Percy's POV
I had probably woken up because I was cold.
I stared blankly at the bottles and bandages, and spotted the aspirin.
Huh.
I crawled to it and swallowed a pill without water. On my knees, I picked up the scattered bandages and ambrosia. I stuffed them in the cupboard and picked up the ones on the sink.
More...
I shook my head.
Not right now.
Moreeee...
It whined in a pitiful way.
No.
More!
The whole world lurched foward and I grasped the toilet, retching into it.
MORE
It started humming what it always did.
No pain
No pain
No pain...
~
Victor's POV
"Percy."
He opened his eyes slightly, trying to focus. He was clutching his chest.
"Where does it hurt?"
"I can feel it."
"Feel what?"
"My heart's still beating."
I grabbed his wrist and took his pulse.
Too fast.
I could feel it jolting, ready to say that it had enough. I stood up and rummaged around the cupboards to find the medcine I had put in here. I pulled it out.
"It's wet."
I took out the medicine to see it soaked. Cursing, I looked back at Percy. He was still breathing hard, clutching his chest.
Aspirin, aspirin, aspirin...
I took out the bottle and gave it to him.
"Chew it."
He popped one in his mouth and I wrapped his arm around my neck, hauling him up. He was suprisingly light.
"Percy, we're going to walk to my room. I don't have enough energy to teleport."
"But.... Soldiers."
"It'll be okay."
He looked down and sighed. We slowly walked out of his room and down the hallway. His footsteps got slower, now painstakingly slow. I wanted to run, but I knew I couldn't.
"Percy. Can you hear me?"
He nodded slowly.
"We're nearly there. Pick up the pace."
He took a few more slow steps and started walking a little bit faster. A few soldiers sent us weird glances but walked on. I layed him on the bed and connected a few tubes to him after giving him two shots.
Today's competition.
"Sleep."
I slipped out of the room and went to floor above the arena, were the competition info was all stored in the computers.
"Can I help you?"
A smiling son of Hermes asked politely.
"Can Percy rest today?"
"Who?"
"Omega."
"Oh. Commander?"
"Yes." I said impatiently.
"... You mean... Not fight?"
I nodded. He pursed his lips and sat down in front of a computer. His fingers moved quickly, and it showed a long list. He smiled apologitically.
"I'm sorry, but I don't think he can. Theres not another match that can replace his."
"Why?"
His smile wavered at my tone.
"I'll ask the umpire."
He ran off and I pushed my hair back, sighing. He brought back the umpire, a son of Dike.
"I'm sorry, but we can't change the order of anything. If you can just tell us the reason-"
"Why can't you?"
"As we told you, we have to change the opponents, which is impossible."
"Why can't you just cancel the competition today?"
"But-"
"Victor, thats not nice." Chaos put a hand on my shoulder. "We need to be fair to the other soldiers."
"Chaos-"
"Can you tell us why?"
I faltered.
"Then we can't do anything."
"... Won't this go out in the papers?"
Chaos looked around at the two soldiers and they nodded. The umpire glanced at me.
"He's sick." I said flatly.
"Commander?" the Hermes boy said incredulously.
"Yes." I snapped. "That idiot just got him in trouble again."
"... Idiot."
Chaos grabbed my shoulders and turned me to the umpire.
"Apologize."
"But-"
"It's fine." he smiled. "... Can you let me see Commander sometime? I always wanted to meet him....."
"No." I cut. "I would rather apologize."
"Victor." Chaos chided.
I sighed. "I'll ask."
His face brightened. "Really?"
"Can I meet him too?" the Hermes boy asked, excited.
"What is he, a celebrity?"
The boy looked at me with bright eyes.
"... Fine. I can tell you later."
"I'm Samson." the umpire said.
"And I'm Terry."
I gave them a short nod.
"May I go see him? Omega." Chaos asked.
I rolled my eyes, turning away. "Who can stop you?"
He shrugged, walking along with me.
"How sick is he? Sick enough to not have the energy to fight?"
I sobered when I thought of Percy.
"... You don't know."
"What?"
"I can tell you when we get there."
"Your dorm?"
I nodded, turning around. I saw a few soldiers bow to him slightly. I opened the door slightly.
"Be quiet."
He nodded as I stepped inside. I went next to Percy. He was still sleeping fitfully, like usual. I disconnected some of the tubes and felt his pulse. It had gone back nearly to normal, but I could feel it that his hands were as cold as ice.
I glanced back at Chaos, who was next to me. I escorted him to the other room connected to mine.
"Coffee?"
"Sure."
I mixed two cups of coffee, feeling awfully calm. I glanced back at Chaos once more. He stared back at the door as if he was worried about Percy. I set the two cups down and sat in front of Chaos. He sipped the coffee carefully and put the mug down.
"Whats wrong?"
"Heart failure. He had a few heart attacks before, one when his heart actually stopped. He had symptoms of heart attack this morning... So.... Yeah."
"Thats not all."
He stared pointedly at me.
"I know. Maybe it's just a side effect of something- depression, PSTD, stress- whatever. I don't know."
"I see." he sipped his coffee.
"It must be lonely here alone."
"No. I'm fine."
He looked up. "I found the boy."
I tensed up. "Him."
"Yes. He was in asphodel. But I knew it was him." he looked at me. "You want him?"
"No. Can you move him to elyisium?"
"Of course not. You'll need to ask Hades for that."
I sighed. "I see."
He sipped his coffee as a silence fell between us.
"I think I was working Omega too hard. He needs a break."
"You didn't notice."
He frowned. "Victor, I am the creator of the universe. The most greatest primordial of them all- don't laugh at me!"
Laughing, I set my coffee on the table. "I'm not laughing at you. I am just making a sound out of my mouth."
"Hey!"
"Isn't time for you to go?"
He stood up hastily, looking at the clock. "Why, yes it is. I should get going."
His eyes smiled at me, like Percy's did.
"Have a nice day Victor."
~
When I told him he could rest for today, he became very, very agitated.
He was always asking if he had something to do- if he could go to the arena, or just do something. I knew he was dying, wanting to do anything.
"Percy. You need to rest." I chided.
"But it's so weird to just sit here..."
"I know." I gave him a mug of tea. "Drink."
He sipped it and he frowned.
"Sugar."
"I put in enough sugar."
"Sugar." he demanded.
I hit him on the head with the sugar spoon and put it in the sink and put the sugar in the cupboard.
"Its chamomile. I heard that it helped calm nerves."
He sipped it carefully.
"I wish that it would just keep you calm forever."
He stuck his tongue out at me took another sip.
"This really needs sugar."
"Bad dog!"
He rolled his eyes and set his cup to the side. I rummaged around my bag.
"I have to go now. I'll see you at lunch. Stay here- do whatever." I said, hanging my bag on my shoulder.
"Oh. How do you feel about meeting the umpire of the competition and a son of Hermes?"
"Why?"
"They asked me."
"Yes. I'm bored."
"Maybe you three can go out into the city or something. You can talk about it at lunch."
He nodded. "Alright."
I glanced back one last time and left the room.
~
Samson's POV
I had always wondered how Commander would be like.
I was always a fan of him- he seemed to be fearless, invincible, and just so.... Strong.
He had brought times of peace, he kept everything under control and did work much better and faster than Alpha.
And I could meet him.
"Hey."
I looked back to see the doctor, Victor and Commander behind him. I bowed hastily to Commander and he aknowledged me slightly.
"You're Samson?"
"Yes sir. "
He smiled slightly under his mask. "Nice to meet you."
I shook his hand, staring at him in awe.
I had a lot of questions.
"Where's the Hermes boy." Victor said.
"I can get him."
"No. It's fine. Do you have time after lunch?" Commander asked
"Of course sir."
"Then lets meet at the front doors. We can go out into the city."
I nodded, awed.
"Tell Terry too."
TTt
~
I lookd around the small area, looking for a masked face among everybody with Terry.
"Samson?"
I looked around, but didn't see him. A man with sea green eyes and black hair tapped my shoulder. He was wearing a long brown coat and a ivory scarf. His eyes were peculiar, somewhat broken but also had a happy feeling to it.
He smiled at Terry. "You're Terry?"
He nodded slowly. "Who....?"
"Oh... You don't know me in this form, right?"
Pieces of my memory clasped together.
"Commander?"
"You can call me Percy."
He looked at both of us. "Lets go."
~
He was nicer than I thought he would be.
He was like.... Extremely nice. Excessively nice. He was funny, and made both of us comfortable.
"I never saw a son of Dike." he mused.
"I only saw one sibling." I agreed. "We're not very common."
"Theres children of Hermes all over the place." Terry said. "Atleast one-fourth of the army is children of Hermes."
"I think that would be nice." he said.
"Whose your godly parent?"
He didn't say anything for a moment.
"Posiedon."
"Really? I never met a son of Posiedon before."
"I know." he said, but he wasn't smiling anymore.
"About the competition-"
"Lets talk about something else." he said, setting down his cup. "Do you have a girlfriend?"
I shook my head and Terry did the same.
"Do you?"
His face hardened into a dark, thick slab of stone. He was silent for a moment.
"I got married last year."
"Really? To whom?"
"... Annabeth."
"Who?"
"You wouldn't know her."
Another still silence filled our table, more longer than the rest.
A small device, something that looked like a small phone rang. He picked up the phone, and his face darkened.
"It was nice seeing you two." he said, standing up. "I think I should go now."
I stood up hastily along with Terry.
"Thanks for your time."
"I had a really good time today too. I hope we could see each other again." He took out a pouch of drachmas and gave me a few.
"Pay with these. I'm sorry I couldn't stay longer."
He was gone before we could say anything.
"Whats up with his wife?" I asked Terry.
"Dunno. Obviously something bad."
fact about me: me can play the piano.