12 [Camp]

"Hey, good job. I'm proud of you." Icarus spoke with an exhausted tone as he patted Atalanta's head with a faint smile while she was more than happy to lean further into his hand.

"~umu" Atalanta couldn't help but murmur out from satisfaction.

But, soon enough they were interrupted by a cough from nearby.

Icarus turned his head towards the source of the noise while Atalanta pouted as she tried to keep leaning into his hand even after he removed it.

Standing in front of Icarus' line of sight was a tall man who's existence seemed to blend with the forest, he had gentle features and a calm smile on his face.

Icarus immediately recognized the man as Chiron but kept his face neutral.

".....you here to attack us for no reason whatsoever as well?" Icarus said with a tired resigned voice as Atalanta finally started paying attention.

Chiron couldn't help but have his eye twitch as Jason's cowardly antics began this whole debacle.

"No, sorry about Jason..." Chiron replied with the shake of his head and a weary smile.

"Thank the gods, those fellows really wouldn't stay down..." Icarus replied in exhaustion.

"Here, how about you join us for a while so we can clear this out with the others," Chiron spoke with an amicable smile.

"...Not like I have a choice anyway...." Icarus relied with a tired voice before he slowly succumbed to his exhaustion.

Atalanta continued to watch over Icarus' body while he slept. She was a bit confused about why he seemed to trust the leader of the people who attacked them but she ultimately decided to trust his decision.

Keeping her guard up while watching over Icarus' unconscious body she watched as Chiron gathered up the others from the ground and even eventually the blonde-haired boy from the forest as well.

After gathering them all up he undid the spell that morphed his original body, causing his now human legs to take on hooves once more as his torso began to stretch until they could fit another set of limbs before finishing off with a tail.

During the transition Atalanta's eyes began to slowly widen in fear as her body started to shake.

Chiron looked at her in confusion as Atalanta's body froze upon eye contact.

Icarus hadn't been able to mention the events that had occurred to her before, thus Chiron was left to an Atalanta that held nothing but terror towards him.

'....Damn Centaurs....' Chiron thought in disgust towards his people as he had experienced an event such as this before.

He knew he couldn't convince her without the boy awake so he figured an alternate method with a weary smile, "...I don't know what you have been through but I apologize for what my people have done to you..." He spoke to her while gaining eye contact with her shaky eyes.

"Υπνος" He chanted as the mana from the world bent to his whims and slowly put the shaking girl to sleep.[1]

Chiron eyes harden in disappointment at the thought of the other centaurs, unlike them, Chiron was the son of the Titan Chronos and the deity Philyra. He was raised by Apollo to be above his beastly instincts, unlike his brethren.

He then scooped up both Icarus and Atalanta then plopped them down on his back with the rest of his students before leaving towards camp.

———————-

"...ugh..." Icarus moaned in pain from his sore body as he slowly sat up to survey his surroundings. After living in the forest for so long it had tempered his survival instincts along with his paranoia.

'Where am I?' He thought only for a moment until he remembered his last moments before falling asleep, 'Right, Chiron.'

He was in a small room, similar to a shed, it was mostly barren except for a short decently used candle on the floor nearby. As Icarus shifted out of the stuffed grass bed he felt a small weight by his side move and quickly smiled when seeing it was Atalanta.

His sleepy eyes were rubbed away with a yawn as the room was bright with a large window sitting above protruding the morning light.

Icarus slowly moved up out of bed, faltering a bit from the aches and bruises in his body while trying not to disturb Atalanta.

As he left the small shed he couldn't help but smile a bit at the fresh air and bright morning rays, as slowly began scanning the camp a voice came from the side, "H-hey are you up?"

Icarus turned towards the familiar voice and saw the golden-haired Jason he gave him a mild glare, '...dumbass caused me so much trouble...'

"I don't know, am I up?" Icarus asked with a deliberately slow and sarcastic tone as if asking Jason if he was stupid.

Jason lost his scared demeanor and scowled then spoke with a smug tone, "I suppose you wouldn't know."

"Good to see you not shaking anymore, now what did you need?" Icarus asked with a small smile. He would rather help Jason improve into a better person instead of just meaninglessly hate him for his future actions, and the first step to do that is to befriend him.

Besides, he was a lot older than he seemed, no use acting like a petty child towards a scared boy.

Jason's eyes widened a bit stunned to find that Icarus was trying to help him befote swiftly changing back to a neutral tone and spoke, "Chiron wants to speak to you."

Icarus nodded before replying, "Then, lead the way."

"By the way, what's your name?" Jason asked with a smirk.

"Icarus. You?" Icarus questioned in turn.

"Nice to meet you Icarus, I am the one and only Jason of Iolcus! Now, let me tell you about the time...."

——————

As Icarus walked through the camp he took in the surroundings, the camp was in a small clearing with different sheds similar to the one he slept in scattered around the camp. In the center of the camp were a large bonfire with some wooden chairs surrounding it.

'Likely has a powerful bounded field keeping others away...' Icarus thought as he was sure he would have found this place earlier otherwise.

He saw Heracles sitting in one of the chairs while preparing some food, the demigod turned his way and gave a nod with a slight smile. Icarus responded with one as well while noticing the fierce competitive glint burning in Heracles' eyes.

While Icarus followed Jason as he boasted about his achievements and tried to make himself seem like some legendary heroic character.

Icarus couldn't help but shake his head at the kid's antics but could see the boy's charisma still shine through.

"And then I fell the Harpy with a fierce blow! It didn't even see me approach it before I took it down in a single strike with my.....s..peed..." Jason bragged before slowly stopping as he noticed they had arrived and Chiron had been staring at him for some time now.

"Cough! Well, I'll be seeing you then, take care Icarus!" Jason yelled out in embarrassment before quickly running off.

Chiron and Icarus looked at each other with a weary smile before chuckling a bit. Chiron then spoke up, "Let's talk."

Icarus responded with a firm nod before they moved the discussion into Chiron's cabin which was much larger than any of the surrounding sheds.

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[1] Υπνος - A greek word meaning "sleep"