Chapter 2
It turned out Artemis was right. And oh, how she wished she had been wrong…
The next day another meeting was held. The entire time Artemis looked to be on the verge of tears. She wanted to be in the infirmary right now, but had been ordered to come to the meeting by Zeus himself so she had to obey.
Artemis couldn't stand to look at her brother's throne. It flickered the entire time, all while getting dimmer.
The meeting was somber as Asclepius gave his report. It turns out that an Olympian Council meeting can, in fact, still be a meeting without someone threatening war!
It was then the Olympians heard it. That small, tiny, little insignificant sound. On a normal day it would've meant nothing, but today it meant everything.
Thirteen heads all whipped to look at the god of war. Ares was pale, they could see that his eyes weren't as fire filled as they normally were even from in front of his sunglasses.
"W-what?" He stuttered. "I c-c-a-" His words turned into a coughing fit as he clutched his chest. "I c-can't just c-ou-gh? W-wit-th o-out e-ev-v-v-r-y o-o-one thr-oug-ing a-a f-f-it?!"
"Ares…" Athena trailed off worriedly. Ares and her didn't get along well, but they were still family. There was no denying that.
Ares stood up, clearly trying to suppress his shaking. "I-I-m fine! J-j-j-erks. I'm goi-ng t-o wat-ch s-s-s-ome morta-l-ls t-t-ry to k-ki-i-ll ea-ac-ach o-th-th-th-er." The war god didn't get two feet before he fainted.
Luckily Hades was able to catch him. And suddenly Artemis froze.
'The Sickness To Fear, For You Can Not Out Run'... That was the second line of the prophecy, was it not?
Ares had been the one to carry Apollo to the infirmary yesterday too...
"EVERYBODY FREEZE!" Artemis shouted, and for once everyone did as she said. "NO ONE GO NEAR HADES OR ARES. ANYONE WHO HAS BEEN NEAR ARES IN THE LAST FEW HOURS NEEDS TO STEP AWAY FROM EVERYONE ELSE TOO."
Aphrodite stepped to the back of the room, as did Dionisus, and Demeter.
Ares was still unconscious, but he started to cough violently.
"Artemis, what is wrong?" Hestia asked.
" 'The Sickness To Fear For You Can Not Out Run'. That's the second line of Apollo's prophecy, whatever Apollo is sick with, Ares now has, and Hades, Aphrodite, Dionisus, and Demeter are in danger of getting it too."
Said immortals paled, and not from sickness.
"All of you need to go to the infirmary and be put in isolation until we know that you're not ill." Zeus commanded. "Hades, alert Asclepius once you get there." The elder god nodded, and picked Ares up bridal style, his sun glasses falling from his face as he was picked up.
The gods gasped at the sight of the dim fires in Ares' eyes. They were a withered yellow, and almost no smoke came from them.
As the rest of the Olympians parted down the center of the room, allowing the infected gods to exit the room.
A few days later the gods that had been in contact with Ares also fell ill, except Hades for some weird reason... As did Zeus, Hera, Poseidon and Hephestus.
Hestia, Triton, Hypnos, Iris, Hecate, Hebe, Nemesis, Tyche, Nike, Hercules, Bellona, Amphrite, and Persephone were showing symptoms too.
"Aunt Artemis, I have no idea why you haven't gotten sick. You were in contact with dad several times, even touching him after he collapsed. If that is too soon after illness to get infected then the others wouldn't have gotten sick too…" Asclepius shook his head in dismay.
"I…" Artemis shook her head, remembering a weird feeling passing over her as Apollo had collapsed. It was a warm feeling that felt like a protection enchantment. "I think that Apollo used the last of his healing powers to inoculate me against the virus… I think I'm immune!"
Asclepius's eyes widened. "I have to go consult an old colleague from another Pantheon."
Artemis knitted her eyebrows. "Who?" She asked.
"Thoth, from Egypt. He may have an answer." With one final shake of his head Asclepius teleported away, leaving Artemis to tend to her sick family.
The symptoms of the virus were horrible. The gods were tired, pale, feverish, and coughing fits. They were shaky, throwing up all over the place, dehydration, and stuttering, some also had hallucinations.
"L-lady Cha-os." Demeter whispered. "Sh-she can h-help. On-ly s-she c-can h-h-help."
Ares coughed. "E-ris-s k-kn-o-o-ws h-h-er, f-f-f-in-d E-Eris."
Artemis raised an eyebrow at Ares's words. Eris? Who was that?
Hestia. Hestia would know. She knew everyone! Tomorrow morning she would go to her Aunt and ask who Eris was.
"Apo-l-logi-ze." Ares muttered. Apologize? Was Ares crazy? He NEVER apologized! For anything!
Ares's fever was very high, he probably didn't even know what he was saying, and was clearly not making any sense. Ares shook his head. "A-pol-o-gize." He whispered again.
Ares tried to stand up, and reached for his sun-glasses, but Athena appeared and shoved their brother back down onto the bed.
He tried his very best to glare at her, but it ultimately dissolved into a coughing fit. Ares made a mad grab for his sun-glasses, but Athena held them out of his reach.
"We'll find whoever this Eris is. You need to stay here and rest, brother." Athena sighed, grabbing a glass of water, and demanding he take a sip.
Ares shook his head. "H-h-have t-to f-find E-E-Eris!" He looked terrified. "B-fo-o-re sh-sh-he g-g-et-t-t's s-ss-ss-i-ck too-oo." He started coughing violently again, and it took both Artemis and Athena to get him to lay down again.
Ares gave them a sad look. "H-have t-o ap-ologize."
The sisters looked at each other. "He's not making any sense." Athena whispered.
"Ares, we'll find Eris, okay? I'm sure she's already forgiven you, okay? We'll fix this, and everything will be alright." Artemis promised.
The war god nodded sadly. The entire infirmary was full of sick gods and goddesses which made for a very depressing atmosphere.
The illness didn't seem to affect demigods so Cabin 7 healers had been brought in, along with Apollo and Asclepius legacies from Camp Jupiter.
Hades wasn't ill either, they speculated that this was because they were dying and Hades was too close to death for anything to actually kill him. Thanatos was fine also, and was helping Nico and Hazel with the Underworld.
And of course they knew now why Artemis was fine.
"Uncle D, you need to rest. The camp's fine! I promise!" Austin cried.
"Lady Demeter, please lay back down, your plants are being tended to, I swear!" Kayla shouted.
"Nico's in the Underworld right now Lady Persephone! Everything is being handled!" Will rubbed his temples.
Immortals didn't take well to being bed ridden.
"Grandpa, Artemis is fine, look, she's right there! See?! She's fine, now please go back to bed!" Pranjal supported a delirious Sun God.
"D-d-on't c-call m-m-me grand-pa." Apollo coughed out.
Gracie tended to Zeus who was barely breathing at this point.
While Yan helped Poseidon, Amphitrite, and Triton get the appropriate amount of water for immortal water deities.
Jerry bounced back and forth in between Hephestus and Aphrodite as they tried to yell at each other.
Artemis decided that talking to Hestia couldn't wait till morning, because they were clearly getting worse by the second.
Well this was sure to be a fun conversation! Just go tell the goddess of family that you forgot that someone existed, like, never heard of her! Great going Artemis, truly!
As Artemis opened the door to Hestia's room she shuttered. This wasn't going to be a fun conversation, would it? Didn't think so…
