Chapter 4: Can You Feel The Love Tonight

Chapter 4 is here. I have decided on Percy's kids names, with some help from you guys. In order of birth, they are Larissa, Calix, Achilles and Urion (pronounced yer-ee-in, not Orion but with a U.) They don't come in for awhile though. Anyway, without further ado, the next chapter, and the beginning of Perseus and Artemis' relationship.

Chapter 4: Can You Feel The Love Tonight

Percy's P.O.V.

The others looked at me in shock. "You would sacrifice your health, your form just to get some blood?" Athena gasped. "Surely there must be another way! God or not, his body won't survive that. Even if he did, he'd be burnt to a crisp, and unable to wield his weapon." Artemis complained.

Ares shrugged indifferently. "Fine by me. At least I'm not the one doing it." We all glared at him.

Anyways, Artemis had a point. If I survived jumping into a literal lava lake, my physical form would most likely be completely destroyed, which means that I won't be able to fight Erebus. I don't think Styx would let me take the Achilles curse again, or even if she'd give it to a god. It is kinda meant for demigods and heroes after all.

There was no way I would be coming out of this unscathed, but if it meant we could stop Erebus from wreaking more havoc, it was worth it.

Hephaestus shook his head. "Well, you needn't worry about it now, lad. We can start tomorrow, I have a couple projects I need to finish first, anyway. Just in case the forge gets destroyed from the volcano's shift in power. I'll have Hermes come an' get you tomorrow." He told us, and turned back to the blueprints he and Athena were discussing earlier.

We all left, Artemis and I flashing back to the Hunters Camp at Yellowstone. When we got there, the Hunt all greeted us, but didn't ask where we went or what we were doing as Hermes made it clear that it was an Olympian matter. If Artemis didn't tell them, they didn't need to know.

The Hunt had just made lunch, and were sitting around the fire pit once more, eating. By the looks of the carcass skewered over the fire, it was leftovers from the bear that didn't get eaten last night.

Artemis and I grabbed some off of the carcass, and sat down to eat. While I ate, Artemis looked down at my leg. "That seems to have healed up already." She noted, and I looked down, having completely forgotten that I was injured. It was fine to walk on now, but I wouldn't try injuring it again.

Which is exactly what Artemis did. She booted me in the ankle.

I understand that she probably thought it was completely fine now, and she was just doing it to mess around, but I couldn't stop myself from keeling over in pain. I groaned and clutched my leg, feeling as if I had just fractured my ankle.

Artemis put her hand on my shoulder and apologized profusely. Some of the hunters looked at me with sympathy, but most laughed. I tried my best to smile. "It's alright. It just hurts to hit it more than any part of my body right now, except maybe something you people have a knack for cutting off." I joked, and for the first time, I heard Artemis giggle.

She quickly slapped her hand over her mouth, and all the Hunters went silent. I looked at her with a grin. "Did you, Artemis, the Man-Hating Goddess of the Hunt, just laugh at a dick joke?" I asked, and she glared.

"Do not mention this to anyone, or I'll show you a dick joke." She threatened, and I paled. "Jeez, Arty. I was just trying to lighten the mood." I said, which then made all of the Hunt, including Artemis, stare at me in confusion.

"What did you call me?" Artemis asked me, though she had no anger in her voice, just curiosity. I paled. Did I just give Artemis a nickname? I don't know how these girls haven't castrated me already. I'm crossing all kinds of boundaries.

I stammered. "I-uh, d-don't worry about it. It's nothing." I said, and looked away. The hunters thought nothing more of it, but kept giving me weird looks.

After half an hour of sitting there and doing nothing but talking, I sighed out of boredom. "We should do something." I said, and once again, they all looked at me weirdly. "Uh, like what?" Some Hunter asked, and I shrugged.

"Wanna go see a movie? I can pay." I offered, and the Hunters all shrugged. Artemis answered for them. "Sure. What'll we go see?" She asked, and before I could answer with 'I don't know.' One of the younger hunters shouted. "LION KING, LION KING!" Much to the approval of the other young hunters.

I wasn't against it, since we were probably gonna be seeing a kids movie anyway due to the young hunters. At least it wasn't a princess movie, though I suppose the Hunt isn't into that kinda stuff.

I looked at Artemis for confirmation, and she nodded, standing up. "Well, let's go. Leave the tents and gear. The dogs will protect it." She said, and we all got up and got ready to leave.

We stood in a circle and held hands so Artemis could flash us away. We ended up in front of those old small town theaters you see in movies and stuff. I looked at her with questioning in my eyes. She shrugged. "Smaller the theater, the less people that'll be here."

That logic didn't sound right to me. "The smaller the theater, the more packed it'll be." I reasoned, but she shook her head. "Just trust me. You'll see when we get in there." She said, and I sighed. I was probably right anyway.

We ordered our tickets and food, the hunters all getting a large popcorn to share between two so as to not waste food. Once we made sure all the hunters had gone to the toilet, we entered the theater, and I was severely disappointed to find that Artemis was correct.

There was no one in there, which was weird since this movie came out like three days ago. I didn't think my of it, and we found our seats, the lot of us taking up a whole row.

Phoebe sat on one end with some of the older hunters while Artemis, Thalia and I sat at the other end, me in between the two. Since we were on the end, Artemis and I had to share our popcorn. I was fine with that. It was better than sharing it with someone like Phoebe.

The Hunters made a lot of ruckus as we waited for the movie to start, and when it finally did, we realised it was just the previews. Some of the hunters actually groaned in disappointment, which I laughed at. I noticed Artemis had already begun digging into the popcorn before the movie had even started, though I just sipped on my drink.

She looked over and saw me leaning towards Thalia, sipping my drink, and she laughed. She offered me the bucket. "It's okay, Percy. I'm not gonna bite. You're allowed popcorn, too." I nodded, still with my drink, though I sat back up.

The movie started and we hushed the hunters.

It was pretty god, not gonna lie. The original was better, and The Little Mermaid will always be the best Disney movie, so I didn't have much to say about it.

Although, I shit you not, as soon as the chorus for Can You Feel The Love Tonight started, Artemis and I both reached for popcorn, accidentally grabbing each other's hands.

I blushed at the situation, and even in the dark, I could see that she did too. We both retracted our hands and nothing else happened at the movie.

We left the theater, which must've looked weird to the three people we saw outside. Two dozen teenage girls, half a dozen little girls, a girl in her late teens and a guy about the same age all walking out of The Lion King with no parent in sight.

The girls were all talking about how great the movie was as we walked down the alley where Artemis would flash us. "Alright girls. We'll head back to camp and-" Before she could even say the whole sentence, a loud chorus of 'Aww's sounded, shocking Artemis.

"You guys wanna do more?" Artemis asked in surprise, and they all nodded excitedly. Artemis. "Well, I guess I could make this our day out. We still have a few hours until my brother's chariot will be setting. What should we do?" She asked, whirling on me, and when she did, all of the hunters did too.

I tried thinking of fun things I could take a couple dozen underage girls to do and thought of one. "Well, I know a beach with a pretty cool boardwalk. It's got rides, games and food stands, plus the actual beach. We could go there if you want." I suggested, and it was unanimously decided that we would.

I was the one who flashed us there, and when we arrived, the Hunt instantaneously in awe at all the stuff there was. I guess with all the hunting and and demigod life, the Hunters didn't get out much.

The Hunters all split up into groups, and I gave each one some money, and off they went. Thalia had gone off with some other girls, so that left Artemis and I by ourselves. Since I was the one with the money, we had the most, so I looked up at Artemis. "What do you wanna do first?" I asked with a grin.

We walked around for a while looking at the many things they had available. I saw that many of the hunters had immediately gone and lined up by the rides, so I thought it better to save it for later.

Artemis must have had similar thoughts to me, because she started walking away and waved me over. "Come on, let's go get something to eat." She said, and I ran to catch up with her. "Just so you know" I began. "We're gonna eat real food. I'm not gonna go catch a seagull with you." I said, double-checking we weren't doing just that.

Artemis laughed, and we walked over to an ice cream stand. "What do you want?" I asked, and the goddess looked at the menu. "I'll just have vanilla." She said, and I rolled my eyes. "Boring, but okay." I said, and she glared at me for the remark.

Once the kids in front of us had gotten theirs, I ordered ours. "Two please, one vanilla and one chocolate." I said, handing the guy the money. Artemis scoffed. "Chocolate? Boring, but okay."

I laughed. "At least mine has flavour." I told her, and before she could argue, the teenager running the stand handed us our ice creams.

There wasn't really any point in going on a ride with ice cream, so we walked around as we finished them off.

I noticed Artemis had a little white patch on the tip of her nose, and laughed. She glared at me for laughing at her. "What's so funny?" She asked, and I brought my finger up. With one swoop, I wiped the vanilla ice cream off her nose and ate it. She looked mildly offended, but also amused. "Tastes boring." I told her, earning another laugh.

We came across one of those carnival games where you have to shoot the buckets, and for each one you get, the better your prize. I directed her to it, and gave her my ice cream to hold onto. "What are you doing, Perce?" She asked, and I grinned. "I'm gonna win you that thing." I said, pointing to a large stuffed bear that had a sign on it saying 'FIVE BUCKETS'

She rolled her eyes, but didn't say anything, choosing to finish off her ice cream. I gave the guy some money, and picked up the air rifle. Using what little skill I had, I lined it up with the first can and fired. Bullseye. Now I had my groove settled, I repeated the process again for another four times. Reload, Aim, Fire, Hit.

I looked back at Artemis and smirked, and she rolled her eyes. The man asked me what prize I wanted and of course, I chose the huge one. It was a black wolf with large blue eyes, and the man had trouble squeezing it over the counter.

I gave it to Artemis with a cocky expression on my face, and she scoffed, walking up to the stand. Giving the man some money without saying anything, picked up the gun and reloaded it.

Barely aiming, she raised the gun and fired 5 times in a matter of seconds. Holy crap, she can reload fast. I didn't even know she'd used a gun before. Before the man even asked what she wanted, she pointed to another 5 can prize. Ironically, it was a Bambi plush toy. It wasn't as big as the wolf I gave her, but I still took her.

I looked at her in awe. "How did you even do that? I thought you specialized in archery?" I asked, and she shrugged. "They're not much different. It's just shooting." She said. The logic behind that didn't quite add up, but I didn't question it.

"And besides." She said. "I thought you were infamously terrible at shooting." She said, and I shrugged. "Well then bows and rifles must be different then, shouldn't they?" I contradicted Artemis, and she just huffed. "No, but for real. A couple of years ago my stepfather took me and my mom up to his cabin at Montauk, not too far from where I used to go as a kid. He had a couple rifles there, and he taught me how to shoot. I was alright at it." I remembered, and she nodded.

By now the sun had gone down, and the only people here were some families and the hunt, plus the occasional group of teenagers or couple. That also meant that the lines had gone down, and most of the hunters were buying food or playing the carnival games. That means they'd probably all gone on the rides.

I nudged Artemis, with my bambi plush tucked under my arm. "Wanna go on the ferris wheel?" I asked. She checked for a line, and when she confirmed that it was practically nonexistent, since it was a Tuesday night in some town, she nodded and we headed over towards it.

Some skinny teenager who looked like he hated his life was running the ride, and he looked at us with a raised eyebrow. "You guys enjoying your date?" He asked, shocking us both enough to gawk at him with our mouths hanging open.

"W-what makes you think that we're dating?" Artemis asked, slightly offended. The teen chuckled and gestured to us. "A guy and a girl, who look nothing alike so you probably aren't siblings, coming to the boardwalk at night together. You're holding two stuffed toys you probably won from Mr Brears' shooting range, and you've both got a bit of ice cream still on your faces. If this isn't a cliche teen date, I don't know what is." He laughed, and we blushed.

I walked up to him in embarrassment and gave him some money. "We'll just go and ride this thing." I told the guy, and he nodded, gesturing to the empty seats. "I'll hold your toys." He said, and we left them in the booth with him.

We sat in silence, looking at the slowly shrinking earth as it got further and further away. We reached the top of the ferris wheel, and I looked at Artemis. "I can't believe he thought we were on a date." I said, trying to lighten up the situation a little. I didn't get much of a response other than a half-hearted 'yeah'.

Again, we sat in silence, then Artemis suddenly gasped, which startled me. I questioned her as to what made her do that, and she looked at me in slight horror. "Tomorrow's when we forge the weapons, when you get typhon's blood. Today could be the last day that you're recognisable as a human being.

I blinked once. Twice. "Wow." I said slowly. "I'd forgotten about that. Thanks for reminding me." I told her, which made her blush and start apologising. I placed my hand on her shoulder, smiling at how nice she was to me. I doubt she'd apologize to any other male.

She stared at me, and then at the hand on her shoulder. The stars glittered beautifully above the ferris wheel. It was all moving so fast, and as we both looked back at each other, she said one thing. "Let's make the most of it."

Then she pulled my lips to hers.

I breath hitched, and my life flashed before my eyes. This was all moving so fast, it was hard to believe that we had gone from acquaintances to... this in only a day. Yet it wasn't moving fast enough. I felt as if I wasn't just going to possibly lose my life tomorrow, but so was she, and everyone I knew. The world was going to end tomorrow, and I would make the most of it.

We disconnected from each other, breathing heavily, but with large grins on our faces. "Wow, so that's what it feels like." She said, pressing her fingers to her lips, trying to savour the taste.

I smiled, a gesture which she returned. "Do you wanna do that again?" I asked, and she didn't say anything in response. She just grinned and pulled me in for another kiss.

So there you have it, the beginning of their relationship. I know its a bit rushed but this way I can actually progress the story and have Pertemis stuff in it too. Otherwise it'll be three chapters of them denying their feelings for each other. Anyways, I'm gonna go now.

Word Count: 3060