Chapter Text
Stiles couldn’t believe that no one noticed. Not one of his friends or even his father had noticed the months that he hadn’t been himself. He had spent countless hours screaming at them in his head, wishing that anyone would realize what was happening to him. He was trapped inside his own mind and the longer he was in here, the weirder it got. At first, he had just seen a figure wrapped in bandages that taunted him.
Now, there was something… different. Something that felt warm like a sunny day. There wasn’t much to do for him since he started ignoring what his body was doing. Occasionally, he would get flashes of people and feeling that he didn’t know and he felt almost stronger now than he had a few months ago even. The more he thought about it, the more he realized when it had started. Against his better judgement, Stiles was more than sure that he wasn’t human anymore. While he wasn’t sure what exactly he was, he knew that whatever it was, it wasn’t human.
On one random day, he tuned in to what his body was doing, he flinched backwards as the feeling of alarm slammed into him.
“What is this?” his voice asked, backing away from the thing advancing on him. Stiles wasn’t sure if his thoughts were betraying him but the first thought he had when he saw the creature was that it was a Manticore. But that couldn’t be right… could it? He had never found a clue that Greek mythology was actually real and Manticores were creatures from the myths.
“You made this easier than we thought, little Godling,” the Manticore growled, smirking at the boy in front of him. He didn’t look anything like what he expected the Golden Olympian to be but just beneath the surfance, he could see a shimmering of blonde hair and Godly aura that told him that they did, in fact, find the right person.
The Nogitsune – Stiles – shook his head “I don’t…” He didn’t get to finish whatever it was that he was about to say before he felt hands on him and everything went black.
Percy was shivering in the show, unsure of what they were waiting for. Artemis hadn’t really told them much apart from an assurance that dawn was approaching. It didn’t help that the Hunters didn’t seem to be bothered by the cold at all. On the other side of the clearing, he could see Bianca and Nico talking and from the look on their faces, it wasn’t going well.
Thalia and Grover walked up to the Son of Poseidon, hiding around him “So?” Thalia prodded “What did she say?”
Percy quickly summarized the meeting, causing Grover to pale “The last time the Hunters visited camp, it didn’t go well.”
“How did they even show up here?” Percy wondered out loud “I mean, they just appeared out of nowhere.”
Thalia made a sound of agreement “And Bianca just joined them.” She shook her head in disgust “It’s all Zoe’s fault. That stuck-up, no good…”
Grover cut her off before she could really get started on her rant “Who can blame her? Eternity with Artemis?”
Thalia rolled her eyes “You satyrs. You’re all in love with Artemis. Don’t you get that she’ll never love you back?”
“But she’s so… into nature,” Grover swooned.
“You’re nuts,” Thalia rolled her eyes.
Grover nodded “Nuts and berries. Yeah.” At his dreamy look, Percy and Thalia exchanged amused looks.
Before they could say anything, the sky finally began to lighten. Artemis let out a scoff from where she had been standing “About time. He’s so lazy during winter.”
Percy tilted his head in confusion “You’re… Waiting for sunrise?”
“Yes.”
“Okay,” Percy muttered to himself. He didn’t want to be rude and ask anymore questions. He knew the legends about Apollo - he assumed that it was him that the Goddess was waiting for - driving a big sun chariot across the sky. But he also knew that the sun was really a star that was like a zillion miles away. He’d gotten used to some of the Greek myths being true but he still didn’t understand how someone could drive the Sun.
“It’s not exactly as you think,” Artemis spoke up, looking straight at Percy.
“Oh, okay,” Percy started to relax a little. Did she read his mind? “So it’s not like he’s pulling up in a…”
There was a sudden burst of light on the horizon. A blast of warmth spread through the demigods.
“Don’t look,” Artemis called out “Not until he parks.”
The light and warmth intensified until Percy felt like his coat was about to melt off. It grew until it suddenly died. Percy blinked his eyes open and did a double-take on the red convertible Maserati that was parked right in front of them. The snow had melted around the Maserati in a perfect circle, explaining why Percy was suddenly on green grass with wet shoes instead of on white snow with wet shoes.
“Woah,” Thalia whispered.
“Artemis,” the God who had just gotten out of the car, exclaimed, grinning at the Goddess.
“Helios. Thank you for coming,” she nodded “I need a favour. I have some hunting to do… alone. I need you to take my companions to Camp Half-Blood.”
Helios gave the younger goddess a knowing look, "Safe hunt, Artemis. I will see your maidens, the questers and the Satyr to camp safely." He assured, his eyes darting to the demigods almost curiously.
Percy leaned over, whispering to Grover, "I thought that was Apollo?"
Grover shook his head “You wouldn’t have heard but Apollo has been missing for years now. He did something to piss off his father and got banished… only to disappear. Helios…” Here he gestured to the God quietly conversing with Artemis “Helios has taken over the Sun in the meantime. It was chaos for a while when they realized that Apollo wasn’t where he was supposed to be.”
“But there’s Apollo kids who were claimed while I was there last summer?” Percy frowned “How does that work?”
Artemis, who had overheard them talking, cut in “It’s a deal made with my father, the King of the Gods. I am able to claim my brother’s children while he is gone.”
Helios clapped his hands “Well, we had better load up. I need to finish raising the Sun.”
The Sheriff was pacing around the Sheriff station’s corridor anxiously, pressing the phone to his ear “Yeah, it’s like he just disappeared. It doesn’t make any sense.”
“ We’ll find him, Sheriff, ” Scott promised on the other end of the line “ I’m sure he’ll turn up soon. ”
“I hope so. The last time he disappeared, he got kidnapped,” Sheriff Stilinski mumbled, leaning against the wall. He lowered the phone and closed his eyes “Stiles, you can’t keep doing this to me. You can’t just disappear on me. Not like this. Not now.”
Melissa stepped closer to him, resting her hand on his arm “Scott will find him,” she reassured the man quietly “One of them has to be able to track him down. Don’t worry too much, Noah.”
“He’s my son,” Noah snapped back “I always worry for him. We just got him back and now he is just gone again? What if something else happened? What if getting rid of the Nogitsune didn’t work? He’s my son, Mel. But what happens if we can’t get him back?”
“I know,” Melissa told him gently, not wanting to entertain the idea that Stiles could be anything but fine. He was as good as her son after all the years he had spent with Scott “Stiles is strong. He’ll be fine.”