Disclaimer: I do NOT own Percy Jackson, nor Heroes of Olympus, Rick Riordan does.
Artemis' POV:
After Phoenix came out of the infirmary I saw him pull out a sword and shield before taking a stance one would take when guarding something. I walked up to him and he looked at me with an emotionless stare.
"Lady Artemis, is there something you need?" Phoenix asks and I nod
"I would like to see how Perseus is doing." I respond with a harsh glare which doesn't seem to affect Phoenix
"My apologies but until he is awake no one is to enter unless it's for a dire emergency." He says flatly and I clench my fists
"You dare defy an Olympian Goddess 'boy'?!" I snarl at him hoping he would give in but sadly he only narrows his eyes and looks at me
"I do not dare but I am under orders to make sure he lives a whole year and I still haven't questioned you about why your hunters decided to attack us." He says matter-of-factly "I have chalked it down to the word not spreading and it was a misunderstanding but that is because we just arrived and you were not commanding the formation, your lieutenant was. But I will answer any questions you may have about Percy if you have any, I will also answer any questions you have about the guardians in General' He says putting extra emphasis on Perseus' nickname
"He is my guardian! I will see him if I want!" I growl and I attempt to push past him only to meet full resistance
I stumble back and notice that Phoenix has not advanced or done anything to warrant me attacking in self-defense. He glares at me before sighing.
"Fine, I will allow you to see him. But promise me that you will not harm him, he is my best friend and if he were to get hurt while I'm supposed to protect him I would never forgive myself. His father will also want either my hide or yours...." Phoenix says as he steps to the side and I look at him with a slight thankfulness in my expression
Phoenix just opens the tent flap for me as I walk in. When I look around the tent I notice that nothing has been touched except for a bedroll that held a sleeping Perseus. I walked over to my guardian's side and kneeled next to him and looked at him. His unruly raven black hair looked sea-swept and untamable.
'I really hope I was correct on who I wanted as a guardian' I think to myself as I begin to lose myself in my own thoughts.
(Flashback)
I was watching the guardians in training during one of their sparing sessions and I noticed a girl being berated by her fellow male guardians. Normally I would flash down there and castrate the males but I was under strict orders not to interfere with the Guardian's training. So, I sat still and continued to watch the girl slowly lose hope in ever being a guardian. That's when I saw two guardians who were in a heated sparing match stop what they were doing and walk over to the girl. Both had black hair but one had unruly sea-swept raven black hair while the other one had Shadow black hair and was just messy, I recognized these two as Perseus and Phoenix respectively, since Chaos pointed them out to me on my first day here.
"Hey, what do you think you're doing Damien?! You know it's against the rules to berate your fellow guardians." Perseus said
"Why do you care Jackson? You're at the top of the class along with Phoenix. Why would you care about some girl that obviously needs to be taught a few lessons?" Damien states and I watch as he grabs hold of the girl's hair before he attempts to drag her away
Just as I'm about to flash down there and kill that foul male I see Perseus swing his sword precisely at Damien's shoulder. A moment later a dull thud is heard which is quickly followed by a loud scream of pain as blood flows out of Damien's torso like a waterfall as his severed arm lays on the ground.
"I suggest you don't do that again Damien or you'll be missing your other arm as well" Perseus said as Phoenix placed his sword on Damien's chest
"Hey Percy, I think we should remove Damien of his assets to make sure he never gets any ideas ever again." Phoenix says and when I see Perseus nod an evil smile plays on my lips
"P-please... don't... I-It's against the Rules!" Damien cried out as Phoenix shoved him to the ground and placed a booted foot on his chest
"But you already broke the rules, and the rules clearly state that a guardian is allowed to break the rules without consequence as long as it is to deal appropriate punishment to someone who has already broken the rules." Perseus states as he quickly severs Damien's assets and Phoenix steps off Damien just as Chaos appears looking completely shocked
"Percy, Phoenix! What did I tell you about dealing Justice on your own?" Chaos says sternly and both Phoenix and Perseus look at their boots
"Not to deal justice without letting you know so you can grab the snacks..." They say in unison and Chaos laughs
"Yes, now I believe you two have a spar to finish. I'll take care of Damien and the disheartened Guardian." Chaos stated and Perseus and Phoenix walk back over to their sparing mat and starting sparing again
(Flashback end)
I'm brought out of my thoughts when I hear someone clear their throat. I look down at Perseus and notice his sea-green eyes are open and staring at me with confusion and slight fear.
"Uh... Mi' Lady... why are you twirling my hair around in your hand?" Perseus asks quietly and I quickly notice that I was in fact playing with Perseus' hair while I was lost in my memories
"Uh... I... er... was just thinking about how you dealt with Damien... It's something I think of a lot..." I stammer out as I feel my face heat up slightly
"Lady Artemis... how did you know that? Did Chaos tell you or... were you spying on me?" Perseus shakes his head and I notice I still have his hair wrapped around my finger and I quickly pull my hand away
"This never happened. Got it?" I say harshly and Perseus nods "Good, because if you were to even think about mentioning this to anyone I will personally make sure you lose the ability to say anything ever again!" I watch as he pales slightly
"Understood Mi' Lady" He says quickly before looking around and sitting up "Where's Phoenix?"
"He is standing guard outside the tent. At first, he wouldn't let me in but after I tried pushing past him, he willingly let me in as long as I didn't hurt you..." I say and Perseus sighs
"Thank you, Mi' Lady but I think I should get started with my Duties as Guardian." Perseus stands up and looks at me "What is my first task?"
I look at Perseus and I gain an evil smile.
"Well, first you're going to do the laundry, then you have to sharpen arrows, do inventory on medical supplies. Then you have to make breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner for each of the hunters, then you do a nightly patrol, and finally you will report to me in the morning as soon as you see the first rays of light streak across the sky." I say and Perseus' eyes widen before he sighs and nods
"It will be done Mi' Lady. Do you want me to start by doing my patrol?" Perseus says and I nod "Very well. See you in the morning for my report Mi' lady"
He turns and walks out of the tent and I follow him. I see him stop outside the tent as he looks at Phoenix. Phoenix just puts his hand on Perseus' shoulder and chuckles.
"Don't worry man, were in this together." Phoenix states as he hands Perseus the shield he was holding
Perseus chuckles before drawing the spear that was still strapped to his back.
"You take one side I'll take the other" Perseus says as he takes off toward the boarder of camp at a light jog
Phoenix jogs off in the other direction with his sword in hand. I notice Deloise watch Perseus jog toward the boarder with a look of disgust on her face. I walk over to Deloise and when she notices me she bows slightly.
"Lady Artemis, why is that other male that our 'guardian' came here with still here?" Deloise asks while putting as much venom in the word guardian as she possibly can
"Phoenix will be staying with Perseus for at least a year, so in turn he is a temporary part of the hunt until the year is up, however, I believe since Perseus and Phoenix are extremely close friends Phoenix will be around more often than not." I explain and Deloise groans
"Mi' Lady, don't you have ANY say in this? It's obvious that since they are males they will be like all others." Deloise argues
"Deloise, I know your views on the male population mirror mine, but I have no control over Phoenix, and Perseus is here to stay" I say as one of the other hunters calls Deloise over
"I just don't trust them Mi' Lady, anyway I have to go do something with my fellow hunters" Deloise says with a slight smirk on her face as she runs towards the beckoning hunters
'I have a bad feeling about this' I say to myself as Deloise and others run toward the boarders of the camp.
Percy's POV
As I reach the edge of the camp I stop for a moment and stretch out my senses, I then start to walk in a counter-clockwise path around camp. I sweep my eyes across the landscape making sure nothing is out of place. After a while my instincts take over and I begin to lose myself in my thoughts. I start to remember my first days in training to be a guardian.
(Flashback)
It was my third day in Guardian training as I walked into the training grounds and noticed that for once I was not the first one there. For the past three days that I've been at Guardian training I have always been the first to the training arena. However today, I noticed that a man with Shadow black hair was at the training dummies swinging a training sword.
'I wonder who that is...' I think to myself as I walk over and pick up a training sword that was left on the ground
"Hey, what's your name" I ask and the man spins around and levels his sword just under my chin
When he notices that I'm no threat he lowers his sword
"Sorry, just a little on edge... been training all night" he says before holding out his left hand since his right hand was holding the sword "My name is Phoenix, what's yours?"
"Percy Jackson, Son of Poseidon. Who's your godly parent?" I ask as I shake his hand and Phoenix smiles
"My father is Hades, but I have no powers of a child of the Underworld. I just feel more energized at Night and in the shadows. I also do not resemble Hades in any way except for the hair. Other than that, I'm very unique when it comes to children of the Underworld" Phoenix says and I notice that his eyes were a fiery red color
"I sea... The name Phoenix really does fit your eye color though" I say and Phoenix cracks a smile "By the way, you wouldn't happen to have a last name, would you? Maybe I can convince Chaos to switch me to a night time training until we both feel comfortable being here."
Phoenix looks down slightly "I never knew my last name, in fact I don't even think I have one..." Phoenix's tone was really depressed and I put my free hand on his shoulder
"Hey man, if you don't have a last name then you can make one for yourself. And if you need help just ask." I say to him and he looks at me
"Thanks Percy, I was thinking about using the last name 'Firestorm' to go with my first name you know?" Phoenix says and I smile
"It fits man, anyway, I'll talk to Chaos today about switching to a night training schedule" I say and Phoenix smiles some more
"I'd like that man, it gets lonely training alone at night." Phoenix says as the first few of my fellow guardians in training walk into the arena "I guess that's my que, time to get some shut eye ya know?"
"Yeah, have a good sleep man." I say and Phoenix jogs off toward the side door of the training arena"
(Flashback End)
I'm brought out of my thoughts when I hear a few snickers from behind a bush. I roll my eyes and keep walking, suddenly my feet are swept out from under me and I realize that I stepped into one of the hunter's traps. I sigh as a group of hunters walks out of the bushes smiling like they just caught their next victim.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here girls? Looks like our 'Guardian' wasn't paying attention" A girl wearing a silver circlet said as she took out a silver dagger "Maybe he would be more effective if he were a girl... Don't you girls agree?"
My eyes widen as the girl's smirk grows larger, I quickly send Phoenix a mind message which I receive a mental nod. I close my eyes as the huntress draws nearer when I suddenly hear a loud cry. I snap my eyes open and I notice the huntress frozen in fear as she held the dagger in her hand. I glance up and I notice a large mass of fire in the shape of a majestic bird hovering in the air above me.
"W-w-what... I-I-Is... T-t-that??" the girl with the dagger and circlet stammers out before the phoenix zeroes in on her
The phoenix lets out another terrifying cry before diving down straight toward the huntress, who jumps backwards as the phoenix hits the ground with a massive explosion of fire and heat. When the fire fades away I look at where the phoenix landed and I see Phoenix (my friend) kneeling on the ground wearing a set of gold and red armor while holding a shield, that matches his armor, in his left hand and a sword in his right. His head was turned toward the ground but as he slowly lifted it up I noticed the huntress' look of shock turn into pure terror as Phoenix's sword caught fire.
"This is the second time this has happened Hunters, if I catch you doing this again, I will take action against those who take part in trying to harm my friend or myself. We will defend ourselves against any harmful action directed toward us." Phoenix said deathly calm but as he stood up the fire on his sword increased and the Hunters turned toward the camp and broke off into a sprint
The fire on Phoenix's sword goes out as he turns toward me and looks at me before smirking.
"Hey Perce, what are you 'up' too?" Phoenix asks me and I chuckle
"Oh, you know, just 'hanging' around. Can you get me down now?" I ask and Phoenix nods as he swings his sword at the rope holding my ankle
When the rope is cut, I drop to the ground and Phoenix offers a hand to me to help me up, which I gratefully take.
"Come on, let's go deal with a probably angry goddess" I say as Phoenix and I walk toward the hunters' camp
A/N: How did you guys like the Chapter? I will continue to update 'Lunar's plight' while I think of ideas for 'The Silent Child' and "A Hero's Journey'. Anyway, Be sure to check out Stregger and Leonidas_son_of_Nike. They are both amazing authors and good people as well. So until next time my fellow Demigods and Demigoddesses, Take Care!
~Major Nich