Chapter ten

Percy sucked in a deep breath, letting air hit her lungs before she took in the details of her surroundings. Someone's soft, rhythmic breathing came from her right, the whirring of machines on her left. The next thing she noticed was the tightness around her chest and something stuck to the skin on her legs and arms.

"Welcome back to the world of the living." the voice was hushed and she shifted her face towards it, peeling her eyelids open to squint up at the form above her.

"Oh yay, I'm alive." her hoarse whisper was dripping with sarcasm and she let her eyes drift back closed as she listened to Apollo pick up a clipboard and mumble something under his breath. "You messed my suicide mission up." she opened her eyes again to see Apollo raising his eyebrow at her.

"You call that a suicide mission?" he paused and she sent him a partial smile, lifting only one side of her mouth.

"I guess I'll just have to try harder next time." she grumbled, closing her eyes and letting out a soft breath before shifting her head to the right slightly and wincing. "How long has he been here?" she watched Poseidon through half closed eyes and Apollo tisked his tongue.

"Since you were brought in." he glanced over at Poseidon and then looked at her "You've been here three days."

"Three days?" she jerked her head in shock and he nodded, "How?"

"You burned out, not even water could keep you alive. We gave you two blood transfusions, then started injecting nectar when they did nothing." he set the clipboard down and picked up her arms, pulling up bandages to show closed, but unhealed cuts.

"Nectar and ambrosia don't work as well on me after Tartarus." she let out a deep breath and a sudden coughing fit hit her, causing her to curl around her middle as stabbing pain enveloped her.

"Easy, easy." An oxygen mask appeared and covered her mouth and nose, a strap around the back of her head held it in place and slowly, her breathing returned back to normal.

"Persephone." she turned her head to see Poseidon kneeling beside her bed, staring at her in horror. Apollo quietly left the room, taking his clipboard with him.

"Hey dad." her head lolled to the side as weakness filled her and her eyes drifted closed. "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault." he pulled his chair over to the side of her bed, gripping her hand in his as if it were his lifeline. "It is not your fault." this time he said it more firmly and she opened her eyes to look at him.

"How is everyone?" she whispered, afraid of the answer, but knowing she needed it. There had been so many monsters, too many.

"Everyone is safe, nobody was injured." he ran his hand through his hair "The monsters were interested only in you; from what we understand, they wanted to capture you."

"What?" she was confused and he saw it in the frown she gave him.

"You killed every one of those monsters," he paused "And they almost killed you." he leaned back in his chair, exhaustion still hanging in his eyes.

"You should go get some sleep dad." she murmured watching as he tilted his head to watch her. "I'll still be here, I'm pretty sure it's going to be like a hostage situation." she grinned weakly at him and Poseidon shook his head, a small smile forming.

"I'll be back tonight." he paused after standing to watch her for a moment "get some rest and try not to annoy Apollo too much."

"I'll try my hardest." her eyes drifted closed and when she opened them, he was gone. Boredom set in within seconds and a small, miniscule part of her wished she'd asked him to stay. Several minutes passed and she let herself drift into past memories.

"I thought I asked you to iris message me and let me know you were alright." she glanced towards the door and saw Triton leaning against the doorway, dark clothes ruffled as if he had slept in them all night.

"I wasn't alright and I just woke up." she watched as he slowly made his way into the room sitting down in the chair that Poseidon had vacated only minutes before, or what she thought was minutes.

"What were you thinking about just now?" he lifted his feet up on the bed and crossed them. Percy slowly shifted onto her side so she was facing him, lifting her arm and readjusting the wires so she didn't accidently pull any out. Triton reached forward to help and soon they had it all sorted out on the bed behind her.

"Lots of stuff, mostly past battles." she sighed "mentors I've had over the years and lost."

"Ah, nostalgic?" he gave her a soft smile and she lifted her shoulder in response, wincing at the sore muscles.

"I miss them," she glanced away and he leaned back in the chair, waiting "Even the ones I shouldn't miss."

"Like?" he gave her a questioning look and she blew out a long breath, closing her eyes for a moment.

"Like Luke Castellan." she waited for a negative response, but none came and she slowly opened her eyes.

"Have you visited him since his betrayal?"

"In Elysium?" she shook her head "No, I don't really have the time between training and everything but I know Nico has." she paused "I know he trains with Achilles and his group now. That's good for him, a family." there was silence and Triton looked thoughtful

"Have you thought about doing what he did?" she didn't answer his question for several minutes, thinking about her answer and who she was giving it to.

"Well I wouldn't go as far as he did, but saying fuck the gods?" she tilted her head and gave a cold grin "Every damn day." her voice was gravilly and the grin wavered. Her energy quaked and she knew it wouldn't be long before she fell back into that unconscious state that had enveloped her for so long.

"I'm sorry for what we have done." he paused "And I'm sorry I did nothing to make it better." his eyes were a pale sea green and she wondered if hers were the same color. Reaching out, she gripped his hand and smiled softly.

"It is not you who created the laws, it is not you who makes me want to walk away and never look back, and it is not you who put me in this bed." she looked into his eyes as she said this and Triton glanced away. "For what it's worth, at the end of the day I wouldn't exchange this life for any other, because it has allowed me to inspire others to grow as individuals, it has allowed me to bring change and understand where there was not. I would do it all over again if I had to, with some minor changes of course." she gave him a quirky grin just as Apollo walked in.

"I'm sorry to say that I am going to have to break this party up, my patient needs sleep before she gets her next wave of visitors." he gave Triton a pointed glance while Percy glared at him halfheartedly.

"I'm not tired." but even as she said it, she felt her eyelids growing heavier. Apollo snorted, as if sensing her dilemma.

"Right and I'm not a doctor." he walked over and began adjusting the cords, tisking his tongue as she rolled towards him. "Stop moving, you're messing with your bandages."

"Sorry." she mumbled, watching as Triton stood and stretched easily. "I'll see you around?" she asked hopefully, quietly and Triton rolled his eyes.

"I'll be back tomorrow, I have to get some work done as I've been worrying too much to do anything these last couple of days." he waved "Sleep tight little sis." and with that, he was gone.

"I didn't know you two got along as well as you do." Apollo gave her a questioning look and Percy shrugged. Slowly the top half of her bed raised so she was sitting up "I'm going to check some of your bandages before you sleep. He pulled the blankets back and she grimaces at the bloody one on her leg.

"That's great." she was sarcastic and Apollo knew it, but he shrugged anyways.

"I'd rather see it draining then holding in everything and getting infected," he paused "I would like to see you healing at a faster rate though." he began pulling the bandages off with ease and cleaning the wounds.

"Do you enjoy your life?" Percy asked suddenly, watching as Apollo paused what he was doing.

"Some days yes, but most days it is rather boring." he sent her a smile "You've made it more interesting these past few days."

"Sounds like I'm not missing a thing." he sent her a wry grin when she said this and rewrapped her thigh with cotton and sticky, thick tape.

"Get some sleep, I'll bring you food later." he promised, lifting the blanket over her and putting the bed back into lying position.