Divergent Path

Home Sweet Home

Chapter 10: Home Sweet Home

Percy shifted slightly in the hospital bed, his dim eyes slowly bringing the room into focus. Apollo stood with his back to him, leaning on the bed while talking to someone Percy couldn't see. As Percy struggled to prop himself up, his stirring caught the sun god's attention. Apollo quickly whirled around with his trademark glowing smile plastered across his face.

"And he lives! How was your little nap, princess?" the god asked in a playful manner while his eyes critically scanned the busy beeping screens that tracked Percy's vitals.

"It was great, Apollo. I feel completely fine," Percy responded. The god laughed.

"That's good, but I have a feeling you're about to feel pretty bad," he warned.

Before Percy could reply, he began to convulse from a zap coming from the previously hidden figure stepping out from behind Apollo. Thalia was holding out her hand and had just released some electricity onto Percy's still-recovering form. He barely groaned from the surprisingly weak shock and when he tried to sit up again, he was tackled in an equally gentle hug.

"I'm glad you're alright, fishboy," Thalia said with her arms around him.

"Thanks, Thals. I never thought you'd be one to hold back like that."

"Strict condition by Apollo. He was worried you could literally die during recovery so I thought maybe just this once, I'll make an exception. Anyways, once you grow a pair and get out of that bed, we have to head back to our camp and then straight to Long Island," Thalia explained as she pulled away.

"Ah man. Wait, why? Don't we have more than a week until we need to get there? And how'd you recover from that arrow overnight?" Percy spitballed.

"Percy, that was 9 days ago," Thalia said a bit gravely.

Percy jerked up in his bed, which was a mistake because his head immediately started throbbing.

"I-I've just been lying here for 9 days?" he asked incredulously.

"Actually," Apollo interjected, "You've been lying there for just a couple. The rest of them were spent doing experimental surgeries round the clock to make sure you didn't die. You're welcome."

"Oh, thank you, Apollo."

"Please, it's the least I could do after you helped free Mom those years ago. It's just a shame that we're basically out of that Void Ether now that most of it's in you. But at least it was used for a good cause," the sun god said dismissively.

Percy's eyes widened as he looked down at his bare chest. He saw a new scar: a vertical incision on the left side of his chest definitely done by some kind of medical tool.

"What do you mean 'in me'?" he asked. Thalia also looked surprised, figuring that this must be the experimental surgery that Apollo hadn't gone into any detail about.

"Oh yeah, I guess I should disclose that as your doctor. That hydra poison got in and should've stopped your heart. Actually, it did. Like 10 times. It's some kind of artificially enhanced chemical, definitely Erebus-type stuff. But that's where the Void Ether came in. I've been studying it since Lady Chaos gave it to me, and it's literally the building block of all organic life. So I had a crazy idea. Basically, I surgically built a chassis around your heart out of the Void Ether. It LOVES organic matter, like your heart, and HATES artificial things, like the poison. Have you watched that mortal movie, Iron Man? Think of that thing in his chest; you have that now but it's just on the inside of your body. Since neither I, nor any other non-Chaos-level guy can physically remove the poison from your heart, this was the best option. Your little Void Ether chassis is constantly in a state of rejecting the poison from your heart."