The Hunt sat in silence waiting for some word from their lieutenant on the condition of Percy. It had been a few hours from the attack, but they hadn’t heard a word from Zoë or Artemis since then. Early on in their waiting, they had whispered and shared their worries, and tended to the small wounds they had received, but after a while they stopped talking.
If you asked them, they would say that they were not worried about Percy, but in reality, they were terrified about what would happen if they didn’t have Percy as their second lieutenant. Even if he wasn’t a normal hunter, they still considered him family. He was their only brother in a group of sisters. He was the humorous one and the sarcastic one in times of danger and seriousness. He was their rock and their base. In essence, he was their glue. Before he came to the hunt, they had fun and joked around, but it was always more of a clam thing than now. Now it was something that made the whole hunt crack up in laughter, and right now, none of that laughter was happening.
Zoë sat on the bed next to Percy as she waited for him to wake up. She wouldn’t admit it, but she was worried for him. He had lost a lot of blood from the wound that he suffered to his thigh, and she didn’t know if he was going to survive. Artemis had been sitting with her as she waited, but she had left to tend to the rest of the hunt who had been strangely silent since the battle.
Zoë knew that she had fallen for Percy. She had fallen for him years ago, but as she sat on the edge of his bed, as he was very possibly dyeing, she realized that she didn’t know what she would do without him. He was her best friend, and the person that she relied on. In all her years of being in the hunt, she had never had someone like that. It seemed to her throughout all those years that everyone else relied on her, but she never had someone to lean on, but that had all changed, and she wouldn’t have it any other way.
Zoë promised herself that if she ever saw the Minotaur again that she was going to shove an arrow where the sun doesn’t shine, no matter if Percy lived or died. With his head resting on the pillow, his face looked peaceful. He was still in his female form as he had not had time to change between the whole incident with Thalia and the hunt being attacked. His long silky black hair was spread out underneath him, framing his face. His eyelids were closed, much to Zoë’s annoyance. He had caught herself staring into his eyes too many times than she would like to count, but she couldn’t deny herself that they were undoubtedly beautiful. The sparkling sea green transitioning into the blinding silver captivated her.
Zoë was so deep in her own thoughts that she didn’t notice Artemis walk back into the tent and sit down next to her. Artemis reached over and grabbed her hand, startling Zoë.
“Deep in thought are we?” Artemis asked. Zoë nodded, not brining herself to speak. “In all the time that I have had you in the hunt I have never seen you so worried.” Artemis spoke again. Zoë looked up and found worry shining in the eyes of her mistress. Again, Zoë nodded, not sure what to say, and then looked into her lap again.
Artemis pulled Zoë’s head up again, and forced her to look into her eyes. “Zoë, how long have you been in the hunt?” She asked.
“Over two thousand.”
“We have been through much together, Zoë, and I know what you are feeling.” Zoë looked alarmed when she said this. It could only mean one thing, and she would not know what to do if what she thought was happening happened. Aremtis looked down to the peaceful face of Percy.
“I would be wrong if I said that in either form, Percy was not beautiful or handsome. He is the perfect man, and a perfect member of the hunt. I have not regretted my decision to allow him into the hunt, and I became even more positive when I made him your co-lieutenant that he was the perfect male. I know what you are battling with right now.” Artemis paused for a moment, looking at Percy again.
"Zoë, I know that you have fallen in love with him.” She said quietly. Zoë looked incredibly frightened that Artemis knew that. She knew that now she would have to leave the hunt, as she was breaking the oath.
“But,” Artemis started. “I must say, I don’t blame you, and I am happy for you. You are like a daughter to me, and I know what is good for you when I see it. I realize now that you each would do anything for each other.” Again, Zoë looked startled, but this time for a different reason. This wasn’t the normal speech that Zoë had heard when Artemis was kicking someone out of the hunt, in fact, it was completely the opposite.
“While it may take some getting used to, I will allow you the love between you two, and I will allow you to stay in the hunt. While it may not be normal, you are both members of the hunt, and you are both lieutenants, so you deserve to stay in the hunt, as you have done much for us. I am happy to tell you that I give you my blessing.”
Zoë was staring at Artemis in shock for a few seconds, before shooting up and engulfing Artemis in a bear hug. She started to cry into her shoulder, and Artemis held her as she sobbed. However, these were not tears of sadness, but tears of happiness. Even though she wasn’t sure when she would talk to Percy about this, she was happy to know that she was allowed to in the first place. Artemis held her until she calmed down enough to speak again.
“Thank you milady.” She said gratefully, her gratitude shining in her eyes.
“I consider you and Percy to be my sister and brother and to force you to leave the hunt for any reason would case me much pain. You are quite welcome.”
“Welcome for what?” A groggy voice said from next to them, causing Artemis and Zoë both to jump. They turned and found Percy with his eyes open. He was immediately tackled by an ecstatic Zoë. After a moment of shock Percy smiled. With some amount of discomfort, he managed to hug her back. A moment passed, and Zoë untangled herself from Percy with her checks burning red, but at the moment it didn’t matter. Artemis smiled at the two of them, and chuckled quietly to herself at Zoë’s face.
“How are you feeling Percy?” Artemis asked.
“Could be better, but I have been worse.” He said, receiving questioning glances from the other two. In the time that he had been in the hunt, he had not received a wound that had rendered him unconscious, but the look in his eyes told them not to ask, as his eyes were glazed over, seeming lost in a memory.
Shaking his head, Percy cleared his head. He was curious as to what Artemis and Zoë had been talking about. He decided to ask Zoë later, but before he could say anything else, a head popped into the tent. Phoebe looked into the then, and saw Percy sitting up and alive. Her eyes widened, and she bolted into the tent, and did the exact same as Zoë. After a moment, more and more hunters came into the tent and hugged Percy, until all of them had hugged him. Percy had a huge smile on his face as he stared at his family. They all thanked him for taking a hit to protect them, but he received more than a few slaps to the face for his stupidity of doing it alone, but that didn’t bother Percy. He was with his family, and that’s what counted for him.
<-><-><->
The hunt stayed in the same spot for a few days, deciding that everyone needed a break, and especially because Percy could not walk due to his leg, and as they had discovered, wounds transferred over to their wolves forms. Percy had reverted back to his male for while he was in camp, even though he was bed ridden for most of the time. One of the few times that he was out of the bed was with Zoë. Artemis had gone to a council meeting, and she had given the hunt the day off from doing their normal chores.
Zoë helped Percy out into a clearing that she had found earlier. They had settled near the edge of a river and so they sat at the bank, with their feet in the cool water, enjoying the serenity around them. There were no clouds in the sky, and they sat next to each other, staring up into the night sky. They sat in silence for what seemed like hours.
“Thank you, Zoë.” Zoë looked at Percy curiously, wondering why he was thanking her. She hadn’t done anything worth thanking; it had all been him in the fight a few days earlier.
“For what?” She asked him. Percy seemed hesitant about his next words, and took a deep breath before speaking again.
“For being there, for being a good friend and helping me though some of the tough times, you are invaluable as a friend.” Zoë looked at Percy to see tears in his eyes. She had noticed a change in his demeanor since the battle, and she didn’t like it one bit. She reached up and softly wiped the tears from his face with her thumb.
“What’s wrong Percy?” Percy didn’t respond immediately, instead letting more tears fall from his face. In the forty some odd years that he had been in the hunt, she had never seen him like this. He always was the fearless leader, only thinking about others and never himself, but he seemed to have reached the limit. He broke down in tears after a moment. While Zoë did not know why, she decided it was better to not ask at the moment, and just hugged him, comforting him for whatever he needed comforting in.
Minuets passed while Percy cried into Zoë’s shoulder. He slowly composed himself, and picked himself up.
“I’m sorry.” He said quietly. Zoë reached up and pulled his chin up until he was looking at her, and then she shook her head.
“There is nothing to be sorry for, we always need a release at points.” Percy just nodded, trying to not look directly into Zoë’s eyes. Zoe scooted closer to Percy, and put an arm around him, ignoring how wrong it felt. She was a hunter, but this was Percy that she was talking about, and she had Artemis’s approval.
“What’s wrong Percy?”
Percy stayed silent for a moment. He opened his mouth to speak, but closed it again. He did this a few more times. He had no idea how to phrase what he wanted to say. Even with his family in the hunt, he was lonely. He was literally the odd man out, and always felt a little bit awkward. It only hit him hard after his battle with the Minotaur. The hunters had been treating him like their hero, and he didn’t like it. He was their brother, not their hero, he didn’t deserve that praise, and so he had tried to remove himself a little bit from the hunt, being quieter and more closed. And then there was his mother. He hadn’t thought about her in a while, but while he was unconscious, he dreamt of her non-stop. It haunted him the past days, and it was now catching up to him. He had failed to save her when the time had come, and it led to her death.
“Percy?” She asked again. Percy took a deep breath.
“I never told you, or anyone. My patents didn’t die in a car accident.” He managed to get those words out, but started to choke up again. He had held onto this for so long that it was hard for him to talk about now, as it brought up more memories than he wanted to dig up, but the look of worry on his best friends face told him that he should continue.
“They weren’t even in the car at the time that they died,” He started again, “It was my uncle. He attacked us in our house, and he beat my mom and step-dad with a baseball bat. They were both dead within minutes. I had been told to wait outside, but I had snuck in. He ran out of the house after seeing what he had done and I found my parents dead on the floor.”
Percy started to sob again as memories flooded back into his head. The image of his parents lying dead on the ground, his uncles sadistic face as he beat Percy after that day, the blood on his hands. Zoë hugged him tighter than she had ever before. She knew that this was hard, and she was furious with his uncle, but was glad that Percy was finally telling her. It seemed to weigh down on him.
After a few minutes of crying, he finally composed himself enough to start speaking again. “I dragged my parents into the car, and tried to drive to the hospital, but crashed on the way. It looked to the police that I had tried to kill my parents by driving them, and they died in the car accident. They believed the evidence, and didn’t investigative because of it. They sent me to my uncle, who just beat me.”
Percy had started that speech with his voice breaking, but ended it with furry leaking from his presence. Zoë stared at him in shock or a moment, then reached over and pulled him into another hug. He had never told anyone in the hunt about this, even Artemis, but he had just told her first. It made her love him even more, but she still wants sure what to do, even with Artemis’ blessing. She had no idea what to do at the moment, and it worried her, as she had never had to make a decision like this.
She was about to speak again, when a bright silver flash appeared next to them, and Artemis appeared next to them. She seemed not to notice the tear stains on Percy’s face, and started to speak.
“It’s time to move out, but I need your help with something.”
A/N: Hey guys and gals, thanks for reading. Sorry about the wait on the chapter, but life got busy, with school, Jazz band, and the job, I only had time to write in class, which means that I have to divide my attention between writing and paying attention. So again, sorry for the wait.
Thanks,
PiersonNyx