Chapter Thirteen
Apollo
Winter sunrises were deceptive.
The night seemed darker and colder than ever, snow coming down in heavy sheets without Artemis there to keep the worst of it bay. Barely anyone moved in the twilight hours, Blake finally peeling herself from the shadows of a tree to stand at her side on the ramp of their ship. It hummed slightly, its battery discharging slightly to keep Weiss warm in her blanket cocoon.
She finally extricated herself from its hold, still dragging one haplessly behind her, handing over a tube of caffeinated drink. Blake downed it without hesitation, grimacing at the acrid concentrated taste, and ran a tongue across her sharp canines to clean them quickly. She threw the biodegradable paper tube aside, disappearing into the tiny bathroom within the ship to brush her teeth and splash her face before the drug hit.
Weiss leaped back in surprise, a glyph forming between them and an angry wood spirit. Yang broke her glyph with ease, grasping her hand and pushing her Aura back into her network. She caught the tube of spent caffeine, laughing when she realized what had happened. The wood nymph danced away happily after she explained what would've happened to the container in a few days. "Still twitchy, snowflake?"
"I'm trying to calm down but everything's still too new for me. I almost eviscerated a child for sneaking up on us yesterday." Weiss growled, mesmerized by the fascinating bright blue trails of Aura streaking just under her skin when she inspected her hands. Every time she attempted to use her Semblance, it roared through her scorched and expanded network, grating on every nerve and sending agonizing pain in response. What she feared in a loss of control instead came with a loss of her body's ability to mold her Semblance.
It was there, shimmering just under the surface of this fractured body, and it even wanted to be used. Her shields held under battlefield conditions and she could feel it thrumming in across her limbs as she empowered her every movement. She was lucky in that regard, Blake unable to even pull that much without her entire core imploding. She sighed dramatically, dressing back in gear and letting her Aura warm her. Internally, she was still the Hunter she remembered, but the moment her Semblance came into play, she was back in primary again.
"You still think you're on the field," Yang stated instead of making it a question, rubbing her shoulders in support. "The stress would've grayed your hair a long time ago if you weren't an albino. It's not healthy."
"I don't need a health check-up from you." Weiss rummaged about the extensive first aid kit near the door between the fuselage and their bunks. She set aside a patch of stem cell skin for burns and nanites for setting bones, marveling at the portable technological marvels created after her death, finding several syringes filled with a variety of stimulants and depressants. The smallest dose was injected after a quick swab of alcohol, her shoulders finally slumping in relief. "I know my body better than most people."
"Those are combat provisions for a reason." Yang chastised but her tone didn't have the bite needed to be taken seriously. "Even that low dose is gonna make you slightly loopy for a few hours while taking your Aura network offline. It's meant to prevent anxiety attacks during field surgery."
"Hmm, explains why everything looks slightly shifty." Weiss blinked a few times, squirting to make sure she could still see properly. "I know it's not a permanent solution but Artemis' brother will need at least a few sessions to at least attempt a fix. Better to knock my system out instead of risking further damage."
Yang shook her head, adjusting the straps of her gear, and led her back out to the ramp, holding her hand all the while and making sure she didn't bump into anything. Arguing with their medic would've her spitting out facts to confuse her and then have her do whatever she wanted anyway. Compromise meant caring for her while the depressant prevented her system from reacting to perceived threats.
Blake looked remarkably more awake when she stepped back out to the ramp, ears twitching in every direction as the night slowly faded away with the sun rising in the east. She nodded to them and they proceeded into the camp where Artemis's Hunters quickly dismantled their camp under Zoë's watch. A beam of moonlight appeared at her side as the sun finally crested the horizon, Artemis appearing in her pale and auburn glory. Her girls barely bowed their heads as they moved yet the satyr teen started at her dreamily.
"...eternity with Artemis?" They heard as they approached, the punk teen Thalia if they recalled correctly, answered. "You satyrs. You're all in love with Artemis. Don't you get that she'll never love you back?"
"But she's so… into nature," Grover swooned and Thalia called him nuts. Yang rolled her eyes, causing Blake to blink dryly and Weiss giggle. They didn't seem to realize she wasn't interested in the male species with how she wrapped herself in young maidens. Artemis rested her forehead on her fingers, massaging the pain away, yet she visibly brightened at their appearance, the fading moon above them glowing in turn.
"Grover, you ever figure she doesn't like you because you constantly fawn over her. Women do not like it when men get all doe-eyed." Of course, they appreciated the odd look here and there but not when he was enthralled in what Artemis represented instead of who she was. And not the looks when men started at them like flesh simply existing to satisfy their base desires. She suppressed a dark chuckle to Blake's surprise. That was what she had Ember Celica for.
Grover snapped from his trance, looking back at Artemis one more time before the gravity of having ogled a goddess slammed into him. He leaped back and hid behind the younger Percy, much to both of their embarrassment. Artemis and Zoë gave her looks of gratitude for the save before the former basked in the light of the sunrise. She almost matched Weiss in tone. "He'll be here soon. He's so-o-o lazy during the winter."
Yang and Weiss understood her best. Siblings could be annoying pains.
"You're, um, waiting for the sunrise?" Asked Percy.
"For my brother, yes," Artemis answered and elaborated for her new allies. "He drives the sun chariot about. And no, he doesn't actually drive a ball of hot gas. He drives a representation of it that ties to the physical star." Weiss's eyebrows furrowed but resolved to ask the man himself. She could poke Artemis later about driving the moon chariot.
A sudden burst of light above the treeline blinded them and the following blast of warmth made those in heavy snow gear uncomfortable. "Don't look," Artemis advised. "Not until he parks." Team RWBY fought to keep their eyes open despite her warning but eventually had to shut them when their instincts demanded they do so.
Yang was on the car faster than Artemis thought possible, hearts in her eyes as she caressed the convertible. Weiss couldn't help but admire it, the convertible reminding her of the dream car she wanted when she was still stuck in her father's clutches. Her version didn't however glow red hot, literally melting the snow around it in a perfect circle.
The driver got out, smiling. He looked at Yang in confusion, looking back to his sister for answers before sliding up to the woman on the hood of his car. "Well, hello there."
Yang shook the hearts from her eyes before glancing up at him, lightly bashing her head against the cooling metal after a moment of inspection. "Artemis?" The goddess heard her muffled question and responded affirmatively. "Why didn't you tell me your brother was hot?"
Weiss lost it, descending into a fit of raucous giggles with only Blake for support. Artemis groaned at her comment, already more than aware of what Yang started without consideration.
Apollo ate up the attention. "Just wait until you hear this haiku then." The Hunters all instantly yelled at him to stop yet he charged on ahead. "Green grass breaks through snow. Artemis pleads for my help. I am so awesome." He grinned at her.
Yang carefully inspected him after that. His blonde hair was woven from gold and his eyes glowed with the sun he embodied, shifting endlessly like its surface. Artemis could not stop the coming train wreck no matter what she tried, fearing the wide grin she answered with. "My first name is Yang." Oh no. "Your sister is also hot". Please no. "Can I drive your car?" Zoë facepalmed hard on her behalf.
He froze at her haiku momentarily, eyes wide. "Artyyyyyyy. Your Hunter is flirting with me."
"First off, don't call me Arty," Artemis spoke after recovering. "Second, she's not mine." Mostly because of her own rules. "Third, she's married." She gestured over to Weiss, still lost in her giggles to the point she started to worry for her wellbeing. Blake looked about as cool as possible, supporting her quietly.
"You can flirt with her all you want!" Weiss managed to get out between her fits. She staggered over to him, pulling an unwilling Blake with her. "As long as you equally flirt with us." Apollo grinned inhumanly wide until a knife found itself at his throat. He carefully turned to face the tall woman with cat ears and slitted amber eyes daring him to try anything.
"Snowflake?" Yang released her hug on the car and Weiss turned to face her. She wrapped the smaller woman in a hug, making her squeak cutely. "She's a little loopy with the depressant in her system keeping the damage down." She shuffled the white koala onto her back, Blake letting the god go free. She returned his smile now, creeping him out greatly.
He glanced over her shoulder back to his sister and found her tense, piecing together the millennia-old problem they'd been hiding from the rest of their family. Very rarely did she ever take companions without placing them in her Hunt and while their marriage status seemed to get in the way, Artemis didn't seem to mind and neither did they. So it wasn't that angle she was playing but something he couldn't place.
"Now, sis. What do you need me for again? Some archery tips?"
Artemis grit her teeth at the banter, putting up with it for Yang's sake to secure her protection contract and get her girls their healing. "I'm off to hunt alone. Take my girls to Camp and do a check-up on Weiss and Blake." She pointed to the white and black pair. "In return, they will protect the Hunt while I'm away. Something I'm sure Zoë and you can help with. These demigods will also need a ride." She added as an afterthought.
Do not anger Yang. She added mentally, making Apollo stop before he could flirt with one of them. She claims to be mortal but she kept up with me in this form. Figure out what they are. He nodded imperceptibly, his serious demeanor melting away in place of his happy-go-lucky smile. Please. Beneath his expression he started to sweat, unused to Artemis of all people pleading with him for help.
"Alright, everyone in the car. I'll take you for a check-up when we get to Camp." He shooed Yang off his car, rubbing the imaginary speck of dust she left. Taking out a key fob, he clicked it twice and the entire car glowed bright again, growing in size. When the glare died, the convertible had been replaced by a similarly red coach bus. "You wanted to drive right?"
He tossed the keys to Yang, only to be surprised when she tossed them right back. "I have my ship and I guarantee it's faster than your bus." She taunted and he took the bait, playing the game he so liked. If Artemis hadn't gotten to her first, he'd highly consider flirting with them more or even taking them to a bar.
"Ohoho, you're on blondie." He ushered the rest of them onto the bus as quickly as possible. Artemis stood by their ship, watching her girls all leave with barely restrained melancholy. She knew that feeling well, having sent her fair share of teams off on missions. As much as it pained her, some of them never came back and while Artemis was the one going off hunting, it didn't change the feeling of separation. She wrapped the goddess in a hug before she could protest, startling her from her thoughts. Artemis sank into her warmth without hesitation, resting her head on her shoulder.
"Most people wouldn't dare hug a goddess without permission." She finally said after gently pushing the blonde away.
"That just sounds like you need more hugs and I've been told I give great hugs," Yang replied and Weiss chimed in with an affirmative. "People need eight hugs a day for emotional development or so I keep getting told by these two. How many was Ruby getting at the height of her reign?"
Between us three, and the occasional ones Nora threw at her, she averaged about 14 hugs a day if you don't include her sleep schedule. Blake answered, lifting their princess over her shoulder and entering their ship.
"14 sounds a bit low, are you sure?" Yang yelled back and was left on read as Blake started the ship. "Hmmm, I'll have to raise that number. You on the other hand need more hugs. I'm not entirely why you don't hug those many girls of yours considering Zoë at least looks at you like a daughter but consider changing that. Many considered Ruby a goddess in her own right but she never killed anyone for hugging her."
"That implies she killed others for other things…" She deadpanned.
"Eh, I never said she was perfect," Yang replied flippantly. "She had her many flaws and we did our best to mitigate her more esoteric needs. Anywho, you're on a solo mission without any backup. I'm worried more for you than I am for your Hunt. You've no backup and no communicator from what I can see. I can't let you go alone but I can't leave my team."
"I am a goddess Yang. I don't need your permission and very little can threaten me."
"Very little, but not impossible." She chastised and Artemis had the absolute pleasure of agreeing with a mortal's concerns. Zoë and her other oldest girls did it often but it was expected of them as part of her Hunt. "With your permission, I want to place a glyph on you." She created a yellow one above her palm. "It'll sit on your back and will allow me to know where you are at any given time assuming it doesn't run out of energy."
"Thank you." Artemis turned around and Yang grafted the glyph to her back. It glowed faintly beneath her shirt before disappearing. The fractal pattern remained, conserving what energy she poured into it instead of wasting it on a visual effect. She couldn't however tie it to the system of energy churning underneath her skin, the glyph rejecting the positively massive pool of divinity thrumming just hidden away.
"As long as your body remains intact, I will always be able to find you," Yang explained, already feeling the glyph ping against her network. With no other glyphs around her, it glowed like a beacon against the rest of the Aura darkness. Was it a hack method around lacking a sensor? Yes. But did it also vastly outrange the usual ten kilometer range? Also yes. "Happy hunting and a safe return."
Artemis nodded and sprinted off into the treeline. Yang watched her go until she couldn't see her anymore, her musing interrupted by the blare of a horn, Apollo fed up with waiting for her. She flipped him off and fled back into her ship, raising the ramp door. Blake immediately swung them up above the treeline, Apollo getting his first view of the sleek craft they called home.
"Ready, sun god?" Weiss's voice positively dripped with sarcasm through the loudspeaker system. Blake shot her a look, wondering why there even was a loudspeaker system and she did her best to avoid her gaze, not willing to explain she liked to blast music to hype herself up for coming engagements. Apollo revved his engine and disappeared in a blast of flames, Blake a tad slower on the acceleration after realizing they didn't know where they were going, ramping up enough to slam past the sound barrier and nearing the second until they caught up with the flying bus.
"You do realize the sun can't fly beyond a certain speed or it would disrupt its path." Yang started when Blake did a couple fly-bys at speed, lazily swerving behind the bus and taunting him in the side mirrors.
Weiss laughed a few times, shaking her head vigorously to clear her senses. "You can't apply logic when he parked his car for a few minutes yet the sun still shone above." Not to mention the absurdity of a flying bus to begin with.
"So you think his car is just metaphysical; a concept that exists because he believes it exists or needs a car? A facet of their belief that embodies their persona?"
"I'm far too inebriated right now to understand half of those words so I'm just gonna smile and nod." She did just that and Blake thumped her over the head for good measure. "Ow. I didn't realize suppressing my Aura level to this level would leave me this weakened."
"Did you think I lied when I said it's a combat provision? At full dose it will put down Aura titans like me, Pyrrha, or Nora. Pretty sure it even knocked out Qrow's Misfortune for a few hours when we first tested it." Yang eyed her wife, worry worn plainly on her sleeve. The suppressant allowed barely enough Aura to circulate along to keep basic life functions rolling, much further down than actively suppressing it on stealth missions did. "Still, it will keep you from accidentally harming yourself until Apollo can check you out."
"He was, at least until he learned we were married." She sighed dramatically, throwing her arms forward onto the dashboard. "These people are weird."
Blake thumped Weiss lightly, condensing her handsigns for Yang to translate. "She says our open marriage was a defining trait of Ruby's reign and wasn't the norm across Remnant where similarly defined relationships had a 92% failure rate."
"Really?" Weiss and Yang asked her after the former finished relaying her words, Weiss picking her head up from her dramatic show. Blake fiddled with a few dials to activate the cruise control, freeing a hand for more permanent communication. Yes, the social impact placed on marriage wasn't felt because of the relative isolationism of the Hunters from the greater public eye, along with the fact we were mostly exclusive to each other except for the occasional shared dalliance with JNPR or Glynda. That mutual exclusiveness created a four-way polyamorous relationship rather than an open relationship. Combined with the constant state of near war, instead of worrying about and fighting about pedestrian issues like groceries, money, or mistrust, mostly because they were overshadowed by bigger issues. Communication was never a problem as Ruby didn't have a filter for these things and we submitted to her rule. Usually, that would be a problem but we all submitted to her rule to the point that even without her, we default to equals when it comes to romance and companionship.
"Why do I feel like you wrote a thesis or at least the start of one about the mechanics of our relationship?" Yang deadpanned when she finished, returning her attention fully to controlling their ship as Apollo's bus slowed down over a thin slip of land. They passed through a thin haze of a dome as they descended, most likely a magical barrier built on the Mist to shield them from mortal attention. It kept most of the snow at bay as well, the air temperature readout sky-rocketing to a more comfortable warmth.
"No, I'm the one who writes papers. Blake just likes to spy on people which means she learns much more about people than she usually wants." Blake set the ship down next to a small lake that bordered a set of rustic cabins. None of them needed to voice how archaic this base was with an archery range, horse stables, and an old stone stage. At least the combat arena saw use, a pair of teens going at it with sword and shield. That part they understood but the lack of any modern weaponry or defenses, when Zoë, Artemis, and Apollo didn't so much as blink at their ship. "She calls it people watching, I call it stalking, but we termed it reconnaissance." Weiss leaned over and pinched Blake's cheek in retribution. The Faunus slapped her hand aside, sticking her tongue out childishly and setting the craft down next to the bus.
They seemed to be in the middle of a holiday, a pine tree strung up with flickering lights and ornaments. Hundreds of lights hung on the one building aside from the cabins, a fire flickering in the attic window. Though warm, the snow still fell softly but didn't stay stuck down for long. Blake spun down the engines, leaving enough charge to open the doors. Yang took point, marveling at the magic keeping the area under climate control. Weiss and Blake shed their winter camouflage, donning versions of their standard casual apparel Yang kept as mementos, swapping to leggings, hoodies, and sneakers. Yang wolf-whistled at them loudly when they finished changing, Weiss punching her softly when she realized she hadn't so much as stopped staring at them as they stripped.
Yang helped her up when she staggered on their way off the ramp, swinging the woman onto her back with ease and eliciting a squeak from her, a token protest at the manhandling. The Hunters disembarked from the bus with speed, removing their extra packs from the storage compartments, without even so much as a thank you to Apollo, who stood by and chatted with Zoë and the demigod squad. He turned to them with a large eye-watering smile that burned when he noticed them. "So, a lotta talk for a slow plane."
"We caught up to your bus just fine after we gave you a head start. Not like we knew where we were going." Yang replied easily, hefting Weiss to sit more comfortably on her lower back and locking her ankles together. She should've nicknamed her Koala rather than Angel or Famine, though maybe the latter was accurate with how starved she was on her snuggles.
"Excuses, excuses." Apollo bantered back readily. "We'll just have to race another day to push the limits." He beckoned them along after waving goodbye to Zoë, WBY following suit to join him on the path to the large farmhouse. A few teenagers straggled about, having a snowball fight with several wood spirits. Another banged at a forge at the armory. Not too many and nowhere near enough to warrant this large of a base. This was perhaps a summertime base, the rest of these child soldiers moving out closer to the equator.
Apollo didn't bother knocking, barging through the door and holding it open for them with a chivalrous smile. Inside, a flame crackled in the hearth and the air smelled of hot chocolate. A shaggy man with black hair, beard, and a spotted yellow shirt played cards with another shaggy man with brown hair, beard, and a fuzzy sweater with a hoofprint, all with a blanket over his legs to keep him warm in his wheelchair. "Still at your card games Dionysus, Chiron?"
"Ah, Lord Apollo, what brings you to the Camp?" Chiron asked, setting down a hand in victory and giving them his attention.
"My little sis asked me to bring her Hunters here while she went off hunting." Chiron's smile became slightly strained. "Along with a few demigods she happened to stumble upon a quest. This however is Yang, the one on her back is Weiss, and over there is Blake. Arty asked me to give them a check-up." Apollo answered vaguely.
"A pleasure to meet you all. I'm Chiron, the activities director of this camp." He gestured to the man across the table. "And this is Lord Dionysus, God of Wine, Madness, and Parties." The aforementioned god cracked open a cold can of soda, looking for all the world like an adult in the middle of a college party. He toasted then but didn't say anything, going back to his card game. "Take any room upstairs."
"Nice to meet you," Yang replied to them, following Apollo upstairs. Blake stared at Chiron for a while, taking a deep whiff and sensing something off. The god smelt of grapes and soda, a constant and overpowering scent that dominated the parlor. Beneath it though lingered the scent of an animal much like Grover's but far more worn, older, and equine. She set aside the man's mystery for now, far more concerned with her and Weiss's health than another Faunus, or this world's equivalent.
She closed the door to a room with a pair of twin beds after finding them. It certainly didn't look like any sort of infirmary, no machines or carts strewn about. Apollo glowed with a bright light, forcing them to look away for a bit. Once it died down, his summertime wear disappeared and he now donned blue scrubs with a mask, complete with gloves he snapped into place. Weiss, still sorta loopy, laughed at his cosplay, Blake flipping one of her knives threateningly until Yang snatched it without a care. "You don't need to threaten him. He is this world's god of medicine and we all find him attractive to some level."
Blake removed another of her many knives, nonchalantly picking the imaginary dirt from under her claws.
"You know, most women aren't so cavalier about their attraction to me." He beckoned Weiss over, motioning for her to take off her hoodie. She discarded her outer layer without preamble. "Usually takes a few dinner or bar dates to get to that point."
"Well, most people haven't been in a successful four-way relationship and don't mind when the others chase potential playmates. Only ever had five partners outside of my team." Apollo sweatdropped at her words, unable to mesh his knowledge of women over the millennia with this strange trio. That stupor faded instantly when she revealed the heavy scarring across her arms. He almost reverently took her arm, prodding it to test for weaknesses.
She didn't react to any external stimuli, yet he could feel the texture difference between her normal pale skin and the dark pink streaks. "Alright, shirt and pants off. Then lay down." Weiss grinned at him evilly but complied, folding her clothes neatly until she was down to her underwear. He choked slightly at the realization she wasn't wearing anything underneath her shirt, glancing over at Yang who didn't give any indication this was out of the norm.
Rather than ogle his attractive patient, he summoned a tablet from his temple, jotting down the obvious injuries and the anomalies. They didn't seem to cause her any external pain, no matter of poking or prodding eliciting a response. That changed however when he stuck an acupuncture needle along one of the scars, causing her to flinch. Again, this went into his notes. He traced several of the streaks along her body, noting the irregularity of the patterns when they refused to move from their paths on her limbs. They didn't however follow any known system in a human body, not tied to her blood vessels, lymphatic, nervous, or other systems that made their way around. "This wasn't any regular combat injury, was it?"
Weiss glanced over to Yang for assurance, getting a gentle nod in response. "No. This is the result of a suicide technique where I had to rapidly accelerate energy through my body. These scars on my skin are directly above the network that carried that superheated energy. Unfortunately, the resulting injury means I can no longer channel that energy without causing myself harm to the point I injected myself with a suppressant."
"That sounds a little extreme. I've never heard of mortals harnessing energy that way." He set aside the tablet, summoning a ball of golden energy between his hands. He stretched it out until he held a rod of light, using it to scan her starting from her head. His eyes never wavered anywhere inappropriate, making her frown and him chuckle at the blatant emotion. "You're my patient. We can flirt later, assuming Miss Blake doesn't disembowel me."
"I consider myself also married to her, just so you know." She replied as he finished her scan, a holographic screen displayed above the rod at the flick of his finger.
His brow furrowed at the readout, rapidly scrolling through the information dump in front of him. "This… should be impossible. You have an entirely separate bodily system designed to distribute energy stored from within your cells, most likely resulting from an extra pair of autosomal chromosomes. And most of it has second, almost third-degree burns." He stood and beckoned Yang forward, similarly scanning her with his rod. A similar readout appeared above it and he shoved the twin readouts into the air after expanding them. "Hmm, if I use you as a template, other than the massive internal burns, she's perfectly healthy. I'm surprised that much damage isn't throwing off any other diagnostic. What about you, Mrs. Blake?"
"She also used a suicide technique but she can still mold the energy we call Aura. However, she can't use it with her inherited genetic ability, kinda like how I assume all gods have energy but each has their own abilities." She cut him off after realizing what his next question was going to be. "Along with an old injury to her throat that's become psychosomatic and prevents her from speaking."
"I… can… still–" Blake started to say until a coughing fit racked her violently, Apollo summoning a glass of water. She downed it with gusto, rebuking Yang's supporting arm and responding with a handsign everyone knew to express thanks.
"I'd give you all ambrosia and nectar if you were demigods or even legacies but you're all mortal, down to the last cell. It'd burn you up from the inside. Same with any other divine methods of healing. If Arty gave you her blessing and took you into her Hunt, I could've jump-started your healing with a small amount but I haven't exactly had to heal full mortals in a long time." He scratched his head, tapping his diagnostic scepter and shoo'ing Blake to Weiss's bed. She shoved her aside, throwing her shirt over.
Weiss didn't take the treatment wrong, whooping in joy but refusing to dress. Blake threw her hoodie and shirt over to Yang, sitting down with her wrappings still on. If Apollo was disappointed, he didn't show it, keeping to the same level of professionalism any doctor did. Hell, even the Hunter doctors were perverts here and made off-handed compliments, never taking it too far as Ruby's monstrous presence loomed over them. She got the same treatment as Apollo poked, prodded, and scanned her.
Her injuries weren't as obvious, Apollo taking his time and glancing at Weiss for reference to find the same network of energy running along her limbs and spine. There didn't seem to be any damage he could detect to it, the strange Aura running freely through it without any blockers. "I shouldn't have to say this but try not to use suicide techniques." He opened up the readout screen again, throwing it up with the other two, examining them all. "Good news for you at least as your Aura network isn't damaged at all, just significantly smaller than either Mrs. Yang's or Mrs. Weiss's. On top of this, your body has an excess of this Aura but because of what looks like a malnourished network, it can't use its energy effectively. Do you have a method to drain energy?" Blake and Yang nodded and he finished her examination. "Then do so for the next several weeks and exercise using this ability as often as you can. I, unfortunately, can't do anything for your voice as I can't even detect any injury to your throat other than recommend trying and say at least one word a day. I'm guessing the stress of not using your voice for many years as that injury healed and was eventually repaired led to this issue."
Again, Blake nodded, signed out her thanks, and assured him it wasn't much of an issue, Weiss translating helpfully. It made him wonder just how long they'd been together for them to learn an entirely new language to communicate in to help with her disability.
"Now back to Mrs. Weiss's problems. The severity of the burns means I can't simply let you leave as the risk of infection grows, not to mention the pain management that comes with the healing, something I don't think any of you have problems with having seen combat. Hermes, one of my brothers, will supply you with non-opioid meds."
"Is he also as attractive as you?" Yang dryly asked before Weiss could, her memory good enough to remember just how perverted the woman could be. They all knew it was nothing more than a defensive mechanism but they each had their own and couldn't afford to be hypocritical to each other.
"Kinda, I guess. He has enough children running around so he has to have something going for him."
"So divinity begets beauty or do all gods just control their appearance to appear attractive?" Weiss asked.
"Also sorta. Hephaestus, another of my brothers, was scarred as a child by his mother Hera throwing him off the side of Mt. Olympus. He was permanently disfigured but he could at any time change his appearance. I guess he simply sticks with what he knows. Anywho, back to Mrs. Burned here," she had the decency to blush. Not her fault they only had two other deities to compare their knowledge to, and those two didn't bother changing appearance, not even changing their age as Artemis did. "What I can do is pop by now and then to divinely stimulate healing on that network, kinda like acupuncture or a massage."
"Right, 'cause that doesn't just sound like a sexual innuendo." Apollo grinned stupidly at the faux pas, unable to feel entirely ashamed as Yang called him out. "Sure, lemme 'divinely stimulate' you every few days or so. Does that line work at bars?"
"It works pretty well." He answered before returning to serious mode. "That's all I can do to help out."
"And the fact that the god of medicine and the sun is willing to take time out of his day to help heal a lowly mortal doesn't at all strike you as weird?" Yang replied, leveling a half-hearted glare at him before she dismissed it when he straightened up in panic. "Relax Apollo. I know how this game is played. A trio of unknown appear out of nowhere suddenly and your sister vouches for them, not to mention the medical anomalies? I'd be wary and curious too."
Apollo eyed them all carefully, gauging their combat potential at a glance. While Weiss didn't have any weapons on her, she was also the furthest from him, positioned behind Blake and however many knives she had. Potentially not even a threat, the energy they could wield was unknown. Yang, at Artemis's warning, could hold her own against him easily unless he wanted to decimate the dozens of campers and this Camp to hold her off. They might've squabbled pettily at archery but in combat, he knew very well his sister could kick his ass six ways to their Uncle Hades.
"Consider my presence an added benefit then. Many women have claimed I have magic fingers and before you punch me for flirting with your wife, you'll be in the room at all times and I would never try anything or my step-mother would throw a tantrum."
"Weiss said you could flirt with us all you wanted as long as you did so equally. I don't particularly mind and Blake will stab you if she feels you pushed it too far." Apollo sweatdropped at the Faunus with an evil grin.
"You have got to be the weirdest mortals I've met in a long time. I'll see you tomorrow." He flashed out, forcing them to shield their eyes and leaving them alone in the room. Yang caught a flying Weiss after a second of blinking the sunspots away. She could handle her weight just fine, swinging her about into a bug. However, she could not handle the wrecking ball that was Blake, getting launched onto the bed.
They devolved into a mass of laughter, enjoying each other's warmth.
AN: A chapter update once a month after a hiatus. No way. Been getting much more work as a freelance esports technical director and I'm struggling to find time to do everything. Drop a review please to let me know how's my writing. I love to read your thoughts.