Bloodied Water

•Chapter 23• Nature Reverly and a Session of Disasterous Love Plotting

3rd Person POV

It was early morning when the rest of the wild began to notice it. Trees glowed in natural colors, the ash-stained clouds grew pale white, rivers gleamed in the sun and the usual murky waters of the Hudson River began to clear of trash and waste, much to the river's liking.

When the trash, dead forestry, and polluted skies's disappearance went noticed by nature, it sang in joy.

Birds chirped in harmony to the sway of trees, deers pranced in peace around the fields, and from the largest African elephant, to the smallest common ant, every citizen of the wild was happy and content. Nature spirits like Dryads and Saytrs perked up in surprise at the sudden rush of life. It was as if the Golden Fleece itself had been laid across the world.

Rumors spread like a plague. Many were of a possible return of Pan, but they also knew he had died years ago. Some said it was a blessing from Demeter, but the most loved rumor was of the birth of a new nature god, a powerful one at that. Many who trusted Grover's telling of the fall of Pan believed in this throughly and some set off to find the new God while others sacrificed great foods and wine to the newcomer, hoping they would receive their gifts.

When dinner time at Camp Half-Blood came, and all of the demigods were at their tables, the Saytrs and Dryads served the breakfast with grins etched on their faces. Even when bacon or ham was ordered, none shuddered and kept their happy smiles on. Many quickly noticed this, including Dionysus and Chiron.

"What's got the nature guys all piped up?" The wine god asked his partner, who sat sad at his seat. When only getting a grumble as response, he turned to the 'nature guys' for an answer. "Hey! Tree huggers!" He shouted rudely. "What's got you guys all riled up?"

Many flocked to his seat and spoke at once. This caused Chaos at his spot and ended up sounding like the noise in-between radio stations.

"Calm yourselves!" Chiron groaned. "One at a time! You'll give me another migraine..."

The spirits of nature all took a deep breath and explained the sudden appearance of life. Many campers began to over hear this and chatter. Chatter turned to gossip, and gossip turned to rumors. To Chiron however, these were all the same thing and that thing was the most annoying noise ever.

"Quiet!" He yelled. The campers turned to the centaur and stopped chatting out of respect. "If you keep up this noise you're going to kill me. Mr. D is going to be the activities director today, I'm going inside."

People watched the centaur clop off to the Big House and shut its door. Soon, the sound of Chiron's music was heard in the background and all eyes turned to the wine god.

"Uhhhh.....dooooo...uhhhh....whatever you want? I guess." He struggled to think.

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

Back at the Hunter's Camp

The next few days of recovery for Percy went the same. The Hunters (Just Phoebe actually) would try to kill him in his sleep, Artemis would protect him from said girls, he would take crippled strolls around the lake with her (since he couldn't be left alone), and dinner would be in silence. However, his recent pangs of feelings would always end up as an obstacle for him.

Now being a god, he could date/marry her without dying of old age, nor would she deny him for that reason. Artemis had always had a place in his heart and seeing her in any way that wasn't her happy or proud/stoic face was a blow to his heart.

Camaxotz had told him many times that since there was only two of them in the world (that being their werewolf thing-a-ma-jig), that it was clear that they were supposed to be together. Percy however had told him that's not how it works. Over time, Percy began to rethink that.

As Fate had it, there were only two of them, and they would seemed to at least care for one another. Percy loved her, and Artemis seemed to deeply care for his well being, and after many, many hours of complaint, wining, begging, and argument, Percy and Cam began to devise a way to ask Artemis out.

This was what Cam had named 'Mission Impossible' (not a helpful name on Percy's part) since this plan was an easily gateway to Tartarus for the both of then. That, or Zeus.

Camaxotz had suggested the idea of asking her out during one of their training sessions at the archery (which now included godly powers which was unknown by the hunters, Thalia included). Percy had rejected the idea saying to was 'to public'. Cam had then asked what was public about a forest.

Percy had then thought of asking her during one her shifts on the moon chariot in which he could tag along. Cam had said she could just push them off.

When all came to no ends, they needed someone else. So they sought out the one person that would help without complaint.

Lily.

The two had snuck into her tent at night (which looked really bad on their part) and asked her for advice. They had to cover her mouth with a pillow to stop her from squealing like a fangirl. She had then pulled out a sheet of paper from under her dresser that had many crossed out "proposal" plans between him and the goddess.

She claimed the Fates themselves had come to her in a dream about this very moment and told her that 'the boy would need some help if this is to weave out nicely'. She had also seemed very proud that the Fates had visited her.

The sheet of paper itself contained many strange possible plans. Some included a snake, others involved raccoons in dresses carrying flutes. The two 'lover boys' found out that night that Lily was a very, VERY, strange girl.

Eventually, the three love plotters settled on an idea and found peace on an action plan, however, before Percy could leave, Lily asked for her payment. Percy said he didn't have anything, but Lily had insisted that he give her something since she had spent 'restless nights' helping plan these out.

Percy said she'd got something great before the plan happened. Tired and convinced, she accepted before passing out on her bed. Percy smiled and left.

Returning to his tent unseen, he sat down and toyed with a tomato sproutling using his new found powers. The flower danced back and fourth to the tune of 'Break my stride' while he and Cam talked about how they would set it up successfully.

In the end, several wood nymphs, dryads, and animals would have to swear by the Styx to not say a peep about the night that would unfold. Cam had said that then took over suddenly and caused Percy's body to shift. Apparently, Cam was feeling smug.

He pranced around Artemis's tent with a shit-eating grin while saying that 'he was so right about they idea of asking her out that even Fate had planned it for them'. Percy regained control quick causing his body to distort back to his human shape as he argued with his counter-part.

This ensued for a while as they shifted back and fourth. Eventually, Percy called Cam a Furry to which Cam then retorted and called Percy racist. This ended up in a literal fight between the two as Percy's hands switched to that of Cam's as they smacked Percy in the face and feet switched to that of Percy's as they kicked Cam in the snout.

As comical as it sounds, this actually hurt them both a lot in the end as they hit their foot on a table and caused them to fall. This injured their bear trap-attacked leg badly and made them both howl in pain (literally and figuratively). In the end, they calmed down and limped back to bed with their rage satisfied and their leg feeling annihilated...again. Percy apologized to the tomato plant for the forced dance before turning out the lights and ending their day.

What a shit-show.

Sorry for the long wait. If you've forgotten, Percy has been sleeping in Artemis's tent for the injury. I hope you aren't confused and are still enjoying the story. If any suggestion come to mind plz leave a comment!

P.S no god of time Kronos still has that domain even if he was defeated and sent back to Tartarus, he hasn't faded.

Bye!