The Hunters Of The Sun

Ch 37: Hurting

Reyna bolted up, breathing heavily. And the huntress quickly hid the knife behind her. The Amazon queen couldn't see properly, and everything was blurry. And then she collapsed on the bed again, unconscious.

At that moment, Kinzie walked in, smiling at the huntress. "Thanks for watching her. I'll take over from here."

Cursing, the huntress walked out.

-

They had packed up camp. Shade and Skylar had left the Trojan War, and so had they.

Reyna had been slipping between unconsciousness and consciousness.

Percy and Artemis were still avoiding each other.

In the woods of the city of Tiryns, Percy had step his tent far away form the others, on a hill overlooking the camp.

His anger with Artemis had diffused in five days, but he still couldn't gather the courage to approach her. Artemis had stopped bothering to try to speak with him. They treat each other with indifference, practically ignoring each other. But then there were times when Percy remembered the happy weeks he'd spent with his moonbeam. Her absence had caused him to become mellow, and...empty. He had separate himself from the others to ponder over his situation.

Artemis had turned into a shell of her former self. She was cold, hostile and as man-hating as she had been before. The hunters of the sun, specifically the males, avoided her like a plague because they could never be in her presence without threats to castrate and kill them all. She was exactly the way she had been before she met Percy Jackson, though more cold. Thalia and the other hunters had made peace with her for injuring their friend, and she had even gone to the extent of telling her lieutenant her feelings for Percy Jackson[ After making her swear on the styx not to tell anyone, obviously] and after Thalia had woken up from unconsciousness, her friend and lieutenant had advised her to let Percy's anger sink first, before approaching him.

But the silence was gnawing at her so much. She couldn't handle it. She missed the way the hung out in the forest every afternoon, and overtime each of them were on guard duty.She would give anything to go back in time and stop her past self from kissing him. Heck, she had already tried to steal the wristwatch to do that, but, (as you can guess,) it didn't go that well.

Outside her tent, she pretended as if she didn't really care about it, but inside, she was breaking. She needed him by her side. She needed him to tell her it'd be okay. She needed to know he'd be there. She had stopped grieving. It was surprising how just one kiss could destroy their friendship. She had stopped whining. But her love for him only grew.

Percy buried himself deeper into his bed. It had been almost a month since their fight in the woods. And try as he may, he still couldn't forget about her. He groaned. Why couldn't he just let it go? He should've know it wasn't wise to befriend the man-hating goddess. He knew his love for Artemis would get him hurt. He felt Angry. Angry at himself for falling for Artemis. Angry at himself for allowing Shade and Skylar to ruin their friendship. Next time he saw them he was going to personally drag them to the Void. All he wanted was an end to the war of the silent treatment. His head pounded at his own stupidity. He should just apologize. She might not accept it, but he might get that burden off his chest.

Percy rose form his bed, and drifted silently to the door. Soon enough, he found himself headed to the one place that had brought him solace. A training centre, set up by Leo, in the midst of camp. When he got there, Percy subconsciously reached out, and his arm disappeared into the Egyptian mist which could store items- The Duat. He pulled out the adamantine sword, and unsheathing it, went to work against the practice robots Leo had built. He had started training with The Sword Of Khaos, hoping to become an expert. He hadn't wielded a sword in so long, and he might have lost his touch. The training kept him going though. It was the one thing that helped him clear his mind. He'd become almost perfect with it, and the sword of Khaos sent pulses of energy through him, which calmed his nerves, and made his mind blank.

The machines, The automatons fought back. And their fighting skills were awesome. After all, Leo had used both Percy and Artemis' fighting skills to program them. Percy leaped forward, becoming a blur in the sunlight, battling the stupid silver automatons. As he sliced and he slashed at them, he tried to clear his mind. Tried to forget about all his problems. He split a robot into two, but it did little to rein in his emotions. His dam had burst. He never knew he could be affected in this way.

Percy's arm worked on its own, stabbing,hacking and slashing at his targets. In less than five minutes, the whole training filed was littered with broken robot parts.

Percy paused to catch his breath. Suddenly he heard a twig snap behind him. On instinct his arm flew backward, and he place the sword of Khaos under the person's throat.

"Percy? I-"

"Oh, Kinzie," He pulled back, sheathing the sword of Khaos back at his waist. "Can I help you?"

The Amazon Queen's companion nodded slightly, looking apprehensively at his figure. "Uh, yes, Reyna's awake. And she wants to see you."

-

As Percy followed her to the tent, he could help but be...nervous? Why did she want to see him? What was she going to ask?

Finally, he got to the tent. Kinzie motioned for him to enter. He followed her order, and stepped into the tent. Reyna was seated upright on a simple bed, her hair falling in a simple braid over her shoulder, and her face scrunched up with worry. Percy through it made her look cute. The Amazon Queen patted a space next to her on the bed, and Percy found himself there two seconds later.

They sat in silence for a while, before Reyna spoke, "Kinzie told me you and Artemis weren't speaking with each other because of my...injury." She faced him, her eyes meeting his. "It's not her fault."

"What do you mean?"

"Percy...Artemis," She took in a hay breath. "Artemis kissed you. You were asleep, under a tree. Some nights before we left for Troy. And I saw her, Percy."

Percy felt his heart beat faster. Fiery red exploded from his neck to his ears. She had kissed him. On the lips. That was why she had wanted dot stay away from him. She had known someone had seen. But then, like the idiot he was, he had blown up on her.

"I confronted her. Accused her of many things. She got...angry, and well, she shot me. It wasn't her fault," Reyna continued. "If I hadn't had this sick...assumption that you two were..."

She covered her face with her hands, not able to go any more.

Artemis wasn't to blame. This had all been a misunderstanding.

"Percy, I need to know," Reyna was looking at him again. "Is there something going on between both of you?"

"No," his expression hardened. "There's nothing going on between Artemis and I. Nothing ever was and nothing will ever be." The way he said those words made him feel like he was being burned by a fiery hot iron rod.

Reyna visibly relaxed. And then she leaped forward, her lips connecting with his. Percy felt electricity race through him at the contact.

Immediately Reyna pulled away, Atalanta barged in. "Percy!" She called. "It's them. They've attacked again. They have monsters, and they've got us surrounded. We need you!"

Percy stood upright. Time to test his skills.

"Let's go! Reyna, stay here."