I actually got this idea cause someone mentioned something in a comment on the first Rebirth of Camp Half-Blood. I kind took that one thing and decided that I could easily make a sad one shot out of this.
So enjoy.
I mean you should've expected this. I've given you guys a lot of happy ones lately.
-Jaz
~~~~
On Off
He sat in the back of the class doodling in his notebook wishing he could just skip this class and hurry home for a nap. He didn't need to look up to know Mrs. Hogan had walked in the room. The awkward clicking of her broken heels gave her away.
"Alright class," Mrs. Hogan started. "Lets see if you actually did your homework. Time for the test."
A collective groan sounded throughout the room as Mrs. Hogan began handing out tests.
"Yeah, yeah you knew this coming. Put everything away but a pencil. Come on, the faster you get ready the more time you have on it- Kim you don't need that calculator with the answers written on the inside cover, this is history class."
Kim silently slipped her calculator in her bag before laying on the floor. "I think I'm having a heart attack!"
Mrs. Hogan rolled her eyes and placed Kim's test on her face. "Jac get your girlfriend off the ground this is worth 40% of her grade I don't care if she didn't study."
Meanwhile in the back of the class he rolled his eyes at his classmates and put his stuff away and waited for the test he would inevitably fail. Once given the test he wrote his name and moved on to the first question. He tried to focus on the shifting letters long enough to write some sort of an answer.
The words began to swim even more. He blinked and rubbed his eyes trying to make it go away but everything in his vision itself swam. He looked up to see his classmates too were blurry. His head began to hurt and in the distance he could hear heaving breathing. He gripped his head as things began to darken. Slowly he stood from his desk. "Mrs. Hogan..." He slurred. "I..." He blinked again and his knees felt ready to give out, so he gripped the side of his desk to hold him up.
"Please sit back down, and please don't use Kimberly as a role model," Mrs. Hogan's voice responded.
"B-b-but..." His tongue felt numb and he couldn't for words.
"Uh, Mrs. Hogan?" Came another voice. "He actually doesn't look to well."
The awkward clicking of heels grew closer before his legs gave out underneath him. His face slammed against the ground but he almost didn't feel the pain. The whole world seemed to flicker on and off. Like a child playing with a light switch leaving those around to try and stop the child before something breaks.
On.
"Call 911!"
"Get the nurse!"
Off.
Darkness and silence except for the breathing which seemed to have intensified.
On.
Worried voices and shouts surrounded him but it was hard to tell what they were saying.
Off.
The breathing was so fast and loud it seemed to shake the darkness it was submersed in.
On.
New people surrounded him he couldn't make out their faces but they wore blue.
"Hey," One started. "it's gonna be okay. Keep your eyes on me okay?"
Off.
The intense breathing came with a picture. A boy pulling a saytr in a Rasta cap along, the saytr was bleeding badly and he was breathing heavily. His eyes closed tight in pain. Suddenly the eyes opened and he screamed loud.
On.
He screamed loudly as if in horrible pain. As he screamed the world came back to him at full force. He could see people loading him in the ambulance and his step father's worried and scared face beside him. Then all at once everything stopped.
Of-
~~~~
She hurried down the hall her blonde ponytail swinging behind her. She walking as fast as she dared without running not trying to be yelled for the third time. She pressed the elevator button multiple times wishing it would move faster. Finally it opened and she climbed in with two other people. She pressed the button to the third floor.
"Come on. Come on," she muttered to herself while bouncing on the balls of her feet in front of the elevator door waiting for it to arrive at her floor. When it did she started off again looking for the room. She walked so fast she almost walked right by the room. She paused in front and looked at the number to confirm it, 324. She took a deep breath before walking through the open door. Walking past the curtain she saw a doctor talking to a couple who sat in chairs next to the hospital bed holding hands. The man had longish salt and pepper hair he stared at book in his lap but the blonde could tell his eyes weren't focused on the page. Next to him the woman stood up. She had long brown hair with a few gray streaks and blue eyes red from crying.
"I'm sorry but we don't know exactly what the cause of this is at this time. We can run some more tests," the doctor informed the couple. "All we know is that he's unfortunately getting worse."
The doctor left quickly after that and the woman grabbed the blonde teen in a hug. The blonde girl's eyes drifted to the boy who lay in the hospital bed. His eyes were clothes and his black hair was messed up. His usually tan skin seemed paler and IVs and cords connected him to machines. The woman released the girl from the hug and motioned for her husband to come with her as she exited the room leaving the girl alone with him.
The blonde girl sat beside the bed in one of the chairs. "Hi Seaweed Brain," she said quietly. "I came as soon as a possible. Sorry it took me so long." A few tears ran down her face as she focused on his pale and unmoving face.
Her attention was shifted as an IM appeared beside her. In it stood a centaur and a boy holding a flower. The centaur seemed surprised to see her. His eyes went to the boy in the bed. "So it did affect him..." The centaur said quietly.
"What did?" She demanded.
"Grover..."
"Grover?" She aided confused. "What happened to him?"
"He died saving my life," the boy next to the centaur said staring at the flower in his hands.
"The two still had an empathy link," the centaur said. "and when it is severed..."
The blonde girl wiped away her tears but more replaced them. "Is there anything we can do?"
"I'm afraid not. I'm sorry." The centaur opened his mouth again but she didn't want to hear it. She cut the connection.
"Of all the stupid things!" She screamed standing up. She kicked the chair she sat in. "You survive wars and monsters to die from this!?" She kicked the chair again sobbing violently when hands wrapped around her pulling her close.
"He'll be okay," the woman told her. "He always manages to be. He'll be okay... He has to be..."
~~~~
"It's been three weeks."
"I'm glad you can read a calendar Sparky," his sister told him.
He sighed. "I just wish we could do something, ya know?"
She nodded slowly. "But, there's nothing we can do though... An empathy link... It- when severed it causes the other person involved to go into a vegetative state or d-die... Unfortunately this the better of the two options..." She trailed off wiping a few tears away.
~~~~
"I wish I could do something. What kind of Apollo kid am I?" A blonde boy asked aloud as he stared at his friend who still lay unmoving even after four weeks.
"One who has already tried his best to the point you nearly passed out and put yourself in this hospital," his boyfriend responded from where he leaned against the wall. He stepped forward to stand beside the blonde when he gave an involuntary shiver.
"Something wrong?" The blonde boy asked him.
"Hospitals... They are full of people getting better and those who don't..."
"You can sense it?"
"Yeah..."
"What about him? Can you sense anything about him?" The blonde asked looking back to the patient in the bed. "And don't you dare lie to me."
"He's... He's getting closer..."
~~~~
"Is reopening the Doors an option? I mean Ms. Metal Detector came through right?" A small Latino asked fiddling with some pipe cleaners as he sat in room 324.
Glares were his answer.
"What? Can't that be like a last resort plan?"
"We'd have to close them again then," A choppy haired girl reminded him. "I say last resort we simply march down to the underworld."
"I'm game. And don't call me Ms. Metal Detector."
~~~~
"He looks worse than I thought he would..."
"I suggest you don't repeat that to the legion when we return Zhang," a girl said to the boy she had walked in with."They should believe that their former praetor is being properly cared for and should be on the mend."
"You rather lie to them?" He asked her surprised.
She sighed. "We are the praetors. The leaders. We are also a symbol. How would you feel if you suddenly learned the symbol you looked up to was on their death bed?"
He paused before nodding. "I get that much but... What happens if- if- he gods forbid- actually dies?"
She didn't respond. Rather she sat in a chair beside the bed and watched the boy in it. "Then we lead a quest down to underworld to bring him back."
~~~~
Despite it being long past visiting hours two men emerged in 324. The first man thanked the second and took a step toward the boy in the bed. He looked down at the boy before changing his gaze to stare at his Hawaiian shirt instead. Finally he looked back to the boy and took a deep breath before he spoke. "I'm sorry I didn't come sooner. I-I wanted you to come to me once everything was okay. I suppose that is an optimistic way of thinking... Or it is just me trying to avoid this... Either way I am sorry."
The second man stepped up beside him. He stared at the boy in the bed as he pressed a small pouch into the boy's unmoving hand.
Beside them a man with large black wings appeared. He said nothing he simply tapped something into his iPad before he disappeared again. When he did the steady beeping of the machines slowed before it gave a steady long sound that caused a sob to escape the first man.
The second man pulled the other back into he shadows as nurses and doctors ran into the room. As they disappeared he whispered so quietly but he was positive the boy in the bed could still hear him. "Elysium awaits you Perseus."
The switch was officially broken. It wouldn't turn back on again. It would forget rest on Off.