Author's Note: This is my first time writing a fan fiction, or a story for that matter, so I know that I won't be the most experienced writer, nor will I have the most interesting story and as such, I'll gladly take both praise and constructive-criticism alike. This is my take on Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson series, starting from The Mark of Athena. Hope you enjoy!

Full Summary: Despite the combined efforts of both Greeks and Romans, the seven heroes have been broken. The Great Prophecy has failed. Gaea has awoken and begun her assault on Olympus. The Titans have risen, the Mist dispersed, and the world, including the realm of mortals, was shaken asunder. Percy once again finds himself stranded on Ogygia but Calypso, along with her invisible servants, are nowhere to be found. As he heals and regains his strength, many others, as well as a certain someone, find their way to the island. The remaining forces of humanity, demigods, and Gods alike pool their powers together in a last ditch attempt to reclaim what was once their reality. Will they have what it takes to salvage the Great Prophecy... and the world?

Genres: Action, Fantasy, Romance, Supernatural, Tragedy | Fiction Rating: T, Suitable for teens, 13 years and older, with some violence, minor coarse language, and minor suggestive adult themes.

Chapter VII | Artemis

In the following days after Percy's disappearance, Artemis had circled the island three more times. At first, she'd predicted that she'd find him within minutes- she was the Goddess of the Hunt after all. As the days passed he still didn't turn up, she'd become more and more worried, anxious for the safety of Percy. As one of the only two inhabitants of Ogygia, and her... friend, she admitted begrudgingly, though she'd never admit it to Percy, it was no small matter that he'd just up and vanished. She'd sensed nothing on the day Percy had left to gather fruit, partly, she believed, because she'd been lost in her thoughts but also, some small part of her worried- what if whatever, or whoever, had captured him was just that powerful? To be able to hide their presence from a God... she shivered. If that were the case, whoever it was, they were powerful. Much more powerful than she- that much she was certain.

As the moon rose on the fourth day, she found Percy half-submerged in the pond besides the garden. Artemis had just walked out of her cave after changing her bandages when she'd caught the scent of the sea. Instantly, she'd known it was him despite the fact that the beach was right in front of her. The scents of demigods were different from that of nature. Mortals usually could not discern between the two, but for a God, the difference was was like night and day. Ignoring the pain in her side, she ran swiftly, following the smell of the ocean until she found herself in the garden. There, she'd seen Percy's still form drifting face-down on the surface of the pond. In a panic, she had quickly dived in and pulled him out, only to sheepishly remember he was the son of Poseidon. He could breath underwater. Well, at least no one had been around to see that. No one conscious anyway. She examined his body. No wounds as far as she could see, and she was not going to check under his clothes. He'd have to do that himself and for that-

-some vigorous shaking and face-slapping later, he groaned, rolled over... and threw up. She wrinkled her nose. She hoped it hadn't been her fault he'd vomited. Percy got up slowly, as if his joints were stiff and looked around. He doesn't seem to realize how long he's been gone for, she thought, annoyed that after all her efforts, for all that searching she'd done, he'd just simply appeared in front of her like the day he'd gone missing.

She studied him. He seemed... older. Just where had he been? What had happened to him? Then Percy gasped, like he'd remembered something important. With a stony face, Percy told her that something was coming. According to him, it was much more powerful than her, powerful enough to swallow a... deity? An odd choice of words, Artemis observed. She ignored it for now, they had more pressing matters.

"I believe you."

"You- you do?" Percy asked, sounding shocked.

"How long have we been on this island together? I know you wouldn't joke about this."

"Oh... yeah... right."

Artemis rolled her eyes at his intellectual response, but inside, she felt like a huge burden had been lifted off her chest. She'd never admit it to his face, but she'd been very worried for his safety. It was a huge relief that he'd returned safe and unharmed- though he seemed to have brought a problem back with him. Right, Artemis though. Back to the issue.

Percy continued, telling her all he knew about the monster- which wasn't much. He avoided any details that would give away where he'd been the past three days though, much to her frustration. She thought they'd built a trust... had that all been in her head? Shaking her head, she pushed her feelings aside. It was a distraction.

"Just how close is this... monster?" she asked.

Percy looked troubled and replied, "I don't know. All I know is that it's stronger than us and we don't have much time." After a moment, he cautiously said, "Just a thought, but maybe we could... run? You're a God right? Can't we get past the island's barriers?"

In her head, Artemis quickly assessed the situation. With the small amount of information she had, she couldn't make a confident decision on whether retreat was the better option. For all she knew, Percy's predictions were correct and they had no chance in a straight encounter with the monster. She couldn't deny that even she'd considered the idea- which surprised her because she was the Goddess of the Hunt. A hunter shouldn't run from their prey- that was what she'd always believed, but right now, she thought otherwise. Her nerves were firing warning signals all over her body and she trusted her senses- after all, she was a hunter and hunters always trusted their senses. What if, in this case she wasn't the hunter... what if she was the prey? That could mean that staying would ultimately lead in their demise. However, despite these thoughts-

"No. We stay."

Percy was taken aback. "We're going to... fight it?" he asked, his voice going up an octave.

"Leaving the island is not an option. You told me when I first arrived on Ogygia that Gaea hadn't found you yet. You assumed it was because of the island, and I believe the same. The island's borders must somehow be hiding us from her sight- we cannot risk leaving and being found by her. Though a Goddess, I am still injured and you are demigod. Even with the limited information we have on this monster, it would be foolish to consider Gaea as an alternative."

Percy's expression darkened when Artemis mentioned Gaea and his fingers twitched towards his pocket. He was clearly struggling to maintain his cool and Artemis watched him quietly. She knew how Percy must feel for Gaea and her forces- they'd caused the death of Annabeth and all his friends aboard the Argo II. His rage and bloodlust was a natural response to his grief, boosted even more so because of his fatal flaw, unwavering loyalty to his friends. Sometimes, Artemis sensed that part of Percy's hate was not just directed at Gaea, but also towards himself. It was as if he blamed himself for being unable to save everyone. It was naive in her opinion, there was no way he could have done anything against Gaea's army, but she understood it all the same.

After all their time together on the island, Artemis had gradually learned to read Percy's mask and now she studied his face. He almost looked like he wanted to charge off the island that instant and challenge Gaea. He was blinded by his rage, a fatal state for a demigod to be in. She leveled a cool gaze at him, a silent warning. Now was not the time for that.

Slowly, Percy managed to reign in his emotions and his shoulders sagged. He knew she was right- there was no way they could defeat Gaea, just the two of them.

"However," Artemis amended, "I guess we can leave retreat as our final option- a last, desperate attempt for survival should this battle with the monster fail."

He nodded, "That's... fair. If it comes to that, I think I can get us away- I mean, I am the son of Poseidon after all."

Artemis tilted her head to the side, asking Percy a silent question if he was alright. Slowly, he nodded. He would be fine- at least for now. Now she knew how he'd act in front of Gaea should they ever be so unfortunate to cross paths with her- his murderous aura earlier was a testament to that. Somehow, she'd have to keep the two separate. If Percy was to ever heal his heart, he'd need time- peaceful time away from Gaea and her forces. This island could see to that. They just needed to beat this monster.

"Now with our final option aside, we'll need to think about strategies to beat this monster," Artemis announced.

"A defensive perimeter?" suggested Percy.

"Yes, but given the time frame, we won't be able to build one around the whole island."

That was a big problem. They didn't have the luxury of fortifying the entire island, it was too large for that and it would be a time-consuming process, not to mention extremely tiring work. The monster could show up as they were building and catch them completely by surprise- no, if they were to set up any defensive measures, they'd need to at least know where and when the monster would attack. They couldn't leave the island's borders to scout the area outside or they'd be vulnerable to the eyes of Gaea. If only there was a way...

As if reading her mind, Percy said, "I can figure out where it's coming from. I'll ask the sea- I bet something has seen the monster somewhere."

Of course. He was the son of Poseidon. He could talk to fish, dolphins, horses... she'd completely forgotten.

"Alright, I will leave that to you. In the meantime, I will see if I can modify the island's barriers. Maybe I can alter its properties to harm those trying to come in."

Percy nodded. "We have a plan now, but Artemis, you should rest before you start on that," he said, glancing at her side.

Artemis looked down and realized her body had been sagging. The pain had sprung afresh once the relief of seeing Percy back safely had faded. The three days she'd spent searching for Percy had no doubt made it worsen and the wound felt like it was on fire. Annoyance blossomed in her chest. Her pride wanted her to deny that she was in any kind of pain, a hunter should never display weakness- but thankfully, her logical side won over. She would need the rest in order to heal. Her injury already lowered her physical abilities significantly and facing the monster in an even worse state was just asking for death. She buried her irritation and tried to think of it from another perspective. He's just worried for me, just as I was for him when he'd disappeared. Surprisingly, she felt a little better.

She nodded, "We'll start tomorrow. For now, we'll both get some rest and have an early start in the morning." It was still a few hours from sunrise and the moon's cool rays illuminated the garden. Once again, Artemis was reminded of the beauty of Ogygia. She never got tired of the view, even after how long she'd spent on the island. She felt a personal affinity with the nature here and it made her determined to protect it.

Back in her cave, Artemis found herself pondering over her decision to stay. Even now, she still wasn't sure if she'd made the right choice. While she'd made an impressive display of confidence for Percy, that had only been to put his mind at ease. Now that she was alone, her confidence wilted and in the oppressive silence of the cave, a dark voice kept taunting her, laughing at her, saying she was leading them both to their deaths. Turning to her side, she tried to push the voice out of her head. Recently, she'd noticed she kept thinking negative thoughts and it was slowly eroding the faith she had previously had in her decisions.

Trying to convince herself, she muttered, "This is fine. This was the right choice," but even though she herself was a Goddess, Artemis found herself uttering a silent prayer to the heavens- a desperate plea for their survival. Only silence answered.

Chapter Note: Sorry for the late update, but it's going to take some time for the next few releases because this is the starting point for some major changes that will be taking place in the story. I've done a bunch of editing- I cut out some parts, added some more, and did a whole bunch of tweaking to the details and such, all of which takes a lot of time. Like I promised, the general premise of the story will remain the same, but at the same time, it will be a largely different story from here on out- it's hard to explain, but you'll see. See you soon.

PS: If you want to check on my status, go to my profile page. I'll make sure to update it when I'm active, inactive, or on a temporary break so you'll know if and when I won't be writing.