Banished

6

Artemis PoV

Unsurprisingly, I was surviving as a mortal by living in the forest.

When absolutely necessary, I would find a town or city and purchase supplies, but that wasn't often.

At one point, I found a message burned into the ground, presumably from my brother.

The message explained that he specifically was banned from aiding me in any way, and father wasn't even to the point of remorse for his actions yet.

I was going to be mortal for a while.

As I was sharpening arrowheads, I saw a man appear about ten feet away from me.

"Artemis, is that you?" The man asked. "It's Percy. I helped you out a little bit earlier."

I nodded and he approached me. "Hi, how are you?"

I shrugged. "I'm surviving. It's not difficult, just boring. I see you've become a god?"

Perseus nodded. "All seven demigods from the prophecy were made into gods. My main task is hunting down monsters, so I could help with your boredom."

"Don't you have a girlfriend you should be spending most of your free time with?" I inquired.

He shook his head. "She wanted to fully dedicate herself to her work and couldn't do that while in a relationship. Unfortunately for me, that means other goddesses will be more aggressive in their pursuits."

"Is it true that you prefer Percy over Perseus?" I asked.

When he nodded, I asked why.

"Being called Perseus makes me feel old or threatened, depending on the person," he explained. "Why don't you just wait out mortality in a hotel or something?"

I shrugged. "If I stay in one place for too long, monsters will find and attack me."

"Is there anything I can get for you to make mortal life a little bit easier?" The god asked.

"Could you give me a pen and a notebook?" I asked. "I want to explain what happened, but I'm not allowed to speak with my hunters."

He nodded and handed over the requested items.

While I began to write, he went over to the stream to interact with the fish. "Why did your father try to marry you off when you had maiden vows?"

"He had mine revoked," I explained as wrote. "I didn't have the chance to speak to my hunters about that either, so they're going to have a lot of questions."

"Is there anything else I could get you?" Percy asked.

"No, but thank you," I replied. "My hunters will have everything I need."

"How do plan on getting the letter to your hunters?" He continued. "I could bring it, if you want. Thalia and I are friends."

"I remember," I remarked. "Thalia once told us a story about how you doused a flaming demigod with water from the canoe lake at Camp Half-Blood."

He stood and walked back over to me and collected the completed letter. "I'll be back in a few minutes."

The former demigod also summoned a cheeseburger for me. "I figured you probably get tired of eating the same food every day, too."

I chuckled and nodded in appreciation, turning away before he disappeared so as not to disintegrate.

As I ate my cheeseburger, which was the most flavorful thing that I had eaten in weeks, I wondered if I should have warned Percy about Phoebe.

Phoebe enjoyed attacking males, including those delivering messages.

Dismissing the thought, I finished my cheeseburger in peace and rinsed off my hands in the stream.

Even though Percy had left, it seemed that the fish remained gathered in one area.

I was drawn away from this phenomenon when Percy returned.

He handed me the small box that my tent would magically fold into. "Your hunters said they're upset but they understand that it isn't your fault."

I gave him a quick hug and noticed a laceration on his arm. "That looks like the work of Phoebe. I can fix it up in my tent."