AN: So, to those who have visited my website (linked on my profile) recently know I have a few projects waiting for my attention.
This is one of the few I have been contemplating for over a year now. It's finally being posted, and here is the first chapter. Again, like my other stories, I don't know how often I'll update. My main focus is on The Sea's Daughter, Reborn of Fire and One More Day currently. But I will update again when I can, probably soon as I have the second chapter written it just needs typed out.
So enjoy.
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The Fates Chosen
Chapter 1: She's Gonna Run.
August 17th, 2002:
Artemis was young when she first ran away from her neglectful and abusive relatives. She hated them and she usually wasn't one to hate anyone. Not without good reason. It wasn't like it was one sided though, she knew they hated her as well.
They were the epitome of a bland and boring family. They made no secret of how they felt about her, and her aunt often ranted that her freak of a sister (adopted thankfully, she would rave) had died and left her freak daughter on their stoop. More rants were on how her mother was so arrogant as to name her daughter after a supposed goddess.
Artemis was too young to really know why her aunt enjoyed these rants, half of which she could barely make out. To her they were nothing more than a waste of breath, and Artie really couldn't bring herself to care. As she grew up around her relatives she learned when to pick her battles and when to seethe inwardly. Blissfully ignoring them and their words, doing the chores they assigned, and avoiding any physical punishment they sometimes thought she deserved.
She couldn't help it if strange things happened around her. She didn't mean to short out the electricity with the sparks she generated when upset. She didn't even know how she'd possibly accomplished it. She hadn't meant to draw peoples attention with her intelligence, pretty long hair, or nearly ivory skin.
When she was allowed out of the house she often got compliments on how she was such a cute little girl, her eyes being so exotic, and hair so long and wavy. She thought these people were weird and needed a hobby if they had nothing better to do.
She personally thought her hair was common. Many people had dark wavy hair. Her eyes were bright blue with flecks of gray, but nothing too uncommon in her mind. Her aunt had blue eyes too, even if they were far different in shape and shade.
There was also teachers who thought she showed promise, if only she worked a little more with her reading they said. She couldn't help that she was dyslexic and had ADHD; just another complication for her relatives to rant and rave about. She was five, nearly six, when she ran away the first time only to be returned the next day. Maybe it was for the best, seeing as when she ran again two years later she was attacked by a vicious dog. At least she thought it was a dog at the time.
When she was nine everything changed. She'd ran away again, but this time she covered her tracks better. Thought everything out multiple times and made sure she had everything she might need. she didn't really have much in the way of possessions, but she'd packed away what she did have and stolen some nonperishable foods from the kitchen. She didn't want to return to her Aunt and Uncle's care, not again. She'd be damned before she did.
She hadn't expected to end up chased by vicious dogs, and a man-monster with a creepy french accent. She was in London at the time, three days after she'd left her relatives behind. By then she was out of food and her bag had been stolen from her - not that there was anything in it but a small notebook she used to draw, two pencils, a box of crayons, and a spare set of hand-me-downs.
Eventually she gave her pursuers the slip and ended up following an oblivious family of blondes into a pub; The Leaky Cauldron. She made it into a strange alley, which she thought at first was some medieval fair come to London, as if guided by a voice.
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Dear Artemis,
Obviously, if you are reading this letter, left in the trusted hands of the goblins, than my fears were well founded and James and I are dead. I had little doubt something like this could happen. After all I never trusted that rat, even before I married James.
This is all beside the point. I don't know how old you'll be when you receive this letter, but I assume you're at least eleven by now and probably headed off to Hogwarts. If not, and by some cruel twist of fate you don't know, than I will explain; you're a witch. A true, honest to the gods, witch. Blessed by mother magic herself just as I was.
You are much more than that though. You are a Half-Blood, a demigod. Born of a mortal (or in rare cases a legacy or another demigod) and a god. You're probably wondering how that could be possible if you're anything like me. I wondered the same thing when I was told.
I'm a demigod as well, though I'm a special case. I was not born of a god and mortal, I was born of two demigods. They gave me up when I was born, not only because they felt they were too young at the time but for my own good. Demigods don't commonly have long lives, few make it to twenty-five, and it's rare for them to have children because of this. Especially if they have a strong demigod scent.
My grandparents were quite unique; my maternal grandmother is Persephone, and because my maternal grandfather was a demigod my maternal great-grandmother is Athena. My paternal grandmother is Aphrodite so you have quite the heritage no matter how distant it is.
All of this means you and I are the legacies of three powerful goddesses. You're in even more danger than I ever was, because you are the daughter of a powerful Greek god. I will not reveal who, I'll leave that for him to reveal once he claims you.
I met your father before I married James, and at the time we weren't even together anymore. Some complications had come between us, and instead of continuing to fight we agreed it was better we take a break. Both of us wanting to figure out who we were, and who we wanted to be in the future despite the war at our doorsteps.
To be completely honest James and I didn't marry out of love, not at first. We married as a way to protect me throughout the war against Voldemort, and when I found out I was pregnant with you it was to protect you. I'm a Muggle-born, which technically means you're a second generation Muggle-born.
People assume James and I married right out of school, so no one was surprised when it became public knowledge we were married. We did date for about a year and half before we graduated, but we didn't actually marry until nearly two years later in January of 1993.
As I've said, I did love James it just wasn't the love that led people to being married happily for eighty years before dying of old age surrounded by grandchildren. We broke up after graduation for many reasons. The biggest of which was his inability to have children, something we both wanted. When he found out I could tell it tore your step-father's heart in half. When we were together we'd discuss a future together, back before we began having problems in our relationship. There were other issues, but in the end there was just too much to try fixing.
I soon returned home to my adopted parents and sister, who'd recently married a man I didn't really care for and in all honesty I was surprised he was who my sister had chosen. She was usually very picky even over the simplest of things. It wasn't long after this I took a vacation to America in search of my biological parents. What I found was a world of supposed mythology.
I was introduced to the camp in New York briefly. Being eighteen I didn't wish to stay, and my scent while potent as the legacy of three goddesses, wasn't unmanageable. It helped I lived in England my whole life, there aren't as many monsters in England because of Olympus being centered with Western Civilization in America now days.
It was during my time in America that I met your father. I think my being a legacy of three goddesses, two of which were Olympians, caught his attention. Along with my beauty (though I've never tried to be anything more than pretty), something I'd inherited from Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty.
I was stubborn at first. I denied his advances for months once I realized who he was, unknowingly falling for him over time, until finally I agreed to go on a date and see what happened from there. Over the next year and a half I fell in love and became pregnant with you.
I returned to England not long before I found out and reconnected with James. He told me everything I'd missed since my absence; how Voldemort had been gaining more and more support, everyone we knew who had lost their lives to him or disappeared - possibly joined the dark side.
I also learned that during my absence my parents had been killed in a random Death Eater raid. I was hurt I hadn't been contacted, but my sister... well, Petunia never forgave me and I doubt she ever will.
James and I married before my twentieth birthday. I know I've said a lot, but I don't want you to think James and I were unhappy. In the end we did reclaim our feelings for each other, rekindling what had once been a dying spark, and that was thanks to you in many ways. We couldn't have children together and that was one of the biggest objects between us during our previous relationship.
Don't think I didn't love your father too, I did, but mortals and gods can't be together. It was expected I move on. I haven't completely, I doubt I ever will. Know that James loved you as much as your birth father does. He adopted you upon birth, which is why you have his surname and are the Potter heir, even if only by magic and adoption.
Your birth father couldn't stay, as I am sure you're wondering why he abandoned us. The ancient laws forbid the gods from raising their mortal children. He does care for you, for us. I think leaving was one of the hardest things he's done, but he had no choice.
Now that that's been said there is just a few things you need to know. The bracelet that came with this letter is a gift to you, from myself, your father, and grandmothers. It once belonged to me, but two of the charms are recent additions for you. In time you'll learn how to use it to its full potential. Artemis, the point of this letter was to explain to you certain situations that I can never tell you in person, though I wish I could.
You need to be careful, especially now that you know of your heritage. I have no doubt your scent is strong being his daughter and a legacy of three. Go to America, to New York. There you'll find somewhere to grow strong and call home. A place for demigods like you, Camp Half-Blood.
Good luck, Artie,
Your mother (Lily Clio Evans).
Artemis lowered the letter to her lap while quickly wiping a few tears away. She hadn't cried in years and she really didn't want to start now. She sat in front the goblin responsible for the Potter and Evans accounts.
Almost as soon as she'd arrived in Gringotts he'd requested to see her.
She hadn't expected to be given a letter from her mother. She'd gone her whole life believing the lie her aunt told her about their death, but in one letter she found a whole new reason to hate her relatives. She had proof that her mother and step-father were not drunks who died in a car crash. What she found hard to believe was the fact her father was a Greek god of all things. That she was a witch, and apparently smelt of monster catnip.
It did explain a few things though. The vicious dogs and other monsters that chased her towards The Leaky Cauldron. She wondered, did that count as good or bad luck?
"Are you alright, Ms. Potter?" Silvertongue questioned and Artemis nodded after a few seconds.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just shocked," she said. "America, Camp Half-Blood... do you know how I'd even get there?"
Silvertongue nodded.
"Yes, your mother left this for you. It's a Portkey keyed to take you to Long Island, just outside the camp borders. It may not be exact, but she said you'd know where to go by the strawberry fields."
Silvertongue handed over a charm bracelet with a few different charms; a lightning bolt, a pomegranate, a Greek coin with the symbol of Athena on it, and a dove. It must be the bracelet her mother talked of in her letter. She wasn't sure about the latter but she'd bet the lightning bolt was one of the charms added at her birth. Ironically it reminded her of the scar on her forehead, her hand going to brushed against the oddly raised scar before dropping back to her side.
"It will activate when you put it on. I recommend returning to Muggle London to do so."
She nodded.
"Is there anything else?" she asked.
"Not as of now. You are still too young to enter the Potter vaults or the Evans Vault. You must be eleven before access is granted to your trust vault, and seventeen before you have full rights to enter and remove any objects, large amount of money, or precious gems from the Potter Family vaults, as is the age of maturity among wizards."
Artemis nodded and stood, bowing lightly to him.
"Thank you, Silvertongue. You've been a great help."
Without much more than a nod in respect she was dismissed. She turned and left, leaving the way she'd entered. The entire time she kept her scar hidden with her hair. The likely hood of being recognized was little, they were probably expecting a mini-clone of Lily or James. She didn't stop walking until she was back in Muggle London.
She found a park and sat on one of the vacant swings. The fact it was a vacant park wasn't surprising, it was around three in the morning after all. She knew there was a five hour difference between England and America, so it was probably around ten at night in New York (don't ask her how she knew, it was probably something she read somewhere or heard her relatives talking about).
She fiddled with the bracelet in her hands as she thought about everything she'd learned. Just thinking of what to do from here made her head ache. She had to do something though. Should she go to this camp now or wait? Her mother said it was safe, and she didn't particularly want to become monster chow.
She was hesitant though, how could everything her mother wrote about be true? Sure she believed that James Potter wasn't her biological father, why would her mother lie about that, but to believe that her father was a Greek god? It was almost asking too much, but at the same time it explained a lot. She just wasn't so sure she could accept the knowledge of higher beings, if it was true why hadn't her father ever helped her?
A god couldn't send a message to their child? Nothing long, just a single sentence to let them know 'hey, I know I'm a dead beat dad but know I'm aware you exist'. Hell, her mother had sat down in the middle of a war and practically wrote her two pages explaining the basics of to who, why, and how she'd been born. Loopholes were there for a reason and she believed some rules were meant to be broken.
Then there was everything she'd just seen; witches, magic, and wizards... it was almost as hard to accept as gods existing. At least she'd seen proof that magic was real, and it explained so much about the odd things that happened to her and why her aunt hated her so much.
Jealousy.
Petunia was envious and holding onto a grudge that spanned nineteen years. It was sad that even after her little sister's death (adopted or not) she still couldn't get over the fact Lily was a witch and she wasn't. Artemis snorted and shook her head. If Petunia had reacted so badly to not being magical, how would she react to knowing Lily was the grandchild of three goddesses? That she'd had a relationship with a god?
It was really a no brainier; the perfect, normal, Dursely's wouldn't accept something so abnormal.
'I guess I have nothing to lose by trusting mom. If magic, goblins, and whatever else I didn't see can exist... than why can't the Greek gods?' Artemis thought.
She didn't get the chance to decide. Her mind was made up for her when she heard the growl of what she now knew was a monster and not just a random rabid dog. From what she knew of Greek Mythology it was a hellhound, the only type of monster dog she knew of other than Cerberus.
Quickly she pulled the charm bracelet onto her right wrist, and just before she disappeared she heard and felt the hellhound attacking, ripping into her back.
Artemis screamed and in the next second she was gone.
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When she found herself on the ground she was somewhere completely different, a long dark stretch of road laid before her. Worst of all the hellhound had tagged along for the ride. It had been thrown about a foot away from her when they landed and was far more disorientated than her, but she still had to move quickly. Knowing her luck it would find a friend.
Sluggishly at first, Artemis stood and noticed it was raining harshly only a moment after she realized her back was bleeding fiercely, the rain and blood making her t-shirt, jeans, and hoodie (clothes which she'd stolen off a clothes line during her time on the streets) stick to her body.
She moved as quickly as she could. She could already see the 'pick your own strawberries' sign from here, and Artemis knew she wouldn't be safe until she got there. The hellhound was still behind her and she ran as fast as she could. Lightning flashed overhead, thunder cracked every now and then, and rain poured in quarter size droplets. Her hair and clothes were beginning to soak through.
She was at the base of the hill now, and looking behind her she wished she hadn't. The hellhound now had a large club wielding Cyclops friend. She cursed her luck, or lack there of. How had he gotten there without her noticing? He didn't look like a monster who could move all that stealthily. Had he just been lumbering close by waiting for a demigod to appear, or was someone really out to get her?
She couldn't help but feel like someone out of a horror movie, running for her life up a hill during a thunder storm. It wasn't easy either, the rain made the ground slippery and muddy in places - the tall grass didn't help anything. The good thing was the monsters had nearly as much trouble as her, but they still had an easier time of the hill.
Artemis slipped easily, struggled back to her feet and tried to run at the same pace as before. Halfway up the hill she tripped again, and as she went to stand and continue up the hill, her leg was grabbed by a set of sharp teeth. The hellhound's mouth fitting around her calf like a bear trap, and she screamed at the pain of teeth sinking into her leg.
Thunder and lightning boomed, and a lone bolt struck from the sky to the monster as she twisted around on the ground, hands flashing towards the dog in an attempt to fend it off. She felt her hand spark and then the lightning struck, reducing it to gold dust. Artemis didn't have time to breath a sigh of relief, or wonder how she'd managed to bring lightning down on the monster – if she had been the one to do it.
She had other problems to worry about. The Cyclops had finally gotten up the hill, catching up with her and the now dead hellhound. She scooted back, or tried to. Her leg was making this hard to accomplish. It looked and felt like it had been at the mercy of a meat grinder. Her back wasn't much better, but she suppressed the pain as well as she could while she moved. She wasn't going to die here!
The Cyclops swung his club down at her and she acted mostly on instinct, rolling to the side and out of the way. As she rolled her hand snagged on the lightning bolt charm on her bracelet, and when she rolled back onto her side a spear replaced the charm in her hand. She looked in shock at the long spear for a second, but knew there wasn't time to marvel at it.
Artemis pushed up from the ground using the spear to help her stand on her weak leg, ignoring the searing pain. She was startled to feel a pulse from her hands into the ground itself. Moving with all the speed she could muster with a busted leg she tried to put more distance between her and the angry Cyclops.
She was beginning to feel hopeless and afraid, and she tightened her hold on her spear. She wouldn't give up! She readied herself to fight, only to be shocked when the ground shook. A low rumble came from the earth before roots grew from it, wrapping around the Cyclops' feet and legs.
"Chiron, she needs help!" Artemis heard someone yell over the thunder.
The spear keeping her steady on her mangled leg, easily a foot or two taller than herself. The Cyclops finally pulled one of it's legs from the roots holding him still and she knew this was her only chance. She shot forward and buried the spearhead into the struggling Cyclops' eye and brain; it crumbled to dust. Artemis backed her way up the remainder of the hill with wide eyes, practically limping because of the pain that shot through her every time she moved. She forced herself to bare it.
She'd always thought she had a high pain tolerance thanks to the times her relatives felt the need to get physical with her punishments, but they'd never been as bad as what she'd just gone through. Bruises in places the school and neighbors wouldn't easily notice, and sometimes a split lip or bloody nose when Dudley and his gang caught up to her in their favorite pastime of Artie Hunting.
After she'd defeated the Cyclops and was sure nothing else was coming up the hill at her she went to turn around and face the top of the hill. She was close to the large Pine tree she'd seen through the rain. Before she could there was a hand on her shoulder and she nearly jumped a foot in the air. She turned as fast as she could and found herself looking into stormy gray eyes.
They belonged to a girl not much older or younger than herself. The girl was easily a few inches taller than Artemis, who was small and stood under five feet.
"Thalia?" the girl asked nearly too low for her to hear.
The blonde began to blur in and out of her vision. She heard more people approaching from behind Annabeth, and even saw them when her vision went in and out of focus. A pair of arms wrapped around her waist to keep her standing, arms which didn't belong to the gray eyed girl. She must have lost a lot of blood from how she was feeling now that the adrenaline had started wearing off. It was no surprise she could barely stand.
"Arte...Art..." she tried to correct the girl who'd called her Thalia, only half aware of the boy holding her steady.
It was useless trying to stay conscious and she fell limp, her eyes rolling into the back of her head.
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Annabeth and Luke had been the first to reach the girl fighting her way up Half-Blood Hill. She was only about a third of the way from Thalia's Tree and the boundary line. Annabeth had seen her kill the Cyclops chasing her, and she'd assumed something else had been to if her mangled leg and back were anything of a give away.
The spear she held had disappeared, probably back onto the charm bracelet on her right wrist once she was past the boundary line. She was about her age, maybe a little younger with how petite and malnourished she looked. A catching lightning bolt shaped scar was on the left side of her forehead, but while raised it didn't look fresh. She had long black hair (or what looked black currently, but it was wet so it might have been a really dark ebony brown).
Once close enough to the dark haired girl who was still backing up the hill, as if she was terrified she'd be attacked if she turned around, Annabeth's eyes widened. The girl had bright familiar eyes. They were Electric Blue and she had a barely noticeable spray of freckles along the bridge of her nose.
Annabeth thought she was looking at a ghost. She almost thought the girl was Thalia back from the dead. She soon realized that while Thalia and this girl shared similar features it wasn't Thalia in front of her. The girls hair was too long, she was too young (eight or nine, like Annabeth).
One of the biggest differences was the facial shape. It wasn't as round, but more heart shaped and her eyes were not pure blue like Thalia's. Her eyes had flecks of stormy gray. They were a lighter, but still just as bright and electric, blue.
"Annabeth, we have to get her to the infirmary," Luke said, realizing and understanding why she was so shocked. The girl he held up really did look like Thalia at first glance, he'd bet anything she was a daughter of Zeus as well.
"Luke is correct," Chiron said. He came to a stop beside Annabeth. She hadn't even noticed his arrival. "Luke, carry her with you to the Big House. We must hurry."
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Athena smiled as she sat back in her throne.
"She made it," she said, a sigh of relief echoing.
"She's going to be powerful," Zeus said, smiling proudly.
"With her heritage it's impossible for her not to be," Athena reminded. "Lily was also powerful in her own way. Artemis already shows some ability from Persephone. Makes me wonder what she picked up from Aphrodite and myself."
"Why, her beauty of course!" Aphrodite exclaimed, beaming happily. "She seems to have your intelligence as well, Athena. Stubborn as well. Oh, I can't wait to mess with her love life. She'll be a heart breaker for sure, like her mother and grandfather."
While Athena and Aphrodite discussed their mutual granddaughter, Zeus let himself feel relieved for his daughter's safety. Even as young as she was, she already looked so much like her mother, but with his coloring and and some of his features.
She had her mother's almost ivory skin tone, though hers tanned where as Lily burned in too much sunlight. She had also inherited the stormy gray coloring mixed with her eye color, much as Lily had – though her eyes had been a bright emerald green with stormy gray flecks. Being legacies of Athena both had inherited the gray flecks in their eyes from her, though Artemis' were more apparent because he too had gray in his predominantly electric blue eyes.
Zeus couldn't claim to be parent of the year, far from it, he'd already failed one daughter the year before. He was busy and commonly strict, he didn't have a great deal of free time. That didn't mean he didn't care for his mortal children, he'd simply never been the greatest at showing he cared. Thalia and Artemis were his favorite demigod children in centuries, and there mothers had a special place in his heart as well. Lily more so than Beryl, but he had loved both in his own way.
He was relieved he wouldn't lose another daughter so soon after Thalia. He was also relieved Artemis was out of the Dursley's house (Lily's dreadful sister's family). That was a family not likely to leave his domain alive; along with that fool, Dumbledore.
"Zeus, are you listening?" Aphrodite asked, breaking him from his flighty thoughts.
"Hmm?"
Athena gave her father a concerned glance before asking, "We asked when we should claim her? I believe the sooner the better. She needs to take her training seriously, once her heritage is known completely she may have one of the most powerful scents of any demigod to date, aside from Perseus, Theseus, and Heracles."
Zeus nodded.
"Hecate had also wished to take Artemis as her champion, since she is already a wand-user thanks to her blessing," Athena reminded. "She'll be a great hero one day."
It would be interesting to see just what she inherited from her godly relatives. She probably wouldn't inherit much, Persephone, Athena and Aphrodite were distant relations. Artemis being a third generation legacy in Athena's case, and a second generation legacy in the case of Persephone and Aphrodite's. She was the first legacy in the Greek camp in a while though.
She had already shown some affinity for chlorokinesis from her relation to Persephone, which made sense. Persephone had the most active abilities for her to inherit compared to her other two grandmothers (though both Aphrodite and Zeus had limited ability for chlorokinesis, which helped explain the strength she had for the ability). She also showed an affinity for his abilities, such as the lightning bolt she'd called down to kill the hellhound. Time would tell if she had any ability with wind.
As Aphrodite had stated before, it was obvious she had inherited her natural beauty and intelligence from herself and Athena. While he hadn't known Lily's birth parents to say for sure, he did know Lily and she'd been a powerful demigod and witch. If she'd had more time to train, and live in general he had no doubt she'd have been a truly powerful demigoddess.
"When she wakes up we will claim her," Zeus said, and the two Olympian goddesses flashed away after nodding in agreement of the plan.
Artemis Kore Potter would wake up four days later.
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EDITED: 11/21/15.