9. The Revelation

Third-person POV

Artemis immediately flashed herself to Olympus, finding herself in front of her twin brother's palace. Apollo's palace also doubles as a hospital or a healing area for the citizens of Olympus.

And that's exactly what she had come for.

Artemis burst through the golden doors of Apollo's palace to find herself in a golden receptionist area. She turned towards the golden archway labeled 'patients' in Ancient Greek and tried to figure out which golden door the man that saved her Hunters was behind.

Apollo really likes golden things.

Artemis looked around the closed doors near her. She couldn't help but curse Apollo for not putting any name labels on the doors. Not that it would have helped anyway. Nobody knew the identity of the mysterious man.

Just as she was about to check every single door one by one, Apollo emerged from the door to her left, looking extremely relieved. Artemis noticed the blood staining her brother's whitet-shirt and jeans and was suddenly worried about the man, the first time ever in her immortal life.

Apollo went up to Artemis wiping his hands on a towel, cleaning away any excess blood. Before Artemis could open her mouth, Apollo raised his hand to stop her.

'Why was he at your camp?' Apollo asked coldly.

Artemis took a step back in surprise. She did not expect the defensiveness from her brother, defending an unknown man nonetheless! That made her suspicious.

'Why would you care?' Artemis said with narrowed eyes.

Apollo pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, 'Sorry, Artemis. Just a bit stressed.'

Artemis' eyes widened. Apollo never called her Artemis unless he was serious or something really bad had happened. This caused Artemis to completely miss the fact that Apollo avoided her question.

'Are you okay?' she asked with genuine concern.

Apollo smiled at his sister, 'Yes, thanks for asking. Thankfully he's alive. It was hard to get the spear out without hitting his spine.'

Artemis scrunched her eyebrows in confusion. How did Apollo heal the man so quickly when he had such a serious injury? Even if Apollo is the god of medicine, he wouldn't have been able to heal the man that fast.

Apollo had only taken the man from her campsite a few minutes ago.

'Is he alright?' Artemis asked.

Apollo raised an eyebrow, 'Are you asking if a man is alright? Are you sure you're Artemis?'

Artemis glared at her brother, 'Of course I'm Artemis, you buffoon. He saved my Hunters, of course I'm worried.'

Apollo raised his hands in surrender, 'Okay, okay. Chill out, sis. He's fine. Well, at least as fine as someone who almost had their spine snapped in half.'

Artemis breathed a sigh of relief at the news. She tried walking past Apollo to check on the man but an arm reached out to stop her.

Artemis looked at her brother confused but he just shook his head, 'Not now, Artemis. He needs rest.'

Artemis shook his arm off, 'What is your problem, Apollo? You do know this is the man we were sent to find, right? Why are you acting so...protective?'

Apollo clenched his jaw, 'I can't tell you that.'

Artemis narrowed her eyes, 'You sound like you know him.'

The lack of reply from her brother confirmed her suspicions.

'Unbelievable.' Artemis scoffed. She walked into the room, this time without Apollo stopping her.

When she entered the room, she was met by a bunch of beeping machines. Artemis didn't know what they were called but she knew they showed whether the man hooked up to them was doing well or not. By the steady beeping emitting from the machines, she assumed the man was stable. Unlike the rest of the palace, the patient rooms were not golden and shiny, most likely so that patients wouldn't get aggravated by the constant bling.

Artemis felt Apollo enter the room behind her but she ignored him. She eyed the man on the bed carefully. His shirt was off, showing his incredible physique, but what caught Artemis' eye was the lack of any bandages on the man's body.

Where the spear had been a few moments ago was now a faint scar.

All the blood was cleaned off and the spear lay discarded in the corner of the room on a metal table. Artemis looked at the wound in confusion. How did it heal so fast? The spear was at least half an inch thick and it had left a gaping hole through the man's body. Now, the wound was closed and was already almost fully healed.

No healer, god or not, would have been able to close a wound of that size that fast.

Artemis whirled on her brother, 'What did you do?'

Apollo just shrugged, 'I healed him.'

Artemis decided not to keep pushing for answers. She knew she would not be able to get any answers out of her brother. He was even more stubborn than her.

Artemis turned back to the man and walked to his side slowly. She saw a sword in a black sheath on the end of the bed. She was surprised she hadn't seen it earlier. She reached up to his face with her hand to take off his mask but to her surprise, it didn't budge. No matter what she tried, the mask stayed on his face.

Artemis heard soft laughter behind her. She turned to find Apollo snickering at her.

'You look hilarious right now.' Apollo said still snickering.

Artemis sighed and gave up. The mask must have been magical, or at least had some sort of spell cast on it so that only the wearer could remove it. Artemis walked back to her brother, now calm from his short laughter session.

'How long?' Artemis asked Apollo.

'A day at most. The spear had pierced through a lot of his internal organs. It would take a while for him to regain consciousness.' Apollo said casually.

Artemis sighed and looked back at the man that had saved her Hunters from certain death.

'I guess we wait.'

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

It was a little over a day when the man finally woke up from his nap.

Was it still a nap when a spear going through your body had caused it?

The man groaned on the hospital bed. The wound ached when he moved but he was surprised that he was still alive.

The man's eyes widened as he sat straight up with a start. He looked around and noticed he was in a familiar-looking hospital room. He had been here once before and he recognised it.

He was in Apollo's palace.

The man struggled to remember what happened, and then it all came crashing on top of him. He had gone to check on the Hunters again to make sure they were alright. When he arrived at their campsite, he found the Hunters looked in a furious battle with a little over 300 monsters, a lot more than the night before.

He had expected the second attack. It was a simple strategy. Plan to ambush your enemy with a big force, and then attack them with an even bigger force when they are recovering from the previous attack.

He had killed every single one of the monsters except the empousa that seemed to be the leader. He realised that the empousa was indeed Kelli, the crazy cheerleader that tried to eat him multiple times. The man had tried to gather information from her regarding the attacks but a dracaena he missed earlier distracted him.

He had taken the spear for Thalia and now here he was, in a hospital bed on Olympus, where the gods would surely ask for his audience now that he was here.

The man was brought out of his thoughts when the door to his room opened. A man with a plain white t-shirt and jeans walked in with a clipboard. Apollo walked up to the man and threw him a new black shirt.

'Here,' Apollo said as he checked something off his clipboard 'Get changed. We got to go.'

The man nodded his thanks to the god and put his t-shirt on. At least this one didn't have a hole in it.

'How long was I out?' the man asked as he put on his slightly damaged black sweatshirt.

'A little over a day.' Apollo replied nonchalantly, like he was used to people being unconscious for that long.

The man cursed silently. Him being asleep for that long means that someone other than Apollo had seen him. He wouldn't be able to escape now.

As if reading his thoughts, Apollo smiled at the man apologetically. 'Artemis saw you. She came to check on you actually. I was surprised, man.'

The man sat on the edge of the bed shocked. Artemis, the man-hating goddess came to check on an injured man in a hospital bed.

Weird.

'If you're feeling alright, we should go,' Apollo said as he clipped the clipboard to the end of the bed 'The council demands your presence. You've led them on quite a chase. Now that they had finally "caught" you, they want to ask you some questions.'

The man sighed. He had expected it. It had been far too long since he had been here. Maybe it was time to come home.

'Alright, Apollo,' the man said as he stood up stretching 'Lead the way.'

The trip towards the throne room was non-eventful, but the man couldn't help but notice the way Olympus had changed over the years. The ruined buildings he remembered were all now fixed, but better, giving the city a new look that suited it a lot more than the old Olympus did. Some of the palaces and shrines the man saw looked familiar to him, like he had seen it somewhere before.

Just as the duo was about to reach the throne room, something made the man stop in his tracks. Tears began welling up in his eyes for the first time in years.

There in front of him, just to the left of the throne room doors, was a bronze and gold statue of a girl. The girl's gold hair glinted in the afternoon sun, making it look more beautiful than it already was. The girl was holding a bronze laptop, a delta symbol on the back of it. Sheathed at her hip was a bronze knife that suited her perfectly. The girl had a big smile on her face as she overlooked the rest of the city as if she had made it.

Apollo turned back when he realized the man was not following him anymore. Apollo smiled a bittersweet smile when he saw what made him stop.

'Her mother made it a few years ago,' Apollo said as he took his place next to the man 'To honour her for eternity, like the hero she is.'

The man said nothing as a tear made its way down his face and rested on the edge of his mask, that same mask covering the small smile on his face.

Without a word, the man wiped his tear away and turned back towards the throne room doors making Apollo follow him.

'Are you ready?' Apollo asked the man as they prepared to enter the throne room 'You can still leave. I'll just say you escaped.'

The man shook his head, 'It's fine, Apollo. Maybe it's finally time. I'm ready.'

Apollo nodded and opened the huge doors to reveal the glory of the Olympian Council.

Both the man and Apollo walked towards the semi-circle of thrones in the middle of the hall. Thirteen twenty-foot beings sat on their own individual thrones, eyeing the mysterious man they had failed to capture as he walked towards the center of the throne room.

Apollo walked back to his golden throne and sat in it as the mysterious man kneeled in front of the gods.

There were a few brief moments of silence until Zeus, the King of the Gods, spoke up.

'We have brought you here to find out who you are.' Zeus said bluntly.

'You have no need, Lord Zeus,' the man said still kneeling in hopes to protect his identity for a while longer 'You just need to know that I am loyal to Olympus.'

Zeus glared at the man, 'Show your face now, or you will feel the wrath of my master bolt.'

The man saw Apollo tense on his throne, preparing to defend him if needed.

The man sighed, 'I will show you my identity if you all swear not to reveal it outside of this room.'

The Olympians all looked at each other, seemingly using the mind-messaging thing they usually use, to discuss the terms of learning the identity of this mysterious man.

After a few seconds, Zeus stood up to deliver the verdict, 'As the King of the Gods, I, on behalf of the Council, swear on the River Styx to not reveal your identity to anyone outside this room.'

The man looked at Apollo to see him nod at him encouragingly.

Taking a deep breath, the man stood up from his spot in the middle of the throne room. He reached his hand up slowly to his mask and closed his eyes.

The man slowly removed his black mask to reveal the all-too-familiar face of the great Percy Jackson.

A/N: I'm back kinda.

Surprise, the 'mysterious man' is Percy Jackson. Not really a surprise but it's kinda needed for the storyline.

I know this is a bad place and time to end the chapter, and I'm starting to feel really bad about what I'm about to say.

Sooooooooo...

The next chapter will come out after 2 December. Because school. School sucks.

I'm terribly sorry for this but there's nothing I can do. I hope you all can forgive me for this slight inconvenience.

~Sacai2005