Right, so, it's early morning of the next day hahahahahaha. Like not even one in the morning and I'm still going. Okay, so I lied, the entirety of the throne room scene wasn't portrayed in the last chapter. Hopefully this one. Like I said, I've got a lot of this written out on paper, so I just might update all of it. So, next chapter, here we come!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Chapter Three: On Olympus, In the throne room of the gods.
Point of view: Artemis
"Percy! I told you, you didn't have to swear off women." I tell him.
"I wouldn't have loved another anyway. I never will. It makes no difference to me." He answers.
"Percy, my boy, you will eventually love again." Poseidon says gently.
Percy whirls on his father and speaks in a bitter and cold tone, "Why do you care?"
Poseidon stutters and Hades speaks up, "Perseus?" Hades asks to get his nephew's attention.
"Yes, uncle? What do you wish of me?" Percy says and bows before the god of the dead.
"Why do you never wish to love in that way again?" Hades asks, and comes down to stand in front of Percy.
"Because of her." He states. Hades reaches out a hand and Percy snarls at it. "Don't touch me, please." Percy's voice cracks on his last word.
"Percy..." Poseidon lays a hand on Percy's back and he flinches.
"Get away from me. Not only do I hate you, I don't want to be near the sea." Percy says and gets out from his father's touch.
"Please, you must forgive me. Why do you fear the sea?" Poseidon asks gently, worried.
"My own domain." Percy's voice breaks. "He tortured me with my own domain. He made me even more scared of it than Gaea did. I will never forgive myself for that shame. I can't look at water the same way. Not after everything that transpired. I won't go near it. Not for anything." Percy says, now backed up against the throne room doors. "I don't want to forgive you, I don't want a father. Not after losing them both. Both times unwillingly, both times betrayed by one person or another. Both my fault. MY FAULT!" He slides down the door and sits on the floor.
Hera comes over to him and sits next to him. He just shakes his head at her whispered words, no one but them can hear.
"What happened to my son?" Poseidon looks at Hera.
"Disowned. Gone. Dead. Tortured. Murdered. Lost along with his soul The naïve fool isn't here anymore. The cold-hearted shell you see is the reborn 'kid' you have gained from that foolish boy." Percy tells him.
"I don't believe that." Hestia comes over to him and sits next to him on his other side.
"Lady Artemis...does being Hera's son make me your brother of sorts?" Percy looks at me, horrified by the prospect. It isn't mock horror either.
"Wipe that look off your face. Yes, it does mean that." I hiss at him.
He has the gall to snicker. "I'm not horrified of being your brother. It's Apollo I'm worried about. I honestly don't know how you stand his constant pranking, but I know you love him. I can...feel it for some reason." Percy muses, Hera just chuckles at his wondering face, but that look is still in his eyes.
"Hmm...it is because of my blessing, combined with your new position. It is only natural, but it disturbs me to feel your emotions. Roiling around inside you, all bottled up." I say.
"Oh my gods...Zeus is my father now. Someone kill me, no offense mom." Percy looks at Hera, who just chuckles at her new son.
Zeus doesn't look offended, he knows he is just trying to be funny and lighten the mood.
"Do I call you dad or Lord Zeus?" Percy turns his head to Zeus.
"Call me either, boy. At least Hera is happy with you." Zeus smiles at Percy.
Percy nods, tries to stand, but just slumps back on the floor. "What is wrong, my champion?" Hestia cocks her head at Percy.
"My left leg. Hyperion damaged it the other day. Still hasn't healed. I don't think I can get up again." Percy sighs. "So inconvenient really. It doesn't hurt unless I put some weight on it." He attempts to stand again and manages to lean against the door. "That hurts like Hades."
"But you do not show pain?" Ares looks at Percy confused.
"Yes, well, it happens to be a lesser injury compared to the other things I've been through. Nice to see you show concern though." Percy closes his eyes and inhales deeply.
Point of view: Perseus Jackson
I inhale deeply as I close my eyes. Then, I open them and make my way toward Lady Artemis, but I stop dead in my tracks as Apollo comes beside me and lays a hand on my shoulder. I flip him over immediately and I kneel next to him after I realize he was just trying to help.
"Oh, sorry! I don't like to be touched. I will react without hesitation. Are you okay?" I ask Apollo.
"Yeah, I only wanted to heal you further." Apollo sits up and places a hand on my forehead. I fight the urge to swat it away as a golden light pulsates over my body. My injuries feel slightly better, my leg feels completely healed, but tired of using its muscle.
I help him up and hear a squeal. Oh gods, it was Aphrodite. "Percy! I am going to give you my blessing!" She squeals more.
"Absolutely not! That won't help me with my oath!" I am surrounded by a pink glow and grow taller, everything becomes more defined, including my scars. "Aphrodite. This isn't going to help me." I growl.
"It's really just so I can look at you." Aphrodite shrugs.
"Aphrodite!" Artemis yells.
"Percy?" Zeus asks and I turn to him.
"Yes, Lord Zeus?" I ask politely.
"If you could turn into an animal, what would it be?" Zeus asks.
Lets see...Bear, raven, eagle, dragon, deer, horse, wolf. Lupa would love to see me as a wolf and it is part of Artemis's domain.
"Lupa." I whisper. "I'm going to follow one of the teachings and ways I learned from Lupa and one of my patrons's domains. A wolf, Lord Zeus." I answer louder.
Zeus nods his approval. He shoots his beam of light at me. I shift into a wolf. The pain doesn't bother me. I've felt worse and turn back into a human.
Hades blesses me and gives me the same power of his children. "Thank you, Lord Hades." I bow to him. "Now, will all of you stop giving me more power?" I ask.
The gods look taken aback. "I'm starting to like you, punk. So I will be the last to bless you, little brother." Oh gods! It's Ares. Crap. He shoots me with a red light.
"Thank you, Lord Ares." I bow without worrying and he grins at me.
"Definitely rubbing off on me." He smiles genuinely now.
"I would bless you, but with Hestia's and Artemis's blessings you won't need it." Apollo tells me.
"What about music?" Hermes asks.
Oh Hades. "He's naturally talented in music. A prodigy. If Poseidon wasn't his father, he might've been mine." Apollo shrugs.
Blushing, I take my place by Artemis, who had returned to her throne. As well as Hera and Hestia.
Hestia and Hades were made part of the council and Olympians once again at my request at the end of the second Giant war.
Then something dawns on me. Nico. "Lord Hades." I address him.
"What is it, nephew?" He asks softly. Weird. But it's pity I hear.
"Your son. How is he?" I ask.
"I think that, now that you are here, he was the only one searching for you. He said he would feel your soul near death, but then you would be alive again. I didn't know what he was talking about, until now. The camp didn't even throw a fit at your absence." Hades looks thoughtful.
I nod. "He was right. I nearly died many times over the few centuries- oh, no." I look down.
"Few centuries?!" Dionysus looks at me.
I sigh. "Yes, you are aware that time passes differently down there, correct?"
"How could I be so stupid?" Dionysus scowls at himself.
"Centuries?" Artemis looks down at me.
"Indeed, my lady. I lost count after 203. They only reminded me of the 'long time' I'd been down there and the 'very long time' I had left before you even got worried and started looking for me. I believed in you, your search. Turns out, there was only one who even knew or for that matter cared to realize I'd gone." I say and shrug.
"How are you so calm about it?" Hephaestus asks.
"Athena helped me. I suppose you should tell them now, my lady." I turn to face Athena's gaze.
"I'm one of his patron's. He is my champion as well." Athena declares and thunder sounds.
"Really? A son of Poseidon?" Demeter asks Athena, for once too shocked to think about cereal and its many qualities.
"According to Lord Poseidon, I am no longer his son. Therefore, I am son of Hera and Zeus as far as I am concerned." I state, seething with rage. Poseidon flinched when I called him 'Lord.'
"My boy." Poseidon whimpers.
"Don't boy me. You left me to my sorrow in that wretched camp. Camp Jupiter would've been my only safe haven. I stayed. For her. Look what that got me." I say.
Hestia comes to me off her throne and places her hand on my shoulder. I relax immediately. She whispers into my ear so only her and I can hear, "Will you be my son as well? I already love you like one, it would be fun to have one." Hestia whispers happy.
I nod. "I will." I smile hugely at her.
She touches her hand to my forehead and an even warmer sensation than before rushes through my veins. "Thanks!" She hugs me and canters over to her throne.
"Lady Artemis, I still don't understand Thalia's anger at me. Even after Dionysus showed everyone. I didn't catch it. She didn't like me before Tartarus, so I assume its not over my disappearance." I look at Artemis.
She sighs. "Derek has told her that you betrayed camp. She punched Derek, but she wondered after you disappeared and where you were. So now she wonders about his words and is starting to believe them as the truth.
"Quest for Athena. Permission to marry Annabeth. Something I now regret." I state. "I won't be revealing my identity for awhile." I tell her.
"Alright. What shall we name you in wolf form?" Artemis muses.
"You pick. Your Hunt, your home. I don't care what you call me, just that you don't pity me." I tell her.
She thinks for a minute. "Moonlace." She says.
I feel sorrow for one that I failed and she senses it immediately, but I smile, "Sounds nice. Thank you." I bow to her.
"You trust me without making me swear on the Styx?" I question him.
"You, Hera, Hestia and a couple others are the only reason I consented to keep breathing. I trust you. Do not worry. It may be a strange purpose, but it's a purpose nonetheless." I tell her. "One problem I need to address."
"What?" Artemis asks curiously.
"I don't think the Hunters will appreciate a shirtless male in case they do figure out who I am. And the scars might scare them." I shrug. "I got used to being bare a long time ago. It doesn't bother me. Apparently it bothers others." I say, shrugging again.
"I can see why." Artemis says.
Aphrodite squeals again and on pops a t-shirt.
"Oh gods of Olympus, why do you feel the need to put this on me? Why can I tell what it is down to the brand?! Is this your blessing Aphrodite?!" I raise my voice.
"Yes!" She squeaks, happily excited.
She gave me a sleeveless t-shirt. I don't want to name the brand of it either. Embarrassing. Gods she can be so annoying!
Artemis giggles. I turn to her and raise my eyebrow in question. "It's what you thought. I think I'm the only one though. Glad to see you agree. You'll be easier to accept if you truly see it that way." She laughs her head off and a small smile comes to my face.
"Yes, actually, I do, but I also know that the pain that comes with the job is unbearable. Even without the blessing and before her. And it's really corrupted the position, honestly. I don't blame the position for what happened. I only blame myself. Hera knows how I feel as well. The betrayal I feel from those around me. Right, mom?" I smile at her gently.
"So you've known for awhile. How long?" Hera asks me.
"Since I first entered camp and they told me who I was. My mother always said it's the ones closest to you, that hurt the most. Family hurts you when you lose it. I have known why you took my life from me for awhile now, I'm grateful for it to be honest. 8 months I didn't have to worry about. 8 months of blissful peace, whether I was aware of it or not. I imagine that you felt all my pain along with Aphrodite when I lost everything I had come to know in my life." I say.
Hera nods and silently sobs, same with Aphrodite.
"Thank you, Percy." Hera brightens.
"Yes, mother. Lady Artemis? Are you ready, my lady?" I turn to Artemis.
"Percy." A hand grips my shoulder, I stiffen and face the owner of the hand. It is only Athena. I relax. "Here. You won't want to be a wolf forever." She hands me a white cloak, trimmed in gold, and it has my patrons's symbols on the hood edges. "It will cover your face in shadows, except your mouth."
I chuckle. "Thank you." I take the cloak and put it on.
"What's so funny?" She asks me.
"It's white and gold. Classic Greek in my opinion. They'll think I'm older than the hills. And I'm not really 17 anymore." I tell her.
"I see your point. How old are you?" Athena asks.
"I'm around 3 centuries old, my lady. As I said, I lost count. Your body doesn't age down there. It's like painful immortality." I say.
"Do you want to know how old you are?" Athena asks.
I shrug. "If you wish to tell me." She places her hand on my head and she takes it away after a minute.
"302. Percy you are 302 years of age. But you can still be considered 17. You're almost 18 though. It's July, summer solstice." Athena tells me.
"Thanks. Sounds good." I bow to her.
"302?" Poseidon whispers.
"Council dismissed! Good luck, son." Zeus disappears in a dance of lightning bolts he summons from the air.
"Great, my father, the Drama Queen. Thanks, dad." I mutter. "See you later, mothers. Lady Artemis?" I face her.
She is laughing at my mention of 'Drama Queen' and hops down from her throne. I pull my hood up and I feel Riptide come back to my pocket and a few other weapons I secretly trained in while I was at...that place over a certain hill topside.
"I assume you'll meet them in wolf form?" Artemis asks.
"Yes, I think that would be best." I shift into my wolf form. "Wonderful. I can talk in this form. I am ready, my lady." I bow as a wolf would.
Artemis puts her hand on my back and we flash into the Hunt's camp. "Girls! Gather up! I have a new friend for us!" Artemis shouts.
Tell me what ya think. Muhaha.
I do not own PJO/HOO sadly, but it goes to the might Rick Riordan.
Until next chapter or if I answer you in the comments and reviews, my lovely readers.
Edited on July 28th-2015