Loved by No One

9

1 Day later
Artemis POV
—————

No one is Percy Jackson. I've proved my theory. The way, he talks to the goes and ignores certain people. During his first meeting, he completely ignored Poseidon. Didn't even bother looking at him. He also used water when traveling to the new camp.

Kym doesn't sleep with humans, amphirite is loyal to her marriage and has started to actually care for Percy. Triton is considered a child, so he doesn't ever leave Atlantis. And none of the other sea gods don't go in land very often. So Poseidon was the only option for explaining how water powers.

So why does Percy follow Hestia, and why is he so malnourished? I had called Apollo over to heal up Percy because he had scratches and still healing scars. Apollo nearly cried when he saw No One. He later told me that No One was malnourished and starving himself to death. He also has scars all over his body. I had already seen his torso but not his lower half.

I'm at the hunters campsite, pacing. Thalia is watching me go back and forth. She knows not to interrupt me when I'm thinking. I decide to put everything I know about Percy in a checklist.

Things about Percy:
- He's a child of Poseidon.
- His fatal flaw is loyalty. (Betrayal hurts)
- We threw him into Tartarus on nothing. (One person told us shit)
- He follows Hestia becoming of some event. (Tartarus?)
       • Hestia is slowly losing her mind over the god's bullshit.
- He is great with a sword and controlling water.
- He goes into the front lines whenever a battle comes up.
- A sarcastic little bitch

I walk around a bit more and come to the conclusion that Hestia rescued Percy from Tartarus somehow. Maybe Tartarus didn't want him, maybe he just had a softer grip on Percy's soul than others. I was once told that Tartarus eats the souls over a thousand years. Maybe the first thing to get eaten was the ability to feel love.

That's it, I need to have a conversation with Hestia. I look around for a fire source.
—————
"Aunt Hestia, what has Percy been doing to himself?" I say, Hestia tightens her scarf. She's looking everywhere except for my eyes. "What gave him away? I want his identity under wraps. You know his history with Olympus. He's terrified of going in alone." I nod, the man keeps a ring on his finger. I ask why he has this.

Hestia pauses before answering the question. "Annabeth broke up with him a few minutes before getting sent to Tartarus. He was distracted, nervous, and too bitter to defend himself." She takes a deep breath and briefly checks on the fire behind her. "As you might have assumed, I saved Percy from Tartarus, four years too late. The poor guy... oh," she then jumps up and grabs a sheet of paper. It's funny to see a 8 year old girl running around. "when Percy goes to camp, try and accommodate for his outbursts and panic attacks. He's in a very delicate situation." She looks at me for the first time no longer embarrassed at what we're talking about. She hands me the piece of paper. I'll check what's on it later.

"When Percy first came out of Tartarus, he was unnaturally calm and collected. When I first had to leave, I gave him the mask he wears as a parting gift. We knew we would be meeting with each other often. And he could pray, but we would be separated for long periods of time. But he started to break and become more aggressive. But he always collects himself afterwards." I nod, as I've see stuff like that when he attacks monsters.

"He has come to get a sort of obsession for my presence. He hasn't done anything drastic, but when he gets to camp, tell the campers that what No One does is on his own choice. And that neither you nor me have any responsibility for him." I can tell that a lot of stuff has happened and I won't like what I would hear if I pried farther.

"Well, aunt Hestia, this has been an insightful conversation. And I hope you'll tell me more about No One in the future. Though I have one more question." I say with a finger on my chin. She nods as a go ahead. "Why do you keep changing from Percy to No One to Percy again?" She sighs before collecting herself to speak. "I call him both because while he is the No One, he's also Percy Jackson. So which ever one seemed more fitting in the moment is the one I call him. Don't tell him I said that." I nod and look around and think if I have anymore questions.

" I know this keeps going on and on but one more thing," Hestia says, "Don't ever, and I mean in any circumstances, call No One Percy. He'll be livid. I said Percy once and will never do it again to his... mask." I understand how important this is to Hestia and will stand by it until No one passes in to Hades' place. I stand, then squat down to hug her and head back to the campers.

The first thing I see is a guardian. And while he has a mask on, he is fuming. I'm not gonna be the one he yells at. He then suddenly stops moving and almost recalibrated himself, his head twitches, before setting out lunch for the Hunters.

What is going on inside that head of his?