Broken And Betrayed

FIFTEEN

Percy tried to gather his thoughts enough to start telling the goddess what she wanted to know, but it was really hard for him to concentrate, what with their shoulders rubbing together and her making full eye contact and everything. Really, really hard.

The demigod realised that he'd developed a crush on the moon goddess next to him. He'd been ignoring the gradually building feeling, but now it hit him full force. Seeing as this was the first time he'd even saw a girl in that way since Annabeth, over a year ago, this was kinda big.

Of course it was the one person he had absolutely no chance with. Did he do accidentally say bad stuff about the Fates or something? Because he must have, to be treated so unfairly by them.

Artemis cleared her throat, and he was brought back to the present. Damn his ADHD, when he was distracted he could literally think about everything in the world except the one thing he should be thinking about.

"Perseus?" Damn, he was doing it again.

"Please, call me Percy, milady," he said, quietly. She gave a small smile and shook her head.

"Not happening, boy," she said, before inwardly frowning at herself for being so familiar with him. Oh well. He did have the title of the only male she respected, after all.

Said demigod shifted a little to give her some personal space, and calmed himself. "Well. You obviously know how A-Annabeth and the Zeus brothers turned the camp against me and all that, yeah?"

Artemis nodded, instinctively leaning towards him a little. Damn this feeling! Why did she feel such a need to comfort him?

Percy nodded. "Well, I try to put out the appearance that I'm over and done with all that, but I'm not, really. It's like... Sometimes I feel this sudden rage about what they did, and need to take it out on something, normally a monster. Other times, I can go into a black depression for hours. It feels like I'm missing something inside me, something important. Yeah, that probably didn't make sense, did it?" He said seriously.

Artemis nodded, shuffling up against him again. Damn. Ah well, it wasn't anything bad, was it? "It did make sense, Percy. Don't worry." She said comfortingly.

At this Percy had to smile, even if the one he produced was rather small. "You called me Percy, milady," he pointed out in an amused voice.

The goddess frowned, but inwardly she was enjoying their conversation. "You caught me then. I'll do that as long as you stop calling me milady, then. Being with you feels... Different than being with my hunters." She compromised. If only he knew what type of different, she thought. Then she immediately made her mind back up. Not doing that. Aphrodite was getting a whole whooping when she got back to Olympus, she thought for the umpteenth time.

"Sure thing, Arty," Percy grinned playfully. Artemis immediately shot up.

"What?!"

"Think about it, you said just not milady, right? So-" he started, but was cut off.

"Oh no you don't, Percy Jackson. Not Arty." Artemis said, laughing on the inside but managing to keep a straight face.

"Okay, okay, I see how it is, Moonbeam," Percy snickered.

Artemis drew her bow, and Percy's eyes widened. "I'll show you a moonbeam," she fake threatened. By this point, Percy was laughing and the man hating goddess was even giggling too, their earlier topic all but forgotten.

Percy tried putting on a serious, pleading face and looked at her. "Come on, you wouldn't hurt me, would you, Katniss?" He pleaded, knowing it would annoy her.

Sure enough, she straightened and drew the bow again. "You'd compare me to that crybaby? Oh, you're in for some pain," she shouted as he ran off.

And so a hunt ensued for about half an hour, with Artemis almost catching Percy, them he'd use his powers a little to get away again. Finally, he got tired and stopped, turning around to say something to the goddess pursuing him.

Artemis, sprinting after him, couldn't stop herself in time and crashed into the son of the sea. They slid for a few metres, and ended up with Percy lying on the ground, facing upwards while Artemis lay on him facing him.

The two made eye contact, and something passed between them. They slowly leaned towards each other, until...

The conch horn rang through the surrounding trees, seemingly resonating through the very ground. Artemis suddenly jumped off of Percy.

"The conch horn! My huntresses must be in danger!" She yelled, sprinting off and motioning for him to follow.

At the same time, he sensed Alex's signal, coming from another part of the forest. He vapour travelled there first, and found Alex fighting off around ten monsters at once, protecting four or five of the new young hunters that couldn't fight well enough to protect themselves.

Percy immediately jumped into battle, and trapped between the two sons of Poseidon, the monsters were quickly dispatched of.

They then carried the girls to the main camp, where it was clear that they were being looked for. They deposited them with one of the older hunters, who nodded at them gratefully.

They smiled in return, and turned to see the situation. Artemis, Thalia, Phoebe and around seven of the other experienced hunters were having a stand off against a pack of about 100 monsters.

Percy strode forward, with Alex half a pace behind him. As they passed the hunters, Percy spoke to Artemis without turning or stopping.

"Don't worry, Arty. We've got this under control, you and your hunters can stand down now." He said, somewhat cheekily.

The hunters all glared at him, problem for his insolence or something dumb like that. He shrugged it off and came to a stop about 5 metres from the first cyclops.

While staring it down, two eyes to one, he spoke to his brother. "Want to see who can kill the most?" He said.

Alex grinned, immediately taking it. Loser cooks tonight. One, two, three, GO!" He yelled happily. He and Percy dashed forwards, immediately taking out about seven monsters each, and started slicing and dicing.

The hunters, seeing Percy and Alex decimating the opposition, raised their bows to claim some of the kills as their own, but Artemis told them to stand down.

"What are you doing? P- Ahem, Spathi and Dóry will take care of it from here. Good job, let's go back and check on the younger hunters." She commanded, inwardly cursing her loose tongue. Thankfully, the hunters seemed to have accepted her clearing her throat as the reason for the mistake in her words.

They turned to head back to the camp, when Percy ran past them at top speed, running from his brother. "You're cooking!" He threw over his shoulder.

Alex sprinted after him, ready to smack him with his trident. "No fair! You stole my kill! GET BACK HERE, PE- SPATHI!" He yelled, wanting revenge.

Only for both boys to be flung up into the air by an unseen force and go flying several miles away, to their shock and Artemis' horror.

She looked around, and saw all of the older hunters grinning evilly. Oh, no.