December 16th, 2027
3:35pm
Hickfield Clinic
He didn't want to talk. Especially after hearing about Athena. He just muttered "I told her to go." before closing his eyes. He let Trucy talk to him for a while, but didn't talk back. After Pearl got out of school, the Wrights went back to the agency. It was Apollo's idea, Athena was still on the table.
He waited in a vicious cycle for hours: jamming the button at his bedside that would grant him morphine, laying flat against his back sleeplessly, listening to that infernal clock which sounded like the bomb's ticking, thinking about Athena being just as awake as he on an operating table.
The nurse came in every so often to check on him, his IV, and to reapply burn cream to his wounds. "Your girlfriend still isn't here?" She'd ask every time she came in, which completed the cycle. No matter how softly she spoke, or how often she pulled a heartbeat check for him,
It felt like Clay all over again.
December 16th, 2027
5:10pm
Hickfield Clinic
He'd given up on paying attention, everything hurt so much. He was just going to close his eyes until he passed out.
That's when he heard it.
It started as the normal cracking open of the door, then he heard squeaking of some kind.
And then he heard her. He heard her whimper, and he was fully alert.
"Oh, you hear her, Mr. Justice?" He saw another nurse, brown curled hair tumbling off her face. "Your ears are sharp, that's good for her."
What? Athena's ears are better than mine!
"What do you mean? What happened to her?"
"Well, Mr. Justice… she may have gone deaf."
What?!
"We couldn't get her to respond to sound, and she hit her head really hard… we're just thankful right now that she made it through, and that she's not blind."
Athena's magic was in her ears, what would life with a deaf Thena be like? She would lose the part of her that made her so perceptive. He couldn't tell her how fine she was! Athena was such a peppy person, filled with words and music. If that was gone now, what would she be?
"We're currently letting her recover from surgery before we evaluate her for deafness. She's artificially deaf now. We gave her something like anti-hearing aids. Like the main function of regular aids is to turn the world up, these turn it down. She's basically on mute until it's time for evaluation." Another nurse wheeled a gurney up, with Athena laying in obvious pain. Wiring wrapped around her ears and head, several IVs running into different places. Yet, when her blurry eyes saw Apollo, they sparkled. The nurse wheeling her in took her hand to his mouth and mouthed 'You see him?' slowly.
How odd, was Apollo's initial thought. Would this be how they communicated now? To surpass the sign barrier?
Athena smiled and reached out barely, thin hand trembling while an IV ran just beneath her elbow.
They kept her close for the time, and Apollo practiced her new way of speaking. He had to say his words out loud to get his mouth to move right, he'd never thought the ever-listening Athena would be facing deafness. They mostly just stared at each other, she was still impaired from the surgery and whatever anesthesia had affected her. Finally, after a while of soaking each other in, she grabbed his hand.
"You okay, Pollo?"
"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. I'm fine!"
Her silent giggle was frightening. "Of course you're fine, Pollo. That 'fine' of yours…" She tipped his hand over and kissed him gently.
He took the chance to snatch her face, she leaned into his hand.
"It will be okay…" She mouthed into his hand. "I don't need my ears to know you're afraid."
"Even if you don't need them, I want you to have them. I love your voice, Thena."
"I love yours too. And this lip talking thing won't be forever, even if my ears never come back. We can use Widget!"
"Heh, take yourself easy, Thena. You just came out of surgery."
"Yeah, yeah I did."
"How you feelin, tiger? The nurses said they couldn't get you under."
"Oh, that's something I hope I never do again. It wasn't my first time in neurosurgery, but I think I'd be feeling a lot better if they could have gotten me down."
"You've had brain surgery before?"
"Heh, you're drugged, Apollo. I've shown you my scar before. You made me promise I wasn't going to die on you."
He rubbed his horns. "I have? Sorry, tiger. Have I told you how pretty you are today? Because you're so pretty…"
She blushed profusely. "Oh!" His hand slipped from her lips. "I'm not that pretty… not today."
"You're always pretty. The day since we've met, you've been pretty."
"Okay, Justice. Now I know you're drugged. You're never this sappy."
"I'm sorry, okay?!" He forgot to hold her hand to his lips, and his words were lost. Sighing, he brought her hand back. "I'm sorry… I should have come home… I guess… I dunno what I was thinking!"
"Pollo…" She gave the softest smile. "I forgive you. May I get some rest now?"
"Of course, Thena, tiger." He was finally able to use his voice for real. "She's tired. Can you put her to bed, or something?"
"Of course." They both initiated contact with Athena, the man on her gurney and the woman now talking to her. "We'll take you to your bed now, Doctor Cykes."
Athena shook her head. "Miss Cykes please. Someone… else is Doctor Cykes."
"Ah, okay, Miss Cykes. Let's go."
She blew him a kiss as they wheeled her to the bed on the other side of the curtain.
They called the Wrights back after she was settled, and got Aura from the waiting room so she could see her niece. She didn't pay any attention to him, silently pulling back the curtain and going behind.
The Wrights, Pearl in tow, arrived about twenty minutes later. "Polly!" Trucy ran over to him. "We heard Thena's out of surgery! Is she okay?"
"She's, uh… something alright?"
"Mr. Apollo," Pearl bit her lip. "Something's wrong with Ms. Athena?"
"Um… well… she might be… deaf."
Phoenix's jaw hit the floor. "Deaf?!"
"They're waiting until she recovers a little from the head trauma before running her through a hearing test. Since it's sudden, they've been having us practice a form of lip reading, just in case. Thena says if her ears are really gone, she'll set up a program for us to communicate easier. But since it's a temporary diagnosis until she's healed, this is where we stand."
"So is she currently deaf, Mr. Apollo? They're seeing if her hearing will come back?"
"They don't know at all, she has a special pair of hearing aids that force her to be deaf. They put them in after the surgical team couldn't get her to respond with sound."
"That's terrifying for Athena, not knowing if she'll ever hear again."
"She's asleep right now, and her aunt's got a bit of a monopoly on the space right now. Otherwise, I'd suggest seeing her."
"How's she look, Polly?"
"Still like my tiger, hair's a little messy, she's got a few different IVs here and there, but she's still beautiful."
"Ah, how beautiful! It's like a fairytale! Like Mr. Nick and Mystic Maya, you and Athena are meant to be!"
Phoenix turned redder than the suit Apollo had once been wearing, Apollo himself began laughing until there was too much friction on his burns, when he jammed his morphine button. Trucy gave loud approval.
"Shut up over there!" Aura snapped from the curtain. "Some of us are actually having a crisis!"
"So-uh, so there's no way we can actually wake Athena up?"
"Nope."
Aura hogged all of Athena's bedside for an hour more, then darted down to the detention center. After she left, the nurses let the others in. She was still knocked out cold, finally feeling the effect of her anesthesia, but due to her deaf state her visitors were able to talk like she was awake.
"Hey, Athena. You're hanging on pretty well. We, uh, saw your papers from seven years ago. If you ever… want to talk about it… ah look at me. You might never hear again and here I am asking if you want to talk about your deepest problems. I'm proud of you, though."
"I'm here for you all the way, Thena! Whatever I need to do to make you more comfortable after all this, I'll do it!"
Pearl leaned closer to Athena. "Mr. Nick and Trucy covered most of it, so let me say: Mr. Apollo wants you to get well more than anyone else! He was just telling us how beautiful he thinks you are!"
"Objection! Let me spill my own thoughts!"
Everyone erupted into laughter over Apollo's extreme embarrassment for something everyone knew well.
They left shortly after Trucy pat Apollo's unburned head and wished him luck with his healing.
Having Athena back in the room with him, where he could hear her heartbeat, made his wounds feel much better. He wished she was in his arms, snoozing to his heartbeat while he breathed in her scent that was so overwhelmingly Athena. But with their wounds, that was an impossible wish.
"Hey… Pollo?" Her tiny voice peeped long after dark, finally her voice after an afternoon of silence.
He instantly beeped a nurse to help her converse. "What do you need, Tiger?" He had them transfer from his lips to hers. They needed a better system.
"...Do you remember when we first met? What did you think of me?"
"You… were amazing, Athena. Incredibly unexpected, but amazing."
"Could you tell me about it, please?"
"Haha, of course, Tiger. But I'm not going to be that mean to the nurse. Let them grab my phone for me and I can text you through Widget."