A Dishonored Demigod

Getting a Girlfriend

Bold- Power/Voice change
Italics- Thoughts

I'm standing outside the Garden of the Hesperides and take a deep breath before walking in,"Hello?"
I'm wrapped in vines and yelp as I'm hoisted into the air while Aegle's mouth is set in a tight line,"You'd better have a good reason for coming here."
I feel the vines constricting and wiggle around in an attempt to get a breath before speaking,"I'm here to *gasp* apologize for not talking to Zoë about what happened after dinner."
Aegle glares at me with black pupil-less eyes before turning around and walks towards Ladon's tree. I'm dropped on the ground as the vines loosen and catch myself in a crouched position on the ground before standing up to follow her. She glances back at me in anger,"You'd better have a damn good explanation for not doing this two days ago."
My face hardens as I try and explain what happened,"I do. After I dropped Zoë off I got a call from one of the Egyptian deities. Apparently they needed help against one of their strongest monsters, Apophis."
Aegle stops and her body stiffens but I continue and walk past her,"I needed to use The Darkness in conjuncture with Thráfsma before moving up to Moíra Kófti. Even then I had to resort to using one of the highest spiritual spells that I told you all about. It drained me so much I passed out and slept for a day before waking up in the afternoon of the second day. Naturally I went back to my home since I was still tired and had to confront some demigods entering Alaska."
I feel my head throb and press the heel of my hand to my forehead,"Damn."
Aegle's eyes reflect her unspoken curiosity so I explain,"Thráfsma entered some sort of rage when June asked us to spare one of the demigods. He forced the transformation and nearly killed her before he was stopped by a new presence." and I notice how close we are to Ladon's tree,"I'll explain it all when everybody can hear me."
We break through the edge of the actual mountain and enter into the actual garden where Ladon is coiled around his tree. I sit next to him and he rests his heads on my shoulders and in my lap where I can get under his scales with my claws to scratch the skin, getting a very low purr from him. A minute later Zoë is next to me and I start,"How long were you here?"
She doesn't make eye contact and sits on the other side of Ladon, and stroking some of his many heads as he purrs,"I was sitting behind the tree where the shade is."
I breathe out in a huff and decide to get this over with,"Listen Zoë....I'm sorry that I didn't talk to you sooner about the kiss. You honestly caught me completely off guard with that and I didn't know how to react to that. I know that sounds like an excuse but-" and Zoë cuts in,"It's okay."
She looks over at me with a smile on her face, a smile that clashes with the tears coming from the corners of her eyes,"It's okay. It was stupid of me to do that to you on the first date."
I feel a ball of ice drop into my stomach and sigh while pushing my hair back and slowly say,"It wasn't like I didn't enjoy it."
Zoë looks surprised,"You...enjoyed it?"
I nod as a blush spreads over my face,"Yeah."
Zoë blushes as well and I look at her with intensity,"What are we right now?"
"W-What?"
Zoë stutters at the question so I take a leap of faith,"In that case," and get up before moving in front of Zoë and get down on a knee,"Zoë Nightshade would you do me the honor of being my girlfriend?"
Her face gets even redder before steam actually starts coming out of her ears and falls on her back. I look at Ladon,"Did that seriously just happen?"
Ladon snickers,"This happens every time they lose control of their emotions. It lets their powers over the sea manifest in....interesting ways."
I laugh lightly and gently shake Zoë's shoulder,"Zoë? Zoë. Wake up Zoë."
She doesn't rouse so I go with a more direct route,"Zoë!"
I move my face back as she sits up straight and rubs her ears,"What happened? I passed out after you asked me to..be your...girlfriend."
She blushes again but I gently grab her shoulders and shake her,"Stay conscious this time. I kinda need an answer to my question."
I get the answer in the form of another kiss with enough force to knock me on my back and this time I draw it out. We hold the kiss for an absurd amount of time since our immortality allows for us to hold our breath longer than mortals and demigods, and eventually break away with a small string of saliva between us. "Wow."
That's all I can say to describe the kiss and Zoë blushes while I smile,"That a yes?"
She lightly bops me on my head,"It's a yes, dummy."
She tries to bop me again but I grab her arm loosely and roll us over so she's under me,"Ah ah! No hitting."
Her hair is splayed out and I get off her so we can both stand up while Zoë looks at me with slight hurt,"Why didn't you ask me to be your girlfriend two days ago?"
My smile drops a bit,"You know I got a job the night we had dinner, right?"
She nods so I continue,"One of the Egyptian gods, Bast, called and asked for some help in a fight when her side was losing. I dealt with the magicians no problem but then their master came out to play. Apparently their master was the chaotic deity Apophis, so I had to use some of those spiritual spells I showed you. I had to soften him up as well so I had to use The Darkness in tune with Thráfsma and Moíra Kófti which eventually resulted in me being knocked out for a day. When I did wake up I collected payment and hightailed it out of there to home. Then I had to deal with some demigods that went past the border and June asked me to not kill all of them."
I sigh and take Zoë's hand for comfort,"Thráfsma got pretty pissed off at her ordering us who to kill and who to spare so he took control of my right arm and tried to kill her with our claws and a fireball. We were going at it pretty hard until a new part of my soul made itself known. The dragon soul fragment Ladon implanted in me had latched onto my emotions and grown to gain a separate personality that forced Thráfsma down and gave me full control back. We talked and he gave me his name and a new monster form. By the time that was done I still had time to talk with you but I was talking with June about her date with Alex."
Zoë nods in understanding,"I can believe that last part. You're practically June's guardian after all. So what about this new form of yours? What does it look like?"
I blush in embarrassment and scratch my cheek,"Uh...hehe...you see, I kinda held off in case things went downhill so it would be a welcome surprise for both of us."
Zoë rolls her eyes,"Come on then!" and stomps her foot down,"I wanna see it!"
I snicker before she glares at me and get serious,"Okay then." and take a deep breath,"Bloody your claws Thráfsma!"
My monster form takes over and I take it a step further,"Awaken beast of humanity, Kyōkan sezoku!"
My body grows hot and I let loose a soundless scream as my organs feel like they're melting. My body hits the ground as my back arches I feel my spine growing more than my body can take. Convulsions wrack me as flashes of white hot pain slam into my mind for a few minutes before stopping. I'm on the edge of passing out and tiredly open my eyes to see the ground much farther away from me and Zoë has her head at a 45 degree angle,"By the gods...."
"What?"
I'm startled by my own voice as it's become very low and silky,"Whoa. I like the voice at least. How do I look?"
Zoë holds her hands towards me and a watery mirror forms in front of her,"I look awesome!"
Blue scales like the ones that covered my arm when I used the dragon soul now fully cover my serpentine body. Yellow eyes look back at me as two whiskers drop down from the edges of a mouth full of razor sharp teeth. The next few minutes are spent completely looking over my new form and we find I still have four limbs, but three claws replace my five fingers. Semi-hard black spines travel down the middle of my back to a long tail where a small blue gem rests in the grip of black feathers. Zoë has me lay flat and my length fully extended so she can get an estimate of my length,"I'd say 15 yards minimum."
I coil my body around her in a loose circle,"This is awesome. I wonder if I can," and I suck in a breath,"do this!"
I breath out and the plants in front of me are frozen solid and shatter when I tap them with a claw,"Sweet!"
Zoë lies against my head as it rests on the ground,"So you're a dragon now. Can you fly?"
I tilt my head,"I should be able to. From what I can tell I'm a traditional Japanese dragon, so the method shouldn't be hard. Usually I'd have to use my element to fly, and I got an idea how to do that. Watch carefully and see if you can spot how I'm doing this."
I get up and jump off the nearby cliff before zooming up at an angle and seemingly slither through the air for a few minutes before dropping down over the ocean and skim the surface of the water for a second before going up again and fly directly over the garden before landing gracefully,"Did you catch it?"
Zoë scrunches her eyebrows and notices the scales of my stomach are frosted over slightly along with some moisture on the ice. She's quiet for a minute more before figuring it out,"You created a path of ice under your body using the moisture in the air! You kept it directly under you so there wouldn't be a trail left behind as well!"
I lay down and clap my claws together before checking one other thing. I concentrate and the claw in front of my face is encased in a glowing bubble before I will it to fade away,"I still have my earthquake powers too!"
I drop my head next to Zoë and gesture over my shoulder,"Get on."
She does so reluctantly and sits right behind my head in the gap between my spines as my scales make for good footholds,"Hold on!"
I take off and immediately start climbing out of the barrier surrounding the garden and into open air. We fly for a while until sunset and the sky is bathed in streams of pink and golden red,"This is always a nice view."
Zoë nods,"Yes it is. You can take me back Percy. The others will be worrying about us being out so long outside the barrier and in the god's territory."
I nod and enter the garden once more before assuming my human form,"That felt great after the pain."
My phone vibrates and I check the text before looking apologetically at Zoë,"I'm really sorry I can't stick around longer, but I've got another job. Apparently Shinigami needs help dealing with some beasts called "hollows". I'll definitely drop by tomorrow though. Night Zoë."
I give her a kiss on the cheek and one on the lips before tipping an imaginary hat and sink into the shadow projected by her. I get one last look of her smiling,"You better keep that promise Percy."
I grin unseen by her and nod my head before totally submerging into the darkness to travel to Japan. More accurately a place called Karakura Town.
****
Hey guys. Krios here to wish you all you American readers a happy 4th of July, and if you aren't an American I still hope you have a great day. Again I'm sorry that I haven't posted much within the last week but my arms were badly sunburned to the point I couldn't move them without pain. I'm okay now and can write but don't expect any more content until next week because I'll be at a summer camp and a family reunion, where there's no wifi. I promise I'll have content ready to be published, three chapters hopefully, by the time I get back home to you all.
Stay frosty my readers and have a great day!