Percy Jackson: The Cursed Hunter

A/N: Final chapter then it's on to the rewrite.

Thank y'all so much for being on this journey with me.

It's been 3 years since I quit writing and threw everything away, and it was only after so much happened that I once again built up the courage to start writing again.

One, to erase that goddamned embarrassing past of mine.

And two, because my hand had been itching to create worlds and the itch had become too strong to ignore once more.

Yet, instead of writing the stories I had been cooking up during these past 3 years, instead, I opted to jump headfirst into writing a crazy Percy Jackson Fanfiction that I had less than two days to plan out.

Was it a smart idea? No. But did it reinvigorate my love for writing? Abso-fucking-lutely.

I'm glad I started writing again, and I hope y'all will be there with me too as I begin my true writing journey again with the start of the New Year.

---

An Unknown Amount of Time After the Events of the Last Chapter:

The view from our house now overlooked Times Square from high above, as we watched along with the crowd.

There was a solid hour remaining before the famed red ball would drop in front of everyone's eyes.

Jingle-

Hearing the front door opening, I yelled,

"Did you remember to buy the cake?"

The silence that I was met with told me everything that I needed to know, and so I continued to bustle around the house, making sure that everything was perfect.

I didn't even look up as I tossed a towel towards her sure to be snow-covered and wet body.

"I've already drawn a bath for you."

If I had looked up, I probably would have been rewarded with a gentle smile, but time was of the essence.

The surprise that I was setting up had taken much more of my time than I had expected.

To answer your questions, no, using cursed energy would have been cheating, and yes, I was going to call it a surprise even though Aph knew about everything that was happening in her domain.

Hence why the set up was even more powerful.

More than anything, my hard work would be the thing that would continue to bring a smile to her face.

The thought itself brought a gentle smile to my own face as I soon finished the set up for the surprise, using almost the entirety of the 30 minutes my bathing partner had given me.

Stepping out of the bath, the first thing that hit me was the strong scent of sandalwood that was unfettered by the wind now.

"How was the meeting with Artemis?"

"She was a bitch, as usual, but I withstood my need to slap her in the face for long enough. The hunters were even worse..." She said, before flopping onto the couch.

To this, I could only sigh. Sure, I loved them because they had raised me, but at this point, I would take Aph's side eleven out of ten times.

"Just go easy on them, will ya?"

It would take a while to reconcile the two sides, but I would try, even if most deemed it an impossible task.

Sitting onto the couch next to her, I sidled into her side and wrapped both of my arms around her waist.

And then, I just breathed, inhaling as much of her scent as possible, my entire body relaxing from just the knowledge of her presence so close to me.

Reading her thoughts, I murmured,

"You know I'd always take your side, so stop getting jealous..."

My face had been buried in her body, but she seemed to get the gist of what I said.

Especially with how she slapped the back of my head playfully.

"Yes yes, you'd never even consider being jealous of a bunch of virgins."

Her fingers soon began to ruffle through my hear, as I let myself be spoiled for a bit.

I was in a little bit of an energy slump with how much time and energy I had expended in setting up the surprise.

Minutes began to blur into the next as I began to drown, lost in her presence.

...

The shouting of the crowd below us 

"TEN! NINE! EIGHT! SEVEN! SIX! FIVE! FOUR!-"

I quickly disentangled from her, dropping to the ground in front of the couch.

"Three!"

Placing a knee down, I drew a velvet box from my pocket.

"Two!"

She looked surprised, yet unsurprised at the same time, surprised that I had had the courage to do this only after ? years of dating and not surprised by the fact that I had had the box on my body and was now presenting it to her.

"Will you-"

"One!"

"...Marry me?"

"Happy New Year!"

The crowd's cheering was drowned out,

By the sole fact that she had grabbed my cheeks and had brought me in for a kiss.

As we broke apart, I didn't even try and hide the stupid grin that was for sure adorning the bottom half of my face.

I would dare say that I was the happiest man in the world today.

Grabbing the glasses of champagne that I had set on the table, we clinked our glasses together.

"To my husband."

No, I was the luckiest man in the world.

And I knew that for a fact.

"To us."

Our smiles created such a golden atmosphere around us, lazy, heavy, yet light, making my heart flutter.

We downed our glasses.

I knew in that moment that,

in this world and the next,

no matter what dimension or versions of ourselves were out there,

I would fall in love with this person over and over again.

We looked into each others eyes and burst into giggles, filling the room with warm joy.

---

A/N: And that's it for this version of Shalom and Aphrodite!

Here's a message from both Shalom and me as the New Year is ushered in:

'To a New Year.'

Cy'all next year!