PJO IS NOT MINE!
Wolf POV
The three of us walked back to the safe house to find everyone staring I shock at Hephaestus and Aphrodite's intertwined hands. "Wait, what?" Ares asked a confused look fixed onto his usually angry face.
"Hephaestus is my husband. I can't be cheating on him." Aphrodite said defending her actions. And told of her walk, making Hephaestus sound like some hero.
I turned to Hermes as the two described their scene in the woods. "Can you get me a hammer and tongs?" I asked. He got a mischievous smile on his face, almost exactly matching the Stolls, and ran off, probably to raid a Home Depot.
"OK everyone." I announced. "We're gonna stay here one more day. I have some word to do before we leave, so you have a day to enjoy yourselves." Hephaestus turned to me. "What kind of work?" he questioned.
"I need to make you a more flexible, faster leg. It will take a few hours so you two can have some fun together. Aphrodite can do her makeover." I suggested with an evil smile, making Hephaestus shudder, but Aphrodite wasn't even looking as she made a high pitched squeak of excitement.
When Hermes came back, I quickly made a fire and melted down an old car door that I had found in the forest. After a few hours, I had a nice leg. It was flexible, strong, and fast so it wouldn't slow Hephaestus down during a fight.
When I entered the house, Hephaestus was sitting on a chair with Aphrodite poring over him, adding little touches of blush or eyeliner here and there. Aphrodite spun the chair around and we all stood there shocked. Hephaestus was… a knockout, is the only way to put it. I didn't even know how she did it, but he looked amazing, the only thing that ruined the image was his metal leg, steam coming from valves and rust covering the whole thing.
I gave the leg I had made to Aphrodite, and she covered it in some weird paint. When she was done, it looked so much like a real leg, it was scary. Hephaestus put it on, and you couldn't tell it was fake, none-the-less made of a car door.
He walked around and I didn't hear a squeak or scrape from his new leg. I drew my sword, and he drew his. We spared for a minute, and I saw his foot word needed some practice. He started out by dragging his leg around, but as we went on, he started actually picking it up, moving it.
After a few minutes of watching him get used to his leg, I nodded and saw him drop into a chair, shaking from exhaustion, and gave us a look saying thank you before he dropped into sleep.
Over the next few days, Wolf never slept because he was afraid we would be attacked again. Hephaestus' footwork had gotten better with his "new" leg, and Aphrodite has gotten a lot stronger. She doesn't want to be caught helpless again, and she's put a lot of training in. She was fast and agile, she just needs the strength to lift her sword, and the work is paying off.
Everyone else is getting better, just not as fast or apparent. Ares can shoot a bow, Apollo and Artemis can fight with swords, Athena can use a bow, sword, or knife, Dionysus's sword work has improved as well, and Hermes can already fight with swords, so he's been doing kick boxing with Wolf.
There were other differences with the gods as well. Aphrodite was buffer, Aphrodite had charmed the makeup on Hephaestus so only water from the River Styx can wash it off so he's smoking, Hermes and Apollo are a bit more serious at times, Artemis doesn't think so badly about boys, Ares doesn't pick as many fights, Dionysus is always moody, and Athena and Hera aren't so stuck up any more.
We were walking down a highway in New Mexico when Wolf suddenly collapsed. I rushed to his side with Dragon and looked for an arrow or dagger, nothing. We looked up to Apollo warily to see him smiling.
"It's OK. He just fell asleep. A weed with no sleep and lots of training made him exhausted." Then Aphrodite gently picked him up and laid him across her shoulders.
A few hours later, I saw him start to move around. Instantly, he bolted awake and quickly broke free of Aphrodite's grasp. In seconds, he had a dagger to her back and a hateful expression on his face. When he realized who had been carrying him, he looked ashamed and mumbled an apology.
"Where are we?" he asked, back to his normal, alert self. "The edge of the Great Basin." Athena answered. "Where's that?" Ares asked. "It's a desert in Arizona, honey." Hera replied.
"We need to get there soon." Wolf said. "Why?" Artemis asked. "To get Poseidon." He explained. At that, all the gods got excited, and we picked up our pace, heading for the center of the desert.