Percy Jackson, the embodiment of hope.

Chapter 24: How do the Hunters feel? (Tartarus and Erebus suck.)

Artemis POV:

I leave Percy behind and shoo my hunters through the cabin connecting door, hoping to get back to my cabin so as not to raise suspicion.

Until I realize that I had already basically told Annabeth of my relationship with Percy.

Great.

As much as I would love to be able to just be with Percy in the open, I have a reputation.

And a father who doesn't particularly like my boyfriend.

The Hunters all sit on their cots. Some cross their arms while others raise their eyebrows.

"What?" I ask.

"Care to explain what that... interesting interaction you had with Annabeth was?" Thalia asks.

I blush. "I'm the goddess of maidens. If someone wants to lose their maidenhood, I can sense it, and who they want to... do it with."

One of my younger hunters, Holly, nods. "And?"

I clear my throat. "Annabeth wanted to lose-give her maidenhood to Percy."

Atalanta uncrosses her arms. "So you... what? Marked your territory?"

I nod. "Yes. That is... um... yes, that's what I did."

Thalia's eye twitched. "M'lady, are you planning on giving Percy your virginity?"

I choke on air. "What? No, I-well, when married, I guess-but, no! At least... not anytime soon."

The Hunters nod. "Good," Thalia says. "Because if you do, you do realize that the Hunt would be disbanded, right?"

That hits me like a freight train. "Oh. Right. I... I forgot that Zeus set that specific rule."

Thalia nods again. "However... Percy likes us. I'm sure he could find a way around it."

Pheobe nods. "Percy will help. He loves all of us. Even if..."

Atalanta, who's next to her, puts her hand on her shoulder.

"Even if you don't think you deserve it?" She asks, finishing Pheobe's sentence.

Pheobe nods. We all stand up and hug her.

"I destroyed the last remnants of his family. Why would he just... forgive me?" She asks quietly.

"Because he loves you. He thinks of the Hunt as sisters, the same way many of you think of him as a brother. Or... did." I say.

Thalia starts to cry. "If it wasn't for him... Gration would have..."

The Hunt all sits on the floor, clinging to each other in fear. It's not like we could avoid reality.

"God's above," Atalanta says, tears in her eyes. "We would've been... we could've been..."

She chokes and stops speaking. I use my godly powers to calm them, slowly making them more tired.

"I swear to you, my Huntress's, that I will die before I let something bad happen to you," I say softly before my magic takes place, and they fall asleep.

I wring my hands and sit on a cot, wondering what I could do with the rest of the day.

And then I hear a massive boom.
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Excerpt from Percy's journal:

Alright, I have to write about Tartarus and Erebus now because they suck.

To preface: I hate both of them. But I'll get to why at the end.

Let's start with Erebus. He's the Primordial God of darkness.

Him and Nyx were friends for a long time, and from what her and Chaos have told me, he was good back then.

A nice, respectful, pretty down to earth dude. Then Nyx fell in love with him.

After their marriage, he realized the power he had over her, and he let the power go to his head. He makes bonds to gain power over people, simply for the rush of ruining them.

Nyx was stuck in a one-sided marriage for eons, sleeping and unable to escape, until me, Annabeth, and Akhlys accidentally woke her up in Tartarus.

As I wrote in a different chapter somewhere, I helped her through her divorce.

Erebus hates me. He doesn't do much, but if any primordials are likely to start fighting, it's...

Well actually it's Tartarus. But Erebus has it out for me. If he were to start a war, it would be simply to get to me.

He used to have a weapon, a black whip. When he changed for the worse, it left him and turned into the trident I now wield.

For some reason, he thought it would be a good idea to use Octavian for his uses. Unluckily for him, Octavian was a coward who gladly gave his life.

Still wish that could have gone differently. Octavian was a jerk, but he was used by Erebus. No one deserves that.

Having a future teller on the team would have been useful, though.

Erebus doesn't do much. He mainly just sits in the shadows. He doesn't come to my Christmas parties, or my barbecues, or my food competitions.

The rare times I see him are the Primordial meetings, which haven't happened often.

In the 8 decades I've been gone from earth, I've only been to about 6 Primordial meetings.

In the last one, he had a new bodyguard who he doted upon, like an overlooking, gift-giving father. Except it was clearly a charade.

His bodyguard didn't respond or even speak once. Their mask was on, just like mine. They had an armored black bodysuit, bulky enough to not show any obvious physical traits.

I don't know who it was. All I know is that I was strangely drawn to them. But I had stuff to do.

Like figure out how to kill the Lornhon Pheonix.

Which I did. Darkfire is... something I hope never to use again. The visions though...

Anyway, onto Tartarus.

Tartarus is a sadist. The only reason me and Annabeth survived the trek through him was because he was slowly waking up.

Damasen and Bob are gone. At least for now, I have no way to save them. He flaunts that fact occasionally.

He showed up to a Christmas party once. He drew Pentagrams everywhere and tried to pull out Luke's heart.

Now he's banned from parties and has a Chaos-certified restraining order against him.

The Giants are a product of manipulation, a lust potion, and the trapping of Eros.

Gaea didn't want the Giants. She loved and still loves Ouranus, and truly didn't want to betray him.

Tartarus didn't care. He wanted her and Ouranus's relationship to take its final crash and burn, just for the heck of it.

He's the reason my family died. He killed Aether, which broke Hemera. He helped Ouranus down his path of greed. He used mortals as test subjects for... unusual demigod powers.

He's the reason 4 of my team members died.

I hate him. When he inevitably starts a war, I will personally drive my trident through his chest.

Or I'll give Hemera the honor. Who knows.

But when he attacks, Erebus will likely work with him. It's easier to piggyback off of a powerhouse when you're a manipulator.

Erebus will fall by my bare hands.

Erebus destroyed Nyx's mental state for centuries. He manipulated Eros into his capture at the hands of Tartarus. He used his family and children for his own gain.

But that's not why I will destroy him. No, the reason is worse.

He took my sister.