Monstrous Stroll

Hunter had been walking through the forest for around fifteen minutes hoping for something exciting today. Where were the monsters? He'd slacked off for a couple weeks by playing video games whether in the Game Room or hacked ones found in his cabin and decided he needed to become a little more fit. And what puts you more in shape than running for your life and killing something most likely three times your size? But alas, no monstrous fiend had crossed his path and he was starting to give up.

Until he heard the screams.

A roar followed that right after and Hunter took off running in the direction of the sounds with his hands reaching for his two daggers at the side of his belt. He slowed down to a close enough range and took cover behind a tree, he peeked his head to get a better view for what was in store. Wait, that isn't a monster, it's just a girl. A pretty cute girl if he did say so himself. But he couldn't see anything that could make her scream like that- Oh. Perched on a branch not less than four feet away from her was a dragon. It wasn't necessarily a gigantic dragon but it made up for height in grotesque appearance. It's wings were black and looked burnt off, thin skin hanging off in singes. It had red eyes and it's bony structure seemed about ready to collapse. Not to mention it was trailing fire wherever it went. Well he asked for a monster, he couldn't really complain.

Hunter looked back to the girl who hadn't noticed him and was locked on full eye to eye contact with the dragon, he thanked the gods there was a distraction so he could have an element of surprise. Nimbly, he made his way closer to tree where the monster had taken it's landing and scaled it as quickly as he could before it would notice him.

 

 

You've got a smile that will light up this whole town

 

With out you, tomorrow wouldn't be worth the wait and yesterday wouldn't be worth remembering.

 
 

 
Run. That was the only thing on Niamh's mind. Her heart pounded against her chest so hard that it started to hurt and her eyes were filled with fear. Of course, when she decided to take a walk a monster just had to show up. And of course she had left her sword at home, again!
Honestly, Niamh wasn't sure if she could run anymore. While running earlier, she tripped over a root and now her ankle was hurting like crazy. What she would give for some ambrosia at the moment. But that was back at camp, along with possible help. Not to mention, her arms and legs was covered with scratches and small cut that continued to burn with every step she took. A part of her denim shirt's sleeve was torn of and her faded jeans and brown boots were caked in mud.
Finally stopping, the blonde leaned against a nearby tree, trying her best to regain her breath. She knew that the monster was nearby and that she needed to keep running, but it wouldn't be much use if she ended up passing out. Whipping her head around, her blue-green eyes widened in terror at the sight in front of her. She leaned back against the tree, trying to create as much distance as she could between her and the dragon.
She didn't even notice the boy nearby until he started to advance towards the black dragon. She gulped, hoping that she would be alright.

 

 

 

When he was finally at a close ranged distance from the dragon, he stopped and looked back at the girl. She had to have noticed him by now since he was literally right behind the monster in front of her. He hoped that she wouldn't try to draw attention towards him. That'd be a death match. He had to get this thing on the ground to be able to have a chance to fight it properly with a chance of winning. Hunter may have been an okay climber but he wasn't great enough to be able to fight the dragon on a narrow tree with only an inch of support beneath his two feet. He surveyed the dragon for any weak spots, something that'd send it tumbling.

Wings! A dragon without wings wouldn't be able to fly and would be forced to the ground. He could feel the wood bite into his palms as he struggled to move around the tree, his grey shirt getting caught a couple of times. Before he could comprehend, Hunter lost his footing for his right leg and grabbed onto a branch above him to prevent from falling. The action was quiet but it was loud enough for the dragon's attention to turn to him. It opened its mouth and he could feel the oncoming heat blow onto his face as it was ready to strike. He had a split second to swing his lower body onto the next branch that was directly next to the beast's and he nearly lost the grip on the branch. Pulling himself up, he balanced on it and refused to look down. Yeah heights weren't exactly his thing.

The dragon turned to him and Hunter grabbed one of his daggers and tried to throw it at the dragon's chest, hoping for a miracle for it to hit it's heart. But of course he missed. His dagger sailed through the air and instead of hitting the chest like he had hoped, it pinned one of the wings and the momentum of that and Hunter's kick sent it flying to the ground. Just like the dragon, he himself fell and winced as he touched his head only to see blood dot his fingers. Great, he thought as he pulled himself up right. He stumbled for a few seconds before grabbing his other dagger in defense as the dragon stood in front of him. A hole had torn through it's left wing but the dagger wasn't anywhere to be seen. Hopefully the girl had picken it up instead of it being buried in the mess of fallen autumn leaves.

 

 

You've got a smile that will light up this whole town

 

With out you, tomorrow wouldn't be worth the wait and yesterday wouldn't be worth remembering.

 
 

 
The boy's dagger whined through the air, creating a whole through the dragon's wing that looked like it must've hurt badly. The boy, on the other hand, fell to the ground along with the dragon, his fingers starting to bleed. Niamh winced slightly as she slithered around the tree and crept softly to the spot where she believes the boy's dagger flew by.
Where is it? Niamh wondered, scratching her head in confusion. It was no where to be seen. Just as she was about to give up, her blue-green eyes caught a glimmer of light out've the corner of her eye. Walking cautiously towards it, Niamh found the dagger buried around in some leaves. Digging it out, Niamh held the dagger cautiously, looking at her reflection through the sliver blade. It was true, she looked like a mess. But she castes that aside while she ran back to where the boy and the dragon was.

'Here.' She mouthed to the boy as she tossed him his dagger back. Maybe that'll help him.

 

 

 

Hunter caught the dagger without thinking and looked at it and looked back up to the girl, grinning wryly in appreciation and nodding his head at her. His eyes went back to the dragon and it was crawling around on its claws angrily or so he thought the thing looked like. If dragons could look angry that was the way to do it. He put his hand on a nearby tree and stood himself up, staggering. His vision blurred and went in and out of focus and he could feel the blood mat on his hair. But he shook it off. Now was not the time to pass out.

More focused than ever, he ran towards the dragon and realized how long it actually was when it wasn't curling itself up on a branch. It's tail stretched out as long as his torso and it's entire body was as long as he was. It's screech pierced the air and Hunter covered his ears before it gave him a headache. It tried to use its wings and fly but couldn't get any higher than Hunter's knee. The dragon narrowed its scarlet slits at him and barred its teeth in an aggressive action before taking off and running sloppily toward him. He let it come closer and backed up against a tree and right when it was ready to spit fire into his face, he sidestepped it easily and watched as it hit the tree instead. Stunned for a moment, he took the dragon's second of confusion and grabbed both of it's daggers stabbing it into the heart and stomach.

His daggers heated up immensely and he had to drop it before it burned him, holding his hands close to his chest, he backed up and watched as the dragon heated from the inside out and disintegrated. He knew the monster would just reappear after it made it's way back from Tartarus. Sometimes he wished dead would just stay dead. Sighing, he walked back over and pulled his daggers out of the foul monster dust and cleaned them off. He heard a noise come from behind him and he immediately tensed himself for another attack. He relaxed when he saw it was just the girl who had given him his daggers.

Hunter laughed and rubbed the back of his neck, "Sorry. I forgot you were there, you're pretty quiet you know." He said with a smile. Wincing as he ran a hand through his brown hair, wiping off the blood on his shirt.

 

 

You've got a smile that will light up this whole town

 

With out you, tomorrow wouldn't be worth the wait and yesterday wouldn't be worth remembering.

 
 

 
The boy smiled to Niamh as he caught his dagger back before turning his attention back to the dragon. Niamh felt herself smiling to the boy even though he wasn't looking. But her smile soon vanished when the boy lead the dragon over to the tree she was heading behind, before sidestepping out've the way, letting the dragon smack against the tree. Niamh was forced to step back so she wasn't smacked away from the tree.
The blonde didn't really wish to watch the rest so she turned away and chose to listen instead. Her ears picked up a loud grunt, along with the clatter of metal. It soon turned quiet so Nimah decided to turn back around.
The dragon was reduced to mere ashes. Niamh eyes widened as the boy picked up his daggers, cleaning them off.

"Thanks for kinda helping me out there." She shrugged with a dazzling smile, approaching the boy. She didn't  exactly know what to say so she took a shot at it. "I'm Ni-"
She so stopped when she was close enough to the boy to notice he was hurt. His hair was stained with blood and his shirt was as well. Her smile vanished and was replaced with a concerned expression.

"Oh my gods, are ya alright?" Niamh asked with her Irish accent.
 

 

 

"Oh this? Just a bit of blood its nothing to worry about." Hunter laughed off with a wave of a hand. Okay that was an understatement, it was actually a lot of blood. But he didn't want her to worry about him. He scattered the remains of the dust around the leaves, kicking it further away from each other. He pressed a hand to his temple as a wave of pain crashed onto him ever so slightly. He hated headaches, something so common could have so much effect on anyone.

"What about you? Are you okay?" He asked her with his own look of concern, meeting her eyes and oh gods- If he ever thought he'd seen a more beautiful combination of colors he'd be lying. He blushed, averting his own dull brown ones and scratched behind his ear which was a nervous habit of his. He must've looked really clumsy falling off the tree like that. He looked back down at her again seeing as he was taller than her by a foot or two and stuck out his hand awkwardly, "I'm Hunter."

 

 

You've got a smile that will light up this whole town

 

With out you, tomorrow wouldn't be worth the wait and yesterday wouldn't be worth remembering.

 
 

 
"Oh this? Just a bit of blood its nothing to worry about." The boy shrugged Niamh's question off. Niamh knew that the boy was trying to make sure that Niamh didn't worry; that was not just a little bit of blood. Not to mention, it obviously hurt. He winced, rubbing his temples before looking up at Niamh again.

"What about you? Are you okay?" He retorted at the blonde. She gave him a small smile, running a hand through her messy locks. She looked like a mess at the moment.

"Don't worry, I'm fine." Niamh replied, even though she winced when pain shooted from her ankle up her leg. "But ya sure ya'll alright? If we need to, we can run back to camp and get ya to the infirmary.

"Oh!" She gasped when he held his hand out. "Ma names Niamh." She gave his hand a quick shake. "Thanks for saving me back there."
 

 

 

"No, no I'm fine. Maybe sitting down would be a good idea though," Hunter laughed as he released her hand after she gave it a quick shake. "It's no problem really, I wouldn't be in the woods if not for an encounter with a terrifying creature. I mean it's the Deadly Woods after all isn't it?" He decided it'd be a better idea to sit down. If his head was going to keep hurting he might as well relax right? So he sat down, crisscrossed apple sauce, and closed his eyes for a couple of seconds before rubbing his face with his hand. Bloodstained in all it's glory with slight burn marks from when his dagger was nearly ablaze from that cursed dragon.
Hunter noticed the slight wince Niamh had shown and how she was putting her weight more on her right foot rather than her left and guessed that she might've hurt it earlier.

"You look like you could sit down for a bit too." Hunter offered, patting the ground next to him softly with a crooked smile.

"Hey that's okay, I'm sure everyone ditzes out and zones out sometimes too. I did that a couple times too. One time it landed me between the jaws of a hell hound." Hunter laughed, mostly at himself as he recalled that time when he had almost gotten eaten. It was one of the stories that was like, 'We'll laugh about this when it's all over' sorta thing. He could feel the body heat coming off of Niamh and he blushed once he noticed how close she was. Well she wasn't that close but close enough for Hunter to start to get nervous as he was just a huge idiot around the female species.

"I'm a son of Hermes," He said in reply to her question. "What about you?" He looked back at her as he waited for her response.

Daughter of Aphrodite? He should've seen that coming really, no wonder he felt like such an idiot around her. Not that being around her would automatically make anyone an idiot but, well technically speaking she was- Hunter was broken out of his stream of thought when he heard her ask him about the hellhound. He sat up straighter as he grinned, recalling the story.

"Yeah! It was around maybe a couple years ago when we were playing capture the flag. I was supposed to be a guard for our flag but I was pretty out of it that day so instead of going where I was supposed to be, my position near the flag, I zoned out thinking about something that happened earlier when I bumped into a hell hound. Pretty stupid right? I actually thought it was some sort of monster replica that one of the Hephaestus' kids had built since there was some rumor about that and I looked inside it to admire the 'work'," He said by making quotation marks with his fingers, "Until I realized it wasn't and it nearly snapped its jaws on my neck. I was 13 around that time so I wasn't really into killing monsters so I was just running around with a hellhound on my tail until some older campers killed it. Stupid of me wasn't it?" Hunter chuckled, scratching his head gently.

Hunter smiled gently as he watched Niamh laugh at his story. That funny huh? He thought to himself. His mom always said the best thing about someone was when they smiled or laughed and Hunter couldn't help but think of her when Niamh's bursts of laughter fell to his ears. He watched in amusement as she calmed down and her eyes lit up when the sun began to set. He laughed quietly before turning to where she was pointing.

"Wow," Hunter said in awe as his own eyes widened, "That's pretty amazing." Not even amazing, he thought it was beautiful. The sky was filled with colors that erupted from a deep orange to purple and light blue like blended paints on a canvas. Light clouds drifted from above and really, the forest seemed silent except for the sounds of Niamh and him. He moved in closer to Niamh without thinking, his hand nearly an inch away from hers but he was too caught up in the sights to notice the close proximity.

Hunter looked down at his hand when he felt another on top of it and he looked back up to see Niamh's blushing face as she quickly withdrew it from his. "Sorry! I just..." She trailed off turning into silence. He thought it was cute that she got flustered so easily. He laughed softly turning his head to the forest floor before looking back up to meet Niamh's eyes. He placed his right hand gently over the one that she had retracted from him and guided it back over to it's original spot and laid his hand on hers. "It's okay, you can keep it there." Hunter said with a small smile until confusion and doubt hit him like a brick.
"I m-mean if you want to that is. I mean obviously you don't have to keep it there if you don't want to. Or you could. Or I don't know, I just thought that you might've-" Hunter stuttered out nervously as he stopped his words once he realized he was rambling. He just really wanted to fall into the Underworld right now. Anything would've been better than this embarrassing moment. He scratched the back at his neck with his other hand wondering if he should pull away after that. Although he really didn't want to.

Hunter blinked when he felt her lips on his cheek. It was a quick peck but within that short frame of time he could feel a tingling sensation where she had kissed him. He was even more surprised when she leaned on his shoulder. He relaxed a bit more and tilted his head up to see more of the sunset as Niamh asked him, "So what were ya doin out here anyway? Looking for damsels in distress to save?" He smiled at the teasing tone in her voice, rolling his eyes.
"I was just looking for a monster, the damsel was just a bonus." He stated matter of factly but not really meaning it. He didn't really see her as a damsel in distress just someone at the wrong place at the wrong time. Hunter was sure she could probably hold her own in a fight with weapons.

"Actually the dragon found you first, I just got lucky." He winked cheekily. The sky passed from its beautiful view of sunset, turning darker as night descended and with it the cold. Hunter looked back at Niamh who seemed to be clad in nothing that would give her a lot of warmth. Seeing this, he scooted back away from her a couple inches before taking off his hoodie and placed it over her head. She actually looked quite comical with only her head sticking up from the opening of the hoodie. He laughed, helping her put it on more properly and hesitatingly slung an arm around her shoulders to pull her closer. He was only in a grey long sleeved shirt but it was more than enough with the heat between the two of them. "If it's too cold we can go back to camp if you'd like," He offered looking down at her though she looked much more warm than before.

"Well if another monster tries to attack us it's either fight or flight. Though I'd rather not try to kill another monster since my head still hurts a bit." Hunter said as he lifted his fingers to his head and pressed down where the injury was a couple times to test out how much it still hurt. A couple stings and a few dull pains but nothing he couldn't handle. He pulled Niamh closer.
"Not really cold since I'm taking all your body heat." He shrugged off with a smile to reassure her. In fact since he was running- er falling earlier, all the adrenaline had made him warm but the night temperature cooled his warm skin down. Though his heart was still erratic though the cause was something else entirely. Darkness fell and there was barely much light except for the fading sun that was hidden behind the trees and the distant fires from the camp. Hunter slowly leaned on her, hesitating a bit.
"You have a nice accent, I assume you're from Ireland?" He asked, turning his head slightly to meet her eyes.

"Not so much anymore and yes, yes you are in fact a great heater." Hunter smirked, nuzzling closer to her to prove his point.
"And I'm just a regular boy from Florida," He thought about that again and corrected himself, "I guess you could actually say that I'm from Brooklyn. Lived there with my aunt for a few years." Hunter didn't actually like to consider Brooklyn his home since he hated it there but he couldn't say Florida either since there was too many bad memories. He wanted to avoid that entire portion of his memories completely. No Florida, no home. Camp Half Blood was his home now. Hunter shook himself from those negative thoughts from the past and focused on the present. He smiled at Niamh again with some of his mind still thinking about something else.
"Meet any leprechauns?" He teased, "You're pretty short so I guess you could count as one right?"