Legends Never Die

The Man In The Moon

The day was not going how Percy had thought. He fully expected to die at the hands of Zeus' Master Bolt. There was a slim chance of him becoming a god, but as Artemis had mentioned, he didn't want more power. But the alternative? And the fact he had said her? He was stunned by his own self for speaking out in such a bold manner.

Well, maybe not surprised at being bold, but certainly surprised at that. He never would have came out and admitted anything of the like if he wasn't dying. Luckily all the Olympians were as dumb as a box of rocks and didn't realize he was hinting at his own feelings for the goddess of the moon. Out of all of them, only two of them could have picked up on it, or maybe three.

Of course Aphrodite since its in her sphere of influence. Apollo since he's the god of truth and prophecy. And his own dad, just because he'd never been able to hide much from the ruler of the seas. He just hoped none of the others thought anything other than what he had said. Especially not the goddess in question, even if she was his wife.

And the Hunters? 'Oh gods of Olympus, save me,' he thought. Those girls would kill him. And very brutally too, for desecrating their goddess even if he didn't do anything but hold her hand at that alter. He didn't even kiss her.

"Percy, it's time to go. The Hunt was probably expecting us hours ago."

Percy sighed and stood up. The only one who knew anything was Thalia and she still hadn't spoken since the meeting. Nico left right after the ceremony and he hadn't said anything either. Percy wasn't able to lean on anyone yet and so much was going through his head he didn't know what to do with it.

He was so engrossed in his thoughts he didn't even notice Artemis had flashed the three of them back to the Hunt. "Girls, I need you to gather around, but first of all, go put all your weapons in your tents."

The Hunt looked confused but followed her orders. Soon they were all sitting around the little fire they kept going. "Okay, so the meeting went in a good manner, as you can see since Percy is still alive."

Atalanta asked, "So he's a god now? Do we have to treat him as such?"

Artemis cringed. "No...not exactly. But I would highly recommend not hurting him...ever. Uh, well, there was the option of making him a god, but we all figured he would not go for it. The only other option to make him fully immortal without adding to his powers other than increasing his stamina was to marry him to a goddess."

All the Hunters looked stunned and then sent varying looks at Percy. His head was down and an air of unattached nothingness surrounded him.

"So who did he marry?"

"Well, as some of you know after fighting in the Battle of Manhattan with him, his fatal flaw is personal loyalty. This would not allow him to be far from his wife. And if his wife were to ever cheat on him, his flaw would react when he found out. The only other known hero with this flaw died because of it. So we figured we would have him marry a goddess that couldn't cheat on him."

Thalia groaned, tired of listening to her sister beat around the bush. "They had Percy marry Artemis because she is a maiden, and won't sleep with anyone. Therefore it works in Percy's favor, not to mention he is already here in the Hunt, so not being far would never be an issue. It was the perfect solution to allow us to keep our guardian without actually making anyone get married for real."

The Hunt all looked surprised. Atalanta developed a huge smirk upon seeing the slight blush tinge Artemis' face. She would definitely have to speak to her mistress later. Just as an a few of the Hunters were about to cause an uproar, the Moon started to glow.

The eerie light produced by the moon seemed to weaken Artemis and before she could collapse, Percy had her in his arms. A man appeared in the camp and all the girls reached for weapons they soon realized they didn't have.

"My, my, my. Look what we have here. A goddess and...oh look. My reincarnation into the human realm. This will make killing her that much easier."