Bloodied Water

•Chapter 22• Recovery

8:00 PM

Artemis POV

It's been at least 2 days now and Percy was still out cold. The medical tent bed was soaked in blood and the room had a strong stench of the metallic smell of said blood. His leg was covered in soaked bandages that had only just been recently replaced and his pulse was weakening. His handsome face had paled significantly and looked like that son of Hades.
Nico.
......Nico.
We have to leave for our moon duties soon, Zeus will notice—
I know, I know, it's just.... I still can't understand how he stepped on the celestial bronze traps...I mean, Phoebe told him to go to the hunting grounds, not the trapped zones....right?
I won't be surprised if this was her doing.
You really think—
I'm positive. She hates him, even if he's fought with her before. He's an enemy of Olympus and a guy.
She won't though... I'm mean, she's been with us for ages, and she heard all the rules! To disrespect my orders is unlike her.
We've known her long enough to know she's arrogant and prideful. If you won't kill him, she'll do it for you.

*************

8:15 PM

The sky had adorned a warm colored glow and the sun was barley over the horizon. Apollo had finally finished his job and was now done for the day, giving the role of 'tugga giant sphere' to his OLDER sister. I began packing my things and was sorting out food left on the floor when I noticed something.

The large wound had ceased leaking blood and was quickly replaced with the golden color of ichor.
What the fuck?
Wow, way to be blunt.
Seriously though how....
....what?
.....he's immortal now! I don't know how or who gave it to him but I don't care! Now he can't get super old and die like the mortals do!
We could've just given it to him ya know?
Ya but we needed to give him something special!
Ok! We can talk about this later right now, we need to check his pulse, feed him as much nectar and ambrosia as we physically possible, find out time—

"Uggh...." Percy began to slightly toss in his red bed and fluttered his eyes. I jumped up to meet him when he awoke. I put my right hand on his left cheek to turn his head towards me and waited until his eyes fully opened.

"Percy? Percy? How are you feeling?" I asked him, worry evident in my voice. His eyes were now opened, but held a tired look in them.
"Like you turned me into a jackalope and back a hundred times." He replied sarcastically.
He lives!

"Artemis, I am really sorry about...this—" he looked down at his leg to explain his apology, but went wide eyed when he saw the ichor. "Arty! Are you ok? Are you bleeding?!"
"That's....you Percy." I replied.

We sat in silence for a bit before I asked the dreaded question.

"Percy...did Phoebe tell you to hunt in those grounds?" He sat there for a second before answering.
"If I'm not wrong then yes." He answered.
THAT BITCH!
Lennox!!!
She could've gotten him killed! After a millennia of waiting, our special person gets murked by one of our own hunters!
I understand that, but they're our girls! We'll talk to her tomorrow.

Lennox huffed in frustration before silencing in defeat.

"We'll talk tomorrow...alright? Get some rest." I began...No tried, to walk, but Percy reached for my stomach area, wrapped around, and gave me a hug to the point where I was almost on top of him.

"Arty...thank you...you saved my life, and watched my recovery. Thank you." He said quietly.

I flushed bright gold before returning the hug. "Your welcome Percy. Anytime." I whispered back. We left the hug and I walked out of the tent. As I made my way back, I stopped by Thalia's tent and told her to guard Percy and let NO ONE in. She quickly accepted and ran off to guard her cousin while I headed off to my chariot with 'a little pep in my step'.