Male Reader x Artemis Goddess of the Hunt

Chapter IV

(Your POV)

After a rather uncomfortable night of sleep, I awoke right at dawn and began to make my way down from the tree aching the entire way.  As I made my way towards the center of camp I noticed that there wasn't a sound almost as if everyone was still asleep, so I decided to make breakfast for everyone before making my way to the cook tent and got started, I figured that bacon eggs and pancakes would be the easier thing to make and grew rather surprised that all the ingredients were laid out in front of me.  After cooking for about 45 minutes or so many of the hunters had begun their day with many going about the camp doing whatever it was they did at this time before many came and sat at the table where a large buffet was laid out in front of them.  As they began to eat I noticed that Thalia had exited from her tent and saw that breakfast had already been made, "(Y/N) did you cook breakfast this morning?" "Oh yeah,. I did sorry if I wasn't supposed to I just wanted to give back for what you all did for me." "Aren't you going to sit and eat with us" I tensed at this, "Well I kind of thought that having my presence there might disturb the peace so I decided it would be better if I skipped over breakfast and went straight to my chores" Thalia just shook her head at this response "(Y/N) you haven't eaten anything in days you need to eat something, wait here ok I'll make you a plate" after she spoke she made her way to the table and returned a couple of minutes later.  "Here eat up, we can't have our guest here wasting away." after that she handed me a plate of food and made her way back to the table where I made my offering to my mother and the other gods before eating by myself.

Once breakfast was finished I made my way back to the armory to begin where I left off yesterday only for a spring-loaded board to pop up and a bucket of water to splash all over me.  I heard laughing behind me and turned only to see a group of hunters laughing at the outcome of there prank, "There's plenty more where that came from boy." one of them promised to me, even though I wasn't exactly thrilled about the prank there isn't much I could exactly do so I just proceeded on with my day.  After a couple of hours, I had finally gotten done with the bow repairs and arrow sharpening, after that I made my way to where the laundry was kept so I could begin washing and drying everything I gathered what I could taking care not to even touch the undergarments leaving that for someone else and made my way to the nearby river to begin washing.  Washing was easy enough and after leaving everything out to dry I returned to the camp where the hunters were just finishing up lunch, deciding that it would be a good idea to wash the dishes ad silverware next I gathered what I could and made my way back down to the river.  Once I arrived I heard the sounds of splashing and laughing further down just out of sight, appears that some of the hunters have decided to swim to pass the time I'd best not disturb them, minutes later as I was washing a steak knife I heard screaming and roaring further down, breaking into a sprint I rounded a corner and saw about 4 of the hunters being surrounded by a pack of hell hounds.  Wasting no time I jumped into the shallow water and made my way towards a hunter who was being swiped at by the beast, I let out a yell telling them to run to the shore before I plunged the Knife deep into the beast it let out a roar and slashed me knocking me into the water, reaching around I found a rather nice sized rock and picked it up before steadying myself and looking into the eyes of the beast and its companions.  They turned to look at the girls who were on the shore yelling for help in order to draw their attention I swung the rock at the beast's front leg and heard a satisfying crunch followed by a deep painful howl, the rest of the hell hounds stared at me with murderous intent before stalking towards me.  Although my injuries are still not completely healed I can't just let these girls get hurt so I muster up some strength and yell at the hellhounds before charging off in the opposite direction making sure their attention is on me as I run off in the woods with them chasing after me.

(Thalia POV) 

After hearing the screams and howls further down by the river a small group of hunters and I ran as fast as we could toward where the danger is once we arrived we saw that 4 of our younger and inexperienced hunters were huddled on the shore of the river crying while there was loud roaring and yelling coming from across the way.  Phoebe approached me "Lieutenant the girls say that they were ambushed by a pack of Hellhounds and nearly killed until the male appeared and drove them off into the woods across the way" "Why didn't they have their equipment?" "they said they were going for a quick dip and left their bows and knives in their tents" I just sigh making a mental note to myself to have a meeting about the importance of keeping yourself armed at all times, "Ok we need to go and help (Y/N) in the woods he doesn't have a weapon and there's no telling how many hellhounds are after him." after saying this some of the hunters had a sour look on their face, "Why do we have to help that male, he's as good as dead anyway" "Are you being serious? that "Male" risked his life to ensure the safety of our sisters knowing damn well that he would not receive the same courtesy if it were to happen to him, not only that but we owe it to his family to at least return his body for a proper burial, I am rather disappointed in you all for not having empathy" many of them hung their heads in shame before we crossed the river to find whatever was left of (Y/N).

After securing the perimeter we began to close in on the center of the wood thicket that we found ourselves in killing any hellhounds that we came across, once we reached the center of a clearing we saw a heavily injured hellhound with a person standing on top of it repeatedly punching, kicking, and beating it with a rock. We could tell that the person is (y/n) but something seemed off about him he had fire dancing across his body and he looked as if he had the flames of Tartarus burning inside of him, the aura that radiated off of him was terrifying to say the least.  Once he had stopped beating the beast in front  of him he simply stopped took a deep breath and the flames extinguished, as he took one step forward he stumbled but caught himself and grabbed a stick to begin walking while supporting himself, I stepped out into the clearing and began to walk towards him. "You look like Hell (y/n)" he turned to me and smiled "Yeah well you should see the other guy" as he said he began to have a coughing fit, "uh... are the girls ok?" "yeah, a couple of scraped and bruises but nothing that one heal." "good, I don't get how they managed to sneak this close to camp" "I think that they seized a gap in between the wolves patrolling the area, come on let you back to camp and cleaned up." Although I was curious about what we witnessed I would like to discuss that in private.

(Your POV)

After returning to camp I saw the girls who I managed to save were sitting at the table with worry in their eyes, once they looked up and saw me they rushed and tackled me to the ground and began hugging me and crying and thanking me for saving them, and although it hurt with I injures, it felt nice to know that something I did made a difference today after that was done Thalia managed to get them off me and sent them on their way, even many of the older hunters looked at me with some form of respect.  After I went and got some Ambrosia and nectar for my injuries I ran into Artemis on my way back to the dining area. "(Y/N) if you have a moment I would like to speak with you." "Of course my lady what would you like to discuss" as I spoke she handed me a small box along with my Sword, "This box is the same tent that is given to all my hunters all you must do is place it on the ground and tell it to pitch itself, I also heard about what you did for my girls and want you to know that I am truly grateful for what you've done, and so I am returning your sword to you so you may not have to defend yourself with rudimentary means." "Oh lady Artemis it really wasn't that big of a deal, I mean I understand how important your hunters are and how I am expendable I did what was right mostly because I knew that if anything happened to me three wouldn't be anyone out there to miss me."

(Artemis POV)

Once I heard (Y/N) speak I couldn't help but be shocked that he views himself so lowly, "Surely that isn't true what of your siblings back at camp," he laughed dryly at this, "Maybe that would be true if Selina was still around but that's just not the case anymore, I was always the black sheep of the Aphrodite cabin, with Drew in charge she reminds me of it every day saying how mother could never love me and how I don't even have the same powers as they do, how I'm not as beautiful or pretty as they are due to my injuries." He laughs dryly at this, "I don't know maybe they're right, maybe mom really doesn't care for me." looking at his face I can't help but see someone who is truly hurt, someone who is supposed to be a child of love yet has never experienced any, to begin with, "(y/n) although I and your mother are constantly at odds I can say with the utmost certainty that she does care about you." "and how do you figure that?" "Well many of my hunters are also children of Aphrodite and they are a lot like you, and every year of their birthday aphrodite visits them all the same and shows them the love that they deserve even if they are not ones to seek love as she does, and that's why I think she cares for you just as she cares for the rest of her children." I could see that he was in deep thought before he finally spoke in a voice just above a whisper, "You're probably right Artemis, I need to get some rest thank you for the tent." after that, he walked off towards the outskirts of the camp and I couldn't help but feel that I've gotten to know him better.  I need to be careful as I can't let another Orion happen, and although I've steeled my heart towards the male walking away from me, a small piece of it just can't ice over no matter how hard I try.