A/N: Hey, everyone! Again, this is a fan ending to Everlasting Promises by Starblade176. I got frustrated with the lack of an ending, so I decided to write my own. I have no connection to the original, but be sure to go read it first or you'll be confused here!

As of this writing, the latest EP chapter is 18. This fic doesn't start immediately after the events of that chapter, but it will go back to that around chapter 5 or so. Instead, it starts with Percy and co's return to earth and reunion with Artemis.

Enjoy, and don't forget to review! :)

~vult

Artemis, goddess of the hunt, threw herself back on her bed with a tired sigh and thought about the events of the last day.

The Hunt had been successful, tracking down a rogue posse of hellhounds outside Houston and taking them down with ease. Granted, they had been more resilient than the regular hellhound, and had occupied her and her Hunters for a full week, but the job was done. It was puzzling, but refreshing to have such a challenge come from what would normally be routine work.

The truth was there just weren't enough challenges to keep her and her Hunters occupied. With the new armor and weapons they had received the day their Guardian had died, almost every monster had become a piece of cake. Their arrows flew straight and true to find their marks, rarely, if ever, missing.

She closed her eyes. Perseus...

He had taught them so much, brought them together so close as a family, that even now, almost two decade after he left them, left HER, alone she could still feel it, like an icicle digging into her heart. She hadn't forgiven herself, not then, nor any day since, that she had implicitly rejected his declaration of love for her. He had been the first man to ever capture her heart, to break through the contempt and mistrust she had for all males, to love as she had not loved that piece of filth Orion.

Her armor, and her hunters', was a daily reminder of what she had lost, and while time made the pain distant, it never faded. She would carry that regret with her long after every puny mortal on this planet were walking the fields of Asphodel. His friends, the people who he had cared for and fought by, so many... It had surprised her that a mere man could be so selfless and caring for others, and it had surprised her right until the moment of his death, as he lay broken and bleeding in her arms, begging immortality for the people who meant the most to him.

But was he truly dead? Not long after, these weapons and rings had appeared for each of them, giving them strength and power beyond any she had ever known. The Hunt outweighed the other Olympians in terms of power two to one. And the rose, a single silver rose delicately carved, just for her. She knew of only one person who could have sent it, and that was Percy - but how could he be alive?

The question had tormented her for almost twenty years, as she attempted to find ways that her dear friend might have survived. Nico had been unable to find a trace of him in the underworld, so that was a start, but neither could he be found anywhere else. It was as if his soul had vanished from the earth entirely. Not impossible, given what he had taken to save her from pain and possible destruction... Hellfire, the accursed substance that would sunder a soul from a body, burning it, destroying it, ripping it into oblivion beyond even the reach of the Gods.

And yet, Artemis still hoped. She still hoped and prayed to whatever cosmic entity was listening that someday, she would hear her Guardian's voice once again, that annoying, MALE voice, teasing her, greeting her with those absurd nicknames -

"Hello, Moonbeam."

Her eyes snapped open.