A/N: Hi guys, here is the first chapter to my second story, duh. Anyway he may have saw this chapter in my story Love of Artemis. There are some modifications to the end of this chapter but otherwise mostly the same. Okay so this won't be like my other story when I said that you can choose the pairing but then I chose it. Sorry about that… but I promise that you guys can choose the pairing this time. I guess PercyxThalia? Or… PercyxZoe? Anyway you choose just no gay pairings, I just do not feel comfortable writing those.

Percy POV

"Bring the firewood over here Perseus," I grumbled as I brought all the firewood I collected toward the campsite. Out of nowhere a foot shot out making me trip and fall to the ground. There were snickers and laughs coming from the people around me. I glared at the person next to me who was whistling innocently. "Fool! Are you so pathetic that you can't even walk over your own two feet without falling!" A woman's voice sneered.

I slowly tore my glare away from the person who tripped me to the woman who said those words. Artemis… my mother. I was the product of her and Orion. She has hated me with all of her guts but kept me around for a slave to her hunt. It didn't help either since my father was a rapist and murderer. Even Artemis's brother can't look at me without shooting a look of disgust. I have lived with the hunt for hundreds of years with partial immortality, stuck at age fourteen Every time a hunter died she would blame it on me. I honestly did not know how much I could take.

"Pick up the firewood you useless boy!" Artemis spat. I dutifully gathered the firewood that was spilled everywhere and tossed it into the fire. "Anything else you require… mother?" She glared at me. "Is this how you address a goddess? Your own mother?" She leapt forward swept me off my feet before nocking an arrow toward my face. "It has been hundreds of years and you still haven't learned to bow in front of a goddess!" She grabbed my arm and pulled me up before slapping me across the face which sent me sprawling into the dirt. I could hear the hunters' laughter as I spat a mouthful of dirt out.

I slowly rose to my feet and glared at Artemis who had a smug look on her face. "Now bow!" I slowly went down on one knee and kept my head down low. Keeping my voice low I asked her my question again. "Yes… my hunters and I are rather hungry and we decided that you shall hunt our food for us since we are rather busy." I gave an inward snort as I knew that she basically meant that she and her hunters were going to come up with more plans to make my life an absolute hell.

I nodded and grabbed my bow that was slung across my back. "No," Artemis said sharply. I stared at her in confusion. "You will not hunt our dinner with a bow… but rather with this…" She held up a pebble which made me groan. "How do you expect me to catch us something with a rock?"

"Useless male, you disgust me. Only a true hunter would be able to use anything as a weapon of mass destruction. Don't expect to cheat either like you did last time or you would face an even worse punishment!"

I winced at the memory and my hand unconsciously moved to my chest where a batch of fresh scars where located. I had gotten them just two days ago when I disobeyed Artemis's orders and decided to use my bow to hunt dinner. Artemis threw the pebble to me which I caught before trudging into the forest. "Do not take too long!" Artemis called out from behind me. I growled and started walking faster as the hunters laughter echoed in my ears. I quickly climbed up a tree to search my surroundings for any sign of life.

In the distance I noticed a small trail of smoke rising in the air. I glanced toward the sky where I saw the moon shining down on me. I scowled at the sight. Personally I preferred Apollo any day compared to Artemis, even though he wasn't much better since my looks constantly reminded him of Orion. I quickly leapt across the tree tops toward the smoke. When I reached the area I noticed a group of mortals laughing and toasting marshmallows.

From the looks of it they seemed to be one big happy family. I watched wistfully as a young boy no older than five cuddle up with his mother who stared at the boy lovingly, planting a kiss on his forehead. 'Stop,' my subconscious said. 'Walk away, you cannot hope for something that you cannot have. You must walk away for this is only painful to watch.' 'What can be more painful than this? I have no family. Watching this should be no big deal.' I thought. 'You crave for this. Deep down you want to be accepted but you know that you would never be accepted due to who your father is. Everyone was disgusted by your father and his actions. Then when they look at you… they see him… they see Orion.'

I turned away and leapt back into the forest.

I searched around the forest until I came to a cave. I silently crept inside to see a bear snoozing in the back of the cave. I quietly picked up a sharp rock from the ground and crept over to the snoozing bear. Right when I was about to stab its eye with the sharp rock, the bear's paw swept to the side and knocked me over. Its eyes quickly opened at the first sign of contact and let out a loud roar.

"Who dares enter my cave and disturbs my sleep?" The bear growled. I attempted to blend into the shadows but the bear's beady eyes landed on you. "Human! You dare creep on me when I was sleeping?" "I mean no harm," I said raising my hands in defense. Very quickly I slipped the pebble and rock into the sleeve of my jacket so the bear wouldn't notice them. "I shall kill you where you stand!" The bear roared before charging at me with claws unleashed.

I swiftly dove to the side so that the bear's claws only nicked the side of my leg. I rushed to my feet as the bear growled and charged at me again. 'The bear is too big to fight in this tight space… maybe I could use this to my advantage,"

I rushed toward the bear and dove to the side, pulling out my rock and swiping across its side. The bear looked confused for a second on what hit him before staring at the rock in my hand. The bear began to shake. At first I thought it was having a seizure before I noticed it was laughing. "Puny human, you think you can kill me with just a rock?" I scowled before rushing toward the bear. The bear immediately took a defensive stance but I anticipated the move by climbing up the side of the cave wall and tackling the bear to the ground.

I slashed at his chest with the rock making him howl before shoving a pebble down its throat. The bear kicked me off of him before scrambling to the back of the cave, choking on the pebble that was stuck in his windpipe. I charged him again and slid underneath the bear, stabbing it right in its throat with my rock. Its eyes bulged out of its sockets before slumping toward the ground dead.

I pulled the heavy bear out of its cave before climbing up a tree to determine my position. When I located the hunters camp I jumped down and heaved the bear's giant paw over my shoulder and dragged it toward the campsite.

When I trudged into the clearing I fell to the ground wheezing at the sheer weight I pulled through the forest. A couple of hunters walked toward me and sneered as they stared at me before rushing off to tell Artemis I was back. "Maybe I should have done something to keep me from coming back to this hellhole." I said to myself.

I watched as Artemis walked over and stared at me and the bear before rolling her eyes. "It took you this long to kill a bear? You must be weaker than I thought." She snapped her fingers making the bear disappear in a silver mist. "Wash up, you are serving dinner tonight." I grumbled before dragging myself toward the lake. Right before I could take a step into the lake a spout of water splashed into my face. I whipped the water from my eyes and glared at the two giggling nymphs. "Leave!" I ordered.

The nymphs paled and disappeared. I quickly stripped before diving into the lake. The lake bubbled angrily at my presence immediately after I dived in. "Yea… yea I know but I just need to rinse then Ill be off." The lake bubbles quickly died down. I quickly grabbed a shampoo bottle from my cloak and poured it on me, giving me a minty kind of smell. After rubbing my entire body with it I quickly doused myself in the lake before walking out clean. I pulled my clothes back on before jogging off to the campsite.

"Well? Hurry up boy! We are starving!" I quickly handed out dishes of the bear meat for everyone before coming to the last dish that was reserved for me. All it had on it was a half cut sandwich with a slice of ham and cheese. I quickly wolfed it down before tossing the dish into the tent. "Perseus, remember you have to stay and wait for everyone to finish before cleaning their plates." "Yes mother," I spat. I sat in the corner of the tent as the hunters conversed and laughed like a big family, a big family which I was not a part of.

My mind floated back into my memories to where I saw the child cuddling with his mother. I imagined that the boy was me and the mother was Artemis. Then I pictured the father as an older version of me who was holding Artemis's hand lovingly. Finally I pictured all the hunters laughing and playing. Everything was perfect until one by one the hunters slowly began to disappear, leaving my father, Artemis and me. Then my father slowly disappeared leaving me and Artemis before Artemis finally disappeared.

I watched as I began to fall down an empty black void screaming out for anyone to help him. "This is you… everyone has left you alone. You are on your own with no help." A voice said. "You will never be accepted, never…" The last word echoed throughout the void. "PERSEUS!" I snapped out of my imagination to find Artemis staring at me angrily. She smacked me across the head before shoving a stack of plates into my hands. "I said your name three times already! Pay attention next time!" I nodded and quickly ran into the tent and dumped all the dishes into the sink before I began to wash them.

"I don't want this life… I never chose to live this life. So why do I have to deal with all of this?" I murmured to myself as I scrubbed the dishes. "I don't think I can handle this any longer… treated like trash all the time…" I tossed the dish to the cabinet before grabbing the next dish. "Maybe I should run… leave the hunt…" 'If you abandon the hunt what do you think will happen?' my subconscious asked. "I don't know… they would probably say good riddance and then complain about useless males which I am after all."

'You are not useless… the hunters and your mother are just too blind to see your potential. You should find someone that sees you for who you really are.' "Yes…" I said, "What has my mother and her hunt ever done for me? Except make me work like a mule?" 'That's right, they have done nothing except hurt you or humiliate you. How are they even family after all these years? How is Artemis even family?' "She's not…" 'That's right, does she even care about you? Worry about you? She doesn't give you the time of day. In a way she thinks you are just like any other male out there.'

My body began to shake in anger. "She doesn't care about me at all… she wouldn't even care if I was dead…" 'Well are you just going to stand there and take her and the hunters crap the rest of your miserable partially immortal life or are you going to teach everyone that has wronged you a lesson? Poseidon doesn't like you due to your father when you have done nothing to him. Same for the rest of the Olympians, they look at you like you are scum because of your father.'

I slammed the dish down on the ground and stormed out of the tent. I headed over to my tree where I usually slept sine the hunt was never even nice enough to offer me a tent and packed up everything.

I then headed to the medical tent and packed as much ambrosia and nectar my backpack could hold. When I exited the medical tent I was confronted by two hunters.

"Zoe, Atlanta," I said acknowledging them. "What do you think you are doing?" Zoe spat. I raised an eyebrow. "I am leaving," That seemed to shock them for a second. "Afraid not, we need a servant for the hunt." Atlanta said sniffing her nose. "Honestly woman, find someone else. You are hunters are you not? Surely you can manage simple day to day tasks." Zoe glared at me and raised her hand to smack me. As she swung I threw my hand up and caught her by the wrist before swinging her into Atlanta knocking her out.

I pulled out my dagger and held it out defensively. "You dare…" Zoe spat as she eyed my dagger. My silver eyes burned with rage as I stared at her form. "I do dare and you would be wise to let me pass." "Your mother will punish you severely!" Zoe yelled. I glared at her, "I hardly consider her as my mother after all she has done to me. Honestly what have I ever done to you hunters? All of you judged me because my father was Orion. When I was born all of you hated me. I never had a motherly or fatherly figure in my life. I just had crap dumped on me over and over after I was born."

I took a deep breath trying to calm down. "You let me go or I will tell everyone your parentage." Zoe paled, "You… you wouldn't." I kneeled down until my mouth as right next to her ear. "Oh I would, and I wouldn't feel sorry at all. Now run off with your little friend." Zoe crawled backwards before grabbing Atlanta and rushing off to Artemis's tent.

'Well, if only you knocked her out we wouldn't have to rush our asses out of here,' "Shut up," I told my subconscious. Before hefting my backpack up and jogging to the edge of the clearing.

I looked back at the camp and watched as the hunter rushed to the front of the medical tent looking around for me blindly. I then saw a slivery aura from within the hunters walk toward the front of the medical tent with her eyes wide in anger. I quietly retreated into the forest as I heard Artemis's words echo throughout the entire woods. "Find him and bring him to me!"