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Chapter 26: Back Home
Third Person's POV
Thalia stepped cautiously back into Artemis's tent.
The fire pit in the center glowed dimly, casting long shadows across the silver-draped walls. The air was heavy, thick with something unspoken.
Artemis sat where she had been, her posture rigid, her face calm — too calm.
To an outsider, she would have looked like a carved figure of eternal youth: the eternal maiden goddess, barely more than a teenager in appearance, her silvery eyes reflecting the flickering light. But Thalia could sense the exhaustion radiating off her like heat from a dying flame.
Thalia swallowed hard, her instincts screaming at her to speak, to ask what in Hades had just happened. But she didn't dare. Not yet.
Artemis's gaze, sharp as a knife, flicked up to meet hers.
"You have questions," Artemis said softly.
Thalia stiffened. "Yes, my lady."
For a moment, Artemis said nothing. The tent walls shifted with the night breeze, silver rippling like water.
Then, with a voice that seemed too weary for a goddess, she said, "Sit, Thalia."
Thalia obeyed immediately, lowering herself onto the ground across the fire from Artemis.
The silence stretched between them, taut and strained.
Finally, Artemis spoke again, her voice barely above a whisper.
"There are things you do not know about Aiden."
Thalia sat straighter, every nerve in her body on edge.
"Long ago," Artemis began, "the gods were warned of a prophecy. A warning of an ending — of the fall of Olympus itself, unless... certain actions were taken."
Her eyes flickered in memory, reflecting the firelight.
"The other Olympians, foolish and desperate as ever, thought we could create a solution. An ultimate champion. One who could stand between us and whatever doom was to come."
Thalia's heart thudded painfully in her chest.
"You don't mean—"
Artemis gave a brittle smile, one utterly devoid of humor.
"Aiden was not born by mortal means. He was crafted. A piece of myself given form."
She looked away, her hands curling into fists on her knees.
"But I — I intended to create a daughter. A successor. Instead, fate handed me a son. A boy. I was thinking of erasing my mistake right there and then"
Thalia's throat tightened.
"But you didn't..."
"I could not kill him," Artemis said, voice low, dangerous.
"Though I despised the idea, I could not bring myself to destroy something that carried my blood. So, with Athena's and Hecate's help, I left him in the mortal world. I bound his powers. Hid him. Hoping he would live an ordinary life, untouched by our world."
The fire crackled between them, filling the long silence.
"But you brought him back," Thalia said.
"You brought him into this world again."
Artemis closed her eyes.
"The chains I placed on him began to break. His blood called him back to the world of gods and monsters. Fate would not let him stay hidden. And when he found himself back in our wars... I allowed it. Encouraged it. Because a part of me still hoped he would be what Olympus needed."
Her voice cracked at the last word, and for the first time in Thalia's life, she thought she might be looking at someone not invincible, not distant. Someone deeply, unbearably human.
"I forced him onto this path," Artemis whispered. "And tonight, he finally saw it."
Thalia stared into the fire, heart hammering against her ribs.
She thought of Aiden's face as he stormed away.
And now she understood why.
"My lady," Thalia said hesitantly, "what do you want me to do?"
Artemis opened her eyes and pinned Thalia with a look so piercing she almost flinched.
"Give him space," the goddess said.
"Let him run. Let him fall apart, if he must. But eventually..." Her voice softened. "He will need someone. He may listen to you when he won't listen to me."
Thalia nodded slowly.
"I'll watch over him," she promised.
Artemis smiled faintly.
"I trust you, Thalia Grace."
Meanwhile, deep in the woods of Long Island, Aiden stumbled through the familiar boundary lines of Camp Half-Blood.
The camp was shrouded in darkness.
It was past midnight, and the only sounds were the gentle chirp of insects and the distant lapping of waves against the beach.
Aiden's body screamed with every step — his shoulder was a mass of dull fire, his leg throbbed with every heartbeat. He hadn't slept. Hadn't eaten.
But none of that mattered.
He walked on autopilot toward the Hermes cabin.
Lights were off, as expected. Everyone asleep.
But then he noticed something strange.
Two shapes slumped awkwardly in chairs outside the cabin door, heads drooping in sleep.
Aiden limped closer and realized it was Juliet and Gary.
They looked absolutely ridiculous — Juliet had a party hat drooping sideways on her head, and Gary was holding a deflated balloon in his lap.
On the table between them was a battered-looking box, a candle tucked awkwardly into a cupcake.
Aiden poked Gary's shoulder lightly.
He jerked awake with a loud snort, nearly falling out of his chair. Juliet snapped awake a moment later, blinking blearily.
"Aiden?!" Juliet gasped, scrambling upright.
"You're alive!"
"And you have two eyes!"
"Disappointed?" Aiden said, managing a crooked grin, though it cost him.
Gary yawned. "Dude, we didn't know if you were coming back. But Juliet made us stay. She said we should be ready, just in case."
Juliet nudged the box toward him shyly.
"It's your birthday," she said, cheeks pink.
"We… we wanted to surprise you."
Gary hastily fumbled with a match and lit the candle atop the cupcake.
They both began singing — terribly off-key, too loud for the hour.
"Happy birthday to you..."
Aiden laughed and covered his face with one hand.
"You guys are gonna wake up Chiron," he said, voice thick with barely-contained emotion.
"He's gonna kill us for this."
But as he laughed, they saw it.
Tears.
Streaming down the hand that covered his eyes, glistening in the candlelight.
The sound of his voice cracking under the weight of everything he had tried so hard to hold inside.
Juliet's face fell in horror.
"Aiden... what's wrong?" she whispered.
But Aiden couldn't answer.
His legs gave up on him as he fall to his knees, hands clenched against the cold ground, his body shaking with quiet, wracking sobs. One hand still covering his face.
Gary and Juliet didn't say anything.
They just sat beside him, shoulder to shoulder, keeping him anchored to the earth while he cried for the first time in what felt like years.
The candle flickered between them, tiny and stubborn against the vastness of the night.
Thank you for reading! This marks the end of the 2nd arc! We are almost reach the half way of the story, ha-ha.
I hope you still enjoy the story so far, as I still have a lot more in store for you. Give me strength to need spend another decade to finish this, lol!
Please leave a review on what do you think so far!
And as always, see you next chapter!
