C6: The Storm:
xxx Artemis' Sacred Forest xxx
A fair distance away, the Goddess of Love was indeed running into the woods. Her usual perfect makeup was heavily ruined due to her tears. Not to mention the bruising on her left cheek. Her dress was in shreds, barely holding to her body. She was running from the maker of that mark. And also trying to run from her reality. For thousands of years, due to her domain of love and lust she had been pursued by countless men and even a fair amount of women. She quickly learned that her powers could blind people in an illusion of their own lust. She quietly had been using this ever since. To help keep the illusions going, she grew her powers to even include reality bending. So every one of her children were born in a manner similar to Athena's 'brain' children. She just made them appear. Thanks to this way of living, she had been able to keep her dignity intact. Even if her reputation had been totally destroyed.
But right now she had to focus on running. Ares had stormed into her temple just an hour ago. Cursing the name of Percy Jackson. The demi-god son of the Sea God had taken advantage of the War God's ego and had bested him. He barged into her temple to drown out his rage by ravaging her. When she started to weave her illusion, Ares grabbed her and threw her onto her bed. Not intent on waiting for her, he began to tear at her dress. When she struggled, he hit her, hard. As a response, she kneed him in the groin. With him in pain she quickly took off to try and get away.
Which leads to where she is now. She knew she had to keep running. His loud shouting letting her know her almost rapist was still behind her. Hopefully she could lose him in the dense forestry and hide. But fate had a different idea. Some rags of her dress got beneath her feet. Tripping her as she stumbled along the ground before fully falling to the ground. Before she can get up to run again, the goddess was flipped to her back. Her throat grabbed in a leather bound hand's grasp.
"Well fancy meeting you here beautiful." The War God chuckled as he pinned the woman beneath him. Her nails clawing at his arm. Wasting no time he used his free hand to rip the top of her dress off. Dite went from struggling to trying to cover her very large chest. Ares' face became lecherous as he tried for the rest of the Goddess' dress. Using his distracted eyes to her advantage, she reached out and rake his eyes with her nails. The wanna be biker God roared in pain, holding his face and letting the panic woman go. Dite quickly tried to crawl away so she could stand to run again. She only made to a half kneel stance before receiving a new punch to the same part of her face. "You bitch," another hit, knocking Dite to her back, "You're a simple woman. Good for nothing but what I'm about to do to you. So just open your legs and..."
A loud roar forced Ares to turn around. Out of the trees walked the massive hybrid dinosaur. Various snorts and growls were issued to the war nut as the beast approached. His flame eyes locked on the burning orange of the dinosaur's own, "Ah yes, Artemis' new 'pet'. Why don't you fuck off, you stupid animal. Can't you see we are busy here?"
The dinosaur growled at the male human. He could easily tell by smell that the woman was in a state of panic. So whatever this male was doing, the female didn't want him here. Not to mention he didn't like that human's tone. It was reminding him of all those other men when he was in that grey room.
"Didn't you hear me?!" Ares roared at the hybrid, "I told you to..."
Ares was cut off as the animal roared out hand swatting at the God. The claw hand connected, launching the man into a nearby tree hard to make sounds like broken bones. His back bent the wrong way on impact before his body crumpled to the ground in a heap. Even a God would take a few minutes to recover from that impact. The beast huffed in satisfaction. That human was annoying. Slowly the animal's head and gaze turned back to the woman who was still frozen in shock. But from the male that was wrapped around the tree, not the dinosaur.
The animal gently sniffed the new to him female. He quite enjoyed her scent. It remind him of the various fruits that hung from the trees, his favorite smell. He remembered it as the first thing he could smell when he awoke after a night of thundering skies and trying to swim in water so deep even he couldn't reach the bottom. He was slightly stunned when this new woman touched his snout like the last one did. Why weren't they afriad of him? He tried to gently grasp this one like the last one. And this time, he was allowed. With great care to not claw her, he lifted the human so he could get a better look at her. She was weakly trying to say something, but like always, if it wasn't the one called Artemis, he had no idea what they were saying. His eyes slowly looked over the woman. The covering that they all seemed to wear was mostly missing. She was also quite dirty he noticed. Prehaps she had been on her way to the lagoon to bath before the male came after her? Not fully understanding what he saw when he arrived. He decided to carry the woman to the lagoon so she could have her bath.
In the animal's hand The Love Goddess remained quiet. While she was surprised that the dinosaur was carrying her somewhere. Her body and mind were still in shock from Ares rape attempt. He may have been a brash, crass bully. But she never suspected he would rape someone. A new horrifying thought hit her. Had some of his children come about from this same act?! After she calmed down she would have to look into this. Those women deserved the best love lives she could give them.
The animal stopped walking, the gentle shaking Aphrodite from her thoughts. As she looked around she was stunned. When had Artemis have this beautiful place put in her woods? The animal had forded across the water onto a small insland surrounded by a deep blue lagoon. The water was like liquid sapphire surrounded in a ring of emerald green trees. The island itself had a natural rock cove that they were standing in. A steaming hot spring bubbling from below laid within the center of rock cove. All in all it looked like a paradise.
Next thing she knew, Aphrodite was gently set at the hot spring's edge and let go. She turned to look at the animal. She wondered why it brought her here. She hadn't set any destination in mind when she ran into here. Just get away from Ares had been the only thing on her mind. She shivered as she remembered what he tried to do to her. When she went to hug herself she suddenly remembered she was half naked. Looking down at herself she wanted to cry. One of her favorite dresses was ruined and she was filthy. Then it dawned on her. The animal hadn't really seen the struggle between her and Ares before its arrival. Artemis had also mentioned that the animal was very intelligent, but thought like a child. Prehaps it brought her here thinking she wanted a bath? Well, looking at herself, she couldn't blame the animal. She didn't seem like the Goddess of Beauty in this state.
Tentatively she entered the hot springs. Her nerves still on edge from the attempted rape. Though she was a more little relaxed due to her towering new friend. She stripped from the remains of her dress. After she calmed down and got herself cleaned up, she'd just teleport back to her temple to redress. No one but her savior was going to see her like this afterall. She lightly chuckled at that. Any male would kill to see her real body naked. And here was a male who was seeing her naked, and couldn't care less. As was evident by the fact the animal simply laid down at the water's edge and simply watched her with curiousity. It's like the fables of old, she mused to herself. A beautiful woman and her fierce dragon protector, well dinosaur, but same idea. She leaned back against her new best friend. Trying to fully relax in the warm waters and forget that jerk Ares for now.
Unfortunatly, said War God shouted in rage, ruining the nice quiet moment. The sound of her name being shouted from him instantly sent her back into panic mode. She moved herself to the deepest part of the hotspring. Burying herself as low into the water as she could, wanting to simply hide away. Hoping he would just return to his temple and leave her alone. She would just teleport back to her own temple, but he had already broken the door so it wasn't safe for her there. The safest place was with her surprise protector.
Speaking of the animal, it was listening to raving words of Ares as it sniffed the air. Its eyes narrowed to snake like pupils as it caught something on the wind. A growl sounded from its throat as it slid like a crocodile into the larger lagoon moat. Its massive body sliding beneath the water with as little noise as possile. What Aphrodite saw next surprised her. The animal's color began to vanish. If it wasn't for her hyper sensitive vision that she had to spot the smallest details in whatever she looked at, even its outline would have vanished from her sight. This caused her to smirk with a small evil glint in her eyes. Ares was going to be walking into a trap. And while she would be the bait. It would be worth it to watch him pay.
She leaned back in the hot waters and just waited. She was nervous but somehow trusted the animal. She didn't have to wait long before the War God stumbled through some bushes. His body was still mostly broken as he limped along. Golden ichor had stained his cloths from his bloody impact with the tree earlier. His face was heavily bruised as his godly healing hadn't brought him back to 100% health yet.
"Where is that damn beast?!" Ares growled out brokenly as he looked around. He soon spotted Aphrodite relaxing in a pool, "Dite! Tell me where that pet of Artemis went!"
"No idea," she replied. Doing her best to play along and sound as bored as possible. Trying to anger Ares even more, "It dropped me off here and left. Not that I'm complaining. This water feels great."
Ares ground his teeth in annoyounce at Dite's disimissive attitude. He was hoping she would still be scared. She would be so much easier to take and have then. Well, he would just have to correct that. Right after he found a way across this moat the surrounded the island. How he hated swimming and getting wet. Drying wet leather was always a pain after all. A few sword stabs showed that the deep blue waters were not shallow at all. Even after he changed into his full god height of 5 meters. The blade couldn't find the bottom of the lagoon. Suddenly a loud splash drew his attention to his right. Right after he turned a larger sound went off what was now behind him. He stepped back as he turned to face the new noise. He brought his sword around, swinging it wide. Next thing he knew, Ares was looking at the sky with massive pain in his right shoulder. And a huge white and silver object over him.
From her postion The Love Goddess had watched it all. The hybrid used its tail to cause the splash that caught Ares' attention. When he turned the animal moved like twisted poetry. The surface of the whole moat seemed to move and lift as the attack began. Following behind the water was the wide open jaws of the dinosaur. Ares turned back to face the animal. And by then, it was already to late. The back step did safe him a little as now only his sword arm was in the bite path. In the creature's massive jaw the shoulder joint didn't stand a chance. The bite ripped Ares' arm clean off at the shoulder. Soon after its hand buried the man into the dirt. Pinning the War God in the soft earth.
Loud crunching brought Ares out of his daze. He looked up at animal right as what remained of his right arm was crunched and swallowed down. His right hand and sword snapping off and sinking into the waters of the lagoon. His rage was instant as he struggled in the animal's grip. "Release me you damn beast." He weakly punched at the animal's arm. The beast grunted from the effort. Slowly turning its head to look at the War God as he flailed against its hand. When he finally hit the animal in the end of its wrist, it yelped, Quickly releasing him as it backed up a few steps to look to see if it was injuried. Or at least, Ares thought that.
As he rolled over to his hand and knees, Ares was suddenly blindsided as the animal swatted him in the side tossing his body along the ground. Even with himself in his enlarged state, the animal's strength made him skip a few times before he crashed into the bushes and shrubs. He was laying on his back again. This time with three deep gashes through his clothes chest and left side. More of his ichor flowed as he dazily heard the thudding footsteps of the animal approaching. His mind was so rattled it sounded like the tolling bells for his funeral. But before the animal could approach any closer, a bright light appeared between the two of them. The animal took a cautionary step back as the light revealed Hera with surprisingly Artemis as well as Athena standing between the creature and Ares.
Hera stood there with her arms crossed and a heavy frown on her face. She and the rest of the council had been waiting for Ares and Aphrodite to arrive so they would be ready to receive Percy Jackson and the rest of the quest takers for the return of the master bolt. Artemis and Athena had returned from their seperate tasks of protecting the quest takers from excessive numbers of beasts, and investigating that InGen company for any and all crimes to nature they have commited respectfully. She had requested to meet the animal they had captured, but hadn't had a moment to due so yet. Both her sister Hestia and herself felt a little sympathy towards the animal. Mainly due to their respective ties to family domains and the animal being robbed of every single one of them. Even from its creation, not even birth was allowed to it.
She was just about to send Hermes, The God of Messengers, Travelers, and Thieves, to fetch them from most likely Dite's temple. When suddenly Amphitrite teleported ported into the room with dire news. It seemed her son was chasing the Love Goddess into Artemis' forest and the animal was heading after them. This made Artemis next to her nervous. When Hera questioned her, the news was grave. The animal wasn't a fan of men due to its younger days. A brief explantion of a memory Artemis had seen and Hera knew she had to respond quickly.
Which lead to here. Her standing between her heavily injured son and the animal. Its teeth and claws coated and dripping in his ichor. Shifting her eyes a little she also spotted Aphrodite behind the animal sitting in a hot spring. A few bruises marred her usually perfect face. Her eyes narrowed as she crossed her arms and glanced over her shoulder to her injured son. There was a story that needed to be told here. And three points of view to be discussed. And a battleground to investigate. She would never take things at face value like her 'husband' and brothers. She would get facts and properly punish the true guilty party.
A sound in the bushes brought everyone to notice that Hestia had finally just arrived. She was panting heavily as she slowly made to the rest of them. "Someone make a note. That animal can run fast and for a long time."
Hera lightly chuckled at her sister's untimely joke before turning serious once more, "I'm sure your quote will be noted and Athena will surely ask you many questions about it. But first, we have a battleground to investigate and three witnesses to question. Once that is done, we shall meet with the rest of the council so punishments can be issued accordingly. Artemis shall talk to our animal friend. Hestia please talk to Aphrodite. If what I believe to have happened actually did. Your comforting aura will help her relax from a terrible situation. Athena please survey the battleground. I shall question what's left of my son."
The other 3 Goddesses quickly nodded and proceeding to their tasks. They would return to the council chambers and deal with the crimes of this encouter between the God of War and the War Dinosaur. As each Goddess went about their set task, Hera quickly turned around to face her son. The injures and state of almost unconciousness causing him to return to his normal human height. Grasping what was left of his clothing and using her Goddess strength she hosted him up against the nearest with just her left hand. In her right hand, was one of the most dangerous weapons a mother could have to hand when dealing with stubborn, thick-headed men who also happen to be their own child. The standard wooden kitchen rolling pin. Gaining a menacing aura around herself she leaned in close to Ares, "Now, my fool of a child. You will tell me everything that happened here. And if you should omit something or outright lie to me on anything. Then you shall suffer the wrath of both a mother and woman at the same time. Now... speak."