Artemis stared into the mirror in a trance as she couldn't comprehend what was happening. Here she was in her wedding dress while her mother, Sally, Percy's sisters and her own sisters, Zoe and her other two bridesmaids prepared her. Zoe was obviously her maid of honor while Athena and her friends Thalia and Atalanta were bridesmaids. She had never been close with Hebe as the girl was a lot younger than her but she knew about beauty so she was there too.

Her dress was pretty normal. White, strapless, with a hella long skirt. She thought it was perfect. Not overdone like her sister-in-law Aphrodite's had been when she married Artemis' brother Ares. It was her. Simple and quiet.

Seriously though, how was she, a deaf and temperamental girl who most assumed was a lesbian when she was in high school, only the second one of her seven siblings to get married? To a guy too. She was the epitome of defying expectations.

Hours later and Percy stood at the altar. No, he hadn't been standing there for hours, it had only been a few minutes. Nevertheless, the whole occasion was nerve wracking.

The doors opened and Artemis appeared, standing in a beautiful white dress. Her bridesmaids stood behind her, each holding their bouquets of flowers looking pretty, but none as beautiful as her. As Percy laid eyes upon her all his anxiety faded and a big smile crept onto his face. They locked eyes, and Artemis smiled back, too self-conscious to grin with all these people watching.

Trying to ignore the feeling of hundreds of eyes piercing her, she began her walk up the aisle with her right arm linked to Zeus'. The walk felt like a mile, but just as suddenly as it started it was over, and Zeus gave her a quick hug before handing her over to Percy with a warning glare directed towards the young man.

Artemis smiled as she felt Percy's warm hands take hold of hers and bring her up the steps. With the veil still covering her face the two stood in front of each other, eyes locked as the guy officiated the wedding. Artemis' mind couldn't even stay on what he was saying as she was lost in Percy's sea-green orbs.

Eventually she felt him squeeze her hands lightly, and then mouthed the word vows. Well, he probably mouthed it. Either that or he said it out loud. Didn't matter to her either way.

She stepped back a bit and let go of his hands, and immediately she felt a longing to return to him and just to cuddle into his embrace, lost in her peaceful silence. Instead she ran over her vows in her head, what she had memorized. She had rehearsed this over and over, and now was her moment to perform.

She turned and held out her hand, and Zoe took from inside of her glove a small folded up piece of paper not unlike Percy's proposal note. She turned back and handed it to Percy, who opened and read it, not out loud though. When he was done he put it in his suit pocket and looked back up at her.

Artemis smiled and then performed a simple three gestures. She pointed at her chest, made a love heart shape over her heart area, and then pointed at him.

I love you.

The entire crowd 'aww'd, and Percy had tears in his eye. He wasn't going to recite the vows, because it was more than just vows, it was really personal, and felt happy knowing the only two people in the world who knew it were he and his soon-to-be wife.

He was lucky his mother Sally, who had known about the plan of Artemis', had suggested he do the same thing. So following in his fiance's footsteps, Percy turned to his best man and took the letter, handing it to Artemis and mimicking the gesture. It wasn't actual ASL for 'I love you', that was one hand gesture, but shut the fuck up.

They linked hands again, and after a few minutes Percy silently nodded to the right, signalling that it was time for her next line. Despite there being no audio coming from her mouth, Artemis knew the line off by heart and mouthed it to him so he could read her lips. I do.

The official repeated the same question to a now grinning Percy, who answered honestly and audibly. "I do."

The man closed the book with a smile. "You may now kiss the bride."

While Artemis didn't actually know the man had just said that, she expected it and was waiting for it. Even then, she was still caught off guard when Percy lifted her veil, wrapped an arm around her back and pulled her tight into a kiss.

Despite all the hardships Artemis had endured in just over 20 years of living, she had made it. She had her dream job, she'd managed to make friends, and now she was married to the man of her dreams. Her life was complete, her story was perfect, the ending could not get better.

You bet your ass the ending can get better.

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