"Ah...hey Artemis," Percy said nervously, "what-ah, what are you doing here?"
Artemis looked at Percy and then turned to Thalia, "who are you?"
Thalia gulped, she could feel the anger hidden behind the Goddess's eyes. 'Please dont' tell me she like's Percy too!' "Ah, I'm Thalia, m-my lady."
Artemis narrowed her eyes, "I see...Percy, explain to me what I just walked in on."
Percy scratched his head, "ah, well you see, it's just that I and ah, Thalia were, ah-"
"You and Thalia were what?"
"M-macking out?"
Artemis nodded, "I can see that. What I mean, is why?"
Thalia spoke up, "w-we, we're kind of t-together." Thalia turned to Percy, "we are together right."
Percy raised an eyebrow, "you waited until now to ask that?"
"Well I was otherwise busy okay!"
"Enough," Artemis snapped, Percy and Thalia flinched, "do you two know the trouble a relationship between a son of Poseidon and a daughter of Zeus could bring?"
Percy and Thalia nodded, "yeah."
"And you are aware of the dangerous?"
Thalia spoke up, "yes."
Artemis narrowed her eyes at Percy, "Percy, do you intend to marry this girl?"
"Marriage?!" They screamed together.
"We literally just got together!" Percy cried out.
"I like Percy and all, but marriage?!" Thalia asked in horror.
Artemis nodded, "it is the only way I can be sure that Percy here won't cheat on you."
"I would never cheat on her!" Percy yelled.
"It doesn't matter. If you two are serious about this then I expect you two to be faithful to each other. I hold you in high regard Percy," Artemis narrowed her eyes, "and I will personally skin you if you hurt my sister."
"Don't worry," Percy said getting back a little of his cocky attitude, "if I hurt her, she'll probably kill me long before you can get your hands of me."
"Hey!" Thalia said hitting Percy upside the head.
Artemis sighed, "even now you joke. Come you two, Olympus call for you both."
Percy was shocked, "wait, what? You aren't going to tell on us are you?!"
Artemis raised an amused eyebrow, "oh, so not only is this a forbidden romance but a secret one as well?"
Thalia gulped, "Lady Artemis we don't really want our parents to know. They would kill us!"
"I would probably get turned into a pile of ash," Percy said gulping.
Artemis smiled, but the smile didn't reach her eyes, "fine. I will not tell them. But that is not the reason I ask you to come. You have been summoned, both of you. It is good I found you both together, despite your...compromised positions."
"Isn't that usually Hermes's task?" Thalia asked.
Artemis glared at the demigoddess shutting her up, "I volunteered."
Thalia and Percy nodded as they got off the fist of Zeus and stepped in front of Artemis. "So why do they want to see us Artemis?" Percy asked.
The Goddess didn't respond and instead snapped her fingers transporting the three in a flash of light.
Percy blinked away the temporary blindness as he found himself in front of the steps to God's Throne room once again. Percy was used to the sight of the mountain, but Thalia wasn't.
"Woah," she said looking at everything, "this is amazing."
"Come, we don't' have time to waste," Artemis said leading them to the throne.
"Arty wait up," Percy said catching up to the goddess while thalia fell behind still amazed and distracted by everything. Percy walked next to the Goddess, "you okay Arty? You seem kind of tensed."
Artemis didn't even glance at him, "don't call me Arty."
Percy smiled, "why not....Arty."
The Goddess of the Hunt stopped and glared at Percy, "why do you care so much?"
"Because friends are supposed to care about each other."
"I see....well then maybe we should stop being friends."
Percy blushed, "w-what? Why?!"
Artemis shrugged, "I realise now that a Goddess and a mortal can never be friends, especially if that Goddess is me." Artemis then began walking away.
"Arty wait," Percy grabbed her arm.
"Don't touch me," Artemis spat.
"Fine," Percy released her, "just tell me why you are so pissed."
The Goddess glared at him and pointed at Thalia who was further back, "it's because of her."
"Thalia? You're worried about Thalia?"
Artemis nodded, "I have seen this before Percy. Every time somebody get's into a relationship they forget about their friends, choosing instead to only focus on them."
"Wait....you're worried that because I'm dating someone that I'll stop being your friend?" Percy asked as Artemis looked away just as a blush creeped on her face.
"No, idiot. I just don't want to see you break that girl's heart."
Lie Detected!
Percy slowly smiled until it grew into a large grin, "no, you're lying. You're just worried that I wouldn't want to be your friend anymore."
"No you fool!" Artemis yelled in protest.
Percy hugged the younger looking goddess, "relax Arty, I'm not going to stop being your friend. You're worried about nothing."
"Stop hugging me!" Artemis broke free, "and no, I don't care about something as small as a friendship with a mortal!"
"Yeah you do," Percy replied back, "that's why you volunteered, You just wanted an excuse to see me."
Artemis grumbled, "yes. Fine. You win. I'm worried that you will change understand? The last male friend I knew turned into a horny dog the moment he hit puberty. Fucking creep, couldn't stop flirting and humping everything in sight."
Percy gulped, "while I admit I do have the occasional burst of hormones I can promise you Arty that I won't be turning into an asshle over night."
Artemis nodded, "right. Look....we'll talk about this later. Right now we need to go inside. The Gods are waiting."
By that time Thalia had caught up to them and the three walked up to the giant doors leading to the throne room. Artemis pushed them open and walked in followed by Percy and Thalia.
"Artemis, you have returned, good," Zeus said still dressed up in his best armani suit.
"I brought Perseus and Thalia as requested father," Artemis said as she transformed into her giant form sitting down on her throne.
Percy and Thalia stood in front of the hearth of Olympus. Percy smiled at Hestia, who was tending to the hearth there. The goddess smiled back waving at him. Thalia however was looking at the gods.
"This is amazing," Thalia said looking at them all. Her eyes roamed all over the room until they fell on Zeus, her dad.
Zeus electric blue eyes softened the moment he made eye contact with his daughter, "Thalia. It is so good to finally see you."
"And who's fault is that?" Thalia snapped back on reflex. She immediately covered her mouth with her hands looking horrified at what she had just said. The other God's chuckled while Percy smiled.
"I am so sorry," Thalia began, "that just came out."
Zeus sighed, "no....it's alright. I deserve that. I am sorry daughter, I realise I haven't been the best father, but my duties come first."
'Sure they do,' Percy rolled his eyes. Percy could tell Thalia felt uncomfortable under the gaze of so many Gods, he needed to draw the attention away from his....his girlfriend. Gods it felt so weird to say that.
"Okay, you guys called us, what do you want?" Percy asked stepping forward distracting the Gods.
"Ah yes, Jackson, disrespectful as always" Zeus narrowed his eyes, "well let's begin then. We called you both for a reason. We have decided on a quest for the both of you. A very important quest."
Percy and Thalia shared a look as Percy spoke, "will it involve monsters and assassins?"
Zeus looked confused, "assassins? No, I hope not. Sigh, this so complicated," he turned to Hera, "are you sure we need to even do this?"
Hera nodded, "yes husband, we do." Thalia glared at Goddess, Percy could see the hate in her eyes as he squeezed Thalia's hand. The daughter of Zeus nodded her head in thanks and quickly reigned in her anger.
"We agreed brother," Poseidon spoke up in a strim voice, "we all voted for it. This has to be done. You know this."
Zeus sighed, "where do I even begin? Well... alright," Zeus looked at Thalia and Percy, "what do you know about the Roman gods?"
Percy raised an eyebrow, "they are a cheap knock off of the Greek Gods."
The Gods all chuckled while Hera sighed.
Zeus nodded, "well essentially yes. But the thing is, they are us."
"What do you mean father?" Thalia asked,
"Thalia....do you remember the second time I visited your mother?" Zeus asked. Hera looked furious but said nothing.
Thalia nodded, "yeah, this was before....before Jason." Thalia glared at Hera, who promptly ignore her.
Zeus nodded, "right. And do you remember what I looked like back then Thalia?"
Thalia nodded, "well, you looked more...respectable? More in control, fatherly. You gave this aura of foreboding."
Zeus nodded, "right, and so I seem like that now?"
Thalia shook her head, "no. Before you seemed more stoic, now you seem more...dramatic?"
Zeus smiled, "very true. You see Thalia what you saw then was not Zeus, it was Jupiter."
"So then... you guys have two forms?" Percy asked.
The Gods nodded. Poseidon then spoke up, "think of them as split personality son. You see the Greeks envisioned us one way while the Romans another. So in the form of Poseidon I am more relaxed, laid back. But as Neptune I'm more war like.....like Triton in some ways."
Percy groaned, "that's so sad. But wait, that brings up the question, which came first? The Greek or the Roman? Which is your real form?"
Athena smiled, "for a son of Poseidon you sure do have an excellent brain." Poseidon grumbled shooting Athena a glare.
"The Greeks came first," Zeus stated bringing the attention back to him, "we started off as Greek, and then turned Roman. But when the Roman empire feel we discovered we can changed between the forms. Like so," Zeus then slowly changed in front of their eyes.
Before Zeus was more proud, more arrogant. But now he looked far more mature, like a king. Percy would never admit it, but he kind of liked this form of Zeus.
Zeus then shifted back and continued, "so you see we Gods have two forms, two worlds that we govern over. As such it-"
"-Wait!" Percy suddenly shouted in surprise, "if there are Roman Gods, does that mean there are Roman demigods as well?!"
Thalia's eyes popped open in surprise as well, "Jason! Jason wasn't a son of Zeus! He was a son of Jupiter!"
Zeus grumbled, "you two stole my punch line." The other god's laughed as Zeus quickly gathered his composure, "right. Jason is a son of Jupiter, not Zeus. And yes, there is a camp for Roman demigods, it is called camp Jupiter."
Percy raised an eyebrow, "really? Camp Jupiter? You named it after yourself?"
Zeus shrugged, "I didn't pick the name. They Romans did."
Thalia sighed, "wait this doesn't make any scenes. Is there was another camp then we should know about it. Why doesn't anyone know? Like there should at least be rumors, and why hasn't anyone ever seen roman demigod?"
"It is because we were forced to separate the world's" Hera spoke up, "before the Greeks and Romans did in fact know of the other's existence. But during the American Civil war a war broke out between the two sides. The Greeks and the Romans fought each other....many lost their lives. Since then we have kept the two sides separate. Using the Mist we made sure that one never saw signs of the other, wiping the other camp from it's memory."
"So you decided to separate us," Thalia released as suddenly a look of realisation came to her eyes, "i-is that why you took Jason away from me? Because I was Greek and he was Roman?"
Zeus groaned, "well, that is part of the reason. You see, ah, well-"
"-I asked him to do it," Hera spoke up, "I told Zeus that a single mortal should not bare two children of Zeus. I made your mother give Jason up."
"You bitch!" Thalia roared out.
"Thalia relax," Percy said holding her back.
"She took away the only person I can ever call family Percy!" Thalia's eyes sparkled with electricity as the scent of Ozone grew stronger and stronger.
"Thalia I demand you stop this at once!" Zeus roared out, "you will not disrespect the Queen of Olympus!"
"Screw you!" Thalia roared at her father, "this is all your fault! Jason is dead because of you! If you had never returned then things would be better! If you hadn't-"
"-When did I ever say he was dead?" Hera asked suddenly.
Thalia paused, "w-what?"
"Jason is alive and well," Hera continued, "he is in camp Jupiter."
"Where is camp Jupiter?"
"Why do you wish to know?" Hera asked amused.
"Because I'm going to get my brother back!" Thalia yelled as she turned to Percy, "I know it's a lot to ask Percy but can you-"
"-No problem," Percy said as he opened his inventory pulling out his goggles, "he is family after all."
"Thalia-" Zeus began.
"-what? Going to tell me not to go?"
"Actually it's the exact opposite," Hera spoke up again, "before we were comfortable separating the two camps, there was no need to join them. But now that Kronos has a mortal body again we have realised that we need both camps working together to help fight the Titans."
Percy narrowed his eyes, "so what? You need us to recruit these guys?"
Zeus roared, "hardly. The demigods in camp Jupiter are far more loyal and obedient than the ones in camp Half-Blood."
That comment pissed Percy off, "maybe it's because they have better Gods to serve as their role models."
Zeus's eyes glowed, "what was that?"
Percy shrugged, "I didn't say anything."
"Are you saying I'm deaf?"
"No, I'm saying you are imagining things."
"WHY YOU LITTLE-"
"Enough!" Poseidon roared, "I will not let you harm my son Zeus!"
The God of Lighting was sparkling with power but sat back on his throne. With the threat of war looming close Zeus didn't want to risk war among the Gods.
Poseidon then turned to Percy, "and you, stop pissing off people that can destroy you with nothing but their pinky."
Percy nodded, "yeah. Sorry."
"Okay so back to the quest," Thalia said bringing everyone back on track, "you want us to go to camp Jupiter and ally ourselves with them?"
Zeus nodded, "exactly. We will send them a message, telling them of two people who will come to see them, but we will not mention who you are."
"Why not?" Percy asked, "if we just pop in there unannounced they might get defencive. Why can't you just set up a meeting between us in a neutral place that way both teams get an equal footing?"
Athena nodded, "a solid plan. You sure he's your son Poseidon?"
The sea god grumbled, "he get's it from his mother."
Athena chuckled, "as I was saying, sound plan Perseus. But the ancient laws prevent us from doing so. We have set up the barrier between the worlds, it would not do for us to break them down ourselves."
