wow way to make me sound better in front of Marina!" I complained frowning.
"Five minutes with the hunters will shatter any preconceptions she has gained here about the real you. You are not their guardian for your brains after all. Triton if you even consider making a comment about reasons I do keep him around you will only have one tail for life within a few seconds."
"Marina I have one final thing to tell you." Triton said after gulping and turning back towards his daughter who was looking up at him curiously.
"Whatever you do, do not annoy Lady Artemis and do not listen if your uncle makes a suggestion."
"Good advice for once from a Seaweed Brain, I never thought I would see the day." Artemis said mockingly wiping a fake tear from her eye.
"Hey! I am still here you know." I grumbled loudly.
"We know." All three said at once as I released my hold of Artemis's hand and folded my arms in protest. Artemis used the fact I had let go of her to make her towards the duo in front of her.
"So Marina are you ready to go?" Artemis asked taking to a knee in front of the shorter girl so they were eye to eye and holding her hand out palm up. As if in one final request for confirmation the girl turned towards her father who merely smiled and nodded.
"Yes Lady Artemis." The small raven haired girl answered with determination placing her hand in Artemis's.
"Then allow me to welcome you to my Hunters Marina, unfortunately your oath shall have to wait until we return to the others, but is there anything else you would like to say to your father before we leave?" Artemis said rising to her feet again.
"Father I-" She began only to be interrupted as her father took hold of her free hand. If only for a fraction of a second as he did so the girl turned almost transparent as if looking through a bottle, though whether this was my eyes playing tricks on me I did not know.
"Marina it is ok, just know that I will always be there if you need me and may the Sea always protect you. Now go before you see a stubborn fool reduced to tears." He told her with a smile.
'Brother keep her safe, I cannot lose another daughter again.'
'You have my word.' I told him in return as we both looked each other in the eyes the only difference between us being the colour of our pupils.
With that silent agreement complete, Triton released his daughters hand and stood back as I began to walk towards the pair of girls.
"Goodbye father." Marina said smiling as I took hold of Artemis's other hand and the three of us left the Ocean in a flash of light. Leaving an old god alone with his thoughts of self-depreciation as a father, but hope remained within him that his daughter would succeed without him until they could meet again.
(Marina)
We had arrived at our destination, an empty corridor in what seemed to be a large house only to immediately hear the other occupants engaged in a 'conversation' through the closed doors.
"I swear to the gods that I will do a Nero on them all! You resolve one problem with the Senate and the next thing you know they have two new bigger ones." A girl was shouting seemingly in severe exasperation.
"Which part of Nero's reign are you talking about the personal games or…" Another girl asked apprehensively before being answered.
"The part we he fed them to the Lions! Or Lioness in our case." The first girl answered loudly before correcting herself.
"You could always ask the Six to help, Jason…."
"Is too busy focusing on that little whore to do anything useful. And she hates me so that is not happening anytime soon. The rest of them are equally as useful if they actually bother turning up, the only one who listens is Nico and before long a skeleton pops out of the floor and summons him to deal with some problem in the Underworld. Valdez sits there tinkering with stuff in his pockets or spontaneously catching fire and Hazel and Frank are no shows again." The angry girl ranted before a dull thud was heard.
With the rant seemingly paused for a second Artemis slowly pushed the door open revealing the figures of two girls in silver outfits similar to Artemis's a few years older than me sitting on either side of a desk cluttered with paperwork. Well one was sitting the other had her head face down on it before noticing the door had opened and sitting up showing the source of the thud on her forehead.
"Having fun you two?" Artemis asked the two girls who were looking at the three of us in surprise.
"No. Can I borrow Nemea?" The girl behind the desk asked with curiosity.
"If you mean to feed her the Senators then no, I am trying to control her diet to not including people anymore." Percy said behind me though I noticed he flashed a glance at Artemis.
"Marina meet Thalia Grace and Reyna Avi-." Artemis began introducing only to be interrupted by the girl Reyna banging her head off the desk again.
"Just call her Reyna." Percy summarised quickly as the girl groaned in discomfort.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Thalia Daughter of Zeus." The other girl who looked liked like she would have suited a rock group said getting out of her chair said politely that I was about to reconsider what Percy had said about the girl earlier as prejudice. However I missed the grin as she held out her hand which I instinctively took only to immediately regret as my entire left arm went numb and I smelt a mix of Ozone and burned hair.
"Thalia that was mean." Artemis said nonchalantly summoning a small amount of water above my head and putting the flames out. I instinctively got the feeling I was not going to like her very much.
"Thalia like her father can be troublesome to deal with when you first meet them. However once you know how it becomes a lot easier." Percy said with glee as Thalia turned wide eyed as the air around her was replaced by a few hundred litres of water for a few seconds as she desperately flailed around before it disappeared just as quickly leaving her wet and dishevelled on the floor before picking herself up.
"Ok I may have actually deserved that one Seaweed Brain. So she is your niece right?" She said wiping her wet hair out of eyes and looking me over.
"Judging by her looks she has to be his Niece or daughter and Lady Artemis is still pregnant ruling out option two." The other girl Reyna said sarcastically using her hand to push a puddle of water off her desk.
"Oh Percy can you fix the basement in the Senate House when you get a chance. Seeing as how Perseus made it can you fix it? Also long shot but can do something about Lord Jupiters statue he vandalised at the same time, I could do without the repairs coming out the city's finances, as refilled as the coffers are for once. This place haemorrhages money like you would not believe and the king of the gods is not footing the bill."
"Maybe I will think about it. Now what exactly have the senate been doing that is annoying you so much?"
"Well your rather public slasher display the other day has made some of them think that you are rather unhinged and that we hunters and Lady Diana are also slightly crazy. And because I am now a hunter they keep questioning my decisions and finally someone who shall not be named…"
"Tania." Thalia coughed.
"Told everyone we blew up a significant portion of Las Vegas which is all over the news by the way. Well I might as well be running for President whilst lobbying to nuke the Middle East for all the good it is doing. And the gods of Heroes are about as useful as a chocolate teapot." She ranted.
"Tomorrow we are coming with you, and I will make them listen whether they like it or not. But for the minute I need to get going or Vegas will not be the last thing getting destroyed from the Moon." Artemis announced and I took cue from the other two girls in looking away. One of the first things I had been taught was that when gods disappear if you looked at them bad things happened to you. The cleaning you up with a dustpan and brush kind.
So it was with some level of surprise that when I turned back the goddess was still there albeit with her hair down this time and a gentler expression on her face.
"Lady Diana." The two hunters said at once politely leaving me confused.
"Hello Marina I am Diana, Roman goddess of the Hunt. I am Artemis's Roman aspect." She introduced politely.
"So you are both the same person?" I asked trying to understand.
"Think of us as two different sides of the same coin. Artemis as the Greek side is the older original version of us before us Roman gods and goddesses came along. Most gods are the same though some such as your father and Apollo have the same name no matter the aspect. As for Percy you have already met his Greek side Perseus."
"The crazy one who almost killed you before." I guessed.
"Indeed we are working on that." Diana said nodding.
"Hey Seaweed Brain when did you become Roman?" Thalia asked confused looking between the goddess and my uncles a few times.
"When I lost my inheritance as a son of Poseidon and got adopted by Neptune instead. Besides Perseus is a Greek name so it kind of makes sense when you think about it. Plus Perseus likes to work on his own and has problems with authority figures." Percy explained causing Reyna to nod and shrug as if that made total sense.
"Anyway do either of you know where the other hunters are?" Diana asked with some level of haste.
"Morganna is somewhere in the building doing her hocus pocus thing, but as far as I am aware the others are out in the city getting something to eat still." Thalia commented.
"In that case Thalia as the current senior Hunter, it falls on you to show Marina here our orientation videos and answer any questions she may have. Besides clearly Reyna is busy and I do not want my hair turning green again to intrude on Morganna." Dianna said with a tone of command before quickly adding the comment about her hair leaving me with a hint that the other hunter present had done something recently that had annoyed the goddess.
"In fairness that was your own fault, for hanging out with Percy so much, without any of us knowing about you both being a couple."
"I also did not want to tell our father and look how well that went. Now we need to get going and… check on the rest of the idiot brigade." Dianna said after a pause as if trying to find the right words or the right excuse.
"Fine, Fine come on Praetor you have been staring at that report for two hours and done nothing about it. Let's go get something to eat." Thalia said walking around the desk and grabbing the other girl by the arm and pulling her out of her seat.
"Marina as a final word of advice. Whilst in New Rome listen to Reyna and if Thalia does something inappropriate to the citizens here. Pretend you are not with her." Percy said laughing before taking a hold of Dianna's hand and the pair were encased in shadows before disappearing.
"So how are we doing this fast food or restaurant?" Thalia said turning towards the other girl who smiled happily for the first time since I had met her and produced the largest stack of money I had ever seen from her desk.
"With Perseus paying I think we can afford to splurge a little either way. So Marina what would you like?" She said looking at me.
"I don't know I have not actually eaten anything in a few weeks." I answered nervously immediately regretting telling them that as they both stared at me.
"Underwater I don't actually need to eat or drink because I get strength from the water itself." I explained hastily as the two continued to stare for a few more seconds before finally nodding in understanding.
"Well in that case to celebrate the occasion I am taking you to the most expensive restaurant I can find in this city. Which Reyna is going to tell me where it is?" Thalia said with a wide grin turning towards the other girl who gulped.
"Can I go back with the adults?" I commented nervously.
"That's the thing we are legally adults, we just don't look it. Percy is younger than us." Thalia said happily dragging Reyna with one arm before grabbing my left hand with her other one and leading us reluctantly towards the door. Reyna only resisted long enough to grab a silver and purple cape from the back of her chair and fasten it over her back so the purple was outwards.
"How old are you then?" I asked curiously as Reyna opened the door.
"Twenty."
"Thirty-seven." Reyna said nonchalantly.
"Wait… what?"
"We are immortal remember. Zoe is older than Artemis being a daughter of Atlas from before the original Titan War. The others are everything from your age to about eighteen hundred years old." Thalia explained as I stood there wide eyed, sure I knew about the whole immortal bit of the hunters but to actually understand that these girls appeared in their teens but were in reality capable of being centuries or even millennia older was a far different thing to take in.
"But that is beside the point, let's eat!" Thalia explained dragging us both again down the corridor from earlier, down some stairs and along another one. Past a door with green smoke curling up underneath it and what sounded like a girl chanting in Latin behind it who I guessed was the Morganna they mentioned earlier.
Finally we arrived at an entrance doorway which was being obstructed by a small kitten that was seemingly curled up asleep until we were within a few feet of it in which its head popped up alert looking at us and me in particular with a pair of gold and green eyes reminding me of my uncles.
Slowly the kitten rose to its paws before stretching her front legs and body out before walking towards me. Seemingly growing larger with every inch she travelled from shin height to waist height by the time she had reached us still looking at me. It was at this point I realised that the kitten was not kitten at all but actually a Lioness, likely the one my uncle had spoken of earlier.
"Nemea this is Marina she is going to become a hunter." Thalia told the Lioness who momentarily looked away from me. "Marina please hold your hand out above her head." Thalia added to me as I nervously snapped my hand up almost hitting the lioness on the nose as I did so.
Nevertheless the Lioness seemed unfazed as she lifted her head up and sniffed my hand curiously before looking at me again with a tilted head. Before I could respond though she had grown a few more inches, my hand was now resting on top of her head. So I could now feel her cool fur beneath my fingers. The strange thing was that although it was soft as to be expected it felt almost metallic and looking down her claws appeared to be made of gold.
Still I instinctively patted the animals head eliciting what seemed to be a purr of approval as I scratched around her left ear. Before long the lioness had shifted position so that she was rubbing her body alongside mine whilst refusing to let me remove my hand from her body.
"Seems she likes you, you probably smell like Seaweed Brain. Which is good because I have no idea how she would act with non-hunters in here otherwise?" Thalia commented freeing me from the big cat's affection by replacing my hand with her own as Reyna disappeared off behind us to get something.
"How does she change size?"
"Something to do with your uncles powers over time leaching into her due to exposure and becoming his sacred animal. Which is why her claws turned to gold and she has got his eyes. Blackjack his Pegasus got a similar treatment with golden hooves and Adamantium wings."
"Like Wolverine?" I asked curiously.
"Same name completely different properties." Reyna answered coming back holding a large lump of bloody meat out in front of her as to avoid getting it on her clothes.
To no real surprise once the Lioness had smelled the food she lost all focus in me and Thalia and zeroed in on Reyna sitting down in front of her and purring in expectation. Strangely though she had actually shrunk back down in size by time Reyna released it to the now waiting cub that it appeared to be half the size of the Lioness. Not that it mattered as razor sharp teeth and claws began to tear it apart.
"Right then let's get out of here before she realises that was all that is left." Reyna explained giving the cub a wide berth as she made her way back to us.
"Nemea don't forget to keep an eye on Morganna." Thalia told the lioness whom briefly lifted her now blood red face to look at us and purr before going back to her scene of food carnage.
Hurriedly we left the building and shut the door before breathing a sigh of relief on my part.
"Don't worry about her; she is a big softie at heart as long as she is fed. Otherwise every demigod in this city would not be able to stop her." Thalia explained and sure enough I looked around and noticed I was now in a city that resembled pictures which I had seen in history books of Ancient Rome. Except for the fact it had street lighting and asphalt roads and other modern commodities intertwined with the old stuff.
"Oh by the way Marina, as Praetor allow me to welcome you to New Rome." Reyna said proudly noticing me looking around the city street. I grew up in a rather secluded part of Miami, where everything looked like after a hurricane no-one could be bothered to clean back up. So standing here in this perfect blend of old and new I was speechless for a few seconds.
"If you think this is good, you should see Olympus. When it is not under heavy Titan attack and you are fighting for your life of course." Thalia joked as Reyna elbowed her in the side getting a tongue stuck out in return.
"So what is a Praetor by the way?" I asked curiously.
"It is an old Roman political office that…"
"Basically it means she runs the place, or more accurately tries to stop it falling apart without her. And you get to wear a snazzy cape that tells everyone you're in charge."
"In summary, yes. There should be two of us but due to some unfortunate circumstances involving your uncle, Perseus and his successor, my fellow Praetor, I am doing both jobs currently. Below me are the senators who also include most of the Centurions and Decanus's who run each of the cohorts. Plus the Greek cabin counsellors when they are here. And of course I cannot forget there are the six gods of Heroes and their bag of issues in screwing everything up." Reyna finished bitterly. Most of what she had said about the different groups made no sense to me but one thing was clear.
"Sounds like it keeps you busy." I said in amazement as the older girl sighed.
"You have no idea. Now come on then let's get something to eat before something goes wrong and I get distracted." Reyna explained taking the lead walking in front of us cape billowing behind in the winter breeze, looking every bit like she owned the place.
(Percy)
"Iris make sure we are not disturbed for the next twenty-four hours, Unless it is Artemis I do not care if my father himself demands to talk with us. We are not interested. If it is Artemis… verbal communication only." Diana added before dispersing the veil of water she was speaking into with a wave of her hand and turning towards me with a mischievous smile.
The truth was we had not gone far from Reyna's and by extension the hunter's house. In fact we were in our recently borrowed home across the road. Except now every door was thoroughly locked and then sealed with a time enchantment to stay shut and instantly repair in event of damage, likewise with the windows. Overkill that it possibly was we wanted to make sure that we were not going to be disturbed for once.
"Why do I get the feeling I should be nervous right about now?" I asked sitting back against the headboard of the bed I was laying on.
"It is supposed to be the girl that is nervous in this sort of situation isn't it." Diana remarked playfully brushing her hair over her shoulders before placing her hands on her hips.
"Most girls don't share a body with another girl who looks just like her during intimate moments."
"True. But there are two things that are different now though. I have spent more than twelve hours cooped up in there and second and more importantly, Artemis's isn't here." She said with a tone of seductiveness before smiling at me causing my immortal heart to skip a beat.
"You know she will find out if we do anything." I reminded playfully.
"There is not exactly much left that she has not already done short of us having full blown sex, so she can't complain as long as we don't. Not that it doesn't leave us a lot of things we can do and I intend to." She said kneeling at the foot of the bed with her torso leaning forward over the base of the bed and her chin on her interlocked hands as we looked at each other longingly. Each waiting for the other to make the first move.
For almost a minute the stalemate lasted until Diana broke eye contact before rolling onto her back and sitting forward with her back to me. However the message was clear enough that I pretty much jumped forward so that I was positioned a few inches behind her with my legs positioned to either side of her.
As if in response Diana tilted her head and I instinctively began to kiss along her neck slowly making my way up her cheekbone as she slowly turned to face me. However just as our lips were about to touch she pulled back winking mischievously.
However before I could respond she had decided to playfully spin on the spot but what really got my attention was the fact that mid twirl her hunters uniform disappeared into golden light, leaving her only in her underwear as she leaned back against the opposite wall with her arms held perpendicular to the wall and her legs spread out a few feet apart.
Sub-consciously I leaned forward to get myself just a little closer to the beautiful goddess opposite me, so I could take in every little detail of her perfection. The only minor mar on her appearance being the fact that her face was flushed as she nervously blushed at her own exposure.
"Percy do you think I am beautiful?" She asked coyly as I stood up and walked toward her before stopping less than a foot from her face never taking my eyes off hers.
"Someone is a little full of themselves. No you are not beautiful, you are simply perfection." I whispered huskily as she practically purred with approval before taking her arms off the wall and wrapping them around my neck, pulling our mouths together in a battle of will and tongues.
Something I was more than capable of keeping up with until she caught me off-guard and wrapped her legs around my waist. Her delicate frame supported only by me and the wall she was leaning against. However I was now on the back foot as the goddess relentlessly pressed her advantage beating back any advance I made whilst breaching any defence I could muster.
'Give in yet?' Diana teased mentally. How the goddess was able to focus enough to do so while attacking the inside of my mouth I had no idea. However she certainly had a point the need to breathe was starting to build up heavily. It was an ironic fact that immortals couldn't die from a lack of oxygen but we still needed to actually breathe or we would black out like a mortal.
I was able to last another twenty seconds before I was ultimately forced to break away to catch my breath. All the while being forced to look at Diana's angelic face ruined by the smug grin that was plastered all over it. Even so I could see and feel her taking many shallow breaths to catch up herself.
"Having fun yet?" I asked between breaths.
"A good start, though it seems to me that I am not the only one." She remarked coyly moving her hips slightly causing me to groan a little as she brushed against my own causing more than a little discomfort at the building tightness.
"For someone who is reliant on me not dropping you, you are awfully smug." I chastised only to curse my own stupidity at who I was dealing with as we suddenly disappeared into light only to reappear standing on the bed where I instantly lost balance and found the goddess now mounted on top of me.
"I have every reason to be smug for the first time in a long time it is just you and me. No nagging Artemis, no annoying Perseus, no pervert Atlas, no one with a problem that they cannot fix on their own. The only problem I can see is that you are still dressed and I am not." She said pulling back a little and sure enough she was now completely exposed to me as I lay there staring at the twin orbs of flesh positioned a few inches above my torso. I wanted to comment on but although my mouth was moving no sound was coming out as I did my best guppy impression.
I could have tried to do the same and change my form to be sans clothes but with how much I was distracted at the moment, well it would have been a repeat of the first Persee moment for sure.
Slowly rubbing my hands down her sides before passing slowly rounding her hips and backside confirmed that she was indeed wearing nothing but a determined smile. As my hands settled on butt I couldn't help but smile as she shivered at my touch on her warm bare skin.
However I was still in the starting blocks in a race where to win you had to finish at the same time. Using my current position of holding her I was able to roll us both over so that I was now on top of her momentarily causing Diana to squeal meekly and turn almost crimson as I could now see all of her before me. From the delicate features of her face down to her perfect breasts and finally to her womanhood and the small patch of auburn fur above it. Having seen both aspects naked in the same day I could say that the small amount of pubic hair was one of the few actual physical differences between them both, Artemis was completely hairless except for her head.
Almost instinctively she attempted to cover herself up only to pause as she saw me enraptured by her beauty.
"It is rude to stare." She stated nervously as I leaned forward over her placing my hands to her sides looking her into the eyes.
"If it is rude to stare then perhaps you should stop being so beautiful." I said playfully before quickly kissing along her jaw and neck slowly making my way downwards towards her chest. Only stopping when the unusual sound of Diana actually giggling gently caught me off guard and I turned my head upwards to face her and suddenly found her legs locked around my waist again and her arms around the back of my head. Cradling my face against her chest she slowly began to stroke the hair on top of my head.
"Percy, why do you love me?" She asked softly catching me off guard.
"What I mean is why did you pick me? You could have had pretty much any girl in the world but instead you chose me. Knowing my past history, my sins, the problems you would face from our parents, the hunters, even myself." She whispered sombrely.
"Because you are you, your strong, independent, witty and yet willing to put up with idiocy and antics. And yet you are also kind, soft-hearted and fun to be around. Twelve months ago I was trying to find ways of killing myself and yet now I look at them days as if they were a lifetime ago. You give me a reason to live, every day is a new adventure that I look forward to finding out how we are going to get through it together. The fact you are the most beautiful woman in the world is just the very attractive icing on the cake." I explained with a grin looking up into her smiling face.
"You almost ruined it at the end there, fortunately it is not hubris when you are a god." She said happily any sign of doubts now forgotten on her face as she beamed from ear to ear.
"Sorry to ruin the moment but can you let me go?" I asked shifting my hip a little as nothing but a few millimetres of fabric separated our sex's, judging by the crimson shade the goddess momentarily turned she recognised the problem and released our embrace with a sigh before sitting up and crossing her legs as I stepped back.
"Now close your eyes." I told her grinning as she shook her head with a sigh before doing it with another giggle.
(Diana)
I had no doubt that if Artemis was to walk in now, with me completely exposed to Percy as I was now that I would be called every derogatory name anyone has ever called Aphrodite. However I did not care what anyone else thought apart from the man in front of me.
As much as he had made me happy with telling me that I (and Artemis too I guess.) had given him a new purpose in life. The same could be said of the other way round, before the Second Giant War I had been pretty much shut away on the moon chariot watching the decades and centuries pass by with almost no interest. Shut away in my own isolated little world. It was an ironic fact I suppose that he was the first male hero I had met in over a millennia when he rescued Artemis and by extension me from Atlas. Five years later and I would rather fade than go back to the chariot on a permanent basis, instead I now had a sense of freedom and independence that I never had before.
I was no longer forced to live in Artemis's shadow and exist as a reminder that by the way Rome happened for a few centuries, normal Greek progress has been resumed. I was my own goddess, I now had my own hunters, I had found love, I was going to be a mother despite the circumstances of the conception and the way I had lost my chastity.
But the truth was that I owed everything I was now to Percy Jackson and I was willing to do anything for him. If he wanted to have sex I would give it to him without a seconds thought. Artemis be damned and her stupid promise to wait until after we got married. We had not even managed to pull the proposal off without something going wrong.
"Open your eyes." Percy said cheerfully as I opened them only to find him still wearing the majority of his clothes except his jacket which was now tossed in the corner behind him.
However before I could complain about his teasing me I spotted the glittering silver sapphire encrusted object in his hand.
"Diana will you marry me?" He asked grinning only to go wide eyed as a goddess flung herself at him and began to tear his clothes off all the while repeating one word.
"Yes."
AN. This ended up being two chapters rolled into one, which contributed towards the longer delay in putting this out though not being the main reason.
Unfortunately the second half also throws this closer to the mature rating than the teen rating it had previously. To be honest writing that much of the love scenes does not come to me naturally I much more prefer the act of implication but with only two characters in the scene it is a lot harder to do and besides I need to push different horizons with this or I get bored which contributes to even longer delays.
As it is the next chapter will focus on the hunters and camp Jupiter politics before chapter 102 gives us a bit of long overdue action. Both of which are actually planned out in structure so it is just a case of filling in the plan with detail and dialogue.
Hope you all enjoyed the chapter and I look forward to hearing your feedback.