Not My Proudest Moment

Trying to understand these phantom islands will give me an aneurysm one of these days. Seriously, endless water on every horizon, but so long as you travel just out of view of the island, the scenery shimmers away like ripples in a lake.

That being said, it wasn't a very long flight before a very familiar outline appeared in the distance. The high rises and skyscrapers thrust into the open air of New York. The Empire State building towered above all of the others, making its way to Olympus. I caught a brief glimpse of the godly city before Blackjack took a brief nose dive to escape a flock of pigeons.

I swear, Epimetheus really should have left those guys out of his creation list.

I made no comment. With the lower altitude, the smell of the Hudson River and street life worked its way into my nose. Polluted water, fish, and wet garbage; yep, I was definitely home.

"So this is the modern world?" Calypso asked. Her hand was covering her nose. "Things truly aren't the way I thought they would be."

"I told you that you'd be disappointed." I said. "It's not pretty here."

"Not disappointed. Just perplexed. Why are these buildings so tall? What are those little colorful shapes between them? It's all just so… strange."

I chuckled and wrapped my arms around her waist.

"Blackjack, take us to Central Park. If we're going to introduce Calypso to this place, let's start with some familiar ground first."

You got it boss. Hold on.

Fortunately, he remembered not to be extremely rough with his flying. Sure, I loved going at higher speeds, but I'm not sure Calypso would have agreed with that sentiment for her first flight. We landed in a small clearing towards the edge of the park near Fifth Avenue. Calypso and I dismounted before I patted Blackjack's flank.

"I definitely owe you some sugar cubes, man. Oh, and those hippocampi can move in to Galínios. There's a small cave that they can use as a shelter. Probably gonna build some stables over there at some point."

Woo! You got it, boss! I'll go get them. You two behave yourselves!

Without even waiting for a goodbye, Blackjack took back to the sky and disappeared into the clouds. I sighed a bit. It would've been nice to actually tell him when I wanted to meet up again.

I looked over to Calypso, who was staring around aimlessly, trying to take everything in. She finally realized I was looking at her and blushed.

"Sorry. Still new to this."

I laughed and held out my arm to her. "Don't worry about it. Shall we begin the journey?"

Never before had I really considered parenthood. If it was anything like leading Calypso around Manhattan, I'll take a pass. Sure, everything started off fine. Calypso made herself at home in the grove and she took in the park's natural beauty. At some point, a squirrel decided to make friends with her by chilling on her shoulder for a while.

However, when we left the park, things became a nightmare. She dragged me around trying to see absolutely everything. One moment, she was enthralled with a parked BMW. The next, she was running across the street to a homeless man huddled at the entrance of an alleyway. More than once did I have to yank her back to avoid running into oncoming traffic. Even the squirrel knew better and took off for his own safety.

"What's that?"

"Um, that's a traffic light."

"And that?"

"That's a trash can."

"What about that all the way over there?"

"Uhh, I think that's a crane."

I found it cute, honestly. She was so excited and energetic about every little thing. It made me marvel at how she could so easily find the interest and beauty in everything she saw.

In all honesty, it wasn't a very nice day out. The clouds were thick overhead and the humidity was ridiculous. Galínios spoiled me these past few days. The weather was always nice.

That didn't stop Calypso. Her dress clung to her body and sweat began to run down the side of her head, but she pressed on. I was thankful to have brought my wallet (I would have been stupid otherwise). Along the way, we both got hungry so I brought us to a small pretzel shop.

"What's a pretzel?"

I chuckled. "It's like a twisted strip of dough that's been baked. Most of the time, things like sugar and cinnamon are added to it. Though you can choose other things."

Her eyes widened at the prospect. I could already feel my wallet getting lighter in my pocket. What have you done, Percy?

I ordered myself a small container of pretzel dogs and a large coke. Calypso wasn't as simple. Her order consisted of two cinnamon sugar pretzels, a cup of pretzel bites and icing, and a large pretzel dog with a cheese sauce dip. To wash it down, she also bought a coke. At least I could introduce her to the world of sodas… oh dear…

"Mmm," she moaned as she bit into the pretzel. "I see why you speak so highly of these."

"Pretty good, huh?"

"Mm, yes. Let this be what my ambrosia tastes of."

I laughed at her sheer enjoyment for the food. The look of bliss on her face was intoxicating. Her reaction to the coke was equally as impressive.

"It burns!"

"Give it a second."

"But— but… oh. Hmm. Just another sip…"

It didn't take long for me to realize that I probably should have ordered more for myself. Sure the bites were tasty and I definitely missed the taste of street food, but that was the problem. That and I truly underestimated how hungry I was.

"Please, help yourself." Calypso said while shoving an icing covered pretzel my way. "You bought them so you have all rights to enjoy this food as well."

"Hey, you wanted to taste them and I don't blame you. If you're hungry, eat."

She pouted. Cheese sauce stained her upper lip.

"I'm hungry, yes. But there is more than plenty for both of us."

Maybe it was the smell of her food or how cute she looked when she pouted. Whatever it was, it made my will crumble and I accepted her offer.

We chatted a bit about everything that happened during my last time on her island, before slowly working our way to other topics. She wanted to know what happened during the last war so I did my best to sum it up, but I may have rambled for most of it.

Not once did she look away. Her eyes hardly blinked and perpetually increased in size as the story continued. Anytime I'd pause, she'd nod for me to keep going. When I got to the part about Tartarus, she placed her hand on my arm. I may have teared up once or twice during that time. I did my best not to think about that hole.

By the time I finished, her gaze hadn't once left my face. Not sure if that should be flattering or creepy, but then again, it makes sense given that she had no experience with any of this. So she would want to pay attention.

"Wow," she said. She leaned back in her chair and her shoulders sagged. "I can see why you would speak of Hera so bitterly… or Juno. Ugh, this is confusing. And to think that Gaea would be so callous…"

She scowled deeply at the now empty plate of food and crossed her arms.

"Yeah," I said. "Well at least the world is finally at peace."

"For now," she smiled coyly. "Thanks to you."

"Hey I summoned her with a bloody nose," I replied sarcastically. "Don't give me too much credit."

"Are you saying I should blame you for the near destruction of the world… again?"

My face went red. "Let's not."

She laughed and stood up, holding her hand out.

"Shall we continue our day, then?"

I smiled and took her hand.

"Indeed we shall."

After the meal, she finally settled down and was willing to stroll along. I never really noticed before, but she was attracting a lot of glances and stares from both pedestrians and drivers. What? Never seen a girl in a Greek dress before? Sheesh, so inconsiderate.

Before long, we passed by a familiar looking alley. The graffiti without any tagging. The posters for Broadway shows that were outdated decades ago. This was the same alley where Rachel finished her first pegasus flying attempt. I didn't realize it, but I walked in and began staring at everything around the area. Sure it wasn't exactly that long ago in the grand scheme of things, but so much has happened since then; like an entirely different life.

Of course, in that moment of me being distracted, a group of street thugs decided we looked like a prime target. They surrounded us quickly and began a small chorus of cat calling and wolf whistling.

"Well well, lookie what we have here," one of them said. He was a bit shorter than the rest, with a bright green mohawk on top of his waxy head. Struck me as the type to drop out of high school to start a failed garage band.

"You know," a heavy set one said. "We might let you go if you hand over the girl. That dress is just begging to be torn off."

Calypso bristled and made like she was going to throttle him, but I stopped her before she could. I spread my arms out defensively, but there were like a dozen or more.

Seriously, are they really planning on splitting Calypso among them? I mean, how would they… You know what, I'm not going to think about that.

"Back off," I warned. "If you know what's good for you, you'll turn around and walk away."

About half of the greasy gang laughed. The others started pulling out various items of pain infliction. Their colorful arrangement included knives, shivs, and baseball bats.

Of them all, the one which most clearly caught my attention was a chain. The guy with the mohawk unwrapped a length of chain from around his waist and tried to crack it like a whip. While unsuccessful, the act had some unintended side effects.

I couldn't see the chain. No. All I saw was a belt. A black leather belt dripping with liquid gold. Grasping it wasn't a sorry excuse for a garage band drummer, but rather, a young beautiful woman with whom I'd spent a great deal of intimate time with lately.

Piper?

She took a step forward, pure unadulterated malice glimmering in her eyes, and raised the belt.

No! This isn't real!

As if on instinct, I whipped out Riptide and uncapped it. My glowing bronze blade expanded and I swiped at the image of Piper.

I can tell you with a whole certainty that these guys were one hundred percent disgusting mortals. Funny, the way they smelled, I would have assumed descendents of the sewer goddess. Not so funny, they didn't take very long to react. My sword passed harmlessly through them. They looked stunned at first, but a face of pure rage masked their confusion.

Mohawk back away, stretching the chain between his hands as he prepared to take his first lash at me. But I never saw him. Before me stood a young nymph, trembling with a length of black chain presented to me.

"Please forgive me!" Palírroia cried.

"What—"

CRACK!

The chain flashed across my eyes. Warm iron filled my mouth. Or maybe it was blood. I couldn't tell. My ears rang. The very world around me started to spin. I was on the ground, stumbling to my feet while the nearby thugs laughed and jeered.

Another rushed forward and slashed at me with a knife. I attempted to either block or disarm him, but in my disoriented state, the best I could do was redirect his attempted stab into a slash.

Icy steel numbed my gut and pulled away just as quickly. Where once a sleazy gangbanger stood, Annabeth stared back at me, my blood glistening on her dagger.

"You did this to yourself."

"Percy! Your left!"

A crash across my face left me collapsing to the ground, dazed. Blood began to stream down my forehead and onto the street. My left eye was completely useless. Small daggers dug into my face. Scattered on the floor before me were the shards of a broken beer bottle.

"Percy!" Calypso called out.

Yeah, that's my name. Shout it louder. I don't think they heard you…

Dazed, confused, and partially blind, I let the pain fuel me. One guttural scream later and I shoulder rushed the heavy set guy, ramming him into a dumpster. My fists rained down on him. Blow after blow I rained down on him, until he finally let out a terrified feminine whimper.

"I—I'm sorry…"

Khione shivered beneath me. Face disfigured. One eye swollen. Nose busted. Lip bleeding.

Just like me.

A chain struck the back of my head and sent me face first into the side of the dumpster and on top of the big guy.

Unfortunately, my goal of keeping them distracted didn't hold out. There were more than enough to pummel me into the asphalt while the remainders advanced on Calypso.

My body filled with molten lead as the gang beat me with their weapons or kicked me with their booted feet. My bones and muscles turned to putty underneath them.

Calypso screamed, though her voice seemed far away. I knew she wouldn't go down without a fight, but there were simply too many.

My bones turned to jelly. There was no way that I was gonna come out of this one. Leave it to work out that way. Percy Jackson, twice savior of Olympus. Fought down hordes of monsters and battled gods and titans only to fall to a gang of street thugs. That would be my legacy.

Immortal, not invulnerable.

That premise was always weird to me. I can't die, but I can be killed. Makes me sound like a Hunter of Artemis. Guess we're about to find out how that works.

I was ready to fall out of consciousness when I heard Calypso's voice again. That's right. I need to help Calypso.

With some unknown strength that I pulled from… somewhere, I yanked myself off of the big thug and tried standing, to almost immediately be kicked back down.

"Percy!" Calypso called. "I can use the wind spirits to help, but I need your permission first!"

Now you tell me!

"Permission granted," I groaned out.

For a moment, everything went quiet. My ears then popped as a shockwave blasted past me. If not for my soft pillow of a man to cushion me, I would have gone head first into the dumpster… again.

Fortunately, the others weren't so lucky. They all went flying ten to twenty feet in the air, scattering in different directions. Some wound up well over fifty feet away and landed with sickening crunches. Others were sent face first into the brick walls.

Before too long, a gentle hand pressed against the side of my head. A familiar voice began to sing and the pain started to fade.

I groaned out and winced as her hand traveled over my body. Everywhere she touched, the pain numbed. This would work temporarily, but I needed a more permanent fix.

I rolled off of tubby and looked up at Calypso. Her dress was in tatters and her arms started to bruise. Otherwise, she looked about the same, minus the tears in her eyes.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I should have done that sooner. Everything just happened so fast—"

"Don't," I mumbled. "It's on both of us."

She looked down to her knees, her face sullen.

I looked over to see the thugs still in various states of disorientation. They wouldn't stay that way forever.

"Could you help me up? I need to get somewhere and heal."

She wrapped her hands under my arms and helped me to my feet. Yeah. Something is definitely broken.

I still couldn't see out of my left eye. The taste of iron refused to leave my mouth. I looked down at where I lied. Is there supposed to be that much blood there?

"Where can we go?" Calypso asked. "I don't know this area well enough."

I tried my best to think. Even with Calypso supporting most of my weight, I still couldn't stand very well. My vision was hazy at best. I hoped that what I saw on Calypso was the extent of the damage. With all of that, there was only one place that I could think of where I could get access to water and some medical treatment.

"Home," I grumbled. "Time for you to meet my parents."

A/N - Definitely a shorter chapter, but that seemed like a good stopping point. So Percy finally returns to New York! And with Calypso no less. How will his mom and Paul react to the situation? Will they be confused by Calypso's arrival? Will Percy and Calypso actually go shopping? Only time will tell.

So I've noticed that Artemis suddenly gained another surge in popularity, along with some other goddesses. For those who suggested them, I will refer you to my disclaimer. I already have another goddess in mind. No matter what, she is going to have an encounter or two with Percy. As for Artemis though, I will take votes up until that chapter. As I've said, if I include her, it won't be until much further down the line. Let it also be known that I am only loosely following my outline. I'm allowing the story to flow on its own accord to make the progression a bit more natural. As such, there might be more chapters than I originally expected. Keep that in mind for you Pertemis shippers. Also, if you do make a vote for or against Artemis, I'm more likely to take the vote into consideration if you put more into the review than just the vote. Once again, big shout out to SinfulTurtle and now oghren for your lengthy reviews! I look forward to them with every new chapter!

All in all, you should know the process by now. Leave a review (every one of them are read maybe twice daily, even the old ones). This is Ronin signing off.