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SHE WASN'T EXACTLY SURE if her assumption was correct, but she'd seen the way Percy looked when he realized he couldn't go on the quest. So she figured that like her, he'd want to go even if he wasn't allowed. And of he didn't, if he had changed his mind...he could use a little persuading to come with her, or at least help her catch up with them.
"I'm sorry, did you just say Percy Jackson?" Penelope blurted, "But he's a...he's a boy."
Azalea rolled her eyes as she pulled her brown, shoulder length hair into a ponytail, with bangs framing the sides of her face. If she was going fight the most dangerous monster, she'd had ever come across (and probably die), she might as well do it with her disheveled hair out of her eyes...and looking pretty. "Yes, I am aware of that. Trust me when I say I'm not so enthusiastic about this plan, but it's the only chance I've got, if it doesn't work," she shrugged, "I guess I'm in charge."
Penelope and Olivia's expression morphed into one of horror, Azalea sighed and bent over her bed to get her own bronze circlet, which was similar to Zoë's silver one she constantly wore, she never really wore it, it reminded her of when she was a princess, brought up vague memories she wanted to forget.
"Penelope, Olivia...you're both in charge. I would have given someone more capable, but there isn't much time." Azalea handed Penelope the head ware who took it slowly.
"Will you come back?" Olivia said softly, it was weird how atmosphere around them turned gloomy so quickly, "there's a possibility you could..." She trailed off. Azalea remained silent for about a moment, would she come back alive? But she smiled, at least she thought she did, since they didn't look cheered up or convinced by it.
"I didn't live this long to die on a dumb quest," Azalea said, not really answering Olivia's question. "Besides, I'm not sure if I can go, but we'll see."
With that, Azalea left the Artemis cabin, and left in search of Percy Jackson.
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She was right, Percy was going on the quest, she had overheard him talking to Nico DiAngelo, and she found it admirable how he promised to keep his sister safe, but it didn't remove the feeling of dread and distrust. She was going to be stuck with a boy for Zeus knows how long, which was possibly against the biggest rule of being a hunter, associating with a male.
He was now standing on top Half-blood Hill with a Pegasus, his back facing her, overlooking the camp van taking Zoë and the others out to the city and which after that, they'd be on their own.
She walked up to him silently, even though she didn't actually mean to be quiet, he didn't notice her behind him, perhaps his mind was far away.
"Yeah." He said, to seemingly no one in particular, except for the Pegasus which was strange. "Let's fly."
"I'm coming too." she spoke suddenly, making him jump in fright.
Percy turned around, his face became pale when he saw, she was wearing a burgundy turtle neck sweater, black leggings, black combat boots and her silver ski parka tied to her waist by the arms , he noticed she was really armed, with a quiver full of arrows, but no silver bow in sight which was odd, and a bunch of daggers strapped to her hips. She went closer to him with a sigh, how long has it been, since I was alone with a boy? She asked herself.
"Is this our ride?" She said pointing to the Pegasus, "just a warning though, I get very nauseous when flying."
He seemed to have snapped out of his trance, for he had been staring at her with his jaw dropped slightly. Then he glared at her. "You're not coming with me."
Yep, she figured he'd say that, "but I want to."
"But you're not." He began walking towards the Pegasus which was casually eating the grass.
"Fine, then." She said grabbing the straps of her bag pack and kicking her foot against the snow. "I guess I would had no reason not to report to Chiron about your little getaway."
He halted.
"I know you want to save your girlfriend, Annabeth. That's her name right?" She pressed. "I also want to save Artemis, we could..." she swallowed the lump of pride in her thoat, "...cooperate."
His sea green eyes widened and he blushed, "She's...she's not my girlfriend."
She laughed, "Then why do I feel this... romantic connection between you two? I might be a little rusty on my love detecting skills, but there's something there, one of you feels something for the other."
There was a way she had said the word love, as if it was a sarcastic joke. She absolutely didn't care if there was a 'romatic connection's between Percy and Annabeth, she barely knew him and that girl and what was the point of being in love anyway? She only said that because she was trying to...be friendly and show him she could be good company? She is wasn't sure if it worked, Percy climbed onto the back of the Pegasus ignoring her whilst having a shade of pink adoring his cheeks. It didn't matter if she told Chiron he was going, he'd be far off by then, and she had said it herself at the meeting, there was no way they could cooperate.
Azalea saw that he wasn't going let her come with him even after her threat, it was then she dropped the nice girl act. "Look, do you actually think that a flying horse and an invisibility hat can help you follow them undetected? Zoe's not dumb, she'll figure out someone's following and probably lead you on just for you to get lost in some other country, Believe me when I say...you need me, other than that the prophecy says six should go. Do you want to go against a prophecy and risk not being able to save your not-girlfriend?"
Percy sighed and turned to her, she did have a point, a strong point actually. Azalea raised her eyebrows and smirked knowing she had convinced him, this was the first boy who stared at her as if she repulsed him instead of just enchanted by her looks. If she didn't have any interest on the boy before, she was definitely intrigued now.
"So?" She urged.
"Get on." He finally said.
She grinned, "but before I do, I want to set down a few rules."
"Rules?" He protested, "I don't have time for rules, we're losing them!"
Azalea ignored him, "as you probably know I'm a Hunter and you're...well, a boy, I guess. Me standing next to you right now goes against everything I was taught by Artemis, so the rules are; don't talk to me without me talking to you first, don't touch me and don't try anything funny like flirting. If you break either one of these rules...I'll break your neck."
She expected to see him cower under the intense glare she sent him or something, but all he did was shrug and say, "sounds good to me, can we go now?"
Azalea had never received such a nonchalant response from a male before, she quickly removed the surprised look from her face and mumbled, "yeah, uh...let's go."
She did infact, get a bit nauseous as they flew above the clouds which hung lower during the winter, but it seemed like the Pegasus was a bit trained since he flew smoothly, but that did not remove her worry of throwing up in front of Percy Jackson again or falling off the flying horse and pummelling to her death, she doubted Percy would care to try to save her if she fell.
Percy had kept to his word, he didn't turn to look at her or even said anything, she frowned at his back, as soon as a boy looked at her, they fell head over heels or felt some sort of lust, that's the way it had been for centuries but, one comes along and for some reason treats her like the plague. She wondered if it was because he liked Annabeth so much he didn't care if other girl batted their eyelashes at him, then she scoffed at herself, what was she even thinking? Aphrodite was feeling her head with thoughts about romance again. Why was she doing this to her? For punishment?
If so, Azalea couldn't deny, she kind of deserved it.
They lost the white van not once but twice, But it seemed Percy knew what he was doing and caught up with them on both occasions, guess he really didn't need her help after all. After a while she noticed Percy shivering, since she couldn't feel the intense cold and her silver ski parka was still tied around her waist, she wondered that if she gave him to wear, would he reject it making her feel like an embarrassed idiot who broke her own rules, still her conscience wouldn't let her see him shivering slightly. And she didn't like that.
So she bit her lip and averted her gaze, staring at the clouds. Why did she feel the need help him? She rarely helped her fellow hunters in need, so why would she want help a boy?
"Here," she muttered, untying the her silver parka and placing it on his shoulders. "It would neither of us if you froze to death."
Percy blinked and turned to her confused. He thought Hunters hated boys and this one came telling him not to talk to her but lends him her jacket when he's cold.
Azalea perplexed him to no end. He wanted to refuse it, after all, the Hunters were the reason why Annabeth was thinking of leaving him and Camp Half blood and never coming back. But the warmth of the material wasn't something he could really say no to when he was just about freezing his butt off.
"...uh, thanks." he said, his tone matching the awkward atmosphere around them.
"Whatever." Azalea murmured, tucking her hair behind her ears whilst looking away.
What is wrong with me? She thought. Why she all nice to an opposite gender all of a sudden?
"We're about to land for a bit, you should probably hold on to something." He suggested.
Azalea rose and eyebrow, "hold on to something? There's literally nothing to hold on t–ahhhh!!!"
The Pegasus suddenly dipped down, giving Azalea absolutely no choice but to wrap her arms Percy's waist at lightening speed, burying her face in his back in an attempt to muffle her screams of terror.
In what seemed like hours, they finally landed on a building. She quickly let go of him as if she had just realized he had a very contagious disease and jumped off the flying horse. Ew, gross, she touched a boy.
"ARE YOU INSANE?!" She yelled, her voice raspy from the screaming. "You and your dumb horse could have killed me!"
"I gave you a heads-up!" Percy defended.
"Some heads up that was," she took a deep breath as she tried to calm her rapidly beating heart and her temper.
"Sorry." Percy said, he didn't sound sorry and both of them knew it, if anything. Azalea shot him a side glare before walking off to her back pack to make sure nothing important she packed had gotten missing or flew out due to their sudden landing, leaving Percy to watch the white van still driving, not stopping at the boss station like he thought it would.
I don't like her, boss. Blackjack neighed.
"Yeah, neither do I." He whispered, turning to make sure Azalea wasn't listening. "Where's Argus taking them?"
Oh, Argus ain't driving. Blackjack said, that girl is.
"Which girl?"
The hunter girl, with the silver crown thing in her hair.
"Zoe?"
That's the one. Hey! Look! There's a donut shop. Can we get something to go?
Azalea watched him with a confused look as he began whispering to the Pegasus, she hadn't lost anything, but as she got up to walk back him again she stopped dead in her tracks as she took noticed of him whispering. At first she thought maybe he was talking to himself, the she realized he was infact talking to the horse. Maybe following him out on the quest was a bad idea...
"Uhh...are you okay?" She asked, uncertain whether she should have.
Percy jumped and whipped around, his eyes the sizes of plates, "stop doing that!"
"Sorry." She said, not sounding so sorry herself. She crossed her arms and rose an eyebrow. "You were talking to your Pegasus."
"Yeah...uhh," Percy put his hands in his jean pockets akwardly, "I can talk to horses and Pegasi."
Azalea nodded in the understanding, so he wasn't crazy after all. "ahh, because your father created them, right? That's cool, I guess."
Another akward silence.
"We should probably go after them." Percy suggested.
"Yeah." She said, quickly. They both made their way towards the flying horse, "umm...what does he say about me then?" She asked, her curiousity getting the better of her.
"He doesn't like you."
"Oh." That hit hard, a lot of people didn't like her at first introduction and she didn't really care much, the fact that an animal didn't like her too now made her frown. Well she had just insulted it moments ago. So that made sense. They used to love her.
Just they were about to continue their journey, Azalea felt something slowly crawling up her leg like a snake, but it wasn't a snake, they were vines, grape vines that had grown from cracks from the floor of the building and they were also crawling up on Percy and his Pegasus. Azalea, trying to keep calm, in less than a few seconds, they were immobile.
"Dionysus." She grunted, and quickly pulling out her dagger in an attempt to free herself from the vines which proved futile. How did hell did he find them?
"Going somewhere?" He asked smugly as he floated in the air, making Azalea roll her eyes. Great, she thought, just fricking great.
Dionysus suddenly sighed in exasperation, and much to Azalea utter confusion, he said, "The next person, or horse, who calls me the wine dude, will end up in a bottle of Merlot."
"Kinda suits you," Azalea mumbled under her breath, looking away as she tucked her hair behind her ears. Percy snorted.
"What was that?" Dionysus thundered, his face already turning to a shade of red.
"Nothing," Azalea said quickly, she wasn't really in the mood to be blasted into pieces because of her big mouth, "I said 'nice warm up suit' "
Dionysus glared at her, totally not convinced and she glared at him in return. Percy's annoyance was getting harder to contain.
"Mr D." He said, trying to keep calm. "What do you want?"
"Oh, what do I want? You thought, perhaps, that the immortal, all-powerful director of camp would not notice you leaving without permission?" Dionysus boasted.
"Well...maybe."
"Yes, totally." Percy and Azalea said in unison, making the wine god send them a fierce look.
"I should blast both of you off this building, minus the flying horse and see how heroic you two sound on the way down."
Azalea gulped, that did not sound pleasant. But Percy didn't get the fact that there was a possibility they would be killed if he spoke rudely to the most annoying male god in Greek history.
"Why do you hate me so much? What did I ever do to you?" Percy yelled.
"Shut up, Perseus!" She whisper-yelled, "you're going to get us, most especially me, killed!"
"You're a hero, boy. I need no other reason." Purple flamed flicked in his eyes.
"I have to go on this quest!" Percy shouted, fed up with Dionysus. "I have to help my friends, that's something you wouldn't understand!"
Azalea turned to Dionysus, hoping that she'd see him break and let them go at Percy's words, because she certainly did, it was rare see someone as loyal as Percy was, not even minding the fact that he was risking his life and only having his friends' safety in mind. Her view of him suddenly changed...he wasn't like the other boys Artemis always preached against.
Dionysus didn't falter, infact he began telling them the story of Ariadne and Theseus Azalea knew all too well, (mostly because Artemis always used that as an example of staying away from men and love).
"Did I ever tell you about Ariadne?" Dionysus began, much to Azalea and Percy's annoyance, the white van was getting further and further away, soon they might never catch up. "Young, beautiful princess of Crete? She liked helping her friends too. Infact she helped a young hero named Theseus, also a son of Poseidon. She give a magical ball of yarn that let him find his way out of the Labyrinth. And do you know how he rewarded her?"
"They got married, happily ever after. The end." Percy said, desperate to get storytime over and done with, but that wasn't the correct answer, Azalea figured that if she'd didn't give the correct one, Dionysus would and that would probably take too much of their time.
"Wrong. They didn't get married, he only used her. He took her aboard his ship, to an island called Naxos, then he abandoned her there... basically leaving her to rot." Azalea explained.
"That's correct." Dionysus said with a nod of his head.
"Great, can we go now?"
Dionysus continued on, ignoring the fact that Azalea had even said anything, "I found her there, you know. Alone. Heartbroken. Crying her eyes out. She had given up every thing, left everything she
knew behind, to help a dashing hero who tossed her away like a broken sandal."
"That's wrong." Percy said, glancing at Azalea for a split second, "you're both wrong. But that was thousands of years ago, what's that got to do with me?"
"I fell in love with Ariadne, boy." Dionysus eyed Percy coldly. "I healed her broken heart, and when she died, I made her my immortal wife in Olympus. She waits for me even now. I shall go back to her when I am done with this infernal century of punishment at your ridiculous camp."
Percy turned to Azalea and rose an eyebrow, forgetting about the rule, "he's married?"
Azalea decided to let this one slide, "Yes, he is. I went to their anniversary about a couple hundred years ago."
"But I thought he got in trouble for chasing a wood nymph."
"Name one god who has been faithful to their wives."
"The point is..." Dionysus interrupted, "You heroes never change, you accuse us God's of being vain. You should look at yourselves, you take what you want, use whoever you have to, then you betray everyone around you. So you'll excuse me if I have no love for heroes. They're a selfish ungrateful lot. Ask Ariadne, or Medea. For that matter, ask Zoe Nightshade." Azalea's eyes widened at that. Dionysus stared at her with a look similar to that of amusement, "or better yet, to make things much interesting, ask Antheia."
There was a beat of silence, and all of a sudden Azalea could feel a minor, pulsing headache as soon as the name was mentioned. She didn't even get the chance to wonder what Dionysus meant by asking Zoe, all she could think was how the name sounded so familiar, who the hell is Antheia? She groaned and clutched her head, making Dionysus chuckle. She didn't even hear the next thing Percy said or the slightly worried look he sent her.
"W–who is Antheia?" She stuttered, cringed at her shaky voice.
"That's not my place to say," he shrugged, "that's for you to remember...if you ever do, Artemis would have my head on a spike if I told you."
"Then why did you tell me that?" Azalea now understood why Percy hated the wine god's guts.
"Just felt like messing with you," Dionysus replied, "now go, follow your silly friends."
The vines uncurled themselves from her's and Percy's legs, much to their astonishment.
Percy blinked in disbelief, "you're...you're letting me go? Just like that?"
"The Prophecy says at least two of you would die, perhaps I'll get lucky and you'll be one of them. But mark my words, live or die, you'll prove no better than the other heroes."
Dionysus snapped his fingers, and in the blink of an eye, he was gone, leaving the faint smell of grapes behind. Percy and Azalea both stared at the spot where the god was before.
"...Well, isn't he a ray of sunshine." Azalea muttered, rubbing the pulsing side of her head.
Percy snorted, shook his head and said, "I'm just glad he's gone."
"Still doesn't explain why he's being so stereotypical, though."
Percy hesitated, "how's... how's your head?"
Azalea stared at him with a look of surprise, "it's... uh...fine, I guess."
Another awkward silence.
All of a sudden Percy whipped his head towards the Pegasus and whisper-yelled, "shut up, Blackjack!"
"What did he say?" Azalea asked.
"Don't worry about that, are you ready?'' Percy said, a tiny hint of pink coating his cheeks.
Azalea frowned at him with suspicion, "...Yes, let's go."
And they continued their journey, like they hadn't being interrupted, the only thing weighing their minds was the words Dionysus had said. Azalea couldn't help but wonder, all though the trip, who Antheia was, why the name sounded very familiar, why she couldn't remember her, why her headache only got worse each time she tried to remember and why Dionysus wouldn't tell her about the mystery person.
Little did she know, that by the end of the quest, she'd realize...
She was living a complete lie.
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Word count: 3,797 words
𝔞𝔲𝔱𝔥𝔬𝔯'𝔰 𝔫𝔬𝔱𝔢
Sorry for the long wait, I'm not dead, w̶e̶l̶l̶ o̶n̶l̶y̶ o̶n̶ t̶h̶e̶ i̶n̶s̶i̶d̶e̶, my life has been a literal rollercoaster recently. And I apologise if they are too many typos in this story, I haven't had much time to edit.
Eternity has reached over 2k reads and over a hundred votes, everyone, I love you all! Don't forget to vote, comment and follow, it encourages me to keep writing more about Leah!
Have a nice day/night 💕