The Spartan of Olympus

3

Percy Jackson was exhausted. Apollo could be a tough trainer when he wanted to be. Percy had been training for a week now. Heracles thought he deserved a break, so Zeus decided to give him a month off before he went to fetch the apples of immortality. Meanwhile, Percy was training his ass off with Apollo. It was a known fact that he horrid with a bow, but, with help from Apollo's blessing and training, he was almost a dead shot. Most of his shots would land an inch or two away from the bullseye, which was a huge improvement since when he first began. Somehow the arrow flew out of the training room and broke a vase. Let's just say that Apollo wasn't elated that Percy broke his favorite vase. Percy was getting progressively better, and Apollo knew that after a month's time, Percy would be hitting the bullseye every shot.

When it came to swordplay, he was a natural. Percy agreed with Apollo; the stygian iron sword wasn't the perfect sword for him. It felt slightly strange and unbalanced in his hand, but not enough to make a significant impact on his skills. Other than the balance issue, the sword was great. He sparred with Ares mostly, practiced archery with Apollo, and worked on his control over water with Poseidon. Even though it had only been a week, Percy was already as powerful as most of the demigod heroes in the world, like his brother Orion.

Percy had never met Orion, but he could tell that Apollo hated the other son of Poseidon. Orion was only twenty-five, and he had managed to capture the goddess of the hunt's eye with his hunting skills. That was the main reason that Apollo seemed to hate him. Percy liked Apollo, but he was a little too overprotective of Artemis and her eternal maidenhood. Apollo thinks that Orion is a threat to Artemis's maidenhood, and fears that Artemis will truly fall for him. To Percy, it looks like that's exactly what's happening. Artemis only allows Orion, not any other males, to be around her and her Hunters. Artemis seems pretty fond of Percy's brother, and everyone sees it. Percy wanted Orion to be safe, even if Orion didn't even know that Percy existed. Percy didn't want to see his half-brother get hurt.

Percy was brought out of his thoughts when someone knocked on the training room door.

"Come in. It's unlocked." Percy called as he impaled a dummy with his sword.

Apollo walked in, grinning at his favorite demigod. Percy was the perfect son that Apollo always wanted. Apollo knew his training was over, so now all he had to teach Percy was how to be smooth with the ladies. Apollo chuckled at the thought.

"What's so funny?" Percy asked, raising his eyebrows at Apollo.

"Oh, nothing. Anyway, I came to tell you Zeus changing his mind again." Apollo told him.

Percy looked at him incredulously. "Are you serious?"

Apollo nodded. "Hera got pissed. She ordered him to do twelve labors or something ominous like that. The apples of immortality will be his eleventh task. So you got to help him through the first ten until Heracles actually gets what he wants."

Percy frowned. "I don't understand. Why not just get apples now? It's what Zeus wants, right? Why wait?"

Apollo laughed. "Because you don't screw with Hera. If Hera wants something done, she gets it done. I imagine she would start killing Zeus's kids for the next millennia or so if Zeus didn't let her do what she wanted to."

Percy nodded, accepting the reasoning. "But why does Hera want him to do all this stuff? There's got to be more to this than Hera just hating him because he's Zeus's kid."

Apollo winked and pointed a finger at Percy. "Smart, Percy. Yes, there is more to this story."

"And?" Percy prompted.

Apollo's grin died and he turned serious. "Heracles murdered his own family a couple days ago."

Percy's sword clattered to the ground. Percy just stared blankly at Apollo. Apollo just nodded. "I know what you're feeling. I felt the same way."