A.N: Before you read this, I apologize in advance for any grammatical or spelling issues in this chapter. I was a little rushed so I didn't have time to edit, but after I post it, I will make sure to go through it an fix any problems.
Percy POV:
All I remember after I was stabbed was the warm feeling of someone's hand in my own. I couldn't see or hear anything, but somehow I knew that the person this hand belonged to had been next to me the entire time I was unconscious.
Suddenly, my eyes opened in an unfamiliar place. I was standing in the middle of a dark wasteland. I saw demigods with swords and spears through their stomachs and golden monster dust piled around me. It was like a slaughter house. There was not a single living soul in sight. I stepped around the dead bodies, before my face settled on one and my heart lurched. The face of Artemis.
She looked like she was in pain, a grimace on her face. I hated that look on her face, but the worst part about it was the sword that stuck out of her chest. Riptide.
I hadn't used that sword since the beginning of the war because it brought back terrible memories, but here it was, in the worst place that it could ever be. I gasped as I looked past her and saw the bodies of everybody that I loved, staring back at me with their lifeless eyes. Ashley, Mom, Dad, Hestia, everybody. I almost broke down in tears at the sight.
The only thing holding them at bay, was the warm feeling rooting me to the outside world. Reminding me that this wasn't real, that this was all a dream.
"Oh, this is just a dream, but this is very much real,"Spoke a voice behind me. I whirled around and found myself face to face with the Angel of the Abyss himself. His eyes were darker and more haunting then ever. They gazed at me, unblinkingly, with almost unbearable intensity.
I scrambled away from him and him and tried to avoid looking in his direction at all, for if I did, I would have surely wet my pants in fear. It was unbecoming of the Hero of Olympus to anything of the sort.
"What are you doing here?! And where am I?!" I yelled. It was all I could do to keep myself from stammering. I refused to show any sign of weakness to this monster, although based on the evil smirk on his face, I could tell that he could sense my fear from a mile away.
He chuckled at sneered at me,"Do you know where we are right now?" He didn't give me a chance to answer,"We're in your mind. This is where your greatest fears lie. You are afraid that everybody you know will die right before your eyes. Am I right?"
I didn't say anything. The truth of his words struck me like a hammer on an anvil. I had never thought about what my greatest fear was, but now, after I had seen this, I knew exactly what it was. Apollyon seemed to sense my thoughts.
"You know don't you. This is what will happen if you fail. This is what will happen if you are not able to fulfill you mission. This is what is going to happen. I will crush you with my bare hands and rip everything that you have ever loved away from your grasp," He snarled at me. I did not doubt his words and I shivered in fear.
I glanced up into his eyes and was confused to see a level of understanding in them. A look of longing within their inky depths. For just a moment, the icy look in his eyes was replaced by a warm, almost wistful look, but it was gone in a flash. There was something about him that he was hiding from the outside. Even the strongest most powerful beings succumb to emotions and Apollyon was not an exception.
"Something has happened to you. Something that has caused you to retreat into yourself and hide it away behind a facade of cruelty and savagery," I said with a burst of confidence. It was swept away with one look into his now blazing eyes.
"You know nothing of suffering of pain! Just know, Perseus Jackson, you will not succeed. There will be nothing left for you in that miserable world you live on. Not even your little silver goddess," He snarled, before flicking his hand.
The world around me blurred and disappeared, but not before I caught one last glimpse of the scene before me. The dead bodies of my most precious friends, scattered along the battlefield. And it chilled me to the bone.
I was left floating in the middle of a black abyss. Suddenly, pain flooded through my entire body worse than anything I had ever experienced. Worse than any sword wound or monster bite. Worse than even the Styx itself.
I screamed as I writhed in pain on the ground. The pain was so intense that I almost wished that I could just die. There was something holding me back though. The warm feeling in my hand spread throughout my body, soothing me. The pain was not gone, but I barely felt it anymore. A voice spoke around me and I tried to find the source of the sound, but I couldn't locate it. I'm sorry, Percy. I promise I'll try to make it up to you. I don't know how, but I will.
It sounded angelic and it calmed me enough so that I could breathe again. The pain was just a fraction of what it had been a couple seconds ago. It had been reduced to only a dull throb. I felt a connection to this voice that I had never felt with anybody else before. It had a deeper meaning than even life itself.
Not even with her, had I felt anything like this. For some reason, it didn't hurt to say her name anymore. It was like she had been replaced by somebody else. The miserable agony of her death was not present anymore. This is what she would have wanted. I was finally able to let go.
Gradually, I felt myself return to the real world, and I could feel and hear everything around me now. I opened my eyes and blinked a couple times at the bright lights overhead. I slowly rose up into a sitting position on the bed that I was resting on. The earlier events came rushing back to me and I frantically scanned the room looking for a certain somebody.
My body sagged in relief as I caught sight of a particular goddess to my right with tears flowing freely from her silver pools. The moment she noticed that I was awake, she launched herself into my arms, sobbing in relief. I was a little shocked, but I hugged her just as tightly. It was only after pulled away that I realized we had been holding hands.
The same exact warm feeling was a still coursing through my hand and my body. She had been the one giving me strength. She had been my light in the darkness. But this she was not the same she anymore. Instead of Annabeth Chase, it was Artemis.
"Don't do that ever again! You almost died!" Artemis shouted at me. She looked almost distraught and I could tell that she had been worried for me the entire time I was unconscious.
"I'm sorry, Arty. You don't have to worry about me," I said. This earned me a punch on the arm. Damn, even when she was sad, she could really pack a punch.
"Idiot. I wasn't worried for you. Just mildly concerned," She said, but I could see her eyes soften from their normal icy stare. There was compassion in there, but also something else, different from anything I had ever seen in her. It was startlingly close to... Love.
I smirked at her, letting her know that I didn't believe her one bit. She huffed and let go of my hand to cross her arms over her chest. Immediately, I felt loss. It was like it had been stripped away from my body. I noticed Artemis shiver a bit. I wonder if she felt it too.
I glanced back up to meet her eyes, but a glance turned to a stare of wonder and attraction. I couldn't pull my eyes away from her own. She seemed to have the same issue that I did and she was trying to pull her eyes away, but to no avail.
Without even noticing it, our bodies floated ever so slowly. As we moved closer and closer, I could feel my heart beating in my chest, but I could also feel her's as well. There was a sync to the rhythmic thump... thump in both our chests. I could feel everything about here. Everything. It was almost like we were one person in two bodies. Like nothing could tear us apart.
Soon, we were in such close proximity that I could feel her hot breath on my face. And then our lips connected. Fireworks were going off in my brain and I felt like I could jump into space. There were no words to describe it. Her lips were almost velvety against my own. Our hands moved around the other and we pulled each other even closer together.
This wasn't one of those slobbery, wet, rough kisses. This was one of care and love. It was soft, but I could still feel her lips firmly pressed on my own, with no indication of stopping any time soon. I never wanted to stop. But alas, all good things must come to an end.
We heard somebody clear their throats by the doorway and say in an amused voice,"An I interrupting something?"
We pulled away so fast that I thought my head was going to fly off my neck. Both our entire faces were as red as a tomato dipped in ketchup.
I looked over to the doorway and almost fell of the bed trying to get away from the person standing there.
"What is N-Nyx doing here?" I stammered, pointing at the imposing figure. She was smiling at us, not with malice, but with delight. I was about to grab my sword and attack her to protect Arty, but said goddess laid her hand on my arm and shook her head.
"Why not? She betrayed us!"
"She didn't betray us. I'll let her explain to you," Artemis said, still a little flustered by our little... moment.
I turned to Nyx and looked at her suspiciously.
"Speak!"
She laughed a bit,"That's the same thing that Artemis said. Anyways, the only reason why I "betrayed" you, was because I needed to tell you something very important that you would most definitely need to know."
"And what is that?"
"This "key" is not actually where I thought it was. You should remember that it can take the shape of anything, even a person. It can be infused within somebody's soul."
I nodded.
"Well, I think that it's inside you. I have felt some irregular energy signatures coming from your body, that would show you are not a normal demigod," She said.
I froze in shock. One of the most powerful objects ever created was inside me? Nyx noticed my expression and laid her hand on my arm.
"This does not mean anything except that we need to get you to Olympus as quickly as possible. It will not hurt you, but it will take a lot of power to extract it from you."
"But still," I said, a little unsure what to think.
"It will be fine, Percy. We have Nyx to help us. I think she will be more than enough help to get us back up to our family."
"Ok..."
"Oh! And there is one more thing that I think we should discuss," Nyx said cheerfully. Oh no...
Artemis groaned and looked slightly embarrassed. She knew something that I didn't.
"You and Artemis have a soul bond!" Nyx shouted gleefully.
"A what?!"
"A soul bond! In order to heal you from the poison coating the blade that impaled you, she had to give you some of her godly essence, in turn, creating a bond between you two," She explained. If the previous news was a shock to me, then this was the entire electrical power plant. I sat there in a daze for a minute, drinking in the knowledge that I had just been given. Finally, I snapped out of it.
"Wait, can you repeat that?" I said. Nyx rolled her eyes at me.
"I said, You and Artemis have a soul bond," She repeated. I still wasn't sure if I had heard her right.
"Wait, say that again."
"Percy, will you stop. She said that we have a soul bond, so get over it," Artemis snapped.
"You knew about this?" I asked her.
"Duh, I was the one who gave you some of my essence. I didn't want to tell you because I didn't know how you would react. Nyx already told you so I don't need to worry about that anymore," she said, somewhat relieved.
"If you are fine with it, then I guess so am I. So what does this "bond" mean for us?" I questioned Nyx.
"Ah, I was waiting to tell Artemis so that both of you can hear this. Ok, a soul bond means that you will be able to feel your bond mate wherever they are, no matter how far away. Your emotions and thoughts will be transmitted to the other, but there are ways to control what the other can feel. You will be able to speak to each other through thought messages. You will most likely start to develop romantic feelings towards each other if that has not happened already," She explained. My cheeks tinted red at the thought of a romantic relationship with Artemis. The feelings had already started developing alright.
"Oh, and one more thing. You are pretty much linked for life, so I would get comfortable around each other, because you're not getting out of this bond. It's unbreakable. Well, normally it is, but not in this particular case."
"What do you mean 'not in this particular case'?"
"This bond is very rare because it requires that a god give a mortal some of his or her power without being forced in any way to do so. Normally, nothing happens between the two beings, but sometimes, if there is deep enough emotion attached to the immortal when giving the essence to the mortal, it will create a soul bond, which is what you have," Nyx explained.
Artemis had a deep emotion connected to me? Then I remembered the look in her eyes when I had woken up and the feeling of her warm lips on my own. I blushed a little just thinking about it. This emotion was very close to love, but there is no way that it was love itself. A maiden goddess couldn't love. At least that's what I thought.
I looked over at Artemis and was surprised to see that she had a look of indifference on her face.
"Why are you not angry about this? Shouldn't you be fuming about being connected to a boy?" I asked her. I noticed Nyx, who was behind Artemis, walk out the door and shut it softly behind her.
"I am not angry because I feel that you are the only male that is worthy of this. Don't get me wrong, this is not what I would have chosen to have happen, but it what it is and we must deal with it. Hopefully we can cooperate with this bond."
I was honestly a little astonished at the level of calmness that she showed.
"If you are willing to try, then I, so am I," I said. She nodded, before looking like she was fighting herself over something. Suddenly, she leaned forward again and pecked me on the lips, her face a little red as she pulled away. I was in la la land for a second before being pulled back to reality by Artemis.
"If you don't shut your mouth, then there will be no more of that in the future," She threatened. Instantaneously, my mouth shut closed. She chuckled a little before standing up and walking to the door.
"Let's go. The sooner we get of this hell hole, the better. I think Nyx has a plan," She said. I nodded and followed her out the door and down the stairs, still in a little bit of a stupor.
We made it to the bottom of the stairs and saw Nyx sitting at the dining room table, nursing a mug of hot chocolate in her palms. She looked up when she saw us and smiled mischievously.
"I see you're done chatting," She said eliciting a blush from our cheeks,"Now, let's get down to business, shall we?" We nodded.
"Ok, first things first. We need to get you back up to Olympus, which is easy. I can just flash you there. The only problem is that the moment Apollyon feels my godly powers being used, he will immediately be notified and he will probably show up. I should be able to make up a story about how you escaped. He will not be happy, but it should be believable enough that he won't question me. He won't be able to flash to Olympus in the next forty eight hours because I have put wards around it (think sort of like Harry Potter) in case he does see through my lie. They should be powerful enough to keep him at bay. It's not much, but it would give you some time."
"Thank you, Lady Nyx, but I can't help but wonder why you are helping us so much. You could by punished severely for you actions when or if Apollyon finds out," I thanked her.
"I would gladly fade to see the universe safe. I have had a long and prosperous life, so it might be time anyways to move onto the Realm of the Faded," She said earnestly. I was stunned by her selflessness. I had never expected a primordial to be willing to make such a sacrifice.
"When we succeed in defeating Apollyon, I can assure you that you will be greatly honored by the gods."
"I do not need recognition, just the knowledge that the world is safe," She said.
"We will make sure that your wish if fulfilled. Thank you so much for everything that you've done for us," Artemis said.
"You are most welcome. I will flash you to Olympus when you are ready. Just give me the word and you will be on your way. I wish you the best of luck."
I looked to Artemis and saw determination in her eyes. I could tell that she was thinking the same thing I was. We're ready.
I turned to Nyx and gave her a final nod of gratitude. She nodded back and put her hand on my shoulder. I groped around to my right and grabbed onto Arty's hand, holding on firmly. I felt her squeeze just as tightly around my hand.
There was a flash of light, and we were gone.
We reappeared in the middle of the Olympian throne room. Artemis pulled out her bow and shot a silver blast into the air, which exploded. Almost instantly, every single god was in the throne room, seated and looking around apprehensively. All their eyes set on us at the same time and looked at us disbelievingly.
"Percy?"
(End of Chapter 19)
SPQR-Alan: I'll definitely consider your suggestion, but I'm afraid I already have a plan for the climax. I really appreciate the helpful feedback that you've been giving me.
the guy who loves all gunpla: Sorry about frostbite xD. Don't worry, it's not the end, it'll come back. Thanks for the review!
Kyle: Thank you! I'm glad that somebody enjoys it enough to read it all the way through!
A.N: Here's another chapter of 'The Sea and The Moon'! Let me know what you think about Artemis' reaction to this bond. Is she too calm? I tried to make it as realistic as possible with her developing love towards Percy. She has already admitted to herself that she loves him, so I think it's appropriate that she is ok with this soul bond.
A.N #2: I realized after writing up to this point, that there are some plot holes in my story. For example, the fact that Percy is supposed to be the Guardian of Olympus and that he has only rescued one child so far. I'm not the best at remembering these types of things so I tend to forget what happened in past chapters very easily. I will try to fix some of these in the future, but I'm not sure if I will be able to rework my just so I can fit them in.
P.S: I just wanted to point out that I didn't get very many reviews in the last chapter, which was very disappointing to me. I really love reading all of your reviews and I ask that you please leave one if you are willing to. I'm not forcing you, but I would appreciate it.