I wasn't planning updating cuz I still have more exams to do this week, but I failed my chem exam on friday 💖!!!!! Since I can't fuck off to stay at a spa resort again cuz I still gotta study, I've decided to cope with my failure by updating in hopes your lovely comments can distract me from the impending doom of my chem grade dropping once that stupid exam gets graded!!!! 💖

GROVER KNEW HE WAS ABOUT to have the nightmare of the century when the first person to appear in his dreams was Hera.

The second he saw her materialize in the fogginess of his dreams, he couldn't help but let out a feeble, "Oh no."

"Grover Underwood," her voice boomed.

Ohhh, why me? He despaired.

"Lady Hera," he acknowledged with the amount of enthusiasm one would greet a patch of mold growing on their walls. "What brings you to my, erm, dreams?"

Please leave, was what he really wanted to say.

He remembered Zeus' fury at his suspicions of his wife's supposed infidelity and the last thing he wanted was for people to find out that Hera was visiting him in his dreams.

She went straight to business. "You managed to make contact with Percy Jackson, correct?"

He nearly jumped at the mention of his best friend's name. "I—yes?" He stumbled over his words, shocked that she was even bothering to ask about her. Percy wasn't really in Hera's list of 'top ten demigods I'm cool with' after all. "I mean, it was really brief. We didn't get to talk much, a-and we got cut off. There was a god—"

"—I want you to try again," she demanded.

"I have been," he said, frustration evident in his voice. "But it's harder now. That god—whoever it was—is probably pissed I managed to reach her in the first place and now they're making it impossible for me to try and reach out to her again...!"

"But what if I had a god help you?" Hera said immediately.

Grover froze and looked at her. "...What?"

"A god is preventing you from reaching her through your dreams, but if you had a god help you break in—"

He bravely cut her off, "—No, I mean," he shook his head. "Why are you helping us find Percy? You... you hate her."

Hera hated bastards and demigods who caused trouble, and Percy was probably the most famous bastard in the world with a concerningly impressive talent of pissing gods off.

Hera's face turned cross and serious. "This is much bigger than such petty emotions," she hissed. "Percy Jackson is far too important for the future. You wouldn't understand, satyr. Just be grateful that I'm working hard to bring her home. Now do you want my help or not?"

Grover regarded her warily. He trusted Hera about as much as he could throw her—and he couldn't throw her at all, so there was that.

...But he was desperate. They all were. Poseidon was wrecking the entire ecosystem with his nonstop storms and earthquakes, Anthonius was working himself down to the bone with his frantic searches around the country, and Sally Jackson was becoming literally sick with worry to the point that Apollo, at the behest of Hermes, would secretly go down to help better her health.

Camp was wearing themselves thin, sending search teams around the country to look for even the barest hint of her. Nico would help, sometimes even searching outside of the country, but most of his time was spent in the Underworld with his father. Hades was getting overworked by the growing number of deceased and Nico needed to help him, though he also helped by checking if Percy's soul had entered the Underworld—but that was a possibility nobody welcomed.

Even the gods were offering their assistance—secretly of course, to avoid facing Zeus' wrath. Hermes was doing the most, helping with speedy communications between search teams and the camp, discreetly delivering drachmas for IM messages, making travels safer, and occasionally watching over Sally and Paul. Apollo helped as well by discreetly making sure the search teams were at good health. Artemis had it easier, sending her Hunters to search around. Hephaestus would send discreet messages to his kids via dreams; blueprints for tracking equipment and the like. Aphrodite would occasionally send her doves to go search out of the country. Even Dionysus and Hades were helping, and they weren't exactly known for caring about kids who weren't theirs.

A year had already passed since Percy disappeared off the face of the Earth. No ransoms have been made, no bodies have popped up, and her spirit hasn't entered the Underworld either. Whoever was keeping her, they were keeping her alive and they weren't interested in making exchanges. Percy was Poseidon's greatest weakness. If someone wanted to bring Poseidon down, using his daughter as leverage was the best way to do it, and yet no one was threatening him with Percy's life.

They had no motive, and the only lead they had—Morpheus—had turned up missing.

"...What exactly do you want me to do?" He asked her, not yet accepting, but not outright refusing either.

"I will have Morpheus help you reach Percy through your dreams." Hera explained.

His eyes widened in alarm. "Hold on, Morpheus?! He's the one we've been suspecting! Why—wait, you're the reason he's missing?"

"Morpheus has nothing to do with the girl's disappearance," she sighed, waving a hand impatiently. "But he will be useful for my plan. When he was accused of Percy's disappearance, I took him before Poseidon could wage war against him. He's agreed to help me, now I just need the two of you to work together."

Grover narrowed his eyes. He couldn't help but feel something was amiss. "You know something, don't you? About Percy's disappearance? You know more than the rest of us, and yet you're hiding it. Why?"

"I can't tell you my reasons until you agree," Hera's eyes flashed. "But if you do agree to help, then you must swear on the River Styx to never utter a word of what I'm about to tell you. And I must also inform you that once Percy Jackson is rescued, I will have to erase your memory of this ever happening."

His jaw dropped in disbelief. "Erase my—?! Seriously?! Why is that necessary?!"

"Because this is bigger than us, foolish goat!" Hera snarled.

His eyes widened in astonishment. Gods were arrogant and narcissistic, and Hera was the literal Queen of them. To hear her admit to something being 'bigger' than her was enough to render Grover silent as it dawned on him how serious this truly was.

Whatever had happened to Percy, it had even Hera worried.

"I have one more year left to find Percy Jackson and bring her back," she went on. "And if I fail, then we are all doomed. So will you help me, or not?"

He swallowed thickly, and nodded without hesitation.

"Okay. I'll help you," he said at once. "Now tell me everything."

‧₊˚✩彡𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟‧₊˚✩彡๋ ࣭ ⭑ ࣭ ⭑

Adamas was pretty sure the brotherly bond between Hades and Poseidon was nonexistent at this point, and he didn't know who to side with.

On one hand, yeah it was pretty fucked up for Hades to kidnap Percy, curse her to stay in Helheim forever, and marry her without Poseidon's permission—even going so far as to go behind his back and have a god from another Pantheon officiate and create the marriage bond.

But on the other hand... Hades was his favorite brother and he deserved Percy a lot more than Poseidon did. Poseidon may be a decent father now, but he wasn't exactly Father of the Year during the earlier days of raising Percy. Hades had adored her since day one and never once caused her to cry and run away to a different realm.

But this is the first time Poseidon's ever cared about someone... Adamas thought, gnawing on the inside of his cheek. BUT he sucks... Dammit, this is too hard. I'm indecisive.

"She can't just be gone," Hades muttered worriedly. "I don't understand. What the fuck did Loki do?"

Hades, who usually spoke so eloquently that foul words weren't necessary in his vocabulary, was now cussing without restraint.

It had been two months and neither of them had stopped looking for her. They were pretty sure they had already scoured Helheim twice already, and yet there was no trace of her to be found.

Poseidon let out a growl of frustration and slammed Hades against a rocky mountain.

"This is all your fault," he spat.

Hades shoved him away. "As you've told me hundreds of times before."

"Because it's the truth!" He yelled. "This never would've happened if you hadn't been so selfish—"

"—Selfish?!" Hades roared. "I have lived my whole life giving you everything! Everything! When you are the one who has lived selfishly, brother!"

Adamas frowned, glancing back and forth between them. "Guys—"

"—This isn't about that! This is about you stealing my daughter when you knew how I felt! You betrayed me!" Poseidon shouted back. "She was supposed to be mine! My wife! My Queen!"

"Then you should've married her first," Hades hissed, eyes glowing. "Instead, you fiddled with your fingers and did nothing until someone else swooped in and took her hand in marriage before you could. Blame me all you want for acting on my desires, but it is not my fault you were too slow to act on yours."

Poseidon's clawed hand was wrapped around his throat in an instant.

"I will never forgive you for this," he seethed.

SCHICK!

Adamas appeared in-between them once more, swiftly slicing Poseidon's hand off just like he had done to Hades before.

"Enough you two," he said sternly, glaring at them both. "You two can kill each other later, but right now we got a kid missing here, and I wanna find her first. Now are you guys gonna focus or not?" He demanded.

As angry as he appeared, on the inside, he was worried and anxious. Two months have passed and Percy was nowhere to be found—which should've been impossible.

They spread their consciousness throughout the realm, but nothing came up. Cerberus had been sent to sniff her out, but he came back with nothing. Hades' Furies had been searching from the skies, but no news. They had even asked other gods for their assistance but no reports have come up.

Smell, sight, aura, hearing, it was as if any mode of detecting her had completely been deleted. A while ago, there had been a single occasion where they managed to catch a short blip of her presence somewhere in Helheim, but it had vanished as fast as it appeared.

The only thing they knew was that she was here in Helheim, which was a given since Hades had literally trapped her here (which was something Adamas wasn't exactly happy about either).

"Fine," Poseidon muttered. He gave Hades one last hateful glare before finally backing off. His hand slowly started to regrow back.

Hades straightened up without another word, looking away from the blonde.

Adamas sighed hopelessly as he watched them. He wondered if he should just ditch them and try to look for his niece by himself. These two were too busy arguing and trying to kill each other instead of actually being of use, and he was getting sick and tired of having to play peacemaker.

Plus, the last thing he wanted Percy to see was her father and uncle fighting when they were usually on such good terms. Seeing how they were now would probably just make her feel more like shit.

"Do you guys... think she's staying away intentionally?" He spoke up. "Like, maybe she doesn't wanna be found?"

Poseidon tensed up, stabbing him with a cold glare. "Of course not," he said quickly. "She must know I'm here. Why would she want to hide away from me? I understand why she would be avoiding him, though." He scoffed at Hades' direction.

Hades rolled his eyes at the comment and looked back at Adamas to say, "Let's not make assumptions now."

"I'm not," Adamas said seriously. "I think she doesn't want to be found."

He may not have had Percy for long, but he liked to think that he knew her well. And if there was one thing he knew about her, it was that she never stuck around when things went to shit. When Poseidon had made her cry, she snatched the first opportunity to leave and stay elsewhere that was safer for her—his place.

And now, well, he was starting to paint a picture of what had occurred. Hades had not only forced her to swallow twelve seeds of a cursed pomegranate—cursing her to remain in Helheim for all of eternity—but he also forced a marriage bond upon her. If he had to force one, then she clearly never wanted to be married to him in the first place. So when Loki came to her rescue (and he still had no clue how the god even knew) and teleported her away, she probably used that chance to get into hiding and stay hidden.

She was probably scared out of her mind, and the only plan she could come up with was to hide—an understandable thought process given that she was just a child, but to a billions of years old god like him, who was her uncle, he knew such a plan was reckless. She couldn't hide forever, and the wrong god or monster might find her before they could.

"Don't be ridiculous," Hades forced a chuckle. "It's too dangerous for her to attempt such a thing. A god must be hiding her from us."

"..." Poseidon just remained silent.

Adamas turned away, feeling bad for the both of them. For Hades, it probably sucked to hear that his own wife and niece wanted to stay away from him, to hear that he had messed up yet another marriage. For Poseidon, to hear that his own daughter wanted to hide from him must hurt too.

...This is so shitty, he thought.

"Come on," he muttered, unable to even look at them. "Let's keep looking."

‧₊˚✩彡𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟‧₊˚✩彡๋ ࣭ ⭑ ࣭ ⭑

'Go west' he said. Well he should've specified how far west! Percy repeatedly cursed Ra out in her head as she kept marching on.

She had left Anubis' palace at 3 o'clock in the morning and had been 'going west' for who knew how long now!

"Dammit, Ra," she growled under her breath. "This is ridiculous...!"

"It's Ra-Horakhty."

"Whoa!" She nearly jumped five feet into the air.

She whirled around and there he was, arms crossed and glaring at her in a way that reminded her of Ares when he was about to pummel her or when Mrs. Dodds about to deliver her an F- math exam.

"You're late," he said, scowling.

"I am?" She shuffled guiltily. "What time is it?"

"It's 5:04 AM," he scowled. "I told you to meet me here at 5."

"Oh my gods," she rolled her eyes. "It's only four minutes. And you weren't exactly specific either! All you said was to go west! That could be anywhere!"

His eye twitched. "When a god tells you what to do, you listen without complaints. Is this how you are with every god you speak with?"

"Your eye twitches a lot, you know. You should get that checked out." She pointed out.

He heaved out a sigh. "You're as bad as Zeus. Are you sure you're not his daughter instead?"

Usually, being mistaken as a daughter of Zeus would've given her cardiac arrest from the disgust alone, but the Zeus of this universe was awesome in her opinion, so she saw it more as a compliment.

"You're trying to insult me, but jokes on you, my uncle's actually cool," she harrumphed. "Unlike you. Loser."

"Oh forget it," he rolled his eyes. "Come. I'm taking you to the bifrost."

The ground underneath her disappeared for a fraction of the second before it reappeared again, this time, in an entirely new area.

The bifrost in Helheim was like a darker picture of the one in Valhalla and Midgard. In Midgard it was located far up in the sky, almost completely obscured by the clouds. In Valhalla, they casted an immense darkness while here in Helheim, they emitted an iridescent light—kind of ironic since anyone would've expected the opposite.

But despite that, the one thing they had in common were the gates. It was always the same one regardless of the location; a pair of large double-doors with intricate engravings on them.

"Well?" Ra said impatiently. "Go on."

She didn't move. Her eyes immediately glanced back, searching for Anubis' palace in the vastness of Helheim. She couldn't see it anymore. She thought about Anubis and Kebechet, probably still asleep in their bedroom, expecting to wake up and see her first thing in the morning only for her to be gone. She thought of Anubis and the heartbreak he would experience, the betrayal he would feel towards her...

He'll probably hate me once he realizes that I left, she realized, and the very thought crushed her.

Anubis wasn't okay. And he had hurt her by tricking her into marrying him and even worse, hiding the fact that he could've freed her from Hades' curse in the first place. She felt betrayed too, and the worst part was that she still couldn't bring herself to hate him. A part of her actually longed to go back to the comforts of his palace. To just go back to him like everything was okay again.

...Gods, I think I really do have Stockholm Syndrome, she thought, shuddering.

Ra was getting more impatient now, his glare more intense as he waited for her to make her move.

She took a tentative step forward.

She was about to step into the bifrost and leave for good, but stopped and turned around to face him, unable to hold it in anymore.

"You could've done something." She said.

"Excuse me?" He narrowed his eyes.

"You could've done something," she repeated, more firmly this time. Her eyes were a sea of emotions. "You said it yourself that you noticed that something was wrong with him eons ago, but you did nothing."

His eyes flared. "I'm not that brat's keeper—"

"—You're supposed to be his family," she said. "You knew that he was having issues with his mother abandoning him when he was a baby, you knew that he was kidnapping girls and forcing them to be mothers and wives and killing them whenever they fell short. You knew all of this, for years, and did nothing. You just left him alone and let it all fester and fester until he became this!"

"Don't you dare lecture me on my Pantheon when your own is just as messed up as mine!" He snapped.

"Oh, sorry for not being born trillions of years ago!" She snapped back. "I've only been here a year, I'm trying, okay?! But you! You had forever ago! The fact that you're only helping now is because you don't want any issues with my Pantheon makes it even worse!"

She stepped closer to him, jabbing a finger at his bare chest and ignoring the way her skin hissed and sizzled at the contact. She couldn't feel the burn anyway, and she was too angry to care.

"And they're not just your Pantheon, they're your family!" She blew up. "Stop talking about them like they're your business partners or whatever! They're your kids! Your grandkids, and great grandkids! And your nieces and nephews! What is it with you gods and how you treat your families? Why do you always have to be like this to each other? Family isn't supposed to work this way!"

She was so sick of this. Even back home, the gods never acted like a proper family. She remembered Ares' words back when they first met during that awful quest to retrieve Zeus' lightning bolt: "Olympians fight. We betray. We backstab. We will push anyone down a flight of stairs to get ahead."

They were so divided, so focused on their pride that they were willing to hurt one another, willing to stomp on their own kids if it meant protecting their pride. They weren't a proper family.

Don't get her wrong, she knew many gods weren't like that, but in this universe, where this sort of system had been in the works for billions upon billions of years and even longer for some gods... Percy was beginning to feel that same hopelessness from before.

The smoldering anger in Ra's eyes faltered slightly, and she wasn't sure but it almost seemed like he was seeing her in a whole new light.

"You... you care about him, don't you?" He asked knowingly.

"This isn't just about him," she scoffed bitterly. "But yeah, I do, ugh... I don't condone what Anubis is doing... but you could've helped him. You... could've reached out. Anything. And maybe he wouldn't be the way he is now."

She sniffled a little, feeling a familiar sensation building up in her eyes and inwardly cringed in shame. Oh great. She was crying now. Just what she needed.

She wiped her face and turned away, not wanting Ra to see her, though she knew it was pointless.

"Forget it," she muttered. "I'm going."

She started to walk into the bifrost.

"You think too much like a human," Ra called out to her, and she paused. His voice was hard, but it didn't hold the same animosity anymore. "You are not divine enough. This... this is just how gods work. Learn to think like one of us, and it won't hurt as much."

She turned around and gave him a disappointed look. "...Is this your attempt at making me feel better?"

"No," he replied. "This is me telling you the truth."

She frowned and shook her head. "I will never be like one of you."

"Then you have nothing to expect from this life other than pain." He said coldly.

Her frown deepened, but she said nothing else. Wordlessly, she entered the bifrost and disappeared.

‧₊˚✩彡𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟‧₊˚✩彡๋ ࣭ ⭑ ࣭ ⭑

She hadn't really been thinking of a specific location when she used the bifrost—which was probably not the right way to use it. Her only goal was to find somewhere safe, so when she stepped out of the bifrost, she wasn't expecting to fall right in the arms of...

"Artemis?" Percy blurted out.

"Percy?" Artemis' moon-like yellow eyes gazed down at her in astonishment. "Wha—what are you...? Where did you even come from?"

The goddess carefully set her down.

"I... I used the bifrost," she answered, looking around. "Wait, where am I?"

Percy knew she was at least in Valhalla because she doubted Artemis would ever step foot in Midgard. But where in Valhalla, she had no clue. All she knew was that she was in a gorgeous forest clearing.

There was fresh and bright green grass under her feet and just a few meters away was a glistening blue pond where she spotted a herd of deer chilling alongside the edge. This must be a campground too, but it wasn't like the typical camp you'd expect, but a grander, fancier one. Elegant tents were set up, opened for everyone to see the interior. She could see tables of food in one, antique chaise in another, and one tent looked to be dedicated to holding just books. Beautiful nymphs were all over the place, relaxing in tents or tending to the deer. Some looked at her curiously.

"You're in my camp," Artemis told her. "Percy, our family has been quite worried about you. I heard you've been missing in Helheim."

She grimaced.

Artemis' eyes softened, sensing her discomfort. "Why don't you come sit with me and explain everything."

She led her to one of the tents that was overlooking the pond.

They sat down on a comfy looking mat. Artemis handed her a goblet of tea. Percy had no idea what kind of tea it was, but just the smell of it was enough to ease her nerves. She took a careful sip and shot her cousin a grateful look. This was some good tea.

"Now," Artemis began, brushing back her midnight blue hair. "Why don't you start from the beginning. What happened after your wedding?"

Percy froze. "Y... you know about the wedding?"

"Yes, I do. Everyone knows, actually," she said carefully, gauging her reaction. "After you disappeared during the wedding night, Hades sent out an alert. That was when we learned that you married Hades and became the new Queen of Helheim."

Percy's shoulders sank. This was a nightmare. The last thing she wanted was for everyone to know that she was now married to her uncle.

"I didn't want to marry him," she said stiffly. "He—he forced me."

Artemis nodded in understanding. "I believe you."

Percy fought back the urge to cry. "Two months ago, my dad left to go to a meeting. It was only for Supreme Gods or something, so Hades was supposed to be there. But he came to Atlantis instead. And... and he kissed me. I didn't realize what was happening, but he managed to force twelve seeds of a cursed pomegranate down my throat. I was dragged down to Helheim." She said miserably.

Artemis straightened up at that, but let her keep speaking.

"Then we got married. Hera, Persephone, Demeter, and Aphrodite were all there. Hera even brought this god from the Chinese Pantheon, Yue Lao."

"The binder," Artemis realized. She was able to put the pieces together quickly. "Yue Lao used his red cords to tie you and Hades together, making you eternally husband and wife..."

"Exactly," she said grimly. "And he didn't need my father's permission or anything. I guess he found a loophole..."

"What happened next?" Artemis asked gently.

"We were gonna consummate the marriage," she continued on, swallowing thickly as unease coiled in her gut. She remembered Hades touching her, remembered how much she enjoyed it, and felt like hating herself all over again. She refused to talk about that. "We were interrupted. Hades had to leave the room, and that was when Loki came. He teleported me away just as Hades returned."

"And that was how you escaped."

She nodded. "After that, I didn't really know what to do or where else to go. But I didn't wanna go back. That was when I ran into Anubis."

"Anubis?" Artemis cocked her head back in surprise. She wasn't expecting the Egyptian Pantheon to get involved.

"Yeah. I asked him if he could help me hide somewhere and... and he said he would hide me in his home." Percy took a big gulp of the tea to calm herself down for the next part.

"Is that where you've been this whole time? You've been staying with Lord Anubis? But how did you remain hidden from everyone?"

She weakly lifted her arm to show off the bracelet. "This hides my presence," she explained. "It keeps me from getting detected. Loki gave it to me just before he sent me away."

Artemis made a noise of understanding. "And so you remained in Lord Anubis' palace for two months, undetected by everyone."

"Yes," she said quietly. "And for a while... everything was perfect. It was just me, him, and Kebi. It was so nice..."

Artemis frowned. There was a faraway look in the young girl's eyes that made her concerned. "Percy...?"

She took another sip. "I met his family. And then I met Ra. That was when everything started falling apart. He told me the truth; that Anubis had tricked me into marrying him from the very beginning. When he first asked me to accept staying with him, that was him trying to trick me into being his wife. I said yes, and now..."

Artemis' jaw dropped in shock. "Percy," she leaned forward, her voice lowering to a whisper. "Are you telling me that you are now married to Lord Anubis of the Egyptian Pantheon?"

She nodded. "Yes..."

"Who else knows about this?"

"No one else, except for his family. I don't know if the whole Pantheon knows though."

"You are now married to two gods."

"Yeah..."

"Two gods!"

"I know, you don't need to remind me..." She groaned, taking another sip of her tea.

She was so fucked. She wasn't even eighteen yet, and now here she was, the child bride to two powerful gods from different Pantheons.

She wished she could go back in time. Go back to the days when the war was over and all she had to worry about was what extracurricular class she should pick for her junior year of high school. Or prepping for the SATs, or wondering about what college she should go to.

She didn't want to be married against her will. This was not the life she wanted for herself, the future she had dreamed of. None of this was fair.

"Ra told me something else," she muttered. "That curse Hades gave me that would've trapped me in Helheim for the rest of my life? Anubis could've undone it all along. He—he hid it from me, made me believe that I could never be free, all because he didn't want me to leave him."

But I guess he was right to worry, she thought numbly. I left him in the end, just as he feared.

Artemis could tell that there was more to the story, her gaze quietly asking for more information, but Percy didn't want to tell her about Anubis' other issues. That was a private matter, something other people didn't need to know about unless he wished for it.

"I managed to get him to undo the curse," she sighed heavily, thinking back to the pain in his face and the agony in his voice when he begged her to stay. She thought back to the kisses they shared, but forced herself to stop. "Then I left." She finished dully. "Ra took me to the bifrost and now here I am."

"...What will you do now?" Artemis asked quietly.

"I don't really know what I'm even doing anymore," she confessed, her voice small. "I just... I don't want to be married. I want to get away from everything. This... all of this is just too much for me."

I want to go home. I want to go home. I want to go home.

Pity was written all over Artemis' face. As a protector of girls and maidens, she was always attuned to the hardships of women and girls, and even with Loki's bracelet hiding it all away, she could tell that Percy was in desperate need of help.

"I can no longer sense you, but you are still a maiden, are you not?" Artemis asked.

She nodded, blushing at the question.

"It is my duty to help maidens, so naturally, I will help you," Artemis smiled. "You are welcome to stay in my camp. I will tell no one of your existence here. The only ones who will know of you being here are I and my nymphs. Stay as long as you need."

"...I really don't want to trouble you." Percy said unsurely.

"This is my duty, Percy, and it is a duty I have fulfilled for millennia." Artemis stated. "Please, stay and I will keep you safe."

"Uncle Hades and my father might be angry at you if they find out that I've been with you," she pointed out weakly.

She shook her head. "I do not fear their wrath. My father and brother will stand by my side."

She could feel whatever was left of her willpower already crumbling. She was just so tired now.

"...Okay," she agreed.

For the next few days, Percy's stay at Artemis' camp was uneventful, but that was just the way she liked it.

Things were peaceful, and she felt a hundred times safer with Artemis and her group of nymphs out here in a tranquil forest surrounded by nature and wildlife.

It was... simple and good.

Percy spent her time helping other nymphs tend to Artemis' precious deer (with Artemis even stopping to teach her how to properly do it), collect flowers and weave jewelry with them, and swim around the pond.

She was starting to feel better already now that she had nothing stressing her out. Who knew touching grass could do such wonders for her mental health!

"Are they hunters like you?" Percy asked curiously one day when helping Artemis cook some meat.

"Hmm?"

"Your nymphs. I notice that sometimes you leave to go on hunts, but everyone else just stays here," she said.

"Some come to assist me in my hunts," Artemis replied. "Why do you ask?"

She blinked. "Huh... I dunno, I always just assumed you had a group like... the 'Hunters of Artemis' or something."

The goddess snorted in amusement. "Let me guess, you got that from one of those weird books of yours, huh?"

"Yeah," she said sheepishly, though that was a lie. She was just curious about the differences between this Artemis and the one from back home. "So, you really don't have a group of girls that you grant immortality to in exchange for being loyal to you?"

Artemis burst out laughing. "What? How silly, I would never grant anyone immortality. No, dear one, back when I still lived in Midgard, I accepted all girls and women as long as they were maidens in need of protection. Nymphs were already immortal, but humans, naturally, were not. But I would never grant them immortality, and I do not require some... vow of loyalty."

Percy looked up from the meat she was seasoning to listen intently.

"So... what happens when they start to get older?"

"They leave," Artemis answered simply. "Most leave once it's time for them to get married."

Her jaw dropped. "And you let them? Just like that?"

"Yes."

"But aren't they marrying men?"

"Of course."

She stared at her, stunned. "...And that's totally fine with you? I thought you would've encouraged them to swear off men or something..."

Another laugh. "Nonsense! Percy, women and girls are welcome to join me if they need my protection. But I would never make them... 'swear off men'," she snorted. "I am a virgin goddess, but that doesn't mean my followers should be as well."

"The book made it seem like you and your followers hated men..."

"I do not," she shook her head. "And neither do my nymphs. We are cautious of them, yes, and for a very good reason, but they come to me for protection and nothing more. In fact, I've had some men join me as well."

"Really?" She was awed.

"Mmhmm. Orion, Scamandrius, Hippolytus, Daphnis—he was great with panpipes, by the way—Euthynicus, and Amarynthus," she sighed fondly. "Amarynthus was very devoted and fond of me, but he made the grave mistake of proclaiming me greater than your father, Poseidon. He was so furious he drowned him for his hubris. I honored him by turning him into an amaranth flower, which I then made as one of my sacred flowers."

She winced. Yeah, that sounded like something her crazy dad would do.

"That's cool—not the part about the dude dying, I meant everything else you just said," she corrected.

If the Hunters of Artemis were anything like this back home, then maybe she would've actually accepted Artemis' offer to join them years ago. She didn't have to become immortal, didn't have to swear off men, didn't have to worry about turning into a jackalope for liking a guy... In here, it was just girls protecting other girls. Yeah, she would've much preferred it this way.

"Dinner is ready!" Artemis announced, putting the finishing touches on the meat.

With a grin, Percy joined the other nymphs in eating the hearty meal she and Artemis had worked on. They ate, talked and gossipped, and even danced around the fields without a care in the world. It was so nice and carefree. Devoid of stress and paranoia where she didn't have to worry about roaming hands wandering too far in places they shouldn't go, uninvited kisses, and filthy words that filled her with shame.

It was just her, nature, and a bunch of amazing girls.

I can live like this, she thought to herself as she settled down on a soft cushion that was her bed. Other nymphs joined her inside a tent while Artemis stayed outside, humming a beautiful melody that quickly put her to sleep.

The next day, she woke up to whispered voices and the sun shining through the gap in the tent flap.

"Percy?" Artemis' face came into view.

"Morning," she croaked, but something felt wrong. Her body felt... off.

"Percy," Artemis looked strangely worried. "Gods, you're finally awake. Are you okay? We've been so worried..."

"What's going on...?" She murmured, trying to lift her hand up, but even that felt like a chore.

Her body ached in protest as she lifted up her hand to stare at it. Visibly, there was nothing amiss, but she could see her hand trembling just from how hard it was to keep it up. She let it fall, hissing in pain when it landed on the softness of her cushion.

"What... why...?" Clarity started to creep in the more awake she became. Her whole body felt wrong and she didn't know why.

Artemis' face was grim. "Percy, you've been asleep for a week. I couldn't get you to wake up at all. You're afflicted with... with something, but I don't know what."

It soon clicked in her head what was going on. Her soul.

Oh no... she stiffened in fear. It was starting.

"You are unwell," Artemis said worriedly. "This is beyond my area of expertise. Forgive me, but I must call my brother." 

— author's note —

I gave up on waiting for ror to show us Artemis. I don't think it'll EVER happen, so I decided to finally describe her physical appearance. She's got midnight blue hair and yellowish eyes that are like the moon.

Also, she's a bit more similar to her myth counterpart in here. Idk, I didn't like Rick's version of the Hunters of Artemis, I'm sorry 😭 There was no official group, but she did have followers, HOWEVER, they were a group focused on protecting women and girls and Artemis never granted them immortality or enhanced abilities. Rick made them look more like a childish anti-boys club 😭 With them, it wasn't about protecting women and girls, it was just a group of preteen girls joining to get cool powers + immortality and go "ew boys suck!" 💀

Memes from xaniqlo:

Memes from i-have-homework-but-i-still-here:

Picrew of Percy's babies by lilith-rosebelle! In order it's Percades baby, Beelcy baby, Poki baby, Anuby baby, Posy baby, Perpollo baby, and Sécy baby:

Continuation of QinZiYan Love and Deepspace Percy!MC: