Chapter 15: The Great Mistake

So ffn readers, hehe, funny story. Remember how I was in hospital this week for overdosing on prescription meds? Yeah, I'm back in hospital but this time with my twin sister. I'll briefly explain. So on Friday night my twin and I went to a party and stupidly took ecstasy, and long story short I fell off the roof, gashed my arm on the slide, hit my head on the pavement and fell into the pool n almost drowned. I went to hospital with a linear fracture in my skull, a long cut from my bicep to my wrist, and a fucked up knee, I don't even remember what's wrong with it.

At the hospital, my twin was still intoxicated, and she got in a heated argument with my dad. She ended up running outside, and after deliriously thinking I died, she threw herself in front of a car. She also got a linear fracture in her skull and she dislocated her elbow, but she's good now. Both of us should be fine but we're gonna be in hospital for a while, and to top it off we're going through the 'Suicide Sunday' phase from taking MDMA (The Great Depression).

Y'all are gonna hate me for this chapter but who cares.

Chapter 15: The Great Mistake

Artemis huffed as Selena climbed up onto her back and wrapped her limbs around the goddess, wanting a piggyback ride from her mama. She obliged and grabbed the young girl's legs to hold her up, proceeding to walk forward in the direction of her mind-palace, the home of Diana for 347 days a year, and the home of Artemis for 18 days a year.

Recently the palace had doubled in size as it was conjoined with a certain God of Heroes', as the now-dating-although-technically-engaged-anyway couple Perses and Diana moved in together with their surprise daughter Lunara, the Roman counterpart to Selena. She was the daughter of Perses and Venus, adopted daughter of Diana, and sooner or later Lunara/Selena would receive their domains and become the goddess of something.

They, or rather she, trudged through the dense forest until they came across a clearing where a large house came into view. It was silver and blue, Artemis guessed the paints had moved around so it looked decent when the palaces connected. The two made their way up to the front door and just let themselves in, knowing that Diana was likely unfit to attack them and Perses would check before swinging.

They walked around until finding the living room, and Selena was still clutched to Artemis' back like a koala bear. The scene they came upon was quite cute.

Diana and Perses were cuddled up under a blanket, she was wearing sweatpants and a grey shirt that was showing off her entire stomach and Perses was wearing a blue hoodie and likely jeans, she couldn't see under the blanket. Their eyes were glued to the tv which was playing some movie she did not know the name of.

Lunara sat on the floor in front of them, playing with Bionicles. "Lena!" She exclaimed, seeing the head of her best friend/sister/clone hanging over Artemis' shoulder. Perses and Diana both snapped their heads in her direction as Selena dismounted and slid on her knees over to Lunara. "Hi Daddy 2, hi Mama 2!" She said, looking to the couple on the couch. Lunara greeted Artemis with equal enthusiasm. "Hello other mama!"

Diana sat up, turning down the volume of the tv. "Artemis, we didn't know you two were coming by." She greeted and Perses waved at her. She waved back at her fiance's clone and looked Diana over. She was but a month into her pregnancy and thus had no curve to her stomach, but she had lost the toned abs that usually graced both goddess' stomachs, making her look skinny instead of strong and athletic.

Diana followed Artemis' gaze and looked down. "I know, I'm getting fat, it's depressing." She said jokingly as Artemis took a seat on the Lazyboy. "Nonsense, you look fine, you've just lost your abs is all." She told her truthfully.

Diana nodded. "It's hard to do pull-ups everyday when they make you feel like the baby's gonna fall out right then and there. How've you been?" She asked her Greek counterpart. Artemis sighed.

"It's been good, though not much has happened since you guys were last out. As you can tell, Selena was a godling this whole time and shat out a Roman version of herself, probably not literally." She said, looking over at the identical girls. She'd have to keep track of which one was hers so she didn't return to Percy with the wrong kid.

"Yeah, I'm still so shocked at that. It took Percy years to sleep with Aphrodite, I still haven't slept with Venus, and then it turns out all this time Aphrodite had already borne him a child?!" Perses piped in from underneath Diana. The goddess in question slapped her fiance. "What do you mean still haven't? Do you plan on sleeping with Venus in the future?" She asked critically. Perses laughed and kissed her on the nose. "Never in a million years, moonlace."

"We're gods, dummy. Only a million years is hardly a comforting thought." She flat out told him, making Perses rethink his choice of words.

Artemis cleared her throat. "Anyway, aside from that, Percy and I have been on a few dates which were nice, this little monkey had her fourth birthday AND knocked her first baby tooth out on a sink at a dodgy restaurant." She said, nudging Selena with her foot. The little girl turned and grinned up at Perses and Diana, showing a gaping hole in her otherwise pearly-white chompers.

Perses raised his hand like a kid in school. "Uh, Perseus mind-messaged me asking what room a dinosaur would look good in, what was that about?" He asked, and Artemis chuckled lightly at the memory.

"Well I actually took Selena out on her first hunting trip the other day and... well, let's just say we didn't catch the pigs we were tracking." She laughed, rubbing the back of her neck. Diana looked confusedly between Perses and Artemis. "What? A dinosaur?"

"Well, it wasn't a dinosaur per say, but we found a particularly big and angry alligator. About 30ft?" She said trying to play it off as if it wasn't a big deal that they'd caught something akin to a monster that wasn't even myth-related.

Diana's jaw went slack, and she turned to Selena. "You caught that?" She asked in disbelief, and the little girl looked up at 'Mama 2'. "No, mama did, but I hit it!" She said excitedly. Diana had to laugh at that before the subject was changed.

"So how is the baby?" Artemis asked, her tone becoming serious. Diana leaned into Perses, her heavily-scarred light skin blending well with Perses' strong tanned body and she left the explaining to her boyfriend.

"Phoebus obviously hasn't seen us since we were out in the real world, but he said to see him the second we regain control tomorrow. I think the baby's good though, Di's throwing up a lot but from the movies I've seen I'm pretty sure that's normal." He told her.

Artemis sat back and sighed. "I can't believe I'm gonna be a real mother, and I didn't even have to lose my maidenhood or go through pregnancy. Hades, if you didn't wanna be a maiden you should have told me a long time ago, Di. This works well for both of us." She said, staring at her Roman form's stomach and smiled as she remembered that her baby was in there, or at least its Roman form. When it was born it would split into both forms and both couples would return home with their new child.

Diana just cuddled into Perses. "There's no one else I'd rather have given it up to, not even Perseus." She said, and the Roman god smiled and kissed his fiance on the head. Artemis fake-glared. "You better not have considered Percy." She muttered in a jokingly threatening voice. Diana just glared playfully from the blanket.

After an hour of talking, Artemis checked her watch. "Okay, Selena's got a checkup in ten, I'd better go." She said, looking up at the two gods. Diana nodded and Artemis nudged Selena with her foot. "C'mon, we gotta go." She told the girl, standing up. Selena nodded and bid her counterpart goodbye, also waving at her Roman parents and getting up next to Artemis.

She latched onto Artemis' leg playfully and the goddess of the hunt smiled down at her. "Have fun this week, you two." She said towards Perses and Diana, who both said their goodbyes. After a farewell hug from Lunara, Artemis flashed herself and Selena back out into the real world.

They arrived in the waiting room of Apollo's clinic, and immediately Percy was calling them over. He was sitting on one of those sponge seats that are covered in uncomfortable leather, and Artemis grimaced as she realised she'd have to sit on that for the next ten minutes.

Selena ran over to her father and latched herself onto his legs inside, and Percy smiled as he began kicking, flinging his daughter around in the process while she giggled madly. "Are we going to Uncle?" She asked, and Percy nodded. "Uncle Polly?" She clarified, bringing a smile to Percy's face. "Ya-huh. He's gonna make sure you're not sick and maybe he'll even give you a lollipop." He suggested, and Selena's eyes widened as she felt the distant scent of sugar on her tongue.

Selena loved sugar.

Artemis sat down and tried her best to make herself comfortable, crossing her arms and hanging one leg over the other, before also deciding to lean her head on Percy's shoulder. She smiled as he wrapped an arm around her, still kicking his leg up and down in rhythm like he was lifting weights with his foot.

"Now we're just waiting on Aph." He told her as the goddess of the hunt looked down at her stepdaughter swinging around like a monkey. "I'm surprised she agreed to come. I get she's trying to do right by Selena but this doesn't really seem like her scene, going to her daughter's doctor's appointment." She commented.

Percy looked over to the table next to him and grabbed a magazine, something about marine wildlife. "She promised to be here, so I'll take her word for it." He said, handing her a magazine about hunting.

The two sat there for ten minutes reading, Percy was still kicking Selena up and down. Apollo stuck his head out the door, in his official getup with a stethoscope and white coat. "You guys ready?" He asked, and Percy looked around. "Nah, we're just waiting on Aphrodite." He told his future brother-in-law. The chipper god grinned and gave a thumbs up before sliding back into his office.

Percy sighed and looked around. "She should be here by now." He said, looking at his watch. Artemis hummed in agreement as she watched Selena go up and down. "She'll be here." She assured him quietly.

Ten more minutes went past, then another five. Aphrodite still hadn't arrived, and Apollo stuck his head out. "Guys I've got more appointments in like half an hour are you ready yet?" He asked, and Percy gave it one more look around before he sighed in disappointment. "Yeah, let's go, sweetie." He relented, putting his leg down finally.

Selena dismounted, which consisted of letting go of her father's leg suddenly and dropping to the floor with an 'oof'. She sat up and looked around. "Where's mommy?" She asked, looking for a certain goddess of love. Percy looked down at his girl sadly. "Mommy's not coming. Now c'mon, we gotta go get you checked." He said, and she stood up. The god helped his fiance up and they all walked into the god of medicine's office.

To say Percy was in a bad mood when they returned home was an understatement. He was angry. "I can't believe she flaked on us again! What is more important to her than her child's wellbeing?! We could have found out Selena was dying and she'd have been off clothes shopping or something!" He complained loudly as Artemis unzipped Selena's jacket.

"She probably just got held up, it's not her fault." She said, pulling the silver parka off her stepdaughter. Percy scoffed from the kitchen as he grabbed a can of coke from the fridge. "She's been 'held up' for the last four years. It's the least she could do to take this stuff, this parenting stuff, seriously!" He ranted.

Artemis rolled her eyes as she patted Selena on the back and sent her off to go play. He was overreacting. It's not like Aphrodite purposely skipped, she likely just forgot is all. At least that was Artemis' line of thinking.

Twenty minutes later, Aphrodite flashed in, a frantic look on her face. "Am I late? Did I miss it?" She asked, looking between Artemis and Percy worriedly. Percy gave her a death glare as he leaned on the kitchen counter. "Late, as usual. But at least you got a new dress I see!" He exclaimed with fake enthusiasm.

Aphrodite pouted. "I forgot, honest!" She tried, but Percy just rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I get it. You had more important things to attend to." He muttered, and Artemis glared at him slightly. "Percy, would you cut that out? She forgot, it's not her fault. At least she didn't purposely flake on us." She tried reasoning.

Percy glared at both goddesses. "Yeah, because it's not like she's never flaked on us before. Oh, except for, I don't know, the first three years of her daughter's life." He sneered, and Aphrodite had to hold back tears. Artemis was astonished that Percy was acting like this.

"Percy, shut up!" Artemis hissed, trying to stop this from descending into a full-scale argument. Her betrothed chose to ignore her however, throwing his hands up in frustration at the goddess of love.

"Three years! Three years and eleven months you left her in the dark, you never showed up to anything, you never showed her the motherly love you are obliged to show her, you were never a mother in general. Now you say you're finally gonna be around but you never are! You're always off shopping or doing your makeup or fucking the first guy you see on the street!" He yelled at her.

Aphrodite had tears in her eyes. "I'm trying, Percy, I really am. I'm not used to being a mo-" She was cut off by the enraged god. "And I was not used to being a father! But that didn't worry you, you were perfectly content to leave your 'best friend' to raise your child on his own, despite you having more experience in parenthood, what with you allowing however many guys to give you their seed every week!" He hissed at her.

"Percy, I'm sorry. I-I'll try to remember next time, I'll remind myself every minute of every day for a week leading up to it. I can try." She begged.

"Oh, like you would try and give up adultery to be with me? Yeah, fat chance of that happening. You had your chance to be with me twice. Perhaps I would have even said yes if you told me about Selena, but you didn't like the idea of that. You didn't like the idea of holding yourself from riding all the cocks in the land to raise your child and marry the person you were in love with, because that's who you are inside. You may love me, I don't know! But deep down you're more than that, you're not a lover, you're a whore. You need sex to survive, and if that means you're not gonna be there for your daughter, then you can leave! Leave and go back to your orgies and just stop lying to us!" He screamed.

Aphrodite was crying now, and Artemis was stunned into silence. Percy turned around, shaking furiously. "How could I, the god of loyalty, ever love a disgusting whore?" He wondered aloud, before flashing out and leaving them alone.

Aphrodite fell to her knees sobbing, burying her head in her palms in anguish. Artemis rushed over and quickly embraced the girl she had grown fond of in the past few weeks. She and Aphrodite had developed a friendship, and it pained her to see the love goddess so destroyed by Percy's words. How could he say that to her? It was a simple mistake, and he went way out of line there. Now she was left to help console her friend.

"Shh, shh, it's okay. Don't listen to him, he's just upset." She whispered, hugging her friend. Aphrodite cried into her shoulder, arms around her neck. "H-he's right.... I'm a terrible mother, a terrible person. I'm a whore." She muttered in between sobs. Artemis shook her head and looked down at Aphrodite.

"No, you're not. You're a good person who wants what's best for her daughter. Everyone makes mistakes, it's not your fault." She told the girl. Aphrodite shook her.

"For years all I wanted was for him to say he loved me back, but now I see, even if you weren't engaged to him, he'd never have me. It's just as he said it. I'm a disgusting whore." She cried. Artemis shook her head.

"Just because a woman enjoys sex does not make her a whore. Percy's had sex with how many women the past few years? Is he a whore? No, and neither are you. You are not disgusting, either. You are the epitome of beauty, nothing can match you." She told her, blushing as she realised how romantic that sounded.

Suddenly a small head peeked around the corner, and Selena looked at the two troubled. "Mama, mommy, why was daddy yelling?" She asked softly, slightly scared. Aphrodite looked up swiftly and gestured her over.

The toddler approached, and Aphrodite wiped her eyes. "Selena, I love you, you know that right?" She asked, and Selena nodded. "And you know I would do anything for you?" Again, Selena nodded. Aphrodite smiled softly as the tears threatened to escape again. "I love you, baby."

Selena grinned widely, before running forward and ensnaring both of the goddesses in a hug. "I love you too! You and mama are the best mommies there ever was!" She exclaimed earnestly and without a hint of a lie in her voice. Aphrodite broke down and hugged her tightly while Artemis hugged the little girl back.

Artemis pulled away and looked down at Selena. "Honey, we're gonna need some alone time. Do you wanna go stay with Lunara and Diana and Perses?" She asked, making Selena smile. She nodded furiously, eager to see her second family. "Ya-huh!" She replied hyped. Aphrodite kissed her on the forehead before Artemis sent her away, far into the regions of her 'mind-realm'.

The goddess of the hunt slid to the ground next to the goddess of love, who was trying to dry her tears. "I was always jealous of you, you know." Aphrodite randomly said. Artemis turned her head toward her and raised an eyebrow.

"You were always so beautiful, I even thought you were more beautiful than myself sometimes, and that angered me. Not because I hated being second place or anything but because you didn't even try, nor did you use it. I spend hours at a time going through my wardrobe and putting on makeup when all you have to do is shower and brush your hair to make guys swoon." She confessed.

Artemis was in silence. Aphrodite thought she was beautiful? The goddess of beauty considered her more beautiful than herself. Now that was a compliment.

She gulped. "I-I always thought you were beautiful too. Thanks to the whole no-guys thing I went through a lot of lesbian phases, and you were always one of my, uh, crushes, I think they call them." She admitted.

Aphrodite smiled at her. "I think it was your eyes I envied. The silver goes so well with your hair and your skin, you look like a goddess. People say I look like a goddess in the way that I look more beautoful than any human, but you look godly, like you should be exploding with light rays or something. It's beautiful." She said, leaning in to inspect her eyes.

Artemis backed up slightly as she noticed how close their faces were, and Aphrodite blushed when she realised this too. The goddess of love didn't retreat though, which intrigued Artemis. Her face was so close, her lips were mere inches away from hers.

She had always wondered what those lips tasted like, whether it was cherry, raspberry, strawberry, or blood.

She got lost in these wondrous thoughts and her eyes drooped. Aphrodite saw this and closed her own, prepared to let the Fates have their way with her. Sure enough, both of them got the idea to lean in, and after a few seconds Artemis' lips locked onto hers.

Aphrodite let Artemis take over as the two descended to the ground, kissing passionately on the tile floor.

Yep, definitely strawberry.

I'm still in hospital, but I'm getting better. The pain in my head is gone, my arm is still a bit twitchy, and I got a sick wheelchair so I can be Joe Swanson. HEY BETER. I started drawing recently and decided fuck it imma post it to DeviantArt. I drew Selena, Larissa and Calix and I'm planning on drawing the rest of the Jackson kids from Dark Lord, so stay tuned for that. Go check out my DeviantArt profile, the name's the same as Fanfiction.net and Wattpad.

Word Count: 3663