AN: Hey guys it's LucasDB39, and I'm here to deliver you the third Chapter of When the Arrow Flies. Thank you for the reviews and the huge amount of views, at 605 views! Thank you so much! I have some announcements to make before jumping into the story. So first of all, thank you to "Velgamidragon" for the amazing suggestion, and it's helped a lot so shout out to you, you have my greatest thanks. Also, thank you to "dioVv" and "Draconic king" for the positive reviews, thank you. And "KeyNameQ," here is the Chapter so you don't send in the government!
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this story currently, I will tell you if I make characters that aren't in the original story, but I do not own any of these characters and I do not own the Percy Jackson series, all rights and credits to Rick Riordan. Enjoy the Chapter!
Chapter 3
The Finding of the Lost Hero
*Previously, on When the Arrow Flies*
"Three years have passed since Zeus' announcement. Everybody was losing hope. Little did they know, the end was nearing for the Search for the Lost Hero."
*Currently*
*Artemis' POV*
(at least half of the viewers will scream "FINALLY!")
Life wasn't fair. I can track down everything I've ever been instructed to find before, but this was plain out unacceptable. Three years of searching for Percy Jackson, with only about five breaks per month, which, let me fill you in, seems like a lot of breaks, but we were hunting everywhere, and these breaks were about twelve hours each, barely enough time to sleep and eat.
A person would think, with the entire Greek World searching for him, that it would be a matter of time before someone found him. But it the results are negative. Not even a single little trace. We know he didn't go to Tartarus, because the only current entrance in America was in the Underworld, and Hades would have sensed Percy in his domain, even if he jumped to Tartarus somewhere else, Hades would have felt him pass through his domain for at least a split second. He couldn't have left America because we know immediately when somebody leaves the country. So, basically, he's still here in America, completely undetected.
My huntresses and I are currently searching the Appalachian Mountains. We are checking near the bottom because if he was at the top, Father, or otherwise known as Zeus, would sense him, because the mountains are in his domain of the sky. We haven't gotten a trail, and I had high doubts we were going to fi-- "LOOK!" squealed an excited hunter.
My head snapped to where she was pointing and we saw footprints, that definitely had to be Percy's.
We followed the trail at the speed of lightning, wanting to find the Son of Poseidon as soon as possible so we could take him back to Olympus to get chewed out for disappearing for so long.
After a little while of running as fast as our legs could carry us, we stumbled across a cave with light reflecting off the walls, and I know for sure that light is coming from a fire.
Getting excited, we dashed around the corner of the cave, to find the one and only Percy Jackson, sitting on a log around a fire. Wow, for taking three years to find, he certainly hid in this cave for a long time. I thought. He looked up at us, his eyes without their usual mischievous glint, or the mirth that used to show in them. No, instead, they were filled with betrayal. Why would he feel betrayed? Is a thought that ran across my mind. Then he spoke, his voice completely emotionless, making my huntresses and I shiver. But at the same time, confusing us.
"Athena was close to correct when she told me my fatal flaw of loyalty would destroy the world, the only part she had wrong was that it would destroy me instead of the world." We stared at him confused, when he spoke again. "I found out a week after I left that she was a traitor. She was on Gaea's side the entire time, and was the one who murdered my mother and Paul. She planned on betraying Gaea once they won the war and taking over as ruler, however, her plan backfired because Gaea learned of it and ordered the giants to kill her. I also found out she was cheating on me with the giant, Gration." We stood in stunned silence.
This explained why he never came to Annabeth's funeral. We thought he would come to pay his final respects, but he didn't. At first I thought that he was just using her as a tool to get fame in his life, but I then remembered he wasn't like other males and thought that the funeral would have just been too painful to attend, but now I understand that I couldn't have been more wrong. He didn't attend because he was being cheated on by her for gods knows how long, and wouldn't attend the funeral because it was a one sided relationship.
I decided to break the silence and say, rather awkwardly "Well, um, I'm sorry to hear that, but, er, we need to take you back to Olympus. Everyone has been on edge since the year after you disappeared, and has missed you very deeply." I thought he'd reply, but he just stared at me. After about five minutes of complete silence and staring at me, he just nodded his head and walked forward, looking like he didn't care at all.
I instructed my huntresses to go set up camp outside of the cave, and they do as I said. I grabbed Percy's shoulder and teleported him straight into a meeting on Olympus, that I hadn't attended due to finding a trail on Percy's location. All the Olympians stared at us, shocked, before multiple things happened at once. I jumped out of the way to avoid getting trampled, Poseidon bounded towards his son, Zeus also bounded off his throne, same thing with Hades. They shrunk down into human size before crushing Percy in a huge hug. He didn't return it, he just sat there and stared off into the abyss, as if he didn't care for anything in the world. I wouldn't blame him if he didn't care. I thought to myself.
I was debating on whether or not to tell them what happened. So after lots of speaking up, they went back to their thrones, with Percy sitting in a guest chair. Over the next course of an hour, I explained what had occurred, and what the Hero of Olympus had told me and my huntresses. When I was finished, steam was literally blowing out of Athena's ears. "LIAR!" she bellowed at him, her face red with rage, all dignity forgotten. All he said was "I swear on the River Styx what I told the huntresses was true." Thunderstruck the silent room. Athena was still fuming in rage, even more than before. I was actually afraid her head was going to explode.
Percy just stared at her, if she were nothing but just some other person. "Just because your wise, doesn't make your kids wise, Athena." I had a bad feeling that was a mistake on Percy's part for saying that, because Athena summoned and raised her spear at Percy, about to throw it, when she had to parry a godly trident. "You better put that spear away, Wisdom Goddess, before I take it and strike you through with it." the King of the Seas growled. Her eyes widened before the spear disappeared and she sat in her throne, still fuming.
The meeting was practically going nowhere now. I decided to something that I never, never thought I would ever do to a boy. I got up from my throne, shrunk down to an eighteen year old human, walked up to Percy, and gave him a hug. He stiffened for a moment, before he loosened up, and the next thing I knew, he was crying on my shoulder. I was in shock, but I pulled him closer and hugged him tighter. I put my chin on the top of his head, and looked at the other Olympians. They were looking at us in shock. I gave them a wolf glare that clearly said I am giving a friend support, get any other ideas and I'll show you what it's like to feel pain. They immediately nodded furiously, and I smirked in triumph.
I then did something that my brother will never, ever, ever, let me hear the end of. I brought my chin off of Percy's head and kissed him on the cheek. I was shocked inside of what I had just done, but at the same time, I didn't regret my decision to kiss him at all. The gods just looked at me in shock, and my brother gave me a suggestive wink, darting his eyes between me and Percy. I gave him a glare, because trust me, I might do something like that to Percy, but just to cheer him up and make him feel better. There was absolutely no feelings involved, I assure you.
Then, out of nowhere, Percy's full weight suddenly came on me, and I struggled to hold him up. I realized that he had cried himself to sleep. I summoned a couch and placed him on it, putting his head on a pillow, so that he could sleep comfortably and hopefully wake up less depressed then he was when he went to sleep. I rose back to my godly size and sat in my throne, and addressed the other Olympians. "The boy is obviously depressed, what are we going to do? We owe our lives and immortality to him, we can't just let him sit there and suffer, he's done too much for us." I said with a forced calm voice, trying to contain my thoughts, which were screaming at me for kissing Percy on the cheek.
Zeus just shook his head and said "I don't know. There's only so much you can do for a person who is obviously depressed. I think the only thing that could really restore our hero is for him to find a new lover that he'd love more than the spawn of my daughter, Athena. Oh, and, I believe we know why Chase was put in the Fields of Punishment. It's a good thing you didn't move her, Hades." Zeus gave him a look to show his appreciation for waiting to see why the judges placed her in there. "If I had to guess, I'd say that the girl was probably working with Kronos from the beginning of when he started to stir, and when Chase saw that the war was a lost cause, she didn't kill Percy, because she could of have been of use for her. And when Kronos lost, she went to Gaea. I have to say, she was a good actor." scowled Demeter, obviously not pleased.
Zeus just nodded his head in agreement and said "Well, at any rate, we should send Percy to rest in Apollo's palace, and hope that his depression fades away and he returns to his normal self. It is more than obvious that he is not even close to how he was before Annabeth died, and he seems even more depressed than when he left. As mortals say, time heals all wounds." With that he vanished in a flash of lightning. As the rest of us flashed out, I thought Well, this is going to be interesting.
AN: Hey guys, it's LucasDB39, I hope you enjoyed the Chapter! It took a few days to write this Chapter, even though it was only around a thousand and seven hundred words, school and other activities have taken away time for me to be able to write this Chapter for you guys, along with the problem that I had absolutely no idea during this entire Chapter for what to write, so I did my best. I hope you enjoyed, and I'll see you in the next Chapter, which is coming out soon!