Chapter 1 - What A Good Mother Does

Thud. Yet again the young woman stumbled and fell as she fled away from the city. Nighttime was falling and while carrying her baby she held him closer as she flew through the brush. As the howling continued her head was on a swivel watching for any dangers to come to the from the darkness of the canopy.

"Cmon..cmon! I know its here I've seen it myself, the sea is near I know it!" She muttered to her self speaking out loud. Noises came from behind her, wild panting and paws snapping twigs. Bursting through the edge of the forest was a beach and the ocean was 30 yards in front of her. "Yes!" she cheered but she never stopped running. A couple of feet from the beach she froze in fear as she looked at the 20 foot being in front of her. "Lord...umm...Lord Zeus, an honor to see you here." She stuttered out trying to keep her head.

"Sally Jackson!" Zeus bellowed "As a clear sighted mortal you have seen, dated, and had sexual relations with my elder brother. Unknown to you we have made a pact about siring demigods, you have conceived a child with him and he has been born! No longer shall my brother Hades and I wait for this godling to become of age to qualify for a prophecy. A prophecy that could end our era of rule as Gods!" A storm of lighting was brewing as the waves grew bigger.

"Zeus don't do this! We can hide and never see the Gods again!" She pleaded with him. Only wanting to protect her son, like a good mother would always do. Panicking at the sight of the menacing God she silently prayed to Hera, Queen of the Gods and Marriage to protect her child from Zeus wrath because her lover would not.

"Enough! The child must die according to the Laws we are bound by!" Lightning crackling behind him and on his body. The wind raging on as he scowled upon the mortal and her demigod child.

"Please Hera Goddess of Marriage and lover of children protect and guide my child through his life. This I pray to you..." Sally was almost crying by now.

"I will see you and the child make Elysium as you have nothing wrong but his birth...I am sorry to do this Sally you are a good woman I know this child would have been raised properly." He raised his master bolt ready to smite her. She cried out and pleaded but she knew it was futile to argue with the King of the Gods. Zeus brought down his bolt in a flash of light and the ground shook and storm pounded the beach.

Zeus felt Poseidon's wrath as the sea wrestled endlessly for two months. Poseidon did not come to council meetings for half of the year only showing up for the solstice and never speaking to anyone but Athena, who never told Zeus about what they discussed.

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"On the right!" Phoebe yelled as her nocked arrow pierced the hide of the drakon near her. "We need to get into its hide!" she relayed to her fellow hunters.
"The forest holds many dark secrets sister, thy monster is just one of many," the hunter Zoe responded. Nocking more arrows the drakon's hide resembles a dark blood red cactus with silver arrows sticking out everywhere. "Where is milady Artemis?" glancing around for her mistress. All the hunters shrugged in between volleys.

"Hunters! Regroup on me!" a familiar voice called out to her hunters. Artemis sprinted forward and jumped to the left side of the drakon, drawing two hunting knives and stabbing one into the drakon's left eye. A deafening growl came from the creature and Artemis was smacked backwards, but landed on her feet. Drawing her bow she aim for a chink in the drakon hide when the arrow struck is revealed a 3 inch hole. "Now my hunters aim for the exposed part of his hide 2 feet left of his eye. Volley after volley pierced all the chinks they could see and in less than a few minutes the drakon was nothing more than a skin with arrows everywhere.

"Milady!" Zoe called and dropped to one knee in front of Artemis who eyes finally landed on her.

"Ah Zoe well done the drakon is dead and in tartarus we have all earned a break from hunting for a while. Cmon let's go find some where to camp," she called as she strode through the forest. The hunters plucked the arrows from the drakon skin and followed their mistress through the forest slowly and carefully watching for more surprises. After 15 minutes of alertness they found the edge of the forest and a beach with the ocean brewing, with the 10 foot waves crashing onto the beach. They camped right on the top of the beach a couple yards from the forest with their perimeter and guards facing it with their waves at their back. Once they were set up and chores were distributed Artemis went for a walk on the beach alone.

"Someone must of pissed off Poseidon badly for the sea to be like this for the whole week," She continued to walk until something caught her sharp eye. Its was a little lean to made up of some sticks and leaves from the forest. Too small for anything bigger than a fox, she quietly sneaked over to the shelter. Opening it slowly she saw a small child sleeping in a blanket in a woven crib. A note was on it, in perfect hand writing.

"Take care of this one, he is a keeper," she declared aloud as she looked over the child. He was still bald she guessed he was no more than a week old. Specks of black hair was growing on his head. "Who would leave a child this young out here and in a crib that looks so well made." She said thinking out loud. "I can't just leave him he will die, no one comes through these woods and especially survives. Should I just take him back to the camp and raise him? I can do the job better than most, and yea maybe he will be a decent man not a pig like the others," She reached down and picked up the baby out of his crib. He was cute and quiet, a good combo for her.

Artemis cradled the child as she reached her camp and held the boy close thinking of how her hunters were going to react to her raising this child as her own. Unfortunately she didn't have to wait long as Zoe came running up to her as she reached the camp borders.

"Milady no one had seen thee for quite sometime we feared thy had been captured," Zoe said looking concerned and staring at the child. "Milady thou has a child in thy arms? A man nonetheless," Her eyes never left the child.

"Gather up the girls, I need to speak to all of you immediately," Artemis told her as she entered her tent. Once inside she gazed at the child in her arms, enjoying the feeling of him so close to her. "Do not worry little one, I will raise you and call you my own. No one will take you away unless I say or they go through me. I feel your power inside you, you will be a powerful demigod. I Artemis, Goddess of The Hunt and Protector of Young Girls, hereby adopt...umm what say we call you? Hmm," She thought for a couple of names to fight her son. "Ah where was I...Oh yes! Hereby adopt Perseus to become my son and I will nurture him and guide him. This I vow on the River Styx," she stated happily as thunder boomed. "Come on," she said exiting the tent, "let's go meet all your sisters."

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"What are we doing here Zoe? It's late and we're all tired, I mean for Gods sake we had to fight a drakon today!" Phoebe called as she sat down across from Zoe at the picnic table.

"If I knew why milady Artemis called us here I would tell thee," she muttered as she looked down the table to get a headcount of the hunters. Everyone was here, even the hunters with guard duty were waiting for Artemis. "Here she comes," Zoe said standing up and walking over to meet her mistress before she reached the group of girls.

"Zoe go sit with the others, you will all here it at the same time,"Artemis looked her straight in the eyes. Zoe went to sit down glancing at the child before leaving.

Artemis walked over to the group of hunters and cleared her throat. "Girls today I found something very interesting, now you can get upset until I have finished...I want everyone to remain calm," some hunters looked worried, "I...I have umm...adopted a son today..." Silenced was followed by outrage by most of the hunters.

"Is that him? The baby you're holding? Oh man...he can't be more than two weeks old, he looks so cute!" A hunter called. Artemis blushed and held out Perseus for the other girls to see.

"Yes, now the reason for the adoption and the promise I made was because of the circumstances of this child. I do not know why but he was a scar on his back, a 2 inch scar that resembles a scratch. Anyways, I was walking on the beach and he was hidden in a shelter inside of a crib that was woven to perfection. Noticing he was so young I had to take him back here or he would have been killed within a day or two. Now I have given him my blessing, vowed to the Goddess Styx, and promised myself I would raise him to be a decent man..." Silence followed before Artemis spoke up again. "Now he is not leaving so you all better get used to it...anyone have a major problem or points that you want to make?" she questioned. Phoebe raised her hand. "Yes Phoebe go ahead make your statement.

"Ok well I hate men, more than most of you young hunters have met in your entire life," she paused glancing at Artemis who face never wavered from confident. "I think could be ok, I mean he is a baby he can't do anything wrong till he is at least a teenager, right? So I trust milady's judgement about him." Phoebe looked back down at the table.

"Does he have a name Lady Artemis?" A young hunter asked the Goddess.

"Ah thank you I nearly forgot, he does indeed a name worthy of this child. His name is Perseus."

(A/N) - Author's Note

Shout out to my other new story - Teenage Rivals you can find it on my profile.

Hello! This is my first fanfiction ever so please judge me harshly so I can get better. If you want to help me with the plot then message me or review below. R/R - Read and Review

-SG