Won't Say I'm in Love [Pertemis]

1- Percy Jackson is Immortalized

No man is worth the aggravation,
That's ancient history, been there done that

Artemis

"Oi? Well what do you suppose about the boys fate then, Zeus?!" Hepheastus yelled, slapping his celestial bronze throne with a thunk. I held my breath, waiting for an explosion, or maybe for Hephaestus to erupt in flames, but nothing happened.

"I say we smite him," Hera volunteered. "He can join his friends in the underworld then."

Oh, shut it, peacock brain, I thought. The goddess of marriage, a bitter enemy of mine, since I was a maiden goddess. Her head was full of feathers. I absentmindedly drew circles on the armrest of my silver throne.

"We've been over this!" Poseidon rose. "You smite my boy, I'll unleash the greatest wrath of the sea you've seen in a millennia!"

"I woulda killed the punk already if it wasn't for that," Ares pointed out. "Ion know bout y'all, I don't like the kid, but I sure don't wanna deal with his pops. 'Sides, the kids been a good fighter."

"Personally now? He's not a great archer," my twin brother, Apollo, leaned back into his throne. "But the kids got spunk. I might even trust him to drive the sun chariot sometimes. I think he's a fan of my haikus."

I groaned inwardly. My brother was very annoying. I often questioned how we were twins, as we were absolutely nothing alike.

Athena sat silently on her throne, staring down at her sandaled feet. No doubt, she was upset about the death of her daughter, Annabeth.

"He's caused Olympus enough trouble," Hera argued.

"If I don't recall, he's saved Olympus multiple times," Hephaestus argued. "Now you want to kill him! How's that for our happy little family?"

"The kid can't help what the fates have put on him," Hermes put in. "I don't think he's been doing too good lately, what with the death of his friends and all."

"Oh, the boy is heartbroken!" Aphrodite gushed. "Devastated, lost and reeling about the sorrowful passing of his beautiful young girlfriend. Oh, the tragedy."

She batted her eyes. Another bitter enemy of mine.

"I personally don't have an issue with him," Hades spoke up. "I do owe my throne to him."

It was true. If it wasn't for Percy Jackson, Hades wouldn't be invited to Olympus more than once a year.

"And the boy likes cereal!" Demeter cheered. "I see every morning, he eats Captain Crunchberries. Of course, Cheerios are better. Whole grain ones! But Captain Crunch will suffice."

"Peter Johnson," Dionysus spoke up, examining a bottle of wine. "Never heard of him."

"ENOUGH!" Zeus's voice boomed over the throne room. He turned to me. "Artemis, you haven't spoken."

I sighed thoughtfully. "I don't believe we should kill him. We owe him a great debt of gratitude. This boy has turned the tides of war. He assisted in a rescue mission to save me, though I didn't like the fact that a boy was running around with my hunters. He did well. He's a strong fighter, I suppose... for a man."

"I agree, little sis," Apollo said.

"And I," Hermes spoke up.

A series of 'ayes' went around.

"Hey, I'm no fan of specifically pulverizing the kid but pulverizing him is better than not pulverizing at all!" Ares grumbled, picking his fingers with a knife.

Does he have any brain cells? 2 minutes ago he was saying he didn't want to pulverize the kid because of Poseidon.

"Quiet, all." Zeus said. "Our guest approaches. I feel him coming up the steps of my palace."

I'm not much on men, but I certainly wouldn't want to vaporize this one. We owe him endless gratitude, and how would smiting him be the way to repay that debt?

Even I could push aside the fact that he was a man to see that.

After completing his Third Great Prophecy and losing his girlfriend, I was one that had openly advocated for the poor boys fate.

A few moments later, the giant brass doors to the throne room swung open, revealing a raven haired teenage boy. He looked up, and I almost didn't recognize him. Not that his facial structure had changed, or that he'd been in an awful accident, but that he looked so incredibly sad. The normal expression of a playful, sarcastic boy was gone. This time, his sea green eyes were cloudy. They looked as if the light had died. There was no mischievous smile. His face was solemn. He sulked forward.

"Lord Zeus," he said as he approached, and took a knee.

"Perseus Jackson," Zeus said. "You may stand."

Percy got back onto his feet. He was tall, lean, and ruggedly handsome. Maybe it was my imagination, but I thought his muscles looked more framed since the last time I'd seen him.

"Let us hear your case," Zeus said.

Percy began going over the details of their quest. The crew of the Argo II, minus Jason Grace, who has unfortunately died prior, had been on another journey to save the world. Percy bitterly described the fate of their crew, the words ringed with hurt. I could hear the pain in his voice.

On the way to Europe crossing the Atlantic, Piper McLean, daughter of Aphrodite, had simply vanished. Tumbling over the rail of the Argo II during a storm spirit attack, she landed in the sea, and when search parties were sent out, she was nowhere to be found, and Percy could not sense her.

Everybody looked pointedly at Poseidon, who immediately agreed to send a team of mermen to scout the area for her body.

Hazel Levesque, daughter of Pluto, made a final stand in Germany, falling at the hands of a cyclops.

Frank Zhang, distraught from the loss of his girlfriend, was caught off guard during a battle with a hydra.

Leo Valdez, son of Hephaestus, went down with the ship as it crashed landed after a sea monster attack near the shores of Rome.

Annabeth and Percy were stranded, alone in Italy. Trapped in the ancient lands. Nico di Angelo had attempted to reach out and rescue them, but was too late.

Percy and Annabeth fought side by side, until after being surrounded by hoards of monsters, Annabeth was stabbed by a poisoned knife. Percy held her in his arms as she died. Nico arrived the next day, and took Percy, who had seemingly lost his will to live, back to Camp Half-Blood. They had succeeded in their quest, but had lost way too much.

The throne room was gravely silent. My pity fell on the young boy. In his 18 years of life, he had seen and experienced way too much pain, with little peace.

"Olympus shall honor these brave and terribly remorseful deaths today," Zeus said. "We shall build a monument to these 7 in our gardens. Right here on Olympus."

Percy nodded, but I knew there would never be a way to cure this. His breathing was scattered, as if simply telling the story gave him a panic attack.

This boy was strong, and I understood. Very rarely did I find a man that I approved of, that I would be willing to fight alongside. Percy Jackson was the man of the millennia, I decided.

Brave, courageous, handsome, humble. My eyes drifted to his muscular arms and shoulders. I felt my cheeks flush. Apparently I had been staring for a little too long, because when I finally looked up, Aphrodite's eyes were on me. She raised her eyebrows.

No! I sent her a mental message. Don't get the wrong idea, with your foolish love nonsense. I don't need the company of any useless boys.

I think we can both agree Percy Jackson is hot, Aphrodite said.

Well it sounds like you'd like to give it a go, I shot back. A ping of jealousy hit me, but I ignored it. Ridiculous. Love? I was immune to that mess. I don't mess around with boys. They're a waste of time.